a/N:

Normal Human Talk
Pokédex Talk

When Ashley and Whitney arrived in Ecruteak City they found that, to Whitney's horror, there was a Ghost Pokémon festival being held. Since it was the middle of the day they rushed through the City, not bothering to stop to eat. They kept on walking through the rest of the day and, at 5 o'clock they set up their camp for the night.

The bug catching contest was being held in two days to they decided to go to Goldenrod City, Whitney's hometown to rest up before the contest. Unfortunately Whitney's complete lack of a sense of direction had them utterly lost and it reached dusk of the next day. They set up camp for the night.

The next day they stumbled across a path that Whitney recognised as the main road into Goldenrod City from Ecruteak City. They followed the road until they came to an intersection. Unfortunately for the two women the signpost that had the names of the cities that each of the paths led to had deteriorated and the Pokémon League Council(1) had yet to repair them. Whitney announced, "Right, this way it is."

Ashley placed a hand on her friends shoulder and said, "Alright Whitney, I've had just about enough of your decisions getting us lost. We're going in the opposite direction of your decisions from now on, alright?"

"But I'm really certain that Goldenrod City is this way," Whitney said, pointing in the direction that she wished to go.

"Yes, I'm sure you are, that's exactly why I'm saying that it is this way" Ashley shot back, dragging Whitney behind her as she walked away from where Whitney wished to go. After a while Whitney relented in her struggles and Ashley let her go. They continued in the direction that they were going until eleven o'clock when they came upon a city. It was Violet City.

Ashley dropped to her knees in shock and said "I don't believe it...Whitney was actually right. Wait! The Bug-Catching Contest! There's no way that we will be able to..." just as Ashley was announcing her commiserations she heard multiple 'caws' from far above them. As Whitney was about to launch into a bout of 'I told you so's' Ashley said, "Wait a second," and looked up. What she saw gave her a new measure of hope. It was a flock of birds circling around almost directly above them. Ashley pointed her Pokédex at them and it returned, "Braviary. Usually only found in the Unova Region, they are known to migrate, for what reason is currently unknown. They will fight for their friends without any thought about danger to themselves. One can carry a car while flying." Ashley said, "Alright then, if taking them on one at a time won't work then I'll need to take them all out at once." Ashley drew a Pokéball from her belt and said, "Come on out, Gible," as she threw the ball up in the air.

As Gible materialised Whitney asked, "Uh, not to ruin the mood or anything, but what exactly are you planning on doing?"

"You'll see," Ashley replied. "Alright Gible, use Draco Meteor on that flock of Braviary, and hit them all at the same time."

As Gible charged a Draco Meteor Whitney asked "what is that going to do?"

"You'll see," Ashley smugly replied as Gible let the orange ball of energy fly. The orange ball rose up into the sky and settled in the centre of the circling flock and exploded outwards into a shower of meteors. It knocked all of the Braviary away from each other, knocking them unconscious. Two of them fell directly down and collapsed on top of Ashley and Whitney. Ashley drew the Heal Ball from her belt and tapped the Braviary on top of her on its head, sucking it into the ball. The ball didn't even bother shaking before 'pinging', signifying that the capture was successful. Ashley stood up and walked over to the one that was on top of Whitney and caught it too. She released that one before she released the one in the Heal Ball, not wishing the healthy one to see its friend injured. Ashley rummaged through her pack until she came upon the item that she had been searching for. It was a dispenser of Pokéblock that she had made while she was in Olivine City that consisted solely of Sitrus Berry; as such it had enough healing power to almost completely heal the injured flying type. Ashley bent down to the birds head and opened its beak. She quietly said, "Here you go, eat this, it'll make you feel better," getting no reaction she opened its beak for it and placed it in its mouth for it to eat it. It chomped it a bit and, almost instantaneously, it was completely healed. It stood up and nudged Ashley in her shoulder, thanking her for the medicinal Pokéblock. Ashley then released the other Braviary from its Ball and, to her surprise, the two Braviary saw each other and raced (read waddled) to each other and their next actions could almost be construed as them hugging each other.

One of them squawked "what happened?"

"Well, I'm assuming that this lady attacked our flock..." the one that Ashley had caught in the Heal Ball moved to attack her, but, before it could, the one that she had given the Pokéblock to said, "But then she healed me with this really good tasting block of food."

The other Braviary squawked, "Really?"

The first one squawked, "Yeah, so she can't be that bad, besides, she seems like she could bring us same great battles."

"Well then, I suppose I'll see what it'll be like with her, I warn you though, if she doesn't I'm leaving" the fully healed Braviary squawked to its friend.

"Okay, so you two're now part of my team, alright?" the two Braviary nodded in reply. "Good, first thing that you've got to do, get up to a Contest in that direction," she said pointing towards the Bug-Catching Contest Area.

The one that Ashley caught in the Heal Ball looked at its friend as if to say "Are you absolutely sure about this?"

The other Braviary, as it turned its back to Whitney, looked back at its friend, silently communicating, "yes, I am." With its friends agreeing to Ashley's demands it turned its back to Ashley, allowing her to get on its back. The two Braviary then took off in the indicated direction.

A/N:

(1) The Pokémon League Council is the governing body for the Kanto and Johto Regions.