The True Journey Begins (I Guess)

Sean had heard the morning bird Pokemon chirping in the distance, and he woke up. The little window in the tent had let in light, which had shined in his face, illuminating his hair, making it look golden brown. Kasai was laying down next to him, still sleeping. He decided that while she slept, he would cook a delicious breakfast for himself and his Pokemon. As he got out, the light blinded him, his glasses reflecting most of it. The cool morning air and the smell of dew felt just like home.

"Kasai would like to feel this." He speculated out loud. He looked around, and didn't seem to notice anyone at the time, and started on cooking. A few moments later, a figure appeared over yonder, but he couldn't make out and specific details.

Summer charged across Route 16 with astounding speed. She'd spent the night in Kloudecord's Pokemon Center, but after thinking it over, had decided that she would much prefer to travel with someone else rather than go it alone as she had been doing recently. Sean, whom she had met in the city yesterday happened to be going in the same direction that she was, except he had left the night before and so Summer, waking up rather early, had a lot of ground to cover in order to catch up.

This was the figure that Sean spotted on the horizon. Soleila, who had gotten rather used to Summer's reckless personality by now, was clinging onto her trainer's head of hair for dear life as she ran, her red locks of hair blowing out behind her in the slipstream of wind that she seemed to create by running.

Spotting a tent in the distance, Summer grinned. As she got closer and closer, she realised she had finally caught up and yelled quite loudly;
"SEEEEEAAN!!! WAIT UP!"

"Summer?" He asked himself. "But what is she doing here this early? She spent the night in the Pokemon Center, didn't she?" He just decided not to question it and soon she was closer. Thanks to her yelling, Kasai had woken up, still quite cheery. "Fennec! Fen!" The Fennekin was overjoyed that Summer was back, and Sean was happy, too.

"What are you doing here, especially this early in the morning? Didn't you spend the night in the Pokemon Center?" The country boy looked at her expectantly, not thinking of her to be much of a morning person, but once again surprised by her.

Summer practically skidded to a halt as she reached where Sean had pitched his tent. Soleila was glad to no long be squished by the forces of air resistance and took this opportunity to relax on Summer's head as her trainer explained why they were here.

"I woke up early this morning and charged right on over," Summer grinned cheerfully, "I figured since we were both heading in the same direction we might as well travel together for a while. It's more fun than being on your own anyways!" she smiled, catching her breath between a few words here and there.
"So how have you been in the short time we were apart?" she asked, her smile not leaving her face as she made conversation with her friend.

"Well, firstly, that sounds like a great idea." Sean said with a crooked grin, "And secondly, I had caught a Drilbur." The farm-grown boy threw up a Pokeball and out came a Drilbur. "This here is Tsume. Tsume, Summer. Summer, Tsume." The ground type was still looking tired, but nevertheless showed joy at meeting one of Sean's friends. "Well, do you want something to eat? I was just about to cook some pancakes and bacon."

"Oooh!" Summer grinned as the Drilbur was released from her pokeball, "She's pretty cool! Nice to meet you Tsume!" she smiled, crouching down and taking out her PokeNav Plus in order to scan the Drilbur's data and add it to her ever expanding pokedex.

Summer was quickly distracted however by the prospect of free food. She hadn't realised how hungry she actually was until Sean had mentioned it, but she had skipped breakfast to catch up to her friend and had used up a lot of energy sprinting to get her.
"Free food? Hell yea!" grinned Summer, tucking her PokeNav away and sitting down cross legged in anticipation for the food.

Sean nodded when he heard Summer's comment about free food. "Coming right up!" He continued making the pancakes and bacon. As the bacon was sizzling and the pancakes were forming, he continued making his special recipe for Pokemon food. "Any requests for pancake art?" The country boy asked. "I can make anything from a Pokeball to Entei!" He heard her request for Larvesta, and told her that it was gonna take about a minute longer. Several minutes later, they were ready to eat, Sean setting the table. "You're gonna enjoy it with me if you like free food! I have the works in my bag, ready for cooking at a moment's notice." He added to the conversation.

