Hey, guys, Champion Jack here, with Chapter 2, as promised .

But first, since I forgot to do it in the last chapter, I'll do it now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or anything affiliated with it. Pokemon is the property of Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, and Nintendo. Besides, if I did own Pokemon, Gary wouldn't have such a goddamn annoying voice, Ash would actually have a male as his voice, and, Ash and May would already be a happy couple, and so would Pikachu and May's Glaceon.

But enough of that. I'll let you read this thing already.

Enjoy!

Chapter 2: A New Partner

As Karen and I walked on along the path winding through the wilderness of Route 1, we spotted several wild Pokemon. Karen-and me, too, admittedly-was hoping to see a whole bunch of different kind of Pokemon, but all we seemed to see were Rattata or Pidgey. And even then, it was only occasionally, surprisingly. We would see a Rattata scurry from one side of the road to the other, a Pidgey fly off, or several taking off. We once saw two Rattata romping around, but when we got closer, they scurried off, hiding in the bushes.

Walking along the dirt path, looking around at the seemingly endless trees as far as the eyes could see, I suddenly remembered something. "Damn," I said, stopping.

"What?" Karen said.

I reached into my jeans pocket and fished out the Pokedex. "I just thought I'd better put this in my backpack," I said, taking off my backpack and opening it. I placed the Pokedex inside, among the other stuff my mom packed: and extra set of clothes, pajamas that consisted of a plain white T-shirt and black shorts, and a sleeping bag that could be folded to fit inside a backpack like mine.

I zipped it up and swung around, putting it on. I looked back up the path just as there was a fluttering of wings and some dirt was kicked up. A Pidgey had landed just a few yards in front of us.

"Ooh, a Pidgey!" Karen whispered. "It's so cute!" She drew one of the empty Pokeballs Professor Oak had given her and enlarged it, pulling her arm back to throw it when I stopped her by grabbing her arm. "Jack?"

"Remember what Professor Oak said?" I whispered to her. "He said to not throw a Pokeball at a perfectly healthy Pokemon, or it might escape. Try battling it first with Bulbasaur."

"Oh, right. Okay," Karen put the empty Pokeball back in her bag and plucked her Bulbasaur's Pokeball form her belt. "Go, Bulbasaur!"

The Pidgey jumped at the sudden noise, and Bulbasaur emerged from the Pokeball in a flash. "Alright, Bulbasaur, use…uhh," Karen trailed of.

"Use your Pokedex," I said.

"Okay," she pulled out her Pokedex, opened it, and aimed it at Bulbasaur. All this time, the Pidgey just stood there, looking at Bulbasaur, head cocked to the side. "Okay, this thing says that Bulbasaur's moves are Tackle, Growl, and Vine Whip,"

"Then battle the Pidgey before it goes away," I prompted.

"Bulbasaur, Tackle!" Karen ordered.

Bulbasaur charged forward and slammed into the Pidgey, who squawked in surprise and fell back. It quickly got back up, a look of fierce determination on its face. It charged forward with its own Tackle, but Karen gave a command for Bulbasaur to dodge it. Bulbasaur deftly jumped to the right as Pidgey rushed harmlessly past.

"Bulbasaur, Growl!" Karen gave her command. Bulbasaur sat on her haunches and let out a cute and endearing growl, which cause the Pidgey to blink in confusion, wondering why its opponent suddenly sat down.

"Now, while it's distracted! Tackle!" Bulbasaur suddenly rushed forward from her sitting position and tackled the wild Pidgey again, knocking it to the ground. The Pidgey jumped back up, and I saw that it was beginning to tire-it was a young Pokemon, after all- and it flapped into the air. At first I thought it was going to fly away, but on the contrary, it started flapping its wings vigorously, sending gusts of wind straight at Bulbasaur, who recoiled from the attack, hunkering down in an attempt to keep from being blown away.

"Oh, no, Pidgey's using Gust!" I cried in alarm. "Gust's a Flying-type move! It's doing a lot of damage against your Bulbasaur, a Grass-type! Quick Karen, give it another command!"

