Valerie looked like a deer in the headlights. She stared at the brat with wide eyes, her mind had stopped entirely. Her head turned to her left, then her right, seemingly wondering where the kids' apparent challenger was supposed to be before finally, the pieces went into place.

  “You mean me?” She pointed a thumb at herself, before looking down at Larry. He was less dumbstruck and more awestruck.

  ‘This is the thing! A trainer encounter! I can almost see the exclamation mark above the kid's head!’ He raved to himself mentally.

  The brat looked almost scarily similar to the Youngster trainers from the games. Larry almost wanted to ask for the kid's autograph and thank him for his performance in-game. “Of course I mean you, there’s nobody else here!” he responded haughtily.

  A strained smile on her face, Valerie was about to refuse the teenager, “Sorry, but no. We ca-”

  “Of course! I wanna!” But her Pokemon interjected. Like a thirsty man in a desert, Larry had almost forgotten how much he was itching for a fight until the opportunity came. He hopped up and down, slapping Valerie's legs enthusiastically, “C’mon Valerie!”

  “Can you give us a second?” Valerie looked slightly pained as she addressed the boy, a strained smile still plastered on her face. He nodded confidently and waited as the two turned around.

  Valerie knelt next to Larry in a huddle, giving him a quiet reproach, “Larvitar! We can’t fight this kid! I’ve never been in a Pokemon fight before!”

  “No other way to learn, right?” He answered excitedly, “And don’t worry, even if you suck. I’ll just fight myself!”

  “I’ve got no idea what you’re saying!” She complained quietly with her hands on her shaking head, “Look, we can’t-!”

  “So? Are we doing this?” The Youngster asked again as he repeatedly threw his Pokeball in the air, drawing the two out of their arguments.

  Before Valerie could talk her way out, Larry jumped up enthusiastically, “We’ll do it! So? Where do we go?”

  The Younger was seemingly able to read Larry's mind, “Oh! Your Larvitars ready? There’s an arena just behind the Center, let's go there!”

  Before Valerie could turn him down, the kid already started walking, with Larry following closely behind, “Ah, wait!”

  …

  The three walked the corridors of the Center, making for its rear exit.

  “Are we really doing this?” Valerie asked the two for the second time. Larry simply scoffed back, ‘What does she think? I’m gonna back out now?’

  “I-I mean I don’t even know your moves!” She fumbled her phone out of her pocket, fervently tapping away at the device as she searched for the files she’d gotten on him, “Y-You’re a rock type, right?”

  Larry wanted to roll his eyes but nodded hoping to somewhat calm the girl. He’d never seen anyone become this panicked at the simple notion of a Pokemon battle. Even the wild Pokemon in Mt. Silver took to life-and-death battles more calmly than Valerie.

  “Huh? You don’t even know that?” The Youngster spoke up, slowing a step, “How’d someone like you get a Larvitar?”

  “Someone like me?” Valerie felt slightly offended, “Why do you wanna fight Larvitar anyway?”

  “Someone snapped a pic of your Larvitar and it went viral on Chatter, the whole Center is talking about the girl with the Larvitar, you know?”

  “What?!” Both Valerie and Larry exclaimed at the same time. Neither of them had seemingly ever expected that the simple act of walking around in a center with a rare Pokemon would pose a problem.

  Larry wanted to fistbump himself, ‘Hell yeah! An internet sensation on my first day in human civilization!’ His mind hitched for a second as he realized that the kid just said, ‘Wait, Chatter? Is that like Pokemon Twitter?’ He tried to catch a peek of the kid's phone screen, ‘They got Twitter here?’

  Valerie meanwhile looked distraught at the idea of internet fame, “You mean people are talking about us online?!”

  “Yeah, some popular accounts rechatted the post.” He showed his phone to his trainer, “Here, see?”

  “Oh!” Valerie began to wilt as she looked at the screen, “That’s a lot of likes…”

  “Sure is!” The boy responded, unperturbed by the girl's worries.

  Valerie was lost in her mind as she muttered, “I mean I knew from the reporters that they knew about what happened at Mt. Silver. None of them knew I caught a Larvitar though…”

  “How the heck did you get your hands on a Larvitar if you know so little about it anyway?” The Youngster asked.

