Jake set off on his journey a couple of days after he officially became a trainer. It was as if it took him those days to finally get the courage to leave. As much as he wanted to go, he knew he'd miss his mother, and the furthest away he'd ever been without her was Olivine, when he stayed with a school friend for a week. But he was happy, and confident he could do it. Peter had done him the courtesy of destroying him in a battle, despite using his weakest pokemon, a young Rattata. Jake had decided to battle with Lemon first. He frankly had no idea what to do. Peter gave him some tips as they battled, and as Jake grew more confident in calling out moves he discovered that Lemon was quite speedy, and often got attacks in quicker than the Rattata. Peter commented that this was impressive, as Rattatas are known for their speed. The attacks lacked power, however, and soon Lemon was too tired to fight. The next pokemon he used was Chestnut. Chestnut was not as fast as Lemon, so he could not land as many attacks. Each attack seemed to do more damage, however, as by this stage Chestnut had grown a little bigger and stronger than Lemon. Pretty soon, however, Chestnut also tired, and Jake recalled him. He was still not sure what to expect from Silvio. He just hoped he'd fight. As soon as he was released, Silvio started growling fiercely at the Rattata. Each attack he landed seemed to do more damage than either Chesnut or Lemon could manage, despite his smaller size, purely because of the sheer force he used. This left Silvio's defences down, however, and eventually the Rattata clamped his jaws around him. Jake returned Silvio before the Rattata could do any serious harm.

Jake had lost a bit of confidence after that battle, but Peter told him that he was impressed. He assured Jake that he was a lot stronger than most of the new trainers he'd be facing, and not to worry: training and experience would help him win more battles.

So now Jake was on his way to Ecruteak City, walking along the side of the road, Silvio and Lemon walking, Chestnut on his shoulder. He was a little bit annoyed that the largest of his pokemon decided to be the one to perch on his shoulder, but he didn't really mind. Apparently, Eevees were good climbers and had tremendous balance, as Chestnut would climb up Jake's leg and torso while he was moving, and stay there, even once when Jake tripped on a root and fell, nearly squashing Silvio. The little Eevee looked affronted for a moment, before continuing to walk three steps in front of the others.

Jake was once again raring to have a battle, his disappointment at losing so heavily to Peter gone. He'd battled against a few wild pokemon already, and had even considered catching one, another Rattata, but decided three pokemon were enough for the time being. He was still not sure which TMs to use on which pokemon, though he noticed Silvio sniffing around his TMs when they stopped for a short rest.

After a while he saw another trainer up ahead, a guy about his age. He was slightly shorter than Jake, and had dark hair. He was wearing a dark green cap and a red shirt with jeans. Jake had been walking for three hours, and he was hot and sweaty, but he didn't care. He wanted to battle.

"Hey, you!" Jake called, trying to get his attention. "Want to battle?"

"Yeah, alright," the guy said as they got closer. Then he noticed Jake's Eevees.

"Wow, three Eevees! And one of them's silver! Do you know how rare that is!"

Jake nodded, and told a greatly abbreviated version of how he came to have them, and become a trainer.

"Wow. I guess you're not a very strong trainer then. No offence," he said quickly as he saw the look on Jake's face, "it's just that I've been a trainer for a couple of years, while you have for a day. I've even got a badge," he said proudly as he showed it to Jake. "Got it in Violet City. That's one of the easiest Gyms in Johto, though. The League regulates how tough they can be. My name's Sam, by the way. Sam Wilson."

"Any relation to Rodney Wilson?" Jake asked, surprised by the name.

"The farmer?"

Jake nodded

"Yeah, he's a distant relative. My dad's second cousin or something. Not entirely sure, but I've visited his farm once."

"He helped me rescue my Eevees' mother," Jake told him. "I live, or used to live, I guess, a couple of properties over from him."

"Oh yeah, near Olivine. I guess that's why you're here on your first day."

"So, are you sure you don't want to battle?" Jake asked hopefully.

"No, mate. Even with my weakest pokemon I'd kick your arse."

"Try me," Jake challenged. "You might be surprised. Show us your weakest pokemon, and we'll see."

Sam reached for a pokeball and released a small, black pokemon Jake had never seen before. Although it was small, it was still considerably larger than his pokemon. He rummaged around in his bag for his Pokedex, and pointed it at the pokemon. It told him that it was called a Poochyena, and it could be very aggressive.

