There are always moments that one will never forget on their Pokémon Journey: battling your rival for the first time, the first time that you capture a Pokémon, that first time that you do something really stupid on accident, and the first time that you do something out of pure courage. Azul had already fought once with Verde, ending in a draw. He had caught a Nidoran, which gave him the courage to capture more Pokémon later. He accidently fell from a cliff to save one of his Pokémon from a flock of Spearow. He was about to enter his first courageous battle to save a friend that he could not see hurt. It was a moment that would change how Azul would view his journey.

"Rouge!" Azul cried out. He grabbed at a Poké Ball and held it out. His hands were trembling at the very thought of battling criminals.

"Azul, run!" Rouge screamed.

"Who's this kid?" One of the female members asked.

Azul didn't know what came over him. He felt a sudden surge of fear, but at the same time felt ready to fight. His heart pumped hard enough that he could feel it in his throat. He was sweating as though he just ran a three mile run. Was he really ready to be brave?

Azul pushed the button on the Poké Ball, releasing his Bulbasaur, Cherry. Cherry looked around the room and saw all of the thugs. She readied herself for a tough battle.

"You really don't want to mess with us, kid." A woman said. She pushed a button on her Poké Ball, releasing a winged, blue Pokémon.

Normally, Azul would scan the Pokémon with his Pokédex, but he did not want to waste any time with this if he wanted to save Rouge.

"Zubat, use Wing Attack!"

"Cherry, dodge, then use Razor Leaf!" Azul ordered quickly.

Zubat flew the air, its wings glowing. It zoomed towards Cherry, but she leapt over it, then released her leaves. The leaves cut into Zubat, sending it to the ground.

Azul was about to make another order before he was grabbed by someone and pulled back. Cherry turned around to attack, but stopped because she could hurt Azul.

"What are you going to do?" the man in black asked Cherry cockily.

Cherry backed up a little bit. She had never thought of hurting Azul. A Pokémon's life was simple. They battled, they evolved, they slept a lot. She never thought she would be in a position where she would have to hurt her trainer. Luckily, she did not have to.

In a blink of an eye, the man and Azul was struck by a lightning attack. The man let go and Azul stumbled forward. Cherry leapt forward, tackling the man to the downstairs.

"Pichibu!" Jaune's Pikachu called out happily.

"There's another kid!" someone screamed.

Two of the thugs ran towards Jaune, hoping to take her hostage just like Rouge, but she was ready for them.

"Thundershock!"

Chiboo released shocks from her cheeks. The shocks stunned the two thugs, forcing them to the ground. Chiboo backed up a little bit, scared at what one of the thugs might do to her.

With the man that held Rouge distracted, Rouge bit onto his arm, forcing him to scream and let her go. She let loose two of her Poké Balls. From one, her Squirtle, Champ, appeared and the other, a small red puppy.

Two of the thugs stepped back and threw two Poké Balls each into the air. Two more Zubat appeared, alongside two Rattata.

"Champ, Water Gun, and Growlithe, Ember!" Rouge ordered. She had seemingly planned out everything in advance.

The Pokémon exchanged attacks. The Zubat were easily thrown back, but the Rattata were quick. They were able to maneuver around the attacks and strike quickly, but Rouge had an attack ready for this.

"Flame Charge!" Rouge screamed.

Growlithe breathed fire from his mouth, setting himself on fire. He lunged forward and tackled the Rattata. The Rattata slid back into the wall, unconscious.

A bigger version of Zubat swooped down and swiped Champ into the air. Dropping Champ, the Pokémon struck Champ with his wings.

Chiboo jumped onto the Pokémon's back and released volts. The Pokémon fell to the ground and crashed hard into one of the cases. Chiboo hopped off and made sure that Champ was okay.

"Go downstairs! You're bound to run into more of them," Rouge called back to Azul.

Azul nodded and ran downstairs. Cherry followed. Jaune stayed upstairs to help out Rouge with the thugs.

Downstairs, the thugs were grabbing ahold of more artifacts, placing them into the bags. One of the biggest thugs had ahold of a scientist. He was trying to interrogate him.

"We need that technology for Team Rocket!" the thug screamed.

"Get away from him!" A voice called. Brock and Jerry burst through the door.

