[Hider=TL;DR]
Lachlan loses his favorite pokemon, who finds Alaric. The zigzagoon and the trainer search for Lach, before realizing they can call him. The two boys meet once again and battle. Both gave it their all but this time Lachlan won, bringing the record to 1-1. The two heal and head to route 2 to meet new Pokemon and people.
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Lachlan left the ceremony with a wide smile on his face, excited to face the trials that the international league would bring. Dozens of other trainers walked out of the ceremony beside him, so many faces he couldn’t ever remember them all. Something felt slightly like it was tugging on his bag but he paid it no mind. He continued down the path back from the stadium to the hotel for a while longer before spotting a shopping mall that he hadn’t noticed before and began wandering in the general direction of it. 

Ziggy had hopped out of Lachlan’s bag and was weaving his way through the feet of the trainers on the bridge to the familiar face he had spotted a ways back behind Lachlan. Within a few minutes he had found the boy he and Lachlan had sparred against a year ago and did a small circle around his feet before calling out to get the boy’s attention.

Alaric was feeling plenty smug after the ceremony, as usual. Arsenic Island wasn't somewhere he knew a lot about, and he wanted to know what sort of pokemon he'd encounter there, as perhaps he could expand his party. His train of thought was interrupted however by a familiar face, a Zigzagoon that he recognised almost immediately when he saw it. He'd almost tripped on it as it ran in circles around him before his attention was caught.

"Well, what a surprise! I didn't expect to see you here so early. But if you're here, then where's Lach?" Alaric enthusiastically spoke while rubbing the top of the pokemons head. He didn't expect to run into a familiar face before he'd even set out, but it was perfect for him. He could test his mettle against a worthy opponent already, and focus on shoring up his weak points afterwards.

Ziggy looked around at the mention of Lachlan, quickly realizing he had lost track of his trainer. He looked back at Alaric and then began to head back to where he had last seen Lachlan, sniffing the ground and moving slowly to try to get a trail on him. When he got to where he had abandoned the comfort of his trainer’s bag, Ziggy caught the scent and turned around to make sure Alaric was following him. The crowds were beginning to thin out and there would hopefully be enough space for the boy to follow him closely. He circled around the spot where he had left 
Lachlan and sat there, then he tried to mime out himself spotting Alaric from in the bag and jumping out by standing on his hind legs and looking out around then at Alaric and jumping toward him.

Alaric had been following Zig fairly easily. His thin stature made it easy to get through the crowds. Before long, the pair arrived at Zigs intended destination but Alaric couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what the Pokemon was up to. It felt like he was trying to act out something, so he figured he'd just go with the flow, even if he couldn't quite understand what he was trying to show.

"Do you know where he might have gone?" Alaric questioned the pokemon. He wasn't exactly expecting a response but he figured that with that sense of smell, they'd eventually be able to find him.

The zigzagoon sniffed around and pointed himself toward the city and began to hurry off in that direction. He led Alaric down the main road following the crowds for the most part, from here Ziggy recognized the hotel that he and Lachlan had stayed in before and continued following the trail toward it. About 20 feet further he suddenly stops, surprised to notice that the trail did not continue toward the hotel but instead some other way. He turned toward Alaric and sniffed in the direction Lachlan had went then pointed at the hotel.

Meanwhile, Lachlan stood in the food court, he had just ordered some food for his pokemon and let Applin and Toxel out to eat when he realized Ziggy was gone. He had carefully taken everything out of his bag and put it back in to make sure he wasn’t pranking him. Panic was starting to set in. He had no idea when Ziggy had even run off.

Within 30 seconds however, Lachlan's rotom phone began ringing. He looked over at his two pokemon, who looked back at him expectantly. He picked up and said, “Hello?”
Alaric responded with a laugh. "Yo. I seem to have found your partner." 
“Oi, Alaric, you found Ziggy? Thanks so much, I just noticed he was gone. Where are you guys?” Lachlan said, relieved.
"More like he found me, haha. Little fucker nearly tripped me up. We're at the hotel. I'll wait here with him." He chuckled a little as he spoke. 
“Yeah, he gets excited sometimes, must have seen you and remembered our battle.” Lachlan laughed, “I just bought some food at the mall, be there in, i dunno, 10?”
"Making me wait huh. Tsk tsk. You better battle me to make up for it. I'll catch you in 10 then" He teased, as he hung up the phone. Alaric wasn't one to hold onto phone calls, and even if he was joking around, he was still a bit miffed that he had to wait even longer to get his rematch.

