The Chronicles of Black.

'Anyway, future team composition aside, let's start when you're ready, yeah?' Lee sends to her, making Vulpix perk up. Lee reaches into his bag and withdraws a stack of post-it notes. Vulpix draws closer and seats herself on her haunches as Lee pulls one note free and holds it up.

'Now, corner.'

The top right corner, the same one Lee is focusing on, smolders and spontaneously combusts with a crackle after only several seconds of Vulpix's intense stare.

Lee lets the note drop and burn to ash before pulling another one. 'Now, center.'

Like the note before it, the one in Lee's fingers bursts into flame from the center

Man and fox train in silence for some time, only vaguely paying attention to Brendan's shouts and the sound of Mudkip firing off attacks. "Uwah! Look!"

Both Lee and Vulpix look up at Brendan's shout.

Standing before Brendan and Mudkip is a large Shroomish. The little mushroom pokemon has it's beady eyes locked with the savagely smiling Mudkip, who shifts his weight back and forth in anticipation.

"What's a Shroomish doing so far from the Petalburg woods?" Brendan wonders aloud, voicing the question on Lee's tongue. "The little guy should have dried out in this heat."

Lee stands and pulls his Pokedex from his jacket pocket, pointing it at the Shroomish.

"Shroomish: The Mushroom Pokemon," the Pokedex begins in its dull, computerized voice. "This mild-mannered pokemon inhabits thick forests and consumes dead plant matter. It grows well in dark, moist environments." "It's neither dark nor moist out here," Lee says with a frown, watching the Shroomish begin a slow walk towards Mudkip. "What's up with this little guy?"

Vulpix noses her trainer's leg and flares her telepathic connection to him, sending an image to Lee's. An image Shroomish's little eyes darting to Brendan's bag and the empty food bowls before returning to Mudkip flies through his mind.

"He's hungry?" Lee wonders, getting a nod from Vulpix.

Shroomish grimaces and turns his walk into a run, flying at Mudkip in a textbook Tackle.

Mudkip tenses just in time for Brendan to yell; "Mudkip! Dodge!"

The mudfish braces his muscular legs against the ground and leaps out of Shroomish's way, leaving the little mushroom to stumble to a stop. Then without even needing a command, Mudkip flies back at Shroomish with his own, much faster Tackle.

Shroomish's eyes widen and he tries to move his stubby legs in time, but Mudkip crashes into him like a blue missile with a painful sounding thwack, throwing Shroomish back so hard that he bounces several times before rolling to a stop.

"Nice work Mudkip!" Brendan says with a fist pump, then stops when Shroomish slowly rolls back to his feet with great difficulty. Just one attack left a giant bruise on the little mushroom's front and makes him pant in pain.

"Half-starved and still has the energy to get up after a direct hit huh?" Lee mutters to Vulpix who winces in sympathy. She knows full well how hard Mudkip hits. "Tough, isn't he?"

Shroomish grimaces and runs forward again, albeit much slower, then he stops short and shakes a cloud of yellow pollen from his body with a grunt.

'No, not pollen. Stun Spore!' Lee realizes. "Brendan!"

"On it!" Brendan yells back. "Mudkip! Mist down the Stun Spore!"

Mudkip takes a breath and shoots a Watergun from his maw at the rapidly approaching cloud of yellow, then he partially closes his mouth so the stream deflects off his lips, making a thick wall of mist like a pinched hose.

The Stun Spore runs into the cloud of water droplets and is stopped cold, the spores instantly soaked before falling to the ground.

Mudkip never saw Shroomish charge through the mist in a desperate Tackle.

Mudkip lets out a surprised cry when Shroomish slams his skull directly into his own, sending the mudfish back into his ass and seeing stars. Shroomish almost immediately shakes another cloud of yellow Stun Spore from his little body, practically on top of Mudkip.

"Oh, man! Mudkip! Get out of there quick!" Brendan yells out in panic.

Thankfully, Mudkip isn't so concussed that he can't hear his trainer and rolls out of the way in a hurry, coming to a stop several feet away just as the cloud of Stun Spore settles where he was.

Shroomish growls in frustration, but it's immediately drowned out when Mudkip fires a retaliatory Water Gun out of pure instinct. Shroomish is so close that he has no time to dodge, so the torrent of water crashes into him in a violent surge. The water technique doesn't do much damage against the grass type Shroomish, but it's enough to throw the already battered pokémon end over end with a short cry. He comes to a stop on the ground, unmoving sans his shallow breathing. Both Brendan and Mudkip blink. "Did... Did we win?" Brendan questions quietly, then an enormous smile breaks out on his face. "We won!" He cheers, Mudkip leaping for joy right beside his trainer.

Lee looks down to Vulpix with a small smile. "They did pretty well, eh?" Then he turns back to Brendan as the young boy rummages his through his pockets for something. Then Lee blinks as a thought strikes him. "That hungry Shroomish never intended to win, did he?"

Vulpix just shakes her head.

"All right! Here we go!" Brendan yells in excitement, pulling a pokeball from his pocket. "First catch! Go pokeball!"

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