Battles of the Heart

Drew finished up the paperwork to join the Slateport contest and looked to Roselia, who was busy twirling around next to his legs. "Let's go practice, Roselia," he decided, hearing the Pokémon agree with his words. With the paperwork being done, he just had to wait for the contest to start, and he was generally early with getting paperwork done for contests, anyways, so he and Roselia had plenty of time to practice while they could. Making his way towards the exit, Roselia following along behind him, he tapped his chin as he tried to decide what types of combinations he would use to get the proper response that he wanted from the crowd. It was usually a matter of timing, but picking the right moves was key as well.

---

"Seadra, are you done playing in the water yet?" Lily asked as she watched her Pokémon from her spot on the sand. Her arms were firmly wrapped around the incubator that held the Dratini egg she received from Claire inside. Being in a new region was challenging and the egg had been Claire's going away gift, but the egg had yet to hatch and Lily honestly felt a little disheartened with how long it was taking. She already had two badges down and the next stop was Mauville, but she might as well enjoy the beach at Slateport while she could, right? Besides, Seadra enjoyed it well enough, and seeing her Pokémon spray water up in the air made the girl laugh. "I'll take that as a no, then."

@ momentai.

Hugh leaned on the wooden post of the port holding his queasy stomach, "That boat took forever, Panpour, I don't care what you say." His water monkey pokemon chattered her annoyed response at her seasick trainer, she was happily swimming in the beachy waters of Slateport after having been cooped up in her pokeball. "Come on, aren't you finished yet? Can I at least get off this rocking dock, please?" Hugh had a tendency to seem like a tough guy on the outside, but he was really a softy, especially when it came to his pokemon. He would do anything for them, even stand on a rickety dock while seasick. Panpour motioned with a small spray of water to the sandy shore, as a way of saying he was okay to go on the sand. Hugh laughed and happily moved toward the sand, "You're a piece of work, Panpour. You really are." The monkey replied by spraying him with a light water gun attack when he was finally in the sand.

---

"Today is the day, Igglybuff," said Molly as she smiled waiting the small line to register early for a Contest Pass and enter in the Slateport Pokemon Contest. The little pink baby pokemon happily chanted from its usual position atop her head. The little pokemon was so light and it's body was so bouncy that it preferred to be up there, able to see everything and ready to grab hold of her hair in case it started to bounce uncontrollably... which pokemon of its species tended to do more often than not. Molly had always wanted to enter in Pokemon Contests but she hadn't felt her small team was ready until recently. Her childhood pokemon, Ralts, had just evolved into Kirlia and the Igglybuff Egg she'd been given as a gift from her parents' two Wigglytuff had finally hatched. "Today we all enter our first contest and take the Slateport ribbon as our own!"

Drew paused in his steps on his way out of the building when he heard somebody talking. Glancing over, he spotted a girl with an Igglybuff atop her head and he eyed the two for a moment. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," he mentioned calmly, though he was clearly confident in himself with the conversation. "Thinking that you can win a contest on your first try is a little naïve, especially since you'll be competing against myself and Roselia here." The aforementioned Pokémon tilted her head as she looked up at the other two before looking to Drew. "Right, Roselia?" With a nod, the Pokémon turned her attention back to the girl and the Igglybuff. "But, tell you what, if you make it to the final battle against me, I might be a little impressed." She wouldn't beat him, he was sure, but still.

---

Lily watched Seadra for a few moments more before she stood up and brushed herself off. Pulling out Seadra's pokeball, she smiled. "Come on, Seadra. It's time to go," she called, ready to call the Pokémon back into its ball, only Seadra's attention got pulled into another direction. Before Lily could react properly, Seadra was rushing off in another direction. "W-Wait, Seadra!" As quickly as she could, she rushed in the same direction, trying to make sure that she could still see Seadra from where she was on the land, compared to where he was in the water. As long as he didn't go underwater, it'd be fine, she told herself - she could keep up and make sure he didn't get into any trouble (or cause any, for that matter.)

@ momentai.

"Panpour!" Water flew through the air in an elegant and powerful blast, soaking Hugh once the stream found it's target. "What was that for? I was only kidding!" He wanted to be mad, but he kind of deserved it and he could tell that his historically laughing monkey was more then amused. He laughed and lifted his arms, the front if his shirt was drenched but his pants hadn't suffered too much from the attack. He peeled the wet fabric from his body only for it to slap right back in place. "Geez, was that really necessary?" The continued laughter from the monkey was his answer as he rolled his eyes playfully and took off his shirt completely and laid it out in the sand, wet side up.

