With a flurry of feathers, the Pidgey dove down towards the Vulpix below, causing Eric to step back cautiously.. best not to get caught in the fight. A nasty burn would end his Johto League aspirations quickly. With a graceful leap, Kazin leapt over the Pidgey, landing on its head.. clonk! While the vulpix was hardly heavy enough to hold down more than a few sheets of paper, it was certainly enough to down it.

"Alright! Good job, Kazin!"

Kazin muttered, sitting atop the Pidgey, so it wouldn't escape.

Eric gave a slow nod, pulling out a Pokeball.. with a press of the button on the side of it, it enlarged to a normal size.. with a grunt, he tossed it in the direction of the Pidgey. Kazin leapt over the ball as it came down, as not to get caught, and the ball touched the Pidgey. Turning red for a few moments, it soon disappeared into a red beam of light, which was then absorbed into the Pokeball. The ball fell to the ground, and began to shake gently.. after a few long, tedious seconds, the ball stopped shaking, and a soft 'ding' was heard.

"Alright! I got my first Pokemon!" Eric grinned happily, looking down at Kazin.

Kazin commented, closing his eyes, giving one of those cutesy Vulpix yawns. Thud. Eric somehow lost his balance, and fell right over.. how odd. Rubbing the side of his head, he slowly stood, and picked up his new Pokemon. "So.. Are you going on your way yet?"

Kazin explained, moving on down the road. Eric quickly followed. "Aw. C'mon. You know you wanna hang out with me, and become the famous rare Vulpix that defeated the Johto League.."

"Very funny."

----

The next week passed with relatively little troubles at all. Kazin spent any offtime training Eric's Pidgey, and it was coming along well.. by the end of the week, full of Pokecenter visits, battles, and trainer battles (which Eric all won.. once the Pidgey was down, Kazin made short work of everything else the trainers threw at him), the Pidgey, during a training session, began to glow.

Kazin called, glancing back over at him. Fishing pole in hand, Eric rested at the side of the river, in hopes to catch some kind of good aquatic Pokemon. "Eh? What's up?" He noticed the light. "Woah! Wicked!"

He dropped his fishing pole, and took off towards Kazin and his Pidgey.. when it finally stopped glowing, it looked alot larger.. powerful.. more deadlier. A Pidgeotto. "Aw, right! I had forgotten that the Pidgey evolved into a.."

Kazin rolled his eyes.

Bringing out the Pokedex, he opened it, pointing the blue scanner towards his Pidgeotto, which began pecking the ground, searching for worms or something to eat.

~"Pidgeotto. A bird Pokemon. Evolved from the Pidgey. While most trainers raise the Pidgey solely to have a Pokemon large enough to allow them to fly, the Pidgeotto also evolves into the Pidgeot, which is larger, and more suited for human flight."~

"Pidgeot.. that's pretty swell. I think i'm ready for the first Johto League badge.." At that point, Eric had remembered his fishing pole, and went wandering back to find it. Kazin followed closely.. as they both wandered to the river, they noticed that his fishing pole was being tugged slowly into the water.

"W-woah! Woah there!" Eric grumbled, diving to grab his fishing pole. He succeeded, and began to tug like no tommorow. "Wonder what it is.. could be a Goldeen.. or.. a Seaking.. or maybe a Poliwag.. or.."

Fwip. Out of the water came a pinkish Pokemon.. it landed on the shore next to him, and stood there, looking pathetically stupid.

"Eh.. That's a.. a.. um.."

"Right. I knew that." Pokedex out.. scanning..

~"Slowpoke. A stupid Pokemon. The Slowpoke is generally unused by anyone more than the novice trainer, and is usually raised to become Slowbro."~

"Slowbro have Shellder on their tail.. soo.. wouldn't it be wise to evolve it before training it?"

"Ah, right."

"Slowww..."

