“This might have been a mistake.” he reflected, daring to look behind at the encroaching poochyena chasing Brendan through the sparse woodlands of route 101. Knowing the pokemons' penchant for chasing their prey unto exhaustion he desperately searched for something to distract them.
As he ran Brendan gripped his sole pokeball tightly. “If I can't get away I can only use this to distract them.” he thought. “I really screwed this up.”
Brendan recalled the events that led to his harrowing flight through the outskirts of the route.
He and his father moved from Olivine City in Johto to Littleroot Town in Hoenn a little over two years ago, a while before Brendan turned twelve, the widely accepted age to start pokemon training. He made fast friends with May, the local pokemon professor’s daughter, and both were ecstatic at the thought of beginning their pokemon journey.
However, when the day came, Brendan's father, Norman, prohibited him from starting his journey. “You're too young Brendan, wait just a few more years and I'll let you go.” he’d said. His father had always been vaguely unsupportive of Brendan’s desire to be a pokemon trainer, which confused Brendan as his father was a professional trainer, now gym leader, himself.
Two years passed agonizingly slow as Brendan watched May become an accomplished trainer, even placing highly at the Ever Grande Conference in her second year of training.
Even after so much time his father showed no signs of allowing Brendan to be a trainer..
Brendan had not been idle though. Over the two years he'd secretly saved funds in order to attempt the trainer certification exam, and on his last visit to Petalburg City he'd slipped away from his father's gym to attempt the test.
He'd passed, earning his training license and a standard-issue pokedex given out to all trainers. He had not scored well enough to earn a starter pokemon from Professor Birch, however; only the 3 highest scorers in a given year would receive one. Knowing his strengths didn’t lie in academics, Brendan had a backup plan. Before their move to Hoenn, his grandfather Pryce had given Brendan a pokeball, and now that pokeball would serve as his ticket to becoming a real trainer.
With his things shoved into a backpack and the pokeball gripped tight, Brendan slipped out onto route 101 that morning to find his perfect first pokemon. While he daydreamed about finding a newborn Bagon or Dratini, however, he'd tripped over a dozing Poochyena, startling the whole pack.
“Can't have my head in the clouds from now on while out in the wild.” Brendan thought as he reflected on his mistakes.
He felt himself tiring quickly and prepared his last resort as he ran into a wide clearing in the forest. He would throw his pokeball at one of the dark types and escape while the pack was confused. He despaired at needing to give up his only pokeball, but escaping was the priority. Just as he turned to throw the ball at one of the Poochyena, however, he felt a familiar sensation as he tripped and fell over yet another pokemon.
Brendan cringed as he turned over to look at what he was sure was his doom. Instead of another menacing dark-type, though, he found himself looking at a dazed plant-like pokemon. It had large, dark pink eyes, bunches of leaves surrounding its head, and a small green bulb sprouting from the top. Extending from its collar it had 4 long green leaves with white tips, with the two in front serving as sharp sickles. Its main body was light pink with a dark pink stripe down the middle. It had a stubby tail, along with two short legs.
Brendan wracked his brain, until he finally recognized the pokemon as a fomantis: a species mostly native to the Alolan islands but found in a few other places lacking strong predators to grass types.
He had woken up the little pokemon by tripping over it, but clearly it hadn't really noticed Brendan yet as it looked around blearily. By this time the pack of poochyena burst into the clearing and growled menacingly at him.
The fomantis at this point recovered from its dazed waking state and turned its attention to the three Poochyena. It leapt at the poochyena with unexpected fury, its small sickles shining with what Brendan thought to be bug-type energy.
Watching the small grass type fight the pack, Brendan recalled that fomantis hated to be woken up during the day as they hibernated, gathering solar energy, and would viciously attack anything that woke them. Apparently the fomantis had mistaken the poochyena to be the ones responsible for waking it, much to his luck, Brendan thought. He watched in awe as the grass type gracefully weaved in and around the surprised poochyena, dealing out slashes and receiving very few wounds in return.
