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.: Hatred is a slow poison that consumes your soul :.

The wind was blowing a gentle and humid west breeze along the area. The grass swayed at the gentle strokes of their refreshing friend, and the lake reflected all the glory of the sun.

"Rush for a Tackle, now Kuru!"

"Dodge it, Rufus!"

Standing on an improvised battle field, stood Blanca, competing against a trainer that had just challenged her. The trainer sent a Zigzagoon while Blanca chose to use Kuru, her Poochyena, for the first time. So far, Kuru had done great and, surprisingly, had obeyed every single order of Blanca. Well, it was true he would dodge attacks and make small improvisations on his own, but he kept loyal to every single attack that Blanca would call. The young female was surprised for both the obedience and Kuru's strength. The Poochyena proved to be very fast and strong in battle, with good evasion and retaliation.

Kuru charged forward with speed aiming at his opponent Rufus, the Zigzagoon. However, Rufus proved to be faster and dodged the incoming attack. The raccoon Pokémon then opened his mouth to bite Kuru's tail - bad idea. Kuru immediately swirled, tackling the Zigzagoon straight in the guts, taking the Pokémon's breath away.

"This is so wrong…" the trainer murmured under his breath. "Rufus, get a hold of yourself and charge for a Tackle!"

Surprisingly, the tiny raccoon got back to his feet and charged at Kuru fiercely. Blanca bit her lip – that Pokémon sure had a lot of guts. He was really fast too, so Blanca had to come up with something quick, before the Zigzagoon could hit Kuru again.

"Alright, Kuru!" Blanca called. "Wait for it…"

Kuru stared nervously at Blanca and at the incoming raccoon. Was she serious? Waiting to get hit? Every single animal instinct he had told him to run away, but he remained on his spot only because he wanted to give Blanca a chance to prove herself… if she failed, then he would regret for the rest of his life, the day he joined her team.

Then, at the last second, Blanca shouted. "Jump, then Tackle!"

Quickly and in a flash of an eye, Kuru jumped and time stood still, Rufus had no way of escaping his next move as it was too late to outmaneuver him. Kuru crashed down on Zigzagoon in a Tackle attack.

"Rufus!" shouted the boy in panic. He saw in slow-motion, his companion collapse on the ground, clearly unconscious. There really was nothing he could do now, except return him to the Pokéball. "Rufus, return..."

Blanca squealed at this. Her first victory ever! How great was that? It hadn't been as easy as it looked; in fact, there were times that Blanca wondered about both hers and Kuru's skills. But the Poochyena had done wonderfully for her first battle.

"Kuru we won! Victory number one is ours!"

Blanca rushed to hug her Pokémon, but stopped halfway when Kuru glared at her. He didn't seem the hugging type.

"Kuru-chan!" Leaf called out. If she had pom-poms, she would be waving them around at that moment. "You did great! Where did you learn to attack and defend yourself that way?"

Kuru smirked, some pride in the fake smile. "Wild Pokémon are a lot tougher then the ones raised by Humans. In my case, I was raised by a clan of Poochyenas, where my father was the leader." It then hit Kuru that he was already talking too much; his past was not a subject of Leaf's interest. "All in all, I do have superior surviving instincts. Better then you, no doubt about it."

Kuru walked away, leaving Leaf behind lost in his last words. Better then her? Since when? If she recalled well, she hit him good on their first encounter.

"Kuru-chan, you're a big meanie!" Leaf shouted, even tough Kuru was already out of ear reach. "I'm a strong Pokémon…"

Leaf talked to herself, but those words did mean a lot to her. She didn't want to disappoint Blanca, if she wasn't good then… Blanca could return her to the lab! Just the thought of returning to that place, caused her chills. Well… Blanca didn't seem to be that kind of person, but, in her case, she could never be too careful.

Blanca shook hands with the opposing trainer. Both had agreed that it had been an amazing battle and the trainer even flattered Blanca for performing so well in her first battle.

"It was ok, I guess!" she said, giggling. "You did great also. I'll admit, there were times I wondered if I could handle the situation or not!"

The trainer nodded at this. "I'm no Norman, but I can hold my ground!"

At the mentioning of the name, Blanca wondered. "Norman? He's a gym leader correct?"

The boy gasped at this. "How in the world can you not be sure? Of course he's a gym leader! The best there is. You'll meet him when you reach Petalburg; he's your first attempt to receive an official league badge, so good luck on that!"

The young trainer left Blanca, laughing as he waved her good-bye. Blanca blinked – for Arceus sake; she didn't have to know all the gym leaders in the world! Why would it matter? All she had to worry about was being ready to face them, regardless of who it was.

