Groaning, Dad walked over to the table, sat down, and placed his meal. The fatigue in his eyes couldn't have been mistaken for anything else. Mom raised an eyebrow and stopped eating, she met her husband's eyes, "something wrong?" Dad shook his head and mom didn't take any of it, "Ross." she said simply.

my father scratched his head, he looked like he was already tired just from remembering his problem alone, "it's just that the Sinnoh Champion decided that we should put off our patrols in Ilex Forest for the time being," he replied,

"wait, she can do that?" I asked, joining in and both of them nodded,

"as a Region's most powerful trainer, a champion has the authority to call off anyone in an area if they want, for a good reason of course," Mom supplied, "most of the time, they do it under the reason that there's dangerous pokemon lurking in there but sometimes, or in the case of Oak, always, they can put it under the threat of criminals,"

hearing my Mom talk about Professor Oak so casually was confusing but I let it be and stayed silent. Chalking it up as working for the league having its perks. Hearing her talk about the previous champion shouldn't be that surprising. Mom continued explaining- "and under these reasons, a champion can sometimes even put an entire area under lockdown," she added, "back when I was younger, I witnessed Oak close off Viridian Forest because the beedrill there got out of control and no one in Kanto complained when he did so,"

she took a bite off of her toast, "in fact, it was so bad that no one was able to pass through the place for weeks on end and a lot of the journeying trainers were forced to stay in Viridian City those in coming weeks,"

Dad nodded, "that's what it means to be champion," he said with a sigh, "but honestly though, what's gotten into her to close off Ilex Forest like that?" he mused, "and what's up with Lance just agreeing?"

"who knows? It's kept under wraps but I heard it has something to do with Team Rocket." Mom replied, "seriously, those guys are starting to get out of hand,"

"I heard that the reason why those oddishes rampaged was because of them too, they apparently introduced Woopers in the ecosystem willingly and territorial fights had started to break out," Dad's face was grim, "and since those pokemon are poisonous..."

"other pokemon can't eat them without harming themselves," Mom finished, getting a nod of confirmation from Dad.

"hopefully the Zubats that live there eat them then," I said,

"and that creates another problem," Dad replied, "specifically, a swarm of annoying flying types that'll go to the forest because there's an abundance of food," his bitter face made it seem like he could taste the poison on our meal, "so I expect a whole lot Confuse Rays and the like in the passing month or so,"

"right, speaking of Zubats," Mom said, "Lionel, I saw that you bought caving gear earlier," she met my eyes, "what are you planning on doing with them?"

I nodded, "I think I wanna go to Union Cave," she nodded, gesturing for me to continue, "because I want to catch a Zubat but I guess that's going to have to wait huh?"

"you can always go around Ilex Forest by following Route 34," Dad added his two cents, his experience as a ranger showing, Mom nodded in support at him, "just go through that daycare and continue north till you see Azalea town," he put aside his now empty plate, "I even hear that there's an entrance to Union Cave somewhere down that path,"

"sounds impossible," I replied, eating the last pieces of my meal as well,

"it does," Mom replied, placing her spoon and fork on her now empty plate, "but since the Ruins are found along that path, it isn't exactly that improbable," she stood up, "you're doing the dishes by the way,"

I nodded, humming "okay,"

...

"Pikachu! use Thunderbolt!" the Pikachu on the battlefield's cheeks started to crackle with electricity as his trainer called out the command,

"shadow sneak! dodge it." my grimer disappeared,

From the other side of the battlefield, I was able to recognize the girl I was fighting, she was the same one who had lost to Joey's crabby all those days ago. Her presence around the edge of Ilex Forest had started to lessen after that loss before it disappeared altogether. The week that she spent on the forest's edge, no matter how scarce, had shown that she was training harder and harder with her meowth so I always wondered what happened to her that made her just disappear.

The Pikachu that she was facing me with now had its debut on the school's battleground a week ago and since then, it took out most of the pokemon it came against, Vhira's Nidoran included.

She wasn't able to beat Joey's Crabby still but that's essentially a given since the damn thing is strong enough to take out Grimer in just three hits. Five if my pokemon used Harden.

but even if the Pikachu couldn't beat it, it didn't mean she was weak, hence why-

"Quick Attack! get away then counter with another thunderbolt!" her trainer called out and she gladly followed, turning into a yellow blur that crackled with lightning. The attack barely missed Grimer and as she passed through the place where Grimer once was, the Pikachu stopped in her tracks and looked around warily, electricity arching on her cheeks.

she fired off the attack and it struck and was even fortunate enough to paralyze my pokemon.

