"I guess you need a new name now…" Lucki thought for a moment. "How about Raiden?"

"Sure!"

Day Seven

The next morning, Lucki headed out of the pokecenter.

Time to head north. Lucki looked down the path before her.

It was cloudy, even misty, although warm enough to be not so bad. The plants by either side of the path certainly seemed to like it. The tall grass was twice or three times the size she normally saw, and even the individual grass blades were mammoth. Traveling through that would be hard. It must be because of how wet it is here.

Lucki remembered that some plant pokemon also lived in the area. Oddish and gloom did well there, just like in many other parts of Hoenn, as did rare pokemon like roselia, who shared their grass/poison type but not their range, being restricted to this route and its unusual climate. Tropius too, she remembered after a bit more thought. It was also the only place the even rarer water type feebas could be found.

The grass rustled and a linoone shot out in a straight line, reminding Lucki they inhabited the area too. It was gone a moment later into the vegetation on the other side of the path, the wind disguising the swaying of the grass tops as it headed along.

She wondered if she should try to catch something to add to her team. She already had Silver, so she wasn't interested in trying her luck at finding a feebas. A roselia might be nice, she liked them and she'd been considering getting a grass type when Tryke – well, Raiden now – had shown up. She thought about the different types she'd be fighting. She'd learned it in school, but she always forgot one when she tried listing them. Water, fire, grass…steel, dark, psychic, poison, electric, ground, ice, flying, fighting, ghost…dragon, bug, rock…there's one left.

While Lucki was pondering, she almost ran into a trainer heading in the opposite direction. The boy was about an inch shorter than her, and really skinny. He had white hair with green highlights and was wearing an orange vest over a blue long-sleeved shirt and cream colored cargos, as well as brown sandals.

"Oh, sorry," they both chorused at the same time. Lucki laughed.

"Hey, let's have a battle," Lucki suggested. "I'm Lucki."

"I'm Justin. I only have one, so it'll have to be a one on one fight."

Lucki nodded. "Sure."

Justin picked his one pokeball from his belt. Lucki grabbed the first sphere on her own belt, Silver's white school pokeball. The two trainers threw each at the same time.

Silver's pokeball popped open, but Lucki wasn't watching. Instead she was staring at the gigantic white light solidifying before her.

Normal types. I was forgetting normal types. Lucki didn't think she'd make that mistake again as she watched the snorlax rumble to its feet. It wasn't as colossal as some of the really high level ones got, but no snorlax was anything short of imposing.

Well, I've already picked my pokemon. "Water gun, Silver!" Not giving the huge pokemon a chance at the first move, Silver blasted it in the belly with a powerful jet of water, the force depressing its stomach like poked dough, and the strike enough to knock it off balance so that it sat back down heavily with a rumble as it struck the ground.

"Get up and use body slam!" he called.

"Silver, get ready to dodge!" she responded as the sleepy pokemon rolled ponderously to its feet, the fat that padded its whole giant body jiggling. Then, with surprising speed and a sort of grace, it launched itself into the air. Silver stared at it in shock for a moment, then recovered and dove to the side, narrowly getting clear of its shadow before it hit, the force enough to make her bounce upward herself a bit. "Quick! Use another water gun!"

Silver inhaled deeply, then shot the attack into the snorlax's side with all the force she could muster. She didn't shift it this time, but judging by the way its side bent in under the force and the unhappy if mostly annoyed groan of the snorlax, it was doing damage. It rocked backwards onto its feet again, then without warning launched itself atop the tiny turtle, crushing Silver under its stomach. When it pulled off, Lucki saw Silver had withdrawn into her shell. She popped out almost in the same moment and scurried away before the snorlax could try that again.

"Try to stay back, and keep using water gun," Lucki decided. That seemed the best strategy. Silver backed further up and shot out a quick watergun.

"Another body slam!" the other trainer called. Lucki wondered if he was hoping his pokemon would manage to paralyze Silver.

But the attack fell short, Silver nimbly dodging and hitting the normal type with water gun while it was down.

"Try again!"

Silver dodged again. "Great, keep it up!" Lucki encouraged.

Abruptly Justin shouted, "Tackle!"

Lucki hadn't been expecting something like that. The snorlax again moved more quickly than it looked like it should be able to, trampling across the ground to run into Silver. The petite water type went flying several feet. But she got up again easily. The same padding that protected the large pokemon from damage had softened its attack. She fired back another water gun.

The two pokemon continued trading attacks. The snorlax's tackles were doing more damage than Silver's water gun attacks, but she was dodging many of them.

Justin decided it was time to change tactics. "Use belly drum!" The snorlax cut off another tackling charge and began pounding its stomach with both arms, hard enough to be clear and loud to Lucki. And it really was pounding, Lucki knew, she remembered learning about this move. A healthy snorlax would cut that health in half using the move. Since this one was injured, that meant it would be somewhere below that point. Lucki wasn't sure how far below, but she was sure Silver had done a good deal of damage. Of course, its attacks will be several times stronger now.

"Now headbutt!"

The snorlax lowered its head and barreled straight down on Silver. She dodged the move somewhat more easily than the tackles, and the snorlax struck a tree behind her. Lucki winced as she saw the tree split lengthwise. Silver stared, looking surprised.

"Silver, make sure you stay out of its way," Lucki told her firmly. Silver nodded strongly.

"Keep going, snorlax," called the boy.

