"Since Hop has two Pokémon, he can use them both and you two can use your partners," Leon said as he stood nearby with Charizard to referee the match. The three nodded and got into position.

"Girls no offense to you both, but I'm not gonna lose this one. This is the start of my legendary tale—"

"Hopscotch, you're copyrighting my idea! I'm telling Author-Sama!"

Leon looked to Anastasia who shrugged. "Alright, you two we're friends and all, but uhh I really don't want to lose to either of you. It would be sad like I'd rather lose to a youngster," Anastasia said while snorting at the faces of her friends' reactions.

"That's enough you three! Get ready!"

"Crap, I don't have a potion—Stasia do you have a potion?" Izziadora asked as her Sobble hopped forward. Anastasia looked at her quizzically, "no...? And why would have one? Where would I even hide it?"

"Just asking...usually they're somewhere and they pop up during the rival battles like the Deus Ex Machina item it is. What about your PC—shoot! We don't have one yet—"

"Wooloo, Tackle on Sobble!"

"Ah darn! Uhm—Sobble get out the way!"

Because of Izziadora being distracted the water type was instantly slammed by the sheep-like Pokémon. Luckily, it wasn't out just yet.  "Keep ya head in the game love or ya might end up losing!" Anastasia called out. She then directed her gaze back to the battle and called out for Scorbunny to use Tackle on Grookey who had previously attacked Scorbunny with a Growl attack. Izziadora watched Anastasia and Hop go at it; back and forth they traded blows with their Pokémon. They barely paid any attention to Izziadora.

The brunette growled which alerted her starter. "Sobble...."

"Oble?"

"They have the gall to ignore us during our debut. Let's show 'em what happens when they ignore true legends! Now hit those two with a soak attack!"

..........

Sobble tilted her head in confusion. Then it dawned on Izziadora, "heh...you don't know any water moves yet...do you?"

"Sob sobble," Sobble shook her head. Anastasia snorted, "this is a trainer battle! Not a ranger mission love!"

"Sorry! Old habits mate!"

"Too bad!" Anastasia sang as her Scorbunny tackled Sobble. "Hey! Quit that!"

"Oh? I thought you feeling a bit left out watching the masters at work!"

Izziadora growled, "I'll show you when I knockout that Buneary of yours!"

Anastasia froze, "Pardon?! That's a Scorbunny, not a Buneary ya idiot!"

Izziadora did a double-take, before yelling back at the blonde. "I'm sorry, but every rodent looks the same to me! Like, have you seen how many electric types look like Pikachu and have zap sacs in their cheeks or whatever?"

"Oh boy," Leon sighed as his Charizard let out a grumble. "Arceus almighty, you suck!"

"No, you suck!"

"Not as much as you suck at battling! Scorbunny! Tackle attack on Sobble!"

A dangerous glint shined in Izziadora's eyes, "well then! Jokes on you, but you're about to swallow this L!"

"Not unless you choke on defeat first!"

Izziadora chuckled, "Oh ho ho! Then this is definitely going to be hard to swallow ain't it love?"

Leon laughed nervously as his Charizard looked mildly amused. "I don't know how to feel about two teenage girls talking about sucking and swallowing...."

"Sobble, counter with Pound!"

Sobble seemed to have a higher speed stat as she finally landed a hit. Scorbunny was knocked back, but not down. That got the little fire rabbit fired up as small flames spewed out of his mouth. Anastasia noticed and smirked, "Scorbunny, let's get Wooloo out of here and even the playing field! Tackle!"

"NOW you two notice me?!" Hop yelled.

"Sod off Hopscotch, ya still have ya chimp!" Izziadora huffed as her Sobble swung her tail at the grass type. She apparently put too much force into it as if she was aiming for a Critical Hit because it threw her off balance which allowed Grookey to avoid the attack.

"Oops. You okay little bab?" Izziadora asked. Sobble looked back and nodded; the brunette let out a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Anastasia defeated Hop's Wooloo and in the process, Scorbunny learned Ember. Knowing that now Anastasia had the advantage, Izziadora began to scramble for an idea. Sobble doesn't know a water type move, but is a bit faster than Scorbunny and seems to be resilient when taking some hits. If she attacked Scorbunny now it wouldn't be good, because Anastasia would definitely take advantage of any mistake she'd make. So the safer option was to take out Grookey and gain experience before Anastasia does.

"Sobble, use Growl on Scorbunny!"

Sobble turned towards the fire starter and let out a piercing yet adorable scream. Scorbunny, confused; pulled his ears down as the sound echoed in his head. Izziadora noticed Hop's Grookey coming to hit Sobble from behind. "Sobble swing your tail up! Hard!"

Although confused, Sobble obeyed and swung her tail up. She heard Grookey cry out in both shock and pain as her tail made contact. She quickly turned around and what do ya know? That actually knocked the monkey out.

"WAS THAT A CRITICAL HIT?! Sobble, you did it! You came in CLUTCH BABY!" Izziadora cheered. That boosted Sobble's moral although she knew the battle wasn't really over. She locked eyes with Scorbunny who looked back with a smirk that was equal to his trainer's. The level of confidence was higher than what Sobble was used to as she felt a torrent build up in the pit of her stomach.

"Alright then, I see ya took Hop out. Think you ready for me and my partner? Sobble looks like she's about to keel over. She took so many hits while you were screeching like a frightened Torchic!"

Izziadora knew. In fact, she was counting on that. There's one thing she knew about starters and that's the one ability that changes the tide when things look red. "Then come put us out of our misery then!" Izziadora challenged. Anastasia shook her head, "Sorry, Izzy! Scorbunny, use Ember!"

