Leaving Home

by totalyborringname

The rise of the greatest trainer of all time through the eyes of her most trusted friends.

1. My Trainer

My Trainer

Pride flooded my senses. My heart started thumping faster even though that had seemed impossible just a few moments before. I wanted to say something cool, something classy, and something that would last forever in our minds. I don't know whether I was too emotional or maybe I had used up all my good lines all ready. Maybe I just didn't have time to think of one that would fit this situation. The only thing I could do was look. Look and marvel. To tell you the truth it wasn't my moment to say something anyway. It was hers. Sure I had fought my best, we all did, but I recognized the true victor of this battle.

I found myself admiring her. I am the closest one to her in many ways. She is still and yet she appears disturbed, unsettled, with an almost hungry look. She is ready for more. All that has happened to us, and she is ready for more.

I'm not upset. I almost expect it. That's just the way she is. That's the person she has always been from the beginning.

And with that though I find myself thinking back, back to those first adventures, first Pokémon, first battles, first laughs, and tears. And that first day, the day she truly became my trainer.

---

I hate pokeballs. I never liked them. Yeah, yeah, who cares right? All Pokémon say that. How convenient, unoriginal, etc. well sorry. I spent most of my pup hood outside of the sight of one. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway; my first experience was anything but pleasant. That was the reason I bit him. I was defending myself from discomfort. Honestly, it's not like I wished harm to befall on the poor guy. Pokémon have to use the tools they were given to communicate.

"Aaahhh!" Three firm grips on my fur told me I wasn't going to win this fight, but I could at least take this human's hand with me. "You blasted fur ball! Let me go!"

My jaw is not exactly made for tearing my enemies to shreds; so a few seconds later they had me in their power. I tried a few wiggling techniques, a tail wag but it was useless. I was beat.

"Don't just stand there Derf! Shove the monster in a blender!"

The human called Derf, a tallish human wearing a long white coat, opened a cage and shoved my furry behind in. "I hope this is what you meant Professor."

"I'm not joking! That's the most irritable eevee I've ever had to deal with. I don't care what Tracks said about him, that thing's useless."

Derf laughed. Then he opened a drawer and grabbed some tape. "This eevee was very expensive and by the look of your hand I can see why. Here, let's get that fixed.

I watched the Professor hold out his now mangled right hand. That'll teach you! You freaking primeape! I thought. No one puts me into one of those! I would have screamed it at him but I knew he would only hear a little squeaky 'eevee!' Let's face it. Despite what I thought at the time, I wasn't exactly the most ferocious Pokémon, eevees generally aren't. However, I wasn't going to spoil my victory by shouting out something that would sound cute to their ears.

"There, good as new. Didn't even break the skin. It should heal by the end of the day." Derf said.

"What a terrible way to start off the day. And it just had to be this day didn't it." The professor glanced in my direction so I puffed myself up, appearing as dangerous as I could. "Now what am I going to do? I can't give this Pokémon to one of the children. Their parents will kill me."

Derf shrugged and glanced in my cage. "We had a huge group last year. The town's actually quite small now that all trainers ten and over are gone. Besides me, your grandson and a few others, I don't think there is anyone ready. And, if we get desperate, we can always use that pikachu you caught."

You can play it cool, but if it hadn't been for me he wouldn't be worrying about Pokémon right now! I thought.

"That yellow menace is almost as infuriating as this monster." Said the professor. "Why we have collected so many strangely behaved Pokémon I can only-"

"Professor!"

I jumped and strained my head to see the new comer. He seemed to be a little older then Derf but far too young to be anyone important. The white clothing made him fit in with the others but his arrival seemed unexpected.

"Fred, I thought I told you to…"

"Professor!" Fred said, "The pokeballs aren't here. Neither is the special package."

"Well, the delivery girl must be late or something. There's no-"

"That's the thing Professor. I saw her. She hasn't even left town."

"What! I need those pokeballs here! Today! What does she think she's doing?"

"Do you think it has anything to do with what you said to her the other day?" Derf sighed, "You weren't very tactful."

"That's no excuse! I paid her good money for that delivery. Fine! Stay here you two. I'm going to go talk to her." With that, my victim left my sight.

"That's the eevee the professor bought for his grandson?" The last two turned their attention back to me. "Is he worth all the money Professor Oak paid?"

"It's expensive because of all the work put into breading. After all, it did come from a world renowned eevee farm. They told us that this one's more special than their normal product, and now I think I see what they meant." Said Derf, "But I think it's a little too feisty for Professor Oaks taste."

"Then what's he going to give the kid? Do you still get first pick?"

"Knowing Blue, he'll pick the type advantage Pokémon of whatever Green picks, and it's obvious that Green will pick bulbasaur."

"So, what does that leave you? Squirtle?"

"Or the Pikachu," said Derf. He motioned to the door, and both began to exit the room. "But that's only if there is another child, or if one shows up late." Before they left, Fred reached up and shut off the light leaving me behind as if I didn't even exist.

I hate that. Just because I'm a Pokémon doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy a well-lit room. Of course, there probably wouldn't be anything to see anyway. After all, I was in a freaking prison. The only stuff I could see was the view from a little slot in the box.

I tried to distract my mind so the claustrophobia wouldn't set in, but failed. The fear started to push its way in, as always. I curled up, trying to make it feel as if there was more space between me and the walls of my cage. Then, I shut my eyes and started to shut down for a while. Maybe I would wake up back at the eevee farm. But even in my sleep I couldn't escape from the dark.

---

I was trapped. I couldn't move. What had happened? Wasn't this just a normal day. Did I do something wrong? What was I doing here, alone, and not with the others? Where was here?

I gnawed on these questions while I was forced to wait. No one was listening. No one was there. No one cared. The answers to these questions were cast in shadows reflected from my prison of darkness. Even my fear could not fill the endless emptiness.

I wanted to go back to the farm, back to my home. I felt a longing to cry out, but I could not make a sound. Why? How did my world change so quickly?

Of course, at this time, I knew nothing. In about five minutes I would be released from the darkness, and into the light of a new life. What I could never have suspected was that this life held few answers and far too many questions.

---

Even though my eyes were closed, I sensed light. My mind shook itself from the nightmare, and I flung my body toward the light. Derf had entered the room, and he startled as my cage shook. My heart leapt with dread when he whisked a pokeball off a desk in the corner of the room and glared at me, but he just as quickly left the room. At least this time he left the light on. I strained my ears to find out the cause of the rush, but I only caught Derf's hurried footsteps.

Alone, I felt the fear start to return, but I glued my eyes to the outside world, trying to trick my mind into thinking I was out there and not stuck in timeout.

It may sound cliché but it really did seem like I was there forever. The only thing I could do was hope those humans didn't hold a grudge, or I could be here for quite a while. I had never been a big trouble maker. I had sneaked into the other side of the farm, played a little too rough, ate another eevees' food, and I had to show my friends who was the boss now and again… well, I might have been a big trouble maker, but I had never been caught. There was no way they could have known that I was a big trouble maker. I had certainly never bit a human before and neither had any of the other eevees at the farm; as far as I knew. I had no idea how long a time out like this would last.

Then the thought crept into my mind, Maybe I never heard of a biting eevee because when one does-

"Like heck I will!"

Great, now I lost my train of thought. I heard the sounds of two angry people rushing towards me. "I've waited long enough! You can't just say no!"

"I told you, all the Pokémon are gone." That one belonged to the Professor. "Maybe if you had done what you were supposed to do I would have saved you one. I had to send someone else to do your work."

"Come off it! You know you would have just given them all out while I was gone!" I tried to identify the voices. One was definitely the Professor but the other didn't belong to any of the other lab assistants I had met. I never remembered hearing a voice like that, and, believe me, I would remember this voice. It was low, definitely belonged to a boy, probably large for his age. However, this voice was… how can I put it right… scratchy? Like a board being dragged over gravel?

"I don't know what you're talking about." The Professor entered my view. He was scratching his right hand and looking back at the voice that was following him. At this point, he was as red as a berry, and looked as if his Frustration Attack could have killed. "Besides, you weren't ready to go anyway. You are still too young to leave!"

The last voice entered my view. It belonged to a small boy, to my surprise. I guess puberty came to just the one part because it seemed to be the only part that was under development at the time. The perfect word to describe him would be weak. His face gave him away. Even with all the brown, oversized clothing he was wearing you could tell there was no meat on those bones. Dressed as though it was winter, scarf and everything, the weakling planted his small feet down on the floor as if to fight.

"I'm fourteen years old. Older than all the rest of the brutes you sent off! And I'm the only one of them who can get through route one without a Pokémon. How much more ready do you want?" The boy was clearly frustrated, but seemed to be controlling himself. He wasn't at the point of red hot but stayed at a warm pink. Of course that could have been because he was too hot. He had to have been with clothing like that. Did he think it made him look bigger? Who was he fooling? Anyone could tell he was just full of empty air. The beanie did nothing for him except keep all that messy black hair from spreading all over his face. And his clothing seemed to be giving off a nasty smell that made me shrink back into my cage.

"Listen, if all this is because of-"

"No! No, let's not bring that up again." The Professor struggled for a moment to gain back control over his emotions. Then, with a big sigh, turned to the small boy. "Even if I wanted to sentence a Pokémon to eternal misery under you supervision, I can't. My grandson took the charmander, Green took the bulbasaur, Derf took the squirtle, I even managed to get rid of the rat. The only Pokémon…"

The Professor froze, and so did time. The room frosted over in a chilly silence. Even the boy seemed to feel the climate drop. Even though my body was warm, my soul shivered. Then slowly, very slowly, the professor turned his head over to me.

My mind shrieked, No! No! Not with that one! I'll never bite again! I'll be the perfect Pokémon! Just don't put me with the clown!

"Well…" the Professors mind was working so rapidly I'm sure I saw psychic energy behind his eyes. "I seem to have been so worked today that I've forgotten one. A very… special Pokémon."

The boy glanced in my direction, now realizing that I was there. He looked back at the professor accusingly. The Professor glanced back at the kid, then at me. A slow smile melted out onto his face.

"Why, yes. Yes! It's perfect!" he started walking over to me. "You would be the perfect trainer for this Pokémon! Why, you're a perfect match!" The Professor started to laugh. He grabbed my cage and flung open the door. I jumped out of the cage as furiously as possible, puffing out my fur to maximum fluffage, and letting out a terrible "EEVEE!"

The child's eyes widened with fright. Stammering with fear at my absolute power she said, "A… an… an eevee! Bu… but Professor… that Pokémon is extremely rare! You can't even find them in the wild anymore!" He snapped out of my spell and looked wide eyed at the Professor. "You would give me an eevee?"

"Oh, this just isn't any eevee. This is a very expensive, very highly recommended, and very highly valued in the battlefield eevee. With only the best treatment and care from the world's best eevee farm. Yes, the best pedigree possible." The Professor put an arm around the kid and pointed at me. "Why, I wasn't going to give this away because I was afraid no trainer could handle it. It does have somewhat of a temper, and it's stubborn, but I think you can do it. Yes, I think you might have the perfect discipline to handle a Pokémon like this."

"You really think so, Professor?"

"Of course! I'm never wrong when it comes to placing Pokémon with trainers that will work together to form the perfect team." The Professor opened a drawer and pulled out a pokeball. Handing it to the boy, his smile got even grander. "Trust me," he said.

