Warrior


A short distance from the inner circle, Ace the Treecko sat upon a tree branch and looked up at it feeling it was so very far away, like a world apart. He let out a small sigh before looking down at his bowl of Pokemon food and plucked up a few pieces in his hand and brought them to his maw.

“Feeling any better?” asked Tsune the Zoroark standing at the base of the same tree Ace was in.

“Whoa!” cried Ace taken by surprise and nearly fell out of the tree, but managed to hang on with one arm while the other held onto his bowl of Pokechow. “You scared me. I didn’t even know you were there.”

“I was here for quite some time,” Tsune told him. “For a Pokemon that was wild till only a short while ago you seem to lack basic survival skills. Even if you didn’t have to defend yourself against trainers trying to capture you, I’m sure you at least had to defend yourself from other Pokemon.”

“I never had to do anything like that,” admitted Ace. “Most of the other Pokemon up on the inner circle were always friendly. There was more than enough food so there were hardly any problems. There were times when we did get attacked by invading Pokemon, but that’s why we had the Guardians to protect us.”

“Guardians?” questioned Tsune.

“A group of strong Pokemon who come to the aid of everyone in the inner circle,” Ace explained. “They are picked to be the protectors of everyone up there. My friend, Ralph was one of them too.”

“That little Pichu,” recalled Tsune before giving a glare at Ace the scared his hand loose of the tree branch and he fell to the ground with a thud. “Pitifully weak.”

“Take that back,” snapped Ace looking up angrily at the larger Pokemon. “Ralph had only just become a Guardian. He may not be very strong yet, but he will one day. And if you were up against Razor then you’d be the one who’d have gotten beaten.”

“Forgive me,” replied Tsune. “I wasn’t calling him weak, I was referring to you. It is fine to have allies to rely on, but that does not mean you should not try to make yourself stronger. Because a time might come when you will have to rely on your own power. You are a member of Snow’s team now and you’ll have to learn to pull your own weight around here.”

“How do I do that?” asked Ace as he got up and rubbed his bruised bottom.

“You train, of course,” answered Tsune. “And it should be about time that your training has finally began.”

“Okay, Ace,” Snow called to his newest Pokemon. “Looks like you’ve adjusted well to the group if you are getting along with Tsune already. It’s about time to see how you do in battle.”

“Battle?” gulped Ace. “I have to fight?”

“It’s part of being a trainer’s Pokemon,” Tsune replied. “We fight other Pokemon whether they are new Pokemon our trainer wants to catch or if we are battling to defeat another trainer’s Pokemon.”

“Then it is all true,” whimpered Ace. “Humans really are monsters that capture and enslave Pokemon.”

“Is that what Pokemon on that inner circle think?” asked Tsune. “I guess I should expect that if you’ve only heard things about the outside world. Trainers battle for a number of reasons, but the main one is to become the best in the world. That’s why Snow is on this journey with his friends. They all want to be the best and to do that they need the best Pokemon they can find.”

“Then why would he want me?” asked Ace. “I’m not strong at all.”

“But you can become stronger with training, like your friend,” Tsune continued. He then rubbed his chin as a thought came to mind. “If he is a Guardian meant to protect his fellow Pokemon, think of yourself as Warrior.”

“A Warrior?” replied Ace sounding intrigued by the title.

“Yeah,” nodded Tsune seeing Ace take an interest. “We are all warriors on a quest for strength and to be the best. We fight for our trainer and one another. Our greatest honor is to be selected to participate in a Gym Battle and to one day battle in the Pokemon League.”

“What’s a Gym Battle and the Pokemon League?” questioned Ace whimsically.

“I’ll tell you about it some other time,” smiled Tsune as he patted Ace on the head a few times. He didn’t look nervous in the least anymore. Now he looked very excited. “But, first, let’s see how well you can battle.”

“Battle… right,” nodded Ace clutching his paws together. “I can do this. I’m a warrior.” Turning to Snow, the look in his eyes showed he was ready.

“I’m not sure what Tsune said to you, but it looks like he got you pumped up to battle,” smiled Snow. He then turned to one of his friends. “Hey, Tom, want to have a little match with me and Ace?”

“Sure,” he replied looking down at the Pokeballs he had on his belt. “It’s his first battle, so I should try not to be too rough with him. How about Watt?”

“Bring him on,” agreed Snow as he moved back a few feet and Tom did the same so they were facing one another several meters apart. Tsune moved away too, leaving Ace alone in between the two trainers.

“Uh, Tsune, what do I do now?” asked the confused Treecko.

