Naruto secret justu: I think I answered your question early on, and the teacher probably doesn't have ties with the cults. In the game, she only had a few lines of dialogue, but I fleshed her out a bit for the story. Made her a little more interesting.

Antex – The Legendary Zoroark: Yep. A Heatmor. As I said, probably not that interesting. Also, sorry for saying that I would have this chapter done sooner than it actually was. And that your OC would be in it. (I changed a few things around).

DarkNightPheonixFire: You're probably right about the 'adios' thing. Really should've consulted spell check on that one. Thank you for pointing it out.


Chapter Seven: Nora

"So...you were born in Hoenn, but now you're an orphan, and parents died when you were only a few weeks old. Then you spent all fifteen years of your life in a foster home, where you were adopted by an abusive family from Sinnoh, and you ran away a few months ago, and now you're here?" Damian asked, slightly skeptical of my story. Apparently, when he said 'I'll wait for you outside,' he really meant 'I'll wait for you outside, but just close enough to hear your explanation.'

So now I pretty much had use the same lie on him as well. "Pretty much, yeah." I was trying to act all cool about it, but I knew that the lie would eventually collapse in on itself somehow sometime. Chances are, Damian would be the one that picks it apart. "But...I don't like talking about it much."

Alyssa, I told myself. You really need to stop lying. Maybe tell the truth for once. That might make things easier on you. No it won't. People will think you're some kind of nut. People already think that. Oh, good point.

"Did Mrs. Bell have mercy on you?"

"Yeah. She said she'd let me take the classes for as long as I needed to. But she said if my foster parents showed up, that I'd have to go back with them." She was really strict about that part. Something about not wanting to get sued or something.

"Did she let you into the tournament?"

"Yeah, she did."

"Do you think you can win?" Damian asked with a smirk. "Charmander and I have been training, and I've picked up some new Pokémon as well." He motioned to his belt. Three Pokéballs resided there. "We've already won a couple of battles against some other trainers."

I'll go ahead and admit it. I felt a pang of jealousy at that. He's won a few battles, and my only victory was that cultist. I lost to Damian in our first battle, and I lost to that guy with the Patrat, and I lost to that Heatmor. Man, I really need to start getting serious about this.

But, I kept those feelings to myself. "Can I see them?" I asked, eyes still on Damian's Pokéballs. "I only have Alice, and I caught a Pikachu just outside of Telnor."

Damian smiled. "Sorry, you'll just have to wait until the tournament if you want to see them."

"Oh come on, that's lame. You've already seen Alice and Prescott."

"I know. I'm not terribly impressed."

I glared at him for a moment. I knew that he was just messing with me, but I thought I'd have a little fun too. and then I punched lightly him on the shoulder. "Don't insult my Pokémon like that. They're perfectly capable of fighting. We kicked those cult guys asses, didn't we?"

"Those guys? Heh, I didn't even break a sweat against those guys."

"Yeah, me neither." We stood there in silence for a few seconds, like two friends that hadn't seen each other in a long time that were trying to make conversation. "So...you're not going to show me, then?"

"Nope."

I sighed. There went any hope of an advantage. Right now, it looks like some heavy training was needed. If I can't get the advantage, I might as well get my team stronger.

But before I could ask, Damain asked another question. "Hey, Alyssa? What the heck happened to your face? Did you get in a fight with the wrong end of a flamethrower or something?"

"Well...kinda. Turns out that there's this Heatmor on Route 1. Henry, I think they call him. He's a really great guy. Nice personality. Blasts anyone and everyone with a nice stream of fire."

"Wait, you battled Henry?"

"You know about him?"

Damian shrugged. "I've heard stories around the town. He's killed people, you know."

I shrugged. "Yeah." Time to change the subject, before Damian calls me crazy for challenging a homicidal Heatmor. "Are there any good places to train around here?" Route 1 was out of the question.

"There's the Midna Mine," replied Damian, "that's where I trained my team."

"Awesome. Then that's where I'm going to go."


As it turns out, Midna Mine is a cave. And if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. I hate caves. Highly. With a passion. If I could nuke all the caves in the world, I would. And then I'd replace them with smoothie shops. Hm. A smoothie sounds really good right now. Strawberry, maybe?

"Bulb!" Alice was actually walking this time, I didn't have to carry her, and she had been exploring every single rock and crevice that she ran into. She's probably looking for something helpful, but so far there wasn't anything.

As if I were surprised. This is a cave, after all. You can't just find a strawberry smoothie in a cave.

Prescott was slumping along behind us, kicking the rocks that Alice overturned. He had been fine for a little while after the school, but it seemed as if his mood had slipped back to dark and depressed. I really need to get him looked at, or something. That wouldn't be weird, right? Just a normal trainer taking her Pikachu to therapy?

