Excerpt 2 for the Pioneer of Jasmines

Old Joe glances up from his work-in-progress at the young man in front of his souvenir stall. Its that time of the year again, he thought. There was an annual period when a certain amount of foreign tourists would come to the Cerulean Cave. Unlike normal tourists, however, these foreigners kept to themselves vigilantly, almost as if they were in an occult. This young man, however, seems to be different. Dressed like any other, Old Joe can sense that his demeanor is similar to those "odd tourists", as he called it, yet there's something else in his eyes, something that drew him to Old Joe's hand-crafted souvenirs.

"This carving of Metagross looks very... lifelike."

"Ah, sonny, great tastes there. It was carved in likeness to the one that belonged to an ex-Champion of the Hoenn region, who traveled here not long after his resignation. You can have it, along with that one of Groudon over there." Old Joe points to another carving he made at the far corner of his stall.

"Have you seen the legendary Pokemon too, sir?"

"Not in my time, sonny - not in my time. Can't say the same about you though," Somehow, Old Joe could imagine this polite young man in the presence of legendaries as being quite astute. Probably just me getting senile, he chided himself.

The young man smiled briefly at the comment, bought his wares, and left. As he rounded a corner, Old Joe finally noticed a metal gauntlet upon the side of its backpack.

The gauntlet blinked at him before its owner - no, trainer - disappeared from sight.

*               *              *

"You're in Kanto, for goodness sake. Why don't you buy some Pokeballs?"
"You know the reason well, Dalson - I chose this path when I had Corrin, and I'm not gonna turn back."

Zheng was answered with the rolling of his acquaintance's eyes. The debate between them has been going on for a long time - whether to use Pokeballs or not in their trainer careers. And in this final moment, it seems that their paths have diverged for good.

"Cheer up, Dalson - its not like we can't still be friends."
"Just promise me we'll meet again someday."
"Of course, though I take it you're going to start your adventures here?"
"Yes - what about you, Zheng?"
"I think I'll pay a visit to the Viridian Forest. There's a rumour I'd like to invetigate."
"Really? And what's that?"

Zheng only smiled to his friend's protests. The two friends enjoyed the rest of the evening with each other, knowing that the imminent departure will separate them for a long time.

Excerpt 1 for the Pioneers of Jasmines

Battered and bruised, Zheng resolutely pushes himself back up. He was running before he was fully upright, but yet again, he didn't make ten steps before being hurled bodily backwards by a shockwave that ripples visibly upon the area of barren loam miles in diameter within the Viridian Forest.

"You should've just let me at him. You're as insane as he is, agreeing to this," said a voice in Zheng's head. "No, I'm not, and neither is he. You saw it as surely as I did - he performed both Rock Polish and Swords Dance only thrice, meaning he still innately understands the law of the Original One. There's nothing you can do anyway. You'll have to land in order to attack, and he only need one Earthquake in this state to defeat you."

As if on cue, the Rhyperior bellowed his challenge. Through his telepathic connection, Zheng understood the message within the roar - "Hiding behind your treacherous trainer, Metang? Come face me, you who learned nothing but cowardice from humans! Let us pit bright starsteel against solid granite, and see who is the stronger!"

Zheng smiled wryly as he mentally pictured Corrin flexing his claws, itching to rake the Rhyperior's eyes as he (Corrin likes to be referred as 'him') continue to telekinese himself higher than the effective range of the Rhyperior's attacks. "Remind me again why you want to do this, Zheng."

"Because I can understand the hurt in his eyes."

Corrin mentally kicked himself. That was Zheng all right. So willing to emphatise with other Pokemon's pains and griefs, Corrin wondered if it would bring about their downfall. No, he won't. Not on my watch.

A sudden movement that was never there before drew Corrin's attention. That idiot. While the wild - no, abandoned - Rhyperior was venting his lungs at him, Zheng actually used that momentary respite to get within striking distance of the rock behemoth. Instinctually, the Rhyperior swiped a massive foreclaw at the puny human.

"No!" In that instant, Corrin reversed his telekinese, simultaneously imbuing his claws with his mind as his grey-blue body plummets under the combined forces of psychics and physics. Knowing he was too late, Corrin's only thought was to take the humungous monstrosity down with him, laying in final rest with the one human he trust and the opponent he tributed to him.

"... You won."

Those two words, with their bass tones, literally stopped Corrin in his tracks. Zheng smiled, briefly, his hand on Rhyperior's horn as his body dangled within the potentially bone-crushing grasp, before hugging the said horn.