Chapter 4: VS Brendan and May

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The next day was uneventful, save for the small attacks by wild Pokemon. Shade was enough to fight them off, and Sapphire continued on her way, unhindered, until she came to a large clearing. It was the perfect place to stop for lunch, and she did want to train Swampy a bit.

As the three of them ate lunch - another peanut butter sandwich for her, a couple of raw Pidgey eggs for Shade, and some more Sitrus berries for Swampy - she told them the plan. They would remain here for the next hour or so. Shade would be free to do whatever he wanted, be it exploring the surrounding forest or battling the wild Pokemon, so long as he left his trainer and Swampy in peace and was back in an hour. Scarcely had she finished speaking when Shade nodded and had speedily disappeared into the surrounding trees.

Sapphire sighed, a small smile on her face, before turning her attention to the little water type.

"So." She said. "What attacks can you do?"

Swampy thought for a moment before growling. Although he tried to be ferocious, he came across as cute instead. Mudkips tended to have that effect. An amused smile briefly graced Sapphire's face before it vanished.

Swampy didn't notice his trainer's expression. He finished growling and then charge across the clearing, tackling a bush. Sapphire nodded once.

"So, Growl and Tackle." She said aloud. "Is that all the moves you know?"

Swampy nodded once, worried his trainer was disappointed with him. However, Sapphire was busy planning.

"Okay, so a strategy for battle." She suddenly said. "Would be for you to use Growl a few times to lower your opponent's defense and then use Tackle. Even if they do manage to hit you with a few attacks, as long as they're physical attacks the damage done by them will be reduced." She looked over at Swampy, who was watching her attentively. "Let's practice that, okay?"

Swampy nodded before growling at a nearby bush. Sapphire waited a few moments before ordering a Tackle attack. Swampy charged forward and tackled the bush, flattening the green plant to the ground. Sapphire grinned.

"Nice work." She complemented her new Pokemon. "Again!"

They remained that way for a long time, much longer than the hour she had allotted originally. She kind of lost track of time, spending hour after hour having Mudkip practice its two attacks. So far, nothing too interesting, until her latest order resulted in something a bit more powerful than a normal Tackle.

"Swampy! Use Tackle one last time!" She ordered. Swampy charged forward again, ready to tackle a very beaten down bush, when he twisted in midair and delivered a powerful slap to the ground, kicking up globs of mud.

Sapphire was surprised, to say the least. She watched in mute shock as the mud covered the bush, weighing down the leafy bows until the weaker ones snapped and the stronger ones rested on the ground. Swampy landed, a very pleased look on his face.

"You just used Mud Slap, right?" Sapphire asked. Her Pokemon smiled, pleased to have surprised his trainer.

"Mudkip!" he affirmed. Sapphire grinned.

"Good job!" She said, complimenting her friend on a job well done. Swampy grinned proudly at the praise he had received. The little Pokemon was glad that he had made his trainer happy.

"There you are, you thief!"

The moment was broken by a loud angry cry. Sapphire stiffened before turning around. Standing at the edge of the clearing was a boy and a girl, both looked to be about the age of ten. The boy was the one to angrily yell at her, while the girl had a silent but furious look on her face. Sapphire frowned.

"Look kids, I'm no thief." She said. "I'm merely-"

"Sure you aren't!" The boy interrupted her. "You only stole that Mudkip there from our father's lab! You good for nothing stinker! We had three new trainers supposed to be coming in today, and one of them was supposed to get that Mudkip! And now they won't, because you had to steal it! We're lucky enough that Dad had another trio to offer them! As it was, he's down a whole set, because he couldn't just give away the remaining two!"

"I don't know what lab you're talking about." Sapphire was struggling to stay calm, but this kid was really getting on her nerves. "I'm a traveling trainer who's only been in the area for two days. As for Swampy here, he was a wild Pokemon when I caught him."

Swampy, all this time, had been watching the interaction with interest, and a bit of apprehension. He recognized the two newcomers. Brendan and May Birch, the twin children of Professor Birch. He had come from the lab that the two lived at, and he could recall many long hours spent with them. They were most certainly here to take him back to the lab. And while when Shelly's Mightyena had tossed him out the window all of his thoughts had revolved around returning to the lab; now he found that he had grown rather attached to his new trainer, and was reluctant to leave her.

"Mudkip!"

Startled out of his thoughts, he became acutely aware that May had called him several times. Looking up, he noticed that Sapphire had stepped off to the side, looking into the trees, whistling a mournful tune. Unbeknownst to the others, it was one of the many signals she used to communicate with Shade, and as the bird Pokemon picked up the tune it would reach the loyal Dark and Ice type's ears. The Sneasel would come rushing back, ready to defend his trainer, partner, and friend.

"That girl says that if you want to come back with us, she won't stop you." May explained before holding out a hand. "C'mon, let's go back to the lab."

