Alyssa recalled Jangmo-o, her lower lip held in a defiant frown as she scowled at me. Yikes, if looks could kill. But I wouldn't let her ruin this for us. We'd done it, Tyrogue and I had beaten Jangmo-o, a foe I had thought impossible for us.

I ran onto the field to check on Tyrogue, who'd collapsed and rolled over onto his back. He was badly burned and that bite on his shoulder looked nasty. But he was smiling, grinning ear to ear. I couldn't blame him, I was happy too, and I was incredibly proud of how hard he'd fought and trained. I didn't want to touch him for fear of aggravating his wounds, so I knelt down to him with the Pokeball in hand.

"You fought so well, you were incredible Tyrogue. I'll get you to the Center so they can take care of you, ok?"

"Ty…", he muttered meekly.

I recalled him to his Pokeball and I noticed Alyssa stomping towards me with Hayden in tow, who looked incredibly amused. It was odd to me that Hayden often looked to be laughing both with and at Alyssa. I stood up to talk to them.

"Good bat-", I began before the girl cut me off.

"Oh, fuck off with that shit. How long were you researching me? My team? Spent the last week coming up with a plan just to fight Momo? Let's do it again, I'll kick your ass." she ranted, pulling another ball among the three on her belt.

"Tyrogue is my only Pokemon. And you picked a fight with me. It's not my fault you can dish it out but can't take it." I snapped back.

Her jaw trembled, but Alyssa didn't have a response to that. Hayden however, found all of this hilarious, laughing audibly.

"Shut up Hayden, it's not like you battled him!", she finally snapped.

"Girly, I didn't battle him because I don't have anything to prove. You're the one worried about your reputation.", he replied. "And last I checked, you still owe our boy here some money." His words were smooth, but they were far more potent than anything Alyssa or I had been throwing. That definitely shut her up real quick.

"Fine!", she yelled. She pulled a fistful of bills from the pockets of her jeans and threw them at me, the money scattering to the ground around me before turning on her heel and storming off.

Hayden smiled, "Well, it was a pleasure watching you battle Titus but I have to stop Alyssa from picking another fight. I'll see you later.", he said before winking and sauntering off after his friend.

I stooped down to collect the scattered bills, and there was a surprising amount there, almost 1500 Pokedollars in scattered bills. It was probably money she'd taken from Trainers that couldn't stand up to her and her dragon.

I remembered my own Pokemon, and took off out of the arena to get him to the Center.

"He's hurt, but nothing we can't deal with. Should be fine to pick him up by tomorrow afternoon." the Nurse Joy stated to me, reading off of the clipboard in her hand.

I had sprinted to the Pokemon Center, both for Tyrogue's well-being and because he wouldn't be happy if I'd skipped a workout. I thanked the nurse and left the Center. I had waited there for around an hour to know what sort of shape he was in.

It was a little after noon, so I went wandering around the city for a bit. I wasn't going anywhere in particular, I just needed to move or do something. It felt weird not having my Pokemon with me, but this was going to be a regular occurrence so I may as well get used to it now.

I found myself in one of the many shopping plazas, but even on a Tuesday afternoon it was still crowded. I hadn't eaten lunch, so I stopped at a food truck nearby, bought a burrito and sat down at a bench nearby. With my phone in hand, I decided to do some research on the ferry prices from Jubilife to Canalave, and found it wasn't too bad. I bought a roundtrip ticket online with my Trainer account, and it was saved to my phone. It was good until next June, which was good to know if I needed to use the ferries again. There was a chance I might not ever have a flight-capable Pokemon, though most Trainers opted to force one into their team somehow for the convenience of flying. If I'd walked the entire region before, I'd probably be quick to switch to flying as well.

The next order of business was hunting down information about Tyrogue's evolution. I actually knew very little about how he evolved, or how his evolution was decided. Online research turned into a mixed bag. One person claimed that it was pre-determined and that they'd evolve into the form they were meant for, like destiny. Another person of course, debunked this, stating that his uncle worked for the League and he was an expert on Fighting Type Pokemon and that the evolution hinged on nutritional supplements. A third person stated that it was based on the moves they'd learned as a Tyrogue. I'd finished my burrito at this point, and I had basically given up. I would just be happy if he ever evolved, the form didn't matter to me. Hitmonlee were supposed to be incredible on the offensive, Hitmonchan excelled defensively and Hitmontop was a mix of the two but excelled at speed and supportive moves.

Ironically, my continued walk around the city landed me at Lucky Andy's Taphouse. There were lights on and I stepped inside, the jingle of the bells serenading me.

"Hey, what can I- Titus? What are you doing in my bar, and where's Tyrogue?" Glen barked.

"He's getting healed up at the Pokemon Center." I answered before explaining everything that had gone down with Alyssa and Jangmo-o.

"That was ballsy of you, kid. That dragon could'a done a lot worse, believe me." the old man muttered, wiping down the bar with a towel. "And actually, where's that other kid you were gonna battle with the Machop? Anthony?"

"I…I don't know." I stuttered. I realized I'd ran out of there without actually saying a word to him. "I was so worried about Tyrogue that I ran to the Pokemon Center without talking to him."

Glen scratched his chin and threw the towel over his shoulder. "It's probably better that you didn't."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"He beat you handily a few days ago, right? So you show up again ready to battle him but instead you flatten the person that made mincemeat outta him. That's a double whammy if I ever heard it. He lost twice in one day, kid, how do you think his pride's doing right now?"

