Nobody expects to see two girls, a Hoppip, and Mudkip pick a fight with a flock of wingull at the beach before the clock’s even hit eight in the morning… Yet there they were.

  It was happening.

  For all of Andrea’s seeming modesty and harmless jolly look to her, she took the lead, natural as a breeze.

  “Salia, picked anyone out yet?” she yelled through cupped hands at the Hoppip floating 30ft up in the air. The entire flock of wingull was airborne now, clearly enjoying it. They were taunting her, likely so amused by the invasion that they decided to play along and wait to see how it’d play out.

  “Heeeeepuh!” Hoppip cried tinily. “Heeep!”

  “Maaahd!” Mida added, eyes fully locked on the flapping circus above.

  Luvia was tense and ready to sprint. If the wingull decided to collectively turn on them… Wait, what was she doing here again? It was pretty nuts, but thankfully, the wild flock was paying its full attention to the Hoppip.

  Whatever the grass-type had said, it got a reaction.

  A single member of the flock flapped its wings and approached the Hoppip as the rest of its flock continued to swerve and circle around them.

  “What’s happening?” Luvia shouted over the cacophony.

  Andrea shot her a smile. “Salia’s negotiating!”

  Luvia looked back up. Negotiating? Were they actually?

  “If it goes well, we won’t even need t-” Andrea began, but was cut short.

  The wingull shot toward Hoppip with what looked like a tackle, but Hoppip managed to dodge under it with a critically timed upward beat of her leaves.

  “Salia, use Bullet Seed!” Andrea yelled through cupped hands.

  The flock of wingull was sent into a squawking frenzy, but none of them joined the airborne battle.

  God… Luvia’s heart thumped close to her throat. She shot Mida a quick look and took a step back. The Mudkip was silently watching the chaos above, senses fully locked in, tail fin vibrating in quick bouts.

  A volley of glowing pellets shot out of Hoppip’s mouth, aimed right at the darting wingull, who swerved in a tight circle through the air, narrowly evading the attack.

  The seeds struck a few of the squawking wingull instead, who cried out and fell out of formation like swatted bugs. They recovered before hitting the ground, squawking even louder as they rejoined the chaos.

  “Stun Spore, Salia! All around you!” Andrea’s timing must have been premeditated. As Hoppip blew out a bright yellow puff of spores, the wingull shot out again, then screeched and flapped wildly when it realized it was flying straight into the puff. It tried to veer away, but its Tackle had way too much momentum behind it. It ended up in the least desirable spot instead – right in the thick of the puff.

  Andrea giggled and Luvia smiled.

  She’s good… Luvia thought. Definitely seemed like a different person in battle.

  The battling wingull coughed and coughed and flailed in the air as it hurtled down toward the sandy ground. It hit the sand awkwardly and twitched and flailed some more.

  “Easy peasy!” Andrea whooped, turning to Luvia. “Told you!”

  The girl had certainly made it look easy…

  However, there was still one thing that hadn’t gone as expected.

  The angry flock hadn’t scattered anywhere. Luvia gazed back up at them worriedly. Why would they? They had the numbers. Hoppip was alone up there.

  She shot Andrea another look, but the mainland girl was too busy happily rummaging through the little pocket on her backpack for the newly purchased pokéball.

  Maybe she just didn’t know wingull as well as her? What made her think they’d fly off when challenged on their own beach?

  Were Slateport’s wingull different maybe?

  Salia had surrounded herself with Stun Spore puffs, but they were slowly floating down. Ingeniously, the Hoppip floated down with them, keeping herself concealed within the paralyzing shroud.

  “Uh, Andrea?” Luvia said.

  “Yeah?” Andrea peeled off the plastic wrapping and pulled the glossy new ball out.

  Several members of the angry flock started hovering in the air, flapping their wings to stay aloft.

  *Thweep!*

  *Thwup!*

  They began pelting the slowly descending spore cloud with wildly aimed blobs of water.

  “Andrea! They’re attacking!” Luvia called out, pointing and turning on her heels.

  “Maahd!” Mida jumped in the opposite direction, toward the madness.

  *Ghhh!* The Mudkip shot out a thin, rushing jet of water that struck the underside of a wingull’s wing and sent it crashing into one of its flockmates.

  *Ghhh!* *Ghhh!*

  “Salia, use a few more Stun Spores, then blow them around you with Fairy Wind!” Andrea said with a nervous edge to her voice.

  Luvia was caught between the urge to run and the fact that everyone else was deciding to fight!?

  She had been hit with a few pokémon moves growing up, and unless it was a deliberately gentle Bubble attack, it was in no way pleasant! Even the weakest Bubble attack could start to sting if it hit the same spot a few times.

  The riled up flock of wingull were shooting a bunch of water gun attacks that looked like they had a good smack to them.

