My eyes bugged out in shock and panic as I stared down Zircon in the dark alley. While I and Aura were both looking at him in the dusty crevices of two washed up buildings, Zircon stood on the edges of the sidewalk, basking in the light, his figure blocking the light made the overall situation more daunting and horrifying than before.

I quickly glanced behind me toward Aura, who hadn't moved since Zircon's entrance. It seems she herself was looking at Zircon, while also lightly bouncing one of her six razor sharp wing blades against her back leg. What the fuck Aura. We are not going to turn this boy into mincemeat. I gave a stern look of disapproval, making the ever so slight head shake so Zircon wouldn't notice.

Zircon, meanwhile, was looking at both me and Aura in astonishment, excitement, and giddy joy. "I knew there was something up with you the moment I saw you get escorted out of the quarry!" Zircon began, holding his hands behind his head and cracking a wide grin. "There was a big commotion down there, and I couldn't help to look, and I see this white cloaked person carrying a box of rocks!"

"Now, I know for a fact you're not a scientist," he said, pointing to the white duster I had so carefreely tied around my waist, "None of the miners I bet have ever seen distinguished scientists around, they'd probably be around in their labs doing things. But, me. I know. So I did what every young snooper like me would do. I followed you!"

He giggled, as I stood frozen, half kneeling while holding a near empty cardboard box of fossils while a close combat murder mechanoid was seconds to turning the carefree boy into Swedish meatballs.

"And I couldn't believe what I saw!" He said, taking a peek around me to see the engineering and mechanical marvel that was Aura. "After you went behind that shed, I followed you a bit. Not only were you not a scientist, but you suddenly began talking to someone out of nowhere! I was starting to believe you may have been an under cover criminal like on TV!"

"But after you came out of the pokemart, you went down into another alley away from most of the traffic, so I could only follow you to see what you were up to! And look at what I discovered! You were talking to a Pokémon! A really cool Pokémon that I have never seen before! Now that's super exciting!"

I glanced both towards him and my Aura, a drop of sweat dribbling from my brow. Did he come by just to follow me and announce it to me? Why did he even take an interest in me? Just because I stood out? No. He probably has a hidden motive.

"So... What are you going to do about me and my....uh... Pokémon?" I croaked, making sure not to say mechanoid.

"I'm still not sure whether or not you're part of an evil gang or not, but you don't seem to want to hurt me either. Since you're not a threat, I'm challenging you to a Pokémon battle! And don't you dare try getting away!"

I sputtered. A Pokémon battle? Using my Aura? That was insane! Not to mention in whatever Pokémon public battlefield in the city, if people saw my Aura, it would gain a ton of publicity and attention. It was a nightmare scenario. But something pulled on me. Something in my head wanted to see what would happen, to allow a glimpse at what mechanoids could do mingling with other Pokémon. It was quite the intrusive thought. And it was kind of winning.

I looked at Aura, who was about two arms lengths away. I could of course grab the box and jump into Aura's arms, teleporting to our secret base in the underground, but that would leave a pretty horrible stain on my public appearance record, especially with a young detective snooper who Zircon claimed to be. It was either come clean for a little bit, or look like a villain forever. My mind raced.

"Alright fine." I said, holding my hands up in surrender. "I'll follow you, and we'll have our Pokémon battle, and I'll get out of your hair."

Zircon excitedly pumped his fist in the air. "Yes! My first real Pokémon battle! This is going to be awesome!"

I stood there, silently looking at Zircon's happy expression, contemplating what he just said. First real battle? Was he actually serious? He genuinely never had a real Pokémon battle before?

I cleared my throat. "You..." I began before trailing off. "You've never had a real Pokémon battle before?"

"Nope! Well, not really." Zircon said, speaking rather quickly as if trying to avoid the subject. "You see, my dad didn't want me to be a trainer, wanted me to be geologist and miner like him. But all my friends are trainers, so I couldn't miss out! Finally my dad allowed me to become a trainer, but he didn't let me go into the woods! Said it was too dangerous. So while I did get a Pokémon, a geodude, I only had mock battles with my friends."

His eyes beamed once more, as a determined smile puffed up on his face. "But I want a real Pokémon battle! Trainer against trainer! And you seem to have the most perfect Pokémon I have ever seen! So let's fight! I challenge you!" he said, pulling a pokeball from his belt.

"We're... fighting... here? In this alley?" I said, pointing straight down. It was far too cramped, and I doubted it would be remotely safe to battle within the plain city streets.