"Grimer, shadow sneak again!" he disappeared, then emerged out of his opponent's shadow, ready to punch, "now! Power-up Punch!" Grimer's fist turned from black to red as he punched Pikachu in the stomach, making her reel in pain. The fact that he could interchange his Shadow Sneak and Power-up punch was something that he managed through sheer repetition alone, thanks to that, he no longer needed to punch twice.

"oh, so you're back to your old tricks right?" my opponent snickered, "what's next? you're gonna start filling the entire field with poison gas so that my pokemon has nowhere to move?" she added disdainfully, "you know, if you do that, I'm gonna make my Pikachu go out of bounds and electrocute your Grimer inside his own gas,"

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"I just might," I gave her the most polite smile I could muster, "Grimer, Poison Mist into Shadow Sneak!"

purple smog erupted out of Grimer's throat instantaneously, the move now more of a reflex than an actual command. The smog stayed there until he turned into a blot of ink, it continued to pour out even as he re-emerged right next to Pikachu; his darkened fist struck, hitting the pokemon in the chest and sending her weaving for air and a second later, she breathed in and the poison gas around Grimer proceeded to enter her mouth.

"great! now, Power-up punch!" a second after my command, Grimer's fist hit Pikachu for the second time, sending her flying.

She landed and didn't get up,

"PIKACHU! GET UP!" I winced as her trainer yelled from the other side of the battlefield but the yellow rat tried to follow, standing up just briefly before once again falling down. "NO! GE-"

"the battle goes to Lionel and Grimer!" the flag on Miss Chrome's hand waved our way and the glare that we got from our enemy wasn't pretty.

"UNFAIR!" she yelled before deflating when Miss Chrome shot her a glare, "w-why are they even allowed to fight here anyways?" she asked,

"because they're trainers, just like you Francette, they just battle differently than others." was the brief answer that she got,

after the explanation, she visibly calmed down and took off, but not before shooting me and Grimer one more glare. I watched as her back became smaller and smaller, never turning around. "she forgot her bet," I looked at Miss Chrome, she shrugged.

I clicked my tongue and left my spot on the battlefield. Grimer was quickly recalled and I went off to go to the pokemon center, he needed healing after all, and if I'm lucky, I might even meet her there.

...

"isn't this place supposed to be closed off?" Vhira asked, kicking a stone a few feet away. She grabbed another pebble off of the ground and tossed it, hoping to hit the other one she just kicked. It missed. "seriously, Lionel, if we ever get punished for this I'm never, ever talking to you again,"

"we won't," I reassured her,

"you saying that feels like we can actually get caught..." it didn't seem to have worked though.

"but like I said, we won't."

"so we can get caught?"

"of course not!" I parted a large swath of tall grass, sighing when I didn't see anything that resembled mud, nor crags. "we're in Route 34,"

"you mean the edge of Ilex Forest?" Vhira retorted, walking over to the patch I had parted just now and checking it for herself, "and what are we looking for anyways?"

"Woopers," I replied, "I heard that they're apparently around here somewhere so I wanted to see if I can find one,"

"why?"

"Because there's something I wanted to confirm," Professor Oak's words could probably be trusted, but Poison Type Woopers felt like a little too much of an idea for me to swallow, "and besides, if you want one, you can catch it. They're poison type after all." I walked over to a new patch of grass, with wet ground around it this time.

Parting it yielded no results but I marked the damp, muddly soil as a potential place for Woopers to nest in sometime in the future, "wait, wait, you mean that what you're looking for are poison types?" Vhira suddenly caught up to me, "and what did you mean I can catch one?" she was now right next to me, "I don't even have a Pokeball!"

"they're Poison Types yeah," I nodded, repeating what these Wooper supposedly are, "then you can just remember the place where you found them so that you can add one to your team in the future,"

she scoffed, "and what makes you think that a Wooper would be a good candidate?"

