PD: Okay, so this story is going to start being updated a little bit less over the next coming weeks as I'm currently revamping two other stories. I ask for patience from all of you when regarding new chapters to this story, they will come when I can do it! My profile has more info about this if you're curious. NOW, without further ado, enjoy the chapter!


All Fired Up!

After rescuing the stolen Pokemon and item from Team Proto Atomic Plasma and bringing them back to the farmer at Floccesy Ranch, Milo saw no reason to stay there when the hunt for his first gym badge was now on. Knowing that Virbank City lies beyond Route 20 and the gym leader there, Roxie, would prove to give him a decent challenge, he decided to get a move on while the day was still young. His little squabble with Team Proto Atomic Plasma got him thinking about what their goal this time around could be. They already tried to peacefully control Unova, then became terrorists who wanted to deep freeze the region in ice and take control through force, so their next goal couldn't possibly be attempting to once again get total control of Unova. That unoriginal and easily foiled plan had failed twice, and it'd be foolish to try a third time as people would be expecting it. Both of his hands are in his pants pockets as he walks along the dirt path, and Mew, who had helped him rescue the Mareep from the criminal gang, floats up next to him on his right with her ears drooped down slightly and an unusually worried expression on her face. She had witnessed the entire thing from afar and while she didn't see him get hurt, she wanted to make sure he was okay after such a struggle. "Milo, are you alright? Those bad guys were really scary and looked like they would've hurt you if you lost that battle."

He isn't fazed by what happened and doesn't really care. "It's water under the bridge now. I have a feeling that wasn't the last of them that we'll see, I guarantee that much for certain."

She taps her paws together, a little bit afraid of them due to their intimidating, ruthless brutality they've displayed towards her friend and the innocent people at the ranch. "I hope not, they're a bunch of violent bullies who take things from nice people…"

He knows that if they were to find out that he has her, they'd do anything to get their hands on her. "If you're worried about them kidnapping you, they'll be dead where they stand before they get even a single skin cell from their fingers on your fur." his tone, while flat, is a reminder to her that he'll go above and beyond his own physical limits and smash anyone out of his way that dares try to stop him if they so much as leave a mark on his precious best friend.

Her crystal clear, baby blue irises and white pupils look down at the palms of her paws, thinking about how she stopped the Plasma grunts by using her psychic powers, but if Milo hadn't won the battle, she wonders if she would've been able to do something on her own to stop them and save the Pokemon they had captured even though she was afraid of them. If she chooses to fight, she'd most certainly have to hurt them, which goes against her nature. If she chooses not to fight, they get away with their crimes and the innocent people or Pokemon involved will be left to the fate of whatever those criminals had in store for them. This question runs through her head, making her question her own abilities if something far worse were to come up in the future. He notices the look on her face, almost as if she was having a miniature crisis of her own and changes the focus of their conversation. "Forget about them for now, Virbank City is close by and our first gym battle will happen there. I know Roxie uses Poison type Pokemon, so I have to ask if you'll be up for that challenge."

She looks up and into his eyes, noticing that he has a rather relaxed and chill expression despite talking about something that was quite serious only moments ago. As he walks, a gentle breeze blows by and makes some strands of his loose chocolate brown hair coming out from under his hat flutter and wave in the current. On the lenses of his silver glasses, the pink feline Pokemon's face is reflected, as well as the world around them. Her tone picks up. "I think so, it's just that I'm still not used to this battling thing yet."

He gets where she's coming from, having only been in one battle that was barely classifiable as a battle since she knocked out the opponent with one attack, it makes sense that she'd be a bit anxious to take on a demanding challenge such as that. He thinks about it for a moment and remembers that Virbank City has a little mechanical complex with a few factories in the southern part of the city. He's heard that it's a rather popular place for trainers to go to in order to strengthen the bonds with their Pokemon alongside training them to get stronger. "When we get to Virbank, there's a complex there that would be perfect for some casual battling. Do you think that might help? You'll get a bit stronger with the training we do as well."

Her familiar smile returns and she nods in agreement. "I think I can handle that!" Deep down, she doesn't want to disappoint him as she's always been able to do anything she says that she can do for him, and while battling isn't her strong suit, she's going to do the best that she can for him.

