UPDATE AT BOTTOM
Travis ran out of the pokecenter and out onto Route 30. He immediately saw two trainers battling, a Pidgey facing off against a Rattata.
Travis released Cynder, who appeared with a small billow of smoke and flared up for a second. The little shrew pokemon then nuzzled Travis's leg and jumped up.
"Hey buddy." Travis pet his partner's head, "We're here to find a new teammate, we're looking for someone strong. If anyone attacks us you'll have to battle them ok?" Cynder flared up and nodded. "Thanks." Travis smiled.
The two watched the Pidgey battle the Rattata for a while longer. It seemed like the Rattata was losing, it was hard to hit a Flying type without long range attacks.
"Fry use Gust!" the Pidgey's trainer shouted, the brown bird flapped its wings, sending a flourish of wind at the Rattata, whose trainer smiled.
"Goro, jump!" the boy said, holding on to his blue hat as the gust nearly blew it away. The little Rattata jumped into the air, getting higher than Travis had seen any Rattata jump before, "Now use Tree Tackle!" as Goro landed he ran, blurring into a shapeless purple blur and running up a nearby tree, bouncing off and slamming into Fry the Pidgey, knocking it out of the air.
"Great job Goro, now use Hyper Fang!" the trainer shouted.
"Fry return!" the Pidgey's trainer shouted, returning his pokemon to its ball. He walked dejectedly towards the other trainer, taking his Trainer Card out of his pocket.
The winning trainer also took out his Trainer Card, though he didn't return Goro, "Nice match Mikey." he said as the two tapped cards, transfering funds to the winner.
"You too Joey, I don't know how you trained Goro to be so strong." Mikey said, putting his Trainer Card away.
"Well I figure he's gotta be able to hit Flying types if I'm gonna take on Falkner, plus he's in the top percentage of Rattata you know." Joey said, "Let's go to the pokecenter and get Fry taken care of" he returned Goro.
"Sure, can you help me train Akira later too?" Mikey asked as the two walked off.
Joey laughed, "We'll see."
Travis smirked, "Hey, Joey right?" he called out, the two turned around, "Before you go to the Pokecenter you wanna battle?"
Joey spun around, releasing Goro, "How much are we betting?"
Travis thought for a second, his father had given him $300 before he left, "How's about $100 each?"
Joey's smirk widened, "You're on!" he shouted, "Goro battle stance!"
"Cynder, time to battle!" he shouted.
Mikey moved to the middle and stepped back, "This is a battle between Joey and umm… what's your name?" he asked Travis.
"Oh sorry, forgot to introduce myself, name's Travis Elm." Travis said.
Mikey's eyes widened a little at the mention of the name Elm, "Ok so umm… This is a battle between Joey and Travis. Begin!" he shouted.
"Cynder use Rollout!" Travis started immediately.
"Goro, dodge with Quick Attack then charge in!" Joey yelled. Cynder rolled into a ball and sped off. When Cynder was a mere foot away Goro disappeared in a purple blue, appearing beside Travis and then charging at Cynder, faster than Travis could react his Cyndaquil was slammed in to and sent tumbling forward.
"Cynder, Smokescreen!" Travis shouted, "Hide in the smoke and Ember on my signal!"
"Goro, Quick Attack into the smoke, use your ears to find him and then go for Hyper Fang!" Joey yelled. Travis could tell he was getting pumped up.
Goro rushed forwards, as he hit the smoke Travis shouted, "NOW!" and Cynder launched a small fireball at the rat, causing it to tumble out of the smoke, landing on it's back, "Rollout!" Travis shouted.
Cynder rolled into a ball and charged towards the rat, knocking it away.
"Ember again!" Travis shouted.
"Goro, Quick Attack!" Joey shouted.
As Cynder inhaled to charge his flames, Goro slammed into him, HARD, knocking Cynder back into the fading smoke.
"Now, end it with Hyper Fang!" Joey said.
"Cynder, Quick Attack!" Travis shouted.
As Goro charged at Cynder, the Cyndaquil snapped towards the rat and charged forwards, slamming his head into the rat and sending it flying.
"Goro return." Joey said, clipping Goro's ball back onto his belt.
"Cynder, you ok?" Travis asked. Cynder flared up, but it was noticeably weaker than usual.
Joey held his Trainer Card up, "Here." Travis pulled his out and they tapped them together. "You can come to the pokecenter with us if you want."
"No thank you, I'll give Cynder some berries and a potion but we're out here to catch a new team member." Travis said.
"You should go for Flitt." Mikey said, "He's a Pidgey that was bred from Falkner's own Pidgeot - Rora."
"Ya apparently Flitt decided that he wanted to live on Route 31. I've battled against him once but he beat us. That's when I decided to come up with the Tree Tackle to take down Flying types." Joey said.
Travis nodded, "Thanks, it sounds like a good idea." Cynder deemed to agree as he flared brightly.
