Hello to you, my dear readers! It's ButterHunter here, back with another chapter to my new story! I gotta say, the feedback on this has been… surprisingly positive. I really did not expect this story to get that much attention already.

With that said, let's get going on, shall we?

Chapter 2: Veranda Town

"Almost there… we're almost there."

Cameron was muttering under his breath, jumping over a small incline. He and his new friend Empathy, a small creature called a Ralts, had finally made it further ahead, after multiple fights with other wild creatures. But finally, after using up almost half of the spray bottles in his bag, they could clearly make out a true exit to the forest.

Empathy sat on Cameron shoulder and watched as they slowly headed forward towards the exit.

"What's gonna be there once we get out?" Cameron mused quietly. "I hope a town or something."

Empathy gently patted the human on the head. Or at least, she reached up as far as she could to pat his head in a sort of comforting manner.

"Heh. Thanks Empathy." Cameron chuckled slightly, understanding what Empathy was doing. "That… that's nice of you.

If Cameron could've seen Empathy's face, he wouldn't been able to notice a light blush permeating where her cheeks were. Empathy did her best to hide it, but that was easier said than done.

"Anyway… let's go." he said determinedly, walking briskly forward towards the exit.

As soon as the pair exited, they were met with incredible brightness all around them. They had to shield their eyes for a moment, while they adjusted from the sudden change in light from the dark forest.

Once they could see clearly, they looked around to see… a sort of plains, leading alongside a long river. But not that far away, Cameron could see what was unmistakably a town. And, if he looked closely, it looked like people were there as well.

"There! That's a town over there!" he called out, pointing. Empathy saw it as well, and climbed up to the top of the human's head to get a better view.

Quickly, the two rushed as fast as they could towards the town…

Several minutes later…

They quickly made it to the town without incident. There, the pair could see a hodgepodge of all sorts of people, some old, some young, some boys, some girls, and just about everything else. Everyone was walking around, either shopping, talking with someone else, or simply enjoying the bright, colorful day.

"Hmm…" Cameron hummed, seeing a sign near the entrance. "'Veranda Town - Where colors are a way of life.' Huh. That's creative."

Empathy, now on Cameron's shoulder again, looked around in utter amazement at all the people. No one shot a second glance at her either, which was very strange. Usually anyone she met, which usually was other creatures, always wanted to pick a fight with her. But here… the humans just looked at her and smiled, as if they were long-lost friends or something.

"Come on. Let's look around." Cameron told his little friend. Empathy agreed with that notion.

Slowly, they worked their way into the town, at all the colorful buildings and such all over the place. Some seemed like simple resident buildings, while others looked like shops and the like.

One stood out among the rest. A small, red roofed building near the front of the town had a large symbol on it, that looked almost exactly like those red and white balls Cameron had in his bag. "Do you want to go in?" he asked Empathy.

Empathy nodded, so they entered. Inside, the interior was surprisingly spacious. Pictures and maps hung on some of the walls, chairs were scattered here and there, and many people were inside, simply talking with others or relaxing with a book. On either side of the room, there seemed to two shops, one a cafe-like area, and the other an actual shop with Pokémon items and such.

But the main point of attention was directly in front of them. A large, colorful machine was in front of them, with monitors and keyboards all over it. A short woman in a pink dress and curly pink hair, tied in loopy pigtails, was behind the counter, and she smiled as Cameron and Empathy approached. A large name tag on the front of her dress said that her name was, 'Nurse Joy.'

"Welcome to the Pokémon Center. How may I help you?" she asked politely.

"Umm… I'm Cameron, and this is my friend, Empathy." Cameron quickly introduced. Empathy waved a stubby hand at the lady, which resulted in a short giggle. "We, um… we're new here, and we don't know anything about this place."

"Oh! In that case, I can help you!" Nurse Joy replied with a smile. "This is the Pokémon Center, a place where you can heal your tired and weary Pokémon. We have Centers all over the region, so if you need to heal your Pokémon, don't hesitate to come to us first."