"Oh what? Oh god no." Zircon said, stepping back after realizing what he was implying. He placed the pokeball back onto his belt, before extending his arm to grab mine. "Now lets go! Let's go to a proper arena!" And he promptly did so, ripping me off my feet and dragging me behind him. Aura, seeing me get dragged away, quickly picked up the four fossils sitting in the box, placing them in her own 4D hyperspace, before equipping her invisibility cloak. Although I couldn't see here, I could feel her presence regardless.

As Zircon dragged me into the deeper parts of the city, traffic became heavy. Not with cars, but with people. People of all forms and sizes milled about. Some children with their parents, some old folk, and a ton of trainers. I didn't know exactly what day or date it was to solicit this amount of trainers, but in short, there were a lot of trainers running around, which meant a lot of Pokémon out in the open.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

While Zircon pulled on my arm, I saw a Bidoof happily running in between his trainer's legs. He was laughing as well, trying to catch it. A Starly was perched on it's trainer girl's shoulder, rubbing it's grey and white down against her cheek. And a Shinx, a Shinx! It was having a grand time, as his trainer, a blond tanned boy in khakis and a Hawaiian shirt fed it red poffins.

Then there were the more distinct experienced trainers. While the younger trainers wore simple clothes like t-shirts, shorts, simple baseball caps and the occasional sunglasses or two, the higher tiered trainers were in a completely other league of their own. By that I mean they were easily distinguishable.

One trainer swaggered along the road, wearing what seemed to be a mix of a purple and black modern shirt, while wearing the most jagged and messed up and Jackson Pollock inspired jeans I had ever seen, matching rather grossly with his radical green and purple hair. It was a look, for sure, which matched the Drapion walking behind him.

Nearby, a trainer wearing a golden yellow hexagon checkered turtle neck and black pants, with matching hexagon sunglasses hanging on his forehead, leaned up against a wall, while his Vespiqueen hovered next to him. It seemed he was in a talk with someone. They were being rather loud, but the city bustle made it quite hard to eavesdrop.

Another trainer, with long blond hair, was sitting on a bench with a rather joyful Gabite, as it chowed down on an Oran berry. My head instinctively snapped towards the Gabite, as little pieces of fruit clung to it's face as it took bite after pleasured fruity bite. I couldn't help but sigh as Zircon dragged me around another corner, a building blocking the Gabite from view. I always loved shark like animals.

Up ahead, rows of battlefields were laid out along the grassy plains and lush trees. Already, some battles were already happening, dust kicking up into the air. Some people whooped and cheered, as they watched the show on bleachers or on the sidelines. There was quite a lot of people out today. And there was only one battlefield empty. Smack dab in the middle of the three courts. Right next to the majority of the spectators. I gulped.

Zircon, without skipping a beat, dragged me into the last battlefield, in which he let me go and I was able to finally control my own footing. I stamped the hard dirt.

"Are you ready for the best Pokémon battle ever?" Zircon said, air practically puffing out of his nose in anticipation.

"Uh... frankly, not really. I mean, I don't even know the rules to Pokémon battling." I said truthfully. That part was true. Although I had known Pokémon throughout the games, the anime, and from tons of Youtube videos, I didn't know the hidden details, like battling seasons, or battling rules.

"Are you serious?" Zircon asked, bewildered. "Have you been living under a rock or something?"

"Yes." I said curtly. That was also true. I was living in the underground, so that idiom made perfect sense given my situation.

"Well that won't do! Here, let me tell you the rules," Zircon said, clasping his hands together. "There are mock battles and real battles. Mock battles work in that no major attacks are at play, and Pokémon aren't really serious. Real battles are when Pokémon go all out, but mostly to knock out their opponent. There are also real battle rules, like two swaps per battle, and trainers can set a cash bet if they want to bet money. Since this is a real battle, I want to bet ten dollars!"

"I see..." I said, tapping my chin. "Then in that case, I'll match you and also bet ten dollars. How many Pokémon do you have?"

"Two!" Zircon said happily.

"Didn't you say you had a geodude? What's the other Pokémon?" I asked.

"Secret! You'll see when you battle me!" Zircon laughed and winked.

I sighed, before giving a thumbs up. Zircon grinned.

"Alright, let's have a fair fight!" Zircon announced, running to the other side of the battlefield. His announcement got the attention of the majority of the people sitting on the bleachers, as the other two battles on our right and left had concluded, and now all eyes were on us, waiting for the next fight to begin. There were about twenty people, a mix of adults, and young and experienced trainers alike. Those people were going to see the battle of a lifetime.

"Let's begin the battle!" Zircon yelled. "This is a battle between Zircon and.... Uhhh...What's your name?" His voice echoing to me.

