“It’s been confirmed that a total of sixty people have been found dead so far in the Hoenn region between the areas of Route 124, Route 126, Route 127, Route 128, Route 129, Route 130, and Route 131, although the number is expected to increase,” a male newscaster said from the TV, a stern look on his face, his broad shoulders displayed proudly as he sat upright and at attention in a very soldierlike manner. “The number of deceased Pokemon is expected to be astronomical, with a current number not released at this time. The tragedy is still a mystery and officials are continuing to look into it.”

I turned away from the TV, looking at Aly.

Her face was full of fright and worry, eyes glued to the screen, mouth hung open just a little bit.

The Pokemon Center was full of more people than usual. Everyone was staring at the television. I wasn’t even convinced half of these people actually had Pokemon of their own.

Nurse Joy sat behind the front desk, her beautiful, glowing blue eyes glued to the TV as well, full of the concern I’d expect from a caring, gentle, loving, angelic nurse such as herself.

I considered getting up and walking over to her to try to comfort her. Perhaps I could hold her for a moment and she’d find comfort in my arms. Perhaps we would come to realize we were meant to be and would live together happily ever after as a married couple. Perhaps we could spend our nights alone, intimately-

“I can’t take it anymore!” Aly cried next to me, interrupting my private thoughts as my eyes swiftly moved from Nurse Joy to Aly, in shock. My friend got up and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the front door.

“HEY!” I said in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“How can you just sit there?” Aly stared at me like I was crazy. “Are you even paying attention to what they’re saying on the news? How can you just keep watching like that? I’m terrified! What’s going on out there, Gary?”

“I don’t know, Aly,” was all I could say.

“Exactly,” her voice lowered but got more uncomfortable. “Nobody knows, and it’s terrifying. I don’t like being in a situation where I can’t even think straight. I don’t know what to think about this situation or what to do!”

“I don’t think there’s much that can be done, Aly.” I placed my hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

She shook my hand off, staring at the floor. “I’m scared…” she whispered. “I don’t like this.” She left the Pokemon Center.

Just a couple of seconds passed before I made my way after her. The cold air greeted me as I saw Aly standing to the side of the Pokemon Center, her arms wrapped around herself, staring at the ground. I didn’t know what to do and just stared silently.

Something horrible was going on in the Pokemon world. Sinnoh’s Mt. Coronet was no more. The news said that the entire mountain was completely annihilated. There was nothing but fire everywhere, too intense and heated to put out or get anywhere near. The number of deaths for both Pokemon and humans was unknown, but they estimated at least a few dozen humans were probably in Mt. Coronet. The number of Pokemon they estimated to be inside were in the hundreds of thousands, at least. The cause was an intense debate, some arguing it started from exploding Pokemon like Graveler, while others insisted human interference.

Personally, I just knew all of this couldn’t be an accident. I didn’t know what was going on, but I felt that this all had to be happening on purpose. But... it very well could be some kind of odd, natural disaster going on. It was horrifying to think some kind of man made attack was deliberately going on, but I wasn’t satisfied with accepting this could be so easily explained as just a freak accident or something in nature. My senses were splitting in two! The sound of a Pokemon coming out of its Poke Ball broke into my thoughts and I turned to see Aly hugging her Persian.

The sassy feline meowed loudly and closed her eyes as Aly hugged her tightly.

Aly ran her hand through Persian’s fur repeatedly as Persian purred, nuzzling her head against Aly with a big smile on her face as Aly hugged Persian tighter, her eyes closed.

“Aly?” I spoke up after a moment.

Aly didn’t budge. She kept holding her Persian tightly around her neck.

“Would you like to battle?”

Aly’s eyes opened. She looked up at me as if she were staring up into the sun, though the sun wasn’t out today. It was a gloomy morning. “Huh?”

“Just to take our minds off of our troubles,” I suggested. “Let’s have a Pokemon battle. I wouldn’t mind seeing how you and Ivysaur are getting along.”

Aly just kept her eyes on me.

Her Persian also turned and looked at me mischievously.

“Gary.”

“Yes, Aly?”

