Chapter 024

"Are you one of the new trainers from Pallet town?"

Arthur jerked his head up at the loud voice that asked him that question.

There was an older looking boy standing there with a sword in his hand and a bug catching net on his back. He looked weird as he was wearing an odd looking samurai attire.

'This guy…'

Arthur obviously recognised him as he was the first trainer Ash has a fair battle with in the Pokemon anime. He was the bug catcher Samurai who had an epic 'Metapod vs Metapod' battle with Ash.

But Arthur didn't know that he would cross paths with him.

Well, it did make sense when he thought about it. After all, in the anime, Samurai was looking for trainers from Pallet town to battle them. Perhaps, he has already finished his battle with the others.

"I asked you something. Are you one of the new trainers from Pallet town?" Samurai again asked, seeing that Arthur wasn't responding to him.

Coming back from his thoughts, Arthur nodded at him.

"Yes, I'm one of the new trainers from Pallet town. Why are you looking for me?" He said in a careful tone, trying to act clueless.

"I thought you were one of the new batch of trainers seeing your Charmander." His gaze moved towards Charmander for a sec before he continued, "Anyway, the reason I'm looking for you is to have a battle!"

Samurai said with a smile and the excitement of a battle was already evident in his eyes.

After that, Samurai explained how he lives in the Viridian forest and helps aspiring young trainers catch bug Pokemon for a living. But he was still mainly a trainer who loved to battle.

One week ago, he came across a new trainer from Pallet town who uses a Squirtle. A battle naturally happened between them and he and his Pokemon were decimated in a matter of minutes.

He naturally lost the battle, but still learned a lot from it and the fighting spirit inside him got ignited by that loss.

When he got to know that there were three more new trainers from Pallet town, he naturally decided to battle them too and was searching for them since then as he knew that they would pass through the Viridian forest.

Three days ago, he even crossed paths with a pretty girl who used a Bulbasaur and was from Pallet town. It was a more intense battle this time for him and he got really close to even winning.

But in the end, the result was still a loss.

After two losses, his thirst for a win was really high and he immediately started looking for the rest of the two new trainers from Pallet town and today, he finally found Arthur and his Charmander.

"My Pokemon has grown a lot after the tough battles they had this week. This time, I am pretty sure that I will win. So, will you accept my challenge?"

Samurai asked after completing his story, but Arthur's mind was thinking about something else.

'So, Gary and Leaf have already passed through Viridian forest. Well, I expected that from the start, but it looks like Ash is still lost somewhere in the forest. Maybe around the Butterfree territory…'

Rather than thinking about the battle challenge, Arthur was more focused on the locations of his childhood friends. Although it wouldn't be wrong to say that more than Gary and Ash, he was more concerned about Leaf.

'She would be in Pewter city currently, but by the time I reach there, I'm sure she would have moved ahead…'

Arthur thought bitterly.

Since he had started his journey, the one thing that was constantly on the back of his mind was Leaf. He would instinctively start thinking about her from time to time and her parting words would always linger in his mind.

'The next time you won't be able to reject me.'

Those words were in his mind constantly these days and it would always leave a bitter yet sweet aftertaste in his heart.

Arthur obviously knew the meaning of this and it seemed to him that he wouldn't be able to run away from her feelings for any longer. Maybe in their next meeting, he would finally…

"Hey, are you listening to me? Will you accept my challenge or not??"

"Ah, sorry, I was just thinking about something.

Samurai's voice brought him back from his thoughts and he looked absentmindedly at him for a moment.

Then, he closed his eyes for a second and came to a conclusion.

"I will accept your challenge."

"Good. I thought that the trainers from Pallet town are no cowards. Now, you know the rules of a Pokemon battle, right?"

Samurai asked with a bright and excited smile on his face and Arthur nodded his head. He had studied Pokemon battles under Professor Oak and he of course knew all the rules of an official battle.

There were many rules to a Pokemon battle, but mainly, there were three basic rules that everyone should know.

1. The number of Pokemon allowed to battle should be pre-determined and a trainer would lose if all of his eligible Pokemon are unable to battle.

2. There is no killing allowed.

3. After the battle, the winner will receive some amount of money from the loser with the amount being determined by the Pokedex.

Although there were other rules, these three were the main ones that every trainer knows. Breaching of even one of these can result in the trainer license being revoked by the alliance.

That's why every trainer follows these rules.

After that, both Arthur and Samurai discussed the number of Pokemon they were gonna use and the end conclusion was a 2 on 2 battle.

It was the ideal choice for Arthur as he can't use Murkrow.

"Now, let's start the battle!"

Samurai shouted as he took his position. There was no referee for the battle, so they had decided to countdown to 3 before throwing their pokeballs.

They locked eyes for a second and opened their mouths.

"1."

"2."

"3."

"Let's go!"

Like that, Arthur's first Pokemon battle started.