Here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: The day I own Pokémon is the day I convince someone to call me by the pronoun, 'hir'. I only have claim over my OCs.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU WORTHLESS LOUT!" A girl's voice rang out in the air. Though laced with anger, its owner was obviously usually relaxed and calm.

Marietta heard rustling from the bush behind her. As she turned around, a somewhat tan female trainer climbed out of the shrubbery. The young scientist studied the stranger: she was around her age and of a mixed Caucasian and Latin descent, with straight, dark brown hair that went to her mid-back made a few shades lighter by the Sun, and even darker, kind eyes (though there was a hint of irritation). Her eyebrows were arched in a way that she always seemed perpetually pleasant, and she had a smile that seemed to be always on her face. Her bangs were swept off her face, and you could see a bit of acne littering her hairline. Although rather short (about 5'1"), she looked and seemed mature in a sense. Her clothes were rather simple, wearing only a plain emerald green shirt with sleeves up to her forearms, jeans, and black sneakers. Her Pokéballs were put onto her belt for quick access and a rucksack was slung off her shoulder.

The girl walked up to the Bug Catcher and said to her Pokémon shockingly calmer than before, "You can stop, Mari. I think you did enough damage for now."

Marie raised her eyebrows in surprise, but then realized that the Noctowl must be named (or nicknamed) Mari. She heard Effy give a hum of pleasure, showing that her first impression of the pair was good. She found that she felt the same as well.

After the owl climbed off the boy, The latter yelled at the stranger, "What was that for?!"

She shrugged. "You were going to hit your Pokémon! I couldn't really just sit and let it happen."

"W-were you watching us?"

"Yeah. You were really loud."

The boy's faced turned red from what seemed to be embarrassment. "W-w-well, you had no right to in my business! What goes on with my Pokémon has nothing to do with you!"

Marie irritably interrupted at this point. "You abusing your Pokémon has everything to do with any other person here. You're nothing better than scum."

"W-why you-!"

"We'll, she is right. We live alongside Pokémon, and we depend on each other. Hurting that relationship is one of the worst things you can do as a Pokémon trainer." The stranger said it rather simply, and then leant down to the Ledyba and sprayed it with a potion. " They aren't just tools, you know."

A silence fell upon the party. It was only after a few minutes that Marietta said to the boy, "Before you rudely cut me off, I was about to tell you why you did so terribly."

"S-so what?"

"Do you recall what you said before you commanded your Ledyba use Silver Wind?"

The Bug Catcher thought back on his words.

"You're not going to beat me!"

"You used 'me' to address yourself," Marie murmured. "Not 'us'. Pokémon are our partners in battles, so your victory or loss is both of yours. You don't understand that bond; that's why you lost."

She walked away wordlessly, not bothering to see the shock on her fallen opponent's face or the stranger standing up and running to her.

"Hey!"

Marie turned around slightly to see the other girl. In a bored tone, she asked, "What is it...?"

"It's nice to see someone respecting Pokémon around here. That guy was a total buttmunch."

She crinkled her eyebrows in confusion and bewilderment. "Thank you...?"

The stranger simply smiled slightly bigger in response. "My name's Joanne Oakley. What's yours?"

Marie vaguely remembered that a friend of hers online had a username with the surname Oakley in it, but brushed the idea off. Hesitantly she responded, "Marietta... Marietta Yew..."

Joanne raised her eyebrows as if she suddenly had an epiphany. "I know you! You're the really smart assistant of Professor Elm. I read your online journals."

"You.. Do...?"

"Yeah. I comment all the time. My username's Artemis_Oakley. You probably haven't really seen me."

Marie was surprised. This girl was Artemis_Oakley? She had only responded back to her recent entry about an hour and a half ago!

"T-then... You were in the... Pokémon Center... Too?"

She grinned. "Apparently. I like your journals. It helps me out a lot."

"Really?"

"Yeah! I'm a Pokémon Breeder. New discoveries always help me out!" Joanne went silent for a moment before asking Marie, "Hey... Is it okay if I go along with you? I mean, you could use my help and I could use yours. We'd both benefit from it."

She thought about it. The scientist found herself liking the girl a lot. She was kind of strange; but in a good way. Not to mention she used the word 'lout' in a sentence. She thought no one else but her used that as an insult. Traveling in a group is also safer, Marietta reasoned. There really wasn't a reason to say no.

"... Okay. I'm.. Fine with it."

"Okay then! away we go!" She used her pointer finger to point in the direction of Violet City, and the duo headed off.

"So, who's your friend there?" Joanne questioned, gesturing to Effy.

After stopping by the gentleman with the Apricorns ("You have taken good care of that Apricorn Box I gave you, right?") and saying hello to Mr. Pokémon ("Hrmm? Is that a friend that you bring with you, Marie? A Pokémon Breeder? How wonderful!"), the two female trainers and their Pokémon began to walk on Route 31. It was about 5, and they hoped to reach Violet City before it turned dark.

Looking down at her, Marie said, "Her? This is... Effy. She's been with me for... A while... Since I was about 5... And she was just an Eevee.." She glanced over to her human companion's Noctowl, who was gliding noiselessly above them. "How about.. You? Your Noctowl seems very faithful..."

"Oh! This is Maria. I've known her for a long time. I hatched her myself," she exclaimed with a hint of pride."What other Pokémon do you have?"

"You probably already saw... Ashes, right? He's my Cyndaquil... I also have a Pineco as... My companion..."

"That's cool." The slightly taller girl gave a thumbs up for a couple of seconds. "I have a Ponyta. His name's Narwhal." The other girl shot her a strange look, but it was ignored. "And then there's Mellow, my Igglybuff. He's so floofy~."

Marie chuckled. She had struck up a strange friendship for sure. She saw Effy mewl happily at Maria, knowing that they were growing close, too.

Joanne looked up and saw a cave up ahead. She asked, "What's in that cavern over there? Is there anything interesting?"

"Hmm?" Marie looked up, and saw what she was talking about. "Oh. That's... The Dark Cave. It connects to... Blackthorn City, but... There are boulders blocking it. The only... Interesting thing you may find... Would be the Dunsparce... But only if you're lucky.."

A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. "Let's go then!"

"... You really want to go in there...?"

"Well, yeah! It'll be an adventure! Maybe we'll see something fascinating." Without really waiting for an answer, Joanne went ahead towards the cave. The scientist reached a hand to halt her, but stopped. Instead, she sighed and pushed up her glasses.

'So much for reaching Violet City before dark.' She thought as she followed with a half-smile.

Joanne is based off my friend Maria (as shown by her Noctowl) and is a rather laid back character that likes figuring out new things. She tries to keep the pessimistic Marietta somewhat optimistic. I took her advice on what she would say and I putted it into her story to keep it as accurate as possible (I still find her naming sense weird).

She doesn't really like the Bug Catchers. Nor do most of my friends.