Here it is, finally chapter 8. Sorry it took so long. Again, blame facebook. Enjoy, then help me sue facebook.


Chapter 8

Ember awoke to a high pitched voice screaming his name and was tackled. He looked into a mass of red fur and saw Flare was on top of him.

"Flare get off!" He yelled as she started to squeeze him in a hug.

Ember soon felt a pair of human hands pick him up and squeeze him. "Ember, we were so worried about you!" Grady yelled. Ember was finally able to push everyone back and took a huge breath of air.

"Please calm down guys, I have someone I want you to meet." Ember told them and turned to Snow who was up and giggling a bit after seeing the display of affection shown.

"Who's your new friend buddy?" Grady asked.

"This is Snow; I met her in the cave." Ember explained.

Snow walked up and nodded to everyone. "It's a pleasure to meet everyone."

Grady bowed his head and held out his head. "Pleasure is ours. I'm Grady, the Vulpix is Flare, the Pidgeotto is Pidge, the Onix is Sledge, the charmeleon is Striker, and the Charizard is Nina. Brandt is that other male human coming out, and the girl before was Kia. Striker and Sledge are Brandt's and Nina is Kia's."

"OK. I was hoping to join your team so I could battle. Would that be alright with you?" She asked Grady. Grady nodded.

"Sure, we're always inviting new members. We'll all be one big happy family." He told her and pulled out a poke ball and soon Snow was part of the team.

Ember looked around for Flora as he saw Brandt emerge behind Kia from the tunnel. "Where's Flora?" He asked.

Grady nodded back at Brandt. "We met some wild pokemon and Flora evolved. She felt embarrassed by her new look and is hiding in her poke ball." He explained.

Ember nodded his head then turned and saw Snow smiling at Flare. Flare was just frowning at Snow and was looking between her and Ember. "No Flare, she did not rape me like you did!" Ember shouted making Grady and everyone else fall down laughing as Flare blushed even brighter than her red fur.

Brandt and Kia both looked confused until Grady explained it and then both of them started laughing as well. Flare started to smile and laugh as well. "Well guys, shall we get going to Cerulean city?" Grady asked.

They all nodded and then started walking as Flare flew overhead. Brandt and Kia were talking while Grady was whistling a tune. Striker and Nina were talking as well but Striker was more into just admiring her.

Ember walked next to Grady and tried to start whistling as well. All he managed to do was make saliva drip from his mouth. Grady stopped and smiled at Ember. "No, try bending your tongue down the middle and blow air through it, make sure there's no spit in it." Ember tried again and got a soft whistle out of it. He smiled and wagged his tail as Grady patted his head. Grady turned to look at Brandt and Kia and started walking backwards. "Hey guys, isn't Cerulean the city with the water show at their local gym?" He asked.

Kia smiled and nodded. "Yeah it is, a friend of mine works there and is one of the swimmers. I haven't seen her in a while, this'll be fun. I can get us in free." She giggled.

Grady and Brandt smiled and laughed as they resumed walking. "Hey guys, let's camp here for a while, I wanna try and catch a new pokemon to use against that water type gym leader." Brandt said stopping.

"Alright man, sure. I'll get dinner ready and everything." Grady said getting some pots out. He handed a pot to Pidge. "Go fill this with water please." He then turned to everyone else. "I need you guys to go gather some fire wood please." Ember nodded along with everyone else and they each went their own direction to find wood. Except for Striker who follow Nina like a baby Milktank follows its mother.

Ember soon found some dry sticks and raced back to the campsite. He saw Brandt and Kia putting up a tent. He was about to ask why before he looked on the horizon and saw storm clouds approaching.

Grady saw him look up at the clouds approaching and nodded. "Yeah there's going to be a storm tonight, so everyone will have to eat fast. Sledge, Striker, Pidge and Nina will all go back in their pokeballs. You, Snow, Flare will lay with me." He explained.

Ember dropped his sticks and nodded. Pidge soon flew down with the pot full of water. When Grady took it from her, she flopped to the ground panting. "I better get some food for that work." She told him.

Ember laughed a little as Grady smiled. "Of course you will."

Pidge smiled and started to clean her dirty feathers. Soon everyone else came back with wood. Though Striker kinda overdid it by bringing a huge log to the camp.

