Chapter Three: Nosebleed and the Safari Zone

So, from where we left off...

Standing before Lina, a contemptuous glare on his face, was the biker from before. The one who'd made Jaren leave her alone back when she was heading to Celadon. Rico, she'd heard the others call him. But she only got a moment to recognize him before she remembered the searing pain in her nose.

"Didn't I tell you to watch it?" he growled.

"I'm sorry!" Her hand flew to her nose and she flinched at the pain.

"Yeah, well, you better be. If you run into me one more time – " He frowned. "You're bleeding, you know."

"What?" Lina realized her hand was wet with blood. How had she not noticed that? "Ahh!" One of the reasons peaceful Lina hated conflict was that she grew weak at the sight of blood. When it was accompanied with her own pain, she was lucky if she didn't pass out.

"Calm down, man. It's not so bad – "

She brought away more blood in her hand. "Ahh! You broke my nose!" She gasped. "You broke it you broke it you broke it!" Lina tended to go slightly crazy when blood was in the vicinity.

He glanced around. A woman and her son watched, shooting him nasty glares.

"You there! If you don't help this girl, I will press charges on assault!" the woman shrieked, pointing a knobby finger at Rico.

"I didn't do it!" he protested. "It was this klutz's fault, man."

"Do not call me a man! Take this girl to the Pokemon Center right away!"

Lina's eyes filled with tears. "I'm not a Pokemon!"

"Look, you made her cry!" the woman shouted. "I demand that you take her to Nurse Joy!"

Rico looked back at Lina, who was turning even paler than she looked. His eyes avoided looking at her nose, he grabbed her arm. "Fine. Come on."

"I'll never smell anything again!" Lina wailed as he dragged her off.

"There, that's better, isn't it?" Nurse Joy smiled. Lina's head was propped back and tissues were stuffed up her nose.

"Uh, I guess," she answered, her voice nasally. Now that the blood was gone, she was becoming more like her normal self.

"Your Pokemon is ready, too," Nurse Joy said. "Let me just go get her."

"Okay." Lina sighed.

"You're crazy, you know that, man?" Rico muttered as he sat there, his arms crossed.

"Well… I thought you had broken my nose. I'm sorry." Lina couldn't look at him, and her face flushed. Only her father had seen her go crazy like that before.

"If you remember, you were the one who walked into me."

"I know. I'm sorry. I wasn't looking."

He shook his head. "You seemed so… sensible before. But you went insane."

"Well, everyone has their Achilles' Heel," she said, cringing.

"What?"

"…Never mind." She paused. "What exactly did I do?"

He looked at her. "You don't remember?"

"Not really." She averted her eyes.

"Let's just say Koga would have been happy with your ninja moves."

Lina blinked. "What does that mean?"

"That means you should stay away from the people with black eyes and bruises."

Lina gulped. "Oops."

Nurse Joy burst in, holding the Pokeball in her hands. "Here you go!" she chirped, handing Aura to Lina, then heading out again.

"Thanks," Lina said. She held the Pokeball up to her face. "Look, Aura. Er… if you can see, that is. I almost broke my nose."

"You weren't even close to breaking your nose." Rico frowned. "I thought you didn't have any Pokemon?"

"I do now. I got her in Celadon."

"So you're a real up-and-coming new trainer, huh?"

"No," she said, surprised. "I'm… I'm not doing the collecting badge thing. I just had to give a message to someone in Celadon, who sent me here."

"So you went down Cycling Road?" Rico smirked.

"Yeah." She sighed. "Jaren was there. And a few others. Andy, and… oh, I forget. But I battled Jaren and Andy."

"How'd you do?"

"I won." Lina smiled at Aura's Pokeball.

"That makes sense. They're crap trainers."

"Oh." Lina felt slightly dejected. Here she was, being proud for beating two trainers who weren't even good.

"So, you're all better, right?" he said, standing up.

"Uh, I guess. I will be."

"I'm out then." He began to leave, then turned back. "Hey, can I use your phone?"

She looked at him. "Why?" she asked.

