They reached the restaurant and ordered their food. While chowing down on their French fries and hamburgers, Nick managed to get in a few words.

"Have you battled anybody yet?"

"Nope," replied Keith, gulping down his soda.

"Neither have I," Nick hinted. Keith set down his beverage.

"Are you thinking what I’m thinking?" asked Keith, starting to smile challengingly.

"I think so" was the response. The boys finished their lunches, wiped their hands, and walked outside. They looked around for a suitable place to battle. Spotting an empty spot of grass to the back of the restaurant, Nick asked, "Are you ready?" Both trainers knew what to do.

"You betcha’! Our first battle!"

"Great! Let’s go! Staryu, I choose you!" Nick grabbed his single pokéball from his belt and flung it onto the grass. The pokéball opened up, filled with a ball of red energy. The energy instantly zapped out of the ball, striking the ground like red lightning. It formed into the shape of starfish in a split second and then was gone. In its place stood Staryu! The empty pokéball flew swiftly backed into Nick’s hand. "I love that!" Nick exclaimed.

"Now it’s my turn! Go, Eddie!" shouted Keith, enthusiastically. He threw his pokéball and out came Eddie, the Squirtle. "Here goes nothing! Eddie, Tackle it!" yelled Keith. Eddie immediately jumped up in the air, withdrew his appendages into his shell, and started spinning rapidly, flying towards Staryu.

"Staryu watch out!" warned Nick. He was too late. The Squirtle hit Staryu squarely, knocking it back. Staryu hit the ground, but jumped back up immediately. "Don’t give up Staryu!" cried Nick. "This is our first battle ever, and we’re gonna’ win it! Those two months of training should pay off now. Use Swift!" From the gem in the center of Staryu’s body, multiple ninja-star-like projectiles shot out at Eddie. The Squirtle had just come out of his shell, and the projectiles hit him forcefully in the head and carapace. Eddie was powerfully propelled backward, flipping head-over-heals while crying, "Squirtlllllllle!!"- the only thing he could say. Eddie landed on his stomach, obviously hurt but still determined to win.

"Eddie! Are you OK?!" cried Keith.

"Staryu! Water gun!" commanded Nick, not slowing down at all. Pokémon battles last until one of the battling pokémon is unable to fight. There are no time-outs.

"Oh, no you don’t," Keith responded quickly. "Eddie, Withdraw and roll!" As Staryu bent his top arm so that the tip faced Squirtle, a stream of pressurized water rushed out. Just before the water hit the Squirtle, Eddie drew his arms, head, and legs into his strong shell and rolled sideways, out of the way of the powerful jet.

"OK then," cried Nick. "Staryu, if that won’t work, Tackle it!" Staryu leapt into the air, spinning like a frisbee as it flew towards the Squirtle. Eddie again withdrew into its shell and attempted to roll out of the way, but was too slow! The Staryu collided with the Squirtle. "Yeah! That was - Huh?" Nick stopped short as he realized that Staryu’s tackle didn’t do any damage to Eddie’s tough shell. "Squirtle!" Eddie explained smugly (with his limited vocabulary).

"All right, Eddie! Now show it your Water Gun!" shouted Keith. Eddie opened its mouth and released a jet of water that knocked Staryu backward. Staryu landed about fifteen yards away, dazed. "Now, finish it off with a Skull Bash!" commanded Keith to the Squirtle.

"Get up Staryu! get up, Get Up! GET UP!!! Double Edge it before you get bashed!" frantically shouted Nick as Keith Eddie prepared for a Skull Bash. Staryu shook himself out of his daze and stood up within a second. Seeing the Squirtle flying at him, head lowered, Staryu acted quickly. Without an order from Nick, Staryu used Minimize and shrunk down to about two thirds of his former size. Because of the height difference, Eddie flew over Staryu’s head and crashed forcefully into the ground, flipping and rolling until he came to a rest on his back. "Awesome!" marveled Nick. "I didn’t know you could do that. Well, now Staryu, Double Edge the Squirtle! Go in for a victory!"

Amid Keith’s shouts of "Squirtle!" and "Watch out!", the shrunken Staryu jumped up into the air, spinning as if in a Tackle attack, but just before it reached the Squirtle, Staryu stopped spinning and collided with Eddie face-on, hitting the Squirtle with his gem. As he struck, Staryu bent his body backwards, pushing out his middle to add extra speed. Staryu was knocked back by the impact and immediately recoiled to the ground, his lighted gem starting to grow slightly dimmer. Meanwhile Eddie zoomed backward, thudding into a trash can and falling to the dirt on his stomach. Eddie emitted one last little "Squirtle..." and fainted, withdrawing into his shell. Staryu struggled to two of his legs victorious.

"Yahoo! That was awesome! I won! You were cool, Staryu! Great fight!" exclaimed Nick, exuberantly dashing to his Staryu and hugging it tightly. Staryu emitted an embarrassed "Hyah!" (which constituted all of Staryu's vocabulary) and returned to his pokéball, turning into a read beam of energy directed onto the button on the front of the ball, through which it entered.

"Return, Eddie," said Keith. A ray of light shot from the pokéball to the Squirtle as Eddie was transformed into red energy then joined the beam and entered the ball. Nick, suddenly recalled, looked up apprehensively. But, instead of seeing the glum features he had expected, Nick saw his new friend smiling and saying, "That was an awesome battle, Nick! Your Staryu is good. That was fun! We should really do that again sometime."

Nick looked at Keith and just started laughing, relieved of the stress that the battle had put him under.

"What’s so funny?" asked Keith, puzzled.

"I don’t know," replied Nick, in between his final chuckles. "That was just so much fun. You and Eddie did really well."

"Thanks, Nick. And I’m not gonna’ lose next time." Keith grinned and helped Nick stand up. "You just wait. Now there’s a score to settle."

"I’ll take that challenge, but, uh, now, I’m a little tired. I think we should take a break." Nick replied.