Mira and Cheryl continued to talk with their new companion as they wandered through the path in the trees, while Turtwig remained asleep in Cheryl's arms.

"So," Mira asked the boy with a curious tone, "why are you going to Floaroma Town? And why so urgently?"

Buck, who had been calm, composed and confident up until that point, tensed up slightly and began blushing. "Well, I'm hoping you don't judge me, but, uh..."

"We won't judge," Cheryl interrupted, "it's completely fine."

Buck continued. "Well, I wanted to finally pursue my dream of being a Pokemon coordinator and get my first contest pass to do so. I can only get it in Floaroma Town, since that's the lowest level Contest Hall in the Sinnoh region, so I went to travel there. Unfortunately, I got lost. I went down this route hoping that I'd somehow find my way to Floaroma, but that was apparently completely wrong."

Cheryl and Mira both smiled at him.

"It sounds like you really want to be a contest star, and that's fine," Cheryl told him. "As for getting lost, I could see why you would. Jubilife City is so big that you'd have to go through it at least a hundred times before you knew which way was the correct way out, or else ask someone else to help you. Luckily for you, I've lived around these parts all my life, and so I know which way to go."

Mira piped up. "And even if Mira doesn't know the way either, Mira thinks that she could be great conversation for you!"

Buck laughed slightly. "Well, I guess I couldn't have found a better duo to travel with, then, could I?"

At that point it was Mira and Cheryl's turn to start laughing.

"So," Cheryl asked once she had calmed down slightly, "where do you live, considering you got lost around here?"

Buck shrugged. "Me and my older brother both live in Sunyshore City, but we've only actually been there for about three years. Before that, we lived in Hoenn, where I got my first ever Pokemon, but we moved from there due to the increase in risk of natural disasters after Groudon and Kyogre were temporarily awoken. Since then, I've been training to become Sinnoh's next top coordinator, and a couple of days back I finally got the chance to. I was taken to Jubilife by my brother and his Drifblim, and the rest you already know."

"The Hoenn region?" Mira said, fascinated. "Mira has never been there before, but she has heard it has some of the most amazing weather!"

Buck nodded. "You'd be right about that one. Sometimes I still miss the tropical climate and the great volcano, as well as the amazing beaches, but then I remember that where I am now is just as nice, if a little bit cold."

Mira smiled at him. "Mira understands what it's like to feel a little homesick. Mira came from the Kanto region, after all."

Buck turned his head to her and returned the smile. "I've heard the Kanto region has pretty average weather compared to Hoenn or Sinnoh. No drastic temperature changes, no massive volcanoes or colossal ice mountains, and certainly no demigods of the land and sea to destroy the harmony in nature... is it nice, to just have average weather?"

"Sometimes," Mira replied, "but quite often it gets a little boring. Mira was very surprised when Sinnoh was cold, but it was exciting at the same time, so Mira guesses her answer is mixed."

Cheryl interrupted the conversation. "It's great that you're getting along, but I've just realised how utterly boring I find conversations about the weather to be."

Buck and Mira laughed.

"Ok," Buck replied, "we'll stop now, but you have to choose the next conversation topic."

Cheryl nodded. "I've already thought of one. Buck, what is your Pokemon that you got from the Hoenn region? It's highly likely I've never seen it before, so it'll be a new experience for me."

Buck grinned. "Ok, as you wish."

He stopped in the track suddenly so he could open his bag and find his only Pokemon.

When he finally did so, he brought out what looked like a Poke ball, except the top half was blue instead of Red and two red rectangular-shaped strips were set into either side of the blue half.

However, just before he threw it out, he looked at the two girls. "Is it alright if I release my Pokemon from its Great ball in the way I've been practising for my first contest?"

"Sure," Cheryl replied, "it'll be good for your practice."

Buck nodded and smiled. He held out what he had called the Great ball in front of him, before holding it back behind his shoulder and shouting out what he had rehearsed.

"Alright, Baltoy! Give us all the strength you've got in this! The audience's eyes will be dazzled by your sheer power! Leeeeeet's go!"

And with that, he cried out as loud as possible and threw the Great ball up into the air with as much force as he could possibly muster.

There, in front of him, formed his Pokemon.

It was predominantly a beige colour, and had a small body that almost appeared to be made of clay. Thin arms protruded from a spherical torso that levitated above the ground. It had no legs - instead, a small, pointy cone resided under its torso, with the point facing down. A small section of its torso was outlined with a circular clay ribbon that was coloured red. Its head also had a point on top of it that was extremely similar to the one that was located below, and its eyelids were closed shut, implying it was either asleep or, like Abra, simply used psychic power to attack. Another clay-like red ribbon was located on its head, but this one arced over the top of one eye, before dipping down in between both eyes and arcing over the other one in the shape of a number 3.