'Huh. So… Empathy and those other creatures are called… Pokémon?' Cameron asked himself in his head. 'Does sound natural… and with all the stuff in my bag that was labeled with 'Poké,' I guess it makes sense.'

"Speaking of, do you want me to rest your friend there?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Uh, yeah, let's do that." Cameron responded. "You okay with that?" he asked, to which Empathy simply nodded her head.

"Very well." Nurse Joy replied, gently taking Empathy in her slender hands. "May I see her Pokéball?"

Cameron handed it over, and quickly Empathy was transferred back to her small orb home.

While Nurse Joy quickly placed that in a machine, Cameron grew nervous. "Doesn't that, you know, hurt? To be put in a… Pokéball?" he asked.

"No, no, no!" Nurse Joy responded, as if people asked that question everyday. "It's perfectly designed to make it feel like a comfortable little home for whatever Pokémon is inside, like a private habitat just for it.

The machine slowly whirred a bit, and a soft, 'ding ding deedeedee!' clearly sounded out. Once the tune was finished, Nurse Joy pulled the Pokéball out and handed it to Cameron, who promptly let Empathy out.

"See? All better now." Nurse Joy said happily, patting Empathy on the head.

"Thank you." Cameron thanked, gently picking up Empathy. "Now, ah, where can we go to get information?"

"Oh! Well, there's a really nice library not that far from here. Just head for the Gym, the building with the gold symbol on the roof, and it's the building right across it. You really can't miss it." Nurse Joy responded.

"Thank you." Cameron thanked. "We really appreciate the help."

With that, Cameron and Empathy left the building, and looked around. Sure enough, there was a large building nearby that had a golden symbol so large that they couldn't have missed it even if they tried.

Cameron and Empathy entered the building right across from it, and was greeted with a library. But to call it huge would be an understatement, as there were two floors, each containing shelves crammed with books. And as if that wasn't enough, it looked like there was even a floor below them that lead even further.

Cameron and Empathy made their way into the center, where a librarian was quietly stamping books. "Hello. Do you require assistance?" the librarian asked.

"Um, yes." Cameron replied quietly. "You see, we… we have no idea where we are right now. I mean, we know we're in Veranda town, but…"

"Tourists?" the librarian asked.

"...you could say that, I suppose." Cameron responded lightly.

"Then follow me." the librarian kindly instructed, walking from behind the counter and leading the two down one of the many shelves in the building.

"Let's see… aha, here." the librarian muttered, handing Cameron two books. "Those first book is about our town, Veranda Town, and the other is about the region as a whole."

"Thank you." Cameron responded, relieved. Now he might finally get some answers as to where he was.

"Though, I have to say, if you and your Pokémon are indeed tourists, then wouldn't you have have to come from the port town of Shoreson?"

(In case you haven't realized at this point, I'm going to try and make up names for each of the locations and such. I apologize if I say a name that's from one of the games already, and it's not intentional. This story will, more or less, have as little ties with the games and/or the TV series as possible. Yeah there may be the odd reference here or there, but I'm trying to keep this story as original as possible.)

"Umm… Shoreson?" Cameron asked honestly. "I'm sorry, but that name doesn't ring any bells."

"Hmm…" the librarian hummed, looking suspiciously at Cameron.

"A-anyway, thank you for your time. I have to go look through these now." Cameron nervously stated, bowing slightly and going over to a free table nearby.

The librarian was still suspicious, but ultimately let it go. After all, there was work to be done.

"Here. A little bit of paper and a few pens to write anything you need to." the librarian kindly added, handing over the supplies.

"Thank you." Cameron thanked.

With that, he set Empathy down on the table and started pouring over the books, trying to find anything to jump-start his memory.

Empathy was unsure of what to do. She wanted to help in some way, but was there really anything she could do?

She slowly looked around the table, becoming rather bored, until her eyes rested on the paper and pen that nice lady had given them.

She gently spoke in her language, prompting Cameron to look up for a moment.

Empathy picked up a pen, and used it to point at the paper. Cameron was confused for a moment, until he understood. "You want to draw or something? Help yourself, just don't go crazy and use up all the paper, okay?"