  “Heep!” The puffy cloud of spores Hoppip was in thickened and grew shortly before an invisible gust blew in around her, creating a small twister of stun spores. The puffy cloud seemed to take on a bright sheen, likely caused by the fairy-type move.

  “Heeeep!” The twister expanded and dissipated violently all around Hoppip.

  “Mudkip get back!” Andrea called out to Mida, who was right below the squawking flock, pelting any wingull it could with her water gun attack.

  “Mida!” Luvia said right after. She’s so reckless! First the courts, now this!

  Despite that, Luvia felt a smile pulling at her lips. Seeing the little one sucker punching the flock from below whilst their attention was diverted was hilarious. The way she took advantage of the chaos… it took a few long seconds before any wingull finally took notice of her. Luvia kept calling for her to pull away from the spreading spore cloud all the meanwhile.

  “Bullet Seed again, Salia! Spray and pray!” Andrea commanded, beginning to take a quick set of backward steps. Luvia copied her.

  “Mida, come here!”

  The spore cloud had thinned out, enveloping the majority of the flock which began to fall out of formation with janky, erratic flaps of their wings. The noise rose so much that Luvia was sure half of the city was hearing this.

  Thankfully, Mida listened and bounded back toward Luvia with a pair of livid wingull flailing and pecking at her as she retreated.

  “Meehd!” the little one yelped, then growled and snapped back at her attackers. The birds floundered and pulled away, and Mida shot toward one with a glancing Tackle.

  The wingull screeched and flapped away, kicking up some sand.

  The other wingull reared up for a peck, but when Mida turned to it, whining angrily, it followed suit and pulled back for a better angle.

  They’re afraid of her! Luvia realized. In that case…

  “Growl, Mida!”

  “Rwah!” Mida snarled with her tiny voice. Yet the pair of wingull visibly flinched and ducked as if something had been thrown at them. They hopped and flapped around Mida once, second-guessing themselves, and took off.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Luvia turned her attention to Hoppip. The cute thing was taking gulpfuls of air and spitting out volleys of seeds like madwoman.

  It was working. The entire flock started to disperse.

  The girls froze for a few moments watching the flock leave and regroup further away, over the sea.

  Luvia sighed in relief. “Wow…”

  “Phew, that was nuts, not gonna lie!” Andrea laughed.

  “I knew they’d attack, what made you think they wouldn’t?”

  Andrea grew the shiny new pokéball in her hand and made off for the original wingull, still lying sprawled and twitchy on the sand, left behind by its flock.

  “I thought Salia was trying to cut a deal,” she replied. “Didn’t you see how they let them fight one-on-one at first?”

  Luvia gave another sigh. “What, and it’d just agree to come along after losing?”

  Andrea giggled as she squatted next to the paralyzed wingull. “Why not?”

  She tapped the pokéball on the downed pokémon and it snapped open. Body glowed brightly and began swirling into the ball, snapping back closed with a *click*.

  Luvia squatted down too and watched the ball.

  “Heeep…”

  “Maahd…”

  “You both did great,” Andrea told the Hoppip and Mudkip, and Luvia smiled in agreement as the pokéball began wiggling on the sand.

  “You know, you made it seem like you were way worse at battling than you are,” Luvia remarked. “You probably would have beaten that boy at the courts.”

  “Joney?” Andrea said incredulously. “Nooo... I think he was really underestimating you and Mudkip. He let his guard down. I’ve seen him end battles in seconds before. Salia wouldn’t stand a chance yet.”

  “Heeep!”

  “Maahd!”

  Both girls turned to their pokémon. Their little eyes were trained in the distance toward the shore.

  Luvia squinted, spying the flutter of white flying right over the sea.

  “Is that…” Andrea mumbled, slowly rising.

  Wingull. Luvia stood straight up and hauled Mida in her arms. “They’re coming back!”

  Andrea swooped down and nabbed the pokéball from the sand. “Latch on, Salia!”

  Hoppip grabbed onto Andrea’s backpack. “Run, Luvia!”

  Luvia yelped in shock and both girls took off back in the direction they came, feet slogging through the sand as fast as humanly possible.

  Mida whined and pulled herself up to Luvia’s shoulder. “Mida, you’re going to fall!” Luvia yelled, but Mida swayed and tugged and she held on.

  *Ghh!* *Ghh!* *Ghh!*

  Luvia felt the recoil from each burst of water that shot out of Mida’s mouth. Run and gun! She squealed in the perfect mix of hilarity and terror.

  She looked over her shoulder and saw that the wingull had risen higher, flying like a jet squadron directly at them. The scariest part was that they were totally silent.

  The paved walkway around the beach was still far away. Too far.

  “Yiiahhhh!” both girls squealed as a barrage of water gun attacks started raining down on them. Sand grains blew up from the ground pelting them like shrapnel and Luvia flinched, staggered, and fell down on her butt with a grunt. Mida hopped off. The girl covered her head with both arms and shut her eyes tight, yelling as she braced herself for a good smacking.