"Well, I'll see you later." Joey said, turning to leave.
"Ya, good luck." Mikey said, following Joey.
"Thanks for the battle." Travis called out. Once they were gone he took out a berry and fed it to Cynder, "You ready to go catch a Pidgey?"
Cynder flared up, noticeably higher than usual." Travis laughed, "Good."
It took Travis half an hour of asking around to find out where Flitt lived, near the Dark Cave entrance.
"Hmm, I heard that there are Geodude and Onix in there, wonder if I should try and catch one…" Travis wondered out loud as he gazed at the mountain. But as he took a step towards the mountain a blur shot towards him, but was hit by Cynder's Ember and flew back, skidding along the ground.
It was a thin Pidgey, with a tuft of red feathers on its head, signifying near evolution.
"You must be Flitt." Travis said with a smirk, he hadn't originally planned to use a Pidgey on his battling team, but seeing how fast this Pidgey was already made him excited, "You wanna join my team?"
Flitt flew up a few feet and flapped its wings, sending crescents of wind, all of which missed Travis and Cynder.
Travis's eyes widened, "Damn it knows Air Cutter?" He smiled widely, "Cynder we have to catch him!"
The Pidgey tackled Cynder with a Quick Attack, knocking the little shrew pokemon down.
"Cynder, Ember!" Travis shouted, "Then Rollout!" Cynder blasted flames forward and then rolled into a ball and shot at Flitt.
Flitt avoided the flames, but Cynder hit him dead on with his Rollout attack, knocking him back into the mountain wall.
"Ember again!" Cynder blasted flames forwards, blasting Flitt hard. "Pokeball go!" Travis threw a ball at Flitt, encasing the bird in a red light. It shook violently for nearly a minute before stopping with a ping.
Travis grabbed the ball, "Nice, Flitt will be a wonderful addition to the team." Travis scanned his thumb to confirm ownership and placed it on his belt.
"Let's head back to the center. We'll rest up. I want you to follow using Rollout as long as you can ok?" He told Cynder, who flared up and rolled into a ball, following slowly after Travis.
Lyra stood on the beach of Cherrygrove City. She could see other starting trainers who were playing with their pokemon as well. She took note of a Spearow, a Seel who was playing with a Slowpoke, and she even saw someone catch one of the Wooper that were everywhere in the area.
"Hey, Lyra right?" Lyra turned and saw Tyler standing on the beach, his Hitmonchan Crex standing beside him.
"Tyler, hi" She muttered, "You're here to find a Quagsire right?"
"Or a Wooper. I don't mind doing some training." Tyler said, "You wanna come to the island with me?" Tyler asked, pointing at an island far off in the distance, "I heard thats where most of the pokemon around here live. There's a forest there where a few Electric types live, I guess Zapdos once rested there and it's full of Thunderstones or something like that."
Lyra's eyes opened wide, "I'd love to go. How do you plan on getting there?"
"With my Fearow." Tyler said, "I put Shyne away for now, gonna work with her in isolation later tonight" he released a large brown bird that towered about every person and pokemon in the vicinity, it was nearly seven feet from foot to neck, and its neck was around three feet
long, with a foot and a half long neck. "Hey Vera" He pat her, a sweet sound echoed from her neck.
He hopped onto her back, "Hop on." Tyler held out a hand for Lyra, who took it and pulled herself onto the large bird's back.
They took off into the sky, "HOLD TIGHT!" Tyler yelled. Lyra nodded and wrapped her arms around Tyler's waist. It took barely ten minutes to reach the island, which was covered in forest with a beach around it.
"Wow, it's so isolated." Lyra said, noticing no land bridge or anything of the sort, "Should we be here?"
Tyler waved her off, "It's fine" he said, heading towards the beach, "Just come back here when you're done. If you take more than an hour I'll come find you."
Lyra nodded in thanks and walked into the forest, releasing Larima. "So, there are a lot of Electric types here, I wanna catch one."
Larima squaked and hid behind Lyra's leg.
Lyra chuckled, "Oh Larima, what am I gonna do with you?" She nodded her head and they kept walking for another half hour or so.
Suddenly both jumped as a loud bang echoed out. Lyra saw a tree a couple dozen feet ahead of her fall, breaking a few others as it fell.
She watched as a large black and blue lynx walked up to her, flanked by two medium sized lynxes and four small lynxes. It was a pride of Luxray.
"Larima, let's get out of here, Tyler should be able to help us." Lyra whispered. She took a couple steps back slowly but stopped as she heard the crackling of electricity.
Suddenly a yellow blur shot in front of her, holding its stubby arms out defensively. It squeaked at the Luxray and it growled, with the two Luxio stepping forwards.
"Larima we can't let the Pichu get hurt, she's trying to protect us!" Lyra shouted, "Use Water Gun!"
