Anonimo faced his opponent on the other side of the battlefield. This challenger was bold, and cocky. He chuckled to himself. This is going to be too easy, he thought. Any Pokémon he had, he was certain that it could defeat whatever the challenger dished out. His smirk still adorning his face, he waited to see what Pokemon his opponent had.

The opponent tossed a Pokeball in the air. "Go, Venusaur!" he called. Out came a large blue-green Pokemon, with a huge pink flower on its back. It stretched, grunted, and stomped, with apparent relief at being release, as well as a bold spirit that it obtained from its trainer.

"VENUSUAR!"

Anonimo studied it for a moment, and took out a Pokeball. He decided to test his new Pokémon's abilities and see if the runt could utilize them in battle. He recalled how powerful it was when he battled it, and he was certain it could defeat the much larger Pokémon.

"Come out!" he shouted. Out came little Cyndaquil, who yawned and looked at her surroundings, and then to the Venusaur in front of her.

"Cynda?" she muttered, confused. Who was this big fella in front of her?

There was a seemingly slow second for the trainers to come up with their strategies regarding their Pokémon. Cyndaquil had the type advantage, but Venusaur had the evolution advantage. Then, when that second passed, the battle began.

"Venusaur, use razor leaf!" the opponent called out.

"Dodge it!" Anonimo yelled.

The Pokémon followed suit. Cyndaquil had just barely leaped out of the way of a large spinning leaf aimed at her. She turned and watched in wonder as it somehow evaded Anonimo and sliced the tree behind him in half. She bit her lip, knowing very well that it could have been her.

"Use vine whip!"

She had little time to react before a vine suddenly whipped her, sending her flying back. She rolled on the ground for a few seconds before slowing to a stop with her face in the dirt. Spitting out the dirt, she quaked as she lifted herself onto all four paws, and then upgraded to standing on two feet. Then she noticed another Vine Whip coming at her. She heard Anonimo's command to dodge it, then obeyed. As the commands were called, the Pokemon battled. Mostly, it was Venusaur attacking and Cyndaquil dodging.

"Flamethrower!" Anonimo called out.

Cyndaquil paused a moment and tried to light her flame, but nothing happened. With a gasp, she tried once more, but it only resulted in her back hurting. With an annoyed grunt, she tried to force the Flamethrower to happen, but with only a wisp of smoke coming out of her mouth. As she panicked about not lighting her flame, a razor leaf slammed into her. Her body skidded on the hard ground. She shakenly lifted herself onto one paw, rubbing her scraped cheek. Whimpering, she didn't noticed Venusaur firing more leaves at her, and when she felt it, she had barely any time to dodge before getting hit by another leaf, and another, and another. All she could do was cower under fire.

"ARGH!" Anonimo growled. Where was that power it demostrated before?

"Tackle it!" he yelled. Cyndaquil obeyed and tackled him as hard as she could, but Venusaur didn't take much damage, even smirking as he imagined a comical boing sound. He simply vine-whipped her away once she hit the ground, and chuckled at her pathetic attempts at battling. Casually, Venusaur Razor Leafed and Vine Whipped Cyndaquil until she was trembling on her feet. From the looks of things, not much longer until the battle was lost thanks to Cyndaquil.

The opponent smirked, thinking he had won.

"Venusaur, Solarbeam!"

Venusaur obeyed and began collecting sunlight with its flower. He chuckled at the little Pokémon swaying like a Bellsprout.

"Did your trainer think he really could win with such a little Pokémon like you? C'mon, you can't even use flamethrower, you weakling!" he said, roaring with laughter. Cyndaquil just stood there, still swaying from the barrage she had received. She held back tears and breathed heavily as those words stung her. She didn't know what to say to him.

When he was all charged up, he fired. The solarbeam seemed to race toward Cyndaquil at blinding speed. She squeezed her eyes shut as she made one last desperate attempt to avoid his attack. Her fur had been damp in sweat, and it quickly evaporated as the Solarbeam rolled closer. Her heart pounded against her chest, and time slowed down for her as she panicked.

However, with Venusaur's words still echoing in her mind, that familiar surge of power erupted within her, and her thoughts shifted from acceptance of being defeated by the Solarbeam to a fierce determination to prove that Venusaur wrong. She was no weakling... she knew she wasn't. And she would prove it by taking advantage of the seemingly slow time.

The light was blinding as it passed over where she was standing. Or, where she had been standing. Cyndaquil had vanished into thin air! Both Anonimo and the other trainer were in a state of shock over the sudden disappearance of the Fire Mouse, and Venusaur showed considerable tension over wondering if he had accidentally vaporized her.

"What the-? Where'd it go?" the opponent shouted, confused.

Venusaur felt the wind blow on his cheek as he stared at the small footprints that Cyndaquil had left. There were no others around it, as if she had not moved. However, there seemed to be a bit of charred ground behind the footprints. As Venusaur attempted a closer look, a powerful Flame Wheel suddenly hit him from above. It shoved him into the ground with such force, he soon found himself stuck. Then, he felt a pair of small feet land on top of him.

"What?!" the opponent cried.

Both Anonimo and the other trainer gazed in awe at the culprit of the Flame Wheel, Cyndaquil. Her back was home to roaring flames, those that would be more at home on her evolved forms. Her countenance had transformed from fear and confusion to an aura of power, confidence, and anger. Never before had a little Cyndaquil struck so much fear into the hearts of humans and a Venusaur. She leapt off Venusaur's head and turned to face him, giving him a spiteful glare that he wouldn't soon forget.

"Quil, Cyndaquil-quil, Cynda?!" So, I'm a weakling, am I?! she shouted.