Swampy looked at the outstretched hand, then at Sapphire, then back at the outstretched hand once more. With a definitive air, he slapped the hand away with his tail before running over to Sapphire's side. The girl had stopped her whistling, and a relieved look crossed her face as her friend jumped into her arms.

"Seems like Swampy's chosen to stay with me." She noted before turning to walk away. "Well, we'd better get going. See you around."

"Not so fast!" She paused as a Pokeball was hurled in front of her, a green gecko released from it in a flash of white light. She turned around in time to see another Pokemon released, this time an orange chic. She glanced up calmly to meet her assailant's eyes.

"And just what is the meaning of this?" She asked.

"You've obviously done something to Mudkip." The boy snarled. "If he won't come back willingly, then the two of us will show him sense! Treecko! Use Pound!"

"Torchic! Peck!" The girl added. Sapphire filed away the names of Pokemon for further use as she jumped backwards, dodging the two attacks. Swampy lept out of her arms and landed on the ground, growling at the two Pokemon.

"You want to give it a go?" Sapphire asked. When Swampy nodded, she grinned. "Okay then. Use Mud Slap!"

Swampy charged forward, striking the ground with its tail to send a rain of mud down on his opponents. Treecko was lucky, and dodged most of them, but three or four decent sized chunks hit Torchic, knocking it back.

"Torchic! No!" The girl cried.

"May, Torchic is weak to Ground Type moves like Mud Slap." The boy reminded her. May frowned as her Pokemon shook the mud off, although the little Fire Type looked a bit unsteady on its feet.

"How was I supposed to know Mudkip knew that move, Brendan?" She whined. "Mudkip didn't know it when he was at the lab!"

"Regardless, you need to be more careful!" Brendan lectured her. "Why don't you recall Torchic? It's taken a lot of damage, and Treecko has a type advantage over Mudkip anyway."

A slight pout crossed May's face, but she listened to her brother and recalled her Pokemon. Now it was just a one on one match, a fair battle.

"Swampy! Use Growl!"

"Treecko! Pound attack, let's go!"

Swampy growled ferociously at Treecko as the gecko's tail began to glow. The Grass Type then charged its friend, lashing out with its tail. Swampy dodged some of the blows, but two or three connected. The first one sent Swampy staggering back a few steps, but by the time the third hit Swampy was barely fazed.

"Now, use Tackle!" Sapphire ordered. Mudkip was the one to charge forward now, catching Treecko off guard. The attack landed successfully, hitting Treecko in just the right spot to cause extra damage. The critical hit, combined with the damage from the earlier Mud Slap, was enough to cause Treecko to faint.

Brendan angrily recalled his fallen partner while Sapphire merely congratulated her Pokemon for the hard fought win. She then told it to get some rest, before returning it to her Pokeball.

"Next time be a bit wiser in the way you fight." She advised the furious duo before turning to go.

"Wait a second!" Brendan hollered while May tried to shush him. Sapphire ignored the boy, until she unexpectedly felt someone grab onto her from behind. Briefly she struggled, even as she heard Brendan yelling at her and May trying to pry her hot headed sibling off of her. But Sapphire ignored the angry words, and instead was searching the surrounding forest. There, in the trees, she could see Shade. Her partner was looking at her in equal parts worry and amusement. Sapphire rolled her eyes, a look that clearly said help flashing across her features.

Shade charged up an Ice Beam and hurled it at Brendan's feet, freezing them to the soil. The shock of the attack caused him to loosen his grip on Sapphire, and the girl slipped free.

Shade dropped down to the ground between his trainer and her assailants, a cocky yet amused grin on his face.

"Sneasel!" He taunted. Both May and Brendan stopped what they were doing, shocked by the appearance of the rare Pokemon.

"What kind of Pokemon is that?" Brendan asked aloud. He had never seen a Pokemon like that before, not in all of the texts on Pokemon native to the Hoenn Region that he had read. Sapphire didn't bother to answer.

"Nice work, Shade." She said before turning to vanish into the trees.

"Wait! You never even told us your name!" May said. Sapphire paused, contemplating the question, but didn't turn around. She couldn't tell them her real name; the minute that they went back to Littleroot Town her mother would find out where she was. So, what to tell them?

"It's Alpha." She finally said as she disappeared into the surrounding forest with Shade. "Do me a favor and remember it."

May and Brendan looked as each other before Brendan angrily pulled his feet out of the rapidly melting ice.

"I don't know about you." He said. "But tomorrow, I'm going to chase after her. I'm not going to let a thief get away with something as heinous as stealing a Pokemon. You with me, sis?"

"Yeah." May agreed. She would follow her hot headed brother, and not just because she also wanted to make Alpha pay for her crimes. She wanted a rematch, and next time she wasn't going to get humiliated. "I'm with you." Brendan grinned.

"We're coming for you, Alpha!" He hollered in the direction that the girl had vanished. in. "Just you wait!"


So, was that any good? Let me know by leaving some compliments, comments, and/or constructive criticism in a review! Swampy will put out any flames using Mud Slap.