"Leaf, Kuru, we're leaving."

Kuru followed behind Blanca, his head lift up high, clearly, he was still proud of his performance. After a few steps, Blanca noticed something. She turned her head to see that Leaf wasn't around, she sighed.

"Kuru… can you sniff Leaf?" she asked looking down at the puppy.

The Poochyena rolled his eyes – he was not going to babysit Leaf, so Blanca better not count on him to much in the near future. Sighing exaggeratedly, Kuru started sniffing the ground. He quickly picked Leaf scent – she smelled like pickles. The dog calmly walked over to some tall grass stopping before the same. He nodded at Blanca that approached the area; she kneeled down and moved the grass to the sides with both her hands. In the middle of the grass, stood Leaf looking sideways completely lost. Blanca had to force herself not to laugh at this. Poor Leaf, she was cursed with such a bad sense of direction.

"Leaf," she called. "This way."

Leaf blushed and rushed for Blanca's arms. Kuru said something to her, but Leaf replied by sticking her tongue out at him. The Chikorita made herself comfortable in Blanca's arms and they were ready to go.

The road to Petalburg itself wasn't hard to walk. On the contrary, it was pleasant and offered a very enjoyable view. Kuru took the time to battle a few wild Pokémon, such as Wurmple, Seedot and Lotad. At this battling rate, he would soon be on a very high level, but Blanca didn't complain - after all, she did get to practice a lot and get used to Kuru. Without noticing, both Blanca and Kuru had been battling wild Pokémon for hours, Blanca was so focused, that she didn't even remember to capture any of the defeated Pokémon. She and Kuru worked well as a team.

Leaf would watch from afar these battles; Blanca not once called her to test her own abilities. Not that she was jealous - heck, if Kuru wanted to be strong that badly then good for him. All that Leaf feared was for Blanca to leave her, once she would establish a good team of six.

It took them quite some time to get to Petalburg, but finally they were getting close.

"Come on, don't let her get away!"

The sudden shouting caused Blanca and her Pokémon to stop and look. Just a few feet away from them, was a tall handsome man screaming something at a younger boy standing next to him. The boy seemed bored out of his mind as well as annoyed.

"What do you mean don't let her get away? I don't want to have a Pokémon with that attitude! I'm not desperate you know!"

"You dragged me all the way here and you're not going to capture a Pokémon? Who cares if she has an attitude problem? Part of being a trainer is taming your Pokémon!" the man sighed heavily, that boy was starting to get on his nerves. "You there! You're not afraid of capturing a Pokémon, right?"

The man pointed directly at Blanca. The young girl looked side ways a little embarrassed from being caught 'spying' on them. She took a few steps toward them and it was then, that she understood what was really going on. An injured Ralts stood between the two challengers and a beaten up Zigzagoon – she sure was seeing a lot of raccoons lately, maybe they were popular among trainers.

"N-no, I'm not sir…" she found herself replying to his question. Where was he going with this?

The man smiled and then spanked the back of the boy's head. "See? She's not afraid! Young girl, would you be so kind to show him how to decently capture a Pokémon? Like any trainer in the world would?"

The boy growled, looking at Blanca in an evil way. She actually felt confused, everything was all so sudden. Did he just tell her to capture that Ralts? The psychic Pokémon whirled toward her, she was clearly angry and exhausted, but not even that kept her mouth shut.

"Oh, you want a piece of me too? Bring it on wimp!"

The small Ralts, rose her arms up in a fighting position, ready to take on any Pokémon Blanca could send. But Blanca pitied the injured Pokémon. She was covered up in dirt and bruises, her breathing was irregular and her anger blinded her from realizing how seriously injured her body was. Blanca didn't had it in her to attack such wounded Pokémon. But, she knew very well, that if she didn't, then that man would most likely attack the Ralts with no mercy – something about her having an attitude problem caused the boy next to him to dislike the Pokémon.

"Come on Blanca, let's take her out!" said Kuru in a good mood.

In the end, it hadn't been such a bad idea to join forces with Blanca. She proved to be quite skilled as a trainer, all she had to learn, was how to toughen up a bit. In Kuru's opinion, she was a bit too soft during battles.

"Go, Pokéball!" came the shout of Blanca.

Her action surprised everyone, especially Kuru, who was actually hoping for a battle. She threw one of her red and white devices at the wild Ralts, hitting her directly. A red light came out of the Pokéball, 'sucking' Ralts inside, before closing and fall to the ground. It was moving around quite a lot. Blanca was felling nervous and she could tell that the other two strangers were feeling the same – the boy was probably more surprised then nervous. The Pokéball kept moving around frenetically, before, and for everyone's relief, it stopped.

