Brawley's rotom dex led them towards the outskirts of the Black Lake. The same lake that had transported the first years to Hogwarts on the Lapras'. But, according to the older Ravenclaws, there was an extremely aggressive Pokémon that lived in the lake. The older students had said that the Pokémon rivaled Lance's red Gyrados in terms of aggressiveness. Some even claimed that Team Illusion was even too scared to attack Hogwarts because of the creature that lived in the Black Lake. Needless to say, the fact that Brawley had wanted to go catch a Pokémon near terrified Nick. Nick stared at the Black Lake as they got closer. He wanted to see if the creature that supposedly lived in the black lake would pop up.

Brawley meanwhile had kept his eyes firmly trained on his rotom dex. The stoic fighting type trainer had gone quiet. Viola meanwhile was just staring at the pokeball that she had caught the Dearch in. There was a love in Viola's eyes that she had never shown before. Nick was happy that Viola had gotten a sense of peace from catching that Pokémon. Viola amd Alexa had been through a lot. So if her catching the Dearch helped her find comfort then Nick was happy for his oldest friend. Nick though was not happy with the fact that they were so close to a Pokémon that could kill them.

"Uhhh guys. You sure its a good idea to use so close to the Black Lake.", Nick was not one to believe in ghost stories or legends, but the stories to upperclassmen had told seemed believable. Brawley just rolled his eyes and decided not to answer. Viola let out a huff and just shook her head at nick. "When did you become such a pussy?", she titled her head to the side. Even Brawley snickered at the comment. Nick just shot Viola a glance.

"It's not about being a pussy. It's just that I don't want to you know.", Nick made a throat slash across his neck. Viola just rubbed the bridge of her nose as Brawley even just stared at Nick. "You Accordians are so timid. If it is our time then it is our time. But I don't believe it is our time.", Brawley returned to looking at his rotom dex. This had not helped Nick and his paranoia about the creature that lived in the Black Lake. Viola took a deep breath before letting out a large sigh.

"Why did I decide to associate myself with the two biggest idiots at Hogwarts?", Viola let out an annoyed grumble. She had thought that her biggest issue would have been people associating her with her mother, but it appeared that was not the case. Rather it was the fact that she had decided to hang out with Nick and Brawley. "One thinks that he's a Bruce Lee like badass and the other one listens to whatever others think." She just shook her head and gave a tsk tsk sound. The two males just stared at each other with a look that said "really?" This was Viola at her absolute worst.

"Says the girl that has been trying to get into Brawley's pants the first time she ever met him.", Brawley immediately turned red with embarrassment. This was the first emotion that he had shown. Viola just stared daggers at Nick. The veins in her head had started to really protrude as did the veins in her neck. Nick had seen her angry before, but this was pure rage. She got nose to nose with Nick as she stood in her tip toes. "Are you calling me a whore, Nicholas?" Nick started to sweat as Viola would of his eyes evade hers.

"Um no... I was just...", Nick stuttered. Viola tilted her head as Nick had just stuttered and looked flustered. He had no idea if she was serious about being pissed or if this was her messing with him. One could never be sure with the blonde. Even though he knew her so well, he could never be hundred percent certain that the girl was being serious. He suspected now that she was being serious. "You were what? Just suggesting that I was overly boy crazy?", well she was, but Nick knew not to say such a snide comment at this moment. Well unless he had a death wish, which he did not have. Instead Nick just hung his head.

"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt your argument, but...", Brawley's Rotom Dex spoke. Viola gave Nick one last glance before she turned her gaze to the dex and Brawley. "But the Karmini are coming close." Everyone's gaze then turned up the beach area as a group of about 4 Pokémon had started to appear. The Pokémon had a light blue body and walked on two legs. The head of the Pokémon looked like a small sharpedo. The Pokémon had webbed claws and a shark like tail. Bits of brown was scattered throughout the body of the Pokémon including on top of the creatures head. The Karmini looked like they were smaller than Nick had expected. Especially after Brawley had talked the Pokémon up.

"Karmini. The water and fighting type. The first evolution of powerful Pokémon Karfu. Karmini are friendlier than its later evolutions. As per lore surrounding the Pokémon, the Karmini will travel in packs to protect one another. When confronted by either a hostile Pokémon or a trainer, the Karmini will send out the strongest of the pack to battle. If a trainer is able to catch a Karmini it is said to be an honor."

