Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any other show/book/movie/etc I might mention in this story. This is purely made for entertainment purposes and I will not gain any profit from using said copyrighted material.

Chapter 2: Opening Attraction!

"Tangi! Flint! The celebration is starting soon! Rowan needs you at the lab now!" Tangi was finishing with stuffing his bag full of items he thought would be needed while traveling the roads of Sinnoh. Flint, a yellow-tinted Charmander and Tangi's starter Pokémon, was running back and forth fetching stuff Tangi thought he could carry.

"Hey, grab that one book over there! It's got gold lettering on the side of it." Flint ran over, grabbed it, and dragged it back since it was too heavy for the poor 'mon to carry. Tangi heard footsteps coming upstairs, so he doubled his pace in packing as his mother entered the room.

"Tangi," she started in a voice that sounded of a mixture of impatience and worry, "Are you sure you don't need help packing?" He rolled his eyes. "I'm just trying to be helpful here! And why are you packing that book?" She pointed at the book that Flint had just dragged over to the backpack.

"It's informative..." She picked it up before Tangi could grab it and pack it.

"'The In-Depth Story of the Deep Se-' Oh honestly, boy! You don't need a five hundred page books in that pack of yours!" She tossed it towards the bed.

"Mom! That's a rare edition!"

"I'm going to make you rare in a second," she stated raising her hand. Tangi and Flint freaked and grabbed each other. His mother smiled and awed at the two caring so much for each other's safety even thought they've only known each other for just a short time (not caring that she was the one threatening their safety...) "That's so sweet~!" She looked over at Tangi's bag, seeing it stuffed with books. She sighed, grabbed it, and started to walk away, turning back to the two. "You two go ahead to the party. I'm going to pack your bag for you. Otherwise, I fear you'll be taking half of your room with you!" She walked down the hall and back down stairs.

Tangi and Flint, still holding each other, let out a sigh of relief. They turned to each other, smiled, then rose from their position on the floor to their feet. "She's right though," he admitted rather flatly. "I would have taken half of my room if I could..." Flint sighed and Tangi just laughed. "Anyway, we're pushing it. We gotta get to the lab in time for Rowan to explain what we gotta do at the party." He leaned down, putting his right arm out to Flint, who jumped up and climbed up it to his shoulders. He grabbed onto Tangi's shoulder, letting his feet and tail hang down. They nodded at each other and made their way out of the room, down the steps and out the door.

"So glad you decided to grace us with your presence this time, Tangi," Professor Rowan said with a hint of irritation in his voice. Tangi didn't even have one foot into the room, and already he was getting chewed out. There were three other people in the room, whom Tangi assumed were trainers, all staring at him.

"Sorry sir." Tangi walked into the room, sat down next to the only girl in the room, and let Flint crawl down to his lap. He looked over and noticed that the girl had blue hair along with a silver tang-top and a skirt that Tangi couldn't exactly guess what color it was. Like a mixture of gray and blue if that was possible. The middle boy wore a green cap, white undershirt with a green, sleeveless vest with multiple pockets across the front, and blue jean shorts. The last one, furthest from him, wore a black t-shirt with a red top shirt, and what looked like kaki and jogger pants with many pockets up and down them. All three trainers stared at him, while all he could manage was an awkward smile back to them. They all looked at the Charmander that, earlier that morning, tried to roast anyone that tried to grab him for their own. Flint, having noticed this, grinned at them all innocently before puffing out a cloud of smoke at them all. They all jumped except the middle boy, who just chuckled slightly. Tangi smiled at this, but Rowan's cough was an obvious sign that he wanted everyone's attention back on him.

"Well, seeing as Tangi decided to show up late, we might as well reintroduce each other. If you wouldn't mind starting," he said while nodding to Tangi. He nodded and stood up.

"Um, I'm Tangi." The girl waved a little, the boy in green nodded, and the boy in red just rolled his eyes. "I'm eighteen and I've been helping the professor here for the past year now. This, as you all might have guessed, is my partner." He picked up Flint and held him forward, to which Flint found it prompt to give a wide smile and wave. "His name is Flint and he likes to-"

"Set things on fire?" Tangi looked towards the red-shirted kid. The girl giggled a bit. "Yea, knew that bit already when I picked him up. Care to hurry it up?"

"Hmm, well I apologize." He turned Flint towards himself, then continued, "Flint, you didn't know any better at the time, so I'll let it slide for now." Flint cocked his head at Tangi wondering what he was talking about. "It's nothing big. You just never cook rotten meat like him over there. That kind belongs in the trash." Flint, the girl and the other boy all started laughing. Rowan raised his hands to his temples and proceeded to rub them; hoping to ward off any headache insult might lead to. Red-shirt looked ready to lung for Tangi's throat right now...

