Chapter 2- Better Late than Never

"Linda wait!" shouted Misty's voice from a distance. "I have something for you!"

Linda glanced over her shoulder at Misty. The red head was running down the sidewalk towards Linda. She caught her breath for a moment then looked at Linda. "I found this for you!"

Misty held out her hand and in it was a Pokeball.

"Oh wow!" exclaimed Linda. "Oh, I can't tell you how much I owe you! What's inside?"

"Find out for yourself," said Misty cheerfully, handing Linda the Pokeball. She tossed it in front of her.

"Hor-seeeeeeeeaaaaa!" squeaked the Horsea. "It's not your every day starter Pokemon, but I hope you like it" said Misty.

Linda jumped up and gave the Horsea a hug. "Oh Misty, thank you!"

Misty smiled. "Here, take this too. Having your hair down could be… a nuisance. I traveled all over the world with this, and it never ever fell out."

Linda giggled and pulled her hair back into a short ponytail that stuck up at the end. It didn't catch her bangs, but they just hung to the side of her face and didn't bother her. Linda pulled out a small mirror from her knap sack and examined herself.

"Now you're looking like a trainer!" joked Misty. "Your parents wanted me to give these to you too."

Misty pulled out some things from her pocket. There were two earrings that glinted with gold light. On each side was a small gold star dangling from short, thin chains. "Your mom wore these when she caught her first Pokemon. She wanted you to as well."

Linda put on the earrings. "Oh, they're so pretty…" admired Linda.

"Well, I'm not one for earrings, but yeah" said Misty. "Your dad gave me these to give to you."

She pulled out 5 luxury balls. "Your dad, Kurt, made these for you. Pokemon dream to be caught in one of these babies."

Linda put them in her knap sack. "Thanks for everything, Misty! Tell my parents thanks too."

"Will do."

"Bye!" Linda was already running off, excited for her new adventure.

"Good Luck!" called Misty out after her, but Linda could barely hear her.

Misty shook her head. I wonder if Ash was so excited when he left Pallet Town.

Linda slowed to a walk. She was beginning to get lost. She looked around her. Everywhere were trees, trees and more trees. Suddenly, she lost her balance and tripped over something.

"Whoa!" screamed Linda as she fell into the dirt path. "Oh…ow…" she looked back at what she tripped on. There was nothing but a patch of grass. "Huh?" Linda saw the grass quiver, like it was scared. She knelt down and started digging. She heard a muffled cry of a Pokemon. "mmdsh… mmmdsh."

"Horsea!" she said. "I choose you! Use a gentle water gun and uncover that Pokemon!"

"Sea! Sea!" said Horsea. It squirted the Pokemon, spraying off all the dirt.

"Oh my god!" It was an Oddish. Someone buried it! "Oh hey little guy! Who would do such a thing to you?" The Oddish looked scared and hurt. "I better take you to a Pokemon Center, right away!"

Linda picked up the Oddish and held it close as she ran as fast as she could through the winding path until she saw a city. Not bothering to look around at all, she ran until she reached the Pokemon Center. She burst in the door and went up to the front desk. "Excuse me… Nurse Joy?" Linda said between heavy breaths. "I have… a Pokemon…"

"Take it easy miss" said Nurse Joy. Linda took a moment to catch her breath. "I found this Oddish on the path to here from New Bark Town. Someone buried it in the dirt!"

"Oh my." Nurse Joy shook her head. "Trainers these days… they think they can just abandon these poor Pokemon left and right."

Linda nodded. "Can you help it?" she asked.

"Yes, I believe so. I think I just need to fix a few scratches, then it just needs some rest and some fresh air. Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, I'm Linda" said Linda.

"Well it's good to meet you Linda. I'll you when the Oddish is fully healed."

Linda nodded and sat down on a chair near the desk. After a while, Joy came back with the Oddish. "Linda?" said the nurse, "Your Oddish is ready to go!"

"Oh thank you! But it's not my Oddish…"

"Well why don't you keep it? Obviously its previous trainer didn't want it. Besides, it's still a bit scared and probably can't handle the open yet."

"How about it, Oddish? Want to come with me on my journey?"

"Oddish Odd!" said the Oddish

"Sound's like a yes to me" said Nurse Joy cheerfully.

"Alright!" Linda jumped did a peace sign to no one in particular. "I think I'll name you… Belle."

"Say, I have an idea" said Nurse Joy. "Why don't you and your new Oddish enter the Blossom Tournament?"

"What's that?" asked Linda.

"It's a tournament held in Cherrygrove City once a year. They hold it in honor of the cherry blossoms growing, meaning cherries are soon to come. You enter two Pokemon, and you get assigned a partner with his or her own two Pokemon. Together, you two double battle two opponents and work your way up the draw. You have two Pokemon don't you?"

Linda nodded. "That sounds fun! Plus, I can make a new friend."

Joy smiled. "Well good luck. I'll be rooting for you! You sign up in that building across the street."

"Thanks for everything Nurse Joy" said Linda, and with that she walked in a room Nurse Joy said she could stay in.

"Okay Belle, get in your Pokeball." Linda said to her new Oddish. "Oddish Odd!" Oddish looked at her frantically.

"Oh, I guess you developed claustrophobia. Can't really blame you for that one. Well then, you can just stay out with me! It's good to have company anyway" said Linda cheerfully. Belle immediately relaxed, and as soon as they both lied down, they fell into a deep slumber.

---------------------------

"Okay, let's go sign up!" said Linda cheerfully as she woke up the next morning.