"I spent a bit of time in the Hoenn region, and picked this guy up before I left," Sam explained. "I haven't started training him yet. Actually, this could be a good opportunity for him to get some experience."

"So you'll battle us then?" asked Jake hopefully.

"Yeah, alright, if you really want to. One-on-one, let's go."

They each took a few steps back. He consulted his pokedex for some more in-depth information on Poochyenas. Apparently they had quite poor defenses, but were quite strong and powerful for their size. He decided Chestnut would be the best to fight him.

"Alright, Chestnut, you're up. Try not to let him hit you, 'cause he'll do a fair bit of damage."

Chestnut grunted in response, and took up a defensive position.

"Alright, Pooch, tackle him."

"Dodge him and use Tail Whip."

Chestnut didn't quite dodge in time, and caught a glancing blow from the dog, but he managed to fill the Poochyena's face with quite a lot of fur as the tail whip landed. This disorientated the opponent, and allowed Chestnut to land a full blooded tackle.

"Wow, that was an impressive combination. Have you taught him to do that already?"

Jake just shrugged. Chestnut had tackled the Poochyena without even being asked. He looked at Sam's pokemon, and saw that while it was a little flustered, it wasn't seriously hurt.

"Alright, Pooch, bite it!"

"The same as before, Chestnut."

This time, Chestnut managed to dodge completely, but as the tail came to hit Poochyena's face, the dog pokemon bit down, and hard. Chestnut scratched and tore at the Poochyena, and finally it let go, but the Eevee was hurt. He seemed to be OK, though, so Jake let the battle continue. Chestnut managed to land a few more tackles of his own, and the Poochyena was looking tired, until it managed to close its jaws on some skin on Chestnut's back. The poor Eevee couldn't reach the dog from his position, so he called him back into his pokeball to rest. Sam did the same.

"Good job, Chestnut. That was a good little move you thought up there."

"That was impressive, Jake," said Sam, a thoughtful look on his face. "For your first trainer battle, it really was."

"Well, second, actually," Jake corrected. "I had one before I left, but I got thrashed."

"It was still impressive. You almost had me beat. A couple more tackles and I might have seriously considered returning him."

"Thanks."

"You should have him checked out at a Pokemon Centre, by the way," Sam added, gesturing to the pokeball on Jake's belt that contained Chestnut. "Not immediately, but sometime in the near future. Pooch bit a little harder than I would have liked when he got Chestnut's tail. It might be damaged. I doubt it, but I've seen it happen before."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," said Jake, starting to feel worried.

"Hey, don't feel guilty or anything," said Sam, seeing the look on Jake's face. "Injuries happen all the time, and pokemon enjoy battling."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just a little worried, that's all."

"Anyway, where are you headed?"

"Ecruteak City, I guess. It's pretty close, and it's as good a place to go as any."

"How would you like to come with me? I could help teach you what it's like being a trainer. I travelled with my cousin for the first six months or so. He had already been a trainer for three years when I was with him, and had a couple of badges. This was in Kanto, by the way. It helped a lot."

"Yeah, sure, if that's alright," said Jake, excited by the offer. "I was thinking it might get a little boring on my own."

"Great, then it's settled," said Sam, obviously pleased. "I was actually coming from Ecruteak, and there's not much to do there at the moment."

"Why not?"

"Bad timing, I guess. They aren't doing any tours of the burnt tower at the moment, and the Gym Leader is out of town, so you can't watch any good battles. Even the local dance company's on tour. We can always come back, though."

"So where do you suggest we go?"

"Goldenrod's close, and there's always something to do there," said Sam. "You'll be able to find some trainers about your level too, so you and your pokemon can gain some experience."

"Well, you're the boss," said Jake, happy that he was with someone who knew what he was doing.