After a few minutes of battle the poochyena retreated in defeat, leaving Brendan and the fomantis alone in the clearing again. Although Brendan couldn't believe his luck in being saved from quite the thrashing, or worse, he knew the fomantis could just as easily do the same now.
As he slowly started to creep away from the grass type checking itself for injuries, he suddenly thought that it would be a great first pokemon for his team. It seemed to be a strong specimen of its kind, and he recalled that lurantis, the evolved form, were considered quite good battlers, on par with Hoenn's native sceptile.
He stopped his escape and decided to try and befriend the little pokemon. Pulling out a berry as a peace offering, he approached the fomantis, nonetheless preparing to run if it decided to further vent its frustrations on him. He called out softly on his tentative approach.
"Hey, thanks for the save."
The grass type merely ignored him. He tried to get the pokemon's attention, raising his voice a bit and getting closer, but to his dismay fomantis had already spread back out on the ground asleep, its natural need for daily hibernation too strong to overcome. Brendan had already decided he wanted this fomantis for his team, though; it was perfect.
"Guess I'll wait till this evening to try." he grumbled.
He sat down to wait and decided to look through his pokedex a bit, reading up on his future starter. He settled in close to the fomantis as he didn't dare leave the clearing on his own, scarred from the experience of being hunted by the poochyena.
He waited there patiently, and as day turned to night Brendan thought he’d learned quite a bit about fomantis. As the moonlight started to shine through the canopy Brendan felt equal parts excited and nervous as he noticed fomantis waking up. He waited a few moments for the small pokemon to wake up fully before he approached it with a berry he'd found earlier.
"Hey, fomantis, thanks for saving me earlier today. Those poochyena probably would have roughed me up pretty good."
As he said this Brendan held out the berry he'd found for the grass type to take. The fomantis looked warily at him at first, but his unaggressive posture and offer of the berry calmed most of the pokemon's nerves. Thanking his grandfather for the lessons in approaching wild pokemon, Brendan watched the fomantis scrutinize him with a confidence he hoped wasn’t misplaced. While he was nowhere near as imposing and commanding as his grandfather, he’d taken well to the lessons and was quite confident in his ability to, if not make friends, at least not offend most pokemon. After a long moment of scrutiny the fomantis cautiously accepted the berry. It sliced the berry in two, and scarfed one half down with an enthusiastic cry. The fomantis looked up at Brendan again, as if deciding something, then held out the other half of the berry to him. Brendan grinned at the small victory and accepted the sliced berry, sitting down in front of fomantis to eat. He ate the berry slowly as the fomantis danced in the moonlight, clearly revelling in the scenery. He fished for something to say, unwilling to waste this chance to befriend the pokemon.
"So, you're pretty good at battling huh? You made quick work of those poochyena. Do you enjoy it?" Brendan asked.
The green-white pokemon nodded, demonstrated a few moves, and mimed what Brendan thought was supposed to be evolution. Brendan had a thought and grabbed his pokedex, opening to the page for lurantis.
He showed fomantis, "So you want to evolve into a strong lurantis right?"
The grass type nodded enthusiastically as it clambered atop Brendan's shoulders to get a better look at the pictures. He searched for a few more pictures of lurantis as the excited grass type clambered about on his back, leaving a few little scratches. He let fomantis stare at the pictures as he spoke more to it. Brendan got the idea that the little pokemon was a little bored here in the outskirts of route 101, most wild pokemon weren’t strong enough to give it a good battle.
"What do you think about traveling with me? I want, no, I will become a strong trainer and I think you can become the strongest lurantis there is. My goal is to travel all over Hoenn for the gym challenge. We can find all sorts of strong pokemon to fight that you won't find around here."
As if sensing the seriousness in his tone the fomantis got down off his shoulders and looked closely at Brendan for several long moments before nodding with a cheerful chirp. Brendan let out his held breath in a deep sigh and flopped to the ground bonelessly in relief. Looking up at the curious fomantis he sat back up and said.
