The Brief Stop in Hoenn

Cargo Ship Alder had reached the city of Mossdeep in order to restock and refuel. The passengers and some of the crew members were allowed to leave the ship to more or less get used to the feeling of land once more.

Theodore walked down from the plank which led off the docked cargo ship with Combee in hand and Wimpod hanging on his shoulder looking awed by the sights of Mossdeep city. Theo was particularly wow'd by the sight of Mossdeep's space center and the crowd which had formed around it.

Frowning at the crowd, he had recalled reading a forum post by a person who had gotten a ticket for the seasonal tour. Theo took a deep breath and turned his sight away from the bumbling crowd and began his search for a Pokecenter in order to make sure that his pokemon were doing well.

Entering the Pokecenter, he noticed the large number of Trainers who were waiting in the lobby. Noticing the distinct lack of trainers checking up with the rather bored looking Nurse Joy, he walked up to her and greeted,

"Hello. I'd like to check if my Pokemon are doing alright and are healthy." Recalling his Wimpod and Combee to their respective pokeballs, he unclipped the pokeballs off his belt and offered them to Nurse Joy.

The Nurse Joy, who looked rather happy to have some work to do instead of having bumbling trainers go in and out of her Pokecenter, woke up from her blank eyed daze and brightly smiled, "Of course! May I see your trainer badge? It's always great to see trainers care about their pokemon's general well-being!"

Theodore nodded and then had to sadly reply, "I'm afraid that I'm only Johto and Unova certified as of the moment. So let me dig out some Poke real quick." Reaching out into his top-spec, spatially-warped backpack, he paused in the movement as he heard Nurse Joy say,

"Oh. You're a new trainer, too. Aren't you?" Nurse Joy kept her smile as she continued, "New Trainers of any region in the first month are generally accepted into any Pokecenter." Making a 'oh' shape with his mouth in surprise, Theo went searching for his Trainer's license. Pulling out his trainer's license, he placed it in Nurse Joy's hands.

She scanned the trainer card with a scanner at the front desk and announced, "One free pokecenter charge for a Theodore Maximillian!" Returning Theo's trainer's license, she took his Pokeballs and grinned like a loon at the chance to check up on a Pokemon in a long time.

Snorting at her reaction at the chance to work, he muttered under his breath, "Workaholics- All of them. Even the Officer Jennies throughout the world take breaks." Theo sighed as he walked away from the Center's desk before he was stopped by a fancy-suited, blue-haired man's word,

"What brings you to Mossdeep, Trainer Maximillian?" Tilting his head and blinking his eyes at the man, Theo had the faint suspicion that he was supposed to know that this person was important somehow. He just couldn't place his tongue onto who this person was.

Keeping his eyes from showing his suspicion, Theodore offered an answer, "Just came off the Cargo Ship Alder heading to Johto. Still feeling the kickback from getting onto land from being out at sea for a week. Grounding myself in expectation that the ground is going wobble feels weird, I tell ya'." He simply shook his head as he continued telling this somewhat trustworthy stranger about his woes, "Just wanted to get my pokemon checked. Making sure that my training that my starter did for the last week doesn't have any negative effects for future training."

The blue-haired man simply nodded and hummed which kept his mysterious persona in check. Rolling his eyes at the blue-haired man in front of him, Theodore heard him finally speak up,

"I feel like you would make a fine trainer, Maximillian. Shame you didn't come to Hoenn first for your journey, though." The man gave a toothy smile before continuing, "Say; How about I give a warm welcome to you by the way of a pokemon battle?"

Taking the offer into consideration, Theo went into his famous [ THINKING ] pose with a small hint of a grin appearing behind the hand covering his mouth. Sniggering under his breath, he spoke up, "I graciously accept your offer! Prepare to the fine taste of defeat by the hands of I, the future bug-god of Johto, Theo!" He pointed his thumb at himself in a dramatic reminiscent of that one animated character he had watched not too long ago.

The blue-haired man looked slightly baffled and mystified at Theo's eccentric introduction. Shaking his head, the blue-haired man shook his head as an amused grin crossed his face, "Sure thing, kid. Sure thing."

Theo frowned as he raised his eyebrow at the man in front of him, "This is another adult thing isn't it? It is. Arceus damn it." A pinched groan left his mouth as he heard the man guffaw as he left. The man went back to conversing with the other trainers in the Pokecenter after finishing his loud, boisterous chuckles.

Then he could feel the jealous glares pierce towards him from some of the other trainer's eyes for some odd reason. Theo felt like he should really know who the person he was talking towards.

