Journey Through Johto |Discontinued|

Chapter 2.16: Flame Control

"I know, right? He's such a dork, but I miss- OW!" Zia got knocked to the ground after walking out of the Pokémon Center with Sky and Emmy.

A boy carrying his Growlithe was the one to run into her. "Are you okay?" Zia asked him, seeing the worry and urgency in his eyes. "Sorry, my Growlithe's in bad shape. Growlithe and I messed with the wrong trainer this time." The boy explained as Zia stood back up, rubbing her back a bit. Her poor back.

"Oh, oh, can we go battle them? Please?" Emmy pleaded, drawing out the last word as her eyes widened, staring at the girl innocently. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to go see. Get some training in. Do you know where they are?" Zia asked the last part to the kid.

"Yeah, they're at the old mountain bridge. And if you're smart, stay away." He answered before going inside. Zia huffed, that was awfully rude. "As if I would be scared away by some random trainer who took down a little kid and his Growlithe." There was no reason to question her intelligence by a decision such as this, she was simply curious.

Zia didn't need anymore incentive as she started walking towards the location of this tough trainer. Emmy excitedly hurried behind her, glad to have her trainer on her side for once in this situation. Sky just sighed and trudged along. She was the only sane one in the group, it seemed.

A short walk later and they arrived at the old mountain bridge. "No one's here." Zia stated obviously, a little put out. What was she to be scared of? A ghost? After having Aine for so long, she couldn't be scared of that sort of thing.

"Look over there." Sky pointed out. Following the Luxray's gaze, the other two saw a girl standing off to the side near the edge of the cliff. She had pink pants, a purple shirt, blue hair, a bag, and a pink hat on.

"Hello there." Zia called out as the girl turned to look. She was definitely a few years older than Zia. "Hi." She greeted back. "My name's Zia." The younger introduced, walking closer. "I'm Miki." The other returned politely.

"Are you, by chance, the strong trainer that's hanging around here?" Zia asked to make sure. It would be awkward if she got the wrong person and suddenly asked them to a battle. The girl smirked, taking out a pokeball.

She moved back, leaving quite a bit of space between the two of them. "You're pretty quick. Yes, I am. And since you're here, I presume you want a battle. Let's do it then, use a fire Pokémon." Miki said a little aggressively, but not hostile or violent.

Zia was a little shocked by the sudden change in behavior, as were her Pokémon. "Well, Zi, are you gonna battle me?" She mocked playfully, the smirk still on her face. "That's what I came up here for." Zia chuckled after regaining her senses.

"Good. I choose you, Skarmory!" Miki said, sending out her Pokémon. It was a giant bird Pokémon. However, it looked almost metallic, being silver and grey in color. Its head was narrow and the inside of its wings were red. On its feet, each, were three giant talons.

Skarmory: The Armor Bird Pokémon
After nesting in bramble bushes, the wings of its chicks grow hard from scratches by thorns.

"Maybe you've never seen one of these before. Skarmory is a steel/flying-type Pokémon, but for some reason, steel-type's are usually weak against fire-types." The older explained as Zia raised an eyebrow. It was fairly obvious why to her. Of course, she could hear the underlying sarcasm and knew that the girl just wanted to battle fire-types to prove it wasn't all just about typing.

Zia knew the perfect Pokémon for this battle. Seeing the glint in her trainer's eyes, Emmy moved forward to take her place in the battle when Zia took out a pokeball. The Serperior sulked on her way back next to Sky, to where the Luxray patted her head comfortingly.