WHOOOOOOOOOOA. It's been way too long! Does anyone even check if I update anymore? Anyways, let's get right to chapter 3! I'll put my author's note at the end if you actually want to read it. :)


Chapter 3:

(The next day…)

(Destiny)

"Alex, isn't this a little silly?" I ask. "You're giving me Poke Ball lessons."

"It's not silly if it helps you learn," Alex states calmly. He picks up a Poke Ball off of a dresser. "We'll use Riolu as an example. Is that alright, Riolu?" Riolu nods. "Okay, first, you need to hold the Poke Ball out." Alex demonstrates by extending his arm to hold the ball out. "Then, you click this button on the front." He taps the button with his index finger. A red beam shoots out and recalls Riolu to his Poke Ball. "… And to send a Pokemon back out, just throw the ball in the air." He tosses the Poke Ball up and it shoots out the red light again, revealing Riolu.

"That seems easy enough," I comment.

"It's simple. Now you try," he says, holding the Poke Ball out to me. I flinch and squeeze my eyes shut. When I open them again, I see a very confused Alex. "What was that about?" he asks.

"It was nothing," I lie.

"You're a terrible liar. Something's wrong," Alex says. He sticks the Poke Ball in front of my face.

I squeak unwillingly and smack his hand away. "Get that out of my face."

"I got it!" Alex exclaims. He points at me. "You're afraid of Poke Balls, aren't you?"

I scoff. "No, I am not!" I protest. "What kind of weirdo would be afraid of Poke Balls?"

"Catch!" Alex calls, tossing the Poke Ball at me. I let out a shriek and dive to the ground. Riolu jumps up from behind me and catches the ball. "Nice catch, Riolu," Alex compliments, walking over to me. He looks down at me with a triumphant look.

I sigh and mutter, "Okay, I guess I am afraid of Poke Balls."

Alex frowns slightly and helps me up. "Now, Destiny, why would you be afraid of Poke Balls?"

"You can call me Desy," I tell him. As usual, he ignores that statement. "I guess the fear could've started when a Poke Ball gave me a concussion…"

"A Poke Ball gave you a concussion?" he asks doubtfully. "What did it do, grow legs and kick you in the head?"

"First of all, your sarcasm hurts, so I'm going to try to ignore that," I begin. "As for your first question, yes, a Poke Ball gave me a concussion."

"So what happened?" Alex questions.

"It was Bethany," I state simply. "She used to make me battle with her all the time. Every time I would come outside, she'd be there with her little Surskit, demanding a battle. She'd usually win, considering Kirlia was weak against Surskit's Bug-types moves. When Kirlia learned Magical Leaf, we finally won. Bethany got so frustrated that she threw Surskit's Poke Ball at me. It hit me in the head and gave me a concussion."

"I understand now," Alex says. "So, what we have to do is get rid of this fear somehow."

"I'll do whatever it takes," I tell him with a determined look on my face.

"That's good," Alex murmurs, digging a Poke Ball out of his backpack. He lets it sit in the palm of his hand as he holds it out. "Touch it."

"Touch it?" I repeat. "That seems a little pointless. And don't tell me to touch your—"

"If you don't, I'll throw it at you and give you another concussion."

I purse my lips. "You can be pretty violent, you know that?" I lift one finger and cautiously move it towards to Poke Ball. I swallow hard as my finger nears it. **I shouldn't be this nervous,** I think to myself. **It shouldn't be this hard.** When my finger comes into contact with the ball, I discover something surprising. It's not scary! It didn't jump up and bite me or anything!

I grab the Poke Ball out of Alex's hand. "This isn't that bad," I say with a smile. "It's not even that scary." I flip the Poke Ball into the air, high above my head. I lift my hand up to catch it, but I miss. Completely. The ball comes down and hits me square in the nose, then bounces to the ground. I let out a yelp of pain and hold my nose with my hands. I hunch over to hide my face. I was trying to look cool, but I ended up looking like an idiot. Go me, right?