-----

The battle took a short time. Pidgeotto managed to weaken the Slowpoke enough for capture, and the capture was successful. However, at this point, Eric was out of Pokeballs.

Eric took a short glance towards the Vulpix. "Who says? I remember reading, the first Pokeballs were created from nuts, hollowed out, and imbued with magic... eh.. okay, so, maybe you're right."

Eric's Pidgeotto looked up at him.

"Ah. Awesome. Pidgeotto finally made a mental link with me. Could you? I really don't want to go to town if I can help it," Eric requested, taking a seat beneath a shady tree. His Pidgeotto nodded, and took off into the sky, flying off into the horizon. In the distance, two teenagers crept through the grass cautiously, as not to startle wild Pokemon.

"C'mon, Jake! If I don't catch a new Pokemon soon, i'll be the laughing stock of the entire school!" the first young boy cried, frustrated. "If only my Oddish knew Sweet Scent.."

The second boy shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "Perhaps you should try not to knock the Pokemon out.. hey.." the second boy stopped, looking directly over at Eric. "Dude. He's that trainer that everyone's been looking for. Stole a Pokedex from Professor Elm.."

Eric looked up from his daydreaming, to notice the two teenagers. Kazin joked, standing on all fours from his sitting position.

"Eh?"

The two teens approached from the tall grasses, grinning broadly. "Hey. Professor Elm has offered a reward for the return of his stolen Pokedex.. hand it over, and we won't have to force you to."

"Oh?" Eric yawned, slowly standing. "Is that so? I think, if I were you, i'd back off."

Kazin muttered, hopping off to disappear into the tall grasses, leaving both Slowpoke and Eric behind. "Aw.. aw, damn.."

"Lose your acomplice in crime? Too bad. Now it's time to take back that Pokedex..! Go! Oddish!"

In a glow of red light from the thrown Pokeball, out pops the Oddish. It dances around for a moment, before uttering a cry. The first boy steps in, as well. "Go! Koffing!"

With a cry, the Pokemon emerged from its Pokeball, puffing its internal smoke in every direction. Two against one.

"Aw.. crap.. eh.. Slowpoke! Use Confusion on that Koffing!" Eric commanded, pointing towards the two trainers. It glanced in Eric's direction, and gave him a blank look.

"Slow?"

Eric produced the Pokedex, and pointed it at the Slowpoke.

~"Currently, Slowpoke seems to be using Amnesia. He temporarily forgets all orders and attacks, but the attack is usually much more deadlier."~

"Okay then.. Slowpoke, use Confusion!" he commanded again, pointing. Again, nothing.

The two teenagers laughed. "What a useless Pokemon! Only a beginner would catch such a useless.. guffoh!"

Glowing an array of colors, the first trainers Koffing slammed right into the first teenager.. both down for the count. "Grrr.. Okay! We have the type advantage! Oddish, use Absorb!"

"Slowpoke, Headbutt!"

"Slow..?"

While Slowpoke contemplated what the command was supposed to mean, the Oddish had ample time to latch onto Slowpoke, and begin sucking the life out of it. It didn't take long for the Slowpoke to fall under the type disadvantage. With swirls in its eyes, the dopey Pokemon was called back into its Pokeball.

"Out of Pokemon now, buddy.. ain't no-one to stop me from just taking that.. agh!"

Out of the sky swooped the long-awaited Pidgeotto, a small bag clutched in talon. It dropped the bag next to its trainer, and turned its eyes towards the Oddish.

"Finally! Good job, Pidgeotto! Now, let's take advantage of the situation.. First, use Quick Attack to catch it off guard!" Eric commanded, a determined glint in his eyes. Like a blur, Pidgeotto dug its talons deep into the Oddish, sending it flying into the sky. "Now, intercept it with a Peck attack!"

With a bit less speed than before, the Pidgeotto met the Oddish in mid-air, and began to peck wildly at it.

"Oddish, Stun Spore!" WHAM! Too late. The Pokemon fell beside its trainer, and was summarily returned to its Pokeball. Both teenagers got up.