Lachlan was about to start talking when he heard the line disconnect and the *Bzzt* of the rotom phone locking. “Mate, imma make you pay for that, ya ass,” he chuckled, as he turned back to Applin and Toxel, who were just finishing their food. He quickly grabbed what he ordered for himself, recalled his pokemon, and began the walk back to the hotel while he ate.

Alaric sat down on a nearby bench, looking curiously at the zigzagoon. It'd obviously had some battle experience since they last met, and that meant that they were in store for a great battle. Figuring that it'd probably be boring for him to just sit there, Alaric sent out Lance, since the two were familiar and left them to play, while he messed around on his phone, occasionally tapping his foot and fidgeting like an impatient child.
 
Lachlan could see Alaric looking blankly at his phone as he came around the corner and whistled, which prompted Ziggy to drop what he was doing and run up onto his shoulder. “Oi, Alaric, you cant just hang up on me like that, bruv,” Lachlan said rather loudly, “I’ll oblige your battle, but when I win, you’d best not be such an ass again eh?”

Alaric put his phone back in his pocket and looked at Lachlan, giving him a small wave.
"That's implying that you can win! For I am the great Alaric. Once I remind you who is the greater duelist between us, you will address me as Sir until we battle next!" He exclaimed, grinning in expectation. He'd been looking forward to this. 

[hider=Battle]
Both trainers found an empty space to battle and commenced almost immediately after agreeing to a best of 3 format. Both trainers opted to use their Dragon pokemon first, with Alaric sending out his Bagon and Lachlan sending his Applin.

“Here we go! Applin use astonish!” The small apple-like pokemon began wailing wildly as it rolled toward the enemy Bagon, with its sights set on knocking it off balance. The hit landed cleanly and Moko found herself being knocked down. She was quick to get up however, and her trainer was even quicker to give out a command.
"Moko, use headbutt!" Alaric spoke with confidence. The Bagon charged forward toward the Applin, stumbling slightly due to the prior attack but still moving with a full head of steam. Applin was sent flying over Moko’s head from the attack, doing some definite damage.
“Quick Applin, respond with sucker punch!” Applin landed on the ground behind Moko, her leaves beginning to exude a dark aura, which she then tried to smack Moko on the back of the head with. The punch connects with Moko but it does little in the way of damage. Without skipping a beat, Alaric commands "Quick Moko! Take a bite out of that apple!" Within seconds, Moko was baring its fangs at the Applin and charging forward again, even more unsteady than the last time. The bite connected and the Applin fainted. Alaric let out a grin. "Looks like I'm still on top." pointing to himself triumphantly before calling Moko back to her pokeball.

Lachlan gave his opponent a determined grin, “Not for long!” He said, the red beam extending from his pokeball to retrieve his fainted pokemon. “Go! Toxel!” he shouted tossing a second ball into the air before him, the shimmering form of the small purple pokemon coming into view a few inches below it. Alaric responded in kind, sending out his Aron a few seconds after his peer sent out his pokemon. He didn’t wait much before issuing a command however, figuring that he’d have to strike first. 

“Emil, use metal claw!” Alaric shouted to his Pokemon as the Aron began charging toward the toxel, looking to close the distance to attack. Unprepared for the sudden assault, the hit collided with the surprised Toxel, causing her to stumble back a few steps.

“Pull it together, use Nuzle!” Lachlan called in response as Toxel recovered her balance and shoved her face toward Emil, her head and cheeks sparking with electricity. The Aron, being a steel type, wasn’t hurt that badly by the electricity that connected with him. It hurt mind you, but he didn’t feel himself strongly staggered by the blow. Alaric grinned, thinking that the attack power of the Pokemon must have been weak. “Finish em’, Emil. Use headbutt!” he called out, yet his pokemon did not move. He couldn’t seem to move his body, no matter how much he tried.

“Now, Follow up with Power-Up Punch!” Lachlan called, seeing an opportunity for an extra attack. Toxel brought her fist up in an uppercut aimed at Emil’s head, a red glow around it. The aron found itself unable to move, dodge or do anything against the assault and found himself uppercutted. He was very dazed and looking pretty rough from the scuffle, and Alaric was perplexed, almost like he’d been the one punched. He didn’t know why his pokemon couldn’t move, until he’d figured out that he’d been paralyzed. Hoping he’d be able to break out of the effects, Alaric called out to his pokemon one last time.

