Day 1, 10:00

After departing from the Great Hall, Vero had decided to take place in the gardens that surrounded it in order to give his Charmender some much-needed training. After all, while he had fought well in his first two battles, it had been up against similar rookie Pokémon, and both trainer and Pokémon needed to sharpen their skills.

First, Vero had decided to teach Buddy to use the move Ember, like Victoria's Litten had. It was easy enough, since not only he had seen the move in action, but he could already kind of breathe fire, and he only needed to perform the task in a manner which weaponised the process. It took a good hour in order to get the attack right, but it would finally allow the Charmender to attack at a distance – Victoria could bring it, now!

Then, in order to put the odds on his side in as much situations as possible, Vero tried to teach Charmender the move Smoke Screen. Much like for Ember, it used abilities that Buddy already possessed, but it was slightly more complicated. In order to get the attack right, the Flame Pokémon had to insist on the part of the process of creating fire that created smoke, aka the burning of combustible. Creating a flame and spitting it out needed it as well, but in order to get a good Smoke Screen, a good chunk needed to burn down. That meant that Buddy couldn't perform the move too often before running dry of his combustible substance and he needed to recharge.

Vero figured that, with good training, his natural capabilities would increase in effectiveness and get rid of this inconvenience.

Buddy's physical training began with a little running around, nothing obnoxious to discourage him, but still some activity which was going to make him grow in speed and power. As much as Vero loathed the idea of relying on sheer might to win, it was undeniable that it was at least required to have some of it, or else you end up incapable of even damaging the opponent.

Fortunately, a young Pokémon's growth is generally very quick, and in a matter of hours, one can become almost twice as strong as they were before. After that, however, the progress will begin to feel slower and the power difference will be less evident as they continue to grow.

At noon, Vero decided that he had had enough and he decided to explore the city a little. He set his sights on the poor neighborhood that he had passed by earlier that day, just after the wreck, and he went off to its general direction, not without buying a sandwich at the Hall and getting a can for Buddy as well. At the same time, he stuffed his bag with as much Potions, Pokéballs, Antidotes, Anti-paras and Burn Heals he could buy. This, unfortunately, meant not a lot, maybe three or four of each, seeing as Vero's finances weren't exactly prosperous.

Thus, around the middle of the day, the young trainer truly went away on his journey, ready to make his own name as a Pokémon Master.

Now, one could be puzzled as to why Vero would choose the worst-looking area of the city in order to begin his travel, but the answer was quite simple. Vero, in his rookie mind, craved for battle and challenges, and he figured out that a place like the Peridot Ward was the perfect opportunity to get into a few Pokémon fights.

Sure enough, not long after he stepped in, some shady guy had already addressed him, and the two settled their differences in a battle. This time, however, Vero won quite easily. Unlike his two new rivals, Cain and Victoria, this guy was not a trainer of career, not even a beginner. His Pokémon, a low-level Pansage, was also a bit lackluster which, coupled with its weakness to fire, meant that the fight was a foregone conclusion. At least, Vero could now confirm that Buddy's Ember move was perfectly operational.

For the rest of the day, though, Vero couldn't seem to find a good opportunity for a Pokémon fight. Any person her would see were either busy or just… kind of standing there, looking at him with a scowl. At one point, though, as Vero walked by the railway, he remarked that a few houses were quite close to it. When the train was still in motion, it would no doubt cause a lot of inconvenience, if not outright safety hazards.

As he observed one of the buildings, he suddenly heard a voice booming from not too far.

"Hey, dude!" Vero's attention snapped to the guy. He was quite tall and bulky, with a dark leather vest, under which there was no sign of a shirt. "You are standing on the wrong side of the rail."

The boy then looked down at his feet, and he noticed that he was, indeed, walking on the same side as the guy's presumed property was. However, Vero wasn't going to let some asshole decide for him on what ground – public ground, mind you – he was going to step on or not.

"Listen, buddy." The other man's eye twitched a little at Vero's manner of addressing him. "You can ramble all you want, but I'm walking on whatever side I want, got it?" He tried to look tough, but Vero could feel his heartbeat accelerate and his muscles tense up.

The two men entered a standoff for a few seconds, until the other guy grinned and lifted his chin.

"You… you're one of these little bitches from the Gyms or whatever who think they can just come in and do whatever they want, right?" His smirk devolved into a disdainful scowl. "Well, lemme tell you something, you ain't shit here. If you talk to me like that again, you little bitch, I'm making sure your day ends up with my boot up your ass. Got it?"

