Vinnie and I made our way to a town after about an hour's worth of walking. The two of us were already a little tired.

"Do you think one of the pets are here?" Vinnie panted.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. I hoped that one of them, or hopefully all of them, were in this town. But I doubted it. "Well, before we look for them, how about a rest?"

"Good idea."

The two of us made our way to a large red building. The sign in front of it read, 'Pokémon Center'.

"Maybe we can rest here," I suggested. I went through the entrance, only to be knocked back by a boy, about as old as me, with large spiky blue-black hair and a Trainer outfit.

"Oh, geez, I'm sorry!" the boy apologized quickly, helping me up. "I was just on my way to train my Pokémon again."

"It's fine," I replied, dusting myself off.

"Are you a Trainer?"

"Uh, a new one, yeah. My partner, Vinnie, and I are just looking for... more Pokémon to catch. Right, buddy?" I looked down at Vinnie, who agreed. I knew that, to me, he was speaking, but to this boy, or to anyone else, it was just a regular Pokémon cry.

"Cool. By the way, I'm Hugh," the boy said. "What's your's?"

"Blythe."

"Neah! Hey, how about a Pokémon battle?"

"P-Pokémon battle?"

"Man, you really are new, aren't you?" High sighed. "A Pokémon battle is when Pokémon battle each other. It's a great way to get wiser with strategy and stronger in mind, and it bonds a Trainer close to their Pokémon. So, how about it?"

"Uh... sure...?" I stammered. I looked down at Vinnie. His face was expressionless, so I couldn't tell if he was excited, shocked, or angry.

"Awesome! I'll battle your Snivy with the Tepig I raised from an Egg!" Hugh leaped back and pulled out a Pokéball from his pocket, then pushed the button in the middle, enlarging it, and threw it up into the air, and out came a Tepig.

"Okay, Vinnie. Here's our very first battle. You ready?" I asked. I looked down at him and he looked scared and dumbfounded.

"You really expect me to fight a Fire-type?!" he cried.

"You'll be fine, Vinnie. I know you can do it!" I said, hoping to have given him some confidence.

Vinnie gave an exasperated sigh, then stepped out and shivered a little.

"I'll go first!" High announced. "Tepig, use Tackle!"

Tepig reared up on its hind legs, then propelled towards Vinnie, who was staring at his opponent in fear.

"Vinnie, try to dodge it!" I commanded. A rush of relief flooded through me when I saw the Pokémon shake his head quickly and leap out of the way. "Now you use your Tackle!"

Vinnie launched himself at Tepig, tackling it with his head, and shoving it aside.

"I did it! I did it! Did you see me, Blythe? I used a Pokémon move on him!" Vinnie cheered, but was suddenly slammed into the air by Tepig's counterattack.

"Now use Ember!" Hugh commanded. Tepig inhaled and exhaled tiny embers from its snout towards Vinnie.

"Spin with your tail extended to blow out the flames!" I called. He did so, and it extinguished the embers. "Now use Vine Whip, followed up with Tackle!"

Two long, skinny vines came out of Vinnie's collar and whipped Tepig to the ground, then lashed on to the roots on the ground and propelled himself towards his opponent. Once he hit his target, a big gust of dust arose and covered the battlefield.

When the dust cleared, Vinnie still stood, panting and a little bruised from the bprevious Tackle, as well as dirty from the dust. Tepig, however, lay on the ground, unmoving.

"Aw, man! I killed it!" Vinnie panicked, backing away.

But Hugh wasn't worried at all. He ran up to his Tepig and picked it up. "Nice job, Tepig..." he sighed. Tepig shook and opened its eyes, looking up at its Trainer tiredly. I heard Vinnie sigh loudly with relief as Hugh turned his attention towards me.

"You did a great job, Blythe," he said. "You could actually help me."

"Help you with what?" I asked.

"I need you and Snivy to get stronger. Get stronger, and I will, too, so that we can defeat Team Plasma."

"Team Plasma?" I echoed.

"They are a team of villains who steal Pokémon from Trainers," Hugh explained. "They claim to just try to free Pokémon from being enslaved by humans, but they're no better than any other Pokémon thieves. I need you to get stronger with me so we can defeat them once and for all!"

I stood there, looking at him with surprise. Sure, I just met him a few minutes ago, but I haven't seen him so mad before. Either he must have quite a feud with this Team Plasma or something very bad happened between them and Hugh a while back.

"You can count on us," I finally pledged.

"Thanks, Blythe. And thanks to your Pokémon, too. I knew I could count on you. I'm heading off to the ranch in this town. You can catch up. But first, I'm going to have Nurse Joy check on Tepig. I suggest you do the same with Snivy."

"When will he finally learn that my real name is Vinnie?" the Snivy sighed.