4. New Pokemon and Evolution
" Okay, according to this map, we are now in Route 102," Sara mumbled with her face buried in the humungous map. " They should make smaller maps for us trainers. Look at the size of this map!" she grumbled, folding the map and placing it into her backpack.
" Hey, you there! Want to battle me?" a voice called out. Turning towards the direction of the voice, she saw a teenager about her age run up to her. " Sure, why not?" Sara grinned. " Okay. Each of us can use up to three pokemon, without time limits. Is that okay with you?" he panted, quite winded after his run. " Bring it on!" Sara said.
" Come out, Zigoon!" the boy called. " Zigoon-zii!" the Zigzagoon appeared in battle mode.
" Torchic, go!" Sara cried. " Torr-chic-chic!" Torchic chirped then proceeded to rub herself against Sara. " Ha ha, that tickles, Torchic! Battle first, affection later, OK?" Alright. I've been itching to battle for some time now. Torchic quipped.
" Growl at it, Torchic! Then follow it up with a Tackle attack!" Sara shouted.
" Evade both Attacks now. Then use Tail Whip!" the boy said. He definitely wasn't one to shout his commands to his Pokemon. His Zigzagoon cowered at Torchic's Growl, thus lowering its Attack but it did not stop it from evading Torchic's Tackle. Right after landing on the grass, it wagged its tail in a friendly way, lowering Torchic's Defense in turn.
" Tackle it now, Zigoon!" the boy cried, apparently referring to his Zigzagoon. " Wait for it to come near you then use Ember on Zigoon, okay Torchic?" Sara said softly to Torchic. Torchic nodded, then stood its ground. As Zigoon leapt into the air to ram into Torchic, Torchic released a stream of fire right into its face. Zigoon was unable to avoid it due to the fact that it was airborne.
Zigoon fell to the ground where it remained still for a moment. It then staggered to its feet, rather shakily before falling down, unable to continue battling.
" Thank you, Zigoon. You deserve a good rest." The boy mumbled his thanks to his fallen pokemon. He held out Zigoon's Pokeball. A red beam of light came out, hitting Zigoon and taking it into the Pokeball. " Your turn now, Tado." A Water/Grass Element pokemon appeared on the battlefield. A large leaf nearly shadowed its miniature form.
" Lotadlotadlo!" called the overeager Lotad, quite unable to remain still. " What's that?" Sara wondered as she took her Pokedex out, pointing it at Tado. Lotad, the Water/Grass element pokemon. It used to live on land but changed its habitat due to the growth of the leaf on its head, making the leaf to heavy for the Lotad without support. her Pokedex explained. " Cool…I'll have to get one later." She muttered.
" Torchic, return!" Torchic turned into a red beam of light and went back into its Ball. " Zigzagoon, I choose you!" Sara shouted.
" Zigzagoon!" Zigzagoon's demeanor showed only too plainly its eagerness to battle.
" Tackle Tado!" Sara encouraged her Zigzagoon. "Evade Tackle now!" the boy said. Tado prepared to leap aside. Before it could do this, Sara shouted, " Now Headbutt!" Zigzagoon's reckless charge did not slow down; on the contrary, its speed increased. At the same time, it lowered its head, attacking Tado. Tado's HP went down to the yellows and its Flinched in surprise. " Finish this with another Headbutt!" Sara cried.
Due to the closeness of the two pokemon, the Headbutt caused a Critical Hit, which also spelt the end for Tado.
" Tado return." The boy said, somewhat dispirited. " Now for my final pokemon," he declared. "Go, Poochyena!"
A Dark element pokemon materialized in front of Zigzagoon, barking non-stop. "Rest now, Zigzagoon. Your turn now, Wurmple!" Sara called out.
The boy stared unbelievably at Wurmple, then laughed hysterically. " HA HA HA HA HA! You actually want to use a Wurmple against my Poochyena? Bad choice, miss…Poochyena's my first pokemon, making it the strongest of them all. And you're using a Wurmple to compete? HAHAHA!" the boy doubled over with laughter.
" Grr! How dare you insult Wurmple! You'll pay for this! Tackle Poochyena now!" Sara fumed. Wurmple, also greatly angered by the jeering, rammed hard into Poochyena, causing nothing but minor damage. " Wow, he is not kidding when he said Poochyena is strong. Wurmple barely scratched its HP! I'd better be careful…" Sara thought.
" Huh. What a lame move," the boy laughed. " Poochyena, show them your Tackle."
Poochyena's Tackle made Wurmple soar into the air. When it landed, Sara could see that it suffered great damage. " Are you okay, Wurmple?" she asked, concerned. Wurmple nodded, yet seemed to be close to fainting after the impact. "Hang in there, my friend." Sara called out as Wurmple made its way back to its end of the field. Suddenly Wurmple looked at the bright sun and began spewing a sticky thread around itself, forming a cocoon. " What…" Sara muttered, full of surprise.
