Sorry it's taken so long, but here's the next part. It turns out that as you re-write an entire story that you had planned out because you didn't like what was going on in it that it takes longer than you originally planned for. I hope that you enjoy the battling in this one.

Anyway, on with the story.

The next day, we went back out to the lake. Jacob tried very, very hard to catch that Cindaquil, but he just couldn't find it.

I was working with Torchic when a couple of pickup trucks full of trainers pulled up. I quickly recalled all my Pokémon.

"Dang, I really thought that I was the only one who knew about this place," said the driver of one of the trucks.

That's when one of them noticed my Pokéballs. "Hey, you a trainer?" he asked. I nodded. "Good, then let me tell you what's going to happen. We're here to train for the County Tournament, and we don't want anyone stealing our secrets. We'll battle you, one-on-one. If you beat us, we'll train somewhere else. If you don't, then you're out of here."

Just then, Jacob arrived on the scene. "Dudes, eight against one? That's not fair. How about we make this eight against two?"

They just shrugged. "Makes no difference," said the first. "Let's battle."

Jacob squared off against their leader. "You're the challenger, so you send it out first."

"Fine. I choose Treecko!" The green gecko Pokémon came out, looking ready to battle.

"In that case, I'll choose Ekans." Still purple, still scary, Ekans made Treecko back down just a little. Jacob wasted no time whatsoever. "Use Poison Sting!"

"Kaaaaaaa!" Ekans launched a huge barrage of poison stings at the Grass-type.

"Dodge it, Treecko!" To its credit, it did try, but the other trainer wasn't fast enough in giving the order. The attack hit for super-effective damage. Poison sting isn't a particularly powerful attack to begin with, but at three times the damage, it'll hurt. I made a mental note to teach my Pokémon to dodge on their own in case I couldn't tell them in time.

That's when I noticed that Treecko had a needle from the attack lodged in its left arm. A wave of poison washed over it, taking it to its knees. "Use Quick Attack!" said Jacob's opponent.

"Bite!" shouted Jacob. Ekans' bite must have hurt, and with Treecko barreling straight at Ekans, all the snake had to do was open its mouth, wait for Treecko's head to hit it, and close its mouth. I felt sorry for Treecko. Ekans is one brutal Pokémon. Then, it got even more brutal. "Use Wrap!"

Ekans pulled Treecko to the ground with its teeth then slid its snaky body around it, tightening it, all while keeping hold of Treecko's head. I felt a tiny part of me die when I tried to imagine what the poor gecko was feeling.

"Treecko! Try Bullet Seed!" Even against type, that had to hurt at that close range, but the snake didn't look even scratched by the exploding seeds.

"Give it a squeeze!" That MUST have hurt Treecko. Four feet of pure muscled body wrapped around it and now tightening was going to put a damper on that Pokémon's day.

"Treecko, return!" said the other trainer. He looked upset, but that's Pokémon battling. Yes, it was a little on the hard side, but which is better: squeezing a Pokémon until they pass out from lack of air, or burning them until they black out from the pain? Same difference.

"My turn!" said one of his cronies. "I'll send out Bibarel!"

Bibarel was a fairly common Pokémon around the Mississippi River, so I had a good grasp on its abilities. Dual-type Normal/Water, sharp teeth, strong body. Nothing too strange.

"Bibarel, use Water Gun!"

"Roll!" Ekans rolled like a log out of the way of the Water Gun. One-word evasion moves seem to work just as well as automatic reflexes if you want a little more control over how your Pokémon move.

"Poison Sting while rolling!" shouted Jacob. Ekans didn't have a prayer of touching Bibarel, but that wasn't the point. It got Bibarel off of the offensive and it stopped blasting its Water Gun while it avoided the stings, giving Ekans enough time to get up.

"Roll Out!" shouted the other trainer. Bibarel curled up into a ball and rolled towards Ekans as fast as it could.

"Bite!" Ekans' bite was like a replay of the last battle. Bibarel rolled right into it and got hurt.

Unlike Treecko, Bibarel had a trick up its sleeve. Ekans bit its head, but Bibarel was still able to use its Water Gun. So, when it did, Ekans filled up with water faster than it would have otherwise wanted to and let go very quickly. Just another little lesson: when an opponent with a breath-based attack is using Rollout, do not bite its head or a point-blank attack will ensue.

The two Pokémon faced each other, and while Bibarel was mostly okay, Ekans was breathing heavily. "C'mon Ekans! You can do it! Poison Sting!"

"Water Gun!" The Poison Sting attack helped to deflect the bulk of the Water Gun attack, but not all of it. Ekans took a small blast of water before rolling out of the way.