They arrived at Goldenrod City late in the afternoon, after a couple of days walk. They checked into a Pokemon Centre there, dumped their gear, and got cleaned up. It was too late to be able to go anywhere in the city, but too early for dinner, Jake and Sam sat in their room for an hour or so, releasing their pokemon, watching TV and talking. Jake told Sam a more comprehensive version of how he met the Eevees, and told him a bit about them. Jake had checked all three of his pokemon into the Centre to be healed, and took Sam's advice and asked the Nurse to check for damage to Chestnut's tail. Consequently, he got the other two back before him, so they were playing (or fighting, Jake couldn't tell) on the floor. Sam had told him about his pokemon as well. He had a Grolithe, which was his starter, a Scyther, a Diglett, as well as the Poochyena he'd battled with earlier. He had caught the Scyther at the Safari Zone in Fuschia City, as well as a Tauros, but he'd traded the Tauros for the Diglett. When Jake asked why he'd trade a Tauros for a Diglett, Sam explained that he was in Johto by that time, where Tauros are comparatively common, compared to Digletts, and that Digletts evolve into Dugtrios, which he would prefer over a Tauros. In fact, as he pointed out, they had just passed through a region that had plenty of wild Tauros', if you knew where to look.

"Do you plan on evolving Growlithe soon?" Jake asked after seeing an Arcanine on TV.

"Not for a while," Jake responded after a moment. "I don't think I'd be good enough to handle an Arcanine, for one. Besides, I'd have to get my hands on a Fire Stone. They only sell them in Kanto, because they've got some mine there or something. And even there, they're bloody expensive. I wouldn't have the money."

"Yeah. Well I've got three pokemon that eveolve with stones. How do you think I feel?"

"Poor?" answered Sam, before chuckling. "Don't worry about it. Besides, they can evolve without stones. Something about happiness. I don't know too much about Eevee evolutions."

Jake checked his Pokedex. It said that Eevees can potentially evolve into five different species: Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, and Umbreon. He'd been aware of Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon, and knew vaguely about Espeon and Umbreon, but was surprised to discover that Eevee evolved into the latter two through a combination of happiness and the time of day. He'd never heard of anything like it before, but trusted it was true.

"So, you wanna get some dinner?" Sam asked Jake. "We could eat here for free, but I know a good place. Expensive though."

"Let's just eat here. I'm too tired to explore the city anyway."

"Yeah. All this talk about stones we can't afford has left me feeling poor. Maybe tomorrow we'll find some battles and earn some money."

"Is that how trainers earn money?" Jake asked with interest.

"Pretty much. We can't exactly hold down a regular job, travelling all around. Some trainers are employed to sell things where they travel, but you don't want to do that. That's really for the trainers who couldn't win a battle to save their life, so go broke. Oh, yeah, organised competitions usually have pretty hefty cash prizes."

"Wow. Who funds it all?" asked Jake, confused.

"The Pokemon League, mostly. There are a few well known private competitions as well, but whether official or private, it's all driven by advertising. The League can also fund Pokemon Centres and other services because they have a monopoly on the sale of Pokeballs, as well as a few other items. They also sell merchandise, and, believe it or not, get a fair bit from the registration fee they charge. Though, come to think about it, they would cover the wholesale price of that trainer's kit they gave you."

"So, in just an ordinary trainer battle, you're supposed to win money, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"Why didn't you ask for some from me, when you beat me," asked Jake, confused.

"Because I knew I was going to win. And it was your first day. It didn't seem fair."

"Oh. That was nice of you. You couldn't have got much if you tried, anyway."

"Well, that's why we're going to earn some tomorrow. But right now, I'm starving. Let's eat."

The food, while not exactly world class, did the job, and soon Jake and Sam, as well as their pokemon, were full to the point of bursting. While they were down there, a nurse brought Chestnut over. There was no permanent damage done, and he was just fine. Jake had thanked the nurse, and released Chestnut. He watched as he mingled with the others. He seemed to command a little more respect from the others now that he'd been in a trainer battle. They had only met a few trainers on the way to Goldenrod, all of which had been too strong for Jake, but too weak, or in one case too strong even for Sam. Sam was surprised there were so few, even in the towns they passed through.

Soon, they were both ready to head back up to their room. Jake was superbly fit, what with his ritual of running in the morning at home, but three days walking had tired him out. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

The next day, the duo decided to go get some breakfast at a café Sam knew. The food was good, and not too expensive. Sam took care of the bill, since he had more money, and more of a chance of making money today. Next they headed to a shopping mall, to buy some more supplies. Jake was careful with his money, investing in some extra potions, antidotes, and paralysis cures. He had been thinking about the TMs that were still in his bag, and, after some wild battles with his pokemon, had decided what to do with them. He was going to teach Body Slam to Lemon, as he felt that she needed a bit of a stronger attack compared to the other two. He was going to teach Chestnut Dig, as, while he was big and powerful, he was a little slow, and Jake felt that if he could move underground, he'd be able to sneak up on enemies, rather than rely purely on speed. He decided to teach Shadow Ball to Silvio because his main weakness was his defence in-close. Being able to attack from a distance would be a great advantage to have.