"You'll pay for this, Eric! Mark my words!" Both trainers made a run for New Bark Town, tears streaming behind them.

Kazin chimed, moving out of the nearby bushes.

"Huh? Are you sure?" Eric sighed, sitting, rummaging through the bag. Some grass, and a couple of Pokeballs. About three total. Also, a small purple spray bottle rested at the bottom of the bag. It seems Pidgeotto picked up anything man-made. The potion was pulled out, and spritzed onto the Slowpoke. The Slowpoke slowly came back to the concious world, looking oblivious to the pain it had recieved. It moved towards the river, and stuck its tail in, almost out of instinct.

Kazin gave a short nod, and gave a cute 'Vul!', before leaping off into the thick grass.

"Take care, then, Kazin.."

Eric moved back over to the river, sitting next to Slowpoke, grabbing his fishing pole, casting the line into the water. The bobber rested above the water, untouched.

----

"Excuse me.. excuse me..? Hey! I'm talking to you!" a feminine voice chimed, finally hinting frustration. It was enough to bring Eric back to reality from his nap. "You're Eric, right?"

"Eh? Huh?" Eric glanced around.. female figure, Pidgeotto gone, and Slowpoke swimming dopely in the shallow water near the edge of the river. "Oh.. yeah. What's it to you?"

The female sat next to Eric, and leaned back against the tree trunk. She pulled out some bait, and a fishing pole, casting her own line into the water. "No reason. Everyone's been talking about you. You're becoming pretty popular. Alot of trainers are looking for you."

"I noticed. So, why're you here?"

"The name's Mistral. This is my usual fishing spot. I've been fishing for a Slowpoke for the longest time, but it looks like you beat me to it," Mistral sighed.

Confusion set in for Eric. "I was told that Slowpoke were basically useless, and weren't much for battle.."

"Not really. A properly trained Slowpoke will learn to evolve into Slowbro. At that point, it will be much smarter than your average Slowpoke, and will be a formidable foe in battle," the girl smirked knowingly, twitching the fishing pole slightly. "But i'm more in it for Slowking."

Eric's eyes turned to the girl. "Slowking?"

"A newly discovered Pokemon. It's said there's only a few of them in the world, and the way to get one is incredibly difficult. However, the Slowpoke rush has begun, and most of the Slowpoke are moving downstream to avoid capture."

"So, how would I get mine to evolve into a Slowking?"

"It's simple. Scientists are pondering how to do such wonders, but I found out the way from a good friend.. first, you put out some of Shellder's favorite food, and have your Slowbro put it on its head. That's SlowBRO, not Slowpoke.. then, the Shellder will travel up to the Slowbro's head, usually during the night, latch on, and the Slowbro will evolve. It's guessed this is because it's easier to get scraps of food from the head than the tail," Mistral continued, yawning lazily. Eric noticed she had gotten a nice tan lately.. probably from hunting Slowpoke all day.

"I see.. but what makes it so rare?" Eric inquired, moving his eyes to the bobber in the water.

"Other than there being only a few in the world, Slowking are much different from Slowpoke and Slowbro. Slowking is one of the first Pokemon, besides the Alakazam, that has the capacity to learn human language. Not only that, but it can speak to other Pokemon, and translate it into our language.. which the Alakazam can't do. Mental links are proof of a bond between Pokemon and trainer.. but Slowking breaks all those bounderies."

This piqued Eric's interest.. with a Pokemon that could translate Pokemon talk into plain english, there was all sorts of things he could do.. not to mention, persuade Pokemon to join him without battle.

"But don't get your hopes up. Only me and Bill know the secret, and you.. so, don't tell anyone, okay?" Mistral glanced over at him, smiling.

Eric gave a slow nod. "Of course not. I have my own plans.."

"Plans?"

"Yeah. You could say that."

----- End Chapter 2