Brawley did not even hesitate. He approached the fighting shark like Pokémon. The Karmini stopped in their tracks as they stared at Brawley. The blue haired teen bowed in front of the proud Pokémon. The Karmini returned Brawley's bow. Though they were cautious. "I am Brawley from Miverena. I wish to challenge your strongest to a battle. If I win the defeated Pokémon has to come with me as a partner. There was a loud muttering between the Pokémon. Each one stared at Brawley out of the corner of their eyes. They continued to mutter and discuss what the challenger had just suggested. Finally a skinny Karmini stepped forward. Unlike the others, this was was yellow with a silver top and red eyes.

"Mini..", the water and fighting type held out a claw and motioned for Brawley to bring it. Brawley bowed again as did the shiny Karmini. Brawley unclipped Charlemagne's pokeball and tossed it out in front of him. Charlemagne arrived in all his glory. The warrior Pokémon stared at the Karmini. He did not even need to look at his trainer, he knew exactly what the purpose of being called out was. The pointy horn on top of the Dimator's helmet seemed to glow in anticipation of a battle. Brawley cracked his neck as he got ready to fight the Karmini.

Nick and Viola had sat down on the shore to watch the battle. Nick tried to sit next to his nest friend, who huffed. "Careful, you're sitting next to a whore. You might catch an STD.", Nick just rolled his eyes. Now Viola was taking this a bit too far in Nick's mind. "Come on V. I get it you took offense, but you really can't be that upset.", Nick didn't think that Viola was seriously. She turned to him with a look that again sent shivers down Nick's spine. Viola squinted at Nick. "Yeah there are some things that you don't imply about a female. Her wanting to hop into bed with every guy she meets is one of them."

There was an awkward silence between the two friends. They watched as the Karmini delivered a punch to the face shield of Charlemagne. Bradley remained calm as he called for the Dimator to use iron defense. It was a chess match. But that was not important to Nick right now. He had apparently hurt his best friend. Yeah, Nick knew he could take jokes too far , that's why he had lost a few in high school. But he didn't want to lose viola too. "Look V, i'm...", Viola shot a hand up that cut Nick off. She took a deep breath as she turned to her friend. "Listen it's already rough because of trying to come in after Alexa. She's the most popular student here. People forget that she's a Wulf. Now I have to not only overcome my mom, but now I have to deal with being compared to her." There was a bitterness to Viola's voice that Nick had not heard before.

"So then I want to hang out with my best friend. I don't expect him to call me a slut. It hurt even if you were joking.", Nick felt lower than a Garbador. He reached over and pulled Viola close. He made sure that they were face to face. "I'm sorry Viola. I didn't mean to imply anything." He would give her a hug. "I promise that I will watch my comments. You know that I have a bigger mouth than an Exploud, but I will watch it. It won't happen again." Viola smiled at Nick and leaned into the hug. Their attention then shifted back to Brawley fighting the Karmini.

For a first stage evolution, the Karmini had given Brawley and Charlemagne a tough fight. The Karmini had fired off some impressive offense and was breathing heavily. Brawley and Charlemagne meanwhile looked calm and collected. There were scratches on the Diomator's armor, but outside of that the damage was minimal. The fight looked like it was going to wrap up soon. The Karmini 's claw started to glow white as it looked at its opponent.

"Karmini!", the water and fighting type charged at Charlemagne. "Now Charlemagne, use rollout!" The soldier like Pokémon leapt up into the air and began to spin. The Karmini stared at the Pokémon with a look of confusion. That was when Charlemagne, who was still in the air, spun faster then shot towards the Karmini. The Karmini did not have time to react as the Diomator crashed into the water fighting type. "Mini!", the shiny Pokémon cried as it was sent skidding into the ground. It was knocked out. Brawley smiled as he pulled out a pokeball. He threw the ball which only shook once. The Karmini had not put up resistance to being caught.

Brawley patted Charlemagne on the top of his helmet. The Pokémon looked at Brawley with an expression that seemed to signfiy that he was happy. Nick and Viola walked over to Brawley who smiled. "Congrats Brawley. That was a good fight. Plus you got a shiny!", Viola smiles. Braw,he nodded. He was just overjoyed to have caught a Pokémon. He looked at the ball lovingly. He nodded at Viola then turned to Nick. He put a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Now it's your turn."


