The next day wasn't much better than the first. As I blinked the sleep away from my eyes, I found two pools of gold staring back at me. My first reaction was to blink – then, and only then, did I scream. The Shinx screamed with me, jumping away from the bed and hiding away inside my closet. I stopped my screaming short. Wasn't I supposed to be the one that was afraid? Why in Arceus' name had the Beast hidden itself inside my closet?

Much to my surprise, my mother hadn't been awakened by my screaming. She must've been really tired not to awake with that. I left her alone and ran across my room, closing the door afterwards. This way, I thought, it couldn't escape and follow me. Then I remembered that I had not checked on the apple. I was sure that it had disappeared, but I felt like I needed to check. I always did.

Frowning I made my way down to the kitchen and had a small breakfast. As I was washing the dishes, I heard the doorbell ring. 'It must be Skylar, but… What the heck am I going to do with the Shinx in my room? Maybe Skylar will deal with it.' I scoffed to myself. 'Right, like he's ever going to help me. He's just going to laugh his head off.'

Turns out, as soon as I opened the door, the boy in question started laughing. Wondering what could have made him laugh so much, I looked at myself in the closest mirror. My complexion went from pale to light pink when I saw the mess that was my hair. Unlike my mother's tamed soft waves, my hair likes to stick out in the oddest directions when I wake up.

He only laughed harder when I told him about the Shinx. He actually went up the stairs and fetched the blue furred Beast, bringing it down with him. "I… I need to shower. Be right back!"

Before Skylar could utter a single word, I was racing past him and the Beast, quickly grabbing some clothes from the bedroom and locking myself up in the bathroom. I thought as I took my bath. There was no way to get rid of the Beast, so I needed to try to rid myself of this fear, which wasn't very easy. I would try and give it a shot, though. With a little bit of inner counseling, I convinced myself that the Shinx wasn't an evil spawn of the devil. It was a start.

I got dressed in my jean shorts, random baggy t-shirt that was way too big for me and sandals. It was a hot day, after all. When I made my way back downstairs, Skylar was feeding the Shinx conventional Pokémon food. The Beast was devouring the food, though, as if he hadn't eaten in centuries. I tiptoed my way around the Shinx and sat next to Skylar, blinking as he frowned at me.

"You know, he isn't going to eat you alive. He's actually a very gentle Pokémon. You'd like him if only you tried to."

I shook my head and Skylar scowled, his face going from friendly to scary in a matter of seconds. It always amazed me – and frightened me – that he could do that.

"If you don't like him, I'll take him! You're obviously too afraid of him to take care of him. Your mother is too busy, working like she does. The least you could do is to give him to someone else so that he'll get the attention he needs."

It was rarely, if ever, that Skylar and I got into an argument. I couldn't help but flinch when he started talking loudly, not quite yelling, but close to it. I was never good with angry people.

"Look, I can't just give him to you. I want a Pokémon, a rare Pokémon, and no one is going to trade my Shinx for something that I want. I-I…" My voice faded away and I looked at Skylar nervously. I could see him narrowing his eyes and clenching his hands. He only did that when he was really really angry and I gulped silently, shying away from him and his anger. He took this opportunity to grab my wrist and to stare into my eyes as if he wanted to knock some sense into me, which he probably did. I closed them instinctively, attempting to erase the image of that angry face from my mind.

Just when I thought that he'd start yelling yet again, I heard him release a yowl of pain and felt him let go of my wrist. I opened my eyes immediately, staring as the Beast bit Skylar's leg. He let go of the boy a second after said boy released me, a growl rumbling deep in his throat.

Skylar groaned, watching as the patch of skin the Shinx had bitten turned from a nice tanned color into an ugly purple. The bite hadn't cut open the skin, but it had been pretty strong, which wasn't strong at all in Pokémon terms. 'The Shinx really is untrained, but what if he wasn't?' Right then another thought occurred to me. 'It's not just the Shinx. Every Pokémon is like that. They could hurt us, but they chose not to.'

"Alright." I told Skylar, which made him look at me in surprise. I continued. "I'll try and lose this fear of felines, but I won't promise anything."

His grin was back in place right after I said those words, and it looked as if he'd forgotten about the injury altogether. "I knew you'd say that eventually!" He told me, taking my hand in his and making me stumble out of my chair. "Let's train now!"

"No, wait. I don't, I-"

But Skylar wouldn't hear any of it and picked up the Shinx in his arms (thankfully this time without being bitten), taking my hand with the other and practically dragging me out of home, despite my feeble attempts at discouraging him.