That big, purple snake looked really, really pissed. Ekans was not used to losing. It closed its eyes for a second, and when it opened them they were the most frightening sight I'd ever seen. I looked away, but when I looked back, Bibarel was shivering on the ground, paralyzed. "Whoa, little bro! Did you just learn Glare?!"

"Ekansss…" it hissed, again doing its impression of a shrug. Then it let loose with another barrage of Poison Sting, taking the prone Bibarel by surprise.

"Okay, that's cool man. Pour it on him!" Within seconds, Bibarel was covered in poisonous spines and not looking any better than Ekans.

"I got to hand it to you, Jacob," I said. "Ekans just turned that battle upside down."

"Thanks, bra. I've been working really hard with him."

"It shows."

"Bibarel, Rollout!"

"Ekans, Bite!"

Why would he ask for that?! That's how Bibarel got the upperhand before!

At first, it was identical to the way it happened before. Bibarel rolled into Ekans' mouth, but this time, Jacob knew a better strategy. "Use Poison Sting!"

Perhaps at range Water Gun will beat Poison Sting. Up-close, no dice. Ekans, still holding Bibarel in its mouth, turned and looked at Jacob.

"Nu uh, not cool, man. You let that Bibarel go."

"Ethans!" it said around a mouthful of Bibarel.

"You're not in the wild anymore, buddy. Your opponent is no longer your food."

Ekans looked very sad as it released Bibarel, while the other trainer was horrified. "Ekans was about to eat Bibarel?!"

Jacob shrugged. "I just caught him day before yesterday. This is his first real battle outside of hunting, so lay off, will ya?"

"I'll teach you to 'lay off,'" said the next trainer. "I'll lay you off with the fist of Machop!" Out of this Pokéball came what was, literally, the most common Fighting-type Pokémon in the entire world. It's found on all continents, is one of the easiest to train, and is actually reasonably powerful when fully-evolved.

However, it does have the slight problem of completely failing at long-range.

"Ekans, sweet battles, bra. Take a siesta my friend. Yanma, it's Hammer Time!"

"Hammer Time? Seriously?!"

"Dude, Machop can't touch this!"

"Machop, Karate Chop!" Machop ran and jumped at Yanma, but true to Hammer Time, Yanma just buzzed to the side and nailed it with Sonic Boom. Same tactic that Jacob used against me and it's even more effective now that Jacob's been training Yanma's evasion. Yanma soon fells Machop, and the other trainer is left looking a little shit-faced for failing to defeat a bug with his big, powerful Machop.

The next trainer steps up. "Geodude, let's rumble!"

Geodude is a floating rock with two arms, a mouth, and two eyes. That's about it. Oh, and it's the perfect matchup against Yanma.

"Same thing, Yanma! Hammer Time!"

"Jacob! Geodude is a Rock-type, Yanma's attacks will barely scratch the surface!"

"Chill, bra. Yanma's still got a few tricks up its wings. Let 'em have it, little guy!"

"Geodude, use Rock Throw!" Geodude grabbed rocks from the ground and chucked them at the bug, but Yanma was untouchable. Buzz, buzz, buzz went the wings as the bug looked like an aviator in those old WWII films, narrowly missing rock after rock, and nailing Geodude every chance it got.

Geodude was getting pretty worn-down, but right as Yanma looked like it would win, Geodude got lucky and nailed it with a rock. "Yanma!"

"I guess you can touch this," I said.

"That's okay. I still got the Big Wave. Surf's up, Mudkip!"

"Oh, shit!" said the other guy.

"Water gun!"

"Rock Throw!"

Geodude was too worn-down by that time and so was too slow on the draw. The water was significantly faster, and the already worn-down Geodude was done for.

That's when one of the two girls in the group stepped up. "I'll show you morons how to battle. Pichu, show this ugly Mudkip your Thundershock!"

The little, yellow mouse with the tiny tail came out of the Pokéball and hit Mudkip with its electric attack. Talk about ouch.

The shock on that girl's face when Mudkip was still standing was very, very evident. "Mudkip, use Mud Slap!"

Mudkip scooped some mud off the ground and nailed Pichu between the eyes. Try as it might, Pichu couldn't get the mud off. "Use Tackle Attack!" Mudkip launched itself at Pichu, sending it flying.

"Use Thunderwave!" Pichu tried to shock Mudkip, but Mudkip wisely stayed behind it.

"Tackle!"

Pichu have great offensive capabilities for a baby Pokémon. You never want to be on the receiving end of their attacks. However, like all babies, they are very fragile, and Mudkip was no longer a baby Mudkip. The second tackle following the super-effective mud attack was enough to take it down. Mudkip didn't look all that great, thanks to the super-effective Thundershock, but it was still standing.

