"Toto?!"
"No" I shout grabbing the water type who is about to burst through the bushes
"What was that?" Says the guy closest to us
There are three of them two men and a lady. The men look similar, they are both blonde, one with a red stripe in their hair and the other with a blue, they have it slicked back. They lady is brown hair with streaks of red and blue through it. I grab a hold of Totodile and pull it into my chest holding it mouth shut
"Its just people in the park Jasper, now concentrate when did that guy say he was going to get here?" The lady asks
"He said he would get in at 6pm so not long now Pearl" The man with the blue streak says back turning away
"Then maybe we have time to snap up one more before he gets here" She says
"Come on Copper lets go scout" She says beckoning the other guy
"Yes ma'am"
They both saunter off leaving the other man left behind
"What about me!" He shouts after them
The lady just throw her hand up and waves as they continue off
"What the hell, I'm always the one left on guard duty"
Okay, theres only one of them now, if we can get him to run away then we can get to the cage
I peak through again, the cage is full to the brim with Pokemon, most look like common route 1 and two Pokemon like Sentrent, Hoothoot and Rattata. Mareep looks like the only semi rare Pokemon
"Totodile" I whisper downwards
It looks up to me
"I have a plan"
"Toto Toto!"
Totodile dances around just in the view of the sole guard
"What the heck?" He says pulling himself up
"Hey there little guy you on your own"
"Toto Toto!"
He roars at the hunter before sprinting off
"Hey come back here!" He shouts before chasing after him
"Right come on Cynda"
I jump out of the bushes darting towards the cage
"Hey, move back from the bars we will get you out" I say
The Pokemon inside nod and move back
"Okay Cyndaquil, Ember on the lock"
Cyndaquil nods and begins to breath a stream of fire onto the lock, I turn around to look back to see if Totodiles been caught yet, he's not and I see him leading the guy towards the river. As he darts towards the edge I see Chikorita burst out from the bushes and trip the guy with her vines, the hunter tries to keep his composure but dutifully falls down into the river
"Nice work" I say under my breath turning, I hear the lock drop to the floor with a clunk
"Nice wo" I start saying before looking up
Above me stands an imposing familiar figure
"Hide now kid" He says in a hushed tone as Totodile and Chikorita run to my side
Its Bruce, he dressed in dark clothes with a stern look on his face
"No I won't let you take them" I say sternly
"Do it!" He spits sternly opening the cage door to let all the Pokemon run out
I nod slightly confused, I return Totodile and Chikorita before hiding in the bushes with Cyndaquil. After around 10 minutes the female and male hunters return, Bruce leans up against the cage
"What the hell where did they go?!" The girl shouts
"I turned up for the handover and they were gone, your friend is missing too"
As he finishes the other hunter returns wet through
"What the hell happened to you?!" She shouts
"There was this Totodile and I tried to nap"
"Shut it I don't want excuses, the Pokemon we caught are gone!" The other man says as Bruce just chuckles to himself
"What? No they were still there!"
"Well they aren't now, so with nothing to hand over the boss isn't going to be paying out"
"Oh for god sake, come on you two, lets head out and see if we can find anything in New Bark Town" The girl spits before they head off
Bruce sit against the cage as they pack up and head off, I crouch in the bushes waiting for them to leave
"You can come out now"
I push my way out as Bruce watches the three of them disappear out of the park
"You got a lot to explain!" I bark at him
He sighs deeply rubbing his eyes
"Look kid, just get out of here. I stopped those guys from messing you up"
"But why? Your a hunter!"
"No I am not!" He shouts back taking me off guard
"Do you think I like having to do this? No, but I have too"
"Thats a cop out, you have to steal and sell Pokemon"
"You wouldn't understand kid, now get out of here"
I pull my phone out and quickly snap a picture of him, he notices and lunges forward to grab it. Rotom beeps as he has upload the picture to my storage cloud
"It on the cloud now you can get rid of it! I'll tell the PBL!"
"You don't understand what you are fucking around with kid" He spits picking himself up
"Explain then"
I stare at him coldly as he clenches his teeth
He jumps atop the cage and pulls out a cigarette beginning to puff at it
"My wife is sick" he says before breathing out hard
I stay silent
"Yeah not the response you were thinking" He chuckles
"I don't believe you"
"Don't then, doesn't change it."
"What wrong with her?"
"She got poisoned by something a while back, doctors got no idea what, we were holidaying in Paldea. She's been bed bound ever since"
"That still doesn't mean you have to steal Pokemon"
"Do you know how much healthcare costs these days!" He spits back stubbing out his cigarette
"Look kid, I don't wanna do this, I know its bad, but I've got no qualifications and flipping burgers don't pay medical bills"
I stand silent for a moment before pulling my phone out and deleting the file
"I understand but you shouldn't be stealing from trainers" I say
"I don't" He retorts as he begins to dismantle the cage
"That Mareep was a trainers!"
"And they caught that not me, I would have released it, I only go after wild Pokemon, like that Vulpix you caught"
"Thats still bad"
"Is it? Leaving Pokemon in the wild they get torn apart by predators or can starve to death but the strong one get all the food, by taking the strong ones for ball buy the weaker ones get a chance"
"Thats not…" I start before stopping
"Look kid, I agree with you. I don't want trainer Pokemon being stolen and sold, I do everything I can to stop it but, if its a choice between some random Pokemon and my wife then I know my choice" He says as he finishes packing up the cage
I stay silent as he hitches up his bag
"If I see you stealing any trainers Pokemon I'll report you"
He turns to me and stares at me for a while
"Deal"
He turns and wanders off out of the park leaving me in my spot. I sigh, I don't really know what to think of the situation for him. I feel sorry about his wife but what if he's lying. I shake my head and head back to the Pokecenter, it had been a long day but at least I had a breakthrough with Chikorita and Totodile in their training, I more confident for my rematch against Faye tomorrow, I hand them over to Joy who heals them up before getting back to my room. I pop open all there balls and let them interact.
