Marie decided to pack everything in a Rolling Backpack since everything in it would be easier to manage, she packed lots of different types of food not only for herself and her partner but in case she encounters a Pokémon that she wants, lots of clothes, some cash, running shoes, a tent, a cooking pot, firewood, a first aid kit and an adventure log so that she could keep track of what Pokémon live in what places, also partly because she wanted to teach Scorbunny how to write as it would strengthen their relationship.
She waved goodbye to her mother and began walking, before realizing shortly afterwards that she needed more Pokéballs, thankfully there was a convenience store nearby so she stopped by on the way. The clerk seemed confused when Marie brought up twenty Pokéballs to the counter “Where did those come from?” He picked one up and admired it before placing it down and saying “That will be twenty dollars.”
On her way out, Marie wondered about what she could do after she completed her Pokédex. Marie suddenly let out a long yawn before surveying the location of the sun which was now beginning to kiss the horizon.
Marie yawned, and looked at the position of the Sun which was just beginning to kiss the horizon. “Alright, Scorbunny. Come on out!” Marie said as she pressed the button and hurled the ball into the air which opened up, and released Scorbunny. Marie smiled at him and asked “Can you please help me set up our tent?” Scorbunny nodded and the tent was up within ten minutes.
Once the tent was successfully set up, Marie quickly set up the Pot and threw in some beans before beginning to chop vegetables for the meal, while Scorbunny explored the surrounding area. All of a sudden, Scorbunny’s ear twitched and he immediately stood in front of Marie looking ready to fight.
Marie turned her attention to the direction that Scorbunny was looking and squinted, she could barely make out the shadow of a bipedal dog that was limping and obviously in pain, it took a few more steps before it collapsed onto the ground with a ‘Thud.’ Marie rushed over to “Okay! Scorbunny, I need your help!” Marie said as she pressed the button and hurled the ball causing Scorbunny to appear from his enclosure. “Scorbunny, Can you please help me set up the tent?” Marie asked Scorbunny nodded and they had the tent up within ten minutes.
Marie then set up the Pot, threw some in beans and chopped up some vegetables for their meal, in the meantime, Scorbunny surveyed the area. All of a sudden one of Scorbunny’s ears twitched and he immediately ran in front of Marie looking ready to fight, Marie had to squint in order to make out the silhouette of a bipedal, blue and black dog amongst the shadows of the forest, Marie identified it as a Riolu.
It seemed to be limping and appeared to be in pain, after a few more steps, it collapsed onto the ground. Marie instantly stopped cutting and ran over to it, Scorbunny following in her footsteps. “Hey! Hey! Wake up!” Marie cried as she lightly shook the limp Riolu but there was no response.
Marie carried the injured Riolu to the tent with Scorbunny following close behind. She laid the injured monster on the sleeping bag and brought out the First-Aid Kit, Marie sterilized the wound with rubbing alcohol and then wrapped the wound in a tenser band-aid. “Scorbunny, can you please watch him, and let me know when he wakes up?” Scorbunny nodded and sat down right beside Riolu’s head, Marie then exited the tent and returned to the stew.
Once the stew was cooked Marie filled three separate bowls and started making her way over to the tent, once Marie was halfway to the destination, Scorbunny emerged from the tent and beckoned his trainer to come over, Marie slightly quickened her pace at Scorbunny’s urgency. “I can’t go any faster.” Marie responded, A few minutes later Marie arrived at the tent with the food and was welcomed to see that Riolu was now sitting up.
Marie put down a bowl of stew on the injured Riolu’s lap and gave him a spoon which he gladly took and started to eat. Marie then gave Scorbunny a pat on the head and served him his food, finally Marie started to eat from her own bowl. The stew was hearty and thick and contained flavours of beef, chicken, mushroom, carrots and celery. “Mmm! Holy crap, this is delicious.” Marie said after swallowing a mouthful.
Riolu then looked at Marie and smiled at her. “How about you sleep with us tonight, you need to recover.” Marie said to Riolu, who nodded solemnly. Marie was awoken by the sound of a tree’s leaves rustling. She looked around the tent and noticed that Riolu was missing and that Scorbunny was snoring loudly. Marie exited the tent, licked her index finger, pointed it in the air and discovered that there was no wind blowing, she pondered for a moment before deciding to find the sound’s origin.