The two round a corner and their entire plan is stopped in place as about 100 feet in front of them lies a massive tree that had somehow fallen down on the route, completely blocking the path and preventing anyone or anything from going to Floccesy Town or Virbank City. He's a bit confused on how a tree this big managed to fall down and not make a sound upon hitting the ground, it'd be impossible for him to not have heard it if it happened while he was dealing with the Team Plasma grunts since he was outside and not too far away from it. There's a few people here with construction vests on that are trying to clean it up but haven't had much luck with the chainsaws they brought as the tree itself has an extremely thick trunk that's somehow hardened enough to break the blades of anything that tries to cut it. One of the men turns around to see the boy and goes up to him. "Hey, what're you doing here!? It's dangerous! Stand back!" he blocks his path and doesn't look to be moving anytime soon.

"I'm trying to get past. Please let me through." he says, being respectful since the man is in all the right to be telling him to get back when dangerous equipment is in use.

He crosses his arms. "Ain't nobody gettin' past this tree. We gotta bring in a crane or a helicopter to lift it and get it out of the way before anyone can go through. You're gonna have to turn around and wait until the path is clear." he notices his expression changing to suggest that he's going to go into the woods on either side of the path to get around it and shuts it down. "Don't even think about going into those woods. The massive commotion riled up a whole bunch of strong wild Pokemon that we've never seen here before and trainers of your type wouldn't survive for even a second against them."

He sighs, this wasn't what he expected to find on this route and his entire gym battle had been ruined before he even got there. Oh well, maybe he can train Mew and Snivy elsewhere, but decides to throw his plan out there to the man just to see if he has some insight on where he could go. "I was going to challenge Roxie but I guess that's not happening anytime soon." He purposefully turns around and the man grabs his left shoulder.

"Hold on there little fella, you're looking for a gym leader to battle?"

He looks over his right shoulder. "Yeah, you got one?"

He smirks and chuckles. "It just so happens that you missed one in the sleepy little suburban Aspertia City. I think his name was Cheren, and he's a gym leader that the Pokemon Trainer School uses as a final exam of sorts for the young students there to see if they're worthy of taking on the Pokemon League Challenge. You know, gather all 8 badges and then rush the Elite Four for a shot at becoming the Champion of the region."

He's more than aware of the league challenge, he's on it at this very moment in time, but he did forget about Cheren being in his own hometown thanks to meeting Alder and the Team Plasma stuff happening so quickly. The problem with facing Cheren is that he knows he'll win even if he ties his hands behind his back and blinds himself from what's going on as he's just a baby's first test to see if they're ready. It doesn't put them through the true force of what gym leaders are capable of and he's not interested in being tested on the level of a baby. "He's not a challenge to me, I'd be shocked if he manages to scratch my Pokemon." Although, deep down, he's not so confident that he'll be a walk in the park since gym leaders tend to be deceiving in how strong they look.

The worker raises an eyebrow, thinking he's too cocky for his own good. "Is that so? Ahahaha! I'll tell you what. Me and my men will have this tree outta the way by the time you walk out of that gym with the shiny badge you proclaim yourself to be able to get so easily. Why don't you go and test that hypothesis of yours while we take care of this?"

He tried, but oh well. It's not like he has any other choice, so instead, he shrugs both of his shoulders and turns around to go back the way he came, except he plans on heading back to Floccesy Ranch since he knows that he can use the woods in the back as a place for training Mew and Snivy up.


"Vine whip, one last time!" Shouts Milo, telling Snivy what move to use against his opponent, a Mareep, who looks weak and nearly defeated. The grass snake Pokemon smiles confidently and sprouts two vines out from above his shoulders and throws his hands up in the air for a moment before swinging them forward and whipping the vines across the wooly electric type's body, a nasty cracking sound accompanying it as the vines lash down and attack them, knocking them onto their side and making them faint.

"Wha- No way!" Says the opponent, a janitor who was on his day off and had the same idea as Milo did, to train his Pokemon and get stronger. Unfortunately, he didn't expect to encounter such a skilled opponent and just like all the other trainers in the woods behind the ranch, he too fell to his prowess and skillful battling style. "D'aw… I guess I'll just go back to cleanin' the trainer school as my day job." he says as he pulls out the Pokeball for his Mareep and calls them back inside, a red light shooting out of the button and surrounding them for a few seconds before turning them into red matter and sucking them back inside. He puts the ball in his pocket and pulls out some money and walks up to him. "Ya diddly darn too strong for us! Take the cash, boy."

He accepts it with his left hand and stashes it away in the right pocket of his jacket where the rest of his money is and doesn't say anything to him as there's nothing for him to say. The janitor turns around and starts walking away to leave the forest, leaving him all alone as everyone else had left after being dealt a crushing defeat by his feisty little grass-type Pokemon. He crouches down to get to his level and puts his right fist out in front of him, which he fist bumps with his left hand curled into a fist of sorts. "Sniiiivy!"

