Journey through Petalburg Woods

Anton had got himself back on track after his little hiccup where he found himself battling a trainer just for directions, and then forfeiting. He realized it was a good learning curve that battle. He learnt you have to know when to throw in the towel and realize that no battle was worth your pokemon getting seriously hurt over. As Anton entered the woods, he wondered what surprises were in store for him.

Tyrouge had been traveling outside of his pokeball after he was healed at the pokemon center. While he agreed that Anton did the right thing in withdrawing him from the battle, he didn't share his idea that it was a learning curve. He felt he had let down himself and Anton and wanted to show his true power in battling another trainer, and winning this time.

Anton looked down at Tyrouge who seemed eager as ever to get to fighting. Anton managed a smile as the pair continued deeper into the woods. He could see Silcoons and Cascoons nestled into the trees above along with several Wurmple. But they didn't look ready to battle. He had heard the Slakoth's were rare sights in the Petalburg Woods, but only because they sleep all day so it's just a matter of finding where they slept. He wasn't all that concerned about catching a new pokemon, he was happy with Tyrouge and all he wanted was some decent training with him before their gym match. Question was, where would he get that training if there were no pokemon or trainers ready to fight?

'Don't worry Tyrouge' Anton said reassuringly. 'Something will come up and you can have your redemption.' Anton hoped what he said was true. The pair continued along the long track that led to the exit, hoping something exciting would happen.

A girl named Luciana had gotten off a ship two days ago. She had liked the ride really much, not only for the sea but also for the fact that she met her Shinx who she named Rentorar. She never really did figure out how the pokemon got on the boat, but as it was covered in small injuries she suspected he might have belonged to a trainer. Still as the two had clicked rather well the girl decided to capture it . . . The fellow was now riding on Luce's head.

The girl didn't really seem to mind it. In the other hand it would have been quite a bother for her if she didn't have her hoodie. After all couldn't let a pokemon mess up her hair. Luce didn't really bother her head right now with thoughts about Shinx, nor the way the two were traveling. She simply examined the nature, nothing the different types of trees and pokemon in the forest. Up to this point most of them had been bug type. For her surprise this area of Hoenn Region really reminded her Sinnoh Region Littleroot Town's forest.

After simply walking trough the forest for a little while she somewhat regretted that she had left her things at Petalburg City. She didn't even bring a snack with her. As she kept on strolling trough the forest she suddenly heard a faint speaking of a human. By the sound it seemed to be a boy. Just out of curiosity she decided to follow the voice and see if it would lead up to some trainer who had started his journey at Hoenn region. After all she was curious about all the different pokemon.

After not even a minute of carefully following the voice she reached a road. Luce quickly turned her head in several directions, trying to find the boy. She spotted the teen just about 100 meters in front of her. The girl smiled over her discovery and warned her Shinx, "Hold on," as she started running towards him. She shouted, "Hey, wait up there!" just so the boy would stop and maybe have a word or two with her.

Anton had stopped for a quick break along the long road. Tyrouge was stubborn and pretended he wasn't tired but in reality, the idea of water and a quick snack was paradise for the young pokemon. Anton tipped back his head and squirted about a third of the water bottles contents in his mouth. He hoped he'd have enough to last him until Rustbro. Tyrouge's ears pricked up and his head turned as he heard a noise in the distance. Anton looked up also, just in time to hear the girl call out to him.

'Great more people' Anton said quietly to Tyrouge. It wasn't that Anton wasn't a people person, he had just got to the point where he saw all people as annoying and stupid. And usually so full of their own self importance they wouldn't even know if they were loosing. This girl didn't seem like a bad sort though. Anton slipped his backpack on and started walking towards her.

'Hi' Anton said bluntly. 'You lost?'

Although it had only been a small distance Luciana had ran it still made her breath little more heavily. The girl had been indoor person studying her entire life and thus wasn't used to even regular exercise. She tried to hide the fact though since she didn't really want to breath right into the boy's face.

