Since reviews can now be answered outside of stories, I'll be hitting the 'reply' button under your review for each and every one of them. ...And that's all the author's notes. Wow, short. xD

Chapter 2

The small company had been walking through the Route for a while, and there was no sign of wild Pokemon in that amount of time. Mipsy had tried starting little bits of conversation with Razzle, but it had never lasted for long. The Wurmple on her shoulder let of pathetic little 'oou' sounds every other minute, completely bored.

"Are we lost yet?" Razzle finally asked.

"What?"

"Are. We. Lost. Yet?"

"Well, we're not there yet…"

"So we're lost." Razzle giggled.

"If you really want to say it like that." Mipsy was unsure she liked the idea of being lost in a place that seemed to be void of all people, "But this is your home! You should know where we are."

She looked meaningfully upon the Ralts, and he seemed to grow a little nervous, "I've never been to Petalburg City before."

If Mipsy was shocked by this revelation, she didn't show it. "Oh. And perhaps do you know where all the Pokemon are…?"

"Hiding."

"Why?"

"Because that's what wild Pokemon do."

The trainer huffed, "We need to battle, for the practice." She said slowly to him, and Tassie's 'oou' was of complete agreement.

"Well why didn't you just say so?" He giggled again and exclaimed into the woods in his own tongue. There was a pause, as it echoed, and finally a Poochyena peeked out from a bush, his fangs bared in a snarl.

"Uh-oh."

"What'd you say?" She asked irritably.

Tassie spoke up, but Mipsy didn't understand what she said, "He yelled, "Hey all you stupid wild Pokemon!" He's in for it now…"

"Eh… what she said." Razzle stated as the Poochyena spotted him and charged forward for a Tackle attack. The Ralts jumped to the side just in time for her attack to hit the ground instead of him, but she recovered quickly and cried wildly on her way back around.

"Do something Razzle!" Mipsy exclaimed, and he replied by growling loudly at his opponent. It was a surprising sound; a Ralts didn't look like it would be capable of such a noise, but effective in that it startled his opponent. "Now attack it!"

Razzle then paused and put his arm to his forehead, "I can't." He finally replied, and dodged yet another haphazard tackle. She bit her lip and fished out the chunky Pokemon Handbook and quickly scanned the attacks. 'Confusion-Level 6'

Oh crap, he's under level six! She looked to Tassie, who was watching the battle with interest, and said, "You've got to help him." Mipsy plucked the Wurmple off of her shoulder and set her down where the two already battling where running out of steam; Razzle from dodging, Poochyena from attempted attacks. She charged the dog Pokemon with all the speed she could and rammed her with her horn.

Seeing that her opponent had reinforcements, the Poochyena howled once before turning around and darting away. She was limping lightly from the puncture wound in her leg from Tassie's tackle. The Wurmple was looking exceedingly proud when she returned to her trainer's side.

"What level are you at, Razzle?" Mipsy questioned when he sat down where he stood, panting.

"Level one millionty. I really don't know."

"You both need training." Mipsy stated bluntly, "So Razzle, call another Pokemon over, if you can be polite this time."

"That first one wasn't polite?" He asked, and Tassie shook her head with a Wurmple laugh.

"Look, a Seedot!" Razzle exclaimed boredly, "Are we looking to battle it, too?"

"Yup, all together now!" She replied cheerfully, holding Tassie at arm's length as the Wurmple shot a Poison Sting at it. But the problem was, the poisonous strands hit everything but the Seedot.

"Yunno what, there's an easier way to do this." Mipsy stated as she put her Pokemon down on the ground, went over to the tree, and, standing on her tiptoes, grabbed the acorn Pokemon.

"Seeeedot!" It exclaimed as it dropped off of the tree and slipped out of her hands. It bounced off of her head on its way to the ground, and rolled away.

Mipsy stood there dazed, with a large bump swelling upon her head. "One word." She growled through clenched teeth at the two watching Pokemon, Razzle holding one hand over his mouth to muffle the laughter.

After a few minutes of sitting on a fallen log and rubbing her head, Mipsy asked, "How many Pokemon have we seen now?"