Her face told me she was pondering how to say what was on her mind. “Who was that girl from yesterday?”

A disturbing chill shot up my spine. I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night, despite having showered literally eight times before going to bed, trying to wash off the feeling of those bugs touching me, trying to get the sound of their horrible buzzing out of my head, but it didn’t work. I had finally fallen asleep but was plagued by nightmares of Ninjask and Shedinja for a while before finally getting a couple of hours of dreamless sleep. “I don’t know,” I finally answered. “I don’t even know her name. All I know is… about as much as you do. She claims to hate Bug types but she owns at least three of them, now.”

Aly continued to stare at me. “I see…”

Who was she? I was now thinking to myself, my eyes staring back at Aly. Where was she from? Why does she keep saying she hates Bug types but is raising such powerful ones?

Leaving my thoughts behind, I cleared my throat. “Aly,” I said sharply. “Battle?”

Aly pet her Persian’s head a couple of times. She stood up and smiled a little bit. “Okay. Let’s have a nice three-on-three Pokemon battle.”

“Okay,” I said happily. “But you have to use Ivysaur, and I’ll use Charmeleon in the match, too!”

“Uuuuuuhh… sure!” Aly agreed hesitantly.

“Okay!” I slowly pushed aside the concerns of the world and ran several feet away from her. Turning back to face her, I grabbed a Poke Ball. “You ready?”

Aly looked down at Persian.

Persian looked back at Aly and let out a loud cry.

Aly smiled and nodded, then turned to me. “We’re ready!” She grabbed a Poke Ball from her belt and enlarged it, pressing the center button. “Ivysaur, I’m counting on you!” She threw her Poke Ball, which bounced before opening, sending out a snarling Ivysaur.

“Ivysaur!” Ivysaur growled viciously.

I smiled. “Great! Nice to see you again, Ivysaur!”

“IVY! SAUR SAUR!” Ivysaur snarled at me.

My eyes widened.

Aly stared at Ivysaur sadly. Helplessly, even.

My hand tightened around my Poke Ball as my eyes narrowed at Ivysaur. “Weepinbell, I choose you!” Tossing its Poke Ball towards Ivysaur, I grabbed my Pokedex with my other hand.

“Beeeeell!” Weepinbell cried out, staring at Ivysaur as Ivysaur glared back furiously.

Weepinbell’s information appeared on my Pokedex, and I could see a list of its attacks, as well as how high leveled it was, which made me nod with satisfaction.

Aly gave me a quick glare before clearing her throat. In a different, determined, serious voice, she said, “Ivysaur, use Sweet Scent, now!”

“Iiiiiiivysaur!” Ivysaur charged forward with great speed and obvious power, using Take Down on Weepinbell.

“Beeeeell!” Weepinbell slid along the ground but it shook off the hit.

“She’s still not listening to her,” I muttered. “Weepinbell, Double Team!”

“Bell! Bell! Bell! Bell!” Weepinbell split into two, four, eight more Weepinbell.

“Ivysaur, use Sweet Scent!” Aly yelled, her voice breaking.

“Saaaaaur!” Ivysaur screamed out angrily, sharp leaves flying from her bulb and swiping at the multiple Weepinbell.

“Bell! Bell! Bell!” the Weepinball copies disappeared once Ivysaur’s Razor Leaf hit one of them, making them vanish one by one until they all were gone.

“Weepinbell, jump up and use Slam!” I ordered.

“Bell!” Weepinbell used a vine and slammed it into the ground, pushing itself up high into the air. The vine swept along the ground and wrapped around Ivysaur’s middle.

“Ivy?” Ivysaur gasped in surprise.

As Weepinbell came down to the ground, it used its vine to lift Ivysaur high into the air above it! Once it landed, with a cry, Weepinbell swung Ivysaur down surprisingly hard, then let go of her.

Aly gasped. “Ivysaur!”

I found myself actually concerned for Ivysaur. That Slam was not what I had expected it to be, and I was sure Ivysaur took a heap of damage from it. My concern only lasted for two seconds as Ivysaur surprisingly leaped up and charged at Weepinbell with a loud yell. “Weepinbell, use Razor Leaf to hold it back!”

