Chapter 7

'...' for thoughts

"..." for speech

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Four hours after the fight between Magby and Minccino and many other battles, our protagonist and his friends were sitting in a clearing in the woods having a picnic lunch.

While Magby and Jasper were still fit, the other 3 trainers and Pokemon looked pretty exhausted.

"Oof, tell me Jasper, what kind of training are you doing with Magby that you're both in such good shape?" Skyla asked taking deep breaths in and out.

Jasper thinks for a moment. "We usually start with stretching, then we jog, then there's move training, then there's some martial arts training to relax. After lunch there's scientific research and then strength training. After that it's always different, we do something with Elesa, or continue one of the other disciplines and in the evening there is tactics training."

"Woah, that's quite a lot." Skyla replied in astonishment. "But how can martial arts training be relaxing?"

"Well, we practice the different martial arts poses and don't fight, it's still quite exhausting, but you really calm down. My sensei called it the Zen phase, where you're completely introspective." Jasper tried to explain the training as best he could while taking two sandwiches and some Pokemon food from his backpack, unpacking them and passing one of the sandwiches and the Pokemon food to Magby.

Then Jasper sat down on the picnic blanket that Elesa had spread out, Magby sat down right next to him, and together they began to eat the sandwiches that Jasper's mother had prepared.

After everyone had recovered and eaten, Elesa put her picnic blanket back in her backpack.

Elesa and Elekid had started following Jasper's and Magby's example some time ago and also took martial arts classes and also went jogging, making Elesa and her Pokémon the least exhausted after the boy duo. They just didn't do nearly as much as Jasper and his Pokemon, so there was still a noticeable difference.

"Even though we're not as fit as Jasper and Magby, we've still gained a lot of fighting experience, which will help us tremendously in training." Cynthia said to Elesa with a happy smile as they left the clearing.

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Some time later, Jasper and his group were startled by a loud shout.

"I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!" exclaimed a 15 year old teenager when he saw Jasper. His scream was too loud, all the Pidove in the trees around him fled in panic and a few Gothita hid behind the trees, daring only the odd cautious look. "My name is Richard and I'm from Accumula Town. I'm in the first year of my Pokemon journey and I'll challenge any trainer who looks me in the eye, although sometimes all trainers will suddenly look away after my first battle on a route.. ..But you looked me in the eye and now we MUST fight!"

'What the f*ck?' Jasper thought, but he was very excited, this was going to be his first Pokémon fight (not against Elesa) and Jasper confronted Daniel. "I accept your challenge, go Magby!"

"Magby-by" Magby called as he leaped into position and prepared for battle.

"Wow, a Magby, I haven't fought a Pokémon like that before, but you can't beat my partner, here comes Pignite!" And Pignite appeared in front of his Trainer after Richard through his pokeball. Pignite belched flames into the air with his nose and also braced himself for battle, but you could tell by the look on his face that it was underestimating Magby.

'Damn, this guy is really dramatic!' Jasper and the girls thought simultaneously.

"A Pignite is a Fire- and Fighting -type Pokemon, beware Jasper, his fighting style should be similar to Magby's, but Pignite has evolved before and has an advantage in terms of its base strength." Analyzed Elesa while both opponents were preparing for the fight.

Jasper answered that confidently. "Don't worry, Magby and I can handle this! Hey Skyla, could you referee this match?"

"Sure thing, Jasper." Skyla called enthusiastically and stood at the middle edge of the (imaginary) battlefield. "This is a 1v1 fight, if a Pokemon can't fight anymore it has lost. Since I can see that both fighters are already on their positions the fight can start directly. FIGHT!"

As soon as Skyla announced the start of the fight, Richard began his first attack. "Pignite, use Flame Charge, overrun that Magby!" And Pignite, engulfed in flames, ran towards Magby, accelerating as it did so, preparing for the collision.