She made a slight smile on her face for proper introductions and spoke, "Hello. My name is Luciana," she then pointed her right hand towards Shinx on top of her head, "And this right here is Rentorar." Her breathing had gone back to irregular pace and now she was able to talk calmly. "And no, I am not lost," she started, "I just thought that it would be nice to chat with a trainer from Hoenn. I'm a breeder you see." Luce didn't really turn much attention to the boy though, as she was more interested in the Tyrogue behind him. 'A pokemon from Johto?' she thought to herself as she calmly prepared to listen the boy's answer to all her speaking.

Anton rubbed his head as the girl started talking. He was worried she'd get out of breath by just talking so much, but the short run had already done that. Usually so much talking would get in Anton's nerves but he didn't mind this time. She seemed nice and didn't annoy Anton intentionally. In fact no one intends to annoy Anton, he just finds everyone annoying.

'I'm actually from Johto' Anton replied. 'Moved here with Tyrouge. Decided to challenge the gyms here.' Anton wasn't really into telling people he'd just met his life story so he kept his background short and sweet. He looked up at the girl and realized she might want to travel with him to Rustbro. While Anton would usually cringe at the idea of travelling with someone, he actually felt like some company other than Tyrouge.

'So I'm heading for Rustbro' Anton said casually. 'You wanna come with?'

"Eeeeeh?" sounded Luce rather surprised, "I am already that far from Petalburg City?" She bit her lip as she thought whether she should travel to Rustboro with the boy or go back to Petalburg to get her items and then take the long walk again. The girl had not much to do at the city anymore as she had already visited the pokemon center and examined Norman's pokemon, so there really wasn't nothing to lose by walking the boy to Rustboro. She could simply let her items be sent to the city's Pokemon Center.

She nodded really thoughtfully, acting like she was in front of dilemma, she had already made her decision though. She slowly answered the boy, "Suure. I guess I could come with you."

After her short answer she imminently rushed towards the boy's Tyrogue and started glaring at it. She had never seen a Tyrogue in real life. She could still easily recognize the pokemon since it was a rather common fighting type pokemon. Without even asking the trainer's permission she kneed town in front of the pokemon and started examining him. For the process Luce's Shinx jumped off from her head, to let the girl think. Luciana acted rather rudely, as she poked the Tyrogue's hands, and then started speaking, "Of course a male, after all every Tyrogue is a male. He doesn't seem to be very old," kept the girl speaking as she turned her attention to Tyrogue's arms, "Muscles seem to be fine for his age. Judging by the bruises on his arms he should also know Brick Break in addition to his normal moves. I would say he evolves either to Hitmontop or Hitmonlee."

After finally realizing how rude she had been she imminently started apologizing to Tyrogue, "Oh I am sorry for touching and bothering you like that." Luce then friendly reached out her hand to Tyrogue hoping for a friendly handshake, "Will you forgive me?"

Tyrouge had never been examined before and was confused by the whole thing. He heard the word mucsles and flexed out his chest to show off, as he wanted to impress this new trainer and her Shinx. He understood she was apologizing though he wasn't sure why she was as nothing she had done had really bothered him.

Anton on the other hand was curious to what she was doing. He knew she wouldn't hurt him but it was strange the way she immediately started touching him. He was surprised she could tell so much just by quickly looking at Tyrouge. Hitmontop or Hitmonlee. Either way he was happy.

'So what are you some kind of prodigy professor?' Anton inquired.

Luce was little unhappy that the Tyrogue hadn't responded to her hand but decided to leave it. She was still cheerful because the Tyrogue, nor his trainer, hadn't made a deal out of her rudeness. The girl pushed herself up while shaking her head in response to Anton's question.

"Nono. I am not a Professor. Right now I am independent person traveling around Hoenn," she then smiled a little and added, "Although becoming a Proffessor isn't that bad idea. I still need way more field experience for that though."