“Beeeeell!” Weepinbell shot out a flurry of razor sharp leaves at Ivysaur, but Ivysaur was swift.

She leaped, dodged, even rolled under, every leaf that flew at her, avoiding with ease. With a loud cry, she leaped into the air and started glowing green. As she came back down, the glow disappeared and she shot at Weepinbell and sent it flying through the air, screaming.

Weepinbell bounced on the ground before sliding to a complete stop, but got right back up, shaking itself.

“What was that?” Aly asked. “That wasn’t Take Down… was it?”

“What was that glowing thing it did?” I questioned.

We both pulled out our Pokedexes and got out answers.

Growth. The user’s Attack and Special Attack increases.

“It was Growth that made it glow,” I said, putting away my Pokedex.

Double Edge. This powerful attack hurts the user a significant amount as well.

“I never knew she knew that move…” Aly said in a low voice, staring at her Pokedex.

“Aly, your Ivysaur still isn’t listening to you?”

“Well, we have been working on it,” Aly said slowly. “Sometimes she listens, but other times she doesn’t. We’re making progress but we’re not quite there yet… I’ve been doing my best to be really strong around her, too. June said I had to be strong. So I’ve been trying to be better with that.”

Ivysaur growled at Weepinbell.

“Ivysaur! Use Sleep Powder!” Aly insisted determinedly.

“Ivy Ivy SAAAAUR!” A blue powder came out of Ivysaur’s bulb and began to fall upon Weepinbell.

I froze, unsure of how I was going to defend against this move.

Weepinbell began to sway back and forth before finally falling gently to the ground, sleeping.

Ivysaur let out a loud cry.

“Yes! Good job, Ivysaur! Now end this with Solar Beam!” Aly pointed at my sleeping Weepinbell.

“Ivy Ivy Ivy!” Ivysaur’s bulb started to glow. She aimed her bulb at Weepinbell as it drew in energy, getting ready to fire.

“Weepinbell! Wake up!” I pleaded. “Get up, NOW! WAKE UP!”

“Ivy Ivy Ivy Ivy!”

“WEEPINBELL! WEEPINBEEEEEEELL! Wake up, Weepinbell!!”

“Ivy Ivy Ivy Ivy!”

“Weepinbell, please!” My voice was getting worn out.

“IVYSAUR!” A huge beam shot out of Ivysaur’s bulb and hit Weepinbell.

An explosion of dirt surrounded my Pokemon, covering it completely.

I covered my face, waiting for the mess to clear.

Once it did, Weepinbell was no longer there!

“Huh?” I gasped, looking around. “Whoa! Weepinbell!!”

Weepinbell was far behind me, laying face down in the grass.

“Weepinbell!” I ran towards it.

I got about three feet before Weepinbell jumped up, shaking itself, looking angry. It hopped past me and back over to Ivysaur, glaring at her.

Ivysaur stared at Weepinbell in shock. She seemed to look towards me for a brief second before charging at Weepinbell with Double Edge again.

“Weepinbell!” I took in a deep breath, unsure of the best way to counter Double Edge. “Vine Whip!”

“Ivysaur, stop it!” Aly was losing her patience now.

Weepinbell swiped at Ivysaur as she ignored Aly, continuing to charge, dodging and leaping over the attacks.

“Acid!” I told Weepinbell.

Weepinbell closed its mouth for a second before opening it again, spewing a purple liquid at Ivysaur.

Ivysaur jumped right into the Acid attack trying to use Double Edge and got sprayed with Acid right in her face. She cried out and dropped to the ground like a fly sprayed with bug spray and crumbled to the ground. She shook her head violently, letting out a disgusted growl, and then got back up.

“Ivysaur, listen to me!” Aly wore a fed up look on her now reddening face. “Stop ignoring me and do as I’m asking you already! If we’re gonna win this battle, let’s actually win it! Stop goofing off and start listening for a change and this battle could be over already and you wouldn’t have Acid on your face!”