Alex gasps. "Oh my gosh!" He puts a hand on my shoulder and bends over to try to look at my face. I turn my head away so he can't see. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," I reply through my hands. "My nose hurts pretty badly right now."

"Let me see it," he says, removing his hand from my shoulder.

I shake my head. "No! I'm afraid there's going to be a bruise!"

"So why can't I see it?" he questions. "I could check if there's a bruise."

I shake my head again. "It's embarrassing!"

"Let me see," he says, this time with more force. Jeez, when he says things like that, I feel like I have to listen to him.

I reluctantly put my hands down and lift my head up to him. "Is there a bruise?"

When Alex sees my face, his eyes widen slightly. He crosses his arms and shifts his weight to one foot. "Oh…"

"What?" I ask, my worry showing in my voice. "Alex, you're starting to scare me a little. Is there a bruise? Just tell me."

"You don't have a bruise."

I sigh in relief. "That's good."

"You have a bloody nose."

"What?!" I exclaim. By now, I feel the sticky substance dribbling out of my nose. "Oh, what do I do? What do I do? Alex, please help me!"

Alex exhales slowly and starts to walk over to the bathroom. "You sure do freak out about little things. Pinch your nose and tilt your head back, alright?"

I do as he says. "Little things?" I repeat. "This isn't little! There's blood pouring out of my nose!"

"It's not pouring out of your nose," he says from the bathroom. "It's just a little bit of blood." He comes out holding a tissue. He hands it to me.

I take it and clean the blood off my upper lip. "Still, I hate blood. Why did I have to hit myself in the nose with a Poke Ball?"

Alex shakes his head. "What were you doing, anyways?"

"I don't even know," I answer. "Whatever I was doing, it didn't turn out how I wanted it to."

He chuckles. "Obviously."

I pop my hip out sassily. "Are you laughing at me?" I can't hide my smile.

"Oh, come on," he laughs, nudging me with his elbow. "Like you wouldn't be laughing at me if I hit myself with the Poke Ball."

I giggle and take my hand away from my nose. It had already stopped bleeding. I walk over to the trash can and throw the tissue away. "I probably would. Okay, I know I would."

He gives me a worried look. "You aren't afraid of Poke Balls again, are you?"

I smile. "No. I'm fine, now. They aren't scary anymore."

"They weren't scary in the first place," he mutters.

I frown and smack him on the arm. "Hey, I heard that."

"That doesn't mean you get to hit me!" he replies. He bends down to pick the Poke Ball up, then hands it to me. "You can have this. After all, it has your blood on it."

I take it from him and inspect it. "There's no blood on this."

Alex puts his hands behind his head and looks away. He blushes slightly. "Yeah, well, it might. So I don't want it."

I look down at the ball. **Why would he just give this to me?** I wonder. **It was a ball that he purchased with his own money. It didn't even have my blood on it, so he had no reason to just hand it over. And why was he blushing when he gave it to me? Something's going on here.** I smirk when I think I realize what happened. **He wanted to give this to me, so he just said he didn't want it. He needed an excuse to give it to me, so he said it had my blood on it. He tried to make it unnoticeable, but I caught on. Nothing gets past Destiny!**

"Destiny, why are you smirking like that?" Alex asks. "You're kind of creeping me out."

I decide not to call him out on it. "It's nothing! I was just thinking about… something funny I saw on TV a while ago."

He narrows his eyes at me, obviously suspicious. He doesn't say anything else on the subject. "Moving on. You're going to need that Poke Ball to catch a Pokemon."

"But I don't even know how to catch a Pokemon," I tell him.

"Then I'll teach you," he says. "Let's go outside."

He leads me out of the Pokemon Center and around the back. Kirlia and Riolu are playing there. They are having a playful battle. Kirlia's using his best Contest moves and Riolu is using his offensive moves. They seem to be having fun, though. Alex and I move a little bit away from them so we don't get caught up in the fight.

"Okay, to catch a Pokemon you first need to weaken it," Alex instructs. "You can do things like paralyze it or put it to sleep to make it even easier to catch. After the Pokemon is weakened, you throw a Poke Ball at it."

