Kathy
By Star

Rating: G
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON. How many times must I repeat myself? If I did I wouldn’t bother writing this fanfic (and I really wouldn’t be a ‘fan’). I only own my characters and region.

I had barely walked three steps out the door when another new trainer from our group stopped me in my tracks.

“Battle me!” He ordered.

“What?!?” I said with a mixture of surprise and indignity.

“I said, battle me!” He repeated.

“Well yah, I heard.” I stated the blatantly obvious fact.

“Then why’d you ask?” He said in a very rude tone.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I started sarcastically, “because I don’t think it would be a good idea!”

“And why not?” He questioned, again rudely.

“One: because our pokemon don’t know us very well and two: we haven’t trained them yet. Any of this ringing a bell in that puny brain of yours?” I talked slowly to help him understand, “Anyway, I don’t even know your name.”

“If it means so much to you, my name’s Blaze,” he told me plainly.

“Mine’s…” I started

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Blaze interrupted, “Now battle me. If you refuse it’s an automatic forfeit.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, “Vulpix, go!”

“Go Spike!” Blaze yelled. The red glow that came out of the pokeball formed into a Larvitar. Wow, I gaped at the abnormally large beast of a pokemon, This is gonna be tough….

I got out my pokedex. “Larvitar, a rock skin pokemon,” sang the annoying voice. I didn’t care. As I looked for vital information I saw that Larvitar was a rock/ground type.

Vulpix was a fire type. Fire does not do well against rock I practically recited to myself. I needed a strategy. I realized then I didn’t now anything about my Vulpix. I checked my pokedex.

“Vulpix, a fox pokemon…,” the voice started. I ignored it. Type-fire; Gender- Female; Ability-Flash fire: enhances the Fire-type moves and protects Vulpix from being damaged by Fire-type moves; Level-10; Attacks-Ember, Tackle.

It took quite a lot of thought but then, “I got it!” I exclaimed aloud, “You don’t stand a chance!”

“Spike, tackle it!” ordered Blaze, ignoring my comment.

“Dodge it, Vulpix!” I told her. The stubborn Vulpix new it was a good idea, but waited till the last minute just to show it was all her idea. Unfortunately, this continued. “Dodge again!” I ordered. Once again she didn’t budge. Why do I bother? This time, the Vulpix wasn’t so lucky.

“Vul!” it cried, as the attack hit.

“Vulpix, if you don’t want to lose you’ve got to listen to me! I’m your new trainer!” I cried out, desperate. The Vulpix seemed to understand. “Look, after you dodge one of its attacks set the grass near its feet on fire. Trust me,” I instructed so only Vulpix’s delicate ears could hear me. It always seems so stupid when trainers yell out their stratigies.

“Vul!” it agreed, …at least I think so. It didn’t take long before the Larvitar came charging back. Vulpix dodged it this time, as it appeared to start listening to me.

It had started listening to me! The grass was burning and the stupid Larvitar was distracted with the fact that its feet were burning.

“Vulpix, now that it’s distracted, tackle it! The fire won’t hurt you,” I instructed. Vulpix obeyed, ramming recklessly into the Larvitar. “Good, Vulpix, now keep at it!”

Vulpix kept ramming into the helpless Larvitar. Now for the grand finale.

“Vulpix, finish him off with an ember!” I ordered. Vulpix obeyed letting out a stream of fire.

“Ha! An ember? Like you said, fire is weak against rock, or did you forget? ” Blaze laughed. “Body slam!” Wait a minute, I didn’t say that aloud!

“Not likely. When I attacked the ground it was similar to when Vulpix is attacked by Fire-type moves. This powered up the attack enough to finish your Larvitar.” I said, staring at the Larvitar with swirls for eyes.

“I didn’t lose!” Blaze said defiantly, “Body slam already!”

“Look, your Larvitar’s had enough. Anyone can tell that. Even the pokedexes can, as you can see by looking at your money, which has lowered by a fair amount,” I told him, “Thanks for the battle. See ya round!”

He went to stomping away angrily, saying “I’ll get you for this, just you wait!”

“Good job, Vulpix,” I congratulated. “You know, calling you Vulpix all the time gets annoying. How about a nickname?”

“Vul…,” she commented warily.

“How about… Comet?” a shake, “Red Streak?” another shake, “How about… Fox?” a nod. “O.K., we’ll call you Fox.”

I went back to Cedar’s to heal Fox again and (glad I remembered) to call Mom on the video screen.

“Hi Mom!” I greeted cheerfully, then thoroughly explained all that had happened. “…and this is Fox.”

“Oh, she’s so adorable!” my mother commented cheerily. That received to growl it deserved. “Oh my!”

“Sorry, Mom, she’s a bit touchy about the whole ‘cute’ thing. Well, I’ll call you later, by!” I said before ending the call.

“Well Fox, I think it’s about time we start heading to the gym,” I declared.

“Vul!”

Athour’s Note:
Hi again, Star here. Just because I’m starting a new story (or two or three…) doesn’t mean that I’ll quit on this one! Sorry it’s shorter, but I’ll try to make them longer. Thanks to Diamond for the strategy.

Hope to write more soon,
Star