"We should be there before lunch." Harry said, mostly to himself, looking down at the town map in his hands. The dual-screen device had been sent by Professor Sycamore, it was a new model that had recently been released in the Kalos region. Along with the map and current location shown on the left hand screen, the right hand screen could be used for a variety of other uses, including internet access that would allow Harry to look up information and upcoming events happening in and around any location Harry was traveling to.

It had been several days since Harry had left on his journey, and he had decided to make a detour from his route to Jubilife City and was making his way to a town to the south of Jubilife; Enlightenment Town. The town was located on the opposite side of Bewilder Forest, an area known for its abundance of Stantler.

He had seen a few of the deer like Pokemon and had had to battle of few off, along with various other wild Pokemon on the road.

As Harry made his way down the dirt path, Sylveon at his side, he couldn't really shake the surreal feeling that this was all really happening. He hadn't felt this way in a while since first coming here, at first he had felt like it was some sort of dream then, there had been... that night, and after the weight of his new situation had finally set in and he started to learn to actually live with it.

"Syl!" Sylveon suddenly cried out, the ribbon around Harry's wrist jerking suddenly.

"Huh, what is it?" He asked looking down at the fairy-type, as it looked ahead and off to the side of the road.

Looking up, following the Pokemons gaze, he seen some movement coming from the bushes before an Elekid came walking out followed by a tall boy around Harry's age with purple hair and a stoney expression.

"Hello." Harry greeted hesitantly. This was his first time encountering, what he assumed to be another, trainer and from what he had been taught when two trainers meet they have a battle, but he also learned that even though it was basic protocol it also wasn't a hard and fast rule. So he wasn't sure if he was about to be challenged or what exactly was going to happen.

"BeeBeBeee?" Came a questioning cry from Elekid as it looked at Harry quizzically, something most pokemon did upon first coming across the bespectacled boy.

Harry took out his pearly white pokedex and pointed it at the Elekid , he'd only ever read about them and this was his first time seeing one.

Elekid, the Electric Pokémon. Elekid waves its arms to produce a strong electrical charge and gains strength when lightning is present. Elekid's weak spot is between its horns, but the electric current that runs there can shock the unwary. The electronic voice of the device informed him.

The other boy didn't answer though, the stoney expression now a bit more curious as he looked at Sylveon, taking out a black pokedex and pointing it at the Pokemon.

No data. Was all that the other boys dex said. The boys low set brows furrowed at the response from the device before he looked up at Harry.

"That pokemon isn't from this region, what is it?" The boys voice was low and baritone. The question wasn't unreasonable, Professor Rowan had told him that Sylveon would probably get a lot of attention while traveling through Sinnoh.

"It's a Sylveon, if you've never been to the Kalos region, than I don't think you would know about it." Harry said, deciding not to go into the fact that it had actually evolved here in the Sinnoh region due to some unknown reason.

"The Kalos region?" The boy questioned to himself.

Harry wasn't surprised though apparently Kalos unlike Sinnoh, Kanto, Johto and Hoenn was on the opposite side of the planet and was considered one of the newer discovered areas of the world by the other four regions . Even the Unova region which was closer to Kalos still knew very little about it. It had only been about 60 years since the other four regions had been made aware of the Kalos region. And it was only within the last 10 that technology had advanced to a point where air travel was possible between Kalos and the other five regions, even now it was only during certain times of every month that planes were able to travel to and from Kalos due to certain Pokemon that lived in the Open Seas between who would sometimes cause massive storm's and other phenomenon that made normal means of travel impossible. Although knowledge of the region wasn't kept secret it was pretty understandable that many people wouldn't have heard of it.

He seemed to shake off is curiosity and looked at Harry again with a bit more interest now.

"So want to have a battle?" He asked

"Do you always ask someone for a battle before asking their name?" Harry asked, a bit nervous about the challenge , aside from the mock battles he had back at the Pokemon lab in Sandgem town, he had never battled another trainer.

"The names Paul, " the now named Paul informed still waiting for an answer to the challenge.

"I'm Harry ...and I accept, is one on one good with you?" Even if he was a bit hesitant he wasn't about to back down.

Paul gave a single nod before taking out a pokeball. "Chimchar, stand by for battle!" He called out.

