Chapter Three

Flames shot into the air as the pillars hungrily gnawing at the bark of the trees loomed in front of them. Horrified looks as the flames danced as reflections in their eyes, Ruby cried out, "How!?" Petalburg Forest was burning to the ground.

"No! I choose you, everyone! Electabuzz, Pichu, Elekid, Growlithe, Jolteon!" Lance yelled, tossing the PokéBalls in front of him so that the Pokémon all appeared. "Growlithe, go get Officer Jenny, Everyone else, gather some water to put out this fire!"

"Tsula, Everglade, Purel, Smoke, Aurella! Go!" As they appeared, Ruby gave her commands. All who could not use water attacks, gather mud, water, or anything else to put out or smother the fire. The Poochyena, Aurella, dashed two and fro, delivering water to everyone she could.

"Mateo! Use your Dark attacks to levitate the water from the buckets to put out the fire, and Aigen, do whatever you can to help! Pass water or something!" Gemini commanded. Soon, sirens began to sound, and bright fire trucks began to round the corners, with Blastoise's and Wartortle's pounding behind them. Ruby could only watch as smoke furled from the forest.

"KROOOOW!" Hearing a screech from inside the forest, Ruby's head snapped forward. "Smoke—Everglade? Where are you going? Everglade!" The Treecko ignored her trainers' cries as she dashed into the flaming abyss.

Everglade felt flames sting her sides as she ran, faster and faster, toward the source of the screeches. Finally, she crashed into a clearing, where a massive Mightyena, who was growling, was tearing around, fangs bared. It was panicking. A Murkrow quivered by the base of a tree, shivering violently. "EY! Lemme hel' ya'll!" Everglade yelled over the roar of the flames.

The Mightyena turned, growing slightly, and nodded grimly to Everglade. She scooped up the Murkrow gently in her jaws, and followed Everglade as she dashed between trees, trying to find the way out. Suddenly, a massive crash, and she was pinned underneath a flaming branch. She cried out, and a flash enveloped her. The Mightyena watched in awe as the Treecko disappeared and the Grovyle crashed a new path through the forest.

Ruby scanned the trees as Tsula fired Water Gun by Water Gun. Finally, she spotted two shapes leaping out from the blaze and dashed over, watching as the Grovyle panted, head hanging. "Oi…I…I ha' ta do dat, Ruby…" She was cut off by a rough embrace as the Mightyena smiled, letting the Murkrow onto the ground.

"Oh dear…Look at this Murkrow…" Gemini mumbled, stepping and scooping up the scorched bundle in her arms. "And this Mightyena…I never knew evolved Pokémon ran wild around here…" She gazed thoughtfully at the two and held out two empty PokéBalls. "What do you say?"

The two nodded, and disappeared moments later, into Gemini's PokéBalls. The girl smiled victoriously, and clipped them on the inside of her jacket. "Should we continue? It seems this fire is under control now…"

Lance and Ruby nodded, recalling their tired and hard-worked Pokémon, and walking on, toward Rustboro City…

"…I…Need…lunch…" Lance moaned, his stomach groaning loudly as the two girls stepped powerfully on either side of him. Ruby and Gemini gave a simultaneous groan, smacking their foreheads.

They had a quick lunch stop, and continued, until a small greenish shape darted in front of them, growling in challenge. The Bulbasaur was glaring at Pichu, who was glaring back with equal force.

"What? A challenger?" Lance asked, puzzled, and looking at the Bulbasaur. "Alright, Pichu, this is all yours!" The yellow-furred mouse leapt off Lance's shoulder, and lunged, smacking his shoulder into Bulbasaur and sending it flying back. "Go, Quick attack!"

Pichu obeyed, adding a little spark of energy as well and causing Bulbasaur to yelp out in surprise and pain. "Pi, cha, cha!" Pichu cheered.

"Now, use another Quick attack, and a tackle if you need to weaken it enough to capture!" Lance yelled, as Pichu growled. He dove, combining a Quick attack with a tackle and driving his head into Bulbasaur's stomach and making it squeak in pain.

"Now, PokéBall go!" Lance called, tossing a PokéBall. It smacked the Bulbasaur on the head, sucking it inside and wriggling once…twice…and it pinged approvingly! "I caught Bulbasaur!" He called victoriously.

"Congratulations!" Ruby said brightly. "Now come on, I want to get to Rustboro before dark." And so, the three set off again.