Buck began to blush slightly like he previously did earlier.

Mira and Cheryl stood side by side, amazed by both the Pokemon and Buck's performance.

"That," Mira told Buck, "was brilliant."

Buck smiled a little sheepishly. "Thanks, I guess. I'm hoping to perform with the theme of 'tough' in mind, since Baltoy here is pretty defensive."

He kneeled by his Pokemon and held the Great ball within his hands. "Alright, future star of Sinnoh contests, back in the ball with you for now."

Baltoy obliged, and allowed itself to be encased back inside its miniature home.

Turtwig, who had woken up from all the commotion, cried out all of a sudden out of happiness from whatever it had been dreaming about.

All three of them grinned at how adorable the Grass-type was.

Mira, Cheryl and Buck continued down Route 203 while having a merry discussion about various different topics. Turtwig had fallen back asleep as usual, and was making little snoring noises.

"Just asking," Buck said out of the blue, "but have either of you tried contests before?"

"Mira hasn't," Mira replied, "but I don't know about Cheryl."

"I've tried contests before," Cheryl explained, "but they never really clicked with me. I've never been able to think up amazing combinations for moves that would appeal the audience. The best one I could try was a Water Pulse that had been zapped by a Thunder Wave, causing the Water to create a small show in the air, but then it didn't entirely work, and then some stuff happened and I ended up splashing the audience a bit, and I think it kind of ended up as a disaster, and apparently the appeal wasn't all up for that. Or I didn't have poffins. Either way-"

"Wait, poffins?" Buck asked with a tone that suggested confusion, while also ignoring Cheryl's story about her first contest. "I've never heard of poffins before. I've used Pokeblocks, but that's just about it. Are poffins the equivalent?"

Cheryl shrugged. "I guess. Poffins are food which increase a Pokemon's appeal in a contest. Each of the five different poffins will help improve the Pokemon's health in different ways that will attract certain types of audiences. For example, if your Baltoy there ate a yellow poffin, it would help it to become stronger. However, if someone gave this Turtwig here, say, a green poffin, it would help increase the Pokemon's intellect and this appeal to an audience who enjoys contest performances that mainly focus on strategy. Is that how a Pokeblock works?"

Buck nodded. "Yep. I guess they're just a Hoenn thing. Either way, my Baltoy has stuffed itself on Pokeblocks, so unless a strong opponent in a contest comes then-"

"Woah!" Mira suddenly cried out as she tripped over something and began to fall, before Buck grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet.

As Mira sighed with relief, she looked down at the Pokemon which was by her feet - the very same Pokemon she had nearly tripped over.

"Hey guys," Mira said, "Mira thinks she might know why she tripped, now. Look down."

Cheryl and Buck peered at the small Pokemon that stood at Mira's feet.

Its shape gave off the qualities of a cat. A small, baby-blue head was pointed up at Mira. The circular ears on either side of its head appeared to have golden star shapes within them, while the eyes stared with a similar colour. The front half and the back paws of its body were the same blue colour, while the rear half of its body and its tail were a deep black. On the end of a tail resided another gold star.

The Pokemon grinned at Mira, before running off ahead of her, Cheryl and Buck.

"What was what thing?" Buck asked Cheryl in exasperation.

Cheryl shook her head, before talking quickly. "Shinx, it's an Electric-type and hangs around this area. That one appeared to be a little mischievous-"

"Guys!" Mira called out to them before running after the Shinx. "Mira wants to try catch it! It looks so cute!"

As she continued to scamper after the Pokemon Cheryl had called Shinx, Cheryl and Buck looked at each other, shrugged, and sped off after her.

Mira tried to keep her rhythm along the bumps in the path, keeping track of where the Shinx was going.

All of a sudden she tripped on a stray tree root, her entire body coming close to slamming to the ground before-

For the second time today, Buck pulled her back onto her feet.

"Are you ok?" He asked, while Cheryl caught up behind him.

Mira nodded. "Mira's fine. But Mira wants to know where that Pokemon went. Mira thought it was very cute and wanted to catch it!"

Cheryl looked around the area where they were standing.

Nothing that looked extremely obvious at first.

"As far as I can see," she recalled to Mira and Buck, "its hidden."

Mira sighed. "Are you sure we can't find it anymore?"

Cheryl shrugged. "If you're really dedicated then you might stand a chance."

"But-"

Mira was about to start another sentence, but she was interrupted by a small glowing blur erupting from the trees, before it set itself down on the path in front of Mira.

All three of them didn't move as the blur came into focus.

The Shinx from before now stood facing where it had just erupted from the border of the trees, but its fur was glowing brightly with static energy. It growled slightly as it stood, a look of intense fury on its face that appeared to be staring at something in the trees.