The normal type lowered its head and charged again. Silver narrowly avoided being hit, but had no time to attack back before the other pokemon turned and barreled toward her yet again. The third time it struck a large boulder, hard enough to momentarily stun it. "Quick Silver, water gun!"

Silver didn't hesitate, blasting at her opponent as it struggled up. She had to cut off her attack shortly after to roll out of the way of another headbutt, the snorlax almost hitting her. Still, Lucki thought they were doing well. The snorlax couldn't take much more of their attacks. One or two more good hits…

"Get it with tackle!"

"Eep!" Silver tried to dodge, but the snorlax was more maneuverable with this attack, and swerved as well. She was sent flying again, far more forcibly. She took a moment to get up when she landed, looking unsteady.

She's not going to be able to dodge… "Silver, just hit it with another water gun, quick!"

Silver blasted the snorlax with another torrent, knocking it onto its back. It wobbled like it was about to get up. Lucki tensed…but then it relaxed again, going unconscious.

"All right!" Lucki yelled, rushing over to Silver. "We won!" The small squirtle nodded, looking proud. Lucki took out a potion from her bag and began spraying it over Silver's injuries, then looked to her opponent. "Great battle. Your snorlax is really strong."

He nodded. "Thanks. Your squirtle's well trained too." Justin recalled his pokemon and Lucki continued on her way.

She passed a clump of berry plants but didn't stop. They were still growing and hadn't even sprouted flowers yet, let alone the useful berries. A little way further was a pile of leafy growth, almost a hut. Kids in some places used them as hideouts. Lucki wondered if there might be someone hiding inside like that ninja-wannabe kid she'd seen near Fallarbor, but decided it was unlikely. This area was too wet to make a good secret base.

As if thinking about it caused it, it began to lightly rain. Lucki groaned in annoyance, shaking her head as drops landed, but after a moment ignored it. It was too warm to be a real bother.

And the rain was dispelling some of the mist, making it easier to see. She had a better view of a narrow, white bridge across the Rain River. They weren't usable to her – they were set up for people with bikes to fool around with. Well, maybe I could use them…if I didn't mind the fact I'd be more likely to fall in than make it to the other side. The main bridges across were further along. They were set up on bedrock plateaus, as unlike the light white bridges, they needed more support than muddy ground to be secure. She could see the steps of the first such plateau up ahead.

But before she could start climbing, an oddish hopped into her path. "Odd…" it told her, shaking the green leaves atop its round blue body and releasing a purple powder. The cloud settled down over it, but as it was immune to poison attacks, this didn't matter.

Well, if it wants a battle… "Go, Flare," Lucki announced.

The weed pokemon hopped into the air at this, leaves trembling. This time it sent the spores toward the fire type.

Blue – sleep powder. "Flare, burn it away with an ember!"

Flare sent out a short flash of flame, searing a wide path through the blue dust. The remnants on either side dissipated in the light rain and wind.

"Great! Now get the oddish itself with another ember!"

Flare inhaled again for another burst of flame, more deeply this time. The fire struck the grass type, but barely flashed against it rather than engulfing it.

"Try again!" called Lucki quickly, but the oddish attacked first, running across the wet dirt path on its large round feet and plowing into the flame pokemon, the force sending him skidding backward in the mud, his feet slipping under him so that he fell on his side with a splash.

"Quick, ember!" shouted Lucki.

"Right!" Flare shouted back, jumping to his feet. He sent another burst of energy into the oddish. It cringed, but again the flame didn't last long enough. It shook itself, sending out another powder attack. Flare barely managed another ember before it reached him, burning it away with bare seconds to spare.

"Come on Flare, you've got to manage a stronger flame!"

Flare nodded. He inhaled deeply, then spat out the next burst. It flared brightly as it hit the oddish, but like all the rest faded far too fast. Then Flare opened his mouth again and flamed the oddish, the fire issuing forth continuing from his jaws for the space of several seconds. Slightly blackened, the weed pokemon glared at him before running forward for another physical attack. Flare took it stoically, then unleashed a white flamethrower.

"All right Flare!" shouted Lucki as the oddish wobbled on its feet and sat down in a near faint. "We won!"

Flare nodded again, shaking himself.

"Oh – is the rain a problem?"

He stopped. "No, my fur was just pushed the wrong way from the mud. You won at the gym, then. Tryke do well?"

"Oh, yeah. Tryke – well, actually, he evolved fighting the third pokemon, so I figured he needed a new name. It's Raiden, what do you think?"

The flareon looked unimpressed. "Thought of a better name?"

"What, you don't like it?"

He grinned suddenly. "No, I was just joking."

Lucki laughed and recalled him. She continued along, crossing one of the large wooden bridges. Before long the rain let up and shortly after the clouds disappeared. The sun appeared, drying everything off. Lucki appreciated this, as the road ahead had been taken over by the giant grass, and pushing her way through that was slow and hard enough without adding water to the mix.

She reached another, larger berry patch, this time fruiting, and stopped a while to collect the mix of pomeg, sitrus and hondew berries. Sitrus were especially healthy berries for pokemon, while pomeg and hondew were good snacks.

All too suddenly it began to grow darker. She'd been hoping to make it to Fortree before night, but it was a lot slower going than she'd expected. She hadn't even reached the second bridge yet. She stopped and set up camp.

Day Six

Lucki woke up the next morning to warm golden sunlight on her face. Yawning, she sat up and stretched, then climbed out of her sleeping bag. She reached for the backpack nearby and opened it to get out her clothing for the day.

And froze.

Her pokeballs were gone.