Chapter Ten
Attack of the Pidgey Mafia!

It was approaching 9AM by the time the Rhodes cousins, Jack and Ivy made it back to the Pokemon centre, a full hour and a half after they had agreed to meet Michaela for breakfast. As Ivy had predicted, her younger sister was not impressed by the time the four of them eventually sidled into the breakfast room. She was sitting there, a bowl of half-eaten soggy cereal in front of her, a thunderous look on her face, and arms and legs firmly crossed. The sheer picture of unimpressed. No sooner had Jack laid eyes on Ivy's fuming younger sister, he quickly came to the decision that he simply wanted to do an about turn and avoid the hotheaded girl completely.

Of course, there was no chance of that.

Not even caring that there were still a few Pokemon trainers still milling around the breakfast room and that her temper was in full view of them, Michaela exploded as soon as the four people entered. "And where the hell have you been all morning?" She demanded angrily. "I've been sitting here on my own like an idiot for—"

"Michaela! Weedle evolved!" Ivy cried out enthusiastically, practically diving into the seat opposite her younger sister.

Michaela's eye twitched. "What…?" she said in a noticeably strained voice.

"Weedle evolved! To Kakuna!" she beamed, holding out Kakuna's Pokeball.

Michaela was fighting to keep her temper in check. "Wonderful." She stated bluntly. "Simply wonderful."

The sarcasm had been heaped on with a shovel, anyone could tell that, but Ivy was simply too excited to register that fact and wittered on blithely, a huge beaming smile stretched over her face. "I know, right? I honestly didn't expect him to evolve so soon! But he won against Jack's Pidgey and he evolved! Isn't that great?"

While Michaela once again fought the urge to strangle her ditzy, motor-mouthed older sister, Robert glanced at Sebastian. "Okay, this is the same girl that not a few days ago never wanted to even so much as look at a Pokemon, right?" he muttered. "What happened? All of a sudden she's had a complete change of heart! Now she practically loves that Kakuna."

Sebastian nodded slowly with a rather befuddled expression. "Yeah… this is the same girl."

"Okay, it's official." Robert said with a haughty sigh, hitting the table with his fist for emphasis. "I've slipped into a parallel universe. This makes no sense…"

"Believe me, I don't get it either," Jack, who had opted to listen in to the cousins' conversation rather than eavesdrop on the two sisters, suddenly intercepted. "But I learned a long time with Ivy to just shut up, accept the craziness and go with the flow."

"Madness," Robert imparted before grabbing a bowl of cereal, sitting down heavily and spooning it up impatiently. He then glared at Sebastian for good measure. "You know how much I hate you for getting us involved in this, don't you?"

"Hey, it's not like we have anything else to do," Sebastian said with a shrug, also taking a seat. "Get over yourself."

Robert grunted angrily and began eating with furious vigour. Jack and Sebastian glanced at each other, shrugged and began buttering toast.

Breakfast thankfully passed quietly and quickly. After eating and a rather heated discussion in the Pokemon Centre lobby, it was eventually decided that the wisest move would be for Ivy to continue looking for the Pokemon on her list. After consulting a local guide, borrowed from a helpful Nurse Joy, and asking a Bug Pokemon expert, the debate between Sebastian and Robert was finally brought to an end as they discovered that you could not find Venonat in Viridian Forest any longer. Yes, there had been an influx of Venonat in Viridian Forest many years ago, but the swarm had long since moved on. The initial disappointment wore off fairly quickly however as there would be plenty opportunities to find a Pidgey, which after some training would give Ivy the Pidgeotto she had been tasked to find. So, after resting and amusing themselves until just about midday the party, minus Michaela, whom had decided to stay in Viridian City itself on the hunt for trainers to battle, and Robert, who simply couldn't be bothered, found themselves once again in Viridian Forest.