"Alright! From now on you and me are partners."
Brendan held out his pokeball and told the grass type,
"Just touch this and we can make it official."
Fomantis looked at the ball curiously before it tapped it with a sickle and was promptly sucked in. The pokeball rocked a few time before it dinged a successful capture. Finally, he could call himself a real trainer.
Suddenly full of vigor, he sprang up and released fomantis. Brendan grabbed another berry and handed it to fomantis to slice up while he pulled out his pokedex again.
"Mind if I scan you with this? It will tell me a little about what you can do."
The pokemon looked curiously at the device before nodding. A red light appeared from the pokedex before it chimed and gave a summary
Fomantis, the Sickle Grass Pokémon. A Grass type. Fomantis sleep with their leaves spread to gather sunlight for photosynthesis
This fomantis is male and knows the moves: Scratch, Leafage, Growth, Fury Cutter, and Focus Energy. Its ability is Leaf Guard, which enables shedding of status effects during sunny weather
Brendan read it aloud and asked fomantis to demonstrate each move. It seemed very practiced with leafage and fury cutter, but needed a bit of work with focus energy and growth.
"Looking good bud. Oh yeah, do you want a nickname?"
Fomantis seemed to be thinking carefully, but in the end shook its head.
"Alright, works for me. C'mon let's do a little traveling, I wanted to make it to Oldale Town in two days so we've got some distance to make up."
Fomantis nodded seriously before leaping up onto Brendan's back. He chuckled for a moment before shrugging it off. The pokemon only weighed a few pounds anyways.
They traveled like this until morning, when fomantis spread its leaves for photosynthesis and went to sleep. Brendan trudged along the rest of the day, thanking his grandfather for pushing him to stay in shape. They were attacked a few times by wild pokemon, but fomantis usually made quick work of them once woken. They hadn't encountered any other trainers just yet, but Brendan figures that would change as they got closer to Oldale.
He was proven right the next day when they came across a young trainer followed by an energetic zigzagoon. Brendan grinned at the thought of having his first battle.
“Hey, wanna battle?” Brendan interjected as they got close enough to the other boy.
The other boy looked as excited as Brendan felt.
“Yeah, I just got Ziggy here the other day. Won a couple battles already against some of the bug trainers around here.” the boy stated proudly.
“Great! This will be mine and Fomantis’ first official battle.” Brendan responded. “Speaking of, let me wake him up real quick.”
“Fomantis, battle time!”
Fomantis woke up and started charging a leafage automatically.
“Whoa whoa, slow down Fomantis, we’ve got a real battle this time, not wild pokemon.” explained Brendan before Fomantis could charge in.
Fomantis looked confused for a moment before remembering what Brendan had told it about battling. Now cognizant of what was happening, Fomantis took a ready position with its leaf scythes up.
Brendan looked up and grinned at the other boy, deciding to wait and see what he did.
“Alright Ziggy, rush it and tackle!” The boy instructed.
Brendan responded quickly, “Dodge and ready a leafage.”
The zigzagoon yipped and charged in at a considerable pace. As the pokemon was about to make contact it hit nothing but dirt when Fomantis sidestepped at the last moment. Fomantis started to release glowing leaves from its body that swayed gracefully in the air.
The other boy seemed to realize that could signify nothing good for him as he ordered zigzagoon to try again.
“Hurry up and hit it again, Ziggy! Tackle!”
Brendan noticed the leaves were not quite ready and grit his teeth as he ordered Fomantis.
“Take the hit and then leafage!”
Fomantis’ eyes glowed green as he acknowledged the order and stood his ground against the approaching zigzagoon. The raccoon-like pokemon delivered a punishing tackle, and Fomantis cringed back but remained standing. Suddenly the glowing leaves slowly floating down started to spin in a tornado like motion towards the panting zigzagoon as Fomantis finally released the fully charged leafage. The spinning leaves crashed into the helpless zigzagoon and carried it several yards before dropping it to the ground heavily.
“Ziggy get up, you can do it!” the boy cried.
