Ϗai ran through the grass with Arcanine by his side. He made it to the edge of the forest, and stopped.
"Ready, buddy?" Ϗai said to Arcanine. Arcanine nodded, and they were off again, running through the forest. "Augh!" Ϗai had bumped into someone.
"Sorry," It was a girl, about the same height as Ϗai, and with brown hair. "Are you okay?" She held out a hand to Ϗai.
"Um, yeah," He stood up without grabbing the girl's hand, "Sorry about that,"
"No, it's my fault, I wasn't paying attention. I'm Emma," She held out her hand, and Ϗai awkwardly shook it.
"Um, I'm Ϗai, this is Arcanine," Arcanine barked happily. Emma giggled as Arcanine laid down in front of Emma, his soft fur brushing her skin. "He seems to like me," She said, laughing.
"Well, I was heading to Nioupl, I have to meet with the professor's grand-daughter,"
"Oh, Professor Cypress, he's my grandpa, you must be looking for me!"
"Ah! He wanted me to give you this present, he says it's for your birthday," He handed Emma the gift, and she opened it. It was a little straw doll of a pokemon.
"Aww, he's still making these!"
"What is it?"
"It's a Thievul, my partner pokemon, he used to make these dolls when I was a kid, he made them of Nickit, since Theivul hadn't evolved yet. He can't make the Thievul dolls quite as well, but he still puts so much effort into them,"
"Well that's nice of him,"
"Alright, anyways, I'm headed back to Nioupl,"
"So am I,"
"Well then, let's go together!"
The two of them traveled through the forest, though there were few trees, and they were all up on rocks, so it wasn't much of a forest at all.
"The forest used to be much bigger, you know," Emma said,
"Really?"
"Yeah, before the city was built, after that everything here became lifeless. Tons of people from Avapi and Nioupl were moving to the city, and there were less people to keep the forest looking nice. Since then it's been known as the Sparse Forest. Even the gym leader retired, he left his daughter, Eri, in charge"
"It seems like the city ruined everything here,"
"Not everything!," Emma smiled, "We've still got fun stuff! Anyways, where are you from, then?"
"I came from the Orre region, and I wanna explore this region, and all the other regions, too!"
"Well, Orre is a far way away, tell me, what kind of pokemon have you seen?"
"Not many, Orre is pretty devoid of pokemon, I've only really seen pictures of them. Oh, and on the plane there was a big pokemon that flew by," Ϗai told Emma about the pokemon,
"It sounds like you're describing Lugia, but Lugia isn't black,"
"Well then I wonder what it was,"
"Woah!"
Emma and Ϗai stepped back,
"It's a pokemon!" Ϗai exclaimed. Emma pulled something out of her pocket. It was some sort of red device, with a screen. She pointed it at the pokemon, and a robotic voice said,
"Wurmple, the Worm pokemon. A bug type. When attacked, it releases poison from it's spikes,"
"Wurmple, huh?" Emma said, walking towards it. Another pokemon came out from the grass,
"Another wurmple?" Ϗai asked, "Let's catch them!"
"I get the left one!"
"I get the right!" They both threw pokeballs at the two pokemon, who were absorbed by the ball. The pokeballs shook once, twice, and then exploded as the pokemon jumped out.
"No!" Ϗai yelled, "Alright, Arcanine, use Thunder Fang!" Arcanine jumped out from behind Ϗai, and ran at the Wurmple, it's teeth filling with electricity.
"Go! Thievul! Use Night Slash!" Out of Emma's pokeball came the fox-like creature, which gathered dark energy around it in the form of a blade. Both Arcanine and Thievul hit their respective Wurmple, which promptly fell onto their backs.
"Alright, time for a pokeball!" Ϗai yelled as he threw another pokeball at his wurmple. Emma also threw one, nearly missing her Thievul. Again, the Wurmples were absorbed. One shake, two shakes, three shakes,
"Yes!" Both Ϗai and Emma yelled.
They both picked up their pokeballs.
"That Thievul is a great pokemon!" Ϗai said, excited,
"So is your Arcanine, how about a battle?"
"Gladly!" Ϗai jumped back, "Arcanine! Go!" Arcanine jumped in front of him.
"You too, Thievul!" Thievul also walked over.
"Arcanine, use Extreme Speed!" Arcanine moved so fast it was as if he had disappeared. Arcanine slammed into the Thievul, knocking it back at Emma's feet,
"Thievul, get up buddy, use Sucker Punch!" Thievul, still dazed from the attack, jumped to his feet, and reeled back for an attack. Dark energy released as he hit Arcanine. Arcanine fell back, but got back up, fire flaring from his body.
"Arcanine's hidden ability! Justified! Dark type moves make him stronger!"
'Uh oh' Emma thought,
"Arcanine, Use Flamethrower!" Fire accumulated around Arcanine's mouth, and as he sprung forward, it shot out at the Thievul, knocking it out.
"Thievul, return," Thievul was reabsorbed into the pokeball, as Emma walked over to Ϗai. "Great battle! If only I knew about Arcanine's speciality with that hidden ability. Also, earlier, did he use Thunder Fang? I thought he was a fire type?"
"He is," Ϗai responded, "He's just been able to use the move ever since evolving,"
"That certainly is interesting, I'm sure there are some pokemon studiers that would do anything to examine this Arcanine,"
The pair continued, exiting the forest, and heading south to Nioupl. When they made it there, they went on to the pokemon center, where they healed their pokemon, including their new Wurmples.
"Someone's sent me something!" Emma exclaimed, "Haha, it's the professor's old lab partner," Emma had another box, though this one was smaller. She opened it next to Ϗai, and inside were two pokeballs. "He's sent me pokemon! There's a note, 'Dear Emma, These two pokemon are similar, but different, I hope you can find a use for them. Happy birthday, from Professor Linden,'"
"What are they?" Ϗai asked,
"Well, let's see!" Emma said, throwing the pokeballs. Out of both of them came a large pink pokemon, but one of them had a gold coloring on its head. Emma pulled out the device again,
"Slowpoke, the Dopey pokemon. Although this pokemon is slow, it's tail is used for fishing, and feels no pain once bitten,"
"And now the other one,"
"Galarian Slowpoke, the Dopey pokemon. This pokemon is very similar to Slowpoke, but originates from the galar region. This pokemon's tail is said to be spicy due to its diet,"
"So, two forms of Slowpoke, Ϗai, how about you take one? I don't need two after all,"
"Alright then, I choose you!" Ϗai pointed to the normal Slowpoke,
"Perfect, I wanted the Galarian form," They returned the Slowpokes to their pokeballs, and Emma handed one to Ϗai.
"By the way, Emma, what's that device you're using?"
"It's called a pokedex, it's got all the information on pokemon you could ever need!"
"That's so cool! Where can I get one?"
"Oh, they're very rare, only a select few trainers are given them, sorry,"
"Well, that's ok. Anyways, where are you headed next?"
"I've just started my journey, so I'm wanting to battle all the gym leaders!"
"Where are the gym leaders?"
"Well, the first one is here, Eri, like I told you, she's a ground type specialist,"
"I'm not in any rush, plus, I'd love to keep travelling with y- err, keep travelling with my pokemon, and training them, and, stuff," Ϗai looked at the ground awkwardly,
"Sure, then, it's settled, we'll battle the gym leader!"