Route 8 and the battle against Bel: Part 1

After purchasing a blue raincoat as well, Touya started his way through Route 8.

"At the end of my trip I will have a clothing store in my bag" Touya said with a nervous smile when noticing hid bag quite full.

Upon entering Route 8, a dense fog blocked Touya's view and an intense rain was quickly present to which he quickly pulled Samurott out of his pokeball and showed him the map.

"Hey friend, do you think you can follow this path to get to Opelucid city?" Touya said as he stood next to Samurott and showed him the map.

Samurott seemed to take a moment to memorize the map, then look around and quickly orient himself.

"Samu" Samurott said nodding to Touya.

"Well go ahead I'm following you" Touya said with a smile and then followed Samurott through Route 8.

The trip was not very long according to the map, but due to the difficulties on the route it took longer than expected, in addition to the occasional encounter with a very annoying Stunfish.

After traveling on Samurott through the deep parts of the lake, Touya walked a bit and after passing near some trees he came to a large smooth stone bridge, finding a large stop in front of him.

"If I'm not mistaken, further on is the Tubeline bridge, when we cross it we will arrive at Route 9 and after that we are in Opelucid city" Touya said as he looked at the map and spoke with Samurott next to him.

"Sa Samurott" Samurott said with understanding as he walked alongside Touya.

Before Touya could enter the stop before the Tubeline bridge, a familiar voice stopped him.

"Touyaaaaa!!!" Bel said appearing out of nowhere and greeting Touya energetically as always.

"Bel, how can you always be so energetic?" Touya said a little tired from the trip through Route 8.

"It's a gift, but you know, lately I've noticed a lot of things" Bel said with a calm smile.

Touya was a bit surprised due to Bel's calm way of speaking, but he just paid attention to her.

"With this trip, my pokémon friends and the events with the plasma team I realized that... I am not cut out to be a trainer, and that my passion is pokemon research" Bel said with determination and confidence.

"You know, when I went to the Relic castle I found some statues and I really enjoyed investigating them with Professor Encina, much more than being a trainer" Bel said, remembering his research happily.

"But make no mistake! I'm a great trainer too! And I'll kick your butt right now!" Bel said with a lot of emotion and confidence pointing at Touya.

"If I beat you I will show that I was always strong even without you two and that I have always deserved to be your friend" Bel said with determination and a focused look.

Touya was only shocked by Bel's words and then smiled slightly and said

"You always deserved to be our friend Bel, and I always knew you were strong, I'm glad you came to me to tell me all this" Touya said with a calm and happy smile when seeing Bel's growth.

"But that doesn't justify you told me you want to kick my ass! I don't forgive!" Touya said with a big and excited smile for the battle just like Samurott and Bel.

"Go Stoutland" Bel said, throwing a pokeball with excitement from which a big fierce-looking dog came out.

'Why did it have to be a dog?' Touya thought seeing how Stoutland seemed a bit annoyed with him for no reason.

"Go first Samurott" Touya said to Samurott next to him, who seemed eager to fight.

"Samu!" Samurott said entering the fight with excitement.

"We will use the league way of fighting, you cannot change the pokemon until he is weakened or has an ability to change" Bel said in an explanatory tone making Touya nod with excitement.

They both thought about their first move and the fight began.

[Pokémon Black / White - Battle!]

"Stoutland use work up" Bel said in a clear and confident voice.

"Samurott use surf" Touya said excited about the battle.

Stoutland used work up by improving his attack overall and concentrating quite a bit.

Samurott for his part covered himself with a blue aura and raised a great wave of water about 2.70 meters high, powered by the rain that was quickly towards Stoutland.

"You know what to do friend!" Bel said confidently.

Stoutland nodded and before long he was digging and dodging Samurott's attack.

"Not bad, Samurott use focus energy and focus on the vibrations" Touya said taking the fight seriously.

Samurott concentrated hard and waited for Stoutland to come out to attack.

