Chapter 2

[Aster Ribera]

Tink waddled her way forward to the center of the small circular field. Babbling to either herself or her opponent all the while. Aster truly couldn't tell which, to be honest.

The sneasel didn't walk as much as sauntered her – if the shorter feather-like ear was anything to go by – way into the arena. She spared a single look at the tinkatink, who continued wobbling and waving her hammer, before letting out a huff making a show of looking at the tip of her claws to showcase her lack of respect for her opponent. It was… about what he expected from a Dark and Ice-type though.

"That is an interesting Pokemon you got there. A Tinkaton, I think? Fairy and Steel type," his fellow trainer, Blake, if Aster remembered right, said.

'Well, there go my plans of using the lack of information to my advantage.' He was banking on having the advantage on that, while he knew Sneasels from Paldea. Tinkatinks were not found in Hoenn, after all.

"Tinkatink, actually. You are thinking about the final evolution." His opponent let out an acknowledging hum, eyes growing sharper at the severe typing disadvantage. 'So not a complete newbie then,' Aster thought. The guy must know his theory to recognize a pokemon and its typing by just a look. Especially when he very much doubts many of those are even heard of in Hoenn.

Aster wouldn't be surprised if most people didn't even know the species existed in the first place. While globalization was increasing every year and things weren't as bad as a few decades ago when Kanto and Johto were still at war, he knew that most regions preferred to keep to themselves. Save for the most hardcore pokemon fans, he doubted many watched fights or leagues from other regions that weren't at least Champion level.

Aster couldn't blame anyone for that. All regions had problems of their own, and not enough time to go around dealing with others' affairs. However, he found it amusing when some of the other initiates kept stealing glances at Tink and gossiping with each other about her.

That was right, random trainer number six. Tink was awesome and she was, indeed, very cute.

No, random trainer number ten. Tink didn't stab herself by accident with a tent stake during the exercises and was crying inconsolably. You were clearly seeing things.

"Well, I guess we don't have a referee here, so… the moment this rock hits the floor?" Blake asked, looking at the ranger close by, – who seemed to be a bit overwhelmed while refereeing three other matches simultaneously – as he grabbed a pebble from the ground. When the woman didn't seem to acknowledge their immediate battle, he threw it up and down in his hands, preparing himself. Evidently, the rangers were there just to make sure there weren't any serious accidents and nothing else.

Aster nodded and readied himself for his first battle in Hoenn.

His first step towards his goal.

Blake threw the rock up in the air, and time seemed to stop for both of them. In that instant, they locked eyes with each other, trying to get even the slightest tell as to what their next action was going to be.

Aster was confident, however. While the typing was known, he had the advantage of having a general knowledge of what moves young Sneasel had. Blake's knowledge of the tinkatink's line seemed rather limited, so it was possible his opponent didn't have such an advantage.

'So, assuming Blake already checked the move pool and has the basics pokemon energy types right, his next move is going to be-"

The rock hit the ground with a small thud.

"Sneasel, Metal Claw!" Blake called his order, not quite shouting the words but his voice certainly carried.

The command made Aster smirk.

'Called it.'

"Now, Tink! Astonish!" he countered.

A strange light and chilling cruised through the air towards the feline pokemon, who overcommitted on her fast dash to get out of the way of the move's range. She let out a small yowl as she got paralyzed in place by the Ghost-type move which messed with her flight and fight instincts and forced her to be locked in place for a second.

A second was all that Aster needed.

"Now, Fairy Wind!" he ordered.

He heard Blake curse under his breath from across the field.

He got too scared at the type disadvantage and tried to rush things to get first blood as soon as he could. It would be a viable strategy given that Sneasels tended to be quite dangerous with their dagger-like claws and high speeds. However, Tink's advantage wasn't only in her typing but her species' particularly bulky builds. Even if she received the attack from the Sneasel head-on, she could still withstand it. At the same time, Sneasel wouldn't come out of a Fairy Wind quite so well.