"Sean, you are officially my saviour," she chuckled dramatically as she sat at the table that the other trainer had set up. Once he placed the food in front of her, she gladly showed it to Soleila with a grin.
"Hey Lei-Lei, it really does look like you!" she smiled, the Larvesta giving her own cry of approval and amusement at the pancake art.

After digging into the food with gusto, Soleila tucking into some pokemon food that Lily had given them the day before in order to take it on their journey, Summer paused in between bites to ask Sean a question.
"How do you carry all this stuff around?" she asked him, "I mean, isn't it like, really heavy? I hardly carry anything with me because of that."

"Well, I aim to please, and I am really good at food art, not to toot my own horn or anything." Sean replied to the girl's comment. He was glad that he met someone that can appreciate his cooking. The enjoyment may be from her hunger, but still, to the country boy, digging in meant you loved it.

He hadn't quite expected Summer's question about how he carries all of this around with him. He thought it was pretty simple, but nevertheless, he answered her. "Well, I do come from a place full of farmers. My farm doesn't have Rapidash to plow, so we had to plow by hand. When I turned 13, I was put to work, and I got much stronger because of it. This is basically nothing for me, compared to hours upon hours of pulling a large metal thing through the ground." He explained to the red-haired girl.

Summer listened intently to Sean's words as she continued to eat the food that he had cooked for her. She was grateful for it, and would fine some way to repay his kindness... eventually. She didn't really have much to give though, and her only real talents were her fire breathing - which wasn't really the best when it came to helping out other people.

"Interesting," replied Summer as she finished the last bit of food on her plate. Soleila was still nibbling at her food, not having used up all her energy in running and thus preferring to savour it's taste rather than wolf it down.
"Now that, my friend, is good food. I dunno why you aren't a chef somewhere," she chuckled after finishing, leaning back where she sat as if in bliss now that her hunger had been stated.

"Anyways, if we're telling life stories, did I ever tell you that i'm a firebreather?" she asked.

"I'm glad you liked it." Sean said, "And the reason to why I'm not a chef is because I can't manage my time for the life of me, with so many orders." The country teen said with a a loud burp. "Excuse me." He looked at the redhead through his chocolate hair. "And no, you didn't tell me that you're a firebreather." Kasai looked up, wanting to know more about this. She never knew humans could breathe fire like fire types.

"Well i'm not as awesome as Lei-Lei here is," chuckled Summer, "Technically I don't actually breath fire, rather manipulate it with a mist of flammable liquid, but it looks darn cool. My parents were fire breathers too and because of our training we can touch fire without burning our hands," she explained, "But that's pretty much the only interesting thing about me, other than my mum being a gym leader I guess," she added before going quiet, noticing the trainer approaching where they had been previously eating.

Summer quickly scanned each of his pokemon before he reached them, allowing her time to learn what they were.
"Hello there!" she smiled when the bird keeper eventually did make it over to them.

Sean quickly looked around to see who Summer was greeting, and turned around to see a trainer with a a Starly and a Togetic.  "Why hello!" He said,  "What do I owe the pleasure to meet someone new with Pokemon?"

"Just a battle,"  The bird keeper replied,  "That's all I want!"  Sean grinned the famous smirk that those who knew him for a long time knew that he meant business.  "You're on!  Summer, you wanna join for some tag team action?"  His eyes sparkled gleefully at the chance to train up his Pokemon.  The country boy also wanted the chance to see if Tsume, who had healed up from the previous day with sleeping through the night, could take on a trainer, too.

Summer shrugged, getting to her feet and rummaging through her bag for a specific poke ball.
"Sure, if he doesn't mind us teaming up against him," she grinned, finally fishing Soren's poke ball out of her bag and holding it out proudly as she awaited the other trainer's response. He seemed to generally agree and so Summer let the young Eevee out of his pokeball.

"You up for a battle, Soren?" she asked with a smile. The Eevee hesitated for a moment before Summer continued, "You'll be working alongside Sean's pokemon in this battle."
Deciding that he could be more helpful in a double battle than in a single battle, the Eevee mewed in agreement before taking up a determined stance. He seemed to be a little nervous, since he didn't know the bird keeper, but he wasn't about to let that bother him now.