"Two Poochyena, both who fled. One Zigzagoon, which you two ran from for some reason. And three Seedot, two of which we won against, and this one who decided your head looked like a nice landing spot." Razzle supplied cheerfully.

"I thought that Wurmple were here." She replied, "Where are they?"

"Most of us are away from the main path, eating and preparing for evolution." Tassie replied, and looked meaningfully at Razzle to translate it. Finally, he did, but grudgingly.

Mipsy bit her tongue before it would let her sudden thought slip. Instead, she got to her feet and placed Tassie back on her shoulder, "Come on, let's get to Petalburg." She murmured.

"I thought we wanted to train…?" Tassie whispered to the Ralts, who shrugged up at her.

The sun's light was but a faint glow in the west when they'd finally made the first steps upon Petalburg's soil. It'd taken about an hour for Mipsy to find the main path again, and from there it was smooth sailing. They'd come across only one wild Pokemon on the way, a Wurmple actually. Tassie had battle him, but she looked like she regretted it the rest of the way.

Their first stop was the Pokemon Center, where food was the top priority. The Chansey that served them would remember the large amount of mince pie that disappeared when she set it down.

While Razzle and Tassie were going to sleep in another room while they recovered from slight scuffs and bruises from that day, Mipsy was left alone with another hour's worth of time before she would be able to drop asleep.

'If today is some clue, this is definitely going to be an… interesting journey. What a fun birthday, chasing around Poochyena and getting hit in the head by a random Seedot. I wonder what happened to my Pokedex, it could help right about now. Hopefully when I get the new one, it'll have some sort of level counter on it.' Mipsy thought and sighed as she took the Pokemon Handbook, which opened automatically to the page that had Wurmple on it, as she'd creased it there with use.

The next page had two pictures of two similar Pokemon, Silcoon and Cascoon. The footnote read:

'Silcoon and Cascoon are both the evolutions of Wurmple. It is unknown how Wurmple chooses between these, but it's most commonly said that it becomes a Silcoon with kindness, and a Cascoon from abuse. Both are weak and mostly immobile, only use Harden, unless in dire need of defense, and eat nothing.'

Mipsy muttered under her breath at it and looked to the opposite page, where a Beautifly sat with its magnificent wings spread. The only interesting thing the footnote mentioned was that Beautifly were 'the product of good training and care. If treated correctly, their wings will have a healthy luster. But this Pokemon species as a whole is very sensitive, and they may attack with their long proboscis if they feel threatened.'

She half-smiled as she turned the page, and was shocked by the difference between Beautifly and the other evolution, Dustox. Again, only part of it was of any interest… 'Dustox are creatures that show little emotion in anything, to better curb their natural psychic powers. The poison they have in their wings is powerful enough to get a pro wrestler sick.'

'Both are good.' She thought, turning the page back to look at the Beautifly again, 'But I really hope Tassie will decide Silcoon is a better evolution. Then again, wasn't it a Dustox that both my father and grandfather ended up with? Yeah, Dad mentioned a Dustox when we were arguing…'

Mipsy sighed and shut the handbook with a snap, setting it down on the floor, "I don't want to think about this now." She stated audibly and settled into her sleeping bag. The girl was overwhelmed with sleep quickly, and her dreams were of Wurmple.

After a good breakfast, Mipsy looked to the telephones and grinned. "We forgot to call in yesterday." She told her Pokemon, "Now that we're rested, how about we give the people there a good show? Remember Razzle, you're my Pokemon for now."

"Okay." He replied automatically, "I'll give them a good show!"

"Don't go overboard, hopefully we'll be talking to Professor Birch." Mipsy laughed. She dialed the correct number from memory and waited.

After two rings, the familiar face of Brendan came up on the screen and he was smiling. "Good morning!" He said cheerfully, "I suppose you're in Petalburg, eh?"

"Exactly. And I caught a Pokemon too!" She attempted a smile through the lie, and failed. Razzle peeked over her shoulder and waved.

"Wow, a Ralts. Those are really rare Mipsy, congrats for catching one! Well anyways, I've got big news of my own." Brendan was grinning by now, "I get to go out and go on a normal journey, like you! We're now officially rivals!"