"Chimchar!" The small fire monkey cried striking a pose with its fists in the air standing on one foot.

Harry smiled at the site of the fire type. Chimchar, Piplup and Turtwig the were the first three Pokemon he had been introduced to, aside from Tyrunt, when he first woke up in the research lab. He had learned that, like people, Pokemon all had their own individual personalities, but he had found that Chimchar in general seemed to be very energetic and jovial, and judging from the emotions he could feel coming from the creature this little guy seem to be the same.

"Are we going to battle or not?" Paul's slightly annoyed question brought Harry out of his reminiscing.

"Right, yes, sorry about that." Harry said reaching into his side pouch.

Pauls eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion at seeing Harry taking out a Pokeball, apparently thinking Harry would be battling with Sylveon.

"Tyrunt, your on!" Harry said, throwing the red and white ball out.

"TyRunt!"

Harry smiled to himself, up until this point he had only used Sylveon for battling off wild Pokemon this was his first time going up against a fire type and he knew from his lessons with Yuzo, that Tyrunt being a rock and dragon type would have the advantage.

Upon seeing Harry's chosen Pokemon Paul took his pokedex out and tried scanning Tyrunt.

No data. Was the reply once again from the electronic device.

"This is another Pokemon from your region right?" Paul asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

Not waiting for an answer Paul took it upon himself to start the battle.

"Chimchar, use Scratch!"

Upon command the fire type darted forward with incredible speed, swiping at Tyrunts face who let out a low growl and stepped back a few paces.

"Tyrunt, are you okay?" Harry asked, worried like he always was when ever he seen his pokemon take damage. Tyrunt shook its head a bit, a little dazed from the speed of the attack but mostly undamaged.

"Ty!"

"Alright, Tyrunt use Bite."

The Tyrunt lunged at Chimchar, its jaws open wide.

"Chimchar, Dig" the command from Paul had Chimchar tunneling underground before Tyrunt could sink its teeth into their target.

Harry's eyes widened, "Your Chimchar knows Dig!?" He blurted out.

Tyrunt, who was looking around trying to find where Chimchar had gone, was suddenly knocked to the side as the monkey like Pokemon burst out of the ground, bashing into it and causing Tyrunt to cry out in pain

"Ty!"

"Tyrunt!" Harry shouted, knowing that a ground type move like Dig would have a huge affect on his rock type Pokemon.

"Huh, so your Tyrunt is a rock type," Paul stated, a slight smirk on his lips " Chimchar use Dig again."

Once again Chimchar tunneled underneath the ground and proceeded to pop out of the ground in different places, taunting Tyrunt. Chimchar would pop out of the ground sticking out its tongue, waving its rear end, or shouting, what Harry assumed to be insulting taunts, if the growing irritation he could feel coming from his pokemon was anything to go by, at Tyrunt.

Suddenly Chimchar came out of one of the holes, slamming into Tyrunt once again, sending its sprawling across the ground.

"Tyrunt keep using Bite." Harry called out.

Chimchar, Dig once more." Paul called out

The monkey Pokemon tunneled underground again and proceeded it's taunting game once more, Tyrunt following, jaw chomping and trying to land a hit.

Harry was a a bit flummoxed, unsure of what to do at that particular moment, trying to frantically rack his brain for a solution. It was a bit strange, Harry had gotten a lot better with his empathic powers and could filter out Pokemon emotions for the most part however during battle, though they didn't overwhelm him like a few months earlier, a Pokemon's emotions we're more intense and much easier for Harry to pick up on. Even though he couldn't exactly pinpoint a location he could feel the mischievous joy Chimchar felt as it zoomed around underground.

"TyRunt!"

The sudden cry of anger from Tyrunt, who had been chasing Chimchar to no avail, had Harry focusing in on his own Pokemons emotions, and what he felt was pure anger and irritation something Harry new was not good in this particular situation.

"Tyrunt calm down, please."

Tyrunt however didn't seem interested in listening, rearing its head back, a blue aura surrounded it for a moment before Tyrunt unleashed a Roar down into one of the holes that had been scattered across the field due to Chimchars Dig. A low crying sound could be heard, slowly becoming louder and louder, from one of the holes closer to Paul, the sound immediately catching Tyrunts attention as its head snapped towards the direction the noise was coming from.