"Use thunder fang" Bel said quickly causing Stoutland to pop out of the ground beneath Samurott with his mouth full of thunders.

Samurott was barely able to dodge it taking some damage from the attack to which Touya quickly responded.

"Use revenge with your sword" Touya said reacting quickly.

"Samurott!" Samurott nodded excitedly, then unsheathed his sword in less than a second and delivered a great blow to Stoutland, throwing him away but without weakening him.

"Samurott use surf again" Touya said noticing that Stoutland was weak.

"Stoutland use roar" Bel said, noticing Stoutland's condition.

Stoutland roared with great force causing Samurott to not be able to finish using his attack and was stunned for a moment.

Looking back in Stoutland's direction, Touya could tell that he wasn't there.

"You know what to do friend" Touya said seriously upon noticing Stoutland's sudden disappearance.

"Samurott" Samurott said with understanding.

Samurott closed his eyes, and tried to focus on the vibrations on the ground until...

"Do it Stoutland" Bel said loudly and making Stoutland come off the ground.

Samurott rushed to hit Stoutland but upon hitting him he realized that he was a substitute skill dummy.

"Samu" Samurott said confused at noticing that.

"Behind you friend!" Touya said in shock at noticing Stoutland behind him.

"Use take down!" Bel said making Stoutland ram Samurott with all his might.

Samurott reacted in time, blocking the attack with one of his swords, but still taking great damage.

At the end of his attack, Stoutland fell asleep due to the damage he did to himself by being knocked out.

Samurott looked very tired from the recent battle, but still he continued with a determined look on his face, making Touya smile.

"Well done buddy, you did great!" Bel said returning Stoutland to his pokeball with a smile.

"You were close, you almost beat me" Touya said wiping his nervous sweat

"This isn't even the best part" Bel said with an excited smile and throwing a pokeball.

"Go Simisage" Bel said pulling out what appeared to be a green monkey with a very eighties hairstyle and a confident look.

"Simisage, use seed bomb and stay away from him" Bel said excitedly giving the order quickly.

"Samurott use fury cutter to cut off his attacks and get closer to him" Touya said quickly upon noticing Bel's plan.

Simisage released large seeds, which exploded when cut by Samurott's swords, but without affecting the latter due to using his swords.

Simisage kept moving away from the initial battle area on the bridge, to get closer to the trees.

Touya noticed this but when he wanted to get Samurott away from the problem it was too late.

"Simisage ise grass knot" Bel said with a confident tone and a small smile.

"Samurott use aqua jet and attack him directly" Touya said noticing that there was no way to dodge said attack.

All the trees around threw large lianas towards Samurott, who managed to hit Simisage with an aqua jet doing good damage, and then be caught by them and being knocked out.

"We did it!" Bel said happily along with Simisage.

"You did well friend, I'm proud" Touya said returning Samurott to his pokeball with a calm smile.

"Don't be so happy, my butt is not that easy to kick" Touya told Bel with a challenging smile.

"Mmmm, I would say otherwise, your butt is bigger than you think, you should stop eating fat" Bel said to Touya with a warning tone and a small mocking smile.

"So we have those huh? Now you will see!" Touya said with his eyes rolled in outrage and annoyance.

"Go Darmanitan" Touya said taking Darmanitan out in his meditation mode.

"Wow, that's the statue I was investigating!" Bel said in shock looking at Touya for answers.

"That's right, when Darmanitan touched that statue he got this form, he also gets the psychic type by being in this state" Touya said in an explanatory tone as Bel wrote everything in a small notebook while she stuck out her tongue.

"Psychic type... Darmanitan... got it! This is a marvel of research! I'll call it Daruma mode! Patent pending!" Bel said excitedly as she came up with a name for said mode.

"I like it, but we should get back to the fight" Touya said with a nervous but happy smile when he saw Bel's emotion.

"Sure sure" Bel said putting the notebook in her bag and concentrating on the fight again.