The kid snatched the ball-of-extreme-discomfort and, only since I was momentarily stunned by the sudden sight of the sphere, snatched me up too. Pinning me against his left arm and smelly jacket, the boy reached out and clenched the Professors hand. "Thank you Professor. Thank you! You won't be disappointed! I promise! You'll see me and eevee go to high places in no time!"

The Professor let out a grown and took back his hand. He played with the bandage a little, then said, "Shouldn't you start by trying to catch up with the others?"

The boy bolted out of the room and I, an unwilling rider on this trip, went with him into the world.

---

The first time I left my home and into the outside world, well... let's just say it was anything but pleasant. I emerged from the darkness and into a large box. I had just enough sense to hear a door close behind me. My mind went into panic. Where in the farm was I? Was my imprisonment over or was it just the beginning?

After I calmed down a bit, I started looking around the box. Even though there were no holes that I could see, light filled the space. I was trying to identify the source when I heard it behind me.

"This one's not too bright, is he?"

I whirled around, and there facing me was a monster. He towered over me, smiled, and shoved his tail in front of my face. "I bet your glad I come with this, huh?"

"It's on fire! Your tail's on fire!"

"Eh, it's not that impressive." I realized that we weren't alone. To my right stood some other large monster. Though he didn't look as scary as the first he definitely looked tougher.

"You wouldn't be saying that if we were in the dark now." The monster took his tail from my face and I got a better look at him. He was a red creature, clawed and had larger teeth then mine. The other seemed to be blue in this light and had a shell on his back that made him look bulky.

"Don't get started now," a third voice joined, "We'll have plenty of time to beat each other up when we get out." I blinked. This last was green and stood the proper way, on all fours. But that wasn't what amazed me. This thing had a plant growing out of his back. A plant!

"What do you mean?" I had finally got enough wits to talk. "What do you mean we'll beat each other up?"

"Told you he wasn't bright."

"We can't all have fire on our tails, charmander."

"You said it bulbasaur."

This 'bulbasaur' focused his attention back on me. "I meant Pokémon battles. You know, I hit you, you hit me, and one of us faints because we just got the pollen knocked out of us. Not that anything like that matters to the master."

Pokémon battles? I must have skipped that day at school. I thought. Wait a minute... I never went to school!

I looked at my new 'friends'. I definitely wouldn't want to meet any one of them out on a shadowy corner were the humans don't look. They were all bigger than me. Wait... that makes me sound fat. What I meant to say was they were all fatter than me. Yep, goanna stick with that.

"Master?" I asked in confusion.

"Yeah. You know some young, talented human ready to become champ and willing to take us with him." The charmander said, "I can't wait, I know mine's going to be the best! We're going to the top for sure!"

"Not if I have to say anything about it!"

"Come off it squirtle, I know you have some kind of type advantage but it ain't goanna be enough against my power."

"Wait!" I was at the point of tears. What in the world is going on? Why am I here in a box with monsters that seem to be at the point of an all-out brawl? "Masters? Battles? Types? What's happening? Why are we here? Where was my home?"

The one called squirtle and the charmander laughed. The bulbasaur looked over at me again. "You really don't know? Didn't anyone tell you what your purpose was?"

My purpose? What did this monster or anyone else know about my purpose? What did I know about my purpose? I strained my memory to find some foreshadowing of what had happened to me. Eat, drink, sleep, play… nope nothing. I don't remember anything about fighting. Oh, I had fought. You had to, to be the first one to get to play in the playground. You had to race to be the first to get food. You had to be sneaky and smart if you wanted to have any real fun. But fighting for some master? Not ringing a bell.

All three of the monsters were wrapped back up in their own conversation again leaving me to my thoughts. My purpose? Some master? Like I said. Not pleasant.

---

I began to wish I was back in that box. The human was still gripping me in one of his arms and running who-knows-where. It took all my concentration not to gag at the smell of the jacket, so I couldn't even tell how long we were running. Nor could I start to think about escape.

And then we stopped. The grip loosened and I fell gracefully to the ground, which thankfully was covered with grass.

"Ouch!" I rolled back onto my feet and shook off the dust. "What do you think you're doing?" The human ignored me. With a smile he looked straight ahead. Following his gaze lead me to the first familiar sight I had seen in days, a pidgey. The monster looked at the human with razor sharp focus. I could only stand amazed. I had seen them before while they where flying over the farm, but never up close like this. At the farm, we had heard stories of pidgeys that had landed in front of the eevee's of old. These eevees and their stories were legends and rumors now. No one I had ever met had actually seen one up close.

The pidgey looked at the human. I looked at it. The human looked at me. Silence filled the air. The world seemed still. There was no sound, no wind rushing through the hills, just that silent tension.

"So…uh…how's it going?" I asked.

"Uh…just fine I guess." The pidgey looked like it lost its concentration for a moment. Then refocused. He cocked his head to the side. "So… what are you doing?"

"I'm not quite sure. Just standing here I guess."

"Maybe, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to fight me now."

Fight? Wait! Is this what those other monsters meant? I have to fight a pidgey? I studied my opponent. It was smaller than me. Hey, maybe this wouldn't be so bad! Think of all the bragging rights I'll have back at the farm!

"Well, all right then. Yeah! Alright! We can do this!" I took a few brave steps over to the foe. Then the wings of the bird puffed out and the creature grew before my eyes! I rethought my strategy and came up with a new theory which gave me reason to take a few brave steps backwards.

"All right!" the human said, obviously unaware of the danger we had unexpectedly found ourselves in. "Eevee, tackle attack!"

"Wha…" Before I could even think about what tackle attack even meant, I felt something slam into my face. "Ouch! Hey! Where did that come from?" I looked around for the cause of the pain. The only thing I saw was the pidgey, its wings moving, looking like they were slowing down.

"Gust." The human said. "A basic flying attack. It's a strong gust of wind."

"You mean that thing can hurt me with air?" I jerked my head back to the human. "Why didn't you tell me that before instead of shouting out some random-"

"Watch out!"

Too late of course. I turned back just in time to see the pidgey's wings reach top speed and send some invisible force at me. The same feeling washed over me. "Ouch! Hey, what's the big idea?"

"Eevee, you've got to keep your focus on your opponent! Now tackle!"

"What does that even mean?" I could see the pidgey's wings start to go faster again. This was no time to think about the ramblings of an overdressed fool! I needed to take this situation into my own paws if I was to survive.

As I ran through the grass towards my opponent, I tried to think of any of the tricks I used against eevees at the farm would work against this pidgey. The wings spread even wider as I started to reach him. I wasn't going to make it before it finished its attack. Dodge left? Right? "No! I'll just go right through!"

The wind slammed into me with all its might but it couldn't stop me from reaching the flying type. Drawing from my vast experience with wrestling with my friends, I decided that the direct approach would be best. I leapt into the air and put my paws before me. The pidgey was pushed onto its back and didn't try to get back up. It had fainted. I had won.

"That's showing it, eevee! Nice tackle attack!"

"Wait," I said as I leaped off my prey, "Jumping into your opponent and trying to overpower him with your strength is an actual technique?"

Ignoring me still, the human walked over to me. "But that shouldn't have been enough to knock it out."

"Excuse me! Are you insulting my awesome power?"

"Ah ha!" the human moved the pidgey from were it laid. I saw a small rock. "When you pushed it down it hit its head on this rock and went unconscious."

"Uh… yeah. Well, I didn't see you coming up with any ideas."

"It's not too bad. I've seen beginners do worse." The human looked at me and smiled. A strange sensation washed over me and I found myself in yet another flashback.

---

"That's not fair!" he grabbed my tail! He cheated! You all saw!" The would-be-first-eevee-to-the-food-line said.

"Doesn't matter! All's fair in games and food!" I said. Once again I found myself at the front of the line. I smiled. I may not be the fastest eevee, but I sure am the sneakiest. The others had been too wrapped up in playing that they hadn't realized that the sun was in mid sky. The time of food was at hand. With a little help from one of my friends, I had developed the perfect system to get to the food first.

I looked back at my friends. They weren't right behind me but they were close enough for me to see their triumphant faces. The only thing better than that was the jealous faces of the others. What can I say? Nothing. But I could smile back at them just to rub it in. I had been first in the mad race to the food for quite some time now. In fact I was getting to be well known for it among humans and eevees.

The doors to the kitchen opened. This part was almost as good as being first. Being the closest to the doors gave me the best spot to smell the best of all smells. The warm air from the kitchen washed over me and gave the others close enough a nice consolation prize.

"Well, look who's first again." Not even all the pleasant smells in the world could hide the feeling that voice gave me.

It was Tracks, the head human of the farm. I say that because all the other humans seem to take a step back every time he entered the room. Even though he was old, he looked strong, very tall and well built. He must have beaten all the others into submission so hard that they still treated him as the boss. Tracks had always singled me out. Ever since the first time I saw him, he has been out to get me. Setting traps so I'd get caught doing something wrong, sending me to time out for the smallest of things and leaving me there forever.

"You should be careful about standing out." He said, "You never know what might happen. Remember, the tallest trees are always first to be cut down and cast into the fire." Then Tracks disappeared into the kitchen again. Hopefully he didn't contaminate the food as he passed by.

The workers brought out the food and, since I was first, gave me a double helping. I took in the scene as I walked back to the usual spot. A hundred eevees all lined up in front of the biggest doors on the building. Because of this, the grass in our play area was actually visible all the way up to the wall. I reached a small hill off to the left of the play place and toy area where my spot was.

My mood was darkened as I reached my friend. She seemed to sense my melancholy and we stayed silent as we ate. After a bite or two, she looked up to my right and smiled.

I glanced over my shoulder and couldn't help but smile too. It was Arazul, our favorite human.

"Well, look who's first again!" Funny how the same words said in a different way by a different person could have a completely different effect. "You two make quite a team."

I loved Arazul. That's the only way to put it. Of course every eevee did. He had a way to make every eevee feel like they were unique. He knew all the eevees by name. Heck, he's the one that named us.

Arazul set down next to us. He gave out a huge sigh then said, "I guess you two should be the first to hear the news."News? It must have been horrible news. Arazul looked down. He lost his smile and turned his brown eyes away from us towards the other eevees in line. "Remember how I told you I had family in Cinnabar?"

I remembered. Arazul had always talked about his family with us. They were a poor couple down in a place called Cinnabar Island. All us eevees had been fascinated by Arazul's stories about life outside of the farm. He told us about strange monsters and far off lands that he swore were too far away to be reached in one day; that one needed to sleep outside at times before they could reach it. Amazing. He told us that his family lived in such a place. He wanted to go down, but he had lacked 'money', something he never quite explained to us. His parents lacked 'money' too so they couldn't bring Arazul down to live with them. Evidently, helping us gave him money. I wasn't quite sure how I gave him money, I was only aware of giving him my love and trust. For all I knew that could've been money.

"Well, the news is, I have enough to go now." It didn't make sense to me. He has enough to go? What did that mean, to go now? "I'm leaving the farm."

My heart was crushed. Life without Arazul? What was going to become of the farm?

"Don't worry little guys. I'm going home to be with my family." Arazul looked into my eyes, "Becides, pretty soon you'll be off on your own adventures. You're going to be making all new friends, and finding your own homes." Then he smiled at me. I couldn't describe what was in that smile. It's like there was some message that I should have understood. I didn't at the time but I would one day. But first Arazul's prediction had to come true.