Just as Damian had said, the mine was full of the trainers from the school, all out training for the big tournament. I quickly scoped out the competition. They had the pretty standard Pokémon of the local area; Bidoof, Rattata, Geodude, Baltoy, and I even saw one Nosepass. Nothing too concerning, except maybe that Nosepass. Based off the status of its battle, rocks with big noses can be quite dangerous.

"Bulba!"

"No, Alice we can't challenge the trainers from the school," I told her, crouching down and rubbing her head. "We're only facing wild Pokémon today."

"Bulb?"

"Because, if we face any of the school trainers, then they're going to ask about what happened in class." I've already lied to the teacher, and I felt bad about that. But I had to do it. What if she was working with the cults? They'd be on the look out for people with no memories. "And I really, really, really don't want to deal with that right now?"

"Bulb?"

"Oh, right, you were in your Pokéball during class. I'll...I'll explain later." I stood up and cracked my knuckles. "Okay, team, let's kick some butt."

"Bulb!" cheered Alice.

"Pika." deadpanned Prescott.

Oh yeah, we're psyched for some victory.

I decided to head down tunnels that no one else was using, which served me well in my objective of avoiding other people. Besides, all their battling was scaring away the wild Pokémon, the finding of which was our main objective.

It took us only a minute and a half to run, quite literally in this instance, into a wild Pokémon. The Baltoy was lazily floating around some dank, dark tunnel, and we walked right into it. "Oh, sorry," I apologized, taking a step back. "I didn't see you there."

The Baltoy made some huff sound while he inspected me. It was probably decided on whether or not to accept my apology and move on, but it wasn't going to get the chance. "Attack!" I shouted, and Alice instantly jumped up and tackled the Baltoy to the ground. "Nice job, Alice."

"Bulb!" she smiled proudly back up at me, which unfortunately caused her to loosen her grip on the Baltoy.

The Baltoy grunted, and threw Alice off of him. He levitated up, growling at me. He was pissed but, he wasn't going to stick around for the fight. With a loud shouted of "bal!" he took off down the tunnel.

"Prescott, use your Quick Attack!"

"Pika!" If there was anything that rejuvenated Prescott from one of his bad news, it was battling. And while it made me happy to see him happy, it kinda bothered me that violence made him happy. "Pika!" He bolted off after the Baltoy, then slammed into it, crashing into a wall.

That looked like it hurt. A lot. "Prescott?" I didn't hear anything. Both of the Pokémon were laying on the ground, not moving. "Prescott, are you okay?" He's not dead...is he? Maybe there was something wrong with his head, which prevented him from using Thundershock, and the impact made it worse and it killed-

"Pika." Prescott slowly rose to his feet, shaking it off. "Pika," he said again. He was okay. At least, that's what I think he said.

The Baltoy didn't fare so well. It was staggering around worse than a drunk redneck on New Years. With a weak growl, a pink aura formed around Prescott, and then imploded on him, knocking him back several feet and inflicted some decent damage. "Bal!" the Baltoy shouted, before fleeing down the cave.

"Come on, it's getting away!" I took off after the Baltoy. "Prescott, do you think you can use another Quick Attack to keep up?"

"Pika," He replied, with a determined face. Despite slamming into a wall and taking a Confusion attack, he still seemed to be ready to fight. He might not deal much damage in a battle, but Prescott sure can take some.

Prescott bolted after the fleeing wild Pokémon like a bolt of lightning. The Baltoy was just ahead of him, and then took a tunnel to the left. Prescott followed, running out of my sight.

Alice was struggling to keep up with me. She didn't know any speed moves like Quick Attack or anything, so she was confined to using her small legs. "Okay, Alice, time to hitch a ride." I scooped her up and we continued after Prescott.

By now, he was far out of sight, but he had ran through a random puddle of water. The light (I still don't know where it comes from) reflected off the foot prints he left, separating them from the dull rock floor. I felt like a hero from an action movie. The only way to find Prescott was to follow the trail of wet foot prints.

Well, that and the fact that there was only one tunnel, so it was pretty obvious where to go. But I like the first one better.

But the footprings soon faded away, and I was left with no way of knowing which way my Pikachu had gone. Other than to follow the tunnel. But I was still nervous. How far away can he be? It can't be that far, can it? This cave's a lot bigger than it looked. I hate caves. Where's Prescott?

"Alice, you're a Psychic-Type, right?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. "Can you use some pyschic sensy thingy to find Prescott?"

"Bulb." She closed her eyes and focused. At least, that's what I think she was doing. She might've been snuggling in for a nap. After several seconds, she opened her eyes and shook her head. "Bulb."