A small smile forms on his face. "I think we're ready for that gym battle." He pulls out the Super Pokedex from his left jacket pocket using his left hand since his right hand holds his Pokeball, and using the level scan feature, he scans him to find out his current level and stats. In a robotic voice, it reads it out to him.

"Pokemon level scan result: Level 13. HP: 38. Attack: 22. Defense: 23. Special Attack: 20. Special Defense: 20. Speed: 25."

He's happy with the results that he sees with this scan, being exactly where he wanted him to be. "Alright, even if they throw some heavy attacks at us, we'll be able to take it and dish it back."

Snivy appears to agree, nodding his head and crossing his leafy arms together with satisfaction from these results. "Ivy, ivy!"

Mew suddenly flies by, having been invigorated and energized by the training she did earlier with Milo with some wild Pokemon they encountered on their way into the deeper parts of the woods where they are currently. "Wheeeeeeeee!" she flies past him, turns around, and rockets off back the way she came, moving fast enough to be missed if one were to blink their eyes as she flies by. "Wooo! I never knew getting stronger could make me feel this energized!" She holds both of her arms out to her side like an airplane and darts around the trees, leaving a little disturbance of air behind her as she flies at him and runs circles around him. The little air current left behind gently pushes his jacket around and she stops in front of him. "What about me!? Am I ready too!?" She's quite excited with the newfound power she's obtained.

"Let me check. Stay still." He points the Pokedex at her and it scans her like it did with Snivy, and a few seconds later the result displays on the screen and it starts reading it out loud.

"Pokemon level scan result: Level 16. HP: 72. Attack: 51. Defense: 51. Special Attack: 51. Special Defense: 51. Speed: 51."

This makes him raise his right eyebrow quite high because he trained her the same amount as he did with Snivy, yet she's somehow 3 levels above him for some reason. "That's odd, Mew and Snivy both supposedly grow at the exact same rate according to the Pokedex." he thinks to himself as he uses the compare function to compare the two Pokemon's growth stats, something the normal Pokedex that most trainers out there have is unable to do. Both of his Pokemon fall under the same "Medium Slow" growth group along with a plethora of other Pokemon, and yet it doesn't explain the level gap between the two. His right hand comes up to his chin and he scratches it gently, trying to think of an explanation for this but not having anything come to mind. There isn't any obvious reason he can think of that'd make sense for this rapid growth, but any growth for both of his Pokemon is good growth, and he decides that it's a better idea to accept it as is instead of trying to fix it and risk potentially losing it as it could possibly help him further on in his journey.

She floats in front of him, shaking her paws up and down excitedly, wanting to know what all the information she heard means in terms of how she's grown. "So, what does it mean!? Am I even better than before?" There's a couple playful sparkles in her eyes as she asks.

"You've apparently outgrown Snivy. I don't know how, but you outgrew him." He says while still looking at the screen, comparing the two Pokemon's stats together while his slight surprise in their growth differences fades away.

Her starry eyes become even more starry and sparkly. "Wow! I've grown to be even stronger than him!? That's amazing!" She floats down and lands next to Snivy and talks to him, her tone suddenly calming itself in the process. "Uumm… I don't mean to seem like I'm better than you. I know you and Milo trained real hard to get stronger just like I did, so, I hope you're not upset by that." He shrugs both of his shoulders, not really caring about it too much since she hasn't been in as many battles as he's been in and doesn't see her as someone to be in competition with in terms of getting stronger.

Milo turns the Super Pokedex off and puts it away in his left jacket pocket before crouching down to get a better look at both of his Pokemon. While most of his journey so far has had him cold and unemotional towards people directly, he feels happy in the presence of his two partners, especially Mew. He never thought he'd end up out of his house and going around like this, aiming to now get all 8 gym badges to become the champion. He decides to give the two a little pep talk before they take their first steps to achieving that goal. "Mew, Snivy. You two are going to be with me for every step of the way through the Unova region. I thought it'd be a good idea to, maybe, try to further fire you up." He tightens his right hand into a fist, not from anger, but from an excitement he never thought he'd feel. His two Pokemon listen to him intently, looking right into his face and eyes, eager to know what he has to say. "Once we leave here and head back home to Aspertia City to challenge gym leader Cheren, there's no going back. We're in this until the end, no matter what happens. If we win, we win. If we lose, we go back and try again with a different strategy until we finally beat him. Together, we're going to get all of those badges, we're going to get strong and prove ourselves to be worthy of challenging the Elite Four and champion, and then…" He stands up, yelling out his final ambition with his fist raised to the sky. "WE SHALL BECOME THE CHAMPIONS OF THE UNOVA REGION!" He suddenly realizes just how much his voice echoes across the land as a whole bunch of Pidove and Tranquill start flying into the air from the nearby trees, spooked by the raw power he put into his voice. His pupils and irises shrink a little and his cheeks flush up in a bright red blush in response to this.

