Floaroma's Champion

by LowePlays

While out on a walk a boy from Floaroma finds a menacing beast. Using modern technology, he captures the monster. After it comes to accept the boy, both travel to become the best. For fame and fortune! Both strive to become the best, the Champion. But the path is not as easy as they might think... This story was inspired after MetalDargon's work in Sacrifice and Subjugation.

8. Battle for the First Badge

What is this? A week later, and I finally decide to start my next chapter? Ugh, I need to keep it together and stay focused... Alright. I got this. We left off with him rising into the stadium, so that's where we start. Good? Good.

Please leave a review and stuff, because I hope you enjoy and I want to hear it... Or read it...

Let's get this show on the road!

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The crowds cheered around me, and I felt my hands get sweaty. I was here. I'd dreamed of being in this very spot for several years and made strategies on how this thing would go. But it was all so different then what I'd planned for. For one, I didn't expect to rise out of the ground, into the stadium.

Once the plate beneath me stopped moving, I stumbled off of it. Then I had a chance to actually look at where I was. The ground around the field was mostly bare dirt, but the edges had patches of grass, and even a tree. Against the side was a single and small pool of water for any Pokemon that needed it.

Then there was Roderick. He looked like he was ready to get into a real fight, with two metal gauntlets covering his hands. His face wasn't too serious, but he looked prepared, standing in the middle of the field. And on top of that, he was super muscular. His arm was as thick as my head. At least. Good thing I wasn't fighting him, or his Pokemon.

"Challenger! Step up!" Obeying, I started walking toward Roderick with confidence. Even if I felt my hands practically dripping, I held my head with dignity. This was my opening debut after all. Had to make the best impression.

"Kael, right," Roderick asked, once I was close enough. "Like that green crap my Mom always fed me? Hah! Kid, you're parents must've hated you." His joke made me blush. As he laughed, the announcer's voice boomed out.

"The challenger and gym leader seem to be in a good mood, if their laughing like that! Now, link your Dexes!" Taking out my PokeDex was easy. I'd done it a hundred times. But how did I link it? Apparently, my face told the entire story, because Roderick took my hand and pressed my PokeDex to his.

Looking up, I saw the giant screen animate with two Pokeballs rolling to one side, with my picture taking up half of it. The other half had two Pokeballs as well, with Roderick instead.

"Now shake hands, and take you positions on the two sides of the field! Go on!" I held out my hand to the gym leader, before I nearly had it crushed beneath a steel glove.

"The rules are as such; Don't attack me, the crowds, and try not to kill any of my Pokemon, though I doubt you could. Besides that, Green Stuff, give it your all." Nodding, we both took our places on both sides of the field. They were pretty clearly marked with a white line, but with nothing to protect me, I felt a little nervous.

"The Challenger, Kael Lorano, has been a trainer for almost a month! This won't be as flashy as that last battle, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a chance! He looks confident enough, so he must have a strategy! Let's see how this goes! Both trainers, let the battle commence!"

Taking out my Pokeball, I released Thorn in front of me. She- He stood there with his leaves growing from his body. It seems he sensed it was a fight. I made a fist and gave my orders.

"Alright, Thorn! This it! The battle we've been preparing for! Now give it all you got!" I was ready. This was my only chance. If Sarah won, so could I. Even as Roderick released his own Pokemon, I was confident I could do this.

In a flash, a trio of Pokemon appeared. For only a second, I saw it was actually a collection of Pokemon. Wait, was that even in the rules? I was about to question it, but then the three burrowed into the ground and disappeared. Okay, that must be cheating. Still, this was the Gym battle. My only shot at this.

"Alright, Thorn! Move carefully! The enemy could attack from underneath at any time, so keep your guard up!" I hoped Thorn would obey me this time, since it was to impress the crowds, but I wasn't sure. "Remember, everyone is watching."

The small Budew, while not the fastest, was able to move along the ground quick enough. Fast enough to dodge the attack from the ground, at least. But, even though Thorn was fast enough to dodge, the three burrowing Pokemon dove back into the ground before he was able to hit them with a Razor Leaf.

"Oh, and the Challenger's Budew misses it's attack. Looks like Gym Leader Roderick's Dugtrio is too fast!"

Gritting my teeth, I looked for a way too beat an opponent that went somewhere Thorn couldn't go. Still, there had to be some way to beat this Pokemon. Maybe not with speed like Yami, but Thorn was small. That should give an opening. An idea started to form as the Dugtrio tried to attack.

"Thorn, all you have to do it touch it!" I knew his namesake would help, mainly because they secreted poison. All that was required was to inject it.

The plan in my head went a little like brushing up against it in some epic manner. In reality, and unfortunately, Thorn allowed himself to be attacked in order to poison the Dugtrio.

It didn't take long for the effects to start showing up. The Dugtrio tried to burrow into the ground, but somehow it started to act strange, like it couldn't dig well anymore. I hadn't ever seen the effects the poison yet, but this seemed to be it. Though the method of injection wasn't ideal, Thorn seemed to have gotten off better than I'd thought.

"Oh, it looks like Roderick's Dugtrio is disoriented! I think the challenger's Budew's poisoned it! Let's hope his Strategy isn't for playing dirty! I shot a glare up into the stands, but I couldn't see any commentator. But there was a camera trained directly on me, so my expression was blown up on the large screen above.

"Hey, Green Stuff," Roderick shouted across the field. "Just because you have the advantage, don't turn away from a battle! Tremor, show him our trump card!" The fight instantly resumed, the only difference was that the Dugtrio was above ground. I quickly noticed the three were literally joined at the hip, fused together. Which technically meant it was one Pokemon. A silly excuse for a trio of Diglett.

"Thorn! Use your leaves on it!" With the ability for ranged attacks, I'd hoped Thorn would be able to avoid any physical attacks, but it quickly became obvious the Dugtrio was just as fast above ground. It rolled into a ball and ran over Thorn beneath it. Since it was already poisoned, the poison injected was just redundant at this point. As the rolling trio of Digletts made a round the field, Thorn was left with his face in the dirt.

"Get up! Please, at least for one more attack! Then you can rest, I promise!" Rising up, onto his frail feet, Thorn faced the Dugtrio. It was still rolling around, but it seemed to be getting faster and unstable. Maybe it was the poison destablizing it, but it seemed collected enough to attack. This might have been the sign to recall Thorn, but I had faith. It might not have been the most well-placed faith, but I still held my ground.

As Tremor, the Dugtrio, got closer, it seemed to veer off course. Which was my opening. I called out to Thorn to prepare his leaves to attack. Two leaves quickly sprouted out of the Budew's body and stiffened to blades, just in time to launch them into the side of the Dugtrio as it- At last second, the burrowing Pokemon changed directions and steamrolled into Thorn.

I was almost in shock how fast it reacted. Luckily, it stopped rolling after hitting Thorn, but my Budew was left lying there in the dirt. And he didn't look too well, with a small fracture leaking a greenish liquid. "Thorn!" I quickly recalled him to his Pokeball by carefully aiming the laser. Once he was safe, I allowed myself to breathe again.

"It seems the Challenger's Budew is no longer able to battle! Will he send out his next Pokemon, or will he give up and come back another time? Wait, it looks like he's pulling out another Pokeball. What will be in this one?" I scoffed at the comments, but focused like Roderick had said. Taking a quick breath, I pressed the button on Akuma's Pokeball and released her a few meters in front of me.

The cheering of the crowd instantly wavered once they saw Akuma, a dragon. Even though she wasn't the largest, and definitely not the strongest, she still held the reputation of the Deino lineage behind her. That was enough to make some gasp in surprise. And she was my trump card, if we were comparing.

"Well, would you look at that!? The kid- I mean, the challenger has a Deino! Looks like this won't be such a walk in the park for Gym Leader Roderick after all! But, the real question is if he can control it! Not anyone can tame a dragon, after all!" Who hired this guy? Of course I can handle her, otherwise I wouldn't've sent her out in the first place. Groaning, I turned to Akuma, to prepare her for the fight.

"This is it, Akuma. This guy has a pretty strong Dugtrio, since it took out Thorn. Though it is weakened, don't let down your guard, okay? I'm counting on you, alright?" With the notion of a fight on our hands, along with noises from the weakened Dugtrio, Akuma spun into action. She seemed prepared, so I decided to call out my first orders.

As soon as I told her to use her strength, I heard Roderick command his Dugtrio to use it's Rollout again. I assumed that was the rolling attack it'd used against Thorn, but I knew Akuma wasn't the one to back down. She wouldn't even flinch, if I knew her. The brown trio began to collect itself as my Deino began to charge up a Dragon Rage ball.

A small smirk appeared on my face, mainly because I knew not many Pokemon could just walk away from one of Akuma's Dragon Rages. If this hit, which I hoped it would, it would be over. The Dugtrio compacted itself down into a ball again and started rolling. Which caused noise. Even with the noises from the crowd, it wasn't enough to distract Akuma's aim.

The bright blue ball of draconic energy was launched from Akuma's maw and raced towards the Dugtrio. With a clear target, as well as flawless execution, I assumed we had it in the bag. Unfortunately, I didn't count on it dodging it. Even while spinning, it apparently was still able to see well enough to dodge.

