Heron was waiting at the park, as she'd promised, her ekans once again coiled around her. Mirus and Grim pulled up and she smiled at them.
"Hi," she said, appearing to have forgotten about the night before.
Mirus gave her a look. She sighed. "OK. What do you want to know?"
Mirus leant his bike against the park's short wall and said; "When I went round to your house last night, the man there told me that he wasn't called Stevens, and you said you were. But I could have sworn he was your dad."
"Simple: Stevens is my mother's name. She never married."
Mirus nodded. "Does your dad hurt you at all?"
Heron closed her eyes. "No," she said.
"But... what about..." he pointed to the bruise on her chin. "It adds up."
"Then why'd you ask?" Heron replied, furious. Her pale eyes had snapped open, but they suddenly closed again as she went quiet.
"Because..." Mirus sighed. "Listen, are you trying to protect your dad in any way?"
"Yeah, right. I just hate him, OK? I want to get out of that house he's taken over and get rid of him."
"I'm sorry," he replied.
She looked up. "What for?"
"You're mad at me, right?"
"Not you," Heron said, giving a small smile. "Never at you. You're my friend, right?"
"Thanks."
"I don't really want to talk about anything to do with my dad, OK?" She scratched Grim, who had come bounding over to see her.
"Alright. Tell me about your mum."
Almost to his surprise, Heron smiled and sat up straighter, ready to talk. "She was a bird trainer in the Tyoke league."
"That's why you're called Heron, right?"
"That's right. She was amazing. I don't want to try and copy her." She paused for a while, and continued smoothly: "She was champion for five years. I was born in Tyoke, and we moved here when I was three. That was just Mum and I. I don't know where Dad was."
"Is that why you want to go to Tyoke?" Mirus asked her.
"Mainly, yes. But I'd also like to go to live the whole thing that Mum told me about for myself."
He nodded. "Do you remember much of it?"
"Not much. I remember watching Mum battle once in the league, and I remember the house we lived in. Oh, and the island plan."
"You mean like a map?" Mirus asked her, eagerly. She nodded.
"Show me," he said.
Heron smiled and scraped dead leaves away from a patch of dusty ground, leaving it clear. Hunting around above her, she finally snapped off a long brown twig and started to draw.
The island, she explained, was like a four-sided star shape, with the south and south-east points fused together and the top very short. She started to mark out towns and a city, and a large circle towards the side, which she said was a forest. Heron added the last mountain peak and brushed away the excess dirt. "That's how I remember it," she said.
Mirus nodded, and leaned closer to depher her scribbles.
Heron pointed to each blob and circle with her stick, tip stained grey-brown, and gave an explaination for each. "That city is where you start. I think it's called Richgold, something like that. You have to go either clockwise. So, first there's the forest. I've got no idea what the name is. Then you reach Plainstown. That's got a gym with mice, I think. Or rats and rabbits."
"Rodents," Mirus offered.
"That's it." The stick waved in his direction for a second, before settling back onto Heron's map. "I don't know what badges you get for these gyms, but after Plainstown you have to go through a cave to get to Ancrock. That's got fossil pokemon. Then you go north-west to Florish town, whose gym uses--"
"Grass?" Mirus interrupted.
"No. Only type 3, 4 and 5 gyms, remember? Florish gym uses flower types. Then there're the mountain ranges, and Sky mountain. That contains the forth gym, that uses flying types." Heron sat back proudly. "Mum was offered a place as the gym leader, but she refused, because she wanted to move back to Kanto. Anyway, then you travel north-east to Richgold again, and the gate to the Elite Four is opened up if you have four badges. Any trainers who beat the Elite Four have to challenge each other to decide the Champion."
"Do you know what pokemon the Elite Four use?"
Heron shook her head. "It changes every four years, but there's still a theme. I don't even know what the theme is."
"What's that?" Mirus asked, pointing to a circle Heron had scratched in the middle of the island.
"The Reserve," Heron explained. "Only the Champion can catch pokemon there, and most of the rarest live in that place." She looked up. "I used to go with Mum once or twice."
"Wasn't it dangerous?" Mirus asked.
Heron shrugged. "Probably. But Mum wouldn't have let me come if she didn't trust me." She stood up and laughed. "We'll find better maps when we get there."
"Right," Mirus agreed. He grinned. "We're leaving tomorrow, remember?"
"Thanks," Heron said. "Could you thank your parents for me?"
"If you thank Mr Samuel for me."
"Done. He knew that dogs would be perfect for you. He knows everything." She closed her eyes and spread her arms out wide, still smiling. "I'm finally getting out of this place."
"How are you going to leave?"
She let her arms fall by her sides, as if she'd been yawning. "I'll just slip out like I do every day, and catch the ferry in Vermillon. Chances are he won't even notice I'm missing, let alone some of my stuff. I've already packed." Heron scratched Ekans as her pokemon coiled itself up her legs. "What time am I leaving?"
"I'll meet you here at twelve. The ferry leaves at two, and it takes an hour to walk."
"Thanks." To Mirus's surprise, she bent down to where he was sitting and hugged him. "You're a great friend."
He grinned. "Thank my mum and dad."
"You're doing that for me, remember?"
"Right." Mirus scratched his pokemon's head as across his lap. "And Heron?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for telling me all... that stuff."
"You're welcome." She smiled a warm smile that lit up her whole face.
The alarm was one minute early this time. Mirus didn't care. He didn't need to be fiddling with gadgets that beeped in his spare time, he was a trainer now. Grim was still curled up on his bed, and merely stretched out at the warning alarm. Mirus shook him awake.