"It's the gym leader!" A voice called out. Azul could not tell if it was a relieved or distressed voice.

Two of the thugs stepped in front of the trainers. They pulled out Poké Balls, releasing a plethora of Zubat. Before they could strike though, Brock released his Geodude, who knocked all of them back.

"Jerry!" Azul yelled. He waved over at Jerry, who ran towards Azul. "It's good to see you!"

"This isn't the best time to be happy. Where's Jaune?" Jerry asked.

"She's safely upstairs. Her and my friend are taking on the guys up there," Azul informed him.

Jerry looked relieved that Jaune seemed okay. He looked around for a battle and quickly found one across the room. Azul was, again, left alone.

One of the thugs threw a Poké Ball into the air. A large, round, purple Pokémon appeared. It had gas emerging from different ends of its body and a wicked smile.

"Koffing, use Tackle!" Its trainer ordered.

"Spearow, use Fury Attack!"

Azul readied his Poké Ball and threw it into the air. Spearow appeared and immediately struck the Pokémon. Both were thrown back slightly, Koffing smashing into a wall.

"Koffing, get back out there and use Sludge!" the thug ordered.

Koffing moved back into the battle wearingly. He took a deep breath, forming all of the spit in mouth to turn into sludge. He let the sludge loose from the holes in his body.

"Spearow, get around it! Then use Peck!"

Spearow easily avoided all of the sludge. She then rammed her beak as hard as she could into Koffing's side, sending the Pokémon into its trainer.


Upstairs, Rouge and Jaune were beating the thugs easily. After all of their Pokémon were released, things became easier. Rouge had not only a Squirtle and Growlithe, but also a Farfetch'd. Because they were not outside, Diglett could not be used.

"Raticate, use Hyper Fang!" one of the thugs ordered.

"Dodge, and then use Poison Jab!" Rouge countered.

A big furry white ball of a rat leapt at Rouge's Farfetch'd. Farfetch'd easily maneuvered around it, and jabbed at it with his leek. The leek glowed a light purple, signaling that it was poisonous. Raticate fell back from the attack, holding onto his stomach from agonizing pain.

"Growlithe, use Ember!" Rouge called before two Zubat could strike Jaune from behind.

Growlithe leapt into the air and released small searing flames from his mouth. The flames grazed the Zubat, driving them away.

"Thanks, Rouge!" Jaune said with a relieved smile. "Pidgey, Gust!"

Pidgey flew into the air and flapped his wings ferociously. The Zubat were thrown up, then came back crashing down.

Jaune wiped the sweat from her forehead. Never had she thought she would be battling like this. When Professor Oak called upon her to take care of the fourth Pokémon meant for new trainers, she never thought she would run into thugs.


"Geodude, use Rollout!" Brock called from the laboratory. His Pokémon toppled over the enemies Pokémon with ease.

The thugs were not a real issue by themselves, but together, they were fearsome. They mostly chose small Pokémon like Rattata or Zubat, but there were other Pokémon mixed in there, making it difficult to battle.

Brock was about to make another command before someone grabbed him from behind and held him into the air by his neck.

"I got him! I got the Gym Leader!" The thug cried out happily.

Azul glanced over and saw what was happening. He could not try to save him right now. He had his hands full with other thugs. But what if he did not save him?

A sudden popping noise filled the air and Azul's Pichu appeared from his Poké Ball. He lunged forward at Brock's capture, punching him with a strong ThunderPunch. The keeled over from pain, and Geodude tackled him.

"Pichu!" Azul cried happily. "Does this mean that you'll listen to me now?"

Pichu looked back at Azul and glared.

The doors burst open and a man walked in slowly. The thugs stopped their onslaught and directed their attention at the man.

He had a muscular build, and by his build, looked as though he was in his late-30's. He was cloaked by a trench coat with the hood up, covering his face.

"Our mission has failed. We'll pull out of Pewter," he said with a commanding tone.

Multiple red streams flied through the air, returning all of the Pokémon back into their Poké Balls.


Jaune and Rouge had been back into a corner. Huddling with their Pokémon, they knew that they could make one last ditch attempt.

One of the thugs lifted his hand to make a command, but was interrupted by a voice that came from his belt.

"This is Commander Red. We are pulling out. I repeat. We are pulling out. Everyone evacuate Pewter!" The voice rang.