I muttered a bad word. "It's okay," I said to myself. "He'll be at the end of the tunnel. This tunnel has to end somewhere, right?" The image in my head of this tunnel going on and on wasn't that appealing. What if this was the tunnel that lead to the gates of hell? I kept a look out for a sign that read "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" but I wasn't seeing one. That's a plus, right?

Then we rounded a corner, and there he was. Prescott was standing at the edge of a ledge, looking out into a large room in the cave. "Prescott, what's up?" I asked, walking over to him and crouching down next to him.

"Pika." He pointed out into the clearing.

A girl was standing in the middle of a bunch of rocks, surrounded by four mean looking Pokémon. At first I thought they were going to tear her apart, but after a few seconds I realized that they were peaceful. So I hid myself behind a rock and decided to watch from the shadows.

She slowly walked over to one of them, and gently placed her hand on its hard shell. "An Omastar," she said, with a hint of disbelief in her voice. "A real live Omastar from millions of years ago." She smiled at the creature. "Welcome back to the land of the living, though it's only for a short while."

The girl went over to a different Pokémon. "A Kabutops. You're looking pretty lively for a Pokémon that's been dead for eons." She petted it on the shoulder and moved on to the next.

"Bastidon, it's nice to meet you," she said, holding her hand out to it. "I'm Nora."

Nora, huh? That sounds familiar.

The large creature simply snorted at Nora and looked around, confused. All of them were. They had just been yanked from the clutches of death and now some strange being was addressing them.

"Cradlily," the girl said to the fourth Pokémon. She then opened her mouth to say something, but apparently couldn't think of anything to say. So she simply waved at it. "Hi." The Cradlily muttered something at her under her breath. I didn't catch it, but I probably wasn't a compliment.

The girl. Nora, apparently, walked back to the center of the room. "Okay Celebi, you can send them back now." A fifth Pokémon suddenly appeared next to her, much smaller and greener than the others. "Use your Tesseract move."

There was a bright flash of light. "Damn!" I swore, my hand darting up to my eyes. My injured eyes took the bright flash of light much worse than an uninjured pair of eyes. Normally, you would just go blind for several seconds and maybe feel a slight stinging. I went blind for several more seconds, and it felt like the insides of my eyes were on fire.

"Pika?" I felt a tug on my sleeve.

"I'm fine, Prescott," I whispered to him. "Just give me a minute." Nearly a minute later, everything was fine. My eyes still had a slight sting to them, but I was fully operational.

The four Pokémon were gone. In their places were large stones, with fossils embedded in them. I recognized them as the four Pokémon. "Huh. That's interesting." The girl was gone, from what I could tell. "Come on, guys, let's go check out these fossils."

I jumped off the ledge, which was only like three feet off the ground, and made my way to the stones. There was an eerie feeling in the air, I can't really explain it. Like millions of years had just passed through this cave in the span of five minutes.

"Bulb?" Alice jumped out of my arms and wandered up to the Kabutops fossil. She tilted her head at it. "Bulba bulb?"

"I know," I replied, running my hands over the smooth form of the Cradlily. "It's weird. These things are millions of years old, but we just saw them up and alive a few minutes ago. People found a way to revive them with certain machines." I stepped back from the fossil. "I guess that's what that girl did."

"Actually, I just had Celebi pull them from the past and put them in the future."

The voice had made me jump. Okay, I screamed a little too, as much as I hate to admit it. "Who are you?" I asked, turning around to face the girl. She apparently liked green, because that was the main color in her outfit. Even her hair had dark green highlights in it.

"My name is Nora," she said with a smile, and extended her hand to me. "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss..."

"Um...Alyssa." I shook her hand. "My name is Alyssa."

Nora smiled the innocent smile of a young girl, but her eyes were hiding something from me. "As I was saying, I didn't revive the fossils by the usual means. Techinically, I didn't revive them at all." She motioned to the small green Pokémon fluttering next to her. "Celebi simply grabbed them from a certain period in time, and the brought them to the present. Unfortunately, the Pokémon were from millions of years ago, and Celebi had a hard time keeping them here. Anything beyond ten-thousand years is hard to keep in the present."

Well, that was interesting. And a little confusing. "So...this Celebi can just bring things from the past into the present?" You know, that might actually be helpful. Maybe Celebi could bring my memories to the present.

"Well, yes, anything within reason."

"Within reason?"

Nora nodded. "It's complicated. I'm not going to talk about it."

"Oh...well, I don't suppose that you could, maybe, possibly, do one little favor for me. Please?" I had my fingers crossed on that memory thing. This could be it. The day that I finally-

"Sorry, we're not taking requests right now. Celebi can't just flaunt her power like that. We need to maintain secrecy," Nora explained. "In fact, no one's supposed to know that I even have Celebi with me."