Ivy released Kakuna no sooner had they entered the forest and the Bug Pokemon seemed quiet happy to be back in the familiar dark, rather dank surroundings of the forest. The newly evolved Kakuna however didn't seem to be accustomed to the fact it no longer had feet and spent some time trying to figure out how to move. It didn't meet with much success. Ivy seemed to find the fact that Kakuna couldn't move under its own power 'quite cute, actually' and opted to carry the Pokemon herself.

Sebastian shook his head, almost fondly, at the young woman excitedly ferrying her Pokemon around. "It seems you've gotten quite attached to that Kakuna, Ivy."

"Yeah," she said with a sheepish smile.

"What brought on this change of heart, all of a sudden?"

Ivy shrugged slightly. "I don't know exactly… All I know is that I actually felt quite… proud of Kakuna when he beat Jack's Pidgey. And then… I felt kinda… proud of myself too." She looked down at her Kakuna, not meeting Sebastian's eye. "That's a big thing for me. I haven't been able to feel proud of myself for a very long time… It kinda made me feel that… well, maybe I could do this. I guess I finally just grew up a little and accepted what's going on."

"I see," Sebastian said, before reaching out and touching Ivy gently on the shoulder. "Well, don't worry. You have a lot to be proud of, Ivy."

Ivy looked up at Sebastian, her hazel eyes wide. "You think so?"

"I know so." He replied, nodding. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, okay? Now come on. Aren't you meant to be looking for Pidgey."

"Oh yeah!" Ivy said brightly. "I'll go look."

"Kakuna okay to battle?"

"Yep!"

"Got your Pokeballs?"

"Yep!" Ivy flashed a few Pokeballs in Sebastian's direction.

"Looks like you're set then." Sebastian smiled.

"Yep! So I'm gonna go look now! Bye!" Ivy trilled, before enthusiastically taking off in any random direction into the undergrowth.

Sebastian watched her go, shaking his head slightly. Jack, who had been watching the whole proceedings, grinned and once again sidled up to Sebastian. "She's like a different person, isn't she?"

"Yeah…" Sebastian nodded. "I did always wonder why you seemed to almost… baby her in a sense, but now I can see why. She really is just like a little kid."

"She is, isn't she?" Jack said with another smile, while tickling Phoenix who had now perched on his shoulder, cooing softly. "Well, when she's not being whiny, ditzy or just a general pain in the arse, she's very cheery and happy. Annoyingly so, at times. Like a little kid. It must be nice to see the world like she does…"

Sebastian said nothing, simply stood there while what Jack said washed over him. He swept his eyes over the clearing of Viridian Forest as he heard Ivy squealing and giggling somewhere in the distance. It felt kind of nice, he thought, to hear someone laugh with such genuine happiness. It had been a long time since he had laughed with any genuine mirth…

Jack was calling Sebastian's name, but the young man was so lost in thought that a bomb could have gone off behind him and he wouldn't have noticed. Deducing that Sebastian was just zoning out, something Jack was entirely used to dealing with, having Ivy as a best friend after all, Jack cleared his throat and excused himself, wanting to go and train. Luckily Viridian Forest, despite the time of day, was empty of trainers, so Jack felt confident enough to go exploring on his own. Sebastian barely even acknowledged him as he left, and it was only after a good five minutes of just standing there that he actually realised Jack had left.

Meanwhile, Ivy and her Kakuna continued searching through the undergrowth, Ivy's sights firmly set on the Pidgey that was required for her course. Her heart was thudding with anticipation and she felt jittery as she swept her eyes from left to right looking for any sign of life. But all she kept finding was the occasional Caterpie inching its way up a tree. Her nerves weren't exactly helped by the fact that as she walked, her Kakuna was barely even moved in her arms. Ivy wasn't even sure the Pokemon was blinking. In fact, she became that concerned for her Pokemon's well-being that she actually had to stop to see if the Pokemon was still alive.