"It getting late guys so we should all get some sleep soon"
They all call out happily before springing up to the bed
"Um Toto, Chiko"
They both turn to look up at me and I crouch down at the edge of the bed
"I just wanted to say great work today, I understand if neither of you are that interested in battling, I won't force you if you don't want to do it"
They both shake their head at me and call out with broad smiles
"So you want to battle?"
They nod
I feel a wave of emotion flow over me and I gulp to keep it down
"Thank you both, I have a plan for tomorrow. Faye uses three Pokemon and I got a strategy for each one of you to beat one"
"Welcome back Dustin!"
I look over to the gym leader opposite, she wears a big smile on her face
"Thank you, sorry again for yesterday, we gone away and done some practice and we are ready this time"
"Excellent well lets begin, Jigglypuff come on out!"
Jigglypuff emerges again float down weightlessly
"Okay, Cyndaquil your up!"
Cyndaquil drops down cries out before lighting its back fire
"Disarming Voice"
"Quick Attack"
Jigglypuff bellows out the notes before Cyndaquil dodges quickly with its attack, it end up behind Jigglypuff and slams into its back
"Jigglypuff inflate and go upwards"
Jigglypuff takes in a huge amount of air and begins to float in the air, IT push itself above Cyndaquil
"Body Slam!"
Jigglypuff blows out and descends quickly
"Use you back, flare it up!"
Cyndaquil turns itself and Jigglypuff light up as it slams down, Cyndaquil takes the hit and rolls away while Jigglypuff pulls itself up being lit up burnt
"Ember!"
Cyndaquil composes itself before firing off a huge stream of fire which envelopes Jigglypuff
"Quick Attack!"
It then sprints forward and slams Jigglypuff full on sending it rolling backwards, it stops and attempts to get up before falling back down unable to go on
"Great work Cyndaquil!" I shouts out as it rushes back to me calling back in victory
"Return for now okay" I say returning it to its ball
"Nice work! Much better than last time!" Faye shouts out
"Were all working together now!"
"Well lets see how you deal with this! Snubbull!"
It roars out as it lands
"Totodile!"
Totodile jumps down from the ball and begins to tap at the ground with its feet in anticipation
"Snubbull Headbutt!"
"Bite Totodile!"
Snubbull charges forwards while Totodile stands firm, just as Snubbull is about to hit Totodile chomps down on its head pushing Totodile back but causing damage to Snubbull
"Water Gun!"
Totodile aims upwards and blast Snubbull into the air with a huge stream of water
"Snubbull you gotta land!"
Snubbull reorientates itself landing down hard, it begins to breath heavily but pulls itself up
"Snubbull, Headbutt again!"
"Bite Totodile!"
Snubbull charges in again while Totodile waits
"Jump!"
Snubbull leaps up dodging Totodile as it bites down
"Thunder Fang"
It bolts down chomping onto Totodiles head, it crackles with electricity before sending jolts through Totodile
"Totodile, use your tail, Mud Slap"
Totodile while in pain digs its tail into the ground, it absorbs some of the electricity, it then throws its tail up sending a glop of ground flying into Snubbull sending it toppling away, however it take Totodile with it as it still chomped down on its head. The pair slam into the ground, the dust settles and both of them are unable to go on. I return Totodile but hold its ball up to my face
"You did great buddy" I whisper to the ball
"Much better Dustin, now this is what I was expecting" Faye shouts over as she throws out her last ball
"Marill!"
Marill appears, hopping around happily
"Now lets se how you deal with my ace!"
"Chikorita!"
Chikorita emerges touching down, it stares down Marill determinedly
"OOOO much more intense this time, Marill use Rollout!"
Marill rolls into a ball and speeds towards Chikorita
"Use your vines to jump"
Chikorita deflty slams its vines down and dodges
"Nice moves!"
"Its an old trick, my Bulbasaur did it in our first battle against Brock's Geodude"
"I see, well Rollout again!"
"Dodge again"
Marill steams in as Chikorita dodges again
"Bounce!"
Marill bumps itself on the floor flinging itself into the air, it slams down onto Chikorita who is a sitting duck in mid-air. Marill spins out and lands back in front of its trainer as Chikorita stumbles to its feet
"Synthesis!"
Chikorita stubs light up and then its leaf glows before bursting with energy healing itself
"Oh so I that what all the sunbathing was about?" Faye questions
"It was" I retort
"Interesting, well wrap this up Marill Ice Punch"
Marill rushes in with a bright glowing blue arm and attempts to slam Chikorita
"Grab it with your vine!"
Chikorita whip the vine out and grabs Marill
"Now slam it into the floor!"
Chikorita whips Marill into the air and slams it into the ground propelling tiself into the air
"Razor Leaf!"
It whips its head around and sends out a flurry of leafs which cuts away at Marill who writhes on the floor
"Finish it up, Body Slam!"
Chikorita slams it full body force down it Marill before jumping away, Marill lies motionless on the ground unable to go on
"You did it!" I shout running out to Chikorita, I lift it up into the air and spin it around as it gleefully calls back happily. I pull it into my chest and squeeze it tight
"Venusaur will be super proud too!"
"Congratulations to all three of you!" Faye shouts as she walks up
"Expertly done, I'm very impressed a considerable upgrade on the performance yesterday" She says with a smile holing out a case with her badge in it
"Thank you, I'm just pleased we all worked so well together" I say to her with a smile
"Take it, all yours"
I pick up the badge I smile at it, this is the fresh start I needed, with Totodile, Cyndaquil and Chikorita we will work our way up and into the Junior world Championships.