---

Molly frowned at the green haired stranger, "Oh yeah? I guess we'll just have to see tomorrow then won't we?" The line was moving forward and she was next in line but her turned to face the boy and his Roselia. "I'm Molly, this is Igglybuff, and who might you be?" Molly was a little offended at the boy for being so bold and slightly rude, but she figured that was just because he was a fellow coordinator and the once-every-few-months contest was nearly upon them. She was confident in her team, they hadn't ever competed but she'd watched contests as a child very often and trained hard. Igglybuff shook his little hand in anger at the stranger from his high position and chanted an irritated series of mumbles.

(I'm so sorry this is short!)

Drew's lips upturned in a slight smirk and he was more than tempted to point out that he was sure that they would see just how right he was. But, then she was introducing herself and her pokemon and it may have caught him a little off-guard, as he expected her to just march out as if she were justified. With a small bit of amusement in his tone, he ran a hand through his hair and lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "You'll find out tomorrow, I'm sure," he said simply.

---

The next thing Lily knew, Seadra was spraying a light flow of water at a monkey pokemon that she didn't recognize. Though she wanted to pull out her pokedex and see what kind of pokemon it was, she skidded to a halt and stared with shock at the two pokemon. "Seadra, you're going to make that pokemon mad!" she called out to her pokemon, though he seemed content, splashing around and trying to get the monkey pokemon to play with him.

@ momentai.
(For sake of weirdness I'm making the assumption they're all in their late/mid teens)
Hugh was surprised to see another pokemon boldly spray his Panpour. It was a type of water pokemon he'd never seen before so he quickly took out his pokedex to check as Panpour turned her little blue head in playful surprise before shooting bubbles back. Hugh mumbled to himself as he opened his dex, "Well what are you, mystery pokemon?" Before he could point it in the mystery pokemon's direction to let it do it's thing, a feminine and foreign voice shouted, he turned and saw a really pretty blue eyed girl sprinting towards him. He waived his arm at her, trying to catch her attention as he shouted, "Is this your pokemon?"

---

Molly frowned at this strange boy's actions and Igglybuff just blinked it saucer eyes in confusion. She stepped up to the front desk and handed her pokedex over for registration. While the woman at the counter did the registration. Molly turned to face the boy with her hands firmly on her hips in disapproval. "You're being awfully childish, it's not like I'm asking for much." Igglybuff chimed in, the same disappointed tone in its little voice mimicked Molly's.

(Haha, yeah, that would probably be best!)

Drew was, admittedly, a little amused by the girl's reaction to his words - and, even the small bouncy Pokémon on the girl's head was a little entertaining, too. Though he wouldn't outright admit it, he did let a small smirk appear on his features as he tilted his head to the side slightly. "If you absolutely must know, I'm Drew," he said casually before pushing some of his hair out of his face and leaning towards the girl, only slightly. "Personally, I'm a little insulted that you didn't already know that, though. Maybe you're just not as involved in the contests as you'd like to be, or you wouldn't have to ask who I am." Or, maybe not. He was simply taunting the girl, just a little, wanting to see how much he could rile her up.

---

Lily almost skidded to a stop when she heard somebody shouting towards her. Almost worried that he was upset that Seadra was bothering the monkey Pokémon, she chewed on her lip and looked back towards her Pokémon. "You mean Seadra?" she asked before nodding, "Yes, but, um, you don't have to worry - he's not trying to fight or anything. It's just that my other Pokémon can't play with him, so he must have gotten excited to see a Pokémon nearby that might play with him." She figured that it was the best explanation that she could muster - and, it was the truth. Until the Dratini egg hatched, Seadra was the only Pokémon that she had that liked the water.

@ momentai.

Hugh nodded with a small smile, he could understand why the girl's pokemon would jump at the chance to play with another water pokemon. His little girl, Panpour was a water-type pokemon but could still be completely mobile and fine on land and by the looks of it the girl's pokemon was completely dependent on being submerged in water. "Seadra, you said it was called?"

He lifted his pokedex and listened as it spouted information of the new pokemon, "Seadra, the dragon pokemon. The poisonous barbs all over Seadra's body are highly valued as ingredients for making traditional herbal medicine. Seadra shows no mercy to anything approaching its nest and is capable of swimming backwards."

He hummed a note in intrigue and chuckled, "I'm from the Unova region and just recently came here, I've seen so many new kinds of pokemon I lost count." He put his pokedex in his pants pocket, seeing as his soaked shirt still dried in the sun. He faced the ocean and watched Panpour play with Seadra, he hadn't seen her have so much fun in awhile. "I'm Hugh by the way."

---

Molly scoffed at the boy, Drew at his cocky remarks. Of course he looked familiar, but he wasn't a star in her memory, "Did you ever think of the possibility that you're just not as memorable as your ego says you are?" This boy was really starting to irritate her, whether he was doing it on purpose or he was just this dense, she couldn't tell. Igglybuff was picking up on her annoyance at the stranger and simply resorted to glaring at him in silent support of Molly. The woman at the counter smiled as she turned over Molly's pokedex and brand new contest pass, Molly thanked her and exited from the line before walking up to the boy, her golden eyes maintaining their look disapproval. "I only remember winners, so unless you were in and won the one contest I missed, I suggest you dial down your arrogance and show some manners."