"Then it's settle!" The bird keeper said. "A tag team seems like a good idea, anyways!"

"Tsume! Front and center!" Sean called out almost instantaneously. "Time for you to have your first Trainer Battle! I want you to do your best, but promise me to be safe. I don't want anything bad to happen to you." The Drilbur nodded and headed out in front of the two trainers.

"Ready? Set! Fight!"

"Soren I want you to keep on your toes and help Tsume as much as possible," called Summer, well aware of the capabilities of her pokemon and friend's move set.
"Alright start off with Helping Hand! And then go in with a Sand-Attack!" called the fiery haired female. She was certainly one who knew how to start off smart, preparing for later on rather than dashing head first into an attack. It was a shame she wasn't this strategy conscious in day to day life. It would certainly have prevented a lot of mishaps due to Summer's recklessness.

Soren quickly leaped into action. If there was anything he could rely on to be consistent, it was his own moves after all. There was no need to be nervous since he already knew how to use them. With a small cry and a flick of his bushy tail, Soren caused Tsume's body to glow faintly with the stat increasing effects of Helping Hand. The Eevee then dashed forward, attempting to kick sand and soil into the face of the Starly and Togetic that the bird keeper had sent out to oppose them.

Tsume was surprised to see herself glow a little. Then she suddenly felt a boost in her strength, and saw Soren had hit sand and dirt in the opposing Flying types' eyes. "Tsume! Use Scratch, then, um, use it again!" The country boy exclaimed.

"Dril!" The ground type took the opportunity while the two Pokemon were blinded to use scratch, once on each of them, knocking them both to the ground.

The bird keeper couldn't help but acknowledge the skill of using such a move first thing. It would definitely hinder his team if he didn't think of something, and as such give his opponents a lead that could be costly.
However, Tom had one advantage to his name, he knew both of his pokemon's skills by heart. Though the opposing duo might be tenacious, he was definitely at an advantage in that it was one synchronised mind, rather than two, commanding the actions of his two pokemon.

"Togetic, use Magical Leaf and keep your eyes closed. Listen out! Now, Starly, use Growl!" he called out. The two pokemon, even after the Sand-Attack, were able to perform their moves, even without looking. Ceasing it's attempts to clear it's eyes and instead tightly closing them, the Togetic used magical leaf, controlling the leaves with it's mind and surrounding itself with them, awaiting the Starly's move. The Starly parted it's beak, before crying out with a loud growl in order to lower their opponent's attack. Tsume charged in using Scratch, her attack not really lowered due to the effects of Soren's helping hand move. The Starly attempted to dodge the Drilbur, but being as low a level as he was, didn't quite have the speed necessary and was knocked to the ground.

Tom's Togetic meanwhile, was listening out for where the soundwaves from Starly's growl had hit Soren and Tsume. Togetic, being able to use so many moves through it's Metronome, was quite adept at learning new techniques, and this specific one had been developed for just such a situation. You see, Tom wasn't a lazy trainer. Oh no, he was anything but.

Using the soundwaves,  Togetic judged roughly how far away Tsume and Soren were and split the group of Magical Leaves she had created into two, half headed for the Drilbur, half headed for the Eevee. The leaves attempted to collide with the Drilbur head on as Tsume moved in for the second Scratch attack upon the Togetic.

Soren meanwhile had been asked to use Helping Hand once again, attempting to boost the power of Tsume's second Scratch, however with the incoming Magical Leaves, Summer switched strategies.
"Sand-Attack again! Knock as many out of the air with soil as you can!" called Summer, trying to protect Soren from the brunt of the attack. She did so successfully, with the young Eevee kicking up clumps of soil and dust, which collided with some of the Magical Leaves, knocking them out of the air. As they did, they disintegrated as if they had never existed, leaving only a few left to deal minimal damage to Soren, much to the little Eevee's relief.