Without skipping a beat, Karen shouted, "Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" Two dark green tendrils shot out of the bulb on Bulbasaur's back and sped towards the Gusting Pidgey, wrapping themselves around the wild Pokemon. The Pidgey squawked in protest at being imprisoned and tried to flap away, but it was futile as the vines had also wrapped around he wild Pokemon's wings, pinning them to its body, so it couldn't stay airborne. It plummeted to earth, but Bulbasaur held it up before it could hit the ground. She lifted the Pidgey up high then slammed her down on the ground, the she did it again, and a third time. After the third time, Bulbasaur let go of the injured Pidgey, who weakly tried to get up again, supporting itself on its wings. But it was to weak, and it fell back down.

"Okay, here's my chance," Karen said, serious now and earlier giddiness gone. She took out an empty Pokeball, enlarged it, and threw it at the weakened Pidgey. The Pidgey was to injured to do nothing but watch as the Pokeball zoomed towards it, hitting it in the head, snapping open, and sucking it in. The Pokeball dropped to the ground and shook. And shook. And shook. And kept shaking.

That Pidgey sure is a fighter, weak as it is, I thought, watching anxiously as the Pokeball kept shaking. I glanced over at Karen. She was biting her lip, clenching her fists so tightly the knuckles were white. I looked back at the shaking Pokeball. Amazingly, it was still shaking, even after thirty seconds.

Finally, it stopped moving, and the flashing light on the button on the front of the ball stopped. I noticed Karen visibly relax when I looked at her. She stood there, staring at the Pokeball in shock. Only after my prodding her in the elbow did she move forward to pick it up. She held the ball containing her newly caught Pidgey. She turned to looked at me, and the shocked expression on her face gave way to a big grin. "I caught a Pidgey!" she screamed, the scream resonating throughout the wilderness.

She looked at me, excitement lighting her face. I couldn't help but find that expression downright cute-

Wait. Did I just call Karen cute? Why? I never thought of her like that before, we've just been friends since we were like five…. But, I do have to admit, she was pretty…What the hell am I saying? She's my friend, nothing more, nothing less. Period.

"Congratulations, Karen!" I walked over to her and she so very unexpectedly ran up and tackled me in a hug. I was surprised, understandably, as I had just been thinking about Karen and I in way I never had before, and I could feel my face heat up again. Oh, God, don't tell me I'm blushing, I thought. "Thanks, Jack."

Thankfully, the heat faded away and I looked at her, still embracing me. "For what?"

"If you hadn't told me to not throw the Pokeball right away and to battle Pidgey, it may have flown away. I caught my first Pokemon with your help, Jack!" she squealed.

My face heated up again, and I managed to say, "Uh, you're welcome, I guess."

"Bulba!" Bulbasaur protested, calmly walking up to us.

She finally let me go and stepped back. "Oh, and of course thank you to you, too, Bulbasaur. I couldn't have caught her without your help." Karen smiled. She went to admiring the Pokeball holding her recent capture. "Pidgey, come on out!" she tossed the Pokeball in the air and it opened, and the light spilled out, and Pidgey was left flapping in mid-air as the ball closed and went back to Karen. She caught it and clipped it to her belt. "Hi, Pidgey, I'm Karen, your new Trainer," she said with a smile.

The Pidgey just hovered there, staring at Karen. After a few seconds, it flapped over to her and landed on her shoulder, giving a coo of affection as it caressed Karen's cheek with its own. "Pidgey, stop, that tickles!" Pidgey stopped and looked over at me. "Look, Jack, she already likes me,"

"Yeah, I see that," I said, looking at the little foot-tall bird. The Pokemon cooed before taking off and landing on my shoulder, giving me the same cheek treatment. You know, it did tickle. "Come one, Pidgey, that's enough," I said. Pidgey stopped and I petted it, earning another happy coo from it.

"Oh, she likes you, too!" Karen said, stepping towards us. "That's so cute!"

"Hey, why do keep saying 'she'? How do you know Pidgey's a girl?" I asked. The little Pokemon cocked its head.

Karen frowned. "I, uh, don't know. I just…know."

"Check your Pokedex," I said. "Maybe it'll tell you if it is a girl or not." Pidgey pecked me in the head.

"Hey, what was that for?"

"Prrr," Pidgey huffed, probably miffed that I was questioning its gender.

