It was a new day in Hoenn and in the town of Petalburg City. Luna was lying in her bed, she can't get yesterday's battle out of her head. It was the girl, Sunset Shimmer. The last time she heard about her was when she stole the crown to Twilight Sparkle and escape to through the mirror. 'What is she doing here? That can't be her, she can’t be the same who stole the crown'. She was taken out of her thoughts by someone knocking on the door.
"Luna are you up yet?" It was James. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, I'm up." He entered the room, she was lay in her bed looking up at the ceiling.
"Are you okay? You have not eaten breakfast yet."
She did not answered him. "Ever since your battle with Sunset Shimmer you have been acting strange, you know who she is do you not?" Part of her wanted to tell him but she didn’t know if she should or not. "Fine, if you still don't won’t to trust me then I'll stop asking." He began to leave the room.
"Wait." He stopped and turned toward her. "I'm sorry, I do trust you, but it is difficult to talk about it right now."
"Well when you are ready to talk, you know where I am."
Then he walked out of the room. She felt stupid for not trusting him, he's coming along on the trip to help her although he would not at first. She sighed. “Time to get up” She got up from the bed and got dress, she then went to eat breakfast. After they had eaten, they packed their things and headed towards Rustboro City, after a while on the road without talking broke Luna the silence.
"Hey James, where is Brock?"
"He went earlier today, he was going home to Pewter City in Kanto to check on his family."
"Oh, okay."
Then it was quiet again. It took them half a day to get to Petalburg Woods, Luna was amazed how many Pokémon she saw in the forest . After a while they came to a shack, James went in to check if there was anyone was there, it was empty.
"Ok, we sleep here tonight." Luna looked into the shack, there were two beds on each side and a table in the center.
"You must be joking? We can’t we sleep when we arrive at Rustboro City?"
"Look, I realize that you do not like it, but it takes three days to go through Petalburg Woods and it is not very wise to go at night especially when one might encounter Beedrill."
"Beedrill?"
"Wait a moment and I'll show you on my pokédex." He took it out from his pocket and the pressed a few buttons, then he showed it to Luna.
Beedrill the Poison Bee Pokémon. Beedrill is extremely territorial. No one should ever approach its nest, this is for their own safety. If angered, they will attack in a furious swarm.
"I see your point."
“Yeah, they can be problem considering they travel in flock.”
Night had come, and they had made a campfire, Luna was glad that James could cook because she was not any good. Last time she tried to cook, she nearly burned down the kitchen. They were sitting by the campfire when suddenly a Pokémon came out of the bushes, it looked like a small fox.
"Well look at that, an Eevee." Said James. Luna took out her Pokédex.
Eevee the Evolution Pokémon. Eevee has an unstable genetic makeup that suddenly mutates due to the environment in which it lives. Radiation from various stones causes this Pokémon to evolve.
"Evolution Pokémon? What does that mean?" Luna asked James.
"Eevee can evolve into eight different Pokémon." She was shocked by those words.
"Eight different? That's amazing." She took out a little Pokéfood. "Here Eevee, have some food."
Eevee approach careful, it sniffed at the food and ate it. After Eevee was finished then she gave Luna a smile. Eevee lay down beside her.
"I think Eevee likes you."
When they were finished eating, it was dark outside, so they decided for making everything ready for the evening, they lay out their sleeping bags. Luna sat on the bed and read the book she brought with her.
"What book are you reading?" She looked up from the book, James stood in the door opening.
"This is the book that got me here , I'm trying to figure out something."
"Right, you are from a country with colourful ponies." He closed the door and sat on the other bed. "Where you and your sister move the sun and the moon." He said sarcastically.
"Do you not think that I'm from another world?"
"I admit that I have trouble believing it, you've got no proof." She put down the book.
"How about this, if you answer a question I will answer one from you."
"Okay."
"Your mother said you lost to a trainer that used one Pokémon, I want to know which Pokémon."
James knew it would come eventually and he did not like it, again he took out Pokédex her and gave it to Luna.
Darkrai the Pitch-Black Pokémon. It chases people and Pokémon from its territory by causing them to experience deep, nightmarish slumbers.
"Did he use this Pokémon?" James took a deep breath.
"Yeah, his name is Tobias and used only Darkrai. He used it through the championship and when it was my turn I did not stand a chance, he defeated me like I was a novice. A dream I've had since I was nine years old was crushed in one day, It was the worst day of my life, that was six months ago."
"I'm sorry I did not know."
"Well know you know, if it's okay with you, I’m going to bed. I’m not going to ask anything, because I find it hard to believe you."
He went to bed and Luna did the same, but she did not sleep, she only thought of what happened to James. 'Imagine getting your dream crushed that way.' Eventually she fell asleep.
It was a new day, the sun was shining through the trees, James and Luna was walking through the forest. James had smile on his face while Luna looked gloomy, she had trouble sleeping last night.
“You okay Luna?” James asked her, she just made some grumble noises. “Here.” He stopped and took off his backpack. “I made some coffee this morning, have some.” He took out thermos, took of the top and poured some coffee into a cup and gave it to the sleeping Luna.
She happy accepted the cup and took a sip out from it. “Wow, I need that.” She took a few more, the coffee help. “Thanks James, I feel a little better now.”
James was happy for those words. “I’m glad I could help, it looked like you need it.”
“You have no idea.”