The rabbit spat out a spew of flames that flew towards Sobble. Izziadora and Sobble made no moves as the flames got closer and closer. Izziadora noticed a blue like aura surrounding Sobble, smiling she called out, "Sobble, use Water gun!"

Sobble let out a burst of water that was a bit bigger than a normal Water gun attack. It doused out the Ember attack and continued onward until it made contact with Scorbunny. Anastasia looked up, mildly shocked. Sobble must've learned it after taking out Grookey. She then noticed the blue like aura surrounding Sobble.

"Torrent..."

She looked to Scorbunny to see he was still raring to fight. She smiled and called out for him to use Tackle. Izziadora wasn't having it though, as she ordered Sobble to dodge and counter with Pound. Both Pokémon evaded each other as their paw/tail clashed and made contact. The girls recoiled at the sight as the starters hopped away and stared each other down.

Sobble then fell onto her back. Defeated.

"Noooooooo!"

"Ha! I win!"

Scorbunny pumped a fist into the air and hopped over to Anastasia. Izziadora walked into the mat and picked Sobble up. "You okay little Bab?"

Sobble blinked a few times and cooed. Izziadora shrugged as Anastasia continued her mini celebration. "It was our first battle. No biggie. There'll be more plebeians to crush!"

Leon then came over, "nice battle you three! Charizard almost wanted to jump in!"

"Don't you dare lie on that boy he was cringing the whole time," Izziadora said with a deadpan look. Hop sunk his shoulders, "I was the first one out even though I had two Pokémon...."

"Sometimes numbers doesn't mean you'll always win," Anastasia said but rubbed his back in a way to cheer him up. "Despite that being your first battle, you didn't do that bad. Anastasia, you definitely have talent; both you and Scorbunny had the confidence to believe in each other. Hop, you out too much effort in how you threw your Pokéball—don't think I didn't notice. Izziadora, you're too reactive, but I see that over time you begin to understand how battling works. Sobble is a good match considering water types are patient and can adapt to different styles well,"

"Gee if I wanted to be graded I would've gone to trainer school or ranger school..." Izziadora muttered. "Well, I still had fun. Just imagine if we took part in the Gym Challenge!"

"Wow, slow down there Hop. I don't know if you three are ready for that. The Gym Challenge is no joke," Leon said. "We know Lee! But you said it yourself that we have skill, we just need to work on it...right?"

"Yeah, Hop is right. If anything I'd be worried about Izzy since she's been a weird hermit—"

"I don't stay in my house all day!" Izziadora exclaimed. "Exactly, but you seem to find yourself in mine a bit too much!" Anastasia replied smugly. "Do you want me to go to jail or not?"

"At this point, I'm still debating,"

"Still debating?!"

"Hey!"

Everyone looked over to see Hop and Leon's mother walk outside. "If you all are done why don't you stay for dinner? We're having a cookout right here in the garden,"

Anastasia and Izziadora exchanged smiles before looking back and nodding eagerly. After all, food is a girl's best friend.

"Sooooo are you still thirsting over the man with more logos than your Flapple laptop?" Anastasia asked teasingly. Izziadora rolled her eyes as she swallowed her food. "It was a phase, plus back then he babysat us a lot back then so...."

"Sooooo?"

"For Mew's sake no, Stasia. I've grown up and realized: he's not my type....plus those sideburns kills it for me and he doesn't have any salt or wit," Izziadora replied. "Oh, okay...so you like Kevins," Anastasia commented while subtly taking a sip of her drink. Izziadora choked, "Why a Kevin specifically?!"

"Oh, pardon me would you prefer a Falkner?"

"Ew! He's like in his late twenties! Plus I don't do flying types! Bugs? Okay, but no birds please,"

"Okay, then I guess the correct term would be a Blue Oak,"

That got Izziadora to perk up. "Well, he isn't unattractive...and he's definitely witty, but that playboy attitude—"

"You biased Liepard!"

"What? He's cute!"

"He's OLDER than Falkner! Also, I'm pretty sure he owns a Pidgeot!"

"So?! You had a crush on Cynthia once upon a time!"

"Well no brainer—she's a queen, but I'm not trying to cause a scandal like the reactions of everyone who found out the Aether Foundation was actually evil!"

"Don't even get me started on that. I don't even know how they still have sponsors, fucking Alolans—"

"Girls, girls!"

Anastasia and Izziadora fell silent as Hop's mom approached them with a gentle smile. "I know today's been an exciting day and that you girls are all eager to get out and see the world, but let's put a Lil' sugar on that salty sailor language eh?"

"Sorry, ma'am it won't happen again," Izziadora said innocently. "Yeah, so sorry," Anastasia added while mimicking the innocent tone her friend used. Once the woman left they turned to each other, "bloody hell we need to get out of this town," Anastasia said low enough for Izziadora to hear. "Here's to hoping Leon actually quits the act and gives the endorsement to us. Like, we know he's going to why play the long game?"

"Celebrities. Ugh," the two said simultaneously. Izziadora then smiled coyly and leaned forward, "sooooo anyone you fancy?"

"As sure as heck it ain't Hop or his brother. Not interested in boys—"

"Ha! So, ya like girls then?! Makes sense—"

"Shut the hell up Izzy!"

"Come on, out wit' it!"

"The only thing that'll be coming out is my fist from under this table if you don't shut up,"

"....what if I like it though?"

"IZZIADORA."