"Use Mud-Slap Mudkip!"
"Follow Mudkip's attack with a pound Slick!" Treecko, who had affectionately been named Slick and Mudkip both nodded their head notifying the message had been sent. Mudkip was the first to step up and kicked dirt towards the enemy trainer's Zigzagoon. The enemy Trainer was no doubt a beginner in Hoenn seeing as how he looked no older than twelve years old. The mud hit the Youngster's Zigzagoon in the eyes blinding it temporarily. As it attempted stubbornly to shake off the mud in its eyes Slick moved in. With a quick twist of Slick's body Zigzagoon felt the power of the dark green tail as it was sent flying backwards.
"Now Taillow! Let's not pass this up! Use Peck on that Treecko!" The blue feathered Bird Pokemon flew up into the air chirping. The command came from a second equally aged youth in jean shorts and a yellow hat with a blue cap.
"Mudkip use Mud-Slap and make it miss its target."
"Mudkip!" The water Pokemon preformed the technique and in seconds Mud was flying in Taillow's direction.
"You don't know that keen eye prevents your stupid Mud-Slap from working right?" The mud caked onto the Taillow's face and it slowed a bit but after the Bird Pokemon blinked once it set himself back on course for the Treecko.
"Slick! We're gunna need some expert timing for this…when it gets close enough I want you to use absorb. It won't be the end of the world if you take Taillow's attack." Treecko nodded and awaited the Pokemon that was swooping in for the kill.
"Mudkip, the second Treecko starts absorbing I want you to move in with Tackle." Mudkip nodded getting himself ready for Taillow's attack as well. The Youngster was oblivious to the massive counter attack that was riding on the Taillow's attack as he simply awaited his Bird Pokemon to hit the Treecko. Sure enough Slick reached out grabbing the Taillow's head and began absorbing energy. Although Slick was unable to stop the initial attack it was quickly replenished as it stole Taillow's life force. Suddenly out of nowhere the Taillow was blasted backwards out of Treecko's hands and onto the ground a couple feet away.
"Nice job Mudkip," Mudkip smiled jumping up and down for a little bit. The Pokemon's display of joy brought a smile to Ray and Misty's lips as the two laughed for a little bit. The Youngsters returned their Poochyena and Taillow to their poke balls and left immediately, most likely for a Pokemon Center. "Well I can see Petalburg from here. I guess we should be getting into town in a couple of minutes."
"That was only about two hours worth of walking… don't tell me Hoenn is that small." Misty sighed as she returned Mudkip to his poke ball. Ray opened Slick's poke ball returning the Pokemon to it with a red light.
"Just be quiet and let's go." Ray nodded and was right behind Misty as they began walking again. Suddenly a Pokemon came out in front of the two and started picking at some berries that had fallen to the ground. "Hey, that's a…" Misty pulled out her newly obtained Pokedex and pointed it at the Pokemon. "A Wingull, I guess you can catch it if you want. It's a flying type Pokemon." Misty put her Pokedex back into her pocket. Ray was still looking at his examining every bit of info on this particular Bird Pokemon.
"On the contrary Misty, this a Flying and Water Type Pokemon. You should probably catch it. After all you will become the master of "all" water type Pokemon." Misty took out her Pokedex to confirm this new bit of information. After a brief scanning she found what Ray said to be true.
"You're right, let's go Mudkip!" Misty tossed out her poke ball that cracked in half releasing Mudkip. "Go and use tackle attack Mudkip!" Mudkip nodded racing towards the Wingull with all of its speed. Wingull noticed the charge and spread out its wings in an attempt to fly up for evasion. The attempt failed because before the Bird Pokemon could flap its wings once Mudkip was upon him ramming his body into Wingull. Wingull sailed backwards for a bit before regaining its composure. Immediately Wingull took to skies as it watched its foe with utmost patience. An attack was made up by the Bird Pokemon in less than a second as it began coming down towards Mudkip. "Mudkip use Mud-Slap!" Mudkip kicked up dirt and after adding the much needed water there was a chunk of mud going in Wingull's direction. The attack hit and slowed Wingull down but its keen eyes allowed it to stay on course hitting Mudkip. Mudkip rolled to a stop before attempting to gather itself for another attack. Wingull had flown up into the air again and was deciding on another attack. Instantly Wingull let out a high pitched sound made for only Mudkip to hear. "Watch out Mudkip, that Wingull is using Supersonic!" It was too late for Misty's command to go through as Mudkip could be seen swaying from side to side in its stationary position. "Aww, now what can I do? I have no other Pokemon." Misty looked at Ray for some type of advice.