"I don't know,-" I really didn't. For one, I knew that Quagsires were amazing pokemon with their Water and Ground typing, then their abilities and movepool? They're something that can rise to Ubers under the right player and meta. Now, Paldean woopers on the other hand... I don't even know anything about their region let alone the pokemon itself, "-but from what I've heard, they should be good pokemon,"

"from who?" she parted a nearby patch of grass, I looked at her and she shook her head.

"a few professors," I replied, "they can be trusted,"

she hummed, running over to another patch of grass before parting them, "okay, so, let's say that they're strong," she started walking to another patch, "why don't you catch them yourself?"

"I don't want to," I replied, reiterating when she looked at me oddly, "I mean, I think I want a few specific pokemon on my team,"

"uhuh, like what?"

"as I said before, a Crobat, but I guess something like a Venosaur doesn't sound that bad as well," I replied, "and if I can, why not a Nidoking?"

"a Nidoking?"

"yep, they're good pokemon,"

"huh, never thought you'd want one to be honest," she said, opening up another patch, this time, she waved at me, "found one of them by the way,"

"wait, you did?" she nodded, I ran over, and true enough, on the bottom of the patch, almost indistinguishable from the mud it's sunk itself in, was a brown-colored Wooper hissing at me, "huh, it really is brown..."

"is it not supposed to be?" she asked, taking out a few berries from her handbag before presenting them to the pokemon,

"yeah, the professor told me they're supposed to be different, mostly," I watched as the wooper started eating the Oran berry, "and the region that Cynthia came from, Sinnoh?" Vhira nodded, taking out another berry, "apparently the woopers there are blue,"

"huh," she threw the berry towards the pokemon, "is it the same situation as your Grimer?"

"it's exactly the same," I replied, "so, are you gonna catch him?"

"nope, you?" I shook my head and she let go of the grass, the shrubbery went back to its original place, obscuring the wooper once more.

as we walked away from Route 34's wild area and into the more patrolled places where trainers can roam around safely, I couldn't help but ask Vhira a question, "weren't you interested in the new Pokemon?" I asked her and she shrugged, shaking her head in a way that made her toxic green hair whip back and forth,

"why would I be?" she scoffed, "just because they're new doesn't mean that they should be something that excites me immediately," her hands went over to Rein's Pokeball and he was released, "besides, I already have him," she said, going down and patting the little rabbit on the cheek, I then notice her gesture something to him before she stood up.

The Nidoran wasn't put back into the Pokeball and was kept out instead, walking alongside the two of us, "do I need to be excited about it?" she asked, turning to me,

"not at all," I replied, "I just thought that it would interest you more since you know, it's from another region,"

"as if," she clicked her tongue, "if anything, that Wooper would just become a staple soon and I'd see if I can get one for myself by then,"

"so you're waiting to see if it's good then?"

she nodded, "yeah,"

eventually, both of us stumbled on a laid-out path. After following it, it lead us to the daycare on Route 34 and the old man was, as always, sitting just outside with a rather large growlithe sitting right next to him. I waved at him and both he and Vhira quickly followed, then we passed him and continued down the path, towards GoldenRod city.

"don't you think that it's a little weird that they built a daycare this far out?" Vhira asked once the daycare in question was nothing but a small dot on the horizon, "I mean, why out here of all places?"

"it's supposed to give pokemon a feeling of authenticity," I said, "it's so that they can breed easier or something,"

"that's a weird reason don't you think?" she pointed out,

"probably yeah," I looked back at the Daycare in the distance, it was placed on Route 34's perfect center, right between Goldenrod and Ilex Forest, but that didn't mean that they would be safe from any attack coming in from the wall of trees. I hummed, "hey, don't you think that the Daycare is a little bit too close to Ilex Forest?"

I looked at the humming Vhira as she played with Rein's Pokeball, juggling it around in both hands confidently before catching it with practiced ease. The ball stopped on her right hand and she stared back, "what?" I shrugged, she snorted, then giggled.

"that was what I was saying earlier wasn't it?" she retorted quizzically, admitting that she was playing stupid just now, "honestly, I'm afraid that whatever made Ilex Forest close off would reach out towards the Daycare at one point and it'll be that."

"they'll bounce back," I said, turning my eyes away from the faraway building. For a couple that takes in fully evolved pokemon like Persian, their house seemed fine and from what I've heard, it hasn't even been destroyed. Even once. I clicked my tongue, "it probably won't even get destroyed."