---

That smile, I thought, it's the same smile this guy's giving me now. I shook my head from the memory and studied my 'master' a second time. He stopped studying the pidgey and walked towards me. He bent down and studied me too.

"Huh, you actually don't look too roughed up for some who took three gusts." He reached toward me, "It must have been a weak pidgey."

"What's that supposed to mean!" I said, drawing back, "Only an eevee with my expertise could have knocked a pidgey in such a way that its head hit the rock! I was the one that stood bravely against the mighty pidgey and saved your life while you stood there shouting at me with that awful voice."

The human got back up. "Hey! Sorry! It's just that eevees don't usually take things out in one hit."

"I was the best at the farm!" I retorted. "Shows how much you know."

"She's right you know." I whirled around at the voice. It was another human! Not just another human, it was him. Derf! He was walking up to us, still dressed in his white lab coat, his brown eyes lazyly studying us. "Eevees aren't exactly known for their attack power. Luck, that's all there was to it."

I was about to make a rude comment when my master cut me off.

"For heaven's sake Derf, I've only been gone for ten minutes and the Professor already sent a spy."

"Don't get all worked up, delivery girl. I'm just here to check up on your progress. I have to admit, I'm surprised that the eevee hasn't torn out your throat yet."

The girl jerked her hand to her up to her scarf so fast that I thou-

Delivery girl? I looked at the child with new eyes. Oh jezz, it's a girl!

"Ha, looks like your eevee's surprised too." Said Derf.

Of course! That's why she was smaller than the others. It's a girl! My masters a freaking torchic!

"Derf, you…" The girl's growl shifted to a whole new level. "Fine! You've made sure I wasn't dead, so get lost!"

"Oh, I couldn't do that. I have a special message from the Professor."

"And that is…"

Derf looked at me, "He wants to see if that eevee and you really got what it takes."

That doesn't sound good. I saw the girl tense up and look at me. Definitely not good.

"Go squirtle!"

A flash of light drew my attention toward the new comer. No, it couldn't be! It's the same monster from before!

The shelled monster looked at me. "Hey, if it isn't not-so-bright." He glanced at my master. "Wow, looks like you struck out."

Even though I wasn't thrilled with the girl, I still felt the need to defend her. Call it warriors' compassion. Or saving face. Whichever works.

"At least her name isn't Fred spelt backwards!"

"Hey! What's the matter with you?"

"U? Nothing's the matter with u. It's a good letter. I was talking about the loser behind the lumpy, blue blob!"

"That's going too far!"

"Well," said Derf, "It seems they've already taken a disliking to one another."

"That just makes this easier then!" said the girl.

Squirtle and I squared off. We were both in between our masters, and nothing but anger existed between us. Except air and some ground I guess.

"Tail whip!" Both the scratchy and calm voice commanded.

"Hit him with my tail?" I turned back to my master, "How's that suppose to help!"

"Turn around!"

Too late, the soft slap on side told me that I was now the victim of the deadly tail swipe. Nothing big.

"Ha, what was that supposed to be?" I laughed out loud. Why did I ever fear this guy? That was pathetic.

"Tail whip"

"Come on eevee!" the girl said, "Tail whip! Growl! Something! Please!"

"Growl? That's even more pathetic then the tail whip. How's that going to help anyone?" I felt another light pat on my side. "And what's the deal with you? Are you really taking this seriously?"

"Shows how much you know, fur ball."

"Tail whip!"

"Please! Tackle if you want! Heck just turn around and I'll be happy!"

"Oh no! You're right! I have to defend myself against the deadly tail whip!" Tap. "Oh no! I'm too late! There's no winning this now!"

"Oh boy, you're in for a surprise fluffy."

"Tail whip!"

"Ahhh! What do you think you're doing? You're going to get pulverized! Just listen to me!"

"Hey! How about listening to me!" I turned my anger to her. "I didn't ask to be in this situation! I didn't ask to be sold to some master either! I just want- hey! Cut that out." The squirtle backed away.

"You know," he said, "You should really listen to her. She knows what she is doing."

"And what's that!" I said.

"Tail whip." Derf said.

"Roar! Defense curl! I don't care!" She said

"The only thing she is dong is shouting at me. I don't even know what she is trying to tell me. She's just some stup- Ahhh!" I felt the rear end of the monster once again. "Look, just stop. You're making a fool out of yourself."

"The only one who's a fool here is you." The squirtle looked down at me. "You really should have listened. Now it's too late."

"Eevee! Brace yourself!"

"Tackle, squirtle!"

"Too late! Too late for what? Going back to the farm? Listening to Arazul's stories? Being first t- wait, tackle?" Pain hit every inch in my body at once. I barley felt the sensation of flying through the air or hitting the ground. I laid there for a few seconds until the urge to throw up shook me out of shock. I struggled to get to my feet. "How… why…"

"When and where." The squirtle looked back at me. "You know, I was wrong. You didn't strike out. She did."

"Eevee." The human was by my side now. "Oh jezz. Hold on!"

"Pathetic." Derf looked at me and my master for a while, then sighed. "Return squirtle." Light came out of the pokeball in Derf's hand and shot toward the monster.

"What Derf." My master said, "You're not going to finish him?"

"It would be pointless. It's already obvious who is going to win." The light of the pokeball, filling in the ball of accursed discomfort, shut. Derf put it to a belt at his side. "Besides, I've done just what the professor asked" he started to walk away.

"That's all, is it?" my master said.

Derf looked back at me and her. "You should have stayed with your job at the lab."

Once she was out of ear shot I heard the girl whisper, "You should leave."

---

"It hurts! It hurts! It all hurts!" Even the cushiness of the stinky brown jacket wasn't enough to soften the pain I felt. "Even my fur hurts! How is that even possible? What in the world did that guy do to me?"

"Sorry."

The girls quiet, scratch voice caused me to pause for a moment. Then I said, "Well, you should be! That pidgey must have had some super power."

"The tail whip technique," she interrupted, "It doesn't cause damage, or at least not to your stamina. Instead it chips away at your defense, softening you up for the following hits... I should have warned you instead of trying to just tell you what to do to avoid it."

Well this was new behavior. As far as I was concerned, I was the one that lost. She looked like took a bigger toll on her. Her head was slightly down, voice even lower than usual, and was frowning a little. I didn't understand. I had been the one that got their butt kicked. Why does it look like she took a blow too?

"Come to think of it," she said. She seemed to be deep in thought. "Just because you can do certain attacks, doesn't mean that you know their names. Maybe it was a mistake to try to just go straight to Viridian city. Maybe I should have waited just a little."

I heard something moving, scratching around. The human must have heard it too because she dove into the nearest bush. Then she moved some of the leaves and we peered out into the open.

"No! Anything but that!" I said. It was a rattata. It wandered out into the opening, taking a few sniffs, probably to see if there was any prey in the area. "Not that thing again."

This wasn't the first time I'd encountered one of these viscous little monsters. Once, during one of my adventures at the eevee farm, I had fought one. It was during one of my midnight sneaks, trying to figure out how to get into a kitchen when one attacked me. The thing was so fast and the room so dark I couldn't even hit it. Thankfully, I escaped with my life. Later, I had tried to warn the other eevees, but they had just laughed it off. They thought that I had a bad dream or something.

"You see it right! I'm not crazy! They-" The rattata looked in our direction. My master put her hand over my mouth.

"Rattata," she said, "Usually not too aggressive unless you try to take its food or you surprise it. Even then it would only attack if it thinks you're weak. But let's not risk it."

The rattata moved around for a while and then disappeared into the foliage.

"It knew we were here." The girl said, "But it didn't want to fight. Usually they stay away because of the repel I'm wearing. Pokémon don't like the smell, so they stay away if they can."

"No kidding," I coughed once she removed her hand.

She seemed to realize that 'Pokémon' would include me because she said, "Oh! Sorry! I forgot! I was going to remove it but… I'll get rid of it as soon as possible, I promise."

Once again she started down the path to this Viridian city. "You know, maybe we got off to a bad start, but so what. I'm sure we'll be great! We should just slow down and deal with the basics first."

She looked down at me and gave me that smile again. "Come to think of it, I don't even think we've been introduced. I may not know your name or maybe you don't have one but my name is Lin Ka Ota. I guess we'll figure out yours latter."

My name. I had a name. It was given to me a long time ago by a person I loved in a place that seemed too far to be true.

---

It had worked! I could hardly believe it. The plan was flawless. It was genus. It had worked, every little piece of it.

I walked back to my new best friend with the extra-super-size chow bowl. It would have been tempting to just take the double portion for myself but I was so happy I couldn't even think sneaky thoughts. I had never ever been first before. It was everything the other eevees had ever said it was and more. The smells, the pride, the glory! All of it was mine now.

I reached the eevee that had helped me. She laughed; "It worked!" Obviously she was in the same state of emotion I was. "I thought it would, but I just… wow! It really worked!"

"Quick!" I said, "It's not over quite yet. We have to eat now or we can't get seconds." We started to eat as fast as we could.

We were in the middle of the feast when we heard laughter coming in our direction. Looking up I saw Arazul walking towards me. At this time I knew that he was special, different from all the other humans even though his standard white coat made him fit in with the rest.

"That was quite the performance." He said, "I've seen the race go to the fastest, the strongest, the most patient, the meanest, the nicest and the toughest but I'm sure that this is the first time I've seen the race go to the two sneakiest eevees ever."

Maybe that would have been an insult in the ears of others but it sounded like the highest praise in mine.

"Eevees seventeen and ten." He said, as he looked at a clip board in his hand. He studied the board a little more. "Well, no wonder you two would be first. You are both very special eevees. I think that we will have undefeated champions of the lunch race for quite some time in you two."

"But I don't think that you should eat so fast. You both have plenty of time to get back in line." He motioned to a few eevees that were getting in line. "You need to look at the big picture. These are just the first of the stranglers that have given up hope of being first. There are many others that come when the line has died down. It may appear that they are eevees going in for seconds but they aren't. You two can eat at a healthy pace and be done by the time the last eevees get in line."

Is there any doubt as to why this guy was everyone's favorite human? I had known of him before, but now he was my personal hero. I would have killed for Arazul. You know, if I could have killed or had the slightest ability to be deadly.

"Now, I can't just call you two numbers, can I?" Arazul looked at our charts again. "Two special eevees like you need matching names too. Let's see… ah!" He pointed at my friend. "Not eevee-ten, Bullet." He wrote something in his clop board, "Not eevee-seventeen either." He turned to me and gave me my name. "You are Ricochet."

---

Viridian city flooded my vision. I couldn't even begin to describe it. So I won't.

"Viridian city!" Lin said, "It's the biggest city this side of Kanto. It's also the home of the top gym in the whole land." She looked at me. "But first we've got to get you some rest."

The next few minutes found me in the most peculiar place ever. It was in a large, red building of some sort. It had more smells than the kitchen at the farm, although not all were that good. Lin took me up to a computer with a woman in a white uniform behind it.

"Excuse me?" Lin said, "but my eevee here…"

"Yes, yes, oh dear you have done a number on it. Another one from the gym? No, not with a Pokémon this weak, they'd never let you get near."

And before I could even protest the word weak, the woman picked me up in her arms and rushed me through the door to an endless series of corridors.

"They just keep getting younger and younger don't they? At least you haven't fainted, poor thing. Why they would let a little, cute, weak guy like you fight is beyond me."