They decided to continue with their journey through the forest, but they didn’t get far. They had been walking for five minutes when a boy stood in front of them, he had blue short, green t-shirt and giant yellow hat on his head, he also was holding a lap with him.
Luna had no clue who this boy, James knew who he was. ‘Great, a bug catcher. I was hoping to avoid them.’ He thought while shaking his head.
The boy then pointed at Luna. “You, I want to challenge you to a battle.”
Luna had to blink a couple of times to make sure she was seeing things right, she looked over to James who looked annoyed. He then noticed that she was looking at him. “Why are you looking at me for? He challenged you not me.” He told her with some annoyance in his voice.
Luna wonder why he sound a little angry, but right now she had a challenger. She looked at the bug catcher “Sure, I’ll battle you.” That made the boy smile.
“Great, we will use two Pokémon each. Is this okay with you?”
Luna gave him a nod and walked to the opposite side of the bug catcher, they both got ready. James on the other hand, walked over to a tree and sat down by it. When Luna saw that, she was surprised that’s for sure, she thought that he would be the judge.
She was going to ask him why, but she never got that fare. “Let’s get this battle started, come out Wurmple.” The bug catcher threw a pokéball and out came a worm, Luna took out her Pokédex.
Wurmple the Worm Pokémon. Using the spikes on its rear end, Wurmple peels the bark off trees and feeds on the sap that oozes out. This Pokémon’s feet are tipped with suction pads that allow it to cling to glass without slipping.
Luna had no problem when come to bugs but her sister. ‘Maybe I should catch one in case that my sister managed to find me.’ She thought while taking out her own pokéball, she chose Poochyena.
“I’ll take the first move, tackle Wurmple.” The bug Pokémon started to run towards Poochyena.
“Counter it with sand attack.” Poochyena kicked up some sand from the ground, the sand connected with Wurmple’s eyes and stop the attack. “Now use tackle Poochyena.” The bite Pokémon tackle opponents Pokémon, Wurmple flew back and landed on the ground unconscious.
The bug catcher threw his hands up in frustration. “Oh, come on. Why those this happens every time?” James couldn’t help but roll his eyes of the reaction the boy made, Luna couldn’t understand what just happened. ‘Wow, that was fast.’ The bug catcher called back Wurmple and took out a new pokéball. “You’re up Venonat.” Out came a Pokémon that was round, purple and had two giant eyes that crept Luna out. She checked the data.
Venonat the Insect Pokémon. Venonat is said to have evolved with a coat of thin, stiff hair that covers its entire body for protection. It possesses larges eyes that never fall to spot even minuscule prey.
It was another bug Pokémon. ‘I’ll stick with Poochyena.’ She then focused on the battle. “Use tackle Poochyena.” He started to tun towards Venonat.
The bug catcher started to laugh when he heard that. “Is that the only attack your Poochyena can? Watch this, doge the attack and then use bug bite.” When James heard that he became concerned. ‘That’s not good.’ He thought while watching Venonat’s two teeth started to glow. Venonat doge Poochyena’s attack, then the insect Pokémon bite Poochyena in back. Poochyena staggered backwards a little, it looked like he was find but then he fell to the ground, unconscious.
Luna couldn’t believe that Poochyena was beaten so easily, she called back the unconscious Pokémon and got ready a new pokéball. “You’re up Riolu.” Out came the fighting Pokémon ready for battle. “Use quick attack.” Riolu ran towards Venonat and before the bug catcher could react, Venonat was hit.
Venonat rolled backwards a little. “Get up Venonat and use supersonic.” The insect Pokémon got up and was about to use the attach, but then… “Use another quick attack Riolu.” Venonat was tackle again and again rolled backwards, this time Venonat was our for the count. “Oh no, Venonat.” The boy ran over to his Pokémon, Venonat was okay. The boy returned Venonat back to its pokéball, then he looked at Luna. “Just wait until next time we meet.” He got up and ran away shouting something about bug Pokémon.
James just watch as the kid ran away. ‘God, I hate bug catcher.’ He then saw Luna walking towards him and she didn’t not look happy. “Hey Luna, congratulations on your victory.” That didn’t work, she still didn’t look happy.
“What the hell was that?” She asked him with anger in her voice.
James tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean.”
“What do I mean? Are you serious right now?” She got even more angry, but James didn’t react. “I thought that you were supposed to be the referee but instead you just ignored the hole thing and decided to watch the battle at side line, I want to know why.”
“The reason is, I’m sick of bug catcher.” Now Luna wasn’t angry anymore but confused. “I have been a trainer for eight years and I have seen a lot of different trainers over the years and the one I have seen the most is bug catcher, the only use bug Pokémon. Why don’t try some originality.”
Luna scratched her head. “I’m not sure if I understand, that may because I just started as a trainer but that’s no excuse for acting like you did.”
He sighed. “Maybe your right, but I can’t do anything about it now. It’s in the past.” He got up from is sitting position. “Let’s put this behind us and try to get out of this forest.” Luna wasn’t about to argued with that last part.
As they started to walk towards Rustboro City, little did they know that they had an audience in the bushes. An Eevee pop its head out of the bushes with a big smile on its face, the Eevee ran after the couple.
As James said, it took them three days to get through Petalburg Woods, the Eevee that Luna had given food to the first night in the woods had followed them all the time. Eventually she caught it. Other than that, they didn’t ran into more trouble.