Thousands of people cheered. Who were they cheering for? Me, of course. The announcer stepped up, his eyes sparkling at the sight of such an amazing person.

"People, please welcome the greatest trainer ever known!"

The crowd roared. I held up my hands to wave to my adoring fans. The announcer continued. "This spectacular girl has passed through the Pokemon League of every region, has stolen the hearts of every judge known to Pokemon contests, and we all join here today to name her..."

Everyone shouted praise to me. I felt my whole body glow with pride. Everyone joined in to shout my new title. "Ultimate Pokemon Champion!"

"Krystal, Krystal, Krystal!" the crowd chanted.

"Krystal! Krystal!" one voice chanted, louder than the rest. But this one didn't sound happy. "Krystal! Were you even listening to my lecture?"

With a jolt, I woke up. "Chimchar!" I shouted at the top of lungs. My dad winced.

"The answer was Meowth, Krystal," my dad scolded.

Shrugging nervously in response, I smiled sheepishly. "Umm... repeat the question?"

Sighing, he shook his head. "I asked you which Pokemon evolves into Persian."

I felt my cheeks redden. "Next question."

He moved onto the next notecard. "This one will take some thought, so don't rush. Name all the starters you can, and which region they come from."

I thought hard about it. "Well, our region has Piplup, Turtwig, and Chimchar..."

'My Chimchar guess wasn't that far off, in some ways...' I thought.

"The, um, Kanto region has Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. The Johto has Chikorita, Torchic, and Totodile. And the Roenn region has... Treecko, Cyndaquil, and..."

I really had no idea, so I tried to think of another water Pokemon I knew was from that region. 'Plusle's blue, right? So I guess it's a water type. That would make Minun a fire type, I guess.'

"And..."

'Wait, is Minun the blue one? I think it is.'

"And Minun?" I questioned weakly.

Dad shook his head again. "The first two answers were right, but the Johto region has Cyndaquil. The Hoenn - not Roenn - region has Torchic and Mudkip." He huffed. "And Minun's not a water type. It's an electric type, just like Plusle. You need to study more, or you'll never get this right."

"What if I don't want to learn this? No other kid my age has to."

Dad scowled. "You know that's not true. There are two others in this very building that are learning this material. One of which is younger than you."

I turned my head stubbornly. "I'm not concerned about Aaron. And Lucian doesn't even count, because he's nine. I'm only five."

He huffed impatiently. "We've been over this a thousand times, Krystal. How are you supposed to take my place in the Elite Four someday if you don't know all this?"

Crossing my arms stubbornly, I turned back to him. "And I've told you a MILLION BILLION times that I don't want to join the Pokemon League."

His glare turned up a notch. "This is not up for discussion."

I decided to try a different approach. "Daddy, please..." I whimpered, putting on my most adorable Eevee face.

He stood his ground. "Krystal," he warned, his red eyes burning.

'Here comes the volcano mode.'

I felt close to crying. Could this man not understand what I was trying to tell him?

His gaze softened a little. "How about you stay over at Flint's tonight?"

I looked up, feeling better all ready. "Really?"

He nodded, and smiled at my expression. "Yes. I think you've been working hard."

I got up, but remembered what had been on my mind before I had drifted off. "Daddy, can I ask for one thing? Since my birthday is coming up?"

"What?" he asked, his tone a little wary.

Not knowing how to put it, I just let the words burst out. "I want to have a Pokemon!"

His eyes narrowed. "You have to wait until you're ten."

I stomped my foot. "Lucian has had his Abra since he turned four."

Dad seemed to contemplate that. "Maybe, but it depends on what Pokemon it is."

Getting the Handbook from my bag, I flipped it to the V section. I held it up to my father. "Vulpix," I said, pointing to the adorable little fox Pokemon.

Dad nodded. "That's my girl. A fire type. I'll have to contact the new Professor from the Kanto region about that."

