Created by Rikard G. Alias; Iatos Mehiro

To Be a Pokémon Grand Master.

The Burial and the Journey beyond…

There I stood, in the rain looking down as they carried the coffin between them. Several men all dressed in black just like everyone else, it had happened so quickly too quickly and now I had lost my best friend. My mother attempted to console me by putting her hand on my shoulder, but when I looked up into her eyes I could see that they were filled with as much grief as mine were. The question lingering in my head right now above all others were, why?...why did he have to die?. He were too young, much too young...but sometimes destiny takes an odd twist or turn for the worse and we loose someone dear to us. After seeing the men put the coffin into the ground and listen to the priests speech my mother would look to me and ask. "how are you feeling Sarah?..." my mother would say to me, and In this moment I could really say the same to her, but out of my usual nice mouth came but the words I really wanted to say to her. "I...don't know...I...really loved him...I don't even know...what to say" was all I could tell her, my mother would then nod and tell me, "Yes...I know...We both did, but...life goes on...it was his time now Sarah...unfortunately" she said and was at the point of crying as well as I was.

It all started with so much sadness that day, many tears would flow down my cheeks as I realized that he was gone, the expression on his Pokémon's faces was beyond sad. They were grieving and I grieved as well. That he had died in the night, just so close to us was beyond understanding, it was so much that I did not really care to comb my hair or put in the ribbon that day. All I could do was to shed countless tears, until my cheeks was soaking wet and my eyes was burning, It had happened so quickly and so silently that none of us could react before we found him in the morning. And as I saw him just laying there without a single trace of life it was like my heart stopped. His hazel green hair, and those soft blue eyes of his that would never look at me again. Nor would I ever hear his voice call me Sarah again…It was so sad, even thought we only been together for such a short time. It felt like it had been forever…And after that day…I swore a bit to myself that I would carry on his wishes. And I would never give up…That was my vow to him. A single rose left my hand and was put into his coffin before it sank down into the ground slowly, and when I read the name on the Tombstone..The only thing that came to mind was…Dad…From that day I chose for myself that I would follow in his footsteps.

That even took place five years ago, my father had gotten very ill from disease and there were no cure. Nothing in nobody's power could have saved him, and therefore he had passed on. I guess I should have moved on by now, but at some points the memories of him still make me cry myself to sleep. I suppose I could say that right now the reason why I set out on this pokémon journey like so many others were to honour my fathers dream to become a pokémon master, even thought legally all my fathers pokémon belonged to us fully now I still wanted to set out with the one and only he gave to me... Azurill. For a quite some time Azurill and I would travel around together, unsure of how to really do this I were to shy to really fight, too scared that Azurill would end up hurt by something stronger and that it all would be my fault. At least that' that would be before I met him, Vincent. His courage is inspiring and his will to do something greater burns so strongly within, its amassing how he draw new strength over and over again. When I first met him I was so shy, but something about him just encouraged me to go on...to catch my first pokémon and I'm not sure why but when I see him its like travelling with my father. I suppose that I can't really tell him that, but If he asks...I guess I can reveal it, and now when I found Vince I feel so alive and happy again.

He, Twix, Rico and Shilla feel like such great company to me. Rico is a bit odd colour but Vince told me he was a unique type, a Richu, just like Twix being the same colour as Chocolate, but Vince said he was born that way. And even thought we just met in New Bark town he is really an Enjoyable person to be around. He nearly always smile around me, and he is so brave and full of life, he believe in himself and his Pokémon with everything he got, and it makes me feel so free and comfortable around him. Thought…It seems he is a bit unlucky…but I guess it's mostly my fault… but when we went to sleep together in that Cave, it think it was then I started realizing that he as me…truly love Pokémon with all his being.

~Vince

When my face got all wet and warm…I noticed a red object touching my cheek, "Nice doggy…" I mumbled and finally the fear settled and the blood came back to my arms as I stroke the soft black fur of the Mightyena that stood half on me. Thought it had scared me half to death it seemed like it was friendly, and when I touched around its neck I noticed a collar. I read the description, 'Roxy' and my eyes suddenly widened. "Roxy?...that's you?...woah…Girl you sure have grown…" I stated, Namely Roxy here was the much larger and older Version of a Poochyena that lived near the daycare when I was young, I used to play with her in the forest all the time but after had put a collar on her and tried take her home Roxy's mother had interfered. And after that day I did not get to see Roxy again since her mother took her away, and my own did not allow me to play with them since it could be dangerous. And now after all this time she still remembered me. It sure made me so happy.

