Hey, what's going on everybody? I'm finally back with an update for the story here, and I know it's short, but I did what I wanted by having what I wanted happen in the chapter here. Before I forget, all the positions have now been filled for the story and I will have them listed at the bottom as a reminder. Remember to read the statements at the end of the chapter.

Last Time: Colin and Emily went up against Jason for their first badge on their journey to The Big Ten League. Jason proved to be a very strong gym leader and almost beat both of them, but with last minute encouragement on both ends, they managed to get the win by motivating their Pokémon to press on and get the victory.

Key:

Bold- PA system/Message Bulletins/Text messages to

Bold Italic- Radio/TV/Pokedex descriptions/Text responses

Italics-Thoughts/Letters/Flashbacks

Colin and Emily departed Jason's gym after emerging victorious for their first badge to get some breakfast with Brianna joining them. There was a vast amount of diners to eat at, but they were starting to pick up in volume with early morning customers and Colin was starting to get mildly irritated with the indecisiveness of his female companions. Not wanting to wait for them to decide, he turned his head and started walking to the first restaurant he saw. He continued his stride to the Dunkin Donuts and was only ten feet away from the entrance before he was stopped by someone's voice. His head perked up when he heard it and he tried to find where it came from. Turning to his left, his eyes fell on a young man around his height.

The young man's brown eyes held nothing but ruthlessness in them which caused Colin to raise a brow in curiosity. He was not sure why the boy before him was looking at him with such disdain, but he didn't like it.

"Can I help you?" Colin crossed his arms as he looked at the boy.

"Are you Colin Campo?" The boy replied.

"Yeah, why?"

"Battle me."

Colin was thrown off by the boy's bluntness and rude introduction. He glared back at the newcomer with defiance in his eyes. He would not grant the man's request for a few reasons, the biggest one was that he was hungry and the second was he did not feel he had to oblige him.

"Why should I battle someone who can't show common courtesy and introduce themselves?" Colin challenged.

"Fair point," the boy replied. "My name is Takatora Kureshima."

"Since you were so kind as to tell me your name, let me tell you my answer to your request. No. I am hungry and I just finished my first gym battle."

"I saw your gym battle, and it was lamentable."

Taking a deep breath, Colin did everything he could to bury the anger and dislike he was feeling towards Takatora. In his mind, he was just as bad as Scott with his attitude and his cockiness. He was still a little confused about why Takatora was asking to battle him if he found his skill to be terrible. Wagering a guess, Colin was sure it was because he wanted a chance to humiliate him to prove he was a terrible trainer, but there was only one way to find out.

"If you found my battle that bad, then why do you want to battle me now?" Colin glared at him.

"Because of how you won your badge. You somehow managed to encourage Charmander to fight when it was clear he was down to seal your victory," Takatora answered.

"What's your point?"

"I just found it farfetched that you could get a win by merely encouraging your Pokémon to fight. It's ridiculous and unrealistic. You need to train your Pokémon to the core if you want to win."

"If I didn't know better, I would say you were trying to pick a fight."

Takatora only smirked as he pulled out a Poké Ball and held it out towards Colin. Although he did not want to battle, Colin was not one to turn down a challenge, especially if it gave him the opportunity to take down an arrogant jerk a few pegs. Since Charmander was used in his battle, that only left him with Pikachu to use.

"Colin, hold on. You don't have to battle him." Brianna rested her hand on his shoulder. "Just ignore him and let's get something to eat."

"I'm not going to let this punk insult me and get away with it!" Colin snapped back. "You're on, Takatora!"

"Good, then let's move over to the square there where we'll have more room."

Colin followed Takatora to the large open square on the other side of the street so they could battle. In the back of his head he could not help but curse his luck that he would once again be battling a rival in the open for a bunch of people to observe and no doubt criticize his performance should he mess up. Not wanting to dwell on the thought of failure any longer, he shook his head and glared at Takatora who was looking at him impassively. He glared at Takatora when he saw the dismissive look on his newfound rival as it reminded him of other players he went against when he was a football player. Being a very competitive person that hated to lose, Colin wanted nothing more than to show Takatora that he was not to be underestimated.

