The trainers turned out to be two girls, one with a treeko with its arms over her shoulders, the other with an espeon winding its slender body around her legs.
The espeon-girl saw Mirus and Heron, and started walking over to them. The second girl followed her, almost unwillingly.
"Who'll battle me?" the first girl said. She looked at both of them, before settling on Mirus. "You'll do."
Before Mirus could object to being spoken to like this by a girl considerately younger than him, Heron stepped in. "Don't be a brat, brat. Spread the fun around."
The girl looked furious. "All right then. I'll beat you."
Heron was smiling. "I haven't lost a battle yet, and I'm not going to let someone like you stand in my way." Mirus sensed the beginning of a full-scale argument.
"My name is Lucia," the girl said, tossing back her blonde hair, "and I've never lost a battle either. You'll just be another victim."
Mirus noticed the treeko-girl looking anxious too, but she offered a hand to Mirus. "Hi, I'm Laura," she said. Mirus shook it.
Meanwhile Heron was still talking to Lucia. "Lucia! Ha! My name's Heron, and you'd better learn that and respect it."
This time it was Lucia who laughed. "Heron!" Your parents must have been drunk when she thought of that! Was your mum mad?"
That was the soft spot, and Heron literally blew. "Listen, you brat," she snapped. "My mum was a brilliant pokemon trainer and league champion, and I'm going to show you not to mess with her daughter!" She tossed a pokeball. "Onix, go!"
"Oh no," Laura said. "I wish Lucia wouldn't loose her temper so much. She can be a bit stuck-up at times." Laura looked the eldest out of the two of them, with black hair and brown eyes, and Mirus guessed her to be around fourteen.
"Heron tends to loose her temper most of the time too," Mirus said. "Oh, by the way, I'm Mirus. Don't laugh."
She didn't. "So, how about a battle? I'm a dragon trainer."
"Good," Mirus said. "I train dogs. How does one-on-one sound?"
They both turned their backs on Onix fighting Lucia's espeon and started their own battle.
"Juniper, go!" Laura told the treeko around her neck. It nodded and let go, jumping into the space between the two trainers.
"Chilli," Mirus said, tossing her pokeball. The vulpix burst out and immediately spotted her opponent. "Vul!" she said, tails splaying out as she prepared for battle. She instantly looked several times bigger.
"Juniper, Quick Attack and Pound!" Laura said quickly. Mirus remembered the old man's suggestions: confident commands.
"Chilli, dodge, and Ember!" he said firmly.
The treeko ran up to Chilli very fast, leaving her only a second to move out of the way. She blew an Ember at the lizard, but he was too quick. Juniper kicked off Chilli's back and into the air, before diving down again, tail at the ready.
The second Ember had a little more effect; it hit Juniper's tail in a rush of splayed-out flames and forced him to abandon the attack, falling expertly to the ground. The two pokemon started to move in a wide circle, keeping at opposite ends. One of Chilli's tails twitched.
"Quick Attack!" Mirus had no hesitation- Juniper was fast.
"Juniper, you too!" Laura said, as Chilli charged.
This time the treeko was the one who could not move fast enough- Chilli's shoulder slammed into his chest with incredible speed, sending him reeling backwards. This made him angry, and he jumped back to her with a hefty kick.
"Rage again!" Laura said.
Only then did Mirus notice that Laura had been calling attacks this whole time; he had been too absorbed in the battle. He briefly wondered whether he had been doing the same. But then he started to shout his own commands to his pokemon.
"Chilli, dodge and Ember from behind!"
This time the treeko's punches and kicks landed him flying as Chilli ducked and rolled over to get away. She leapt up to avoid another attack and, while still in the air, landed a direct Ember in Juniper's face as he ran towards her. Chilli landed harshly on the ground, but forced herself to get up. Juniper was still up, but trying to shake off the pain from his eyes.
"Again, Chilli," Mirus said. She nodded enthusiastically and ran towards her opponent, slamming herself into him and blowing flames. Juniper staggered backwards and fell over into the dust.
"Return, Juniper," Laura sighed, letting the soft red light enshrine him as he was called back.
"You did it Chilli! You won!" Mirus shouted, as the small fox leapt into his arms and licked his face furiously. He laughed, and pressed the button on her empty pokeball.
Laura couldn't say anything, because Lucia and Heron's battle had taken another turn. Five Eevee evolutions faced Heron's Onix and Ekans as the two regarded each other furiously.
"You cheated!" Lucia was shouting.
"Oh, and six against two isn't cheating?" Heron snapped back.
Mirus looked over the evolutions. The espeon was not among them; Onix must have defeated it. He counted an umbreon, a vaporeon, a jolteon, a feraleon... Lucia was shouting again.
"Monica, Cassy, Zak, Andy, Blister, get them!"
"Stop it, Lucia," Laura said, walking up to her. "You're being an idiot."
"I'm not! Don't interrupt."
"Heron, call back your pokemon," Mirus said.
"No way!" Heron was shocked. "I can beat them." She raised her voice to Lucia. "Face it. I won."
Lucia said something else, but Laura turned on her and she sulkily called back all her pokemon, mid-attack. Heron looked triumphant.
"Well, we'll see you sometime," Laura said, as she and Lucia started to walk back to the city- Rigol, said the arch on this side. "Oh, wait." she fumbled in her pockets and brought out a few notes. "That's for a good battle." She nudged Lucia with her elbow, who grudgingly pulled out some money too.
"Well, thanks," Mirus said. Heron smiled happily at Lucia, who scowled.
By that time, Laura and Lucia had already turned around and left. Heron grinned at Mirus. "Well, that was fun. Come on, let's see how many other winning streaks I can break."