She was talking so fast and turning random corners at such a high speed I almost didn't catch the little, cute, weak part. Almost. But just as I thought of an insult for her we burst into another room full with almost identical women and more monsters then I'd ever seen before in one place.

She set me on a table next to what looked like a very mad pidgey with a bad feather day. She told me to wait, and with that she disappeared into a mess of noise.

I turned to the messed up flying type besides me. "So, uh… what are you in for, pidgey."

"Spearow!" The angry bird corrected, "and I don't want to talk about it."

"Alright now," a woman in white appeared at the side of the spearow's bed. "They are ready for you down the hall! Let's go get those poison spikes out of your tush!"

She rushed the spearow away fast, but not fast enough to escape the laughs of the others in the room.

I took a wider look around. There were many different monsters but I was too much in pain to care or be afraid. "At least I don't have something shoved up my-"

"Alright now!" one of the many women showed up at my table. "Well, this isn't too bad! You're just a little weak, that's all."

I opened my mouth to answer that challenge, but she quickly reached into her front pouch and shoved a white spongy thing in.

"Haw! Woo wal wiwil wi… hum, haway! Noowt woo wad!" It wasn't just 'not too bad,' it was excellent! This out does anything at the eevee farm! What was the source of such an awesome delicacy? I don't know but I felt like giving this woman the biggest lick ever.

"You like that don't you?" The nurse grabbed my table and pushed me to the exit. "That's a Chansey Egg for you! Fixes up all your minor injuries in a jiffy!"

Chansey, huh? I've got to remember to recommend this back at the farm. This could be the biggest craze since tag. I could be a hero! A legend! Everyone for generation of eevees could look back and remember 'Ricochet' the eevee that changed the farm for eternity!

Before I knew it, I was back in the entrance of this place of miracles, seeing Lin waiting for me. I jumped into her arms. I didn't even care that she must be the worst master ever. I was just too happy to care about anything.

"Looks like this is his first chansey egg!" the woman in white said, "They always look their happiest after their first. Do try to be more careful next time, boy!"

"Yes, nurse." Lin took me though another door. "She's right, you do look a lot more happy than I've ever seen you."

We entered into a large room full of chairs, sofas, and large beds. It had a few humans and monsters in it, most gathered around a fire. Lin, however, took me to a chair far away from the others. She set me on the floor to the side of it and slouched down into the chair.

"What a first day." She said, "I think we'll call it a break for the day. Its evening and I got a lot of catching up to do." She reached into her jacket and pulled out a book and a pencil.

"Boring." I said. I looked around for something to do. I could go talk to the monsters by the fire, but they all were pidgeys, spearows and rattatas. Not good company. But what was that by the back? I walked over to the back of the room leaving my master to her scribbling. There were large clear boxes that needed to be inspected. Reaching them, I realized that they were full of food. I wasn't exactly hungry at the moment, but it was nice to know that there was food close at hand. I had been worried that my master would forget about something like that, but she couldn't with these big glowing boxes back here.

I returned to her. She finished writing and put the book back into her jacket. Then she pulled out a completely different book. Just how many books did she have in there? I realize that I had been wrong in my first call. Her jacket wasn't full of air, it was full of books.

"One word, Lin, backpack. Or fanny pack. But seriously, in your jacket?" I took a sniff of the air. No more repel. She must have gotten rid of it while I was in the back rooms. It was about time. I leapt up to the arm rest of the chair and looked at the new book. To my surprise, I saw a drawing of an eevee looking back. "Hey, not too bad. You should stick to drawing instead of doing something you can't do."

"That better have been a cry of amazement." Lin said. She finished the drawing and started to draw a mess of lines underneath. "This is your book." She explained. "This is where we'll design all the techniques you can do, your stat's, and battle strategies. And even more!"

"Gee. Looking forward to it." This girl was making charts of me? She will be disappointed to learn that I already have one. It did look like she was taking this whole thing seriously. I kind of felt bad for her. She was so bad at being a Pokémon master, no one will see her little cartoons.

"Is that really true?" I turned to the sound of a loud human. The voice came from a group of humans by the fire place. Judging by the way some were hopping up and down, they must have been excited about something.

"Just look at the bulletin board if you don't believe me." The first human got up and took off. The second continued, "Can you believe it? The best gym in Kanto is offering apprenticeships to beginning trainers!"

"There's got to be some catch," Another human joined in, "Why would Giovanni want a bunch of newbies in his gym? How much do we have to pay?"

"Nothing! There are just a few tests to see if you're worthy or something."

"He's got to be looking for young talent. I'll bet he is trying to grab them before they join another gym. That way he'll stay on top!"

"It's true!" The first human came back. "It's true! But why would he want newbies now if he's already got experienced people."

"The flyer said that if we pass the test we would train under those who already have experience. Those that have experience will be responsible for us until we are ready to train under Giovanni himself."

"Wow, imagine that. Training under a gym leader already. What would my parents think?"

"Look at them, giving up that easily to be someone else's pawn. They should know that they are selling off their entire career and loyalty for all eternity. You just can't leave a gym once you're in it." I heard Lin snort behind me. "Interesting though. I wonder what kind of tests Giovanni has in mind."

Lin turned back to scribbling. I had a feeling she would be at this for a while, so I hopped down and looked for a place to sleep. I found a bed nearby and jumped up to the top. It was far larger than the ones back at the farm, more comfy too. The only problem was that they were so far off the ground. I had to jump pretty far to get up. I sprawled myself in the middle of the sea of fluffiness and lost myself to memories of the past.

---

I turned back with food in mouth to the field. I had lost the race again. Why don't I ever win? I couldn't be like one of the eevees that doesn't play, that just wait all day near the door to the cafeteria. I needed to play. You couldn't get respect in the farm without playing and I wanted respect.

I glanced over at Zip, the winner this time. She looked back at me smirking, extra food in mouth. As her name suggested, Zip was the fastest Pokémon on the farm. She took special care to make mention of it every time she used her speed to beat me at something or other. At least this time, she had left it to just a smirk.

I went to my usual spot. My friends were still in line, far back in line. This was going to be a lonely lunch. But at least I could finish off my food quick and get back in line for seconds.

I don't know how long I was eating before I felt someone close by. Looking up I saw another eevee in front of me. She was small, with a lighter brown ting to her fur. Well, I say small, but after a bit of scrutinizing her, I noticed her ears were just a little too long for the rest of her body. She might have had longer, not to mention fluffier, ears than me.

She put down her food and said, "Looks like you lost."

"Thanks." I said. "Do you have any other dumb comment to make, or are you done."

"Uh…well…" She looked like she was about to pick up her food and leave. She stopped herself, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then continued in a high-pitched rush, "I think I know how I can make sure you get first in line for the extra food, but I will understand completely if you don't want to work with me because I-"

"Stop! Holy smokes! That's just painful to my ears! Just who do you think you are, coming up to… food… first…?" I studied this eevee more carefully. I didn't remember seeing her before. "What do you mean by first and food? And who are you?"

The eevee fidgeted around for a while then said, "Um, eevee 10-12, on well, I don't really have a name yet, but…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, neither do I. But first, what about food?" It was just irritating. For starters I had asked for the info on food first then names. Second, this eevee was so nervous it was disgusting. Why didn't she just come out and say what she wants to say?

She looked like she froze. Her eyes widened and she seemed to deflate before my eyes. Then her mouth melted a little and quiet, squeaky sounds came out.

"I have a plan that can make us first for food. Always."

I thought about her words very carefully. Always, she had said. Not even Zip was first always. "What do you mean by we? Only one can be first. Just what are you playing at?"

"I think or I know that you could be first if the plan works, but I won't be but. Well, we could share." She said. If it were possible she shrank even more, when she said the word 'share.'

"Just what are you talking about? Some sort of deal?"

She nodded, "I can make you first for every meal, but then you could share half of the helpings. Then we could both get back in line in time for seconds."

Was this a trick? It seemed too good to be true. It must have been a trap from some of the rival eevees. I could see something like this coming from Zip and the others. But still, could I resist the possibility of it being true?

"First, tell me your plan. Then we'll talk."

She hesitated for a while, and then started to tell me her plan. What can I say? I laughed like a delibird on Christmas.

---

"Why does it have to be me?" I tried hiding under the covers, but I knew they wouldn't protect me forever. "Why are we up so early?"

"Hey! The others have left already! I'm sorry I over slept, but we need to get a move on!" Lin said as she tore away my protection. She grabbed me and tried to pull me off the bed, but I had bitten the mattress. She growled in frustration or maybe it was pure anger, hard to tell with a voice like hers. Finally, she let go. I thought I had won, but I saw her grab something from her jacket. I checked it out of the corner of my eye. To my terror it was a pokeball.

I definitely didn't scream like a wuss, dive off the bed, or hide on the opposite side. No, what I did was make a ferocious sound to startle my opponent, take a daring leap from an extremely tall bed and use the bed as a bunker in which I could fire my attacks from. Like any strong and smart Pokémon would do, of course.

"Hey, that's more like it!" Lin said, "Let's go!" I heard her rustle with her jacket and knew that the ball was gone, for now.

Now's my chance! I thought, as I jumped back up to the bed, now on the offensive.

"You complete loser of a human! Why in the world would I want to get up this early! The sun isn't even up all the way for heaven's sake! Next ti-"

It was about there when I realized she still had the pokeball in her hand. Even though she couldn't understand my words, she seemed to get the drift of what I was saying because she lifted the accursed thing in the air once more.

I figured I had done enough damage for the time being and reverted back to my earlier strategy, this time with masculine whimpering to trick my opponent into thinking I was too afraid to face them on the field of battle. Yes, for I knew that an overconfident opponent was an easily defeated opponent. And the shaking was just so I could feel afraid, get into the mind of a scared eevee if you will, as to make my act more realistic. Difficult for me at that time since I knew no fear.

I stayed there for quite some time before I decided to quickly scout out the field. I moved to the right, jerked my head out into plain view, took a quick sweep of the area, and jerked it back. Unfortunately, I was too quick. I only saw a blurry image of Lin standing there. I decided to try again, more slowly this time. I cleverly peeked from the left side of the bed, a move she'd never expect. This time I got the whole picture. Lin was just standing there, nonchalant, hands behind back, and slowly rocking back and forth. If I was going to insult her, it was now or never.

I jumped up to the bed. "And another thing, where… AAHHH!" The ball! The ball was right there in my face! It was a trap! I froze; knowing at any moment of her choosing my master would imprison me.

"You don't like this, do you?" she said from behind the ball. She paused for a bit then took the ball away and put it in her jacket. "Well then, I'll make you a deal. You aren't too much of an inconvenience to keep outside the pokeball. I don't think anyone would have a problem if you just stayed close to me. So, is it fair? I don't use this on you and in return you have to follow me. Deal?"

I thought it over for a while and decided that I really had no choice but to choose the lesser of two evils. I sighed and gave up the bed. A few minutes later found me at the edge of town.

"This will be great!" Lin said in a vain attempt to get me to look forward to a butt kicking. "I know a place just outside of here that will be perfect. We'll be the only ones too. All the others have either gone to route or up to the forest to fight each other so we will have the place all to ourselves to figure out what you can do."

No other humans to attack me? I thought. Maybe she did know what she's doing.