"You have to pay to use the phones here, and I don't have a cell phone."

"Okay…" Lina dug in her bag, searching for her purple phone. But she couldn't find it, no matter how hard she tried. A crease of frustration came across her face. "It's not here!" Something dawned on her. "Oh no! When you broke my nose, I dropped it!"

"I didn't break your nose!"

"That doesn't matter!" Lina jumped up and raced out of the center. Tearing back to the zoo, she stopped running at the Lapras pen, breathing heavily (through her mouth – she wasn't taking any chances with her nose). Without her phone to keep some sort of connection with her home, she was really lost, and far away, and alone – all thoughts that terrified her. She couldn't find it, and leaned over the railing at the side of the Lapras' pool.

She heard someone come up behind her and didn't even feel like turning to see who it was. "Find it?" came Rico's voice.

"No," she muttered, though she was slightly confused as to why he was there. He was a biker, after all. Maybe he just wanted to steal it from her once she'd found it.

"You look like crap," he said.

She didn't look up, but felt her cheeks flush. She knew she was ugly, but nobody had ever, well, put it so bluntly like that before. "You're mean." She couldn't find any other words, and knew he'd laugh at her present vocabulary.

"I'm not trying to be. Look at yourself in the water," he said.

She looked towards herself. Her hair was mussed and frizzy from Cycling Road. Her face was more pale than usual, with a few dirt streaks and some dried blood still on it. Her nose, of course, seemed inflated with the tissues, which would have made her burst out laughing if she didn't feel so sorry for herself. Her knees and hands were scraped, and her clothes were disheveled and dirty. It seemed that when one left Lavender, one was in for a lot of scrapes and bumps and bruises and filth.

She sighed. "I guess I do," she said.

"What happened to you in Celadon?"

"Not much. I'd still look normal if it wasn't for my nose being stuffed full of tissues."

"Keep thinking that if you want."

She smiled wanly, then frowned again. "Oh… my phone," she remembered.

"Ask the Lapras if it's seen it," Rico suggested. "Oh Laaaapraaas, have you seen her phone?"

Lina shook her head, knowing he was only trying to get her not to worry. It wasn't very successful.

The Lapras swam over, then suddenly stuck out its tongue. Seated on it was Lina's purple phone, covered (appropriately) in Lapras drool.

Both Lina and Rico stared at it for a few seconds before Rico grabbed it. "Uh, thanks, man." Lapras purred and swam off.

The biker held it by two fingers as he checked it over. "It seems like it still works," he said.

Lina opened her bag and pulled out the pack of napkins she embarrassingly carried around. Taking the phone with one, she dried it off. "I'll wash it better later," she said. "Well, do you still want to use it?"

"Uh… no. Surprisingly. I'll just go find Jaren."

Lina smiled. "He's probably still on Cycling Road."

"He usually is." Rico started to walk away. "Later, man."

"Bye," she said in return. On a sudden impulse, she called out, "Tell Jaren Lina says hi!

After she'd returned to the Pokemon Center and had made her nose look more normal, Lina headed off to find the Warden. Nurse Joy had informed her where his house was, and she hoped as she walked towards it that he'd be easier to find than the Man Who Knew Everything.

She knocked on the Warden's door, but there was no answer. Sighing and crossing her fingers, Lina opened the door and ventured in. Nobody was in the house. Leaving, with a disheartened feeling, she wondered if she should just leave him a note that had the message on it. But what if someone else found it and knew what it meant?

It can't be helped, she thought to herself sadly. You'll just have to find him.

Lina retreated to the Pokemon Center and smiled at Nurse Joy, who had come to know her in the many times she'd been in the Fuchsia Center already.

"I'm sorry, but is there anywhere else that the Warden might be?" she asked.

"Well, you could always try the Safari Zone," Nurse Joy said. "He's there quite a bit."

Lina thanked her and headed north of the town, past the zoo, where she had seen that the Safari Zone was. Once she'd entered the building, she made her way to the man behind the desk.

"Excuse me, is the Warden here?" she inquired.

