Chapter 2
AGT: Last chapter, Vince and Cora registered to get their Trainer's License's, got their very first Pokemon, and received a Pokedex and PokeBracer from Professor Birch. We left our protagonists as they were about to head on out to Oldale Town.
On their way through route 101, Cora and Vince decide to stop and rest close to town to better look at their newly acquired PokeBracers and Pokemon.
"Come on out, Flint!" shouted Vince as Cora did the same with Neptune. They pulled out their Pokedexes to analyze their partners and were a tad shocked at what the Pokedex told them.
Vince was the first to scan his Pokemon and was surprised that the device actually spoke to him.
*Torchic, the chick Pokemon; It has a perpetual flame inside that never goes out and it can shoot out fire at about two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. It also hates to be called a chicken and will attempt to battle anything that says so. Known moves are as follows: Flame Charge, Aerial Ace, Sand Attack, and Screech. Ability: Fire Starter, when angered, will gain exceptional control over its fire attacks and raises damage done with fire-type moves by 3x. Hidden Ability: Need Upgrade…*
"Wow! Flint, you really are a hothead! Remind me to never get youpissed off." Vince said, chuckling. The Torchic responded with a snicker of his own and a nod of his head, as if to say "Damn Right!"
"Hey, Cora didn't the professor say something about an app that lets us talk to our Pokemon?" Vince asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Actually yeah, he said it was on our PokeBracer, if I remember correctly." She stated as she began searching through the menus of the glistening device. After a couple of swipes on the touch screen, she came to it, The PokeTranslator app, however, she sighed in disbelief at what she saw next to it.
"Of course, this stupid app costs like two thousand in prize money." She whined.
"Well, then that just means that we'll have to battle, something I've been itching to do since this morning." Vince exclaimed.
"Let me record Neptune in my Pokedex first, I wanna see what he can do." She grinned as she pulled out the Pokedex and commenced to analyze her Piplup.
*Piplup, the penguin Pokemon, a very proud Pokemon, it does not like to be taken care of in anyway whatsoever. In the wild, it is a very lonesome creature that prefers to be by itself, making it quite difficult to raise. Known moves are as follows: Aqua Jet, Peck, Steel Wing, and Bubblebeam. Ability: Defiant, when the Pokemon's stats are lowered in any way, its attack stat is raised two stages. Hidden Ability: Need upgrade…*
"Well it seems like have a little powerhouse of water on my team." She said, giddy with excitement. Afterwards she picked up Neptune, gave him a warm hug and asked, "Are you ready to go kick some asses today?"
The Piplup responded by beating its wing on its chest, as if to say, "Bring it on!"
So the group wandered farther into route 101 and eventually found a trainer, about 2 years their junior and Vince challenged him to a battle. Both trainers went to their positions across from one another, as is standard in a battle and then tossed their Pokeballs on the ground releasing Flint and a small brown creature with zigzag patterns on its fur.
"Go, Zigzagoon!" said the younger trainer.
"Let's go, Flint!" yelled Vince.
The two Pokemon were sizing each other up before their trainers called out their first command, but the Zigzagoon seemed to walk kind of funny and Vince stared at it for a second; wondering if it was hurt prior to the battle, Vince dropped his guard for a moment and the novice trainer took his chance to strike.
"Zigzagoon, use headbutt!" the trainer screeched. The creature then proceeded to run full speed at Flint, but it kept moving back and forth in a zigzag type pattern. It hit Flint in the left wing, causing some pretty bad damage.
"C'mon Flint, use sand attack!" cried Vince. Upon hearing this, Flint started to kick up a massive dust cloud and used his wings to bat the cloud right into the furry creature. The Zigzagoon took a few steps back, its accuracy now lowered by the dust cloud. Taking this opportunity, Vince called out to his Torchic, "Flint, use screech and then follow it up with a Flame Charge to end it!"
The small, flightless, chicken then proceeded to emit an earsplitting "CAWWW!" This made the Zigzagoon attempt to bury his head in the sand near his feet. When the screech attack ended, the trainer told his Zigzagoon to use a tackle attack, but the moment he raised his head back up he got slammed into by a powerful Flame Charge and was knocked out cold.
"Nice battle there, kid, I wasn't expecting that Zigzagoon to run the way it did." Laughed Vince, rubbing the back of his head.
"Thanks man, that Torchic of yours is pretty tough though." Sighed the young trainer.
"You'll do better next time little dude." Said Vince as the trainer handed him 550 in Prize Money.
They continued walking through the route and came to Oldale town, the first town with a store and Pokemon Center in the Hoenn region. Vince took his Torchic to the Pokemon Center and got him healed from the battle earlier and then asked Cora if she wanted to go to the next route for some more training.
"I think, I'll go to the PokeMart and get us some supplies first." She said. The two of them went into the PokeMart and bought a bunch of items that would be needed if they were to head out into the wild. The list of items consisted of: five potions, three paralyze heals, three awakenings, and five Pokeballs each.