The girl then walked closer to the boy and now finally started paying attention to him. The boy didn't actually look half that bad, little off Luce's taste but she just loved his hair. "By the way I didn't catch your name," she said to the boy. Her voice was little quiet now because she thought that she hadn't payed attention when the boy was introducing himself.

The girl rambled on a bit about being an independent person and what not. Anton never understood how someone could label themselves as anything other than a trainer, a breeder, coordinator, etc. Independent person sounded strange, like she was a philosopher or something. Then came the moment that Anton dreaded. His name. He'd been using his middle name Robbie for the past couple of weeks to make sure his parents didn't find him anytime soon. But he'd began hating pretending to be someone he's not, and this girl seemed trustworthy enough. And at the end of the day, he didn't really care if his parents found him or not. He definitely wasn't going back home anytime soon.

'I'm Anton, and you are?' Anton said, in his nicest voice. He looked back at the girl who had taken a step closer to him. She had a bit of weird look about her, with her glasses and long brown hair. He didn't know quite what to make of her. He had never really thought of girls as anything more than friends and this girl didn't really change that at first glance. Still there was a kind of hidden attractiveness that Anton liked.

Luciana nodded, repeating the name in her head several times so she would definitely remember it.

"Good," said the girl. She was glad that Anton hadn't introduced him before. She then looked at the boy and imminietly felt the need to explain, "No no. I didn't say that your name is good, I said it because I thought I might have forgotten your name," she then started waving her arms around, now feeling bad because she thought she might have offended the boy's name, "I am not saying that Anton isn't a good name. It is a good nam . . . "

The girl's sentence was broken off by her Shinx who had gently tackled her leg. Luciana sighted and glared the boy into his eyes with even a little look, "Forget what I said." She then chuckled a little and the evil look disappeared completely, "Anyways, I am Luciana. You can call me Luce."

Once again Shinx tackled the girl's leg. It seemed like the pokemon wanted to be introduced as well and thus the girl pointed towards him, "And as you might know this is Shinx. His name is Rentorar, he doesn't mind called Shinx or simply Rar either."

She then suddenly looked at Anton with blank face and asked, "I am really talking a lot am I?"

Luciana. Anton had never heard that name before. It had a nice ring to it. Kind of mysterious in it's on way. Anton was amused how awkward the girl made the whole conversation just by uttering the word good. He didn't really care what she thought of his name, it was just a name. He got a bit of a fright when Shinx started tackling her leg. He wasn't sure if it was for its on amusement or if the pokemon was getting a bit embarrassed by her trainer. Either way it definitely got her to stop her awkward speech and change the subject.

'No more than most people' Anton shrugged as the group started to walk down the path that led straight through the woods. 'So Rentorar, that's a strange name. How'd you come up with that?

Luciana smiled slightly because she was happy over the fact that she hadn't bothered Anton much with her talking. She started walking besides the boy with her Shinx closely behind her.

"Well," started Luce explaining how she gave name to Shinx. Before that she moved her mouth closer to Anton's ear though and quietly said, "I named him Luxray only in different language." Luciana didn't really want Shinx to hear that since she thought that the pokemon might feel little insulted because Luce didn't name him something original. Shinx didn't even pay attention to the two travels though as he was trying to make friends with the Tyrogue.

The girl then took a little distance from Anton again and kept on going, "For example Tyrogue would be Balkie if I am not mistaken." As it seemed like it was her turn to ask a question now she looked towards Anton and asked the boy, "You are a trainer right? Do you want to challenge Rustboro's Gym Leader?"

Anton wasn't really that interested in the story behind Shinx's name, but the way Luciana came in close and whispered in his ear got him a bit more interested. He understood that it was only to stop Shinx from hearing, but having her so close to him was a strange thrill that he couldn't describe. He looked down at Tyrouge who was showing off his muscles once more to Shinx. He concealed a laugh as Luciana asked him about challenging the gym leader.

