A/N: I get my Pokemon tome entries from Wikipedia and Bulbapedia. You can skip over them if you want, they'll be in italics. You don't have to read them, but they're interesting, or at least I think so.
Nathaniel entered the Azure Town Pokemon Centre and handed his pokemon to the Chansey before slumping into a chair. He was about to drift into sleep when he heard a familiar voice. It was his cousin, Trey!
"Hey, Nate! I didn't think you'd make it here this fast! I wanted to be at your commencement ceremony but I got delayed."
Trey was Nathaniel's favourite cousin, and he'd left on his journey with a Rattata three years before. He had black hair and grey eyes that looked like small shards of steel.
"Listen, I have to head to Glory Falls right away, but I've got something for you." Trey said as he rummaged through a large grey backpack full of at least two of everything, or so Nathaniel thought. He finally pulled out a Greatball and handed it to Nathaniel, who looked at it, not quite sure he understood.
"It's a going away present, even if it is a bit late. Sorry, but I think you'll like it!" Trey explained as his cousin turned the ball over in his palm before finally pressing the release button. A flash of energy appeared, and it took the form of a small, fat yellow pokemon. A Psyduck!
"Its name is Wellington. I caught it a while back but just kept it in my bag. I didn't use it at all so it's still at a low level."
Nathaniel looked back at Wellington, and then turned to his cousin. "Thanks!"
After a few minutes of small talk, Trey had to run off to Glory Falls, leaving Nathaniel on his own again. The Psyduck didn't need to be healed, so he simply stayed with Nathaniel to get better acquainted.
Wellington just sat there for a while until he finally drifted off to sleep, and Nathaniel did the same thing. The Chansey woke him when she came to return his pokemon, and he decided to stay in the Pokemon Centre for a few hours, even though it was almost daybreak.
When Nathaniel did leave the Centre, he headed towards a tall tower he'd passed when he entered the town. The building was made of wood and looked to be about fifteen stories high, with windows all the way up. In front of it was a sign that read: Azure Town Pokemon Temple.
When he opened the door, however he was amazed by what he saw. There weren't fifteen floors, but only the ground floor and an incredibly high ceiling. Along one wall were bookshelves that went about thirty feet up and had ladders along the sides. Among the titles were Grass Pokemon and Where to Find Them, History of Azure Town, and Ancient Leaf, the Autobiography of Temple Master Arvin.
All around the temple grass pokemon were training, and in the centre of the building a wizened old man wearing the robes of a Temple master sat on the floor.
Nathaniel remembered what his parents had told him about temples. Each one specialized in a specific type of pokemon, and if you could beat the temple master you would receive a pokemon of that type that couldn't be found anywhere else.
Judging by the pokemon all over the tower, this temple's specialty was Grass type. Glooms and Tangelas inhabited the building, and Weepinbells hung from the roof. Nathaniel walked toward the temple master and spoke out in a calm voice, masking his fear.
"I challenge you to a Temple Battle!" he exclaimed, and the man stood up to reply. He wore green robes and an ornate headdress covered in Razor Leaves.
"I accept." He croaked. " The battle will be with to pokemon each. You may substitute, but I may not." The master threw out a Greatball that opened to reveal a Tropius. It was brown with great leaves growing from its back and had a long neck. Nathaniel flipped open his pokemon tome and quickly found the entry for the pokemon immediately.
Tropius's natural habitat is the jungles of the southern tropics. It is a 'fructivore', thriving on fruit. It is theorized that Tropius's love of fruit eventually resulted in the species incorporating fruit as part of its very anatomy. It may also be that Tropius eats so much fruit that it gets an excess of vitamins and minerals, so it grows fruit to get rid of excess nutrients.
Bunches of banana-like fruit can be seen growing under a Tropius's neck. These fruit are deliciously sweet and particularly popular among the children in south tropical villages, which eat it as snacks
It may also be possible that male Tropius use their bananas to attract mates, bigger bananas means healthier Tropius, it may also be an indication of how plentiful the food is in Tropius' territory.
