I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters, I only own my OC's

Chapter 12

Emma sucked in a deep breath of air as she and Sophia were still running from the Beedrill. Whatever Sophia did angered the Pokemon it made them mad. Angry enough, that they'll chase them forever, until they caught them. Her eye twitched in agitation, she should have never agreed to team up with Sophia. She felt a little guilty admitting it silently, but shook her head and returned her attention back to running. She huffed, wincing at her burning lungs and throat.

The Beedrill behind them 'buzzed' loudly, scaring off ever Pokemon near them. They trailed quickly after the two children, catching up every so often before they would fall behind because of a branch or tree. This had made their temperament worse as they continued on with their chase, getting closer by the minute.

Emma willed herself to breath evenly; remembering how Noel had told her that it would help her in the long run. Literally. She had thought about bringing out all her Pokemon, but decided against it unless was necessary. These Beedrill probably wouldn't even give her time to turn around before they attacked in their fury. Plus, if she had stopped, that would mean Sophia having to bring out her Pokemon, which Emma was sure was hardly trained.

If Sophia was close to her Pokemon or at least spent any time with them she would have known that her Squirtle could have been able to speak to the forest's Pokemon and ask for directions. Emma had tried this but the forest Pokemon didn't seem too keen on having humans near them, even captured Pokemon made them try to run away on sight. Her Eevee had approached many Pokemon they had saw, but each one-all bug types-had turned away from her or just closed their eyes. It seemed as though wild Pokemon didn't respect the caught Pokemon. Emma wondered what it was all about, but decided not to pry into something that didn't concern her.

Beside her, Sophia wasn't fairing very well either. The girl kept tripping, but thankfully regaining her balance before she actually met the ground face first. Her breathing was irregular; breathing fast one minute then slows the next. She could tell Sophia was getting tired as she was also. The both of them had been running for a while, with the Beedrill right behind them; their sharp, pointed daggers up pointing at them, itching for the attack. They were catching up, Emma knew as she tightened her grip on Eevee in a reassuring squeeze. A faint smile made its way on her face as Eevee yipped out encouragements, glaring at the direction in front of them with her ears folded back.

But the smile was wiped off when a large gentling object flew past her fast making her yelp in surprise. A push from behind, made her tumble forward onto the ground. She crashed down painfully, scraping her elbows and arms as she impacted. Emma rolled a few times before she stopped lying on her side with Eevee lying in her limp arms. A shout from her right made her freeze, but she slowly relaxed when Sophia came into view, yelling for her to get up as the Beedrill began to surround them.

"Get up!" She shouted, crouching over her body.

She shook her shoulder. "Emma get up!"

Gritting her teeth and ignoring the small prickling sensation arms, legs, and any other part that had gotten scratched, she pressed the palms of her hand against the ground and pushed up. Sophia helped her into a sitting position by steadying her. In Emma's lap, Eevee yipped worriedly at Emma as she saw the small scratches on her trainer.

Emma patted her on the head. "It's alright Eevee" She whispered lowly to her longtime friend.

The two Pokeballs on Emma's belt rattled as if wanting permission before being released. Emma placed her hand on them and rubbed both Pokeballs soothingly despite the situation they were in. The Pokeballs ceased the rattling, but they shook every second or two.

Emma looked up at the Beedrill with a glare. She sat up from her hunched position, and then slowly stood up.

"Sit down!" Sophia hissed, trying to pull Emma back down but stopped when Eevee growled at her in warning. Sophia blinked as she saw Emma stand up tall, meeting the Beedrills glare with one of her own.

She watched as Emma help up her hands in surrender, then spoke. "I don't know what my friend did to you, but she didn't mean it. Honest Beedrill, she didn't. And I'm sorry if she made you angry."

Beedrill-the large one, possible the leader- buzzed loudly, sounding angered as he waved his large spear around. "Buzz buzzzz" He argued angrily then pointed at Sophia before pointing at a rock below him.

Sophia gaped, knowing what it was talking about. "Crap…the rock I threw"

Emma snapped her fingers. "The rock must have hit Beedrill!"

Beedrill nodded. "Buzzz" He turned to Sophia, glaring at her accusingly.

"W-what?" Sophia stammers as all the Beedrill make her their center of attention. She shivered and stumbled back, but stopped remembering that they had them surrounded.

"Apologize," Emma said in an ordering tone, narrowing her eyes at Sophia in a threatening glare.

