March 12, 2010

Wild Area Several Miles Outside of Motostroke, Galar

James, Abby, Vik, Leon and Hop had all just finished their lunch break as Leon had stood up and stretched his arms out. He glances over at the others with his usual grin on his face.

"Alright guys, it's time for you all to try and catch a wild pokemon. It's just as important to catch pokemon as it is to battle with them. You can hold up to six pokemon at once and it is vital to build an awesome team if you plan to become an expert battler!" He explains with excitement as Hop once again facepalms.

"You and your obsession with battling brother." He sighs disappointedly but then laughs a little afterwards. "But besides battling, trainers catch pokemon to help aid them in their goals,whatever that may be. For example, I have several more pokemon besides my Dubwool. And all of them help me with Sonia's research."

"Exactly, and catching one usually isn't too difficult. The most common way to catch a pokemon is to battle it and then catch it once it's weakened. So here, I'm going to gift you all with several pokeballs and I want you to try and catch a wild pokemon." Leon says as he hands each a few pokeballs.

"So…we are to just do it ourselves rather than you demonstrate?" Abby was a little confused at the sudden rush into action.

"Personally, I feel like it's better you all get some practice rather than me showing you. But me and Hop can help you all if you need it." Leon assures her as she looks down at the device before nodding. "But for now, let's have some of us split off to search different areas for Pokemon. So how about Abby going with Hop while James and Vik go with me?"

"Sure, that works with me" Vik replies as Abby nods.

"Let's get moving then!" James said feeling rather pumped as the group heads out into the wild area.

*Timeskip*

Abby and Hop were walking through the forest when Hop put his arm out signaling for her to stop. He then points to a patch of grass that was rustling a little and a racoon like pokemon had emerged from the rustling grass.

"Looks like a simple catch for you. That's a Zigzagoon, a pokemon that originated from the Hoenn region." He says taking out his Rotom phone and scanning the pokemon before showing her the screen. "Here, this is what the Pokedex says about it."

Zigzagoon, the tiny racoon to be the oldest form of Zigzagoon, it moves in zigzags and wreaks havoc upon its surroundings. The Pokedex reads off to her as Abby seemed a little intrigued.

"Huh, so why am I seeing two different forms of it here?" She questioned as he chuckled.

"The brownish fur is a result of the pokemon adapting to the atmospheric conditions of other regions such as Hoenn or Sinnoh." Hop explained as Abby nodded in response.

"Okay…I think I'm going to try and catch it." She said firmly as she looked at her shoulder to see Grookey who gave her a little wave. "Let's do this Grookey."

Grookey let out an energetic cry as it jumped off her shoulder, ready to engage the Zigzagoon. The Zigzagoon growls out in response and rushes toward Grookey.

"Umm…use growl to disorientate it!" She commands as Grookey lets out a harsh screech which causes Zigzagoon to stop completely in its tracks as Grookey then runs to swipe at it with his twig. The attack landed as the opposing Zigzagoon shook a little from the impact. Zigzagoon then began to let out a loud snarl.

"Dodge it!" She commands as Grookey manages to jump out of the way. "Okay…use razor leaf!"

Grookey sends several sharp leaves towards the Zigzagoon who was dodging in between each of the leaves until it was face to face with Grookey. The two have a small clash as the Zigzagoon was trying to headbutt Grookey while he was trying to push the Zigzagoon back.

"Keep fighting back Grookey! He has to get tired soon!" She shouts out as Grookey continues to hang on the best he can. The Zigzagoon slowly begins to lose the clash as Grookey pushes further and further until he pushes his opponent onto his back. "Now branch poke!"

Grookey proceeds to use his branch to poke at the vulnerable Zigzagoon who takes hit after hit until it manages to roll off his back. He then glances over at Grookey before he falls to the ground from the amount of damage he had sustained. Abby glances at Hop who nods as she takes out a pokeball and tosses it at the weakened pokemon. The Zigzagoon disappears into the capsule as it shakes once…twice…and then three times before it remains still. Abby then rushes to the device and picks it up.

"I actually did it! I caught it!" She screams with joy as Grookey climbs up her leg and onto her shoulder. "You did great out there Grookey."

Grookey nuzzles against her as Hop chuckles a little.

"Good job. But yeah, catching one is that simple. For now, let's regroup with the others and you can show them the new pokemon you caught." Hop says to her as she nods and the two walk off to find Leon and the others.

