"QUICK ATTACK RATATA!" the crabby trainer from before yelled- no, Screamed his heart out as he issued his command. His Ratata, having no issues with the screaming whatsoever even with its sensitive ears, nodded and glowed white before becoming a blur that quickly passed through the battlefield.

His enemy, a poor Spinarak could only watch with unfocused eyes as the blue blur of a rat went forward relentlessly before knocking him down. Miss Chrome raised a red flag in the direction of Ratata's trainer, "it's Joey and his Ratata's win!" she declared loudly.

Honestly? I didn't know what I was expecting when I saw him battle that meowth but this honestly blew it out of the water. I gave "Joey" a look, I didn't want to believe that he was the same Joey as in the games but looking at the blue cap on the top of his head... I sighed, "it's definitely him." I murmured.

"who's who?" Whitney said from behind me

I shook my head and took off my eyes from the now departing Joey. "it's nothing."

I don't really know how old the guy is but from what I could tell, he was at least a year younger than me if not more. Whitney didn't look pleased with my answer and was glaring at me silently from the corner of my eye. After spending a bit of time with her, I noticed that her attitude was partially the same stuck-up personality as it was in the games. I can already see her not handing me my badge the moment that I beat her.

Not wanting to antagonize her, I gave the gym leader the first answer that came to my mind, "I saw him beat someone's meowth a day ago and I thought that from the way he yelled they were the same person and I guess I was right."

her posture relaxed and she softened, "eh, he gets like that sometimes."

I nodded, "where did he get his crabby by the way?" that thing had Agility Boost already...

"I don't know," Whitney shrugged, deeming the guy as unimportant.

I left the conversation at that and I met my teacher's eyes, she gave me a nod and I started walking. "I'm gonna go ahead and battle," I told her and she hummed and played with her Pokeball whilst curiously staring at mine, "wish me luck."

"of course," was all I heard before I stepped into the square battleground. Opposite of me, Klaus was already there, Hoothoot by his side. Both of them were smirking and I gave him a smile in return, "good luck!" I yelled from the other side and he returned it quickly,

"you too!"

I let Grimer out and Hoothoot took the stage. Most of the watchers didn't react to the sight of my discolored Pokemon, no doubt thinking that it was just a shiny and because it's a Grimer but a few boys and even some girls managed to show a bit of interest in the sludge.

"Ready?" Miss Chrome's voice echoed out, "Go!"

I waited for Klaus to tell Hoothoot to fly and when he did, I immediately took command at the call, "poison gas! aim it at the sky! make it as wide as you can!"

Grimer moved and bellowed out thick fumes of purple smoke out of his mouth,

"dodge it Hoothoot! Then use confusion!" the smirk on his face told me that he knew he was going to win.

or, at least that's what he thought. "what?" was all he could say at the sight of the purple energy constricting around grimer doing nothing.

"poison the sky again grimer!" more smoke billowed out, Klaus didn't react, "again!" more gas escaped Grimer's mouth, lifting up and dying the sky purple.

"DODGE!" / "Poison Gas!"

Klaus and I kept repeating our commands until the sky above the arena was nothing more than purple smoke.

"Hoothoot Dodge! then confusion!" he tried confusion for the umpteenth time as Hoothoot finally moved below to dodge.

I returned his smirk, "Grimer, scary face then into power-up punch followed by pound!" Klaus' face paled,

Grimer's eyes lit up and Hoothoot met his gaze. The owl wavered in the sky for a bit and fell before regaining his flight but that small slip-up was good enough for Grimer's glowing hand to reach him and my pokemon's fist struck, sending Hoothoot straight to the ground. Dust kicked up and the owl pokemon rolled, as he did so, Grimer followed and when he reached Hoothoot, he gave the flying type an arching hit from his arm, sending it rolling down further across the ground.

I waited for him to stop rolling before issuing Grimer another command, "hey! why aren't my confusions affecting your Pokemon?!" a red-faced Klaus called out from the other side of the battlefield,

since the secret was already out after the registration, I gave my opponent my best smirk, "because he's part Dark type." I answered simply,

"th-that's not true! Grimer is pure poison!" he yelled back and a few others followed him in a chorus, I noticed that Whitney's voice of confusion was among them.

"guess my Grimer's just special then, now power-up punch at Hoothoot!" I replied, followed by a command to attack the now struggling Hoothoot. Who was still trying to get up.