"Jacob, take a break. You got five of theirs, I'll finish it off." He nodded, and took my place.

"You're still sending out the first," I said.

"Fine," said my opponent. "Let's throw a Taillow your way!"

I knew that the little, blue bird was fast, and I didn't have anything fast enough to beat it.

What I did have was something that could out-muscle it. "Torchic, you're up!"

"Taillow, Quick Attack!"

"Torchic, Rock Slide!"

The rocks appeared out of thin air as Torchic got an evil smile on his face. For their part, the other trainer and Taillow were shocked into silence.

"Holy crap…" I heard someone whisper as more and more rocks formed in the air.

Then, Torchic let them go.

Take it from me. The sound of a hundred rocks crushing one tiny bird is not a pretty sound by any definition. I helped move the pile of rocks so that the other trainer could recall Taillow.

"Next?" I asked.

The group of trainers got back in their trucks and left without a word.

"Where did that come from, man?!" asked Jacob.

"Dad. He sort of rigged my team."

"Wait, how?"

I told him about my dad bribing the breeder, though I left out the part about Kabuto being found in the lake.

"Dude, I mean, it's awesome that your dad wants to help you out and all, but why'd he really do that?"

"I have no idea. Really, I don't." We let that discussion die at that.

"So," I said, "any luck catching?"

He shook his head. "Didn't see anything good. I almost caught a Pidgey because I'm getting so desperate."

That's about when I got a call from my dad. I swear, he has the best timing. "Hey Dad."

"Kyle, listen, I know you're not all that happy with the way I rigged your team, but I just thought that I'd mention that Jacob's mom called and let me know that he's one Pokémon short of a full team. Any chance the two of you would like to take a trip up to the mountains today and check out the catching there?"

"Dad, you have the perfect timing. We were just talking about that. I'll ask him." I relayed the message to Jacob.

"Bra, if you think that I'd turn down an opportunity like this, you're wrong. Let's roll!"

I gave Dad Jacob's answer. "Excellent. I'll meet you guys in town."

After we packed up the Pokémon and left the lake, we met my dad in Burson, piled into his car, locked mine, and started driving. Dad pressed both of us for details about how we were training our Pokémon and gave us some pointers. He especially approved of Jacob's Hammer Time strategy, but advised him to try and avoid that situation with Geodude if possible. Dad also said that I should focus on training Torchic's agility and that that would pay out in the long run, and that Mudkip should be trained as a tank, not attacker as Jacob had been trying, and that Ekans would really benefit from learning to jump like a spring. Little things that we had never thought of. Did you know that Bulbasaur is actually the fastest of its evolutions and can be competitive in battle without evolving for that very reason?

I debated the idea of not evolving Beast, but decided that the offensive boosts were worth the loss of speed. Besides, a tiny Beast isn't much of a Beast at all.

We got to the mountains in a fairly short amount of time and started looking for a good place to start catching. Dad handed me a Pokéball in case I saw something I wanted to catch, but I didn't think I'd use it.

We found a cave not too long after we started looking, so we went in. Getting Jacob a Pokémon was our first priority, so we stuck together, using some night-vision glasses Dad provided so that we wouldn't wake the Pokémon inside.

At one point, I thought I felt something tap my shoulder, but when I looked, there was nothing there, so we kept going.

Then, we saw it. It was scared, curled up in a pink ball, and whimpering. Whismur, I thought. Jacob took out Mudkip's Pokéball, but my dad stopped him. They exchanged some kind of unspoken communication, and Jacob put the Pokéball away. "Hey, there," he said to the little guy, very quietly, after getting down on one knee. "You okay there, little guy?"

Whismur looked up and saw Jacob. It quit whimpering and started sobbing.

"Do you need some help finding your way out?" asked Jacob. Even with its head hid under its huge ears, we could see it nodding. Jacob held out his hand. "It's okay, we'll get you out of here," he said. Whismur took hold of the hand and started to follow Jacob out of the cave. That's when I felt it again.

Something tapped my shoulder, except this time, I know I wasn't imagining anything. I looked over my shoulder and saw something that I could go the rest of my life without seeing.

It was a skull floating in mid-air.

Apparently, this chapter is shorter than my others. Sorry about the cliff hanger, and I promise, Kyle is NOT about to get a Ghost-type this early. That would be ridiculous. Totally, completely ridiculous. As in it will not happen because his team would be WAY too OP for less than a week of training. Yes, that is the level of ridiculous that I will not reach. Which says something about how stupid it would be of me to do it, because I am a huge fan of the marginally possible.