"Norman's gym is the first one we're going to challenge." Kai said to his partner who was hopping alongside him. Zooey was your typical blue, round Marill, with the exception that it had a tuff of hair on it's forehead. Zooey was Kai's partner all through boarding school, Kai recieving Zooey as a gift from his parents. The aspiring trainer had raised the Marill since it was an egg and an Azurill.

Petalburg City was the very first place Kai was off to when he was given the green-light to start his adventure in Hoenn with Zooey. What started off as a visit to his grandparents in Slateport City ended up being the start of something he had always dreamed of. Growing up he wasn't able to go out on the usual adventure at eleven as his parents sent him off to boarding school instead of allowing him to start an official Pokemon trainer journey. There he spent five years at the boarding school before graduating, where he was studying to become a Pokemon Gym Leader. He did have Zooey who helped him through all those years and with all the experiences at the school he was going to do his best to apply it to his adventure now.

The little aqua mouse jumped up in down with joy, knowing that it was finally going to be able to show just how strong he was to his trainer. "You're just as excited as I am, huh?" Kai said. The pair were walking through the city with confident, as they headed off into the direction of the Petalburg City gym. They had the confident, so hopefully that would be able to carry them all the way.

Connor couldn't believe how what was supposed to be one of the best days of his life had gone so sour, so fast. All he'd had to do was deliver one Poké Ball, just one. Sure it wasn't any ordinary Poké Ball, it was an experimental one from Professor Birch, but that didn't make it any harder of a task. Yet somehow he'd lost it. And now he was running around the outskirts of Petalburg searching for that little gray bag he'd kept the Poké Ball in.

It was mostly a courtesy, Professor Birch had been very supportive of his decision to leave the lab as an assistant and strike out as a trainer, but he'd asked one favor of him, and that was to deliver the Poké Ball he'd been working on to Mr. Briney. He couldn't let the Professor down after all he'd done for him. And that was the thought going through his head when a chill ran up his spine and made him jump.

The Duskull had been his partner since he'd gotten lost in Mt. Pyre while researching the area with the Professor, and as usual the Pokémon gave little warning when showing up. "Nothing, eh?" Connor sighed, getting a somber sound in response, "don't worry, bud, we'll find it." Even that didn't sound too convincing though.

Connor gave a glance around and spotted another trainer heading their way, and a Marill along with him. He figured it couldn't hurt to ask if they'd seen anything and gave a wave, "Hey! Have you seen a little bag? Gray. Somewhere around... here."

As the pair were walking through the streets a voice crept up and surprised them. "A bag?" Kai questioned. He stopped in his tracks as his eyes began wandering around, with him scanning everywhere to see if there was a small, grey bag... somewhere around here. The trainer shook his head, "No, haven't seen anything." His little blue, aqua mouse shook his head in response, copying his trainer.

"Did you need help looking for it?" Kai said, offering the trainer a hand. He was on his way to battle Norman, but that could wait. Norman would be at the gym the whole day, helping out this other guy would probably be a better use of his time. "I can look over there," the blue haired trainer said pointing to their left. There were a couple of bushes beside them that the trainer offered to look in.

"I'm Kai by the way." He said as he moved towards the bushes. The trainer began rustling through the bushes, glacing back at the trainer who lost the small, gray bag. "How'd you lose it?"

Connor sighed at the initial answer, not really expecting anything, but hoping just a little that somehow he'd have a stroke of good luck. It was surprising to be offered help though. "Oh yeah, that'd be great. Thanks." Connor replied, turning to the right after to look there. He was basically immersed in a berry bush when he heard the other trainer speak again. "Nice to meet you, Kai. I'm Connor. And uh... I may or may not have gotten distracted by a discolored Magikarp I thought I saw out there in the water. Set the bag down, got out my notebook, and when I looked back it was just gone."