She coughed. Rivals? The boy that went out, captured and trained her Wurmple would be her rival? "T-that's wonderful Brendan!" Mipsy managed to cough, "But we are friendly rivals, right?"

"Of course. I'll see you in Rustboro City, hopefully." Then the screen went blank, and a pale Mipsy turned away from it.

"You look like you saw a Dusclops." Razzle observed, "Having a rival can't be that bad, right?"

"Brendan's got such a head start on me, he'll cream us in every battle." Mipsy whispered.

"It takes more muscles to frown than to smile Mipsy. Cheer up, come on, it'll be alright. You're going to have me to battle with at least the first time."

"Come on, we'd better get moving. There'll be a lot of training ahead."

"What about the gym?" Razzle asked quickly.

"Oh no, the Petalburg Gym is a bit too advanced for us. It's ranked as the gym most trainers visit fifth." She replied, and thought for a split-second that Razzle was frowning thoughtfully.

The first thing in Route 104 that happened was Mipsy found a trainer. Actually, she found a couple, but only challenged the one that wasn't sporting a Torchic or a Mudkip. This person had a Treecko, and she had a type advantage with Tassie.

Razzle just sat down in the tall grass and watched the battle as it began; Tassie verses a Treecko (named Root, as was revealed by his trainer). The trainer that had agreed to the battle was named Jack, and was sporting a sideways brown cap.

"Start with Pound, Root!" Jack exclaimed, and the swift gecko ran at Tassie, while she lowered her horn and jabbed it at him as his tail came around and crashed against her side. Tassie fell and skidded off to the side, while Root's tail had been scratched visibly. He began to waver where he stood, the effects of poison quickly setting in.

The Treecko attempted to ignore the way his sight was swimming and jumped forward, using Pound repeatedly with his tail. Tassie wasn't fast enough to avoid the attacks, nor counter unless the tail rapped her horn, so she was getting pushed around like a rag doll. Her trainer was looking nervously at the battle, feeling completely useless to her Wurmple.

Finally, a small idea hit her. "Tassie, try to roll into a ball!" With the help of one well-laid pound, Tassie's middle arched up and she formed the best ball a Wurmple could manage. The next attack that hit her made the Wurmple-ball to roll a good distance away, and the poisoned Root launched after her, but wasn't fast enough to get to her before Mipsy's next order came, "Okay, unroll and use your horn!"

Tassie did as she was told, and rammed her horn under Root's foot, sending him flying back a foot, where he landed and skidded to a stop before his trainer's feet. He'd fainted, and a second after the Treecko had been recalled, Tassie collapsed into an exhausted heap.

Mipsy was smiling, almost foolishly, as they journeyed closer to the forest. She was proud of the Wurmple on her shoulder, of course, and was jingling the extra coins that the win had gotten them. Jack hadn't had many Pokedollars, so she just took the change he had. It didn't seem completely fair to take half of what little he had.

"Yunno, I think that Tassie had a level advantage in that battle." Razzle finally said, the first time he'd spoken in a while.

"Oh?"

"That Treecko looked really green to me."

"Well duh, it is a grass type." Mipsy laughed.

"I didn't mean green like that! But you're right. He looked like the inexperienced Treecko that normally come from the lab. 'Root' hadn't been trained much."

There was a pause, in which both Mipsy and Tassie considered the look of the Treecko. "I wouldn't know." She finally said, "It looked like a Treecko to me, nothing special."

Tassie chipped in with an 'oou' and a nod. Razzle seemed to smile and turned at a rustling sound, "Hey look, a Wurmple." He said, pointing out the crimson bug.

Mipsy smiled when her own Wurmple crawled from her shoulder directly onto the tree and up to where the Wurmple was. "Don't get lost Tassie." She said to her Pokemon, "I'll be around…"

"And I will too!"

"Oou!" She exclaimed, waving her tail at them.

Mipsy and Razzle continued a little ways into a clearing, and sat down, watching a Shroomish couple walk by. Finally, the Ralts said, "Please tell me we can practice on these Shroomish."