"We will have a one on one battle and there will be no time limit," Takatora began. "This battle is all I will need to decide whether you are a worthy opponent worth my time."

That did it. Colin now wanted to crush Takatora for his condescending attitude. Since Charmander was already physically exhausted from his fight against Jason's Beartic, his only option was to send out Pikachu. Grabbing Pikachu's ball from his belt, he tossed it into the center of the square and it opened with a loud crack to reveal the little electric mouse. He could see the look of determination on Pikachu's face as he stared down Takatora who merely blinked before releasing his own ball. Takatora's ball opened a second later and when the glow surrounding the Pokémon faded, it revealed one that Colin was not familiar with.

"What's that?" Colin pulled out his Pokédex.

"Froakie, the Bubble Frog Pokémon. From its chest and back, Froakie creates bubbles called frubbles, which act as a cushion and soften the blow of an opponent's attack," Dexter beeped back to him.

"Okay, so there's a high chance he will use those in the fight."

He pocketed his Pokédex and looked back up at Takatora who had his hands dipped inside his pockets.

"I'll allow you to have the first move since you'll need all the luck you can get," Takatora said with a light smirk.

"You'll regret giving me the chance to do that!" Colin shot back.

"I seriously doubt that."

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"

Crouching down, Pikachu shot forward with great speed towards Froakie who had yet to make a move. Just as Pikachu was upon Froakie, Takatora made his move.

"Dodge and then Dig!" Takatora glared.

Froakie sidestepped Pikachu and smirked at his shocked look before jumping up high and then burrowing into the ground. When Froakie disappeared from sight, Pikachu began to show signs of anxiousness as his head kept snapping to multiple spots on the field to try and find any trace of Froakie. He was sent up high when Froakie burst from the ground a second later with a look of pain etched on his face.

"Hit Pikachu with Water Pulse!" Takatora ordered.

"Don't give him that chance! Use Thunder Shock!" Colin yelled to Pikachu.

Both Pikachu and Froakie began to generate their attacks as quick as they could to fire them. They both finished at the same time and unleashed their power. Froakie threw the small rotating ball of water and Pikachu who gave a loud cry and fired a small bolt of lightning at the ball of water. The Thunder Shock cut through the Water Pulse like a knife through butter and hit Froakie head on.

"Nice job, Pikachu!" Colin grinned, getting a smirk in return from Pikachu.

"Dig!" Takatora said as he clenched his fist.

Froakie tunneled his way into the ground again, making Pikachu and Colin narrow their eyes as they had to play the waiting game once again. This was very troublesome for both Colin as he had no way of being able to locate Froakie and it left Pikachu a sitting duck. It did not help that Froakie's attack was very effective against Pikachu either.

"Okay, let me think here for a second." Colin took a deep breath as he sent his brain into problem solving mode. "I can't see Froakie, but I know there's a way to detect it. Vibrations in the ground can be traced…"

The engineer glanced at Pikachu and his eye landed on his tail. He smirked as his brain came up with an idea to counter Froakie's attack. He was not sure if it would work, but it was the best idea he could come up with against it.

"Pikachu, touch your tail to the ground!" Colin hollered.

Pikachu did as he was told and pressed his tail hard to the ground and closed his eyes. While his partner was keeping his senses sharp for any signs of movement, Colin spared a quick glance to Takatora and smirked inwardly. He could see his brows were furrowed as if he was frustrated, but little did he know, Takatora was doing some thinking of his own.

"He's innovative, I'll give him that," Takatora thought to himself. "Let's see how he handles this one…"

Takatora let his arm hang as he got ready to give his order.

"Do it!" Takatora shouted.

Froakie burst from the ground, but this time he did not surface from under Pikachu, but behind him. Having detected Froakie's movement behind him, Pikachu did a quick spin and jumped back to avoid an attack. Even though he put space between himself and Froakie, Froakie still managed to get his next attack out.

"Toxic!" Takatora yelled.

