Training Days: Facing Those Fears and a First Job

Written By: Sapphire Mists

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Hello fellow fanfiction readers! Sapphire Mists is here and is ready to entertain you with my writing. But first, I want to make a few things clear.

1). I do not own pokemon. However, I do own Rosie and other characters who don't normally appear in the original storyline. I also own her pokemon names and personalities.

2). If you would like to use the characters and/or their pokemon, you must have my permission.

3). If you haven't read the other parts to this wonderful storyline, please do so!

4). As always, REVIEW THE FANFICS! PLEASE!

Here are a few things that you should also know.

Italics: Someone's thoughts

Bold: The other pokemon's thoughts

...: Translated pokemon speech

*!*: A battle sequence, if there are more than one, more battles are taking place

***: A break in the page

:...:: Inside the Crystal Ball

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Prologue

Hey guys! What's up?

I'm doing great now that my wounds are practically healed.

It's been a strange week.

My on the road family and I arrived on Coconut Island.

I was so glad to be home and Dew played a little trick on me. It was quite clever. He had sprayed me with a water gun and that forced me into the cold water. I had to swim all the way to shore.

Once we got to our beautiful house on Coral Road I gave my friends a tour while looking for my parents.

They really thought that the house was beautiful, I do too.

To my surprise Darwin, my Mom's first pokemon ever was out his pokeball and roaming around the house. I gave him a big hug; I hadn't seen him in years!

Then we went to the greenhouse where my mom raises the flowers. She was there watering her geraniums with hey shy Weepinbell, Timid.

She told me some shocking news. She announced that she was five months pregnant. I fainted once and was on the verge of fainting again at one point. Everything was just happening so fast!

So we went into the house and helped ourselves to some ice cream and pie. It was excellent of course; Mom's an excellent baker.

Soon Dad came home and we caught up on a few things.

We watched news together and my friends and I heard of the notorious gang called the Barbed Wires.

Much to my surprise, on my way home with my training supplies they attacked me.

I sent out Artemis and she shot them down with her gentle shafts, also known as arrows. For some odd reason The Odyssey written by Homer is in my head, he uses that to describe Artemis's arrows. Artemis is the goddess of the moon and the hunt so I named my Gligar that naturally because she even has a crescent moon on her forehead! (AN: I, Sapphire Mists, have just finished reading that book in Literature! I like Greek Mythology!)

Ellie laid the smack down on a Houndour with a bad attitude.

I, however, had to take on the leader. He was tough and got in a few good hits. But I took care of him until someone grabbed me from behind. Artemis shot down the cheater and Ellie punched out the leader.

I ended up in the hospital for treatment of my wounds.

While I was in the hospital Nikki Kong, the reporter for News 7 interviewed me. I answered to her questions with such expertise that it shocked even her.

I received the five hundred-dollar check for helping discover the whereabouts of the gang and an honorary plaque that I put up on my wall.

I also opened a bank account and took out every single pokemon that I owned.

This is where the last story ended, now let's get on with this story!

The Actual Chapter

"That's it Dew! Keep it coming!" I urge him as I stand by the lake in our backyard.

Dew is there on the ground trying to blast me away with his water gun attack.

I think that it is kind of weak so that's why we're practicing it.

Dew is starting to turn red in the cheek area.

I know that he's giving it his all, that look of determination on his face gives away everything.

I stand there with my bathing suit on, crossing my arms. The water is really starting to hurt and sting my skin but I just keep on.

With a huge breath Dew releases a large beam of water at me. I brace myself and put all my weight down but the water knocks me off my feet and I skid across the mud that had formed due to the constant water.

I get up.

"Good job, do that every time you use your water gun attack." I tell him.

Okay Mommy. He agrees and stands there with a cute smile on his face.

I decide that I should test his reflexes.

"Think fast!" I say quickly and kick at him. I stop an inch in front of his face.

His eyes are tightly shut.

Darn! I'm going to have to work on that with him!

"Dew, we're going to work on your reflexes, you can't just have good offense, and you need defense also." I tell him.

Ok. He says with an eager look in his eyes.

"Let's have lunch first." I say and we walk back into the house.

All of my pokemon are out of their pokeballs. Lizzie is in the kitchen with Mom. Ellie is conversing with Vanilla. Crimson and Sparky are taking naps. Artemis is outside flying around the island. Sunrise is lifting up a vase with his mental powers and Blade is reading a book.

Blade looks up at me when he sees us.

