It’s the next day; Ari and Eve are in the middle of a Pokemon battle against a man and his Pancham.

“Alrighty, Eve, use swift!” Ari shouts as loud as she can, Eve jumps backwards and releases her swift attack. It hits Pancham head on.

“Shake it off Pancham!” The man waves his hand towards his back. “Now, use Hammer Arm!” Pancham comes charging towards Eve. 

“Dodge the attack, Eve!” Eve narrowly avoids the attack. “Now, a Quick Attack!” Eve readys herself and quickly rams herself into Pancham's stomach. Pancham instantly faints. “Awesome job, Eve!” Ari cheers.

Ari puts her hands towards Eve and Eve jumps and high fives with both her paws. 

“Ugh!” The man grunts. “I can’t believe I lost to a kid and her Eevee!”

“Hey! I’m 19 I’ll have you know! And this ‘kid’ and Eevee just kicked your butt!” Ari sticks her tongue out at the man and Eve does the same.

“Oh, you little-” The man starts walking up to Ari, pulling his sleeves up in the process.

Ari readys herself for a fight, but suddenly, “Not another step!” The man stops in his tracks. 

Ari recognizes the voice coming from behind her. She turns around and sees that it’s, “Dulse!?”

Dulse steps forward. “She won fair and square. You trying to fight further is pathetic.”

“Pathetic?! I’ll show you!” The man comes at Dulse with a closed fist. Dulse grabs Ari’s shoulders and guides her to the left, dodging the man's attack. The man ends up punching the wall instead. “Son of a-” The man holds his fist. “You’ll pay for that!” He then readys himself to come at Ari and Dulse once more.

“Now, that is enough!” Another familiar voice. Looking in her direction, they see that it’s Nurse Joy. “I will not tolerate fist fighting outside my Pokemon Center!”

“Like I care! Those two have it coming!” The man takes another step towards Ari and Dulse.

“I said enough! Go! Now!” Nurse Joy glares at the man. 

Uncomfortable, the man returns his Pancham into its Pokeball. He then glares at Ari and Dulse. “I’ll get my revenge.” The man then leaves.

Dulse, hands still on Ari’s shoulders, lets out a sigh of relief. “That was about to get ugly…”

Ari looks up at Dulse. “I can’t believe he got so mad!” She looks at Nurse Joy. “Thank you Nurse Joy!” Ari leaves Dulse’s side and gives Nurse Joy a big hug.

“Of course dear, I saw everything. Though, I know Dulse probably could have handled him himself but I didn’t wanna take any chances. Plus I didn’t want any blood on my battlefield.” Nurse Joy winks.

Ari laughs. “Understandable.” She looks back at Dulse. “And thank you for stepping in!” Ari walks back up to Dulse. “I was ready to fight back though!” Ari holds her fists up. 

“I see.” Dulse sighs. “That’s definitely not a good thing though.”

“He had it comin!” Ari punches the air.

“Uh-huh…” Dulse stares at Ari blankly.

“Anyways, what are you doing here Dulse?” Ari looks at him in wonder.

“Oh, I was just walking by and noticed the commotion.” Dulse gestures to the sidewalk close to the Pokemon Center.

“I see!” Ari steps closer to Dulse. “So, where were you headed?”

Dulse takes a step back. “Um… the hardware store.”

“Oh! Can we come with you?!” Eve jumps onto Ari’s shoulder. “We can help carry the items you buy!” Ari looks at Dulse with a sparkle in her eyes. 

Dulse is took a back from Ari’s enthusiasm. “S-sure… if you want to come, that’s fine.”

“Awesome!” Ari grabs onto Dulse’s arm and drags him towards the sidewalk.

“H-hold on!” Dulse says as he’s being dragged down the street. He pulls Ari back, making her fall back. He swiftly catches her at the waist. “We need to go that way.” Dulse points in the opposite direction they were going.

“Oops, hehe. Right! Let’s go!” Ari starts walking in the correct direction this time.

“Pfft.” Dulse can’t help but laugh a bit about Ari’s drive. He then follows behind her making sure she goes the right way.