Miraculously the zigzagoon did not seem to be knocked out just yet, but was on its last legs.
Brendan knew that Fomantis wasn’t doing too hot either but saw a chance to end it.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Fomantis, quick, scratch twice back-to-back!”
The grass type heeded his command as it dashed forward, scythes shining and quickly slashed twice into the zigzagoon, who finally fell unconscious.
Brendan grinned widely as the other boy returned his pokemon and congratulated Fomantis.
“We did it buddy! The first of many battles to come.”
Fomantis nodded excitedly for a moment, but then promptly returned to his sleeping position on Brendan’s shoulders. Brendan looked up as the other trainer approached with a banged up, but conscious, zigzagoon following.
“Wow, you’re pretty good if that was your first battle. Oh yeah, my name is James.” The boy introduced himself as he held out his hand.
Brendan shook his hand and replied, “Brendan, and yeah that was our first trainer battle, but we’ve honed ourselves on the wild pokemon out here for a bit.”
“That would do it I suppose.” James mused. “Oh, right, here are your winnings.”
The boy held out a few bills for Brendan to take. He graciously took the money and said.
“Well thanks for the battle, man. I wanna get to Oldale later today though so we should probably head on.”
“No worries.” The other boy responded. “Me and Ziggy are looking for a new teammate and one of the bug catchers told me he saw a couple good size poochyena that way.”
Brendan shuddered for a moment, attempting a grin that probably came out more as a grimace.
“Well good luck then. Catch ya later.”
As the other boy walked away Brendan just stood there for a moment basking in the feeling of victory. The feeling only increased further as Brendan and Fomantis encountered more and more trainers as they closed in on Oldale Town.
Fomantis showed off the immense staying power inherent to photosynthesizing grass types during the day. Battle after battle did nothing to slow down the inexhaustible grass-type.
Brendan and Fomantis kept their unbroken win streak as they entered the outskirts of town. Brendan looked around in unfamiliarity. He’d been to Oldale Town before, but only in passing with his father on the way to Petalburg.
Luckily, the town wasn’t too large and Brendan was able to spot the Pokemon Center fairly easily. Brendan ambled in that direction while taking in the sights. Oldale wasn’t nearly as big as Petalburg City, but it was a good bit larger than Littleroot and had a sort of rustic charm to it that both other places lacked. He supposed that due to Littleroot being a town constructed solely for the purpose of supporting Professor Birch’s research and Petalburg being so urban, Oldale seemed much more homely in comparison.
With Fomantis on his back Brendan was challenged to several more battles, but he declined, wanting to get Fomantis checked out first after his all day battle marathon.
As Brendan entered the Pokemon Center he looked around. There were several what seemed to be veteran trainers sitting in the corner of the lounge, but most of the busy pokemon center was filled with rookie trainers like himself.
After a few moments of gawking at all the gathered pokemon Brendan approached the counter
“Welcome to the Pokemon Center dearie. What can I do for you?” Nurse Joy greeted him.
“I need a room for a couple nights, and I’d like to get Fomantis here checked out. I just caught him a few days ago and we’ve had.. quite a few battles since then. I’d like to make sure there’s no lingering injuries.” Brendan explained sheepishly. The nurse chuckled.
“I can do that. Here’s the key to your room. Come back for your pokemon in a couple of hours”
Brendan nodded and went to get some food. Even though it had only been a couple days, he’d missed non-trail food.
As he ate Brendan pondered the next step of his journey. He could head towards Rustboro City, and the gym there. Fomantis would be advantaged against the rock types used there, and Roxanne, the Gym Leader there, was known as the most beginner friendly of the gym leaders since she ran a pre-trainer school. It sounded like a great plan. There was a glaring issue with it however.
That route led through Petalburg City where his father, Norman, reigned as Gym Leader.
Brendan frowned, considering his options. He’d sworn he wouldn’t go to Petalburg until he could meet his father as an equal and prove to him that he was a stronger trainer than his father could ever dream of, and he would keep to that.