"Really? Why not?"

Nora shrugged. "Well, there's this propechy, you see. It says that someone paired up with one of the Pixie Legendaries will bring down the five cults. So, naturally, the cults are on the look out for the Pixie Legendaries. The First Augur was paired up with Hoopa."

Okay, quick recap. She doesn't want people to know that she has Celebi, but she's more than willing to share bunch of information that could easily get her killed, if what she's saying is true. And I thought I was dumb. Why is she just telling me everything? Wait, why am I asking myself?

"Why are you just telling me everything? We just met. Why should you trust me? You don't know anything about me. I could be a cultist, and you would've just made the top of our hit list."

Nora giggled. Normally, I thought it would've been cute, like a schoolgirl giggle, but in the given situation, it was very ominous. "Well, I always do that when people discover me and Celebi."

"Y-you do?"

"Yep. Right before Celebi sends them back a few hundred years in the past, where they can't do anything about it."

Oh...

"You're going to send me back in time?" I asked, for clarification.

"Yep."

Well, this was certainly an unpleasant turn of events. I can just add getting sent back in time to my list of strange things that have happened to me in the past two days. No, wait. I'm going to get out of this. Think Alyssa. How do I get out of this? Ideally, in this time period. I don't think Alice and Prescott could take out the Celebi...but maybe...Hm. I need to stall for time.

"But...I won't tell anyone."

"Hey, you said it yourself, Alyssa," Nora replied. "Why should I trust you?"

"Um..." Hm. That was a good question. Dammit, I hate my stupid mouth."I'm a good person?"

"Maybe so, but I can't take the risk." Nora turned to Celebi. "Are you ready?" Celebi nodded. "Okay, then. I guess this is it. It's been nice knowing you, Alyssa. I really hate to do this to you, but I need to protect myself. Maybe I can send Celebi back to get you when this is all over."

"B-b-but..."

"Mew."

There was a dead silence in the cave.

Nora broke it. "What was that?"

"Mew."

That can't be what I think it is, is it?

"Mew." Lo and behold, the little pink Pokémon that escorted me from the Cult of Darkrai's base appeared next to me, looking as uninterested as usual. "Mew."

I sighed with relief. "It's about time you showed up." It's been a little while since I've heard from good old Mew. I guess it knew that it needed to bail me out of some trouble again. I guess that's a good thing. If I ever need help, it's Mew to the rescue. At least, I hoped it was.

Nora's eyes darted from me, to Mew, to me, to Mew, to me, to Mew. "You're...you know Mew?"

"Well, I guess. I mean, Mew did help me out of a bind not that long ago." I looked over to the pink Pokémon in question, who was simply floating there, eyeing Celebi with some vague admiration. "I like to think that we're friends."

"I see. Have you told anyone about this?"

"No. Nobody."

Nora nodded. "That's good. Well then, I guess you and I are in the same boat, Alyssa. I won't have to send you hundred of years into the past."

"Thank God for that."

"Yeah. It's a little bit mean, but I think Celebi has fun doing it."

Celebi just shrugged, hiding a smile. And that's pretty scary, if you ask me.

"Anyway," Nora went on, "you do understand that befriending Mew puts you in a dangerous position, right? If any of the cults find out, they will hunt you down and they will kill you."

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they were already hunting me down. I was, after all, and escaped prisoner. But I kept that to myself. "Yeah, I understand. I'm not that worried. Mew doesn't hang around with me that often. He...she...it...whatever it is, just kinda pops up every now and then."

"Okay. And I trust that you won't tell anyone about me and Celebi, right?"

"I won't. Promise." I held out my pinkie. "I'll even do a pinkie swear if you want."

Nora shook her head. "No, that's okay." She turned to her little green, time-traveling Pokémon. "Come on Celebi, we're leaving." She turned back to me. "Well, I guess we'll see you around, Alyssa. Good luck with Mew." Nora walked out of the cave with Celebi right behind her.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," I said, watching as they faded into a dark tunnel. I turned to Mew. "So, are you sticking around this time, or are you going to ditch me again?"

"Mew." The pink Pokémon vanished in a flash of pink light.

"Well, that's not surprising." I was a little disappointed. Celebi seemed to have a lot of respect for Nora. Mew...well, I don't think Mew likes me that much. I don't like Mew that much either, even though he/she/it, whatever, saved me from an evil cult that stole my memories and planned to kill me. "Come on, guys" I said to Alice and Prescott, both of which were completely confused at the events that had just taken place. "Let's get back to some training."


We spent a few more hours in that cave before we decided to head back to the Pokémon Center. Surprisingly, the building with the red roof was nearly empty when we arrived despite that it was midday. And the day before the tournament. I figured there would be a long line of trainers here, but I guess they're all out training. Not that I'm complaining.

