"Amber! I wanna show you something!" Oliver shouted, making his entrance to the park at top speed, his glasses looking comically large on the 8-year-old's face.

Amber, wearing a simple white dress, turned around at the noise, then scoffed. "What do YOU want?"

"I got my own Pokémon!" he proudly proclaimed.

Now this got Amber's attention. "But you're only 8! You can't have one yet, can you?"

"I can't battle yet, but I can still keep it."

Genuinely curious, Amber fully turned around to face him. "All right, show me."

Oliver turned around. "Come on out, little guy." Joltik shyly crawled out from behind Oliver's left shoulder and perched itself on its new master, looking around itself nervously. Oliver crossed his arms smugly. "Bet you're pretty jealous, huh?"

To his shock, Amber burst out laughing. "What, that thing? Why would I be jealous of that? It's so tiny and so common! They're basically everywhere!"

Joltik dejectedly crawled off Oliver's shoulder and down into one of his pockets. Oliver glanced down at the offended bug-type and glared at Amber. "Oh look, Amber, you hurt his feelings. Just because they're common doesn't mean they're not cool!"

"Yeah, whatever," Amber said, turning to leave, having lost interest. "Have fun winning any battles with that thing."

Oliver glowered at her as she walked off. "I'll show you," he muttered under his breath. "Joltik's a great Pokémon! And I'll be a great trainer with him one day... "


The new arrival strode casually towards Oliver with a look of superiority in her eyes.

"What do you want?" Oliver asked, sounding quite annoyed.

"Oh, I just got done with my paperwork to get my license and I heard some fighting going on. I see you're still using your team of leftovers, eh?"

"Joke's on you, I DOMINATED the exam!"

"Oliver, that's not really that much of an accomplishment," Amber chided, wagging her finger. "Most kids aren't going to luck out and have one of their own before the test, and they usually have to borrow one. The test was meant to be beaten by common Pokémon like Oddish or Machop or whatever."

Scarlet rolled her eyes, having borne witness to similar exchanges multiple times over. It was then that Moira decided to remind those around her that she existed. "Pardon me, Scarlet," she said to the older trainer, "Whit the f*** is her problem?"

"Her dad was a famous Pokémon trainer back in the day, and her mom comes from a rich family. The two were classmates for the longest time, but most of that time they were rivals."

Moira nodded, then turned back to the two who had just gotten their licenses. Wooloo was glaring at Amber. Sobble, meanwhile, could tell something was afoot and opted to retreat back to his ball.

"You know what, Oliver?" Amber said, with a mildly feral look that looked out of place on a girl as rich as she was, "You keep going on about how you'll make your team of leftovers strong, but why don't we put that to the test?" She produced a Pokéball. "Let's have a battle, right here, right now. Your ragtag bunch against the Pokémon that won me the exam."

As Moira began to clench her fists, deciding that she really didn't like this girl, Oliver turned back to Scarlet. "Hey Scarlet, is that okay? I haven't actually gotten the physical license yet."

Scarlet considered for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't see why not. If there's a problem, I'll vouch for you."

Oliver smiled, turned back to Amber, and adjusted his glasses. It wasn't a smirk. He had a look of genuine anticipation. "Fine by me. It only makes sense that our first real match is against each other."

It was then that Moira noticed that Amber only had the one Pokéball on her. That means she ainlie used th' ane for th' exam. She smiled. Na maiter how guid her Pokémon is, Oliver has two on his gang, sae he'll be able tae outlast her easily.

"Though I'm only going to use Joltik. Ralts can sit this one out."

A'm sorry, whit?

Ralts looked disappointed, but not surprised, and waddled off to where Scarlet and Cassadra. The small Psychic-type plopped down near the Absol, arms crossed, and Cassandra gave her a sympathetic look. Wooloo tilted its head at Oliver, confused.

"You sure?" Amber chimed in. "I mean, I didn't just go out and catch any old Pokémon. I got her from a professional breeder. You'll need all the help you can get."

Oliver shook his head. "I'll pass. Even if Ralts wasn't tired from those hits she took from Pawniard, a 2-on-1 just wouldn't be fair."

"Suit yourself," Amber shrugged, evidently not too concerned with talking Oliver out of his plan.

