Disclaimer: I own nothing except my own characters

Daniel walked down the road away from Sandgem Town the next morning, heading in the direction of the Jubilife City; which was several miles up the road. It was the perfect day to be travelling; the sun was shining, it wasn't too hot or cold, and there was a nice breeze coming from the south, carrying with it the scent of the ocean. He had been walking for several hours already, and it was getting close to lunch time, so he decided to stop for a rest. He released his pokemon from their pokeballs and set out the food. Zero raised his head, appearing to be listening for something and sure enough, a female shinx walked out from behind a bush, seemingly attracted by the smell of food. She walked over to the food, ignoring Daniel and his pokemon, and started eating. The young man took this opportunity to throw a pokeball while she was distracted, easily capturing the electric pokemon. He walked over and picked it up, looking thoughtful. He released his new pokemon from her pokeball and she immediately went back to eating. After a short period of contemplation, he walked over to her and she looked up at him apparently unfazed by her sudden capture. "I think I'll call you Surge," he said "how does that sound?" she seemed fine with it and he went and sat down again, giving his new pokemon time to get to know the others.

Zero and Rei walked over to their new companion who had laid down in the shade of a nearby tree.

'Hello, I'm Zero; it's nice to meet you' said the larger buizel

'And I'm Rei' said the other with a smile

'Nice to meet you both, I'm Surge now, I guess.' the shinx said 'Hey, is he nice, I've heard some stories about pokemon trainers before and I'm kind of worried'

Rei smiled widely 'he's great, he lets us do just about anything we want and he takes good care of us.'

Surge grinned back, the blue eyed buizel had such an infectious smile 'that's good to know, by the way, how long has he had you two?'

This time it was Zero who spoke up 'we've been with him since we were born'

Daniel, who had just finished packing things up said "Time to go, come on guys." He decided to let his pokemon walk for a while, to get some exercise.

By the time they reached Jubilife City, it was getting late, so they headed for the pokemon center, and got the last single room available.

The next morning, Daniel decided to check out some of the sights. He first went to the TV broadcast station, which was a popular spot among tourists, so he wasn't surprised when it was a little crowded. As he walked into the lobby, he noticed a sign above the counter that read "Pokemon lottery held daily, get your tickets here" so after waiting in line for awhile he finally got to receive a ticket. The woman behind the counter told him that the winners are declared around nine o'clock so to make sure he held on to it. He then noticed that a large area had been set aside near the back of the room, which was surrounded by people. He walked over to it and found that it was a pokemon battling arena. There was a sign nearby that read "Pokemon battles open to all trainers" and another sign that on a desk that read "Sign up here". He walked over to the table and signed his name up to battle. He went back to watch some battles and after three battles had been finished it was lunchtime. He looked at the list and saw that he was in the first battle after lunch, so he quickly left the station and ate at a small nearby café. He finished lunch and hurried back to the television building and made his way to the arena, where the announcer was just about to call the first battle of the afternoon.

Daniel stepped into the arena as his name was called and sized up his opponent, who was doing likewise. She was a short, blond girl in a loose fitting green shirt and matching baggy pants.

"Ready," the referee called "Go!"

"Go, Hibana!" yelled the girl as she sent out a Female Pikachu.

"Let's see what you can do, Surge!" Daniel said as he sent out his new pokemon.

The two pokemon were still for a moment, until their trainers called out their attacks. Surge charged forward after Daniel yelled "tackle" but the Pikachu had used a double team move and Surge ended up simply hitting one of her foes after-images. She stumbled, and the Pikachu was there, hitting her opponent with a quick attack. Winded, she backed off, only to have the other pokemon charge right in with another quick attack. She took the attack head on and retaliated with a spark attack but neither attack seemed to do much. The Pikachu jumped back, and unleashed a thundershock which easily hit Surge who, barely conscious, attempted one final attack but collapsed to the floor after another quick attack by Hibana.

"Gotcha" Said the girl as she withdrew her pokemon.

Daniel said nothing as he withdrew Surge

"What's the matter, you scared." She said as she pulled out another pokeball "You should be, Go, Yuki!" and a male glaceon appeared in the arena.

"I'm counting on you, Rei" Daniel said as he sent out the blue eyed buizel.

"Start off with tackle"

"Rei, quick attack"

The glaceon charged his opponent, only to have her dodge nimbly to the side and slam into him. Warily, he watched the buizel, who spat a jet of water at him; he ducked, and blew an intense blast of cold air at her, which caught her off guard and caused her to stumble. Seeing a chance to end it quickly, the girl called out "Quick attack" and her pokemon lunged forward, however, Rei regained her balance faster than expected, and lunged forward in a quick attack of her own. The two pokemon collided with each other, and they were both thrown back. Both struggled to rise, but were unable.

"Looks like it's down to this last one" said the girl, smiling

"Indeed it does"

"Well then, let's finish this. Go Kusa!"

"It's up to you, Zero"

The larger buizel gazed at the grovyle that stood before him, sizing his opponent up as his trainer had done at the beginning. The girl, seeing an advantage called out "Kusa, use pound" and the grovyle ran at Zero, who jumped back and then charged into his opponent, striking him squarely. Kusa jumped back and then, at his trainers command, lunged forward with amazing speed and hit Zero, forcing him to take several steps backward. The girl, looking smug and looking for a quick finish, called out "Leaf blade!" Kusa ran forward, the leaves on his forearms fusing into one and glowing green. He lashed out with his arm, only to find himself cutting the air as Zero had ducked his attack. The surprise on the grovyle's face turned to pain as Zero responded to his trainers call of "Return" and landed a blow to his foes stomach. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

The girl looked confused, mouthing the phrase "What just happened" as the referee declared the match a draw.

She regained her composure and withdrew her pokemon, then walked off into the crowd.

Daniel had watched several more matches by the time had come for the lottery winner to be announced. He pulled out his ticket, as others around him did the same, and anxiously waited for the winner to be called. After a short period of time, the receptionist finally cleared her throat, and the room became quiet. Then she said loudly, through the speakers "Ticket number 14468". Daniel looked down at him ticket, as did everyone else, but saw to his disappointment that his ticket was not the winner. "Score!" everyone looked up as the girl Daniel had battled earlier made her way to the desk. The receptionist spoke again as the girl accepted her prize "Congratulations Ruka, you've won a Max Revive!"

Daniel went straight back to pokemon center, as it was getting quite late and he hadn't eaten dinner yet. After a filling meal of vegetable stew, Daniel and his pokemon went to bed.