Chapter 1

It takes two seconds to change your whole life. For Blaire, it was when she almost drowned. Drowning isn't really as easy as TV shows make it look. The shock has to set in first. One would normally die from hypothermia before you actually drown. And she can't swim. So there she was, being carried away by the river's current and slowly beginning to sink. The cold was getting to her and her muscles slowly started to freeze in place. She couldn't move, couldn't think. Blaire was absolutely and utterly helpless. In the midst of mentally preparing herself for death, she was pulled from the rapids. Long, leafy green arms carried her to the safety of the shore. A boy with unkempt brown hair and bright blue eyes rushed over. He started performing CPR until Blaire coughed up all the water that had flooded her lungs. Blaire gagged for a while, even vomiting before she could calm herself down.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked.

Blaire turned to look at him, covering her mouth. He was fairly tall, around 5'11. He wore a dark, navy blue T-shirt with a light blue zippered hoodie over top, jeans, and grey vans with blue streaks. He carried a cobalt blue backpack with a green pokeball symbol on it.

"Thanks to your Sceptile I am." She responded.

He took off his jacket and put it around her. Blaire hadn't realized she was shivering until then.

"That's good. I wouldn't want a pretty girl like you to drown." He smiled and gave her this I'm-the-hero thumbs up.

She blushed lightly. "I can't believe I fell in like that. I'm such a klutz."

"Yeah but you're okay which is all that matters. I'm Austin Calkin by the way." Austin said.

"Blaire O'Conner."

"There's a Pokecenter nearby. We should go to make sure you're okay." Austin offered.

"Sure." Blaire said.

They headed up the river bank until they got to the dirt road. Blaire followed behind Austin, sneezing a couple of times. He sent his Sceptile back into its Pokeball. He was quiet for most of the walk which didn't bother her since she was still really out of it. Near death experiences tend to do that to us. After awhile he noticed Blaire was lagging behind a bit so he scooped her up into his arms and carried her the rest of the way. Her face felt hot with embarrassment but she couldn't really protest. Luckily, they were there within a few more minutes. Nurse Joy moved around the front desk over to where they stood.

"Oh dear! I'll get you some towels and a fresh change of clothes." She quickly walked away and sent over a Chansey carrying just that.

"I'll wait here." Austin said.

Blaire followed Nurse Joy to a separate room where she did a mini examination to make sure she was good-to-go before leaving. She changed out of her wet clothes and towel dried herself off. When Blaire walked back out of the room Austin was sitting on one of the waiting room couches drinking hot cocoa. Nurse Joy was back at her desk, talking on the phone.

"Want some?" Austin asked, holding the mug out to her.

"Sure." Blaire took it, sipping it and then reeling as it burned her tongue.

Austin laughed. "So what were you doing by the river in the first place?"

It took a her a minute to think before she remembered exactly.

"Oh I was looking for a particular berry. They grow best around rivers but they were too high up. I guess that's why I fell." Blaire explained.

"Why not use your Pokemon?" Austin asked.

"Well I don't want to rely on them too heavily. Menial tasks are something I can do and it wouldn't be fair to use them like slaves." Blaire said.

"Hmm I guess you're right when you put it like that. Are you a trainer then?" Austin chugged the rest of his cocoa.

"Not quite. I'm a Pokemon Breeder. I prefer learning how to care for Pokemon rather than battling with them."

"That's cool. I'm a trainer but I do dabble in contests. You should see the dress I wear. It really brings out my eyes." Austin said, dramatically.

"I bet you really have the curves for it." She chuckled.

"We should team up together. Our combined skills could make us great Pokemon Masters!" Austin added.

"Alright, sounds good." Blaire agreed.

Suddenly the door burst open as someone rushed into the center. He had spikey black hair slicked up in point and hazel eyes. He wore a black button down shirt with a white lab coat overtop, dress pants, and heavy black boots. On his wrist was Pokegear, something she hadn't seen since her time in Johto. He ran right over to Nurse Joy.

"I came as soon as I got your call." He said out of breath.

"It doesn't look good. I was really hoping you'd be able to help." Nurse Joy lead the man towards the emergency wing.

"I wonder what's going on." Blaire said aloud, accidentally.

"It must be that Eevee from yesterday. Some trainer abandoned it after it got carelessly beaten up in battle. It sounds like it might not make it." Austin shook his head in disgust.'

"That's horrible!" She jumped up, racing towards the emergency rooms.

"Wait, you can't go back there!" Austin yelled after her. But it was too late.

Blaire ran through the doors with the sign above reading, "Employee's Only." Nurse Joy's head jerked up from the bedside. The Eevee was attached to a machine that kept its vitals steady. The worst of the wounds were on its chest; the fur was matted with blood dirt.

"Miss, please, you have to leave this area." Nurse Joy said.