Suddenly, a bright glow engulfed Wurmple. " Wurmple!" it cried out. When the light faded, Wurmple was no longer there. In its place was…
" Silcoon!" the new pokemon rasped. " Wow, you evolved," Sara exclaimed in awe. " Can you battle?" Sara asked, for Silcoon looked quite vulnerable to attacks. Silcoon nodded (or at least tried to) and faced Poochyena.
" How touching." The boy sneered. " Tackle to finish it off, Poochyena." Sara shut her eyes, unwilling to see her pokemon faint. But….
" WHAT!" the boy yelled. Silcoon appeared to have used Harden, making its white cocoon tougher. The Tackle hardly affected it. " Yay! Good job, Wur…I mean Silcoon!" Sara cried. " Now use String shot to slow Poochyena down!"
Silcoon sprayed a huge amount of the same sticky substance that it had used earlier at Poochyena. Poochyena's legs were caught in the netting, rendering it helpless on the ground. " Good! Now Tackle it until it faints!" Sara commanded.
After three Tackles, the Poochyena's head hit the ground, quite unable to battle. "Oh crap. I lost." The boy muttered, returning Poochyena back into its Pokeball. " Here's your prize money." He handed a wad of Pokedollars to Sara. Sara shook his hand warmly after receiving her prize. " Your pokemon fight very well. What's your name?" the boy enquired. " I am Sara. And you?" " Cole. I hope we can meet again. Bye." With that sudden end to the conversation, he departed for Oldale to heal his pokemon.
" Come out, all of you." Torchic, Zigzagoon and Poochyena (not Cole's mind you!) appeared in front of her. Silcoon, who was already out, simply stayed on her grassy patch and didn't move. " All of you did very well in this battle, and I'm really proud of you guys." Sara said. Out of the blue, a Ralts appeared beside Torchic, startling it. Torchic cried out in alarm and backed away from Ralts.
" What wrong?" Sara quickly scanned the area. Seeing nothing wrong, she turned to face Torchic. " What's wrong, girl? Did something frighten you?" she cooed. Torchic calmed down and said, there's a wild p-pokemon behind you.
" Where?" Sara looked around once more. This time, her eye caught a blur of green and white. Focusing on the 'object', she realized it was a Ralts. " What, are you afraid of this Ralts?" Wait, Ralts! Aren't they rare? She thought.
I definitely am, a high-pitched female voice was heard. " Wait…you read my thoughts?" Sara exclaimed. Sure, Ralts shrugged. I'm a Psychic pokemon, remember? "Oh yeah. I forgot. Sorry." Sara said sheepishly. Ralts waved the comment away. No matter. OK, back to your question. You're right, I'm rare. That's because I am drawn to positive emotions given out by people. I feed on it. It explained. Your pokemon felt happy at your praise and radiated a lot of happiness. That's why I am here.
" Do you realize that I can capture you?" Sara asked her(Ralts). Of course I am. The reasons I am here are because of the radiation of your happiness and…w-well…I want to belong to you. She admitted. Don't worry. I mean you no harm, she added hastily when she saw Sara's look of caution. " But why -" Sara was interrupted my Ralts, who said, we Ralts like positive feelings, as I told you earlier. Problem is, it's rather hard for us to get our food since most Trainers lose to other stronger ones here. Most of the emotions radiated are pride and depression. Our species is slowly depleting and we needed a food source. That's why the news broadcast a few days ago stated that there were many more Ralts sightings these days.
" Oh, so that's it. Is it okay with you, my friends?" turning to face her pokemon. Fine. Silcoon shrugged. A new partner! A new partner! Torchic and Zigzagoon chanted. Poochyena opened one sleepy eye ( it had been sleeping through the whole ordeal) and nodded, them drifted back to sleep.
Sara grinned and pulled out a Pokeball. Ralts beat her to pushing the button and was immediately swallowed by the red light. Seconds later, Ralts reappeared and sighed, Finally…a home.
Sara watched it thoughtfully for a moment then her face broke into a huge smile. New day, new pokemon. There's always something new for me to see about this beautiful world, Sara mused. She ran forwards and said, " Who wants a battle? First one to catch me battles first! Excluding Silcoon, of course." She shouted at her pokemon far behind her. Coming! Bags I battle first! Every pokemon shouted and ran after her as the last dew on the grass evaporated to be one with the sky.
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Is this chapter nice? I worked hard for three days for this, so I consider it as a job well done. I hope the readers will continue following Sara's adventures throughout Hoenn to be a Pokemon Master…and to save the world.
NEXT EPISODE:
Sara reaches Petalburg City, where she meets Norman, the Gym Leader of Petalburg City who also happened to be May's father. Max, May's younger brother, is with him. As she leaves the Petalburg Gym, she runs into Wally and helps him to capture his first pokemon (guess what pokemon it is!).