Puzzled, I postponed my victory dance. "What happened to Professor Rawst?"

Dad shrugged. "He retired. His assistant, Sam Oak, took his place."

'Professor Oak... Hmm... That sounds weird to me.' Figuring this wasn't as important as talking to Flint, I hugged my dad and ran out of the room where he usually faced challengers of the Elite Four. He felt that the atmosphere of hope and determination would inspire me to pay attention, but all I got from it was the sweaty smell of all the losers who thought they could beat my father in a Pokemon battle.

Crossing through Rosalie's gym, I stopped when I realized she was in the middle of a battle with her daughter, Bertha. Which meant that Bertha was finally back from her journey. And she had some Sinnoh league badges to show off.

"Bertha!" I squeaked, bounding across floor to where she was watching her Quagsire recover from a blow. She turned to me in surprise.

"Oh, Krystal, it's you." She smiled, pleased to see me. She used to babysit me before she left, and I always felt like she was closer than just another child of one of the Elite Four.

Rosalie sighed. "Fine, I guess we're done for now," she said, taking out the Pokeball for her Golem.

"You have some stuff to show, Bertha," I demanded, trying not to show my intense curiosity in a childish way. Or show my surprise at how much older and more mature she looked.

She laughed, walking over to get a little bag. "I had a feeling you'd want to see the things I got. First, I can show you my team."

I brightened up even more, if that was possible. This day kept getting better and better.

She took out four Pokeballs. "You know Quagsire already, but I have four others." She put three back, and opened the first. A Golem appeared in front of her. "This is my Golem."

My eyes widened as I looked up at the rock creature standing in front of me. It was a LOT taller than me.

Bertha chuckled at my expression, and withdrew Golem, switching that Pokeball with yet another. "Here's my Hippowdon."

The next Pokemon was even more freaky. Remembering it from my book, I got that out. "Hippowdon, I mumbled, looking at it's page. "Heavyweight Pokemon." I could see where it's name came from. It was extremely intimidating in size and the fact that it's eyes were a harsh red.

Bertha smirked, noticing my slight fear. "Okay, let's move on to a Pokemon I know you'll like." She sent out a Whiscash.

I flipped to the W's, figuring Dad would like me studying while she showed me her team. "Whiscash... Whiskers Pokemon... Water and Ground type." I nodded, signaling for her to move on to her last Pokemon.

She took out the last one, and I couldn't hide my interest now. "Meet Sudowoodo."

The Pokemon looked like a baby tree. "Aww... It's so cute." I giggled.

Bertha laughed with me, shaking her head. "Not what I was hoping would be the word you would think of first, since I would want to intimidate challengers when I'm in the Elite Four, but I guess it could distract their Pokemon with it's superior adorability."

Remembering my book, I flipped through the pages again. "Sudowoodo... Imitation Pokemon. Oh, it's a rock type."

She nodded. "So, that's my team." She returned Sudowoodo to it's Pokeball. She moved on to the bag. "I also brought back some berries, and lots of other cool things."

She held out a small little pouch. Untying the knot that held it closed, I peered inside. "Is this the berry pouch?" I questioned, noticing a bunch of little colorful shapes. Bertha nodded.

"They're really cool, aren't they?" she said, beaming. They were. I had never seen so many different berries before. All I knew of were Oran and Rawst berries. Bertha got out a little case from the bag, and handed it to me. I flipped it open. On the top was what I assumed to be her Trainer Card, and on the other side was what I had been waiting to see the whole time she was gone. The gym badges.

"Whoa," I whispered, not knowing what else to say.

Bertha smiled proudly, staring at the recently polished badges.

Wanting to see Flint, I closed the case and decided to look at them more closely another day. "Is there other cool stuff? What else is in the bag?"

Bertha closed the bag, putting it over her shoulder. "Stuff that a certain girl and her best friend only get to see on their birthdays."