"That sounds easy enough," I say, holding the Poke Ball in my hand. "Let's go find a Pokemon now!"

"Hold on a second," Alex stops me. "To be able to actually catch the Pokemon, you have to hit it with the ball. That means you have to have an accurate throw. Do you have an accurate throw?"

"I don't know," I respond. "I've never really paid attention when I throw things."

"Then let's see if you do." He points to a tree a couple yards away from me. "Try to hit that tree." He bends down and picks up a rock about the size of a Poke Ball. He holds it out to me. "Use this rock at first."

I nod and take the rock. I focus on the tree, then close my eyes and throw the rock. When I open my eyes again, I see the rock land a couple feet away from the tree. I look over at Alex, whose mouth is open.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" I ask him.

"Uh…"

"Hold on, hold on!" I say quickly. "That was just a mess up. Let me try again." I pick up another rock, close my eyes, and throw it. This time, I lob it into the air and it falls a little bit in front of the tree. I look over at Alex again.

He forces a smile. "It wasn't that bad…"

I sigh and hang my head. "It's okay; I know I don't have an accurate throw."

He claps a hand onto my shoulder. "That's good! Admitting it is good." He hands me another rock. "Now, throw again. I'll try to find out what you're doing wrong."

"Okay." I close my eyes and fling the rock in the general direction of the tree. I open my eyes and see the rock roll to a stop next to the tree.

"Alright, I see your problem," Alex says. "You're closing your eyes."

"Oh. Is that bad?"

"Yes, it is bad," he answers. "You can't see where you're aiming if your eyes are closed, right?"

"I guess not…"

"So just open your eyes and throw," he advises. "You'll do a lot better. Okay, now try again."

"Alright." I scoop up another rock and take a deep breath to concentrate. I keep my eyes and throw the rock one more time. The rock sails into the branches of the tree. I groan. "Even with my eyes open, I can't throw right!"

"Well, you actually hit the tree this time," Alex points out. "Just not the part of the tree you were aiming for. Just keep throwing. You'll get it eventually."

(Eventually…)

"You were much closer that time," Alex says.

"Alex, my arm is tired," I whine. "Can I take a break?"

"No. Just a little longer. I have a feeling you'll get it in a couple more tries. You're getting really close."

"No!" I shout audaciously. "I'm sick of throwing these stupid things!" I dig around my bag and take out the Poke Ball Alex gave me. "I'm sick of practicing to throw this stupid thing! Ugh!" With that yell, I throw the Poke Ball as hard as I can towards the tree. The ball moves in a straight line on a direct path for the tree. Surprisingly, the ball hits right in the center of the tree.

Alex turns his head quickly to look at me. "You actually hit it!"

I beam. "I did! I finally did it!" I jump up and down, celebrating. Alex stands beside me and laughs. When I stop bouncing, I turn to him and ask, "Can I go catch a Pokemon now?"

"Maybe we should wait until tomorrow," Alex suggests.

"But the Contest is in two days!" I protest. "If I catch my Pokemon today, then I can have all day tomorrow to train it!"

"It's starting to get dark," he points out. "If we go out and look, it'll get really dark while we're out there. We won't be able to find our way back then."

I frown slightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right." I look over at Kirlia and Riolu. They've tired themselves out and are now just half-heartedly wrestling. "Kirlia, Riolu, we're going back in now!" The two Pokemon look up and run over to us.

"You did really well today," Alex compliments me with a small smile. "You conquered your fear and learned how to use a Poke Ball. All in one day. That's great."

I smile and put my hands on my hips. "Yeah, I'm proud of myself."

"There's only one more thing you need to do before your Contest," he says. "You just need to find a—"

"A Pokemon!" I interrupt after I spot a wild Starly hopping around to our left.

"Yeah, that. But you didn't have to finish my sentence for me."

"No, Alex, look!" I point at the wild Pokemon.

He looks where I'm pointing. "Oh, a wild Pokemon!"

"Yes! I have to have it!"

"I thought you said you needed a Pokemon that was 'super cute,'" Alex quotes me.