And with that, the two took their places on opposite sides of the arena.

Oliver turned to face Amber and held out his hand. "Go, Joltik!" The Bug/Electric-type again jumped into the center of the battlefield

Amber smirked, producing a Pokéball. "Allow me to show you what a REAL trainer uses. Go, Vulpix!" She tossed her Pokéball and it released a burst of red light.

Moira recognized Vulpix from her home region, so she was caught off-guard that the little six-tailed fox, rather than being a light orange-pinkish color, was instead a bluish white with poofier tails.

Scarlet sensed Moira's confusion. "It's an Alolan breed," she explained. "They live at a higher altitude and evolved to become Ice-types in order to adapt."

Oliver made the first move. "Joltik, slow her down with Electroweb!" Joltik launched another burst of electrified web at his vulpine adversary.

"Vulpix, use Hail!" Amber ordered. Before the web reached her, Vulpix's tails began glowing blue and the little Ice-type let out a small cry, causing the temperature to go down significantly as small chunks of ice began to fall from above. This did nothing to stop Electroweb from connecting, though, and the electricity began shocking Vulpix.

Oliver smiled. The battle was already going in his favor. Hail was a common tactic among users of Ice-type Pokémon, and though it posed a threat to non-Ice-types, Vulpix had taken a hit to her speed and Joltik would be more than capable of taking her down in this state.

His smile faded when the hail began to come down full force and Vulpix began to shimmer and fade out as though she was a mirage. That can't be good, he thought. Nonetheless, he couldn't let up now. "Nice hit, Joltik! Now use Bug Bite!"

Joltik charged forward, zigzagging to avoid the incoming hail and jumped towards Vulpix to bite her.

"Vulpix, use Agility! Shake those webs off and dodge that attack!"

Vulpix rapidly spun around, seeming to glow a weak red as she did so, getting some of her mobility back.

Joltik leapt at Vulpix, but wound up missing Vulpix completely. The hail wasn't really the issue, as Joltik's compound eyes could circumvent the illusion. But combined with Vulpix's burst of speed from Agility, she'd be tough to hit.

Oliver caught a glimpse of the Vulpix and noted, to his dismay, that Electroweb hadn't managed to do all that much damage. "Go for another Electroweb!" Oliver shouted to Joltik, who nodded and began to spark with electricity.

"You got your speed back, hit him with Icy Wind first!" Vulpix opened her mouth and blew, launching a cloud of icy mist that flew straight towards Joltik right as he was about to let loose another web. The wind passed right over Joltik, who went completely rigid.

Oliver grunted, clenching his teeth. "C'mon, Joltik, you can shake it off! T-try Electroweb again!"

Unfortunately, not only was Joltik's attack speed significantly lowered, but the shivering bug was now a sitting target for the incoming hail.

"Let's finish this, girl! Use Moonblast!"

Oliver's eyes widened as Vulpix pointed her nose to the sky and a bright pinkish ball of energy began to build up. I didn't realize Vulpix could be bred with that move! The energy flowed down into Vulpix, who launched it forward at Joltik, and the sphere burst into a blinding flash of light. Oliver had to cover his eyes, as did Moira and Scarlet. Wooloo curled into a ball to hide from the light.

A couple seconds later, the light had faded, and Oliver and the others could see again. The sky was clear again, the hail was gone, and there was a very unconscious Joltik lying on Oliver's side of the field.

"Well, you said you'd only use your one Pokémon, so I guess that makes me the winner," Amber said with a smirk as she withdrew Vulpix back into a Pokéball.

Oliver sighed. "Yeah, I guess I did." Reluctantly, he pulled a Pokéball out of his own pocket and recalled Joltik, who disappeared into the ball in a flash of red light. Ralts had evidently got over her disappointment and went over to Oliver, patting his leg gently.

Amber smirked. "It must suck, losing your first ever official battle. How's it feel? No seriously, tell me. I really want to know. I don't think I'll ever know for myself, after all."

From off to the side, Moira started shaking, fists clenched and fully prepared to rip Amber a new one, no Pokémon battle needed. She took a step forward before Scarlet shot a glare her way. Moira reluctantly stepped back, glaring at the ground. Wooloo resumed Moira's post of glaring at the spoiled brat.