Empathy nodded, and pulled a piece of paper off the small stack and started to draw. She really wasn't drawing anything in particular, she was just drawing things. A happy sun. A small self-portrait. A forest from her persective. Just random stuff like that.

Meanwhile, Cameron started pouring through the books. The town of Veranda had been through some good fortune as of late. The development of the local Gym had attracted trainers of Pokémon to this once small town, bringing people to make a forever home here. Business soon started up, and pretty soon it was established as a quaint little town near the coast

The other book told Cameron a lot about the entire region he was in, the Vapaus region. It was a relatively new land, having been (somewhat) founded in the late 1700's, under different names. The region met prosperous growth for a long time, with the discovery of new, unseen Pokémon. Naturally, towns formed, businesses flourished, lo and behold, it is what it is today.

Cameron looked up a few minutes into his reading to see what Empathy was doing. She was now drawing what looked like Cameron himself, reading a book at a table.

"Did you draw this?" Cameron asked, impressed. Empathy nodded.

"I gotta say, Empathy, your drawing skills are pretty good." Cameron praised. The drawing didn't look exactly like him, but it was still a pretty good drawing nonetheless.

Empathy blushed a little bit, holding the pen a little awkwardly. To Cameron, it was a rather cute gesture. "Awww, does someone like to be praised?" he cooed, gently patting her on the head.

A few minutes later, and Cameron got back to his reading. But Empathy seemed to be watching Cameron more than her drawings.

Cameron kept jumping back and forth between the two books he had, looking for something that would help jog his memory. Had he not been so focused, he might have noticed the person walking up behind him.

"Studying history, are you stranger?" the person behind him asked.

Cameron jumped a little bit, turning around quickly. The newcomer was a girl, a young woman to be exact. She was wearing a large straw hat, and wore a beautiful red and gold dress that flowed behind her as she moved. She had fair skin, which seemed to make her almost glow. Her hair was light brown, almost golden, straight, and her eyes were a soft blue color. Around her shoulder she carried a small red and gold purse, with a Pokéball symbol on it. Finally, to complete the look, a small rose hairpiece was visible just below her hat.

"S-sorry!" the stranger apologized. "I didn't mean to startle you like that."

"Y-you're fine." Cameron brushed off. "Just… a little forewarning next time, maybe?"

Empathy looked up from her drawing to see the stranger. "Oh, is this your Pokémon?" the stranger asked, patting Empathy on the head. "Hello there, little cutey!"

Empathy blushed at the compliment, and slowly tried to shy away behind Cameron.

"Where did you find it?" the stranger asked.

"Empathy?" Cameron asked. "I found her in that forest just outside of town."

The stranger seemed skeptical. "There? But… I've been in that forest so many times. I've never seen a Ralts in there before."

"All I know is that I found her hurt on the side of the path, and she's trusted me ever since." Cameron told the newcomer, picking up Empathy and putting her on her normal spot on his shoulder. Empathy chattered happily at this.

The stranger seemed to push it away for now. "Well, anyway, I think she's cute, if you don't mind me saying." she stated, holding out her hand. "My name is Rose. Scarlet Rose."

"Cameron. Cameron Wallis." Cameron replied, shaking her hand. "So, do I call you Scarlet, or Rose?"

"I prefer Rose, if you don't mind." Rose replied. "Are you a tourist?"

Cameron stalled. "Of… of a sort." he replied, which wasn't exactly false.

Rose seemed a little skeptical, but she pushed it away for now. "Oh, okay. Anyway, I was just wondering what you were doing. I've lived in this town for a long time, so I know all the locals. But you're a new face, so I had to jump at the chance to say hi."

"Oh, well that's really nice of you." Cameron thanked, rubbing his neck. Empathy seemed very curious about this whole transaction.

"But, umm…" Rose continued, tilting her head slightly. "If I can ask… I'm pretty sure that forest has only one exit, and it's this way. The other way's a one-way exit from Shoreson. So… if you're not from around here, how did you get INTO the forest?"