"Now it can use fire attacks!" Anonimo uttered. "Cyndaquil, give it a powerful Flamethrower!"

"Cynda...quiiiilllllllllll!" She spewed enormus flames out of her mouth, engulfing Venusaur in seconds. She had never heaved so much fire in one sitting, even when she had battled Anonimo's Croconaw. When she ran out of breath, she stopped her flamethrower and watched the flames take effect. When the fire had disappeared, she gave a confident smirk. Venusaur was knocked out.

Cyndaquil enjoyed her meal, as it was a reward for winning the battle. It contained all the wonderful flavors she enjoyed, as well as some new ones that she was eager to try. Never before had a party graced her little tongue, and she hoped that all of her subsequent meals would be this good. As she munched happily, Croconaw spoke to her.

"So, you were lucky enough to win your first battle?" he asked.

"It was not luck. I got skills!" she replied with her mouth full.

Croconaw sighed. "While I do admire your pluck, you're not going to win every battle. I suggest not getting so cocky, lest some other Pokémon decides to humiliate you."

"Are you saying that there's Pokémon out there that can beat me? Nuh-uh, I just beat a big bad... um... flower-toad thingy..."

"Venusaur."

"Yeah, that was it!"

Croconaw rolled his eyes. "You have an impressive first win, but Venusaur is not the most powerful Pokémon around. Look, every battle's not going to be like the situation where it seems like you're going to lose, and then you turn things around and suddenly win. One of these days, you're going to lose."

"Oh, Croconaw, you're funny. I'm really powerful! There's no way I'll lose!" she said, grinning.

Little Cyndaquil couldn't have been more wrong. In her next battle, she was taken out with a Dynamic Punch.

After that, Stone Edge had knocked her out. And the next day, it was Seismic Toss.

Hydro Pump was no fun to lose to. Neither was Avalanche. Nor was Double Edge. In fact, no attack was fun to lose to.

And for may battles after, she kept losing to various Pokémon. She had wanted to prove Croconaw wrong, but she had no evidence to support her argument that she was "really powerful." In fact, as the days rolled by, she felt herself become weaker and weaker, with no spontaneous turnaround fire attacks. She had lost so much, she had kept track of the attacks that had knocked her out.

She sensed a pattern between her battles and her relaxation time. She never felt very relaxed; just very hungry. Every time she lost, she was not allowed dinner. She was also given more training time and more strenuous exercises to do. Her training was difficult due to her hunger pangs and the loud, distracting rumbles that they made. She attempted pleading pouts toward Anonimo for food, but all she got each time from him was, "Ah, so you want to eat, Cyndaquil, hmm?"

She'd nod eagerly every time, hearing the so-called sincerity in his voice. Then, he'd pull out a little spongy bread-from what Croconaw told her, it was a piece of a waffle-and wiggle it above her face until she attempted a jump, which made her little legs give out. And then, he'd throw it a good distance away, just to see if she could ran far enough to snatch it.

She dreaded the run every time. Most times, she would attempt to fetch it. Her tries usually resulted in her legs giving out under her, and thus getting kicked hard enough by Anonimo for a bruise to appear, or a wild Pokémon to snatch it before she reached it. When she attempted to attack the Pokémon, she lost, and so she was punished by being tethered to a nearby tree, and being spat on.

On the other hand, when she did manage to get the waffle piece, she savored it as much as she could, not knowing when she'll get food again.

So, there she sat, tied to a tree. The rope was too tight, making each move a potential rope burn on her neck. Her stomach rumbled loudly, which was a sound she had become accustomed to. She had hardly anything to eat since her victory against the Venusaur. Only those waffle scraps she managed to snatch whenever she found the strength to, but even then, they couldn't keep her going enough to win a battle. She eyed the others with envy, and most of the other Pokémon ignored her. The only one who didn't was Croconaw, who'd glance between her and his food, only eating when Anonimo gave a sharp eye to him. Cyndaquil growled.

It's not fair! Why do they eat while I sit here and starve?! she thought. The wind blew, and she shivered. Even though it was a fairly warm day, she felt like she was freezing. She coughed and shivered some more, flashbacks from what happened during the Gym Battle earlier. She didn't see what had happened coming, and she wished that it hadn't had happened.

She was battling a Dewgong during the battle. The Dewgong kept going underwater every time she tried an attack. Her Swift missed, her Tackle missed, her Quick Attack missed, everything missed! She had been getting terribly frustrated during the entire thing, but she was exhausted, and all she wanted was a nap. She took short breaks to cough, and she weakly dodged any thing the Dewgong dished out.

As they battled, Dewgong had rammed its head into the ice to startle her. However, that headbutt was a little too hard, and the ice had cracked underneath her feet. Before she knew it, she plunged underwater, sinking in the cold depths. She had heard Anonimo shouting for her to swim upward to continue the battle. She tried by moving her arms and paddling upwards, but not only did the freezing water slow down her already weak body, there was an important fact neglected: Cyndaquil can't swim. So, cold and helpless, she sank, water was pouring into her lungs, and everything went black.

When she woke up later, she was in a Pokemon Center, being treated. In the other room, she heard Anonimo and the gym leader arguing. She couldn't tell what about, though. She didn't care; the warmth of the lamp and blankets around her felt like heaven, and she cuddled within the quilt, smiling in sweet bliss. She felt a sweet swelling of joy, and wished to never leave this bed.

That wish didn't come true, for they had left the Pokemon Center that evening, despite the protests of Nurse Joy. She was tied a rope that was tied to the tree, and the itching and burning of the rope just made things worse. Her temperature dropped, and her misery rose. She sighed, still feeling cold, and still hungry. She rocked back and forth.

"Please, Anonimo, please put me back in my Pokeball where it's warm..."