Moira wasn't really all that bothered by Amber's insults and rubbing her victory in her friend's face. Well okay, she was, in actuality, quite peeved about that, but what upset her more was that Oliver was just sitting there and taking it. Surely ye know how tae fire back, richt?

"Look, this was my loss. There's no need to rub it in. Still, for what it's worth," Oliver said, holding out his right hand for a handshake, "That was a great battle."

"Tch," Amber scoffed and walked right past him. Oliver lowered his hand, sighing again.

Scarlet shook her head. "You're too chivalrous for your own good," she uttered under her breath.

Amber was almost to the gate when she suddenly stopped and turned around. "Oh yeah, you weren't thinking about trying for the Gym Challenge, were you?" Before Oliver could even respond, she continued "Don't bother answering. Every trainer in Allanza's gonna be taking the challenge now that the Champion isn't around to beat them at the end, so of course you are. Let me give you some advice that'll save you some time. Don't bother. You'll never make it past the first Gym. Heck, you probably won't make it TO the first Gym. Not with your weakling of a Joltik, and especially not with your Ralts no one else wanted."

Oliver and Ralts both flinched as though punched in the gut. Amber, satisfied with her work, turned and left the premises.

No one said anything for a moment or two. Scarlet finally seemed to get her voice back and turned to Moira. "Hey, uh, I still need to do the actual paperwork for Oliver's license. Moira, could you take Joltik over to the Pokémon Center while we work on that?"

Moira nodded, taking the ball from Oliver and turning to leave. Scarlet beckoned Oliver to follow her into the school building proper. Oliver didn't say a word.


The waiting room of the Pokémon Center was designed to evoke comfort. The soft red patterns on the white walls were a comforting sight, with the orange sofas sparsely populated with trainers waiting on their Pokémon, who were being treated. Moira was sitting on the sofa nearest the front desk, casually leafing through a magazine when she heard the automatic door at the front entrance slide open.

In walked Oliver, Scarlet, and their respective Pokémon. Oliver was definitely in a much better mood now, but still didn't look as confident as he had been in the morning. Moira waved to them and they walked to where she was sitting.

"Dinnae keep me in suspense, let me see it!" Oliver smiled and held out his card. It was dark green, as he was allowed to pick whatever color he wanted, and green was his favorite color. The photo of him had a somewhat serious look on his face when he normally probably would've been giving a confident smirk (Scarlet assured Oliver he'd be able to retake the photo later) and his other information- his Trainer ID, date of birth, et cetera- neatly laid out to the right of it.

"Weel done," Moira said with a smile, which definitely cheered Oliver up.

"Look, I-I'm not going to let what she said get to me." Oliver readjusted his glasses. "I'm taking the Gym Challenge and making it to the tournament if it's the last thing I do."

Moira chuckled at Oliver's declaration. Then her smile faded, "Actually, a've bin thinking sin ah git 'ere," she said, which prompted Scarlet to raise an eyebrow and Oliver to brace himself.

"If ye dinnae mynd me asking, whit Amber said... Whit's th' deal wi' Ralts anyway?"

Oliver didn't say anything for a bit, and sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "I guess there's no harm in telling you. It was when I was 9. We'd had Joltik for a year, and we were visiting my uncle, who runs a Pokémon Day Care service over on Route 9…"


"How's my favorite nephew doing?" Uncle Brandon said, ruffling Oliver's hair as his mother looked on in amusement. Brandon had short, messy black hair, the same as Oliver and his mother (Brandon's brother) wasn't an especially tall man, nor was he really that large, but he definitely had a force of personality that made up for it. "And Joltik looks like he's doing a lot better," he said. "Looks like he's grown a couple millimeters since last I saw him!" Joltik blushed at the attention he was getting.

"Nice to see you again, Brandon," Oliver's mother called as she entered the Day Care just behind her over-eager son, giving her brother (who was about half a foot shorter than her) a hug.

"Nice seeing you too, Harley," he responded. After breaking the hug, he turned back to face Oliver. "You want me to show you around the place?"

"Do I!" Oliver responded enthusiastically. Chuckling, Brandon put his hand on his nephew's shoulder and led him through the Day Care on an impromptu tour.

