Lows searched for the source of the crying and found the female trainer, Lisa Karame getting bullied by a trainer named Taylor Rose. Triggering the memories from the past, Lows stood up for Lisa and managed to get the bully out of the scene. After listening to Lisa's ambition to become a great Pokémon Coordinator, Lows suggested that she should be his travelling companion, which she gladly accepted. Lows also found out that he had a new ability: reading other people's minds in certain situation, and wondered what he could do with it. Along the way to Azalea Town, he found a trainer who he knew from before, as the trainer demanded for another friendly battle. Who is this trainer and what is going to happen between them?
Chapter 7 - The First Rivalry
As Lisa and I walked further away from Violet City, I was distracted by my own thoughts.
I-I can read people's minds? H-How did I develop this ability? Like, how, when, why? This discovery is so sudden, I just can't help but to be shocked! Will this be a good thing for my journey, or a bad thing?
Suddenly, I heard Lisa calling me, "Lows? You seem to be wandering off. Anything on your head?"
"N-Not really..." I nervously answered.
"Hmm, is that so? Alright then. Also, we are at our next destination."
"Oh, we reached Route 32 already?" I asked. Lisa told me that there was a place called the Ruins of Alph, which was something that I wasn't quite interested of. Therefore, I asked Lisa if there was a faster way to get to our next destination. She apparently knew a faster way: go through Route 32, explore through Union Cave and reach at Route 33, which was the route that led to Azalea Town.
And if you are wondering, why am I not interested of the Ruins of Alph? Well, Lisa told me that something in there was related to Legendary Pokémon. Legendary Pokémon was one of the certain reasons why I dawdled with Team Will back in Hoenn.
I really don't want to be a hero, I just want to be a normal trainer... Who knows, maybe another villain team may be on the search of these Legendary Pokémon... Honestly, during the journey in Hoenn, dealing with those people was already tiring, and it almost took my life. If I can, I would rather not mess with any villain teams anymore...
Little did I know, what I hoped for would not exactly be the same in reality...
However, I will talk about that part when the time comes.
Back to Route 32, it was not a bad trip to say the least. My Pokémon were with me in the walk, and they had some bonding time with Lisa's Pokémon along the way.
"Wow, you all surely had a lot of great experience in your journey!" Suiryoku exclaimed upon hearing Surfer, Ziggs and Power talk about their journey in Hoenn.
"Well, not everything is great, but most of them are! I'm sure you'll get a lot of these experience in this journey, too!" Surfer said.
"I hope I can evolve like you all! Evolving seems like a good way to become stronger!" Suiryoku happily said.
"You'll definitely evolve, but don't put yourself too hard. That's what Lows want us to do back in Hoenn. Anyways, we all believe that you can do this!" Suiryoku happily danced around upon hearing Ziggs' encouragement.
"Looks like they're having a fun time." I told Lisa.
"Yeah, they sure do get along well. Suiryoku is very friendly towards other Pokémon, even Pokémon he just met. He is an energetic Pokémon, and he is always happy even when being called into a battle! He always dance around in happiness when he is very happy." Lisa smiled.
"How did you get Suiryoku as your Pokémon?" I asked.
"Good question! Suiryoku is my first Pokémon. I first obtained him as an egg from my father. I waited for the long time for it to hatch, and along the entire process, the egg became restless. I was very worried about him, but seeing him now... I'm happy." Her smiled became wider as she talked about her past.
"I'm sure he's happy to have a trainer like you too." I said.
"T-Thanks, Lows. I hope that he really thinks that way." She replied.
"I'm sure he does..." I smiled while I continued hearing their conversation.
"How do you think of your trainer?" Power asked.
"She is the best trainer you can possibly ask for! I will follow her forever wherever she goes!" Suiryoku happily exclaimed.
"That's what I think about my trainer too!" Surfer smiled.
"See, Lisa? I told you he's happy." I smiled. She was also listening their conversation through the new Pokémon translation application.
"I guess you're right..." She smiled while looking at her joyful Pokémon. Hibana went to her as Lisa gently hugged her with her arms, which made both of them happy. I was happy for the two's bond, but I was curious about one certain Pokémon.
"Hibana and Suiryoku surely likes you a lot... But what about Bureiku?" I asked her about her Zorua.
