A/N: If you check out chapter 20, there is information for a pokemon poetry contest. Please check it out and consider submitting something, because if nobody enters I'll feel so crushed I don't know if I could finish this fanfiction…

The Ongoing Saga of Emi Hana

Chapter 2

A small, six-year-old child was practically flying in attempt to get to her house. Her mother waited patiently on the ocean blue porch, tucking a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear.

"Mommy, Daddy said you have a present for me!" the child yelled, gleefully running up the porch steps. Her bright red hair was ruffled and wind blown from running, and she panted from a lack of air.

"You sound excited, Emi." Her mother laughed and patted the said child's head. Emi jumped up and down with anticipation.

"What is it? Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Emi pleaded, batting her beautiful blue eyes up at her mother.

"Okay, don't have a heart attack! Come with me." Emi's mother took her hand and led her into the kitchen. Reaching up for a high shelf, Emi saw a flash of red and white.

"I have in my hands a very special surprise. You must promise me to take very good care of it." Her mother said seriously, sitting in a chair.

"I pinky swear on it Mommy!" Emi held out her tiny pinky finger and her mother shook it with her own.

"Here you go, honey." Emi reached out and her mother handed over a pokeball. Emi's eyes widened.

"My very own pokemon? Wow, Mommy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Before her daughter could get worked up again, Emi's mother pressed the button on the pokeball. After a flash of red light Emi saw a green and white pokemon standing on the kitchen floor.

"What's that Mommy? It has a funny looking head." Emi got down on her knees to better examine the strange pokemon.

"Emi! Be nice! This is a Ralts. Your Daddy got it when he went to a place called Hoen. I want you to know, Emi, that if you take really good care of that pokemon, it will protect you forever." Her mother explained.

"Ralts? Ral?" the pokemon said, cocking its head and watching Emi with interest.

"Hiya Ralts! My name is Emi." The excited six-year-old held out her arms and Ralts, after a moment of hesitation, moved forward and into the child's arms. The three of them laughed out loud.


Emi felt somebody tapping her shoulders. She opened up her eyes to see Gardevoir standing beside Nurse Joy. After stifling a yawn, the red headed girl noticed a breakfast tray in Nurse Joy's hands.

"Did I really sleep all the rest of yesterday and all night?" Emi gasped.

'You deserved it, Miss Emi. Your mind went through a lot yesterday and needed time to recover.' Gardevoir thought as she moved to sit down on the couch.

"Please, help yourself to the food. Chansy helped me make it." The pink haired nurse held out the tray and Emi helped herself to some eggs and toast. Nurse Joy bowed and left, off to take care of sick pokemon. Emi chewed slowly, savoring each bite. Gardevoir reached into Emi's backpack and pulled out a berry to munch on. When her belly was full, Nurse Joy wandered back over to take the dishes.

"How are my pokemon?" Emi asked, her voice oozing with fear. Nurse Joy fingered with the end of her apron. "Well, Arbok and Skitty only suffered from minor wounds, so they're fine. Vaporeon is on the road to recovery; her injuries look much worse then they really are. Swellow shouldn't fly long distances for awhile, but he's mostly fine as well." Emi waited for the doom that was coming. Nurse Joy took a deep breath and said, as calmly as she could,

"Bulbasaur's are…rather bad. Being a grass type, any fire attack would be bad. But a direct hit with that much force…I'm sorry. I have to keep him for awhile. He…may not get through it as well as the others." Emi felt her breathing stop, but that did nothing to stop the burning feeling in her throat. Nurse Joy excused herself and walked away, sending Chansy out a few minutes later with a tray of four pokeballs. Emi held the tiny spheres to her chest and fought back tears.

'Oh Miss Emi! Don't cry!' Gardevoir patted her trainer's hand.

'Bulbasaur is tough; he'll pull through.' Though Emi knew Gardevoir didn't believe in those words as much as she made it sound, it felt nice to hear them. Emi thought back to the dream she had.

'Do you remember when we met? Back when we both were little?' she asked, blinking away the remaining salt water. Gardevoir nodded.

'How could I ever forget that? It's one of my happiest memories.' The psychic pokemon could still feel the warmth from Emi's embrace and the joy that was practically visible inside that kitchen.

'I promised that day I would take care of you. I then made that promise to each pokemon that I caught. But today I have failed you all…' Another wave of sorrow hit, and Emi again had to push away tears. Gardevoir could sense that her trainer wanted to go somewhere more private.

'Miss Emi, why don't we go back to Eterna Forest for a bit? The fresh air might do you some good.' Gardevoir suggested after a moment of silence. The pokemon felt like that was the place to be, almost like there was an invisible force pulling her towards the forest. Emi simply nodded; she wasn't ready to make any decisions on her own yet. Gardevoir led the way to a particular spot, exactly ten yards to the right of the entrance to Eterna Forest.

"Any particular reason why we're coming to this exact spot?" Emi asked, raising an eyebrow. Gardevoir shrugged and didn't reply. It was a decent spot, Emi had to admit. There was enough foliage to give them cover from anyone walking about but Emi could still see the path that led back to Eterna's Pokemon Center. Beside a bush of roses sat a mossy rock, and Emi moved to sit down on it. Before she could, however, Gardevoir let out an angry sound and pointed to a large oak tree.

From behind the tree's darkest shadows emerged a trainer and a Grovyle. Without warning the grass pokemon let out a shower of razor sharp leafs that flew past Emi and attacked the rose bush. Two of the reddest roses flew off, and were caught by the Grovyle's trainer. They walked forward, more into the light. Emi was able to get a good look now, and she didn't like what she was seeing. Before her stood a boy, who looked about her age, maybe eighteen.

