Chapter Eight: Professor Maple Returns
"Nari! Nari!" Nari and Jukla heard a voice while they were training and they went to see who it was. They soon saw that it was Professor Maple.
"Oh, Nari," he said. "I was looking all over for you. I forgot to give you this." He took a PokeDex out of his bag. Then, realizing that Jukla was with him, he added, "Oh, hello, Jukla."
"Thanks," said Nari. "Jukla told me that you gave her one. And look at what I caught. He took the PokeBall with Squirtle off his belt.
"Go, Squirtle," he said, throwing on the ground.
"Squirtle," said Squirtle.
"Why, that's a Squirtle," said Professor Maple happily. "Why, my good friend Professor Oak hands those out as starter Pokemon."
"Professor Oak," said Jukla. "I've heard of him. He was the first Pokemon Professor to start handing out starter Pokemon to beginning trainers. I've heard all about him. As a matter of fact, my big sister Karla got her starter Pokemon from him four ago. She chose Bulbasaur. She said they also had Charmander."
"Wait a minute," said Professor Maple. "Are you talking about Karla Havensby?"
"Sure am," Jukla replied.
"Oh, she was one of the top 32 in the Hoenn League. And that battle between Venusaur and Groudon…so close. As a matter of fact, is Stacey hadn't had Groudon use Fire Blast, Karla would've won for sure!"
"I know. After seven badges in the Indigo League she got very ill and missed the tournament. And then she lost the first battle of the Helk League. Then she tried out the Yellow League and made into the top 128. And then she went to the Orange League and lost in the third battle. Then she tried out Hoenn and made it into the top 32. And in the Twilight League she lost the third gym sixteen times so she just gave up. Now she's competing in the Graint League. She already has three badges. I've always wanted to go compete in the Pokemon League like her."
"I can imagine," said Professor Maple. "Now, why did I come here again. Oh, yes, to give you your PokeDex. Well, here you go." He handed Nari the PokeDex.
"Okay. Well, we'd better get going. Bye!"
"Oh, Nari," said Jukla. "Where's Articuno?"
"I left him in the grass. I just got him, so I've just been carrying it around. I've never got around to putting him on my belt yet."
So they went back to the area where they were, but when they looked at the ground, they gasped in horror at what they saw.
Articuno was gone.