By the time Mirus's watch read five, Heron had beaten six trainers and Mirus had won against four, and lost two. All the trainers they had encountered traveled in pairs, which Mirus found confusing but very convenient when they wanted a battle each.
By this time it was still light, being late summer, but Heron and Mirus both felt extremely tired and thought that they should have a rest. Plainstown was nowhere in sight, but they had walked for hours. Mirus was sure they were on the right path- he had consulted his pokedex to check- but they had not seen so much as a building since Rigol disappeared over the horizon. The ground had been flat with a few copses here and there, and they had run into a few pokemon, but none of them dog or snake.
Heron picked out a spot to rest, under the shade of what appeared to be yet another copse of trees. She reached into her bag and took out a few packets of pokemon food. "Here," she said, tossing one to Mirus.
He thanked her and tore it open. It was a big packet, so he poured two even heaps on a ledge of rock, and let out Grim and Chilli. He had used up almost all his potions healing them, and they were lively and excited when they saw the food. Mirus, however, leaned back and closed his eyes for some sleep.
He was awoken by something licking his hand. He shook it furiously, but whatever it was, it continued to lick.
"Get off, Chilli," Mirus murmured, trying to roll over.
The owner of the tongue sounded upset, and a livewire voice made Mirus practically jump out of his skin. "Elek."
He opened his eyes quickly and sat up. A small green creature was licking tiny bits of pokemon food off Mirus's hand. It merely looked up, revealing yellow streaks across its head, and went back to licking.
With his free hand, Mirus flipped open and switched on his pokedex, pointing the receiving end at the pokemon. An electronic voice- quite similar to the pokemon's- started to talk. Mirus had heard it before, but the green thing was frightened and looked up at it.
"Electrike, number 78, electric. The lightning pokemon. Dog type- acceptable.
"Electrike stores electricity in its long body hair. This pokemon stimulates its leg muscles with electric charges. These jolts of power give its legs explosive acceleration performance. The friction from running is converted into electricity, which is then stored in this pokemon's fur."
Mirus desperatly wanted to catch this pokemon, and he looked around for Grim and Chilli. Both lay several feet away, sleeping, though Grim's ear twitched as Mirus looked at him. Heron and her pokemon had gone. Her backpack was still there, and Mirus edged carefully away from the electrike to read it.
It said, "Gone snake hunting. Sweet dreams! Heron."
Mirus carefully moved back towards the electrike. It was sniffing along the ground for crumbs. Mirus reached into his back for the used food packet and scraped out some remaining chunks with his fingers. The electrike smelt the food and bounded forward, unafraid, before licking and chewing the food off Mirus's fingers. He could feel its sharp teeth press against his skin as it ate, and he waited patiently for it to finish.
When it had, the pokemon sat back and looked up at Mirus. "Sorry," he told it. "That's all I've got."
In answer, the dog barked in its electric way and walked over to Mirus, where it sat down again, barely inches from him. And to his surprise, its face curled into a large, soppy grin and its tail started to wag. "Lectrike," it said, "trike elec."
"You want a battle?" Mirus said. He wasn't sure how he got this answer, but the electrike's fur was sparking with static electricity after its meal. He thought this was a fair suggestion, and tapped Grim on the shoulder until the dog woke up suddenly.
"I need you for a battle," Mirus explained.
At once the dog became alert, tail held high as he crouched low, facing the electrike. In return the pokemon started sparking electricity all over and growled in the same robotic way.
"Sand Attack, Grim," Mirus said.
Grim turned his back on his opponent and, lightning-fat, scraped out pawfuls of thin soil at the elecrike. The pokemon turned back as the attack hit it in its face and eyes, before charging at Grim full-on in a Tackle attack.
"Grim, Tackle it back!"
Claws clashed and bodies tumbled as the two pokemon pounced on each other and attacked tooth and claw. Sparks rippled along both dogs until Grim broke off, howling, yellow and blue shining over his fur. His muscles tensed up and his howl broke off quickly. Every move seemed to cause him pain.
Mirus dived into his bag and pulled out a Paralyze Heal- obviously the electrike's Static had paralyzed Grim. With one spray the sparks flowed into the ground and Grim could move again. But he kept his distance from the opponent, weary of what had happened before.
The electrike sensed his nervousness, and jumped forward quickly, trying to attack him again. Grim jumped back every time, trying to avoid the Tackles and Quick Attacks.
"Grim, you can do it! If you work fast enough, you won't get paralyzed! Use a Quick Attack and pull out fast!"
The confidence in his trainer's voice was too strong to ignore. Grim stopped dodging and ran straight into the electrike as hard as he could, before pushing off its side and jumping away. The few sparks fizzled and died, and the electrike was left tired out from the attack.
"Again, Grim!"
Grim dived at the opponent time and time again, ignoring the sparks that were collecting onto his body now. The electrike tried to fight back against Grim's willpower, but he dodged the paralyzing sparks and weakening Tackles more than was enough to do damage. To Mirus's relief somewhat, Grim hit with an overpowering Tackle attack and the electrike lay unconscious.
Another rummage in his bag, and Mirus pulled out a spare pokeball. He maximized it, pressed the button and threw it in one motion, and watching the pokemon surrender to the sphere.
E/N: This was mainly just a chapter to get Heron and Mirus almost to Plainstown, though I wanted Mirus to catch another pokemon. The two trainers at the beginning were for battle description (I just like describing battles) and for Heron to lose her temper.
Also, some of you may know my eeveelutions... Feraleon- grass; Sabereon- rock/ground; Shepeon- fighting; Bileon- poison; Pharaimeon- flying; Exeon- bug; Polareon- ice; Mysteon- dragon. If you're dying to know more about these, or want to see pictures, feel free to email me.
Thank you for reading, and thank you for any reviews you might submit...