"Umm, Striker, you didn't need to bring something that big." Grady told him as Striker dropped the log by the other sticks.

Striker just smirked and turned around just to see Nina sitting down talking to Snow, Flare and Pidge. He frowned and kicked the dust.

Ember thought of some way to help Striker then got it. He walked over to Striker. "Hey Striker, you want to go train our flamethrower attacks?" He asked loud enough for everyone to hear.

Striker thought for a moment and shrugged. "Yeah I guess, let's go." He said and they walked down to a lake. When they got there they walked out onto a platform people would use to fish from.

"Well, I guess let's see who's Flamethrower attack is bigger." Ember challenged.

Striker smirked and let loose a huge flamethrower. Ember let his own attack loose and soon the two fire types were spending more and more energy as their flame attacks grew bigger and bigger even more powerful. When they were done they were sweating and panting.

"Whoo that felt good to do!" Striker panted. Ember nodded. They were both ready to face anything now with their flamethrowers like that.

Ember turned his head and saw the girls watching. "So how long have you been standing there?" He asked.

Striker turned and his eyes widened when he saw Nina staring at him. She started walking to them and looked straight at Striker. "Hurry up and evolve." She told him then walked away with her tail shaking and the other girls left with her.

Striker was just staring at the place Nina's shaking tail had been with his jaw dropped. Ember chuckled and patted the charmeleon's back. "You can thank me later." Striker nodded slowly still stunned. Ember laughed a little more. "Come on man; let's go get something to eat." He said and headed back to camp with Striker following behind.

When they got there Grady was handing out bowls of steamy stew to everyone. They got in the back of the line behind Snow and waited their turn. When they got to the front Grady dipped the ladle in and gave them each some stew with bits of meat in it.

"Thank you Grady." Ember then took his bowl and started to lap it up. After they were all finished Grady cleaned everything up and yawned.

"Well, we better get to bed. Come here Pidge." He said and pulled her poke ball out. She waddled over and he put her inside.

Brandt and Kia did the same to Striker, Sledge and Nina. When they were done Grady opened the door to the tent. "Let's get some sleep now." He said. Brandt and Kia climbed in. Then Snow and Flare followed and last but not least Ember got in and Grady followed closing the door. Grady climbed into his sleeping bag as Brandt and Kia zipped theirs up. As soon as Ember lay his head down on Grady's legs he heard the pitter patter of rain hitting the tent.

Even though he was a fire type, he loved the rain. He got up carefully and moved his head closer to the door. He took the zipper in his teeth and zipped a small hole open so he could look out.

He watched as the rain fell down from the sky. He sighed as a breeze of cool air hit his face and he smiled. It felt so good. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning and boom of thunder. He heard a high pitched scream and Snow jumped up waking everyone else up.

"Wha? Whas going on?" Grady yelled groggily.

Snow ran into his sleeping bag and whimpered. "Snow are you alright?" Grady asked her. She shivered and didn't answer. Ember zipped the tent back up and walked over.

Snow shivered and whimpered when there was another blast of thunder. "I'm scared of thunder! I hate it so much!" She said and started crying.

Grady leaned down and wrapped his arms around her small body. "Shhh, it's alright, I'm here. I'll protect you." He soothed.

Ember walked over and nuzzled her. "As will I."

Flare hugged her close. "Me too," She promised.

Snow sniffled a little. "Thank you everyone." She said and hugged them all back.

Grady lifted the sleeping bag so she could fit inside it with him. "Come sleep here, I can cover her ears so you don't hear the thunder." He told her. She nodded and climbed into the sleeping bag with him. When he zipped it back up, he put his arms around her and went back to sleep. Ember laid his body down closely to her to help. Flare did the same and soon everyone was in the tent asleep as the storm flashed outside and a lone shadow jumped away into the forest.

(Next morning)

Ember flew back and kicked up some dust as Pidge hit him with an aerial ace. He jumped and blew a flamethrower at her and she dodged it with ease. "Great job guys! Keep it up now! Ember try to concentrate that flamethrower of yours! It's too spread out!" Grady yelled as he watched his two pokemon spar.

Ember focused on his target and used flamethrower. This time he hit got close to hitting Pidge before she dive bombed to the ground and dodged him. Before he knew it she tackled against him and he went flying against a tree.