Warmth would fill my body once more, and while scratching around her neck and pat her head all I could think about were how happy I was to see her again. She had grown up to become so big and so...well mighty, and that she still had that collar around her neck only served as a reminder of old love. Roxy stepped off me after I gently gave her a push, she was much heavier now than when she were a small Poochyena and luckily back then I had chosen an self adjusting collar, otherwise she would probably had to have chewed it off by now or ended up strangled by it. Just about now I noticed that we were in fact not alone, there were others and I did not have to go guess very much before I could tell that this were Roxy's new Family. She was old enough now to have Puppies of her own, and it were no big surprise that she had two with her right now, I could say I wouldn't be very surprised if this was not her only kids and that some of them was fully grown already.

I couldn't see Rico hanging around for the moment but Twix on the other hand, oh...my little Twix, he slept like a rock as always and with Sarah for that matter too. It seemed he had exchanged beds in the night and gone over to her for some reason, that little...traitor. I figure I can't really judge him, after all I kind of wish I could do the same myself *cough* *cough* Well back to the situation. I would let the others sleep while I had a calm conversation with Roxy, I would as you say 'catch up' on what had happened during the years that had passed, I told Roxy in return about my new adventure and soon I would look to the others as they seemed to start stirring to my voice.

The others awoke in their own pace after I had started talking; some slightly flinching in surprise there was a pack of Mightyena near our camp. Except for Rico that already was awake, he had been carefully watching every move of them behind a Rock. And after he saw them settle down he had come out to greet them as well. At least I hoped it was the case, but I could understand that he did not want to act just before the last moment, to keep a bit of surprise for them if they had been hostile. I did not really blame him either; I probably would have hid myself if I been outnumbered and surprised like that. I mean…I had not even been able to move at that time. It was a thing to learn from at least, all well that ends well I guess. I gently woke Sarah up and told her that we had guests, she was a bit surprised too when she saw the lot of Mightyenas. But soon she also seemed to feel a bit relaxed and she even pet Roxy. Twix hid behind me for a moment, before slowly daring to come forward to greet the much bigger Pokémon, but soon he got shy again as Roxy licked him.

I told them all about how I met Roxy, And after some time the whole pack of Mightyenas came forward to greet us, it seemed like in the time that had passed, Roxy had become the alpha female. And with canine's like Mightyena's The alpha female is the one in charge, and even the Alpha male will back off if she pushes him. Thought everything started feeling quite nice with them around, Roxy soon looked at me and said. "Vince, it's good to see you again…" which made me flinch a bit because I was still not used to understanding Pokémon. "Its good to see you too Roxy" I said and she in return looked a bit surprised at my reply. But we had a bit of recap of our lives so far,one could say that it was pretty interesting to hear how her family had taken her away to a new territory since their old one were not large enough for them and too close to humans...figures...but a bit of relief to hear that it was not my fault at least. I guess it must have looked pretty strange to Sarah with me replying to her like that. But I bet she just thought I understood them somewhat, due to being so connected to Pokémon. And after our talk, Roxy showed me her two Children, one was a Male Poochyena with Red and blue fur, very odd indeed. I decided to call him Yuber. And before knowing it, Yuber was my newest Pokémon companion…as Roxy wanted him to come with me, and Yuber himself did not mind at all….the other were a rather normal looking one for the record.

I suppose this is a rather valid way to get a pokémon and cuddling with the two poochyenas my mind was quickly made up. As usually I went for the odd looking one, that had a weird colour compared to a normal one, it looked so cute and Roxy did not seem to mind, she were just happy to see me again and now she could finally in a way journey together with me. And one day her child would return to her and tell her all about our adventures. So I suppose this mark my fourth pokémon, allowing it to let itself ito one of my pokéballs to seal the deal as you say, I figured it was time for Roxy to return to her pack. Yes a pack, there were plenty of Mightyena hanging around here...kind of a reminder to not be so reckless as to sleep in a cave without a camp fire...if they had been unfriendly I suppose this could have ended really ugly...I mean Mightyenas are known to eat...meat after all. How odd a morning can get…

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