Taking a big breath, Froakie opened his mouth wide a second later and a dark purple jet of liquid sprayed out and covered Pikachu. The second the attack touched Pikachu, his cheeks turned a light purple as the poison began to take its toll on him. He tried to smear the purple substance from himself, but all it did was bury it further into his skin.

"Use Water Pulse once more!" Takatora glared at Pikachu.

He wanted to end the fight now. With what he had seen from Colin, he could not help find the so-called trainer in front of him pathetic. He had no experience and he was an utter embarrassment to trainers all over the Big Ten Conference. In his eyes, Colin would be lucky if he could even beat the next gym leader. Being a Darwinist only made him label Colin as weak and unable to survive. He watched as Froakie's Water Pulse shot at Pikachu, but frowned when he could see that neither Colin or Pikachu were willing to go down easily.

"Dodge and then close in with Quick Attack!" Colin barked.

"Keep using Water Pulse!" Takatora shouted back.

Pikachu jumped between each Water Pulse as Froakie sent it and quickly closed the gap between him and Froakie. He dove once he was in range and his skull slammed hard into Froakie's face, sending him flying back. Froakie shook off the stunning blow and did a graceful flip to land away from Pikachu to have room for his next attack.

"End it with Hydro Pump." Takatora sighed, crossing his arms.

Froakie took a deep breath and opened his mouth, sending out a massive jet of water that was almost twice his size. The giant blast of water barreled for Pikachu who was crouching to dodge, but he slumped forward in obvious pain as the toxins chipped away at him. The water crashed into Pikachu and sent him rolling backwards across the square. He continued to roll until Froakie's water reached the end of its rope.

After being sent back across the square courtesy of Froakie's Hydro Pump, Pikachu was soaked and shaking as the cold water and toxins continued to flow through him. He managed to push himself to his feet and swayed as he tried to continue to fight.

"You can do it, Pikachu! You can win!" Colin cheered on.

"It's hopeless, Campo. You're pathetic encouragement won't work." Takatora shook his head.

"Don't be so sure, you condescending ass!"

"I'm not being condescending. I'm just telling you that this motivation you are trying to give like they do in all those ridiculous movies that somehow pull out an illogical comeback won't work."

"Well, then tell me why it's working now?"

Takatora said nothing as he watched Pikachu struggle to stay standing after being torn to pieces by Froakie. He was not showing it, but he was trying to figure out how mere encouragement was making the impossible happen before his very eyes. It was because of what he was seeing before him that he challenged Colin in the first place after seeing his battle with Jason. He wanted to know if Charmander's activation of his blaze ability was because of the encouragement he received from Colin or if it was from coincidence. What he was witnessing before him with Pikachu trying to continue to fight on mere willpower suggested that his former thought was the correct one, but he did not want to believe in such a farfetched thing.

"Pikachu, hit Froakie with Thunder Shock!" Colin punched his fist forward.

Pikachu swayed once more but clenched his fists and gave a loud cry as his body glowed a light yellow. A larger bolt of lightning shot forward and hit Froakie in the chest, earning a loud cry of pain from the frog Pokémon. Once his attack was done, Pikachu fell face first to the ground, unable to fight any further.

"Pikachu is unable to battle, Froakie is the winner! The match goes to Takatora!" Brianna frowned.

Colin and Takatora recalled their Pokémon and said nothing to each other. For Colin, all he could feel was failure, which was something he hated with a fiery passion. There was no room for failure, especially with what he wanted to do as a career. He felt terrible for letting down Pikachu and being unable to produce a win for him. He let out a sight as he looked down at the ground. Glancing up, he could see Takatora looking at him with utter disappointment.

"This was a complete waste of my time," Takatora said with a glare. "You give all real trainers a bad reputation. I'm honestly surprised you even beat Jason, but I guess that was just a stroke of luck."

"Hey! Where do you get off in being an asshole, huh?" Brianna demanded of Takatora.

"Brianna, let him talk," Colin interjected, sending her a serious look.

"But…"

"It's all right."

Colin was used to getting talks like this from his father and his coaches whenever he messed up or if something did not go according to plan in the games. He could only glare at Takatora as he continued to demean him and each word that left his mouth enraged him to new level and he wanted nothing more than to tackle him to the ground to shut him up. His hand gripped Pikachu's ball tighter as Takatora continued.

