Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or these characters

OoOoO

It had been two days since the group of new trainers had departed from Celestic Town, and Cynthia was already tired of the people she was walking with. At first their trek through route 210 was pleasant, filled with the occasional conversation and flash of excitement when a new Pokémon jumped out. By the second day, the interest in the new had dimmed, and Cynthia came to a sudden realisation.

She was a lot more mature than her age group. It hit her suddenly; she was the only one out of the group that hadn't complained about childish whims. It wasn't only her though. Compared to all the other starter Pokémon, Gible was easily the most mature. She was surprised all the children were acting so childishly. They were all 12 and 13, and the last time she acted the way they were currently acting... Well, she can't remember ever acting like that. Apart from when she sees food.

"This is so boooooring." Grumbled Brendan, the trainer with the Porygon. "We've been walking for two days and we haven't even reached the bottom of the mountain range where we can change to route 215." He was quickly quelled by a glare shot to him from Cynthia. He wasn't going to rise against the fierce girl.

Cynthia was the de facto leader of the small band of pre-teens, and nobody was surprised to why. In situations that required a leader, she instantly filled the roll. She helped them get back on track when they went off road, and even navigated them safely around a Luxray den. It was never officially stated, but it was accepted among all of the travellers. It was important to have a leader on one of the most dangerous routes in Sinnoh.

"Hey Cynthia?" Pipped up Bridgette, "How long till we reach that hotel?" Cynthia sighed and checked her map.
"We're about three hours away from the bottom of the mountain, and it'll be another two after that to reach the hotel." Replied Cynthia. "We'll definitely make it by evening if we keep up this pace."
Bridgette nodded and went back to animatedly talking with her Piplup. Cynthia stowed her map away and looked forward, searching the forest for threats. There were none.

The group continued walking downwards, and soon reached a hill that overlooked large grassy plains. Cynthia gasped as she looked outwards. The fresh smell of plants filled her nose and the song of an Altaria in the distance lifted her heart. She peered into the distance and made out a building near some pastures. She pointed to it.
"There." She said. "We'll be staying there tonight."
"Yes! No more sleeping in tents!" Exclaimed Tristan, a tall, tanned boy. "Race you down the hill!" And with that, the boys rushed down the hill, with Tristan's Turtwig trailing slightly behind. A voice next to Cynthia chuckled.
"Boys truly are something else." Victoria said, accompanied by the solemn nodding of her Chimchar on her shoulder. "They really can't realise we're going to catch up to them and not be out of breath?" This made Cynthia and Bridgette giggle, before they all started heading down the hill.

Soon the group of girls reached the bottom, where they were not particularly surprised to find the boys in a exhausted heap. The practical Turtwig they saw running down earlier was looking at pile of boys with annoyance.
"Come on, get up we need to continue." Said Bridgette. "But we're tired! Just let us rest for a little bit?" Moaned Brendan.
"Do I need to raise my voice?" Said Cynthia, crossing her arms and raising and eyebrow. Instantly, the boys shot up and straightened themselves with flustered laughs. They set off ahead of them, and the group of girls burst into giggles.
"You really channelled a mother's rage." Said Victoria, smiling fondly after the boys. "Anyways, we're finally on flat terrain. Now we have to navigate all of this tall grass, how annoying." The group of girls walked forwards, slightly behind the boys.

A few minutes passed and startled cries were rising from ahead of them, and Cynthia picked up her pace. She soon caught up and found the boys directing their Pokémon to attack a fast-moving green blur.
"What's going on? "Cynthia asked, running up beside them.
"A Pokémon jumped out of the grass and seemingly challenged us to a battle!" Tristan said, "We don't know what though, because before we could scan it it began to zoom around the place!"
Cynthia looked over at the green blur. Despite being outnumbered, it was holding it's own very well and was fending off any attacks. She was intrigued.

"Call back your Pokémon. I'll handle this." She commanded. The boys shouted at their Pokémon and they ran back, keeping a wary eye on the blur. Cynthia stepped forwards with Gible beside her. The blur slowed down and Cynthia could finally recognise the Pokémon that had been holding off it's attackers so well. It was a Budew.

This Budew was looking at her curiously, and she realised it was sizing her up. The pleasant smile on it's face was still present, and Cynthia realised it was fighting her acquaintances for fun. She was surprised by agility of the Budew and knew it would be an excellent team member. Right then and there, Cynthia decided. She would catch Budew.

"Budew, I'm Cynthia and this is Gible. We are going to battle you and attempt to catch you in a Pokéball. Are you okay with me doing so?" Cynthia said. She heard surprised whispers rise behind her about her telling Budew that she was going to catch it. A quick glare silenced the whispers and Cynthia focused back on Budew, who paused a few seconds before nodding.

