"Okay, why are you here, what do you want, and why did you bring him?!" asked Kara sharply.
Davis sighed and patted his clearly nervous Mightyena. They both blanched at the look in Kara's eye and the accompanying growl that went with it; supplied by Sundrop, of course.
"Look, I wanted to apologize again for what happened at the tournament, and I wanted Bluefire to apologize as well, in his own fashion. I also heard that you had a training center, and I wanted to ask if it would be possible for you to show me your training techniques. I'm sure it could help Bluefire and the rest of my pokemon... I'd pay double the normal price if you want."
Kara sucked in a breath. Davis seemed sincere, but what his pokemon had done was close to unforgivable. She wasn't sure if Sundrop could take the stress of having the male Mightyena close by, and was afraid that a fight for dominance could break out at any time.
Her fears were quenched however, for at that instant Bluefire decided it was time for his apology. The Mightyena crept forward with a plaintive whine, his head bowed and his tail lowered almost to the floor. Sundrop looked supremely surprised, for she stood frozen with eyes wide. Finally, with a delicate snort, she leaned forward and began grooming Bluefire's fur. The male took this as a sign of acceptance, and relaxed. Soon, they were both grooming happily, oblivious to their trainers.
"Well, I guess that settles it. I'll accept your apology again, and let you train here... at the normal price, of course. That includes lodging, food, and training materials."
"Great! So let's see this great training course I've been hearing about from everybody in this town!" said Davis with a smile.
"It's right out back; bring all your pokemon with you."
"Now that's a training course!" said Davis, awed.
He stood with his Pokemon, all of them overlooking the huge courses with respect. Kara noticed that the boy had a good team, complete with every type needed for a solid battle. Most of them were on fairly high levels, but a few were in need of rigorous training before their first serious fight.
The Shiftry she had previously beaten was there, as well as a Sealeo, Breloom, Skarmory, and at the very end of the line, a tiny Zubat. Kara admired all of them as they looked out at the course, and soon noticed that the little Zubat was abnormally cute. Its ears were huge compared to its tiny body, and the long, trailing tail that it had barely offset the weight of the ears enough to level out its flight. She giggled silently and walked up to the small creature.
"Who's this?" she asked, holding her hand out to the small bat.
"I call her Amplitude," said Davis, "Watch out, though, she bites."
He looked on dubiously as the Zubat carefully sniffed Kara's outstretched hand, and then extended a tiny foot to perch on her finger. Kara stroked its velvet fur softly, and it purred in contentment.
"Who else do we have?" asked Kara, looking at the other Pokemon.
"Well, the Shiftry doesn't have a name yet, he hasn't earned it. The Sealeo is Dragonbane, the Breloom is known as Wanderer, The Skarmory is named Swordfeather, and you know Bluefire."
"Why doesn't the Shiftry have a name?" asked Kara, still not quite understanding.
"Well, I wait until all my Pokemon have won at least one battle on their own before I name them, so he hasn't yet earned his name. I'm hoping to change that here, though."
"Oh, I would have thought you would want to train this little beauty," said Kara, crooning to the Zubat.
"Well, she's actually a really great battler. She gave me a real fight before I was able to capture her!"
"Well, why don't we let all our Pokemon out on the field, and you can tell me about it?"
"Okay," said Davis. He opened the gate, and the Pokemon piled in with enthusiasm.
The little Zubat squeaked and flew off Kara's finger, ready to join the fun. Kara laughed and let her Pokemon out as well, so they could explain the ropes to the newbies. As soon as she was certain that all would be well, she led Davis to the table and sat down.
"So, what's the story?"
"Well, I was traveling in this huge cave near Dewford; not the one most people talk about, this one was much different. It looked as though it had been hidden for ages! So Bluefire and I decided to explore it a little, not too deep, but enough to get a small idea of what kinds of Pokemon lived there.
"Well, we saw tons of Zubat, and some Aron, but then we saw Amplitude flying around. We thought it was the strangest thing to see, because such a small Zubat is almost unheard of. I had the bright idea that I was going to catch her.
"So, I sent Bluefire to attack, and the battle was on! She was so quick, that we were lucky to get even one hit, but fortunately she wasn't on a high level, or we would have been beaten for sure. After we had finally tired her out, I caught her with a great ball I happened to be carrying at the time.