Finally satisfied her Pokemon was breathing and alive and well, she let out a sigh of relief and shifted the Kakuna to a more comfortable position. The Pokemon was actually quite heavy and carrying it was slowly tiring her out. She stopped to rest, but no sooner had she stopped, a familiar cooing noise suddenly sounded overhead. She glanced up to see a flock of Pidgey on a branch only a few feet away from her. There were so many Pidgey crammed onto the branch that it was buckling, looking like it was in danger of snapping at any moment.

"Wow… look at all those Pidgey, Kakuna!" Ivy said, holding up her Kakuna so it could see the flock of Pidgey. "Think we can take one of them out?"

Kakuna said nothing.

"That's… the spirit…" Ivy said limply, before putting her Kakuna down. As she looked up at the Pidgey above, she felt a little bit nervous. She'd only ever battled with her Pokemon once, and she'd never even so much as attempted to catch a Pokemon before now. But there was no sense in worrying; she tried to reason with herself. Trying to feel brave, she bit back her fear and pointed up at the Pidgey. "Kakuna, try a Poison Sting!"

A reproachful look spread across the Kakuna's face, but he obeyed his trainer's command and shot a barrage of poisonous darts at the Pidgey flock. The Pokemon began screeching and panicking as the poisonous barbs made contact with a few from the flock. Then, with a flurry of feathers, the Pidgey squawked in panic and indignation and took flight.

The Pidgey's attempts at escape failed miserably. The Pokemon were panicked and couldn't co-ordinate their flights. They ended up slamming into each other, causing even more panic among the giant flock. A symphony of frightened cawing echoed around the clearing as the flock just simply couldn't fly away. Ivy saw the opportunity and quickly shouted to her Kakuna.

"Kakuna, try another Poison Sting!"

Kakuna's Poison Sting attack was right on the mark this time and it fanned out, injuring quite a few of the Pidgey stragglers. But this time, the Pidgey seemed to notice exactly where their attacker was coming from…

And they divebombed.

Ivy screamed as soon as the Pidgey started their rapid descent, and her screams only intensified as sharp claws and beaks began raining down on her and Kakuna. Kakuna was shooting String Shots and Poison Stings for all it was worth, but it was barely even a deterrent to the attacking Pidgey, let alone had any chance of stopping them. Thankfully for Ivy, her screams attracted the attention of a certain wannabe knight in shining armour…

"Venomoth, Sleep Powder!"

A thick cloud of fine particles descended immediately above the Pidgey as the graceful figure of a Venomoth suddenly sailed overhead. Immediately realising what was going on, Ivy clamped her hand over her nose and mouth and dived safely out of the way of the falling Sleep Powder. Her Kakuna however was not so lucky and fell asleep right alongside the nine or so Pidgey that had been attacking her.

No sooner had the Pidgey safely fallen asleep and the danger had passed, Sebastian called Venomoth to his side and approached Ivy, who was trembling slightly. "Ivy…" he ventured. "You really shouldn't take on whole groups of Pokemon by yourself. Next time you might not have someone like me to step in and rescue you,"

Venomoth trilled in agreement, while Ivy blushed at the use of the word "rescue".

"I know that now…" she said, sheepishly.

"Well, keep it filed away for future reference." Sebastian told her gently, but firmly. "I know Jack would never forgive me if anything bad happened to you."

"Jack babies me too much," Ivy said huffily.

"From what I can see, he has good reason sometimes," he said with a smile.

"Hmph," Ivy huffed. "Don't you start, okay?"

"I'm not starting anything," he said, spreading his hands in mock innocence.

He was smiling broadly the whole time though, and this couldn't fail to make Ivy smile too. She was staring at the young man, almost transfixed, admiring the way his brown eyes took on an almost mischievous quality as they peeked out from behind strands of long brilliant red hair. His pale skill and full lips were suddenly very obvious to her, and it was with suddenness that Ivy realised she regarded this young man very handsome…

While Ivy stood there, wondering what on earth had made her think something like that, Sebastian then slowly turned to look at the flock of slumbering Pidgey.