"My turn!" the girl shot up, clueing to Tangi to sit back down. "I'm Rebecca from Twinleaf Town! You all can call my Reb for short though," she finished with a wink. "I'm seventeen and here's my partner!" She tossed her Pokéball into the air, letting out a light that revealed to be a Bulbasaur. "I decided on the name Bruce since he looks like a Bruce!" She sat down, turning back to Tangi and winking as she did.

'Huh, silver eyes... Wonder if they're contacts.' Tangi wanted to ask her, but the next trainer took his turn to introduce himself.

"Heya, I'm Tank, and I'm seventeen too. Live up in Jubilife City" Tangi thought he looked like a tank. He was one year younger than him, but way more muscle. Sure, Tangi wasn't exactly a workout kind of guy, but he still kept in shape... But he dwarfed in muscle mass compared to Tank. "My partner is named Eve." He pressed the release button on his Pokéball, causing an Eevee to appear.

'Not exactly the most original name,' Tangi thought. Still, it did seem to have an air of it's own in some unoriginal way. 'So that means the other kid got Squirtle...'

"I'm Hazru. Eighteen. Come from Oreburgh City." Tangi wanted to gag from how dull his introduction was. It reminded him of one of those super nerds that wouldn't waste a minute of chat if it was about something that they could give two shits about. A snapping sound pulled Tangi out of his thoughts. He looked over at the now present Squirtle. "This is Genbu. Genbu is-"

"A giant turtle from mythology that hails the north compass direction, right?" Tangi couldn't hide his smug smirk on his face, knowing that he got his turn to interrupt Hazru's intro; just as he did to Tangi. All he received in return was a glare. "Sorry, go on."

"That's all that had to be said. I'd much rather get to why we all need to be here for this 'celebration,' seeing as I should be getting my first badge already."

'Arceus, what a pri-' Tangi's thoughts interrupted as Flint snarled at Hazru. "No, Flint! Bad!" He tried to lunged this time, causing Tangi to stand up and walk over to the edge of the room out of jumping reach of Hazru. Rowan raised a brow at this, Reb seemed a bit frightened, and Tank just laughed some more. All Hazru did was give a smug smirk almost equaling the same one Tangi had just thrown him. "You can't just attack him cause I don't like him, okay?" Flint gave him a questioning look, causing him to sigh. "Just cause I don't like something or someone doesn't mean you have to too, okay?" He nodded, then walked back over to the group. As he sat, Flint gave another snarl at Hazru. Tangi was going to lecture him again, but decided against it. 'Ah, whatever. Who can blame someone for not liking that douc-?'

"Ahem." All four of them turned to Professor Rowan. "Now that we have done our introductions- or reintroductions in some cases," he hinted while staring at Tangi, causing him to look away to avoid "the look", "I need you all to stay for the celebration for one simple reason; because this is the start of your journey! You might not have many chances to relax on the road, and I'm almost certain that none of you will be traveling together. I also find this a good time for the Pokémon to say goodbye to each other," nodding at the critters each one of them were holding.

"Sounds good to me!" Reb shot up from her chair, knocking it over and Bruce in the process. She freaked out and picked up the Bulbasaur in a haste.

"Do you want to stay Eve?" Tank looked down at his partner, who just nodded with a smile. "Okay, suppose we're staying."

Genbu was dancing around looking happy at the chance of a party, but that thought was shot down by his trainer. "Sorry, but I'm on a tight schedule here." Genbu sighed, then turned to Hazru with a sad look in his eyes. Hazru just looked down at the turtle Pokémon, causing it to turn away again. He pressed the return button on his Pokéball, which gulfed up Genbu. He stood up, locked the ball, placed it on his belt and headed for the door.

"Scared of a crowd?" Tangi's anger was rising. How could he treat his partner, his friend, like that? Hazru's hand froze on the handle.

"What was that?"

"You heard me. What say we provide the entertainment for the evening? A one on one battle." Tangi stood up still holding Flint in his arms. His face was burning.

Hazru turned around to face Tangi. "I don't have time for this," he muttered as he turned to the door again.

"Then you obviously don't have time for any trainer on the way to the first gym. Wondering how an untrained Pokémon matches up against a gym leader's?"

Hazru stood there. He knew that he'd be fighting every trainer that was stupid enough to challenge him on the pathway to Oreburgh. 'This'll just be early practice I guess...'
"Fine, I accept. But the battle will be the opening event."

Tangi turned to the professor, who gave him a quick nod. "Fine, you're on."