  “He just kind of fell into my hands…” Valerie explained hurriedly, still following after the kid, “So, can you please forget all about this and just leave us?”

  “Your Pokemons still following me though?” He explained smugly, “Guess if you can't keep him under control we’re still gonna do this.”

  “Larvitar, c’mon!” Valerie balled her hands into fists in frustration, she wanted to physically hold the Pokemon back, or simply recall him, but didn’t have the heart to put her foot down, “Please, Larvitar! I don't even know your moves!”

  “Nah!” Larry answered back with a shake of his head, still following after the kid who was by now opening the door to the back exit for him, “Guess you’ll have to learn them today!”

  Valerie was almost vibrating in annoyance, until she suddenly released a sharp sigh, “Ha! Fine! Let’s do it!” She kept her eyes on her phone as she walked, hoping to do some last-minute cramming on her Pokemon's moveset.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  …

  Valerie had taken to her side of the arena, standing opposite the Youngster. She was still cramming through her phone in the hopes of somehow finding some sort of help for the upcoming fight.

  Larry meanwhile was looking at the area surrounding the Center, it was his first time properly in the outside world. They were in a hilly area, one side was slowly rising upwards into a mountainside in the distance while the other side sloped downwards. Behind him, stood a giant grey mountain with a snowy white dusting at its tip, ‘Woah, it really does look like Mt. Fuji…’

  As he circulated his Type-Energy, his eyes fell from the mountain down onto Valerie, who was still stuck inside her phone. He looked up at her skeptically, ‘What does she think? That I don’t know how to fight? I’m not some idiot...’

  Unfortunately, the fight had attracted a crowd, a variety of other trainers from old to young stood at the sidelines and eyed the event curiously. Valerie looked uncomfortable at the attention and Larry himself, while very happy at the idea of social media fame still didn’t really enjoy all these real eyes on him.

  “So,” The boy stretched, “a 1v1 Battle between, uhh, what’s your name?”

  “Valerie, and you?” She responded tensely.

  “David!” He smiled back happily, “Nice to meet ya! You alright with Standard Rules?”

  “Uh, sure?” Valerie answered, not even sure what the Standard rules were.

  ‘Well, guess we’ll just wing it!’ Larry stretched next to Valerie, his TE was coursing around his body eagerly. The anxiety of all the eyes on him fell away as he readied himself for the fight.

  “Alright!” David looked around the audience and pointed at someone, “Hey, Ivy! Can you referee for us?” The kid was seemingly a regular who knew the people around here.

  “Sure thing!” The guy stepped up between them and announced again, “A 1v1 Battle between Valerie and David, Standard Rules. Are both trainers ready?”

  “Sure.” Valerie nodded.

  “Ready!” David announced, reading his Pokeball.

  “Ready? Begin!” Both trainers released their Pokemon, Larry ran forward into the arena and David’s Pokeball opened with that satisfying Clack!

  “Poli!” A small Poliwag stood on the opposing side of the arena, it looked at its opponent challengingly.

  Valerie started the fight simply, “Larvitar! Tackle!”

  Larry had other ideas though, he began by using Sandstorm and enveloped his side of the arena in a thick cloud of sand and dust.

  “What?! Larvitar, what are you doing?”

  ‘Who uses Tackle?! C’mon Valerie!’ He admonished her mentally as he advanced against the Poliwag. His Sandstorm followed along, swallowing up his enemy within.

  “Polly, use Bubble Beam!” David commanded.

  ‘Kind of stupid, announcing every move the Pokemon is supposed to use…’ Larry thought to himself, his prediction of Pokemon battles being entirely true. He felt Poliwag charge his attack in the storm and stepped deftly to the side, dodging the bubbles entirely.

  “Get out of the storm, Polly!” David commanded.

  “Larvitar what’s going on in there?!” Valerie cried out, unsure of what was even happening inside the storm.

  Poliwag began to retreat as soon as the command came, but Larry had already heard its trainer's instructions and charged at the Water-Type with a Pursuit. He smashed an arm into its back and the creature was thrown to the ground, crying out painfully, “Argh!”

