He thought for a minute and said "I know! I know!" Sarah was surprised that he thought of one so fast. "How 'bout Rascal!? What do you think?"
"Sounds awesome!" Sarah said as Rascal licked William's face. Saphira happily grunted.
"Great!" William said, happy that everyone liked it.
They all went through the Pokemon Center's door and went to the food counter. There was a short line, which went by very quickly, and within a few minutes they were all at a table eating. William told Rascal some things about himself and rambled about Sarah and Saphira's journey. Rascal listened happily. William was a bit dissapointed that he couldn't understand what Rascal would say. "You'll understand him faster than you think," Sarah told him. "Until then, we can ask Saphira what he says." William smiled at the thought.
After about forty-five minutes, they finished their food and their conversation. They walked outside and stretched.
"So," said Sarah, "You wanna go back to that spot?"
"Sure!" William said. "We can show Rascal the water and maybe go swimming!"
"Great," said Sarah. "Let's go."
They took the ten minute trail through the trees and bushes until they found the same small opening.
"Yay!" William said as he ran to the lake. Sarah laughed as she saw him jump into the lake without changing his clothes first. He swam a few yards out. The water got deep fast, but nowhere past his neck. Rascal ran up to the edge and plopped into the water with a small splash. He swam out to William who called his name.
Sarah watched for a few minutes, then looked at Saphira. "I don't feel like swimming, but you can." The Bagon shook her head. "Ok. What do you want to do then?"
Saphira grunted 'Train.'
"Hey, good idea!" Sarah said. She looked around and saw a medium boulder on the left side of the clearing. She walked over to it with Saphira following.
"You can practice some attacks on this rock to get some good power and practice your accuracy," Sarah said. Saphira nodded.
Sarah thought for a minute. "Try a headbutt first."
Saphira nodded again, lowered her head and ran until her head hit the rock with a breaking force. The ground shook, but the rock was unharmed. Saphira backed away with a bit of dizziness in her eyes.
Sarah laughed. "You ok?" she asked. The dizzy pokemon nodded. She never battled before, other than the roar that scared away the Poochyenas, so her first attack was good, just a little hard.
"Wanna try again?" Sarah asked. Saphira shook her head to clear it then nodded.
She did the attack again, causing the same ground shaking affect, but this time, didn't get dizzy.
"Great! Progress!" Sarah complimented. Saphira smiled with a grunt.
For the next hour, William and Rascal played in the water while Sarah helped Saphira work on her attacks. They tried all the moves Saphira knew on the rock. When she got better at it, Sarah got a stick and moved it around so Saphira would have a moving target. It was a bit hard for Saphira, but when the hour was up, she was accurate at least ninety-five percent of the time.
The two sat down and rested while William got out and dried himself off with a towel. After Rascal shook water out of his fur, William used his towel to help dry him.
"We saw some of your training," William said. "It was awesome!" Saphira grunted.
"Thanks," Sarah said, patting her pokemon's head, "She made a lot of progress."
William and Rascal joined them. They talked for a while while the pokemon played. Sarah checked her watch and saw it was starting to get late.
"We should go," Sarah said. "Don't want it to get to late before we go back."
"Ok," William said. They made sure they had everything, then each picked up their pokemon and carried them through the trail to save time.
They set the pokemon down when they got out of the trees and headed toward town. They were startled when someone came walking toward them.
Sarah only took a second to recognize him. "Alex! Hi!"
"Hi!" Alex waved with his Poochyena walking next to him. When they all stooped in front of each other, Sarah asked, "What are you doing here? I thought you said you wanted to go to the next town."
"I did," Alex said. "We were on our way, then I realized something and came back. We didn't know where you were, so we asked some people and they said they saw you go into the woods, so I waited till you got back."
"Why?" Sarah asked.
"For a battle."
Sarah's eyes became wide at the unexpected request.
William just got excited. "Yay! Now I can watch you battle!"