That left his options quite slim though. He couldn’t make it through the dense wilderness to go around Petalburg to Rustboro. He didn’t have any connections, or enough money, to buy a teleport elsewhere. He did remember May mentioning once that there was a trail leading from Oldale towards Mauville City. It wasn’t an official route, more of a strip of wilderness that was just a little less wild. Perhaps one of the trainers around here knew more.
Brendan eyed the two or three older trainers in the lounge. If anyone would know it should be them, he decided. Making a quick decision, Brendan approached a black-haired woman sitting nearby with a massive snake-like pokemon he recognized as a Serperior. Brendan sat down across from them, noting her hat and boots that seemed to be made out of krookodile leather.
“Um, excuse me.”
“What’cha want kid? I don’t really think we’re on the same level if you want a battle.” The woman brusquely responded
“Ah, no that’s ok. I was actually wondering if you knew about a trail around here leading toward Mauville?” Brendan questioned. “Someone told me about it a while back but didn’t give me directions.”
“Probably for good reason. That trail is a bit tough for newbie trainers like you” The woman grinned.
“Well I guess I’ll find it myself then. Can’t be too hard if so many people know about it.” Brendan frowned.
Disappointed, Brendan turned to leave, but the woman grabbed him before he could walk away.
“Now hold on there, you look like you’re determined to do this and I can’t just let you get yourself killed. You do look like you got a little more spunk than most of the rookies around here, though.” She mused, eyeing him with barely concealed amusement. She tapped her fingers on the table, clearly deciding what to do.
“How about this; tomorrow morning we’ll have a battle. I’ve got a new member of the team that should be around your level. You at least impress me enough and I’ll show ya the trail.”
Brendan gaped at her for a moment before coming to his senses.
“Yes! Absolutely, me and Fomantis will be there. You won’t know what hit you!”
“Alright alright, meet back down here in the morning. We’ll have our battle in one of the training fields out back.” The woman chuckled.
He nodded and excitedly headed back to the counter to pick up Fomantis.
They had a lot of planning to do
After retrieving Fomantis, Brendan went out back to the training fields for a little last minute preparation.
“Alright bud, we’ve got a big battle tomorrow.”
Fomantis looked up curiously.
“Yep, one of the veteran trainers wants to battle us to see what we’re made of. If we impress her enough, she’ll show us a path we need directions to.”
Fomantis chirped excitedly, but paused when he processed ‘veteran trainer’ and made a questioning noise.
“Oh, she’s got a new teammate that she said should be around our level. I’ve no doubt whatever it is will be tough though given that it caught her eye.” Brendan quickly explained.
“I don’t wanna just impress her though, I want to win! How about you, bud?”
Fomantis chirped and chopped the air with his sickles, looking determined.
“That’s what I like to hear! Ok, I think you’ve got leafage and fury cutter down fairly well for now. I’d like to see about combining those, but that’s for the future.” Brendan mused.
“Let’s work on growth. I know you can use it fine, but that’s only while standing still. No experienced trainer is going to let you do that; you’d be a free target. So try using growth while dodging around these pebbles I’ll toss at you.”
Fomantis didn’t seem too enthused by the training but was determined to get it done. The two spent the rest of the evening furthering their training and preparing strategies for the battle.
Morning came and found Brendan and Fomantis eagerly awaiting the older trainer in the Pokemon Center lounge. Just as they began to get impatient, the trainer showed up, followed by her regal Serperior.
“Sorry kid, slept in a little. Staying in a real bed gets to be a luxury the longer you’ve been training” She sagely informed him.
Brendan could only mutely nod; he didn’t trust himself to not squeak when he spoke, as excited as he was.
The older woman ruffled his hair a bit.
“Ha, lighten up kid. This’ll be fun even if you lose. You had breakfast?”
Brendan slightly frowned, but nodded.
“Alright, let me just grab a granola bar or something and we’ll head out.”
As the two exited the Pokemon Center out into the training fields Brendan decided to ask a few questions.