Cameron stalled. "Uhh… I… can't sayyyyy?" he tried.

Rose just looked confused, and a little skeptical. "You didn't come for Shoreson?"

"I… well, uh… c-can you give me one moment?" Cameron asked, ducking down one of the main shelves of the library.

"Empathy, do you think we should tell?" Cameron asked, Empathy in his hands. "She seems like a nice enough person, but… I don't know if we should tell someone we just met about… you know what."

Empathy shrugged. She looked around Cameron at the newcomer, studying Rose carefully. Honestly, she seemed like a nice person, but… could they just tell her?

Cameron wrestled with it for a few minutes, before making up his mind. "Alright… I'm gonna tell her. I know it's fast to just tell her right after we met, but… we need to find SOMEONE to confide in."

Empathy agreed, though slightly hesitantly. She understood Cameron's worries.

The two emerged from the bookshelves and made it over to Rose. "Okay, so… I was thinking about this."

"...?" Rose still looked confused.

"This might be a bit too fast to tell you, but…" Cameron started, speaking softly. "I've lost my memory. I have no idea who I am, where I am, or anything like that. I have no recollection of how I got into that forest, or if I'm even from this region for that matter. All I know is my name."

Rose's eyes seemed to widen. "O-oh… oh my. So… that's why you… oh my goodness…"

Cameron rubbed his neck awkwardly. "I haven't told anyone else about this other than Empathy here." he admitted, glancing to his shoulder. "So… yeah, that's basically my situation."

"You… you can't remember anything?" Rose asked.

"Nope. Not a thing." Cameron replied sadly.

Rose wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, she wanted to help, but she was still a stranger to this man. What help could she offer, if any?

Then, an idea popped into her mind. "Ooh! I know!"

"What? What is it?" Cameron asked.

"I know someone who can help!" Rose explained excitedly, bouncing a little in place. "Come with me!"

Rose quickly headed towards the exit. "Come on!"

Cameron glanced at Empathy. "I… I think this is good…? Maybe we should follow."

Empathy agreed, though hesitantly. The two followed Rose out the building and straight forward, towards the building Nurse Joy had told them was the Gym.

They entered, and were greeted to a very different interior. It looked almost like a mini-library here, with several large shelves lining the walls, and chairs all over the place. Some people were sitting in the chairs, but most were just standing around, reading.

Rose lead Cameron and Empathy to the very back of the Gym, explaining something about the Gym. "Normally if you came here, Trainers would be wanting to test their strength against your Pokémon, but this is the Leader's off day, so no one's fighting today."

Cameron nodded slowly. "Okay… so, who did you say we were meeting?"

"We're almost to him." Rose replied, stopping at the end of the building. There was only another large book shelf, no door or anything.

"One second…" Rose murmured, pushing and pulling random books around. "It's one of these… aha!"

She had just pushed inward a large yellow book titled, 'Beating the Gym Leaders And Beyond.' The shelf slowly started shaking, then slid off to the side, revealing a large doorway behind it.

"Woah." Cameron managed, looking in with wide eyes.

Apparently this Gym Leader, or maybe the town as a whole, REALLY likes books, as their seemed to be ANOTHER small library behind the secret door. The room was round, and every surface seemed to have a book somewhere, from the shelves, to the tables, even one table had books being used in place of a broken leg.

On the other end of this room, sitting in a large, comfy looking bean-bag chair, a short, young looking man was, what else, reading a book. He had tousled black hair, large reading glasses, and an outfit that just screamed, 'smart.' In one hand he held a small book, and in his other he had a small cup with either black tea or coffee. One of the two.

He looked up when the trio entered the room. "Rose? We're not open today. What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry for intruding." Rose apologized. "But I have someone who I need you to meet."

Rose stepped out of the way to show Cameron and Empathy. "Um… hello." Cameron greeted awkwardly.

The man in the beanbag tilted his head curiously. "I haven't seen you around here. Who are you, stranger?"

"I'm… I'm Cameron. And this is my friend, Empathy." Cameron introduced. Empathy waved.