Aly’s words took me by surprise, solely because they came from her! I’d never seen her this way before. She could argue her point to the end without any compassion and beat you to the ground with it, but other than in those cases, she was a kind, sweet individual who I wouldn’t have imagined would be getting so angry at her Pokemon. She was changing, right in front of me. Aly was pushing herself beyond her comfort zone, and pushing her Pokemon, Ivysaur. Pushing the both of them out of love. Willing to do what it took to be strong for her, so they would be a better team and friends.

Ivysaur growled at Weepinbell while Aly continued to snap at her.

“Now use Sweet Scent!”

Ivysaur’s bulb sprayed a pink power into the air.

I almost felt a little lost in the sweet aroma that wafted in the air.

Weepinbell seemed very enticed by the aroma and started swaying gently in place.

“Synthesis!” Aly added.

Ivysaur’s bulb began to glow white and Ivysaur started to glow yellow, recovering her health.

I shook my head hard, clearing my head from the Scent Scent smell. “Weepinbell, uh... use your Acid on her!”

“Beeeeell... Beeeeeeeell...” Weepinbell seemed woozy, wavering in place loosely, swirling in a big circular motion, watching Ivysaur.

“Weepinbell! What’s going on? Come on!”

My Pokemon was unable to focus from the Sweet Scent.

“Now, Growth!” Aly told Ivysaur.

Ivysaur began to glow green again.

“Weepinbell, snap out of it! Use that Slam again!” I said frantically.

“Bell!” Weepinbell seemed to snap back to attention and its vine reached out for Ivysaur.

“Ivysaur, move it!”

Ivysaur, still glowing, leaped through the vine that began to wrap around her.

Once the green glow faded, Aly gave further instructions. “Finish this with Razor Leaf!”

“Weepinbell, get in there and use Knock Off!” were my next words.

Ivysaur shot out a flurry of sharp leaves from her bulb as Weepinbell’s vine extended and started to glow a black color and charged into the leaves, batting them away and hitting Ivysaur directly in the face.

Ivysaur whined out and was tossed backwards.

“Wrap attack!” I continued.

As Ivysaur shook off the Knock Off, Weepinbell wrapped its vine around Ivysaur and squeezed.

Ivysaur squealed out in pain and struggled.

“Finish it, Weepinbell! Slam it!”

Weepinbell repeatedly slammed Ivysaur into the ground as Ivysaur cried out helplessly.

“SAUR!” Ivysaur quickly sent out vines from her bulb and extended them beneath her.

Weepinbell tried slamming Ivysaur into the ground, but the vines Ivysaur was positioning underneath her prevented Weepinbell from slamming her down!

“Ivysaur!” Ivysaur sent out more vines to whip Weepinbell, who cried out, letting go of Ivysaur and backing away. She fell to the ground and glared at Weepinbell, exhausted and breathing heavily.

“Ivysaur! Sweet Scent again!” Aly said quickly.

As the sweet aroma swept through the air, I thought of how I could possibly end this match.

Aly and Ivysaur were winning for sure. Ivysaur was really strong and was starting to connect with Aly better. They were growing together.

An idea struck me. “WAIT! Weepinbell! Double Team!” I said urgently.

Weepinbell was too caught up in the Sweet Scent to listen to me.

“Sleep Powder, now!”

“Weepinbell, focus! Use Double Team, FAST!!”

Weepinbell shook itself hard and began to split into multiple Weepinbell.

“Don’t you stop! Keep on going!” I urged.

The blue Sleep Powder hit a few of the Weepinbell copies and they disappeared as Weepinbell kept on multiplying.

“Faster! Surround it!” I insisted.

Weepinbell multiplied over and over again, surrounding Ivysaur with row after row of copies.

“Now let’s wrap this up! Wrap!” I pointed to the Pokemon in the middle of the crowd.

All the Weepinbell lifted Ivysaur with their vines and squeezed.

Ivysaur croaked out loudly, struggling.

“Slam it!” I waved my arm down hard in the motion they all followed in slamming down Ivysaur.