"You could always try believing in the Pokemon you have out. Trust me, it's not always guaranteed but Mudkip will trust you more if you believe in it." Misty smiled at Ray's vote for confidence.
"Right, Mudkip! Try jumping into the air to hit Wingull." Mudkip tried to shake its head in an attempt to get rid of its confused state but to no avail. Mudkip, despite being confused jumped into the air after Wingull. It was apparent that the Bird Pokemon didn't think his cry went through as he attempted the same high pitched sound on his foe once more. Since Mudkip was already confused the sound went through Misty's Pokemon as it slammed its body into Wingull. Wingull began its descent as it no longer had the strength to keep itself in the air. Ray dug into his pocket and pulled out a special poke ball that was all white save for a red line that served to divide the poke ball in half.
"Misty take this poke ball, throw it before the Wingull hits the ground and takes really serious damage." Misty nodded taking the poke ball in her right hand and throwing it towards the falling Wingull. The Bird Pokemon found itself surrounded by a red light one second and inside the special poke ball the next. The ball hit the ground and jiggled around a little bit.
"Come on…" The monotonous ding notified Misty that the Wingull had stopped struggling. Misty jumped up into the air in celebration while Ray smirked. "My first Hoenn catch!" Misty hustled over and scooped up the ball. "Why did you give me this poke ball and not the normal kind?"
"I thought that poke ball would be better because it is a commemorative ball. Seeing as how that was your first Hoenn catch I thought the Premier Ball was in order." Misty rewarded Ray's thoughtfulness with a celebratory hug. Ray's face reddened but Misty on the other hand was too excited about her catch to care. "Um… you think we should get going to Petalburg now?"
"So what did he want us to do again?"
"You can't even remember the mission you were given? Jeez you're hopeless…the assignment was to collect Pokemon and other data while trailing Ray." The lady stepped off the boat into a gigantic city.
"Yea, so where exactly are we?" He looked up at a sign that had "Welcome to Slateport!" written in large blue letters and then he looked sheepishly away from the board. "Oh…"
"Come on, we don't have too much time to waste standing around." The male agreed with his female counterpart and the two took off.
"So you're Norman?" Ray stood in front of the slightly taller man with black hair. The man nodded with a smirk.
"Yep and if you're wondering I am Norman of the Petalburg gym." Ray nodded while rubbing his chin in thought.
"We are a little behind them probably so I might as well ask… did you happen to battle a trainer by the name of Ash Ketchum?" Norman looked surprised. "So you did battle him? Did he win?"
"No, no, no. I'm surprised because I met Ash. I didn't battle him because he was obviously a beginner in the Hoenn region. He was traveling with my little girl and now he is with my son as well."
"I see…so I guess you would be too strong for us as well."
"That's right, I told Ash to come back after his fourth badge. Also suggested that he head to Rustburo and battle with Roxanne for the badge there. I suggest the same to you. If you do happen to see them tell my son and daughter I said hello." With that Ray and Misty left the Petalburg Gym without having had a gym battle.
"Well that's a bummer…"
"Well I'm beat and this town doesn't exactly have too many attractions. What do you say we go to the Pokemon Center and get some food in us?" Mist nodded with a smile and the two made their way for the Pokemon Center down the street. Upon entering it they found it to be a two story building the downstairs being the hospital portion and the upstairs being a large number of Hotel quality rooms for Trainers. Ray approached the familiar Nurse with his three poke balls in hand. "Nurse Joy?" The pink haired nurse spun around with a smile o her face and a sparkle in her eyes.
"That's me… I see you need your Pokemon recovered. We'll give them a look over right away." Misty produced her two poke balls while still holding her Togepi in her arms. The Togepi had become so common that Ray usually forgot that she held it in her hands as it just sat in her arms with an unending smile on his face. It was something that kinda annoyed him a little.
