It was the next day. The group left the Pokémon Center and found the edge of the Viridian Forest where they would begin their training.
"Do you know how to even train Mudkip to learn Water Gun?" Elise asked. "I think that you should go into training with an idea, ya know?"
"Maybe Squirtle can try to help teach him!" Soru suggested.
Stetson nodded. "That isn't a bad idea. Squirtle would benefit from talking with Mudkip. Mudkip could take some from it too."
The group found a bench near a small stream and set down all of their stuff. Soru readied his pots and pans to make them a lunch while Elise took pictures of his sleeping Torchic. Stetson's newly acquired Nidoran played around with Elise's Cyndaquil. Elise set her egg down on the table in between the bags.
Mudkip and Squirtle found a spot near the stream to talk with one another. Squirtle seemed to be lecturing Mudkip on proper water attack techniques.
"Bulbasaur, we need to work on your Razor Leaf attacks. I feel that maybe if we were a bit stronger, you could've taken Geodude," Hazel told her Pokémon.
"Bulba-Bulbasaur," he replied.
"I'm going to throw these Frisbees into the air. I want you to knock them all out of the air with your Razor Leaf," Hazel explained. She tossed three of the pink disks into the air.
Bulbasaur immediately twisted and released leaves from the sides of his bulb. The leaves connected with two of the disks, completely destroying them. The last disk fell to the ground. Hazel ran out and grabbed it.
"That was pretty good," she complimented. She pulled out three more disks from her bag. "Now let's try Vine Whip!" She threw the disks into the air.
Bulbasaur's signature two vines raced from the sides of his bulb. The vines smacked into the disks and destroyed them easily.
"You go, Bulbasaur!" Hazel cheered.
"Bulba-Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur replied happily.
Soru placed a bowl of PokéChow in front of Bulbasaur.
"You keep working on it, Bulbasaur!" Soru told him. "Here is some food to keep your energy up!"
"And now for Mudkip!" Hazel said. She turned around to look for Mudkip who was still with Squirtle.
Fire suddenly blazed from their side. Squirtle hid behind Mudkip, who took a defensive pose.
"Charmander!" Soru cried out.
"Huh?" Stetson wondered. He, along with the rest of the group ran out to get a better view.
The Charmander that had given Soru trouble only a few days ago stood next to the river.
"What's it doing here?" Elise asked.
Stetson looked over at Soru's pot of food. "Charmander could probably smell that you were making food."
"Oh really?" Soru wondered. He grabbed a bowl and scooped a thing of soup into it. He ran over near the river and put down the food.
Charmander curiously moved towards the food. He grabbed it and moved back, watching out for Soru.
Torchic ran over to Charmander and stared him down. Charmander finished eating quickly and eyed back at Torchic.
Hazel nudged Soru. "I think that Torchic wants a rematch."
"Is this true, Torchic?" Soru asked.
Torchic glared at Charmander, in response.
"Are you up for a rematch, Charmander?" Soru asked the Pokémon while it wiped its mouth.
"Charmander!" It called back.
"Then let's do it! Get back here, Torchic!" Soru called happily. Torchic ran back to his trainer and struck a fighting pose. The two Pokémon glared down each other.
"Start off with your Ember!" Soru ordered.
Torchic opened his mouth and released a small burst of flames. The multitude of tiny flames pelted against Charmander's face, making him wince in pain.
Charmander retaliated by shooting a powerful stream of flames from his mouth. The flames engulfed Torchic, just like last time.
"Torchic!" Soru screamed.
The flames died down and Torchic stayed still. He glared at Charmander and grinned.
"Char?" Charmander questioned with a worried look on his face.
"Awesome! Use Scratch!" Soru ordered.
Torchic jumped into the air and scratched towards Charmander with his legs. Charmander rolled back onto the ground and stood up slowly from the pain.
Soru grinned. "We have this one! Use your Ember one more time!"
Torchic opened up his mouth to release flames, but Charmander was too fast. Charmander released a black smoke from his mouth, blinding everyone. Whenever the smoke began to fade, Charmander jumped out and scratched Torchic's face, causing Torchic to fall back.
"Torchic!" Soru cried.
"Torchic…" Torchic murmured. He stood up and glared at Charmander. They both looked fiercely at each other before both collapsing.
"I guess that took too much for both of them," Hazel stated.
"I'll take this as my chance, then!" Soru said joyfully. He grabbed a Poké Ball from his bag and threw it at Charmander.
Charmander was absorbed into the ball. It fell to the ground and shook around a little bit before letting out a soft ding. Charmander had been caught.
"You did it!" Hazel cried.
Soru ran up and grabbed ahold of Torchic. He embraced him hard. "You were awesome, Torchic! Keep that up and we'll get so many friends!" He grabbed ahold of his Poké Ball. "We're going to be great friends!" He released Charmander from the ball. Charmander sat sadly and looked at the ground.
"Hey, buddy!" Soru called. He knelt down next to Charmander. "That was an awesome battle! You want another bowl of soup?"
"Char?" Charmander wondered, puzzled by Soru's kindness.
Soru placed down another bowl in front of him and smiled. "Eat all you want!" He looked up at the group. "Same goes for the rest of you! Eat up!"
The group got together and began to eat their lunch.
Hazel looked over at her Mudkip. He was cheerfully slurping down soup. All that she could wonder is if he would ever get out of his Water Gun rut, and how she could help him.
A/N I'm thinking this is the shortest chapters I have for Hazel's story. It's pretty good though, development wise! Next chapter, we'll be introducing Hazel's rival! I'm setting up his team to counter all of Hazel's Pokemon.
Q1) Any other Pokemon you'd like to see Soru catch?
Q2) Review!
By the way, myself and Pokestets23 are doing a collab story together! New characters placed in the future! Go ahead and check out Stets channel for the story. We currently have three chapters.