“BELL!” the Weepinbell all went, slamming Ivysaur to the ground at once.

The pain on Ivysaur’s face was evident, but she wasn’t out yet. “Knock Off!”

The Weepinbell all raised one black vine into the air and smacked Ivysaur with it.

Ivysaur soared into the air, screaming, before coming back down, where she remained.

“Ivysaur!” Aly screeched, running through the copies of the Weepinbell, causing some of them to vanish. She reached Ivysaur and knelt down beside her.

Ivysaur didn’t budge.

Aly grunted as she lifted her Ivysaur up from the ground and hugged her. She sniffled, pressing her face against Ivysaur’s, tears starting to flow down her cheeks. “You did so well, Ivysaur. I’m proud of you. Thank you so much.” She returned Ivysaur to her Poke Ball and stood up, wiping her face. She turned to me with a deadly look as she walked back to her spot a few feet away.

To my surprise, I heard clapping. I looked to notice that an big crowd had surrounded us. When did all these people show up? I wondered.

There was at least a good thirty people just watching us battle right now!

Did they show up from the Pokemon Center? Was I too caught up in beating Ivysaur to see them all?

Aly looked as surprised at the crowd as I felt, and she quickly wiped at her eyes. With a deep breath, she looked down at Persian. “Your turn, precious,” Aly said with a smile.

With a loud cry, Persian leaped forward and glared at the several Weepinbell she had to face.

“Feint Attack!”

Persian ran at the group of Weepinbell. Suddenly, she vanished!

The Weepinbell all looked around in confusion.

With a terrifying screech, Persian appeared behind one of the Weepinbell and swiped a claw at it, causing the other copies to disappear and Weepinbell to be knocked over.

“Weepinbell, get up!” My heart was startled by the speed of Persian.

Weepinbell got back up.

“Fury Swipes!” An angry look was on Aly’s face, now.

Persian leaped at Weepinbell with her claws extended, but missed!

As she flew at Weepinbell, Weepinbell fell over and hit the ground, fainted!

Persian flew over Weepinbell and landed safely on the ground, looking back at her defeated opponent.

“Oh, no!” My shoulders slumped and I held out Weepinbell’s Poke Ball. “You did great, Weepinbell. Come on back.”

The crowd applauded for Persian, and Aly beamed widely at them.

I scooped up my next Poke Ball and held it tight. “Charmeleon, let’s end this!”

Charmeleon came out and glared down at Persian. His eyes rose to Aly and he winked, giving her a thumbs up. “Meel!”

Aly laughed. “Oh my gosh that is so cute!!!” she squealed rapidly as if that sentence was one word. “Hi, Charmeleon! You’re looking great!”

“Char!” Charmeleon then fired a long, impressive flame into the air.

The crowd seemed to enjoy this and began to chatter and applaud further.

Charmeleon smiled at the attention and began shooting out more brilliant, broader flames to an even bigger applause.

“Okay, okay, let’s get back to the battle!” I said impatiently to my Pokemon.

“Char!” Charmeleon nodded and stepped forward, leering at Persian.

“Don’t be rude, Gary!” Aly crossed her arms. “We haven’t seen each other in so long! We were just saying hi. And the crowd loves Charmeleon! And Charmeleon loves the crowd!”

“Right, right,” I waved off. “Charmeleon, Flamethrower!”

Charmeleon shot a long stream of fire at Persian, who leaped over it quickly.

“Slash attack!” Aly followed.

Persian came down and pulled back a glowing, sharp claw.

“Smokescreen!”

Charmeleon exhaled a puff of smoke and both Pokemon were hidden from view.

I heard the shocked, frantic cry of Persian as she was lost in the smoke.

“Flamethrower, Charmeleon!”

“Persian, don’t you give up! Use Slash attack!”

A lot of loud cries could be heard from the smoke, flames bursting through from random points. When everything finally cleared, both Pokemon were glaring at each other, just inches away. Neither one seemed hurt at all.

Aly didn’t hesistate. “Power Gem!”

Persian’s jewel on her forehead started to glow red and a pink beam surrounded by a white color of energy fired at Charmeleon.

