Mel here! I'll make the intro short because I'm in the middle of a battle!

I don't own Pokémon!

"Grotle – The Grove Pokémon. It knows where pure water wells up. It carries fellow Pokémon there on its back."

After scanning, Mel returned her Pokédex to her bag. She then threw out a normal Pokéball and out came someone Sparkle didn't recognize.

"Who is that?!"

There on our side of the field stood a familiar looking Pokémon. He had a full cream body and four long legs, each one ending in a gray hoof. Out of the head and bottom came large, bright orange flames. It was a Ponyta.

Mel turned to us and said, "Meet our new friend Sparkle. His name is Braeburn."

Braeburn looked over at us as well and just snorted. Then he turned his attention back to the battle.

"Use Flame Wheel!"

"Razor Leaf!"

As Grotle let out multiple leaves, Braeburn charged forward in a burst of flame and burnt them up. When he made contact with Grotle, he yelped out in pain.

"Stomp!"

"Bite!"

Braeburn's Stomp hit first and caused Grotle to flinch. He then moved in one more time with a Flame Wheel. Grotle fainted.

"What?! No!"

As Barry stomped on the ground, Mel picked up 2700 Pokédollars that just happened to be on the floor. We then walked back to the Pokémon Center to get healed up.

"Another day, another route. Come on guys! I heard Soloceon Town is up next!"

"Is there a gym there?"

"No. But there are some new Pokémon on the way! I can just feel it."

Mel took a long look at all of us and then picked up a ball.

"I'm going to be sending one of you guys into the box."

What?! The box?!

We all had a shocked look. We didn't want to go into a box! Rarity began to freak out while Rainbow started to cry. Mel somehow managed to calm everyone down and then began to explain.

"Look, this isn't forever. You'll be back with me in a bit. I was talking with the nurse and she said it was common to keep your team in rotation. So, who wants to volunteer?"

We all looked around. No one stood forward for a while until Stan lifted his wing.

"Stan?!" Sparkle cried out. "Are you sure?"

"Don't worry! It should be like a little vacation, right? I'll be back soon so watch over things for me Pen."

"Don't worry about it Stan."

When saying goodbye, Rainbow began to cry again. Stan Picked her up in one wing and hugged her a bit.

"Don't cry squirt! When we meet again, promise to be a big girl, okay?"

Rainbow nodded and Stan placed her back down. He then waved goodbye with his normal arrogant grin as Mel placed him in his Pokéball. We left the center with only five in our party again.

"Wow! This route looks pretty big. Do you think we'll reach the next town by night fall Quinny?"

"If we rush then maybe."

Mel, carrying Rainbow, followed Quentin who, in turn, followed Roselia and I down the Route. Mel then began to eye the tall grass to our right and decided to explore a bit.

"I thought you said you wanted to get through the route quickly?!"

"That doesn't mean I didn't want to make any new friends!"

Mel came over and dragged me into the grass as well.

"Come on Pen! Keep on the lookout for something that looks different!"

I looked around until I was a small streak of green and white. I proceeded to follow it and Mel followed as well. When we finally cornered the mysterious Pokémon, Mel scanned it with her Pokédex.

"Ralts – The Feeling Pokémon. If its horns capture the warm feelings of people or Pokémon, its body warms up slightly."

"So that's a Ralts, huh? Wanna try and catch it?"

I agreed with the plan but instead of sending me out, she went and sent out Rainbow.

Is she crazy?! Rainbow isn't even a Lv. 2 yet?!

A couple of seconds passed by and all Mel said was "Good work Rainbow! Okay Pen, you could go in now."

What was that about? Oh well, whatever.

I entered the battle but right as I did, the Ralts used Confusion on me.

"Go easy on her Pen! I wanna catch her so use Bide!"

I began to concentrate and store energy as she hit me with another Confusion. The next round she used Lucky Chant. Right after this, I released the energy I've been building up. Luckily, she was only a couple of hit points from fainting. Mel took this chance to throw a Pokéball only this time, it wasn't normal. It was mainly pink and had stripes of yellow on it. Mel threw the ball and the Ralts was captured.

"Oh right… She would only get experience in a battle we win… Oops. Anyway, that was great Pen! Here, have a Poffin! I know it doesn't heal but consider it a job well done."

Mel handed me a bluish Poffin that one of the woman from the Pokémon Fan Club gave her. It was dry but very satisfying. After finishing it, I turned my attention to the ball Mel used. Before I could gesture toward it, Mel had picked it up to show it to Quentin.

"Quinny look! I caught a Ralts just now."

"That's great! Should we get it healed then?"

"No need!"

"What do you mean?"

"Look!"

Mel held out the Pokéball to show it to Quentin. He made a confused face at first but then it turned into a big smile.

Am I the only one not in the know?

"So you used a Heal Ball, huh?"

"Yup! I found some earlier and asked around about them in Hearthome. I figured that I should use it in order to save time."