It was the thing with vacations: we had too much free time so whatever excuse I could give Skylar so he could leave me alone at home to read one of my books in peace was severely squashed and thrown out the window. Instead, he had me deep into the woods and was trying to make me battle him with my Shinx. I shook my head weakly, the protest that had been waiting to fall off my lips interrupted when he released his Pokémon, a Phanpy called Riot, and just started barking orders.

"Riot, use Tackle!"

The small elephant looked at the Shinx with doubt in his eyes, but did as his trainer told him anyway, his short stubby legs stomping on the ground as he attempted to hit the small electric kitten. My eyes widened as the battle took place, and I racked my brain for Shinx's attacks. Coming up with nothing, I watched as the kitten was thrown to the ground by a simple Tackle, getting up in a flash and looking for me, asking for guidance. I shivered when those golden eyes rested on me, and that moment of distraction was enough for Skylar to bark another order, resulting in the Shinx being hit yet again by another Tackle.

"Ah… Uh…" In my panic, I said the only attack that came to mind. "Use Tackle. Look out, behind you!"

The Beast turned around, managing to get out of Riot's third tackle. With a speed that made me gawk, the Beast tackled the Phanpy. However, too caught up in the fact that the Shinx had managed to land a blow on the Phanpy, I failed to realize that the small elephant had gotten up and was ready to counter-attack. When I came to myself, the Beast was crying out as he was hit yet again, this time by an attack called Take Down. If I remembered correctly, it was a whole lot more powerful than Tackle.

The electric kitten rose shakily to his feet. I could see that he was weakened by the constant attacks from his opponent. However, he seemed determined not to lose this one battle. His eyes flashed as he glared at Riot and I hid a shudder. 'Get a hold of yourself, Aspen! Feline or not, he needs your help out there, so help him!'

"U-use Tackle!"

The Shinx immediately sprang forward, letting out a growl as he hit the Phanpy on his side. Much to my surprise, before Skylar could order another attack, the Shinx turned around and rammed into the Phanpy again, making the heavier Pokémon fall on his side.

It was now obvious that both Pokémon were getting tired. Much to my dismay, though, the Phanpy seemed to be far stronger than the Shinx. That didn't surprise me, seeing as he was used to training and had been training with Skylar for five months. Shinx, on the other hand, was still a newbie to battle – or so I thought, although after seeing the way he had attacked the Phanpy, I was not quite so sure.

Skylar looked at me and grinned, and I couldn't help but frown at his behavior. "Riot, use Take Down!"

This time, I would not stay idle. "Shinx, dodge and Tackle!"

However, it seemed that the Shinx was too tired to dodge the attack.

I simply watched as the Shinx fell to the ground, feeling my heart drop a little as the figure remained still. I licked my dry lips, waiting for him to move. When he didn't, I bit my lower lip, feeling shame wash over me in waves. My first Pokémon battle - with a Pokémon that I feared – and I lost it. I was too scared to even reach for the Shinx (and that made me feel even more ashamed) so I just called him back into the Pokéball. 'I am not going to cry. I am not going to cry.'

"Bah, you suck," Skylar told me as he approached, Riot trailing after him like an obedient dog. "Why couldn't you just tell him to use a different move?"

Why couldn't I indeed? I was a Pokémon researcher, or was trying to be one, and Pokémon researchers should know these things. 'I panicked. I watched Shinx being hit – and I panicked. I really hate Pokémon battles.'

Instead of answering him, I just told him something along the lines of "Let's go to the Pokémon Center," and turned away so that he wouldn't see a tear making its way down my face. Sometimes I really did wonder why I even tried. I was no good at Pokémon battles, and although I'd been coerced into this one, the feeling was the same.

Some nice lady took both of our Pokémon and told us to wait for a while. We sat on one of the many benches littering the Pokémon Center. There were trainers of all kinds within this building: some looked, for the lack of better words, bright and shiny. They wore new outfits and had big, eager smiles on their faces. Then there were the other trainers, the ones with worn outfits, many of them looking like they had been travelling for months, which they probably had. The smiles they had on their faces were tired and faint, as if beating gym leaders and facing the wilderness had changed something within the very core of the person. Most trainers gave up after a few weeks of starting their journeys. The life of a trainer wasn't easy and I feared, for some reason, that it would change Skylar as it had changed these people.

"Are you Pokémon trainers?"

I looked up in the voice's direction and came to face with a girl a couple of years older than myself. She had short auburn hair and brown eyes; her skin was tanned and dirty, much like the worn outfit she wore, mostly in shades of green and tan.

"Yes."

"No."