Suddenly a very freaked out Chimchar shot out of one of the holes, just as it popped out Tyrunt lunged forward pushing with its muscular legs.

"Tyrunt!" Harry called out, trying to get control of his pokemon with no success.

'Wow, that was Roar, normally that move will scare off wild pokemon or cause them to retreat back into their pokeballs, but Tyrunt used it to get Chimchar out of the hole.' Harry thought to himself.

Spinning in mid-air Tyrunts raised one of its feet into the air before it Stomped downwards and smashed Chimchar into the ground causing a large dust cloud to erupt.

"Tyrunt stop!" Harry shouted again, this time seeming to get his pokemons attention as it jumped back and out of the dust cloud and look back at it's trainer. "I didn't tell you to do that, you have to listen!"

"Chim-Char" The slightly exhausted sounding cry had the pair focusing back on their opponents, Chimchar getting back to its feet with some difficulty.

"Chimchar, Flame Wheel." Paul called-out.

Chimchar's body became surrounded by flames as it jumped into the air and began spinning toward Tyrunt.

This time Harry was quicker to react, "Alright, knock it back with Dragon Tail."

Tyrunt's tail became covered in a green, scale-patterned aura as it spun around swingeing it, colliding with the oncoming Flame Wheel. A black smoke cloud erupted with a loud bang from the two colliding attacks, the two Pokemon completely hidden from view. Slowly the smoke began to clear and a heavily panting Tyrunt could be seen with Chimchar lying on the ground.

"Chim-Char" The semi-conscious Pokemon wheezed out, eyes swirling.

Upon seeing his unconscious Pokemon Paul returned Chimchar to its Pokeball, with a muttered "Pathetic."

Harry could feel his heart pounding in his chest from excitement of the battle, a feeling he had gotten used to after all of his practice battles with Yuzo and the others, but this time it felt as though his heart were humming with it's exhilaration. A smile had started spreading across his face at the realization that he had won his first ever battle with another trainer, not just some mock battle or training lesson, a real honest-to-goodness battle between two trainers.

"That was, great we won. Wasn't that brilliant Sylveon? " He gushed.

" I don't think you should be getting so excited after what just happened." Paul slightly cutting voice caused Harry to stop his excited rambling and look towards the purple haired boy who had started to close the gap between them.

"Huh?"

" You couldn't make up your mind so your Pokemon decided to run off and act on its own, and it completely ignored you." Those words had Harry's mood coming down in an instant. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened either. There had been a few instances where Harry would be battling using Tyrunt against one of the assistants and when he took too long to act or couldn't get a command out properly Tyrunt would get fed up and would charge in and start battling on its own.

" Only a pathetic excuse for a trainer would let their Pokemon run wild calling the shots in the middle of a battle. And a pokemon that won't obey its traineris as good as useless." Paul said the stoney expression once again firmly in place as he looked down at him. Now that he was closer Harry could see that Paul had a good five or six inches on him.

Harry grit his teeth for a second before looking down, angry and upset at the other boys words, but at the same time he couldn't exactly refute what he had said. Professor Rowan, Yuzo and the others had all told him the same thing, they hadn't phrased it so rude or cruelly, but he technically wasn't wrong. A trainer had to learn how to work in conjunction with their Pokemon, able to give instructions that would be followed, and a Pokemon that ran wild and rampid could be nothing but a liability or even dangerous depending on the situation.

"I know that," Harry managed to force out through his clenched jaw.

"Syl?" Came a concern noise from Sylveon, the ribbon around his wrist clenching and unclenching slightly in concern for its friend. At feeling the concern coming through the enhanced bond due to being in physical contact, Harry took in a deep breath through his nose and continued.

" I know that," he said again, now a bit more calm and jaw unclenched. ",the truth is I've only just started my journey a few days ago and I've only known Tyrunt for a couple of months, I'm still trying to get a hang of this whole trainer thing. And Tyrunt and I haven't had much time to get used to each other." He said, not really sure why he felt the need to justify his mistakes but not wanting to be thought of as an incompetent trainer with an unruly Pokemon.

Paul just stared at him for a few moments, appraising him with cool black eyes before talking. "If its that much trouble do you really think its good enough?"

