Pokemon Amethyst Version

Darrick watched as, one-by-one, his fellow trainers took hold of their first Pokemon. He kept his Cyndaquil out, to give it its share of fresh air and stretched appendages before the long journeys confined to its Pokeball that lay ahead. While he observed the others' interactions, he sat himself on the floor next to his new companion, gently rubbing its head to its content. The effect wasn't lost on the trainer: the Pokemon was becoming calmer around him, the flames upon its back even emerged, getting slightly stronger by the moment. "We'll be best friends in no time, Dante," he said. He looked at the Cyndaquil, which looked back up at him with an almost puzzled expression. "Oh," he quickly added, "I figured I would name you Dante. If that suits you. Does it?"

"Cynda! Cyndaquil!" the Pokemon responded agreeably and pleased with the name bestowed upon him.

"Glad to see you're happy with it." Darrick pushed up and back onto his feet and looked down to his Pokemon. "What do you say we go mingl- what the?"

A wave of red-brown hair brushed narrowly past Darrick's face on its way to the Pokeballs. His eyes followed after, finding that it belonged to an unapologetic looking girl who seemed to be a bit younger than the rest of the party. "You're excused," he said, only to be ignored in the light of the girl's speech that followed.

"Listen up! There's only one position at the top, and it's reserved for none other than me. And to prove it"

I can see where this one is going.

"I'm challenging you all to a Pokemon Battle!"

Knew it. Looks like we've got ourselves a Little Miss Sassafras. This'll be an interesting journey if her bite's enough to back her bark. As tempting as it was to accept the challenge, Darrick stayed put where he was, making neither a combative or retreating motion; his first battle was already determined by tradition. With Aura being the first to accept, he gave her a curt nod as she walked outside. "Let's get going Dante," he said to the Pokemon at his feet. "We don't want to miss a chance to see what this new girl's battling is like."

He followed at the tail end of the group, out into the field where their first ever battle would be determined. Darrick quickly situated himself in the shade, leaning up against the trunk of a nearby tree, from where he watched the battle, a little ways away from the others so he could concentrate on what the two combatants were like: how the new girl would handle the battle in general, and how Aura would apply her learning with her new Pokemon.

"Go Aura! Beat this chick and show her where cockiness gets you!"

Darrick, assuming himself unseen and unnoticed, only threw a stern glance towards Jasmine for her comment. Maybe it is just cockiness that gives this girl her bravado. But then... He peered over to the opposite end of the battlefield, towards the new girl and beyond, to a tree on the other end of the field, where he could clearly make out the visage of a familiar and anticipated person. He rubbed his eyes, not believing it, only to find that when he looked again, the person was gone.

"Quil?" he heard Dante chime in quizzically at his confusion, most likely the only person that had noticed.

"It's nothing Dante. Just, well, something in my eye." He turned his attention back to the battlefield and caught back up to his train of thought. Maybe this confidence is what will win this girl this battle. Aura may have type advantage with her Riolu against a Zorua. But at this level it probably doesn't have any attack that align with its type. The resistance factor can only go so far. If the new girl has a good tactic to work off of, it'll be a rough battle. "Be careful out there Aura! This one could be more difficult than it seems!"

 

Jasmine cheered loudly as Aura pulled off a victory. "Yeah I knew you wouldn't lose Aura!" The girl giddily got to her feet and ran over to her friend tackle hugging her. "You're super amazing, and so cute in that outfit!"

Embarrassing her friend was something Jasmine took a lot of pride in, it was one of her favorite pastimes actually. Which is what she was currently doing, well, that and not allowing her to be alone with Laharl. She wasn't possessive or anything really, she just gets kind of jealous when other people try to impress her, mainly because Jasmine herself had no redeeming qualities in her mind. The only thing she had was her friend and she didn't want to lose that.

 

"Well, that was a bit unexpected. She shouldn't have let off on Copycat; it might have been her saving grace. Still, a close battle." With the battle over, Darrick pushed off of the tree trunk and joined the others, many of whom were congratulating Aura for her victory. He gave a more solemn affirmation, an approving nod of the head. He couldn't have brought himself to tell her just then that he had been somewhat pulling for her opponent to edge her out towards the end, if only to stand as an example of the tough journey ahead of them, and the secret hope that she would be able to back up her words with a performance to match. He knew he would have to challenge the girl as soon as he could, to see how he fared; he just had one other challenge to tend to before that could happen.

For the time being though, he listened to Professor Cypress' last words of confidence and the plan for their travels. With an even number of trainers, they were split into two teams of four. Darrick, looking around, registered who his team was as the Professor ran down the names: Sara-Kate Akins quickly identified as the girl that had just battled Aura; Krimson Bell, the boy with the other Cyndaquil, whose name he had overheard in his conversation with Zac; Thomas Springfield, whom Darrick readily located as the last person whose face didn't have a name to it. Being designated a team captain came as a slight shock, though it made sense considering he was the only person in his group that was local and in personal contact with Cypress over the years.

He didn't hesitate to rise to the challenge. As the teams divvied themselves out to acquaint, Darrick took the reigns of his group, first moving over to join Krimson and waving towards Thomas to call him over; the only one that was missing was Sara-Kate, who Darrick had seen running off to get her Zorua healed, and knew they would have to fetch her on their way out. "Darrick Kuhn," he said to Krimson, holding out his hand. "I see you got a Cyndaquil as well."