We reached the top of a hill and looked to see a neatly paved path with a large building end. Lin pointed to a small grassy area to the side of the path. "That's it. The others don't come here because of all the tough Pokémon that this area has."

Crap! Just when I thought it might be a nice day, Lin-Ka-Ota steps in to screw with it.

We reached the area that Lin pointed out. I didn't see any Pokémon but you can never know where a rattata can hide. Lin knelt down and started to fuss with the long grass. She gave it a yank and commenced to weave something. A little while later, she stepped back and revealed some kind of toy made out of grass and string. It vaguely resembled an eevee, an incredibly fat and ugly eevee.

"I hope that you're not expecting me to play with that."

"All right eevee! Now, I want you to show me your tackle attack."

This is a joke right. No, she's serious.

"No."

"Uhmmm… tackle?"

"No!"

"…Please?"

"No."

"Err, well, let's try something else huh! Let's practice that technique that squirtle used, tail whip. Just run up and turn at the last moment to strike your opponent with your tail. Ready? Tail whip!"

"No."

"Oh come on! It's not too difficult. You should be able to handle it. Ahh! What's your problem?"

"It's not the Pokémon's problem. The problem is in the human." A human voice! I turned around to see a boy, all dressed in blue, coming up the path to us. "It's kind of sad to see a Pokémon stuck with such a loser." He said.

Finally, I thought. Someone understands my situation.

"But then again, eevee must have done something awful to grandpa to deserve you. Or maybe it's just weak."

Now he's gone too far! I thought. I bristled my fur and gave the human my famous look of death. Wait, grandpa? This is the professor's grandson?

With a voice that matched my indignation and a tone that equaled my furry, Lin said, "Blue, you grandson of a mankey's rear end, what are you doing here? You followed me here, didn't you?"

Blue? Evidently his mother hated this jerk as much as we did. I found it a comfort that Lin seemed to despise this guy already. That will make it easier to kick his behind.

"All right, Blue!" I said, "Just you wait! You and your grandpa are about to share a matching slight bruise!"

"I was just coming here to head off Green-"

Another maternally hated child no doubt.

"But I think I have enough time to take out the trash." He grabbed a pokeball from his waist. "After all, I don't want another person interfering between me and Green."

He threw the pokeball in our direction. "Go, pidgey."

"What! You already have two Pokémon!" Lin exclaimed, "Quick eevee, tackle."

"I was going to do that anyway!" I ran towards the forming pidgey.

"Sand attack!" the pidgey moved its wings and I mentally braced for the invisible pain. To my surprise this pain was quite visible. Sand consumed me and I lost the sight of the pidgey.

"Sand attack," Lin said. "It will lower your accuracy. Tackle it before it gets too low!"

"Solid advice, Lin." I ran toward the pidgey once the dust settled. It was to my right, just out of reach.

"Too slow! Pidgey, sand attack and dodge right!"

Sand hit my face and I lost sight of my opponent. I remembered the command of the human and tackled to my right. To my dismay I saw the pidgey to my left instead.

"That's good eevee! Just remember that he'll go to his right, not yours!" Lin said.

"You're congratulating it for a failure?" Blue laughed. "No wonder you only have one Pokémon. You could never get even one to respect you like that! Face it Lin, a little girl like you should have stayed back at the orphanage. Sand attack!"

Orphanage? I didn't have time to think about that. I tried to tackle again, but once again sand stopped me from touching him. What's worse is that some of it stayed in my eyes every time. It was getting harder to see.

"And a little boy like you should have stayed under your daddy's wings. All right eevee, one last time!"

"I don't need that order! I know what I'm doing!" I ran towards the pidgey again, this time changing my strategy. When I got to the area where I knew the pidgey was, I jerked my butt around to perform tail whip. Nothing, but that was what I was expecting. Now was my chance! The abrupt turn must have thrown off the pidgey. I'll just use that confusion too-

Sand slammed into my side. Covering me again.

"Good try eevee! Don't panic, just keep trying to use tackle." Lin, again.

"That's not working!" I said. I tried to blink the sand out of my eyes, but it was useless. "I was already trying if you weren't paying attention. It doesn't seem to be getting me anywhere!"

I tackled and missed again, more sand followed. I was getting desperate. I couldn't see anything now. I had no idea where the pidgey was. Why wasn't the human helping me? She should be spending less time insulting and more time telling me what I should do!

"You little…" Blue seemed to realize something. Good for him. "You won't get away with that. Pidgey return! Go charmander!"

Charmander! Oh shoot! Even though I couldn't see him, I could still hear his self-assured voice coming from my right.

"Ha! Not-so-bright, I was hoping I would meet back up with you. Now that we're alone, you're all mine."

"It's alright, eevee." Lin's voice from the left. "Make your way over to my voice and we'll fix this punk." The fact that she was on the opposite side of the monster made this orders the easiest to follow yet. I got over as quickly as I could.

"Here, eat this." I felt her mitted hand on me and another was close to my face. There was something in her mit. I could just make out some small berry.

"No way am I eating that!" I did not know what 'this' was but it smelled awful.

"Come on, this is how we'll win!"

"I don't care, I'm not eating it!" I jerked away and ran into the battlefield again. The nerve of that human! What was she trying to give me? That totally wouldn't have sat well in my stomach!

"Eevee!" Lin shouted. "No! Come back! You'll never beat him like that!"

"So, your loser Pokémon won't even take orders from you? And you think that you could ever be a master. Charmander, you know what to do."

"Oh no, eevee behind you!"

Way too late, I felt a claw touched my side and a few seconds later a strip of pain.

"Ouch! It hurts! It hurts! What was that?"

"You like that?" the charmander said, "That's my scratch attack. Now do you see why you never stood a chance?"

I tried to defend myself but it was useless. I couldn't see where the attacks were coming from.

"Just start using tackle!" Lin's advice.

I jumped in random directions. Miss, Miss, Miss, scratch, scratch, scratch. I was in a panic. I could feel my world getting darker as the assault continued. Over and over I felt the claws of the monster and were ever they were they left pain. I was going to die. I knew it. This was it.

"It's over." Whither that voice came from Lin, Blue or charmander, I know not. But it was charmander that said to me, "Weak, and stupid. You can't even take an order from your master."

In that moment I lost consciousness.

---

I was ready for it when it happened. The signal this time was three sharp barks to grab my attention then she would just sit there and wag her tail.

The rules of the lunch game had changed. It started off simple enough. At first we had found out that our perfect plan had to be changed a bit every once in a while. The other eevees, or the ones that were important, had gotten tired of never winning the race and started to adapt to our game plan. Bullet and I had had some pretty close calls, but we had managed to stay on top. Before we knew it, our simple plan had evolved into a game on which both our reputations and all our cunning went into. Not that I was complaining. It was way more fun this way.

I winked at Bullet, and then looked back at Feral. Even though Feral appeared to be my opponent at the moment, I knew that my biggest worry was Zip. Had she taken the bait? I couldn't see her and I didn't dare look for her. Zip was too smart for that. She would immediately spot the signal and evade the trap.

"Looks like your girlfriend is a little worried for you Ricochet." Feral said. "Why don't you save yourself the pain today and take your place at the end of the line."

I ignored him. Feral was never a true threat. The only times he was trouble was when he was backed by someone else, usually Zip but this time it was just one on one. Feral failed to understand how the game had changed. It was no longer the single best Pokémon that won the day. It was now a team effort. Now charisma and cunning decided the victor. At least it would while I was still making the rules.

I started to circle around the object in the middle of the circle made up of other eevees. Predictably, Feral started circling in the opposite direction. I used this opportunity to scan the crowed. My allies started their work, forming a circle of their own. I didn't have too many on my side. Really, I would have liked to avoided involving others if I could help it. The fewer, the faster we were.

I decided it was time for the final stages. I took a few steps to the prize this time. It was a stick. But not just some stick. Feral flinched. He wasn't expecting such a small movement to the stick. He seemed uncertain of what to do although he knew what was at stake. The stick was big enough for only two eevees to grab and the first one to do it would be first in line for food along with one other eevee of his choice.

I continued walking towards the stick. I tried to keep a posture of indifference but it was difficult with the knowledge of what I had to accomplish. It had to be just right or nothing.

"What are you doing?" Feral said.

"You know the rules." I said, nonchalantly making my way over to the stick. "The first to grab the stick gets a free pass to the door along with another eevee to whom he gives the other end of the stick. The first enters in and then it's every eevee for himself. And the first is me!"

I sprang for the stick as well as him. He may have been faster than me, but my unexpected behavior had given me the advantage I had needed. I reached the stick and clamped my jaw around it. I felt a greater force on the other end and knew Feral had a hold as well.

"A tie! A tie!" The shouts of eevees responded.

"Well, this is interesting." An eevee said. The eevee was the neutral part of this game, the judge if you will. "What happens in the case of a tie?"

Feral didn't answer his mouth to respond, fearing that if he let go of the stick for a second, he would lose. Instead he just looked into my eyes and I just looked right back, following his lead.

"Uhm, may I suggest a solution?" Bullet spoke up from within the crowd. I had been afraid that Bullets shyness would have gotten would have gotten the better of her. Everything relied on her now. She jerked out of the crowd, freeing herself to take the attention.

"As part of Ricochet's team, I have an idea." The boos from Feral's massive team almost drowned her out. "Uhm… why don't they go together?"

"What do you mean?" said the judge. "Two can't be first."

"Well, the rules of the game were that the stick would give two eevees a free pass to the door, not to be first." She of course was referring to the small door in front of the cafeteria. When the humans sounded the alarm for lunch, the panel doors were unlocked and eevees could come through and get in line. After they received their food they would leave through another door on the opposite side.

"They go to the door together and then race to see who is really first." The plan made sense. The door was big enough for two eevees to fit in at the same time. There shouldn't be any reason to say no. Especially since I was known for being one of the slowest eevees.

"Is this plan acceptable?" The judge asked.

Feral and I nodded our heads and started to the doors. It seemed like the longest walk ever. As we started to reach the doors the tension grew. The other eevees crowded in and I felt the 'all's good' tug on my tail. Everything had worked perfectly. At least until I heard Zip scream in frustration.

No! It's too soon! I didn't dare look at Feral in fear that I might give myself had figured it out already. I had just a few more seconds. I hoped my team would keep Zip surrounded just long enough to-

"Feral you idiot!" Zip shouted from somewhere behind me. "It's a trick!"

Too late. We arrived at the door. I immediately dropped my stick and ran through. Stunned by my move, the other eevees started to shout. My allies behind me started to move to the door. Feral, snapping out of confusion, ran to the door. I didn't see it but the dull thud told me my plan had worked. While the door was big enough to fit in two eevees at once, the stick was too long to fit through. Plus, Feral was too stupid to let go of it.

I was first again and the next few eevees were all my allies. That would keep them on my team for a while. The other eevees filled the line behind us. All of which, I was pleased to see, were very unhappy with me. When I exited the cafeteria I found a reception waiting for me.

"You cheated!" Feral said. "That food belongs to me!"

"You're even stupider then I realized Feral." I put down my food. "You had a good chance of being one of the first in line, but you gave it up to come here."

"Ricochet, explain." The judge said, trying to fill his role.

"It's quite simple really. I played by the rules. I know I did because I made them."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The person who wins last makes the game for the next day. We know that, but you broke your rules!"

