"The first night out in the wilderness after having caught Starly, my second Pokémon, was the hardest-for all of us. It wasn't easy to sleep, and we weren't accustomed to the outdoors.
Eventually we would soon grow to enjoy it though, and nowadays I still long for a night out under the stars, camping out in the wilderness in a tent.
The best part of the journey, however, was knowing that us three friends—practically family according to Alyssandra—would always have each other. Sharing these experiences together. We shared laughs, we cried, we got frustrated and tired.
And just like family, we had our arguments, naturally. However, unlike most people, we settled arguments in a very...unique way. Which, of course, often lead to new arguments.
Perhaps we'd never learn..."
Sam sat himself down on a nearby log, pulling himself close to the recently lit morning fire. Spring nights were fair, but the mornings were cool; nothing a fire couldn't cure.
While Alyssandra cooked breakfast, Sam and Jeremy were discussing plans for the day's trip, and the rest of the trek to Jubilife City.
"So, I'm thinking if we keep on our current course, we'll reach Jubilife City in approximately three more days," said Sam as he pointed on the sprawled-out map.
"Well," added Jeremy. "Does that include time to catch Pokémon?"
Sam thought for a second. "Well, if you're fast probably. You'll have to catch them during our breaks though."
"Yeah, that's if we can find them," complained Jeremy. "Come on, can't you give us some more time? It's not like we're in a rush, we can afford to take some time. Besides, we need to catch up with you."
"What do you mean catch up with me?" asked Sam, affronted.
"Well, you've only been a Pokémon Trainer for two days, and you have more Pokémon than us," said Alyssandra in a matter-of-fact tone.
"That's not my fault," protested Sam. "The Starly was grateful to me, and the Piplup was a gift from Professor Rowan!"
"You could at least give us the chance to go catch our Pokémon!" replied Jeremy. "We need some too. Alyssandra is going to need more than just Piplup to win her contests, and I'm going to need more than Pikachu if I decide to take on the Sinnoh League."
"Jeremy's right!" stated Alyssandra as she dished out some eggs and bacon.
"What do you want me to do?" asked Sam as he bit into the bacon. "Give you two the entire day off to go catch Pokémon?"
"And why not?" asked Jeremy. "We have the time."
"Yes, but we don't have the supplies," pointed out Sam. "If you had wanted to do this you should have told me before when we were shopping at the Poké Mart a few kilometres back. We would've bought more food."
"What, are you afraid we'd catch more Pokémon than you?" asked Jeremy as shovelled eggs into his mouth with his fork.
"I'm not afraid!" protested Sam. "I'm just thinking practically!"
"Then give us the day off," replied Jeremy. "I'll ration out the food to make it last if you give us the day off to catch Pokémon."
"Fine. You want it, you got it." said Sam sternly. "But if you don't catch anything don't come crying to me."
"Shall we make it more interesting then?" asked Jeremy.
"Like how?" asked Alyssandra as she finished off the last bit of her eggs.
"We'll make it a bet," replied Jeremy. "If I lose, I'll never ask for a detour again. If I win, the next travel route is my choice. Those are my terms."
"Fine," replied Sam. "Then if I win, I'll plan every travel route for the rest of the journey. If I lose, I'll pay the winner ten thousand Poké-Yen."
"My terms are simple," said Alyssandra with crossed arms. "If I lose, I'll cook dinner for the rest of the journey, but if I win, you boys will have to treat me to a shopping spree in Jubilife City. You will have to pay for everything I buy and carry all my bags."
"Deal," said the three teens in unison.
The group quickly took the time to finish their breakfasts. Once they were finished, each of them began to plan their strategies for catching Pokémon that day.
After washing the dishes, and putting away all the cutlery, Sam and the others gathered around the campfire.
"We'll meet back here at sundown," said Sam. "Whoever catches the most Pokémon wins."
Everyone nodded, and grabbed their Poké Balls, releasing their respective Pokémon.
"All right, you ready, Piplup, Starly?" asked Sam.
His Pokémon cried happily, and Sam smiled with determination. "Let's go then!"