"Gible, battle dance!" Cynthia announced. Gible jumped forwards and emitted a loud screech, startling some nearby Swablu out of the grass. Budew's grin grew and it's body began to glow, which made Cynthia's eyes widen. It was using set up moves right at the beginning for more powerful attacks throughout the battle!

"Quick Gible, use Dig!" Cynthia said. Gible promptly disappeared into the earth, making Budew look around in interest. It then detected a noise and quickly moved out of the way, barely dodging the Gible that shot out of the earth. Gible growled at the grinning flower bulb, who giggled at her innocently as she used another growth.

"Quick Gible, stop Budew from using growth with bite!" Cynthia said. Gible promptly sprang forward and latched onto Budew, who's eyes widened in surprise at Gible's own surprising speed. Leaves began swirling around Budew and began to hurdle themselves at Gible. A quick command from Cynthia had Gible jumping off and burrowing back into the earth.

Cynthia noticed that Budew had stopped playing with Gible now that she had landed an attack. It was looking around carefully, waiting for Gible to emerge. It quickly moved to the left again and cast yellow spores where it was standing before. Before Cynthia could say anything, Gible burst out of the ground right into the batch of spores.

"Gible!" Cynthia called. She watched as paralysis overtook the dragon as she promptly collapsed to the ground in paralysis. Budew seized the opportunity and quickly sent another batch of magical leaves heading towards Gible. Gible was defenceless at the attack hit. Cynthia narrowed her eyes at Budew again, who was waiting for Gible's next attack. She had never been cornered like this before. The strategy Budew came up with on the spot was incredibly smart and now had her on the backfoot. She had to think of a solution.

Suddenly, an idea came to Cynthia. She was about to call the command to Gible but noticed that she had already begun burrowing into the ground. That was part of her plan, but how did Gible know it? Had she spoken aloud? That didn't matter, as Cynthia waited with bated breath. She had to hope that Gible didn't get paralyzed midway.

Budew began to move out of the way as it detected movements underneath it again but widened it's eyes as it landed on it's new spot. And with that, Gible erupted out of the earth from underneath Budew and hit it with the dig attack. Cynthia smiled to herself. The feint had worked! Time to end the battle.

"Gible, use dragon rage!" Cynthia called. Blue flames shot out of Gible's mouth directly onto Budew, and an ensuing explosion flared up. Cynthia waited as the smoke died down to reveal a huffing Gible standing triumphantly next to a knocked-out Budew. Cynthia enlarged the empty Pokéball in her hand and threw it at Budew, which absorbed the Pokémon before landing softly in the grass.

Cynthia and the others crept forward to watch as the Pokéball shook, each watching with anticipation. Finally, the Pokéball rocked one final time before letting out a loud "ping!" Cynthia smiled to herself. She had just caught her first ever Pokémon! The praises of her friends caught up to her as she smiled to the people around her.

Cynthia quickly sat down and picked up the Pokéball.
"Take a good rest, you deserve it." She said, before turning her attention to Gible. She pulled out a Paralyz heal out of her bag and began applying it to Gible. The look of pain on her face faded as Gible opened her eyes and smiled at Cynthia.
"You did an amazing job Gible. Do you want to rest in your Pokéball?" She asked. Gible nodded and Cynthia pulled out her Pokéball and sucked her back in. She had a new friend, and she couldn't wait to get to know them better.

"Cynthia!" Said Bridgette, "This is all great and all, but we're supposed to reach a hotel in about ninety minutes." Cynthia laughed and stood back up. "Who would've though you would be the one holding us up?" Soon the group started heading through the grassy fields once more. The afternoon air was freezing, and the group huddled further into their clothes for warmth.

It wasn't long before they came across paddocks of Miltank, Tauros and Mareep. At one point they stumbled across a group of Ralts playing in a small clearing. Their disturbance made the Pokémon dash away. One of the boys ran after one to catch it but came back empty handed after the Pokémon had used teleport.

The sun was beginning to set when the group finally arrived at the hotel. There was an adjacent Pokécenter, so Cynthia and the boys headed there to check up on their Pokémon. Bridgette and Victoria went into the hotel to organise their rooms.

The nurse joy in the Pokécenter smiled at the small group's arrival.
"There you are, the new trainers from Celestic town!" She greeted warmly. "Every year you show up around the same time, so I was expecting you lot to eventually arrive."
"Hello Nurse Joy, we're here to check up on our Pokémon. They were in a few battles." Cynthia said. Nurse joy nodded and pushed a trolley towards them, which they quickly laid out their Pokéballs.

"Quick question, which one is the Gible?" Asked Nurse Joy, making Cynthia's eyes widen.
"How do you know I have a Gible?"
"You don't know?" Nurse joy replied, "You made headlines for befriending a member of the Garchomp line. That doesn't happen often, so it's a big deal." Excitement bustled behind Cynthia, who ignored it.
"This Pokéball is Gible's, and don't worry. She's very patient and fairly trusting." Cynthia said. Nurse Joy nodded and walked off with the trolley, closely followed by her Audino.