Now, Vero had adopted a scowl of his own. While he wasn't fearless, he was not going to let some low-life, crude loser talk to him with such flagrant disrespect. He sighed, then raised his hand with a mock smile.

"Alright, then, let's do something: Pokémon battle, right here and now, and if you win, I get on the other side. If I win, however, I do what the hell I want."

The local then nodded slowly, before grinning again.

"All right, boy. Show me ya moves."

The two then settled on the ground between the rail and the apartment building, Vero at north, the other guy at south. A few passing people had been made aware of the incoming fight and had come to witness it from afar. Vero let out his Charmender, all ready to battle and eager to go, while the older man snickered.

"Ha, you think you're hot, but you're just a rookie, are ya?"

Vero ignored the creeping feeling of regret that had been fading in until now, and tensed up. Then, the man got his own Pokémon out.

"All right, come on, Bro-Barel!" Then, after the Pokéball opened, a bulky Bibarel appeared.

The young trainer's eyes narrowed a little at this, realising now that he may just have made a mistake.

"Water-type, shit!"

The man crossed his arms and Vero entered a generic battle stance. Then, the two opponents began shouting their orders.

"Bro-Barel, Protect!"

"Buddy, Smoke Screen!"

The older man could only mumble a confused 'huh?' at Vero's decision. While Vero thought it was a decent enough call to cast Protect, it seemed that this guy didn't have a sharp mind for battling. Standard brawn at the detriment of brains.

Buddy's attack covered the opposing Pokémon in a thick layer of smoke, which left it coughing and covering its eyes.

"Come on, now, you idiot! Shake it off!" Came the other trainer's orders, much to Vero's amusement. He took this opportunity to continue the pressure.

"Growl, then Scratch!"

After the Charmender's Growl had left the Bibarel weakened, he took chase and hit him with his claws. Vero then smirked in satisfaction, seeing the opposing Pokémon falling backwards. "Who's the little bitch, now?" He couldn't help thinking.

However, Bro-Barel was far from done. When it stood back up, it looked almost as furious as its master. It slammed its enormous tail on the ground, with such force that it created a shockwave.

"Wait, wasn't it weakened?" Vero thought. The beaver Pokémon then chased after Buddy, but it was slower than before, funnily enough. That's when Vero's eyes widened in realisation.

"It has Moody!" He exclaimed, with the other man now sporting a cocky look. Now, Vero thought, the best strategy would be to try to defeat it as quickly as possible, before it became a figurative steamroller. But first…

"Buddy, Ember, multiple times!"

The little lizard then jumped and fired its attack as ordered, the Bibarel standing and taking it head-on. After the fourth time it hit, however, Bro-Barel winced in pain.

"Hey, what's the matter, man?" Asked one of the spectators, concerned by the turn of events.

"He's burned." Vero stated with a frown. "Now, let's do this, Smoke Screen! As much as you can!"

Vero's foe grimaced in rage as Charmender covered the field in a thick dark substance, which even got to both trainers. Vero thought about this and brought his shirt to his mouth to offer it some kind of protection. He could hear Bro-Barel wailing around, trying to get some kind of hit on Buddy. Then, once the smoke settled, the enemy Bibarel was already almost down, due to the burn. A Scratch attack later, and Vero had won the battle, with Buddy not even hit once. Even Cain's Nidoran had managed to at least clash with him.

"Now, the guy from the 'gyms or whatever' will walk where damn well he wants." Vero claimed. However, his defeated opponent only looked at him with pure rage, before beginning to rant.

"Coward! You just waited until my boy was weak and you picked him then!"

"Just like you were waiting for your Bibarel to become virtually invulnerable and steamroll me?" Came Vero's response, only further angering the guy.

Before long, Vero noticed with dread that around four or five people had come along, most of them with angry look into their eyes.

"You… you think you can just come and get all you want from us, huh!" Continued the madman, behind. The several thugs were placed in a way that forced Vero to step back towards a building.

At this moment, Vero tried to stand his ground.

"Y-you guys better back off, you got me? I've won fair and square…" He tried to say, but one of the men was now going to slam him to the wall.

"And what the fuck do you think it does for me? You think I play by your stupid rules?" The defeated trainer said, before his goon pushed Vero on the wall, making him fall on his backside. Buddy, who hadn't been recalled yet, hissed in warning to the several men present, but his intimidation tactic was obviously not working. He could probably beat a normal human being alone, but the Charmender feared that he couldn't defeat all five ganging on him with their respective Pokémon.

