is a friend indeed

They did not stop running until they reached the first village. There, in the shade of the very first house, they collapsed, totally winded. It took them a few minutes to regain enough breath to even think of trying to speak.

"Thanks," Bonnie said to her companion, still puffing. "I wouldn't have made it without you." She attempted to get up, but noticed she was shaking like crazy, and, doubting her legs would carry her at this point, decided to settle for sitting up instead.

"I think you would have," puffed the other girl, still lying down on the grass next to the pokemon. "That was a good plan you had. Thank YOU for helping me rescue my swablu, I wouldn't have managed it alone."

Bonnie smiled. "We made a good team, that's for sure." Even her voice was kind of trembling now, and that made her mad. She was no weakling! "I am glad we are out, and that everyone is fine."

"I think they are", the girl said, sitting up as well.

"Oh, and I'm Bonnie by the way. We didn't really have time for a proper introduction before…" Both girls laughed.

"I'm Laura. You have a lot of fine pokemon", she added, surveying the little band which had all followed them here.

"I don't," Bonnie replied. "Only Dedenne and Litleo are with me. I think the others didn't want to be alone, did you?" That last was addressed to the clefairy, bellsprout and espurr they had rescued. They nodded.

"That's surprising for wild pokemon, I'd have thought they would like to be as far from humans as possible after this."

Before Bonnie could answer, they were interrupted by a shout.

"Hey you two, are those your pokemon?"

Both girls looked up at the slim woman standing behind them, hands on her hips. Her uniform was a dead give-away of her identity. She had a suspicious expression on her face.

"Officer Jenny!" Bonnie exclaimed, relieved to see the policewoman. "No, not all of those are our pokemon, we just rescued the rest from a pokemon thief. Actually the thief caught me and my pokemon too, we just escaped. We need to catch him officer Jenny, else he will steal again, it would be awful! He puts them in those tiny cages and wants to sell them to the highest bidder!"

"What?" The blue-haired woman was flabbergasted. Whatever answer she had been waiting for, this fast ramble was not it. "Some pokemon, like Clefairy and Bellsprout, have been reported missing over the past two days, but I never expected something like this!"

"Oh, so they're not wild pokemon? Well that makes sense then!" Bonnie said. Trying to be clear and concise, she told the officer what had happened.

"Where did you say his base was?" Officer Jenny asked when Bonnie stopped talking.

"It must be about three or four kilometers from here," Laura replied. "The pokemon hunter said he would be back after he caught his next preys, so we must hurry, Officer!"

The policewoman nodded decisively. "I'll organize a response team immediately. You two, bring the rescued pokemon to the pokemon centre and wait for me there, I'll pick you up." She jumped back on her motorbike, making the tires screech in her haste.

xxx

Entering the pokemon centre, Bonnie and Laura saw a distraught old lady. They had hardly set foot in the reception hall that the clefairy sprinted in her arms. The woman beamed at the girls. "You found her! I'm so glad! Clefairy had been my faithful companion for years, I was so worried!"

Nurse Joy was approaching. "Officer Jenny just called. So which pokemon should I take in my care? Martha, I see they found your clefairy, that's fantastic!"

"Well, we also rescued Bellsprout and Espurr", Bonnie said.

"Oh, that must be the bellsprout that the young man was looking for yesterday!" Martha said excitedly. "When I went to see Officer Jenny because my clefairy had disappeared, there was this nice young man, he said that this bellsprout was his brother's favorite pokemon. He seemed quite anxious."

"Alright, then I will contact her office and tell them that that young man can come pick up Bellsprout here, and in the meanwhile I'll take care of it", Nurse Joy said. "I'd better check Clefairy and Espurr too. What about your pokemon?" She asked Bonnie and Laura.

Both girls shook their heads. "Officer Jenny wants us to lead her to the thief's lair," Laura explained. "I'd rather Swablu stayed with me for now, I'll bring him back afterwards." "The same for me," Bonnie added.

The clefairy and bellsprout went to Nurse Joy willingly enough, but the espurr seemed very reluctant. In fact, it was hiding behind Laura. The brunette knelt.

"Well Espurr, what is wrong? You don't want to stay with Nurse Joy? She'll take good care of you, and you'll be reunited with your trainer very soon!"

