I'm SO sorry! I've been extremely busy lately: going to Washington D.C., working on video projects for school, practicing for book competitions: I've just never had the time to upload. Here it is now, at least.

Disclaimer: Why would I own Pokemon? I'm a lonely person in front of a computer screen making a story to try to express my admiration for a video game (and its accompanying franchise). The only thing I own are my characters.

Unceremoniously, Marietta walked onto Route 30 like she had done for the possibly 350th time. The only notable difference was that she wasn't just going to Mr. Pokemon's anymore; she was technically a 'trainer' and was on a journey for research.

She enjoyed walking down through this route, on the occasions when Professor Elm forced her to go outside. There was several Bug Pokemon and the air was, in a way, more enjoyable than in New Bark Town. Kakuna hung from the tree branches, and Weedle and Caterpie scuttled in the grasses near the girl. A particularly mean-looking Weedle had tried to sting her with its needle; however, Ashes quickly took care of the problem without much excitement.

Marie could feel a presence near her, but didn't take much note of it. There was no reason or her to be worried, after all. Effy mewled at her, which she ignored. Suddenly, she heard a young male voice yelling at her.

"HEY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" An angry boy stomped up to her, waving his net in the air. He had apparently been near her most of the time, and it was only until now that she had noticed him.

"Well?!"He looked up at her, silently demanding an apology and explanation. Marie did not intend to give either.

Instead, she fixed her sharp, dark eyes on him and murmured,"... What? Can you leave me... Alone?"

He flared in irritation, "What do you mean, leave you alone?! Don't you know what you've done?!"

"No..." Should she?

"You chased away the Spinarak! I've been waiting all day to try and capture one!" The Bug Catcher looked impatiently at her, as if it was the most logical explanation in the world.

Marie snickered under her breath, finding his ignorance hilarious.

He gave her a strange look. "What's so funny?"

"... There wasn't a... Spinarak..."

"What do you mean there wasn't?!"

Marie smirked at him."... Spinarak come out... in the evening... with a 30% encounter rate... Unless you shake the trees... What you saw was.. a Caterpie..."

The slightly shorter boy narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you implying that I have bad eyesight and made a mistake..?"

She blinked. "I'm not... Implying anything... I'm merely... Stating a fact."

That had set him off.

Faced filled with rage, he withdrew a Pokeball from the container hung off his shoulder and pointed it straight at her. "That's it! I challenge you to a battle!"

Marie took a few steps back as she looked at the young boy bemusedly. So, he wanted to express his revenge at her pointing out a weakness by battling her? She chuckled, deciding to at least entertain the young boy of his fantasies. "Fine... If you're so eager."

'I suspect that you're going to beat him mercilessly, right..?' Effy looked up at her with a knowing look.

'Of course, though I doubt you'll need to battle.' After deciding she was distanced enough, the young scientist took out Ashes' Pokeball.

"What, are you not going to use your precious Espeon?" The Bug Catcher looked smug, almost certain he was going to win.

"Does it matter to you... What Pokemon I use..?"

He pondered her words for a couple of seconds before shrugging. "Not really. I already know I'm going to win!"

With an elaborate movement, he tossed the Pokeball into the air to release his Pokemon, yelling, "Come on out!"

What was released from the Pokeball was a Ledyba with wide eyes. Marie almost laughed.

Instead, she took Ashes out of his Pokeball with only a quite, "It's time, Ashes..."

Ashes looked at his opponent with a determined look. He remembered that Marie said that every time he won a battle, she'll give him an apple alongside his dinner.

And he quite liked apples.

"Ledyba, use tackle!" The boy commanded to his Pokémon.

The Pokémon cried out loud, and flew head first to Ashes.

"To the right," Marietta said, raising her voice just the slightest bit, prompting the echidna-like Pokémon to head in the direction. "Now Tackle."

He swerved and slammed into the Ledyba, causing it to squeal and making its eyes widen even more than it already was.

"Snap out of it, Ledyba!" The bug catcher yelled at his Pokémon. "Silver wind!"