"Hey, Ivy."

"Huh?"

"You've got a perfect opportunity to capture a Pidgey here, you know?"

"Oh!" Ivy said in shock. That thought hadn't even occurred to her until just now. "Um… But is it really okay for me to capture one? I mean… I didn't exactly weaken them in any way. You did. Is that fair? I mean, I already only got Kakuna because you guys helped me out."

"It's fine, Ivy." Sebastian said with a smile. "This is important. This is a Pokemon on your list, so I don't think you should be sweating the fine details. Besides… as much as I know you've got a soft spot for your Kakuna, taking on a flight of Pidgey with a Bug type was never going to end well."

"Okay…" Ivy said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a minimised Pokeball. "Well, if you're sure it's okay."

"It's definitely okay."

That was all the encouragement Ivy needed. She nodded and began approaching the slumbering Pidgey warily. There were so many of them, eight, nine, maybe even ten of them at least. She didn't know which one to pick and turned a helpless face back to Sebastian, who chuckled and stepped out next to her, pulling out a small device Ivy instantly recognised as a Pokedex. He flipped it open, activated the device, pointed it at a random Pidgey, and after it beeped a few times, consulted it again. He then repeated this process with another Pidgey. And then another. Ivy watched this process, fascinated.

"Sebastian, what are you doing?"

"Using the Pokemon Analyser on the Pokedex," Sebastian flashed the screen at Ivy, but all she caught sight of were strings of numbers, none of which made sense to her. "I'm scanning all of these Pidgey to find the strongest one. No sense in making things more difficult for you."

"Oh!" Ivy said, impressed. "That's really handy!"

"I know, right?" Sebastian smiled; still busy scanning the sleeping Pokemon. "I don't use my Pokedex all that often, unless it's to identify a Pokemon I don't know or analyse the Pokemon I want to capture."

Ivy nodded. She then shut up as Sebastian began muttering under his breath as he continued his scanning. She busied herself by trying to reach across to grab her Kakuna, but she suddenly became frightened of wakening the Pidgey. She didn't want them taking off before she had a chance to catch one. As she thought this, she had to fight to contain an inexplicable burst of excitement as it finally sunk in what was going on. She was getting a Pidgey! A Pokemon that would evolve into one of the Pokemon on her list! She'd been on her journey for just about a week and she already had one Pokemon on her list.

"Alright," Sebastian said, finally lowering his Pokedex. "That Pidgey there seems the best one for you," he explained, pointing at the Pidgey lying at the extreme left of the group. "Female, already knows Gust."

"Gust?" Ivy asked slowly.

"Yep. Pretty rare to find one out here that already knows Gust."

"That's good, right?"

"Ivy, Jack's Pidgey doesn't even know Gust."

Ivy blinked slowly, and then a beaming triumphant smile burst over her face. "Okay, I'm catching that one! Jack will be so jealous!"

Sebastian laughed. "Trying to outdo him?"

"Hey, he outdoes me in everything else!"

Sebastian smiled again. "Well, if you're going to catch that Pidgey, better do it fast before they wake up again."

"Oh!" Ivy cried. "Yeah, you're right!" she said, before singling out the correct Pidgey. "That one, right?"

"That's the one,"

"Alright." Ivy said nervously. "Here I go…"

She tossed the Pokeball almost clumsily and after a momentary panic thinking she had completely missed her target; the Pokeball bounced off the Pidgey and sucked the Pokemon inside. Ivy couldn't help but hold her breath as the Pokeball shook and shifted a few times. She knew it wasn't likely a sleeping Pokemon could escape from a Pokeball, but she still, as she always did, worried.

Then suddenly it stilled.

Ivy stared at the ball in disbelief. Sebastian chuckled to himself as the girl remained firmly rooted to the spot, looking stunned at the fact the Pokeball had actually stilled. He shook his head, reached down and scooped up the Pokeball before handing it to the bewildered girl.

"Here's your Pidgey."

