Nick and I followed Hawthorne back out into the Poképlayground. We stood in a sandy clearing, surrounded by bushes. It was clearly meant to be a makeshift battle field. There was even a spot for a Referee to stand.

I figured Thorn would be the best choice for this battle, because if I chose Cynda, Jaws would be able to beat her. Thorn, as a fighting type, also has the advantage over Thalia, a normal type. I smiled. The extra six years of pokémon classes are finally starting to pay off. I pulled out Riolu's pokéball and pressed the release button.

"Go! Thorn!" I said, throwing the pokéball at the ground.

"Lu!" exclaimed Thorn excitedly as he emerged, anticipating a fun battle. I could sense his excitement.

Nick grinned, acting cocky. "Psh!" he said, "This'll be a snap. I'll even beet you with my Eevee." He plucked Thalia's pokéball from his belt and threw it. Eevee landed gracefully on the ground, and then looked at Nick with an exasperated expression, as if to say, Could you be any more arrogant?

Nick seemed to sense it too, because he said "Relax! I got this."

"Alright kids," said Professor Hawthorne, bringing us back on task, "You need to put on the Digitalizers first!"

"Oh, right... Sorry." I said. To be honest, I had almost forgotten. That would've been bad.

Professor Hawthorne gave us each one Digitalizer. They were about the diameter of a ping-pong ball. It was a little flexible, but still seemed very hard and sturdy.

"All right, all you need to do is place it on the pokémons back. You'll know when it's working because the light will turn green. A pokémon's health bar is divided into three parts, which are represented by different colored lights. Green means the pokémon is more than half full, yellow means that it is less than half, and red means it is in critical range. Blinking red means that the pokémon has lost. You can remove the Digitalizers by twisting them counter-clockwise and then pushing lightly on the rim." Prof. Hawthorne paused. "You got all that?"

"Yep!" Nick and I said. I bent down and gingerly pushed the Digitalizer onto Riolu's back. I flinched as small sparks of blue electricity arched across Thorn's body. Thorn also jumped at the sight of them, but it didn't seem to cause him any pain or discomfort. He moved his arms and legs around, as if he was trying on a new suit. The only difference that I could spot was that there was now a slight shimmer to his skin that had not been there before. And, of course, there was a button on his back.

Nick did the same thing, and Thalia was also now slightly shimmery.

We stood, facing each other, unsure of what we should do next.

"Now, pull out your Pokédexes and register your pokémon. That way, you can see what moves they know." said Professor Hawthorne.

We pulled out our Pokédexes and pressed the green button. A set of moves popped up. Apparently, Thorn knew Quick Attack, Endure, and Foresight.  Unfortunately, there were no fighting type moves.

"Eevee! Tackle!" yelled Nick.

I looked up suddenly, I hadn't expected him to attack yet.

Eevee sat down and refused to move.

"Wha-Thalia!  This is our chance! Come on!"  Nick said, startled.  It looked like he couldn't fathom why Eevee wouldn't listen to him.

Professor Hawthorne laughed.  "I don't think Thalia approved of your eagerness to cheat, Nick.  You have to wait for the other person to be ready.  Normally, this is only a rule for professional battles, but it is considered rude in trainer battles."

"Fine..." grumbled Nick.

"This battle will be one pokémon each," Professor Hawthorne said, holding up his arm.  "On your marks...Get set...Go!" he said, swishing down his arm.

"Quick Attack!" I yelled before Nick could react.

Riolu shot forward and smashed into Thalia, sending her flying back.  Upon collision, there was a small burst of sparks.  Thalia hit the ground hard, but immediately got up.  I noticed she didn't seem to be in pain at all.

"Tackle!" yelled Nick.  Eevee agreed with this course of action, launching herself at Thorn.  They landed on the ground, again with a few more sparks flying were they touched each other.

"Quick attack!" I yelled again.  This is exhilarating! I thought, caught up in the heat of the moment.

Thorn pushed Thalia off, and then sprinted right at her.  There were more sparks.  Thalia was launched back once more, and the light on her button became yellow.  I noticed Thorn's stayed green.

"Uh, okay... Growl!" said Nick, unsure if he should keep doing offense.

Thalia glared at him, and then rushed at Thorn to do a Tackle instead.  Thorn almost dodged, but Thalia still managed to clip him on the side.  More sparks flew. He yelped as he was pinned to the ground, his light turning yellow.

"Now use Bite!" said Nick, clearly very excited.

I rolled my eyes.  Surely he knows that that isn't one of her moves.

Thalia turned and glared at him.  Thorn took advantage of her temporary distraction and pushed her off.

"Ee!" she yelped, surprised.

