Fruits of our labors!

[Training Rio and Jaws]
[A trainer battle/wild Pokemon would be welcome]
After leaving the Pokemon Center, Max set off at a brisk walk down and out of Odale town. Shortly after leaving the town, Max came across a grove of apple trees. He released Rio and Jaws from their Pokeballs. "Ok guys, we're gonna do some training. See those two trees over there?" Max indicated two saplings laden with apples. "Each of you take one tree, and try to knock all the apples out of the tree. No climbing the trees though. You ready?" Rio and Jaws cheered, exited at the prospect of food. "Then go!" Max shouted, and the two Pokemon dashed towards the trees. Rio immediately exploded with a flurry of punches, obviously using Bullet Punch. Apples started to rain to the ground around him. Jaws, however, was pacing around the tree, looking very closely. Max was about to give him an instruction when Jaws began hacking and slashing away at the trunk, claws flashing. Max though he was using Metal Claw. Although the tree shook and shivered, no apples fell down. Max looked down at Jaws and saw there was only a little strip of wood still holding the tree up. Jaws casually leant against the tree, sending it and all it's apples toppling to the ground. After a few more trees, Max exclaimed, "Wow! You guys did great! Look at all of these apples we have. Let's have lunch!" The trio flopped down onto the grass and began to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Max stood up and pushed the hood of parka down. "Sure." Max looked over at Rio and Jaws. "Who wants to battle?" Rio stood up and stepped forward. Jaws looked comfortable, and Rio was up for a challenge.

"Ri Rio!" Rio said, exclaiming his eagerness for battle.

"Ready whenever you are!" Max exclaimed, looking over at the trainer.

[just letting you now, Riolu is pure fighting. Lucario is fighting-steel]

"Rio! Jump!" Max shouted. Rio did a front flip over the burst of fire, singeing himself a little, but not that much. Luckily he didn't get burned. "Get in close and use Bullet Punch!" Max shouted. What Rio lacked in power he could make up for in sheer speed and amount of attacks. Rio dashed forward, unleashing a flurry of punches towards the Torchic.

"RIO!" Max shouted as the cloud of flame enveloped Rio, Rio taking a massive hit. The claws of the Torchic scraped Rio pretty badly, but this was what Max had been waiting for. "Finally! A physical attack! Rio, quick, knock it away with Counter!" Rio scrambled about with the Torchic sitting on his head, and then with blinding speed aimed a punch upwards.

"Dang." Max muttered to himself. Things weren't going well for Rio. He was already pretty dinged up. Max had to end this soon, or else Rio would faint. "Quick Attack out of the way!" Max shouted, hoping the fast move would give Rio enough space to avoid the flames. Luckily it did. A blur of blue was all that could be seen of Rio as he dashed out of the path of the flame, and right at Torchic.

Just then, Max had a crazy idea. One of those ideas that are completely insane, but with a little luck and effort, it just might work. "Rio!" Max shouted, "Try to use Shadow Claw to punch the flames right back at Torchic!" Max was hoping that the fire wouldn't damage Rio through all that dark energy, and maybe deal some damage to the enemy, seeing how dangerous it was to get close. Cause where's the fun in life if you don't take chances? Max thought to himself as he smiled grimly. Rio straightened up, his arm enveloped in a wavy, shadowlike fluid, and aimed a deflecting punch at the fire.

"No problem man, you really put up a fight! That was really fun." Max and Rio flopped back down on the grass, tired but happy. Rio picked up an apple and began tearing away at it. Jaws waddled over and congratulated Rio in the Pokemon tongue. Max looked from Rio to Jaws, and back again. "Hey Jaws, I know we were just training and all, but how would you feel about another round? You're sort of falling behind Rio." Jaws looked up at Max, feeling a bit tired, but after seeing Rio battle, Jaws felt inspired.

"Toto!" Jaws exclaimed, nodding.

"Ok then. Let's get started." Max said, looking forward to it already.

[training Jaws]

"This looks like a good spot." Max said, looking around. They had set off at a quick jog after cramming all the apples they could into Max's backpack and giving Rio a rest in his Pokeball. They were a little further down the path, at a small pond with a very old tree next to it. "Ok Jaws you're a water type, can you swim?" Max asked. Jaws nodded, looking determined. "Ok then, can you do a few laps around the pond?" Jaws took a deep breath and plunged into the pond, paddling quickly. He sped around the pond, faster than Max thought he was capable of. A few minutes later, Jaws stepped out of the pond, looking pleased and only a little out of breath. "That was awesome! How about you take a little rest, and then we'll move on to the next part." After a little bit, Max led Jaws over to the old, gnarled tree. "Ok Jaws, can you climb this?" The tree was so old and wrinkly that there were tons of hand- and footholds. Still, Jaws looked doubtful. He had never climbed a tree before. Max patted him on the head. "If you fall, I'll definitely catch you. I promise." With that reassurance, Jaws looked at the tree much more determinedly.

"DILE!" Jaws shouted, and charged the tree, clambering up its short height. Even though it was short, Jaws still had a hard time of climbing it. When he finally reached the top, he let lot a coarse yell of victory, and of course, immediately slipped. Max ran forward and caught Jaws in a hug.

