AN- I would like to give my deepest thanks to SuliMike23, DarkCatXX, Dark Destiny, and FireRose, Lady FireRose, for their reviews. Thank you so much for reading my story, and I hope you continue to like it!

Chapter 3

We had finally gotten out of the forest. Sort of. The forest split and there was a clearing, actually, it was rolling hills of grass, in the middle. There was still forest on either side of us.

"Isn't this nice?" I asked Beowulf.

"It's so peaceful..."

Suddenly Beowulf's ears perked up and he growled. A second later we heard a loud "MARRREEP!" of distress.

"So much for peaceful" I said as we ran toward the sound. We topped a hill and I was appalled, and enraged at what I saw. Two boys about my age were torturing a Mareep! They were throwing things at it and advancing on the poor thing with a pair of shears, and an evil expression. Beowulf barked and I shouted,

"HEY! Stop!"

We ran down the hill and stood between the Mareep and the idiots.

"What do you think your doing?" idiot 1 said.

"Get out of our way!" idiot 2 added and reached out to grab me. Beowulf growled and snapped his teeth at the hand.

"Is this YOUR Mareep?!?" I asked them accusingly.

"Of course not. This is a weak pathetic Pokemon that we thought needed a shave." Idiot 1 replied and snapped his shears together suggestively.

"Mareeps NEED their wool!" I told them angrily.

"If one needs to be sheered, you need to go to a professional!"

"What do you know?" Idiot 2 sneered.

"Now get out of our way!"

The poor Mareep, started to cry.

"NO" I said to them angry that they had made it cry.

"Then we will have to force you to go!" Idiot one replied

"Pokeball! G-" he was about to say when Beowulf, as angry as or angrier than I was leaped and bite his hand.

"YOWWW!" Idiot 1 screeched.

"Beowulf! Let go!" I yelled, as much as I wanted to make the idiots pay, I didn't want Beowulf to go around biting people. He reluctantly let go and went back to my side. Idiot 1 cradled his hand and Idiot 2 look at us in rage.

"Why you little!" he said and brought up his hand to slap me when Beowulf Emberred both of them.

"YAHH" they yelled. I looked at them coldly.

"Leave NOW!" I said.

"If I catch you hurting another Pokemon, I WILL call Officer Jenny." They growled at me, but turned around and ran away. Idiot 1 yelled over his shoulder,

"You will pay for this!" I wasn't listening. My attention was on the Mareep.

"hey.its okay.don't cry.." I told it softly, stroking it. Beowulf looked at it in pity. Mareep looked up and stopped crying.

"That's better." I told it. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a bit of pokechow I was planning to give to Beowulf, and gave it to the Mareep.

"Dour, hound." Beowulf woofed softly at it in a kind voice. As I stroked the Mareep, I examined it for wounds.

"My..those mean boys hurt you quite a bit didn't they?" I told it. I pulled out my second to last potion and let the Mareep drink it.

"Feel better?" I asked it. It, no, she nodded her head.

"reep." she said quietly.

"You're a very young Mareep." I told her.

"Don't you have a herd?" She shook her head and sniffled a bit. I picked her up and set her on my lap.

"It's alright." I told her. Mareep snuggled up to me and sighed happily. Beowulf wagged his tail.

I stroke the Mareep for a couple more minutes than set her down.

"We have to go now, little one." I said to her.

"Is there somewhere we can take you?" She shook her head sadly.

"mar.reep."

Beowulf looked up at me and then at the Mareep. He nuzzled my pokeballs and barked.

"You want me to capture her?" I asked him.

"dour" he ruffed. I looked at Mareep who was looking at Beowulf and me in confusion.

"It would be her choice." I said to him, uncertain. Beowulf turned to Mareep and barked to her.

"dor hound dour, hoooo dour dour." He said pointing at me and my pokeballs with his snout. Mareep listened intently then said

"MAR EEP!" happily. I laughed.

"I guess that means you want to come huh?" I asked her grinning, then my expression turned thoughtful.

"You need a name." I told her.

