The next day, Sara was still fast asleep when the sun was shining bright golden rays on her face. Star was the same, letting out tiny whistle snores every couple of seconds. It was only when one of the more drowsy Chansey accidentally dropped a metal pan that Sara bounced awake. "OW!" She exclaims, grabbing her right leg and squeezing it, sending Star flying off of her. "My-legs-hurt!"
"Think of how my wings feel bucko!" Star snaps back at her trainer, she had a firm grip on the arm of the bright red couch and didn't look all too pleased. Suddenly, without warning, the Taillow let out a long, high pitched cry that made Sara jump two feet.
"What? What is it? What's wrong?" She yells over her Taillow's screeching. Sara dug into her pockets for the Pokedex, and pointed it at Star.
The mechanical voice sounded very mocking when it droned this out, "Taillow are fearless in battle and will stand up to opponents bigger and stronger then themselves. But when they're hungry, they'll cry nonstop."
"Hungry!" Sara repeats, and then dashes over to Nurse Joy, who had covered her ears and didn't look all too happy with Sara. "Food… Pokemon food… help!"
Sara received a very angry glare from the Nurse, but she turned and went into a back room for a few seconds. After a few minutes, Star screeching the whole time, Joy came back with a medium sized box. She hands Sara a bag full of small pellets, a small bowl, and motions to Star.
Taking the hint, Sara rushes back over to her Pokemon and offers her the bowl after it was filled to the brim with the tiny pellets. Star nearly attacked the bowl in hunger, she ate all that was in it and stared hungrily at Sara for more. She ended up eating three bowls of Pokemon food, finishing off the bag, and would have eaten more; but Nurse Joy dragged Sara away by the ear.
"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Nurse Joy growls, "Letting you Taillow starve! I've never seen such… such… horrible treatment in a good long while!" Sara cowered from her glare, and didn't have the heart to point out that she had only had Star for one day. But luckily, Star wanted to get on with the day.
"Hey Sara! Are you going to talk all day or are we going to go explore!"
"Explore, explore." She responds and breaths a sigh of relief as Nurse Joy snorts and turns away. "But I have something to do first…"
"What?" Star asks, and lets out what sounded a lot like a sigh as Sara made her way to the video phones. "Ohhhh no…"
Sara scooped up her little bird and lets her settle on her shoulder. The Taillow was warm, and felt soft against Sara's cheek. Dialing the correct number and tapping her foot with impatience, Sara waited for her mother to answer her phone. After a minute or so, Sara's mom appears on the screen with an exclamation so loud that Star fell off Sara's shoulder.
"Hiiiiii honey!" She nearly yells, "How are you?"
"I'll be fine once Sara hangs up on you loudmouth!" Star squawks from the floor, which she was laying flat on her back on.
"Great! We've already reached Opal Town mom!" Sara exclaims, ignoring Star's comment and grinning at her mom.
"Opal Town? In one day! Oh dear, you two must be exhausted!" Sara's mom exclaims, a look of worry on her face. Sara -and Star- agreed that they were very exhausted. Sara told the whole story of what happened to her mom, who wanted to know every last detail. After that was done, Sara plucked a very annoyed Taillow from the floor and sat her in front of the telephone screen.
"Adorable!" She cries, "I could just stare at her for hours!" Star squirms at that.
"Please don't." She chirps, exciting an 'Awww!' from Sara's mom.
"My little Pokemon trainer's growing up!" She finally says, tears shining in her eyes again, "Take care sweet-pea!" And with that, Sara's mom hung up. Star chirps with relief, and turns to look at Sara.
"Are you ready now?" Star asks pointedly and Sara nods. The Taillow lets out a chirp and reluctantly flies back to her perch on Sara's shoulder.
Opal Town was small; a little water fountain bubbled in the corner, an assortment of houses dotted the land, all with painted white roofs and walls. The Pokemart was also all white, but had big scarlet letters plastered over the glass door that said, "Mart". Only one building didn't follow this pattern, by far the largest building, it was painted red and had a grey roof. Next to it, all white, was a much smaller, but broader building that just had to be Opal Gym.
"Gym first?" Sara asks her Pokemon, who agreed almost instantly. They came up to the building and entered it. Two guards blocked their path onto the field, both heavily build and wearing weighty armor. The axes they carried were probably just for show, but Sara stepped back a bit just incase.
"Where is your partner?" One of them asks in a deep tone.
"What partner? If you mean my Pokemon, she's…"
"No! Your trainer partner!" The second guard boomed.
"Okay then… I don't have one." Sara responds nervously.
"Then you can't compete, come back with a partner." They pushed and shoved Sara right back out of the gym without some much as an apology.
"'Then you can't compete.' Humph! We should go back in there and…" Star squawked, feathers bristling in anger.
"No, that would just get us in trouble." Sara says, and Star ruffles even more.
"Humph, now what?" Star finally asks after a while. They had returned to the Pokemon Center's door.
"I dunno. Go find a partner I guess…"
"No way! We aren't going to give in that easily!" Star responds stubbornly, "We should go Pokemon catching or something…"
Sara suddenly gasps. In everything that had happened yesterday, she hadn't captured a single Pokemon! "Yes, but I'm not going back to Twig Row, no matter what!"
"Next path then." Star says, and points the wing not up against Sara's cheek west. There was a wooded path leading out of Opal Town, and it was also the next route they'd have to take.
"Emerald Path, the one that leads to Jade City?" Sara asks, and the Taillow chirps a yes. It was decided, they would go catch Pokemon there.
It had already been a hard trek for Sara; her legs were still throbbing from yesterday's run. But she made it, and had already challenged a Bellsprout to battle, when there was rustling in a nearby bush. Star must have gotten too close to whatever was in it, because she had to put on a burst of speed to avoid having her feathers scorched.
"Hey! Watch what you're aiming at! You could hurt something." She squawks at the bush, which parted and a Vulpix jumped out of it.
"Vul!" It cries before sending another Ember in Star's direction. Star spun in mid-air to avoid it, and looks back at Sara as if to ask, 'Which one?' The Bellsprout could wait, Sara pointed at the Vulpix and nods.
"Star, use Quick Attack!" She orders, and Star circles once above the Vulpix before diving down at her, moving at a break-neck speed. The attack hit its mark, but the Vulpix rams Star back and attempts to Tackle her; but misses as Star becomes air-borne again.
"That was good; now finish it with a Wing Attack!" Star again dives at the Vulpix, but at the very last moment she outstretches her wings and slaps the Vulpix across her back.
Weak and dusty, the Vulpix fell to the ground and didn't get up. Sara then pulls out one of the few Pokeballs Miss Appawich had given her and tossed it at her. There was a flash of red light, and the Vulpix disappeared inside of the ball. But she wasn't caught yet. The button of the Pokeball still glowed red and it twitched many times before returning to normal.
"Yes!" Sara exclaims as it returns to her hand. Star landed on her wrist and peered at it.
"Looks like we've got a new friend!" She chirps in a sing-song voice.
Behind Sara, someone clapped loudly. "Very good, very good." Said a boy. Sara spun around to see a mouse brown haired boy with hazel eyes, grinning at her.