"Quick attack!" I yelled.  Adrenaline was racing through my system.  This is definitely one of the funnest things I've done in a while!  It would also be really satisfying to win this battle, just to get that arrogant smirk off if Nick's face.

Thorn rushed into Thalia and launched her back again, with another shower of sparks.  She landed hard, and her light turned red. Thalia was now moving noticeably slower, as the Digitizer reduced her movement to match the damage to her health bar. She was fighting hard to run away to avoid another attack.

"Uh-Tackle!" said Nick, now not quite so sure of his victory.

Thalia put all her strength into one final rush at Thorn, but this time he jumped out of the way in time.

"Quick attack, one last time!" I said, not bothering to yell anymore.

Thorn hit Thalia on the side, and Thalia fell to the ground, her Digitizer blinking red.

"Lu!" said Thorn, pumping his fist in the air, panting.

Thalia grumbled something unintelligible. Although, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have understood her anyways.

"Woohooo!" I yelled triumphantly. "Take that Nick!"

Nick's face looked about as red as a tomato. "Yeah... well... you only beat me because Thalia was being a butt and wouldn't listen to me!" Nick stuttered.

Thalia looked positively furious. If glares were daggers, Nick would be long dead.

Nick flinched at her harsh look. "Thalia, retreat..." He muttered, calling Thalia back into her Pokéball.

Professor Hawthorne chuckled at the pairs antics.

"Good job Thorn!" I said as I knelt down, holding up my hand.

...Thank...You!... he said, smacking his paw on my palm.  I called him back into his pokéball.

"Congratulations Ninfia! I'm sorry you don't get any money for your first battle, but that was an impressive victory!"

I blushed. "Thank you!" I said. I hadn't been expecting much praise.

Nick muttered something under his breath.

Professor Hawthorne shot him a glance. "Moving on, I need to tell you a few more things. I recommend you make it a habit to remove the Digitalizers from your pokémon every night. They don't have a battery, as they run on a small electric charge made by the friction from the pokémon's muscles, but it makes it hard for the pokémon to sleep when they have it on. Also, I recommend that you have a pokémon walk next to you on your journey so that they get some exercise from something other than battles. They also just enjoy being out of their pokéballs from time to time. Alright, follow me back to the Lab and we'll wrap this up." he said, turning around and walking back towards the building. Nick and I followed.

We went back into the building, and Professor Hawthorne picked up the box of Digitizers. We each took five of the ten remaining buttons.  I stuffed them in my pockets.

Professor Hawthorne clapped his hands together.  "Alright! I can't think of anything else I need to tell you..." he trailed off, then suddenly remembered something else.  "Oh! Don't forget to pack sufficient supplies for the journey!"

At this point, I was getting eager to leave.  I just could not wait to start my journey.  I leaned on Professor Hawthorne's desk.  My elbow collided with a small picture frame that I hadn't noticed before, and it tipped over.

"Agh! Sorry!" I blurted.  Professor Hawthorne stopped talking as soon as he heard the clatter of the frame hitting the desk.

"Oooo, Busted!" mouthed Nick, grinning mischievously.

I hurriedly picked the frame up and set it back were it was before.  I paused when I saw the picture.  It was a much younger looking Professor Hawthorne, probably in his twenties, standing next to a pretty red haired girl.   They were taking a selfie on a beach, and Professor Hawthorne was wearing one of those ridiculous looking Hawaiian shirts.  From the way that they were hugging and looking at each other fondly, it was obvious they were in love. 

But... Professor Hawthorne is single... I thought.

Nick peeked over my shoulder.  "Hey, whose that?" he asked curiously.

Professor Hawthorne winced.  "She... She was my wife..."

He was obviously uncomfortable with the subject.  I felt a stab of guilt for accidentally bringing it up.

"Wife?" said Nick incredulously, "But you're single!"

I shot him a glare.  How could he be so inconsiderate!?

"Nick!" I hissed, "Shut up!"

"No, no... it's okay." he said, composing himself.  "But forgive me if I don't want to talk about it." He cleared his throat.  "Anyways, it's getting a little late.  You kids probably want to set out before noon, so you should leave soon." he said, gesturing at the door.

"You're right." I said, before Nick could say anything else.  "Thank you for everything Professor!"

"Uh-Yes! Thank you!" said Nick.

"No problem at all! Just make sure to show me the progress you've made on your pokédex from time to time.  Nobody has completed the National Dex by themselves yet, and who knows, maybe one of you could be the first!" he said.

I pushed open the door.  "Yeah, that would be cool. Bye!" I said as I walked out.

"See ya!" said Nick, following me.  He walked out, letting the door swing shut.