Connor stood up and ran a hand through his hair, giving a slow gaze around. And then he looked up, his mouth dropped, and he let out a groan. "Should have known," he grumbled, "think I may have found it." Above Connor in a tree was the bag, nestled up between a branch and the trunk of it. Probably a Pokemon had grabbed it when he wasn't looking. But luckily, Duskull didn't have a problem with heights. Connor gave the Pokemon a nod and Duskull disappeared, reappearing a few seconds later by the bag and grabbing it. Then he faded back into existence by Connor's side.

"Off to Mr. Briney with this thing," Connor laughed, relieved that they'd found it. "Hey, thanks for the help. If there's any way I can pay you back." He said, turning to Kai with a shrug and a smile.

Luck was on their side as sometime after Kai was helping Connor look for his lost bag the group found it up in a tree. Connor's Duskull grabbed it with ease and it seemed as if their problem was now solved. Offering to repay him for the help, Connor threw an open question towards Kai. The blue haired trainer was new to Hoenn and hadn't had any other real experience battling outside of school, so maybe this was what he needed.

"How about a battle?" Kai said, cheerfully grinning. "I'm heading to the Petalburg Gym, but having a quick battle beforehand might give us some good practice in. We probably need it." The trainer looked down at his Marill with a smile, reassuring his partner that he was confident in their abilities, but still uncertain of how things would really go in a real, out-of-school battle. "So how about it?"

Connor gave a glance over at Duskull and smiled, "I think we can swing that," he replied, looking back at Kai. He hadn't done any extensive amount of battling, but he knew enough from a few here and there with friends and fellow lab assistants to feel confident in this. "I'll go easy on you for helping me find the bag," he said with a laugh, slowly backing up so there was a suitable space between them. Duskull floated out in front of Connor and made as intimidating of a noise as it could.

Connor was feeling pretty excited as he stared across to where Kai was getting ready with his Marill. There was a slight breeze coming from behind him and he was running through what he'd learned from really getting into training Duskull the past few days. This was going to be a good battle, Connor could feel it. "All ready to go?" he called out.

"Ready!" Kai barked as he moved into position, taking a few steps back. The blue haired trainer could taste the excitement and could feel the adrenaline pumping into his blood. "If you don't mind, we'll make the first move!" Kai shouted out again. Waving his hand into the air, signaling he was starting, he quickly pointed into the direction of Connor and his Duskull.

"Alright, buddy!" The trainer cheered. "Let's let them have it! Water Gun!" The little round Marill shouted and jumped as he inhaled deeply, puffing up his cheeks as it filled with water. Within a few seconds the aqua mouse let out a stream of bursting water into the direction of the floating skull.

Connor grinned, "be my guest," he replied, waiting for Kai to make the first move. He was ready when the attack came, "dodge it Duskull!" he called, the Pokémon dodging to the side just fast enough to miss the majority of the stream. It got caught on the side though and spun a few times, shaking away the water after. Connor pursed his lips before giving his own command.

"Alright, Duskull, lets try out that new move we've been working on. Give him a Shadow Sneak." Duskull looked towards the Marill seriously and it's glowing eye darkened slightly as it faded into a cloud of black smoke, flying towards the other Pokémon after a moment. Connor was hoping the attack would work out well, Duskull had only pulled it off a few times since they'd been training over the last few weeks.

In an instant the battle had started. Kai had ordered Zooey to start off with a Water Gun, nicking the Ghost-type Pokemon but not doing it enough as it reacted, returning back with its own offensive strike. The trainer watched as his opponent's Pokemon disappeared into a puff of smoke and quickly returned behind his own, striking it down with a clear and hard hit. Kai's little aqua mouse rolled away from the attack, huffing and puffing from the hit.

"You got this, buddy!" Kai shouted, reassuring his partner. Throwing a fist into the air he tried his best, trying to regain a bit of spirit and energy into his Pokemon. Zooey did listen as his trainer cheered him on, picking himself by rolling to his side and jumping to his feet. He threw his own tiny fists into the air as he nodded proudly to Kai.

"Let's get back at it again," the blue haired trainer roared, pointing at the Duskull. "Give him another Water Gun, full force!"