Jake had discussed his decisions with Sam over breakfast, and he'd agreed with him. They decided that after shopping for supplies, Jake would teach his pokemon the moves.

They finished their shopping, and Jake went back to the Pokemon Centre, where he'd left most of his stuff, including his TMs. Sam said he'd look for a competition, and call Jake when he found one.

He got into the room, and rummaged through his bags for the TMs. He could remember what Peter had shown him about TMs, but he read the instructions carefully anyway. He looked at the first one he'd picked out. It said 28-Dig on the side, and had the Hoenn stamp.

"OK Chestnut, you're up."

Chestnut jumped on to the bed Jake was sitting on. Jake tore the packaging off, and inserted the disc into the device.

"Alright, Chestnut, hold still," Jake said nervously

He lined up the device with Chestnut's eye, just like he'd seen Peter do to his Vigoroth. He pushed the button. Light pulses flickered on and off into Chestnut's eye, but he wasn't irritated by them at all. After about ten seconds, the device switched off, and the disc ejected. He knew they were both useless now, but he'd been told by Sam to drop them off at the Pokemon Centre's front desk, for reuse.

"OK," Jake said with trepidation. "Let's see if it worked."

They all went outside, and Jake asked Chestnut to go underground, go a few feet, and then resurface. Chestnut did it without any major problems. Jake was hoping he'd be able to move faster underground than he had, but then remembered what Peter had said about it taking a while for pokemon to perfect the moves.

He repeated the process for Lemon and Silvio, and experimented with their new moves. Lemon's Body Slam was a little wonky, and she almost missed the bag Jake had placed on the bed as a target. He took them all outside again to see what Silvio could do with his new move. Again, results weren't perfect, but Jake was impressed by the power of the Shadow Balls Silvio was casting. He asked Silvio to aim for a tree about a hundred feet from where they were standing. He hit the one next to it, which was about ten feet to the left, but he blew a large patch of bark right of. For an Eevee of his size and experience, these were great results.

Just as he was testing out Lemon's Body Slam for the fourteenth time, he got a call from Sam. Apparently, he'd found a good local competition. He gave Jake directions, telling him to catch a cab to get there. While Jake wasn't going to enter the competition itself, there would be plenty of new trainers who would be watching, and would be willing to battle him.

He arrived at the spot, and saw Sam emerge from the crowd and jog over to him.

"Finally. I thought you'd never get here. Great news. There are a bunch of GPA students here to watch the competition. They'd be a good match, and good money.

"GPA?" asked Jake, confusion written all over his face.

"Goldenrod Pokemon Academy. With your TMs you should win most of the battles. And even if you don't, you don't have much to lose. Go for it."

"Alright," said Jake nervously. "Are you going to enter the competition," he asked Sam.

"No, this one's exclusively for advanced trainers. I know what I'm doing when it comes to pokemon battling, but I'm nothing compared to these guys. I'm going to do the same as you, find some spectators."

Jake followed Sam back through the crowd, and they walked into an open park area. A temporary battlefield had been set up on the grass, with some seating around it. He noticed the crowd was formed by people lining up either to enter the competition, or buy food and drinks. Sam spotted the GPA kids, and led Jake over to them.

"Go challenge one of them," prompted Sam.

"Uh, how?" said Jake, nervous. "What do I say?"

"Just do what you did when you challenged me."

Jake shrugged, and picked out a likely looking student.

"Hey you!" he called. "Want to battle?"

The boy turned, and nodded. Jake saw that he was about fourteen.

"How much?" he asked. "Rupert, by the way."

Jake shook his hand.

"I'm Jake. I've only got 110 bucks," said Jake, checking his wallet. "That's why I'm here. How about 30?"

"A little low, but it'll do," said Rupert with disdain.

They took a few steps back, and faced each other.

"Two each sound good?" Rupert asked.

"Yeah, that's fine," said Jake, assuming he meant pokemon. "Can you go first? I'm new to this."

