I woke up early that morning, I was ready to join Sarah to go on a training journey. I limped out of my cave and spotted Sarah no to far from where I was, she quickly ran over and smiled, "You ready to start our journey Blaze?"

I nodded and smiled back, "Of course, I am as ready as I will ever be. I hope we can help me unlock my hidden potential and help me become stronger."

She nodded, "I will always work with you to make you and me stronger as a team." She then looked out towards the forest, "You will be as strong as you can be, and I will get you there no matter what it takes." She looked at me, "You ready?" I nodded and she smiled, "Then what are we waiting for!?" She ran off ahead and I quickly followed, not looking back, our journey had now begun. I was ready to face many challenges and was ready to become as strong as I could. We slowly came to a halt in front of SantaluneForest, she looked at me, "You ready to take our first steps into SantaluneForest?"

I looked into the forest seeing the entire forest of Bug Pokémon there and knowing if one came at us I could surely take it on, I looked at Sarah and nodded, "Let's do this thing, but I want to make a promise first."

Sarah tilted her head, somewhat puzzled, "Promise?"

I nodded, "I promise to protect you, through thick and thin, I will always be by your side. Just like the air around you, I will protect you with all I have."

Sarah looked at me and smiled, "If that isn't a heartfelt promise then I don't know what is." I smiled back and we took our first steps into SantaluneForest. I stayed nearby in case any Bug Pokémon tried to attack, suddenly I got tackled from the side by a Scatterbug, I quickly recovered from the attack and Sarah responded, "Umm… Blaze, Ember!" She tried sounding slightly commanding, I didn't mind it and quickly obeyed her, shooting an Ember attack at the Scatterbug. The small bug Pokémon survived, but only by a hair, it used String Shot which wrapped itself tightly around my injured leg, I yelped from the pain that shot up my leg from the small threads pressing into my wounds. Sarah heard my pain and this time responded a lot faster, "Ember those strings and then use Flamethrower!" She was a lot steadier in her attack commands. I quickly burned off the String Shot and hit the Scatterbug with a Flamethrower ensuring our victory. I gained a few EXP points and ended up leveling up! I smiled and remembered I was now level 10; I had leveled quite a few times during the battles with the strange man in the black suit. I fell down as pain again shot up my bad leg, Sarah ran over and said, "You really shouldn't walk on your leg the way it is."

I shook my head and stood up, "Don't worry, I will be OK…"

She looked at my concerned, "You need to learn how to take it easy." I laugh a little and we kept walking, there is a trainer nearby, I saw he had a Weedle for his Pokémon. He seemed like a kind and smart trainer. Sarah and I walked up to him and Sarah asked, "Hey, you up for a battle with Blaze and I?"

The bug trainer smiled, "Sure thing! I will become the top bug type trainer with my partner Weedle." Sarah smiled and shook the trainers hand and we stepped back. The little Weedle jumped in front of its trainer, I stepped out in front of Sarah, and I was ready for battle, "Weedle, String Shot!" The bug Pokémon quickly tangled my legs up, by not tightly.

Sarah said, "Blaze, Ember those strings away and use Tackle!" I nodded and burned away the String Shot and attacked the Weedle head on. The Weedle was very fast and actually dodged my attack without hesitation. I smiled and jumped back.

"Weedle, Poison Sting!" The bug trainer quickly commanded. Weedle quickly attacked and I avoided the poisoned barbs at all costs.

Sarah yelled, "Blaze, Flamethrower!" I nodded and attacked quickly and hit Weedle with a full force Flamethrower. The Weedle fell down and was knocked out.

"Great battle, I can help you get out of this forest now if you'd like." The trainer said smiling.

Sarah smiled, "That would be great! Thanks! I'm Sarah by the way."

"The name is Josh, nice to meet you." He said, "Follow me, I will lead you outta this forest." His Weedle crawled up on his shoulder and he started walking, Sarah and I followed and in the middle of our walk Sarah picked me up and smiled at me, I didn't really know how to react since I had never really been carried unless I was injured and unable to walk, so all I did was smile back at her. Soon we saw a soft light through the trees, "There is the exit, enjoy the rest of your journey okay?"

Sarah smiled, "Thanks again Josh, see ya!" She ran out of the forest and straight to the Pokémon center where we were staying the night. She looked at me, "So, Blaze, how about we explore town a bit, then hit the hay around 8:30. Sound good?"

I looked at her and nodded, "Sounds like a good idea, no need to waste daylight." She laughed and we wandered around the town until we spotted a park area where there were multiple trainers and Pokémon. I looked at Sarah, "What do you say to battle some other trainers?" I asked with a smile.

"Sure, why not, we have some time to spare." She smiled back and set me down, and then we both walked into the park and battled until sunset and ran back to the PokémonCenter. She handed me to Nurse Joy who wrapped my leg and healed me from all the battles.

When Nurse Joy handed me back to Sarah she said, "His leg should be fine by morning."

Sarah smiled, "Thanks Nurse Joy, can you hand me a room key so we can get some sleep?" Nurse Joy nodded and handed her a key. Sarah smiled and we raced up the stairs, her winning of course, to our room. She unlocked the door and we walked in. I jumped up onto the bed and she sat down and removed her shoes then laid down, "What do you say; tomorrow we go and beat up the gym leader in the next town."

I yawned and smiled, "Sounds good…" I then laid my head down and fell asleep.