“MEEEEL!” Charmeleon was thrown back.

I pulled out my Pokedex to check this move.

Power Gem sends out a powerful beam of the Rock type variety.

“I see. A Rock move,” I mumbled. “Charmeleon, get up and use Scary Face!”

Charmeleon got to his feet slowly, shakily.

“Taunt!” Aly said happily, her eyes lighting up.

Persian smiled at Charmeleon and gave him a sinister look.

Charmeleon didn’t attack.

“Charmeleon? I said Scary Face!”

Charmeleon raised a glowing white fist in the air. With an angry scream, he punched the ground.

The ground split a bit and the trail of splitting ground moved towards Persian, who leaped over the flying debris and splitting ground and extended her claws at Charmeleon.

Charmeleon pulled back his glowing fist and jumped into the air at Persian, punching her in the face with Rock Smash.

The feline screeched in anger and was dropped.

“Hey…” I said in shock. “I never said to use Rock Smash!”

Still in the air, Charmeleon used Flamethrower and hit the cat as she screamed out. Charmeleon landed a couple of feet away from Persian, waiting for her to get up.

Persian looked over at Charmeleon and hissed at him, standing up. Flames blew up around Persian out of nowhere! With a horrified scream, she hit the ground, defeated.

Aly gasped. “That was a Burn, right?” she asked.

“Yes. When certain Fire moves hit the opponent, sometimes they inflict a Burn and it does some damage at random points in the battle,” I explained. “But what was that move you used?”

“Taunt?” Aly said.

“Yes.”

“Taunt makes your Pokemon only use moves that do damage. So Scary Face wouldn’t work since it doesn’t do damage. It enrages your Pokemon to only attack and it may not listen to you for a little while. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I guess it kind of backfired on me...”

I turned to Charmeleon as the crowd was chatting about the battle so far. “You okay, Charmeleon?”

Charmeleon had his head down, one of his claws rubbing it. At my voice, he shook his head and turned to me. He gave me a thumbs up. “Char!” He flexed his arms and shot a ball of fire in the air.

“Great! Let’s finish this up!” I turned to Aly.

Aly was staring sadly at her Persian. She walked over to her slowly and pet her fur. “You were excellent. Thank you so much, sweetie.” She returned Persian to her Poke Ball before going back to where she had been standing. Surprisingly, Aly was smiling at me. She grabbed her last Poke Ball. “Let’s see how you do against this!” She threw her Poke Ball.

I anxiously awaited what Pokemon this might be. I was curious what Pokemon Aly had left that she was so confident and happy with. I couldn’t wait to face her final Pokemon, knowing I had Charmeleon to weaken it, and a fully healthy Pokemon waiting just in case.

And then Aly’s finally Pokemon was revealed.

My heart grew arms just so it could clutch itself in terror as I backed up in fright at the Pokemon that flew out and into the air. “What?” I managed. “N-no way!”

The crowd gasped, screamed, cheered!

The enormous Pokemon flew higher into the air and then turned back around, diving down to the ground, landing heavily, shaking the ground a little.

I pulled out my Pokedex in disbelief. This was unreal!

Salamence. The Dragon Pokemon. Having gone through so much to finally get its dream fulfilled of evolving into a winged beast, it is very arrogant and proud of its power, and will not hesitate to show it off.

“How did you…?” I started.

“Okay, okay. Let’s get back to the battle,” Aly interrupted, mocking my words earlier.

I only stared at Salamence, not moving.

“Fine, we can go first,” Aly shrugged with a giggle. “Dragon Claw!”

Salamence screamed out and its claws glowed a bright white, flying at Charmeleon.

“Dragon Rage!” I tried.

Charmeleon’s tail flame exploded with power and his eyes glowed white. He opened his jaws and a huge flame came out at Salamence.

Salamence was hit but didn’t slow down, flying right through the fire and swiping at Charmeleon with ease.

Charmeleon was slashed, wailing out in pain as he tumbled along the ground. He finally came to a stop, sprawled out on his back, and he groaned before going silent.