Wanting to see the stuff, I blinked innocently. "Oh, but the little girl just happens to be going to her best friend's house right now, and would be happy to deliver the packages early."

She laughed again. "Nice try. But you and Flint can open them next week."

I stomped my foot, but it was with less desperation than when I had stomped at Dad. "But that's not fair, because Flint's birthday is the day before mine, so he gets to open his present first."

She thought about that. "I'll give both of you your presents on Saturday."

"Y-you wouldn't do that to me!" I whimpered, switching from mad to pleading in record time.

"It's for the best, Krystal," she said, obviously trying to keep a straight face.

Knowing I wouldn't be making any progress with this, I walked past her, nose in the air haughtily. "Well, then, I have other friends to go see. Much nicer friends. 20-year-olds are passe, after all."

I could hear Bertha snickering good-naturedly as I reached the door. "Wouldn't want to ruin your reputation," she joked.

Instead of responding, I opened the door and walked into Kailee's Elite Four room. In the middle of the floor, Aaron was studying a picture of a Girafarig that his mother held up. Since my father had played this with me before, I knew that Kailee wanted him to guess it's name.

"Giraffy... Giraffig..."Aaron mumbled. Neither of them had noticed me - Kailee had her back to me, and Aaron was focusing intently. Instead of crossing the room, I crept up behind Kailee, swiftly pulling out my Pokemon handbook. I flipped to the Girafarig page and held it out from behind her so Aaron could see. His eyes flashed up to the page for a brief second, then they returned to watching the picture.

"Girafarig," Aaron giggled.

Without warning, Aaron's mom whipped around, jumping back when she saw me standing right there. "Krystal!" she yelped.

Smiling sheepishly, I tried to hide the evidence. Sadly, the book didn't seem to want to cooperate with me this time. "Hi, Kailee," I said slowly, turning back to her, the book still in my hand.

Her eyes narrowed as she read the front. "The Pokemon Ultimate Handbook, huh? Looks pretty cool."

"Yeah, it really is," I mumbled, trying not to meet her eyes. I knew laughing wasn't the best thing to be doing now, but seeing the look of impatience would remind me of how funny it had been to see Aaron giggle out the answer.

"Looks like there'd be a lot of cool Pokemon in there, like... say... Girafarig?"

Not thinking about it, I looked up see her expression, and cracked up. "Yes," I managed to say through the laughter.

She sighed, but it was more of a forget-about-it sigh than a what-to-do-with-you sigh. "You know, Aaron, I think we're done with lessons for today."

"Awesome!" Aaron shouted, halfway to the door. I followed after, pretending not to hear Kailee warn me not to do that again.

Once we got through the main area, we stepped outside. The chilly air felt nice after being trapped inside all day. I usually did not think much of such cold temperatures, but fresh air was more desirable now that I spent most of my time inside, studying. I started walking to where Victory Road ended, following the route to Flint's house. I heard Aaron walking silently behind me, obviously wanting to follow me. I turned around, startling him, which made me feel like I was in Kailee's position and Aaron was me.

"Aaron, I'm going to Flint's house, okay? So you better go back home."

He pouted, taking a step towards me. "Please, Krystal? I want to play with you guys!"

I sighed, feeling like a grown-up telling a their child they can't go to a sleepover. I just didn't have the adult part yet. Suddenly, an idea hit me. "Hey, Aaron, you know who just got home?"

Aaron's eyes lit up. "Who?" he whisper-asked excitedly, like this was the biggest thing since Poketches.

"Bertha's back from her journey, and she said she has something special to show you. Now, if you don't want to go get it from her, I suppose she could give it to me..." I let my sentence trail off, like a fisher waiting for the Magikarp to take the bait.

His eyes widened. Without another word, Aaron was gone, leaving me to cheerfully kept walk to my best friend's house, eager to share the news of my birthday present.

AN - Hi, guys! So, this is my first chapter of my first Pokemon story - not that I have any others planned. Review, please! I want to know what you guys think. :)