Blanca sighed – a smile on her face. She couldn't help but to think that, that had been the easiest capture she had ever witnessed. She moved forward to pick up her Pokéball. She looked nervously at the two strangers, when the man started clapping.

"Bravo! Very well observed missy," he spanked the back of the boy's head, yet again. "See what she did there? Her trained eye saw that the Pokémon was weakened enough for her to capture. Now that is amazing!"

"Not really…" Blanca thought to herself. It never occurred to her, that the wild Ralts was already weakened enough to be an easy capture. All she wanted to do was prevent the Psychic-Type from getting more injured.

Leaf cheered and rushed to Blanca, congratulating her for the capture of a new partner. Kuru, on the other hand, was still in awe with the sudden event. How reckless was of Blanca to just throw a Pokéball at a wild Pokémon? Lucky for her, it worked out on her favor. But that was exactly what it had been – luck – and Kuru never relied on it too much. He was of a strong opinion that things would only happen with effort and patience, never based on luck or other such factor. He huffed, but walked over to Blanca in silence.

The man shook hands with Blanca against her will. Being this close, Blanca could observe that he was, indeed, handsome. Tall and well build. Dark hair carefully combed back and sporty clothes, his confidence was very perceptible too.

"You were very good young girl. May I ask your name?"

"Blanca…"

"Blanca, uh?" the man smiled, pushing the young boy forward. "This is Billie; he's a newcomer when it comes to Pokémon." He paused staring at Blanca. "Sorry for all of this, I was just starting to get nervous and somewhat angry with the fact that he couldn't capture such a weakened Ralts."

The boy then snapped. "Weakened? Did you see what that Ralts did to your Zigzagoon? You specifically told me that Ralts over here didn't know how to fight back, and were perfect for starters!"

The man nodded, his arms crossed and his mind in deep thought. "For every rule there's an exception. That Ralts was an exception."

This conversation got Blanca nervous. What kind of Ralts are they talking about? Was it strong? Was it a savage? Was it dangerous? The young teen couldn't help herself but to wonder if, in fact, she had been unlucky in capturing the Psychic-Type.

"Excuse me; is something wrong with the Ralts?"

The boy looked at her, with a face of rather intense dislike. "Are you kidding me? I don't even know if 'wrong' is the right word to describe what this Ralts is! She's completely insane! Stubborn, irritating, trucker mouth! The list goes on!"

The man silenced the boy with his hand around his mouth. "What he means is that he's not used to see Ralts of this area use Confusion. She's just on a higher level - nothing more."

The man was lying through his teeth. But Blanca didn't give much care, she would find out what was so wrong about her Ralts either way. That in mind and knowing that neither of the strangers would help her, she decided to keep heading for Petalburg.

"H-hey," the man said touching Blanca's shoulder. "Are you alright? I'm sorry if we look freaky to you, but we really don't behave this way in normal circumstances."

Blanca smiled. "Oh, no, there's nothing wrong with you…" the sweat drop on her head suggested otherwise, those two did freak her out in a way. "I just… have to get going! See you later!"

"Bye-bye strangers!" shouted Leaf in her usual cheerfulness.

X

Petalburg was a nice city in Blanca's eyes. Technology had reached Petalburg too, but the city remained quite calm and friendly for what Blanca could tell. She first went for the local Pokémon center, where she left Ralts to be assisted by the nurse. The Nurse informed her, that it would take a while before Ralts could recover completely from her wounds. Blanca decided to go explore the city a bit while she waited; Leaf kind of pressed her to go outside.

Kuru was already inside his Pokéball; Blanca thought it would be easier to control only one Pokémon, not that Kuru was hard to keep an eye on; Leaf was the one that required as twice as the attention. Said Pokémon watched in amazement the city – first time she had ever seen and been on one that big. There were so many houses and the buildings were so tall, almost reaching the beautiful blue sky above. It all made her realize how much she missed from the world when living inside the laboratory.

"Here you go Leaf, try this." said Blanca.

Leaf watched in curiosity, as Blanca gave her something that she called 'ice-cream'. It was a strange cone, with something colorful in a shape of a ball on the top. There were two colors, one brown and another pink. Leaf first smelled and then, being pleased by the scent, took a big bite out of it.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Leaf shouted with the sudden headache.

Blanca giggled. "You don't eat ice-cream that fast Leaf! It'll cause you a brain freeze and pain, as you can feel. It's a quick heal, so don't worry."

It was true, the headache was gone. Leaf stared at the ice-cream and all she thought was of the great flavor it had. She ate the rest of the ice-cream in one bite – the brain freeze returning to her with twice the pain, making her yelp in ache. Blanca sweat dropped at this.