"It's Nexus! N - E - X - U - S!" I yelled back, spelling it out to him.

"Alright!" He yelled back. "This is a real battle between Zircon and Nexus. Zircon will be using two Pokémon, while I think Nexus will be using one. Two swaps are allowed. Go, Geodude!"

He popped a pokeball from his belt, enlarging in his hands, before tossing it into the field. It popped open mid-air, revealing a creased face on a rock with hands.

"Dude!" it yelled out.

I grimaced. I really didn't want to start, especially with all the people watching. But I had to. I swallowed down the dread and spoke. "Aura! Reveal yourself!"

In front of me, in the most magnificent way possible, Aura unveiled herself to the crowd, the invisible cloak flying off and simply disappearing like it were never there. It of course went into the 4D hyperspace, but no one knew that. Her legs hovered above the ground, her six massive razor sharp blade wings eagle spread out behind her, giving a masterfully intimidating look, as she extended her gray and white polymer and metallic arms. Her entrance was stunning and immaculate, that even I was a little too stunned to speak for a second.

The crowd, meanwhile, seemed to feel the same, before it suddenly broke into a chaos of voices. Murmurs, shouts of confusion, and excitement.

"What the heck is that?!" I heard from the corner of my ear. "I've never seen that before," came another voice. "Is that a new Pokémon, because it looks radical as heck!" said another. "This battle is going to be awesome as hell! We get to see what moves it does!"

I glanced at Zircon, who seemed lost in thought, before slapping his face a few times.

"Geodude! Use tackle!"

Geodude complied, using it's arms to throw itself across the ground, rather quickly as a matter of fact. Aura was waiting for my instructions.

"Uhhh.. Uh." I stammered. "Aura, do moves." Blanked real hard on that one.

Aura seemed to understand what to do though. In a perfect leap and somersault, it vaulted over the incoming Geodude, before swiftly turning in midair and slamming the geodude in the back of it's head... body? with a good solid kick, before backflipping into a standing position. It was the most extra thing possible.

"Geodude! Get back up and use Defense Curl, then use Rock Polish! We need to out defend and out maneuver it!" Zircon yelled from across the field.

Geodude, understanding the new command, hopped a couple meters back before locking it's arms together. A metallic sheen began to creep over its body.

"Aura! Prevent it from strengthening! Find a way to stun it!"

Aura jumped into action, seemingly running on air, before her razor wings swung out, stabbing and poking at the geodude. Even though it was decently far away, I could immediately tell Aura was holding back. If she was strong enough to rip a human in half, she was definitely strong enough to tear the limbs off of this rock Pokémon. As her wing stabbed and sliced, the geodude held its ground. It was obviously hurting a little, but it's arms remained crossed.

I groaned. There had to be a way to stun it. I thought for a few seconds, before an idea popped up. Maybe... Aura could use her wings like a vibroblade. Maybe the vibration could stun the Geodude for a bit, which would give Aura the time to find an opening and smack it on the head.

"Aura! Use your wings to cause vibrations like a vibroblade! You need to stun it!" I called out. Aura nodded, swiftly extending out all six wings, each blade vibrating in the air, before slamming them into the geodude. The rock type shook, and by the time it managed to free itself, it was visibly shaken, and hobbling all over the place in confusion.

"Now!" I yelled, causing Aura to dash forward.

"Break out of it Geodude!" Zircon yelled.

It was no use, as the Geodude meandered around the field, until Aura smacked it down with one good hit from the flat side of her wing. With that, Geodude was down for the count, imprinted into the battlefield floor. The crowd cheered, and as I glanced behind me, I saw the majority of them holding smart phones, recording the whole thing.

Zircon sighed, retrieving his geodude back into his pokeball, and pulled out a second pokeball.

"You haven't seen the last of me! This Pokémon I got from my dad, he said it's really tough!" Zircon yelled, tossing the pokeball into the ringer. Out from the ball appeared a yellow quadrupedal Pokémon, with a grey shield for a face. A Shieldon.

"Only tough on the front." I remarked back. "Aura, hit it in the rear. It's weak there."

Zircon's eyes widened, but it was too late before he could give any orders. Aura was already behind the Shieldon, which I was pretty sure already knew it was screwed. In a flurry of attacks, Aura quite literally walloped the shield Pokémon, sending it careening it across the battlefield, before it lay unconscious in a heap.

Zircon looked down, dejected, retrieving the Shieldon. Before he even had the chance to say 'good match', and before I could consul him about his mistakes, I was surrounded by a gaggle of people, phones to my face like makeshift microphones, and voices shouting left and right.