Tropius also has broad leaves on its back, which, if flapped hard enough, can be used as wings, enabling this bulky Pokemon to fly.
Tropius has some slightly above average stats, like Hit Points and defenses and some slightly below average stats, such as attack and speed. The Sunny Day move may prove beneficial while using a Tropius: its Chlorophyll ability will double its speed, it will be able to use the powerful Grass-type Solarbeam attack consecutively and the Synthesis move will restore its health completely. On the other hand, Sunny Day will also double the power of Fire-type attacks, against which Tropius is weak.
Other moves commonly used in Tropius move sets include Giga Drain and Steel Wing to cover its other weaknesses, against Water/Ice and Rock or Ground-type Pokemon respectively.
Nathaniel skimmed over the long entry that didn't really help him much. Anyhow, he used Blaze because he had a type advantage and was the only pokemon that he had used in battle before.
"Use Ember!" Nathaniel told his pokemon, and Blaze was happy to comply. Small flames burst out from the red spots on his back, scorching the Tropius.
Blaze was blown back by a Razor leaf attack, and then a Tackle attack. He got up though, and retaliated with another set of Ember attacks. Just as Tropius was about to launch a potentially devastating Razor Leaf, Blaze threw himself at his opponent with a Tackle attack, knocking down the Tropius, and attempted to finish off his opponent with a final round of Ember attacks, but the bulky pokemon dodged the attack with surprising agility. Just as the Tropius was about to defeat blaze with a Steel Wing attack, Nathaniel recalled is pokemon and threw out another ball without looking. It didn't matter anyway, neither one had any battle experience.
The crimson energy dissipated and in its place stood a Psyduck. Wellington! "Use Scratch, Wellington!" Nathaniel called out, and the Psyduck waddled over to the giant grass type and swiped at it with his tiny claws. After about a second the Tropius swatted away the annoyance with a flick of its powerful neck and lay down on the floor. The Psyduck struggled to get up, and when it couldn't its eyes began to glow and the Tropius was suddenly flung backwards by some unseen force. It was a Confusion attack! The Tropius was knocked out! It had only a few scorch marks and maybe a bruise on its head from being thrown across the tower, but it was defeated!
The ancient temple master looked shocked but tried to conceal it as he threw out a second pokemon, a Tangela.
"Tangela! Attack with Constrict!" Arvin commanded, and vines burst from its spaghetti-like body and wrapped themselves around Wellington. Nathaniel tried to recall him, but the Constrict prevented him from doing so. He could tell that Wellington would pass out soon from the pressure on his lungs. It was now or never.
"Wellington! Attack with Confusion!" Nathaniel told his pokemon, and for a minute it looked like he was going to. The Psyduck's eyes began to glow, but the light quickly left them and the Psyduck merely hung in the Tangela's vines until he passed out. The pokemon released him and Nathaniel switched the pokemon for Blaze, who was almost finished as well.
"Blaze! Attack with Ember!" he told his pokemon, who decided to ignore the order and jump away from a Razor Leaf attack that Nathaniel hadn't seen. It landed several feet away and then spurted a Smokescreen attack at his opponent, temporarily blinding it. While the Tangela tried to find its opponent, Blaze took this time to launch several successful Ember attacks at it. When the smoke finally cleared, however, the Tangela promptly finished the bout by holding it with Constrict until it passed out, much like it did to Wellington, except that Blaze actually attempted to struggle.
"Good attempt, young one. You did better than I would have expected." Arvin commended him, but Nathaniel still felt bad. His cousin Trey, his father and his mother all won their first Temple challenge, and he'd just been beaten handily by an old codger rumored to be the weakest of all the masters.
He picked up his pokeballs and stormed out of the tower, forgetting to heal his pokemon and instead he ran right out of Azure Town and headed north, towards Lightning Lake City.