The problem with speedsters was that the more damage they took, the slower they became. It was hard to run with a bruised leg after all. Aster didn't need to win this first clash, just remove Sneasel's biggest advantage. Something he had planned for the moment he saw what his opponent was going to be.

"Wait! Sneasel-" Blake tried to belay his order and tell the Dark type to retreat. But it was already too late. She was too close to dodge.

It was a shame that it was at this precise moment that Tink decided to be difficult.

"Bwaaah!" the little pink pokemon said as she completely disregarded his order. With a tiny warcry, his pokemon charged her hammer. The little misshapen thing glowed with a silver light, making Aster grimace. Instead of going for Fairy Wind, it seemed like his little Fairy had decided to use her species' own version of Metal Claw.

Sneasel, for her part, blinked for a moment, but didn't cower. Instead, she pushed forward. Then her claws shone with the same metallic hue as before. Aster could practically see the moment Astonish's paralysis stopped working as the hackled-up fur of the Dark-type pokemon went back to normal.

"-Sneasel push on, and retreat!" Blake ordered with a grin. Relief clear in his features for a moment at the same time Aster's scrunched.

The clash went as it was expected. Sneasel's superior reach, speed and power hit Tink first, throwing the pink pokemon backward with force and in turn made her miss her own attack which just sailed harmlessly in the direction the Sneasel had once been. By the time Aster's partner recovered, the Dark type was already mid-retreat as her trainer had ordered.

"Buuu…" Tink said, not too hurt by the attack thanks to her hard body but definitely startled enough she started to tear up. Again, tinkatinks weren't exactly known for having warrior-like personalities.

He had to do something quick before she started bawling.

"Tink!" he exclaimed. Which startled his own pokemon out of her mood and more than a few of the expecting trainers whose matches had already been finished. Most of them had gathered around their field to see the exotic new pokemon in action. "Don't give up now, Tink! Remember what we promised?! We will reach the top together, you and me! So don't throw in the towel now!"

The tinkatink just looked at him while sniffling. Then, in a moment, her face changed from hurt teary eyes and wobbling lips to a determined but equally teary frown. The little pokemon rose to her legs and faced the enemy sneasel who, even now, waited with her arms crossed across her chest just in front of her trainer.

"Thanks, for letting me talk with her. I am sorry for stopping mid fight there," Aster said sincerely. Not many trainers would forgo that kind of advantage. They probably could have gotten a few hits in while he cheered Tink up.

"It's alright. It looked important for her and I am not horrible enough to stop that. It's not even an actual battle," Blake waved off with a half smile and a shrug. The young man swiftly got back in position, a vicious smile growing on his face. "Besides, I am here to reach the top too, you know? It won't do to win just because my opponent was distracted. I will get to the top after beating everyone at their best."

"Heh, big talk there. But I am sorry to say that the spot is reserved for Tink and I. You ready?" he asked his pokemon who just nodded seriously. He hoped this was enough to strike home the importance of the duel instead of her just trying to test her hammer against something again.

Both of the pokemon squared again, but Sneasel's grin had something else other than viciousness mirrored in her trainer. The smile held a twinge of mockery too, as she purred some words to his tinkatink. The Fairy type flinched a bit but luckily didn't cower. Her determined frown grew even more fierce, something that made the sneasel giggle.

"Tink, Fairy Wind!" he called again. This time, his pokemon followed his order.

With a swing of her hammer, a cloud of ethereal pink dust flowed forward like a concentrated gust and rushed towards the Sneasel. The cat-like pokemon's fur raised, probably in instinctual apprehension at the Fairy-type attack.

Unluckily for Aster and Tink, however, they had already lost the surprise factor that came from using the move for the first time. Not to mention that Sneasel was way further behind than the last time, giving her enough time to get out of the way.

"Sneasel, keep dodging the Fairy Winds. Wait for an opening for a hit and then retreat. Hit and run tactics," Blake ordered his pokemon. The young man probably already expecting what he was going to do.