"...What just happened?" Buck asked after a small pause.

Cheryl didn't take her eyes off the small Electric-type. "Shinx are known to glow brightly with electricity when they sense danger. So that means-"

Another blur emerged from the same gap in the trees that Shinx had exploded from, and settled on the ground a couple of metres away from it.

The second blur made itself out to be a brown, quadruped Pokemon with tiny flipper-like feet. Its head was extremely fluffy, with a cream-coloured patch residing on the front for its face. Small, beady eyes glared at the Shinx, while its mouth was mostly covered by two large, white teeth. A small, pouffy tail twitched slightly.

Nobody, not even the Pokemon, moved for a moment.

Then the brown Pokemon began charging towards the Shinx like there was no tomorrow.

The Shinx began to gather its electric energy in a move that Mira recognised as Charge.

But it wasn't going to be fast enough if the brown Pokemon had any say in the matter.

Closer and closer the brown Pokemon came.

Closer and closer, until-

Something small and yellow appeared suddenly in its path.

"Abra, use Bide!" Called out Mira.

Cheryl and Buck could see the Psychic-type begin to tense up slightly, as it prepared for the attack that was about to hit it.

The brown Pokemon, which was completely unaware about the situation it had gotten itself into, collided with the Abra.

Abra cried out as it was thrown back by the impact, but didn't fall. It remained focused, gathering more and more energy until Mira gave the final call.

"Release the Bide energy, Abra!"

The brown Pokemon couldn't escape as it was blasted with blinding energy that everyone turned away from to avoid damaging their eyes.

When it was safe to look again, all three of them could see the Shinx (with its fur back to normal) and Abra next to each other, facing the fainted form of the fluffy foe.

Cheryl shook her head, although it was hard to tell whether it was out of amazement or disapproval. "That right there was a Bidoof. It seems that it and that Shinx had some kind of rivalry, in which the Bidoof was winning. Abra right there just helped save Shinx from getting injured."

Shinx growled slightly, almost in approval of what Cheryl had said.

Mira called back Abra, before rummaging through her backpack for something.

It wasn't long before she brought out a Poke ball, and before Shinx could react in any way it was encased in the bright-red and white sphere.

It juddered a few times, before a pinging sound signified the capture.

Mira punched the air in success, and rushed over to where the Poke ball had settled in the grass. She instantly let out the Pokemon that resided inside it.

Shinx formed once again in front of the trio, a look of surprise on its face at the event that had just occurred.

Then its face broke out into a little cheeky grin, and it began running round and round, snaking in between Mira's legs in the hope of tripping her up again.

Buck smiled at its antics. "Well, Cheryl, you were right in saying it was very mischievous."

Mira cried out, before beginning to giggle. "Alright, Shinx, get back into the Poke ball."

The Electric-type ground to a halt in front of Mira, before returning to the red sphere it was now calling home.

Mira placed the ball carefully back in its respective pocket inside her bag, before hoisting it onto her back. "Mira just caught a new Pokemon!"

Cheryl smiled, while Buck gave her a thumbs-up.

"Anyway," Cheryl said, "we have places to go and things to do. Let's get a move on."

Just before they continued, however, Buck stopped beside the Bidoof and kneeled down.

"I was thinking," he explained, "we shouldn't just leave it out in the wild in this state. That wouldn't be too fair. I think we should bring it with us, heal it at the next Pokemon centre and let it back out. If that doesn't work, then I guess I've got a new team member. Either way, this is the best thing to do."

He picked it up from the floor and looked at the two girls.

"Well," Mira told him, "Cheryl gained her Starly in a similar way, so Mira guesses you'll end up owning it."

Buck shrugged. "It's pretty cute, in a derpy way."

Their conversation was interrupted by the cry of a waking Turtwig, which caused all three to break out into grins as their adventure continued.

While simply trying to walk down Route 203 with Cheryl and Buck, the latter of whom had admitted his goal was to become a Pokemon coordinator, Mira accidentally stumbled over the Electric-type Pokemon, Shinx. After it ran away from her, the trio was forced by Mira to look for it since she found the cat-like creature so adorable that she wanted to catch it! And, sure enough, the Shinx was found, but not without it being chased by a Bidoof with a vendetta against the Pokemon! However, Mira's Abra saved the Electric-type, before the young girl caught it happily. Buck sympathised with the fainted Bidoof, though, and so chose to carry it with the group to the next Pokemon centre in Jubilife City. What adventures await Mira's most recent capture? What is the fate of the injured Bidoof? The journey continues!

Hello dear reader! I'm releasing this part a day early due to the fact that I'm off to a friend's house for a sleepover tomorrow and I'm not sure if I'll be able to upload it then. As it is, I hope you enjoy this new capture chapter arriving earlier than expected!