"How about Bo, from the poem 'Little Bo Peep'?" I asked her.

"reep." She said happily.

"cool." I said, then threw a pokeball

"Pokeball, GO!"

Mareep jumped into the pokeball and she was "caught".

I smiled down at Beowulf.

"That was a good idea you had." I told him.

"I probably would've given her to a Nurse Joy or something." Beowulf looked at me in amusement and we went back to the path leading to Goldenrod City. We walked for a while when Beowulf heard something else.

"What is it now Beowulf?" I asked him, sighing. I was getting tired of all the interruptions. He started to walk down the hill we were on. I turned and followed him. Then I heard the sound of moving water.

"You heard a stream?" I asked him.

"cool, we can stop and rest a bit."

"Dour" Beowulf replied. We went through a small group of trees. When we came out of it, I saw the stream. Sitting on its bank was a teenaged boy. He looked about 16 or 17 years old. He had jet-black, short cut hair, with bangs that came over his forehead, and broad shoulders, from what I could see from behind him. He looked like he was writing something. Sitting on his shoulder was a Murkrow. The Murkrow lifted up its head and looked into the group of trees we were in.

"What is it?" the boy asked. Beowulf and I stepped out from the trees.

"Hi" I said. The boy turned around. He had bright green eyes. He also had a book and a pencil in his hands.

"Hi" he replied.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you." I said apologetically, rubbing my hands together behind my back nervously. I never did well with people.

"Beowulf, my Houndour, heard the stream and we thought it would be a nice place to rest."

"You're not disturbing." He replied with a smile

"Sit down if you like" he said patting the grass besides him.

"Thanks" I said shyly, sitting next to him,

"I'm Robin. I'm just beginning my journey as a Pokemon trainer"

He smiled and chuckled when he heard my name.

"What's so funny?" I asked him.

"My name is Raven, I'm a beginning Pokemon writer." he replied. I looked at him in surprise.

"Hey cool. We both have bird names. What's a Pokemon writer?"

"I travel around and write about Pokemon, their trainers, myths about them, etc." he replied.

"Sounds like fun" I said. He shrugged.

"I like to write, I like to travel, and I love Pokemon. So it seemed like a good thing for me to do."

Suddenly we heard our Pokemon.

"Houndour do dour?" "Murk row mur"

I looked a Beowulf in surprise. I didn't think he would make friends so easily with someone else's Pokemon.

"why do you look so surprised?" Raven, cocking his head to the side, asked me.

"Beowulf usually doesn't make friends that easily." I replied.

"Beowulf, come over hear and meet Raven."

"You too Murkrow." Raven said.

"Raven," I said once the Pokemon came over,

"This is Beowulf, my first Pokemon. Beowulf, this is Raven."

Beowulf grinned and offered his paw. Raven took it and said

"I've never seen a Houndour, though I have heard about them so I'm very pleased to meet you."

He let go of Beowulf's paw and Murkrow flew up to me.

"Robin, this is Murkrow. She's my first Pokemon."

I reached over and scratched the tip of her beak.

"Murk." she squawked happily. Raven laughed at her expression and I smiled.

"Very pleased to meet you." I said.

"Murkrow is happy to meet a good scratchier." Raven said, chuckling a bit.

"Krow!!" Murkrow agreed and all of us, including the Pokemon, laughed.

"How long have you been a trainer?" Raven asked me as we watched our Pokemon talking together. I grinned,

"oh.. about 2 days now." I replied.

"That long?" he said sarcastically.

"How many Pokemon do you have?"

" 4 if you include the one that is at the Professor's house." I told him about the Ariados.

"wow." he said.

"It's a good thing your other Pokemon were out."

"Don't I know it." I agreed.

"speaking of Pokemon, do you mind if I let the rest of mine out?" I asked.

"not at all" he replied.

"Come on out you two." I said, tossing their Pokeballs. Bo and Falcon appeared. Bo promptly settled herself in my lap and Falcon flew to my shoulder. Then they looked around and saw Raven and Murkrow.

"Pidg?"