Chansey walked over, tugging at her arm to lead Blaire out the door. She brushed it off.

"Just let me help you. I can't possibly sit by and do nothing when I know this Pokemon is in pain. I'm a Breeder and it's my life's mission to care for all the Pokemon of the world." Blaire pleaded.

"If you believe you can help then by all means." The man from before said, standing near the monitor.

Nurse Joy stepped aside and let her near the Eevee. She put her bag down on the bedside and began rummaging through it. Blaire pulled out a jar of a light green substance.

"Can you get me some warm water, a washcloth, and a roll of clean bandage?" Blaire asked Nurse Joy.

Nurse Joy nodded and scurried off, gathering the items Blaire needed. Blaire dunked the washcloth into the bowl of warm water and rung it out. Cleaning the blood and dirt was pretty easy but the wound was clearly infected. Blaire pulled out some Super Potion and sprayed it in the infected areas to combat that. Then she rubbed the cooling, green cream into the wound. The Eevee mewled and winced but it quickly relaxed after she was done. Almost like magic, the wound started to heal up around the edges. Blaire rubbed more cream in deeper until new skin grew and stretched over top. Reaching into her bag, Blaire took out another jar, this time with pink cream. She rubbed that in which stimulated new hair growth on the Eevee. Soon enough its vitals were completely stable and the monitor beeped much smoother. Blaire smoothed both creams over the new hair once more and wrapped it in the fresh bandages. Eevee opened its eyes and smiled, jumping up.

"Eevee!" It cried.

"Amazing! I've never had a Pokemon heal so fast." Nurse Joy said in awe.

" me, are those healing creams your own concoction or some high priced medicines by Golden INC.?" The man questioned.

"M-my own." Blaire said, suddenly feeling flustered.

"Absolutely brilliant. Mind if I ask-" The man started.

"We should really let this Eevee rest now. You may have helped but I'd like to give him the night to finish recuperating." Nurse Joy interrupted.

"Of course. We'll take this outside." The man said. He walked out of the room with her in tow. "I'm Professor Ethan Hemlock but you can call me Ethan. I'm curious to know all about you and your breeding techniques." Something about the way he said that really turned Blaire off.

Austin saw them and rushed over. "You had me so worried. What happened?"

"This young lady just saved a Pokemon's life." Ethan stated.

"Seriously?!" Austin exclaimed.

Blaire nodded shyly. She didn't really like being praised because that's not why she did what she did.

"That's awesome Blaire! You told me you were a Breeder but you didn't tell me you were that good!" Austin continued his praise.

"Blaire. Beautiful name for a beautiful woman." Professor Hemlock smiled. "If you two don't mind I'd like to join you, assuming you're travelling together. I'm working on a study that requires me to be out in the field and I'd like to learn more about the work you do Blaire. And I do come in handy if you're ever in a pickle." Ethan offered.

"I don't know...he seems like a slime." Austin looked at Ethan suspiciously.

"Excuse me? I am a gentleman. I just call it like I see it and I see Blaire as a beautiful person. There's nothing wrong with that." Ethan glared at Austin, mock hurt.

Blaire sighed, knowing she might regret it. "Why not? I think we'd be a pretty cool team." She suggested. After all, he's only a Professor, he couldn't be that much of a problem she thought.

"Great! Speaking of pickles I'm starving. We should get something to eat." Ethan said.

"I know of a nice inn up head and it serves dinner." Austin replied.

"Let's go!" Blaire added.

They started to leave when Blaire noticed something from the corner of her eye. The Eevee poked its head around the corner of the emergency hallway. It was looking right at her but then Chansey picked it up and carried it back off to the rooms. A wave of sadness hit Blaire, she didn't want to leave the little guy behind but he wasn't hers. She had to go.

They headed off down the road. Austin kept looking at Ethan then the road ahead. Ethan peppered Blaire with questions about breeding and she answered them all as best she could. He took notes while he walked. They got to the inn around a twenty minutes later. The group ordered food and talked through dinner. Then they got rooms and broke off into two. Ethan and Austin shared a room and Blaire got her own. They agreed to get up early tomorrow and go to the next town.

Blaire sat in her room by the windowsill, looking at the night sky. The moon hung full, casting a glow over the land below. Stars twinkled and gleamed. Blaire thought about the events of today. It took two seconds for her life to change. Almost drowning in the river lead her to Austin. Saving the Eevee lead me to Ethan. She saw a speck dart across her vision-a shooting star. Blaire didn't know it then but Austin and Ethan saw it too. In that moment they all made a wish. Blaire didn't know what they wished for and to this day, I still doesn't. But for her, she wished that these changes would help keep these people in her life. Blaire wished they'd all stay together as friends. It's too bad because in the end, it didn't work out that way.