That was it. This judgemental brat may have saved my life, but I was over being looked down on as a trainer and there was no way I was going to let him badmouth my Chesnaught.

"If you think he's so weak, why don't you battle him and see for yourself," I said with a growl in my voice. The guy blinked up at me and then stood up, giving me an arrogant sneer.

"You sure about that? You did just nearly die a few hours ago." His words sounded like he was concerned, but his expression made it seem like he was just giving me a way to gracefully bow out of our battle. Which, of course, only made me more annoyed and I scowled at him defiantly.

"Scared to fight an invalid?" I asked, and I could hear Chesnaught smacking a clawed fist into his palm beside me with a small growl. The guy smirked, looking slightly less mocking as he reached for one of his Pokeballs.

"Most of my opponents are pathetic anyway, so it's nothing new," the guy said with a pretentious smirk which made my skin crawl with dislike. As he tossed his Pokeball out though my annoyance transformed into honest surprise when I saw a hulking Electivire in front of me. A memory from my first day in Galar flashed through my mind and I gasped.

"You're the one who challenged Raihan," I said, looking over at him in a new light. "You're Paul, right?"

"Scared, Dimwit?" Paul asked with a cold superiority and I felt my annoyance flare up in response.

"You wish," I growled back, taking a step back to give Chesnaught some space. "Use Leech Seed!"

"Dodge it and use Thunderbolt."

I was shocked at how quickly the hulking Electivire was able to dodge to the side, but Chesnaught's aim was superb. Even with a moving target, he was still able to launch the glowing seed and have it connect with Electivire's left leg where it immediately sprouted vines which clamped around his thick leg.

Electivire hardly seemed to notice the energy-draining parasite though as his body buzzed with electricity and a gigantic bolt of lightning shot towards Chesnaught. He howled in pain as the intensely strong move hit him full-on, but once it had ended Chesnaught shook himself out and cracked his neck, holding out his arms in a "Is that all you got?" gesture. Electivire narrowed his eyes at my Chesnaught's obvious lack of fear and I cracked my knuckles, focusing my thoughts on nothing but the battle in front of us.

"No holding back on this one. Use Stomping Tantrum, Chesnaught," I ordered. Chesnaught immediately leaped nearly ten feet into the air and then came crashing down on the ground, sending a wave of earth towards Electivire and several smaller ones right after it as he stomped violently on the ground.

"Protect," Paul commanded, and a shimmering blue orb surrounded Electivire, protecting him from the waves of ground, which would have done some real damage if it had hit. "Get in there and use Thunder Punch," Paul ordered without emotion as the last of the waves broke across his protective shield.

"Two can play at that game," I muttered with a grin. Chesnaught knew what I meant immediately and he raised his arms as if he were getting ready to intercept Electivire's oncoming punch with one of his own. Seconds before Electivire got to him though I shouted "Spiky Shield!" and Chesnaught twirled around and flexed.

His spike-covered shell glowed green and a ghostly replica of it expanded, covering his body completely. Electivire was too late to pull back and slammed his fist into the shell, howling in pain as the growing spikes dug into several points of his body. The hulking electric type stumbled back, clenching his fist which had connected with the damage-inducing shield with a look of annoyance as small beads of green energy floated from the Leech Seed wrapped around his leg and back towards Chesnaught.

"Good timing for a Chesnaught," I heard Paul mutter from across the battlefield. I wanted to snap at him that he shouldn't underestimate us, but he had already moved on and given Electivire his next direction. "Ice Punch, go!'

I went down my mental list of all the moves that Chesnaught knew, trying to decide which would be the final one he would use in this battle. He glanced partially over his shoulder at me and I blinked when I saw him leaning forward slightly. Knowing exactly what he was asking, I decided to throw caution to the wind and trust Chesnaught's battling instinct.

"Rollout!" As Electivire advanced once again, Chesnaught tucked his large body into a ball and launched himself towards Electivire. I was surprised when Electivire made no move to dodge but instead slammed the super effective Ice Punch directly at my oncoming Chesnaught. The punch connected, smacking him away from Electivire, but I could see Electivire wincing from punching the base of one of Chesnaught's spikes. Beads of Electivire's energy were still making their way from the Leech Seed towards Chesnaught, providing him with a slow stream of added energy. Not wasting any time, he spun himself around after being redirected by Electivire and increased his speed, steamrolling right for Electivire.

"Just keep using Ice Punch!" Paul called out fiercely. Rollout was a move where once it started there was no stopping it until Chestnaught couldn't hold himself in a ball any longer, and with each hit he landed the power would increase. It was a risky move since he was essentially stuck, but I believed in him.

"Go for it, Chesnaught!" I cheered for him as he slammed into Electivire.

The two met in endless collisions of Ice Punch versus Chesnaught's crushing Rollout. I felt myself grinning slightly as I saw Electivire stumbling more as Chesnaught smashed into him over and over. It was obvious that Electivire was tiring and it appeared that Chesnaught was still going strong. But then I saw that Chesnaught's controlled spinning was starting to go haywire. He was spinning frontways, sideways, and even diagonally at some points, although he was somehow managing to find Electivire and smash into him despite his out of control spinning.