Following my command, Grimer made his way to the struggling owl for another uppercut. He flew, fell, and this time, didn't stand up. It was hard to kill pokemon but that hardly mattered when said pokemon was unevolved.

the owl was recalled and Grimer stood all by himself at the battlefield. He gave the spot where his opponent was a silent look before looking at me, I gave him a nod of approval, "good job, I honestly thought you wouldn't even follow my commands," I scratched the back of my head,

"Grime?"

"yep, honestly." I said bluntly, "you blew away my expectations though, thank you." I saw the faintest smile appear on his face when I said that.

"it's Lionel and Grimer's win!" Miss Chrome called out, followed by a loud chorus of applause.

"right, I forgot about that." I said as I recalled Grimer, "again, good job." I whispered to his Pokeball.

Klaus and I met in the center of the ring and shook hands, after taking the money that we won, I walked off of the battleground and back into Whitney's side. She gave me an odd look when I stood right next to her, "how did you do that?"

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"do what?" I faced her with a raised eyebrow,

"block out Hoothoot's psychic attack," she said with slight irritation in her voice.

I hummed, thinking. 'probably thinks I'm playing stupid.' I frowned at the thought of that, 'then she wouldn't like my answer,' - "as I said, Grimer's part dark type."

"that's Taurus s- dung, Taurus dung." her eyes moved over to the teacher that replaced Miss Chrome as the referee, her eyes went downwards and took a clean sweep of the battleground before glaring at me, "there's no Grimer out there that's part dark type."

"so, you just think he's shiny?" she nodded, "then what about his weird yellow lip?"

"I've never really seen a shiny Grimer before."

I frowned at that, "then ask the Pokemon center where I healed him," I retorted and her glare worsened. I slowly... slowly... backed away, "look, if you don't believe me, check it for yourself," I said, "do you know any pokemon that has psychic type moves?"

"you're doing this on purpose to piss me off right?" I felt a tight pinch on my forearm and backed away even further,

"what was that for?!" I rubbed my arm, the skin was already starting to turn red...

"for being annoying," she started walking and I watched her leave, still rubbing my arm. She turned around moments later and glared at me, "what are you waiting for? Let's go." she nudged,

"what about,-" I gestured towards the battleground where a Pineco was battling a Meowth, the damn cat sure is popular, I can give it that.

"who cares? The students battling means that school is over and-" she glared at me again, "can't you see the teachers on the stand? They're all there, watching. so let's go!" she turned her back and started walking away, I stayed put for a bit. When it looks like she wasn't turning around to tell me to follow anytime soon, I jogged after her.

...

"so, he really is dark type," Whitney concluded with a withered face as she stared at the ground. Nurse Joy still had her professional smile, her eyes though, studied both of us from behind the counter, "where did you get him?" Whitney suddenly asked,

"in the beach, like nurse joy and I said." I've repeated the explanation to her for the nth time. "why are you-"

"that's outright impossible!" she stomped her foot and shot me a glare, her personality starting to shine through, "HOW?!" she yelled, tears welling up in her eyes.

I didn't want to admit it but a part of me cringed slightly at the display but a better part of me told me that Whitney is a kid. A 9-year-old, pampered kid that's probably had little to no setbacks ever since she knew how to talk but a kid nonetheless. I tried to put my hand on top of her shoulder and it was mercilessly swatted away. I sighed and looked at nurse joy for help, she still had her professional smile plastered on her face but as per usual, the look in her eyes told me another story; if I keep Whitney crying, she's gonna give me a reason to join her.

I let myself get defeated, I don't know what nurse joy would do to me if she had to tell Whitney personally where I found Grimer. And I don't think I want to find out,

"the boat that sank near Olivine city yesterday," I said,

"what?" Whitney's tantrum halted, "what do you mean the boat that sunk?"

I gulped, "you know that boat that suddenly got swallowed up by the storm when it was about to dock back in Olivine city?" I said and she nodded, "well, I... wanted to see if anything from that would wash up ashore and when I checked Route 35, the closest place where anything from there would arrive in well..." I gestured toward Grimer's Pokeball.

she huffed and crossed her arms across her chest, she nudged me to continue. I did, "well, I went there and found a new type of Pokemon, a Wooper, as people have called them-" I looked at nurse joy and she nodded, "and after following a trail of their corpses, I found my Grimer halfway through eating one of them."

"and what a Grimer it is," Nurse Joy added, "lucky you Lionel." I smiled and nodded at her in thanks.

before I can say it verbally to her though, I felt someone grab my arm and we were already out of the Pokemon center when I faced Whitney, "hey-" I cut myself off and just simply watched as the young girl dragged me across the street. She... seemed focused and as I stared at her back, I couldn't help but think about the time when I saw her on the stairs.