Meanwhile, Leon and Vik were looking around an open field when they ran into a wild Blipbug.

"Alright, that seems like an easy pokemon to serve as your lesson on catching. Go on Vik, it's all yours!" Leon encourages him as Vik shrugs and sends out Riolu.

"Alright, use quick attack!" He commands as Riolu dashes at full speed towards the enemy Blipbug and manages to strike at the opponents weak spot. "Excellent, keep up that offense and this will be an easy capture."

Riolu keeps using quick attack to slowly weaken the enemy Blipbug, who hasn't had much of a chance to retaliate. It endured two more quick attacks before the Blipbug started to struggle around and actually hit Riolu with its attack. Riolu is weakened slightly from the attack, but stands up to continue fighting as its claws turn to steel and it slashes at the opposing Blipbug. Riolu's superior speed allowed him to knock the opposing Blipbug down as Vik could see an opening. He takes out a pokeball and throws it at the Blipbug as it hits the Pokemon. It vanishes into the tiny capsule and begins to shake. It shakes once…twice…three times before the capsule remains still as the two watch in anticipation. The pokeball then makes a quiet but audible clicking noise as Leon grins and nods at Vik.

"And that's how it's done! Good work there Vik." He says as Vik chuckled and went to grab the capsule.

"This is only the beginning." He declares as he turns to Leon. "I will become stronger and face you in battle."

"Great, I'm looking forward to that." He grins again before his expression changes to a confused one. "Also, where is James? I swear he was not too far behind us."

"Good question…I don't really know." He glanced around but James was nowhere to be seen.

"We should go take a quick look around the area. He shouldn't have ran off too far." Leon responds as the two head back the way they came to search for James.

Meanwhile, James had heard a strange sound when both Leon and Vik were too focused on the wild Blipbug. He heard it coming from a small breach in the bushes as he followed the sound. Running as fast as he could, he could hear the sound of a small explosion in the distance followed by the cry of a pokemon which only increased his worry about what was going on. When he found a clearing, he hid behind a tree as he saw a man with a massive three headed dragon who was staring down a very tiny pokemon that resembled a ghostly spirit. The latter seemed to be very weak as it barely hovered over the ground when the man spoke up.

"Don't waste my time dammit! So if a weakling drake like you continues to not show any results, then I have no use for you. Hydreigon, punish it with dark pulse!"

What the hell does he think he's doing!? That pokemon is badly hurt! James thought as he glanced down at his little Scorbunny who glanced out at the weakened pokemon with concern. "Scorbunny…we need to do something."

Scorbunny felt the same way as he dashed towards the ghost pokemon and jumped up to push it out of the dark pulse beam. The pokemon worriedly stared at Scorbunny as both it and Scorbunny were able to dodge the dark pulse attack. The man just glares at the two Pokemon as James rushes out of the bush.

"What do you think you're doing!? What did this pokemon ever do to you!?" He demands as the man tsks.

"What's it to you? This has nothing to do with you." He just glares at James who was getting angry.

"So you expect me to just stand idly while someone abuses a poor defenseless pokemon!? Like hell I would!"

"Hmph…damn fool. You shouldn't get involved in my affairs if you know what's good for you. A weakling like you should learn their place in society." He chuckles as his Hydreigon begins to charge up a powerful beam. "I don't have time for this s*. Hydreigon, finish off those weak pokemon"

Hydreigon continued to charge up its beam attack as both Scorbunny and the ghost pokemon froze in fear of the attack. James quickly pulls out his pokeball and attempts to recall Scorbunny when he feels himself tense up from sheer panic.

"Use superpower!" Both James and the individual could hear as a massive boar pokemon jumps out from the forest and slams its powerful body into Hydreigon before it could fire off the attack. Hydreigon struggles to recover from the powerful fighting type attack as it glares at the boar pokemon and a young man with crimson hair and blue eyes steps out from the bush. He then glances over at James. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him. Ready Emboar?"

"Why you little…who are you!?" The Hydreigon trainer demands.

"The Unovan champion. Is that good enough?" He smirked a little as the Hydreigon trainer froze when he heard the word, champion.

"Why the hell is Unova's champion here?" He questions. "No…you have to be bluffing. Hydreigon! Blast this pig away with a hydro pump!"