His chestnut brown hair was messy and just long enough for a girl to run her fingers through. His eyes were like two pieces of emeralds carefully cut out and shaped to perfection. He had a friendly looking face that seemed relaxed and content. He seemed like the kind of guy who probably turned a lot of girl's heads when he walked by. But Emi was turned off by the boy's black and baggy clothing; it looked very familiar.

"Hey, why so glum? A pretty little thing like you should be out enjoying life." The boy grinned, handing a rose to Grovyle.

"By the way, my name's Kyo Tunny, and this is my Grovyle." Emi didn't return Kyo's kindness.

"You look like one of those Sinaps creeps I met yesterday." She accused, sending Kyo her best death glare. Gardevoir had her eyes on Grovyle, making sure he didn't try to attack. Grovyle didn't seem to mind; he sent a wink at the psychic pokemon. Gardevoir shuddered.

"Oh? You've heard of us? That's cool. Now I can skip the introductions." Kyo's smile faltered under Emi's hateful gaze.

"Hey, don't take it personally. I have to steal from all pokemon trainers." He looked at his grass pokemon and nodded.

"But, since you're both kinda cute, you can have these." Kyo and Grovyle tossed the roses at Emi and Gardevoir. They caught the flowers and looked at each other, confused.

"So, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" Kyo asked. Emi had the urge to stomp the flower into the ground, but instead she answered Kyo's question.

"Good luck with that. Your stupid friends Zak, Jake, and Connor hurt most of my pokemon. Nurse Joy said they'll all be fine, except for my Bulbasaur." As her sentence ended, her voice grew louder. Grovyle looked at Gardevoir.

"They teamed up on you, didn't they? That's one of Zak's favorite ways to capture pokemon." The grass pokemon said, looking upset at the news. Grovyle took a step back as Gardevoir tried to spring forward.

'No, Gardevoir! Don't give them a reason to attack us!' Emi thought, grabbing a hold of her pokemon's arm. Kyo seemed lost in thought, and after a glance at Grovyle he let out a sigh.

"Zak's going to kill me for this…but, I think I'll let you go. After all, he knows how much I hate that technique." Emi let out a disbelieving snarl.

"Why would you do that? Like you care what happens to me or my pokemon." Her grip on Gardevoir tightened, and the psychic pokemon tried to calm down.

"Well, I guess it's none of my business. But, you should remember not to judge a book by its cover." Kyo said with a shrug.

"We can take you and the other pokemon, if you'd like." Grovyle joked. Emi couldn't understand, but Gardevoir did. She didn't find it funny, either. Kyo noticed the tense emotions between the pokemon.

"Before I go, can I get your name?" Kyo asked in a sweet, innocent voice. Some girls would go as far to say his pleading voice was sexy.

'Don't do it Miss Emi!' Gardevoir thought quickly.

"Um, Emi. My name is Emi Hana." Emi answered, quickly sending an apologetic glance at Gardevoir.

'Sorry. I just couldn't stop myself!' the trainer thought back.

"I knew it! A smiling flower can't be upset. That's like ordering a banana split and getting an apple; it's just not right. You should try to live up to that name, okay?" Kyo and Grovyle turned and walked away, and despite Gardevoir's pleadings Emi didn't go after them.

"Oh, before I forget," Kyo stopped and glanced over his shoulder.

"I have a good feeling your Bulbasaur's going to be fine." He then turned and after a moment, was gone. She looked back at the rose in her hand and wondered about it.

'Humph. Well I'm getting rid of this thing.' Gardevoir thought and gave her rose a nasty look.

"No, give it here." Emi ordered, taking the flower from Gardevoir. She put them in her backpack. Gardevoir paused and Emi saw a far away expression on the pokemon's face.

'Miss Emi, I think we should check on Bulbasaur.' Gardevoir said after blinking a few times.

'What was that Gardevoir? Is something wrong?' Emi patted her pokemon's back.

'No, no, I'm fine. Really.' Gardevoir assured her trainer. Emi still looked worried, but she allowed herself to follow Gardevoir back to the Pokemon Center. When she walked inside, Nurse Joy came running over.

"I have wonderful news! I was looking around for something that might help your Bulbasaur, and I looked over at my desk and saw a paper bag. Inside was a bottle of medicine made from some rare type of flower. I used it, and now your Bulbasaur is feeling just fine! He'll make a full recovery." Nurse Joy laughed as Emi jumped forward and hugged the doctor.

"Thank you Nurse Joy! You're amazing!" Emi shouted in delight.

'And thank you, Kyo. I guess I owe you one now.' She added to herself. When Bulbasaur's pokeball was safely resting in Emi's backpack, the red headed trainer turned to leave.

"Here, Emi. I think you might find this interesting." Nurse Joy handed over a flyer advertising a pokemon contest.

"A contest? Hmm, that could be fun!" The young trainer looked over the information.

"It's tomorrow. I think your pokemon would do well in a contest." Nurse Joy said with a smile.

"Thanks Nurse Joy, I'll consider it." Emi smiled back. A boy came running in with a hurt Magikarp and Nurse Joy excused herself.

"Oh, and help yourself to one of the couches for the night." Nurse Joy added to Emi before taking a look at the injured pokemon.

"Well, Gardevoir, I guess it's time to hit the hay." Emi yawned, looking out a window. The twilight sky was pretty; there was a full moon and the stars were twinkling. Gardevoir said goodnight and went back into her pokeball. Emi pulled out her sleeping bag and set up her sleeping area. As she lay down to go to sleep, Emi thought about all that had happened so far.

'I guess, overall, this adventure is going pretty good.' Emi sighed contently and soon fell asleep.

A/N: I've said it before and I'll say it again; I am sooo glad I decided to rewrite these chapters! I think they're turning out so much better then the first time! I hope you all like them too!