Rosie, this was a great book and I want you to call me Excalibur from now on. I liked the role it played and I want to be known as that! He says with a grin.

My pokemon sure are becoming very individualistic. That's good I want them to come up with there own names!

"I will from now on." I say with a grin and walk into the kitchen.

"Hey Rosie, how did the training go?" Mom asks while she fixes a salad.

"It was fine; we need to work on our defense." I tell her.

Mom places the bowls with the pokemon's names on them on the ground near the corner.

"Lunch time!" She exclaims and the pokemon rush in and eat their salads.

"Here Rosie, it has your favorite dressing on it!" Mom says as she hands me a salad with Italian dressing on the top.

We're all on a diet and we're eating nutritious foods to help stay in shape.

I have a schedule that we follow every day!

At about seven o' clock we wake up and put on our running gear. Then we take a jog along mountain that's a mile away from our house. After that I take a shower and do some individual training with the pokemon. Then we just kind of blow off the day until six in the evening and then I do some more training. It works out perfectly!

Rika and CJ descend down the stairs and they sit at the table with us to eat.

I wipe the sweat off my head with the towel that had been covering me since I finished training.

"Did Dew improve on his special attacks?" CJ asks.

"Yeah he did pretty well as you can see." I say and point to my damp body.

"That's good. You've been really serious about this Rosie; I have to get used to it huh?" She asks.

"Yeah, we have to train. All of us! We all must be in tip-top shape. Not just the pokemon, it would be unfair!" I explain.

Everyone nods in approval, even the pokemon agree.

I take the silver fork and spear some lettuce and tomato oozing with dressing. I take a bite and the next thing I know I'm finished with the entire dish and I've downed the orange juice that Mom had poured earlier.

Mom decides to change the subject.

"I know that you're kind of busy but I saw something very interesting while I was out at the market with Darwin." Mom begins.

"What is it?" We all asked.

"I saw some job openings at the Pokemon Daycare Center on the other side of town. I wanted you all to apply there to get some extra money, plus it'll be good experience." Mom suggests.

"That's a great idea!" CJ and Rika exclaim.

"Mom! What about my training?" I ask.

"What about it? An important part of training is knowing when to have fun and when to decide to take a break." Mom says quickly.

Maybe she's right.

"OK, I'll do it." I agree.

"Well you should put something presentable on and hurry there." Mom says as she collects our plates.

I get up from the chair and run up the stairs into my room.

Rika gets there a minute later and walks to her backpack. She takes out a khaki skirt and a white blouse.

I follow her example and walk to my closet and I pull out some chinos and a white blouse with 3/4 sleeves. I figured it to look casual so I pressed over it with a steam iron and laid it onto my bed.

I go into the bathroom and take a quick shower to cleanse myself from the dirt that had been on me since training.

After that's done I walk back into my room with my towel wrapped around my body.

Rika is in the mirror, already dressed, and touching up her hair and lip-gloss. She's such a quick dresser!

I put on my underwear and then my clothes.

What am I going to do with my hair? I guess that straight will look nice with the outfit.

So I walk to my mirror and comb my damp hair until it falls perfectly on my shoulders. Uh-oh! It's past my shoulders again! Screw it, I'm not cutting it again!

"You look nice." Rika says as she slings a tan purse over her shoulder.

"Thank you Rika, you look nice too." I say.

We giggle and walk downstairs to the living room where Mom and CJ are waiting.

CJ's wearing an outfit just like ours. His blonde hair is slicked back and I have to admit. He looks hot with his hair slicked back; it kind of reminds me of the way Pierce Brosnan looks on Golden-eye.

"You all look...coordinated." Mom gets out.

I just smile and the others follow suit. I just want to get this over with and come back home.

"Bye!" She tells us as we walk out the door.

We just wave to her and the pokemon.

***

"Hello, I'm Eliza! Are you all here for the job openings?" A young woman with long green hair asks.

Hey!

She's not all dressed up. All she's wearing is a pear of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. All that we've done was for nothing!

"Yes we are." CJ says.

She gives us a once over with an inquisitive green eye and places her hand in front of her.

"You're hired!" She exclaims.

A smile creeps up to my face. She hired us on the spot!

"We're hired, aren't you going to interview us?" Rika asks with a bewildered look on her face.

"Not at all. A sweet woman with a Totodile told me all about you. I just wanted to see what type of people you were." She says with a grin.

I practically fall to the ground from her cheerfulness.