"Good job Pidge!" Grady cheered then ran over to Ember. "You okay man?" He asked.

Ember nodded. "Yeah. She just hit me pretty hard." He said as he rubbed his head where a bruise was forming.

Pidge landed by him and smiled. "Sorry Ember, I must've gone too hard on you." She said.

Ember smiled and shook his head. "It's alright Pidge, its training after all." He told her. He looked over to where Flare and Snow were sparring as well.

Grady stood up and dusted his jeans off. "I'm going to go check on them. You two go rest for a while." He told them and walked over to the two females.

Ember rolled his neck around a little as he loosened it up. He looked over and saw Snow was doing very badly against Flare. He winced as Flare hit Snow with a tackle and Snow skidded against the ground. He walked over and sat by Grady who was watching the two pokemon battle. "I wonder what's wrong with her." He said.

Grady nodded and rubbed his chin as Snow was not getting any better. Ember watched for a while and noticed how Snow kept glancing up at the sky. He looked up as well and saw dark clouds gathering. Another storm was on its way. He got up and looked up at Grady. "Can we go talk somewhere alone for a moment?" He asked. Grady nodded and followed Ember as they walked out of hearing distance.

Ember turned to Grady and sat down. Grady sat down next to him so they could be at eye level. "What's up man?" he asked.

"Grady, I think I know why Snow's not doing that well. It's because she keeps seeing the storm clouds approaching and is afraid of thunder storms." He explained.

Grady nodded. "Yeah. That would explain it. But I have no idea how to help her." He told Ember.

Ember pondered for a moment and then it came to him. "We could tell her all our biggest fears. We should get Brandt and the others into this too. That way no secrets are being kept in the group."

Grady nodded again. "OK, I'll go tell them, you get everyone else to the campsite." He then got up and went to look for Kia and Brandt.

Ember went back to where Flare and Snow were resting and chatting with Pidge. "Hey girls, Grady wants everyone to get back to the campsite now. We're done training for the day." He told them and walked back to camp with them following behind him still chatting. They entered the camp the same time Brandt, Grady, Kia, Striker and Nina all got there.

"Good timing Ember, now everyone sit down in a circle. Brandt, bring Sledge out right now." Grady told him and Brandt did so. Sledge came out and curled in a circle around everyone as they sat down.

"We're all going to tell each other our worst fears. We all know Snow is now afraid of thunderstorms. It would be unfair that we know hers, but she doesn't know ours. Everyone agreed on this?" He asked. Everyone nodded slowly.

"Grady, how will me and Brandt understand what theirs are, we can't understand them." Kia asked.

"I'll translate, don't worry." He chuckled then breathed deeply. "I guess I'll go first, my fear is heights." He closed his eyes. "I hate being high up. I always feel like I'm going to pass out and fall. I remember going to this one skyscraper with my mom and I would not get off the elevator to look over the edge of the balcony." He blushed a little at this. "OK I'm done, Kia your next."

Kia nodded. "I'm afraid of drowning." She muttered.

"Drowning? Can't you swim?" Brandt asked.

Kia shook her head. "I was always too afraid to go into the water. I always thought Sharpedo's were in there all the time. Even in kiddy pools." She blushed the same way Grady did. "Silly huh?"

"No not really. Actually it means you're on the safe side a lot." Brandt told her giving her a smile which made her blush more.

"Well if you want to stop flirting now Brandt, it's your turn." Grady smirked.

Brandt glared at his friend then smiled and nodded. "Well, the thing I'm most afraid of is blood sucking Crobats. I know they're out there. Nobody's found them yet, but I just know they're there." He told everyone.

Ember cocked his head and almost laughed. He could see everyone else but Kia almost bust up laughing. He then turned to Nina who was next. Nina looked down and bit her bottom lip as her tail swished behind her. Striker lifted his paw and patted her arm. Nina smiled down at the charmeleon and heaved a sigh. "I'm always scared that when I'm flying, I'll fly right into a tornado or hurricane and my wings will get ripped off and I'll plummet to my death." She shuddered a little.

Grady translated it to Brandt and Kia as they waited. Kia gasped and hugged Nina. "Oh Nina, I wish I would of known that. Then I would be able to make sure we never flew anywhere near a storm." She told Nina as she soothed her charizard.

