"I want you to be as comfortable as possible. If you want to stay out of your Pokeball all the time, like Eevee," Lilli lifted up the Eevee on their lap for added effect, "Feel free to. If you'd rather stay in it, that's fine as well. Or you could do like Riolu," They nodded towards the fighting type, "And just pop out and go back in whenever. And you don't have to make the decision immediately, take your time."

Lilli and their Pokemon were sitting on a bench in the city, waiting on Rachel and Taylor to return from their houses. Both girls managed to forget things. Rachel forgot Poochyena's Pokeball, as she was used to him being a house pet, and Taylor forgot to tell her mom that she was leaving, along with her entire backpack.

The Bulbasaur sitting next to them nodded before replying, "I might try different things, but I'll probably end up doing something like Riolu." She used one of her vines to point at him.

Lilli nodded, "Y'know, you don't have to motion to communicate with me."

Bulbasaur looked at them in confusion.

"Lilli grew up on a Pokemon Ranch! They spent more time with Pokemon than humans!" Eevee exclaimed.

"With you specifically." Riolu shared, "So they learned to understand us from a young age."

Bulbasaur nodded, understanding.

It was at this moment that a young boy who seemed to be two years younger than Lilli approached. He had a soft copper complexion with umber eyes and short caramel curls and bangs. His glasses were squared, as opposed to Rachel's rounded ones. He wore a shamrock green turtleneck, short black overalls, and black tennis shoes. A Chespin was on his shoulder and waved.

"Um... Is it alright... if I sit here?" He questioned the pale trainer in front of him.

Lilli nodded as Eevee pushed closer to them, "Riolu, could you please move to this side of the bench?" They patted the side where Bulbasaur already sat. Riolu climbed over Lilli's lap, and Eevee, to the other side of the bench. Lilli grabbed their Togepi patterned backpack and sat it on the ground. This backpack also had some pins on it, including a Togekiss, Xerneas, Gengar, the three Kalos Starters, Chandelure, Slowbro, Eevee, Riolu, Flygon, the Aromantic flag, and the Asexual flag. The Eevee, Riolu, Aromantic, and Asexual pins were in the middle section, whereas the other pin arched around.

After sitting down, there was an awkward silence for about a minute before the boy with the Chespin spoke up, "You have an Eevee, Riolu, and a Bulbasaur?"

Lilli raised an eyebrow as their voice quavered, "Yeah..? I s-see you have a Chespin."

"Yeah! His name is Clover! I also have a Litleo named Athena." The boy replied, "By the way, my name's Declan."

"I-I'm Lilli..." They used one hand to grasp onto their purple jacket, using the other to pet Eevee.

"Nice to meet you!" Declan spoke.

Lilli nodded.

"I think we should battle them!" Clover spoke up.

"Huh?" Declan spoke, not catching what the Chespin had said.

"Yeah..." Lilli then turned to Declan, "W-Would you maybe be up for a battle...?" Their voice wavered.

"Yeah! Two on two?" Declan questioned.

"Sure." Lilli smiled.

Both trainers held a short conversation as they walked toward the battlefield. Eevee rode on Lilli's head while Bulbasaur and Riolu walked beside them. Bulbasaur had one of her vines wrapped around Lilli's arm. Once they approached a battlefield, the two trainers went to opposing trainer boxes. Bulbasaur unwrapped her vine from her trainer's arm.

"Wait! Do we have any sort of referee?" Declan called from the other side of the battlefield.

Lilli crouched down and whispered to Riolu as Eevee hopped off of their head. Suddenly, they stood up, "Riolu will do it!" They called as Riolu moved himself to the referee box.

After Riolu did some dramatic arm motions, both trainers sent out their first Pokemon, Athena and Eevee respectively.

"Covet!" Lilli yelled.

Eevee ran up to the Litleo and smacked her with her tail.

"Athena! Ember!" Declan called out.

Athena spit out a small ball of fire toward Eevee.

"Dodge then Baby-Doll Eyes!" Lilli yelled.

Eevee, however, couldn't dodge in time and was hit by the attack before she used Baby-Doll Eyes, which basically looked like Eevee was begging for something.

"Tackle!"

Athena rammed into Eevee.

"Double Kick!" "Fire Spin!"

Eevee lept forward as Athena spat out fire to the spot Eevee previously was. Landing beside Athena, Eevee delivered two powerful kicks.

"Tackle again!" "Meet it head-on! Tackle!"

Both normal types collided at the head before both stumbled back, falling. Both found it a struggle to get up but were successful in doing so.

"Think you could use another double kick?" Lilli questioned their partner.

Eevee nodded as if to confirm this, before leaping forward again.

"Athena! Try another Fire Spin!"

Unlike the previous Fire Spin, this one hit Eevee while she was in the process of kicking the Litleo for the first time. She was able to land both kicks before tensing as the fire spin did some damage. Athena, however, was down with swirls in her eyes.

Riolu did some more dramatic poses, pointing to Lilli and Eevee.

"You were great, Eevee!" Lilli called.