That mother of mine! She's so spontaneous!

"Is it possible for you to start at noon tomorrow?" She asks.

"Sure!" I say.

This job stuff is easier than I thought!

***

"Keep it going Darwin!" Mom yells as Darwin gives his all in a water gun battle with Dew.

Dew is holding his own out there to my surprise. One would think that he wouldn't be able to keep up with an experienced water pokemon.

Darwin keeps the water coming though. His water is much more coiled shaped than Dew's is. I guess that it has to do with his species. I wonder why Darwin hasn't evolved; maybe he just doesn't want to.

"Great job Dew! Let's switch things up, jump in the air!" I say with a smirk on my face.

Dew leaps into the air and sprays the water at an angle at Darwin. It hits him dead-on and he slides across the ground.

"Good idea! Darwin slash that baby!" Mom exclaims.

Darwin leaps at Dew with his sharp claws and slashes at him. Dew leaps from side to side but Darwin is right along with him. I've never seen them two move so fast. I'm shocked.

"Great Dew, use the skull bash attack!" I tell him.

"Do the same thing!" Mom says.

The pokemon butt heads and are forced back from the blow. They collapse to the ground in a heap but get right back up.

"That's enough for Dew today." Mom says.

I nod my approval and Dew jumps into my arms at the same time that Darwin embraces my mother.

"Good job old friend." She whispers and gives him a peck on the cheek.

"That was excellent Dew, I never knew that you were so fast!" I exclaim and hug him close.

Thanks Mommy. I'm proud of myself. He says as he hugs me.

"Why don't you go get our water bottles?" I ask Dew.

He immediately bounces on his tail to the kitchen and gets our bottles from the kitchen table.

He bounces back to me and sprays the bottle into my hand with his water gun attack.

I like the way that he isn't as dependent on me now that we've started training. I also like the way that he obeys my commands, it's sweet and yet he still loves me nonetheless.

"Thanks babe." I say and take a swig from the plastic bottle of Evian water.

I'll go get Sunrise now. He volunteers and he hops back into the house.

"That's so sweet, he' so loyal to you Rosie. That shows that you're a great trainer as well as a great mother." Mom says.

"Thanks, I guess."

I'm not sure how to take it. I mean, I'm not pregnant because I've never done anything in that field even though I'm dating a hot guy. Yeah, I'm a virgin and proud of it.

I know! She means that I have the potential!

The snow white Espeon of mines trots over.

Hey Rosie, are you ready? He asks.

"Of course!" I say and beckon to Mom.

We walk about twenty meters away and pick up the pack of stones. We're testing the power of his psychic powers.

"Go!" I say.

Mom and I hurl the stones at Sunrise. His eyes glow a golden color and he stops the rocks just before they hit him.

"Now!" I say and he lifts the stones into the air and sends them back at us.

Mom and I leap out the way before the hard minerals hit us.

"Great job!" I say.

He nods in approval.

"Teleporting is next." I say and run up to him.

"While I run from place to place I want you to teleport there. It will be confusing but you'll catch on, you always do." I explain.

We've been doing these maneuvers for a while now and he seems to get better and better.

I shake my head and run diagonally.

Sunrise appears right before my eyes so I switch directions and leap into the lake.

He appears in the water with a grin on his face and he lifts me out the water with his mental powers. Then he tosses me back in.

I climb out and jump onto a large stone.

As expected he's there too. I jump from rock to rock in the field of rocks that we had assembled. "We" being my family, friends, and pokemon.

I pant softly as he materializes everywhere that I go.

I stop at the last rock while standing on my left leg.

"You've mastered it!" I exclaim and hug his neck.

It was nothing. He says nonchalantly.

I give him a noogie on his head near the multi-colored crystal on his head. I can his booming laugh in my head and I just laugh. Understanding pokemon is one of the best things that someone has ever given me.

"OK, we better get to the physical attacks now." I say.

All right. He agrees as he teleports to the rock farthest from the last rock.

"Quick attack, now!" I exclaim.

He leaps from rock to rock as he approaches me.

I block myself from the upcoming attack.

He then teleports a few feet away from me and strikes head on with his skull.

I fall of the rock from the blow and land on the ground with a thump.

"That was pretty good, what was his time mother?" I ask.

"That was fifteen seconds Honey." She says.

Mom had been standing a close distance away timing the whole thing. She's one of my main-training buddies, actually she is my partner. She agreed on it saying that it would be better if she did it because she had been a pokemon trainer and in the Championships once before.