"What d-do you mean? Apologize?" Sophia asked whimpering as her extreme phobia with Bug Pokemon kicked in. "Why s-s-should I a-apologize?"

Emma frowned when she saw the girl looking at the Pokemon in fear. Hoping to calm her, Emma stepped next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You threw a rock at them"

"It w-w-was a-an acc-accident"

"Just apologize, please!" Emma pleaded, seeing the Beedrill float around them impatiently. "No one cares if it was an accident or not. Just apologize and they'll leave."

Sophia shook her head, clenching her eyes shut. "I-I'm s-sorry B-B-B-Beedrill" She braced herself for what ever happened next. She still felt Emma warm hand grip her shoulder tightly, making her feel somewhat safe.

She heard Emma snuck in air. "Sophia you're afraid of bug types right?"

She nodded quickly. "Y-y-yeah…"

The grip tightened. "Don't open your eyes"

"Wha?" She felt confuse. Why doesn't Emma want her to open her eyes?

"Don't ask, just keep your eyes closed alright"

Suddenly a deep filling of curiosity burned in her, trying to coax her into opening her eyes. Images on what it could have been filled up her mind on what it could possibly be. Her eyelids shuttered, only allowing a few rays of golden light to enter in the darkness. A beating sound could be heard near her, louder, more defined than the other beating noises that came from the Beedrill. Her body shuttered at the thought of one of those disgusting creatures being anywhere near her. Almost near enough to touch her!

Her hands twitched as the need to grab Squirtle's Pokeball rose. But, she knew she couldn't. Her Pokemon wasn't…well obedient, preferring to do things on its own rather than listen to her. The little guy could care less about her as he showed it when he laughed her when a Pidgey up and attacked her when she tried to capture it by herself, while he watched on the sidelines. Sophia was perplexed at his attitude. She thought starter Pokemon were supposed to help their trainer become stronger and obey their every command. But not this little guy…oh no, his attitude actually infuriated her to no end. Her sister called her immature as her and Bulbasaur became annoyed by her and Squirtle's arguing.

She shook her head. 'I don't need Squirtle's help. I can do it by myself!' She thought, and then opened her eyes.

A scream would have spewed from her mouth when she saw the Beedrill up close and in her personal space. Her mouth was quickly covered by Emma's hand as though the girl knew she would open her eyes. Her heart thudded hard, as the Beedrill floated in front of her, examining her from the looks of it. Sophia's hand shot up and gripped Emma's wrist, yanking her hand away from her mouth and cradling it to her chest as though it would protect her.

Emma let out a sudden yelp when her wrist was yanked, sending her down in a jerk. At the sudden motion, Eevee lost her balance and was sent to the forest floor, landing on her side. Emma's attention was instantly turned to the wellbeing of her friend, and she let out a sigh as Eevee shook off the dirt from her coat.

The Beedrill floated in front of her, while the others flew around them waiting for a signal of some kind. Emma felt no threat letting the Beedrill come near Sophia, despite know her fear of the Bug-Types. The Pokemon kept a few inches of distance between itself and Sophia. Emma felt as though it was trying to intimidate Sophia and it was working to an extent. The Pokemon had her cowering away from it in fear, shaking in her arms like a leaf in the wind.

'Assertion of dominance' Emma guessed. She remembered how Pokemon at the Poke Fields always asserted their dominance, usually by fighting or sparing. She used to watch them fight a lot when she was younger, of course, Khan and her baby Raid was there beside her as always. The mothering Pokemon stood proudly beside her as no Pokemon ever seemed to question her about dominance, and watched on with her. Khan seemed amused as Emma, Eevee, and Raid always got hyped up, cheering for both Pokemon. This had boosted the battling Pokémon's ego, flaring their already strong will to battle even more.

Emma sighed as she stood hunched over due to Sophia having her arm in a death grip. She wondered how she even got into the position she was in now. By being nice of course. It wasn't a bad thing to do, to help someone. But sometimes it got her into major trouble she would have rather avoid.

It wasn't long before the Beedrill left, flying off in a random direction to her right. She couldn't remember where exactly as she focused her attention on Sophia, who was still shaking like a leaf. Lightly prying her hands from Sophia's grip, she tugged at the girls dress cloth and pointed out to her that the Beedrill were gone and hopefully wouldn't be coming back any time soon.