The two Luxio leapt forwards and Larima sniped one down with a pressurized jet of water, knocking it back but not damaging much. The other Luxio landed in front of the Pichu and opened its mouth to bite down on it.
"Criton, Needle Arm!" Lyra spun around to see Tyler's Quilladin jump over her with both arms glowing green and had green needles poking out. Criton slammed both arms into the Luxio closest to the Pichu. "Now use Bullet Seed!" Criton shot a flurry of seeds at the Luxio that Larima had attacked.
The Luxray roared and stepped forward. Both Luxio cowered behind it.
Tyler smirked, "I could use a Luxray on my team." He took out a pokeball, "Lyra why don't you capture that Pichu, she seems like she could use some medical attention, guess I wasn't quick enough."
Lyra looked down and saw that the Pichu had large fang marks along its torso and was bleeding quite a bit. She instantly grabbed a pokeball and pressed it to the small rodent's head, sucking it up. The ball pinged immediately.
"Tyler don't capture that Luxray. Please." Lyra said, watching as it stared down Criton. "Let's just leave."
"Why shouldn't I?" Tyler asked, "It's obviously powerful." Criton stepped towards the Luxray, eliciting another warning roar that rattled Lyra's bones.
"It's just trying to protect its family!" Lyra shouted, returning Larima and stepping towards the Luxray pride, "We can leave. I'm sure that there are people looking to trade or sell a Shinx somewhere in town."
Tyler put the pokeball away, "Fine. Criton guard us until we're far enough away then come back."
The Quilladin started up it's Needle Arm technique and nodded. The Luxray's eyes began to glow.
"RUN!" Tyler shouted as the Luxray roared and charged them. Criton intercepted and smashed the lynx in the face, knocking it to the side.
Lyra and Tyler ran back to the beach. He released a tall blue pokemon that had a blank look on its face.
"Holus, Mud Bomb any Shinx or Luxio that come towards us." Tyler commanded the Quagsire.
Suddenly Criton was thrown back and smashed into Holus. Tyler cursed and returned both of them while also releasing his Fearow, "GET ON AND HOLD TIGHT!" He jumped on, pulling Lyra along with him. "Vera Aerial Ace we gotta go!" The Fearow immediately dashed off, moving fast enough that by the time the Luxray arrived it couldn't aim it's lightning at them.
Vera landed in front of the pokemon center and Tyler returned her. Together the two ran in and up to the counter, "Nurse Joy! We were out at Thunder Island and met with a pride of Luxray. They attacked a Pichu that she captured and I think my Quilladin is suffering extreme paralysis." Tyler said. Nurse Joy immediately took the two pokeballs and brought them to the back, ordering the two to sit down.
After a couple minutes Lyra spoke up, "How did you know to come rescue me?"
Tyler chuckled, "It was the Pichu actually, she came and grabbed at my pant leg, pulling me towards the forest. I followed it and suddenly it dashed off. I ran as fast as I could but it was a bit quicker."
"So she was following me and knew that the Luxray pride was stalking me." Lyra shuddered to think about what would've happened if the little Pichu wasn't there.
After a while Nurse Joy returned Criton to Tyler, telling him that, luckily, it was minor paralysis and easily cured.
"Well Lyra, I've gotta get ready to battle Jasmine so I'll see you later." Tyler said, walking by her, "I'm sure we'll meet again though."
"Ya. Thank you." Lyra said. She sat there for another half hour until the nurse called her over.
"Pichu will be just fine." Nurse Joy said, "You got here quick enough to save her."
Lyra smiled, "Thank you Nurse Joy." she took the ball and placed her thumb on it, completing the registration process, "I'll name you Topaz."
Ethan walked into the pokemon center right after, "Oh hey Lyra." He said with a smile. "How'd the beach go?"
"Oh it was eventful." She responded, "How was training?"
Ethan smirked, "It was great, Sobek and I need to work on his Rage though, he loses himself in it too quickly." He then pulled out a pokeball, "We also caught a new teammate, a Hoothoot I named Terminus."
"Ya I caught a Pichu, her name is Topaz." Lyra said, waving the pokeball she held in her hand.
"Nice." Ethan smiled, "I'm just gonna ask Nurse Joy to look at my pokemon then you can tell me about how eventful the beach was."
"OH I wanna listen to that story too! Plus I've got something to tell you guys." Travis shouted as he entered the pokecenter, "I caught one of Rora's offspring."
"Rora you mean Falkner's Pidgeot?" Ethan asked, "How'd you do that?"
"She took up residence on Route 31. Cynder and I beat her and caught her." Travis said.
Lyra and Ethan congratulated him and the two boys gave their pokemon to Nurse Joy. They spent the next hour eating and telling each other about their days.
Hey so just a quick update, there's a new poll on my profile about the Togepi egg. Since I want the readers to be a big part of the story's progression I've decided to let you all decide who gets her. Also I've decided that if anyone requests a pokemon or gives me an OC I'll do my best to add them in.