Sam, Alyssandra and Jeremy dashed off in separate directions, determined to be the winner of the competition.
Three hours into the competition and Jeremy was close to giving up. He hadn't seen a single Pokémon all day, and he had tried everything from smearing the trees with honey to dropping Pokémon food all over the ground; neither tactic worked.
"I dunno, Pikachu," said Jeremy with a sigh as he sat down on the ground. "Maybe we're trying too hard?"
Pikachu shared Jeremy's defeated demeanour.
"We can't let Sam or Lyss win though," continued Jeremy. "We need to beat them. After I ran my mouth on like that, I need to prove I'm the best at catching Pokémon."
"Pika?" asked Pikachu in a sincere-or at least it seemed sincere-tone.
"It's a matter of pride, Pikachu," said Jeremy. "You know?"
"Piiika-Pikachu," said the Pikachu reassuringly.
Suddenly, Pikachu's ears shot up, and he sniffed the air, as if something was happening.
"What's up Pikachu?" asked Jeremy as he stood up. "Is it friend or foe?"
Pikachu didn't respond but continued to sniff the air diligently. Suddenly, a black blur shot out of the nearby trees and launched itself at Pikachu. Pikachu managed to dodge, but just barely.
As the blur came to a halt, it revealed itself to be a Starly; and an angry one at that.
"This is our chance Pikachu!" exclaimed Jeremy in excitement. "This Starly's fast. It'll be a perfect fit for our team."
"Pi-ka!" cried Pikachu fiercely as he released a bit of electricity from its cheeks.
The Starly angrily stretched its wings and flew at Pikachu again.
"Dodge Pikachu!" shouted Jeremy instantly.
Pikachu dodged the Starly's attempts at attack and landed back on the ground again.
"Try a Thunder Shock attack, Pikachu!" said Jeremy.
Pikachu planted itself on all for legs and released a jolt of electricity from his body. The wave of lightning shot at Starly at amazing speeds, and struck it head on.
The Starly cried out, but quickly broke free of the Thunder Shock, and charged at Pikachu again with a Wing Attack.
"Dodge!" shouted Jeremy. But it was too late, the Starly already struck Pikachu, causing it to fly back across the clearing.
"Pikachu!" exclaimed Jeremy with concern. "Are you okay?"
Pikachu quickly got himself up, and gave a short, angry cry.
"Good!" said Jeremy with relief. "Can you give it one more Thunder Shock? And put everything into it this time. The Starly is starting to tire, and I think if we give it one more shot, it'll go down."
Pikachu nodded. He began to charge electricity and with a loud cry, he released a giant wave of electricity.
Starly was hit in the discharge, and after an electric shock, hit the ground cold.
Jeremy smiled. "Now's my chance. Go, Poké Ball!"
The Poké Ball flew through the air and hit the Starly. Starly was sucked inside by a red beam of light. The Poké Ball shook violently, as the Starly vehemently tried to break free, but soon the Poké Ball fell still. With a final beep and one last blink of the centre light, the Starly was caught.
"All right!" shouted Jeremy. "We did it Pikachu!"
"Pi-Pikachu!" exclaimed Pikachu. He ran towards Jeremy and ran up his body onto his shoulder.
Jeremy collected the Poké Ball. He smiled at it, knowing—for the second time in his life—what it felt like to catch a Pokémon on his own.
"I caught a Pokemon," he said with excitement. "All right Pikachu, let's go get another one!"
"Pika!" shouted Pikachu in agreement.
With that, the two partners ran off into the woods in search of more Pokémon.
Meanwhile, Alyssandra was on the hot trail of a wild Shinx, with Sam close behind her.
The two of them—both wanting to add a Shinx to their roster—had been following a pack of wild Shinx in an attempt to catch one of them. However, their previous attempts had proved unsuccessful, as their mother—an angry Luxray—was always too close for the young Pokémon for them to attempt anything.
Finally, after almost an entire day of tracking, it seemed that mother Luxray was nowhere to be seen. Sam and Alyssandra knew this was their chance.
"I'll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right," Alyssandra whispered to Sam.
Sam nodded. "All right, let's go!"