The thugs all exchanged looks before nodding and throwing two balls to the ground. The balls burst open, sending smoke into the air. The two girl trainers coughed ferociously. Whenever the smoke cleared, all of the thugs had gone missing.


Smoke filled the downstairs. Azul moved around, attempting to find his Pokémon.

"Cherry, Spearow, Pichu! Where are you?" he called out.

"Gust!" a familiar voice called.

A strong wind raced through the room, forcing all of the smoke into the outside. All of the thugs had disappeared, but the evidence of their attack had stayed. Displays rested on the ground, most of them destroyed.

Azul looked up to see Jaune's Pidgey. The small bird was blowing away the rest of the smoke.

"Jaune!" Jerry squealed happily. He ran over to her and took her hands. "Jaune, I'm so happy that you're okay!"

Jaune nodded and pulled her hands back. "Yeah, but what about everyone else?"

"I don't think anyone has any serious injuries. I'm glad to say that everyone is okay," Brock informed her, looking over the crowd of people. The museum workers were diligently untying people.

"Who were those guys?" Azul asked. He had finally found his Pokémon. Spearow perched herself on Azul's shoulder, and Cherry stayed by his side. Pichu sat away from the group, pouting that he had only gotten in one punch.

"They are a group called Team Rocket. They are bent on one day controlling the world. It isn't really clear yet," Brock informed.

The group all sat around in silence. It was not until then that Jaune, Azul, and Rouge had all realized that they all could have been killed. Maybe a Pokémon journey was not really right for someone at their age? But then again, who had ever heard of evil organizations rising up and attempting to ruin trainers' journeys? Hopefully, this would only be a one-time deal.

"If it weren't for you three, this could have ended worse. I have to thank you for that," Brock said with a smile on his face. He held out his hand to Azul.

Azul took it weakly and tried to shake it as firm as he could. His soft hands felt weird against Brock's hand. It was odd for a boy to have such soft skin.

"What do you plan on doing next?" Jerry asked. He was inching closer to Jaune every second.

"We'll be heading off to Cerulean! I'm going to get myself another gym badge!" Azul explained.

Jaune smiled and returned her Pokémon into her ball. She tucked them onto her belt and made sure her bag was fasted well enough.

"I'm going to head out now. This was enough adventure for me today, but maybe I can get to a Pokémon Center by nightfall if I leave now," she told the group.

She gave Azul a hug and left quickly. It was as though she had not wanted to be around Azul anymore. This kind of hurt Azul, because he had been friends with her for as long as he could remember.

"Good luck, Azul!" Jerry said with a big toothy grin. "You better win the Indigo League! I'll be cheering you on the whole way!"

Jaune laughed. "That'll require a lot of luck!"

All of the trainers laughed.


Jaune sat at her desk, staring into a book that she had been trying to get through for the longest time. It was not that very interesting of a book, but it was the best selling book at the time. If she could get through the book then maybe the kids at school would want to talk to her. It would at least give her something to talk about with them.

Someone had knocked on the door and Jaune put her book down. She spun around in her blue rolling chair and peered over at the door.

"Jaune, you have a visitor!" A voice called from the other side. "May he come in?"

A visitor? Jaune wondered. No one had ever come to visit her before. And for what reason would they want to visit her now? She was not popular in school one bit. This could have just been a prank that was in the works.

"Yeah," Jaune responded.

The doorknob twisted, and the door opened. A man, his hair grey, walked through the door. He wore a red polo that he tucked into cream colored khakis, fastened by a belt.

He looked around the mess of a room. Jaune's desk had things scattered all over the place, but it was nothing compared to her room. A hamper sat in the room, only half full, with clothes laying around it like Jaune had only tried to throw them into it, missing and giving up on her first try. Her bed had many blankets scattered about, and at the post, a straw hat hung.

"Hello, Jaune. My name is Professor Oak. How would you like to go on a Pokémon Journey?"


A/N I was thinking about putting chapters ten and eleven together, and I kind of regret not doing it. Do you think that they were long enough separately?

Merry Christmas! Or Happy Holidays. I celebrate Christmas so it is Merry Christmas for me. We're posting three chapters up today. Check out Free and Heather's, and Hazel's stories today!

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