“So, how long have you been training?”
The woman chuckled. “I think we should introduce ourselves before anything else, kid.”
Brendan colored in embarrassment. “Ah, right, I’m Brendan, rookie trainer from Littleroot Town.”
“Nice to meet ya, kid. I’m Isabella, from Castelia City in Unova. I’ve been training going on 9 years now.”
“Wow, your pokemon must be pretty strong. Have you participated in any conferences?”
Brendan marveled.
“Well I think we’ve done pretty well for ourselves.” Isabella said as she looked back at her preening Serperior.
“And yeah, we’ve done the whole conference deal a few times. Our best result was a Top 4 showing at the Lily of the Valley a few years back.”
Upon hearing this, Brendan turned and shared a look with Fomantis. They’d get to that level one day, and this was their first step.
The rest of their trek went by with a companionable silence. When they reached the training field Brendan and Fomantis took up their side and stared at Isabella, wondering what her new teammate was. Their curiosity was quickly sated as she smirked and released a young looking sneasel on the other side of the field.
“Sneasel here was a gift from a friend of mine whose weavile had an egg. He just started training seriously a week or so ago, so he should be decently matched with you and Fomantis.”
Brendan nodded distractedly as he furiously began recalling everything he knew about the sneasel line. They were classified as dark and ice types. Very bad temper, strong aggression. Blindingly fast and carried the capability to inflict devastating wounds with their long claws and elemental techniques. Their only glaring drawback tended to be that they were quite frail.
“You ready to begin, kid?” Isabella called out.
Brendan let out a long sigh as a tentative plan came together.
“Yeah, we’re ready.”
As the battle began Brendan took the initiative.
“Fire off a few low powered leafages. Keep it away for a bit and use focus energy”
Fomantis complied and sent a few small whirlwinds of leaves towards the sneasel.
Isabella wouldn’t just let him do what he wanted however.
“Sneasel, evade with quick attack, then icy wind.”
The sneasel blurred into motion, easily dodging the leaf vortexes. It stopped on the other side of Fomantis and breathed out a puff of icy air towards the grass-type.
“Dodge Fomantis!” Brendan cried urgently.
The grass type attempted to get out of the way but was just a shade too slow as the freezing air clipped part of his side. Fomantis chirped in pain and frost began to creep up the affected leaves. Brendan thought desperately for a plan before he remembered Fomantis’ ability.
“Shed those leaves with leaf guard, Fomantis”
The grass-type focused for a moment and the afflicted leaves detached and fell to the ground while new ones grew to take their place. Fomantis swayed unsteadily for a moment before recovering his equilibrium.
Watching this, without any input from Isabella, the sneasel leapt forward, claws shining.
“Parry the claws with fury cutter!” Brendan commanded.
Fomantis crossed his leaf sickles together for a moment before they started to gleam with bug-type energy. He stood his ground against the charging sneasel and quickly parried, claw for sickle. After the clash the sneasel leapt back out of Fomantis’ reach before blurring to the side and leaping in again. This pattern continued for a few more clashes, and Brendan noticed that while Fomantis was nowhere near as fast as the sneasel, his reflexes were much quicker. As the sneasel attempted another clash, this time Brendan called out to Fomantis.
“Don’t parry this time, sidestep and hit it with back to back fury cutters!”
Fomantis chirped in understanding and stared determinedly at the sneasel bearing down on it. Just as the sneasel’s claws would have slashed into the grass-type, Fomantis ducked underneath the leaping sneasel’s claws and delivered a devastating super-effective counter.
The sneasel was thrown a few meters away, breathing heavily and obviously wounded, but not out of the fight. For only the second time in the fight Isabella deigned to give the sneasel an order.
“Close combat won’t work, keep away and pelt it with ice shards.”
The sneasel yowled with displeasure at not getting to rend with its claws, but did obey. Using its speed to circle around Fomantis it shot ice shards at the frenetically dodging grass-type. In the face of this new effective strategy, Brendan decided to try a technique that they hadn’t practiced yet, only talked about.