It made Aster frown as he tried to think of another strategy to win this. Meanwhile, Tink used her Fairy Wind repeatedly, doing the best she could to keep the Sneasel out of melee range. Whenever the pink pokemon let off for even a second to regain her breath, the Dark-type pokemon would shoot like an arrow and strike with a deadly metal claw before retreating to a safe distance again.

The hits didn't do much to Tink, but it was enough to be worrying. Aster had some other ranged moves, but neither would work. He doubted Astonish would manage to be effective now that Sneasel was expecting the attack. Neither would Baby Doll Eyes, his pokemon hadn't quite mastered the move yet. All it would do was give Sneasel the few moments it took to charge at the tinkatink, who wouldn't be able to protect herself with Fairy Wind. Sweet Kiss and Metal Claw, on the other hand, were melee moves and while he could try to trap the Sneasel when it got too close, she was simply too fast to make a reasonable window of opportunity to pull it off.

Aster found himself unsure of what to do next. Any strategy that he could think of would be too risky. The only reasons he hadn't lost was because Sneasel was too busy dodging and weaving through the Fairy Winds attacks and the feline pokemon attacks were not enough to cause critical damage to the fairy.

He did notice that the Dark-type looked more and more weary, by the moment. Her breath came in increasingly heavy pants, and her arms trembled slightly at having to hit such a tough target over and over. Tink also looked a bit tired – using Fairy Wind over and over was understandably taxing on her –, but at least she could remain stationary. Her little body had some gashes and scraps that, while not ideal, weren't enough to be considered worrying just yet.

At the end of the day, it had become a stamina match. If the Sneasel kept getting more tired and slower, then all they needed to do was get a solid hit on her once to seal their victory. On the other hand, if Tink kept accumulating damage and got too tired to use Fariy Wind as fast as she was now, then they would lose.

Indecision warred in Aster. He could try to risk it and gain an advantage with Baby Doll Eyes or Astonish. Or he could hope Tink's resilience was higher than the Sneasel's stamina.

Sadly for him, the decision was taken from his hands by his own opponent.

"Sneasel, retreat, and use Leer!" Blake called at that very moment, eyes narrowed in a displeased scowl. The realization took Aster's breath out of his lungs.

Before he could do anything, the cat pokemon's dark red eyes shone with malice as they locked on Tink.

Leer was a move that projected violent intentions toward the target through eye contact. It was not a particularly impressive move, nor was it hard to resist for many pokemon with some training. While incredibly fast to both charge and use, it was usually overpowered by a pokemon's will, leaving it most of the time useless in high level fights.

Except, again, as Aster knew very well, Tinkatinks weren't a species known for their warrior-like spirit. They tended to be cowardly and fearful. Usually preferring to flee and hide over engaging in a fight unless they had supreme confidence in their hammers.

As such, Tink found herself faltering and shaking as she unwittingly locked eyes with the dark pokemon. As she did, unfortunately, her Fairy Winds stopped. Predictably, it was an opportunity Sneasel didn't let pass.

The dark pokemon shot like an arrow, slamming her shining claws on the pink pokemon's head. Once, twice, thrice. It was only by the time that the fourth hit was coming that Tink panicked and swung her hammer in the general direction of the Sneasel.

It was too slow.

The cat pokemon had already made a distance, unsurprisingly. Tink's movements had become far more sluggish after being hit so many times in quick succession. It just wasn't reasonable to expect otherwise. His little Fairy was bloodied and she swayed on her feet. The hits were far more powerful than the previous fast pot shots she had endured throughout the fight.

"Good job, Sneasel. Now-" Blake congratulated before giving his next order. Aster didn't give him the chance.

"I surrender!" he said, loud and clear, pushing back the bitterness that was growing in his stomach. "I surrender," he repeated, more weakly as he deflated.

"Yes," he heard Blake hiss, giving a short and fast fist pump. Sneasel, for her part, made a show of letting out a small huff between her fast breathing, before using her claws to fix some of the "blemishes" the fight had left on her fur. "Good job, Sneasel. I knew you'd be great," Aster's opponent added then, drawing a pleased half-smile from the cat pokemon, even though she seemed to try and hide it.