I handed the nurse my Pokéballs and went over to the bookshelf in look of something to read while I waited. You might not know this, but Pokémon Centers do not have a great selection of reading material. Just a bunch of books about caring for your Pokémon, making sure that they're happy and healthy and other things that you should care about that you probably ignore anyways.

With nothing to read, I headed upstairs to the Pokémon Mart to see what they had to offer. I didn't actually have a lot of money to spend, though, so it was just window shopping for me. I looked at all the Potions and Pokéballs that I couldn't afford. I still have a few Pokéballs left, and I think a Potion or two.

"Can I help you?" asked the clerk as he walked out of the backroom, with a cardboard box in his hands. He looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, around Anthony's age, and had well-kept brown hair and matching eyes. "We just got a new shipment of Super Potions, if you want some."

I stood up from looking at the packs of Pokéballs and shook my head. "Yeah, um...no thanks. I could use some, my Pikachu isn't exactly the strongest fighter, but I can't really afford it." All the money that I was earning was going towards food. All I had was a bag of stale brownies and some cold pancakes. Really living the high life there.

The clerk just kind of laughed as he set the box down. "Rookie trainer?" I nodded. "Well, then, here." He slid one of the Super Potions over to me. "On the house."

"Thanks," I said, smiling as I caught the item. "That's really nice of you."

"Eh, don't worry about it. I'm always willing to help out new trainers," he said. "Especially the pretty ones."

Oh, so he was hitting on me. Huh. Didn't think that was going to happen until a little later. Oh well, I guess I'll just deal with this in the usual Alyssa way. "Um...yeah, I'm pretty hot." Wait, I don't think that was the right response...

The clerk laughed. "Yeah, you are. Even with the eyes."

Oh, right. I forgot that my eyes were completely screwed up because of a damn Heatmor. "Yeah...that's a long story. I ran into a homicidal Heatmor, and he apparently blasted fire in my face."

"Heatmor? You mean Henry?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"You should consider yourself lucky," said the clerk. "That Heatmor has killed people before."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. I've heard all of this before."

"The sheriff issued a bounty on him a month ago," the clerk went on, sliding a piece of paper over to me. On it was a picture of Henry the Heatmor, and a bunch of information about him and where he could be found. The bounty was a nice sum of five-thousand. "We've had a lot of business since then, people have been coming in to by Potions and stuff so they can try to nab Henry, but they've had no such luck."

"Hm...five-thousand, huh?" Perhaps I would be up for a rematch. Get some revenge and score some serious money at the same time. Or get killed, but I'll worry about that later.

"Yeah, it's quite a lot, and no one's been able to get him yet. There's talk that the sheriff's going to call in a professional to take care of him sooner or later. He's really getting to be quite a hassle." Then the clerk noticed my thoughtful face. "You're...you're not actually thinking of trying to get him, are you? A rookie trainer wouldn't stand a chance against him."

"Hey, I was able to hold my ground against him the first time I faced him," I protested, even though I didn't really remember. "It shouldn't be too hard."

The clerk shrugged. "Okay, then how are you going to do it?"

"What?"

"He's wanted dead or alive. Are you going to capture him, or kill him?"

"Um..." I don't think I could kill a living being. "Capture?"

"If that's your plan, then you'll need some Pokéballs. A lot of them. And, since you said you couldn't afford a Super Potion, then I doubt you'll have a lot," said the clerk, with a little smirk on his face. Damn, this guy is smart. "However...I happen to have plenty of them on hand. Maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement."

"Maybe we can. But just so you know, I'm not prostituting myself out for Pokéballs."

The clerk shook his head. "That's...that's not what I had in mind."

"What do you want, then?"

"I want to help you capture the Heatmor."

"Really? You're just going to give me stuff, and the only thing that you want in return is to help face a homicidal Heatmor in a fight that you may or may not survive?" This guy is nuts. "Why?"

"Because, this job sucks." He motioned at the store around him. "I had to take this job because my mom wouldn't quit yapping at me to get out of the house and do something. And I always wanted to go out on a journey, but never had the money to start. Twenty-five hundred bucks would be a great start."

"Oh, and you get half the money? You never mentioned that part."

He smiled. "Well, naturally, if we become partners, we'll split the reward."

I thought about it. On the down side, I had to split a large amount of money. Oh, and I might die. I need to thought that in there. On the plus side, I could nab Henry, adding a powerful Pokémon to my team for the tournament, get twenty-five hundred bucks richer, and get some revenge. Yeah, I think the positives outweigh the negatives. Except for that dying part. But again, I worry about that later.

"And...and your boss is okay with you just giving away Pokéballs like that?"

"Eh, probably not. But if everything goes according to plan, then I'll be far away from here when he finds out about it."