Snivy curls both of its leafy hands into fists and jumps in place a few times, feeling his enthusiasm and passion from his little speech. "SNIVY! IVY, IVY, SNIIIIIVVY!" The little grass-snake Pokemon tries to copy his trainer's powerful exclamation but falls a bit short due to not having a large enough body to produce a sound equal in volume to him. He doesn't care that he's short of it, he's just as amped up to make this happen as his trainer is. Mew, on the other hand, is floored. She had no means of seeing this coming, thinking that they were just going to go back and head straight there to win since that's kind of what he's done since the start. Seeing him like this, a first for her, completely stuns her while also delivering a massive dose of amazement and joy that takes her a few moments to comprehend alongside what he said, standing there blinking with a blank expression for a few seconds before jumping 5 feet up in the air and spinning in place.

"Yes! YES! WE'RE ALWAYS WITH YOU NO MATTER WHAT! I'LL BE HERE TO DO WHATEVER YOU NEED, AND SNIVY WILL TOO! WE'RE A DREAM TEAM THAT CAN'T BE BEAT!" She stops spinning and copies his little pose, although her voice doesn't even come close to Snivy's volume because it's on the softer and quieter side naturally.

He drops his hand to his side, a wide smile on his face and an energetic spark in his chocolate brown irises, ready to take on his first gym battle and all other battles that lie before him and his Pokemon. He pulls Snivy's Pokeball from his bag and calls him back into it, a red light shining on him, tinting him red for a moment before turning him into red matter and sucking it into the ball. He puts it back in the bag gently and looks at her. "You ready!?"

She responds with equal spirit and eagerness. "If I'm with you, I'm always ready!"

"Then let's waste no time! C'mon!" he starts running, heading for the exit back to the ranch.

"Alright! Time to have some fun! I'm right behind you, Milo!" She takes off flying after him, catching up in no time at all and floats alongside him. A couple of tears well up in the corner of her eyes, she's never seen him like this before at any point in their friendship and it makes her heart sing happily with joy and excitement. "Milo! I'm so happy, I'm going to cry if you keep acting like this… I can feel the excitement and positive energy coming out of you, it's almost intoxicating to me in a good way, and I wouldn't want it to be any less than this! We're going to experience what you've always wanted to experience, and I guarantee your father is smiling down upon you from wherever he is right now! Let's win that gym badge!" The two come blasting out of the forest, but on the other side, a familiar foe awaits them and almost immediately does he notice their approach.

"THERE HE IS!" Butch shouts, and almost immediately does Mew turn herself invisible in response and luckily for her, he didn't see her and she manages to fly far away from him, hiding in the trees she hid in earlier when Team Plasma was here. He walks up, his "tough guy" style of walking failing to give him any intimidating vibes, and stops 10 feet in front of him. "Look at you, training all alone without anyone to test that newfound strength with. What a shame, because even with all of that training, the elite is going to wipe this place with your face!"

He was in a good mood too and seeing him makes his joyful face scrunch up with annoyance and his smile goes straight to a harsh frown. "I don't have time for your petty games, Butch. It's bad enough I had to punch one person today, don't make that number become 2."

He taunts him, pretending to be scared of his statement, getting on his knees and cupping his hands together as if he was begging for him to not hurt him. "Oh. no! Please don't hurt me! I'm just a poor little boy who can't defend himself! Aaaaah! You're such a bully!" He waves it off, stands up, and spits on the ground, almost spitting on his shoes in the process, making him take a couple steps back. "PUH. LEASE! You wouldn't dare hit me at all even if you wanted to, after all, I am your best friend AND only rival that you can't afford to put in the hospital." He rips his Zorua's Pokeball off his belt with his right hand. "That former champion gave me some training, and me and my partner's power levels have skyrocketed! You don't stand a chance now, and your smug-ass face is going to be the one sobbing once we're done with you!"