It wasn't the Flower League Championships, of course. Considering that it was just re-opened a few years ago.

"Let's try to get it down to seven seconds." I say.

Sunrise readily retires to his stone and waits for my command.

"Now!" I say and brace myself even faster.

Sunrise looks like a white blur as he moves and when he strikes me I forget what he was.

I get lifted off my feet and knocked to the ground.

That hurts! I wince from the pain. Then, I look at my Mom with watery eyes.

I wipe my tears away and ask for the time.

"That was four point eight seconds!" She exclaims.

"Great!" I yell and hug my wonderful pokemon.

"Okay we're going to do one more attack and then we'll quit for the day." I tell him.

Okay. He replies as he teleports back to his place on the rock.

"Future sight!" I yell and his eyes grow a golden color.

I begin to hop from rock to rock so that I can get to the edge of the water as quickly as possible.

I look back and see the sparkling green orb of energy.

I leap into the air. The orb hits me in the back and I get blasted all the way to the other side of the lake. I curl into a ball and land on the ground very hard but luckily I'm not that hurt.

"Excellent! Come on in!" I say.

Sunrise teleports to Mom, wraps hit forked tail around her and materialize into the kitchen.

Dad greets me with a warm towel and I dry myself off and walk into the kitchen.

Sunrise's eyes glow once more and all the water is lifted from his fur and held in a large airborne puddle above his head.

With a smile he flings it into the sink.

Mom and I smile in amazement.

Dad, Rika, and CJ walk in with smiles on their faces.

"We watched and recorded the whole thing!" They say happily and show us the whole session on tape.

I just smile.

Then we all go to our rooms for the night for it was late.

I take a long hot bath that soothed all the tensions away. That eucalyptus bath wash is really good, I'll be sure to stay stocked up on it.

After the bath, I slip into a white, sleeveless nightgown with lace at the hem of it. My mom had bought it for me a few years ago. I really like the way it looks on me.

When I walk out the bathroom Rika is already in bed reading a novel called The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. That happened to be from our large library downstairs in the den.

"I'm going to go check on CJ." I say with a wink.

"Ooh, someone's being a naught girl in her slinky nightgown!" Rika kids.

"Shut up! It's not slinky." I say jokingly and walk near the guestroom.

I peek around the corner at CJ in blue plaid pajama bottoms and a wife beater on.

I saunter up to him and wrap my arms around his waist.

He smiles and returns the hug with his strong, brawny arms.

"You've been giving it all out there." He says.

I just smile and look into his eyes.

"Do you think that you're overdoing it?" He asks full of concern.

"Of course not." I say and snuggle into his arms.

"Whatever you say." He says and climbs into the bed.

I scoot up on top of him and rest my shin on his chest.

"We haven't kissed in a long time." I say in a moping voice as I twirl my hair around my finger.

This always makes him submit.

He flips over and now I'm on the bottom and he's on top of me. I giggle at this movement.

We kiss each other passionately for a few minutes but it felt like it was for hours. He's a great kisser.

I suddenly stop and pull away.

"We'll continue tomorrow." I say seductively.

A scorned look appears on his face but I know it's all a gimmick. It's soon replaced by an eager smile.

"I'll be waiting." He says in a deep voice.

With a wave I sneak out of his room and run smack into my Dad.

Oops!

***

Excalibur and Lizzie clutch each other's limbs and try to force each other to the ground.

This is what I like to call a Pokemon Wrestling Match! I choose these two because they are equally matched up, well, almost. They're sparring partners.

"You can do it!" Rika, CJ, and I cheer on for both the pokemon.

Excalibur does something very clever and hovers into the air, then he slams Lizzie to the ground.

Lizzie gets up as she clutches her back.

Excalibur admires his work and fails to notice the clutched fist that decks him right in the jaw. He skids across the ground and touches his face.

Lizzie hurries and whacks him with her massive tail. He falls to the ground yet again; no doubt he was overwhelmed at the power of this femme fatale.

"Excalibur! Always keep your eye on the opponent, for you can always get tricked." I explain.

He nods in approval.

I won't make the same mistake, friend. He says.

"As for you Lizzie, great job." I say with a smile and walk over to her.

This was a long match. They were at a stalemate for a half-hour.

"Hey Lizzie. I want you to put all your weight down so he can't lift you into the air." I whisper.

Right. She replies.