Jasper didn't say anything and Magby stayed still as well, as if they were both frozen in fear. Pignite and his trainer already had triumphant grins on their faces.

But just before Pignite could hit Magby with Flame Charge, Magby jumped to the side, Jasper specially trained Magby to make his own decisions in battle, so Jasper didn't have to issue an order for every little thing, they can fight so much more dynamically too.

"Now low kick Magby, bring it down." Commanded Jasper and Magby promptly carried out that exact order.

Magby's foot began to glow white and it kicked at Pignite, hitting him square in the leg.

Pignite had trouble maneuvering at his speed and couldn't dodge. The low kick hit him and Pignite stumbled to the ground.

"Magby, Flamethrower." Was Jasper's next

Command.

Magby took a deep breath and let out a mighty blast of flame towards Pignite, but Pignite just barely dodged it. Then Pignite started to attack with an Arm Thrust, which was what his trainer just shouted.

As Pignite ran towards Magby again, Jasper clenched his fist and threw it in the air. "Magby, let's end this. Close in and then Mega Punch."

Magby also began to sprint and his left hand briefly began to glow white before a layer of flames followed, coating the white glowing fist.

Both Pokémon met in the middle of Jasper's side of the battlefield, Pignite attacking with lots of quick Arm Thrusts, but Magby's Fire Punch-enhanced Mega Punch broke through Pignite's wall of Arm Thrusts, hitting it square in the stomach.

Pignite was thrown outside the battlefield and collided with a rock, which then shattered into pieces as if hit by a grenade.

Pignite lay unconscious in the rubble.

"The fight is decided, the winner is Jasper." exclaimed Skyla excitedly.

Richard just stood there, frozen in shock, unable to comprehend that he just lost against a Youngster-Trainer and one in his first year at that. If he knew that this was even the first day Jasper got his license, he probably would have ran away crying, forever giving up his dream of becoming a successful Pokémon Trainer.

"Shouldn't you look if your Pignite is okay?" Cynthia quietly asked.

And these words did the magic, Richard instantly snapped out of his despairing thoughts and ran over to Pignite, that still hadn't moved one bit.

After seeing that Pignite wasn't that hurt, he called him back into his Pokeball and said to Jasper. "Hey man, your Magby really has a mean left hook, Pignite and I have to train way harder to keep up!"

"I wish you success." Jasper replied and after some small talk Richard made his way to the nearest Pokemon Center.

After Richard left Jasper gave Magby a high-five. "You really showed him who's Boss, Magby." And Magby flexed his arm at that. "Magby-by!"

The girls just facepalmed at that.

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Five hours later the sun began to set and the teenagers left the forest.

A short time later they were back in Nimbasa City.

The teenagers were quite exhausted, and so were their Pokémon. Cynthia had to carry her Gible in her arms, the little one was already sleeping.

"Let's go back into the forest tomorrow, there's still a lot we haven't explored." Elesa suggested.

Jasper agreed immediately. "That's a good idea, this time I have to remember to take my laptop with me so I can document my observations and how about we sum up our experiences at the end of the day so we can get the most use of traveling as a group?"

"That's a good idea," Cynthia approved, and Skyla agreed as well. "Let's get right to it."

A while later, just when Jasper's father arrived, the four finished their conversation.

After that Jasper and his friends recalled their Pokémon and the humans entered Joshua's car.

Once Joashua dropped the girls at the Volt's place he asked his son about his day and Jasper told him excitedly about every little detail and especially about his battles. He told him how his first battle against Minccino, his battle against Richard and his Pignite and all the other battles he had in the Forest went, which problems he had and what went exceptionally well.

Joshua just listened in silence, he was really impressed how far Jasper already came in regards to Magbys training and congratulated him for his success.

Then, when they got home, Jasper summoned Magby feom his pokeball and the two started their daily tactics briefing while they had dinner. After that they got ready for bed, watched a little TV and then went to sleep to be ready for the next day.

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