"He was at the library just a minute ago." Rose explained. "He was pouring through books like it was his job. Apparently he lost his memory. He said he simply woke up in the forest, no recollection of anything."

Cameron nodded in confirmation. "I met Empathy mere moments later, who was badly injured until I used some bottles in my bag here." he supported.

The guy in the chair scratched his chin curiously. "Hmm… really? No memory at all?"

"None." Cameron agreed sadly.

The man stood up, and looked Cameron up and down a bit. "Hmm… I certainly would remember a face like you, but you're definitely not from around here…"

The man slowly thought for a moment, before snapping his fingers. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Aster, older brother to Rose and Gym Leader of Veranda Town. I'm one of the smartest minds in the town, the second in fact. The smartest mind would be our beloved Pokémon Professor, Professor Redwood, but he's currently on an errand in another part of the region. If I'm not mistaken, he's over where the Unova region used to be.

"So… if I speak with the professor, he might be able to give me a little help?" Cameron asked.

"Possibly. He's met with more Trainers than any other Pokémon Professor, so he's bound to have seen or heard of you at one point or another. But since you don't remember anything, I could be of potential service for you." Aster replied.

"Really? Thank you." Cameron thanked. "Umm… so, I… I really don't know where to start, if I'm being honest."

"Well, how about I start with a little bit of history?" Aster offered, sitting back down in his beanbag and offering another to Cameron and Empathy. They sat down comfortably and began to listen. Rose left the room, she'd already heard her brother give these speeches dozens of times.

"So, I'm sure you've read some of this. The Vapaus region was actually formed fairly recently, but the true start of it began some three hundred plus years ago. This region was actually a mishmash of a bunch of smaller regions, like the Unova region I mentioned before. One day, the regions decided that, since they were so close to one another, they would all join hands and become one strong region, renaming them as such."

"Things before that weren't all peace and happiness though. In the beginning years there was much fighting between regions and their Trainers and Pokémon. It was dark times for a while, but eventually things started clearing up around mid-1865. Peace was restored, and the regions prospered, even more so now under new unity."

"A lot of other regions look up to ours, not only because of all that we'd been through, but also because it was the first time a region had been established in Western territory. Not to mention many Pokémon had started out native to this region, with Trainers around the world finding them and bringing them to their homes."

"There are actually two other regions that we do consider as sort of 'sister' regions, like the Alola region a ways off the western coast, but they do have their own laws and even some native Pokémon there. The other is kinda strange; it's like a joint of another completely separate region, and while I can't quite remember the exact name of the region, the people there call themselves, 'Nomies,' a play on their main city, Nome."

"Anyway, that's a somewhat short history of the Vapaus region." Aster finished, taking a long sip from his cup, effectively draining it.

"Wow." Cameron muttered, impressed. "You really do know a lot, don't you?"

"When you've got parents that are librarians, you tend to learn a lot." Aster admitted, smirking a bit. "Now, is there anything else… ah, yes, I almost forgot."

"So, the way the Vapaus region works is a little strange. The region itself is divided into eight parts, spanning the whole region. The Area we're in right now is the Pacific Area, then, in order Trainers from here normally go, there's the Mountain, North-West Central, South-West Central, South-East Central, North-East Central, South Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, and finally North Atlantic Areas. Each Area has one big Gym, known as the Area Gym, that is the crown of said place. Of course, with so much land in each Area, there are smaller Gyms that dot the land, such as this one. A very skilled Trainer will try his or her hand at all of them, which is no small task. In total, all the Gyms in the Vapaus region total to fifty, not including the Area Gyms. However, only the Area Gyms are required if a Trainer wants to prove themselves."

"Those that show their skill as a Pokémon Trainer in the Area Gym will receive the Area Badge, solid proof of their skill. If a Trainer collects all eight, they may take on the legendary Elite Four. The Elite Four are some the strongest Trainers not only in the Vapaus region, but around the world, so they don't mess around. A Trainer able to get past them will meet the current Champion, and have one last battle with them. Defeat them, and you become the Champion of the Vapaus region, and will be forever identified as so."