"Yeah, I think so. You wanna go in? You get a limited time, and you'll have to pay. You can't use your Pokemon to battle others."

Lina gulped. "Pay? How much?" She didn't have piles of money with her.

"P 500," he answered.

Well, it wasn't as if she'd be spending much more money later. This was her last stop, finding the Warden. "Okay," she said, pulling out her wallet slowly.

The man handed her a pack of 20 Safariballs, and she shoved them into her bag. She didn't really think it was necessary to bring any; it wasn't as if she'd be catching Pokemon while she was there. She already had Aura, and didn't need any more.

"Do you know where the Warden might be?" she asked.

"Probably in the Secret House." Before she could ask where that was, he continued. "It's a secret. You have to find it."

Lina sighed and thanked him, then headed into the Safari Zone.

As she waded through the tall grass, she couldn't help but feel she'd been ripped off. Rare Pokemon gathered around her, but she kept going. Sighing, Lina continued on, walking in the direction that promised a few houses along the way, none of them very secret.

Suddenly, a Nidorina popped up. "Niiidaaa!" it shrieked, almost making Lina fall over backwards.

"Okay!" she replied, and fled. Unfortunately, it was in a different direction, and she ended up on a lakeshore, lost. She didn't want to waste her time by going back and retracing her steps, so she continued to walk in the direction she was already going in.

It seemed to lead nowhere, she thought, as she wandered through a maze of trees and thick patches of grass. Trying to avoid the Pokemon-infested areas as best she could, Lina maneuvered from side to side. Finally, it seemed, after being in the narrow, tight space, the trees relented and she found herself in an open field, with water in one direction and a huge hill in the other.

Feeling more than a little despondent, Lina found a place to sit and collapsed with a sigh. She knew her time wouldn't be taken away while she rested, but one look at the pale sun told her that it was soon to be night. Imagining herself lost in the Safari Zone in the middle of the night was not a welcoming picture, and so she resolved to try and get to the Secret House as fast as she could.

Still, she didn't want to get up quite yet. If she did, another strange Pokemon would attack her, and she didn't feel like running away from any more. Reaching in her bag, Lina pulled out her phone, planning on calling her dad and asking him to Google the words "Safari Zone Secret House" for her. Then, something made her stop. She couldn't have her father worry about her, and if he knew she was lost in the Safari Zone, of all places, at dusk, he would worry, and most likely tell her to leave right now. And she had to find the Warden, or she wouldn't be able to get home. Somehow she didn't think that leaving the message scribbled on a Post-it note stuck to his door would do the trick.

Lina shoved her phone back in her bag, and instead pulled out Aura's Pokeball. She knew she wasn't allowed to fight the Pokemon here with her own, but Aura could at least give her some company.

"Come on out, Aura," she said, as the Eevee materialized from the ball in red light. She looked cured from her recent fainting, and Lina smiled.

"You're looking better," she said.

Aura nodded, sending her a smile back.

"I'm really sorry," Lina said, looking down, suddenly feeling a wave of guilt wash over her. "It was my fault that you fainted, and I'm sorry… I should have just run from them, or something."

Aura shook her head. "Ee-vee," she said.

Lina blinked. "Uh.. what does that mean?"

"Ee?"

"Uh…"

"Vee?"

"Er…"

Aura nuzzled her head against Lina's arm, making the girl smile. "Oh, okay. You're not mad at me?"

Aura again shook her head. "Vee!"

"I still feel bad…" Lina pet Aura's thin ears, and the Eevee smiled, contently closing her eyes. Then they flashed open again and she bounded away.

Lina jumped up. "Aura?"

"Eevee!" came Aura's call. She stopped and looked back, smirking at Lina and motioning for her to follow.

Lina slipped on her backpack and ran after Aura, who began loping through the meadow again.

"Aura, wait up!" Lina laughed, breathlessly. She knew the Eevee had no intention of waiting, and was running just for that reason. Blades of grass brushed against her bare legs as she ran, and a few times Pokemon almost leapt out at her (but she went by too fast for them to be anything but confused).