Somehow, even then, the sneasel managed to make an expression that seemed to tell her trainer "Of course, what else would you expect?".

Meanwhile, the trainers around them filled the surroundings with excited mutterings about both pokemon, some of them even cheered. Words of encouragement and amazement were directed at the two of them. Looking at them, one would think they were one of the best matches of the day. It was an uplifting thought, at least, Aster mused. 'Then again, Tink probably draws a lot of attention, being a foreign pokemon and all.'

He didn't stop to hear much of it though. Instead, he moved, pushing through his negative feelings on the way. There were far more important things to worry about for the moment. His legs felt like lead as he approached Tink, who had collapsed on her butt after he called the match. The little pokemon didn't look at him. She continued to look at her hammer, now full of dust and even a bit of blood. All of it coming from her wounds. Not even once had she managed to land an actual hit, something that he knew must be eating at her from the inside. She had failed to do anything.

"Hey," he said as he kneeled right next to her. His rugged and calloused hand ruffled through the small pink locks matted with sweat and bits of blood. "You did great out there, girl… I'm proud of you."

"Gweh…" she said looking straight to the floor, not daring to meet his eyes.

"I know. We lost this time," he agreed. The words tasted like sand and ashes in his tongue.

Her shoulders slumped before she shook and sniffled. Small droplets of water fell from her face and to the ground below. She looked even smaller than usual right now.

"...No … I-I am the one that failed you, Tink. I should have planned better for this," he admitted. Aster had been an idiot not expecting something like Leer. He had hyper-focused on Sneasel's speed and offensive power and completely forgot she could have other moves in her arsenal. He had fucked up, and now he got his pokemon feeling bad because of it.

But…

"We won't make the same mistakes again," he declared, a fire growing in his eyes.

He still felt the sickening feeling of loss so deep in his body he could feel it in his bones. He refused to let himself break down because of it though. He would make it his strength.

Their strength.

"Let's promise that next time, we will win. No matter what. We will train three times as hard. I promise, Tink, that next time, we will show them all." Aster felt the weight of his emotions be replaced by determination as he talked. He refused to break. He refused to give up after coming that far.

A will like steel, he told himself.

Tink raised her head to look at him for the first time since the end of the match. A silent conversation coursed through them for a moment. To his relief, Tink let out a nod as her lips wobbled.

She rose on her own tiny legs. Hammer clutched tight on her hand as she waddled to him and hugged him. Her face was hidden on the crook of his neck. A silent cry escaped her as her body shook, but she continued nodding all the same.

They would win next time. No matter what. It was yet another iron promise between the two of them.

"Let's get you healed, girl. We still need to prepare for tomorrow," he said. His pokemon was still not okay, but she would recover. He knew she would. She was a tough one, for sure.

[}-o-{]

[Blake Natch]

"Well, isn't someone proudful?" he commented, looking at his starter. Sneasel had refused to get into her pokeball so that he could take her to be healed. Instead, she'd wanted to walk there with him, for whatever reason. All the while, she did her best to keep her expression self-assured and hide the exhaustion she was feeling.

Which Blake knew was there. Not only had he seen her grow more and more tired as their fight went on, but he could also see her tremble and struggle a bit here and there. If they weren't literally at the Pokemon Center, meaning that the walk was basically non-existent, he'd have insisted or ignored her stubbornness to get her in the pokeball. Alas, he didn't want to antagonize his starter on their first day.

He needed to make a good impression, even if she was listening to him fairly well. At the same time, he needed to not look like a pushover, because otherwise his Dark type would become a nightmare. Just like everyone said the typing was, not that they were wrong.

It was a balancing act that he'd have to get used to, with his specialty of choice.

Back in the present, he shook his head when his pokemon made a dismissive noise and rolled her eyes at him. Yeah, he could already tell that she was going to be a handful. At the same time, however, she was nothing like the things he'd prepared himself to deal with. She was downright warm and cuddly in comparison, really.

Blake might have been looking a little too much at worst case scenarios.