"Akuma!" I called out to my dragon, just in time for her to leap forward, directly into the path of the rolling Dugtrio. Just as they impacted, I watched at Akuma didn't stop the Dugtrio, but redirected it. While her horn wasn't effected as one, her head was still strong enough to send the burrowing trio up and over.

It seemed like the poison was taking it's final tolls on the Dugtrio. After landing in the dirt a meter in front of me, it remained motionless. Though it was prone, Akuma didn't stop her attack. I quickly realized what was going on. Even though she was used to fighting, I'd usually feed her the remains.

"Akuma, come over here!" She stood up and looked over to me, allowing me to take charge. A moment later, the Dugtrio vanished in a flash of light. With the target vanishing, my Deino ran up to me, acting very similar to Herdier back home with her mouth open and panting.

"Would you look at that! The challenger has beaten the Gym Leader's Dugtrio, making the score one to one! That's a pretty impressive Dragon he has, if it's able to simply toss that Dugtrio like that!"

"Good job, kid," Roderick called out! Akuma turned to him, but I held a hand to her neck. "But this fight isn't over just yet! I still have one more card up my sleeve! One last trick!" I stood up straight when Roderick pulled out another Pokeball and released a small, yet shiny Pokemon. Looking at it, it looked like it was covered in armor. Just what Pokemon was it?

Luckily, I had a PokeDex to tell me that. I pulled it out and aimed the scanner at it. It took only a second, but a picture and name appeared on the screen. So, it was an Aron, the Armor Pokemon. Okay, that had to be cheating. Just who armors their Pokemon like that?

Looking back to the Gym Leader, I saw him squatting down in front of his Aron with his armor-clad hand near it's mouth. When the Aron took a heavy bite into the gauntlet, I couldn't help but gasp in surprise. Why would he let his Pokemon just bite him? Was it some form of contract or combat ritual?

"Looks like the Gym Leader is getting serious, if he's feeding his Aron his armor! This might get exciting if he's doing that! Let's see how the Challenger will handle this one?!" Feeding it his own armor? I guess any trainer going against the gym leader might get a chance to prove himself. If the leader was going through the effort to feed his Pokemon his armor, this must be mine. I did have a dragon, after all. Why did I always get the hard route?

"Sorry to keep you waiting! I think you get a chance to see my real trump card. You see, my Aron has a shell of armor! If I feed it my own armor, he can use it to thicken his own! Let's see you try and get through it now!" Now that was just unfair to the core. But, alas, his gym, his rules. Man, this sucks...

"Akuma, you got this. If you can't get through the armor with force, just burn it. Smoke it out of his Squirtle shell." Akuma advanced towards the center of the field while I called out to Roderick I was ready when he was.

In only a moment, the small Aron began to run towards Akuma. Though it was covered in heavy metal armor, it didn't seem that slow. While it didn't have any sharp spikes on it, it did have horns and ridges on it's back for some reason. It'd be best do avoid getting his by those.

Being the way she was, Akuma charged as well. It was like they were playing one game, Spearow. Unlike that game, they didn't even try to stop. Both collided with quite a lot of force, but only the Aron really survived that. The armor on it's skull helped to protect it.

Akuma, on the other hand, wasn't as tough as she thought. I was afraid her skull was damaged, but she seemed to get her feet under her pretty quickly. Following my orders, since she couldn't smash through the armor, she bathed it in bright blue fire. The Aron stood inside it as the flames tried to catch on the cold metal.

While metal didn't really burn that well, it did conduct heat pretty efficiently. And while it's armor was glowing red, it didn't seem to be that damaged. With it still standing, Akuma seemed to take offense by that and unleashed a Dragon's Rage point blank. It was hastily made, but it still made contact and exploded.

When the small Aron was still standing after that, I knew the battle was just about who's defenses would hold out longer. And since Akuma was the only one attacking, she was in the lead. But the fact that the Aron hadn't attacked yet made it a lot scarier. Rather than taking the risk, I called out for Akuma to keep it up.

Flames bathed over the armored Pokemon, but this time, the Aron didn't feel like getting a little hotter. It charged through Akuma's Dragon Breath and slammed it's head into her chest. It seemed to be more powerful than I'd thought because Akuma was thrown to the ground.

The attack didn't really hurt Akuma very much, but she was definitely pissed. Only when it jumped on her did Akuma start screching in it's face. While it was impervious to brute force, once Akuma's screeching started, it backed up. That left it open just long enough for Akuma to get back on her feet and brace for the next attack.

The force the small Aron had was enough to put Akuma on her hind legs, but she didn't fall back far enough to be left vulnerable. With a size advantage over the Aron, she could dive back down on it. With a maw full of blue fire, as well as a point blank target, it was pretty easy to hit the target.

Akuma backed away from her foe with her body rising and falling with her breath. I'd never seen her hold her fire for as long as she did. Considering it was a new move, it was pretty impressive. To finish it off, she charged up a Dragon Rage and let it explode over the motionless armored Pokemon. Looking back to the Aron, I saw it was cherry red and lying in a heap. I guess even with it's armor, it wasn't as resistant is it seemed to be.

That meant... I'd won!

Running across the field, I was nearly laughing out loud. Gym Leader Roderick returned his Aron to it's Pokeball, meaning Akuma didn't kill it. Which was a good thing.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Looks like the challenger has won his first gym badge, the second win of the day! Let's give it up for the great battle!" The crowd immediately started cheering. While there weren't very many, they were definitely loud. I followed the Leader's example and returned Akuma, before she could turn on the stands. I'd thank her later, once there wasn't anyone else around.

"Well, Green Stuff. Looks like you actually have a pretty good partner there. I didn't expect anyone to pull out a Deino as there secret weapon, so that was a nice surprise. I think you've got some potential. Seeing that you won, you're gonna be watched by people. Maybe even have some fans."

"Thanks, Gym Leader Roderick. I tried my best in that battle, so I hope it was alright."

"Kael, right? Well, your badge, as well as TM 76 will be at the main desk out front. Some prize money as well. Hope to see you and your Deino in some more Gym Battles. Later, kid." Taking that as my sign to leave, I made sure I had everything and adjusted my hood. My breath was coming pretty heavy, but I walked confidently from the field.

The halls were lit by small windows higher up, and the sounds of the crowds seemed to echo all around me. It made my head ring. It wasn't too bad now, but even with that small amount of people cheering, it made me almost scared to think how loud they'd be if there was more.

Sarah was waiting in the main lobby, with a small disc in her hands. Nodding to her, she pointed up to a monitor attached to the wall. So, she'd watched the fight. Man, that made me jealous. Still, it was nice to see her excited expression.

"Congratulations! That was a pretty good fight! I'm sorry about Thorn, but she should be fine." I laughed nervously and scratched the back of my head.

"Actually, I found out Thorn's actually a guy. Surprised me, too."

"Well, now you don't have an all girls team."

"What's wrong with having a full team of girls? Not that big of a problem."

"Whatever, Dragon Boy. You know you just want to have an all girls team so you can have the right to say you got a few."

"The hell? Are you serious? It's not like I care about that kind of stuff, you know?"

"Fine, but you should go get your prize, before someone else takes it." Laughing, I turned back to run to the main desk. There was the same man as before watching the place and manning the fort, but he looked pretty bored. After a quick glance at me, he forked over a stack of cash, a small plastic case with a disc inside, and a small metal badge.

After a quick ID check from my PokeDex, I was cleared to leave with a shiny new Coal Badge in my possession. It was all the proof I needed to say I was a true League trainer. Of course, I didn't know what I would do with the other stuff in my hands. I held two and a half thousand Poke bucks, as well as Stealth Rock. I didn't exactly have any Pokemon able to learn the move, but I knew Stein would have been able to use it.

The thought of my past Pokemon was enough to silence my excitement. My grin wasn't natural anymore, but I still forced it. For Sarah. I walked back over to her as she started heading towards the exit. Following me, we made our way to the Pokemon Center in the cold, to presumably collect our things. To be honest, I'd spent too much time here already.

.

Telling Sarah was probably the hardest thing about leaving Oreburgh. With a solid five thousand between us, getting a psychic to teleport us to Jubilife. It's not like the idea was very hard to come to. Traveling back through the Gate would bring back too many bad memories and with the cold temperature, I frankly didn't feel prepared to go further north.

"Hey, Sarah? When do you plan on leaving? After we get our Pokemon back, I plan on going back home for the winter holidays." After checking in our Pokemon to be healed, we'd had confirmation we could leave as soon as six, which is why I reserved a teleportation for two by seven. With snow probably right around the corner, I didn't want to be left with a hoodie and a simple blanket. And since Arceus Day was coming up, I thought it perfect to visit my parents.

"Well... Remember when you promised to see some of the sights? Since we have some time, I was thinking we should see the ones here in Oreburgh, before we leave. Not likely we'll return for a while." Promise? Three weeks ago, that's right. I'd promised to see some of the sights.

"I guess now would be as best a time to see 'em. With the first gym down, I guess we could do that. Not like we have to rush for the next gym."

"Dummy, we didn't have to rush to this one either. We had three whole months to get the badge anyways. To be honest, I'm surprised we got our badges so easily. Looking at the rest of the trainers here, they've been working their butts off to beat Roderick and are still here. So, why'd we get ours so easily?"