  “Polly?! What going on in there?” David asked in a panicked voice.

  “Sorry, no hard feelings!” Larry apologized and used Bite, chomping down on the Pokemon’s side. In response, Poliwag cried out a shrill scream.

  In a last-ditch effort, Poliwag reared back to deliver a Pound behind itself by slamming its tail into Larry's side. The hit smacked into Larry’s flank, but its Normal typing had little effect on him. Larry took the hit and used its Type-Energies to deliver a charged Payback. He released his Bite and uppercut the Tadpole Pokemon into the sky, it flew outside of the sandstorm in a long arc before smashing into the ground, fainted.

  The Sandstorm dematerialized and Larry stood victoriously, ‘Still a GOD-DAMNED. GENIUS!’ He thought to himself selfishly, still amped from his first fight in quite some time.

  Their referee took a short and confused second before he raised his arm to Valerie's side and announced, “Poliwag is unable to battle, the winner is Valerie!”

  The crowd showered the pair in a smattering of polite golf claps, they weren’t as shocked by the one-sided nature of the fight, but by the way, Larry had beaten Poliwag without taking a single command. Phones had been pointed the entire time and murmurs spread through the audience, as they wondered what had just happened exactly, considering the Sandstorm had obscured most of their view of the battle.

  David recalled his Pokemon with a conflicted expression, he turned to Valerie, “What just happened?”

  “I-I don’t know…” Valerie looked just as lost as David. Larry trotted back to her side, very much satisfied with himself. He was satisfied with the fight, ‘A good fight, but could’ve been a bit more challenging.’

  David walked over to the two of them, that conflicted expression still on his face, he trained his face into a smile, “I guess that’s that… I didn’t think it would be that one-sided. Anyway, good fight.” He stuck out a hand for a handshake, he might’ve been a brat, but he wasn’t a bad loser.

  Valerie took it, “Uh, sure. Good fight.” She looked just as confused at the results.

  After David parted their crowd and made his way back into the Center to get his Pokemon healed up, Valerie turned and lowered herself to Larry in a hushed whisper, “What the hell was that Larvitar?!”

  ‘I beat him up!’ Larry, still amped from his fight, jabbed the air a few times in explanation.

  “I saw…” Valerie scratched her neck awkwardly, “Or well, I guess I didn't…”

  She felt conflicted and made her complaints known, “You fought well, but you’re supposed to fight with your trainer, you know?”

  Still slightly hyper and not in the mood to argue with someone who literally didn’t speak his language, Larry quirked his head to the side in indifference, ‘Give some better commands than Tackle and I might actually listen.’

  Valerie dropped the topic for now with a sigh, “Anyway, do you need any healing?” He shook his head, not even really feeling the single hit he’d taken.

  “Alright then…” Valerie looked disappointed with the fight, even though she'd won.

  Her eyes traveled to their audience, “You heard David, right? We’re attracting a lot of attention by walking around like this.” She pulled the Pokeball out of her pocket, “Could you go back into your ball for the time being? I wouldn’t want another guy to challenge us, we need to get to Mt. Silver soon, right?”

  ‘Hmm, I don’t know.’ Larry weighed his options, ‘I could go for another fight, but we need to get back to Mt. Silver too…’

  Before they could come to a conclusion, a single person split from the crowd and walked up to them, “Valerie! My goodness, how are you doing?”

  Valerie turned to the figure, a woman in a pencil skirt and a blouse, her peach-colored hair was curled dramatically. The woman stomped towards them in a set of uncomfortably tall high heels, she had a minuscule handbag she was clutching against herself and wore a set of aviator sunglasses. Her entire outfit made her out to be some sort of secret celebrity.

  Raising herself, Valerie wasn’t even able to get a word out before the woman threw herself at her, pressing the girl deep into her bosom.

  “Oh, I am SO happy you’re unharmed! Once I heard about what happened to you I rushed over right away! You just know how the flyer services here in Kanto are!” The woman complained loudly.

  “Mmph!” Valerie fought to give herself some room. The woman finally eased her grip on Valerie she took a deep breath, her brows furrowed into consternation, “Michelle? What are you doing here?!”