After the advice was given I walk up to my companions.

"Let's go to the daycare center!" I say.

***

"Okay. Rika, I need you to fill up the food dishes." She says.

Rika sets off to do her job as told.

Eliza had just given us a tour of the whole facility.

It included the main building with a desk, office room, bathroom facilities, and a storage room at the end.

The outside, however, is the best feature. There is at least an acre of green grass and there is a large mountain full of trees and lakes. In the pasture are jungle gyms and all those fun things that we as children enjoyed ourselves.

"We're going to groom the pokemon!" She says enthusiastically.

We run to the middle of the pasture and Eliza pulls out a shiny golden whistle and gives it a loud shrill.

A herd of pokemon of all types floods from the mountains and to us. There were Mankey. Gloom, Pikachu, Pichu, Cleffa, Girafarig, Mr. Mime, and Staryu.

"Wow." I exclaim and look at the variety of pokemon.

Then we take a pail full of soapy water, a brush, a washcloth, and some polish.

Rika hurries back with the container of pokemon food that satisfies each pokemon's needs.

She lays it out accordingly and joins us in the grooming by taking on the Girafarig.

I begin to scrub the golden Staryu with a soft washcloth.

Ooh, that feels good. He sighs.

"Thank you Staryu." I say as I rinse him off.

Then I garb the jewelry polish and buffer that ruby until it sparkles.

I feel much better! He says and hovers into the air.

I smile and move onto the Pikachu.

I accidentally bump into it's cheeks and he releases a bolt of thunder on me. I scream in terror at the shocking experience.

"What was that for?" I ask quickly.

I'm sensitive in that area! She whines.

I just shake my head; I guess that pokemon act just like humans do. There are even snobs like this Pikachu who shocked me for touching her cheek. What the hell was that?

After I groom her along with many other pokemon we get into the dancing program where there is like a freestyle. I even join in and we all dance to the Pokemon song that was played by Rudy back on Trovita Island to train his pokemon.

After that there is a story time when we each read a fairy tale to a group of pokemon.

I learned so much about them, more than I could think of. All those individual habits, they take a toll on you.

By the end of the day, we didn't want to leave.

***

"Special attack!" I say.

Sparky and Crimson unleash their special attacks on each other but they dodge them cleverly. Crimson unleashed a flamethrower and Sparky unleashed a thunderbolt.

We're doing reflexes. I call out "special" or "physical" attack and they have to do so on hearing me say it.

"Normal!" I holler.

The pair leap into the air and ram heads, sending them both to the rocks.

"Special!" I say.

Crimson spits out an ember attack at Sparky's feet but he was too late. For Sparky was in the air and he rammed into him with a thunder punch attack that made Crimson squeal in pain.

"Enough!" I say.

The tired pair walks over to me.

"That was excellent you two." I say.

"Ellie and Vanilla! You're up!" I say and we walk into an open area.

"Attack me!" I say once they are assembled.

Vanilla trips me with a vine and a fall to the ground. But I land in such a way that I was able to handspring back onto my feet.

That was a good move.

Ellie soars at me with her leg extended. I leap back and grab her leg. I swing her around in an arc and she is sent flying.

I smile at my ability.

Vanilla charges me and I skid across the ground. She really did put some weight into that tackle! My body aches in pain from the blow.

I rise from the blow.

A smile spreads across Vanilla's face as she whips her green vines on my arms. I wince from the pain and she wraps the vines around my arms.

She twirls the lush green leaf around and sends three sharp leaves at my head. I escape the blow by ducking.

An idea comes into my head and I run straight at Vanilla.

A look of confusion shows on her face.

I slide between her legs and leap up from the ground. Now I'm behind her back and she can't see me but her vines are still wrapped around my arms.

I grip my hands around the vines and with a mighty heave, I pull the vines.

Vanilla gets flipped onto her back and kicks incessantly at nothing.

I really confused her.

I smile at my maneuver.

But what I didn't see was the cobalt blur that happened to be Ellie in scrunched up like she was a missile with her fist in front of her.

The blow makes me double over in pain, a pain that I had never felt before but I keep the tears from flowing. Enough of this crying mess; I'm too old for it.

I get up from the ground and get into a karate stance as if nothing had happened.

I had faced one of my biggest fears that had plagued me since I became a pokemon trainer. I was always afraid of being hurt by my pokemon. But I have that unbreakable trust with them now. The type of trust that nobody or nothing can break.

"Good." I say...