The Champion…

"Wow… that sounds like such high prestige." Cameron marveled. Empathy seemed to understand what Champion sounded like too, and even she had stars in her well-hidden eyes.

"It is. It's hard enough to get to the Elite Four. Even if you can't defeat them, that alone speaks miles about your skill." Aster agreed. "But I wouldn't think of trying to take on any Gym yet, even this one."

"Why not?" Cameron asked, a little surprised.

"Unless I'm not mistaken, you only have one Pokémon." Aster explained, looking at Empathy. "And since you just caught her, and I don't mean to be mean, but she's not a very strong Pokémon yet. The best course of action for you would to be to head over to another town close by and start there, become stronger and create a strong team."

Aster seemed like he wanted to add something else, but he stopped himself at the last second and instead explained, "I know that might seem like a low blow, but trust me, the last thing you want to do is come here and lose to the first opponent at the door."

Cameron understood. "Soo… where should we start?"

"Like I said, you should head out of Veranda Town and head in the opposite direction of Shuttlebug Forest, the forest on the other end of town that you woke up in." Aster offered. "I recommend that you wait until tomorrow however, so that you have a whole day to travel. Rose and I would be happy to offer you lodging at no charge for tonight.

"Really? That's… thanks, that's really nice of you." Cameron profusely thanked. "I promise I'll repay you somehow."

"No no, it's fine. Anything for a friend." Aster denied. "Rose!"

Rose came out of the back, hearing Aster's call. "Something wrong, brother?"

"Rose, please show our friend here the guest room. He'll be staying there tonight, and will be leaving in the morning." Aster asked her.

"Ooh! You're staying the night with us?" Rose asked Cameron. "That means I get to show you my Pokémon! Come on, follow me!"

Rose quickly disappeared behind the door she came from. "Is she always that… energetic?" Cameron quickly asked.

"Mostly." Aster agreed, shrugging. "But you get used to it rather quickly."

"I hope so." Cameron murmured, only loud enough for Empathy to hear. Quickly, they headed through the door and up a flight of stairs.

"Man, this building looks nothing like it did on the outside." Cameron commented offhandedly. Empathy seemed to agree with him on that. The building looked a lot smaller on the outside than it let on.

Once they reached the top, they opened another door, and were greeted to a large, well-kept house above the Gym. Rose was waiting for them in the living area, looking at a small device.

"Oh there you are." Rose realized once she looked up. "Welcome to our house!"

"Nice place you got here." Cameron praised, looking around.

"Ehh, it's nice. A little small, but nice." Rose shrugged. "Anyway, I want to show you my Pokémon, if that's okay."

"I don't see why not." Cameron replied, smiling. Empathy seemed to smile a little brighter too.

Rose pulled out a small Pokéball and gently lobbed it in front of her. A flash of energy formed, and out came…

Cameron stared curiously at the Pokémon. The creature that came out was a brown, almost fox-like creature, with a lighter, thicker brown scarf of fur around its neck and on the tip of its tail.

"His name is Ruffles. Isn't he so cute?" Rose cooed, gently petting the Pokémon.

Cameron pulled out his PokéDex and ID'd the fox. It thought about it for a moment, then stated that this Pokémon was called an Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon.

Empathy stared at the small fox, and gently chattered at it. Ruffles yipped back.

"Here Empathy, you want to play with Ruffles for a little?" Cameron asked, setting Empathy down. Empathy gently approached the Eevee and chittered at it.

Ruffles yipped back. Empathy seemed to like it, and slowly they seemed to engage in some sort of conversation.

"Isn't it amazing how Pokémon seem to understand each other so well?" Rose asked Cameron, standing next to him.

"Yeah. I wish I could understand them." Cameron agreed.

"It's not as hard as you think." Rose replied. "Of course, you can't exactly know for sure what they are saying, but the longer you spend with a Pokémon, the more you bond with them. I can almost always tell what Ruffles is thinking when he yips at me. Most of the time he wants a snack."