Karen took out her Pokedex and opened it, pointing at Pidgey. The device whirred and the woman's voice cam out. "Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokemon. Pidgey has an extremely sharp sense of direction. It is capable of unerringly returning home to its nest, however far it may be removed from its familiar surroundings."

"Okay, now that that's over with…" Karen pressed a few buttons and said, "Alright, here's some info on Pidgey. It weighs four-and-a-half pounds, is a foot tall, prefers to live in forests, and…," she paused. " Huh, look at that, Pidgey is, in fact, a girl."

"Well, then good girl," I said, petting her again, eliciting another happy coo.

"C'mon, Pidgey, let's get going." Karen offered a shoulder to her new Pokemon, and she happily accepted, jumping from my shoulder to Karen's. She started walking down the road again.

"Aren't you going to put her back into her Pokeball?" I asked.

"I figured she could ride around a bit, you know, get to know us," Karen replied over her shoulder.

"Whatever." I shrugged, following her down the path towards Viridian City.

We walked along for another fifteen minutes, the calls of the various Pokemon all around us. Up ahead, Karen was playing with Pidgey. She threw a pebble down the road path and Pidgey flew off her shoulder to get it and returned with it in her beak. She landed on Karen's shoulder, dropping the pebble in her Trainer's hand, where Karen threw it again, and Pidgey flew after it again. Playing fetch with a bird, essentially. Weird.

A couple minutes more of walking, and there was a large rustling in a bush off to my right. Karen and I stopped and watched the bush for any other sign of movement. Nothing. As we were about to start walking again, the bush rustled again, even harder then last time.

"Okay, that's weird," I muttered.

"It's a little scary, too," Karen said, moving closer to me, Pidgey giving her undivided attention on the pebble in Karen's right hand.

I admit, I jumped a little when I suddenly saw yellow eyes staring back at us. I stared back, slowly reaching for Charmander's Pokeball. Before I could unclip it from my belt, I felt a thump on my head. Whatever it was that fell on me landed on the bill of my cap and rolled off. I reached up and caught it in mid-air, lifting it up to examine it. An Oran Berry.

The bush rustled it hardest, and the eyes narrowed. Karen and I gulped, and I could see her out of the corner of my eye reaching for Bulbasaur's Pokeball, Pidgey still staring at he pebble. Odd, since I was sure we were about to get attacked any second now. Sure enough, a golden blur shot out of the bush and hit me, knocking me to the ground.

"Jack!" Karen shouted, concerned, and now Pidgey was paying attention to us. Too bad it took me getting attacked to get her attention. I was still able to keep my hold on the Oran Berry when I fell the dirt, kicking some of it up. I looked down at my chest where the attacker had landed and saw that it was a Rattata. A strong one, too.

I also noticed something was off about it. Most Rattata were purple, but this one wasn't. I was a golden color. I instantly knew why this Rattata was this particular color. It was a shiny Rattata, extremely rare. I just found myself a rare Pokemon. On the first day of my journey, no less.

You bet your ass I was going to catch it.

But by the way it was hissing at me, getting captured was the last thing on its mind. It was staring at the berry in my hand. Oh. It must have been looking for lunch, and it must have thought that I just stole its food.

Before I could even think about giving it the berry, it lunged, aiming for my face. Then, before it could sink its teeth in, a cream-and-brown blur shot down, slamming into the Mouse Pokemon. The Rattata fell to the ground and rolled, getting back up and hissing at Pidgey, who was now hovering in the air, staring the Rattata down. The Rattata hissed once more and lunged at Pidgey, jumping surprisingly high in the air.

Pidgey twisted in mid-air, and the Rattata flew past, landing on the ground and spinning to attack Pidgey again. But before it could lunge again, I stepped in between them, holding up the Oran Berry for Rattata to see. It stopped hissing and stared at the berry.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Karen asked, puzzled at my action.

"Just hold on. Don't let Pidgey attack." I slowly made my way forward, not wanting to startle the pissed off Pokemon into attacking. "Is this what you want, Rattata? You hungry?"

The Rattata just stared at me.

When I was close to it, I crouched down and looked it in the eye. "Here you go," I said, extending the berry to it. It stared at me, suspicious. Then it smiled and closed the foot between us, grabbing the berry in its paws. "Good Pokemon," I said, petting the little Pokemon on the head. It smiled and took a bite of the berry, chewed, and swallowed. Then, before I could battle it to catch it, it place the berry in its mouth and took off into the bushes, quickly disappearing.