'atleast she's working hard,' I thought silently. That thought helped me offer as least resistance as I possibly could.

Whitney led me to the guardpost that blocked off Route 35 and she didn't even bother to talk to the guard stationed there as she simply passed through with me in tow. I waved at the unfamiliar face, having not really walked through the post during these hours and he waved back, smiling.

the wind blew across my face and I fixed my now messed-up hair, "alright, where," I heard Whitney say,

"a few paces from here," I started walking as I replied. I grabbed her arm in turn and started leading her, "come on, we might find a still living Wooper."

"I don't want that," she said, stopping me.

my eyes locked with hers, her pink pupils shrunk and expanded in rhythm alongside her rough breathing. Right, she's a normal type Gym leader... "then what do you want?"

she broke eye contact and looked upwards, "I-I just wanted to see if you would lead me to the place where you first found Grimer,"

"uhuh..." what is she trying to pull? "so do you still want to go there and see it or not?"

she hurriedly shook her head, "not at all! Let's just go back, I think my parents would scold me for going home late." she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, "which would happen if I do go there," I followed her gaze, the time we spent to get here had already made the sun set and the sky was starting to darken, "I think it's about time we go home," she said.

and the two of us started walking, back to the guardpost where she smiled at the guard this time around and back into the now bustling city. Where before the buildings didn't have life during the day, as night started to come, the lights of the windows start to light up as they fought against the neon signs to see who was brighter.

It was lively, and I can't believe the scene before me couldn't even compare to when the night really strikes and the city starts to light up. It's during that time when both people and pokemon - tourists and civilians alike, - go out to enjoy the things offered by the city.

"it's nice here huh?" I said, getting a hum of agreement from Whitney and a shake from Grimer's Pokeball.

"it's beautiful," she said, looking up at an 8-story tall building. She looked down and met my eyes, a sheepish smile formed on her face, "but nothing when night strikes and the heart of the city shows,"

I hummed in agreement,

...

"hey there Persian," I smiled at the large cat standing a few meters away from the doorway. He purred in reply and I smiled at him, "I'm too young, get your head out of the gutter." he purred again, this time with a smile, "sure, sure, but that's only viable when it comes to cats."

"I heard you had your first pokemon battle," the sudden third party made me jerk my head at our kitchen door, and standing there was a woman in a three-piece business suit. She had a smile on her face as she leaned against the door, if she cared about her work clothes getting scruffy, she didn't let it show. Her usual drowsiness during the afternoon was gone and her grumpiness came along with it.

In their place was the soft demeanor my mother is known for, "so? how was it?"

I shrugged, wincing when I felt the strap of my bag scrape against my tired shoulders, "i-it was fine?" I let my bag slide down my right arm,

my mother's gaze steeled and I knew that she was waiting for me to say something in her silence. I felt uncomfortable as she watched me drop my bag off on the couch. After fixing it in place, I sighed and met her eyes, "this is about Grimer isn't it?" I said, she nodded.

"yes..." she trailed off, "I ignored the missed calls on my phone when I woke up and I only realized what they were for after I called your teacher,-" she walked away from the kitchen and stood directly behind the couch. My mother was tall, both she and Dad were and me looking up at her despite my current height told me where I got my genes for said height, to begin with, "-and after she told me that you had a Grimer that was part Dark type I-"

I winced, "I do yeah..."

she sighed, "-couldn't believe it myself even after the rangers calling, and to be honest?" she rubbed her face and then her temple, she sighed. "you- do you want to give both me and your Dad a headache?"

"I think you should blame Team-"

"get sassy on me and that filthy Pokemon is going straight to the Ranger's hands." I stopped talking and ignored the shaking of Grimer's Pokeball.

"sorry,"

she nodded, then smiled, she ruffled my hair, "but you don't have to worry, I wouldn't do it even if they forced me but-" her presence changed, "-just to be sure, you are willing to take care of him right?"

"of course," my reply was quick,

Mom nodded as she started moving around the couch, she looked at the doorway intently before turning back to look at me, "good, because he's a good starter in my opinion." walking over, she bent down and hugged me and I hugged back. "seriously, you don't know how valuable a Pokemon that only has one weakness is."

I nodded, "I know,"

"that Grimer is a forced to be reckoned with," she smiled and walked away, opening the door, her eyes went over to Persian, "take care of both the house and my son for me," the cat purred and that was all Mom needed to hear before she left.