Chapter 29
"You're Ready!"
The next morning, I went through my usual routine before I went to find Maxie. As usual, he found me first.
"There you are! Are you ready to get started?" Maxie said and asked.
"I sure am." I replied.
"Good." Maxie said.
We now walked to the arena room, and once there Maxie called out his pokemon and I did the same.
"Okay, I told you yesterday what the match-ups were gonna be for this, but in case you forgot, I'll refresh your memory. I had told you that I was going to use Numel against Skarmory, Torkoal against Flaafy, Azumarill against Mightyena, Golbat against Togetic, and Camperupt against your Bayleef. Now I don't want you to get frustrated while we're doing this, because it may take a little while for you to get the hang of this. We're not playing for keeps here, and that means in any case should your pokemon faint, it's not what I intended to do. Okay, enough with the sermon. Let's get on with it!"
Rosella and Maxie both gave their pokemon their instructions and they got underway. First up was Togetic and Golbat. Golbat was without a doubt the faster pokemon, and Togetic was having trouble keeping up with it.
"Golbat, use Leech Life." Maxie ordered.
"Togetic, try to dodge it, and use Return."
"A Return attack? What sort of move is that?" Maxie asked me.
"I don't know, it just knew it when I got it." I replied.
Return hit Golbat and it was enough to knock Golbat out of the air.
"Golbat!" Maxie exclaimed.
"Try to get up and use Wing Attack."
Golbat got up, fluttered above the ground for a few seconds, and then promptly fainted.
"Oops, sorry." I called over to Maxie.
"Don't worry about it. That means that you're a stronger trainer. I'm not quite as worried about you knowing that. I think that it will be very soon for you to go out on your own and continue collecting Gym Badges." Maxie said.
We started working with the other pokemon, and surprisingly all of Maxie's pokemon fell to Rosella's.
"Good, Grief! You are really strong! I didn't expect you to be able to beat me so easily, if you know what I mean." Maxie said shocked.
I didn't know what to say, I merely looked at Maxie wondering what he was going to say next.
"Rosella, I hate to say this, but there's nothing more I can teach you." Maxie said a little sadly.
"So I'm afraid that the time has come for you to go out on your own."
"You really think so?" Rosella asked me.
"Yes, I really think so."
Now he said, "Let's recall our pokemon, and go get your backpack. I believe that you should leave for your journey today. Though I will say this. On your journey I want you to be extra careful since Archie may try to go after you again. I also want you to remember a wise old saying that I would like you to follow. 'Don't fight, if you can run. In any case should he still get you, we'll be around and will try to rescue you. Though it may take awhile, since Team Aqua has many bases and I currently don't know where all of them are. So please be extra careful."
With those words being said, we walked back to my room where I collected my backpack, and then I followed Maxie as he led me out of the hideout.
He helped me climb over the big rock, and once I was on the other side of it, he turned to me and said, "Rosella, you should head back to Rustboro to start collecting Gym Badges since it's by far the easiest one."
Maxie looked away for a moment before he said, "I wish you luck on your journey. Until we meet again Rosella."
Then with that, he was gone leaving me to find my own way back to Rustboro. I finally decided to follow the same route that Maxie had used to take me to Rustboro the first time to attend the Trainer's School. I had just stepped into the city and was passing the Devon Corporation's main building, when I heard someone call my name. I turned and saw………….. Steven. Though I didn't know his name at the time.