After Sophia pulled herself together, they continued trying to find the path occasionally stopping to take a short break every once and a while. As the minutes passed by, Emma and Sophia had a conversation with each other about their lives in their separate regions. Both, feeling their words with the love they had for their homes.

Emma rolled her shoulders, dodging the small bits of sunlight that made it through the tall, thick trees. She preferred the shade as of right now as the heat of the forest didn't need to get any hotter. Thankfully Eevee had chosen to walk when she sensed how uncomfortable she was. She gave a small smile to her partner who returned it with a side grin, showing her two small fangs.

Emma also found out that Sophia wasn't bad company to have. Her first thought of the girl was that she was dull and ditzy, but over all she was very interesting to talk to. Even though she only talked about becoming a top Coordinator. Emma thought it was a good dream just like hers. She had even told Sophia of her dream to travel all around the world and collect badges from different regions.

Sophia gave her a surprised look when she told her. Obviously, she wasn't expected something like that probably thought she would collect Kanto badges and return home. Sophia's shock slowly receded and was soon replaced by a smile. She thought of it as too much work, but still thought of it as a good dream to have.

"That's a really big dream" Sophia commented, while looking at the stains on her dress in distaste.

"Yours is to" Emma pointed out, cuddling Eevee close to her chest. "Being top Coordinator and everything"

She shrugged. "I guess…I never really thought about it"

Emma gave her a side glance, halting on stroking Eevee's fur. "Are you just going to collect Hoenn Ribbons? There are other regions that have pokemon contests, too."

"I know that" Sophia grumbled. "I just don't know how I'm going to win them"

"…with a Pokemon"

"I know that!" She snapped in annoyance.

"Then why do you wonder about it?" Emma questioned, grinning as her new friend scowled.

"Well," She began. "It's my Pokemon he doesn't really like me for some reason. He's always disobeying me and won't listen to anything I tell him" She huffed. "Isn't a Pokemon supposed to listen to their trainers?" She asked more to herself than to Emma.

"It's true a Pokemon is supposed to do what the trainer says, but remember your Pokemon has feelings to, Sophia. They are not tools, they are our partners"

"Well he isn't a very good partner" Sophia muttered childishly with her cheeks puffing out. "It's because of him I haven't caught a single Pokemon!"

"The entire fault cannot be on Squirtle," Emma said, resuming to rubbing Eevee's head. "You are his trainer and it's your job to watch out for him and to try to understand him."

"I do, but he…he just…UGH!" She cried out, running her fingers through her head in frustration.

"Sounds like a trouble maker" Emma mused.

"Oh you don't know the half of it!" She whined, pointing a finger at Emma before returning back to her side. "Every time I let him out of the Pokeball he does everything in his power to make me miserable"

"Have you ever tried talking to him?" Emma asked.

Her shoulders slumped. "Whenever I do he just sprays water in my face"

She cracked a smile. "Really?"

Sophia gave her friend a look. "It's not funny Emma!" She whined. "How am I supposed to become a top Coordinator if my own Pokemon won't even listen to me?"

Emma gave her friend a pitying look. She tried to remember what Prof. Michael would say right now. Whenever she had a problem with people or Pokemon he always knew how to fix it and make everything better. Or her mother, she knew how to deal with tough situations, though, her mother wasn't really skilled in the Pokemon department, rather being skilled with people instead.

First off she knew that a Pokemon would rebel against their trainer if they treated them wrong or just didn't want to do what their trainer wanted them to do. She messaged her temple, ignoring Sophia who kept talking to her. Sophia was putting a lot of the blame on her Pokemon, but it can't be his entire fault. Sophia had to be doing something he didn't like…

Emma remember once, Prof. Michael told her about a regular Pokemon he once captured, a Cacnea, when he was traveling around the world. The small Pokemon had an arrogant and self-centered personality, thinking of the Professor as not worth his precious time. He told her about how the Pokemon would always disobey him and shoot pine needles at him whenever he ordered him to do anything. He was at his wits end with the Pokemon, not knowing what to do, until they found poachers in the woods. Instead of using Espeon, he called upon Cacnea to battle the criminals. But Cacnea lost and was stolen. Emma remember how she had gasp in horror, a smile played on her lips as she recalled the rest of the story. It took him two days to locate the poacher and take back Cacnea. Cacnea then defeated the man and his Houndoom. After that, Cacnea found respect for his trainer as he didn't abandon him.

