A hard tap on my door awoke me from my slumber. I looked up thinking I could see who it was, but I forgot that the doors were not see through. I got up lazily, accidentally knocking Oliver onto the floor and hitting Trapinch's Ultra Ball releasing him right beside Oliver. They both looked at me with irritated looks on their face, but I was too tired to reply. Whoever was at the door banged on it again this time a bit harder. "I'm coming, I'm coming. Sheesh."

I opened the door and revealed a rather unkempt Naomi. She scratched her wild bed head then walked into my room as if she did not an invite, of course she did not did one, but still. Whatever it was that she had yesterday that made me fall head over heels was gone. Her hair was messy and tangled. Dried spittle clung to her mouth as if hanging on for dear life, and let's just say she had a lot of eye crust chilling out near her optics. My eyes vomited a little bit as they took in the groggy mess that was Naomi.

"Yes?" I did not mean to sound rude with my one word reply to her appearance, but I really did not know how to reply to what stood in front of me. Her hair was uncombed. Her face was unwashed. And by the smell of it, her teeth were un-brushed and pits un-deodorized.

"Sorry about…how I look right now and possibly how I smell right now." 'Not possibly, definitely how you smell right now' I thought to myself, hoping that she didn't have the power to read my mind. "But I wanted to get you before you left and went doing whatever it is you do." I was hardly focusing on what she was saying because with each word she spoke, it was like a punch in the nose. I opened my mouth to breathe through it, but sucking in her morning breath through my mouth was not much better. I could actually taste her thick, damp breath. "Wherever you are going, I am coming too." She said it in a matter of fact tone.

"Okay, but I am going to need to freshen up first. I will meet you in a few." I hope she took the hint that she also needed to clean herself up as well. She walked out of my room closing the door as well. Despite the humid weather going on outside, I opened the door to let in some fresh, and I use that word loosely, city air. I took in a deep breath of the thick, smoggy air which I am sure was not much better than Naomi's breath, but it still was somewhat better.

"Okay Trapinch come on, it is time for your meds." He looked at me then shook his head. "Come on now. Don't be this way. I do not have time for this. You have to take your antibiotics until they are gone, because Nurse Joy said that a lot of those wounds were able to let in some nasty germs." He reluctantly opened his mouth, and I tossed them in there from a good distance as to not have him accidentally bite my hand off. As soon as the medicine landed in his mouth he snapped it shut.

I freshened up and got ready in about an hour and met Naomi at a table for some breakfast. She had dropped the squalid aura that had surrounded her being earlier this morning. I only had a glass of Tropius Orange Juice and a stack of waffles, while Naomi chewed delicately on some veggie bacon.

"So what should we do today?" She held one strip of bacon in her hand and twirled it around in the air.

"Umm, well I was actually planning to go over to see this breeder named Martin, so Oliver can perfect Aerial Ace." I was talking with my mouth full, and I knew it was rude, but man I was hungry.

"Really, he is he good? You know I have a Pokemon that can teach him Aerial Ace. How much are you paying him for it?" She bombarded me with her words and some of her veggie bacon as she spoke quickly.

"Well originally I was going to have to pay him a grand, but he decided to give me some slack and only make me pay half." I stuffed another piece of waffle in my mouth still happy I had made a great deal to teach Oliver a powerful move.

"You are paying half a grand! Are you kidding me?" She seemed to be just as stoked as me about my awesome deal. "You must be crazy! Most people only charge around a hundred dollars to teach a Pokemon a new move, and you are paying him five times that!" I ended up dropping my fork and swallowing everything that was in my mouth without swallowing.

"Are you kidding me? He was scamming me?" I was beyond pissed, Oliver seemed to be pissed, and Trapinch…well Trapinch still had the creepy smile on his face, but I'm going to say he was pissed to because it made me feel better. We were all pissed.

"Yep. He got a killing of off you. That's too bad for you. Now you will not be able to get your money back." She had grabbed another piece of veggie bacon and bit it in half.

"Wait..I haven't paid him yet."

"He hasn't made you pay yet. He seems to be a rooky at this scamming thing. Number one for all scammers is to get paid first." She tossed the rest of the strip of veggie bacon into her mouth.

"Wait, so I can still get out of here with my five hundred dollars!"

"Or we could make him pay for trying to make you pay him those five hundred dollars." A devilish smile came across her face that freaked me out more than Trapinch's smile, and that's saying a lot.