Drew slipped a hand into his pocket, the other brushing aside a few strands of his hair, though the smirk on his features didn't leave. "Shame. Perhaps you should have paid more attention," he said quite casually, hardly affected by the girl's words. At least, on the outside, he was. On the inside, he was more than a little insulted that the girl didn't recognize him. But, he usually tried to keep trivial things like that at the back of his mind - most of the time, anyways. That didn't stop him from saying, "If you're as interested in contests as you claim to be, you would know better than to say something so rude." Not that he wasn't rude himself, but that was another matter that he didn't really have a reason to point out at the moment. Regardless, he looked to the Igglybuff, quirking a brow. "Word to the wise, though. A little puff ball like that Igglybuff won't get you far in contests." It wasn't necessarily true, but he was trying to psych the girl out at this point - it was only fair, given her attitude, right? (Even if his attitude was far worse - he ignored that.)

---

Lily turned her attention back to Seadra and the other pokemon. Since it didn't seem like Seadra would stop playing with the other pokemon any time soon, she went ahead to sit down, setting the egg incubator down beside her and pulled out her pokedex. "Ah, I'm from Johto - Blackthorn City, to be exact, so a bunch of pokemon are new to me, too," she told the boy with a small smile before she turned her attention to the dex, reading what it said to herself. Panpour, the spray pokemon. The water stored inside the tuft on its head is full of nutrients. Plants that receive its water grow large. It does not thrive in dry environments. It keeps itself damp by shooting water stored in its head tuft from its tail. "So, that's a Panpour, huh? It's cute." Mentally, she reminded herself never to say that in front of Phanpy, since the little elephant pokemon was more than a little jealous when it came to things like that. "I'm Lily. It's nice to meet you, Hugh."

@ momentai.

Hugh chuckled, "Don't let Panpour hear you say that. She's such a little diva sometimes, a compliment like that will only fuel her already big ego." He sat down beside the pretty girl, "So Johto, I've never been. What brings you here to Hoenn?" Just as he stretched himself out on the sand he hear Panpour call to him. "What is it?" The little pokemon make a motion to his bag and chattered loudly from the water. "What? You want Eelektrik to come out too?" He turned his head Lily when Panpour nodded furiously. "Would you mind if I bring out my Eelektrik too? He's my other water-type, bit of a snob sometimes, especially when it comes to his food, but he gets along well with other pokemon."

---

Molly rolled her eyes, "You're one to talk." Molly glared at Drew for his dig at Igglybuff, the baby pokemon and only hatched almost two months ago, there was no way she was putting the little guy in a contest yet, but the stranger had no right to be making claims like he was. Before she could reply Igglybuff launched into a furious chatter ending its little rant with an intense glare and shooting a snowflake into Drew's face. "Now, now Igglybuff, he's not worth it." Molly reached up and took the little pokemon off of her head and held it in her arms. "Besides, he'll be saying sorry once we beat him in tomorrow's contest." Little did the stranger know she had already decided she'd be using Mawile in the contest, her strongest pokemon.

Drew was quick to wave the snowflake away, his eyes narrowed in slight annoyance. "I'd say good luck, but you don't have a chance, anyways," he said casually, lifting his shoulders as he turned his attention to Roselia. "To be quite frank, you don't stand a chance against Roselia and me, though." Or any of his other pokemon, for that matter - it was just that Roselia was his usual go-to partner. She was pretty much his best friend, if he was honest. That was his secret, though. "You'll just have to deal with the pain of losing, I suppose."

---

"I've never been to Unova," Lily admitted with a sheepish smile and a lift of her shoulders. It made her feel a little better to hear that he hadn't ever been to Johto, though. "Ah, I just wanted to travel a bit. I heard Hoenn has some neat pokemon, so I wanted to check them out, though I plan to do a bunch of travelling to the other regions eventually." But, then, he was talking about another pokemon and her curiosity got the best of her as she quickly shook her head. "I don't mind at all - in fact, I'd love to see another pokemon that I'm not familiar with."

@ momentai.
Hugh thanked her before he dug around in his bag for Eelektrik's pokeball, when he finally found it he threw it up in the air, "Alright Eelektrik come on out and play." The electric blue fish came soaring out from its pokeball and landed in the ocean with ease. "Unova is great, it went through a rough patch a couple years ago but it's better now." When he spoke of Unova's tainted past a grim chill overcame him. That was a dark mark on his personal history. An ultimate failure he could never make up for. "Go ahead and register Eelektrik in your pokedex too, I don't think they're around here."