Nick had heard about the Pokémon he wanted. His mom had once shown him a book on special eeveelutions. There was one he always gravitated to. It was the coolest looking Pokémon Nick ever saw. He fell in love with that Pokémon. Had dreamt about catching it one day. Egyereon was a psychic and dark type. Nick's mom had said that the Pokémon evolved from eevee only when there was an eclipse. This made them rare. So when Nick had entered the name into his room dex he was shocked to see that there was one on campus let alone one in the Veld. Once he saw the rotom dex, he knew that he wanted it.

There was a more remote location in the Veld. There was more tall grass and overgrowth. This allowed the Pokémon to hide better than in other areas of the Veld. Of course the trio did not know this as they walked towards the over grown area. Nick Baldwin was not known for his patience and this was one of those times. Nick pulled out his rotom dex and stared. "Where is the Egyereon?", he shook the rotom dex. The Rotom Dex just looked back up at Nick. "Uhhh you have to look for the Pokémon yourself", the rotom dex said. Nick started to shake the dex out of frustration. Brawley and Viola just shook their heads.

"Nick, you aren't going to find your Pokémon that way. You have to look for it.", Viola patted her friend on the back. She understood Nick wanting to catch a Pokémon. Afterall she had displayed that to the other two. Nick looked at Viola and then to Brawley. There was a frown on his face, "well Brawley didn't have to wait for his Pokémon. That mom just walked up to him and poof there was a battle." The ignorance of the statement made both Brawley and Viola roll their eyes. Brawley started to rub the bridge of his nose out of pure frustration.

"That's because that is their culture.", the annoyance in his voice was evident. "Karmini will approach for a battle to those who are worthy of them. They won't just walk up to anyone. Now I don't know anything about this Pokémon, but I am sure that this mon does not act the same. Sometimes you have to search and actually do the work for the Pokémon." Nick knew that Brawley was right. Still he did not like it. He was from the "now" generation and that included catching Pokémon. He did have to learn patience. Viola leaned into the blue haired trainer and whispered, "marry me."

Nick sighed as he put his arms behind his head. "Alright then. Can you guys help me find it?", Viola and Brawley nodded and smirked. Nick had helped them so of course they would help him. The trio would set out to look through the thickness of the Veld. All three of the trainers searched every nook and cranny. There were no signs of the Pokémon. Sure there were other types of Pokémon in the veld, but not the one Nick wanted. He continued to search and search. But to no avail. Brawley and Viola too had not found any trace of the Pokémon. Of course this broke Nick's heart. It appeared that his dream Pokémon was not going to materialize.

Nick and the others sat down in the middle of the high grass. The frown on his face gave away his true feelings. He sighed as he looked at his rotom dex. "Well guys I think that it's time to leave. I think", Nick words were cut off by Viola pointing to a bunch of flying Pokémon that dive bombed into a brownish patch of grass. Viola took out her rotom dex and pointed it towards the Pokémon that were clearly up to something.

"Mandibuzz, the vulture Pokémon. A dark and flying type. Mandibuzz are known to hunt in packs. Will often pick on an injured Pokémon to feed on. If the Pokémon is not injured, they will attempt to injure it. Extremely vicious and not afraid to attack humans."

No words needed to be said as the trio took off to see what was happening. Nick was the first one to get close to what the mandibuzz were attacking. His eyes widened at what he saw. A young blue Pokémon with yellow stripes was clearly being battered by the Mandibuzz. The creature's head was shaped like an ancient Egyptian crown. It's ears flopped down to the side. He had found his beloved Egyeron. Of course he had wished it had been under different circumstances. The Egyeron was covered in bruises. It's body was full of cuts as well. The Egyeron needed some help.

Nick grabbed his pokeball and tossed it out. Hamlet came out with the same smile he always had, one that was both friendly and terrifying. Hamlet looked around and saw the injured Pokémon and then the Mandibuzz. Hamlet did something that Nick did not think was possible: Hamlet's face shifted into anger. "Phere", Hamlet lowly growled at the Mandibuzzs. Hamlet moved in front of the injured Egyeron. The psychic/dark type stared at Hamlet. Nick quickly moved to the side of the injured Pokémon and stared at the Mandibuzz. The dark and flying Pokémon looked at him and the two Pokémon.