Suddenly, Aura came to a halt, and Lina caught up, confused. She looked down at her Eevee to see her eyes narrowed at something Lina hadn't even noticed. Her grey eyes following Aura's dark ones, she looked out at the darkening Safari Zone to see another Pokemon. Lina gasped: she'd never seen one like it before.

The Pokemon that stood in front of them was shadow black, with gold rings around its paws, tail, and ears. It almost looked like an Eevee, as it was fox-like in appearance, and had the same vulpine tail and long ears. It almost seemed like it was an evolution of Eevee, though Lina knew there were only three: Vaporeon, Flareon, and Jolteon. So what kind of Pokemon was this?

The Pokemon's cold eyes were a striking golden color that nearly matched its bands. As it stared across at them, the expression on its face was almost one of contempt, though Lina knew no reason why it would hate either of them. Aura glared back at it, defiantly.

"What is that?" Lina finally said.

The Pokemon's eyes darted to her, and it seemed to regard her. Then, with a curl of its lip, it looked over its shoulder. For the first time, Lina saw a boy standing behind the Pokemon. His hair was messy and dark, and his eyes were piercing blue. Tall, and painfully thin, he wore baggy clothes that had the effect of making him look much smaller than he was.

"Oh, look, an Eevee," he said. "How nostalgic."

Lina blinked. "Uh… what do you mean?"

"What d'you think I mean? My Umbreon here used to be one."

"Umbreon?" Lina repeated. "Is that what that is?"

"You've never seen an Umbreon before? Wow, you Kanto kids really don't get out much."

Lina wasn't sure what to say to that. The Umbreon was glaring menacingly at Aura, white fangs exposed. The little Eevee was half its size, but she wasn't backing down.

"Pluto doesn't seem to like your Eevee much," the boy said. "It's a pity. He's an excellent fighter, though he does get in fights with everyone he doesn't like."

Lina bit her lip, worried. "Pokemon battles aren't allowed in the Safari Zone," she said.

"Oh, dear! A Pokemon battle, heavens no," he sneered. "Don't worry, Nosebleed. Pluto and me won't waste our time fighting you."

"Well, good – wait, what did you call me?"

"Nosebleed," he smirked. "I saw the whole thing."

Lina stared at him, feeling her cheeks grow hot.

"The whole town saw the whole thing."

"Well… he almost broke my nose!" she said lamely.

"What, he fractured it?"

"Well… no… But it hurt a lot!"

The boy snorted. "If you're so traumatized, then why are you in the Safari Zone?"

"I have to find the Safari Zone Warden," Lina said. She looked to Aura to see that she hadn't given up her defensive stance yet. But neither had the Umbreon, Pluto.

"Why?"

"I have… a message." She hoped he wouldn't inquire further.

"What is it?" Obviously, he was the kind of person who destroyed all your hopes.

"I can't say. It's…"

"A secret?" he supplied.

"Yeah, I guess." She squinted at him, suddenly not so sure she should have told him anything. "Why are you so interested in it?"

"Well, here's the thing… You, being the helpless Kanto kid that you are, will get lost in the Safari Zone. Since I'm the only other person in it, they'll expect me to save you. But in the meantime, I need to find the Warden too, and it'll just waste my time if I have to go and rescue you." He smiled at her, patronizingly, and spoke a little slower, as if he were conversing with someone a quarter of his age. "So why don't you just tell me the message, and it'll save everyone time?"

Lina's cheeks grew even redder. She wasn't stupid, or helpless! Sure, she didn't know the area much, and didn't ever travel before this, but that didn't mean she couldn't find the Warden. She wanted to reply back scathingly, but couldn't: she didn't want to start anything, and she was always short on insults. "No thanks," she managed to say, eyes on the ground. "I'll stick to finding him."

"Suit yourself, Nosebleed. Don't expect me to save you."

"And what makes you think I need saving?" she found herself asking.

"Don't worry, I won't be saving you. I'm not that kind of guy, and even if I was, you wouldn't be the kind of girl I'd save."

Lina frowned. "What does that even mean?"