"I would guess the typing. Remember how Thorn was taken out so easily, yet Akuma wasn't defeated so easily? I think most trainers just bring grass and water types, so the strategy he probably employed is geared for those types." It was the only reason I could think of that would explain our victory. They seemed more powerful than Akuma, yet they didn't really use it to their advantage. But, I would guess Yami just out ran them both for Sarah's victory.

"I don't know... We should focus on something else, though. I don't really want to talk about fight that much right now, you know? Just went through it after all."

"Right, sorry."

"C'mon, follow me." Taking my arm, I was forced to follow Sarah out of the Pokemon Center. Once outside, I put on my hat and tightened my scarf, then put up my hood. The cold air seemed to get chillier by the day, and today by the hour. I felt jealous of Sarah's more appropriate winter wear.

We passed most of the shops and apartments in town, heading towards the edges of Oreburgh. There weren't very many sights in the place, being surrounded by mountains and mines making it less of an ideal tourist attraction. The only real main source of interest to the town was the Gym. Not much else.

But there was one place. Once it came into view, I instantly realized what it was. The old Oreburgh coal mines. She wanted to see this place? As we walked past the rusted machinery and spray painted logos and names, Sarah moved closer to me. I would assume this was something of a.. I don't really know. Romantic, maybe? Or just spooky?

Either way, I didn't really like the place. Sure, I liked some creepy things, but this just felt... Dangerous. Which also came as ironic, considering I trained a dragon, but that was exactly why I felt uncomfortable. I'd taken Judo for years, but it'd been months since I practiced. Without anything to really protect me, I felt on edge.

Pair that with Sarah being so close, I couldn't relax. Still, I was a guy. Gritting my teeth, I steeled myself for it and walked with Sarah. I still kept my hand near my pocket, even though Akuma wasn't there anymore. The one Pokeball I did have would make it too obvious I was nervous, so going by habit of Akuma being there was the best I could do.

Past the stopped and empty belts that used to hold coal, the rusted mining drills, and to a cave entrance. I kept reminding myself we were just here to look around, not actually mine. Not like we were going down. But Sarah didn't stop.

"Hey, wait up. I don't think we should go in here. We already saw the place, so lets go. This place is giving me the creeps." It was hard to admit it, but it was better than letting her go in by herself.

"C'mon. Don't be a baby."

"I'm not being a baby. It's just caution. Without our Pokemon, it'll be hard to get out if we're lost. And if something attacks us, how could we protect ourselves?"

"... fine. I really wanted to explore this place, too." Pouting, Sarah followed me as I lead the way around the edges of the mine. For the most part, I could imagine the place back when it was in operation several decades ago. It did help to calm me down a little, but the place still had that feeling, like something was going to happen.

As soon as we walked past the fence of the mine, I finally relaxed. Seriously, something about the place seemed dangerous. I was glad to leave it behind. Though Sarah might not have felt the same, I was just excited to just leave Oreburgh. Of course, it would be a bit awkward to leave our Pokemon behind.

On the way back to the Pokemon Center, with the day still too early to take our Pokemon, we stopped to get a Miltank burger. It was still delicious as ever, a proper reward, if I do say so myself. It also took up a quick two hundred from my winnings. A fair price for the taste, and I had plenty of money to spare.

A nice little exploration of the mine, a tasty meal, and a shiny new gym badge in my bag. A good day to me. Sarah seemed to relax as well, but she looked like she was ready to relax elsewhere. To be honest, it was cold, but there was also an oven next to where we were sitting.

Finally, I made the decision and stood up. Sarah followed my example and stretched. For the next hours, until the dark, we just looked at shops. There was mostly just home items or food, but there were a few shops that were actually useful. One was a souvenir shop, where I picked up a small metal Deino keychain. It wasn't that big, but it was just something that fit my team.

Sarah picked up a keychain of an icicle, similar to the Snowpoint badge, and attached it to her PokeDex. Since my bag was still at the Pokemon Center, I just put mine in my pocket. After that, we wandered over to a shop selling Pokemon themed candy. It really wasn't money for anything, but buying two or three things would add up. Not to mention our health...

And finally, we stopped at a LifeCore store. LifeCore was a company focused solely on Trainers and their Pokemon, not the other way around. This made it a bit harder to find Pokemon supplies, like TMs and Vitamins, but it made things like saddles for flying and Pokeballs much easier to find. Companies like Devon Corp and BioTech from Hoenn and Kanto had tried to take over the market in Sinnoh, but they didn't make much ground. With BioTech being a newer company and Devon Corp only catering to the Pokemon.

Since I didn't really have a use for the TM in my pocket, I'd hoped to sell it, or at least exchange it. Sure, it was my prize. And, yeah, maybe one day I'd have a chance to use it, but for now I didn't care about it. Unfortunately, a lot of people do the same thing. The man behind the counter would accept the TM, but he wouldn't give me anything for it, other than the knowledge it would be returned to the gym.

With that idea out the window, I decided to browse the rows of TMs near the back of the store, right next to a magnetic belt to hold Pokeballs, and some of the fancy metal Pokeballs like Dusk and Timer balls. I liked the look of the Quick ball, but just looking at the price tag made me change my mind.

It also meant Sarah's Yami was worth at least a whole thousand. It made me wonder what, even how, she got that kind of money to spend on a single Pokemon. Looking back at the TMs, I saw a very few green discs for Thorn, but there was a few purple ones. Several little pieces of paper were attached to the TMs, to tell which move it is, as well as which Pokemon could learn it.

And a price tag.

I might have had the money in my pocket to pay for maybe one, but I didn't really want spend all of it on one TM. However, there were a few for Akuma cheaper than two thousand. The one I had my eye on was either Thunder Wave and Thief. Though Thunder Wave seemed strange for her, but it also made for an unexpected strategy. Though the Thief move looked good, I took the yellow disc instead and payed the 1,500Pb for it.

Sarah left the store empty handed, but I had a fresh new move to teach Akuma. By now, the sun was dipping towards the horizon. The sky was turning an orange color, so we decided to head back to the Pokemon Center. It wasn't too bad, even if I felt impatient. We walked pretty slow down the street as cars past by, but it also helped pass the time since we'd still be early.

The sun was still above the sky, as the light bled over the mountains, but street lamps were already turning on. We entered in through the familiar Pokemon Center doors and I enjoyed the warm air. Ah, heaters were the best...

The lobby only had a few people in it, including some guy sleeping on one of the couches. With nothing really to do, I sat down on one of the chairs. Sarah took the one near the wall and put her feet on the arm rest of mine. It was almost five, but I was feeling a bit tired. After beating a gym leader, who wouldn't?

Still, once I got my Pokemon, I'd be going to Jubilife. It was kinda weird to think about it, teleportation via psychics. I didn't know exactly what would happen, but at least I knew it was going to happen. Just... in a few hours. I wish I had Akuma to keep me company, since she made me feel calm, but she was exactly who I was waiting for.

Almost as habit, I took out my spare Pokeball as well as my PokeDex. While I started expanding and contracting the ball, I saw I had a message on my Dex. It was strange because I didn't remember it ever buzzing. Opening up the application, I saw it was from my parents.

Congratulations on the win! Sorry we didn't watch all of it, but we only started watching it just before your Budew was taken out. It's nice to see you've got a good grass type though. Your father was pretty impressed by the Budew, but he was pretty shocked when he saw your Deino. But don't worry, after seeing you handle her pretty well. I'm impressed as well. You're doing pretty well for being a trainer for only a month.

If you're heading to Eterna next, I guess you'll be heading through the pass. I hope you'll be safe up there. Be sure to stay warm. Also, you're girlfriend. I hope you aren't doing anything with her out there. We're trusting you to be an adult. We hope you'll focus on training so you can go up against the next gym leader. It took me four whole months to beat the second gym, so I hope you can beat my record.

We'll be watching your battles, all you have to do is message us and we'll watch them. Love you!

My cheeks were practically glow in the dark while I was reading the message, but at least they watched the battle. That was all that really mattered to me. Still, the bit about me not stopping by Floaroma made me realize that Mom probably thought I wasn't planning on returning for a while.

It'd be quite the surprise for me to show up on their front door step. I quickly wrote a small message back, but I didn't mention a single thing about my plans. Just saying thank you, really. It was hard to hide my motives without sounding suspicious, but it wasn't too hard.

I started to fall asleep, before Sarah kicked me in the shoulder. I looked at her, but she motioned me to look at the front desk. The nurse behind the desk was trying to call for me over. I put my Pokeball and Dex away and walked over to the counter. I was a bit confused about what was going on until he pulled a tray out from underneath.

After showing my PokeDex, I picked up both of the Pokeballs with Thorn and Akuma inside. The nurse looked like he was done with his business, but I stopped him.

"Wait, when will my friend's Pokemon be ready? Sarah O'Perr?"

"Soon. Sorry, kid, but I can't give you specific details on another Trainer's Pokemon. Even if you're her friend." Nodding, I headed back to my seat. It was a bit early to get our Pokemon just yet anyways, so it wasn't really a surprise I had to wait. For the next several minutes I waited by just being patient. Until Sarah's Pokemon were returned, we couldn't leave.

For how long it probably took to heal Pokemon and how long they took, it was pretty ineffiecient. Made me wonder what they were doing this entire time. Finally, when the deadline came, Sarah stood up and walked up to the counter. After checking her PokeDex, they handed her a tray of her Pokeballs.