Linda and Belle walked in a large room made of marble. At the back of the room were several tables lined up in a row with, Linda guessed, about 13 clipboards. She walked up to one and read it:

REGSTRATION FORM:

All entrants must be between the ages of 11 and 18. To enter, you also must enter 2 Pokemon. Please fill out the form below. If you have no desired partner, simply put "none" for desired partner. At the bottom, please clip a picture of yourself. If you don't have one handy, there should be cameras near the clip board.

Linda picked up a pen from her knapsack and began to look down the form. It was like the usual form. Name, Age, Gender, Height, Weight, Hair Color. Linda hesitated. Hair color? Whatever, maybe its some sort of partners matching strategy or something. She began filling it out

NAME: Linda

AGE: 14

GENDER: Female

HEIGHT: 5'5"

WEIGHT: 115 lbs

HAIR COLOR: Blonde

EYE COLOR: Green

HOME TOWN: New Bark Town

Pokemon (M/F): Horsea (M) and Oddish (F)

DESIRED PARTNER: None

Linda then took a wallet sized picture of herself from her knapsack and paper clipped it to the registration form. She looked around to see two mean collecting the forms in a large box. She walked up to them and put it in the box.

"Excuse me?" asked Linda to one of the men.

"Yes, miss?"

"Do you know when the tournament is supposed to start?"

"Well, the opening ceremony is tonight in Cherrygrove Stadium. Then, after the ceremony, the competitors are introduced to their partners, and are given a dorm room. The tournament starts tomorrow."

"Oh thanks," Linda said cheerfully. "Where's the Cherrygrove Stadium?"

"It's on an island just off of the City. You can get there by ferry that leaves once every hour on the hour."

"Oh, okay. Thanks for everything."

"That's what I'm here for," said the man, smiling.

Linda and Belle walked outside. "Well Belle, I have the whole day to explore. What should we do?"

A voice from behind her answered. "Well, you could battle me, but I don't know why you'd even try." Linda turned. Ugh, oh great. It's Jorie.

"Jorie! Fine then, you wanna battle? Bring it on!"

Jorie smirked. "I have an idea. Why don't we practice our double battle skills? We need it for the tournament."

Linda frowned. "You-… You're in it too?"

"Of course I am. This tournament is world famous, you should know that Linda. Why else would I come to this ugly, dingy little town?"

Unfortunately for Jorie, a group of citizens walked by as she spoke.

"Dingy! I wouldn't be talking!" a boy who looked about 17 said.

"Yeah, you wanna mess with the 'dingy' members of this oh so ugly town?" piped in another one. Jorie backed away nervously.

Linda suddenly became aware that several more, in fact she guessed about thirty people were all surrounding them. She snapped back into reality when someone called out to her.

"Hey, pretty girl with the blonde ponytail! Kick her butt!" Several others chimed in, cheering for Linda. Linda blushed.

"Fine, ready to battle blondie?" snapped Jorie, trying not to look scared of the two who yelled at her. Linda nodded. A man from the crowd stepped into the circle.

"I'll be happy to judge this battle. You want a double battle right? OK folks, this will be a 2 on 2 battle, no time limit."

Jorie reached in her pocket. "Go! Blaze and Zach!" she yelled, tossing two Pokeballs into the air. Out popped a Torchic and an Elekid.

"Torchic- Tor!"

"Elekid!"

Linda took a deep breath. "Let's do it Horsea and Belle!" Belle walked up nervously, and Linda threw out the Pokeball containing Horsea.

"Seaa!"

"OddISH!"

"Begin!" shouted the man. The crowd was going nuts around the three of them.

Jorie seemed to know what she was doing. "So you have an Oddish, eh Linda? I caught one on the way here but I didn't want mine. Instead I buried it"

"So it was you that buried Belle! How could you do such a thing to her?"

"Meh, it bugged me. But enough talk! Blaze, use ember on that Oddish!"

"Belle! Dodge and use… uh… Sleep Powder?" Linda had never battled before now.

The Oddish jumped out of the way, but hesitated. "Odd!" Belle let out a green powder from its grassy head. It hit! But Jorie was taking advantage of the situation. "Zach, use Thundershock!"

It was a direct hit. Linda froze. That was a critical hit. "Horsea, are you ok?"

"Hor-SEA!" shouted Horsea.

"Yeah! Ok, use water gun on that Torchic!"

Horsea jumped and used water gun. Critical hit! Torchic fainted. Jorie looked angry. "Ugh, return then." Torchic returned to Jorie's Pokeball. The crowd let out a loud cheer for Linda. "Elekid, use scratch!"

"Tackle it Horsea!"

Elekid jumped up from the paved road and its claw started glowing. Horsea tried to dodge and tackle, but the claws hit their mark.

"Oh no!" Linda shrieked. "It's ok Horsea, you did well. Have a good rest. Belle, use Sweet Scent!"

"Odd!" Belle shook its leaves and out came an extremely sweet smelling powder. But the powder was let out too much! A pink scent drifted off not only to Elekid, but then to Jorie and the judge!

Linda caught a whiff of it too. She smiled. So sweet… Linda glanced at the judge. He had fainted! Jorie was sitting, holding her head. Various people in the crowd were looking dizzy as well, several fainted.

"Wha… Who…?" Linda fell unconscious, her last glimpse was of the cherry trees in the distance, blowing and sending off blossoms.

In Chapter 3- Linda enters the tournament and meets her partner