  When she felt the flock whizz past her, she immediately looked up and saw Andrea likewise hunched over on the sand with one of Hoppip’s leaves poking out past her armpit. A few more blobs of water slapped against the beach ahead of them.

  “Luvia, are you ok?!” Andrea yelled across the distance.

  “Yeah, are you?!”

  She didn’t reply. She got up, Hoppip in her arms, and said, “They’ll circle back. We need to go!”

  Luvia never got up faster.

  *Ghh!* *Ghh!*

  “Leave it, Mida, let’s go!”

  Mida’s tail vibrated rapidly but she turned and shot to Luvia’s side, then hopped up the girl’s waist and pulled herself right back up to the spot on the shoulder.

  “You said easy-peasyyy,” the Clearcloud girl wailed as she ran.

  “This is a first!” Andrea shot back. She was giggling!

  It became obvious to Luvia then that the girl had never been hit by a water gun attack before. That shit would bruise you! Bruise you bad!

  Oh god! She was panting now. Running on sand sapped you like no man’s business. She gave another horrified look over her shoulder and saw the flock swopping in on them once more.

  She wanted to collapse right there and then, but her shaky legs kept moving. Mida’s added weight sure wasn’t making it any easier.

  When she turned back ahead, she spotted someone vault over the 4ft concrete barrier separating the sandy beach from the paved road. He was running straight at them.

  He was fast! The sand kicked up behind him as he bolted.

  What is he doing! Luvia thought.

  “Gaahd!” Mida yapped.

  “Use… water… gun!” Luvia said between pants, but Mida didn’t seem to catch that. Andrea was wobbling on her legs, looking like a newly hatched Deerling.

  The moment the mainland girl dropped to the sand in exhaustion, Luvia couldn’t help but do so too. They covered their heads and braced for another barrage.

  “Mumu, Growl! Make it loud!” someone commanded. Luvia poked her head up and saw Mudkip leap past her.

  But hold on, Mida was right there with her.

  “Rweoh!” The Mudkip’s scream was so loaded it made Luvia’s skin prickle.

  Mida squeaked and pushed her head into the small gap between the girl’s chest and the sandy floor.

  Was she hiding?

  The flock of wingull burst into another squawking frenzy, forcing the girls to turn and see why.

  No doubt about it, another Mudkip was standing there on its little legs, fin tail vibrating excitedly. It was bigger than Mida. Almost double her size.

  The wingull’s formation was a mess once again and this time they truly scattered, flying off in different directions and not regrouping.

  Luvia gazed up at the trainer – the boy.

  He was slim and a tad lanky, young-looking, with the slimmest-fitting set of sport clothes and a loose white beanie that had kind of looked like his hair from the distance. He was gazing at the scattering birds with an attentive little smile on his face.

  Slowly, Luvia got to her knees, Mida clinging onto her thigh and poking her plump head out in the direction of the other Mudkip.

  Luvia stared at him, and he stared back. His smile dropped.

  “Uh oh… Did I spoil a game or something?” he asked uncertainly.

  Luvia shook her head.

  “No!” Andrea cried out in relief behind him. “Thank you!”

  The boy’s shoulders dropped and his smile returned. “What’d you do anyway? They looked really pissed off.”

  The girls slowly got up, dusting the sand off their clothes.

  “We caught one of them – that’s all,” replied Andrea. Hoppip rose in the air and floated to her head.

  Luvia had her eyes on that other Mudkip. It looked strong. Impressively strong. Really, Mida looked like a pup in comparison.

  “Hey, you have a Mudkip too!” the boy noted suddenly. “Hmmm…” He squatted down to get a better look at Mida.

  “She’s a feisty one, isn’t she…”

  It didn’t make sense how he had come down to that conclusion, seeing as Mida was acting uncharacteristically shy at the moment (not that he was wrong though.)

  Luvia gave the boy another up-and-down look. He must have been around her age or slightly younger. The sneakers he wore looked strange – kinda like water shoes but with odd little bumps around the rim welt.

  Perhaps the most immediately distinguishing part about him where his eyes. Those things were red. Not light brown or some deep shade of burgundy. Red. Red like rubies.

  “Thanks for helping us,” Luvia said quickly, picking Mida and holding her close.

  “Luvia, look at it!” Andrea was ogling the boy’s Mudkip as it cantered back to its trainer.

  “How old is it?” Luvia wondered aloud. While it still had that plump look to it, it also had slightly longer, slightly more toned limbs, a bigger tail fin, and a sharper look to its beady eyes.

  “Mumu’s around four years old… I think,” the boy said, rising. “Yours can’t be older than a year, right?”

  She wasn’t sure but she nodded. “She was rescued from a litter.”