It was kinda frustrating how they remembered me and called me up. But Sarah had to wait when the Pokemon were clearly ready way before. Even after I reminded them, they still didn't call her up after that. Even over the intercom! With both our Pokemon in our possession again, I stood up from my chair and headed towards my room upstairs for the last time. I signaled to Sarah where I was going and ran up the stairs.

My bag was right where I'd left it, packed and ready to go. To be honest, if we'd left our Pokemon in the Jubilife Pokemon Center, it'd have been quicker. Better yet, over night. Still, taking my stuff, I ran down the stairs to lobby and passed Sarah on her way up. I nodded to her, before going to stand near the door after returning the card.

Both Sarah and I walked out into the night with all our stuff on our backs. I had my PokeDex out with a map displaying the location of our teleports. It wasn't exactly hard to find, just difficult to follow the directions. At some point, we got turned around and it took us several minutes to find the way again.

Finally, we met the man who was in charge of our teleportations. He looked to be a bit of an older guy, but he was still able to understand money. And we payed the full thousand each to get to Jubilife. It only took a bit of negotiating and confirmation to be allowed to be teleported, but soon enough we were standing next to him with his Gothitelle, which looked pretty tough to me.

Once we told the man we were both ready, the man started a countdown from five to zero. At zero, I felt like I was being sucked into a space just large enough for me. Maybe a bit too small. It was like putting on a rubber glove and sticking it in a pond. It only lasted for a second and suddenly I was looking at the Jubilife Pokemon Center.

"Woah..." Sarah gasped. Seemed like she was more comfortable with it. "That was amazing. A little weird, but cool all the same."

"Huh. Most people don't enjoy there first time teleporting. Seems you will be just fine if you ever catch yourself a psychic Pokemon." Scoffing, I was frankly just uncomfortable with the teleportation thing.

"C'mon, Sarah. Let's go. I'm getting hungry again, so we should go get some dinner." Being a bit moody, I stuck my hands in my pockets and headed towards the one Miltank burger stand we visited on the first visit. I hard a sharp clap noise and looked back. The man with the Gothitelle was gone already.

"Alright, fine Mr. Bossy. You know," Sarah said as she followed after me. "After seeing and teleporting, I want a psychic Pokemon of my own."

"Teleportation is really uncomfortable. Felt like I was being compressed. Like I was about to suffocate in there."

"You don't have to be melodramatic about it. It only took half a second, so stop freaking out. So, get yourself a Hypno or a Gothita for yourself and get used to it!"

"Geez, you don't have to be so pushy and aggressive about it. Fine, if the chance comes around, I'll catch one. Deal?"

"C'mon~! Teleportation is cool, you can't deny it."

"I'm not going to say I haven't thought about it before. Why do you think I asked for teleporting services? I just thought it would have been like a simple and instant thing, without the weird stuff." I stretched my arms out above my head as we walked down Shopping Street 8. Looking up, I stuttered in my step.

All the lamps and shops were decorated with Arceus Day banners and lights. It was almost to the point of ridiculous. I heard Sarah scoff behind me, which made me glance behind me.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing, I just don't celebrate Arceus Day. But taking the time off is alright."

"And yet you wanted to go see a Xatu shrine? Why is it that I celebrate Arceus Day, and I'm not religious. You are, and don't celebrate it. What's up with that?" I gave it a light laugh as we walked towards the burger stand.

"I've never really liked holidays in general. The only day I really like is my birthday. But I just don't like them. Been like that for years. Uh, one burger with a side of Leppa fries."

"Just a burger for me. I'm not one for the celebration parties, but celebrating something is fun. You can't say you've never partied with your friends back in Snowpoint. Everyone does it, at least at graduation."

"Not many friends back in Snowpoint."

"Well, I just made it awkward, didn't I..." We didn't talk much after that. I reviewed the entire conversation and realized it'd gone from teleportation to Arceus Day, to no friends. Instead, now we were eating Miltank burgers at a small table. Again, for the second time today. It might be good, but it was getting old. Getting back into the wilderness might be better.

Once I was finished eating, Sarah brought along her Leppa berry fries. They were a bit weird when I saw them, but after stealing one, I decided it was alright. We wandered around for a while, only looking at the several shops set up for the holidays. I thought about buying a gift, but my money was starting to look... sparse. For being something of a hoarder, I was really hurting for cash.

Soon, it was time to turn in. We headed back to Pokemon Center and walked inside. It only took a few minutes to get a key for rooms, but we were told we only had one last night or we'd have to sleep on the streets. Nodding, we took the cards to our rooms. They weren't right next to each other, but they were on the same floor.

We didn't have much to say to each other as we went our separate ways for the night, but Sarah said something I didn't like.

"So, I'm going to message my Dad and see if I can get a ride home. I'll tell you whether or not it's a success or fail. Good night." Oh, great. Now I wouldn't get a wink of sleep tonight. Still, I repeated the good night and swiped my card. The door opened for me and I closed it behind me.

So much for getting a good nights rest...

.

The morning came too soon. Not very quickly, but I could say I needed more sleep. Instead, I forced myself off the soft mattress to get the day started. And it all starts with a wake up call from Sarah. She knocked on my door and called my name. I groaned about it while making my way to the door.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I said as I opened my room's door. "I'm getting up, so don't beat down my door."

"Looks like someone didn't sleep too well. That comfortable bed starting to get boring for you?"

"Shut up. Not my fault you left me with a cliff hanger. Seriously, you could've just said good night and told me about it now. I'm going to get ready and I'll be out in a few minutes." Without waiting for a response, I walked into the bathroom and splashed water on my face.

Looking in the mirror, I saw the tiredness in my eyes. I ran my hand through my hair and rubbed my eyes. Stretching my arm, I walked back to the main room. I rubbed my scar on my forearm while I looked at my bag. I didn't really know what to do, but I decided to change my shirt.

With a fresh grey shirt and my grey hoodie, I opened my door again. Sarah was leaning beside my door when I walked out.

"Well, if you want, I'll tell you what my Dad said. If you still want to know." I looked at her almost sarcastically. "I've got a ticket for a train leaving tonight at nine thirty. So, I'll be home by tomorrow."

"Well, I guess that's a good thing, right?" Inside, it didn't really click for me before that she was leaving. Not that I wasn't happy for her or anything, because I was leaving as well. Going back home. I guess that meant she would do the same. Should've seen that coming. It might have shown in my face, because Sarah laid her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said. "You have my PokeDex number. If you want to meet up, just call me or something." I nodded, but I still felt bad about it. It might have been selfish of me, thinking that she could stay beside me the entire journey. Shaking myself, I tried to make a smile, but I probably failed miserably at it.

"Don't be too down about it, Dragon Boy. There's still a whole day to get through." Sarah started walking away, but I didn't want to say goodbye. Of course, she did have a point. We did still have the whole rest of the day together. Shaking my head again, I focused on that instead. I couldn't just keep moping around.

Keeping my good mood wasn't as easy as usual, but I managed to keep it up. Several hours of simple smiling while Sarah and I walked around town. There wasn't really much else to do, as we'd already explored the place before. We browsed the Arceus Day stands and shops along the streets and in squares.

We didn't buy anything, as Sarah and I had little money as it is. And since Sarah didn't celebrate the holiday, she didn't have an interest in buying anything. The thought for buying one as a gift had crossed my mind, but nothing was really clicking as the right one. None of them would really mean much, if nothing at all.

Akuma, Thorn, Yami, and Perry were let out when we both went outside the boundaries of Jubilife. We did a small training session to help improve our skills. Before letting out Akuma, I inserted the TM I'd bought into my PokeDex and taught her Thunder Wave. It wasn't really an attacking move, her forte, but it was still pretty useful.

While I spent the majority of the time teaching practicing with Akuma's new move, I did also try to help Thorn in his training as well. Though Thorn was still small and young, I wanted him to be strong, yet graceful. He would make a good show Pokemon, as well as a fighter. It was a plan in the making, sure, but it would help in the long run.

The progress Akuma made in learning the new move. At first, all she could do is make a few sparks from the fur on her neck. After three hours of training, her electricity could travel outwards for about a meter. It was strong enough for me to feel a tingle in my arms and legs when I was practically right next to her, but it wasn't enough to paralyze. Not combat ready yet.

Yami and Perry worked with Sarah and I to help either test Akuma's Thunder Wave or test Yami's dark powers. Since Akuma held dark powers, it helped to teach Yami hers, even if Akuma didn't have very much control over that part of her powers. The most she could do was bite something with dark fangs.

Still, once it came time for dinner for our Pokemon, we were forced to hunt for something. Buying something for either a butcher or a Pokemon care shop. Instead, we had to settle for whatever we could find. Unfortunately, with cold weather setting on, most Pokemon won't come out of their dens.

At least, anything small enough for us to properly hunt. Anything else would be a fight. It wasn't anything I was willing to do, as any harm to my Pokemon would take several hours going through the Pokemon Center. Hours I didn't have. Not really.

We had to venture out into the woods outside of Jubilife to find anything. The trees around Jubilife weren't as close as Oreburgh or Floaroma, so in order to find anything, we had to go further than simply outside the boundaries. In fact, we had to go out for almost half an hour to find trees. It took Yami only a few minutes to find anything, and he tracked it down quickly. Within five minutes, Yami dove into some bushes.