"I made a mistake there," he commented as they walked, earning a curious side-glance from his pokemon. Despite his words, he kept his back straight and his expression relaxed, if somewhat annoyed and determined. It wouldn't do to show weakness, but being deliberately ignorant would be worse. "Everyone expects sneasels to charge. You are all speed and power, so they'll be ready for that. I should have started that battle differently," he explained. Surprisingly, that got him an annoyed hiss from his partner.

It couldn't be because of what he was saying, not directly. They'd just met, so there was no way Sneasel was defending his mistake or something like that. No… Ah, the start of the battle. Of course.

"Annoyed at that Astonish, I'm guessing?" Blake asked, getting a pointed glare from the Dark type. He gave her an understanding smile and nodded. "Here we are," he pointed out, since they'd reached the counter. "Come on," he added then, reaching to pick up Sneasel. She could have easily gotten on the thing, but he'd rather her not strain herself. "Also," he continued speaking before she could protest. "It's fine. I messed up and you messed up. We'll do better next time," he said, as calmly and casually as anyone could be. He was just stating a fact.

Sneasel looked at him, still visibly annoyed. Ultimately though, she huffed and nodded. Well, they were in agreement on something, so that was neat. She was listening to him too, he reminded himself once more. All was going swimmingly, as far as Blake was concerned.

When a nurse came to check on her, Blake paid close attention to everything she did. From the way she set the sneasel on one of those table-beds doctors used, to how she looked for any problems and, in the end, how she simply smiled and gave her a berry they seemed to have at hand. Leppa berry, it seemed, which made sense. Those helped pokemon recover energy-wise, which was all Sneasel probably needed.

"Sorry for bothering you," he said when the nurse returned his pokemon. "As I said, she wasn't really hit but-"

"It's fine," the woman interrupted with a smile, waving him off. Sneasel hissed at that from where she sat on the counter. She narrowed her eyes at the nurse and her hackles raised before Blake placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure you have a lot of work with the exam going on," Blake said, smile still in place, if slightly more forced. "So, sorry," he repeated.

"It's good to worry about your pokemon. Far too many have bad times because their trainers think they are "fine" because they didn't get injured or the injuries were light," the nurse explained, looking a little more wary of Sneasel now.

"Well, thank you all the same. Have a nice day."

"Have a nice day yourself."

And with that, he moved to take a seat at the Pokemon Center's hall, waiting for the verdict with the rest of trainers. At least the ones that were done with their fights, that is. Sneasel, who had once more walked beside him, took the seat to his right and looked around at the other trainers and the occasional pokemon that hadn't needed further treatment or was put in their pokeballs. She seemed thoroughly unimpressed, but he was starting to realize that she looked like that a lot.

"Nice start, wouldn't you say?" he asked his starter, making her turn towards him. "We won a battle with type disadvantage. I'd say that can be considered a great start," he added, drawing a huff that could only mean "of course" in the most smug way possible. Sneasel was certainly a character, it seemed.

Blake refrained from mentioning that Tinkatink was a first stage of a three stage line, however. He hadn't remembered that until the other guy – Aster? – had said that Tinkaton was the "final evolution" instead of saying it was just Tinkatink's evolution. Either way, he had a feeling Sneasel wouldn't appreciate that being pointed out, so he let her have her moment.

There was really no need to ruin it and he'd rather keep his Dark type happy.

"Speaking of the battle," he mumbled, mostly to himself this time, as he saw their opponents appear from the hall's door. Apparently, Tinkatink had gotten patched up already, or maybe she was recovering? It could go either way, considering Aster was carrying the Fairy type in his arms. "I don't know about you, but I'm feeling happy and social right now," he added towards Sneasel, who looked at the duo with disinterest clear on her face before shrugging. "Good enough for me, let's go."

And so, he stood up and moved towards where Aster had taken a seat at a further table.

"Hey there," he greeted, bringing his hand up when the man turned towards him. "Nice match."

Aster blinked for a second but raised his hand all the same and clasped it against his.