"I think maybe we should stay away from trees for a little while." Max said, smiling a little bit. The trio walked back to the orchard to finish their pick-nick.

"Little guy's almost as clumsy as my torchic." A voice said. Within a minute of one torchic trainer leaving, another showed up. This one was Harmon. He walked into the clearing with his torchic. He had healed up at the oldale pokemon center, and then gone off to explore the outskirts of the little town. Here he had found a little orchard. He walked over to the person who had just been training.

"I see I'm not the only trainer around here." He said.

"Well in a world full of Pokemon, it's hard to find someone who isn't a trainer." Max said, smiling a little. Max grabbed and apple and set Jaws down next to Rio. Jaws took a huge bite out of an apple and grinned at Rio. Max pushed the hood of his parka down -how does it keep popping back up whenever he's not looking?- and glanced over to the trainer. "You here for a battle or what? Although, I have beaten one Torchic already, so... up to you man." Max said with finality.

Stew had been standing there staring at the woods for a while. Just when he thought he was ready to go, he heard noises from the center of town. He spun around to see what was going on. Two trainers were standing there. One with a clumsy torchic, the other with a riolu and a totodile.

"HEY!"

Stew yelled for no reason. He ran over to the two trainers, Timor scuffling behind. When he got to them he saw that they were talking. So Stew just stood there. Waiting. But after a minute he grew bored and initiated conversation.

"Soooooooooooooooooo, you guys from here?"

"How bout we all just do introductions." Max said thoughtfully. He took of his backpack and set it gently on the ground. "I'll go first. I'm Max, from Littleroot town. Well, I moved there from Snowpoint city last year. These are my partners, Rio," Rio gave a weary wave, still tired from his battle, "and Jaws." Jaws looked up, smiling, showing off his teeth. "And this," Max unzipped his backpack and pulled out an egg, "I don't have a name yet, but I know the four of us are going to have an awesome journey. Now who's next?" Max looked around at the other two, cradling the egg in his arms.

“My name’s Harmon. I’m also from littleroot. I think I recognize you. You moved in about a year ago right?” Harmon asked.

“This is my torchic. We just started our journey. He may not be the strongest, but he has drive.” He said as torchic tried to puff it’s chest out to impress them, only to tip off balance and faceplant. Harmon yet again had to help him stand up. He sighed.

“It’s a work in progress.” He added.

"My name is Stew, and I'm from Johto!" Stew said. He took the old rod out of his back pack and cast into a nearby puddle. "My Mom used to run Team Aqua, so I'm trying to find them." He jerked up the line and put away the rod. "This is Timor." Timor did a backflip and launched a stray Thunder bolt into the air.

Nothing happened.

"Well now that we've introduced ourselves, why don't we prove our worth with a quick battle?" Stew eyed the others with a weird look. Timor attempted the same.

"Well, before we do anything of the sort, I've got to heal up Rio. But once that's done, I'll have two Pokemon compared to you guys' one each. Plus I have a type advantage against both of you. It might be best if you two caught some more Pokemon before we do battle." Max said, taking a bite out of his apple. "I'd be happy to help you, but Rio still needs to be healed." Max returned Jaws to his Pokeball and picked up Rio, walked over to the Pokemon center. After Rio was healed, Max set off towards the woods, then turned around and asked, "You guys coming or what?"

Stew decided this was a good idea. He got up and headed Into the grass with Max. He began looking around. "How do you know when there's another pokémon? My mom told me about some, like Sigilyph. Other than those and other Johto pokemon, I have no clue what I'm looking for!"

Stew stopped mid search and snapped his fingers. He took off his pack and pulled out a sheathed sword. Which levitated when he let go. "This is my other pokemon, Honedge. His name is Schwert. I adopted him last week." Schwert unsheathed and did a little sword play in the grass, Timor watching in awe.

"HONEDGE!"

Harmon sighed. He only had the Torchic. And all it knew was how to scratch at things. Not extremely helpful. He needed to either get torchic stronger, or find catch a new pokemon. He looked to them.

"I guess I should come along." He said. He followed the others into the grass. Either he was going to get some experience, or a new friend on the journey.

At that moment, a wild Zigzagoon appeared from out of some tall grass. The Zigzagoon set his sights on Harmon and Torchic, growling at the two, ready to pick a fight. The Zigzagoon approached Torchic, making the first move. He wagged his tail at Torchic to make the fire Pokemon drop it's defense at the cute sight.

Torchic dropped it's guard briefly at the tail wagging, confused by it.

Harmon yelled out. "Cmon torchic! Snap out of it and use scratch!" shook his head, and charged forward before jumping over it and trying to scratch its head. Whether it hit or not, Torchic would tumble over Zigzagoon and onto the ground.

"Great! Now use focus energy!" Harmon said. Torchic stood up, and began to focus on Zigzagoon trying to find a good weak spot.

Zigzagoon's face was clawed at by the Torchic's feet. He licked a paw and ran it over his fresh wound, though it didn't help much. The Zigzagoon ran in a zigzag formation, attempting to tackle into the Torchic.