“You battle using the attacks your trainer tells you to use on your opponent’s Pokemon,” he explained.
“But I don’t know any moves,” admitted Ace.

“You should know at least a couple,” Tsune informed him. “But even if you aren’t aware of it, Snow has a device that will tell him just what you can do.”

“He does?” asked Ace looking at Snow again and saw him holding a small, red device in his hand that had a camera on it, pointed at him.

“Says here, you know Pound, Leer, and Absorb,” read Snow. “So, all your most basic moves. Guess you don’t have much battle experience yet, but I know you must have loads of potential.”

Hearing those words, Ace could feel a strange warmth inside of him. It felt very nice to him and made him smile. Tsune could see this and let out a small chuckle. “You feeling all warm and fuzzy?”

“Yeah,” nodded Ace.

“That’s how Snow makes all his Pokemon feel,” he told him. “Not bad for being a ‘scary monster.’”

“Mmhmm,” nodded Ace turning towards Tom to show that he was ready too.

“Looks like you both are ready,” stated Tom, waiting patiently for Ace since this was his first battle. “Then let’s begin.” Grabbing a Pokeball attached to his belt, he pressed the button on the front of it, making it grow big enough to fill his hand. He then tossed it, and it opened up mid throw. A beam of red light shot out from it and hit the ground, taking the shape of a Pokemon. Once the form of the Pokemon was complete, the red light faded, revealing the Pokemon. It had a short body that appeared like the end of a power cord (even including the two holes in the plug atop its head) with arms and legs. It’s body was mostly yellow, with a pair of black rings on its arms and some stripes on its torso. It’s feet were yellow while its legs were black and it had a black lightning bolt on its chest. It’s arms were thicker at the end with three claws on each while its feet were round and without any nails. It’s maw had a couple points on the upper half. It’s eyes opened at an angle giving it a scary-looking expression.

“I remember you,” recalled Ace to the other day when he had been captured and met all the Pokemon on Snow’s team and as well as all of the Pokemon of Snow’s friends. “Watt, right? An ele… uh, what kind of a Pokemon are you again?”

“I’m an Elekid,” he reminded Ace. “What say we have a good battle together?” He held out his hand for Ace to shake and Ace reached over to accept, but stopped and thought back to their first meeting.


“H-Hi, everyone,” Ace stuttered as he looked at about a dozen other Pokemon, most types he had never even seen before. “I’m Treecko, oh, uh, I mean Ace. I-It’s nice to meet you all.”

“Glad to meet ya,” one Pokemon greeted him.

“Welcome to the team!”

“Snow always wanted a Treecko… don’t let it go to your head newbie.”

“I see Snow gave you your scarf already. Once we get a full team we’ll have to do a group shot together.”

Ace listened, surprised by the warm and friendly welcome he was getting from all the new Pokemon. The were some other Pokemon that weren’t among the greeting committee, Tsune being one of them, but they did, at least, watch from a distance, giving Ace a look over. What was going through their minds, however, was anyone’s guess. The last one to greet Ace was the Elekid, Watt.”

“The name’s Watt. Nice ta meet ya!” he said with a happy face. “I’m one of Tom’s Pokemon.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ace told him and then looked at all the others. “Nice to meet you all!”

“Put her there, new friend,” Watt told him holding out his arm.

“Sure thing,” smiled Ace taking Watt’s hand to shake it. A few of the other Pokemon tried to say something in warning to Ace, but they were too slow to react. Ace suddenly felt a powerful, electric jolt course through his body. “Yeow!” Ace collapsed to the ground feeling well done.

“Oh, man, I got him good!” laughed Watt loudly. A few other Pokemon snickered a bit too at his little prank, but most weren’t and looked at Watt quite angrily. When he saw the glares he was getting he waved an arm and scoffed. “Just hazing the new guy is all. He’s resistant so not like he took a lot of damage anyway.”


Cautiously, Ace pulled his arm back and rubbed his paw. It still felt a bit sore, and even more as he recalled their first meeting. “You were gonna shock me again, weren’t you?”

“Thought I could get you twice in a row, but guess not,” he admitted with a grin. He then began to swing his arms around and around which started to cause his body to start sparking with electricity. “Just means I’ll just have to zap you in our battle.”

Jumping back to get some distance, Ace stood at the ready. “You start,” Tom told Snow.

“Then let’s go in swinging,” ordered Snow. “Give em a Pound, Ace!”

“Pound?” asked Ace not sure what kind of attack that was supposed to be, but, even though he didn’t, his body seemed to know. He rushed forward and leapt at the Elekid. Then with flip, he swung his tail at the electric Pokemon and hit him hard with it, knocking him back, as Ace landed swiftly on his feet. Seeing what he had done, and even more surprised how he had done it, Ace breathed heavily with astonishment.