"Didn't nurse Joy in Celestic town have a Chansey?" Asked Brendan, looking after the Audino with curiosity.
"She does, and this nurse has a Audino. Doesn't really matter if they can do their job." Said Carl, a short, freckled kid with glasses. Cynthia nodded in agreement. Tristan was contemplating something, and suddenly widened his eyes.

"Hey guys, I just realised. We're not all heading to Hearthome City or Veilstone City, which means our group is going to split up." Tristan said.
"Oh yeah." Carl contemplated. "I'm heading towards Veilstone City to check out the Department store."
"I'm gonna go that way too!" Said Tristan. "I'm going to sign up for the league tournament and fight my first gym!"

The two boys started talking animatedly between each other, and Cynthia zoned out. She focused back on Brendan, who was looking at the ground sheepishly.
"What's wrong Brendan?" She asked.
"N-Nothing, just thinking about something." Said Brendan meekly. He looked up and saw no rejection in Cynthia's eyes and decided to spill.

"I want to go Hearthome City to sign up for the Pokémon contests. It seems like a lot of fun." He said. Cynthia split into a large grin, and he screwed up his eyes, preparing for rejection.
"That's a great idea! I don't know why you thought I would think it would be stupid." Cynthia said.
"Well, it's just contests are seen as something for girls, and that makes me think people will think I'm weird for wanting to do contests as a boy." Admitted Brendan.

"They're stupid!" Said Cynthia, "There's no such thing as something being for girls or boys. If you receive criticism for doing contests, ignore them and go do the best you possibly can do. Rub it in their face that you don't care and that you are great at it." Brendan blushed lightly and scratched the back of his neck.

"Thanks Cynthia, that means a lot to me." He said as the other boys approached.
"Hey Cynthia, which way are you going to go?" Carl asked, causing Cynthia to pause and ponder for a second.
"I really don't know yet." She admitted, "I'm prepared to go either way, I just haven't decided."
The group continued to chat, until they were called to collect their Pokémon. Upon receiving her Pokémon, Cynthia released her Pokémon out of their Pokéballs. In a bright flash, Gible leapt out of her Pokéball with a screech. Budew didn't make any noises, but flashed Cynthia with a large grin.

"It's good to see that you both are full of energy." Cynthia said fondly. She scratched Gible in a certain spot, which made her growl in pleasure. "I haven't really introduced myself to you yet Budew, so I'll do that right now." Said Cynthia, as she directed her attention to Budew. "I'm Cynthia, and I enjoy battling, and it seems like you do too. Just to confirm, do you want to journey with me and Gible? We don't really have any goals at the moment, we're just trying to figure out what we want to do. So, are you in?" The shrill cry of joy from the Budew confirmed her question as she smiled down at Budew.

The group headed over to the hotel, where the girls showed them where their rooms were. Cynthia was sharing with Bridgette and Victoria while the boys shared their room. They ate dinner together in excited conversation, each deciding which town they would head towards. Victoria and Brendan were going to go to Hearthome city, while Bridgette, Carl and Tristan would head towards Veilstone city. Cynthia was still undecided.

Eventually they headed up to their dorm rooms, feeling sleepy after the good dinner they had enjoyed. The girls bid goodnight to the boys and went into their room to get ready to sleep. After they had showered and brushed their teeth, they hopped into their beds and began to fall asleep. At least, Cynthia was until Bridgette asked her a question in the dark.

"That battle you had with Budew really was something else. How did you become so strong?" She asked. Cynthia stared into the ceiling, curious herself.
"We did train the hardest out of all of you guys," Cynthia said, "But I'm also surprised me and Gible were as strong as we were. Budew is more powerful than Gible, believe it or not, so I myself am surprised we won."

"You did come up with that smart strategy of feinting where you would pop out of the ground." Pointed out Bridgette, "That, and you didn't get paralyzed too badly, which was lucky." Cynthia chuckled and turned to look at the sleeping dragon next to her.
"Gible will need to work hard to catch up to Budew, it was luck that got us through that battle." Cynthia admitted.

"Well, I'm glad I got to see you two fight. I'm not as strong a trainer as you, but watching you gave me so many pointers on how to improve!" Bridgette said with glee, only to be hushed by Cynthia by the groans that came out of Victoria's mouth. A moment passed before the duo burst into quiet giggles.

"There is one thing that still confuses me though." Said Bridgette. "Gible somehow knew what strategy you had come up with and executed it."
"To be honest, I don't know how that happened either."
"You should work on it!" Said Bridgette, "Try and figure it out! You would be able to command your Pokémon without your opponent knowing your plan, which is a huge advantage!"
"You make a valid point actually." Said Cynthia, already pondering the possibilities, "That would be a handy tool to have. But for now, let's go to sleep before Gible wakes up and displays her fury." The pair giggled, and soon began to drift off into unconsciousness.