Marie then followed the noise until she saw Riolu punching and kicking a tree, she then hid behind the tent and watched silently in disbelief, she wondered why Riolu would be pushing herself so hard despite being injured, soon Riolu was on his hands and knees sobbing profusely, Marie had seen enough so she walked over and gently scooped Riolu up and brought her back to the tent. “You shouldn’t push yourself too hard especially when you are wounded.” Marie said sadly.
The next morning Marie removed the adventure log and wrote on the first page ‘An injured Riolu randomly stumbled across our camp. I used some of the First-Aid kit to help her recover.’ Marie then flipped to the very back of the log where Marie kept the alphabet worksheet pages and handed the log and the pencil to Scorbunny who looked up at Marie with a confused look.
Marie responded by giving him a patient smile and said “These are called letters, you use them to form sentences, like this;” she flipped back to the entry that she had written prior and let Scorbunny look at the page.
After a few seconds Scorbunny looked up at Marie and smiled which prompted her to flip back to the worksheets, Marie then noticed that Riolu was gone again so she sighed and shook her head in disapproval before disassembling the tent and returning it to the backpack.
Marie then recalled Scorbunny who was still practicing the letters of the alphabet, which caused the log to be stored within the ball along with Scorbunny leaving her very perplexed however she just ignored it and continued on her adventure but she felt as though something was following her.
Then she looked behind her to see nothing. Soon she came across another individual who had a belt on with a Pokéball hanging from it. She had long blonde hair, a Team Mystic shirt and a pair of black jogging pants. Marie had no doubt that this particular person was a Pokémon Trainer, Marie contemplated walking around her but decided against it.
Once within view, the challenger approached Marie and started speaking. “I see you are holding a Pokéball, do you happen to be a Trainer?” Marie nodded and responded “Yes I am, and my name is Marie. Nice to meet you!” The mysterious challenger flipped her blonde hair and answered. “My name is Ashley, nice to meet you too, let's have a battle!”
Ashley was the first to send out her Pokémon. “I believe in you! Go Corsola!” Anxiety ebbed at Marie as she knew that Corsola was an excellent counter for Scorbunny; he is weak to both water and rock type moves. “What’s wrong? Worried you're going to get your ass handed to you?” Ashley teased. Marie gritted her teeth and squeezed her hand into a fist, “I’ll make you eat those words! Scorbunny you got this!” Marie said before pressing the button and throwing the ball.
Scorbunny was already in a suitable position for battle. “That’s it? Wow, you really are new at this” Ashley said, laughing. “This isn’t my first rodeo, I know that I might be at a huge type disadvantage, but I know Scorbunny will try his hardest!” Marie responded, trying to sound as confident as she could. “Scorbunny use Tackle!”
Scorbunny nodded and ran as fast as he possibly could and hit the Corsola who barely moved an inch. Ashley’s straight face then turned into a wry smirk as she announced her upcoming attack. “Corsola use Rollout.” Marie suddenly went pale, rollout is a move that doubles in power with every consecutive hit. “Scorbunny move!” Marie cried but it was too late, Scorbunny was knocked unconscious by the blow.
“Scorbunny!” Marie cried before running towards her unconscious friend, kneeling down and sobbing hysterically with him in her arms. Ashley then walked towards Marie, held up her hand and said “You know the rules, it’s time to pay up.”
Suddenly out of nowhere the Riolu from earlier ran between the two girls and faced Ashley with his arms straight out straight on both sides of his body, he looked angry. Marie lifted her head and smiled, tears still welling from her eyes. “You were following us this whole time?” Marie asked, Riolu looked back at Marie and nodded with a smile.
“And who is this?” Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow. “Riolu.” Marie responded before recalling Scorbunny into his ball. “Looks like I’ve still got a chance, huh?” Marie stood up
again and chuckled. Ashley sneered, and responded.“Just because you have a Pokémon with a type advantage, doesn’t mean that you’ll win against me! Corsola use Rollout!”
Corsola rolled towards Riolu and managed to hit him only for Corsola to be stopped midroll, causing him to be flipped and immobile, Riolu then punched the opposing Pokémon and then Corsola fainted. Ashley chuckled“I guess I got too overconfident! That was a great battle! Mind if I tag along?” Ashley asked Marie, who responded with a nod before opening her bag and retrieving an empty Pokéball, and kneeling down towards Riolu. “Do you want to come with us? You don’t have to.” Marie asked, holding out the empty contraption. “Rio!” He responded before nodding and pressing the button before giving Marie a smile as he was sucked into the ball which immediately clicked.