The afternoon sun beat down on me from above. For the past hour and a half, I headed west towards Petalburg city. My legs were sore from all this walking and my bag is getting heavier the more I walk. I am so tired of all this walking. Maybe it was time to take a break.

There was a large tree nearby that offers plenty of shade that might be good of a spot as any.  When I sat down, I felt my knees just sing in bless. What pain in my legs seems to slowly disappear and replaced with soothing relief. I should let Treecko and Poocheyena out as well. I released my Pokémon from their balls.

Treecko was stretching his arms, with that red bandanna I gave him still around his neck. Poochyena greeted me with another bite on the arm. “Seriously I thought you would stop that,” Poochyena just looked at me with eyes I imagined saying, ‘why would I stop?’

I signed, “all right, I am taking a break. Your both allowed to wonder, just don’t go too far okay.” Both of them understood what I said and ran off. Treecko started to climb trees and jumping form branch to branch while Poochyena was just biting everything that can fit in his mouth. I wonder if I should stop him.

I decided to look though my backpack for anything I could use. I found a guide book called The Homes of Hoenn. The cover had an over head shot of the Hoenn region. It must be a guide book that Mom and Dad packed for me. I opened the book up and search for Petalburg City. Might as well use it to see where I am going.

The pictures in the book didn’t stand out much, it just looked like a more crowded versions of Oldale town. I just glanced thought the paragraphs till a sentence caught my eye. Petalburg city is a registered gym town among the eight in the region. However as the gym is still new, the city itself is not as developed as the others. This places it among the three smallest gym cities, along with Dewford and Lavaridge. I have heard of gym towns before, they are either towns or cities that has a gym created by the Pokémon league. I never been to a Pokémon gym before, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.

“Come on, quit it,” a voice said, “I said knock it off.” Was there someone out here? The owner of the voice didn’t sound like he was in danger, but I decided to go check on him anyway. I got up from my spot and peeked though the foliage. There was a boy who looked about ten. He wore a cap backwards, a shirt with a Sableye design, and shorts. His arms were stretched over his head, trying to keep whatever he was holding from…Poochyena.

I better step in,” Poochyena stop this.” the boy turned his gaze towards me, but Poochyena used the moment to jump on the boy.  The boy fell backward into the grass, releasing something he was holding. Poochyena wasted no time in going after it and eating it. “No, Poocheyena,” I rushed over and grabbed Poocheyena by the neck and lifted him. Poochyena just swallowed whatever he put in his mouth, “damn it, Poochyena, you can’t just eat everything that fits in your mouth.”

“You should have better control over your Pokemon,” I looked back at the young boy who Poochyena stole from.

“I am really sorry for Poocheyena’s behavior and I am sure Poocheyena is sorry too,” Poocheyena shook his head in an ‘I regret nothing’ manner. Why do you cause me so much trouble?

“It’s your fault that your Poocheyena attacked me, so you owe me.”

“I understand completely,” I put Poocheyena back in his ball before he does anything else to get me in trouble, “so what did Poocheyena eat anyway?”

“An Oran berry,” the kid answered, “it took me forever to get it and your Poocheyena ate it.” I saw the kid shake with anger; he really seemed upset that Poocheyena ate the berry.

Then I notice a tear run down his face, “Look I will help you get another berry, just calm down.” was eating the berry really that big a deal?

“You have to help me, you have to!”

“Aren’t you paying attention, I will help you, just calm down.”

“I am calm!”

“Not with you screaming like that. Just tell me where I can get an Oran berry and I will give it to you.”

“Alright I will show you.” He seemed to calm down, “I am Calvin.”

“I’m Innes,” I felt Treecko jump on my back, “and this is Treecko. So where should we go?”

I followed Calvin through the woods; he seemed to know where he is going. I kept Treecko out in case wild Pokémon attacked, but Calvin seemed to know how to avoid entering into their territory. “We are almost there.”  We entered a small clearing with a lake. The water was crystal clear, surskits danced on the water surface like figure skaters. “Come on we need to get the berry.”

“Oh, sorry,” Calvin brought be back, “so where do we get the berries?” Calvin point towards a tree with Oran berries on it branches. Most of the lower branches didn’t seem to have berries on them, “Alright, Treecko can you get a berry for us?” Treecko climbed the tree with ease and dropped an Oran Berry, “alright we got the berry but do you mind answering why you were upset before?”

Calvin snatched the berry out of my hand, “because your Poocheyena ate my berry.”

“That is one thing, but it was nothing worth almost crying over so tell me what is really bothering you.”

“Nothing is bothering me!”

“Okay, then answer why we had to go to this one specifically,” Calvin seemed confused at my statement, “there is obviously other Oran Berry trees we passed coming here and there is also the option of going to the store and buying one. But you choose to come here, why?”

“Does it matter?” Calvin was getting more annoyed with my questions, but I refuse to stop.

“Yes it does. If we apply simple logic, then it is easy to guess why you are going to these lengths,” Treecko climbed down and sat on shoulder, “so you can tell me or I can guess it.”

“It’s for Ziggy, He hasn’t been doing well and I had hoped this will cheer him up. Thank you for the help.”

Calvin started to leave, “Hey, “I called out, “you live in Petalburg, right? Do you mind if I come with you?”

“Sure,” I followed Calvin though the woods as we head to Petalburg. It didn’t take long to get there. I continued to follow Calvin to his house,”you don’t need to follow me anymore.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“I’ll take you to the Pokémon center later, but I want to give Ziggy the berry first,” Calvin open the door, “Ziggy I’m back.” The house oddly quiet, most Pokémon jump with joy when there trainer comes home. I took of my shoes and followed Calvin down the hall. The hall was filled with pictures of the family, they looked mostly average. “Come on Ziggy, eat the berry.” Calvin was kneeled down on the floor; a Zigzagoon was lying down on a pillow.