"We're leaving today," he reminded himself as well as his pokemon. Grim sprang up immediatly and pawed at the door.
"Not this minute," Mirus said, quickly. He didn't want to wake up the house. "I need to pack."
It was true. He'd meant to do it last night, but he had been so tired... Quickly Mirus pushed various clothes and items into a backpack. That should be enough, he estimated. How long were they going to be away? A month? If he reused clothes, yes, that should be enough. He'd take some food with him.
The alarm told him that it was quarter to eleven. Mirus was startled. It took him how long to pack a bag? He quickly dressed, shoved a toothbrush into his bag which he'd forgotten, and ran downstairs, Grim following like his shadow.
His parents were both downstairs. His father gave him two tickets and his allowence for that week, and his mother hugged him as if she'd never let him go.
"Mum, Geroff! I'm fine," Mirus insisted. "Loads of people five years younger than me go on pokemon journeys, and I've got Grim anyway."
She wasn't going to stop him going, they knew that, but it was still a futher twenty or so minutes before he was allowed to leave. He gave one wave and turned away, too excited to be upset at all.
Mirus hadn't bought his bike (he couldn't carry it), so the journey was a little longer than usual, and Heron was already there as always, bag on her shoulders. She waved as she saw him and smiled.
"Did you get them?" she asked, breathlessly.
Mirus displayed the two tickets. "It's not twelve yet, but do you want to leave anyway?" He handed Heron her ticket. "Look after this so I don't loose it."
She grinned. "Let's go."
They set off, past the park gates, down a street leading south, past rows and rows of perfect textbook houses, and finally past a graffitied sign: 'Welcome to Vermil'. It was only a five minute walk from the park, but it was a symbol for the two of them. Heron laughed and made a rude sign where she presumed her house to be, and Mirus just stared at the road ahead, feeling that this was an accomplishment in itself.
The grass in the route was knee-length in places, and it was some time until they found a trampled path leading to Vermillion. When they did, they found themselves discovered just as quickly- the place was swarming with travellers, most of them trainers.
"I challenge you to a pokemon battle," said a boy, much younger than Mirus, wearing a battled straw hat. His face and ears were burnt red, even though the sun was not strong, but Mirus only saw a challenge.
"All right," he said.
Heron walked off a little way to watch the battle, but found herself challenged by a girl more their own age.
Mirus turned to his battle. Grim had already bounded forward. "One-on-one battle," he said.
"You don't want another chance?" asked the boy, who had been holding two pokeballs. "Why not?"
"I've only got one pokemon," he blushed, ashamed to be beta to someone younger than him. "Just battle me. Afraid?"
"You wish," the boy said. "Beedrill, go!"
The bug erupted from the ball as quickly as Mirus realised his disadvantidge, which was quite fast. He looked at his pokemon. He'd have to reply on Grim's speed.
"Beedrill, Twineedle!"
Mirus said the first thing that came into his head as the two spikes launched forwards. "Grim, Tackle!"
The two weapons plunged into the plush ground. But the soil beneth the green carpet was too hard for it to get stuck; the insect merely shook off the flattened grass and turned to look for its opponent, who pounded himself into its face.
"Good boy, Grim!" Mirus said, and the dog barked happily.
"Beedrill, Pin Missile!" the boy said, furious that his pokemon fell for that trick.
The wasp shook its frail-looking head and rose up from the ground, pointing its claws at the puppy. White washed over them, as if they had caught the light, then a thin needle shot out of each, missing Grim by centimetres. The process repeated itself over and over again, lightning-fast, as Grim moved futher and futher back, with no way to move forward. Shining spikes stuck out of the ground where the insect had missed.
Grim was panicking, and Mirus was too, though he was trying not to show it. Beedrill and trainer, however, were becoming more confident as Grim began to run out of room.
Something in the younger boy's smile shifted the monkey wrench in the cogs of Mirus's brain. Being beaten by him? By that, smiling, sunburt seven year-old? Being beaten by a girl was one thing, but by him..
"Grim," he shouted, hardly knowing what he was doing, "use Bite on the grass!"
The boy grinned. "Keep Pin Missil'ing it, Beedrill."
Evidently the dog thought his trainer had cracked, but he jumped to the side and tore away a large pile of grass with his teeth. It came off easily in the crumbled ground, revealing a large patch of dusty soil. Several missiles dug themselves into Grim's back, but he ignored them until his work was done.
"Now," Mirus said. "Sand-Attack!"
Grim dug his paws into the ground, finally understanding. The hard ground which had stopped Beedrill getting stuck was fine enough to kick into its face. He scraped out pawfuls of the dusty ground, thrusting them into the air. Beedrill, confident of winning, had moved closer to the dog, and buzzed back as the dust stung its eyes and face. It fell to the ground in shock, but unharmed.
"Bite it!" Mirus commanded.
"Get up Beedrill!"
Only one order was obeyed. Grim sunk his teeth into the wasp's thick, hide-like exoskeleton at the neck. It left no mark, but drained the last of the strength from the pokemon. Its trainer sulkily called it back, and the stuck missiles vanished with it.
"Here," the boy said, as Mirus called Grim back. "I should have known better." He handed Mirus several notes, and sat back down in his position.
"Do they have nothing better to do other than sit around all day?" Heron asked from behind him, making him jump. She laughed. "I finished a while ago and watched you. You're really good now. Maybe later I'll ask for a rematch."
"Did you win?" he asked her, pleased.
In answer, she presented a roll of money, and flicked notes backwards. "This is great," she said, smiling. "Not only to I get to thrash people, I get paid for it too!"
Mirus wasn't sure whether she was joking or not.