Right as the clock struck eight, the lab lawn was illuminated with many lights. There was enough food and beverages to serve a whole town; which was fortunate since the whole town showed up. But no one was at the tables dining. Not quite yet... Everyone gathered around for the new main attraction; a battle between two of Rowan's newest trainers! Tangi took Flint around to one side of the lab, teaching him what he knew about dodging and showing him some clips provided by the good professor. "See that? When they're preparing a special attack like Water Gun, it takes them a while to charge it up. Though this is a higher level water type, meaning it could move and still get the same blast, but Genbu is about the same skill level as you." Tangi was giving as many pointers to Flint as he could. He was scared almost to the point of fainting. 'What if I screw up? What if I give the wrong order? What if Flint freezes up? I wonder how many battles he's actually fought...' Before he could become any more paranoid, he heard shouting off in the distance. His mother was running over carrying something close to her chest.

"There you are! What's going on?" Tangi's mother gave him the usual worried look, granted he was giving the same type of look to Flint the whole time he asked if he understood what he was explaining.

"Nothing really," Tangi said with a grin. "Just a kid and I are going to have a battle is all." His mother stared back strangely. "With our Pokémon mom..."

"I know that," she began while shouting, "I wish you'd stop thinking that I don't understand what you're going through!" Tangi frowned while she continued. "I know you didn't mean to be rude. I was just over reacting." She took his hand and laid something in it. He looked down and saw he was now holding a CD like case. "It's a TM case. I used it when I was traveling. I left one TM in there that I thought might help you out... Please don't push yourself nor Flint too hard." And as fast as she showed up, she walked away.

"... Thanks, mom." Tangi smiled to himself, then popped open the case. He pulled out the TM inside and read the name of it to himself. His eyes widen, a blank expression on him at first, but slowly changed into a wide grin. "Flint, forget the battle movie for now!" He pressed the eject button on the player and popped in the TM disc. "Watch THIS!" And Tangi let the TM play, knowing that it'd break afterwards; but the after effect it'd have on Flint would be well worth a broken disc.

"Good evening everyone." Professor Rowan walked center stage giving his normal greeting. "Today we've all gathered to witness the birth of four trainers, each showing seemingly endless potential at what careers they may pursue." Everyone in the crowd was cheering and whooping now. Rowan raised his hands, and gestured for them to calm to a silence. When everyone did so, he continued on. "Tonight we planned on just congratulating these children as they walk the path leading to their future, but today is a special treat indeed! Two of my trainers, both of which I hold high hopes in excelling in battles, have agreed to open the ceremony with none other then their first battle!" Louder cheering ensued after the professor's speech. Knowing he would not calm the excited crowd, he simply decided to end his announcement swiftly as possible. Raising his voice, he finished with, "Now this blabbering fool will step down and allow the 'seeds of tomorrow' to begin their battle!" He walked off the stage, with more cheering then before still following. Up came the Nurse Joy for Sandgem Town in his place.

"Thank you all for coming! Tonight's battle features a boy of few words, hailing from Oreburgh City; introducing Hazru!" Hazru walked up the right side of the stage, hands in his pockets and head hung down not giving much attention to the cheers coming from the crowd for him. After he made it to his side, Nurse Joy raised her arm before continuing; everyone in the crowd going mute once more. "And to the left, we have none other then our town's own Tangi!" Tangi walked up the steps briskly and turned towards the crowd waving back at them as they all cheered out his name. Nurse Joy signaled for silence.

"Each side is allowed one Pokémon to use in this battle. No time limit has been set. If one side's Pokémon is unable to continue, or one side forfeits, then the other side shall be declared the winner. If you enter the battle arena without calling Time-Out, this will be taken as a form of forfeit , making it so I have to declare the other side the winner. Are these rules understood?" Both Tangi and Hazru nodded. "Very well. On my signal, you may call out your Pokémon." Nurse Joy stepped off the field, but remained near center mark outside of the arena. "And..." Both boys unlocked their Pokéballs, ready to toss them... "... Begin!"

"Genbu!"

"Flint, go!" With a bright flash from both sides, there stood on the field a Squirtle and a Charmander for all of the town to see. Some of them moaned seeing that the lizard was with their fellow townie, automatically judging by type match-ups. "Flint, give him a Leer attack!" Flint's eyes went narrow, glaring at the turtle across of him. Genbu shuddered a bit, but shook it off slightly. "Good, now stand-by in case of an att-"

"Water gun, go!" Genbu cocked his head back, readying to blast the fire-type with his least favorite attack-to-receive.