“Emil, use Rock Tomb!” he spoke with confidence, feeling like a bit of electricity wouldn’t hold down his pokemon for long. Yet, his Pokemon didn’t have the same feelings. He was still stuck, unable to act in any way or defend himself against the coming assault. 

“Now’s your chance, Toxel, give it everything you’ve got to finish this!” Lachlan said triumphantly, prematurely relishing in the coming victory. With that, Toxel began flailing her arms around wildly at Emil, full force closed fists battering his immobile form, using the move Thrash. It was clear the Pokemon wouldn’t withstand the pummeling as he collapsed and fainted. “Alright! Nice work Toxel!” Lachlan said as she slowly waddled over to him. He kneeled down to pat her a few times before he pulled out his pokeball to return her to it. Ziggy, who was already raring to go on Lachlan’s shoulder jumped down eager for his turn.

Lance had already been set out, so there was little time before the last bout started. Alaric let out a smile. It surprised him that one of his Pokemon had been taken out in such a way, but using a move to induce paralysis was a smart choice given that he was met with a type disadvantage.

“Not bad, Lach. Not bad at all.” he spoke smugly, before returning to a more serious tone. Whilst he appreciated the competition, he wasn’t about to lose and thus gave the command to his partner. “Lance, use disarming voice!” he spoke, as the Pokemon let out a charming cry toward its adversary. The sound seemingly caused Ziggy to recoil as if it had been a slap to the face, he cried out from it then regained his composure and readied for his trainer’s command, which came shortly after.

“Ziggy! Pin Missile!” was the shout that came from Lachlan, prompting Ziggy to lift the end of his tail over his head and fire 5 black and white quills out at Lance, each attempting to home in on him. 3 of the missiles stuck into Lance, whereas the other two went off course due to an evasive maneuver. They hurt, but he did his best to shrug them off and not let the pain show. Without missing a beat, Alaric gave his next command.

“Lance, draining kiss!” and moments after he spoke, the Ralts ran at the Zigzagoon, looking to try to steal their life force.  Ziggy’s slender form and experience climbing trees allowed him to dodge out of the way of the attack, ending up 10 feet to Lances left.

“Woah, nice dodge, now Stop him from trying that again! Sand Attack!” As Lachlan commanded, Ziggy spun around and began kicking up dirt and sand into Lance’s direction, filling the air with lingering dust and sediment and attempting to get some in Lance’s eyes. Lance was not one to back down from a challenge however and stood bravely against the attack, letting it hit him but covering eyes with his wrist, before trying the attack again, given as he had not been given an alternate command by his trainer. Whilst some sand got in his eyes, he didn’t stop moving toward his target. Ziggy Heard the attack coming from in the dust and got ready to dodge, but didnt notice in time as it connected, absorbing some of his energy.

“One more Pin Missile from close range!” Lachlan said as the zigzagoon fired off 5 more of the monochrome quills from his tail at the foe who was still nearby, an audible whistle could be heard as they raced toward their target. Whilst Lance was lucky the time before in dodging a few of the missiles, he wasn’t so much this time. All 5 connected, 3 to his wrist and 2 to his chest, and he fainted. A look of surprise crossed Alaric's face before he let out a smile. He was genuinely surprised. He called back his Ralts, before walking over to Lach and shaking his hand.

“You’ve gotten stronger since we last fought. That was a good battle, and my first ever loss.” he spoke with a grin as he scratched the back of his head.

“You put up a good fight too, had me really worried at the end there.” Lachlan said, proud of his win, but also impressed with Alaric’s growth as well. “Why don’t we head back to the Pokemon center and get our pokemon healed up?” Lachlan said, realizing they’d be in no shape to travel each with only one badly hurt pokemon.#

“Sounds like a plan.” he responded, still somewhat surprised by his loss. He began analysing the match in his head, thinking more about how he’d had Paralysis used on him by that electric type. Perhaps status conditions were something that he needed to pay mind to, lest he lose another battle like he just had. 
(Imma write the summary if you wanted to write something else before that put it here)
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After that the two brought their Pokemon to the Pokemon Center to heal. Once they were ready to go they headed out onto Route 2, both eager to encounter new Pokemon and people on their trip to Brass town. Who knows what awaits our two heroes, find out next time on Pokemon Chromis Chronicles.