"Whirlygig, oh no, he's not really my Pokemo..." Matthew began to reply but was interrupted by the return of Brandon. Matthew stood and listened, a little disheartened but the excitement still evident in his eyes. In order to get to Brock, all he needed to do was mow through one of his underlings, this was going to be easy! Matthew bounded down the stairs, already pulling Hope's pokeball from his belt, readying himself for battle. Everything about this situation filled him with excitement, the smell of the dirt, the head of the spotlights and the feel of the rocks under his feet. This was going to be his first battle against another Pokemon trainer and it was going to be followed by his first victory. 

"So who's going first?" Brendan asked, standing in front of the three apprentice trainers. Matthew looked them up and down, taking in as much as he could. None of them looked anything special, in fact, they looked like easy targets. Fire in his eyes, Matthew stood tall holding his pokeball tightly.
"If it's okay with Rose, I'll go first!" He exclaimed proudly. Before Rose could give an answer he was already dashing over towards the challenger's side of the arena. Brendan rolled his eyes, seeing Matthew as nothing but another excited child and stepping off to the side, adopting the role of referee. As he did, the three apprentices mumbled to one another before one of them called over to Brendan,
"I'll take him on." He shouted and stepped away from the others in the group.

Matthew peered over to his opponent, a boy who looked a little older than Matthew with a shaggy mess of black hair atop his head. Whilst in the group of apprentices, Matthew hadn't managed to get a good view of him, but now he stood apart from the others, Matthew could see that his opponent was built like a brick wall. He wore a plain white vest top and a pair of khaki shorts, probably chosen to show off his muscles, of which he had in abundance. Matthew was pretty sure that his muscles had muscles.
"The names Oliver" The guy said, picking a Pokeball from his belt and winking over at Matthew "This probably won't last long." He tossed the Pokeball high into the air, which burst with a familiar flare of red light and suddenly a ferocious looking Rhyorn stood in the arena.

Matthew had never seen a Rhyorn before, but he was familiar with them. They were fast, half ground and half rock pokemon. From what he had read about them, he knew they were strong, known for charging into their opponents with enough force to break rocks with their tusks. Without much hesitation, Matthew flicked his wrist, tossing his own Pokeball into the air. "Go, Hope!" He yelled, within a few seconds his own Pokemon stood in the arena, blinking in the light.
"The first match begins!" Brendan shouted "Oliver versus... Uh, Mark?" 
"Matthew!"
"Right, yeah, that guy. First to knockout their opponent or until their opponent surrenders. Let the fight begin!" He made a sweeping motion with his arm and all of a sudden the battle had started.

Matthew had a sudden flash back to the situation in the forest. Hope stood before him and in front of her stood a Pokemon much larger than her. Last time, Matthew had frozen up and been unable to figure out what to do. He wouldn't let himself fail his Pokemon again. He was going to make it to Emily and he was going to become champion some day.
"Hope! Get behind that rock and use Meditate! Ready yourself!" He shouted. He needed to be prepared. His opponent looked strong, so Matthew bet if he could keep out of range of it while Hope used meditate to raise her attack, then he could finish this in one blow. He had the type advantage and he knew that it was the key to his victory.