“Leafage, Fomantis, but don’t release it. Keep it centered around you!”
Fomantis’s eyes started to glow and he stopped dodging for a moment, taking an ice shard in the side for it. Before the sneasel could capitalize on its successful hit, Fomantis released dozens of leaves that spiralled around his body. With his natural camouflage, Fomantis was much harder to see in the leaf whirlwind. The sneasel still peppered the area with ice shards, but could not be as accurate as before.
Isabella looked a little taken aback at the strategy for a moment before she recovered and gave another order to sneasel.
“Switch to icy winds! Flush it out.”
Brendan knew the strategy would be of little help against a wider area of effect move like icy wind; so, before the sneasel could change strategies he yelled to Fomantis.
“Release the leafage, all directions!”
Just as sneasel blurred to a new spot on the other side of the grass-type, the spiralling leaves exploded outward, revealing a heavily wounded Fomantis covered in ice. The sneasel took a good few of the leaves as direct hits while it was about to use its move, causing it to recoil back. Taking advantage of the chance Brendan called out.
“Finish it! Leafage!”
Fomantis followed up with a leafage so quick and precise it was halfway to being a razor leaf. The move hit the sprawling sneasel dead on and knocked it out. Fomantis stood there for a moment in victory, before swaying from side to side and then falling unconscious himself.
Brendan could only stand there mouth agape for a second.
“We won!” He jumped up in place, celebrating.
After calming himself, he rushed to Fomantis on the field and started administering potions. The potions did their work and Fomantis woke up, jumping up immediately and looking around for the sneasel. Brendan just laughed and pointed over to Isabella doing the same thing he was.
“You did it buddy, we won. You were fantastic.”
Fomantis chirped in delight and tapped Brendan’s pack.
“Whatcha want buddy? A berry?”
Fomantis nodded, and when Brendan handed him the berry the grass type sliced it in half and handed part to Brendan. Brendan recognized it as the same thing he did when they met and sat beside Fomantis to eat. After eating, Fomantis clambered atop Brendan’s shoulders as usual to photosynthesize. At this, Brendan approached Isabella, who was still treating the sneasel.
“Great battle, kid. You’ve got a fine pokemon there. And your battle sense ain’t too bad either” she said as he approached.
“Need to give that fomantis some more versatility, and of course catch a few new teammates and you’ll be as ready as any for your first gym.” She told him.
“Yeah I was planning to stick around this area for a couple days to try to find a second teammate at least before heading to Mauville.” he responded.
“At least you have a little bit of sense.” She teased. “Not running off route with just a little old fomantis to protect you.”
Brendan could only sigh nervously.
“Well, as I said, I’ll show you the trail heading to Mauville from here. Hand me your pokedex.” Isabella instructed. She fiddled with the device for a few minutes.
“There, I’ve marked the trail on your map, along with a few notes about what to expect and where to stick to, and some other places. From what I've seen you shouldn’t have too much trouble if you don’t provoke some of the stronger pokemon out that way, but it’s pretty easy to stay out of their path.”
Brendan accepted his pokedex back thankfully.
“I really appreciate the help with the trail. Although I think now the battle was worth more. You pushed us pretty hard and it was great.” Brendan thanked her. She shook her head.
“No problem, kid. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, and we need more trainers like that.”
Isabella returned the sneasel and looked at her watch.
“Well I gotta get going, kid. See you around. Keep pushing yourself and maybe we’ll battle for real one day.” She said as she released a large flying type he recognized as a braviary.
Brendan’s eyes sparkled at the thought of battling her evenly.
“You bet! Next time you see me and Fomantis we’ll give you a real battle.”
She chuckled as the braviary took off.
“Hope so. Later, kid.”
As Brendan and Fomantis watched her fly away, Brendan felt that spark of determination flare up.
“Alright Fomantis, we’ve got some work to do. We can’t slack on our training, and we need to find a new teammate before we’re ready to head to Mauville.”