"You are quite the peculiar Pokémon, aren't you? Well, sight seeing is over. We now must make haste and head for the local gym, just like that boy told us." She paused and searched her brain for the boy's words. "Humm… Norman, wasn't it? I think he's the local gym leader. It can't be too far from here, let's get going Leaf."

"A gym battle already?" Leaf talked to herself. "But Blanca-chan hasn't used me in battle yet… I know! She's probably saved my energy, just so she could use me for this moment! That's it! Blanca-chan wait up!"

X

Norman's gym was right around the corner and Blanca now stood in front of its doors. When she first heard of 'gym', she actually thought about a tall building with high technology surrounding it. Crowds of people making line to watch trainers challenge the gym leader and cheer for every fabulous move either the leader or the trainer could make. Also, maybe some cameras to report the matches and broadcast it all over Hoenn. But none of that was there; it was just Blanca and Leaf by her side.

But maybe it was better this way. Blanca was already feeling quite nervous without the cameras and such. She knocked on the wood door and waited for someone to answer. The gym itself could very well be the house of the leader. It was all made of wood and reminded Blanca of a dojo. Leaf herself was feeling butterflies in her stomach – no, the ice-cream had nothing to do with it – she was nervous. She knew she had to perform well if she wanted for Blanca to be proud of having her as her starter.

The door suddenly opened. A brunette woman was the one who attended Blanca.

"Oh, good day. May I help you?"

"Hi, my name is Blanca Kimura and I came to challenge the gym leader. Is he around?"

The woman smiled. "Yes he is. He's on the arena right now with another boy, but I'm sure you can enter. Please, go right behind me."

Blanca picked up Leaf and followed the woman. She seemed nice and appeared to be a calm lady. It took the two about five minutes or less to reach the said arena. Just like Blanca had predicted, it resembled a dojo. All made of wood, from the roof to the floor. The arena was only differenced by rectangular white lines.

"Norman, this young girl wishes to challenge you. Are you busy?"

The man looked at the woman when he heard the challenge. Blanca couldn't believe who he was.

"H-hey!" she shouted pointing at the man. "You're that guy from just now! What are you doing here?"

The man laughed when he saw Blanca also. "Well what a coincidence! Ha-ha, I guess I should've predicted you would come here eventually. I haven't quite introduced myself yet, right Blanca? I'm Norman, leader of Petalburg's gym."

Norman smiled at Blanca's confused and surprised expression. She did the same face when she also recognized the boy standing behind him. Billie, was it? A moment of silence took place on the gym, until Norman broke it.

"So, you came to challenge me?"

"Uh?" asked Blanca, lost.

"You came to challenge Norman, did you not honey?" explained the woman.

"Oh, yes! Yes, I came for that… So, can we do it now?"

Norman smirked and walked over to an end on the gym. He then nodded at Billie and the boy went for the sides, getting a hold on two flags – one red, the other green. Blanca knew what that meant. The challenge was on. She walked to her side of the arena, putting Leaf back on the floor.

"Alright, on my left I have Blanca… from…" Billie stared at Blanca, confused. "What's your full name and where are you from?"

Blanca sighed. "Blanca Kimura from Littleroot Town…"

"Gotcha." he coughed, adjusting his voice. "This match will be held by the challenger Blanca Kimura from Littleroot Town against the gym leader Norman. Only one Pokémon can be used, so choose wisely. Ready? Go!"

"Go, Kuru!"

"Kuru? ..."

Leaf couldn't believe her eyes and ears. Blanca had chosen Kuru over her. The fierce hound was unleashed on the battle arena, his eyes narrowed down to intimidate whoever his foe could be.

Norman called his Pokémon next. "Come on out, Vigoroth!"

Norman's Pokémon looked a lot more powerful then Kuru. He was three times the puppy's size and a lot more intimidating. Sharp claws attached to his long white fury arms. His temper didn't seem all that good either. Blanca swallowed hard at this; she knew it wouldn't be easy. But it had to be done.

"Kuru, Tackle!"

"Let's start this easily: dodge it and use Scratch for now."

The Pokémon went for each other. Blanca couldn't loose focus for a moment, there was too much at risk on that battle. However, if she were to pay more attention, she would see that not all was right around her. Leaf stood still, a few feet away from her trainer.

"Blanca-chan chose Kuru… Does she think I'm weak too?"

A/N: Thank you to Bobandbill for helping me out with this. He's great! Also, Ralt's profile won't be up until I post next chapter - which might take a while. However, I may write a bit faster if... I get some reviews?