Max and his friends were about to start their journey together as they had purchased medicines and Pokeballs and had said goodbye to their family when an idea sprung into Max's mind. 'Jenny, why don't we battle each other to see how good our Pokémon are and to bond with them?' he asked.

'Yeah, it sounds like a good idea – let's do this!' she replied and flung her Pokeball forwards, 'Go Oshawott!'

'Let's go Treecko!' yelled Max as he threw his Pokeball out. 'Treecko, use pound!'

'Oshawott, tackle!' commanded Jenny and the two Pokémon clashed together but Treecko came out on the floor struggling to get up. 'Oshawott go and use tackle whilst it can't move!'

'Treecko quick use agility to dodge it, and follow up with pound!' cried Max and Treecko sped up remarkably quickly and dodged and used pound on Oshawott, bringing to the floor, barely able to battle. Just then Treecko's hands glowed green and something shot out and landed on Oshawott knocking it out. 'I think that was absorb. Great job Treecko!'

'I see that you know how to battle,' came the familiar voice of Kaz, 'but can you defeat my Deino?' he asked and showed it as a challenge which Max accepted immediately. 'Deino, go!'

'Treecko, go and use absorb!' Max ordered and it scored a direct hit on Deino which looked as though it did a fair chunk of damage.

'Deino use tackle!'

'Treecko dodge it quickly!' but it was too late. Deino knocked Treecko to the floor and Treecko couldn't move at all.

'Finish this Deino with dragon rage!' cried Kaz and Deino sent a blue flame hurtling towards Treecko and it finished off Treecko easily. Max thanked Treecko and returned him so he could rest and watched Kaz leave. He then turned to face the girls and got out a map.

'So we're in Rayleigh and they're two gyms in Rayleigh but they're over the other side of that forest so that's where I think we should go next,' explained Max.

'What types are the gyms?' questioned Olivia.

'Rock and grass,' replied Jenny. These types were okay for half way but nobody had an advantage over both of them so it would be tough to beat. 'Also, all of the gyms have three Pokémon so we'll have to catch some more,' she explained.

'It's a good thing we have to go through a forest which is thriving with Pokémon then,' said Olivia and then the trio set off into the forest.