"Let me make this easy for you to understand. You're an athlete, not a trainer, so save yourself the embarrassment and give up on the Big Ten League. This is not your element and you will only continue to fail," Takatora said, walking over to him. "It's survival of the fittest, Campo and you will not last here."

Takatora was stopped in his tracks when Emily and Brianna obstructed his path so he could not approach Colin anymore.

"You think I'm going to quit just because you thrashed me only one time?" Colin glared back. "I am just going to do the exact opposite of everything you said."

Takatora only frowned and shook his head at his words and turned around to walk away. While he was walking away, he could see Scott out of the corner of his eye leaning against a street light leveling him with a glare of his own. He was not sure if it was out of anger for what he said to Colin or if it was from their conversation from last night. Takatora spared Colin, Emily, Brianna and Scott one last look and then spoke loud enough for all of them to hear.

"I expected more from UW Madison, but this was very disappointing." Takatora smirked.

"You have yet to face me, you cocky little shit!" Brianna glared back at him.

"Some other time. I don't think there's a need for a Buckeye to defeat a third Badger in the span of a day."

With that, Takatora took his leave and vanished into the crowd of people who had gathered to watch the battle between him and Colin. When he was gone, Brianna could see Scott looking at her before he, too, left. She turned to look at Colin who was glaring in the direction that Takatora had walked off in and his hand holding Pikachu's ball was shaking with unbridled anger.

"Don't worry about him, Colin. The guy is a total jerk," Emily said, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Brianna asked, crossing her arms.

Colin remained silent before letting out a shaky breath. He was already angry that he lost to Takatora badly, but to make matters worse, he was an arrogant, condescending person.

"You know, I don't know who pisses me off more, him or Scott." Colin growled.

That's the chapter. Short, I know, but I promise the next one will be a lot longer. I'm just trying to get back into the swing of this story since it's been on the backburner for me. So before you check out, check below for the statements and a refresher on who was casted as what in the story. See you next time!- Captain

Statements:

1.) I have taken up a challenge that I want my fellow reviewers and writers to start doing. I'm talking about constructive critique. Anyone who has received a review from me knows that when I give you one, I give you a pretty decent sized review that usually has a brief summary of the chapter, but I point out mistakes that I see as well as offer suggestions or critique that I feel needs to be said to help that author out. That is a review and the sad thing is I don't think a lot of people on this site understand that concept and that truly screws an author over. I want to see my fellow readers and writers step up and truly give critique instead of the infamous "Good chapter!" or "Update soon!" that's not a review, and offers no assistance, because that's all I see on the majority of stories on this site. So let's get away from that and start giving true critique! Prove to me that you can do that!

OC Battle Records (Wins/Losses/Draws):

Colin Campo: 2/2/0

Brianna Davis: 1/0/0

Scott Fowler: 2/0/1

Emily Garcia: 2/0/0

Takatora Kureshima: 1/0/1

Molly Taylor: 0/1/0

OC Cast Roles:

Travel companion 1 (Male): Taken (Daxter Huffington)(Meteorthunder3)

Travel companion 2 (Female): Taken (Emily Garcia)(jg13145)

Rival 1 (Male): Take (Takatora Kureshima)(Tendou Souji)

Rival 2 (Female): Taken (Molly Taylor)(An Anon Fellow)

Fire-type Gym Leader: Taken (Nelson Riley)(gallantmon7196)

Flying-type Gym Leader: Taken (Jethro Williamson)(Unknown-nin345)

Bug-type Gym Leader: Taken (Jacqueline Charlotte)(Leopon12)

Dark-type Gym Leader: Taken (Rosalina Redd)(ShadowCatRose)

Ice-type Gym Leader: Taken (Jason Butler)(Ryu the Dragon Sage)

Water-type Gym Leader: Taken (Madelyn Dunn)(TheLoner2)

Ground-type Gym Leader: Taken (Rhianne Barrestein)(TissueMonster)

Ghost-type Gym Leader: Taken (Jamie Martinez)(philly cheese dude)