They left the forest and looked around for Hermione. They saw her standing at the entrance to the castle. They walked up to her. "Oh Harry!" she exclaimed, "You caught a Pikachu! Well done!" She walked up to Harry and patted Pikachu on the head. It seemed to enjoy the attention.
"Thanks," Harry said, "What did you catch?"
"I caught the two Pokemon I had always wanted to catch in real life," she said. She pulled out two Poke Balls and released the Pokemon inside them. A Squirtle and a Mudkip appeared. "I named this one Waterboy," she said, pointing to Squirtle, "and I named this one Rupert," she said, pointing to the Mudkip.
"You NAMED your Pokemon?" Ron asked.
"Of course I did! You're allowed to!" she explained.
"Ok, I understand naming your Squirtle 'Waterboy,'" Harry said, "since it's obviously a water type, but where did you come up with 'Rupert' for your Mudkip?"
"I named him 'Rupert' because he eventually evolves into Swampert," Hermione explained.
"How do you know?" Ron asked.
"Because I have a Swampert named 'Rupert' in my Ruby version and I have a Blastoise named 'Waterboy' in Crystal version at home," Hermione said. "Squirtle eventually evolves into Blastoise," she added.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: I came up with those nicknames because, in reality, I own a Blastoise named Waterboy (he was my very first Pokemon ever, I got him in Red version and now he's in Crystal) and a Swampert named Rupert. These two Pokemon are the ONLY legitimate level 100 Pokemon I own, which means I raised them to level 100 without any cheats, codes, or glitches.)
"Ok, that explains a lot," Ron said.
"What did you catch, Ron?" she asked.
"I caught a Charmander," Ron said.
"Cool," Hermione said. She got an idea. "Hey Ron, do you want to battle your Charmander against Waterboy?" she asked.
"Sure!" Ron said. He let out Charmander, then turned to Hermione. "Umm… could you tell me how to battle? I've never done this before."
"I can help!" Neville said, "Just tell it to use an attack when it's your turn."
"What attacks does it know?" Ron asked.
"It should only know scratch and growl right now," Neville said, "But it may know ember as well. Growl doesn't do any damage, so I wouldn't use it." Neville thought for a bit. "Uh, Ron? I don't think it's a good idea for you to be using a Charmander against a Squirtle…" he added.
"Why not?" Ron asked.
"Let him find that out for himself, Neville," Hermione said. She then sent out Waterboy. "Are you ready, Ron?" she asked.
"You bet!" Ron replied.
"I'll let you go first," Hermione said.
"Ok," Ron replied, "Charmander! Use ember!" Charmander did as it was told and used ember on Waterboy. It didn't do very much damage.
"Waterboy!" Hermione said, "Use water gun!" Waterboy did as it was told and used water gun on Charmander. It was super effective. Charmander was knocked out in one hit. Hermione had won the battle.
"What?" Ron said, "Why did it lose so quickly?"
"Because of its type," Neville explained, "Squirtle is a water type, and Charmander is a fire type. Water puts out fires, so Charmander is weak against water type attacks. That's what I tried to tell you earlier."
"Grrr…" Ron growled, "I bet you knew about the type advantage all along!" he shouted at Hermione.
"Yes, I did," she admitted, "But I'd thought you would have figured that out on your own before the battle and then you would have refused to fight. I guess I was wrong."
"Let's go inside," Harry said, "We still have to go to class today. Good thing we got to miss potions because of this," he added. Hermione and Ron made their Pokemon return to their Poke Balls and followed Harry inside. Their next class was Charms, so they headed to Professor Flitwick's classroom. There weren't that many students in there, because several of them were still out catching Pokemon. Because of this, Professor Flitwick allowed the students to come to the front of the class, one at a time, and show their new Pokemon to the rest of the class. A few students already had their Pokemon out with them, while others kept their Pokemon inside their Poke Balls until it was time to show them to the class. Neville went up and showed his Bulbasaur and Poliwag to the class. Ron showed everyone his Charmander. Harry showed everyone his Pikachu. Hermione went up and introduced Waterboy and Rupert. Seamus had a Rattata. Parvati had a Clefairy and Lavender had a Jigglypuff. Everyone else was out catching their Pokemon. Other than this class, the rest of the day was very uneventful. When all classes were over, they headed up to their common room. Many students up there had let their Pokemon out and were showing them off to the other students. Ginny approached Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She was holding a Torchic.
"Look at what I caught!" she said, "I named it 'Peep Peep.'"
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Because it looks like a baby chicken and all they say is 'peep, peep, peep…'" Ginny explained.
"She's got a point there," Harry said.
"Oh cool!" Hermione said, "You got a fire type too? Ron has a Charmander."
"Yeah!" Ron said, "And I caught it on my first try!" He let out Charmander so Ginny could see it.
"Cool!" Ginny said, "And what type of Pokemon is that, Harry?" she asked, pointing to the Pokemon on Harry's shoulder.
"Oh, this is Pikachu," Harry said. Pikachu waved at Ginny.
"Oh it's so cute!" Ginny exclaimed. "What did you catch, Hermione?" she asked.
"I caught a Squirtle and a Mudkip," Hermione replied, "I named my Squirtle 'Waterboy' and my Mudkip 'Rupert.'" She let out Waterboy and Rupert so Ginny could see them.
"Ok, I can understand naming a Squirtle 'Waterboy,' but why did you name your Mudkip 'Rupert?'" she asked. Hermione sighed and gave Ginny the same explanation that she had given Harry earlier. "Oh, I get it!" Ginny said.