"That brings up a question. Is it safe to feed a Pokémon things that we would eat as snacks?" Cameron asked curiously.

"Most cases, yes. It's up to the Pokémon if they like it, but most snacks are safe for everyone to eat." Rose explained. "Watch."

From her small purse, Rose pulled out a small bag of pretzels. "Here Ruffles! Catch!" she cooed, tossing one toward her Eevee. It never hit the ground.

"See?" Rose pointed out. "Ruffles loves pretzels. You want one?"

"Ah… two." Cameron replied. "One for each of us."

Rose nodded, handing Cameron two curly dough weaves.

Cameron kneeled down and presented Empathy with one pretzel. "Here you go, Empathy. You want it?"

Empathy took the pretzel from Cameron's hand and looked at it. She looked back up at Cameron with a tilted head.

"It's food." Cameron explained, taking a bite of his.

Empathy gave a look that said, "Ohhh." and tried to take a bite of hers. Sadly, her mouth wasn't as big, and couldn't really get around it very well.

"Ahh… right. Here, let me see it for a second…" Cameron backed up, retrieving Empathy's pretzel and breaking off a piece of it. "Here. Try it now."

Empathy took the now much easier to handle piece and nibbled at it. Apparently she liked it, because she took larger bites of it, munching happily.

"You know, after Ruffles has a snack, he gets a little… playful. I was actually wondering something." Rose started.

"Mm?" Cameron hummed, snapping off another piece for Empathy.

"Do you want to battle?" Rose asked gently.

Cameron tilted his head. "Come again?"

"You know! A Pokémon battle! We pit our Pokémon against each other, telling them what we want them to do. I'm sure you can do good in one." Rose explained.

Cameron glanced down at Empathy. She looked back up at him curiously. "I… I don't know…" Cameron murmured.

"Pleeeeeease?" Rose begged. "I've always wanted to battle someone that wasn't family. Pleeeease?"

Cameron gave it another minute of thought. "I… I guess I can give it a shot."

"Yay! Thank you!" Rose thanked, hugging Cameron suddenly.

Cameron paused for a moment before patting her back. "Your welcome, I guess."

"Okay, so, the battle rules for Pokémon say that we should have our Pokémon in their Pokéball, and when the battle starts, we throw them out in front of each other." Rose explained, heading over to the opposite side of the room.

Empathy looked up at Cameron, her head tilted. "You heard that, right Empathy? I have to put you back in here." he gently explained, pulling out her Pokéball

Empathy didn't seem to like that. She chattered gently at him in a negative sort of way. "I know, I know. It's just for a minute, okay?" Cameron asked.

Empathy didn't like it, but she allowed Cameron to put her back into her Pokéball. Cameron looked up at Rose, who had done the same with Ruffles.

"Okay. Now we throw our Pokéballs at each other, and the battle will start!" Rose explained carefully. She held hers at the ready. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Cameron agreed, though slowly. He already knew what Empathy could do to fight and such, he'd seen what the moves were called on his 'Dex, but… would it be enough to win?

"And now, we begin!" Rose exclaimed, lobbing her Pokéball in front of her. Cameron quickly followed suit.

Empathy and Ruffles came out of their respective Pokéballs, facing each other. Rose quickly started off, calling out, "Ruffles, use Tackle!"

Ruffles quickly charged forward and slammed hard into Empathy, doing much more damage than the creatures in the woods did. She wasn't in danger of going down yet, but still, if Rose kept that up…

"Empathy, use, uh, Confusion!" Cameron called out in retaliation. Empathy followed his command. Pink waves once again flew from the Ralts's mouth, hitting Ruffles directly.

Suddenly, Ruffles stumbled around, blinking hard. It had become confused. "Ruffles! Snap out of it! Use Tackle again!"

The Eevee tried to do so, but the moment it tried to charge it ended up crashing to the ground hard, hurting itself even more.

"Empathy, do that again!" Cameron called out again. Empathy did so once more, and Ruffles started to look rather tired.

"Ruffles, use Sand Attack!" Rose cried out.

