Chapter 3: A Meteor Strikes

They landed in Nuvema Town in a field near the town. They quickly exited the plane. Harper had been on a plane when she was younger and she hated it. She was very much scared of flying, but Brandon was there to keep her calm. The first thing they did was go to the lab where a girl in her late teens was waiting there. She was wearing a green skirt, a white shirt, and a boutique hat that looked pretty on her.

"Hey guys," she said in a relaxed manner. "My name is Bianca and I'm the professor for this region. The old one moved to California so I'll be guiding you on this trip this time."

"Wow," Brandon was astonished. "You helped defeat Team Plasma!"

"Yep, I did," she answers. "But with a little help from my friends."

"Of course, friendship is very important," said Brandon.

"You are right. The criminal organisation was l led by some loner dude who lived in the wilds. He was some hippie guy who decided to return to civilisation but expected us to conform to his backward ways. He wanted to force us to release our Pokémon. Could you imagine a world without those adorable creatures," she explained.

"That would be terrible!" panicked Harper. "I don't know what I would do with myself if that happened!"

"Don't worry," comforted Bianca. "We were able to defeat them easily. Although the leader disappeared, his team of criminals are still out there. They call themselves Team Rocket and will steal you Pokémon if you're not careful."

"We will be careful," said Brandon.

"Yep, of course, we will," Harper added.

"We won't let them get away with a crime like this," continued Brandon.

"We will fight to the bitter end if we need to," Harper said.

"I'm glad you two are so determined. Let's show you around the town," the professor said as she escorted them. "First we will be going to the lab. There are some important things here. This is a healing machine. Simply put your balls into it and it will restore them to full health. In other towns, you will need to go to a Pokémon centre to do that, and a nurse will look at your balls to heal them."

"It's good to know that our balls are being taken care of," said Brandon.

"Yes, and if you pay extra, they will clean your balls as well," replied Bianca. "Now this is my friend's house. He is the champ of this region. Hopefully one day you will be able to face him. This next house is my friend Cheren's house. I think he's in town so if you wait you can battle him. Beware though, he's pretty strong."

"Trust me," said Harper, "I have taken down a few opponents already. I managed to defeat Gary an old champ from Kanto."

"Cool," complemented Bianca. "Gary rang me an hour ago telling me of your battle. Pretty impressive I must say. But Cheren is no weakling. I've battled Gary before and he loses pretty easily. No idea how he became champ but I can understand why he was defeated so easily."

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"Cool," Harper and Brandon said.

"And now we come to the wild. You better be careful before coming out here since many wild Pokémon live out there," warned Bianca. "But if you're strong enough I bet you can catch a few of them. Then you will have a strong party. Here, have some balls to catch your Pokémon with."

Just as she said that a meteorite struck nearby. The ground shocked for a second or so like a boy banging at a table, but things calmed down very quickly. As suddenly as they could they dashed towards the meteorite. As they came closer to it, Harper's ball started to glow. It floated in the air and suddenly out came her Tepig. Unlike before, it was the colour green instead of the usual red.

"Interesting," said Bianca. "I think this is a special meteorite that changes the colour of your Pokémon."

"Why didn't my Pokémon change colour?" asked Brandon.

"That is because Destiny hasn't chosen that path for you. You have to wait a while before you can become strong before Fate allows something like that to happen again," she explained.

"I cannot believe I'm special," said Harper.

"Of course you are," replied the professor. "I wouldn't expect anything else from you. Before we go I must explain to you the rules. When you decide to battle someone, you must decide beforehand how many Pokémon are going to take part in the battle. That is how many Pokémon you can use in the entire battle and no other Pokémon can enter. You can only have up to three Pokémon on a battlefield at one time.”

"Sure," they replied.

"And before I go I must give you two new Pokémon as gifts," she said as she handed them her balls. "Harper, I have given you a Roggenrola since you will need a rock Pokémon one day. For Brandon, I will give you a Bulbasaur."

"Thank you," they said.

Suddenly some kid came up and challenged Brandon to a battle. He agreed. They stood in the field near the town where the plane had landed. Since it had gone they were able to use the field for Pokémon battles. The boy brought out a Panpour and Brandon brought out his new Bulbasaur.

"Go Bulbasaur go!" he yelled.

The Bulbasaur charged across the field, dodging the splatters of water coming from the Panpour. As Bulbasaur came closer to Panpour, it started to swipe at Balbusaur. Bulbasaur took a few hits but was able to continue. It got its vines, grabbed Panpour and started to slam it to the ground many times. Then Bulbasaur did Poison Powder which made the Panpour start to lose strength very quickly. Suddenly the boy threw out a potion that healed his Pokémon. Brandon forgot to stock up on potions so he had to do his best to defeat the other Pokémon. The Panpour did a Taunt and knocked the Bulbasaur back. Suddenly the Panpour performed Incinerate which blasted Bulbasaur with a burst of fire. Brandon's Pokémon fainted.

"How did you do that?" said Brandon.

"It's simple," said the boy. "I teach my Pokemon fire moves so that when it goes against grass Pokemon it can defeat them easily. You should train more. You have a lot more to learn."

"Yes," replied Bianca. "If you keep losing like that then you will never become a champ. We would all be disappointed with you as well. But keep it up I know you will do well one day."

"Yeah," stated Brandon. "I wish I was like Harper. She always wins her matches. I hope to be as good as her one day."

"I am sure you will do," replied Harper. "It's taken me a while to get where I am now."

"I'm glad I have you along."

"Hey," said the boy. "Do you want to battle me as well? I am sure to learn a few lessons from battling you. Battling people makes you stronger and allows you to know your weaknesses better."

"Sure," said Harper. "Tepig, O chooses you!" and out of its ball came Harper's Tepig, waiting to battle, bringing her trainer glory.

"Pansear, out you come."

The battle began. Tepig started to charge around the Pansage, confusing the Pokémon. You could tell very easily that the boy hadn't trained this Pokémon as well as his other Pokémon. The boy ordered the Pansage to attack, and when it did, it missed Harper's Pokemon. This opened up a gap to allow Tepig to strike at the other Pokémon with a tackle. Although this worked, the Pansage still had some health left. So Tepig busted a flame of fire out of its mouth, knocking the other Pokémon out cold.

"I can see you need more training," taught Harper. "I hope you learnt your lesson."

"Sure did," said the boy. "By the way, my name is Jayden. If you come around here again, I would love to battle you again."

"Sure will," said Harper. After that, they quickly returned to the professor's lab to get some sleep. Their next day was going to be a long one.