"Damn. Run around it!" Flint bolted up to Genbu as close as possible before the Water Gun was sent flying at his direction. He jumped to the side and started running in a circle around him, making a trail of water follow him. "Good, now keep that up but don't slip in the water!"

"I don't have time for this. Genbu, turn in the opposite way now!" He did so, smacking Flint on the roundabout dead-on. Tangi cursed for not thinking of that. "Now Tackle Attack!" He lunged at the drenched lizard with as much force as he could. Flint managed to dodge and cause Genbu to slip on his own water on the arena floor and slide off to the other end.

"Close the distance again Flint!" He bolted up towards Genbu as he was recovering. "Now Leer!" Once again he stared at his opponent with a death gaze, causing him to flinch. "Scratch attack!" One swipe and the Squirtle was damage rather heavily.

'Damn, he's just lowering our defenses...' Hazru grunted in thought. "Genbu, use Tackle again!" The turtle regain it's balance and launched himself at Flint, smacking him in the head. He grabbed his face, nose now bleeding.

"Hey! What the hell?!" Tangi was shouting towards Hazru.

"It's a legal move, deal with it." Tangi looked over at Nurse Joy. She looked worried, but she nodded to him, confirming it was indeed a legit attack.

'Wants to play dirty, does he... Fine.' "Time out," Tangi yelled. Nurse Joy nodded, and Tangi ran onto the field. "I'm sorry Flint... I screwed up." He reached into his lower pocket on his shorts and pulled out a potion. He looked up and saw that Hazru was irritated that he remembered meds where he himself forgot. 'That's what ya get when you just wanting to rush your Pokémon...' he grinned to himself. After spraying Flint's nose and wiping off the excess blood, Tangi reported back to his box.

"Due to Tangi using a medicine on his turn, his orders will be skipped this one round and Hazru will be allowed a turn to strike," Nurse Joy stated. Hazru nodded, then issued the command. "Genbu, let's wrap it up. Tackle and Water Gun now!" Genbu lunged at Flint, who managed to dodge the Tackle, but the Water Gun landed full force. He cringed and fell backwards from the force of the blast. Flint started to get back up; but, with as slowly as he was going, Hazru had time to shout another command. "Finish this with Tackle!" Genbu charged in again, withdrawing into his shell after he flung himself right at the Charmander... 'I win.'

"Okay, grab it!" Tangi was allowed to give orders again, and that was the first one he could think of. Flint did as he said, still taking damage but minimized since he had braced for impact in order to obey his trainer. Hazru shouted something, but it was muffled by the crowd's cheering. "Flint, use that move I taught you!" Flint's pupils narrowed at the command; gaping his mouth open with fire building up around his fangs. "Fire Fang!" Flint bit down on the only part left outside Genbu's shell; the tail. His head popped out from surprise and let out a long cry of pain. He twisted around and managed to free himself from the grip of those powerful jaws.

Hazru stared in disbelief... 'How could that newt have learned that move while that inexperienced...' He looked towards Genbu, who's tail was badly burned. 'Damn, that's going to affect our attacks from now on... I'll have to stick to ranged attacks.' "Genbu, fight from a distance with Water Gun!" He let out a cry with a strong jet of water...

"Ember attack, now!" Flint's mouth popped open letting lose enough Ember to meet the Water Gun with a deadlock. The crowd waited for the steam that enveloped the field to clear before they made any reaction. Both sides were standing, huffing in and out through their mouths as they breathed. The crowd was awestruck that those two, tiny little things could still manage to stand. 'Damn, this HAS to end soon... I don't think Flint has enough in him to deadlock another attack.' Hazru, having the same thoughts, was staring at Tangi, hoping for some clue as to what was going to be his next action. Suddenly, both Pokémon started to glow. Tangi and Hazru both shouted in sync, "What the...?!"

"Professor!" Nurse Joy turned to behind her for some advice from Rowan. "What do you make of this sir?"

Professor Rowan walked up stage and took witness at what was happening. "Hmm, I believe they're tapping into their native abilities..."

"You mean...?" Nurse Joy's mouth dropped ever so slightly at the answer she received.

"Hm. Ladies and Gentlemen, right now you are witnessing both Charmander and Squirtle's latent abilities; Blaze and Torrent. Each one powering up their respective type moves..."