  “I want a Mudkip!” Andrea cut in sulkily.

  “Hehe, good luck finding one,” the boy smiled. “But in case you do, I don’t recommend you try to capture one like you did the wingull here. You’ll get bonked to death if a Swampert is around.”

  Luvia’s eyes flashed. Swampert… That’s what Mida will evolve into?

  If the name Mudkip hadn’t been hint enough, Swampert would leave no room for doubt. Literally had the word swamp in it. She consoled herself with the fact that at least it wasn’t called Swampig.

  Andrea gave a sad little sigh.

  After a few glances toward the shore, making sure no wingull was looking for comeuppance, they started toward the paved road and away from the beach.

  “How did you run so fast?” Luvia muttered as they walked, peeking at the boy’s odd sneakers. She was sure no kid his age should be that quick, so what gave?

  Confirming her suspicions, the boy kicked his feet up a couple of times behind him. “Devon Corp running shoes – cool or what?”

  “Those things make you run faster?” Andrea scrunched her face at his feet.

  The boy shrugged and looked Luvia in the eye. “Your friend saw it herself – wasn’t I quick? Wasn’t it slick?”

  Luvia cleared her throat slightly. “Uhm, yeah.”

  “Why is it everyone else gets all the cool stuff,” muttered Andrea. “Haven’t even heard of them before.”

  “Don’t sweat it,” he replied, casually recalling his Mudkip back into its ball. “They’re prototypes. They haven’t even hit the stores yet.”

  “Wait, whaaaat?” That only seemed to rile Andrea up even more. “Then why do you have them.”

  He chuckled softly. “My pops is… well connected.”

  They climbed past the short stone barrier and finally landed on solid ground. Luvia’s feet thanked her, but her legs still felt like noodles. Both girls sighed at the same time, and gave each other a pair of dorky, exhausted laughs.

  The boy raised an amused eyebrow at them and veered off to the side, where a foldable pedal bike was parked.

  “Well, it was nice to meet you guys,” he said, lifting a leg over the seat and setting a foot on the pedal.

  “Are you taking the gym challenge?” Andrea said. “With a Mudkip like that, you probably are, aren’t you…”

  “Gym challenge?” The boy’s face crinkled in disgust. “I try not to battle, period. Can’t stand how dirty my pokémon look after a battle.”

  Luvia wasn’t sure why, but a laugh forced its way out of her. What he said sounded ridiculous.

  The boy smiled wide at her, nodding. “You agree, right?”

  No I don’t. Luvia was still giggling at how unexpectedly absurd it sounded for some reason. Way to subvert expectations. Boy runs headfirst into chaos, throws out a tough-looking Mudkip which goes on to scare a flock of wingull with a single Growl… yet he loathed battling?

  “I’m into contests,” he added. “Way better looking than plain old League battles. Shame it isn’t as popular – people have no taste.”

  “Ehem.” Andrea gave him a grave look. “Because contest battles are fake, maybe?”

  That did it. The boy’s jaw dropped. “How is a better coordinated, better thought-out, better-looking battle fake exactly?”

  “It’s all planned out,” Andrea protested.

  “No it isn’t. That’s what people who know nothing of contests say!”

  Luvia positively rang with laughter.

  “Meehd…” Mida seemed plain confused. Luvia gave her an affectionate hitch up in her arms.

  “You’re confusing showcases with contests!” the boy explained vehemently, red eyes glinting. “They’re completely different things.”

  Andrea gave a little scoff. “Not that different.”

  The boy stared blankly at her, then at Luvia. “Were you guys at Contest Hall last night by any chance?”

  “Were you?” Luvia shot back, surprised.

  “Pretty much the only reason I stayed the night,” he said with a nod.

  Small world.

  He went on to explain to them the distinct difference between a showcase and a contest.

  Andrea already sort of knew about it, but it was true that a good chunk of the public saw contests as the 2nd tier national sport. Even in Hoenn, where contests had become almost as culturally engrained as traditional battle, there was nothing that could compare with the title of “League Champion.”

  Champions gained tangible political power.

  The only way Contest circuit winners came close to that is if they were charismatic enough to influence public opinion.

  In many ways, being hailed as a contest winner only gave a trainer a public platform, whereas being the League’s champion meant you wielded real power – both as a trainer, and from behind an office desk.

  “My friend’s a battle nut. You’d get along with her,” the boy said casually, adjusting the tight strap of his backpack across his chest. He looked about ready to leave.

  Andrea stepped out of the way. Hoppip had fallen asleep atop her head. The chaos of the wingull capture must have tired her out.

  Luvia gazed at the boy as he prepped to pedal off. She liked what he had said about battles in general. It was quirky. An unpopular opinion.

  “What’s your name?” she said. She felt he was someone she'd remember.

  He looked at her with those clear ruby eyes and gave an unabashed smirk. “Ruby.”