Sarah looked at Saphira, seeing if she was ready to battle. Knowing what the question was, the Bagon put on a grin of confidence and nodded.
Sarah looked back at Alex and said, "Sounds great!"
"Good!" Alex said, getting pumped for battle. "One on One? Padfoot's my only pokemon."
"Yeah," Sarah said, "Saphira's my only pokemon."
"Awesome!" He grined slyly. "Let's battle!"
They spaced themselves on the route so the were about thirty feet apart, each with their pokemon at their sides.
Pokemon and trainer stared each other down, waiting for the first command.
"Go Padfoot!" Alex yelled. The Poochyena leapt in front of his trainer with a bark.
Sarah got butterflies in her stomach. She looked at Saphira who looked just as nervous. They took a deep breath, then nodded.
Sarah put on an air of confidence, then yelled, "Go, Saphira!" The pokemon jumped in front of her, baring her teeth to her opponent.
They all watched each other. A second went by then, "Padfoot, Tackle!"
"Saphira, headbutt!
The two pokemon ran at each other at full speed, putting thier all into the first attack. They jumped, and collided in midair, sending each other flying backwards. They both stood up and shook their heads, trying to recover from the blow. They looked at each other and charged again.
Just as Padfoot was about to hit, Saphira jumped up in the air, and landed behind him. Padfoot skidded to a stop and whirled around. without enough time to react, he watched as Saphira breathed an ember at him, hitting his side.
"Yes!" Sarah shouted. Saphira jumped back after breathing her ember, and Padfoot quickly recovered. His eyes flashed as he charged again.
Saphira jumped to the side and hit with another headbutt, causing Padfoot to skid onto his side. He glared at his opponent before wuickly getting up and charging again. He watched as Saphira tried to dogde. Knowing which way she was going, he turned in her direction and hit her in the chest. Saphira landed on her back as Padfoot jumped backwards.
"Shadow Ball!" Alex shouted. Padfoot built a dark ball around his mouth while Saphira tried to get up. She was knocked back down as the attack flew from Padfoot's mouth and hit her face.
"No! Come on Saphira! Are you ok?" Saphira steadily got up, gritting her teeth. Padfoot barked and charged again.
"Saphira, headbutt!" Sarah shouted.
Saphira stood there, waiting for the Poochyena to get closer. When he was just about to hit, she stepped to the side, and sent him flying into a tree trunk with her attack. Padfoot fell to the ground, knocked out.
"YAY!" William jumped up and down while Rascal barked happily. Alex went to help Padfoot. Sarah stood there in disbelief. They won. Her pokemon looked at her with a triumphant smile.
Sarah ran to her and picked her up. "That was awesome!" she praised while she hugged her. Saphira licked Sarah's face and smiled while hugging back.
Alex picked up Padfoot and walked over to them. "Awesome job," he said. Padfoot lifted his tired head, then barked in agreement.
"Thanks," Sarah said. "You guys did great too," she said while she patted Padfoot on the head.
"I hope we can battle again soon," Alex said.
"Me too." The two shook hands.
"Well," Alex said, "Now we're gonna go to the next town."
"Aren't you gonna stay at the Pokemon Center tonight?" Sarah asked, thinking of the distance.
"Nah," Alex said, rustling the fur on Padfoot's head. "If we don't get there before dark, we'll camp. We love camping."
"Yeah," Sarah said, understanding the feel for adventure. "Well, see you around."
"Yeah." They all waved as he walked toward his destination
"You won your first battle!" William said as they walked back to the Pokemon Center carrying their pokemon.
"I know," Sarah said," I'm so proud of you Saphira." She hugged the tired pokemon tightly. Saphira smiled and appreciated the rest.
They entered the Pokemon center and found it busy. Luckily there was no line at the healing center, so Sarah walked over to the counter.
"Hi Nurse Joy," she said.
"Hello again!" Nurse Joy said.
"Saphira needs some healing."