Other than Salamence flying high into the air, shooting fire and making a huge commotion, there was complete, shocked, silence.

I held out Charmeleon’s Poke Ball and returned him. “Thanks, Charmeleon,” I said to his Poke Ball. “This isn’t over yet, though. We can win.” I wasn’t sure how we could win, but we had to try.

The crowd began to cheer once the initial shock of Salamence’s win was over.

Salamence continued to fly through the air, blowing out flames.

I grabbed the last Poke Ball I was going to use and threw it. My best bet to beat this Dragon. “Kingdra! Let’s go!”

“DOOO DOOOOO!” Kingdra cried out.

Aly squealed. “Oh my gosh, a Kingdra!” Aly clapped her hands in excitement. “So cute! Ha! I think we’re winning this one though, Gary. Sorry!” She stuck her tongue out at me.

“We’ll see!” I shot her a nasty look.

Before either of us could call out an attack, a scream erupted from somewhere.

Everyone turned towards the Pokemon Center, where the noise seemed to be coming from.

The doors flung open and a small group of young adults came running out, a backpack in the hands of the one leading them. They ran past the area Aly and I was battling in and kept moving.

“He stole my Pokemon items!” a voice was crying.

A woman was standing at the doors of the Pokemon Center in tears, pointing at the group running by. “They stole all of my Pokemon things! My Mystic Water! My Twisted Spoon! My Hyper Potions! My Full Heals! Somebody stop them!” she begged, tears flowing down her face.

“HEY!” I yelled, turning to the thieves.

“Salamence-!” Aly started.

“Smog attack!” a voice said sharply as a Poke Ball flew across the skies, opening and revealing a Pokemon I was very familiar with.

“Weeeee-zing!” Weezing exclaimed in its raspy, sick voice as it spewed out a dark green fog at the fleeing group.

The group stopped running as the fog surrounded them, choking as they fell to their knees.

A young kid stepped out from the crowd and stood near the thieves, shaking his head at them with a serious glare. He had short, black hair, looking freshly cut and neat. He wore a button up shirt colored in swirls of black and purple, and black jeans with a pair of light blue and purple sneakers. “That’s far enough,” he said. “You’ll just have to wait here until the police arrive. I understand that times are hard, but that is no excuse to steal things from other people.” The guy snatched the bag from one of the thieves, leaning into the smoke, before stepping out again and inhaling fresh air.

I could only assume he must have been holding his breath when he went into those toxic fumes.

“Weezing, keep an eye on them,” the kid told his Pokemon.

“Weeee-zing!” Weezing replied in its miserable voice.

The young guy walked over to the lady near the Pokemon Center and handed her her bag. “I apologize for any trouble these guys caused you, ma’am. In times like these, where items are scarce and we all want to care for our Pokemon, thieves are drawn like flies to waste. Just try to keep your things close and an eye out until this crisis is resolved.”

“Thank you so much, Ozne!” the lady wiped at her eyes. “I was so scared. I spent the last of my money on some of these things. Thank you!”

“Don’t mention it,” Ozne smiled.

“You’re Ozne?” I walked up to him.

Ozne turned around and smiled warmly. “Yes. How are you? I was watching your battle with Aly. You sure have some impressive Pokemon with you.”

“Thank you. I came here to challenge you!”

Police sirens blared loudly, and within a few minutes, police cars were rolling into the scene, stopping a few feet from the hacking thieves. The Smog was already cleared out and several Officer Jennys had hopped out of their cars, rushing towards the criminals.

One Officer Jenny looked at Weezing, who hovered silently above, staring at the officers as they arrested the group. This Officer Jenny saw Ozne and smiled as she walked over to us. “Ozne, thank you again,” she greeted him. “After Nurse Joy alerted us to the situation here, we got here as soon as we could. You’re such a sweetheart.” She knelt down and hugged Ozne.

I couldn’t help but feel awfully jealous as I stared at Officer Jenny.

Ozne hugged her back. “Business as usual, Officer.”