"No, Rattata, wait!" I said, jumping to my feet. I ran over to the bush and peered behind it. No sign of the extremely rare shiny Rattata. "Damn it, I really wanted to catch it," I muttered, hanging my head.

"That Rattata was golden. Rattata are usually purple," Karen said. "It was shiny, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Those things are extremely rare, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

There was some silence, disturbed only by Pidgey's wings as she landed on Karen's shoulder. "We should get going, Jack."

"Yeah, okay," I agreed, straightening up. We walked on, the loss of the chance to catch a rare shiny Rattata hanging over me like some kind of dark cloud.

A few more hours of walking, and we were tired. Karen had long since put Pidgey back in her Pokeball. When we left Pallet Town, it had been about eight in the morning. When the shiny Rattata attacked me, it had been about noon, so we had been traveling for four hour. Now, the sun was starting to set, so it was about six in the evening. We had been traveling for ten hours. Our feet were starting to hurt, and we were hungry.

"It's starting to get dark. Okay, Karen, what do you want to do?" I asked her, stopping. "Should we press on to Viridian? Or do you want to set up camp here?"

"Camp," Karen said immediately, taking off her bag, taking out the sleeping bag, and set it on the ground on the side of the path.

"Camp it is, then," I sighed. I took of my own backpack and set it on the ground against a tree. "Alright, Karen, I'll be back. I'm going to go get some firewood. Wanna come?"

Karen sighed, then jumped up. " Okay."

We trekked into the forest in search of firewood. I was able to find some suitable pieces, and picking them up, I heard Karen's voice sound out. "Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" There was a snapping, a cracking, and a wooden thumping.

"Did she just have Bulbasaur use Vine Whip to chop firewood?" I asked myself. I shrugged. "Whatever works, I guess."

I went back to the make-shift campsite and set my bounty down. I went back and found some large, smooth rocks and brought them back. I placed them in a circle, and seeing that there wasn't enough to make a complete circle, I went to get more and placed them down.

I piled the wood in the center of the circle of rocks as Karen came back, lugging a huge pile on a large leaf, Bulbasaur helping to pull with her vines. "Whoa, that's a lot."

With a grunt, Karen gave one final tug and left the leaf next to the firewood I had set down. "Yep. Bulbasaur did a good job. Good girl," she said, petting Bulbasaur.

I unclipped the lone Pokeball at from my belt and pressed the button, expanding it, then again to open it. The light spilled out and took the form of my Charmander. He stretched and said, "Charmander!"

"Charmander, could you light the wood with Ember?" I asked him after putting some more on.

"Chah!" he nodded, and opened his mouth, little balls of fire hitting the wood, almost immediately igniting it.

"Thanks, Charmander," I thanked him, sitting down on my sleeping bag I had set up, taking off my cap. Charmander came over and climbed into my lap, curling up there and closing his eyes. I petted him as he fell asleep, watching as the fire crackled and popped, its fiery tendrils reaching into the air like hands. Karen sat across next to me on her own sleeping, taking her hat off as well, her Bulbasaur mimicking Charmander and curling up in her lap. We sat in silence, staring at the fire.

"Isn't this nice, Jack? Out on this journey with our Pokemon?"

"Yeah, it is nice." I looked into the sky, at the sunset painting the sky indigo blue, pink, and orange. "And the sunset is nice, too."

Karen looked up, too. "It is." She smiled and looked back at me. "So what are we going to do when we get to Viridian?"

"I don't know," I responded honestly. "I heard that there was a Gym there, so we could challenge the leader there for my first Gym badge."

"Like Gary said he would?"

"Exactly,"

We were silent for a while longer, looking inside the fire, as our Pokemon slept in our laps. Being a Fire-type, Charmander was very warm, and it felt nice in the coming chill of the night. But, since Bulbasaur was a Grass-type, she didn't give off as much warmth as Charmander, so Karen ended up scooting closer to me and the crackling fire. A little bit later, a few seconds, she leaned her head on my shoulder, and I could feel myself heat up, much more than the heat from the fire and Charmander should have given off.

She must have felt me tense up, because she looked up and asked, "This doesn't bother you, does it?"