Shit. He was right. I knew I was doing right by letting Tyrogue take on a powerful opponent but I hadn't considered what that might do to Anthony. He watched Machop get beaten down by Alyssa's Jangmo-o, then I made it worse by taking her on and beating her myself. I wasn't close to him but still, he probably wasn't feeling too great in his abilities as a Trainer after that.

"My advice," Glen spoke up, "Would be to leave him alone. Don't go lookin' for him, I mean it. Any words from you right now, no matter how friendly, are gonna be salt on his wounds."

Again, he was right. If the roles were reversed, I wouldn't want to talk to anyone, much less be consoled by the person that had just leapfrogged all of the progress and training I had been making.

"Let's change the subject, it's gettin' weird in here. Where're you headed first?" the old man grumbled.

"Canalave. Gonna take the ferry there." I stated confidently.

"Really? Byron as your first Gym? He might be an old fart but y'know he's used to dealing with punks like you that think the type matchup will carry them."

"How do you know I'll lose? You've never even seen Tyrogue battle!" I protested.

"Don't matter, he picks the wrong 'Mon for you and it's game over, kid. Look, just go to Oreburgh like the rest of the first years and take on Roark. Plenty of time between here and there to catch your next team member and get it ready for the Gym battle."

I stood up from the bar, and looked at him. "I can't do that. I bought the ferry ticket already, and maybe I'm being stubborn but I have to do this my way. Thank you for the advice." I turned away and walked out before he could try to dissuade me further.

I knew that Glen meant well of course, but it wasn't going to convince me otherwise. I didn't know if things would work out taking the path I'd chosen, but I still had to try, right?

The following day during the afternoon, I retrieved Tyrogue from the Center and released him out onto the city street. I knelt down to him, and he whipped around to find me. I raised a fist to him and he bumped his tiny pink knuckles against my own, grinning.

"You were incredibly out there. What was that thing you did at the end, with the Dragonbreath?" I asked him.

Tyrogue tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders.

I pulled out the Pokedex and scanned him again.

Tyrogue, the Scuffle Pokemon

Type: Fighting

Evolutions: Hitmonchan (no further information), Hitmonlee (no further information), Hitmontop (no further information)

Tyrogue are known for their seemingly boundless energy. They will eagerly take on more powerful foes and grow frustrated when they do not train or battle.

Ability: Steadfast (click for more information)

Learned Moves: Tackle, Double Kick, Fake Out, Dizzy Punch, Mach Punch, Swift, Mimic, Helping Hand, Focus Energy, Foresight

Potential Moves: Pursuit, Low Kick, Counter, Feint, Endure, Rapid Spin, Vacuum Wave, Bullet Punch, Hi-Jump Kick, Brick Break,... (click for more information)

And there it was, plain as day. Mimic was listed in his moves, and I was as dumbfounded as the moment he'd shown it off.

"I'm still baffled, how did you teach yourself Mimic?" I muttered to myself, scratching my head as I looked from the Pokedex to my starter. I put the digital encyclopedia away and stood up, stretching my arms overhead.

"It's a good tool to have though, so let's not discount it. Come on, it's our first day and we're headed for the west gate."

"Ty!"

It took a little while to navigate the city and actually make it out of the western gate. It was the afternoon now, and though the tradition was to leave for the first day of the Circuit in the morning, we'd gotten a bit of a late start. I didn't see any Trainers leaving through the west gate but I wasn't about to let that discourage me. The western area outside of Jubilife was mostly made up of a treeline and the lake shore that fed into the ocean to the north. There were a few buildings, a Ranger station and a fishing boat rental whose sign featured a large footprint for some reason. There was also the ferry station, but to my dismay, the boat in question wasn't there. I approached the ticket booth, where a bored looking man in his twenties was flipping through the pages of a comic book.

"Excuse me, where's the ferry?" I asked.

"Sorry, it won't be back until the evening. You'll have to wait or take your chances swimming across." he said with very little life in his voice before flicking a page and looking up at me. "That was a joke, don't try to swim across the lake. There's Gyarados and shit in there. It'll be back by 7 or 8 at the latest.

It was almost 2:30 now, so nearly five hours I had to kill in the meantime. "Alright, thanks anyway." I said to the ticket attendant.

Tyrogue and I walked from the pier back down to the shoreline of the lake. Around thirty feet back, the treeline began and underbrush grew around it. As we walked in the sand, Tyrogue looked behind him and realized he was leaving footprints. I took off my socks and boots and emptied my pockets into my backpack before setting it down away from the water. I stepped into the cold lake water, letting it come up to under my knees before turning to Tyrogue, who'd been rooted to the sand of the shore just watching me. I smiled before cupping both hands and scooping the water and throwing it in his direction. He sidestepped it before trudging into the water himself and smacking the surface of it, splashing both of us in the process. Tyrogue laughed, and I found myself doing the same. I tumbled backwards into the water, disappearing into the murk as Tyrogue tried to look around for me. I grabbed him by the midsection, hoisting him up into the air as I laughed. He laughed, partially amused and partially in protest but I tossed him into the shallows of the water nearby. The Fighting Type surfaced, laughing again and enjoying the fun in the water. Suddenly, a continuous stream of cold water landed on the top of my head. I nearly jumped out of my skin in terror as I turned to face my attacker…

Nothing. I didn't see anything. I looked left, right and above me but it was just the open expanse of the lake in front of me. I thought I was hallucinating until I turned to look down and back at Tyrogue and something caught my eye.

A bright blue headfin, large eyes and orange…cheek fins? I think they might've been gills but I wasn't sure. Its head was poking out of the water, cocked to the side just staring at me.

"Kip?"