//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 - Trainer Battle 
// Story: Pokémon Red and Purple 
// by Universal Librarian 
//------------------------------//

Twilight stared longingly at the little sliver of pure heaven in her hands. It was perfect, an electronic encyclopaedia, a repository of otherworldly knowledge about otherworldly creatures. 

"Uh, Twilight? Are you there?" Elaine waved her hand in front of Twilight's face, snapping her from her trance. "Ah, good, I thought you were having a stroke or something."

"What? No, I'm just…" Twilight held the Pokédex up with a grin. "How could I not be excited by this?"

Elaine raised an eyebrow. "It's just a Pokédex? I'll message Professor Oak and see if he can send you one if you'd like?"

"Yes please! I'd like! I'd very much like!" Twilight cried ecstatically. 

Taken aback by the sudden outburst, Elaine took a deliberate step back. "O...kay… I'll message him now. In the meantime, why don't you just have a read through that one while we walk?"

"I can? Yay!" Twilight immediately set to flicking through the entries on the Pokédex, beginning with one for Pidgeys.

"Hey, it's you guys!" Twilight dragged her eyes from the Pokédex and looked up to see a young man, roughly Elaine's age, coming towards them, smiling and waving. 

"Hi, Trace, what are you doing here?" Elaine called.

Trace sighed and shuffled over to them, looking dejected. "I tried to go and get a look at Victory Road, but there's some sort of construction going on, you can't get anywhere near."

Elaine slumped her shoulders at that. "Awww, that's not cool. I wanted to get a look at the place before we set off to Pewter City."

"Yeah, not happening," Trace said. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tilted his head as he shifted his gaze to Twilight. "So you're the owner of the little Shimmy. I heard that you climbed out of the sea in the middle of the night, what the heck happened to you?"

Twilight shrugged. "I have no idea. One minute we were on a research expedition, the next I was waking up in Sakura's house."

"Eesh, that's rough," Trace said with a grimace. "I meant ending up in the ocean is one thing, but waking up in Sakura's home?" He shivered. "That's just horrible."

"Don't be ridiculous, Sakura is lovely," Elaine said firmly.

Twilight and Sunset shared a curious look. "What's wrong with Sakura?"

"There's nothing wrong with her," Elaine huffed. "Trace is just being weird."

"Hey, I'm not the one who's weird!" Trace retorted. "I told you, I saw her eyes go funny that one time!"

Elaine rolled her eyes and glanced at Twilight. "Trace found her going for a walk one evening a little while ago. He saw some stupid trick of the light, and now he swears that she's possessed by a ghost Pokémon or something."

"She must be!" Trace insisted.

"Whatever." Elaine shrugged and turned away. "Well, if Victory Road is closed off, we may as well head back into town. If we don't take too long getting food, we might even be able to reach Pewter City before dark."

"Hey, before we go..." Trace grinned and pulled a Pokéball out of his pocket. "Look's like we've both got some new Pokémon, how about a match?"

Elaine perked up immediately. "A match? That's a great idea!"

"Pika!" Pikachu added.

Grinning widely, Elaine turned to Bellsprout. "What about you, are you in?"

Bellsprout nodded once. "Sprout."

"What about you?" Trace asked Twilight. "Fancy a round?"

Twilight shook her head vehemently. "No, thank you!"

"Twilight isn't really into the whole battling thing," Elaine explained in response to Trace's curious look. "Why don't we show her how it's done, first?"

Trace shrugged. "Fine by me, let's see how you've grown!"

As the two Trainers squared off, Twilight felt something nudging her leg. Looking down, she noticed that Sunset had written a short message in the dirt. 

MUST GET STRONGER.

"What?" Confused by Sunset's sudden desire to fight, Twilight was distracted as Trace released a Pokémon from it's ball. 

"Go, Eevee!" There was a flash of light, and all of a sudden the cutest little dog that Twilight had ever seen was standing proudly on the ground. It had a big bushy tail, and an incredibly fluffy girdle of hair around its chest.

Elaine pointed at the Eevee and grinned. "Okay, Pikachu, let's show them what we've got!"

"Pika!" Pikachu dove off Elaine's shoulder and stood ready on all fours, sparks flying from the dots on her cheeks.

A little uncomfortable being so close to the action, Twilight backed away several paces, just in case. She had no idea what to expect as the two Pokémon squared off against each other. 

Trace struck first, thrusting an arm forward as he called out, "Get her, Eevee! Use Quick Attack!"

"Pikachu, Thundershock!"

Electricity sparked and crackled from the red dots on Pikachu's cheeks. 

Eevee was faster. 

The little Pokémon disappeared in a flash, only to reappear just in time to slam into Pikachu from the side, walloping the poor creature clean off her feet.

Twilight gasped and reached out, shocked at how aggressive and sudden the attack had been, but Pikachu bounced and twisted, landing on all fours with a determined look on her face.

"Hit her with another Quick Attack!" Trace called.

"Jump, Pikachu!" Elaine shouted.

Pikachu leapt up into the air just as Eevee disappeared again. The little dog reappeared just a second too late, looking up as sparks flew from its opponents cheeks. "Pika!" 

Eevee yelped in pain as a bolt of crackling electricity arced from Pikachu and grounded itself through the little Pokemon's body. 

Shock and horror paralyzed Twilight. She felt certain that the fight was over, and that they were about to have to make a mad dash to the nearest Pokémon centre to get Eevee some emergency medical care. As such, she felt a surge of fear and outrage as Elaine called out, "Now, finish this with Tackle!"

"Dodge it, Eevee!" Trace shouted.

Somehow, incredibly, the Eevee skipped aside as Pikachu charged, as if a powerful electric shock had been merely painful rather than severely life-threatening. 

The two Pokémon stared each other down, neither willing to back down, until Trace smirked and crossed his arms. "That's enough, Eevee." He raised an eyebrow at Elaine. "Not bad, you and Pikachu work well together."

"Same with you guys," Elaine said brightly.

Twilight's jaw dropped open. The two were acting as if what had just happened was something completely normal. Even the Pokémon were quite happily chatting with each other, as if they hadn't just been viciously attacking each other. 

"So, what do you think?" Trace asked. "Do you want to try a match?"

"Uh…" Twilight looked down at Sunset. Her eyes were bulging out of their sockets, and her bravado from earlier had apparently evaporated as she jerkily shook her head. "You know what, I think we'll just leave that to you guys."

Trace shrugged. "Eh, suit yourself. Battling isn't for everyone. Come on, let's hit the Pokémon Center then go and get some food!"