Striker looked up at Nina and then hugged her as well. "Striker it's your turn now. You have to tell us." Nina told him.

He gulped and mumbled softly. "What was that?" Grady asked.

Striker mumbled a little louder. "Striker we can't hear you." Flare commented.

Striker took a deep breath. "I hate being trapped underground. In Mt. Moon you guys didn't notice how hard I was breathing. And when we stepped out I felt better." He flushed as Nina looked down at him and he looked away from her.

As Grady explained what he said to Brandt and Kia, Brandt looked at his lizard pokemon. "Striker, you should know that we have to go underground two more times as we cross Kanto." He explained.

Striker grimaced a little and nodded slowly. "I'll stay in my poke ball during those times." He told Brandt. Grady translated and Brandt nodded.

"Okay buddy."

"Pidge it's your turn." Flare announced.

Pidge nodded. "Well, I'm always scared that I'll somehow just forget how to fly while I'm in the air. Like I'm so high up, that if I fell it would mean death. Whenever I fly, I'm scared that suddenly I'll lose control of my wings and plummet." She told them

Grady translated and then patted her head. "I'll always be there to catch you girl." He told her and she smiled at him and nuzzled her head against his hand.

Striker looked up at Sledge. "You scared of anything?" He asked.

Sledge just grunted and turned his head away. Brandt rolled his eyes as his Onix was not very social. Ember suddenly realized it was his turn as everyone's heads turned to him.

"Well, the thing I'm most afraid of is…well…not being able to protect my loved ones. I always want to be there to protect them and make sure their safe. If I was chained to something and wasn't able to move, then if someone brought each one of you in there and tortured and killed each of you, I would die." Ember told them as he made a silent promise that he would protect each of them with his life.

Flare and Snow both stared at him. Grady came over and patted Ember on the head. "It won't ever come to that boy. I swear to you." He promised.

Soon a small silence fell over the group. Brandt turned to Kia. "So how are those three eggs you had in pewter going?" He asked.

Kia jumped a little. "Ummm… their alright. Still waiting for them to hatch, which will be a while." She told him.

"Why?" He asked.

Kia shook her head. "Sorry, I promised the parents I wouldn't tell."

"Alright, let's just drop the subject now." Grady said as soon as Kia started to get nervous.

Another silence soon fell over the group. Brandt looked over at Grady this time. "Hey Grady, remember when you told me that Flare had raped Ember?" He asked.

Ember and Flare both suddenly blushed bright red as Nina, Kia, and Snow all widened their eyes. Sledge looked away but still had his head turned to listen in. Pidge started to giggle with laughter. Striker did as well.

"She did what?" Kia asked blushing as well.

Grady and Brandt both started laugh. "Well, a ways back when I started my journey and caught up with Brandt, Flare ran to a river for some reason, and Ember ran after her. I didn't realize what happened until the next day. Then they started getting embarrassed by it so we dropped the subject…until now." He explained to her. He then glance down at Flare, "That's also when she became my bad girl." He chuckled.

Brandt stopped laughing again. "Well since you remember, I'm wondering, why didn't Flare have Ember's egg yet?"

Grady nodded with a quizzical look. "I'm wondering that too." He looked down at Ember and Flare. "You two have any idea?" He asked.

They both shrugged their shoulders. Kia then opened her mouth. "Maybe their DNA weren't compatible." She said.

Grady nodded. "Guess so. But they better not do it anymore. I need both of them for battles." He said glancing down at them.

They nodded and soon the subject was dropped. Brandt started to break some twigs in half. "Something wrong Brandt?" Kia asked.

Brandt looked at her and nodded. "The next gym is a water type, so far, only Flora will be able to fight for me. Striker and Sledge won't be able too." He told her. "I need another pokemon that's not weak against water."

Just as he finished that sentence some bushes rustled and Kia looked over at them. "Well, you're about to get your wish." She said as a yellow pokemon walked out of the bushes.


Well here it is, done. And I've got a surprise, if you can guess the pokemon that just walked out of those bushes, I will let you have a special prize. Just PM your answer and I will tell you if your right or wrong. One answer to each person. And please try to answer, makes it fun this way. If you do, you don't have to leave a comment.

Ember: *raises paw* I know it I know it!
No you can't answer.
Ember: *mumbles* jerk.
Excuse me?
Ember: Nothing.
Better be.