She snapped her fingers. "That's it!"

"What's it?"

"Your Pokemon doesn't respect you"

"Excuse me?"

"Your Pokemon doesn't respect you" She repeated.

"Gee, I could have told you that" Sophia grumbled and crossed her arms.

Emma rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I didn't mean for it to come out wrong. What I mean is that since it has no respect for you do something that will gain its respect"

She put her hands on her hips. "And how am I supposed to do that exactly?"

"Eh?" She rubbed her chin. "I guess we have to think of something…"

"Doesn't matter…"

What?

Emma gave her a surprised look. "Doesn't matter? Of course it Matters!" She ran forward and stood in front of Sophia, giving the girl a determined glare. "Squirtle is your partner! Yeah you'll have a few rough moments together, but you choose him so at least try to get along with him!"

Sophia flinched and looked away. "But…"

Emma shook her head. "No buts, just call him out"

"Emma…" Sophia started, hoping to persuade her to see it her way. "I doubt this will even work"

"Well we won't know until you've tried" Emma replied, giving her a firm glare. The two had a stare down, narrowing eyes and standing up straight.

Finally, Sophia relented and nodded her head. "Fine I'll give it a try, but if he sprays us both don't say I didn't warn you"

"Duly noted" Emma grinned smugly as she watched Sophia grab her only Pokeball, still looking shiny and new. Hardly touch at all, Emma frowned at the thought.

Sophia gripped the Pokeball tightly in her left hand, watching as its shiny, smooth surface reflected off light. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she murmured a short prayer. Loosening her grip, she threw the ball up into the air. "Squirtle!" She yelled, calling the name of her partner out.

He replied with a 'Squirt' and grinned, giving a small pose as he materialized. He stood in his pose for a few seconds before he blinked in, what seemed like, confusion. He cocked his head and starred up at Sophia with an unreadable expression. He stare turned into a glare in the matter of seconds, followed by a blast of water spraying from his mouth.

Sophia cried at the sudden attack and stumbled back, falling on her butt. Water covered from head to toe, dripping off her. "Darn it all to heck!" She screamed as she pulled at the cloth material on her stomach, making it let out a loud suction sound.

Squirtle laughed at her and did his pose, feeling proud of himself. Though, his laughter slowly dwindled when he heard a sound from behind him. He turned around and saw another trainer with a furry Pokemon cuddled in her arms. His ego boosted when he saw the amusement dancing in eyes, though, he did a small bit of shock in there as well. Curiously, he walked over to her and gave her a wide grin.

Emma and Eevee returned the mischievous Pokémon's grin with a smile of their own. She bent down and set Eevee on the ground, allowing the fluffy Pokemon to walk over and sit beside Squirtle. Squirtle nodded at Eevee, and then looked up at Emma. She smiled and held out her hand to him. He glanced up at her curiously, before spewing water at her face, sending her falling backwards.

"Ack!" Emma coughed, blinking at the sudden attack.

Squirtle stared at her seriously, waiting for her response. He stepped back, expecting her to yell and rave about ruining her clothing like his trainer did, but instead she laughed.

"Hahahahaha" She giggled. "That was a good one Squirtle!"

Eevee yipped in laughter. "Ev Eevee!"

Squirtle gave them both a surprised look. "Squir?"

"That was a good one" She said happily, patting him on the head.

"Squir?" He tilted his head.

"Don't encourage him Emma" Sophia growled, glaring at the Pokemon who stared at her with a smug expression.

"Why not?" She asked. "He's just playing around"

"Squir" He agreed, standing slightly closer to Emma when he saw the glare grow stronger. He relaxed some when the new girl placed a hand on his hand.

"Oh come on Sophia, he's a fun little guy!" She giggled and picked up Squirtle, placing him in her lap. "A mischievous little guy, aren't you?"

Squirtle rubbed the back of his head. "Squirtle Squirt"

Across from them, Sophia's glare softened when she saw Squirtle happily sitting in Emma's arms. How was it that Emma could connect to Pokemon easily and not get mad? Sophia sighed and stood up, a whimper coming from her as her wet dress stuck and slid across her skin as she moved.

Looking down at Emma, she saw both the blonde and the two Pokemon with her starred up at her. She ran a hand through her wet hair, pulling back the strands that stuck to her face. "Hey Squirtle…" She gave him a tight lipped smile.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to try…

R&R