"Good idea. Should we continue on?"

"Let's."

We continued down the route having battle after battle. I now understood why Mel would send Rainbow out first. She was training her. Normally, Togepi are born only knowing two moves: Growl and Charm. Mel wanted Rainbow to at least learn Metronome so she could defend herself. So whenever we ran into a trainer or a wild Pokémon, Rainbow was the first to go out.

"Wow Rainbow! We've only had about ten battles and you're already a Lv. 15! If we go any farther, you might evolve!"

"How do Togepi evolve anyway?"

"Well, according to Professor Rowan, Togepi evolve when they have a high level of friendship with the trainer. Just like how your Budew evolved actually."

"Huh. How about you check the level now with your Friendship Checker?"

"Good idea Quinny!"

Mel began to play with her Pokétch and got the Friendship Checker on screen. Suddenly, she let out a gasp.

"What's wrong?!"

"Nothing's wrong! If I'm seeing this correctly, then that means Rainbow will evolve with the next level up!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! But before that, I think we should get some food. I'm pretty hungry."

"Yeah, let's get everyone out to help then."

Mel and Quentin released the rest of our friends and we began to set up for a late lunch. The only strange thing was that Braeburn walked away and hung out near the small lake. I went over to ask if he wanted to play with the rest of us.

"Hey Braeburn! Wanna join us?"

He just glared back at me and looked away.

"Reminds me of someone else I know…" I thought as I looked over at Rarity. "Well, how she used to be at least."

"What's wrong?"

Braeburn stood up and stomped on the ground. He then turned to me and said "Look, I don't want to talk to you! Just go away, okay?"

"Dude what's your problem?! I was just inviting you to-"

"I don't want to!"

Before I knew it, we were fighting. But this wasn't a battle, we were just pounding away at each other. Soon after we began, the others came running over, trying to break us apart.

Sparkle first called out to us, "Pen?! Braeburn?! What's going on guys!?"

Sparkle tried to use Spark on us but she missed. Rainbow began to cry while Graveler and Machoke tried to hold us back. It was utter chaos. Right then, I heard a voice call out.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

At that moment, Braeburn stopped hitting me with his hooves. We looked up to see a very angry trainer.

"I will repeat, what do you think you're doing?!"

I was too afraid to look Mel in the eyes. I knew she was angry. I just knew it.

"Rarity, take Pen over by Quinny to cool down. Sparkle, you go calm Braeburn down. Afterwards, bring them to me for a talk. Right now I need to tend to Rainbow."

Mel picked Rainbow up and began to sooth her crying. Rarity followed orders and brought me away from everyone. I looked back to see Sparkle walking with Braeburn. I don't know why, but I didn't want him near her.

"-en! Pen!"

"Huh? What?"

"What happened back there?" Rarity asked with a concerned tone

"I honestly don't know. I was just inviting him over to play and he just shouted at me. Before I knew it, we were fighting."

Rarity began to inspect me and then reached for my left flipper. When she grabbed it, I could feel my face heating up.

"You're bleeding."

"What?"

"I said you're bleeding. Look, you have a gash here! We need to tell Quentin."

Rarity ran over to Quentin and pulled him over to inspect my flipper. He then sprayed it with some Potion and wrapped it up. It stung a lot but it was effective. Then he returned to preparing lunch with Mel.

"Do you feel better now Pen?"

"Just a bit. How do you think Sparkle's doing with Braeburn?"

At Sparkle's name, Rarity made a sour face and just replied, "Just fine!"

Then she hopped away to help out Mel.

Really strange…

-Sparkle-

I did what Mel told me and somehow got Braeburn to follow me. I decided to take him near some trees so we could sit in the shade. When there, he wouldn't talk to me at all.

"Braeburn, what's wrong? Why did you guys fight back there?"

"It's none of your business!"

"If my friends are involved then it is!"

We stood there for a moment, just glaring at each other. He then sat down and just said "Who said we're friends?"

"I did! Look, I know you're a good guy Braeburn. Pen is great too. I don'tt want to see you guys fighting."

"Why do you care about Pen so much?"

I thought about my answer for a few seconds. Why do I care for him so much? I finally came up with a reason.

"Well, I guess you could say he's… very important to me."

"Huh, if I didn't know any better, I would say you liked him or something."

"What!? I told you! He's just an important friend! Besides, we're here to talk about you, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Look, I'm cool now! You can go now."

"I told you, I won't leave my friends behind. I'm staying here until you stop being Mr. Grumpy-pants."

I sat down next to Braeburn. He just turned his head and began muttering.

"Annoying…"

So this time I wrote a pretty short chapter. I don't think I'm going to write anything longer than eight pages now.

So anyway, I'll try and make the next chapter better. As for why I shoved Stan in the box that was because I was planning on training my Togepi to become an awesome Togekiss. That way, she would be my main Flying-type. And yes, I used a Heal ball because I was too lazy to go back into Hearthome.

See you next chapter!