"Mar?" I pointed to Raven,

"this is our new friend Raven. Say hello." Falcon flapped onto his shoulder and looked him up and down. Then she chirped her approval. Raven laughed.

"Pleased to meet you"

Bo looked at Raven cautiously. He was similar to those guys who had hurt her.

"It's okay.." I told her.

"He's our new friend." She looked up at me and then at Raven. She wouldn't get off my lap though. Raven bent down and said softly

"hey babe. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. You look like a strong Mareep. I'm sure you will battle really well for Robin."

Bo sat up a little straighter. Raven continued to talk and compliment her until she slowly touched his hand with her nose.

"There ya go!" I said relieved.

"He's a nice guy isn't he."

"reep".

Beowulf came over, apparently deciding that Falcon and Bo should meet Murkrow now. Falcon and Beowulf persuaded Bo off my lap and to join Murkrow in the spot they had claimed.

"When I found Bo a little while ago, she was being tortured by two idiot boys. Beowulf and I scared them off. I fixed her up and she wanted to come with me, so I captured her."

"ah" was all he said. We watched the Pokemon play for a moment when I asked him,

"how long have you been out on your journey?"

"about two months." He said.

"Why don't you let your Pokemon out? I'm sure mine would love to make more friends."

I lowered my voice so that Beowulf, Falcon, and Mareep couldn't hear.

"I think they need the social skills. I know I can't help them in that area."

Raven chuckled

"you seem to be fine to me." I blushed slightly and said

"it must be you. Normally I'm not this social." He grinned and threw his Pokeballs.

"Come on out all!" A Bayleef, Phanpy, Misdrevus, a Ponyta, and a ..DRAGONAIR came out!

"wow!" I said. He grinned sheepishly.

"Guys" he said to his Pokemon,

"meet Robin!" I walked up to the group and gave a slight bow in each direction.

"I am pleased to meet the fine Pokemon that belong to my friend Raven." The Dragonair and the Ponyta, to my surprise and joy, were the first to come up to me. Raven made a surprised sound but muffled it. I hesitantly scratched Dragonair's chin and Ponyta's forehead. Dragonair sighed in pleasure and Ponyta made a little whinny of happiness. The other Pokemon came forward after this. They were taking took turns getting scratched when my Pokemon came over. Then they were all quickly occupied with a game of tag. I turned around and looked at Raven. My expression was one of joy. His was one of surprise.

"I have NEVER seen Ponyta take to someone like that, other than me, and Dragonair NEVER goes to a strange human in less forced." He looked at me and smiled.

"You must be really special." I blushed again and said to change the subject,

"How'd you get them?" "Bayleef I caught as a Chikorita pretty soon after I got Murkrow." He said "Same with Phanpy. I just battled them and caught them. Misdrevus was playing tricks on a small town I had come to. They didn't know it was a Pokemon, thought it was some sort of monster. She tried to play a prank on me, but I caught her instead."

He chuckled at the memory.

"Ponyta I found trapped in a pile of rocks. My guess is that there was a rockslide and she got caught in it. I freed her and took care of her hurt leg. She wanted to stay with me after that. Dragonair."

he stopped and looked off into the distance.

"Dragonair a dieing man gave to me. I found him on the beach, badly wounded. He told me that Team Rocket had come and tried to steal his Dragonair. He had fought them off at the cost of cost life. He asked me to take care of him right before he died."

"I'm sorry.I shouldn't have asked" I said guiltily. "It was none of my business."

"that's alright." He said with a smile. We sat back down on the grass and watched our Pokemon play. Bo was It. All of the Pokemon had slowed down a bit so that she wouldn't have that hard of a time tagging them.

As long as we're here, we might as well eat lunch, I thought. I had just glanced at my Pokegear and saw that is was 12:10. Just as I was thinking this, Raven asked

"are you hungry? I can make lunch for all of us if you are." I smiled and said

"I was just thinking about lunch." Raven grinned back at me and went over to his backpack.

"do you like Roast Beef sandwiches?" he asked me.

"Yes, but I don't want to eat your food up." I told him.