"No problem. She'll be just fine in a few minutes." Sarah gave Saphira to Nurse Joy and watched her walk away, Saphira watching Sarah the whole time.
Even though it was only for a healing this time, Sarah was always nervous when Saphira wasn't around. Ever since she hatched, Sarah was always concerned for her safety.
They went and sat at a table close to the counter. William sat opposite Sarah with Rascal in his lap.
"You're gonna do great against all the Gym Leaders, including dad," he said while he scratched the Zigzagoon's head.
"Thanks," Sarah smiled, still a bit nervous without Saphira there.
William looked at his sister a bit quizzically. He realized what she was thinking, then said, "Don't worry about it Sarah. You've been fussy about Saphira ever since she hatched. We know where she is, and even if we didn't, she can take care of herself."
"I know," Sarah said. "You're right."
After a few minutes they heard the healing room's door open and Nurse Joy walked out with a recovered Saphira. Sarah got up quickly and accepted as the baby dragon pokemon was set in her arms.
"She's just fine," Nurse Joy smiled.
"Thanks," Sarah said, hugging Saphira.
"You're welcome."
Sarah turned around and sat back at the table with Saphira in her lap. She looked at her watch and saw that it was finally starting to get late.
"Are you ready to get settled in a room?" Sarah asked her brother. "We don't have to go to sleep, we should just get settled."
"Sure," William agreed. They got up and walked back to Nurse Joy.
"Anything else I can help you with?" Nurse Joy asked.
"Yes," Sarah said. "We'd like to get settled in a room." Nurse Joy came from behind the counter. "This way," she said. They followed her as she went through a small door on the left and entered a small hallway with five doors on each side. She opened the closest door on the right.
"This will be your room for tonight," she said as they walked inside. It was a good sized room with two bunk-beds, one on either wall and a window opposite the wall with the door.
"Thanks," Sarah said.
"Enjoy your stay," Nurse Joy said as she shut the door.
William ran to the bunk-bed on the right, dropping his backpack next to it, and threw himself onto the bottom one. Rascal landed on William's chest and licked his face.
"This is awesome," William said.
"Yeah," Sarah agreed. "It's so cozy." She set her backpack next to William's and sat on his bed while he sat up next to her.
"So," William said," I'm not tired. What are we gonna do?"
"We should call mom first, then we'll figure the rest out."
"Ok," William said, jumping off the bed. They went back the the main room, and found a vacant phone. They dialed their home number, and, after two or three rings, their mother answered.
"Hi Sarah! Hi William!" she said beaming.
"Hi mom," they both said.
"Where are you?"
"Just Oldale," Sarah said.
"Well, I'm glad you called to let me know you're doing well. William, is that a pokemon?"
William beamed with pride. "Yep. This is Rascal," he said, hugging his pokemon.
"You have a pokemon! That's wonderful! she said. "As long as you don't battle with him."
"I won't," promised William.
"Good. Have you been doing ok?"
They summed up their day.
"Wonderful! You're doing just fine. Keep up the good work!"
"We will," said Sarah. "Goodnight mom."
"Goodnight you two! I love you!"
"We love you too!" the siblings said, then hung up. They headed back to their room.
After taking turns turning their backs to get into their pajamas, the two sat on the bottom bunk together with their pokemon on their laps.
They looked at Sarah's Pokedex, and found it had pictures of every pokemon known in three regions, and had a little info on each. They checked it's functions and learned that when you saw a pokemon, more info was given. There was also a page that told you how many pokemon you saw and how many you caught.
They looked at different pokemon until it was completely dark when they looked out the window. They agreed it was time for bed.
William and Rascal got comfortable on the bottom bunk while Sarah and Saphira climbed to the top one.
Sarah pulled the blanket over herself and Saphira. "Goodnight, Saphira," she said. Saphira grunted and closed her eyes.