"It means you're not my type."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"A lot, actually. I won't rescue you, because you're not my type."

"I don't need to be rescued," she told him.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Why? Are you saying that girls can't do anything if a boy doesn't help them?"

"No, I'm talking about you. And you definitely will need help."

She sighed, realizing it was pointless to try and argue with him – especially when she couldn't argue very well. "We'll see," she said, and with that, promptly walked past him, Aura following closely. As she passed Pluto, she stuck her tongue out, and he growled.

"Break a leg, Nosebleed!" he called after her.

Lina wished she were one of those girls who always had a comeback as she scurried off. Actually, she'd settle for having a backbone, she thought morosely to herself. Aura looked up at her with a worried expression. "Ee?"

Lina looked down at the small tan fox and gave her a tiny smile. "Don't worry, Aura… we can find the Secret House all by ourselves!"

"Vee!" came the enthusiastic reply.

Unfortunately, Lina had forgotten that she had no clue where she was going, and now stood in a patch of grass with the hill to her right. The sun was inching further and further down towards the horizon, and the grass was now a warm green as the retreating sun bathed everything in its dying rays.

Lina and Aura continued on, neither exactly sure where they were going, and both hoping that the boy hadn't been right. But as they kept walking, and the path seemed to go nowhere, their hope wasn't exactly at its all-time high. And then, of course, they reached forks in the road like the one they'd come across now.

"Maybe over there?" Lina offered, pointing towards the left road.

Aura shook her head. "Vee!" She nodded to the right road, much more faint.

"But that just goes past the hill, Aura. And it's barely a trail anyway. Don't we want to keep going straight?"

Aura repeated the same motion she'd done before. "Eevee!" She scampered off on the right trail.

Lina sighed and followed. "Okay, Aura… But remember I'm not made of money!" She knew she could go in the Safari Zone again and start over once her time had run out, but she really didn't have much money left in her wallet. It was also getting dark, and if she were to travel the long eastern road back home the next day, she'd have to start that journey at least by noon. She didn't have the time or money to try the Safari Zone multiple times; in a way her pride wouldn't let her redo it either. It wasn't that she was in any way arrogant, or even the least self-confident, but she wanted badly to show the boy she could do it. In a way it was her own personal revenge, but she tried to think of it more as… oh, say, proving herself. (Of course, that was part of it, but in her subconscious she just wanted to rub it in his face and scream "I told you so".)

However, she followed Aura without mention of this. The Pokemon walked on stubbornly, and Lina couldn't help but smile as she thought of the little fox's determination. Before, she'd been as steadfast too, in the battle on Cycling Road. This time, it was as if she knew exactly where to go – like she'd been there before. This thought came to Lina, surprising her. Why would Aura have been here before? But, come to think of it, she didn't know anything about what the Eevee's life had been like until now. Lina wished she could understand her Pokemon, so she could learn about her past. Though, of course, she knew, it was silly to think Aura was familiar with the land of the Safari Zone.

Or is it? she thought dully, after rounding a corner and coming face-to-face with a large building, different from all the others she'd seen. She couldn't mask the surprise on her face, and when she looked at Aura, amazed, the Pokemon rolled her eyes.

"Sorry," Lina said quickly. "I just didn't think you'd know how to – "

Aura had already leaped over to the front door and scratched on it with her paws. Taking a hint, her trainer turned the knob and opened the door. As Lina and Aura walked in, the girl almost expected to see the boy and his Umbreon there, looks of surprise on their faces. Preparing a winning smile, Lina glanced around the Secret House expectantly.

But they weren't there. In fact, the only person in the house was the Safari Zone Warden himself – somehow, Lina felt, she would have rather seen the boy and Pluto. Then she dismissed these thoughts, not knowing why she thought them. After all, Mr. Fuji had told her to take the message to The Man Who Knew Everything who had told her to take this message to the Safari Zone Warden, and helping people was much better than getting revenge on someone. And wasn't it enough to know that she'd been able to accomplish this, when someone else had doubted her?