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Time ticked by slowly as he waited for Nurse Joy to finish addressing his pokemon whatever she was doing in that backroom of hers. When she finally came out with a happy, upbeat smile on her face, Theodore let out a sigh of relief.

Theo walked up to the desk as Nurse Joy approached it. With bated breath, he waited for her synopsis of his pokemon's conditions,

"Your pokemon are remarkably healthy. In fact I'm starting to have suspicion of a certain beneficial virus at play." Nurse Joy shook her head in exasperation before continuing, "Or it might be due to what you're feeding them. Tell me; What are you feeding them?"

Theodore's ears burned in embarrassment as he admitted to what he was feeding them, "I'm feeding them only Oran Berries and trying to include a special mix of berries to increase [ SP. ATK ] and [ SPEED ]."

"Yes. That would do it, Trainer Maximillian. Normally trainers don't think about the more natural pokemon food in exchange for the cheaper and mass-produced kibble. Tell me is the mix that you make personally-made?"

Sheepily scratching his cheek, he smiled impishly at Nurse Joy,

"It is a personal mix between Oran Berries, Nutrient Heavy Plants, and large, expensive berries which increase a pokemon's capabilities in favor of giving them what they like. They are normally found deep in the wilderness, but have started to make its way into farms across the globe. Just a few years ago it had reached Unova and started a huge craze."

Nurse Joy nodded at him and gave him the Pokeballs containing his pokemon. Bidding his adieus to Nurse Joy, he went to go find that blue-haired fellow with the nice suit who offered a battle. He wanted to have some battling experience against other trainers, or at least his pokemon to have some experience against other trainers.

Heaving a light sigh, he noted that the blue-haired man was out at the battlefields watching two trainer's pokemon doing some maux-battling. Waving over and catching the light-blue haired trainer's attention, "Hey! About that battle- Can we get a field and go at it already?"

The man waved back as he turned his attention towards Theo, "Sure thing, kid. Let's say the one right next to us- I mean it is the only other one here."

Snorting at the comment, Theo walked with the light-haired man to the battlefield. Going to the perpendicular sides where the ends of the battlefield were held. The blue-haired man threw out a pokeball and calmly waited for Theodore to throw his pokemon as a strange floating steel type pokemon made it onto the field from man's pokeball. Theodore could only guess this was one of the previous evolutions of Metagross which the champion of this region was known for-

Realizing who he was facing, adrenaline began to pump through Theodore's body as he wanted to test how he matched up against another trainer. Throwing out Khepri, even if it is a bad match-up it's not like his only other pokemon is any better, a wide grin made its way across his face.

Nodding towards who he had guessed as Steven Stone to start the battle, he called out to his starter,

"Start building up [ FLYING ]. This battle won't be a easy one!"

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Khepri appeared out of the pokeball in a red light. Looking around in the battlefield in bewilderment, she looked over at the Beldum and the trainer behind it recognition. This was a real battle against another trainer at last, but she worried that her trainer had picked a poor trainer to fight against

She could even see the steel on the [ Steel ] type for Arceus' sake! Huffing irritably, she looked at the silent steel type that stared back at her unblinkingly. She heard her trainer call out, "Start building up [ FLYING ]. This battle won't be a easy one!"

Rolling her eyes at her trainer's comment, she followed his order and started to build up [ FLYING ] and shot up into the sky. The Beldum began to levitate as it met her up in the sky. Narrowing her eyes at the [ STEEL ] type pokemon in front of her, she heard the other trainer order solemnly, "Go forth and take her down, Beldum!"

Blinking in confusion, she quickly realized what was about to happen as the Beldum shot forward quickly towards her with [ Steel ] type energy being focused on its head. She could hear her trainer order her to move; And so she moved.

She moved by doing something she never imagined possible; She rolled in mid-air and tilted out of the way of the Beldum by bleeding some of the [ FLYING ] energy to stabilize her flight. The Beldum shot past where she used to be as her trainer remained quiet as if in thought.

Shaking her head, she attacked the Beldum without any order as she heard her trainer order, "Cut that Steel type pokemon down, Khepri!"

Releasing a razor-slash of wind at the Beldum, it impacted with an heavy groan as move landed with a critical success, and bypassed the psychic based movement and threw the Steel type towards the ground. A small wave of sand, gravel, and dirt flew across the battlefield as Khepri immediately built up [ FLYING ] energy once more.

