Chapter 4: Rivals

Aoi was completely dumbstruck by what just happened to him. Why did N know about him and how he could talk to Pokémon, what did he mean by Pokémon not being able to become perfect beings, and whether N knew anything about Aya. Aoi knew the next time he saw N that he wouldn't let him escape. Not wanting to waste any more time Aoi made his was for the gate to route 2. It was the only way to Striaton City and to the rest of Unova.

He has just made it to Route 2 when his Xtransceiver started ringing, he lifted up his left wrist and saw that it was his mother calling. Even though he was in a hurry he didn't want to ignore her call and have her chase after him so he reluctantly picked up the call.

"Aoi! How are things? Are you and your Pokémon getting along and enjoying your journey so far? I wanted to let you know that someone special is on her way to give you a present. She should be catching up to you any moment now. Sorry if you're in a hurry but this it important so I need you to wait where you are now okay. Alright bye Aoi good luck!" Said his mother as she ended the call

Just then Aoi heard some calling his name, he turned around to see who it was but there was no one there. He looked in each direction and didn't see anyone calling out to him, Aoi thought he was going crazy because he knew he heard someone call out to him. He stood there scratching the back of his head racking his brain on what was going on.

"Hehe your still really gullible aren't you" Said a girl from above. Aoi turned around and looked up to see a girl riding a Crobat, but not just any Crobat. Aoi knew this one and the girl riding it.

"I should've known it was you Ruby! You always did like to plan pranks or scare me" Aoi said with a shudder.

"I can't help it big bro you're so much fun to mess with" She said laughing, with this she had the Crobat land and she jumped off it and ran up to Aoi to give a hug.

"It good to see you again sis, but what are you doing here? And why do you have Chi with you? Does that mean Dad is here to?

"Well I'm here to give you your birthday present and dad let me borrow Chi because he said I needed somebody really strong to protect me, and plus she's my favorite out of dad's Pokémon." As she said this she pulled out a container from her bag and fed Chi some snacks and petted her.

"Why didn't you just send it with dad's present?" Aoi asked

"Because I wanted to see you ya dopey donut. Plus dad wasted all the good wrapping paper" she said pouting "Anyways here this is for you! Happy late birthday!" Ruby handed Aoi a box with a pink bow on it. He opened it to find a pair of shoes.

"Their special running shoes! While you're wearing them you can go anywhere in a flash or at least that's what the commercial said. So you're going to need them if you want to find umm..what's her name?"

"You mean Aya"

"Yeah that's her name!" Mom and dad said the reason you wanted to go on your journey was so you could find her. I never met her but she must mean a lot to you huh bro?"

"Yeah she's very important to me. We used to play together all the time before she moved away."

"Ohh so do you like her?"

"Well yeah of course I do she's my friend"

"Does that mean you like like her?" she asked coyly

"What?! No! What are you talking about Ruby? You're too young to know about stuff like that!" he said as his face turned red

"Haha I'm only joking bro. Well I don't want to keep you any longer bro so I'm going to head back so I can help mom with dinner. Good luck on your journey!" as she said this she hopped on Chi and they started rising off the ground.

"You just want to go back because there's something you want to watch on TV isn't there?"

"My dearest bro Aoi are you implying that I would leave you behind just because there was something I wanted to watch on TV"

"Yes I do" Aoi stated without hesitation.

"Ha..hahaha that's crazy talk bro you're so funny..ha-hahah….Oh my goodness is that a UFO over there!" She said nervously. Aoi turned around to look and when he did Ruby used this chance to escape before he could yell at her. He knew that wasn't a UFO but he thought he could play along so she can go and have some fun.

After putting on the running shoes Aoi could feel the difference, he felt lighter on his feet and much more comfortable. With these he was able to make it to Striaton City much faster. Along the way he caught a Purrloin and named it Kuro because of the dark color of its fur. Along the way he ran into Bianca who was training with Tep. After seeing Aoi Bianca made a mad dash towards him.

"Ohhhh! Hi, Aoi! Hey, listen let's have a Pokémon battle! Pleeeeease? The Pokémon I caught have become a little stronger! Ready or not here I come! She said as she sent out her lillipup.

"Well our eyes met so that means we have to have a battle right" Aoi said somewhat reluctantly "Okay Fang your up! Let's end this quickly"

"Lillipup use tackle!"

"Dodge it fang and counter with leer! And follow it up with bite" Fang was able to overpower Bianca's lillipup and take it out with one attack.

"You gave it your best shot lillipup. Ok your up next little one!" as she sent out Tep

"Alright come on back Fang, Blue I want you to finish this. Now Blue use water gun!" Before Bianca could command Tep to dodge or counter attack Blue closed the gap between the two of them and unleashed a water gun that knocked out Tep.

"Aww I couldn't win. Woo! You are one tough cookie Aoi. I'm gonna work hard on training my Pokémon so we won't lose anymore! OK bye-bye!" After saying goodbye Bianca took off like a Rapidash. Aoi eventually made it Striaton city, and he headed straight for the Pokémon Center so he could heal his team and find a place to sleep.