A few seconds later, he appeared again with three pieces of a Bunneary in his claws. Apparently, to kill it, he'd simply sliced it apart. He walked up to Sarah and handed her the remains of the Bunneary and backed away. A trail of blood was left behind, dripping from his claws and the body parts.

We decided to split the meat while Perry searched for berries. Thorn had been returned to his Pokeball while he only needed sunlight for nourishment. Akuma enjoyed her share of the meat, a larger portion mind you, while Yami ate his. It left them a bloody mess, especially on Akuma's account. It wasn't exactly pretty, but she didn't care.

Yami, however, was not too thrilled about blood covering his claws. He quickly rubbed his claws against a nearby tree to clean them, leaving several gouges. If anyone found them, we'd probably get into some trouble. Soon enough, Perry returned with a few berries. And with one stuffed in his mouth.

With the sun setting lower and lower in the sky, it was time to head back. Maybe not for a train, but because it'd be difficult to find our way out of the forest in the dark. We made our way to the more grassy areas nearer to Jubilife, our Pokemon safely in our pockets. No need to scare people with bloody Deino and Sneasel.

We waited around for several hours, trying to have fun while we could. I kept up my guise, talking about whatever Sarah did. It probably didn't help my knowledge on whatever we were talking about wasn't that great, so when she asked me a question, I just nodded. Great communication. Usually, I just let Sarah do the talking. I just talked about Pokemon and stuff.

The sun set and we were able to get some food back at the Pokemon Center. It wasn't the most delicious grub in the world, hell the city, but grub is grub. I think it was noodles with Spoink chunks, but I didn't really know what kind of meat it really was. Just what it tasted like.

After dinner, Sarah and I talked for a while, until I looked at the clock. Just after eight, meaning her train left in about an hour. Seeing me check my clock, Sarah did the same and came to the same conclusion. It was time to go.

"Well, I guess I should go get my things. Better to be early than to be late, right?" Nodding, I agreed with her. Sighing, she stood up from our table and went upstairs. I followed and she glanced behind her. Seemed she understood why, because she didn't question me.

I went to my room, she went to hers. We didn't exactly have anywhere to store our things other than the rooms, even if we couldn't sleep in them. Just storage, for what they were worth. I quickly grabbed my own bag and left the room. And then I met up with Sarah near the stairs. Her familiar large blue bag on her back, we walked down through the lobby and out the doors.

.

Getting to the train station was easy, but it took a while. It was near the edge of the city, mainly because it dealt with trains, but I didn't remember it being so far away. But we soon made it to the station. I checked the ticket being displayed on Sarah's PokeDex with her and made our way inside.

It was strange seeing the interior again, being the same bland white and grey as always. Sarah looked around at the six main rails. I followed her gaze, realizing I didn't really look around the last time I was here. Of course, at the same time, it's not like I was missing much. Probably the most impressive part of the entire station was a statue of Dialga holding the clock piece.

"Well... Looks like that's my train." Sarah pointed to the last train. Nodding, we walked over to the platform. I was hesitant to go up to the train, but I knew it was just selfish.

"So, what do plan on doing over the holidays," I asked calmly. "I plan on just training and the celebration, but what about you?"

"I'm going to train, too. For the Eterna Gym. I'm not going to challenge for a while, but it'd be nice to help my Pokemon grow stronger. Because in the Spring, a lot more trainers will be on the roads, meaning a lot more challenges."

"Yeah... I'm kinda hoping for it, since it helps with experience. It also could be a source of income. If I don't lose." I tried to play it off as a joke, but Sarah didn't laugh.

"Trainer battles aren't the same as Gym battles. People and Pokemon are much more liable to die since there isn't anyone really watching. Just... be careful, alright?"

"You too. I want us both to make it through the circuit. Maybe then we can have a Pokemon battle?" When Sarah laughed at that, it caught me off guard.

"Why battle then when we could battle sooner? Maybe... When we see each other again, we should see who's training method is better. Snowpoint or Floaroma. Deal?"

"Sure," I said, while Sarah started walking toward the Train's open door. "Wait! I plan to leave Floaroma sometime in late January to early February. Maybe we could meet up and go through the Eterna Forest together?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think so. I need some time on my own, take the journey by myself. You should understand."

"Well, you don't have to spend it alone. You could crash at my place and we could still take it together."

"Look, I know what you're saying. I do. And I like you, don't get me wrong." So she knew. "I get where you're coming from, and I'd love to take you up on the offer, but who knows what will happen in the future? I think it'd be best if we didn't travel together, just for a while."

Those words felt harsh, like a needle was being injected into my chest. The feeling from there spread and I felt my arms start twitching. I knew what this was.

"But we could still meet up some time," Sarah said, stepping onto the train. "I like traveling with you, and it's been fun so far. I'm sure we'll get the opportunity to again."

"Alright," I said, hoping. "How about meeting in Eterna by February? Then we could challenge the Gym together, you know?"

"I'll see, but I don't know if I can make it there by then. I'm not that impatient, so I don't really plan on leaving that soon." I nodded, just as the whistle on the train sounded. This was it.

"Stay safe, Sarah." I held out my forearm, traditional Floaroma style. She smirked and did the same. We touched forearms as the door began to close. I had to jerk my hand back before it got stuck.

"You too, Kael," Sarah said, right before the door hissed shut. I waved a quick goodbye as the train began to move and I started walking down the platform. The only thing left to do was leave and get back on the road. I'd been away from it for too long, and like Sarah had said, I was getting impatient.

The air was colder in the dark, so I tried to pull my hat lower and scarf tighter. Soon enough, I walked over a bridge, over the rails. My chest felt tight and I felt just like when I lost Stein. While I didn't cry, I did feel sad. Still, I didn't feel like sticking around, so I broke out into a run away from Jubilife.

.

Later, I found a good spot outside of Jubilife city, about two miles away, to set up camp. When I dropped my bag off, I let out Akuma so we could collect wood. I swear it was getting to be freezing temperatures. No doubt it would snow soon. Hopefully I could get home before then.

Akuma wasn't the one built for the cold, like Yami, but she was able to stand it well enough. She did have fur to protect against the air. When I told her to help collect wood, she was a bit reluctant to do work in the cold. After I told her it was for a fire, though, she snapped into action. Using her jaws in the absence of hands, she dragged the largest log she could find to the pit I'd made.

"Good job, Akuma. But next time bring me something a bit smaller?" I planned to use whatever she brought, but if she kept bringing me trees, I'd never get a fire going. Getting the picture, after giving Akuma a smaller branch, she began to bring back usable branches.

Soon enough, both Akuma and I had collected enough wood to start a fire. Of course, to start it, I pulled out a set of flint and steel from my bag. Scrapping the flint, it sent sparks across the dry leaves I'd placed around the wood. It took a few tries, as well as Akuma getting in the way to sniff the smoke, to light the fire.

It was pretty late by the time I laid out Sarah's blanket. Akuma recognized the scent of the blanket and laid down near me. For now, I sat down on it, taking off my hat and scarf. Even though I was tired, I couldn't sleep. At least, I didn't want to. Akuma went straight to sleep, but I just didn't feel it. I just wondered about Sarah.

She'd known I liked her, or so she said. Ever since we met, I'd been suppressing my crush on her. She also knew the dangers of actually getting into a relationship together. If we got too close, and if something happened to either of us, it wouldn't be that bad. It wouldn't get in the way.

After the Gate, I must've mistaken our relationship. I'd started to get careless. Now, I'd forced us to separate, and the next time I faced her, it might not be the same. Maybe it was for the best, but I hoped it wasn't. I liked the way she'd helped me my first day in Jubilife, when she herself didn't know how to help me. She was kind, pretty, and smart.

I took the time to actually examine my relationships, to see exactly how close I was to my friends. For Akuma, I was her trainer. I helped her, looked after her, and told her what to do to become better. Stronger. And I was also the only parental figure she'd ever had. For Thorn, it was similar. I'd caught him about a month ago, but I'd already helped him improve. And after leading him to victory, even though he'd been knocked out, he'd been congratulated as an equal to Akuma.

For July, though I hadn't seen her for a week, she was still my friend. I think. She probably thought I wasn't relevant, and more than likely already forgot about me. We'd traveled together for about a week before, but we'd only talked a few times.

And then there was Sarah. I realized we weren't that close. Even though we'd been traveling together for a month, it had felt longer than that. Which was probably why I'd overestimated how close I was to her. The last thing I remember, right before I fell asleep, was saying to myself how stupid I was.

.

In the morning, a chilly frost covered the surrounding grass and trees. I shivered, even though I was under a blanket and right next to Akuma. Getting up, I poked the ashes and considered starting the fire, but I decided not to. It'd cause too much trouble to put it out.

Instead, I bundled up and woke up Akuma, who was still sleeping. I nudged her with my foot, which was enough to make her try to bite it. Still, it woke her up. Once she realized it was me, she hung her head. It made me laugh, so I just patted her head. Forgiving her.

Soon enough, we were heading out onto the route to Floaroma, Route 204. Akuma was happy to be moving again, and it was satisfying to be moving again. The path was new to me, having took the train before. Even after being a trainer for such a short amount of time, I was starting to feel comfortable with the journey, no matter how cold it was.