---

Molly glared at the boy, he was so rude, "Look, I don't like to go around making enemies or rivals but it looks like I've found both in you." Igglybuff nodded along to her, neither of the pair had anything else to say to the rude stranger and his Roselia. He thought he was all that and a pack of crackers, well Molly was the bees knees, the cats pajamas and anything else that was better than being all that and a pack of crackers. She and Mawile would prove that jerk wrong and then he couldn't bad mouth her and her pokemon anymore. If nothing else she just wanted to get a battle with him in round two and beat him, even if she didn't ultimately win the ribbon. Just to shut the guy up and knock him off whatever pedestal he put himself on.

There was clear amusement on Drew's features as he turned his attention fully to the girl. Tilting his head, he quirked a brow, Roselia repeating the action. "If you didn't want rivals or enemies, you shouldn't have even thought about getting involved in contests," he pointed out simply, brushing his hair out of his face before he shrugged. "It's a competitive sport, just like battling. You'll make enemies and rivals without even trying, everybody knows that." His lips curled up in a slight smirk, then, as he peered at the girl, leaning forward just a bit just to taunt her. "Well, I suppose not everybody, it seems. Oh well. You'll have to learn one way or another, I assume, correct? Better to learn early than for it to become a bitter realization later and for you to regret even trying this. If you back out now, nobody will blame you, I'm sure."

---

(I decided to just pull up my AS game to look at the pokedex entry. xD)

Lily was surprised with the sight of the pokemon, her attention mostly focused on it. Even still, she followed Hugh's suggestion and held her pokedex in the direction of the pokemon. "Eelektrik, the EleFish Pokemon. These Pokemon have a big appetite. When they spot their prey, they attack it and paralyze it with electricity," the pokedex explained. "Huh," she murmured, closing the pokedex again and shifting the egg incubator in her arms. "I'd show you my other pokemon, but I don't want them to end up getting in the water. The only one that probably wouldn't have a problem with the water, aside from Seadra, would probably be Crobat." Phanpy and Houndoom, on the other hand, would have major problems and she didn't want to risk it.

@ momentai.
(sorry this is so awful, ill get back into the swing of things i promise)

"You've got a Crobat?" Hugh was impressed and slightly jealous. He'd never seen a Crobat in person before and had heard rumors of how hard it could be to raise a Zubat up to evolve into one. "That's impressive, how did you meet it?" He kept him attention divided three ways as he waited to hear the story of this girl and her pokemon. One part of him was devoted to paying attention to his mischievous Panpour and too-cool Eelektrik. Another was devoted to listening to what Lily was going to be saying. The third was.. Well it was focused on how gorgeous this stranger was adn how the ocean reflected in her eyes.

---

If Molly were a fire-type pokemon she'd fry his stupid grinning lips off, but sadly she was forced to settle for a glare that rivaled the intensity of a ghost-type pokemon. "Look, Drew, I don't know why you seem to think I'm a complete amateur, but I assure you I'm not backing out of this contest." She held her fuming Igglybuff in her arms steadily, though the rest of her was mildly shaking in anger. "So, if you would so kindly get your big head out of my way, I'd like to leave. I've got a hotel room to check-in to." Molly didn't wait for him to respond, or to move for that matter, she pushed right past him and kept walking with no shame at all. She had to go make sure her costume hadn;t wrinkled while in her backpack, and she needed to get Igglybuff to sleep. The baby pokemon had missed his nap because of the earlier excitement. Now she could only pray that the lingering anger wouldn't keep Igglybuff awake all night long.

(No worries; we'll both get into our mojo again soon, I'm sure!)

Drew couldn't help but to be a little amused with Molly's behavior and reactions to him. Tilting his head, he watched the girl leave, though he was, admittedly, a little eager to see the girl again. Whether she was good or not at being a coordinator, he wasn't really sure, but she was definitely interesting. (And, admittedly - despite that he would likely never say so aloud, - she was attractive. The fact that she so easily stood up to him, despite it being him, made her a little admirable, too.) Blinking, he looked down at Roselia, who was peering up at him with confusion and had tilted her head. "Don't give me that look, Roselia," he murmured in a sigh before he led the way out to find somewhere to stay as well.

---

"Yeah," Lily said with a broad grin as she looked over at him. "I met him in a cave near my hometown when he was a Zubat. He was the first Pokémon I actually caught, since my first actual Pokémon, Phanpy, was given to me by my brother." With a small shrug, she shifted to pull out a pokéball, though she was careful of the incubator, and looked down at the ball. "Here, you can meet him." Without saying much else, she let Crobat come out of his pokéball, though the Pokémon was quick to start circling her mid-air. It was clearly happy to be able to fly around a bit. "He can sometimes be a bit of a bully, but he doesn't really mean much by it. He's actually really sensitive, too."