He bites the inside of his lip, not taking too kind to the mockery he just made him out to be. He doesn't want to deal with his shenanigans and would rather just walk past him so he could get back home and face Cheren, but unfortunately it doesn't look to be that way. He decides to warn him, his tone getting deep and threatening. "Listen to me, I would highly suggest leaving me alone. I was in a good mood a few moments ago, and you just ruined it. If you don't want to end up being made to look like a fool once more, the best choice of action you can do is to continue training your Zorua. You're NOT beating me. Understand?"

He doesn't take it as a threat, and instead, thinks that he's actually afraid of losing because he didn't train hard enough and gives him a smug look and dirty tone. "Oh, is that a bit of fear I sense? What happened to the Milo I first fought? Glameow got your tongue, hmm?" He cockily laughs and decides to tell a lie to get a rise out of him. "While you were out doing your little pow-wow with that old coot and playing with those floopy-doop Mareep, I was getting crap done!" A gleam comes off his blue iris. "I've already got 2 GYM BADGES, and you have none! Who's the REAL nobody now, huh?"

He doesn't believe him and gives him an unimpressed look with sharp, suspicious looking eyes to go with it. "In the time it took for all the events that happened to me? I think you're lying. Prove it."

He holds his Zorua's Pokeball out in front of his body, smiling devilishly. "That's more like it…"

Reaching inside his bag with his left hand and flicking Snivy's Pokeball out for him to catch with his right hand, he prepares himself for the battle that he had originally wanted to avoid. He tosses the ball towards the ground 5 feet in front of him, bouncing three times and coming to a smooth stop before opening up and casting a blue light out onto the ground a few inches in front of it. For a few seconds, the light takes on a bunch of jagged looking edges, before morphing into the shape of Snivy and shattering into a bunch of sparkles to reveal the grass snake Pokemon with its leafy arms crossed. Despite not knowing what was going on, he somehow knew that this useless battle was going to happen and taps his left foot impatiently, giving a tone of disgust and disapproval while rolling his eyes. "Snivy…"

His rival throws his ball out 4 feet in front of him towards the ground, bouncing 6 times before coming to a rolling stop and opening up to let his Zorua out. The black furred, fox-like Pokemon appears among a shroud of blue sparkles that quickly dissipate a few seconds later. They recognize Snivy from the last battle and immediately start growling while showing their teeth. Butch snickers for a moment before speaking. "My Zorua seems to have unfinished business with your Snivy. This should be interesting, especially since it's not going to lose this time around."

Milo simply grabs the brim of his hat with his right hand and pulls it slightly over his eyes, talking with a flat, cold tone. "We'll see…"

He points his right index finger at him. "Zorua, Scratch that little worm!"

"Arrrrooooooo!" They scream and take off running at Snivy, the hidden claws in their paws already extended out as if they knew their trainer was going to tell them to use the move. They kick up little mounds of dirt as they run towards the grass-snake Pokemon, closing the distance alarmingly fast. While Milo would've told him to avoid the attack, he doesn't say anything and instead, makes a barely audible sound that he picks up on and prompts him to go into action, unfolding his leafy arms and preparing himself by putting them straight out to his sides..

He notices this. "What the…" his eyebrows raising up in confusion at what he's about to do. From his shoulders, two vines quickly sprout out and right before Zorua can land their attack, a lightning quick snap results in him wrapping them up tight and holding them in place a few inches in the air, mere avoiding the attack but just out of Zorua's reach as they swipe the air in the hopes that their attack will connect. He turns his head to look up at his trainer, awaiting his command.

"Do it." He turns back to Zorua and puts his left arm down and swings his right arm towards the ground, which slams the poor fox-Pokemon into the ground. He raises his arm up as high as he can and lifts the dazed Pokemon into the air with his vine before doing the same thing again two more times, but after the third slam, he flings them back towards their trainer while rubbing both of their hands together, not even looking at the fight. Butch's Zorua flies through the air, hits the ground one last time and slides to a stop in front of his feet with swirls in their eyes. With a tricky technique, his partner had been destroyed without a chance to land their attack, leaving him baffled and stunned at what just happened. Snivy simply walks over to Milo and he returns him to the ball, being enveloped by a red light for a few seconds before turning into red matter and being sucked into it. He puts the ball back in his bag and walks over to his rival, who had fallen to his knees with his eyes bulging out of their sockets and his mouth rolling on the floor. He doesn't look at him. "I told you and yet you didn't listen." he walks away, heading towards the exit of the ranch to go back to Aspertia City.


PD: Reviews are highly appreciated! Seeya in the next chapter, and again please have patience for that next upload!