I didn't like the cold, or the heat for that matter. Just a preference. While moving, even at a walk, the cold started to become something of an annoyance more than an actual hindrance. I held my hood closed with the strings and made sure my scarf was tight, which helped as well.

Trees without leaves were all around. Some of the trees were evergreens, but most lost their leaves a while ago. It made for less interesting scenery, but they were still trees. Come spring, the entire path would look gorgeous. Still, we passed them on the way towards Floaroma.

Akuma was pretty happy with just being able to scout out the path with her senses. It was good practice and kept her out of my hair. For the most part. She sometimes startled wild Pidoves in the trees or angered a Zigzagoon burrow, and I had to deal with it. Luckily, my knife came in handy. It felt strange to be holding it again, but the rubber grip was natural. It helped that the shape was formed to fit a human hand.

It was rare to see anyone on the path, this time of year they were either heading to Hearthome or training. That, or preparing for the upcoming holidays. When I did see someone, they either weren't in the mood to battle, or didn't even want to talk to me. They had business of their own.

I knew, as a trainer, you could demand a battle. It was something I was hesitant to do, because I had Akuma. Not many want to face off against a dragon. I didn't get my first Pokemon battle on Route 204 until near dusk. An younger boy wearing shorts called me out.

The fact he was wearing shorts in the late fall was just crazy. And since he'd challenged me, I wondered if he was even cold at all. When I walked up to shake his hand, I noticed his arm was stable. No shaking or shivering. It almost made me feel envious.

When he sent out a Drowsee, I almost laughed. Still, Akuma was my choice. I wouldn't go easy on an idiot. Young kids need to learn to pick their fights wisely. Even I knew that and I probably wasn't more than a few months older than him. A Psychic wouldn't last very long against a dark type, so a grin formed on my face.

What scared me was the kid's grin. He should've known as well as me, the fact he'd lose. Yet why was he smiling like that? I told Akuma to attack with her flames and bite it as many times as possible. The boy didn't even say a thing when the Drowsee sprung into action.

Once the Drowsee started waving it's hands and humming, Akuma started shaking her head. She didn't stop, but the humming seemed to be distracting her. Once in range, since the Drowsee wasn't moving around, she manifested shadowy fangs to bite it. Even though it was now bleeding out of it's side, it still moved it's hands and hummed.

Soon enough, Akuma let go of the Psychic and dropped to the ground. Asleep. The Drowsee had used it's signature move, Hypnosis. But that wasn't what surprised me most. While I called to Akuma to wake up, the yellow Psychic dropped a double karate chop on her.

While she was asleep, under the Psychic's control, she flinched in pain. I called out to Akuma louder before wondering what the kid was planning. It seems I'd underestimated the kid. I took out Akuma's Pokeball and returned her. Though it wasn't that great of an idea, I sent out Thorn against the Drowsee and let Akuma out next to me.

Thorn was immediately put into action. It seemed like he wasn't too happy about being in the cold, but seeing the enemy ahead, he knew what to do and acted. Two green blades grew out from him and he threw them at the Drowsee. One hit it in the snout, the other left a red gash near it's leg, standing out against the brown of it's skin.

While the attack seemed to have injured it, it was not close to actually defeating it. The boy didn't say a word, but I liked his silence. Otherwise, he'd most likely be telling me how sweet his Pokemon was, since he was winning. Hopefully, I could beat this Drowzee quickly.

With poison and spores at his disposal, Thorn could probably beat it in time. However, time was not kind. When Thorn tried to get close, the Drowsee began humming and moving it's arms in a erratic motion. It made Thorn fall and flinched, but he quickly recovered and released a cloud of yellow spores.

It begins to cough and spasm as it's muscles react to the spores. It was obvious the spores were annoying it, but for the most part, he could still move. Using it's powers, it began to attack Thorn with unseen hands. Reaching out with a tentacle, Thorn stabbed into the cut he'd made on the Drowsee's leg.

Though Thorn was hurting, with poison dripping unnaturally out of his thorns, he was still able to attack. I was even impressed. Watching, I saw the Drowsee begin to get tired while Thorn continued to with his tentacle. A flow of energy and possibly blood was transferred to Thorn, which repaired injuries as they opened.

Beside me, Akuma began to stir. Looking over for a second, I saw she was about to attack the Drowsee. While I would like to double team the Psychic, it was against the rules. I held Akuma back by grabbing her fur. She whined, but I guessed with Thorn on the field, it was his turn to fight. But I had to keep my eye on the battle.

It seemed to be a winning move, stealing the Drowzee's health, but after a few seconds it became obvious Thorn couldn't restore everything. His green body, while it was already paler in the winter, was becoming even lighter. It seemed that it would end with me losing, but when the Drowzee vanished, I sighed in relief.

Quickly, I returned Thorn to his Pokeball. He'd need to recover his health and strength before I'd train or battle with him. With Akuma by my side, I approached the kid in shorts. He still looked pretty confident for losing. Of course, he was also wearing shorts. No sane person could wear shorts this time of year, so I didn't say anything.

"You're pretty good. My Streis had a pretty tough time with your Budew. Thorn, you called it? Anyways, pretty good. Good strategy to heal faster than Streis could deal damage. Anyways, here's your cash." The boy pulled out his wallet and handed me 500 Pb. I took his money and pushed the money into my pocket.

"Hey, how'd you battle without saying a thing? It seems pretty special."

"Really? Man, my Pokemon is a Psychic. He talks to me in my head during the battle, so there's no need to talk at all. Helped me when I was catching him."

"Like, telepathy? I thought only more powerful Pokemon and trainers did that, battled without saying anything. That, or payed the money for that new translator chip. What was it called again?"

"No, you really are a newbie. Most Psychic Pokemon can use telepathy. But it's not like wild Pokemon can simply understand us instantly. They need to be taught to understand us. Lucky for me, Streis already knew how to."

"That's pretty cool. Anyways, good battle. Hope you do well. And don't catch a cold." Waving goodbye, Akuma and I went on our way down the route again. Back to the same boring scenery. My heart was still pumping heavily, but I stayed calm instead of yelling out my success.

.

That night, I set up camp near a small cliff. It wasn't that big of a drop, but it would be a difficult climb. I set to either breaking limbs off trees or collecting sticks from the ground for the fire. Akuma helped out by dragging over larger branches. She was intent on helping since Thorn had out preformed her.

Once I had a pile of sticks and dry grasses ready to be lit, I grabbed my knife and spare Pokeball before hiding my bag under some rocks. The cliff offered enough protection for that. Akuma heard me leaving, and quickly followed me into the trees.

It took a few minutes of looking around and Akuma's good nose to find a meal. It wasn't much, but all we had to do was stomp over a Rattata den. Three ran out to defend their nest, only to meet the fangs and claw from Akuma and I. I didn't stick around long enough to see if there were any more. I already had the meal planned out.

We returned victorious hunters and I quickly set to work striking the flint with steel. While it was hard to catch, the sparks eventually took to the grass and started burning at the wood. Soon enough, the fire was large enough to work with.

In the mean time, I got to work trying to skin and gutting the Rattata I'd kept, having feed two of the three to Akuma. It'd been a while since I killed something, so getting back into it made me shiver and slip with the knife. The rest of it went smoothly and I pulled off the skin in three parts. I'd almost fed the skin to her as well, before remembering that anything from a Pokemon had value.

After a quick impalement, I set to the boring process of cooking the meat. I had to watch it carefully, since it was a small creature, I had to be careful not to burn it. Or accidentally drop it. That'd be bad. While I didn't have much in terms of spices, I did my best to make the taste better. Grasses, berries, anything I had.

While the grass was a pale color, it was still a lively green. Sorta. I tore it up before it was thrown on the meat and I turned it. Some of it fell and burned in the fire while the rest was cooked into it.

After staring at a fire for so long, I was almost blind when I took the Rattata away. Sitting on one of the logs Akuma had dragged over, I realized I had no plate, no fork, nothing except for a bottle for water. A bit uncivilized, but I just shrugged and sank my teeth into the leg of the meat.

It wasn't too bad, but it was still a bit tough. It wasn't really that tasty like Miltank burgers, but I guess it was just a Rattata. Nothing special, not a tasty meat, I guess.

After eating enough for my fill, Akuma was always hungry. She happily ate what I didn't, which was close to about half. There honestly wasn't much meat on it to begin with, but it was meat. And Akuma was always hungry for meat. She sniffed my hand once she'd finished her Rattata.

I had to use my water bottle to clean up, but it made my face and hands feel like they were freezing. To warm up, I sat next to the fire to keep the cold away. Akuma, however, wanted to do something. She nudged my arm and made a weird sound. I smiled all the same. For a vicious dragon with blood on her face, she was pretty cute.

Telling her to do exercises was the only thing I could really do. Happily, she began to charge up electricity in her fur. I'm not exactly sure how it worked, but watching the hair begin to stand up made it clear what she was doing. Because she was right next to me, I felt a tingling in my arms in legs and made my fingers get twitchy, but it still wasn't very powerful.

Considering she'd only learned the move yesterday via TM, she was making great progress. I know I should've been proud, but I wanted it to be more powerful. It was supposed to stun the enemy, not give them electrotherapy. Instead, I ordered her to give it more. Push for something stronger. It looked like she was struggling to keep it up as she was, but she still tried.