“Not eating it?”

“No,” I crouched down with him, “he always loves these berries, but even this won’t work.”

“Have you tried taking him to a Pokémon center to get checked out?”

“Yeah I did, but they said that Ziggy is fine.” I pulled out my pokedex and pointed it at Ziggy. Information popped up on the screen, “is that a pokedex?”

“Yeah,” I continued to stare at the screen, without Brendon around I had trouble figuring out what all these numbers mean, “So how long has he been like this?”

“The past few days, we lost a battle and he been like this since.”

“Really he is like this because he lost a battle, was he always such a sore loser?” I had meant that to be internal but the words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“Hey, that’s not every nice. Besides, we lost plenty of times before and he never acted like this before.”

“What about the battle itself, did something happen?”

Calvin was quiet for a second, “yeah, the battle was one sided. We didn’t have a chance,” Calvin started to look depressed; “she was really strong.”

“Okay I think I figured it out,” I place my pokedex away, “if this trainer was as powerful as you say she was then the reason for Ziggy’s action becomes obvious; he lacks confindance.” Calvin just looked at me, “think about it, people always are intimidated by someone with better skill then them, the same could apply to Pokémon too. After his defeat, Ziggy became depressed because of how overpowered he was.”

“If you say so,” Calvin’s voice showed he was doubtful, “if you’re right then how do we fix it?”

“It is not so simple. This isn’t a situation where you could take him to a Pokémon center or give him some medicine to fix it. Zigzagoon’s problem is psychological,” Calvin looked lost, “mental issues; unless he works at it, he could be like this for any amount of time.”

We both were quiet. Ziggy hasn’t moved at all since we got here, if it wasen’t for back moving you would think he was dead. “I got it,” Calvin shouted, “I know how to help Ziggy!”

“Arceus, don’t scream like that out of the blue like that.”

Calvin didn’t seem to heard me, “all you need to do is beat May.”

“Whoa, back up a minute and started again.”

“All you have to do is beat May, then Ziggy would get better.”

“Okay let’s back it up a bit. Is May the name of the trainer who beat you?” Calvin nodded, “okay but how is beating her going to help Ziggy?”

“Once Ziggy sees her defeated he will get better, I know he will.”

I just sighed, even if he was correct and this helps Ziggy, I couldn’t do it. Even if I did battle May, he just assumed I would win. Let’s see if I can resolve this before it gets out of hand, “alright take me to May.” This is a problem between those two; I should just try to resolve it as soon as possible.

“Thank you. Did you hear that Ziggy? Innes is going to beat May for us.” Ziggy didn’t change its mood, but he did look up at Calvin. Calvin picked up Ziggy and ran to the door, “come on Innes, I know where May’s house is.”

“Hold on,” I chased after Calvin. For a kid that was carrying a Zigzagoon, he was moving fast.

Calvin finally stopped after what seem like forever, “here we are. This is where May lives.”  I didn’t really looked at the building, I was to busy trying to catch my breath. My lungs were on fire from all the running, I didn’t feel like this when I was chased by Dustox. “You look like you’re about to die.”

“I…have a…condition,” I wheezed out.

“Laziness,” if I wasn’t busy coughing out my lungs, I would of told him off.

“Okay, so which building is it?” the first thing I notice was the sign besides me. Petalburg City Gym, all challengers welcome. I peeked around the sign, “May lives at the gym,” Calvin nodded. The building looked like it was from the Johto region; there was even Johto fauna by the entrance. If May does live here, there is a good chance she is a Gym Trainer. Calvin walked ahead of me and entered the Gym, Too late to back out now. The inside of the gym looked just as Johto as the outside. The interior remind me of a Dojo like in martial arts movies. Does that mean the Gym specializes in Fighting type Pokémon?

“Looks who’s back,” a voice said, “you in such a rush to get beaten again?” the voice belong to a female. (Not going to describe her look her up) “So who’s this, your friend?” despite her looks, she was mean.

“Yeah, he’s going to beat you,” Calvin shouted.

“Whoa, hold up I am not going to beat anyone.”

“Yeah, you’d lose in a second. Only a fool would be dumb enough to battle me,” she let out a laugh that only rich women on TV gives.

“That’s a bit harsh don’t you think?”

“Much more then you,” this girl is insufferable.

“Look, um May, I heard that you battle Calvin a few days ago.”

“Yeah I did, and what a battle it was,” she smirked, “I never beat someone so easily.” What? “I mean there are some bad battles but his was just sad. It was so bad, that calling it a battle is being too kind. It was more of a beat down.”

“Shut up,” Calvin shouted, “stop insulting Ziggy like that. Ziggy tried really hard to win; you have no right to say that.”

“Oh please, it doesn’t matter how hard you try. In the end, victory is all that matters. It’s your fault anyway; you just come in here and say you want to be a Gym trainer. My Father would never accept someone as weak as you. You should be happy I put you in your place to save you the embarrassment of being defeated and shot down like you did. Why don’t you just go play with all the other losers in the loser corner?”

I had enough, “Apologize.” May just looked at me, “I want you to apologize to Calvin right now!”

“Why should I?”

“Do you want me to explain it? Do you not realize what you are doing? You are bullying a kid, someone younger then you, just because he lost. After a battle, trainers are supposed to congratulate and encourage each other to improve their skills. But you are belittling both Calvin and Ziggy. Ziggy has been depressed ever since your battle and you belittling him is only making him feel worse. I want you to apologize to them right here right now!”

“So you want an apology do you? Fine I’ll give you one, if you beat me.”

“Deal, I going to enjoy knocking some sense into you!”