"Umm, I think I should just quit while I'm ahead." I said sort of quietly, because this new Naomi was a bit freaky, even more so than obnoxiously dirty Naomi.

"No! We are going to make him pay!" Naomi got up and pulled me up as well with both of my Pokémon on our heels. In a short amount of time we were on the bus, where I had to return Trapinch since he insisted trying to eat the seatbelts, on towards Martin's place.

"I can't believe that I got scammed by some nasty scumbag huckster. I have had enough of this city. I am actually starting to miss the cozy, little town of Lavaridge. The only reason people go there is for the gym badge." I slumped in my chair a little bit with Oliver readjusting to my new position. Everyday home sickness was starting to get worse and worse, but I would have to ignore it. How else would I be able to be a great, traveling trainer?

"Well you are a newbie to the city, so it's only natural."

"Hey, I am not a newbie. There was a guy trying to sell me a bike and I was able to get out of that one."

"Yeah, I can tell you are so experienced at being in the city." She rolled her eyes as she made the statement. "What idiot would even buy a bike to go around and travel with all of their belongings? That's so ridiculous!"

Finally we arrived at Martin's ranch and payback would be mine. I wasn't sure what Naomi had in plan, but I'm sure it would be good. We got off the bus and saw that Martin had been waiting for us on one of the chairs on his family's house porch.

"Ah, my pupil has arrived. Let's get cracking on that Aerial Ace move. Oh and who's this little lady you brought with you?" He smiled a bright, toothy smile, but all I saw was a crooked one. Now that I knew what he was up to.

"Save it! Why were you charging Tyler five hundred dollars to teach his Torchic Aerial Ace?" Was this her plan, to come in guns blazing? Oh Arceus help me!

"Tyler, what is this crazy girl talking about?"

If you can't beat them join them. "She's talking about how you are just a swindling…swindler…who swindles!" Unfortunately that was the best insult I had for him. "I'm not paying you." Tyler seemed somewhat taken back by the statement, but quickly regained his composure.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, because now I got to take back my merchandise. Go Ivysaur. Ivysaur take that Torchic away from him!" He pulled out two normal Pokeball and released a green dinosaur like creature with a flower about to bloom on its back. Vines shot of the Ivysaur's back and grabbed Oliver away from me and pushing me down at the same time. The vines brought Oliver and placed him into Martin's arms.

"What the heck are you doing?" I was frantic as I got up! He just took my Torchic!

"I'm claiming back my merchandise. He knows Aerial Ace now, and since you won't pay you can't have him until you pay me my grand."

"Hey you said it was half a grand before!" Naomi had now stepped in and her faced was flushed bright red from anger.

"Well I'm changing it. I'm holding all the cards now!" He laughed maniacally as Oliver squirmed to get free.

"Well it's a good thing I always keep an ace up my sleeve. Go Ace!" She threw out a black Pokeball with green circles on it revealing a large quadrupedal beast. It had white fur all over its body and a scythe like object stuck out from the side of its head. It was clear to me what the Pokemon was. Everyone knew this Pokemon. It was Absol the bringer of disasters.

"You have an Ab-abs-absol?" My voice was a bit more frightened than I would have liked it to be, but still there was an Absol standing in front of me. There were plenty of children stories where Absols would come to cities, and days later the city would be ravaged by floods and earthquakes.

"Of course I have an Absol, he's my starter, but this isn't the time to focus on what Pokémon I have." She turned her attention back to Martin who now had a Haunter out as well. "Tyler, just return him to his Pokeball."

"Oh right." I fumbled around for his Pokeball and accidentally dropped it.

"Oh no you don't! Haunter use Mean Look on the Torchic!" The ghost's eyes started to glow blue, and then Oliver started to glow a light blue too. I finally picked up my Pokeball and tried to activate it but it wouldn't work. "You won't be able to return Oliver back to his Pokeball until you give me my one thousand dollars."

"Or until we take down that Haunter of yours. Go Ace, use Shadow Claw!" Naomi was now filled to the brim with anger.

"Ivysaur stop that thing with Razor Leaf!" Martin cried as he clung tighter to Oliver who replied with a loud shriek.

The Absol's claws started sparking with dark electricity as the shadows from surrounding objects started surrounding his paw. He then lunged towards the Haunter at an incredible speed.