The Warden grinned at her, and she almost died of fright. His teeth were all gold and nearly blinded her. Aura seemed to squint at the sheer sheen of them as well.

"You must be Ursula! I'm the Safari Zone Warden!"

Lina stared at him. "Uh, no, I'm actually Lina."

He stared right back, 24-carat smile fading away. "Oh my. How embarrassing." He tapped his teeth with a finger, then smiled again. "Well, Lina! How can I help you?"

"I have a message, from the Man Who Knows Everything."

The Warden's face instantly turned serious. "I'm listening."

"H-he says that the time has come to begin."

"Oh!" the Warden hollered. Aura flinched; she heard his cry even louder than Lina had.

"Uh, are you okay?"

"Yes! I have been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"I'm… glad I could bring you good news?"

"You must be rewarded for coming all this way to tell me this!"

"Oh no, I was just doing Mr. Fuji a favor – "

"Mr. Fuji! Ah, yes! He is the leader, after all. Now, which HM would you like me to give you? You found the Secret House, and so deserve the HM Surf, but you have also brought me this news, and so deserve the HM Strength!"

"Really, I couldn't take any – "

"Can't choose? Well, then, take both!" His teeth shone. "After all, this is very very good news. Isn't it?" He turned to the table beside him, then opened the box and pulled out two flat, round objects that looked almost like CDs. One was blue, and the other white.

"Now, here you are!" he said. Lina hesitated. "Please, do take them. I insist."

Lina finally gave in. "Thank you very much," she said, taking them. She wasn't exactly sure what they were, but she knew what TMs were, and they couldn't be that different. Placing them in her bag, Lina smiled at the man. "I should be going," she said. "It's getting late."

"Yes, yes, of course! Goodbye, Lina! Thank you so much for bringing me this message!"

"Thank you for the gifts! Bye," she said, leaving the house, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Aura was at her heels as she set off to exit the Safari Zone.

The sky was a pale indigo, and the sun had vanished completely now. As they trudged along, both tired, they didn't care much about trying to avoid the Pokemon who sprang up. One Parasect hurled a mushroom at Lina's head, but it just bounced off and otherwise didn't do much harm.

"Well, I guess we're lost again," Lina said. "At least now we might run out of time and they might come find us."

"Eevee," Aura agreed with a nod of her head.

"So tomorrow we'll go back to Lavender Town," Lina said. "That's where I live… Have you been there?" The Eevee shook her head no. "It's up in the mountains, and very small. It's not like what you're probably used to, in Celadon. Nothing much happens in Lavender. Well, except when Mr. Fuji makes me do his errands for him. Which is how I ended up here."

They walked rather aimlessly, heading in the way that seemed like it would be the exit. But, then again, the Secret House hadn't been where Lina had thought it would be: it was off to the faded path and not on the main one. But that made sense to her now and had the effect of making her feel astoundingly stupid. It was a Secret House, after all: why would it be on the main path? But the exit was no secret, so maybe that was easier to find.

They'd walked a considerable distance from the Warden's house, and Lina's legs were beginning to get the achy feeling one gets at night from a day of constant motion. And, she realized, it had been one. First the walk to Celadon, then exploring the city itself, Cycling Road, everything that had happened in Fuchsia, and finally the Safari Zone. It had been a much longer walk than she was used to (but she wasn't sure if going from Lavender to Rock Tunnel counted as a walk).

She supposed it hadn't been so bad. After all, now she'd have stories to tell her dad, and things to look back on and laugh (though she wasn't sure how soon she'd be laughing – more like cringing at certain things, like the nosebleed and her panic attack). For a girl who never had anything happen in her life, the past day had been so jam-packed with things that she could barely remember waking up that morning, it seemed so long ago.

Nevertheless, she'd be glad to get back to cozy little Lavender Town, with its population of, what, seven? The place where nothing moved fast, and she didn't have to battle anyone or worry that some biker might be trying to steal her things. And there were no annoying boys with Umbreons there, either. Thinking of home, she felt happy, and relieved. She didn't have to deliver any more messages to anyone, and she could go home. Maybe someday she'd ask Mr. Fuji what it all meant, but for now, all she wanted to do when she got back was sleep, eat, and possibly introduce Aura to her dad (who would obviously try and change her name).