"We took her to the local center to get healed, and discovered that she was a very rare Zubat species found only in undisturbed caves. See how pale her fur is? That's because their species normally doesn't ever see the sun; they live their entire lives on cave bugs and the blood of normal Zubat."
"They"re cannibals?" asked Kara, intrigued.
"In a sense. They only drink a small amount of blood from each Zubat, so they certainly don't kill them."
"That's interesting. Is there any other remarkable stories you have about your Pokemon?"
"Nope, that's about it. All the others are normal for their species. I've never even seen a shiny Pokemon in the wild! Amplitude is the most interesting thing to ever happen to me."
"Was Bluefire your first Pokemon?" asked Kara.
"Yeah, I found him when I was ten years old. He was just a puppy, then, and was sleeping in a ditch as a stray. I cleaned him up and gave him a home, and we've been best friends ever since."
"You've been training Pokemon for how long?" asked Kara incredulously.
"Well, considering I found Bluefire when I was ten, I'd say about six years."
"That's kind of weird; most Pokemon trainers with your experience have a lot more Pokemon."
"Why, how long have you been training?"
"Four years. I got Volcano on my twelfth birthday as a present from my parents."
"Yeah, but I don't see any more Pokemon in your team than in mine!"
"I never have a chance to get any more," retorted Kara, "I run a Pokemon training course, remember!"
"I don't see any point in training more Pokemon than I need, okay," said Davis sullenly, "I like them as they are, and so be it."
Kara smiled, and nodded sagely.
"That's the best attitude to have," she said, "Congratulations, you just passed my test!"
"What?" asked Davis stupidly, "What test?"
"I wanted to see exactly how much you thought of your Pokemon, and as it seems that you never wanted to get rid of a Pokemon who was not a success at the start, and you don't over collect Pokemon, you passed."
"Since when was I being tested?!" asked Davis, surprised.
"Since you came wanting to train here," answered Kara.
"Why?" asked Davis, stressing the word and raising an eyebrow.
"Well, you paid me to train your Pokemon, but you're not going to get away without doing some work yourself!" answered Kara; "I'll rate you on how well your doing and how much understanding you have. Is that alright?"
"It's only fair," said Davis after thinking for a few moments.
"Good!" exclaimed Kara happily, "So lets teach you about the courses!"
She leapt from the table, heading for the rock course. Davis followed with a slightly miffed expression, wondering what this girl would think of next.
Sundrop walked with the male Mightyena, showing him the rock course with a bored look. She had done this duty countless times before, and the job had lost some of its luster in that time. Bluefire looked just as uninterested as she did, though he did look at the water course with some curiosity.
"That's about it," said Sundrop, "Any questions?"
"No, not really," said the male after a slight pause, "Well, maybe..."
"Yeah?"
"Do we really have to train now?"
Sundrop smiled, and shook her shaggy head.
"No, we're just checking out the course right now," she answered, "Training doesn't start until tomorrow."
"Good," said Bluefire, looking relieved, "Why don't we go sit in the shade? It's a little humid around here."
Sundrop looked around to make sure all the rest of the Pokemon looked as if they knew what they were doing, and nodded. The two Mightyena loped over to the shade, crossing the water and grass courses in the process, and lay down in the cool sand.
"So," said Bluefire after a while, "How were you caught?"
Sundrop raised an eyebrow, looking at the other Pokemon with a questioning air. He realized he had touched upon a sensitive subject, and lowered his ears a little. Sundrop snorted.
"Well, if you must know, I was caught by merchants," she said shortly.
"Merchants?" said Bluefire disbelievingly, "I thought you were caught by your trainer!"
The shining Mightyena barked out a laugh, a bright spark coming to her eyes for the first time since she began explaining the courses.
"Oh, no," she said, "My father had taken my brother and I out for our first hunt, and the merchants caught us off guard. They saw me and immediately caught me. Kara bought me from them about a month later."
Bluefire nodded, able to relate to the story.
"That was about the age I was separated from my family," he said, "I was out on my second hunt, and I tried to chase a Sandshrew. By the time it finally lost me, I was hopelessly lost and couldn't find my family or even a trace of them. I wandered until I came into a city, and lived there as best I could for a while... but then the food began to disappear. I was starving and near death when Davis found me in the gutter."
"So we're not quite as different as we thought..."
"Well, we were both originally wild," admitted Sundrop, "But after that the paths change a lot."
Really, thought Bluefire with a smile, I doubt it.