She noticed the Beldum seemed slightly damaged, and she heard the other trainer call out, "Take her down with a Bullet Head!"

She frowned as she repeated the words,

> "Bullet Head?" <

The Beldum shot forwards at nearly the same speed as [ BUG-WATER ]'s Aqua Jet. Slamming into her body with the full force of it's psychic movement flinging it forward with an Iron Head, she was sent flying up and high into the air with her own breath knocked out of her

Spinning around rapidly, she attempted to build up [ FLYING ] energy, but was assaulted by a heavy Zen-Headbutt by the Beldum who flew after her. This time she was knocked back even further with pain etching across her face as she finally caught up with her trainer's yelling,

"Kherpi! Catch yourself with a Gust!" Blinking and following his orders, she built up [ FLYING ] as fast as possible and put in the small amount of [ FLYING ] into her gust. Aiding her backwards ascent, the Gust slammed into the Beldum who held his position even within the Gust.

Stabilizing her flight, she heard her trainer yell to her, "Wind!" Blinking in confusion, she mentalyl questioned what her own trainer was talking about- Then it dawned onto her that he was talking about the [ Ghost ] wind.

Grinning viciously, she built up the [ Creepy ] [ Ghost ] energy into her wings. She heard her trainer continue his orders, "Began drilled movement one!"

She buzzed her wings loudly as the [ Creepy ] energy built up, and then began to move sporadically in the air making it harder for Beldum to properly aim at her due to the [ Straight-like ] movement of its own pathing.

Sweat began to pool across her forehead as she attempted to add [ FLYING ] energy to the [ Creepy ] [ Ghost ] Wind for that ompf for the impact. Growling in annoyance as her attention waned as the Beldum inched closer and closer to her position, she released the [ Creepy ] [ Ghost ] Wind at the Beldum.

The [ Ghost ] energy filled wind slammed into the Beldum as it caused the Beldum to lose its concentration over its psychic levitation and fall to the ground in pain. Of course the Gust had helped to slam the Beldum back into the ground. The Beldum attempted to get back up as the psychic levitation flickered off and on.

The other trainer, she noticed, had a look of pure stoicism across his face. Unable to perceive the other trainer's thoughts, she built up another [ Ghost ] wind and slammed the move back onto the Beldum.

The [ Steel ] type groaned and slammed back onto the ground. The beldum laid there motionlessly as swirls filled its eyes. A deep bruised shown on two of her faces as she huffed exhaustively and beamed attentively at her trainer's small whoop.

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Doing a small whoop at his starter's hard earned win, he looked over to Champion Stone who had just recalled his Beldum with a humble grin crossing his face. Letting his starter slowly fly to him, he took Khepri into his arms. He stepped away from the battlefield as Steven approached him,

"Usually you don't see New Trainers start out with practicing maneuvers like yourself and go against and survive opponents who are primarily type-disadvantage against the opponents pokemon." Champion Stone smiled humbly at his own loss, "I commend you on the quick calls you did at the end of the match, but always come in with a plan instead of calling out a move randomly."

Sheepishly grinning as his ears burned in embarrassment, Theodore nodded at Stone's assessment of his own abilities. Steven just simply shook his head at the kid in front of him, "Anyways; I forgot to tell you my name earlier. My name is Steven Stone." Curling his humble smile into an amused one, Steven Stone continued, "You may have heard of me."

Scoffing at Champion Stone's act, Theodore rolled his eyes,

"Of course you can always drop the 'Mysterious' trainer act, too. It's very edgy and kinda cringe. I see it everywhere online already with random trainers and their videos! Even if you are a Champion, you should know better."

The Champion spluttered as he heard Theodore's complaint. After clearing his throat awkwardly, Champion Stone averted his eyes,

"Of course, kid. If only for you. It's not like your eccentric introduction was better." The champion mumbled as he refocused his attention elsewhere. Theodore chuckled at the Champion's reaction to comment as he looked up to the sky to see it reach time in the Afternoon.

"Ah. I gotta go! Captain Johnson and Alder's crew are probably waiting for me. That battle was pretty fun! Err. Have a great day? And make sure to never forget me, Theo-" Theodore winced in pain as he turned around in pain, "Ack! Don't poke me, Khepri! I was just trying to- Hey- Hey! I see what you're doing. One must never let themselves be tainted by pompousness forever!"

And so; Theo and his Combee walked away from the Pokecenter's battlefield with the sun beating down on their backs as they headed back to the Cargo Ship which they resided on to get to their destination of the Johto region!