I shook my head. "Not at all."

She nodded and placed her head back on my shoulder. We sat there, Karen's head resting on my shoulder as the sky continued to darken. A few more minutes of silence, in which the only sounds heard were the soft snoring of our starters. Then the quiet was broken by a loud, guttural rumbling. Karen jumped. "What the hell was that?" She looked at me, and I grinned sheepishly.

"I, uh, I'm kinda hungry," I said. The rumbling from the pit of my stomach came again, louder this time, as if saying that I wasn't just hungry. "Okay, I'm starving. I haven't eaten since this morning, before I got Charmander." At mention of his name, Charmander opened an eye.

Now it was Karen's stomach's turn to growl. She laughed, a slight blush appearing on her face. "I guess I'm hungry, too."

"Tell you what," I said, standing and placing my cap back on my head. "I'll go find some berries or something, and bring them back and we can eat them."

"I don't want to send you out alone," she said.

"No, it's okay, Charmander can come with me." Charmander was fully awake now, and he nodded.

"Charmander, Chah," he said, raising an arm, reassuring Karen.

"Well, okay," she gave in.

"Sit tight, I'll be back." I strode off into the forest, Charmander at my heels.

We walked on, the little fire on my starter's tail lighting the way. "Okay, Charmander, think you could sniff around and see if there are any berries around here?" I asked, crouching to meet him at eye level. The little Fire-type nodded, lifting his snout into the air, taking big sniffs, eyes closed to concentrate. A few seconds of sniffing, and he opened his eyes, shaking his head. "Char."

"It's okay, let's just keep looking." I straightened up and went searching for more berries, occasionally asking Charmander to sniff for any. After several tries at this, the night having already descended on us without our knowing, like some kind of stealthy ninja, with the occasional cloud blocking the moon from view, he finally picked up a scent. "Chah,chah!" he said, pointing into the trees. I followed him as he lead me into a clearing, where Charmander and I stared in amazement. Smack dab in the center of the clearing was a tree, bigger then the others. But its size wasn't what caught our attention. All over the branched of the trees, leaving practically no inch uncovered, were a lot of berries. And I do mean a lot. There was a huge variety of berries, ranging from Pecha, Chesto, Cheri, and Oran, even a bunch of Sitrus Berries, which were very uncommon in the wild.

"Jackpot," I said, looking at Charmander, whose stomach began growling, too. I laughed. "Come one, Charmander, let's fill out stomachs up."

"Charmander!" he said, excited at the prospect of food, following as I stepped up to the tree. I stopped right under it, and reached up to pluck a Pecha Berry from a lower branch. But before I could actually take a hold of it, the branches higher up rustled.

"Oh, no, not another Rattata," I muttered, taking a step back. When I put some distance between me and the tree, the rustling stopped, almost as if it had rustled only to tell me to keep away. I suddenly had the feeling that this tree had been claimed by something, and that that something was watching us. I carefully watched the tree for any more movement, then swallowed, then stepped closer again. I once more reached up to pluck a berry, but the rustling started up again. Holding my hand up, in position to take a berry, I contemplated whether I should do it, risking pissing off the denizen of the tree. I looked behind me at Charmander, who was staring intently at the tree. I relaxed a little at the sight. I knew that if I was attacked, Charmander would be there to protect me.

Taking a deep breath, I muttered, "Here goes," and plucked the berry. The rustling in the tree intensified. I picked another berry, and another, and another, and the rustling increased at each berry I picked until the tree was practically shaking. I picked another berry, and that was it. A dark shape flew out of the tree, then another, then another, then another, and yet another. Soon, there was a platoon of flapping shapes in the air, looking down at me. At first I thought they were Pidgey, but as a cloud that had been obscuring the moon moved, the soft white light from moon shone down, revealing the identities of the flying creatures. As soon as I got a good look at them, I saw that they weren't Pidgey, and I also knew I was screwed.

Spearow. And lots of them, about a two dozen. The bird Pokemon had a reputation that preceded them. They were known for being aggressive, much more so then the other bird Pokemon we had encountered, Pidgey. Charmander stepped in front of me, poised to attack. I was a little surprised that Charmander would already put himself on the line to protect me, even though we had just met that morning.