"M…my Pidgey…?" Ivy repeated in shock.

"Yes. Your Pidgey,"

Ivy opened her mouth to reply, but all that came out was an incoherent babble. Then suddenly, she was off, talking at a million miles an hour. Sebastian blinked as the motormouthed girl began talking so fast he couldn't even hope to make any coherent sense of what she was saying. But before he could get a chance to intercept and slow the excited girl down, he noticed movement over her shoulder. The Pidgey had begun to stir. His eyes widened as the Pidgey roused. They looked angry.

"Uh…" he said slowly. "Ivy, you better grab Kakuna."

"Huh?" Ivy stopped mid-sentence and looked up at Sebastian with the air of a confused puppy.

"Grab Kakuna."

"What? Why?"

"Cos those Pidgey are probably going to attack us…"

"Eh?" Ivy asked shrilly, glancing at the Pidgey who were now completely awake and glaring at the two trainers. Without even hesitating, she reached out and grabbed Kakuna, holding the, still sleeping, Pokemon close to her body protectively. "Can't you use Venomoth again? Put them back to sleep?"

Sebastian glanced at Venomoth. "Venomoth, go use—"

He didn't even get the chance to finish its order. The Pidgey, recognising its two assailants suddenly lifted into the air, heading straight for the two trainers and the Pokemon! Both Ivy and Sebastian cried out. Ivy's were screams of pure, unmitigated fear, while Sebastian just let out a shout of surprise. Ivy wasted no time in turning on her heel and sprinting as fast as she could in the direction of the clearing, but the Pidgey were on her heels within seconds. Sebastian initially hesitated, not wanting to come across as what his cousin would so charmingly call a 'wuss' in the face of such weak, under-levelled Pokemon, but he quickly changed his mind when a sharp beak suddenly came into painful contact with his face. He shrieked, totally forgetting about his Venomoth at his side and sprinted off after Ivy.

Ivy dashed into the clearing, the Pidgey still flapping manically behind her. Her weak stamina was failing her and she was already exhausted. She caught her foot on something and ended up falling forward straight onto her hands and knees. The Pidgey sailed straight overhead into the trees and Ivy whipped her head up just in time to see them fly safely above her. She heard a frightened shout from behind her, and turned around just in time to see Sebastian emerge, flapping helplessly at two or three Pidgey pecking viciously at him. The sight was so funny that Ivy couldn't help but roar with laughter.

Eventually Sebastian's Venomoth managed to chase the Pidgey off, and Sebastian made his way haughtily up to a still giggling Ivy. "What are you laughing at?" he tried to ask sternly, but he snorted with laughter halfway through.

"Oh nothing," Ivy said, struggling to conceal her laughter.

Sebastian shook his head. "And I thought Pidgey were meant to be docile little things. Those things were more like Spearow! Or Murkrow!"

"Mafia Pidgey!" Ivy said, before lapsing into giggles again.

"Well the one you caught was the strongest one, so I think you've got the Mafia Boss Lady Pidgey!"

Ivy, by this point, had gone beyond giggling and was now honking like a goose with no hope of recovery. Sebastian snorted again and began laughing, his laugh surprisingly loud and powerful. Ivy was laughing so much tears were rolling down her face and she was clutching her poor Kakuna so hard the Pokemon had its eyes squeezed shut and was whimpering softly. Ivy's Pokeball containing her newly caught Pidgey lay forgotten about as the two trainers roared with laughter.

Their laughter had finally caught the attention of Jack who stumbled back into the clearing from a particularly leafy area; his Pidgey perched comically on his head, flapping its tiny wings enthusiastically. He stopped in surprise as he saw the two trainers on the ground laughing.

"What on earth…?"

"Jack!" Ivy cried between hysterics. "I caught a Mafia Boss Lady Pidgey!"

Jack's eyebrows furrowed together. "You caught… what?"

"A Mafia Boss Lady Pidgey."