Marie quirked her eyebrows slightly. 'Silver Wind? That thing couldn't possibly know that. Unless... Breeding, most likely...'

Without a passing thought, she commanded, "Duck, then to the left."

As Ashes began to do so, his opponent had already flapped its wings, releasing a wind with silver crescents. Although he had dodged a few of them, he still sustained a significant amount of damage.

"Tch." A small frown had settled on the girl's face. 'Dammit, too slow.'

The boy smirked, his ego growing. "How do you like that, huh?"

Marie, while thoroughly irritated by the younger's snobbiness, had ignored him and instead formulated her strategy. This angered him. He did not enjoy being ignored. Not at all.

"Hey, come on, listen to what I-"

"Leer." She interrupted.

"Wha-"

She narrowed her eyes. "We're having a Pokémon battle. Chit chat of this nature is irrelevant. Ashes, Leer."

'Your old nature is coming out, Marie...' She ignored her feline companion, not caring that she was right.

The Cyndaquil glared at his opponent, intimidating the Ledyba immensely and making it shudder.

The boy snapped out of his perturbed state just in time to command his Pokémon. "You're not going to beat me! Ledyba, use Silver Wind again."

As the bug began to flap its wings, Marie called out, "Smokescreen, Ashes."

Quickly, he had released a thick, black smoke from his mouth, enshrouding the immediate area around the Pokémon. The Bug Catcher tried to peer into it, but with no luck. Suddenly the silver crescents of Ledyba's move flung out in disarray, with no particular target.

Seeing the opening, Marie called out again. "Ashes, now!"

With a chirp, Ashes had head butted and tackled his opponent into the ground as the smog dissipated. When the insect tried to recover, Marie said, "Again," prompting him to tackle him once more, effectively knocking him out.

The Bug Catcher stood there, mouth agape with disbelief.

"W-what...? Did you just... Beat me...?"

She didn't answer him, instead walking over to Ashes and petting him as thanks. He, in return, chirped happily for pleasing his trainer and leaned into her touch.

"Oi!" Marie turned her head to the boy, looking even more pissed off than he was previously.

She stared at him with an uninterested look, "What is it now...?"

"I want a rematch! Fair and square!"

"... Why?" She and Ashes had won fairly; what reason do you need to have another match?

"Because I know that you cheated! There was no way you could beat me!"

"Actually, I had a 98% of winning since you let out your Ledyba, with a 1.7% chance would end up in a tie, and .3% of a chance with you winning." Marie rattled off the percentage quickly, no longer even looking at the younger.

"What?!"

"I may have not battled much in the last few years, but I am still a better 'trainer' than you." The scientist emphasized the word trainer in an almost mocking tone. "You were cocky- you let your guard down, and Ashes was able to attack Ledyba freely. Not only that, but there wasn't even a strategy to your play, only basic attacks. Even though Silver Wind is a good move, you let your anger command your Pokémon recklessly. And most important of all, you-"

"Shut up!" Marie turned to look at the boy after his sudden outburst, still squatting down even after returning Ashes.

"It wasn't my fault! I know I'm better than you! It's..." He looked down at his Ledyba."It's your fault! You didn't try hard enough when we trained!"

The Bug Catcher raised his arm, enraged at the Ledyba, who flinched weakly in response. Marie looked up with alarm, silently telling Effy to be ready to stop him.

She didn't need to. Someone else did it for her.

All of a sudden, a brown flash swooped from the trees noiselessly and started to peck maddenly at the boy.

"Hey- You, you stupid bird! Ugh, j-just stop it!" He flailed his arms in a meager defense at his assailant. Marie looked closely at the thing, realizing that it was a Noctowl.

'Noctowl are usually timid and nonviolent... Does it have a trainer? Where are they?'

Her questions were soon answered as someone yelled out, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU WORTHLESS LOUT!"

Thank you for reading this! Please critique it, you'll help me improve my own writing. I think Marietta is developing into an entirely different person than I planned: I like it.

To make up for the lost time, I'm going to post the next chapter soon, okay?