"No I didn't. You just missed the trick. The rules state that the one who grabs the stick first goes to the door with another eevee of his choice. We were both able to grab the stick at the exact same time. Then we choose to follow Bullets advice."

"Yeah, to go through the door at the same time!"

"No, to the door," I said, noticing the judges eyes lighted up. "Really Feral, we just decided to be each other's other eevee."

"You jerk!" I looked to see Zip emerging behind me. She definitely wasn't happy. "Then you said after the first eevee goes though it was everyone for themselves, giving your friends a chance to sneak in during the confusion." "You knew that as you approached the door I would see that the stick was too big so you had your friends surround me."

"That's really good Zip! They should change your name to Miss Obvious."

"Don't pretend like this is your victory Ricochet." Zip said. "You're just the face of another! And next time I won't fall for her tricks!"

"Tonight we'll be ready with the next game Judge." It really didn't matter what Zip thought at the moment because I had proven my case. I picked up my food and headed to Bullet.

"You can't stay on top forever!" Feral said. "Eventually you'll fall and no one will be there to pick you up!"

I reached Bullet. She was happy, and so was I. We started eating and planning the next game.

Fall? Me? Never. I thought. And if I ever did why would I need someone to lift me? Not so long as I had my own four feet!

---

What a nightmare! I thought as I began to wake up. I felt warm and comfortable. It was terrible! Is that really how the outside world was like? I hope not. To be beat around like a toy would not be a bright future. But now I'm back at the farm. Now I'm with my friends. Maybe I would tell Bullet about the dream. I'm sure she would be interested. She is always talking about going outside the farm one day. But for now I think I'll just curl up here and…

"Hey little guy, you're finally awake! Well, well, well! Let's get you back now!" That was not the voice of one of the farmers. I opened my eyes to find myself in a Pokémon center. One of the nurses looked down at me. "You poor, little, weak thing! I'll give that boy a piece of my mind, don't you worry fluffy!"

I was still screaming when I reached the main room of the Pokémon center. I saw Lin there. I sat on the counter, not moving an inch while the nurse started her lecture.

"Here is your Pokémon Lin Ka Ota. And let me say that this poor guy was in bad shape. Yes, I'd say he wasn't a happy camper. No, he wasn't! What do you have to say for yourself! What did you do? Take the poor weak guy to the gym? Shame on you! You should know he's too weak to try to compete in those ridiculous tests!"

My disgust at the well-meaning nurse overwhelmed my anger at my master. I leapt into Lin's arms and turned back to the nurse to give her a talking to, but she had already escaped.

"Let's take a quick break, ok?" Lin said as she set me down. She walked over to a chair and sat down. She leaned back with one had supporting her head and the other playing with what little hair was sticking out of her beanie. Like that was going to help. The PC was empty so even if I wanted to I couldn't talk to anyone. I sat there for a moment then headed over to her.

Suddenly I remembered something. Breakfast! I didn't have breakfast. Well, jeez, that's the reason I lost! I missed the most important meal of the day! I ran to the nearest window to see that the sun was almost directly above us.

Wow, I'm way late. I don't have anything since that chancy egg. I thought. Then I remembered the glowing boxes in the back of the room. I jogged over turned back and shouted to get Lin's attention. You have to be blunt like that; humans don't get it any other way.

Lin looked over at me. She grimaced at the food box and walked over.

"Uhm… here! These taste super good!" She reached inside of her jacket and pulled out berries. I had learned to never trust food that's 'supper good' a long time ago. I looked at the few berries in her hand and back at the neatly packaged complete meals in the box, then at Lin.

"They really are good. And, um, I don't have any money anymo… uh, anyway."

"So you're telling me you're not even loved enough to be fed? I've never gone without food at the farm." I grabbed all the berries she had in my mouth and marched off. I tried the berries. "And the food was a lot better than this!"

Lin looked at me from the opposite side of the room then made her way back to the chair. She didn't sit down; instead she pulled it up to me.

"Sorry," she said "I got too caught up in what Blue was saying. I wasn't focusing on what you were doing. I won't make that mistake again."

"You better not! And do something to fix this food thing! I don't know if I can go a whole day without food!"

"You know, I was thinking," she said, "There is still time left in the day, we could go up to Viridian forest for a bit. Bug Pokémon aren't that hard to defeat. And all the others should be tired of fighting each other now, so we don't have to worry about them."

I mulled over the plan as I finished off the berries. I always had a knack for knowing a bad plan from a good one. This was a bad plan.

"We're almost there!" My master said, "Don't worry; this is going to be great!" Something in that gravelly voice told me that I wasn't the one she was trying to reassure.

We went over another hill and I saw trees for the first time. I wasn't too impressed. They were just very tall bushes to me. We walked past a few grassy areas until we reached a large building.

"Here is the entrance to Viridian Forest."

"I don't get it." I said, "I thought you said a forest was big. How did they get it to fit inside this building?"

"Alright," Lin took a deep breath. "Here we go!" she took a big step towards the door of the forest, but a voice stopped her in the middle of it.

"Don't bother, Lin." A boy dressed in green walked up to us. "I know you aren't ready."

"Gre-"

"GREEN!" I said. "Green! I get it already!" Not again! Not another one! I was going to get pummeled again! I just knew it. Why couldn't I have just stayed in that cage at the lab? Why did I have to bite the professor? Why did she have to be my master?

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lin said. She seemed to be missing her usual spunk. "You've been talking to Blue haven't you?"

"I defeated him a while ago. He gave a very descriptive tale about you. Says you didn't even land one hit, that you ignored your Pokémon when it was in battle, that you haven't even caught one Pokémon." The truth of every accusation was plain to see, for when they were stated my master winced and seemed to slink back. "And now you're out on the same day, going to where there are bound to be trainers. You haven't beaten so much as a pidgey. What makes you think you can handle the forest?"

I wanted to correct the whole pidgey thing, but the fact that this guy beat Blue, the one who defeated me so easily, weighed heavily in my mind. This one was different from the others. I have known many humans before, but Pokémon masters seemed to be a different breed. Derf was calm, sensible, and effective. Blue: a complete jerk. Lin was Lin, but this one had something more. He was warning us, he didn't seem to take any personal pride that he had defeated Blue, and he gave off an aura of confidence that unsettled me. It looked like it had the same effect on Lin.

"I was thinking that the others must be tired by now so-"

"Lin! Think about it! The people in the forest practically live there. They are bug catchers, meaning that their Pokémon grow faster than other Pokémon. The bug catchers have been fighting there for years. The children here grow up watching these fights, so when they start their journey they already have more experience than us. You can't just walk in there and expect to come out in one piece, unless you make the necessary preparations. You haven't."

Lin just stared at him. Obviously she hadn't thought of any of those things.

"Well thank goodness he's here." I said. "We would have been totally creamed."

"We're going anyways!"

"Crap!"

Green looked at Lin, judging her determination, and then pulled out a pokeball from his belt. "You should have stayed at the lab. If you won't listen to good advice then the consequences are on your head. I can't have you dragging that eevee into a place where it will be torn to shreds. I'll just knock it unconscious right now!"

He threw out the pokeball. "Go bulbasaur!"

"That sounds like the opposite of helping me!" I said.

"Eevee, tail whip!"

"No! Not this time!" I ran to the same plant monster from a few days before. "I'm doing this on my own." I expected something to happen. The boy shouted something before I reached the monster and I would be destroyed. It was only natural at this point. But nothing happened. I performed my tackle attack perfectly, pushing the green monstrosity with all my might. Once again nothing happened.

The green monster looked at me. "Was that supposed to hurt fluffy?"

"You're Pokémon won't even listen to you." Green said. "Tail whip was a good choice. My bulbasaur's defense is too high and your eevee's attack is too low to do much damage. Good strategy but it's pointless if your Pokémon won't listen."

"Don't be smug Green! Every attack does something. Don't pretend that bulbasaur didn't take damage."

"It will be like he hasn't in a bit. Leech seed!"

The back of the monster pulsed and a small round object emerged from the top of the plant. Lin's late warnings didn't even come. The leech seed leaped to me, little routs coming out as it did. I found myself covered in little vines. I ran as fast as I could to test my mobility. After thoughtful consideration, I found that the vines did not limit my ability to use my techniques.

"What was that?" Bulbasaur said over the long distance between us. "Are you trying to run away?"

"No! I'm just testing my mobility."

"Right."

"Eevee! You can't afford to lose ground like that." My master said. "Especially with leech seed! You need to use tail whip!"

Especially with leech seed? Oh no. This is one of those weird attacks again isn't it? What does this one do?

"Bulbasaur let him come to you. When he gets close enough use growl. Let's just let leech seed do the work for now." Green said.

"Crap. Eevee! You need to use tail whip!"

"No!" My only chance was to knock this guy out before he decided to tackle me. I needed to pound the monster hard and fast.

I ran to him. He didn't even move, he just stood there grinning at me, which is never a good sign. I leapt up into the air to perform my tackle attack. Then a strange sensation waved through my body. I lost concentration and landed to the right of the monster.

What was that? I thought. I did a quick check all over my body. I could have sworn that I felt something leave me.

"Like that?" My thoughts snapped back to the battle just in time to see bulbasaur's ugly maw in my face. He roared in my ear, and then whispered. "You lose focus pretty easily, don't you. That was leech seed's effect. It's an attack that-"

"Eevee! Leech seed is an attack that will slowly drain your energy and give it to your opponent!" Lin said.

The bulbasaur glanced up at her. "You know, I don't think I like her."

"You wouldn't be the first."

"Use tail whip."

I ignored the command. Instead I leaped into the air at my opponent. Direct hit! I did pay for it in another growl though.

"Bulbasaur," I said. "I would do something more than growl. At this rate I'll keep tackling you until uhew uh!" The draining sensation again. This technique was quickly overtaking tail whip on my list of most annoying moves.

"No, I trust in Green." said the monster.

I lined myself up and used tackle again despite the growl from Lin, that sounded very close to Bulbasaur's. After the tackle I checked on the status of Green. It cost me a growle and a draining, but I did see what he was doing. He was just standing there, arms crossed, quietly observing me and Bulbasaur.

"You're going to trust a guy that just tossed you out here to take hits without giving them back? At least my master's yelling out dumb advice."

"Master? You seem to mistake our relationship."

Why was he just standing there? I tackled again. Growl just isn't enough at this point. I'll knock him out for sure if he doesn't do something else.

"What do you even mean by that?" I asked. "You were that one that told me that you wanted a master."

As we continued our trade of attacks, bulbasaur said, "And I had to learn. Now I know what Pokémon battling is really about."

I shrugged off his words. What did he know anyway? I tackled again and was leeched again. To add to the annoyance factor, the grass monster kept talking.

"Now I know where I really fit in. I trust Green. I may not know what he is thinking or planning, but I know it's for our benefit. And that's why I'll listen to him no matter what. That's why I know we'll win!"

At the same time I heard what I can only describe as a death sentence. "Now, bulbasaur... tackle."

The world went dark very suddenly. Before I left conciseness I heard bulbasaur whisper to me. "You should have trusted her."

---

The sensation started to become familiar to me. Nice and warm, comfortable blanket. Nice smells... I wasn't home. I was back in the hospital.

"Awake little guy?" the nurse said. "Oh, poor little baby. You got your cute little toosh kicked again, didn't you? Don't worry. I'll make sure it never happens again. I'll give him a talking to, I will."