As she walked along, not even trying to keep the smile off her face, she suddenly heard something which soon wiped it right off.

"Breon."

Aura's fur stood up on the back of her neck, and Lina turned around to see Pluto. He was alone.

"Eevee!" Aura growled.

"Umbreon," Pluto snarled right back.

Lina watched as the two of them seemed to converse. She tried to guess what they were saying from their body language, but soon gave up.

Aura looked up at her. "Vee?"

"What?"

Pluto took off running, and Aura followed, giving a glance back at Lina. She recognized this, at least, and followed the two fox Pokemon, though her knees ached as she ran.

They went up a hill, then came across a cliff. The exposure in front of them was dizzying, and Lina gulped. But the Pokemon nimbly made their way down a narrow trail to the bottom of the gulch. Lina gasped at what she saw: it was Pluto's trainer, lying there unconscious.

"What happened?" she asked.

Pluto gave her a glare. Obviously he couldn't tell her.

Lina ventured closer, noticing thankfully there wasn't any blood – if there was, she'd be passed out, too. "Wake up," she said.

Pluto rolled his eyes. "Breon," he barked.

Lina frowned at him. "Well, what do you want me to do? Carry him?"

Pluto nodded, golden eyes narrow as they glared at her. But, she saw, behind the impatience in them, he was also worried for his trainer. Lina sighed, and bent over, pulling the boy up and trying, nearly unsuccessfully, to put him over her shoulder. She fell down from his weight.

"Ahh! I can't carry him, he's too heavy!"

Pluto exhaled. "Umbreon."

Aura nodded to Lina, motioning for her to follow her again. The fox deftly scaled the slope and waited for Lina at the top of the hill.

"We can't just leave him there," Lina said.

Aura shook her head. "Ee-vee."

"We're going to… go get help?"

Aura nodded. "Vee!"

Lina dragged herself up the slope, and looked back. "Okay, we'll be back!" They marched off heroically.

Almost an hour later, Lina, Aura, the boy, Pluto, and Nurse Joy all sat in the Pokemon Center.

"You'll be fine from now on," Nurse Joy said. "You should probably just stay away from Lina here. She's been at the Pokemon Center almost fifty times today."

"Don't worry, I intend to," the boy scowled, holding an ice pack to his head. "She's bad luck."

Lina didn't say anything. She and Aura just sat there, trying not to look smug. Well, Lina was trying to, at least. Aura had a grin on her face that she couldn't hide.

"Both of you are staying here tonight?"

"I am."

"You do have more than one room, right?" Lina pleaded.

"Of course," Nurse Joy said. "Where are you from, Lavender Town?"

"Uh…"

"Okay, I'm going to bed," Nurse Joy said. "Goodnight! Oh, and you better keep that ice on your head," she told the boy and left.

For a moment, nobody said anything. Then the boy glared at Aura. "What's she so happy about?"

"Oh, I don't know," Lina said innocently.

"Look, I know what happened. But you know you didn't rescue me, right? So you got help, big deal. It wasn't as if you even found the exit."

Lina turned red. "How do you know?" Yes, ten minutes after she'd left the cliff she'd gotten lost. Finally, her time had been up, and she was magically transported back to the entrance, where she got help.

"I assumed, but you just told me. Never play poker." He stood up, heading off towards the room he was claiming as his.

Usually she would let that go, but Lina stood as well. She took a deep breath. "But I didn't need rescuing. You did."

"Yeah, but you weren't the one who even rescued me. So you're not allowed to act all smug and self-satisfied."

"No, I didn't rescue you," she said. "After all…" A smile stretched across her face. "You're not my type."

It was her turn to leave for her room, and Aura shot the surprised boy and his Umbreon a wicked look, complete with a triumphant sticking out of her tongue, before she turned and pranced after her trainer.

No, this is definitely not the end of the fic. xD Don't worry, Lina's adventures aren't done yet. Please review!