All I got was a few more twitches in my arms before Akuma stopped. Her breath was coming quickly, but she still seemed eager to please. So, I told her to try her fangs at one of the trees for a while. Immediately, she ran to one of the trees and bit into it. I smiled before looking back into the fire.

There were too many things I was worried about while I was alone. Sarah and Akuma, I'd grown dependent on them both. Now, I needed to be on my own, like I'd originally planned. Of course, things, they don't always go as we expect. Hell, Akuma was never something I expected, but at least she worked out with only a few scars.

The embers rose out of the ashes when one of the branches snapped in half. Picking up one of the sticks from my wood pile, I poked at the ashes and ended up lighting the end of the stick on fire. Looking at it was fine enough, so I let it burn itself out. Once it was out, I started waving it around. The inside was revealed to still be burning, so it left blazing lines in my vision.

I played around with the burning stick for a while, until it stopped leaving lines. Then, I broke it in half and tossed the pieces into the fire. An extra log was placed on top, just to help it burn longer. I felt my chest, finding my heartbeat. Why did it still hurt? Why did I still feel bad about it? What was it that I could've done, could've said, to make her stay?

Suddenly, a sharp crackling noise came from behind me. I turned back to see Akuma still gnawing at the side of a tree, almost half way through the trunk of a huge tree.

"Akuma, stop. That's great work for today. Hopefully you'll get a real chance to battle tomorrow, alright?" She came over to me, still breathing hard and laid down next to me. I smiled and rested a hand on her neck, slowly moving it through her rough fur. It helped me calm down and focus my thoughts away.

As if sensing my thoughts shifting, Akuma lifted her head and sighed. Her weird sounds always were cute, even with the mess on her face. Now that I was looking at her, I decided it best to wash it off before it was a problem. I took out my water bottle and dumped most of it on her face and used my hand to pick off anything not Akuma. The rest I scrubbed off by hand.

She complained about the rough treatment, but I didn't have that much water. I had to get her clean, clean enough so I could sleep with her. I needed a dragon's warmth this time of Winter. I'd freeze otherwise.

After she was deemed clean enough, I helped her dry off with my sleeves. She seemed to enjoy being dry again, but she also seemed mad at me for making her cold. She tried to nip at my hands, but only managed to smack her face into my chest. I was lucky her horn was just for show.

Though the impact still knocked some wind out of me, I still knew she was only playing. So, I played back, making sure not to get too close to the fire. We pushed each other until my arms started feeling funny about fifteen minutes later. That's when I decided to call it a day.

I laid out the blanket and sat down on it. Akuma recognized it and walked over to me, collapsing on the blanket. Before wrapping myself in it, I checked my PokeDex for messages. There wasn't anything really of interest, so I put it in my bag and allowed Akuma to get comfortable before covering myself with the blanket.

Soon enough, the darkness started to draw me closer and I fell asleep.

.

The sounds of crackling and crunching sounded around the red forest as a large black and yellow feline stepped out of the trees. Constantly, the sound of something on the verge of shattering, cracking and snapping. Almost as if I was awake, I looked around for the source of the sound, but there was nothing.

All that I could see was the Luxray coming closer. It seemed to be larger than any other Luxray ever, but seeing it right there still made fear course through me.

As I tried to turn and run, I felt like syrup was swirling around my feet. I glanced back and only had time to see the jaws of the electric cat close down around me and the sound of cracking got louder. Lines crossed my vision as it felt like my head would split in half.

Almost crying out, I sat up in a cold sweat. My breath came in heavy pants and I shivered in the cold air. Akuma made a weird noise, but just rolled over. She was too busy sleeping to care about a dream.

I thought back to my dream and the moment I'd lost Stein. No tears came, I was past that, but it was still a depressing thing to think about. I didn't remember exactly how large the cats were, but I knew there'd been three Luxio as well. It seems like my mind is finding more ways to haunt myself.

Yawning, I decided to do something rather than fall back to sleep. While I was probably old enough to not be scared of nightmares, I knew I didn't want to go through that again. Being killed in a dream is still scary, no matter how old you are. And it was so vivid. It was as if it was real pain. The sounds were the same from the moment Stein shattered, replayed.

I'd thought since I'd buried him, Stein's soul could be at rest. As much as I tried to deny the religious side of it, I couldn't let go of the idea of souls. Putting them in the ground was just something you did, but laying them to rest was something of a religious thing, after burial. Shaking my head, I tried to shake the thought of a spirit haunting my dreams.

It's ridiculous, I know, but there were Ghost Pokemon. They were something of the supernatural, so it happened all the time. I just didn't want to think my Geodude died in some tragic way, the reason behind why I'd been having these dreams.

After a quick slap to the face, I dispelled the thought. I wasn't one for thinking these things out. Why was I worrying over a few bad dreams? The most likely caused was stress or something. Why was I so worried. I poked at the ashes and stared at the dimly lit clearing.

It was still dark, but the sky was a dull grey color with clouds over head. I had to check my PokeDex for confirmation, but it was only a few minutes passed six. While it was an idea to reignite the fire, it'd be a pain to stamp out. So, I settled by wrapping my blanket around me. Akuma didn't move move, still inside.

I waited for hours, in some sort of limbo between sleep and awake. It was like daydreaming. When Akuma finally woke up about two and a half hours later, I snapped out of it and decided it was time to head out. After a quick change of clothes and a drink of water, I packed up everything. Including an empty water bottle.

A few minutes after that, Akuma and I were on the road again. The sun didn't show, but it was bright enough to be considered day. It was almost nine, though. It was as good a time as ever to be traveling, rather than a frozen hell... Which is an oxymoron.

Less than a few minutes on the road, I heard a voice from behind me and turned to see a young man who looked a bit older than me. He was calling after me, causing me to stop and wait for him.

"Um, do I know you?" I didn't know the kid, but it was possible he'd seen my awesome fighting abilities back in Oreburgh or something.

"Not really, but I heard you were a tough trainer from a kid last night. Said you have a powerful Budew and Deino with you?" That crazy shorts kid!

"Oh, yeah. I remember the kid. Wore shorts. Yeah, those are my Pokemon. But I guess it'd be a long shot to ask your Pokemon, wouldn't it." I knew I was at a disadvantage from the moment the kid announced he knew my Pokemon. Still, it's not like I was one to back out. Not that easily.

"You'll have to do your digging like I did, if you want to know which Pokemon I have. One on one, you and me, no switches and no items. Sound good to you?" I didn't exactly know what he meant by items, but it sounded alright. It's not like I had anything to use anyways, so I just nodded.

Giving Akuma a small pat, I gave her the signal. She was up first. She instantly switched from playful Herdier to aggressive Mightyena in a heartbeat. The kid gave her a cautious glance, but seemed to assume she wasn't preparing to fight him. I wanted to keep my hand near her just in case.

"Oh, I'm Kael. This is Akuma. She's my starter Pokemon." The kid nodded and pulled out a blue and red Great ball. He pointed it beside him and released a large Heracross near him. It was at least four feet, from horn to claw, and it wasn't the friendliest looking thing in the world.

It's greyish carapace suggested it was old, but it was also very shiny. I guessed it wasn't that difficult to beat, being a bug. Akuma could burn straight through it. I just hoped it wasn't a hopeless fight.

"Alright, Akuma. You're turn. All you have to do is Breath on it, remember that." Immediately, Akuma opened her mouth and a jet of blue flame splashed over the shelled Heracross. While it wasn't exactly conditional or really acceptable to start a fight before the handshake, no one was really watching.

"Akuma! Wait!" I tried to right the wrong, but the young man held up his hand.

"It's fine. Just keep fighting!" Akuma had let off her flames for only a second, but instantly let them out again. Unfortunately, the Heracross wasn't there anymore. It had leapt into the air already and dove on her. It tried to pin her with it's horn, but Akuma was able to slip out from underneath. It wasn't quite strong enough to keep her motionless.

Yelling out, I ordered her to attack with her teeth with such close quarters. With dark fangs, Akuma tried to pierce the hard shell. While the teeth she used were darkened and similar to an illusion, they weren't nearly as sharp as I'd have liked. They barely cracked the shell.

In response to being bitten, the Heracross used it's shelled arm to smack Akuma in the back. She wavered a bit and retreated to receive new orders. I quickly called for another trip to the oven. It was mostly just a constant barrage of fire from there. Akuma could keep it up as long as she had to.

The Heracross obviously couldn't take much of her hot breath for too long. It quickly jumped around to avoid any damage. Outside of four meters and it was safe. I quickly realized Akuma's range when the bug leapt away from her and she tried to extend them to reach it. Until the four meter point.

Finding out about the extent of Akuma's power and range, the kid seemed to know how to exploit it. He ordered his Heracross to stay out of the four meter range. Following my own orders, Akuma attempted to attack the bug at any opportunity, but every time she tried, she got attacked from the side while she tried to accurately determine it's location.

She had to pause before attacking to listen and feel where the Heracross was coming from before unleashing the fire. While it helped in accuracy, it was slower than any Pokemon with sight. I felt it might come in handy later, but now it was a disadvantage.