I went through the routine. Hallway, doors and to the counter. I saw Lin waiting for me, like always. Then came the insults.

"Young man this is the second time today we've treated this eevee! What's your excuse for dragging a week little Pokémon like this into dangerous battles? Don't you know enough to see that this eevee is too pathetic to compete in anything? What do you have to say for yourself?"

I didn't bother to fight back. Pathetic, weak, small, little, cute… why bother? Lin didn't open her arms for me, and I wouldn't have used them if they were there. Instead I dropped to the floor.

"I'm sorry miss." Lin's voice was barley audible.

"It's not me you should be worried about child. I've never seen such an unhappy Pokémon. What kind of Pokémon master do you think you are? I've never met such a bad egg as you!"

Lin just kind of bowed her head and walked off. I followed her towards the place of chairs and beds. She slumped into a chair and started massaging her neck though the scarf. Her face was different then it had been before. Although, I would see that face again, this was the first time I saw it. At this time, I couldn't even imagine what was really going on much less what she was feeling nor did I care. I was far to wrapped up in my own misery to give it more than a little mental note.

It had really gotten to me. Weak, pathetic, insult after insult, pain, the blackness. I couldn't do it anymore. Could you really blame me though? I've been beaten, humiliated, insulted and destroyed.

"Nothing," I said as a new feeling of darkness closed around me. "I'm absolutely nothing."

I couldn't stand up for myself out here, out of the farm, away from my home. I was weak, weaker then I had ever realized. Three battles and I didn't harm a hair on my opponents. I had thought that I was the hottest thing in the world, but as soon as my world expanded… "I'm not special. Eevee's aren't strong. Why did you lie, Arazul?"

I stood staring out the window for my answer. Like most answers however, the ones that I was searching for were not passing by. They were out there, or maybe I had already found them, but didn't want to listen. I reviewed my life. The adventures I'd had, the friends, rivals and enemies, the lessons I'd learned and the challenges I'd faced. Nothing was like this. Everything was different now.

"When I go back home, what will I say? Can I even go back to the way I was before?"

"Here," I felt Lin's presence behind me. Her voice was an emotionless grunt. she reached in her big brown jacket and pulled out more berries. "These are for you."

I deftly took the berries and made my way to a bed in the corner of the room. My master took the chair a little further away and pulled out one of her books. I ate as she scribbled. Then she stopped and put her hand to her head. Maybe she thought that I was already asleep or just too far to hear but I wasn't and I did. She was crying.

"I didn't expect it to be like this. What am I missing?"

I curled up under the covers of the bed. Sleep came easily, but I was woken up again when someone shut off the lights in the whole center. In the dim light of the moon through the windows, I was just able to make out Lin's silhouette standing by the bulletin board. She reached up and took something down. Then I fell asleep again.

---

"You're just in time!" Bullet moved to let me in. "He's about to start!" I had worked my way through a crowd of eevees to get to her. We were all gathered to hear Arazul. Tonight was story night. Once a week Arazul would go to the eevees' bedroom and tell some stories from the outside world. Even though all the eevees were jittering with excitement, I felt cold. This was the last one there'd ever be if Arazul had been telling the truth earlier that day. Now he was getting ready to tell the whole eevee farm that he was leaving home for good.

As I expected, they were crushed just as much as we were when he told them. He really had been everyone's favorite human. Even Zip and Feral were disappointed. Even though we knew he couldn't understand us, some eevee's even tried to talk him out of it.

Arazul must have realized the impact this had on us because he said; "Don't worry about the farm. Many more humans will come and this place will get bigger. You'll have many more friends to play with very soon. And as for me, I'll be with my family on Cinnabar. I know that you'll miss me but this is how life is. Remember that life is always moving forward and things will be changing very soon in your lives too."

He looked over us all. His voice sounded more different than it ever had been, but the smile that was now spreading over his face was the same one form this morning.

"Very soon you will be in a world of Pokémon. In this world there are words that you will not be familiar with. Ones like types, stats, ability's, potions, but please don't be afraid. Change is a part of life. Trust yourselves to make new friends. Remember, friends aren't always who or what you expect them to be. Remember that everyone is special, and fits in when you work as a team. Learn who you are and where you fit in on that team. Then help it grow as much as you can. Do not be discouraged at a few failures at first. It's to be expected. Just change."

Then Arazul looked directly at me. "You are nothing alone. Cling to the ones that share your dreams."

---

I woke up with a start. Why had that memory popped out of my mind? And why was I having so many flash backs all the sudden?

I checked my surroundings. The lounge was empty except for Lin and I. When she saw that I was awake she headed over to me and gave me a few berries. I didn't even bother to complain. It had been so long since I had had a good meal I had become accustomed to it.

"You know, maybe we just took too big of a step, that's all." Lin said. She had a paper in her hand with tons of little scribbling. "This is the form for the tests to enter training at the Gym. It is the best gym in all of Kanto. If we could get in we could have a huge advantage over others. Heck, with time we could even become the gym leader! What do you say?"

Her efforts to sound excited were only more pathetic when one realized that her voice isn't one made to sound excited. I wasn't going to argue though. I was too tired for that.

We left the Pokémon center and quickly found our way over to a large building with a big man in front of it. When Lin tried to approach it the man looked at her and said, "What do you want?"

"I'm here for the trials."

"They're over kid. We already have everyone we need."

I expected Lin to break down crying but instead she apologized and left. Seconds later found us on the other side of the building. She started to stack boxes to the window of the top floor.

"Well. I'm sure that this will impress him even more than the tests." Lin said. "If we can just get in we'll blow his socks off for sure!"

It didn't sound like a smart strategy to me, but since only she could do the work of trying to move the conveniently placed boxes it didn't really matter to me. All I had to do was stand and watch until she made a fool out of herself. At least I wouldn't get the stuffing beat out of me this way.

After a little elbow grease, the make-shift ladder was complete. Lin and I climbed up to the top and pushed our way through the open window and into a small office. Evidently someone was trying to cool down this place. I couldn't blame them; it was pretty stuffy in there. It was dark inside, but we could see light coming from beneath the door. Lin and I crept towards it. We heard voices on the other side so we opened the door a little to scout out the situation. We saw a hallway. While there was light in the whole room below us, the rafters were obscured with no real light around them.

We moved out of the room over to the rafters where we saw the source of the voices. The room was filled with humans in black, many with a big red R painted on their front or back and each had a purple ball at their side. It took me a second to realize that the floating balls were monsters. They were all looking forward at a large man in a suite. He continued his talk.

"From now on my loyal servants, partners and friends, you shall be known as Team Rocket. For like a rocket shooting up towards the heavens shall we be, cutting through any that get in the way. We shall be a light, the sun of a new epic of history. You have all proven yourselves worthy to be the first members of this empire. Together, our power shall explode and we shall illuminate this land so they shall see the truth of Pokémon!"

"Cool," I whispered. "We made it just in time for the pep talk. This guy sounds great!"

"That Pokémon are tools to be used for the benefit of mankind!"

"Oh well, maybe not."

"That a master should be free to raise to his highest level, without restrictions or rules! Without coddling the creatures that are ours to be used! Without holding back! And with this oath, we will combine our powers to overcome even the Elite Four! We will establish our world! This is our day!"

The whole room burst into cheering and clapping. At that time I realized the magnitude of the members of Team Rocket and that I might have to visit the Pokémon center a lot more then I had previously thought.

I don't remember what I thought Lin was going to do but grabbing me by the tail and yanking me into the dark room again wasn't one of them. I gave out a nearly silent grunt of surprise and found myself in an even more uncomfortable situation. I was pinned between Lin's arms and her jacket which I was distressed to find hadn't lost all of its horrid smell.

Lin kept mumbling 'oh-crap' over and over again. I couldn't blame her. Had the gagging reflex caused by the jacket permitted me, I might have been saying the same thing. I may not have understood what all that was, but something told me that we weren't supposed to see it.

Lin stopped and reached into one of her many pockets. To my horror she took out a berry. She looked carefully at it then said, "Koffings, huh? Well, this should do the trick." She shoved it into my mouth. "Now don't eat this."

No problem Lin.

We made our way through the office and back down the latter. My master stopped to disassemble the ladder. She shouldn't have.

"If you want to cover your tracks, don't bother." A human, roughly the same age as Lin stepped out of nowhere. He was dressed all in black with a big red R on his chest and on his hat. He smiled at us and said. "It's already way too late."

Lin turned to face him. I edged my way to a strong defensive position behind her leg. They just stared at each other for a moment. Then the man in black said, "I was listening to the speech when I heard a cowardly yelp of a weak Pokémon."

Blast! I thought. Someone gave us away!

"I decide to go investigate, and what do I find but a spy. Giovanni will be happy with me. Not one day on the job, and I'm already the most valuable servant."

"Shows what you know!" Lin growled. The tone and natural sound of her voice caused the Rocket to take a step back. She was not afraid, and that amazed me. Not that I was afraid mind you. The jump at the unexpected sound of her voice was just to get myself warmed up. "Unfortunately for you, I happen to be one of the world's best. You're not even high enough to see my level."

"You're bluffing. A little boy like you could never equal a master." He seemed to have recovered some of his stance. "You're just trying to weasel out of a battle."

"Why would I want that?" I had thought that Lin was bluffing. I have since come to realize that she lacks the ability to be subtle and bluffing is beyond her. "Why should I be afraid of you or anyone else so weak they need others to fight their battles?"

Gee. Isn't that the whole point of Pokémon fights?

Lin looked down at me. "You ready?"

"What! No! What happed to fighting your own battles? No! Heck, no!"

"Alright! That's what I want to hear."

Even though I knew that it wouldn't help my situation, I screamed.

"Well then," the Rocket said. "I guess that a master like you wouldn't have the need of the protection the rules give the weak. I'll just go all out!" he grabbed two balls and tossed them at us. "Go ekans and koffing!"

"Go eevee!" Lind said and nudged me out to the battlefield.

"Oh, crap!" I said.

"Ekans!"

"Koffing!"

"Oh double crap!" I said. The new monsters were even scarier than the last ones. One seemed to be the floating balls I had seen earlier. Now I was close enough to see the pores spewing out gas. The other was a long scaly living rope with fangs! "I can't even beat one and you want me to fight two?"

"Come on eevee, we can do this." Her voice spoke with confidence. She knew it. Why didn't I?

I ran out into the battle field to the two waiting monsters.

"Koffing, tackle! Ekans, dig!"

The koffing floated towards me. I stopped and looked up at him. Wow! He's slow. I'll just-

"Eevee," Lin's voice. "Dodge right!"

"Dodge?" I said, "But the Koffing isn't even close to me yet? Why-" The ground under me exploded. Something rammed me from under my belly. The force picked me up and tossed me into the air. I had just seconds to think about what just happened before the koffing slammed me back to the ground.

"You like that?" the Rocket said, "There are rules against using two Pokémon at once but it's so limiting. With two Pokémon the whole meaning of the game changes!"

"Eevee, put as much distance between you and that koffing as possible!" said Lin.

"Finally," I said. "Good advice."

I planned to put as much distance as possible all right. I took off towards the forest as fast as I could. I didn't even stop to listen to the words of the humans behind me. I was determined that the ball and rope would never touch me. For a second I thought I heard 'keep running' but who knows if it was Lin or my sub consciousness.

