A.N.- Hello readers! The organization will remain nameless as long as I don't receive entries. I'm allowing you, the reader, to determine the villainous team's name! If I don't receive a vote by November 8, 2014 I will pick a name so ridiculous you will lose faith in humanity or never be able to take this story seriously again. You have been warned…

Disclaimer- I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter 3: Luck of the Draw

As I come closer to the town I realize why trees have spread apart. I'm surrounded by stumps and the village is in a man-made clearing.

"It's getting late. Is there anywhere I can stay?" I ask a lumberjack who is passing by.

"Don't got a hotel. Sleep under da stars," he states, walking off. My stomach growls loudly. I better go and see if they have a store or restaurant I can get food at. As I'm walking along the sidewalks I see a store ahead. I rush in and pick out a sub. I get in line and it gets to my turn before too long.

"That will be five," the cashier says scanning it. I pull out my wallet (I'm not one for purses, all I need fits in a wallet) and get a five dollar bill.

"What's that green paper? It's no good here," she says as I try handing her the money.

"This is five dollars!" I exclaim.

"What's a dollar? We use Geld here," they explain.

"Is there anyway I could get this for free?" I question.

"You can either earn money by chopping wood or get 200 Geld store credit by beating my boss," she answers.

"I'll face this boss of yours," I respond. I doubt that I can chop down any of those thick oaks I saw. "But first, can I have something to eat? If I lose the match tomorrow I'll chop enough wood to pay you back. I'll even let you keep me under surveillance," I promise.

"Fine, I'll inform them that they have a challenger. The match will be tomorrow after breakfast," the cashier says, handing me the sub.

*The next day*

"Why'd the match have to be after breakfast?" I groan, heading to the store. As I'm about to enter the door flies open.

"Right this way to the battle grounds," a man says, I assume they are the manager. After a speedy walk through the dense forest we come to a small clearing. In the center are two stumps carved into the shape of chairs with a flat rock in between them. The man takes a seat and I notice he has a similar headset with arm covering. I sit across from him and am surprised by how comfortable it is. "The match will have 4 prizes," the manager states.

"I'm ready when you are," I say. I reach to my so I can shuffle and see the machine doing it for me. When it stops I go to draw and seven cards come out the opening.

"I'll let you go first," he says. I place Spheal down and put a water/ice energy on them. They place a Bulbasaur down and put a grass/bug energy on them. The card I draw is Meowth. I place them on my bench. I decide to have Spheal use iceball on Bulbasaur.

"System Initiated," I hear a computerized voice say. I see a Bulbasaur facing me. I look downward and see little blue flippers. I'm a Spheal, I think to myself; Let's see what I can do. I open my mouth and try forming an attack. A coin starts flipping in front of me. It lands on heads and a ball of ice flies out and hits Bulbasaur. I open my mouth again, the coin flips, it lands on tails. In front of me I see the manager sitting across from me and a damage counter on Bulbasaur. The manager places another energy on Bulbasaur and puts an Oddish on his bench. I see a seed flying towards me. I feel intense pain, then weakened. Once again I'm back in the clearing. Only, Spheal has two damage counters and Bulbasaur has none. I draw a double normal energy (only helps with non-type spots on moves, so they gave it two) and place it on Meowth. Next I put a Defender on Spheal to protect it from 20 damage (two counters). I choose to attack again. (For the sake of your patience and mine I will just say damage, effect, and coin flips for rest of chapter). Heads, heads, and tails. 2 damage counters on Bulbasaur, The manager places another energy on Bulbasaur. Leach Seed, Spheal takes 0, Bulbasaur is healed 1 damage counter (from now on DC). I draw Raticate. Heads, heads, heads, heads, and tails. 3 more DC on Bulbasaur. 1 energy attached to Oddish. Leach Seed, Spheal 10/50 health, Bulbasaur 30/60. The battle continues in a way like that and in the end, I had two prizes left I needed and the manager got all his and won. So I spent all day chopping wood (luckily they spared me tree duty) and was able to buy myself meals and a couple days' supplies. Including a camping kit with a tent, flint and steel, a sleeping bag, cooking supplies, and an axe. Prepared for the road I slept right outside town and left in the morning, As I walk I get a big smile.

"I just realized," I say to myself, "I got two prizes! That's one more than I've ever gotten before!"

A.N.- I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I enjoyed writing it (but I did run out of patience in the battle). The battles against that team (THAT NEEDS A NAME!) will be much more entertaining (and fun to write). For those lost during the battles since you don't know the rules of the trading card game, let me explain.

*Explanation start*

You have a deck which after shuffling, you draw 7 cards from (If I remember properly). Maybe 5 (it's been a while). IF you have no basic (non-evolved) Pokémon you reshuffle and draw again. This repeats till you have at least 1 basic Pokémon. You can only have 5 benched Pokémon (Like the one's in your Pokéballs) and 1 active (the battler, which as in the game, one must be active at all times or you lose immediately). Only one energy can be per turn and most attacks require at least one. The more powerful the move, the more energy it requires. Unless it has negative side effects, like recoil or energy loss that is. You draw once per turn, at the beginning and can only attack once (multi attacks like bullet seed count as 1). Pokémon can have weaknesses (but not all do and only to one type) which means you add a certain amount of damage from an attack. Really strong Pokémon can get a x2 weakness. Rarer than weaknesses are resistances which mean you subtract or divide the damage from an attack of that type.

*Explanation end*

Those are the basics. You'll learn more from the story. For first hand experience get a starter deck (or two), the other option is getting the game/rom Pokémon Trading Card Game along with a Gameboy Color/ appropriate emulator. It's a really fun game. Sorry for long Author's Note. Endrew out!