'Yeah Roxxane' Anton said in response to her question. 'And before you ask I'm pretty much the generic trainer. I want to challenge the league and become champion. All of the stuff you'd usually hear from all the other trainers out there' Anton usually didn't ramble on like that but he didn't like how he had the same dream as every other wannabe trainer out there. It was annoying that his goal wasn't very individual but it was his dream and he was going to follow it. He was then surprised that she knew what Tyrouge's name was in another language. This girl seemed a bit too smart

'So if you're not a professor with all that knowledge what do you want to be?' Anton asked.

Luciana listened carefully what Anton was saying about his dream. Although the girl normally wasn't interested in people's talk if it wasn't about pokemon she thought that it was polite to respond to it. "Yes," started the girl speaking, "It is a rather common dream for pokemon trainers. I have met a lot of different trainers and all of them have really similar goals. Nothing bad about it though, it's nice to see people try their best and aim high."

She made a little pause to think about herself. Luce hadn't really decided who she would want to be when she grew up. The girl looked at Shinx who was now doing some strange movements with it's tail. It seemed to try and impress the Tyrogue although he ended up making him look somewhat silly. It made the girl smile and she finally answered Anton's question, "Well, I haven't really decided who I want to be yet. I do have a dream though," said the girl with rather determined voice, "I want to know everything there is to know about pokemon. And by everything I mean everything... Still have a lot of work ahead of me."

Luciana then came back to the gym leader subject. "How do you think you will manage Roxanne?" asked the girl being a little concerned, "Your Tyrogue has the type advantage but are you sure you can manage her with only one pokemon?"

Anton was scanning the trees as Luciana talked. He was hoping that something decent like a shroomish or taillow would pop out. He knew that Tyrouge was good, but some backup is always handy just in case Roxxane was better than expected. Then, funnily enough, Luciana mentioned that Tyrouge was his only pokemon and asked if he could manage with just him.

'Tyrouge's strong' Anton said back. 'But another pokemon would be good.' He scanned the woods again, only seeing the odd wurmple which in essence are useless pokemon. Both Beautifly and Dustox just can't hold out in the long run. Anton looked back at Luciana.

'Are you looking for a new pokemon as well' Anton asked. 'Because this sure is the place to do it' Anton was starting to warm up to this girl. He was talking more than he usually did and he wasn't keen to make their journey go quicker. He was actually enjoying the conversation.

Luciana noticed that the boy was looking around searching for another pokemon. She knew that they most likely weren't going to meet any strong pokemon while walking along the road, since those have already been captured or walked deeper into the woods. As she had walked pretty deep in the woods a little while ago she noticed quiet a lot strong looking pokemon.

"No, I am not really interested in capturing pokemon like that," answered Luce to Anton's question. "But yes, there are a lot of pokemon here. Poochyena, Taillow, Slakoth, and some more." The girl then started looking around as well. She really wanted to help out the boy but she was also somewhat interested to see Tyrogue battle.

"Hmm..." tried Luciana show that she was thinking, "What do you think if we took a little detour and go deeper into woods. I can help you look for a new team member," suggested the girl. Shortly after her suggestion she added, "I think there might be more pokemon deeper as they might stay away from the roads because the new trainers who capture pretty much everything they see." Luce hoped that the boy would accept her suggestion. She didn't even know why she would hope it so much though...

Anton realized that Luciana was right. There was no way they'd find any decent pokemon by sticking to the main roads. Even if it did end up taking them longer to get out of the woods, it would be worth it if a strong pokemon came up. He took one final look up at the trees and began nodding slowly.

'Sounds like a plan' Anton said. 'I'm not so good with the area. How about you?' Anton didn't like to admit this but the fact of the matter is that he's a Johto kid born and raised. His one year hanging around the ports of Slateport city didn't make him a geographical whiz. Though he knew the waters of Hoenn quite well. But apart from that his journey was going to consist of sticking to signs and maps. Not as exciting as it would've been in Johto but it was a journey none the less. And Anton was going to make the most of it.