The sunlight coming through the window woke them the next morning. Sarah and Saphira stretched in their beds. They climbed down as William and Rascal got out of bed, yawning. They all greeted each other and took turns getting dressed.
They left the room and went to the main room to get some breakfast. After a few short minutes in line, they got their food and sat down.
"Are we going to Petalburg City today?" William asked.
"Yep," Sarah said. "We can go as soon as we're done."
"Cool! Then we can see dad!"
They made sure they were ready before leaving. They stopped at a Pokemart and got some potions and antidotes for emergencies, then entered the route that led to Petalburg City. Sarah calculated on her Pokenav that it would take a while to get there.
They walked for hours, looking at various pokemon on the Pokedex while Saphira and Rascal played. There wasn't much to do, so they mostly talked about different pokemon and which one's they thought looked cool.
At noon they stopped and ate food that was packed back in Oldale Town. They continued walking for about another hour until Petalburg came into sight.
"We're here!" William said as they entered the city. There were a lot of buildings, but the Pokemon Center and the Gym were close.
"Let's go see dad!" William said excitedly.
"Ok," Sarah agreed, and they ran for the Gym.
They approached the large, brown building and opened the door. As they walked in, they entered a big lobby. It had many chairs lined up in rows for visitors and trainers wanting Gym battles to wait in. The only people there were the Gym's staff. They smiled as they saw their father, Norman, talking to one of the people.
"Dad!" They both yelled and ran to him. He looked up and smiled. "Sarah! William!" They both hugged him. "You guys got here fast," he said, blue eyes full of energy.
"Sort of," Sarah said, "But we're having fun." He smiled and greeted Saphira.
"Hey Saphira. Taking good care of them?" Saphira nodded with a smile. He then looked at Rascal.
"Well, who's this William?"
"This is Rascal," William said looking at his pokemon with pride. Rascal wagged his tail as Norman patted his head.
"So, you have a pokemon? That's wonderful. Does your mother know?"
"Yep," William said.
"Good."
"Well, come on, I want to hear about everything you've done so far."
They all sat down in some of the lobby's seats and talked. There were no Gym Battles to interrupt their conversation. They told him about everything they did so far on their journey. He listened, making comments here and there.
The time flew as they talked. After a while they realized it was dinnertime, so they all ate at the gym. Norman told them about some of the battles he had in the past few days. It seemed more and more capable trainers were challengin him to a battle. He had given out a lot of badges.
When they were finished, they figured they should make sure they could get settled at the Pokemon Center, as there was only one room for their dad at the gym, and they kind of wanted to sleep at the Pokemon Center anyway.
"You kids be good," Norman said as they walked out the door. "I'll see you later." They waved and shut the door.
They reserved a room for themselves at the Pokemon Center, then went back outside. They watched the horizon for a while as the sky just began to change colors during sunset.
They enjoyed the sight until they heard a loud growl coming from Saphira. They looked at her. She was looking out at the route they took to get to Petalburg.
The siblings look at each other nervously. "Saphira..." Sarah asked, "What's wrong?" Saphira dashed off toward the route without a word. "Saphira!" Sarah shouted as she ran after her, William and Rascal following.
Saphira ran down the route for a few minutes, then turned and entered the trees on the side. They followed her, Sarah calling her name. She pushed away the thick branches, then was afraid she would lose her in the trees.
They managed to keep her in sight, and watched as she came to an abrupt halt behind a bush. After everyone caught up to her, Sarah panted," Saphira , what are you-"
She was quieted by a small growl from Saphira, who pointed past the bush. Sarah looked at the bush and finally noticed how many sounds were coming from behind it. She glanced at Saphira, who was looking at her with a fierce look, then moved a part of the bush aside to see what was happening.
At the far end of a small clearing, a flock of Spearow flocked around an orange figure with a flame on the tip of it's tail. It covered it's head and made small, scared sounds as the bird pokemon tried to peck it. It was a Charmander.
Without thinking, Sarah jumped into the clearing and shouted, "HEY! Get out of here!"