Brawley and Viola ran over and saw what was going down. They reached for their pokeballs, but Nick raised his hand. "No, we got it.", Nick nodded towards Hamlet and the Egyeron. The battered Pokémon looked over at Nick and Hamlet. Nick did not dare try and touch or talk to the injured Pokémon. Nick had no idea how it would react to Nick or Hamlet. "Plus you guys already battled, I want a turn." Nick smiled at his friends. Viola and Brawley stepped aside and watched what would happen. The three Mandibuzz seemed to process all of this and nodded towards each other, and had their plan. Two started to dive at Hamlet and the other toward the Egyeron.

Nick had no idea what attacks Hamlet had. He had not worked with his starter because he was afraid of the reputation that came along with having a ghost type. That's why he has never trained with Hamlet. Unlike Viola and Brawley who had clearly worked with their starters. Nick felt terrible especially in this situation. But he didn't have time to worry about that now. "Hamlet, do you ha e any possible attack that could confuse the Mandibuzz?", yes Nick felt like an idiot asking his Pokémon if he had any status attacks. Especially in front of his two friends who had a firm control of their Pokémon. Hamlet looked towards him and nodded. "Phere!" a yellow ball started to form in front of Hamlet. The ghost-flying type then fired off the yellow ball directly at one of the charging Mandibuzz. The attack struck one of the vulture like Pokémon. The Mandibuzz stopped in its tracks and started to strike itself. This brought a smile to Nick's face.

'Ok one down, two to go. What are some ghost type attacks. Think Nick, think. You've heard about ghost type attacks before. What were they?, Nick rubbed his chin. He watched as the other Mandibuzz had continued unabated towards Hamlet. Nick had to come up with some sort of attack. Nick considered himself to be a smart student. But right now he was having a brain fart. The other Mandibuzz seemed to pick up speed as it darted towards Hamlet. Hamlet did not wait for his trainer to come up with a direction. Hamlet started to form a black/purple ball in front of him. "Phereon!", Hamlet cried. He fired the ball of energy and hit the Mandibuzz directly. The Mandibuzz fell helplessly to the ground.

Nick's eyes widened, "Hamlet you know shadow Ball?", the Phereon's face shifted back into a smile. "Phere erere", he said as he floated by his trainer. 'Well that's good to know', Nick then looked over to see where the other mandibuzz had gone. The vulture was still pecking at the Egyeron. The psychic and dark type had fought bravely to defend itself. But it's wounds from earlier had taken their toll. The Egyeron slowed down and was in bad shape. Nick looked over at what was going on. He looked at Hamlet who nodded. The phereon started to form the shadow ball in front of him and aimed at the mandibuzz.

The mandibuzz did not see it coming and was struck and hit the ground. Nick and Hamlet moved in front of the injured Egyeron to protect it. The three defeated vulture Pokémon got up slowly and looked at the Phereon that just kicked their ass. The presumed leader of the Mandibuzz snarled and glared at Hamlet in particular. "Mandibuzz. Buzz!", Nick did not speak Pokémon, but he imagined that the Mandibuzz was saying that this wasn't over. That was fine with Nick. Hamlet had already beaten the three Pokémon before so Nick was confident that Hamlet could do it again. The Mandibuzz flew away as Nick recalled Hamlet.

Nick, Brawley, and Viola rushed over to where the injured Egyeron was. The psychic and dark type had gotten up. Still it's fur was specked with blood and scratches. "We have to get it to the Pokémon center", there was a deep concern in Viola's voice. She went to go move closer to the Egyeron, but the blue and yellow pokemon, but the injured mon did not seem to be in the mood. It growled at Viola. "Egg...", the Pokémon showed it's fangs as if to say 'don't mess with me.' Viola looked over at Nick, "uhh I don't think it likes me." Brawley then looked at Nick as well. "You try.", the fighting type trainer said. "Afterall you're the one that saved it. Maybe it will listen to you." Nick thought about it.

From what he remembered Egyeron were not the friendliest of Pokémon. They were extremely territorial and distrustful of humans. Now this poor creature had been attacked by a group of Mandibuzz. No wonder why the Egyeron had trust issues. Nick raised his arms up as he slowly approached the injured mon. The Pokémon seemed to be more receptive to its rescuer, but it still bared it's fangs at Nick. Nick though was not worried. "Hey. Listen, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to get you help. I know those stupid Mandibuzz hurt you, but we took care of them.", Nick nodded towards where the Mandibuzz had flown away. The Egyeron looked over and then looked back at Nick. "But you need help. You're really hurt. Let's just go to the Pokémon center and let them heal you."