This time, Ruffles hit the mark. Sand came from seemingly nowhere under the Eevee's feet, which it kicked towards Empathy. Some got into her eyes, making her blink hard.

"Come on, one more shot Empathy!" Cameron yelled again.

Empathy tried to hit Ruffles, but she missed by a hair. The sand in her eyes made it hard to aim properly. That gave Ruffles just enough time to snap out of its confusion, looking right at Empathy once more.

"Sand Attack, Ruffles!" Rose shouted again. More sand was flung at Empathy, which again landed, making her vision even worse.

"Ah, come on! Empathy, use Growl!" Cameron tried.

Empathy did just that, shouting loudly at her Eevee opponent, causing it to cover its ears in pain. Cameron knew that move made the target more scared, making their attacking power go down.

"Use Tackle!" Rose shouted.

Ruffles did so, and Empathy nearly fell down, but recovered at the last second. She didn't look all that in good shape, but neither did Ruffles. One more hit on either side would end it.

"Empathy, one more hit! Use Confusion! Do it!" Cameron yelled determinedly. There was no way he was going to lose at this point. Not a chance!

Empathy blinked through the sand, and focused on where Ruffles was. She cried loudly, aiming directly at the Eevee…

And hit. With a weak growl, Ruffles fainted and would've collapsed had Rose not quickly put the fox into his Pokéball. This battle was over.

Cameron wiped his forehead. "Woah… that was close." he commented, picking up Empathy. She weakly chattered in agreement.

"Here, let me see her…" Rose instructed, holding up a Potion. In just a few moments, Empathy was back to normal, healthy as ever.

"Thank you." Cameron thanked, setting Empathy back on his shoulder.

"You put up a really good fight!" Rose praised, reaching into her little purse. "Here, take this."

She handed Cameron about $100 in cash. "Oh, no, don't-" Cameron started to decline.

"Nonsense, you deserve it." Rose denied, shoving the money into his hand. "You won fair and square, you deserve that."

Cameron stalled, but eventually pocketed the money. Hey, she gave it to him, who was he to complain?

"Anyway, so you'll be staying the night here, right?" Rose asked, to which Cameron nodded. "Then follow me, I'll show you the guest bed."

Rose lead Cameron and Empathy down a small hallway to a decently sized guest room. Nothing really special, just a few paintings, a good sized bed, and a small desk in the corner with a small lamp. "If you need anything, just let me know, okay? I'll have some dinner ready in a minute, I'll call when it's done."

With that, she left the room, leaving Cameron and Empathy alone, sitting on the bed. "Wow… she's really nice, isn't she?" Cameron asked semi-rhetorically. "I guess it's nice to run into someone so nice so soon, huh?"

Empathy seemed to agree. Cameron picked up his little friend and sat her down next to him, allowing himself to lie down on his back.

He sighed. He wanted to know who he was so badly. Why would he just, well, forget? And why did no one seem to know him? Why?

"*sigh* I really need to know…" Cameron murmured to himself.

Empathy, seeing her friend in distraught, tried to comfort him. She made her way over to her friend's head and, after climbing on top of him, hugged him around the neck as far as her arms would reach.

Cameron chuckled. "Heh… thanks, Empathy. At least you're here." he thanked, closing his eyes gently.

A smile on his face all the while.

And there we go!

So yeah, first time writing a Pokémon battle. Gotta say, kinda easy and kinda hard at the same time.

Mostly because I'm so dedicated to getting this story right, I'm actually looking up online stats for different Pokémon. The only reason Rose's Eevee, Ruffles, went first? I looked up that the Eevee would naturally be slightly faster than a Ralts. Heck, how many authors do you see actually saying 'Pokémon' instead of 'Pokemon,' eh?

This might drive me up a wall, trying to get everything right. But it'll all be worth it. And best of all, you'll be along with me for the ride.

Quick shout-out to F14M3RZ for giving me the idea of calling this region the Vapaus region. I'll let the rest of you try to figure out what it could mean.

If you guys have any questions for me at all, PM me and I'll do my absolute best to answer.

But until next time guys, stay awesome.