"Don't give up, Chesnaught!" I called out, stamping on my worry, and silently pleading that Electivire would go down already. I was sure that the only thing keeping Chesnaught conscious was the slow trickle of energy from Electivire, but that trickle was becoming sluggish and I hoped desperately that Electivire would succumb to the exhaustion first.

"Use Thunderbolt and finish him!" Paul called out to his Electivire after Chesnaught had smashed into him so hard that he had been sent sprawling onto his back.

Electivire raised himself up with obvious effort. He was panting heavily and watched as Chesnaught rolled towards him like a top that was seconds from falling over. I clenched my hands into fists and bit my tongue before I could tell him to stop. I knew that Chesnaught was giving this his all, so I would do my best to believe in him till the bitter end.

Electivire didn't have the energy to dodge, but he called down the most intense Thunderbolt attack I had ever seen, which smashed into Chesnaught seconds before he had bounced off the ground and smacked directly into Electivire's chest. Both of the pokemon went down in a heap, rolling across the ground from the force of Chesnaught's hit before they finally came to a stop. When the dust settled, both of our pokemon were knocked out cold and I rushed over to my fallen starter.

"You fought so hard, Chesnaught. I'm proud of you," I said quietly as I stroked Chesnaught's smooth head. He groaned lightly and I stroked him once more before returning him to his Pokeball. Electivire's hulking body disappeared in a stream of red light as well and I looked up at Paul to see what his reaction would be.

He was silent as he regarded Electivire's Pokeball for several moments before turning to look at me. I hadn't given it much thought since he had been so rude from the moment I had woken up, but Paul was actually quite handsome. His hair was a little long for my taste, but he was tall and lean and his inner confidence gave him amazing posture. If he kept his mouth shut, I might have actually found him attractive.

"Your Chesnaught is strong," Paul said finally, and I felt my lips split apart in a gigantic grin.

"He is!" I said happily, clutching his Pokeball affectionately in my hand. "He's the reason I decided to become a serious trainer instead of staying a breeder."

"A breeder? No wonder you're so pathetically coddling towards him," Paul said with a sniff and I felt my body stiffen at his insult. A slightly incredulous feeling overtook me. Without thinking I placed my fists on my hips and glared up at him as he towered over me.

"Are you incapable of treating people with the bare minimum of common courtesy? What's your problem?" Paul blinked and then he looked down his nose at me with the iciest expression I'd ever seen on a human.

"What's the point? One day I'll prove I'm the strongest trainer in the world and then it won't matter how I act. So why bother acting all buddy-buddy when I won't even remember you tomorrow?"

"Well, what a ray of sunshine you are. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to catch a Cufant," I said with a huff, not wanting to waste my time on a judgemental ice cube like him any longer.

"Cufant?" he repeated as I pushed myself up and dusted off my knees for the second time today.

"That's right. I've been searching for one for a week," I said with a frown, not sure why he was still talking to me. I heard him sniggering quietly and I could feel my muscles clench once again.

"What now?" I grumbled, wanting to get away from this prick before I threw a punch at him.

"Pathetic. Cufants live near the bridge that connects Motostoke to Galar Mine, and that," Paul said while pointing at the gigantic bridge near us, "is the bridge that connects Hulberry and Turffield."

I could feel my jaw slacken at having my mistake being pointed out so callously and I rubbed my forehead, shading my eyes so I could gather my wits after that jab at my pride.

"Thanks for that," I said with a sigh, repositioning my backpack and walking off in the direction of the nearest Wild Area train stop.

"You're going the wrong way, Dimwit," Paul called out to me mockingly and I looked over and glared at him, feeling beyond exhausted.

I had survived an intense Stun Spore attack, nearly lost my head from being insulted by this horrible jerk, and battled his Electivire that had ended with a tie... I had officially used up all of my energy and I just wanted to get something to eat and have a place where I could sleep comfortably.

"I'm going to the rest stop, I'll head out to Bridge Field tomorrow," I said tiredly, turning once again to leave my jerk of a savior behind. Not even two steps later though, his voice pulled me to a halt.

"Wait."

Not quite sure why, I obeyed his deep command and I turned around tiredly, feeling a small ache beginning to spread in through my head.

"What now?" I sighed, only half turning around. Something flashed in the air headed straight for me, and I instinctively reached out and caught it in both hands. I looked down at the Pokeball in my hands with confusion for a moment before looking up into Paul's expressionless face.

"What's this?" I asked. Paul let out an exasperated sigh through his nose and shrugged.

"It's a Cufant. I was planning to release it anyway, so you might as well have it."

Choice A: Refuse

Choice B: Accept

A/N What did you think of their battle? I just wanted to point out, Paul is INCREDIBLY strong in this fic (I mean, isn't he always?) and I know he's either lost or tied every time we've seen him so far, but that won't be the case for future episodes :P Anyways, I hope you're enjoying it so far.