Hydreigon releases a powerful stream of water that zooms straight toward Emboar who then unleashes a barrage of arm thrusts which are able to break through the hydro pump and weaken the impact. Emboar then stomps the ground and ignites itself in flames before dashing to Hydreigon before jumping into the air like a meteor.

"Emboar! Crush the dragon using heat crash!" His trainer commands as Emboar lands onto Hydreigon, forcing the dragon onto the ground as it succumbs to the weight of Emboar's body. "Now use hammer arm back to back while it's down!"

Emboar then proceeds to slam his arms down onto Hydreigon's outer heads as the dragon suffers major damage from the super effective blows. Its trainer growled in frustration as he was losing the fight. Hydreigon unleashes an attack with its three heads as it releases fire, ice and electric beams that all strike Emboar and throw him off of Hydreigon. Feeling the damage it has taken, Hydreigon soars up from the ground as its wings flap slower and slower.

Emboar then roars as three massive rocks appear above the enemy Hydreigon and land directly on the dragon before it could react. Hydreigon makes one attempt to break free before it collapses from exhaustion.

"Looks like I won. So now what?" The crimson haired man crossed his arms as the Hydreigon trainer recalled his pokemon in anger.

"Damn you…you'll pay for meddling in my affairs!" He mutters as he walks away as Emboar was ready to chase him, but was stopped by his trainer.

"Let him go Emboar. We'll take care of him later." He then glances toward James. "You alright there?"

"Uh…yeah. I'm fine. Thanks for the help." James slowly regains his composure. "But are you really a champion!?"

"Well,yes and no to be more precise. It's a long story that I should save for another date. Anyways, I'm Alistair. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I'm James. I just recently became a trainer." He responds as Alistair smiles.

"Those were the good old days. Cherish each journey you take with Pokemon by your side. It's the best experience you could ever have hoped for." He explains as Emboar gave him a nod.

James then went over to the ghost pokemon and knelt down. "Are you okay little one?"

The pokemon looks around to see that the Hydreigon trainer was gone as it gave James a small nod. He smiles, feeling glad that it was safe and sound as he puts his hand forward to pat its head, but hesitates for a moment. The pokemon then rested its head against James hand as James chuckled a little before pulling his hand away. The pokemon then flies over to James' pocket as one of his spare pokeballs drops out onto the ground. He then pushes it towards James.

"I think it really wants you to catch it, James." Alistair comments.

"O-Oh! Do you want to come with me?" He asks the pokemon as it gives him a nod. "Well okay."

He then picks up the capsule and taps it against the pokemons head as it disappears into the capsule. It shook three times before stopping completely, signaling that it was captured.

"Hell yeah!" James shouts out as he holds out the pokeball in the air. "Well, thanks for the help again Alistair. But I really should go find my friends."

"Mind if I accompany you? I'm heading back to Motostroke and I can help you find your friends."

"Sure thing." He says as he could hear the sound of leaves crunching under someone's foot as Leon burst through the bush with his Charizard. He appeared out of breath.

"Finally…I found where you…ran off to." He takes a moment to catch his breath. "Please don't run off like that again James. We were worried when we realized you split off from me and Vik."

"Sorry Leon, I just heard a Pokemon's cry for help and I just couldn't let that go." He explained as Leon chuckled a little.

"It's fine man. Just please be more careful in the future." He says before glancing at Alistair. "Also who is this?"

"I'm Alistair. Just a wandering trainer from the Unova region." He explains as Leon nods.

"That's cool. I've heard Unova is a nice place." Leon smiled as he suddenly remembered something. "Alistair…wait…aren't you Unova's champion?"

"Yes sir, I was Unova's reigning champion after I defeated Alder roughly four years ago."

"It's very good to meet a fellow champion. I'm Galar's champion, Leon."

"A pleasure to meet you Leon." the two shake hands.

Vik appears from out of the bush as Leon then starts to walk away from the area. "But let's head on back to Motostroke. I'm sure both Abby and Hop are waiting for us to come back."

"Leon! I think you are heading the wrong way!" Vik calls out to him as Leon suddenly begins to run the opposite direction.

A/N: Hello, I know it's been a while since I last published something for this story. I've been so busy with work that I've had very little time to work on this. But I'm trying to be a bit more consistent with publishing chapters so I appreciate your patience.