Without warning, the small flock of Spearow dove, shrieking, at us. Charmander and I stood our ground. "Charmander, Ember!" Charmander shot out a multitude of little fireballs at the incoming birds. Some fell from the attack, hitting the ground and rolling. Some of the others that were hit kept coming at us, screeching all the way. "Move, Charmander!" I dived to the left, and Charmander jumped to the right, shooting another Ember at the Spearow as they flew past, knocking a few of them to the ground. I jumped back up as the bird Pokemon came around for another strike. I counted some thirteen of them were left still flying.

"Speeeeearoooooow!" the remaining Pokemon screeched as they dove again. I called for Charmander to use Ember again. He shot out more fireballs, the attack like anti-air missiles, hitting some of the Spearow, knocking them out of the sky. Some of the Spearow were able to avoid the fireballs and kept coming for us. Before I could have Charmander use Ember again, the Spearow were upon us, pecking at us, pretty painfully, I may add. I shouted out in pain as my arms, that I had brought up to defend my face, took the sharp beaks of the birds, Charmander suffering the same.

"Ow! You damn Spearow!" I shouted, sweeping my arm out, hitting some of the Pokemon, knocking them away. I turned my attention to Charmander, who used a Tail Whip to push the tree Spearow attacking him away. "Ember!"

Fireballs shot from his mouth and hit the birds dead on, knocking them to the ground like the Spearow before them. I whirled as another Spearow screeched behind me. The remaining five Spearow dove, straight for meat top speed. Before I could think about bringing up arms to cover my face, they slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. My breath left me at impact with the grass, and I quickly covered my head as the Spearow pecked at me. "Charmander!" I called for my Pokemon.

There was some pinpoints of light and the pecking stopped. I slowly uncovered my face and looked around. The five Spearow that knocked me down were lying around me, twitching, having been burned by Charmander's Ember. I looked at my Pokemon. He walked over to me and hopped on my lap, examining me for any wounds. "No, I'm okay, Charmander. Just a little bruised, is all."

He nodded, looking relieved. "Chah."

"Well, I guess now we can get some of those berries now, huh?" I said.

My Pokemon nodded, smiling.

I went up to the tree and started picking berries. Stopped when my arms were full of them. I looked at Charmander and his arms were full of berries, too. I chuckled, then went back the way we came, saying, "Come on, Charmander."

Charmander led the way with the light of the fire on his tail. A few minutes of navigating through the trees and bushes and we eventually arrived back at the campsite. Karen had been dozing lightly, Bulbasaur at her side, sleeping, and she sat up when we came back.

"Hey, Jack, you get some berries?" Karen asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"You could say that," I said, setting the berries down.

"Whoa, that's a lot of berries,"

"Yeah, Charmander and I had to fight off a flock of Spearow for them, but it wasn't a big deal," I told her, Charmander adding his berries to the pile and coming to stand next to me.

"Spearow? I heard they're supposed to be very aggressive," Karen said, reaching for a Pecha Berry.

"Oh, trust me, they were," I responded, grabbing my own Pecha Berry and biting into it. "I have a feeling I'll have a bunch of bruises tomorrow."

By now, Bulbasaur had woken up and walked over to us, and now she and Charmander were taking their share of berries. "I bet Pidgey is hungry, too." Karen reached for Pidgey's Pokeball, sending her out in a flash of light.

"Prrr," Pidgey cooed.

"You hungry, Pidgey? Get some berries,"

Pidgey flew down and hopped over to the pile and picked an Oran Berry. She hopped away with it in her beak and started pecking at it, taking off little bits and throwing her head back, swallowing them. We ate in silence, the occasional Pokemon cry ringing out. By the time we had our fill, most of the pile was gone.

"I'm tired. I'm going to bed," Karen said after a big yawn. She took off her shoes and recalled Pidgey into her Pokeball. She crawled into her sleeping bag after slipping on some sweat pants over her skirt and was almost immediately snoring away, albeit softly, Bulbasaur asleep next to her.

"Goodnight, Karen." I kicked off my shoes and crawled into my own sleeping bag, Charmander lying down next to me. "Goodnight Charmander."

"Char…" Charmander said, falling asleep.