Brandon showed him around the place where the Pokémon that were left there were staying, playing, and scuffling with one another. Oliver got to see some Pokémon he hadn't seen before, at least not in person. He was a curious child, bombarding his uncle with questions on how everything worked. Brandon was in the middle of giving the stock excuse that "no one knows just where the eggs come from" before realizing Oliver wasn't with him anymore.

He panicked, hoping he hadn't gotten too close to that Scolipede that one trainer was trying to breed, and luckily Oliver wasn't anywhere close to any of those bigger, scarier Pokémon. Instead he was looking at a corner of the play area, looking down at a- oh. Oh.

"Oliver?"

Oliver turned around with big, sad eyes. "Uncle Brandon? What… what's this little white-and-green Pokémon and why's it crying?"

Brandon looked between Oliver and the crying Ralts. "Oh… that's a Ralts. It's a Psychic/Fairy-type from Hoenn. It just hatched a few days ago."

"Well… where's its trainer?"

"Her trainer… well, he left a Gardevoir- its evolved form- here with a Ditto to try to, uh, make some eggs that would hatch into powerful Pokémon he could train for battle. We hatched two eggs. He took one of them, but said the other wasn't strong enough for him and he just… left her here."

Oliver was shocked. "That's horrible!" Without a second thought, he turned back to the distressed Pokémon and walked over to her, sitting down beside her.

"R-Ralts, right?" The Psychic Pokémon flinched and turned her attention to the new arrival. "I-I'm sorry you got left here," he said. "I know your trainer said you were weak, but that's not true. You can be just as strong as any Pokémon." Truth be told, Ralts couldn't understand human speech (she was only a few days old after all) but her empathic powers let his kindness and encouragement wash over her, and she did something she hadn't done since the day she was born: She smiled.

Oliver reached over to pet Ralts's green hair, causing Ralts to make small contented sounds not dissimilar to purring, which got stronger when Joltik leapt down from his perch on Oliver's shoulder and started nuzzling her too.

The boy turned his head back to his mother and uncle, who were watching the display unfold. "C-can we take her home with us? Pleeeease?"


"...Of course they couldn't say no. We put her in a Pokéball at first, but keeping her couped up in one of those just didn't feel right to me. And, well, me, Ralts, and Joltik have been really close ever since."

"It's true," Scarlet added, crossing her arms over her chest, a look of fond reminiscence on her face. "I actually babysat for the family the day they got back. He and Ralts were inseperable, even then. Honestly, he was the sweetest kid I ever met."

"Ah kin believe that," she said as Oliver blushed from what Scarlet had just said. An' it doesn't seem lik' that's changed much ower th' years. She looked at Ralts, who was napping contentedly in the backpack. "Whit Amber said wis uncallt for. Yer team will dae juist fine."

Oliver smiled again. He was about to reply when the familiar jingle rang over the intercom.

Ding ding ding-ding ding!

Ms. Moira Taylor? The Joltik you brought in has fully recovered. Please come to the front desk to pick him up.

She stood up and the three (plus Cassandra) went up to the front desk. They retrieved Joltik (Oliver bent over backwards apologizing for letting him get knocked out while Joltik tried to convey it wasn't a big deal) and as they went outside and back on the road to Oliver's place, the three were in generally high spirits.

After all, the day might have been an emotional rollercoaster, but there was still Oliver's birthday party to look forward to.


Fun fact: In my older draft of the story I wrote years ago, the first battle between Oliver and Amber played out basically the exact opposite. In that original version, Oliver DID use both of his Pokémon against Amber, but he felt like it was a hollow victory afterwards. I changed it up because I felt it better communicated Oliver as someone who sabotages himself with his insistence on fair play.

Incidentally, due to a review I got a while back I guess I have to clarify: Oliver sabotaging himself in the name of "fairness" is a character flaw for him to overcome. I thought I made that clear. Evidently not.

Also, as we start getting into the meat of the story, I'd really appreciate if you left comments. I don't have a lot of experience writing fanfic, so I'd like to hear what you guys think, and honestly, hearing feedback gives me most of my motivation to write. Special thanks to heeldigger for your review, I really appreciated reading it.

Edit: A reviewer on another website pointed out that Joltik's Compound Eyes would have canceled out Snow Cloak. I adjusted the chapter in response.