Sam and Alyssandra ran out into the clearing, catching the two Shinx off guard. Unfortunately, both Sam and Alyssandra knew this battle would be harder than it looked, as both of their Pokémon were at a disadvantage against the Shinx. Their Piplup and Sam's Starly were Water and Flying types respectively, meaning that against an Electric type like Shinx, things were going to be tough.
Alyssandra dashed to the left, sending her Piplup at the Shinx. "Piplup, use Pound!" she called instantly, attempting to strike at the Shinx before it unleashed an electric attack.
Sam, meanwhile, got creative with his technique, and commanded Piplup to jump into the air above the Shinx and use Pound from above.
Both of the Piplups' attacks landed, striking their respective targets square on, but the two Shinx would not let up so easy.
Alyssandra's opponent retaliated with a Tackle attack, knocking her Piplup back a few paces.
While Sam's opponent used a Leer attack to freeze his Piplup in place, leaving it open for Shinx's Tackle.
"Piplup are you, all right?" Sam cried out, worried for his Pokémon. His Pokémon was still young and largely untrained. His Piplup didn't have the stamina for a prolonged fight, even a few good hits could take the Pokémon down.
His and Alyssandra's Piplup stood up, still determined to fight, causing both Sam's and Alyssandra's morale to return to normal.
"All right, time to get creative," declared Sam. "Piplup, if that Shinx wants to play rough, we'll play rough. Charge at it and keep using Pound until it's tired out!"
Alyssandra looked over at Sam, wondering how he was going to pull that off without Shinx retaliating. Turning back to her Piplup, Alyssandra figured she might as well attempt the same thing as Sam. It wasn't like she had any other plans up her sleeve.
"Piplup, do the same thing!" shouted Alyssandra. "Trust me!"
Both Piplup charged toward their marks, they began to use Pound repeatedly on the Shinx. The speed of the two Piplup was remarkable, and almost unbelievable. Their attacks were unrelenting, never giving the Shinx a chance to respond.
Finally, after what might've been at least thirty Pound attacks, Sam and Alyssandra called off their Piplup.
The two Shinx were now exhausted and had sustained heavy damage; a single Pound may not do too much, but almost thirty will definitely do some damage. The two Shinx lay on the ground, injured and unable to fight back from exhaustion.
Sam and Alyssandra drew their own Poké Balls and tossed them at the Shinx. The Poké Balls sucked in the two Pokémon, and barely shook before the Pokémon gave up the fight and were caught.
"That didn't take long," said Alyssandra as she walked over to her newly caught Shinx.
"Well, they did take heavy damage from my manoeuvre," explained Sam. "They didn't have much energy left to fight back. Especially if they're as young as they look."
Alyssandra put her Shinx away on her Poké Ball belt, then turned to Sam, who had just finished doing the same.
They looked at each other for a moment before Sam finally broke the silence.
"We should split up now," he said. "We're still competing after all."
"Yeah," agreed Alyssandra quickly. "I'll see you later then."
Sam nodded, and with that, the two teens ran off in separate directions.
Sam threw himself down onto the log that served as a fireside seat, exhausted from all his Pokémon searching. It was only a half hour until sundown, but the group had returned to camp early, as most Pokémon had gone off to their dens to sleep by now.
Jeremy and Alyssandra soon joined him and the three of them began to prepare their catches for comparison.
"So, what did you all catch?" asked Jeremy, placing the Poké Ball that contained his Starly on the stump that had been placed in front of the three of them. "I caught a Starly."
Sam and Alyssandra both pulled out their Poké Balls containing Shinx.
"We've both got Shinx," said Alyssandra.
Jeremy creased his brow in disbelief. "That means we've all only got one Pokémon."
Sam nodded solemnly. "Yup. So how are we going to decide a tie breaker?"
"Maybe we could—" Sam was cut off as he felt something whack his Poké Ball belt.
Sam turned around and saw a Glameow violently pawing at his Starly's Poké Ball. He instantly recognized the Glameow as the one that had attacked his Starly back at Lake Verity.