Jack stood there for a few moments letting what Ivy had just said sink in. He looked at Sebastian who was still laughing and obviously could offer no help in the matter. "Nope." He said. "I still don't get it,"

"Oh, never mind," Ivy said, still giggling. "I caught a Pidgey, Jack, look!" she let go of Kakuna, the Pokemon letting out a huge sigh of relief, and held up the Pokeball to show him.

"And we got attacked by the rest of the Pidgey Mafia in the process," Sebastian pitched in.

"Pidgey Mafia?" Jack questioned the two trainers, who were still red-faced and teary eyed from the excitement "You know what? I don't want to know. You're both crazy," he deadpanned, before investigating the Pokeball Ivy was offering him. "Caught a Pidgey, huh?"

"Yeah. And Sebastian says it's a higher level than yours."

Jack frowned. "What?"

"Yeah," Ivy said, taking the Pokeball back. "It already knows Gust. Phoenix doesn't, does he?"

"Pidgey-Pidgey!" Phoenix trilled, almost indignantly from atop Jack's head.

"No…" Jack said, almost in an embarrassed tone. "He doesn't. But he'll learn!"

"My Pidgey's stronger than yours!" Ivy said in a sing-song voice.

"Shu-shut up!" Jack said, looking a bit astonished.

Ivy grinned. "Oh come on, Jack, be happy for me! I've finally got one of the Pokemon I needed for my list!"

"I'd be happier if you didn't insult Phoenix like that,"

"I didn't insult him!"

"Yes, you did."

Ivy recoiled, looking a little hurt. "Well that makes a change from you always insulting me."

"Okay!" Sebastian said, smoothly stepping in between the two friends. "Maybe you two shouldn't be arguing over this."

"Hmph…" Ivy huffed, before glaring at Jack. "I think Jack's still sore over me beating him earlier."

"Oh please." Jack scoffed. "You only won because you got lucky. Kakuna poisoned Phoenix. That's the only reason you won."

"Ooh, someone's been taking their bitchy pills today!" Ivy spat. "Get a grip, Jack."

"The only way I'd ever get bitchy pills is if I stole them from you!"

"You take that back! Just admit, you're jealous because my Pidgey is stronger and I beat you in a battle!"

Sebastian shook his head slowly, instantly knowing what was going to happen next. "3…2…1…"

"Okay, you know how we're gonna settle this? My Phoenix against your Pidgey. Deal?"

"Deal!" Ivy said, seizing her Pokeball and throwing it so furiously it would probably have hit Jack did he not side-step neatly.

However, the newest addition to Ivy's team emerged from the Pokeball still fast asleep. Jack took one look at the Pidgey and promptly burst out laughing. Even Ivy's attempts to prod the slumbering Pokemon awake met with no success as it merely turned over and continued snoring loudly. Even Sebastian was now fighting to keep a smile off his face as Ivy badgered, begged and pleaded the Pokemon to wake up, only for it to remain stubbornly asleep.

"O…okay!" Ivy huffed, giving up and recalling the Pokemon. "So she's not quite fit to battle just yet… I did just catch her after all…"

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay! So I owe you a battle…"

"Looks like you do," Jack said triumphantly, tickling Phoenix under the chin. "And I'm going to win."

"Okay…" Sebastian intercepted again before Ivy could bite back. "Since this trip has been… a success… I think… what do you say we go back to the Pokemon Centre?"

Ivy nodded, and picked up Kakuna. "Good idea."

"Yeah…"

"And you two should really stop arguing," Sebastian chastised them lightly as the three of them began walking. "It's not good for you,"

"We do always argue…" Ivy said sheepishly, casting a glance at Jack. Their feud had already been forgotten and things were back to normal, as they always were. "It's kinda a weird way of showing affection."

"'Weird' is right," Sebastian said with a good-natured chuckle. "You two squabble like an old married couple."

Ivy blushed, but Jack rolled his eyes. "Believe it or not, you're not the first person to think that."