"I did say that," I reply. "Do you not see this Starly's cuteness? This Starly is nothing like the others!"

Alex gives me this look, telling me he obviously doesn't get what I'm saying. "Well, if you want it so bad, catch it."

I nod determinedly."First, I have to weaken it," I whisper. I turn to Kirlia. "Okay, let's go, Kirlia! We're going to catch this Starly!" Kirlia leaps in front of me, ready to fight. "Okay, use Confusion!" Kirlia's eyes glow light pink and the same pink light surrounds Starly. Starly is lifted into the air, then thrown back onto the ground. Starly tweets defiantly at Kirlia then flies quickly towards him. Starly slams into Kirlia and keeps flying around.

"That was Aerial Ace," Alex states. "That move never misses its target."

"Kirlia, use Confusion to bring Starly back down!" I command. The pink light surrounds Starly again and drags him back to the ground. Starly gets right back up and zooms towards Kirlia at break-neck speed. Kirlia gets hit, but he toughs it out and stays standing. "Kirlia, are you okay?" I ask. He nods.

"Okay, it's weaker now!" Alex calls to me. "Throw the Poke Ball!"

I grip the Poke Ball in my pale, shaking hand. This is it. My first Pokemon capture... I can't fail! If I don't catch this Starly, I won't be able to enter the contest. This Starly is far better than any other Starly I've seen (which I haven't seen a lot), so I want it. I need it.

"Okay! Go, Poke Ball!" I throw the ball, hoping that target practice I did will finally pay off. The ball hits the Starly in the head and opens up to suck it inside. As soon as the ball hits the ground, I start jumping up and down. "Yes! I caught the Starly!"

"Don't celebrate, you haven't caught it yet," Alex tells me.

"Huh?" I look at the ball again. It's on the ground, rocking back and forth.

"It's still trying to resist the capture," he explains. "It could possibly break out."

"No!" I cry out. "I need this Starly!"

"Then you better hope it works."

I crouch down next to the ball and peer at it with narrowed eyes, daring it to open. It rocks some more, flashing occasionally. After a few more shakes, the button flashes for the last time. I stand up slowly and turn to Alex. "Can I celebrate now?" I ask hopefully.

He smiles and nods.

I bend down and scoop up the Poke Ball. "I did it! Woo! I caught my first Pokemon!" I spin around with the ball in my hands. Kirlia spins around with me, smiling and laughing. Alex smiles and chuckles. I run over to him and hug him around the neck.

"Uh, what are you doing?" he laughs awkwardly.

"I'm hugging you, of course!" I reply. "You've helped me so much today. I just wanted to thank you." I pull away and smile up at him. "So thank you."

He turns his head away and mutters, "Well, you could've just said thank you."

"C'mon, Alex," I say, walking off with Kirlia behind me. "Let's go inside now."


I hope you guys aren't mad at me for not updating for like a year. How long has it been anyways? I'm too lazy to check (or to update, obviously). SHUT UP, PARENTHESIS. YOU ARE PARENTHESIS WHY ARE YOU SPEAKING. *Sigh* I am so sorry.

If you were paying attention, you would've noticed that my username is different. Yes, I am no longer Swagga Cat. I am now ThePenWritesAll. Name changes, w00t! And I took out the first "chapter" I had up for this since it wasn't really a chapter. It was more of a reference for me, but I decided to just take it down. And a new cover for this! Well, it's the first one, so yeah. Tell me what you think of it. I edited it myself, of course. :)

I had like half of this chapter written before I lost interest in this story. Well, I didn't really lose interest. I just kind of forgot about it. (So you lost interest in it.) PARENTHESIS. NO.

So after like a year of being covered in digital dust, chapter 3 is finally here! FO' REALS.

Oh my gosh, I was playing Pokemon Black 2—which is great, by the way. Can you believe I only got it a couple of weeks ago? Anyways, I was playing Black 2 and I just beat Marlon or whatever his face is last night. And he said something something fo' reals and I DIED. It was the best thing ever.

Okay, I'm done now. Bai bai! Hopefully I'll update again soon!