"It's ok." He replied. "What do your Pokemon like?"

"I've been feeding them Pokechow." I answered with a shrug. He pulled out two Roast Beef sandwiches, a couple of sodas, and some containers. I looked curiously at the containers.

"I make my own Pokemon food" he explained.

"I experiment with what each Pokemon likes and make special food for them. Then I write it down in my Journal. I would like to test some of it on your Pokemon." He said, then rushed on "only if you want me to of course."

I shrugged and said "I don't mind. It would be interesting to know what they like."

"Beowulf, Falcon, Bo!" I called. "Come here."

They had finished their game of tag and were now in a big circle talking. When I called my three, all the Pokemon came over. Raven's settled around him and mine came in front of me. Both of our birds settled on our shoulders.

"Raven wants to test some of his food out on you three." I told them.

"can you be his tasters for a bit?" Beowulf barked excitedly at the prospect of different types of free food.

"gy" Falcon said, which I took for an agreement. Bo looked a little cautious though.

"I'll be right by your side the entire time, along with Beowulf and Falcon." I told her while scratching her wool.

"There is nothing to worry about. I know you must be hungry from all the playing you did." That decided her.

"reep" she said decisively. I laughed and said to Raven "let the buffet begin!"

*******

"So Houndours' seem to like a sour taste to their food." Raven muttered to himself, he was writing in his Journal.

"pidgeys' like it better if the food is more mashed up, they don't really care about the flavor...Mareeps' seem to have a sweet tooth." He shut his book and I looked at our Pokemon. All were full from lunch and were getting a drink from the stream. I checked my Pokegear and saw that an hour had past.

"We need to get going if we want to get to Goldenrod City before nightfall." I said to Raven.

"Are you going to compete for a Badge there?" he asked me. "yeah.." I replied.

"Come on guys!" I called to my Pokemon

"we need to go!" Beowulf and Murkrow went in to a short conversation of whispers then came up to us.

"Houuu doo ou dour hou!" he barked at me looking pointedly at Raven and the path leading to Goldenrod City.

"Murk ROW urk!" Murkrow squawked at her Master. I rolled my eyes and said indignantly

"I was getting to that!"

Then I took a deep breath and turned to Raven,

"Would you like to come with us? Our Pokemon seemed to be getting along great, and it would be nice to have a human companion."

Murkrow flew onto his shoulder and pecked him lightly. "I was going to accepted" he told his Pokemon then turned to me

"We would all love to accompany you." He said grinning. All the Pokemon cheered. I laughed.

"I don't think we really had a choice in the matter." I said sarcastically.

"I had the same feeling." He said with a mock glare at his Pokemon.

"Time to go back into your Pokeballs" I said to my Pokemon.

"RETURN!"

We returned all our Pokemon except Beowulf and Murkrow, packed up, and started out.

The walk to Goldenrod City took about two hours. It didn't seem that long though. Raven and I talked the entire time. He told me about the places he had gone to while traveling and I told him about my town, the Professor, and my brother.

".. We decided that it would be better if we split up for a while" I said to Raven.

"other wise we would be fighting about who caught this and who battles that. Once we both have six Pokemon however, we will meet up again. We will also call each other when we when gym badges."

"I think I would like to meet your brother." Raven said thoughtfully.

"You will if Beowulf and I don't scare you off before I catch my six Pokemon."

Beowulf looked up and barked, "houndour."

Murkrow cackled and Raven said "we don't scare that easily. I'm afraid you'll going to be stuck with us for quite some time."

Then Beowulf barked again to get my attention. I looked up and saw Goldenrod City.

"That was fast" Raven said surprised.

"I can make go faster! Race you to the city!" I shouted and Beowulf and I shot toward Goldenrod City.

"Hey wait up!" Raven exclaimed and ran after me. Murkrow flew along beside him.

Don't forget to click that lovely little button at the bottom left hand corner of your screen. *smiles* see you at chapter 4!

:-P Oh yeah, disclaimer. Me no own pokemon, me own original characters plus the pokemon's personalities. We straight? Good