"Really…?" he inquire, his interest piqued. He had a question to ask that had been bothering him for quite some time, and decided now was as good a time as any to ask. "So you two… you dated?" he ventured delicately.

"God no!" Jack said at once, while Ivy immediately had a coughing fit.

His question was now undoubtedly answered, and sensing there was a line he was on the verge of crossing, Sebastian quickly changed the subject. "Well, Ivy, at least we've got you a Pidgey now."

"Yeah," She said brightly. "Get stuck into some training, I'll have a Pidgeotto before I know it."

Sebastian nodded. "So, assuming we can get Pidgey levelled up enough to evolve, that's one of your six Pokemon already. What one are you thinking of going after next?"

"I don't know…" Ivy said slowly. "Whatever's closest."

"You have to get Venonat, Nidorina or Nidorino, Cubone, Shellder and Vulpix right?"

Ivy nodded.

"Well I think the best bet is to go for a Nidoran." Sebastian explained, ducking his head with practised ease as Phoenix suddenly took flight after seeing a Caterpie crawling up a nearby tree. "You can get them around Route 22."

"And where's that?"

"Not far from here, actually." Sebastian said. "Just go west from Viridian City and you're there. We can catch Nidoran there."

"Awesome!" Ivy cheered. "We should totally go there looking for Nidoran,"

"Slow down," Sebastian told her with a good-natured smile. "With just a Kakuna and a Pidgey, you're not likely to be able to capture a Nidoran. You need to train them up. Maybe once Kakuna becomes a Beedrill you might stand a chance."

Jack stuck his tongue out cheekily at Ivy as her face dropped.

"I saw that," Sebastian said with a knowing smile. "Don't think you're getting off free, Jack. You're probably going to need to train Phoenix up a lot more too. It doesn't even know Gust yet. Even with your type advantage, it probably could be knocked out by a halfway solid Bug type."

This time it was Ivy's turn to stick her tongue out at a dejected Jack.

"So, basically just train?" Jack asked, whistling for Phoenix to come down.

"That's all you can do," Sebastian said with an airy shrug. "But not against wild Pokemon. And probably not against each other," he added quickly as both friends suddenly shot each other looks. "Other trainers."

"Oh! Like Michaela?"

"I think Michaela is a little out of your skill range for now," Sebastian said, ignoring the exasperated groans coming from Ivy's direction. "You're probably better asking around Viridian's Pokemon centre. Beginner trainers."

"Great… 'beginner trainers'… that sounds so… demeaning…" Ivy groaned.

"Everyone starts somewhere,"

Ivy muttered something in response, but didn't pursue the matter. They were back in Viridian City now, walking towards the Pokemon Centre. It didn't take them long to return to the Pokemon Centre, get their Pokemon healed and collapse into a comfortable seat. Ivy weighed her two Pokeballs up, completely unable to believe she now held in her hands two Pokemon of her very own. Jack was watching her with mild amusement, tossing Phoenix's Pokeball up and down idly. Sebastian was nowhere to be seen, having said he was going to his room to do something and hadn't returned in almost fifteen minutes.

A moment later, two trainers had sat down opposite them. Two giggly young girls, about fifteen, evidently beginner trainers, much like Jack and Ivy, and only with two Pokeballs apiece swinging from their belts. Ivy looked at Jack and smiled.

Jack leaned across to the two young girls and smiled. "Excuse me, but would you two ladies care for a battle?"

And with a resounding nod from both the young trainers, Jack and Ivy had somehow managed to secure themselves their first proper trainer double battle.

But Ivy wasn't exactly feeling optimistic about it…

Author's Note

This is a quick update cos I'm using the internet at my mum's work and she's rushing me to go home.

Hope you enjoy this chapter! I hope things are interesting enough... I do promise they'll pick up soon though :D

Thanks to my reviewers MasterFreezeman, TristeWilds and The Neverending Meep.

Until next time! Please read and review!

OceanSpiral out!