"Oh, before I forget Nurse Joy. Me and my friend here would like to stay for the night."
"Okay, you can stay in the station set up over there keeping in mind that you have to provide your own sleeping materials."
"Actually I was wondering if you had two rooms."
"Oh, in that case that will cost you 200 poke dollars each." Ray pulled out his wallet and took out one bill and set it down. Nurse Joy took it up and smiled, "Thank you and your rooms will be 21 and 23." Nurse Joy took out two keys and handed them to Ray who then dangled both to Misty. Misty snatched the Room 23 key from Ray. "I forgot to mention that meals are being served now." Ray nodded and headed for the Center's cafeteria leaving his Pokemon in the care of Nurse Joy. Misty wasn't too far behind. Rather than commute with all the other trainers Ray simply took his meal which consisted of stew, rice, and meat straight to his room.
"Hey wait up," Misty not wanting to be left alone with the pack of strangers followed after him. Misty approached the closed door that head 21 sign dangling from the door. The red head knocked the customary three times on the door. "Can I come in?" A simple grunt was the only response that Misty received from her partner. "I'll take that as a yes." Misty opened the door letting herself in. She noticed immediately that Ray's blue jeans were off and hung over the back of a chair. Ray had on a pair of silver shorts under the jeans at all times so he was still dressed. Misty just stood in the room door looking around.
"Well take a seat…" Ray sighed as he sat cross-legged on the floor with his food in front of him.
"Oh sorry," Misty stepped into the room and after closing the door took a seat next to Ray, but she was noticeably more stretched out than the male trainer. "You look a little stressed out…" After another long sigh Ray clicked on the Television and began watching some random channel.
"I know I shouldn't be this stressed out, but here I am with my hair graying. I'm just a little tired I guess." Misty ran her hand through Ray's hair which unnerved him a little bit.
"You just need to relax, we're gunna be traveling together for some time and it won't do you so good to be stressed out."
"Heh, you aren't really helping." Misty immediately took her hand from Ray's hair and as if nothing had just happened went back to eating her food. "Anything you want to tell me?"
"Well I never thanked you for dragging me away from the gym and showing me such kindness even though I met you less than a week ago. Plus the Premier Ball and the tab for the room." Misty said all this with her head facing her tray which only had a medium sized bowl of soup on it. Ray put his hand on Misty's shoulder and smiled gently into the red head's eyes.
"I know I am pretty tense right now, but you have to realize that I haven't "really" interacted with people for more than a year now. Traveling by myself not counting my Pokemon…I mean without a doubt I can communicate with Pokemon better for it, but I think I may have forgotten how to communicate with people because of it. I asked you to come because…" The pause caught Misty's attention.
"Because…?"
"Because I thought I would be able to…you know…" The blonde haired trainer paused again as he searched his mind for the right words. "Communicate I guess would be the best word to use. Also when you said you wanted to be the greatest water Pokemon trainer ever then said you were going back to the gym…I don't know I just thought it sounded like you were contradicting yourself a little. So I thought by getting you to come along we could kinda experience this region together." Misty smiled obviously not needing a better answer. She put her hand overtop Ray's and immediately Ray's face reddened slightly.
"You're right, you are too tense…" Misty giggled and went back to her food. Ray simply sighed, lifted some rice from his plate into his mouth, and looked back at the T.V. After watching T.V. silently for the rest of their meal Misty stood up finished.
"You can leave the tray here; I'll take it down in the morning." Misty nodded setting the tray on the single desk in the room.
"Good night,"
"Yeah, good night." Misty closed the door behind her leaving Ray to himself. Immediately Ray stood and stretched his arms out as far as they would go. Then the exhausted trainer fell back onto the comfortable bed with his eyes up at the ceiling. Without looking Ray turned off the Television and sighed again. "Women…" With that Ray dozed off into a deep sleep, but surprisingly enough without snoring.
Axelpro: Well I hope you like the story so far. (Don't forget to post a review) If you hadn't noticed by now the story is a strange mix between the Anime and Pokemon Emerald/Ruby/Sapphire. Also it would do you well to know that Ray comes from the Pokemon Fire Red/ Leaf Green realm (hence him doing the Ruby and Sapphire quest with Celio.) Well tha'ts all I got to say so... tune in next time!