“Not bad,” complimented Tsune. “You seem quite adept at battle even if you lack experience.”

“But how could I do something I’ve never done before or even know I can do?” questioned Ace.

“You are capable of quite a lot,” he explained. “Better late than never for you to finally see your potential. And if you are impressed by this, just wait till you get strong enough to do some truly amazing things.”

“Oh, like what?” asked Ace curiously.

“We can talk about that later too,” Tsune told him. “Right now, you better focus on the battle you’re currently in.”

“Not bad,” commented Watt as he got back on his feet looking completely unharmed. “That actually stung a little.”

“I hit you have everything I had,” commented Ace. “And it did nothing?”

“What did you think was gonna happen facing off against an opponent well above your level?” Watt told him. “You’re gonna need to work a lot harder if you wanna win this fight, but don’t think that we’re battling just to give you a win. It’s my turn to attack now.”

“Watt,” instructed Tom. “Use Shockwave!”

“Remember that little zap I gave you before?” cackled Watt as he started to swing his arms around and around faster than before to build up his electricity even further. His entire body started to spark and some of it discharged around him. “I didn’t use enough strength to even qualify that as an attack when we shook hands. Here’s me actually trying!”

“Oh, crud,” trembled Ace as he took a few steps back out of fear. Watt took a step forward in response for each step he took, intimidating Ace further.

“Ha!” shouted Watt and gave Ace the final push he needed to turn tail and flee. He ran, but he couldn’t move as fast as Watt’s attack as he discharged a concentrated blast of electricity right at him. It struck him from behind and he could feel the difference in power from before and now. The pain was paralyzing. Before Ace even tumbled to the ground he was out cold. “Win for me,” declared Watt smugly.


“...ce… Ace…” Ace heard faintly as he started to regain consciousness. It was Snow who was speaking to him and had him resting on his lap. “Ace, are you okay?”

“What happened?” groaned Ace. Though Snow couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he understood enough to know how to respond.

“That was a great attempt,” Snow told him gently rubbing his head. “We can try again when you’re feeling up for it. No sense in pushing yourself too hard right at the start.” Snow took out a strange-looking object and aimed it at Ace. “This is a Potion. It’ll help you heal and make you feel better. Just stay still for me, okay.” Squeezing the handle, a cold mist hit his body. It gave him a chill at first and then vanished along with any pain he was feeling in that spot. After a few sprays Ace was feeling completely fine. Any signs of injury vanished as well. Once Snow finished, Ace got back onto his feet. “There you go, all better.”

“Th-thank you,” Ace said tearfully and hugged Snow, a few tears running down his face.

“It’s ok,” Snow comforted him. “We’ll definitely win next time. Now, go take it easy for a bit. You can come back when you’re ready.”

“Mmhmm,” sniffled Ace as he let go of Snow and hurried off toward where his food dish was. He was happy to see it filled. Most of the other Pokemon were still eating from their own bowls. Some he could see had already finished as seen from the empty and abandoned bowls. Walking over to his food, Ace could feel a bit of tension in the air. He felt like everyone was giving him an uncomfortable glare. As he sat down to eat, Tsune finally approached him with an even less friendly face than he usually wore. “H-Hi,” Ace greeted him meekly.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?” he asked. “After that battle?”

“I-I tried my best,” Ace told him, unable to make eye contact.

“If that was true, we wouldn’t be having this talk,” Tsune told him. “You were doing very well, but in the end you ran away with your tail between your legs. It was shameful.”

“But I couldn’t win that fight,” Ace told him sadly.

“And you lost the second you thought that,” Tsune replied. “We’d have been better of if we had captured that Ralph friend of yours. At least he had the guts to keep fighting despite how bad the odds appeared.”

“I’m sorry,” sniffled Ace. “I’ll do better next time.”

“You can say that, but your problem is not so simple that winning a battle will make everything right,” he explained. “If you are able to lose heart so easily then how can any of us trust you to be on our team. You’ll let us down and you’ll let Snow down.”

“I won’t! I promise!” exclaimed Ace, but despite his volume he could see his words didn’t carry any weight with them.

“You have to do more than say it and you have to do more than win a battle,” Tsune stated.

“Then what do I have to do?” asked Ace.

“You have to prove to us and yourself that you truly are a warrior and deserve to be a member of this team,” he answered and walked away. The other Pokemon finished their food and left as well leaving Ace to eat his food alone.