Hey, guys! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! I know I'm enjoying writing it!

I added in this Author's Note to tell you that I will be accepting OCs into this story. It can either be a Pokémon or a human. The human can either be a traveling partner of Darren's or a rival that appears from time to time. Here's the form for human submissions:

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Appearance:

Personality:

History:

Pokémon Team:

Here's the form for Pokémon submissions. They can be Pokémon from any of the five generations, not just 5th gen. This should also be used for members of a human character's team:

Nickname:

Species:

Gender:

Appearance:

Personality:

History:

Attacks:

Casey and his Pokémon team belong to KCSonic113. Yes, Ruffles is a female despite her species being male-only. The reasoning behind this will be revealed later.

Thank you for reading this. Onto the story!

Chapter 10: Casey's Gym Troubles

The other Pokémon jumped at Charcoal's cry. Darren and Casey also jumped, surprised by the loud noise. Darren instantly scooped up the struggling Tepig.

"Charcoal, what's wrong with you?" Darren yelped, trying to keep a good grip on the wiggling piglet.

"Not another one! Why is there one here?" Charcoal wailed. "Smugleaf, help! It's going to get me! Help!"

"What is going to get you?" Smugleaf demanded, looking around.

"I think he means the bird, Smuggy," Buck commented, pointing to the feathery creature in Casey's arms.

Perched in Casey's arms, horribly confused, was a baby bird Pokémon with a head covered in thick fuzzy white down and a grayish-blue face. It had a yellow beak. A single red and white feather extended from its forehead. Its body and wings were the same color as its face, both seeming too small compared to the size of its head. It had large yellow feet tipped with black talons. Its tail was squared-off at the tip and was the same color as its downy head.

"He looks scared," Casey noted, placing the bird on his shoulder. "Here, let me hold him."

"No! Stay away, you evil…thing!" Charcoal yelled, struggling to get away from Casey.

"Maybe he's scared of you?" Darren suggested.

"No…" Casey suddenly looked at the bird on his shoulder. "Aha! I think I've got it!"

"Got what?" Darren asked.

Casey slipped the bird off his shoulder and behind his back. A few moments later, Charcoal's struggles ceased. He looked at Casey's shoulder and then looked everywhere else, terrified.

"Where is it? Smugleaf, where did it go?" the Tepig cried.

"He's scared of a bird?" Buck asked, confused.

"It must be because of that big bird from the forest," Smugleaf muttered, frowning.

"Big bird?" Darkly repeated.

"Charcoal was attacked by a Braviary when we first met him," Seashell explained. "Smugleaf protected him from it, but Darren and I had to drive it away."

"What's a Braviary? One of those things?" Buck asked, pointing to the baby bird currently hidden behind Casey's back.

"No," The Oshawott shook her head. "It was bigger. The feather on its head kind of matches, though."

"That must be its pre-evolved form," Darkly guessed. "Charcoal must have been so terrified by that attack that he has come to fear any Pokémon that looks like a bird."

"Poor Charcoal," Yorkie whimpered.

"I was right," Casey said. "It's Ruffles. He's scared of Ruffles, not me."

"What's a 'Ruffles'?" Darren asked.

"Ruffles isn't a thing. She's a Pokémon." Casey explained, carefully pulling the bird from hiding.

"Hi!" the baby bird, Ruffles, chirped.

"What is that? I've never seen a Pokémon like that before." Darren said, confused.

"Ruffles is a Rufflet," Casey explained.

"Cute," Darren commented, reaching out to stroke her head.

"Ooh! That feels good!" she chirped happily.

"Get away!" Charcoal cried, struggling anew upon seeing Ruffles.

Darren yelped, quickly putting Charcoal down. Casey instantly opened his mouth to advise against that, only to stare in shock as the Fire-type dove behind Smugleaf. The Snivy snorted, reaching behind him to pat Charcoal on the head. The piglet whimpered, refusing to budge from his hiding place.

"What?" Darren asked, seeing Casey's expression.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry!" Casey replied, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "It's just… Well, it's two things actually."

"Yeah?" Darren asked.

"First," Casey said. "You have two of the starters?"

"All three, actually," Darren corrected, indicating Seashell.

"Oh! Whoa! I didn't see that one," Casey exclaimed. He took a deep breath to calm down. "Okay, you have all three starters. How?"