"Hello there. Yeah, nice match," the man repeated with a smile on his face. It looked a bit strained, but it wasn't like Blake couldn't understand that. "That sneasel of yours is quite powerful, isn't she? I swear sometimes I had a hard time following her with my eyes."

"She's great like that, yeah," Blake replied, looking at his sneasel and rolling his eyes at the self-satisfied smirk on her face. "She's got a bit of an ego though," he added, getting a narrow-eyed look from his pokemon.

Aster chuckled weakly at that.

"Considering that she is not trying to gouge your eyes out for that comment, I would say you got the most well behaved Sneasel to ever exist," the older boy joked, earning a chuckle from Blake and a hiss from his starter.

'His starter,' he thought, wondering if it'd ever not sound great to be able to say that.

"You are not wrong," he replied, grinning. "How's Tinkatink though?" Blake continued, trying to keep the conversation going. He was feeling giddy now that the journey he'd been waiting for was right around the corner. He needed to do something or he'd go mad. "We might have gone a bit overboard at the end," he added, because he had gotten carried away. He'd been so worried, there in the middle of it all, when it looked like it could go either way. He didn't apologize though. Pokemon battles could be intense and everyone knew what they were walking into, stuff like that just happened. They'd both probably go through worse before the year was even over, let alone in their lives.

The thing was, when he'd gotten the upper hand, he'd wanted to do everything he could to keep it. That had led to the fight ending in a… distasteful manner. Fortunately, Sneasel had stopped immediately. Otherwise, things might have gotten troublesome.

"Don't worry. She is tougher than she looks. A few scratches here and there, but the nurse was able to patch her up just fine. She just needs some rest now. Say hi, Tink," he said to the tiny creature he was carrying, who moved her head away from the man's shoulder and looked at Blake. A babble escaped her lips as she waved her hammer in what he thought might be a greeting.

And then she got into a staring match with Sneasel, one with a pouty look and the other smirking all the while.

Blake brought a hand up to massage the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry about her," he said to Aster. "I don't think we did a proper introduction before, right? I'm Blake Nacht, Dark type specialist and future Champion of Hoenn," he introduced himself again, a grin on his face that almost mimicked the one on Sneasel, he supposed, as he extended his hand towards Aster.

Aster readily grabbed his hand and gripped it firmly but not aggressively.

"The name is Aster Ribera, Steel type specialist and future greatest Champion of Paldea. Sorry, but you will have to wait for when I am gone to get Hoenn's seat. I will be needing it first," the man responded with a grin of his own. The tinkatink raised her hammer into the air and let out a screech that sounded like bells striking an anvil.

Sneasel hissed at them, and Blake agreed with her.

Those were fighting words indeed.

It seemed that not a day into his new life and he had already gained a rival.

His journey was looking great so far.

[} Chapter End {]

Adrian: Low level battles suck. Fortunately for me, Arc wrote everyt- I mean, the words just magically appeared in the doc. Neat, right?

Arc: I look tiredly at the doc while sipping my fifth cup of coffee that night.

Arc: Jokes aside, I hope you guys liked the fight. I know it wasn't the most dynamic fight ever, but this is supposed to be the newbie league after all. Lots of mistakes to learn from and even more training to do from here on out. This is their starting line after all.

Adrian: Yeah, we can't all be legendary catchers. Let's leave that for chapter 4, alright?

Arc: About the time we get our second legendary, I'll gather.

Adrian: Anyway, yeah. Battle between two not-even-really-trainers isn't going to be the best thing ever. We hope you liked the chapter anyway.

Arc: Make sure to show it with a follow and some comments, alright? We always appreciate it when we get those. And with that, I'll leave you with this A&A-Dex entry!

A&A-Dex: Tinkatink's line societal hierarchies are marked by their hammers' quality. Both the intricacies of its crafting and the quality of materials are judged. Disputes for leadership succession consist of Tinkatons smacking their hammers against the others until one breaks.

Adrian: In case it wasn't clear, that's a headcanon. Arc came up with the idea to drop some stuff like that for every chapter. If you have an opinion on that, let us know.

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