"Well... He is very proud and considers himself strong. He doesn't like to interact with others as much, even I took a long time to understand him. He would only trust others if they are really treating him like true friends. He's also very playful and mischievous, often using its illusion abilities to shapeshift into others for fun and trick the others." She explained.
"Oh... Is that so?" I said while thinking about Ziggs. He was also playful at times, but he was slowly trying to stop his doings.
"He doesn't talk to me that much, but he very trusts me. He would go all lengths for who he considers as true friends, including me and the team. Maybe when the time comes, he would trust you all too."
I nodded at her response as we continued walking along the route. After quite some time, we saw a PokéCentre in front of us.
"That must be it!" She happily exclaimed, "If I'm not mistaken, this is the PokéCentre that is close to Union Cave, which leads us closer to Azalea Town! Let's go and rest up a bit, Lows."
After returning our Pokémon for them to be healed at the PokéCentre, she eagerly ran towards the PokéCentre, but she accidentally bumped into a boy and fell onto the ground. The boy recovered and quickly apologised, "Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"
We also went towards them to check Lisa's condition. She seemed to be fine, but she had a flustered look on her face as she said, embarrassed, "I-I'm fine. It's actually my fault for not looking the way... I'm sorry."
"No big deal, I guess!" He suddenly looked at me curiously. He was a boy with brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a blue T-shirt and yellow shorts.
He suddenly realised something as he exclaimed, "Oh, I remember now! You are the trainer who battled me!"
I was confused by what he meant, until he reminded me, "The Trainer Evaluation, remember?"
"O-Oh, it's you! Glad to meet you again. You did well in the battle. Anyways, my name is Lows Landerson." I shook hands with him.
"You did great, too! My name is Jeverson Lukas, if you didn't know yet. What brings you here?"
"My partner and I were about to go to the PokéCentre and rest up before going into Union Cave. What about you?" I asked.
"Well, almost the same thing! I just finished resting up, and I was about to start exploring Union Cave. Anyways, about the Trainee Evaluation... What's your final score? I'm sure you did well." Jeverson asked.
"Could be worse, but it's fine." I said as I handed him the certificate from my backpack. He also gave me his certificate, and we both checked each other's scores.
Jeverson Lukas
Knowledge: 3/5
Strategy: 3/5
Care: 3.5/5
Skill: 2.5/5
Overall: 3/5
After looking at his score, I gave him back the certificate. He finished looking at my score as he exclaimed, "Wow, you did really well at the Care test!"
"It was a hard time taking that test, my heart was racing at that time..." I said, not wanting to think about what happened back there.
"My score is average, but I'd say I did quite well as a new trainer. I just got my Pokémon a few weeks ago, after all."
"Wow, then your score is quite well as a trainer starting off! You did great." I complimented him.
"Thanks! The Skill evaluation affected my journey a lot. It made me think of which starter Pokémon I should choose, and I decided to choose Cyndaquil again, because I grew a liking to that Pokémon after the evaluation."
"That's cool! Does he have a name?" I asked.
"Yeah, he does. However, I won't tell you just yet."
"Why not?"
"It's because... I want you to know his name when we battle!" He suddenly took out his Pokéball as he requested, "I would like to have a friendly one on one battle with you, Lows Landerson!"
"Hmm, that is sudden... But I think I'm in the mood for a battle." I said as I took out a Pokéball, "I accept your challenge!"
Knowing that we were going to battle, Lisa said, "I guess I won't interrupt you two, Lows. I'll go to the PokéCentre and rest up first."
"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll see you there after I'm done!" She nodded at my response as she headed towards the PokéCentre.
"Alright then! Let's battle, Sun!" He threw his Pokéball, as a Pokémon that looked different compared Cyndaquil appeared in the battlefield. Sun was a slim quadruped Pokémon. The top half of his body was blue, while the lower half was cream. He possessed a rounded nose and red eyes. There was also flames coming from his forehead and rear.
[Quilava, the Volcano Pokémon. It is the evolved form of Cyndaquil. This Pokémon is fully covered by nonflammable fur. It can withstand any kind of fire attack.]
"Oh yeah, not to mention that he evolved in the Violet Gym battle..." He smiled.
I threw my Pokéball as well, yelling, "Go for it, Ziggs!"