"30 bucks, here we come," Jake heard Rupert say under his breath. He grabbed a pokeball, and sent out a Bulbasaur.

Jake decided to give Lemon a go. He found her pokeball, which he'd finally got around to marking, and released her.

"Alright, Lemon, get in close and use Body Slam."

"Bulbasaur, catch it with your vines!"

Lemon managed to avoid the vines that were flung her way, but they put her off balance, and this, combined with her inexperience with move, caused her to miss her opponent by a good foot.

"Again, Lemon."

"You too, Bulbasaur."

This time, Lemon's attack hit, and did quite a lot of damage, but she couldn't get away in time before one of the Bulbasaur's vines wrapped itself around her back legs. She gnawed at it for a second, and just as the second vine was coming to grab her front legs, she broke free.

"That was good, Lemon. Keep circling Bulbasaur. Make sure it doesn't get you with the vines. Attack when you see an opening."

At this, Rupert looked up, surprised by the order. He'd never trust his pokemon to make that kind of decision in the heat of battle. He'd trained them to do exactly as he ordered. Which was why his Bulbasaur had no idea what to do when Lemon suddenly darted in and Body Slammed it.

"Crap!" shouted Rupert as he saw what happened. "C'mon, Bulbasaur, get up."

The battered pokemon tried to keep fighting, but in the end, Rupert realised it was no use. He returned Bulbasaur, and placed him back on his belt.

"Maybe you should keep your eyes on the battle," suggested Jake, a small smile on his face. He had decided he didn't like Rupert.

"We'll see," said Rupert, reaching for another pokeball. "Meditite, go!"

Jake had seen a picture of one of these pokemon before, but couldn't that was all. He checked his Pokedex, which told him that it was a fighting/psychic pokemon.

"Let's see how you like a fighting type against your normal type," taunted Rupert.

"I don't," said Jake, returning Lemon. She was tired from all the running, and Jake remembered what Peter said about the fighting type's advantage over normal types. He also remembered what he said about ghost types against psychics.

"Go, Silvio!"

Silvio materialised, and immediately started growling. By this time the battle had attracted a small crowd, and there were small gasps and mutterings as they saw that Jake had two Eevees, and this one was silver. They, as well as Rupert, were also confused about his decision to switch out one Eevee for another.

"Ah, you do know that you can't use your other Eevee, now, right?" asked Rupert, not entirely sure what was going on. Jake didn't know that, but he wasn't planning to use Lemon again anyway, so he just nodded.

"Whatever. Meditite, finish this now. Brick Break!"

Jake didn't have to tell Silvio to dodge. Nor did he have to tell him to Tail Whip his opponent as it passed, before tackling and scratching it while it was disoriented. He'd worked on that move which he'd first seen Chestnut use against Sam's Poochyena with all of his Eevees in the various wild battles they'd had on the way to Goldenrod. Silvio also knew to break off before his opponent could strike back.

"Great, Silvio. Just stay on the defensive for a while. Don't let him get you, just chip away." Rupert kept repeating the same attack over and over again, each time with the same result as the first. Jake wasn't sure how effective Shadow Ball would be in battle, especially since he'd only just taught it to Silvio. He didn't want to give away the surprise too early.

"You know, you really should teach your pokemon some TMs," suggested Rupert tauntingly, "because you've got a pretty one-dimensional team."

Jake smiled at the irony. "Eyes on the battle, mate."

Rupert quickly looked down at the battle again, and Jake chuckled.

At one point, the battle seemed to lull, with both pokemon trying to catch their breath. Jake took this opportunity to unveil Shadow Ball.

"Alright, Silvio, hit him where it hurts. Shadow Ball."

He saw Rupert's eyes widen as the black ball hurtled towards his Meditite. There was nothing he could do. It hit, and threw the Meditite back about 20 feet. The battle was over. Jake had won.

Rupert returned his pokemon, and handed the money over, before storming off in a huff. Sam congratulated him.

"That was awesome, man. Silvio's got a real powerful Shadow Ball."

"Yeah, I know," said Jake, unable to keep the smile off his face. "Inaccurate though. We were lucky it hit. If it hadn't, he would have been ready for it when it came again."

Jake healed his pokemon at the portable machine they'd had installed for the competition, while Sam went to find a battle of his own. He looked at his winnings. It wasn't a lot, but it was proof that he'd won his first pokemon battle.