I lay on my back, staring up at the star-studded sky. I was surprised at how much brighter they were outside of town, even though they were bright enough over Pallet. I briefly wondered if Gary had already reached Viridian, and if he had challenged the Gym there. My eyes were starting to get heavy. I didn't fight it as the sweet darkness of sleep overcame me.

I woke to the sound of rustling. Oh, not again, I thought. Charmander was already standing up, glaring into the shadows cast by the trees along with Bulbasaur, Karen standing over them. I stood up and walked over. "What's going on?"

Karen took a while to respond. "I don't know. Bulbasaur and Charmander were already up when I came over. Something's coming."

I looked into the multitude of trees, looking for anything. I could see nothing. As I was going to tell Karen that there was nothing there, I saw it. A shape in the shadows, some distance away, was coming closer. I stood behind Charmander, ready to call an attack of we needed to. The figure drew closer, and the Pokemon in front us tensed up, ready to take an order. And the figure kept coming closer. The shadows were to dark to make out anything certain, but I could tell that, whatever it was, it was small. But, as I had learned today, size really didn't matter. The figure came even closer, and I could see a faint golden coloring on it. Could it be?, the thought flashed through my head. Charmander and Bulbasaur growled as it came even closer.

Finally, the figure came forth from the shadows and into the moonlight, revealing what it was.

The shiny Rattata from earlier today.

"What the hell?" Karen and I said simultaneously. We shared a glance, then looked back at the Rattata. It had calmly walked up and sat at my feet, looking up at me, smiling, its large teeth glinting in the moonlight.

I kneeled on one knee and petted the little Pokemon. "Whatcha doing here, little guy?"

"Rattata," it said simply. It crawled up my arm and jumped on my shoulder. "Rattata!"

I stood and looked at the Mouse Pokemon perched on my shoulder "What are you doing there?"

"Rattata!" it exclaimed. It batted at my hat with a paw, earning a "Aw, that's so cute!" from Karen. The Pokemon looked over at her and smiled, its huge front teeth prominent. An idea suddenly came to me. There could be a few reasons as to why this shiny Rattata was here. It could be hungry, coming to look for food. But there were quite a few of the berries I found left, and it hadn't gone over to them. If it really was hungry, then it would have gone straight for the berries. No, it was here for another reason altogether.

"Rattata."

The golden Mouse Pokemon looked at me.

"Do you want to come with me?"

Its face lit up, and it jumped down to the grass and turned around, nodding vigorously. "Okay, then." I took an empty Pokeball from my backpack and enlarged it at the press of the button. "You sure about it, Rattata?"

It nodded again, excited.

"Okay." I tossed the Pokeball at Rattata, and it hit the Mouse Pokemon in the head and opened, pulling the Pokemon inside. The Pokeball shook only three times before stopping and the red light on the button disappeared.

I stared at the Pokeball. I knew it would happen someday, but when I actually caught a Pokemon, it was completely different then what I had thought it would be. I'm not the kind to jump for joy, but I was shaking a little from the sheer excitement that came with catching my first Pokemon as I walked over and picked up the ball. I held it up, looking at it as if I could see right through it to see the Pokemon held inside.

"Karen," I said, turning around slowly. I'm also not the kind to be rendered speechless when something like this happened. "I caught a Pokemon. I caught a shiny Rattata. I just caught an extremely rare Pokemon."

"Congratulations, Jack!" Karen said, walking over, followed by Bulbasaur and Charmander.

"Thanks," I said. I sighed and put Rattata's Pokeball away in my backpack. "We should get some sleep." I crawled back into my sleeping bag, Karen into hers, our Pokemon returning to their positions next to us before Rattata woke us up.

"I'll try," Karen said. "But I'm too excited to sleep. I mean, you just caught a shiny Pokemon! And on the first day of your journey! It's unbelievable!'

But, despite what she said, she was asleep within two minutes. It took me much longer to fall asleep, but I was finally able to. I slept soundly that night under the twinkling stars, knowing that we would arrive in Viridian tomorrow, challenging the Gym Leader there, confident that I would earn my first badge.

Author's Note: Well, there's Chapter 2. Hope you like it.

Oh, and did anyone catch that song name reference? Inside the Fire is a song by my favorite band, Disturbed. But I digress.

I'll get Chapter 3 up as soon as I'm done with it. Be on alert for it, I should finish it in less than a week.