"Yay!" Eevee called in return, running over to Lilli.

"Your Eevee's pretty strong!" Declan complimented.

"Athena is too!" Lilli called in reply, "Are switch-outs allowed?"

"Yeah!" Declan yelled from across the battlefield.

"Eevee, I wanna let Bulbasaur have a chance too if she wants...?" Lilli glanced at the grass type, who nodded.

"Alright, Bulbasaur, you're up!" Lilli exclaimed as Bulbasaur ran onto the field.

"Clover, go!" The Chespin on Declan's shoulder jumped off and ran to the center of the battlefield.

After some more dramatic arm motions from Riolu, Declan called out the first attack, "Power-Up Punch!"

"Try Vine Whip to keep him away!" Lilli exclaimed as Bulbasaur got to work, wrapping her vines around the pure grass type, causing his fist to stop glowing.

"Vine Whip as well!" Declan yelled.

Clover started slapping Bulbasaur with its vines.

"Maybe slam him into the ground...? Then tackle!" Lilli momentary questioned themself.

After a second of hesitation, which caused a vine to hit Bulbasaur pretty hard, she slammed Clover to the ground before running forward towards him.

"Rollout!" Declan called out.

Clover started to roll forward, glowing green and gaining speed as he got closer and closer to Bulbasaur.

"Petal Dance!" Lilli shouted.

Bulbasaur shot out pink petals from her bulb. These petals surrounded Clover before Bulbasaur lifted the Petal Dance like a whirlpool. Lilli gasped, an idea forming in the back of their head and being stored away.

"Try Rollout again! See if you can use it to get out of there! Then follow with Power-Up Punch!"

Clover started rolling again before shooting out of the top of the grass-type move. Then, he landed on his feet before launching forward, fist glowing.

"Dodge! Then another Petal Dance!"

Bulbasaur jumped to the side before shooting more petals in Clover's direction. This time, however, she did not lift it.

"Rollout towards Bulbasaur!" Declan yelled.

Clover was off again, however, he was slower than his normal rollout speed due to the Petal Dance pushing against him, but was eventually able to make contact with the dual Grass-Poison type.

"Bulbasaur! Are you alright?"

"Yeah!"

It was at that moment tiny psyducks started floating around Bulbasaur's head as she started stumbling.

"Vine whip...?" Lilli called out, unsure.

Vines were summoned but started attacking Bulbasaur instead. Lilli clenched the edges of their jacket sleeves.

"Finish it off with a Power-Up Punch!"

While Bulbasaur was unintentionally slapping herself with her vines, Clover ran up and delivered a powerful punch, which caused Bulbasaur to collapse to the ground with swirls in her eyes. Riolu did some more dramatic movements, this time pointing to Declan, as Lilli returned Bulbasaur.

"You were great." Lilli whispered before glancing at Eevee, "Ready to go, girl?"

"Yeah!" Eevee exclaimed as she ran onto the battlefield.

"Tackle!"

"Vine Whip!"

"Dodge!"

Eevee ran forward, not even halting as she lept over vines. Eventually, she hit Clover square in the chest. Clover lied there for a few seconds before slowly getting up, glowing green.

"Overgrow..." Lilli mumbled, "Try a double kick!"

"Clover, Power-Up Punch!"

Eevee landed a kick on Clover's side before getting hit in the chest. As she was falling, she landed a second kick. Clover fell to the ground, eyes swirling. Eevee slowly stood up, shaking as she faced Lilli.

"Clover is unable to battle. Lilli and Eevee are the winners." Came Rachel's voice from behind Riolu.

Lilli and Eevee rapidly turned to face Rachel and Taylor, who were standing behind Riolu as Declan returned Clover to his Pokeball. Riolu shrugged as if he knew they were there the whole time (which he did).

"How long have you guys been here?" Lilli questioned, confused, as they walked over there, scooping up Eevee along the way.

"We just got here!" Taylor smiled.

Rachel turned to Declan, "And who are you?"

"I'm Declan, nice to meet you." Declan spoke as he walked over. Turning to Lilli, he continued, "Thanks for the battle."

Lilli nodded as Riolu walked over to them, "We should probably get heading to the Pokemon Center."

Declan nodded as Lilli returned Riolu before the group started walking towards the Pokemon Center. Along the way, Lilli, Rachel, and Taylor got to know Declan and vice versa. Once they arrived, Nurse Joy took all of their Pokemon as they sat and waited.

~~~

~Teams~

Lilli
On Hand:
~Eevee
~Riolu
~Bulbasaur

Rachel
On Hand:
~Poochyena
~Squirtle

Taylor
On Hand:
~Treecko

~~~

~1603 words

So, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Regardless, if you couldn't already tell, Declan is one of Lilli's (many) rivals. Their rivals are split into three classes, those being Battle Oriented, Performance Oriented, and Both. Battle & Performance have an equal amount, whereas Both has less. That's all I'm gonna say... :)

One last thing, I struggle with writing battles so any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism would be great, ty! :)

~Vannah