"Jeez, Cora, where did you get the prize money for all of that." Asked Vince, astounded.
"Well my mom used to be a trainer back in the day so she gave me some prize money and a few items that she acquired on her journey." Replied Cora.
"Well, next time you call your mom, tell her I said she's awesome!" Exclaimed Vince. "So, onto the next route and the trainers we'll surely have to face!" stated Vince, excitedly.
The two teenagers then proceeded to head west from Oldale town, in the direction of Petalburg City. However, the two didn't seem to notice a pair of shadows following them to their destination.
After a few battles with some more novice trainers, the pair found themselves looking at buildings in the distance; seeing as it was about mid-day, the two started to walk towards Petalburg City, but stopped due to Vince taking notice of something rustling in the foliage.
"Cora, did you hear that just now?" asked Vince in a hushed tone.
"Nope, it's probably your imagination playing tricks on you, you dope." Replied Cora with a chuckle.
"I'm serious; I heard rustling coming from over there." He said, pointing to the North. "Let's go check it out."
Cora and Vince then proceeded to head in the direction he pointed them in, but when they got there, they didn't find anything of interest.
"See, I told you it was just that overactive imagination of yours getting the better of you; now let's hurry and go to Petalburg City, I'm hungry." Said Cora.
As they were heading back to the path they had been traveling on, Vince felt something tug at his mind; then he heard a faint voice in his head. "H…help, help us p…please." The voice cried.
Startled, Vince turned around and then saw the two figures that had been following them since they left Oldale town. They were two small white Pokemon, with green bowl shaped hair and two red horns protruded from their heads; they appeared to be badly hurt and looked scared out of their minds.
"Are you two okay?!" Cora and Vince exclaimed in unison.
"No, not at all. My sister, my mother and I were walking through the woods north of Oldale town, when two thugs paralyzed and held our mother against her will. The mean men started to beat us, almost to death, until our mother told us to teleport away and not to worry about her. I wanted so badly to kick their asses, but I'm just a Ralts…I was too weak to do anything but teleport. So I teleported my sister and I away, but not before telling my mother I would find her one day and teach those thugs a lesson." Said the small psychic Pokemon, crying.
"That's the most horrible thing I've ever heard." Said Cora, tearing up. "So did the men say anything during the attack?"
"No, they just attacked us for no reason it seemed like, but he did say something about how 'the boss' couldn't use a weakling Pokemon like Ralts. They used some sort of weird device to block my mother's psychic abilities and captured her in this cage with energy flowing all around it. That's all I saw before I teleported away." Said the scared Ralts.
"Why did you call out to me, though?" asked Vince, still astonished. "I could've been just like those guys, but you called out to me and how can I understand you, I don't even have the app to do so yet."
"Well, after I teleported us away from those guys I saw you two leaving Oldale town and I zeroed in on your emotions. After doing so, I felt that you had a strong sense of justice and a love for Pokemon that I haven't seen in any humans I've come across. As for you being able to understand me, I'm speaking to you telepathically; one of the benefits of being a psychic type. I've appeared before you two, to ask you a very serious question." Said the Ralts.
"Well what is it, little one, you can ask me whatever you desire." Said Vince with a smile.
"Well, there's no easy way to ask this, so I'm just going to come right out and say it. Will you please train me? So that when the time comes I can teach those thugs a lesson; even in the wild Pokemon can evolve and become strong on their own, but with the guidance of a trainer it's much quicker and easier and since I don't know how much time my mother has, I need to get strong as quickly as possible. So, what do you say, Vince?" asked the Ralts with the biggest, cutest looking eyes he could muster.
"Well, seeing as you asked so nicely, I don't see why not." Said Vince with a beaming smile on his face.
"You're so kind to do this for me sir, but what about my sister? I can't just leave her here on her own." Said the Ralts sadly.
"If that's the case, then I can train her!" boomed Cora.
"Y…you two…, I'll never forget this service you've done for my sister and I." Said the, now bawling, Ralts.
"Hey, now, don't get so worked up little guy, you'll be fine now." Said Vince as he picked up and hugged the beaten and crying Ralts. "Now what would like me to name you?" he asked.
"W…well *sniff*, I've always been partial to Deuce." Said the Ralts.
"Well then, Deuce, welcome to the team." Said Vince as he pulled out a Pokeball and sucked the small psychic creature into it.
"What's your name, quiet one?" asked Cora with a loving look in her eye.
"I…its Garnet, ma'am." Said the female Ralts, shyly.
"Well then, Garnet, it's nice to meet you." Said Cora as she kissed Garnet's forehead. She then pulled out a Pokeball and sucked Garnet into the device.
"Now we go to Petalburg City and heal these two, quickly." Said Vince hurriedly. Then the two trainers rushed towards the path and towards Petalburg City.