"Seashell, my Oshawott, was my official starter." Darren explained. "I caught Smugleaf, my Snivy, in the forest outside of Nuvema Town. Charcoal, my Tepig, was given to me by Prof. Juniper after I saved him from a Braviary. You see, he wandered away from the lab. After I brought him back to the lab, he freaked out when we were leaving. Prof. Juniper just gave him to me after that."

"Wow," Casey laughed. "That sounds like one exciting adventure. It looks like your Snivy and Tepig like each other a lot."

"Smugleaf was the one who refused to leave Charcoal in the lab," Darren admitted.

"He did?" Casey looked at the Snivy.

"Quit staring at me, human," Smugleaf growled.

"He can't understand you, Smuggy. Humans can't talk to us," Buck reminded.

"That's a good thing. Darren would be getting an earful out of me if he could understand me." Smugleaf said firmly.

"Smugleaf, it's staring at me! Make it stop!" Charcoal pleaded.

Smugleaf frowned, turning to glare at Ruffles. The Rufflet blinked curiously, tilting her head to the side. She seemed unaffected by his glare.

"You guys are weird," she chirped.

"So are you," Smugleaf countered. "Quit staring at Charcoal."

"Why? He's acting funny. It's funny." Ruffles replied.

"I said quit it," Smugleaf growled.

"No," Ruffles replied.

"I sai—"

Smugleaf was quickly interrupted when a scythe-shaped tail settled over his mouth, effectively blocking the rest of his words. He glared at the tail's owner. Darkly sat in front of the Snivy, looking up at the Rufflet.

"Would you please stop staring at Charcoal?" she requested. "He doesn't like it. Smugleaf doesn't like it. None of us like it."

"Is staring bad?" Ruffles asked, blinking curiously at the cat.

"Not such much bad as it is rude. Please stop," Darkly said.

"…Okay," Ruffles turned her attention to Casey. "Hey, daddy! Daddy! I learned something new! Daddy!"

"Th-thanks, Darkly," Charcoal whimpered.

"No problem," Darkly purred, licking a paw. "I saved Smugleaf the trouble of threatening her."

"I still might," the Snivy huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why does she call him Daddy?" Yorkie asked. "Can humans lay eggs?"

"No, humans can't," Darkly replied. "That would be interesting if they could, though."

"No, that would be disgusting!" Smugleaf snapped.

"From your viewpoint, it would," Darkly replied. "As for why she calls him that, perhaps she was bred in captivity."

"What's captivi—? That word!" Charcoal asked.

"It means born surrounded by humans," Darkly purred. "It's possible she has never been in the wild. She was born and raised by a human all her life."

"Then she's a human lover," Smugleaf said. He snorted. "Great! Another one!"

"There's a difference between one who loves the company of humans and one who knows no other life than that," Darkly half-purred half-hissed. "Perhaps she has never been in the wild. You cannot blame her for thinking that living with humans is the only life she can lead."

"Why are you so quick to defend human lovers?" Smugleaf demanded. "Humans don't care about us! They only see us as fighting machines!"

"Again, that is from your viewpoint," Darkly corrected.

"Then I guess we'll have to live as enemies," Smugleaf decided.

"Not so much enemies as us having different opinions of humans," Darkly corrected.

"This is getting confusing," Buck suddenly said.

"Can we talk about something else?" Yorkie agreed.

"You're lucky that you have official starters," Casey said, lowering his head. "I wanted to battle the Gym Leader here, but apparently I can't unless I have one of the official Unova starter Pokémon."

"You mean you don't have one? And you're a trainer?" Darren asked.

"Yeah," Casey nodded, pulling out a Poké Ball. "I started out with Riolu."

"Riolu?" Darren repeated, confused.

Casey looked past Darren to look at his Pokémon. "You have an Oshawott, a Snivy, a Tepig, a Lillipup, a Patrat, and a Purrloin. I've got quite a different line-up. You've already met Ruffles, my Rufflet. How about I introduce the rest of my friends?"

Casey pulled three more Poké Balls from his belt and tossed them out, unleashing his remaining partners. Darren and his Pokémon all jumped back as they appeared in a flash of white light. Charcoal stepped out from behind Smugleaf, eyes wide.

"Who are they?" the Tepig asked.

"They are Pokémon, like us," Darkly replied. "They're just Pokémon that we've never encountered before."

"Have you met these guys before, Darkly?" Yorkie asked, nervous.

"I'm afraid not," the feline reluctantly admitted.

The first to appear was a small blue dog Pokémon. Its torso and legs were black. Its tail was blue and it had a yellow collar. Rounded bumps were on the backs of its forepaws. It had a black mask-like marking on its face and red eyes. It stood on its hind paws.