The Spearows stopped suddenly and looked at her. They glanced at each other, eyes full of anger, then flew straight for her with talons ready.
Sarah braced herself for the oncoming attack. Instead, she heard a small rustle, then a loud roar. She looked in it's direction, and found Saphira in a battle stance in front of her.
The roar stopped the birds from advancing. They just hovered in midair, glaring at the small Bagon that bared it's teeth at them.
Sarah breathed nervously. What was Saphira planning to do? The roar didn't scare them away, and she didn't know any moves that would defeat them without seriously injuring herself.
With sweat beginning to drip down her cheek, Sarah opened her mouth to tell Saphira to get away from the Spearows.
Before the words came, the entire flock of Spearow flew straight for Saphira.
"Saphira! Run!" Sarah shouted. The pokemon didn't move.
Sarah was about to say it again, when an electric-blue attack flew from Saphira's mouth, hitting every Spearow. She watched in disbelief.
'Dragonbreath!' Sarah thought in excitment.
After the attack was over, the Spearow struggled not to fall to the ground. They managed to stay in the air, and confusingly flew away with frantic screeches.
Saphira turned around to see if Sarah was ok. Sarah forgot about the fear the Spearows caused, picked Saphira up and said, "That was awesome! You learned Dragonbreath!" Saphira hugged her trainer, enjoying the praise.
Seeing that the birds were gone, William and Rascal came from behind the bush.
"That was awesome!" William exclaimed.
Sarah hugged her pokemon until shesuddenly remembered the Charmander. She looked to the end of the clearing, and saw it was still there, glancing at them. Sarah looked at Saphira, put her down and slowly approched the Charmander.
"Are you ok, little guy?" Sarah asked, taking samll steps so she wouldn't scare it. The Charmander, still clearly scared, hesitated a bit.
Sarah knelt down in front of him. "It's ok now," Sarah said, "The Spearows are gone." The Charmander looked up and surprised Sarah by jumping into her arms and holding tightly to her shirt. Sarah hugged the Charmander.
"Are you hurt?" The Charmander shook it's head. Sarah held him up and looked at him to be sure.
"You look ok," she said as he hugged her again, burying his head into her arm.
William, Saphira and Rascal approached.
"Is it ok?" William asked.
"Yeah, he's fine, he's just scared," Sarah answered. She got a strange feeling looking at the Charmander.
"Do you have a trainer?" she asked him. He shook his head.
"Don't you have any friends or family?" He shook his head again. The strange feeling got deeper as she felt sorry for the poor thing.
"Charmander char," he said. Sarah looked at Saphira who translated.
'He says not to leave him here.'
"We won't leave you here," Sarah said. She thought about the strange feeling she had. Then she remembered when she said she would know when a pokemon would be great for her team. It was a feeling she didn't understand, but knew she should listen to it.
"Well," Sarah started, wondering if it would be ok to ask, "If you don't have a trainer... do you want me to be your trainer?" The Charmander made a small jump and looked at her.
"What do you think?" she asked him.
"Char!" he said happily, and hugged her tightly. Sarah hugged him and beamed. She had a new pokemon.
She managed to put the Charmander down and stand up.
"Hang on a second," she told him. She reached into her backpack and got out a Pokeball. She watched curiously as the Charmander saw it and hid behind Saphira. She then laughed, realizing what was wrong.
'Another Pokemon that doesn't like pokeballs?' she thought 'Awesome!'
Without having to be told, Saphira explained to the Charmander that he could do the same thing with a pokeball that she did. The Charmander smiled at this and came out from behind her. He walked over to Sarah and stood in front of her with a smile.
"Ready?" Sarah asked him.
"Char!" 'Yeah!'
Sarah threw the pokeball, and caught the Charmander without a struggle. She immediately picked it up and released him, then put the ball back in her backpack. The Charmander jumped into her arms and hugged her tightly. She smiled at her new pokemon.