In the morning Aoi explored the city. It was bigger than Accumula, and Nuvema town so he had some trouble navigating it but luckily he had his town map so he was able to keep from getting completely lost. While exploring Aoi found himself outside Striaton city's trainer school. Even though he already graduated and had his license Aoi thought it would be a good idea to ask the teachers if they had seen Aya. Unfortunately none of the teachers knew who Aya was, but while he was inside he happened to find Cheren who was studying.

"Hey Cheren what are you doing here? You've already graduated from the trainer's school in Nuvema town.

"I could ask you the same thing Aoi, but if you must know I'm reading up on the rules of gym battles. Plus I heard that the gym leader likes to come here and help out, so I thought I could observe him a bit. Are you going to challenge the gym leader Aoi?" Cheren asked as he stood up and put the book away that he was reading.

"No I don't think so. I'm not trying to challenge the Pokémon league. I just want to find Aya so there's no need for me to waste my time challenging all the gym leaders." Aoi said clenching the strap on his bag.

"You know Aoi nothing improves your skill as a trainer like real battles, and that's why challenging gym leaders is great practice. You're probably to chicken to challenge them though huh? It's no wonder Aya stopped being your friend." Cheren said smugly as he adjusted his glasses.

"What was that?! You don't even know what you're talking about! I could beat all the gym with my hands tied behind my back four eyes!" Aoi retorted

"Oh you do have some fight in you but I really doubt you're that strong! Let's make a bet. Whoever becomes the champion first wins! If I win you have to give up and go back home to the kanto region and forget about Aya. And if lose then you can continue your little quest to find her and I'll leave you alone."

"Are you stupid why would I accept a challenge like that?! I don't need to prove myself to you."

"Tsch fine how about we prove it now than with a battle!

"Fine you're on Cheren!

"Come on out Purrloin let's show this loser how it's done"

"Alright Blue your up. Okay Blue use water gun! Blue was able to surprise Purrloin with its speed and got the first strike in.

"Your Oshawott is fast but speed alone isn't enough to win a battle. Now Purrloin use assist! Purrloin launched off two whips that grabbed Blue and threw him across the room knocking over a pile of books on top of him. "You see Aoi assist is a move that randomly picks one of the moves from one of my Pokémon and uses it even they couldn't normally use that move, and luckily for me Purrloin was able to get vine whip from my Snivy. There's no way your Oshawott could survive a super effective move like that.

"Haha there's no way a weak attack like that would beat Blue! Alright give him a full strength tackle!" Blue burst out from underneath the pile of books and slammed into Purrloin knocking him out.

"Not bad but let's see how you do against my Snivy!"

"Alright come on back Blue you did a great job. Now Fang let wrap things up!"

"Snivy use leer!"

"Fang close your eyes and charge forward and hit em with tackle"

"Haha do you really think you can get through leer like that again? Snivy use vine whip and trip up that lillipup"

"Fang open your eyes and use bite on the vines and once you get a hold of them don't let go! Fang danced around dodging the vines waiting for the moment where it could attack both of them. After biting Snivy's vines it let out a cry of pain and retracted them back. "Now Fang take him out with tackle!

"To think I'd lose to someone like you. If I can't even beat you I've got a long way to go before I challenge the gyms" Cheren said begrudgingly

"I don't think that's true Cheren. You're really good I just think you should treat your Pokémon with more love. If you do then you'd be even stronger." Aoi said putting his hand on Cheren trying to reassure him.

"Tsch yeah sure, whatever you say man. well you should head out I'm going to apologize for the mess we made because it was my fault for making you want to battle, but Aoi you've got potential you should really think about taking on the league. Also I heard they're some rare Pokémon in the dreamyard so you might want to check that place out, and the next time we battle will be different I promise you that! " Cheren said with a determined look in his eyes.

"Alright thanks for the tip I'll see you around." Aoi left the school and made his way to the dreamyard. It was on the eastern edge of the city and it seemed more like an abandoned construction site; so Aoi was confused to why it was called the dreamyard. In the dreamyard he found some other trainer to battle with and a lady from the Pokémon rehabilitation program. She explained to him that they were a part of an organization that helps find a new home for Pokémon that are abandoned, or separated from their families. She had three Pokémon with her and said the Aoi could pick one of them to have as long as he promised to take good care of it. He decided to take Pansear so he could deal with grass types.

Aoi named it Aka because it was mostly red. On his way back to the Pokémon center Aoi bumped into a man with green hair and who was wearing a waiter uniform.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't watching where I was going" Aoi said nervously hoping that the man wasn't going to be mad.

"It's quite all right I shouldn't have just been standing in the middle of the side-walk. Are you okay?" Asked the man

"Yeah I'm okay but I think I should be the one asking that." Aoi said with a chuckle

"Haha I guess you've got a point there" said the man laughing at Aoi's statement

"Well again I'm sorry I ran into you I hope I didn't bother you at all" Aoi said sincerely. As he said this his stomach growled. Aoi gave a nervous laughter as his face turned a bit red.

"Hahaha well if you were hungry you should've said so. I'll take you to the place where I work. It's the best restaurant in Striaton! Oh how rude of me where are my manners?! My name is Cilan it's a pleasure to you.

-Chapter 4 End-