The girl looked confused and Skylar shot me an annoyed glance, but his attention was on the girl again as she spoke. "So you're a Pokémon trainer. I was hoping that you could help me with something." She motioned for one of the Pokéballs on her belt. "See, I was looking for a Phanpy and I saw that you had one. Would you like to trade it for my Bagon?"

I watched as Skylar's expression went from curious to disbelieving to amazed. I frowned right after she said those words, smelling something fishy about all of this. How did the girl know that Skylar had a Phanpy when we had come here with our Pokémon inside their Pokéballs? Unless she had been watching us from the woods, she couldn't possibly know that he had Riot.

"A Bagon, seriously? Why would you want to trade a Bagon for a simple Phanpy? You can get those back in the Safari Zone." It seemed that Skylar had also smelled something fishy about it. I knew that he wouldn't be able to trade Riot for a Dratini, if he was asked. He just loved the little elephant too much.

"Well yes, but yours is already trained, right?"

Skylar shook his head, his dark brown hair flying all over the place. "I'm sorry, but I won't trade my Phanpy for the world."

The girl nodded and walked away, and both Skylar and I watched her join a group of trainers that was strangely silent. Either that or they were talking very silently. Suddenly I heard my name being called out and walked over to the main counter, where the nurse gave me back my Shinx and Skylar's Phanpy.

I startled, deeply shocked by my own thoughts. Since when had this Beast become my Shinx? I was treating it – him – as if he was already a part of my team. He couldn't, he wouldn't be. He was a feline for Arceus' sake! And I was afraid of felines!

Skylar gave me a weird look that signaled that I had drifted off once again. Sighing heavily, I made my way out of the Pokémon Center and into the warm sunlight. My stomach rumbled with hunger and I grew red with embarrassment. Skylar laughed out loud and led me to a rather nice café.

"Let your Shinx out of his Pokéball. He needs to eat too."

"Okay." I did so reluctantly, eying the small Pokémon as he materialized next to me. I couldn't help but scoot a little bit farther away from him, but he didn't seem to mind, strangely. He looked around, as if waiting for something, his tail flicking from side to side.

"This place tends to trainers and their Pokémon, so no one gets to stay hungry." He chuckled as Riot bumped into him in a friendly gesture, petting the Phanpy's head gently. I would never be able to do that with the Beast.

"That's it."

Skylar, Riot and the Shinx stared at me, confusion written all over their faces. They had no idea what had just gone through my mind. Maybe it was a mistake, but I couldn't take it back now. Even if I didn't say the name out loud, it was in my mind. I turned to the Shinx, just barely being able to withstand his golden eyes without flinching. "I'm naming you Beast."

Skylar almost chocked on the water he was drinking, taking a few deep breaths before being able to talk at all. "Wait, I thought you had named him – and please tell me I heard wrong – Beast?"

I blinked at him. "I did."

He full out laughed, making me scowl. I know that the Shinx didn't look that ferocious, but for someone that was afraid of felines, he was pretty scary. Skylar was still laughing when we got our food, calming down as he began to eat. As he was trying to put more food than he could take in his mouth, he managed to, somehow, speak.

"So, you're really naming him Beast?"

I nodded, trying to look as serious as I could. Skylar chuckled again, but instead of laughing he pointed his fork at me. "Then you're going to have to make him live up to that name. No one is going to take you seriously if you have a Shinx named Beast. On the other hand, if you had a Luxray…"

I had seen pictures of the big dark furred feline, and I shuddered just thinking about it. No, I definitely wouldn't make Beast evolve. "I'm not a trainer, and you know it, Skylar."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… You're going to be a researcher. But good researchers ought to have strong Pokémon to protect them from the wild Pokémon that inhabit the area they're studying. Weak Pokémon means that you'll have to rely on others to protect you. Wouldn't that be annoying?"

I bit my lower lip, nodding reluctantly, agreeing with him. Of course, if I wanted to explore the most dangerous territories of the whole five continents, I'd have to have strong Pokémon with me. I actually hadn't thought of that before and found myself trying to tackle the issue without using Skylar's idea. However, I came up with nothing.

As I looked at the dark brown haired boy, I could almost feel the glint of victory coming from his eyes. "Yes, you're right. Still, that doesn't mean that I'm a trainer."

"No, but it means that you have to train your Pokémon." He looked at Beast and back at me again and I sighed, succumbing to the weight of his arguments. When Skylar wanted something, he usually got it. "So, when are we going to start this journey?"

I groaned, closing my eyes and wishing I wasn't here while Skylar just snickered and finished eating.