Chapter 16

1. Chapter 16 – The Odd Couple
The next morning, James, Aipom and I set off, finally leaving Violet City behind us down Route 32
after visiting the Pokémon Market and topping up our supplies. We found the route fairly easily by
following the map James had. It was one of three ways out of Violet City, the south one. We arrived
at the large gaping hole in the trees which surrounded Violet City which marked the entrance to the
new route; thankfully the whole thing looked downhill so it would be an easy walk.
We started to walk down the route and James released his new Trapinch from its Pokéball to walk
along beside him. We had been walking for about 20 uneventful minutes when suddenly two
trainers jumped out of the trees on either side of us.
“Aha! We meet for the first time!” shouted the first trainer, a boy.
“And for the last!” yelled his partner, a girl.
Me and James just looked at each other, completely bewildered by the sudden appearance and the
shouting in our faces.
“Er, hi,” James spoke uneasily, “what was that all about?”
“A battle you say?”
“Fine by us!” Again, they finished each others sentence.
“Ai-?” Aipom tilted its head, clearly confused.
“A double battle!”
“Let us begin!” Both trainers ran back a few metres and pulled a Pokéball off their belt.
I had seen plenty of double battles on TV so I knew what they were talking about and apparently, so
did James.
“Fine, let’s go Aipom!”

2. Aipom jumped off my shoulder and landed in front of us, without being asked, Trapinch also stepped
forward for James.
“Aha, interesting!” The boy said, “Go! Grotle!”
“Go! Monferno!” The girl yelled at the same time.
The two Pokéballs flew into the air and broke in half with a flash of white as there Pokémon
appeared. The boys Grotle looked a bit like a large, green turtle with two bushes on its back, the
Monferno who had appeared in front of the girl looked a lot like a monkey.
“You Johto folk probably don’t know these Pokémon seem as they’re from Sinnoh like us!” The girl
seemed to be bragging.
“It’s just a monkey with its tail on fire.” I pointed out.
James then followed, pointing at Grotle, “And that’s just a turtle wearing a bush.”
We had been joking but the trainers seemed to have taken huge offense from our comments.
“Grotle, Razor Leaf on Trapinch!”
“Monferno, Mach Punch on Aipom!”
They had taken us off guard and were taking advantage of their type advantages. As Grotle was
readying its leaves, Monferno was already charging at Aipom with a glowing fist.
“Aipom jump up to dodge and then Ice Punch on Grotle!”
Aipom leapt into the air avoiding a direct hit but Monferno followed him up and hit Aipom’s legs
sending him off balance in midair. Grotle had now sent its attack towards Trapinch, I saw as at least
twenty razor sharp leaves flew at Trapinch. If it hit, it would cause a lot of damage.
“Faint Attack!” James shouted at the last second and Trapinch instantly disappeared.

3. “Mach Punch on Aipom again Monferno!”
Monferno turned to Aipom who was still in midair and jumped up with its fist glowing once again. It
was just about to make contact as Aipom was charging up a powerful Ice Punch when Trapinch
appeared from no where in mid-air next to Monferno. Trapinch immediately rammed into the
flaming monkey sending it smashing to the ground before Trapinch who landed on top of it causing
even more damage. Now that Trapinch had stopped Monferno, Aipom was now free to hit Grotle
with a full powered Ice Punch which hit the Pokémon right in the centre of the shell between the
two bushes, pushing Grotle down into the ground, its knees buckled and it fell. Aipom and Trapinch
then regrouped on our side looking proud. On the other side of the field, Monferno and Grotle were
slowly pushing themselves up onto there feet.
“Grotle, heal yourself with Absorb!”
“Monferno, Ember!”
“Aipom, use Spring-Scratch attack horizontally!”
“Trapinch, Bite!”
We all called our commands at pretty much exactly the same time. Monferno was the fastest so
moved first, leaping forward while taking a deep breath. As Monferno jumped, Aipom coiled his tail
up like a spring and pushed off as Monferno’s Ember attack hit the ground where Aipom had just
stood. Aipom was now flying forwards towards Monferno with his glowing claws ready. Trapinch had
begun its run forward towards Grotle, its jaws open wide. Just as it was about to make contact,
Grotle sent out a green beam which hit Trapinch directly, draining it of its energy. Trapinch slowed
down but didn’t stop and kept pushing while Grotle healed. Aipom flew at Monferno, slashing his
claws as he passed, knocking Monferno back onto the ground. Trapinch locked its huge jaws onto
one of Grotle’s front legs and with immense effort, lifted it off the ground and managed to throw it,
the green beam which was transferring Trapinch’s energy to Grotle was broken as the turtle flew
into Aipom’s path who, with another slash of his claws smashed it into the ground. Both Grotle and
Monferno were unconscious.
“We did it!” I cheered as Aipom and Trapinch ran towards us. We began to celebrate together while
the other trainers recalled there exhausted Pokémon and walked towards us.
“All four of you played-“

4. “-amazingly! But we will battle each other again!”
“And next time we shall be the victors!” The boy finished and then turned and started to run back
the way we had come.
“Wait for me!” The girl called after him, “Oh, by the way,” She turned back to face us, “My name is
Eve and my brothers name is Dave!” and with that she turned and sprinted after her brother before
we got a chance to tell her our names.