Another group of them were passing by, and it seemed that more were in the bushes. "Do you think it would by alright with all these Shroomish if we fought one…?" Mipsy replied nervously, "We don't want to anger them, you know."

"It'll be fine!" He replied, "We've just got to get one alone."

The two of them sat there for a while longer, waiting for a single Shroomish to pass by, but it didn't seem to be happening. After a while, Tassie found them and curled up in the grass at Mipsy's side.

That was just about the time Razzle's impatience became too much, and he picked one of the Shroomish up from a rather large group, but promptly dropped the mushroom Pokemon.

Suddenly, Razzle didn't think this was such a great idea after all, when he found himself surrounded by aggravated Shroomish. And he didn't know any attack moves. More Shroomish, seeing that some of their fellows were in danger, came to attack the nearest thing, Mipsy and Tassie.

The trainer wasn't fast enough to avoid the cloud of bright yellow dust shot at her and fell over, paralyzed. Tassie hadn't been affected as badly though, and was beginning to fight off the small Pokemon with her horn.

'Oh great.' Mipsy thought, 'Now I'm completely useless.'

Razzle saw his 'adopted' trainer fall over and gasped in fury at the Shroomish. This wasn't the way they were supposed to act! He didn't even notice the pent-up feeling appearing in his gut, until the bright purple glow around his body was powerful enough to catch his attention. Using his anger as a magnifier, Razzle pointed at a cluster of the mushroom Pokemon, and they were sent flying.

The five that had been hit by the Confusion saw the look on his face and retreated, calling to their fellows to do the same. It took a bit, but the Shroomish left, leaving them to their peace.

"Never, NEVER do that again!" Tassie hissed at him weakly, "Don't you know Shroomish sometimes fight in hordes?"

The purple aura faded from Razzle as he dropped his head, "N-no…"

"What are we going to do about Mipsy, huh?" She continued angrily. The girl hadn't managed to budge from the position she'd landed in; the only movement she managed was her breathing.

"Umm… isn't there a berry that can cure paralysis?"

"Yeah, but where are we going to find it?"

"You do know that in a forest, there are berries." A Taillow laughed from one of the trees, "And most of the berries are bright colors too."

Razzle glared up at her irritably, "That's nice, but we need the berry now."

"If you would just look, you'd find what you're looking for." The Taillow chirruped, pointing with one talon towards a nearby bush that was dotted with bright red berries.

"Oh good, you go get one Tassie!" Razzle exclaimed.

"What? This is your fault, you go get the berry!"

The little bird's head went side to side as the argument continued along those lines for a while, until she finally huffed and flitted over to the bush, picking the plumpest Cheri berry there, and returning with it in her beak to perch right in front of them proudly.

"But you're more-" Razzle paused as he finally saw the bright red berry, "Never mind." He took the Cheri berry and squeezed it until a steady flow of juice was coming from it, and let it flow into Mipsy's half-open mouth.

After a few seconds, the girl stirred and exclaimed, "Goodness, that's spicy!"

"Mipsy's better." Tassie said cheerfully.

"Is that a Taillow?" She continued at the sight of the bird. "Cool! They're supposed to be really fast!"

The Taillow bobbed her head in a bow and said, "And now is the time I should depart." She cackled and flew into her tree, out if sight.

"Why does it seem that every Pokemon we meet runs from us?" Razzle said.

She looked over to him and was glaring as she said, "If you see another Shroomish, do not touch it. Leave it alone and we'll be alright."

"I can fight them off now." He replied, "So we've got no problem."

Mipsy ignored him and got to her feet, walking over to the Cheri berry bush and selecting a couple of them. "Don't drop them and we can go Shroomish hunting." She said with a wicked grin as she placed the two berries in Razzle's arms.

The Ralts looked down at the berries and grinned right back at her as they were caught up in a purple aura and floated. Only for a second though, before falling back down. "Dang, that can't be good." He said thoughtfully, looking down at the two and trying to psychically pick them up. It didn't work well, they stayed where they were.

"You don't know Confusion after all, do you?" Tassie asked, blinking at where the red berries would glow purple for a second, budge, and then relax again.

"All I need is practice!" Razzle exclaimed nervously.