"You've got to be kidding me!" exclaimed Sam, standing up in flurry. "You followed us all the way here from Twinleaf Town just to eat my Starly?"
Sam began to shoo the animal away but was stopped by Alyssandra.
"This one's mine," she said. Alyssandra's face grew a determined grin. She picked up Shinx's Poké Ball, and tossed it in the air, releasing the Pokémon from its capsule. "Ready for our first battle together Shinx?"
The Shinx reluctantly cried out, but understood its duty to Alyssandra.
Alyssandra knew the bond between them would only grow over time. "All right, Shinx. Start off with a Tackle! Try to weaken that Glameow!"
However, the Glameow was too fast, and struck at Shinx with a Fake Out. Glameow clapped its paws together, causing Shinx to flinch, and then fly backwards as a gust of air sent it back.
"Shinx!" called Alyssandra. Worry began to set over her.
Sam put his hand on her shoulder. His voice was calm and soothing. "Keep a cool head. You may be a Coordinator, but when you need to battle, that's one of the secrets to success."
Alyssandra nodded. She took Sam's words to heart and quickly adjusted her tone of voice. She wasn't exactly confident, but the fear of failure no longer consumed her "All right, Shinx. Try a Tackle attack again!"
The Shinx charged at Glameow, but again the opponent Pokémon retaliated too fast. Glameow's eyes started to glow, and Shinx paused in its tracks as Glameow's Hypnosis took effect.
Alyssandra began to panic inside but kept repeating Sam's words to herself calm her down. She used every second she had to come up with a plan. In the end, what she came up with was a little underhanded, but it worked.
"Hey, Glameow!" shouted Alyssandra.
Glameow took the bait, and looked over at Alyssandra, swiftly ending its Hypnosis attack.
Alyssandra quickly acted on that window of opportunity to use Shinx to strike. "Now, Shinx, use Tackle!"
Shinx cried out with confidence and threw herself into the Glameow.
Glameow tumbled backwards and was knocked to the ground. The Glameow struggled to get back up, but Alyssandra struck again before the Pokémon could recover.
"Shinx, jump up and use Tackle on Glameow from the air!"
The Shinx did as Alyssandra told her and slammed full force—with its entire weight and gravity behind it—into the prone cat Pokémon. Glameow fell back to the ground with a cry of pain; it was dazed and confused. Shinx had managed to knock the wind out of it.
Alyssandra pulled a Poké Ball from her shoulder bag, scrambling to throw it before the Pokémon got back up.
The Poké Ball hit Glameow, retracting it back into the Poké Ball. The Poké Ball hit the ground and closed and rocked violently. Alyssandra had never seen a Pokémon rock so violently before. There were several moments when she was certain the Glameow would break free and continue the fight, but finally, after much struggle, the Glameow surrendered to the Poké Ball and was caught.
"All right! I did it!" exclaimed Alyssandra. She ran and grabbed her Poké Ball, then turned to her Shinx and picked it up in her arms, hugging it close and snuggling up against its cheek. "You did great, Shinx! I'm so proud of you!"
Shinx revelled in the attention and its new found skill in battle.
Alyssandra turned back towards Sam and Jeremy, a wide grin across her face. "So. You have your tiebreaker then. I guess that means you guys owe me a shopping spree in Jubilife."
"Hold up!" protested Jeremy. "There is no way that counts! We finished the contest!"
"Not quite, Jeremy," she explained. "If I remember correctly, the deadline was sundown, and it's not sundown yet."
"That's not fair!" he protested. "That can't be fair! Sam, tell me that's not fair!"
Sam sighed. "I'm sorry. It's fair. She won, and now we have to do what she says in Jubilife."
"Here," said Sam as he handed Alyssandra a roll of Poké-Yen. "If I remember correctly, I owe that to the winner."
"No way!" argued Jeremy as he stormed back towards the fire. "I refuse to acknowledge this; I demand a recount!"
"What recount?" demanded Alyssandra as she followed Jeremy back to camp. "You caught one Pokémon, I caught two. How do you honestly need to recount that?"
Sam laughed to himself as he looked up at the orange sky. "This is going to be one long adventure."