"This is my starter, Riolu," Casey introduced.

"Hi!" Riolu cried, waving happily.

The next to appear was a slate-gray fox Pokémon. It had triangular ears with dark insides and a large whorled scruff of fur on its head with a red tip. Its eyes were blue-green and possessed no pupils. It had red eyelids and circular red eyebrow markings. There was a ruff of black fur around its neck and red paws. It had a bushy tail. Small fangs were developing in its mouth.

"This is my pal, Zorua," Casey said.

The fox simply snickered before jumping into the air, eyes aglow as he quickly began to spin. In a flash of pink, he reappeared as…

"What the heck?" Darren yelped.

"Huh? Wha—Zorua! Not again!" Casey complained, glaring at a double of himself.

The Casey double snickered. Its snicker was cut off with a yelp of surprise when Casey succeeded in grabbing a tail, identical to Zorua's, attached to the double's rear. In a flash of pink light, the double was gone. Zorua was in its place, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Sorry," Casey apologized. "He does that…a lot…"

"It's okay," Darren replied nervously. Where the heck did this guy get these Pokémon?

"How did you do that?" Charcoal asked, amazed.

"It's not very hard," Zorua replied, smirking. "It's really fun to do, actually!"

"I wish I could turn into other people," Yorkie said.

"He didn't really turn into his trainer, though," Darkly cut in.

"He didn't?" Seashell asked, confused.

"His tail remained," the cat reminded them. "If he had transformed, that wouldn't have happened."

"Then what did he do?" Charcoal asked.

"It was an illusion," Darkly purred. "My old trainer wanted a Zorua. He would frequently talk about them and their illusionary abilities."

"Oh…" Seashell, Charcoal, and Yorkie nodded in understanding.

"Even if it was an illusion, it was funny!" Buck laughed. "A human with a tail! Hilarious!" He ended up falling flat on his back, laughing.

"You're clever," a voice commented from behind Darkly. "Not many Pokémon can recognize Zorua's abilities as an illusion. You're one clever cat."

"I like to think of myself as clever, yes," Darkly agreed. She looked over her shoulder. "Mind introducing yourself?"

A strange-looking humanoid Pokémon stepped forward. It had a round black and red head resembling a helmet, topped with a gold double-headed axe blade. Its yellow and black face was shrouded by its helmet. It had red shoulders tipped with gold, resembling shoulder pads. Its connecting torso and arms were black. Its hands were metallic and glove-like in appearance with blade-like appendages attached to them. On its torso were two blades, resembling a ribcage. Its thighs were circular and red, progressively getting thinner as they connect to the feet. The feet are long and split apart down the middle. Both feet are metallic and blade-like, the split down the middle resembling hooves. They looked very similar to steel war boots.

"And here's my main fighter, Blade the Bisharp!" Casey finished.

"Whoa…" Darren stared at the older boy's Pokémon.

"Hi, guys!" Ruffles cried.

"Hi, Ruffles!" Riolu greeted.

"Hey there," Zorua snickered.

"Nice to see you, kiddo," Blade said.

"Anyhow, I know this seems sudden and all. Heck, you barely even know me! I barely even know you!" Casey commented, half-laughing. "Anyway, I can't challenge this Gym without an official starter. Since you have all three, would it be okay if I borrowed one just for this match?"

"Well… You don't look like a bad person." Darren admitted. Aside from being freakishly tall, he thought. "I guess sure. I wouldn't recommend Smu—"

"Your Tepig wouldn't be a good idea since he's scared of Ruffles," Casey said, crouching to better look at Seashell, Charcoal, and Smugleaf. "Your Oshawott seems pretty attached to you. I don't know how well she'd take to follow somebody else's orders."

Smugleaf narrowed his eyes when he noticed Casey looking at him. "Don't even think about it," he growled.

"How well does your Snivy fight?" Casey asked.

"I'm pretty sure he's the strongest member of my team right now. He…doesn't really listen to me, though." Darren reluctantly admitted. "It's like he hates me or something. It might not even be just me! Back on Route 2, he snapped his vines at this kid after a battle. He didn't even want to enter Prof. Juniper's lab!"

"He didn't, did he?" Casey muttered.

The Grass-type growled, glaring at Casey. "Don't you dare!" he snarled.

Casey smiled. "Let me try. I'll battle with him in the Gym."

"Huh?" Darren yelped.

Smugleaf snorted. "Welcome to hell, human," he said coldly.