"...I like the way you think."

"Thanks." He jumped over the counter in one swift motion and held out his hand. "My name is Beckett. Beckett Ambrose. And you are?"

"I'm...I'm Alyssa." I shook his hand. He has soft hands for a guy. "So...um...when are we going to catch Henry?"

Beckett shrugged. "Eh, probably tonight. We'll catch him while he's sleeping. Pokémon are usually easier to catch while they're sleeping." He reached over the counter and pulled out a small plastic grocery bag. "Here, you can have this. It has some Potions and some Pokéballs in it. You might need them. You have to make sure that you and your Pokémon are ready for tonight."

"Um...yeah, we already did some training," I told him, taking the bag and stuffing it into my backpack, "But I guess some more can't hurt."

"You're probably right," he said, vaulting back over the counter. "Meet me in the Pokémon Center lobby at midnight tonight, and we'll be ready to roll. Okay?"

"Okay."

Hm. I think this is going to go well.


I take it back. If I ever said that I was smart, I take it back. If I ever said I was dumb, then that's an understatement. Trust me, I think I should've learned by now not to do dumb things.

Right now I'm walking through some tall grass at midnight with some strange boy that I've only know for a few hours in search of a Pokémon that could very well kill me.

Real smart move there, Alyssa. Real smart.

"Where did you run into him?" Beckett whispered, as we stalked through the night. "Maybe you stumbled onto his nest or something."

"It's a few more yards," I replied. "It probably was his nest. He was pretty pissed."

"Alright, lead the way."

I just want to take a moment to say, that as I lead the way, I noticed just how Route 1 looks at night. It's quite interesting. During the day, everything is nice and bright and sunny. During the night, you can't see more than three feet in front of you. I honestly don't see how people say that nature looks better at night. It's hard to see nature at night. And the chirping of the insects! Don't get me started on that! It's so annoying! I think my head might explode from all of the noise they're making.

"Are we there yet?" Beckett asked, several seconds later.

"No, I'll let you know when we're there." I took two more steps then paused. "Okay, we're here." We were back at the pond where the nurse was healing Pokémon. To my surprise, the nurse was still there on the other side of the pond, though she had pitched a tent and appeared to be settling down for the night.

"This?" Beckett looked around. "I don't really see anything that looks remotely nest-like."

"It's down there," I said, pointing down the obscure path where I had first seen Henry. "I saw a large shadow down that path and I went after it. Next thing I know, I'm waking up with a nice burnt face."

"And you somehow make it look good."

"Really? You decided to flirt now? Can't it wait until...gee, I don't know, sometime after we risk our lives facing a killer Pokémon?"

"Eh, you're right." There was a long pause between the two of us. Then Beckett motioned to the path. "Well, ladies first."

I just stared at him. "Oh come on, really? I thought that the tough guys were supposed to go first to protected the ladies."

"Well..." Beckett trailed off. "I'm not exactly that tough. And besides, you have the Pokémon, I don't."

"Jesus, I'm regretting this already." I started down the path. Wait, what did he just say? I whirled around. "You don't have a Pokémon?"

"No, is that a bad thing?"

"Bad? No, that's not bad at all. We're just going up against a fire-breathing killer, and all you have to fight with are your fists. That's not bad at all." I mean, come on, dude. Seriously? To catch a Pokémon, you need a Pokémon. That's how it works.

Beckett cocked his head. "Well, I guess you're right." He bit his lip and looked around at the barely visible surroundings. "Well...I could just sit on the sidelines and throw the Pokéballs." He patted his backpack, which was full of the stolen capsules. "I used to pitch for a softball team when I was little."

"This is so not going to end well," I muttered to myself, beneath my face-palm. "You know," I said, looking back up at the store clerk, "you're getting to be less and less useful as time goes on." I turned back toward the path. "You better not mess this up."

"Well, you seem to be in a grand mood."

"That's just the sleep deprivation talking. I had a nice, long snooze planned for right now."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's just that..."

"It's just that what?"

Beckett sighed. "It's just that you're a really pretty girl, and I wanted to spend some time with you."

"Okay, and that's another thing. Hold off on the flirting until after we face this Heatmor. Kay?" Don't get me wrong. I like having a boy out there that thinks I'm attractive. He's pretty good looking himself. But his sense of timing is terrible. He'd probably make a fart joke at a funeral.

"I'm sorry, again. You're right," Beckett apologized for the second time. "But, after we fight him, perhaps we could grab some tickets to a late night movie. I hear that the theater is playing-"

"Beckett!"

"Sorry."

Thankfully, he was silent after that. We came out into a clearing. But there was no sign of Henry. "I don't see him," I said, looking around. "Perhaps he's out hunting some people."

