Chapter 3: Their First Battle

((I feel I should tell you this now. To make thing more interesting than scratch, tackle, and growl, I've decided to give each Pokemon an egg move to use. I'm also going to do this with wild Pokemon.))

"Charmander, let's start off with growl." Matt said. Charmander growl cutely, and neither of his opponents took any action. Their attack was lowered, but the two trainers thought it was a joke.

"Rattata, get out there and use bite!" John said. Rattata ran at Charmander, jaws wide open and ready to sink it's teeth into Charmander.

"Squirtle, use tackle." Karen said. Squirtle ran at Rattata and went into a diving tackle. Though it was a good try, Rattata jumped over Squirtle, using it as a jumping board more than anything. Rattata came in closer to Charmander from the air.

"Good work Karren." Matt said, "Use Ancient Power." Charmander charged up a small orb of brownish energy and fired it at Rattata. Being in the air, the Pokemon had no way to dodge the incoming attack, and was blown back towards it's trainer.

"Get up Rattata!" John said, and then rounded on Jessica as Rattata got up, "Help me!"

"Oh, right!" she said, "Bulbasaur, use Petal Dance on Squirte!" The petals flew at Squirtle, quickly. Squirtle was struck for a small while before Charmander stood in front of the attack, using it's tail flame to burn the petals.

"Good work Charmander, keep it up!" Matt called.

"Squirtle, use Aqua Jet on Rattata!" Karren said. The jet of water was extremely fast as it flew towards Rattata. Rattata ran to the side of the preoccupied Charmander, who was busy blocking Petal Dance. Charmander was hit and thrown back by a tackle attack.

"Charmander, use Ancient Power on Bulbasaur." Matt said. Charmander once again, fired the small orb of brown energy towards Bulbasaur, who was hit due to being in the middle of Petal Dance.

"Rattata, use Bite on Charmander!" John said.

"Squirtle, tackle with your shell!" Karren called quickly. Rattata charged at Charmander again, ready to bite it hard. Squirtle use jumped in front of Rattata shell first. Seeing as the shell was hard and smooth, the Bite slid bounced off it. With the extra force from tackle, it sent Rattata rolling.

"Charmander, use scratch on Rattata before it can recover." Matt called, suddenly excited. Charmander ran at the Rattata, it's claws raised. Rattata was just just getting up when the attack struck it. It once again rolled across the ground, but was unable to get back up again.

"John's Rattata is unable to battle! The winning team is Matt and Karren!" Professor Oak called. All the combatants' Pokemon were panting now, except for Bulbasaur who had done hardly any battling. Jessica returned it sadly.

"What was that!?" demanded John, "I thought you passed in the top three of your class, ad you freeze up in battle!?"

"Hey, she passed with grades, not battle skills." Matt said, "So don't take it out on her. One lost battle isn't going to kill you."

"Humph." John said before storming off. Jessica returned Bulbasaur and put the pokeball on the belt around her waist. Her Dark Brown hair stream in the cold wind as she shook her head sadly.

"I'll get better." she said, "I have to to catch more grass pokemon."

"That's the spirit" Oak said, "Your free to leave or rest, it's your choice."

"I'll be leaving now." she said, "Thanks for the offer." Jessica left, leaving just Karren, Oak, and Tracey with Matt. Tracey was being hoisted high up into the air playfully by Ash's Bayleef, but he still managed to congratulate the two on winning.

"Come on Matt." Karren said, "Let's go."

"Alright, I have something something I need to ask these two alone." Matt said. Karren looked at his suspiciously, then gave in and left to wait by the front gate. Matt reached into his pocket and showed Oak and Tracey.

"I found this by my bed when I woke up." Matt said, "You know what it is?"

Oak and Tracey looked at each other, and Oak looked back at Matt.

"It was found in your hand when we found you in front of the lab this morning." Oak said, "Whoever saved you must have left it."

"But, what is it?" Matt said.

"It's in Ice Sapphire." Tracey said, "I read about them once. They're really rare, and they have power no one can identify."

"Power?" Matt asked.

"Yes." Oak said, "People who have been in fatal situations with that stone in their possession would black out and later be at a safe haven when they woke."

"So... it'll save me when I'm about to die?" Matt asked.

"That's what some believe." Oak said, "Now, isn't Karren waiting for you?"

"Yeah." Matt said, "Thanks for the information. I'll see you later."

Both Oak and Tracey nodded. Matt walked around the lab into the front lawn and walked to the front gate, where Karren stood waiting with Squirtle. Charmander greeted Squirtle with a handshake, though Karren greeted Matt with a hug, which he returned this time.

"Are we ready to go?" Matt said.

"All ready." Karren responded. With that, they returned their Pokemon back to their balls in with the beam of read light from their centers. Matt stored his pokeball somewhere behind him while Karren stored hers in her pocket. They turned and walked down towards Route 1 and to their next destination.

((Advice on how I can do my battles better would be nice, if hey aren't good enough already.))