Tangi looked over from the professor, to Nurse Joy, then back at Flint. He finally noticed that Flint's pupils had narrowed. 'Wait... Has he been like that this whole fight...? No, definitely not. His eyes were normal when I used the potion.' Terror filled Tangi. 'Why does he look like he's ready to kill something?' "Uh, Flint?" Tangi thought maybe he could get him to respond. No luck. He inhaled as much as he could and shouted, "Flint!" The fire typed turned an eye towards his trainer, still with that death-gaze across his face. Tangi flinched... "Flint... Ar-Are you okay?" Flint continued to stare at him... Tangi was beyond frightened now; willing to throw the match if it meant his friend would revert back to normal. Just as the thought entered his mind, he saw a wink come from him. At least it looked like a wink since only one eye was on the side facing Tangi. Then he saw a smirk across his face. 'Okay... I'll have to talk to Rowan when I can and ask about this. For now...' He nodded to himself, then refocused on the match.

While the crowd was yelling out of excitement, Hazru took notice in Flint's strange behavior. 'That is not normal for a Pokémon' The fear that Tangi had not a moment ago was now placed inside him. 'End this now. RIGHT NOW.' That was the only thought tracing his mind. "Hate to do this to you Tangi, but I'm afraid I'm out of time." Tangi's battle-stern face was replaced with a more curious one.

"Huh? You're quitting?"

Hazru chuckled. "No, I'm finishing this. Genbu!" Genbu turned towards him. "End it..." He nodded and turned toward his old Charmander friend. He opened his mouth like he was readying a Water Gun, but the water stayed at his mouth. It just started to enlarge. And become bigger... And bigger...

"How can this be?!" Professor Rowan's face started to become pale. Nurse Joy was joining him herself. Tangi looked over, hoping for some kind of hint as to what was happening. "That Squirtle... How does it know Hydro Cannon...?!"

Tangi's eyes shout open. 'Hydro Cannon... That's suppose to be a water-type Pokémon's equivalent to Hyper Beam...' Fear returning, he turned towards Flint. "Flint, get outta there! Now!" Flint stood his ground, not even flinching at the water that was still building. "Flint, NOW!" Then, Flint lifted his head upwards, having his mouth aimed at a forty-five degree angle towards to sky. Fire started to build there, looking like he was countering with an Ember. "Flint, what are you do-" then Tangi froze again. The flame ball stayed there. It grew to the same size as Genbu's Hydro Cannon water-ball. 'What... The... Hell...' He shouted towards Rowan, "Is that a Bl-"

"Yes...! That's a Blast Burn..." Rowan's mouth dropped slightly. He couldn't imagine how these two, children-like Pokémon already have tapped into such destructive power. As he tried to come with possibilities, the thought of what the damage those attacks could cause when they meet crossed his mind. As he was about to shout his warnings to the crowd, the two battlers let their attacks loose.

Flint, even though having started charging it after his foe, was the first to fire. The ball of flames flew towards his opponent, engulfing him as Genbu's Hydro Cannon was released, hitting Flint with full force. He stood his ground for as long as he could before being swept away with the water. As Flint lost his footing, the ball of flames spread out around the Squirtle. It started as one ring of fire columns. Then two. Then finally three were circling around him. Hazru was unable to see his 'mon in the flames. Suddenly, they just died down; as if sucked into the ground. Genbu lowered his guard, but it was too soon. A final column shot up right where he stood, swallowing him completely. After it disappeared again and the water around Flint dispersed, both Pokémon tried to stay on all fours as long as they could.

Tangi and Hazru just stood there, not sure what to do. Should they run out to nurse their Pokémon, even though it meant losing the match... Or stand there and wait for the first to fall...

"... DAMN IT!!" Tangi was the first to enter the field; not caring anymore of the match. He wanted to be sure Flint wouldn't take any more damage. As Nurse Joy declared Hazru the winner, Flint toppled over. Tangi snatched him up into his arms and shook him slightly. "Flint, FLINT! Come on, boy. Say something! Please!" He saw the Charmander's eyes squint as they were closed, realizing that he could hear Tangi. "Flint! Please say someth-"

"CHAAAAAAR!!!!!" Tangi's face was meet with a mouth full of Charmander teeth, sinking into his flesh.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. OW!!!! GET OFF!!!" Tangi tried to pry him off with a few failed attempted, finally succeeding on the fifth tug. Flint opened his eyes; his pupils having reverted back to normal, and smiled playfully at Tangi. "You... Ass!" Tangi couldn't think of anything else to say to him... Flint looked shocked and hurt by his words. "Don't EVER scare me like that again!" Tangi brought him in for a hug, showing just how scared for Flint he was. Flint blinked a few times, then returned the hug...Chapter End Notes:OH NOES STARTERS WITH ELEMENTAL HYPER BEAMS?! HAX0RZ!!! But seriously, your Pokémon CAN learn them as Egg moves.
Also, thanks for the review Vipera! I know the converstation bits are kinda awkward, but I'll try my best to fix that! It anyone else has some pointers, I'd be more than willing to take'em