“Huh? Right now?”

  Barry threw his pokéball in the air with an almost furious look on his face. He pointed at Lucas.

  “Right now.”

  Exploding from the ball in a blue burst of light was a little green tortoise, snapping its jaws with ready eagerness.

  “Woah… that's awesome!” Lucas couldn't help but yell in awe, “It's a real life turtwig! It's way greener than I expected… wait–do they usually look that green?”

  Now paired with his pseudo-furious expression was a blazing grin. This was really happening. The first steps of his journey to the top. “Hey! Your name is Twinleaf now, they're gonna know exactly where we're from. You and me are gonna put our nameless town on the map! We're gonna blitz everything and everyone that stands in our way, Twinleaf. Starting with him!”

  Barry sounded like an explosion, unleashing a literary flamethrower from his mouth something like a magmar. He meant every syllable too, and the newly named Twinleaf seemed to be feeding off his energy.

  Lucas stood there watching, the heatwave of Barry's declaration soaking into his pores. He was always so passionate, always so dead set on winning like there was no room for anything else. It was almost… intimidating.

  “Alright… since that's what you want.” Lucas flung his own pokéball onto the ground, “Let's go, piplup!”

  …

  They all stared at the lifeless ball sitting in the frosty grass.

  “You idiot, you're supposed to press the button before you throw it! That's common sense, Lucas! (*｀Д′)ノ！！!” Barry shook his head. This guy was such a novice. He stood absolutely no chance.

  “Oh… my bad. ( ′-ω-)”

  Lucas sheepishly fetched the now-moist ball, which was now covered in frost and wet dead grass. He really was an idiot if he didn't know something as basic as that. What, did you really think you just throw it in the air and your partner just decides to come out?

  He pressed the little white button and watched it pulse bright blue for a few seconds before the same flare of light erupted from it and out came a little blue penguin.

  "Yes! It worked, Barry! Do you see my–”

  “Twinleaf, tackle!”

  “What the heck, that's not fair! (＃?Д?)”

  Lucas's heart pounded in his chest. That tiny green thing was much faster than it looked!

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  But screw all that!

  With no hesitation, Twinleaf bashed his solid little head into the penguin's ribcage, sending it crashing into the frozen ground.

  “Yes, Twinleaf, you beautiful thing!” Barry pumped a fist in the air. Twinleaf shook his head, blood pumping, his spirit amplified by the high voltage of his trainer’s words.

  It was strange.

  The link between humans and pokémon. Not just trainers. Years and years and years of integration between humans and the creatures had birthed a complex union. One of… strange understanding.

  From the immediate onset, this mossy green tortoise and this electrical blonde boy were somehow aligned. As if this wasn't the first time they'd met.

  Such was the nature of their relationship of humans and pokémon. The link. Beyond words.

  Lucas's piplup stood on its webbed yellow feet, its blue feathers, once as clear as the sky, now ruffled and covered in cold dirt. It shook its little head and turned around to face the bold tortoise with a sapling sprouting out its head.

  Lucas held his scarf. “Hey, are you okay? Sorry about that, he didn’t even give us the chance to get ready–”

  But before Lucas could finish dropping a load of irrelevant verbal nothings, the blue bird shrieked with avian rage and darted straight for its foe!

  “The professor wasn't lying; that thing really is stubborn! Twinleaf, tackle!”

  As if it already knew Barry's command, Twinleaf charged on!

  “Watch out! Get out the way!”

  Lucas watched helplessly as his partner was sent flying into a solid dirt ledge, face-planting into the grass.

  “Who said stop—tackle, one more time!”

  “No!” Lucas cried.

  But there was no room for that.

  Again, the green tortoise, looking more and more like a ravenous beast, charged at the battered piplup. Even as it struggled to lift its head from the ground, Twinleaf showed no mercy.

  “Barry, STOP! That's enough!”

  “Hell no! Are you stupid? That's not how it works, is it, Twinleaf?” Barry yelled. Twinleaf let out a gravelly cry surging with wild energy. Of course not! This is what he lived for! “I didn't think so, you little green monster! Now stop wasting time and tackle that useless bird—end it now!”

  Suddenly, a furious blazing aura covered the shelled beast. The Turtwig's solid scalp collided with piplup's soft, fluffy body, lifting the penguin up and bulldozed it into the ledge again and again.

  The bird shrieked in horror, coughing scarlet droplets from its yellow beak before dropping to the floor, unconscious.

  …

  “No way! ！！(゜ロ゜ノ)ノ ” Barry sprinted at his partner and lifted him up into his arms. "What the heck was that? How do you know that move, are you crazy? No way! I've gotta tell Dad—that was so sick, Twinleaf! You're a legend, you're so… damn heavy!"

  The two victors celebrated their first victory. The first of many.

  On the other hand…

  Lucas was... frozen. The image of a bird beaten black and blue, bloody and bruised was soaking into his mind.

  His head felt like it had been bashed by a hammer, or like he was the one who'd been pumelled by a tortoise… and the longer he looked on, the angrier he got.

  “Hey!” He picked the unconscious bird from the ground into his arms, “You cheated! You didn't tell me we were starting, Barry. That's not fair!”

  Barry shot Lucas a bewildered glare that fizzled into a look of distaste, “Cry more! You're just upset that you lost and that's all. It's not my job to wait for you because you don't know what you're doing. Look now, your pokémon’s out of commission. What a sorry excuse for a fight.”

  Unable to look at the beaten bird, Lucas returned it to its pokéball.

  Barry scoffed.

  “You know, there's more to a battle than pummeling your opponent's pokémon. There's a psychology behind it. The environment you're fighting in, your opponent's expression, his synergy with his partner—all of it can be exploited. Knowing that is what makes you—”

  “Better than your rival?”

  Barry's face creased in confusion. “Yeah... how did you know that? Nevermind, I bet Dad told you that too. Pff, why’d he share that with a sissy like you—Damn you're heavy! That's it, I'm putting you down!”

  Twinleaf snapped his jaws, complaining about the sudden change of arrangements.

  “He didn't, I think I've heard it before,” Lucas said. It was strange.

  “Whatever, man.” Barry said, “Anyway, you were destined to lose that fight. You weren't even in it anyway, to be honest. I'll see you tomorrow morning when we head out to the old man's lab. Don't waste my time again.”

  Lucas looked to the floor, remembering what happened earlier. “Alright… (ー_ー;)”