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Nate was quick to react. “Dodge it Peat!” The command was superfluous. Once the rodent had slowed down enough that the little bear cub could see him, Peat was quick to spot the danger and attempted to push himself out of the way of the attack. Attempt being the keyword. Peat was still clumsy and uncoordinated on land, and his slippery flippers found no purchase on the street beneath him. He slipped and tumbled forward. Rattata—its focus recently heightened—capitalized on the situation. It rammed its head into Peat’s soft, squishy underbelly, pushing with enough strength and momentum to lift the Bearble off the ground and launch him several feet away. “Ha! See?” the youngster shouted. Nate bit the inside of his cheek and fought down the urge to tell her it was a lucky shot. He knew better than most that every fight had a degree of randomness that had to be accounted for. He crouched down to be closer to Peat, who was struggling to get up by his feet. “Hey bud. You okay?” Peat looked up at him with his little button eyes and snorting, still trying to find his footing. “I thought so. You’re made of tougher stuff than that, huh?” Nate smiled when Peat swelled at the compliment and finally managed to steady himself. “In that case… When I say jump, you jump straight up, alright? We’re gonna finish this fight before he gets another lucky shot like that.” Peat nodded and waddled forward, staring down the Rattata more intensely than Nate had ever seen him look at anyone. Oh yeah. He’s got that fire in him alright. First knock down and he’s finally taking it seriously. Like trainer, like Pokémon. “Now you see why Rattata is the king of this city!” the youngster shouted, throwing her arm forward to gesture at them. “Finish it off with another Tackle, Rattata!” Rattata threw itself forward again. Nate slammed his closed fist into the palm of his hand and shouted, “gotcha! Peat, jump!” Many things could be said about the young Bearble. He was clumsy. He was too curious for his own good. But one thing that was certain was that Peat had total faith in his new trainer. The little bear cub had been crouched and ready to jump from the moment he had waddled away from Nate, his face scrunched up in concentration. The moment that he heard the signal he launched himself into the air with every bit of power he had. Rattata’s eyes widened as its attack missed, the youngster across the field shouted “what?!”, and then the rest of the plan became clear. Peat landed on top of the Rattata when it came down and pinned it to the ground. “Quick! Do the Scratch combo, just like we talked about!” Nate yelled. One-two. One-two. One-two. Peat smacked the pinned Rattata across the face with his flippers repeatedly. His claws were small and not very sharp, but the strength behind the blows was enough that within a few hits Rattata’s head sagged back and its eyes started to swirl. “That’s enough, Peat!” Nate called as soon as he noticed. Peat was mid-swing but Nate raced forward and scooped him off of the little rat. Peat squirmed for a moment before calming down when Nathan’s grip held firm. Rattata disappeared in a flash of red light as Younger Zoe returned it. Nate closed the distance and offered her his hand to shake. “That was a great battle. You and Rattata nearly had us. Right, Peat?” Peat, now looking much calmer, made a noise somewhere in between a grunt and a purr and wiggled his earfins at the girl. Youngster Zoe crossed her arms and huffed. "Urgh, listen here! I'm gonna train so hard, and get all the top Rattata around and show you who the top percentage really is!" Nate grinned and put his hand down. “You’re on,” he said. “Until then you can tell everyone about the time you almost beat the future-champion of Korova.” Younger Zoe huffed one more time and then she was gone. As soon as she was out of sight, Nate spun around and threw Peat several feet into the air. “WE DID IT!” he yelled to the heavens. He caught Peat as he came down and buried his face into the cub’s mossy fur. It was always damp and smelled like seaweed, but Nate was so caught up in the moment that he barely noticed. “You did amazing! I can’t believe you got up from that tackle! Rattata was all like, BOOM, but then you got up and you jumped and it was like, BAM! RING THE BELL! MATCH OVER!” Peat roared and rumbled and wiggled his body from the tips of his ear fins all the way to his rear flippers. The two of them continued to dance around and be totally over the top loud until Nate realized they were drawing attention to themselves. He put Peat on the ground and reached for his Poké Ball. “I’m gonna return you until I can get to a Pokémon Center,” he said. Peat grunted his protest but Nate pushed on. “No way. Fight hard, rest hard. That’s the golden rule. You earned a rest, alright?” Nate scratched him behind the ear fins one more time. “I’ll let you out tonight and get you some good food and we’ll celebrate even more then. You did awesome bud.” Peat protested for a few more minutes but eventually caved and vanished into his Poké Ball. Nate clipped it to his belt and started walking, hands behind his head and looking up at the sky. The smile on his face never once faltered. Life was good. He had won his first battle. He had the greatest Pokémon in the world. And he was on his way to a Pokémon Center. Except… “Excuse me. Do you know where the Pokémon Center is?” he would ask the first passerby he saw, feeling very stupid for not following his opponent when had the chance.