"Akuma, stop aiming! Just attack!" Suddenly, Akuma started spewing fire in every direction. She was almost entirely surrounded by a veil of blue embers. While the Heracross tried to attack, it had to pass through the fire. Once the Heracross was close enough, Akuma had enough to go on to Headbutt it.

After taking heat and fire to the body, it's shell had apparently weakened. After taking one of Akuma's headbutts to the side, the shell crumpled under the force. It collapsed on the ground and the kid had to return it.

"Man, your Deino is pretty good. Akuma, you called it? Well, good fight, even if you disobeyed the rules of battling. By the way, my name is Jonas." He held out his hand, now that the fighting is over. "Might as well shake now than later. Am I right?" Shrugging, I shook hands with him.

"So, Jonas. Have you challenged the Gym in Oreburgh yet, or were you just traveling?"

"Already beat him," he smugly said, displaying the Coal Badge.

"Sweet. Hope to see you around in at a Gym or something." Waving goodbye to Jonas, I continued down the Route. It was still boring scenery, same dead trees and pale grass. I'm not sure where Jonas left, but when I looked back, he was walking towards Jubilife.

Akuma seemed to be fine, but she was also tired. I had no choice but to return her to her Pokeball if I wanted to keep up a good pace. And so, that day, I spent most of it simply walking. Alone. In the cold. The only person I saw was Jonas, making it to date, the most boring day ever.

And here I was thinking my day had started out great...

.

For dinner, I found a small herd of Deerling. Akuma had recovered enough to hunt with me and came in handy when trying to defeat a Pokemon bigger than her. When I came out from behind one of the trees, I'd scared the Deerling straight into Akuma, who attacked one of them by tackling it before biting it's throat out.

While it did leave a bloody mess, she was a lot stronger than me. Akuma was able to keep the struggling and dying Deerling against the ground until it bled out. Then she dug in, tearing apart the meat and taking her portion. While she was always ready to eat, this was a Pokemon just as large as she. The math didn't add up right if she even tried to eat one by herself.

I had to turn away from the sight and cover my ears. The sounds weren't particularly fun to listen to. It was really just wet chewing and slopping noises. The sight was something that made me uncomfortable. I'm not sure why just uncomfortable and not nauseated like Sarah.

Once finished, Akuma dragged the corpse over to me. I was careful on where I put my hand to pat her, because there was blood everywhere on her. Seriously, how'd she get it on her tail?

Dragging a corpse of a Deerling isn't very fun, but carrying it on my shoulder was gross. I'd rather not have blood all over my clothes. Akuma followed me to a small river. It wasn't too easy to find, but the sound of water was easy to track once we did discover it.

I quickly set to work in salvaging what meat I could and noticed the horns. They were small, but poked out under it's flower. I used the tip of my knife to smash through horn material. It was difficult to separate them from the Deerling. Finally, when they were off, I was holding two inch long horns.

While they weren't too big, they'd still be worth something. Akuma wasn't sure what I was doing, but still sniffed around. I didn't really understand what I was doing half the time, meaning I wasn't exactly clean in cutting off the horns. I set them aside and "expertly" pulled the meat off the bone.

My small metal pot wasn't really meant to hold half a Deerling, but I did use a fair bit of it. I collected some water inside my bottle and dumped several fills of it. I still didn't have any spices, but I was able to find some grass that looked edible. I ripped up a few blades and sprinkled it into the water.

Then it was time for the cooking. I collected several branches off the surrounding trees and ground. Akuma tried to help again and brought back several shards of the branches she found. She mostly looked for smaller sticks, like I'd asked, but was took strong for her own good. Each one just broke apart every bite.

After I had everything set up and I had the flint in my hand, I remembered something I should've realized sooner. Akuma had her Breath, allowing her to spit fire. As in, something to burn wood.

"Hey, Akuma? Can you try your Dragon's Breath and, uh, light the fire?" Looking from me to the pile, Akuma was hesitant to actually breath on the wood. She didn't actually know where her opponent was, but I helped her direct the fire into my stack of branches.

Soon enough, I had a healthy yellow fire. I had to let it die down a bit. Akuma's fire was way more intense than I'd planned, so it was hard to control it at first. After it was under my control and burned out to a more usable size, I was able to carefully lay the pot in the fire.

It was pretty easy to cook a soup and it was ready pretty soon. It was a quick hot meal out of the pot without a spoon, while it was pretty difficult, it tasted okay. Not much flavor anyways. Akuma wasn't really in the mood to finish the remaining corpse, so I was forced to dig a hole to bury it.

I trained with Akuma for a while, and also let out Thorn, but he seemed to still be recovering from yesterday's match. Akuma was making progress with her strength and speed, but her accuracy wasn't as good as I'd expected. And in terms of her Thunder Wave, it was able to make me lose the use of my fingers and make it difficult to use my legs, as well as a tingle all over my body. But the only downside of it, she couldn't expand the field very far. It could only reach out about three or four feet from her. While I wanted it to be used it combat, Akuma couldn't use it to fully paralyze.

Thorn wasn't really able to train, but he did try. While his spores could fully paralyze, it was resistible. With Akuma's Thunder Wave, not much could resist that. It was electricity, the thing that moved muscles, so unless there was no way for the muscle to move, it could be detained with Thunder Wave. This is why his spores weren't something to always rely on. Instead, I ordered him to either practice his accuracy and agility, or go and rest.

.

Every day, for the next three days, went similar to today. There were only a few trainers willing to fight. Akuma was a bit impatient with no fighting going on. But she was still alright with walking with me. I woke up early, hunted with her for dinner at night, walked all day, and trained after dinner.

On the morning of the fifth day, I noticed it was much colder than ever. By the weather on my PokeDex, it was at least five degrees below freezing. As such, I made sure my hat and scarf were tight and my hoodie as well. Akuma was alright with it, but she tended to stick close to me.

The road was as boring as ever. Nothing really changed, expect that more mountains and cliffs the nearer I got to Floaroma. There wasn't really much to look at, no people, and hardly any Pokemon. Akuma just sniffed around, bugging a few burrows, and generally caused trouble.

It wasn't until around noon that anything happened. It was Akuma that first noticed it, even being blind. She started screeching as small white flakes began to fall from the sky. I was surprised by her noise and saw the snow falling. While I could deal with the cold air, frozen water was not very fun.

I tried to go faster, because sleeping out in the snow was not nice. Just thinking and imagining what it would be like, sleeping in my blanket. In fact, just trying to light a fire would be a pain in the ass. As such, I did NOT want to be caught in the snow. With Floaroma as close as it was, I deemed it alright.

Akuma kept up, but bit at the snow flakes as they fell on her. I wasn't too bothered yet, but the ice was starting to melt. So, I continued to rush.

Soon enough, buildings started to pop up as I got closer to my hometown. I began to see more people, more concrete, and more lights. While it wasn't too dark yet, clouds had been covering the sky for days. I'd gotten used to it being darker every day and could almost accurately judge the time.

By the time I'd gotten close to the border of Floaroma, I paused to talk to Akuma. She wasn't very comfortable in the snow anyways, but I still wanted to make sure she was ready to be put in her Pokeball for a while. I didn't know when I'd be able to take her out again, so it was best to talk it over.

"Hey, Akuma. This is it. Going past this point means you'll have to be in your Pokeball. I'm not sure when we'll be able to train again, but I hope it'll be as soon as possible. Are you ready, Akuma?" Akuma started making noises, like she didn't want to. "Akuma, please? You'll be able to fight and eat after I get things sorted. Promise?"

After I'd made the deal with her, she seemed to calm down. She didn't like it, as expected, but she was willing. She wouldn't be too angry with me later. I hope. I patted her on the head, messing up her horn, before I returned her. Sighing, I walked through town alone.

While I'd lived here for years, the streets were still like a maze to navigate. Luckily, I had my PokeDex to help me find my way. The map helped me find my way around. Before too long, I found myself in a familiar neighborhood and I saw the houses I'd walked by for over a year.

Stepping up to the fence, I saw a tarp was over several trees and bushes, protecting them from the snow. The same house I'd lived in a month ago was right in front of me, waiting for me to knock on the door. The same plan had been going through my mind several times, but why couldn't I just do it?

Sure, you could say I was afraid, but for a good reason. My father had said before I'd left he'd refuse to let me in if I came back, but that was only if I was giving up. Breathing, I walked up to the front steps of the house and smacked my knuckles against the wood of the door.

---

Alright, cliffhanger! I really liked the Gym fight scene, simply because it was my first one. The fight was somewhat more laid back than I'd thought, but I couldn't really change it once I'd written it. It just felt right, so I'm keeping it. But he got the badge and stuff. Kael is on the right path of becoming Champion.

Sarah is the Sheila of my story, yes, but to me, I was moving too fast. So, I separated them. I know some people might not like that, but it makes it feel more real worldly. (real word) They aren't that close yet. Then there is also heartbreak. Any and every teenager goes through that. And, yes, so have I.

I hope you guys enjoyed. Since you've read this far, that really means a lot. So, thank you. Leave a review if you have any sort of comment or anything, because I want to know what you think of my story. Be honest, I can take it.

Current Pokemon

Trainer: Kael Lorano; SI863FL239A

Pokemon in Possession:

Akuma - Deino

Thorn - Budew

Trainer: Sarah O'Perr; SI772SP8HN

Pokemon in Possession:

Perry - Dedene

Yami - Sneasel