I was in the forest now. There were trees all around me, and for a second I was enclosed in silence. I thought that I was completely alone. I had done it! I had escaped! No more pokeballs, no more masters, and no more monsters. I was alone!

'Do you really think that you can do this on your own?' Came charmander's voice.

"There you are!" I turned to see him and Lin. The koffing was nowhere in sight. I turned to run again, but it was too late. The ground exploded underneath me. The strong push into the air was met by the knowledge of where the koffing was.

"Uff!" I hit the ground again.

"Weak little guy." said the Rocket.

'Weak and stupid'

"Again!"

"Right!" Lin commanded.

I got up just in time to through myself to the right and watch as the ekans burst out of the ground past me. The monster collided with the koffing above and both fell down.

"Eevee," Lin said, "Tail whip on ekans." But

"I like the first strategy better. Your plan sucks!" I shouted behind me as I ran.

'I may not know what he is thinking or planning.'

"Ha!" said the Rocket, "You can't even give an order!"

'Too weak to take an order.'

I must have run as fast as a rapidash on speed. I narrowly evaded the trees and shrubbery in my way, faster and faster until I ran out of power. I had to stop, my lungs demanded it. I stood there panting, knowing that if they found me I'd be dead. At least I could rest knowing that I had put good distance between us.

"Found you!"

You've got to be kidding me!

"Ha! You've already tired yourself out after running for 30 seconds!"

"Eevee!" Lin's voice came even though I didn't see her. "Dodge!"

I was too tired to do any such thing. The ground erupted and the koffing slammed me back down. Weary from my mad dashes and the repeated hits, I just managed to get to my feet when the ekans burrowed back into the ground. I looked at my opponent. The koffing was flouting away, facing away from was my chance! I rolled into the cover of a bush where I was certain no one is going to find me. I couldn't see anything but leaves Still, I heard the voices of the humans.

"Come to check up in your wonderful strategy, master?" the Rocket said. "It looks like your eevee's already- hey! Where'd it go?"

"Lost track of your opponent?" Lin's unmistakable voice. "That's a newbie mistake alright."

"Oh, I'm tired of this game of tag. You know what; I'll just make do with what I've got here. Ekans, dig attack!"

"What? Ahh!" Lin's voice was interrupted by an explosion.

"Follow it up Koffing!"

I heard a dull slap and Lin's scream got cut short.

Have you ever had the sensation of two inner voices going at the same time? Like one level of thought is what you want to think while another is saying what you really think and yet another voice, even deeper than that, whispers the truth.

I forced these words to appear in my mind. The girl deserves it! After all she put me through this is the least that should happen to her!

Even while I thought this another level of my mind thought, A human attacking another using Pokémon? This isn't right, you know it's not! Not for anyone!

'What was I doing here, and not with the others?'

"Jerk!" I think Lin tried to scream that word, but it just came out like a weak suggestion. "What are you doing?"

"Ekans, why don't you give our guest a nice hug?" The Rocket laughed and I heard Lin gasp. "You know, you're not as good of a master that you think you are. You can't even get a Pokémon to obey you."

It's just a human. I forced. My idiotic master! Some self-proclaimed master over me and all other Pokémon!

You know, she never actually said that she was your master. Why am I even thinking that she did?

'Master? You mistake our relationship.'

"Umhf." Lin struggled to say something but it was drowned out by a horrible snapping sound.

"Oh! Looks like we've lost a rip. Oh well." The Rocket started up his laugh. "Face it, you aren't good. You never were and you never will be. Just think of this as an early retirement from life as a failure."

He's right. There's no way we had a chance. Stupid and weak, I can never win. Why try?

I beat that pidgey, didn't I? Why should I back down because of a few mistakes?

'Do not be discouraged at a few failures at first.'

"Hum? Trying to say something?" The Rocket said. "Ekans let her go. Let's see what the master has to say before she falls."

Fall? Were we even up there? You can't fall much lower than where we started. Look at me! I'm hiding in a bush!

Fall? Fine but watch out because there's only one way to go from here. Here? Why am I here? Why am I hiding?

'Fall? Me? Never.'

"Well what do you have to say?"

"Not… master." Lin panted out.

"What was that?" The Rocket said. My own mind echoed the same.

"I'm not you. I'm not some master." Lin took a short break to recover her breath. "You are wrong if you think that I am."

'You mistake our relationship.'

"A master rules over their Pokémon. The Pokémon are tools used to inflict harm on another. They are to be discarded or traded for better. You do the things necessary to work them up to what you want without regard of cost and only cry with them because you see the loss of time and work. That is a master. I'm no master."

'Not like anything like that matters to the master.'

"I'm a trainer. And I know what my purpose is."

'Didn't anyone tell you what your purpose was?'

"I'm going to find Pokémon. We will be a team."

'Learn who you are and where you fit in on that team.'

"We will be the best. We will be the strongest. And as long as we're together, we will never fall. We will lift each other up."

'Why would I ever need someone to lift me up?'

"We'll all have weaknesses but we'll grow together to protect these weaknesses. We'll be united."

'Then help it grow as much as you can.'

"We will be united." Lin had started to shout now, and with everything she had she growled, "in our desire to be the strongest!"

The strongest?

'I was the strongest at the farm.'

But things change.

'Just change.'

Can I trust her?

'Cling to the ones that share your dreams.'

Lin spoke, "A master rules by fear, but honor is a trainer's power."

"That's enough." The Rocket said. "It's over. Ekans, wraaaaaaahhhhhh!" Much to the Rocket's surprise and mine, we found his ankle connected to my teeth. "Oh! What the heck, you little monster!"

He shook me off. I ran over to Lin, taking my place between her and the Rocket. I looked back at Lin's surprised face. She shook herself off and stood.

"Eevee?" she said.

"The strongest, huh?" I said. "You know, that doesn't sound too bad."

"Ahhh! Ekans! Koffing! Just destroy the little monster!"

"Alright, eevee!" Lin said. "Let's do this. Run in a zigzag pattern towards the rocket."

I obeyed. I ran towards the rocket, making sudden jerking patterns. Nothing but the koffing stood in my path, but I knew better. The ekans was there.

"Ha! Trying to make his moves unpredictable so I won't be able to hit him with dig! Fool! Koffing, poison gas!"

The pores of the koffing spewed out more gas than usual, covering the space in front of the Rocket.

"Ignore it eevee! Go through it now!"

No time to doubt or think. I straightened out and ran into the cloud.

"Tackle, koffing!"

The koffing moved through the cloud to execute the order. Just as I reached it I felt the ground move. I hurtled myself through the cloud by somersaulting. The ekans burst out of the ground and collided with the koffing from the air. Thump! Both fell to the ground.

"The same trick twice rocket? Eevee, tail whip that sucker to death."

I ran to the ekans and turned sharply to give him a taste of fluff. Something felt strange though. I felt sick, like I had eaten too much or too little. My body started to heat up and my vision was a little hazy.

I managed to get in one more tail whip before the Rocket said. "Ha, look at what it cost you. Your eevee is poisoned."

"Shows how much you know." Lin said. "Eevee, I hope you still have that berry in your mouth. Eat it and get back here."

It surprised me that I still had that smelly berry Lin gave me in my mouth. It was still hidden away in the space farthest from my tongue. Hoping it would be worth it, I crunched down on the berry. To my amazement, the sickness vanished.

"A pecha berry! Why you... koffing! Ekans! Get up!" only ekans responded. "Koffing? What happened? That's only two hits?"

"Giovanni must not recruit for intelligence. Dig is a ground move and is super effective against poison. Your tackle attack put koffing right in its way."

Now it was the Rockets turn too growl. "Alright, then. Koffing return! Now ekans let's just fight this out one on one. Dig!"

"Eevee, get behind me a little." Once I had done, so she said, "Ok, wait for my order to dodge right."

"That's it?" the rocket said. "You're just going to stand there?"

I was thinking the same thing. Silence spread over the forest. The ekans was now crawling beneath me at this moment and Lin just wanted me to stand here.

"Right!"

I responded immediately. The ekans came from under me again, but I wasn't there. "Tackle, then go to the rocket's side!"

"I don't get it." said the Rocket. "How do you know when… of course! That's why you told it to run in the first place! You were measuring how fast my ekans can move underground!"

"Now I get it." I said. "Now with the hits this monster took from the koffing it should be a piece of cake to finish off."

"Well, don't think for a second that dig is the only thing my ekans can do. Tackle!"

"Go all out eevee. You can make it."

The ekans slithered to me and I ran to it. We met in the middle of the field. I ran into him with my full force and him with his. We bounced off of each other.

"Ohi!" I said. "I hope that that's not your plan from now on."

"Do it again!" both human's shouted.

And we did. Over and over again until I had the largest headache in the world. Then I heard the order to come back. I didn't know if it was from Lin or the Rocket, but I treaded back to Lin. She looked at me with a worried face. I then realized that my problems were more than just a headache. My entire body was shaking. I felt horrible, worse than when that squirtle hit me. I was about to faint. I knew I couldn't take another hit, and so did Lin. And so did the Rocket.

"One more and it's over." He said.

"Shouldn't you be worrying about yours?"

I glanced at the ekans. It appeared to be in the same state as me. Neither one of us were going to last one more round. It was all down to one thing. Speed.

I am so screwed. I'm not sure how fast that ekans is, but I'm positive it's faster than me.

"Don't worry." Lin said. She crouched next to me. "Now here is what you've got to do." She handed me a berry and told me her plan. On the opposite side I could see the Rocket dong the same thing with his ekans even giving the monster a berry.

All down to speed? Maybe I underestimated Lin. Just a little.

"Ready?" I looked out to the field. The ekans came towards me with blinding speed until-

"Now!" the Rocket said. The ekans struck to my right.

The only thought I had was 'wow! I'm sure glad I listened!' But my body responded immediately. I jerked left, missing the ekans by hairs.

"Now!" Lin said.

"Ekans! Eat the oran berry and turn around!"

"Not going to happen! It's our turn now!" I bit down on the berry in my mouth feeling energy stream down my legs. Using the momentum of my charge, I pivoted to face my opponent. "Check this out!"

The new energy jolted me forwards faster than I had ever thought I'd go. The ekans only had time to watch my paws slam into his face. It fell, it didn't get back up.

"No." the Rocket whispered. "No, this… this just can't be happening."

"Oh, it's happening alright." Said Lin.

"But… you were supposed to go to the right?"

"What? Like I always do?" Lin smiled. "Pokémon training isn't just blasting away. It's about team work. You've got to know your place on the team. One of my roles is to anticipate what the other trainer is thinking. By letting you think I always go right you became very easy to predict."

"But where did you get so many rare berries?"

"The orphanage paid my way through life up till now. Every penny I earned at my job went to my very own berry farm. Having the right berries makes a big difference, don't you think?"

"How," the Rocket collapsed to the ground. "How could I have lost with two Pokémon?"

"Because you're a master. And I'm a trainer."

I was at her side. But her face was easy to see. She looked calm, like she had won some great battle, but on her face there was a look of concern. It was like a warrior who knew that, even though this battle was won, there would be more to come. The part that disturbed me is that she seemed to like it. She was hungry for more. All that's happened to us and she is hungry for more.

Much more than I ever expected would happen to us. Things that would tear us apart and bind us together even tighter, but in this moment we were a team for the first time. Pokémon and trainer.

I was at her side, as I am now at her side, and will always be at the side of my trainer.