Unfortunately, right before he hit his mark, a whirlwind of leaves from the Ivysaur blasted him knocking him off course and into the ground.

"Now use Leech Seed Ivysaur, and you get over here Haunter." Martin smirked as his Haunter hid behind him and his grassy dinosaur got ready to shoot a Leech Seed at Ace.

"Use Magic Coat Ace!" Naomi's fists were now balled into fists, her knuckles stark white, as if she was going to punch Martin when this was all over.

Ivysaur shot multiple seeds that glowed bright yellow towards Ace. I had remembered what Leech Seed was capable of and how it drained its host of its energy. I started sweating hoping that she could do this.

Absol started to glow a light blue right before the seeds hit, and something extraordinary happened. The seeds bounced off Absol's glowing body and were redirected to Ivysaur and split into vines as it surrounded the Seed Pokemon's flower.

"Okay now use Ice Beam Ace. Oh and by the way Ty, you could try and help out just a little bit." I had gotten so caught up in the battle between Ace and the Ivysaur that I forgot I could help.

"Okay Trapinch come on out." My little demon emerged from its Pokeball and looked at me with its blank expression. "Use…what do you know?" I scratched my head as I fished around for my Pokedex in my backpack. In my peripheral vision I could see Ace blasting blue beams out of his mouth.

"You don't know what moves your Trapinch knows?" Now she seemed to be angry at me.

"Hold on, hold on." I pointed my Pokedex at the Trapinch and pushed the info button.

Pokedex entry:
Trapinch, the Ant Pit Pokémon
Trapinch's nest is a sloped, bowl-like pit dug in sand. This Pokémon patiently waits for prey to tumble down the pit. Its giant jaws have enough strength to crush even boulders.
LV 25
Known Moves:
-Bite=60
-Faint Attack=60
-Sand Tomb=15
-Quick Attack=40
-Dig=80
-Hyper Beam=150
-Sand Attack=N/A

The fact that my Trapinch knew Hyper Beam and was a much higher level than Oliver threw me for a loop. If he knew that attack, why didn't he just use it on us in the desert? Well it didn't matter know, because now I had to save Oliver.

"Okay Trapinch use Hyper Beam!" I expected to see my Trapinch start blowing stuff up with powered up beams, but all I got was a whole lot of nothing. Then Trapinch noticed Oliver was in Martin's hands and started clicking loudly. Trapinch didn't respect me at all, but if there was one thing he he did respect, it was Oliver for the amount of strength he showed in their battle in the desert.

Trapinch launched across the field at an unreal speed in what I assumed was Quick Attack. The attack hit the Ivysaur in the side, and it was now struggling as it had to deal with two Pokémon to fight.

"Haunter use Thunderbolt on that Absol." Martin now had a worried look on his face as his Ivysaur took another Ice Beam and was constantly being drained by Leech Seed.

The air around the ghost started cracking with electricity, it then shot a massive bolt of energy at Ace sending the Absol flying all the way back to his trainer fainted. She then bent down to tend to his wounds.

Martin started to snicker until my Trapinch used another Quick Attack on the Ivysaur causing it to fall over and not get back up. Using the momentum he had gained from the Quick Attack he launched at the Haunter as a black aura engulfed using what I thought to be Faint Attack. Almost immediately on impact, the Haunter fainted as it haphazardly landed on the ground. Trapinch finally lunged for Martin's head while he was in the air, but Martin had dodged and dropped Oliver in the process, which was most likely his worst mistake.

Oliver turned around and took in a deep breath then released a barrage of Ember attacks on Martin's legs. His pants caught fire as Trapinch placed Oliver on his back and dashed over to me and Naomi at a blinding speed. I returned both of my Pokémon to their Pokeballs and beckoned for Naomi to come on who had already returned her Absol.

Luckily for us the bus was back, and we got on and heard his frantic cries in the background. "Is he going to be all right?" The bus driver asked as we got aboard.

"Oh he will be fine." I replied as Martin called out his Wingull which extinguished the flames. We sat down next to a window that allowed us to enjoy the show.

"Ty, you're a pretty cool kid. On that note I would like to know if you would be my guest and accompany me to Slateport City?" She looked at me with sparkles in her eyes, and it was kind of hard to say no, so I just nodded my head to imply a 'yeah sure.'

Oh great…another city.