Tsume, while the Magical Leaf was blocked, it still was able to hit her a bit.  But that "little bit" had done a lot of damage, being a Grass type move, after all.  Tsume wasn't able to attack the Togetic, though, and was sent back to Sean.  "Oh no, Tsume!"  The Drilbur got back up, even more determined than ever.  "Dril!  Bur!"  The Ground type exclaimed.  "Well, if your sure, use Scratch again on the Togetic!"  Sean exclaimed.

The Drilbur ran up and tried to swipe at the Togetic, only to have it dodge at Tom's word, but Tsume kept on swiping and scratching, but the Togetic kept flying higher, and so did the Starly. Suddenly it hit him. "Tsume! Grab Soren and use Fling at the Togetic!" The Drilbur nodded and picked up the small Eevee, and then threw him at the Fairy/Flying Pokemon, which had surprised Tom and his two Bird Pokemon.

The surprised trainer didn't have time to react, and neither did his pokemon. Quickly however, Summer called out to Soren, "Use Tackle!"
The Eevee however, was one step ahead of her, having already realised how he could take full advantage of this situation. Using his bushy tail like a small rudder, he slightly angled himself so that the Togetic would take the full brunt of the double attack, the Tackle hitting the pokemon at such a force from the powered up Fling attack, that it did multiple times the normal amount of damage that a Tackle would do. Catching the Togetic by surprise, the odd, powered up combination quickly knocked out the Togetic, causing the Starly to panic and Tom to watch in disbelief.

"H-How?!" he blinked, recalling Togetic before she could get hurt any further.

The bird keeper looked at the two trainers in awe. "H-how?!" He asked as he recalled his Togetic. "Togetic hadn't been hurt at all!" The farmer pushed his glasses up, a beam of light moving up them.

"It's simple really!" Sean exclaimed, "We have something that can get us through any challenge! Teamwork!" He cheered, and Tsume cheered with him, both of them pumping their arms in the air. "Dril! Drilbur!"

The Starly started to panic, now that it's partner had fainted. "Star!" Tom looked back to see the Drilbur jumping up and going to scratch his Starly, him not hearing Sean call out to her. He also didn't notice that his Starly was floating gently to the ground, but it was too late. He called out to dodge, but the Starly was too slow, and it got knocked out by the powered up scratch.

"Helping hand boosts attack power, and i'm pretty sure a Fling like that would make Soren's Tackle a bit more damaging too," chuckled Summer, who was rather amused by the flying type trainer's disbelief. She had to admit she hadn't thought that the move combination would work as well as it had, but she was glad it did. It had quickly tackled an opponent that was promising to be rather troublesome with it's versatility.

Tom was grateful for the full explanation that Summer had provided, as knowing what had defeated him would definitely help him improve in the future. As his Starly was also knocked out, he returned both pokemon and walked over to shake hands with Sean and Summer.
"You two are pretty good i'll give you that. What are your names?" he grinned.

"I'm Summer," smiled the red-haired teen, "and this is Soren," she pointed out, also introducing the Eevee who had battled him.
"Oh and," she paused to point to an approaching Larvesta who was using her flames to control her aerial movements, "...this is Soleila!" she smiled.

"Name's Tom, pleased to meet you," he grinned as he shook Summer's hand.
"Do you two by chance participate in contests?" he asked, head tilting slightly to the side in his curiosity.

Summer shook her head, "Nope. Well at least I don't. Can't fully vouch for Sean here," she replied, "Why?"

Tom scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment at his guess being wrong.
"Well I guess I just assumed you would be, since contests are all about combining moves and you guys sure seem to do that well."

The teen looked back at the bird keeper after petting Tsume on the head for a job well done. "Oh, I'm Sean, this is Tsume, and..." He pointed over to the Fennekin, "...this is Kasai!" The Fire type beamed and jumped around, yipping in glee.

"Contests?" Sean asked, "No, I couldn't say that I have. But one day I might!" The country boy looked back at Kasai, who was playing with Tsume. "Combining moves, eh? Well, it does seem like we do that well, and I was just going with what my gut told me!" The brown-haired teen's stomach growled loudly, and he laughed, "It looks like it's telling me that it's time to eat again!"