At this moment, Vero wanted to make a snide remark, something about cowardice and lack of guts that would wound these idiots right into their sense of self-worth. However, surrounded by men who all towered above him, probably with Pokémon of their own, he could only gulp in fear and stay still, while he tried to figure out a way to get his ass out of this mess.

Then, one of the thugs tried to take a grab on Vero's bag, which granted him a nasty bite from his angered Charmender. After the man screamed in pain as his fellows snickered at his infortune, he came back and went for a kick to the Pokémon, which the little Pokémon dodged as his trainer kicked him in the leg.

During this time, however, another had managed to take hold of his possessions and he looked through it with disgust as he realised that there was not anything worth re-selling. The cornered trainer and his Pokémon tried to get it back, but all Vero got for his troubles was a punch to the face, which sent him back on the ground.

At this moment, however, a powerful sonic blast ran straight through the group, causing them to bring their hands to their ears in surprise. They then turned back to look at their attacker; a little Noibat, clumsily flying around and coming back to its trainer.

It was a young dark-skinned woman, with pitch-black hair which was tied in an enormous ponytail and ran long and wide down her back, with the rest poking forward and partly obscuring her right eye. She wore an elegant white coat and black shorts. Under the latter, were thin leggings which went down to her boots, which were also black, but with a bit of white fur on the top. Her visage was quite sharp, with a pointy nose and big, piercing and purple-ish eyes.

Upon close observation, one could see that she didn't look any bit confident about her intervention, but she stood her ground nonetheless, looking at the injured boy the group was assaulting.

Vero, holding his own bleeding nose, took a look at her as well and, taking the opportunity provided by their attention being directed to her, ordered his Charmender to use Smoke Screen once again and then ran for his life, taking his little partner with him. Following his example, the girl ran for it as well, with the thugs not following them. They were satisfied at having taught Vero his lesson.

After they were sure that the scene of events was out of sight, both Vero and the young woman eventually stopped, with Vero bringing his hand back to his nose, realising it was still bleeding heavily. The girl then offered him a piece of tissue, which Vero more than happily accepted. After the adrenaline had died down in both of them, the young man sat down against a wall and sighed, trying his best to keep his composure in front of the girl.

The latter then kneed down to him and stayed there, trying to make sure that the guy was going to be alright. She eventually began talking to him.

"You… you're okay? You look pretty messed up."

"No shit…" He thought bitterly, but he didn't have the heart for that at the moment. "No, it's just a single punch, I've been through worse…"

Like a train wreck the very same morning, which bizarrely had left him less emotionally affected than a group of petty criminals.

The two then got up and she offered him to go to the hospital, which he refused. He didn't need to, he thought, and his pride had already been wounded enough as it was.

"In any case, just try to stay clear of trouble, alright?" Said the girl, causing Vero to look down and sigh. She then gave her hand, before adding. "The name is Lucia, by the way. What about you?" Vero then took her hand and shook it.

"Vero." His response was short, since with the stress inside of him now gone, he felt more tired than anything. The two trainers then stayed still in front of each other for a few uncomfortable seconds before Vero got fed up of it.

"So, I think we will meet again, someday?" He said, with a face that screamed 'Why did I leave bed this morning'.

"Yes, I guess… Just be careful not to dig yourself into trouble again, will you?"

After some mumblings of agreement – or annoyance, it's still up in the air to this day – from Vero, Lucia proceeded to quit the scene and he noticed that she was heading towards the Great Hall.

Looking down on Buddy, who had been glued to his leg for the entire conversation, Vero sighed.

"Okay, now I think would be a good time to find somewhere to sleep tonight, what do you think?" Buddy didn't seem to understand, but he looked happy enough to be talked to.

However, when Vero instinctively reached for his Pokéball in order to recall his Pokémon, he realised something quite troublesome: He had left his bag to the gang.

Fortunately, Vero's Pokéballs (or at least six of them) were kept in a small banana bag that he kept around his waist, but otherwise all of his possessions were lost.

"Honestly, I don't think this day could become any worse" Vero thought. Had he tried to dare the universe to run over him even more, he couldn't have chosen better words. He then began to search for some place to sleep to for the night. After all, if trainers were coming en masse, there must be ways implemented to welcome them, right?

Right?