Officer Jenny smiled at him and placed a kiss on his cheek, causing my eyebrows to narrow and my eyeballs to widen, my mouth widening in confusion and shock, jealously ruling me completely. She placed a hand on Ozne’s shoulder as she stood up. “Thanks again. We’ll talk later, ‘kay?” With a quick wink, she walked back to the other Officer Jennys.

My eyes stayed on her form as she left, confused by her interaction with Ozne. Confused... And envious...

Ozne’s voice broke into my mind. “Well, I guess I best be off to answer any questions the officers might have. You should come challenge me later if that’s what you’re looking for.” He turned to the lady who had been robbed. “Do you care to come along with me, ma’am?”

“Oh, of course!” the woman said, blushing.

Ozne held out his arm and the lady shyly took it. He then escorted the lady to the other officers.

The crowd broke apart as Ozne walked by, some girls screaming and squealing in excitement, some guys glaring at Ozne, other guys smiling and nodding, approving of this kid.

What’s with this guy? I thought, squinting at all the fuss over him. Is it just because he’s a Gym Leader? Everyone has to get all crazy over him? He just stopped some stupid thieves from stealing some stupid stuff. I coulda stopped them myself. What’s the big fan-freaking-fare for? I grunted and turned to Aly. “What’s with these-?”

Aly was staring at the commotion around Ozne. She finally turned to me, her cheeks red.

I squinted at her. “Aly… are you blushing?”

Aly turned to the big scene over Ozne before turning back to me again. “NO!” she barked. She returned Salamence, who was busy this entire time glaring at Kindgra, who was glaring back, to its Poke Ball. “Let’s just call it a draw, okay? This is all kind of distracting with the police and those robbers and everything.” She stormed away towards the Pokemon Center, her cheeks more red than before. Just before she went inside, she turned to where Ozne was being fawned over for a quick second, and then went inside.

“I guess you can come back now, Kingdra.” I shook my head as we exchanged glances and then returned her to her Poke Ball. With a sigh, I found myself watching Ozne now.

The kid seemed to be awfully charismatic and yet shy at the same time, charming every lady I could see, both intentionally and unintentionally. Some he merely waved briefly to. Others he didn’t even see. They all seemed taken by him somehow, though.

So this is Ozne, I thought to myself. And he has a Weezing.

I pulled out my Pokedex to scan Weezing, who was now hovering over Ozne.

Weezing. The Poison Gas Pokemon and the evolved form of Koffing. Each head on Weezing contains a different toxin. This Pokemon smells horrendous from the toxins swirling around inside of it. It constantly inflates and deflates its two heads, making the toxins inside of it mix and become more toxic.

I’d have to heal my Pokemon at the Pokemon Center for now, but tomorrow, after a good night’s rest, I’d challenge Ozne. I’d win, too. I just had to. I was confident I could beat this guy. He seemed more and more like a pushover the more I watched him interact so sweetly with everyone. It was making me sick. Once he began chatting with that Officer Jenny who kissed him, and she held his shoulder as something he said made her burst out laughing, I sucked my teeth, rolled my eyes with a groan, and left to the Pokemon Center.

“Mt. Pyre, a famous Pokemon gravesite located in the Hoenn region, is currently on fire under mysterious circumstances,” the newscaster, a thin man with wavy blonde hair and black eyes, was saying on the TV inside. “Often visited by Trainers of dead Pokemon who were buried there, there is no doubt that people are currently inside of that building this very moment. Firefighters from Lilycove City are inside right now and- hold on. We’re getting word that there is a major collapse inside of Mt. Pyre. This is going to be increasingly dangerous for anyone still inside of there. I’m sorry, a major newsbreak. Some sort of explosion has occurred near the Safari Zone located in the Hoenn region north of Route 121, near Lilycove City. Wait, this just in. A shootout has occurred at the Pokemon Center in Accumula Town located in the Unova region. Ten people are reported dead, with five confirmed injured, including an Audino. It seems that it was a robbery and officials believe this is a direct result of the limited stock of items which occurred after the mysterious incident that occurred in Saffron City, closing down the Silph Co. headquarters and leaving items for Pokemon needs dangerously low in stock.”