Luciana smiled out of happiness. She was glad that the boy had accepted her offer. "Don't worry about it. I can lead us out later," said the girl confidently. Although she herself hadn't originally grown up in Hoenn she still knew the place pretty well thanks to the days of preparing she made before coming to the region. Also her years of traveling from one location to another around Sinnoh region had gave her pretty good navigation skills so walking around a forest was really no problem for her.

"Come Rar, we are changing direction," said the girl cheerfully to her Shinx as she started walking deeper into the woods. Shinx imminently stopped talking to Tyrogue and quickly ran up to the girl. "Anton, and others, keep your eyes open. Also check the trees," warned Luce others to be careful. She knew that some pokemon might be more aggressive than others and thus it was necessary to be careful whenever walking away from roads and such. While walking she carefully examined the entire area, also checking which kind of trees they were passing and pretty much anything that looked a little different so she could use them to later guide them out of the woods.

Anton trailed behind Luciana and listened carefully. He didn't care that he was the novice in this particular situation, he could admit that. He began scanning the trees once again, but this time he hoped to see something better than wurmple and silcoon. He knew there was a pokemon out there for him to add to his team.

Tyrouge was both excited and scared about finding a new pokemon. While he wouldn't mind a friend other than Anton, he was scared he would be replaced as Anton's main pokemon. The small fighting pokemon mulled it over as the group continued to walk deeper into the forest, until Tyrouge's ears pricked up. He looked at a bush behind him and assumed a fighting stance, waiting for a pokemon to come out.

'What is it Tyrouge?' Anton asked. He realized that Tyrouge must have heard something from the bush and was ready to fight whatever it was. Anton readied himself for battle also as the bush began to rustle even louder.

(If a mod wouldn't mind coming in for a wild pokemon thanks)

Though Anton didn't know the area that well, he knew that Ralts weren't a common sight outside of Petalburg City, let alone a forest. He knew that Tyrouge would be at a disadvantage being a fighting type, but he should be able to weaken it just enough for Anton to catch it. Anton readied an empty pokeball and looked down at Tyrouge.

'Alright Tyrouge, weaken Ralts down with a tackle attack!' Anton ordered.

Luciana took a few steps away from the boy since she knew it was going to be a pokemon battle. She singed her Shinx to move further away as well. The pokemon stayed by Anton though and was ready to help his newly found friend. Luce simply shrugged and accepted it. She was a little bit worried about the fight since Ralts had advantage over fighting type such as Tyrogue. As Anton seemed to be aware of the fact she wasn't going to point it out. She decided to simply stay out of the battle.

The ralts wasn't paying any mind to the tyrogue, so when it struck it, it was caught by suprise. It simply looked back at the tyrogue after it gained its balance again, and it proceeded to begin using confusion.

The tackle hit hard and it gave Ralts a fright. Unfortunately, surprise was Tyrouge's key strategy in taking down a pokemon with an advantage over him and once Ralt's regathered, it launched a powerful confusion attack back at Tyrouge. Usually Tyrouge's speed would be enough to avoid the attack, but he was caught off guard and it was a direct hit. Tyrouge fell back, clearly not feeling the best.

'Tyrouge you have to regroup and fight back!' Anton yelled. Tyrouge's eyes opened with a jolt and within seconds he was back on his feet, ready to battle. Anton smiled as he gave Tyrouge his next order.

'Tyrouge use your speed to get behind Ralts then use tackle!' As Tyrouge began sprinting and jumping to confuse Ralts, Anton grabbed an empty pokeball from his belt. He was going to catch Ralts one way or another.

(I sent a PM to Fang so he would post, since I really have not much to post. Maybe he didn't get it. Anyways sorry for delaying topic so much.)

Luciana examined the battle really carefully. Not only because she was interested in how Tyrogue would fight, but she also wanted to learn a little bit more about whole pokemon battle in general. After all she never had a real pokemon battle before. She calmly waited for the battle to end.