"Um...actually, he's right there."

"What?" I looked at where he was pointing, which happened to be at my feet. On the ground lay Henry, fast asleep and completely oblivious to the two humans. However, he was less than a foot from my foot. "Um...okay, we found him," I said, trying to ignore just how close the homicidal Heatmor was to me. "So now what?"

"Hang on." Beckett fumbled for his bag, and pulled out a Pokéball. "Okay, now we're going to catch him. He's asleep, so it shouldn't be so hard, right?"

Famous last words.

Henry's eyes suddenly shot open, and the Heatmor rose to his feet. He did not look happy. He glared at us for several long seconds, making angry grunting noises.

"Oh, um...hi," I said, trying to alleviate the situation. It's not going to work, but hey, A for effort, right? "I'm sorry to bother you while you're sleeping, but uh...my friend and I were walking by and we thought...we thought that you might like to do an...an...an interview! Yeah, and interview, for the local newspaper. You're kinda a celebrity around Midna Town."

"Alyssa, what the hell are you doing?" asked Beckett, slowly taking a step back. He did not want to get roasted alive.

"Shut up," I whispered back to him. "This might work." I turned back to Henry. "So...um...would you be up to answering some questions?" Okay, I think Beckett was right. What the hell am I doing? When I panic, I do dumb things. But I think this dumb takes the cake. Hey, cake!

Henry grunted. He wasn't happy that he had been disturbed. "I'll take that as a yes," I said, also taking a step back. "What are your thoughts on cake? Do you like it? Dislike it? Or you don't really know?"

"Heat!" Henry shot a stream of fire at us. I managed to duck under the flames just in time. I could feel the heat on the back of my head. That was close. Too close.

"New plan!" I shouted, jumping back up to my feet. "Retreat!"

"Way ahead of you!" Beckett replied, scrambling out of the forest.

I ran after him. Behind me, I could hear Henry's footsteps. He wasn't that far behind. I'll admit, it was a little bit terrifying...okay, I was completely scared out of my wits, but that's beside the point. This is not going well, I told myself. I thought it would've gone off without a problem, but now, things can't get any worse.

Then I tripped.

"Damn!" I lashed my hands out, trying to find something to grab onto. But there was nothing and I landed face first in the dirt. Things had just gotten worse. "Ow," I groaned, pushing myself to my knees. "That hurt."

"Alyssa, behind you!"

I turned my head. Henry the homicidal Heatmor was standing over me, with a small fire coming out of his mouth. Remember when I said I would worry about dying at a later time? I think this is that later time.

Henry growled in rage, and brought one of his large hands back, preparing to strike. Then a small object hit him in the chest, and sucked him into it.

"Come on, Alyssa!" Beckett shouted, reaching for another Pokéball. "He'll break out of that without a problem!"

You don't need to tell me twice. I jumped back onto my feet and took off. "Nice throw," I said, as I caught up to Beckett. I heard the Pokéball breaking and the Heatmor growl in even more rage. "But...next time can you find a way to keep him inside of it?"

"He's too strong. You need to weaken him first."

Oh right. That's the second most important thing when trying to catch a Pokémon. Weakening it. "Um..." I stopped running and looked back. Henry was slowly coming at us, ready to slaughter us. Did I really want to pit my Alice and Prescott against that?

"Oh, what the hell?" I said, throwing my two Pokéballs. Thinking back, that probably wasn't the smartest move I've ever made. I hadn't even told them about this little rematch with Henry. They probably wouldn't have been excited about that.

Alice and Prescott appeared on the ground, and looked around. Then Alice let out a very loud squeal. I'm guessing that she just noticed the large Heatmor. Prescott just flicked his tail and narrowed his eyes. I could see the fear in his eyes, but he wasn't going to let it show.

"Alright you guys, we're going to take this mean son of a bitch down," I said. "Alice, use Confusion. Prescott...do...do you have it in you to pull off a Thunder Wave?"

Sparks formed at Prescott's cheeks, but they fizzled out. He looked back at me and shook his head sadly. "Pika..."

Okay, so electricity is a no-go. "Eh...then just remain on standby, okay?" Prescott didn't really have any ranged attacks, his only good move was Quick Attack, and I didn't want him to get that close to the Heatmor unless he absolutely had to. "Alice, how's that Confusion coming?

"Bulb..." Alice sighed and her eyes glowed purple. A purple aura formed around Henry the Heatmor, and then collasped in on itself, injuring the Pokémon. Henry grunted in pain, but he didn't appear to have taken much damage.

Yeah, this isn't going according to plan.

"Alice, hit him with another Confusion! Prescott, get really for a Quick Attack! Beckett get a Pokéball ready!"

"Bulb!"

"Pika!"

"Got it."