Nick extended his arm and placed it on the Pokémon's fur. The Egyeron seemed to let Nick pet it, but winced as Nick accidentally touched a cut. "Sorry,", Nick said as he pulled his hand back. The injured Pokémon though would then put its head against Nick's hand. It appeared to tell Nick to continue the pets. Nick smiled as he felt the soft fur of the Pokémon. "Now will you go with us? That way you can get the help that you need.", Nick pleases with the Pokémon. Nick knew that the Egyeron could not survive without medical attention. It would get picked off easily. So Nick wanted to make sure that the Pokémon was going to have a fighting chance.

The Egyeron processed what Nick had said. It blinked and seemed to stare at Nick's belt where his pokeballs were. "Egy...", the Egyeron walked over to Nick and pressed its head against a pokeball. The Pokémon was instantly caught. It hadn't even put up a fight in its capture. Nick was absolutely stunned. He had not considered that the Egyeron would do that. Yes, Nick had wanted to capture one, but not like this. Not when the Pokémon had been so battered. That was not his intent. But apparently the Pokémon had thought that he was worthy of capturing it. Nick stared at the pokeball that his newest Pokémon was in.

"I don't understand. Why did it do that?", Nick was absolutely stunned. "Because it respected you.", Brawley offered. "You saved its life. You and Hamlet risked your own physical well being to save the Pokémon you didn't even know. Clearly that mon appreciated it." Nick nodded. What Brawley said made a lot of sense. Professor Hagrid called everyone in. The trio were happy that they had been successful catching their Pokémon.


Alexa's favorite class in her time at Hogwarts had a,ways been battling. She loved the theory of battling and competing. It got her juices flowing in more ways than one. Battling could take her mind off of anything. A bad break up, a fight with Viola, etc she always had battling. She prided herself on being one of the toughest battlers in Hogwarts. She had even gone up against 5th years and beaten some of them. Alexa has developed a reputation as a badass when it came to battling and Sparks, her beloved volpan, was tough to beat. Alexa absorbed whatever the battling professor taught them. She wanted to be the champion of Erseen and some believed she was on her way.

But as she sat in class after her nightmare, Alexa couldn't concentrate in class. Her mind was filled with doubt and anxiety. 'Was that me and V? Why would I dream about that? And was that mum?', she continued to stare at her right palm. Yes it had been a dream, but she swore that her hand still throbbed. Of course she had tried to put that out of her mind especially in front of Sparks. If he had gotten a sense that Alexa was still not ok then her Volpan would have tried to take matters into his own hands. So Alexa had tried to fake it, something the twenty two year old was well versed in, and had managed to convince Sparks that she was ok. Of course she was not.

Alexa's notebook had usually been reserved for her notes on battling, but for the current class she had taken to drawing the creature from her dreams. She swore it was a Darkrai and there was only one Darkrai she knew of. But there was no way that HE could have be the Darkrai from her dream? Still Alexa continued to jot down what she had experienced. Those eyes and those claws and...

"Ms. Wulf!", a deep booming voice shot from the front of the class. Alexa snapped out of what she was doing. She looked up as she heard the snickers from her fellow Gryffindors and the Slytherins that were in the class. There was a large video screen that had been showing a clip of an old gym battle from the Kant region. The battling professor, a man with dark hair that had started to gray and a blazer, just peered at Alexa. She sank in her chair as she stared at the screen. "I want you to tell me what I did wrong in this battle." Now all the eyes were on Alexa. She continued to slump in her chair. She did t know what was worse, her dream or what her favorite professor was doing.

"Um...um...", she stumbled. The professor's glare hurt Alexa more than anything. It was as if her father had been disappointed in her. She wanted to crawl right out of her skin. In fact she would have rather fight Team Illusion than deal with this glare. But her professor followed her looks with one of his own. This made her redder. "Ms. Wulf, I want you to see me after class.", this caused everyone else in class to mock Alexa. It was good that the pompous woman got cut down to size.

Alexa wanted to die.


Author notes: This was a fun chapter. I wanted to show how Brawley and Nick would capture another Pokémon. Also I wanted to set up the next chapter. Yes the professor is a very popular gym leader from the anime/manga/game. Anyone have a guess on who he is?