Ziggs appeared in the battlefield, examining his opponent as Jeverson commanded, "Sun, use Smokescreen!"
The Quilava suddenly released a thick black smoke from his mouth. The smoke surrounded us as we couldn't see where the Quilava went.
Suddenly, the boy's voice appeared again, "Good job, Sun! Rush into the smoke and use Flame Wheel!"
Out of nowhere, Sun suddenly came into the smoke and ran towards Ziggs. Then, he tackled my Normal type with his body that was engulfed in flames.
He's doing surprising well compared to last time... I thought as I knew I needed to make a comeback.
"Ziggs, Dig yourself away from the smoke, then attack Sun!" Obeying my command, he dug a hole and dived into the ground, keeping himself away from the smoke. After a while, the smoke finally dissipated and I was able to see the Quilava that was running around the battlefield.
"Now! Ziggs, listen to his footsteps and attack!" The Quilava slowed down his pace upon hearing my command to stop Ziggs from listening to his footsteps. However, Ziggs was already aiming on him as he came out of the ground and attacked the unawared Fire type. Ziggs then quickly ran back to his side of the battlefield.
"Sun, use Quick Attack, then use Ember!" Sun suddenly dashed at lightning speed towards my Linoone as he hit him. Before Ziggs could recover, the fire that came out of Sun's mouth already engulfed Ziggs as he winced in pain.
This isn't good... Quick Attack catches Ziggs off guard and unable to avoid the next attack. I'll have to find another way to counter it...
"Sun, do it again!" Jeverson commanded as he saw that the tactic was working quite well.
"Ziggs, I got it! Counter his Quick Attack with Iron Tail!" Ziggs started to charge for the attack as his tail glowed silver, and when the right time came, he swung his tail directly towards the dashing Sun, hitting the Quilava back as he fell onto the ground.
As Sun was trying to get back up, I found the opportunity and commanded, "Ziggs, use Facade!"
Ziggs was surrounded by an orange aura, as he charged at the Quilava who was still trying to recover. Ziggs attacked Sun as Sun was pushed back to his side again.
"Sun, don't give up! Flame Wheel!" Jeverson commanded.
"Ziggs, counter with Iron Tail!"
Sun's body was engulfed in flames as he rushed towards Ziggs, but thanks to Ziggs' speed, he already charged up the attack as he hit the Fire type with his glowing tail. Unable to withstand the impact, Sun was pushed back once again before collapsing.
"That's okay, Sun! You did well." He said as he returned his Quilava. I also praised Ziggs for his efforts before returning him, "That's some nice work, Ziggs. Take a rest!"
"Thanks! It feels good to finally able to perform well after a long time." I smiled upon hearing his words as I returned him. Jeverson then looked at me and exclaimed, "You're still the strong trainer I battled at the Trainer Evaluation!"
"Thanks! You and Sun make a great team too. I believe with more experience, you all will do much better." I complimented.
"I believe I can get better too! The next time we battle, I'll definitely do my best!"
"I'm looking forward to it!" I chuckled.
"You really helped me a lot to learn about battling! I gained more experience through the two battles. I think I'm considering you as a rival!" He grinned.
"I'll accept this friendly rivalry, I guess... It can make both of us improve! Let's see who's better in the future!"
We laughed as we shook hands again. I knew that he would be a great and friendly rival to me after hearing his thought...
"I'll definitely be a worthy rival for you, Lows Landerson!"
Lows' Pokémon Team:
Surfer (Blastoise, Male) Jolly Nature, moves: Surf, Aqua Tail, Ice Beam, Iron Defense
Ziggs (Linoone, Male) Naive Nature, moves: Dig, Iron Tail, Facade, Protect
Grace (Gardevoir, Female) Calm Nature, moves: Psychic, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Calm Mind
Woody (Grovyle, Male) Lonely Nature, moves: Leaf Blade, Giga Drain, Aerial Ace, Agility
Power (Machoke, Male) Timid Nature, moves: Submission, Seismic Toss, Rock Tomb, Scary Face
Shadow (Absol, Female) Quiet Nature, moves: Night Slash, Payback, Psycho Cut, Protect
Questions of the Chapter:
How will Lows' ability affect his journey?
How do you think of Jeverson Lukas?
How will the friendly rivalry affect the two trainers?