Alice struck Henry with another Psychic attack, and the Heatmor stumbled back a foot or two. Looks like he took more damage this time than the last. "Hit him while he's stunned!" I ordered to Prescott, who nodded and took off like a bolt of lightning. Things seemed to be going well.

It was right about here where things went wrong. Henry lashed out with his arm, slamming Prescott out of the air. "Pika!" Prescott hit the ground hard and rolled several feet before he stopped. "Pika..." he muttered, trying to stand up. His legs gave out under him. "Pi..."

"Prescott!" I clenched my fists. That was fast. Way too fast. He hadn't even landed a hit on the Heatmor. Maybe I wasn't as ready for this as I thought. "Alright, come back Prescott." I recalled him to his Pokéball. "Alice, how are you holding up?"

"Bulb..." she replied, nervously looking up at the large fire Pokémon before her. With one Pokémon out of the way, Henry only had one to go before he could take on the humans unopposed. "Bulba bulb..."

"Try another Confusion!" I told her. "Beckett, get that Pokéball ready!"

"It's ready!"

Alice's eyes glew purple, but before she could complete the attack Henry blasted her with a stream of fire.

"Alice!"

"Bulb!" When the flames let up, Alice was sitting there, whimpering. Her body was scorched. She didn't look like she could last another few second against Henry.

"She's burned," Beckett said. "Call her back. She can't stand up to Henry. We need to fall back."

"Okay..." I wasted no time in returning Alice. I couldn't believe it. Both of my Pokémon in less than a full minute. God, I'm a bad trainer.

Beckett threw the Pokéball and Henry was pulled inside. "That probably won't hold him for long. Come on, we need to move! Now!"


Beckett didn't even wait for me. He just took off without checking to see if I was behind him. But, that's okay. I got out on my own. It wasn't like he was any help, anyway.

The Pokémon Center lobby was empty, save for the night duty nurse, when I reached it. Since it was a quarter after one, I guessed everyone was asleep. Lucky bastards. "Could you...could you please heal my Pokémon?" I asked, placing the two Pokéballs on the counter. I didn't look up at the nurse. I couldn't. I didn't feel very good anymore.

"Sure thing," the nurse said. She sounded quite young. "We'll make sure that that they get the best treatment in all of Midna Town." I figured that that was because this was the only place in Midna Town that professionally healed Pokémon, but I kept that to myself.

The nurse took the Pokéballs and placed them into the machine behind the desk. She pressed several buttons, and the machine buzzed to life, pumping some of that life back into my two Pokémon. "Wonderful machine, that is," she said to me, tapping the side of the healing device. "Saves a lot of time. I don't know how we lived without it."

"Yeah..." I folded my arms on the counter and rested my head on them. Why do I feel so bad? It's because I let Alice and Prescott get hurt, isn't it? I knew that they couldn't take him on, but I put them up against him anyway. Why? Why did I do that?

"You feeling okay?" the nurse asked. "You look like you're upset about something."

"I am."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"You...uh, you want to talk about it?"

"No," I said, barely looking up. "Not really."

The nurse shrugged. "Suit yourself. Sometimes, talking about your problems with someone is the best way to solve them. Keeping your problems to yourself isn't a smart thing to do. That only makes the problem worse." She shot me a look to see if I was paying attention. I wasn't really. I heard what she said, but it was in one ear and out the other. With a sigh, she took my Pokémon from them machine and handed their balls to me.

Ugh...that didn't sound right.

"Thanks." I looked down at the two Pokéballs in my hand. I wanted to let Alice and Prescott out, but I how can I face them after what I did? They're going to hate me. They fought that Heatmor before and lost, and I made them do it again. I'm a horrible trainer. Horrible.

Don't worry, guys. I'll make this up to you. You'll see. Everything will be okay soon enough.

Deep down, though, I don't believe that. I honestly doubt that I'll ever be able to look Alice or Prescott in the eye again. I'm supposed to be their trainer, someone that works with them to make us stronger together, as a team. But I let them down. I thought I would be able to do this, be able to be a trainer, but no. I can't. Things...things are just too crazy right now. Maybe...maybe once everything has-

"Uh...miss?" The nurse was staring at me. "Do you need anything else?"

"Uh..." I was still standing there at the counter. "No...nothing." I closed my hands around the Pokéballs. No, I'm not a wimp. I'm not going to back down from this. Not now. I might be the one that's supposed to bring down the cults. I would be letting the whole region down if I gave up.

I went up to my room, tossed the Pokéballs on the bed-side table, and went to bed.


Sorry again for taking so long with these chapters. Writing is just getting harder for me as time goes on. I going to try to get Chapter 8 up by this time next week. But if it takes another month, don't hate me. I'm going through a lot right now.