The question perplexed Harry a bit, he had to stop for a minute and actually think about what had been asked before he could answer.

"I...wouldn't say its trouble," Harry started slowly, trying to put his thoughts into the right words. "I really think we need time to adjust to one another, we can't expect to get along with each other right away" Harry explained, paraphrasing what Professor Rowan had told him when he was first having troubles with Tyrunt.

"Humph" Paul harrumphed, " A weak pokemon is useless and a pokemon that can't listen to its trainer is less than useless. Don't you think you'd be much better off catching the best one you can?"

Harry was a bit bewildered by that statement, he had been taught the basics of caring for Pokemon as well as type variations and battling, along with other things pertaining to raising Pokemon, but Professor Rowan had told him that there was no definitive way to be a trainer. That just how they were many different people and personality types there are just as many trainers and training methods that differed from person to person. What Paul was saying was a bit confusing to Harry but it sounded like it should make sense, Harry just wasn't getting it.

Taking another moment to compose his thoughts Harry answered.

" I thought the point of being a trainer was to actually train Pokemon, to raise them up from where they are. My Tyrunt might be a little ..er rough right now, but I can't just give up on it when I haven't really done anything to try and work things out yet." He said getting a bit more confident with what he was saying as he continued talking.

"And besides I couldn't really try and find a better one if I wanted to." He told the taller boy while taking out his pokedex and pointing it at Tyrunt.

Tyrunt, the Royal Heir Pokémon. Its immense jaws have enough destructive force that it can chew up an automobile. If it doesn't like something, it responds with a wild tantrum. It lived 100 million years ago. The device informed.

"100 million years ago?" Paul asked.

"That's right,"Harry answered, putting his pokedex away."I don't know where it came from or why it likes me so much, but it does and I'm not going to give up on it before I've really tried with it.."

"Are you planning on entering the Sinnoh League?" Paul asked after a few moments of silence, completely changing the subject.

"Oh, umm" Harry floundered a bit, kinda thrown with the sudden change of topic. "Well like I said, I've only just started on my journey and I'm not a hundred percent sure on what I actually want to do so I just decided to do whatever comes my way."

"I was planning on challenging the Oreburgh gym," Harry admitted. "But I seen this." Opening up his town map Harry pressed on a news announcement on the right hand screen for an event in Enlightenment Town.

Enlightenment Town Pokemon Contest

First-time participants can register at the Contest Hall

Must have at least one Pokemon to enter.

Winners Ribbon eligible for Sinnoh grand festival only

Ect.

Contest Countdown Clock: 3 Days, 9Hr, 27Min, 53Sec

"So you're aiming for top coordinator?" Paul asked, his voice flat and uninvested. Harry couldn't tell if it was a genuine question or if he was some how mocking him, so he decided to ignore it.

"Well, I don't know, like I said I'm just doing what comes my way." Harry reiterated.

Paul gave a nod of his head before turning back towards the woods where he'd emerged from. "Elekid, let's go." He said as the electric Pokemon turn to follow after him. He stopped after a few steps and turned slightly toward Harry

"Come battle me when you can actually control your Pokemon." With that last statement he continued back into the woods he had come out of.

Harry blinked at the sudden departure before the parting words caught up with him. He turned and looked at his Tyrunt who had been sitting down resting after it's battle only a few feet away from him, looking a bit banged up but not in critical condition. He would definitely need to take it to a Pokemon center.

"We really do need to work on your listening skills" He told himself, fishing out Tyrunts pokeball from his side pouch and calling it back.

Maybe he should start using Tyrunt a bit more for battling from now on.

Turning back to the road he opened up his town map once more, making sure of where he was going before, once again, heading for Enlightenment town.

A/N: And there you have it a little bit of insight into what Harry will be doing in the future. Also here you get to see Paul, now one of my biggest inspirations and I mentioned this in previous notes comes from RandomJaz stories Tipping the Scales and Tempting Treats. I absolutely love her portrayal of Paul in her stories and that's what I'm trying to emulate.

Also I have a question: If you we're real life Pokemon trainer what would you do Gym Battles, Pokemon Contest or both.
For me I'd do both but if I had to choose I'd go with