But Espurr did not budge. Instead, it was wordlessly fixing the girl with very wide eyes, as if trying to convey something.

"You know," Bonnie said tentatively, "it looks like Espurr doesn't want to be left behind."

"Is that it?" Laura asked the pokemon. "Do you want to help us catch the pokemon thief? You can come with me if that's your wish."

"Espurr!" The kitten's face shone with determination.

"Well, that was clear enough," Bonnie laughed. "Doesn't surprise me though, one look at Dedenne and Litleo and I know there would be hell to pay if I tried to leave without them both."

"Girls! Get in the car!" called Officer Jenny from outside. In a flurry of limbs, girls and pokemon hastened to obey.

xxx

"Do you think he'll be back soon?" Laura whispered to Bonnie. Both girls were hidden with Officer Jenny in the bushes on the south side of the cabin, while two more officers lay in wait directly behind it. Everything had been quiet since they arrived, more than an hour before.

"I don't know," Bonnie said. "He didn't say…"

She went quiet as she heard the now familiar roar of the jeep. The thief, or hunter, or whatever he wanted, was finally back. And not alone either. There was no sign of his trevenant, but as the car came to a stop in front of the cabin, they could see that the big cage at the back was not empty: an exhausted-looking furfrou lay on its side in the middle, its once-pristine fur dirty and matted. The man was whistling. He got out of the jeep and grabbed a pokeball.

"Freeze!" Officer Jenny shouted. "You are under arrest!"

Instead of complying, the thief immediately sent out his trevenant. "Forest's curse!" This time, the vines wound themselves around Officer Jenny, who hissed, but managed to send out her own pokemon before being entirely paralyzed. "Manectric, thunder fang!" The dog pokemon was quick and scored immediately, but trevenant hardly even flinched. It seemed quite resistant to electric attacks. From behind the cabin, the two police officers suddenly appeared, a growlithe and a liepard at their sides. The pokemon thief cursed, and before they could attack, sent out another pokemon. "Nidoking, use megahorn and then venoshock, and repeat!" The nidoking pounded on the growlithe, sending it flying. The man turned its attention back to Officer Jenny and manectric. "Trevenant, feint attack!" Manectric whimpered as the attack struck. "Again!"

"Litleo, fire spin!" Bonnie yelled. The flames momentarily stopped the tree pokemon, and the thief looked up in astonishment at the girl he thought he had under lock inside the house.

"Swablu, follow it up with repeated peck!" Laura exclaimed. The little blue bird was quite swift, and the trevenant faltered.

Meanwhile, a well-placed shadow ball from liepard had made nidoking stumble, and a second one had freed Officer Jenny. She sent her manectric against trevenant again, but the tree pokemon was far from beaten. With reflect then forest's curse, he immobilized both manectric and liepard.

"Watch out! He's going to use…" "Confuse ray!" Bonnie's warning came too late, both pokemon fell under the attack.

"No!" Laura shouted. "Swablu, continue with peck, it didn't like it! We have to keep it off-balance!" The trevenant was trying to catch its tiny foe, but swablu was fast. Time and again it attacked, until a well-placed feint attack sent it hurtling towards the ground. Laura's distressed cry was cut in mid-air as Swablu's fall was suddently stopped. Astonished, she saw the little bird hoover just above the ground, and as she ran and snatched it up, she noticed the trembling pink line outlining her friend. "Espurr," she murmured. The kitten had at first stayed hidden when the battle was joined, but now she saw that it was still intent on helping them to the best of its abilities. Swablu was out cold, but his courage had gained them valuable time.

While Trevenant was busy with Swablu, Bonnie and the growlithe's trainer had ganged up on the nidoking. A combination of Litleo's headbutt, Growlithe's flame charge and Dedenne's tackle had brought it to its knees, and a double fire spin knocked it out. The pokemon thief recalled it, swearing. Turning on Trevenant, Litleo and Growlithe repeated the double fire spin. Then Growlithe charged again, flaming, and Bonnie was hesitating between headbutt and ember when Litleo took the decision out of her hands. It went charging alongside the other fire pokemon, and flames were coming out of its mouth.

"Hey, I didn't know your litleo could use fire fang!" Laura said. "That's cool!" The dark-haired girl had returned Swablu to its pokeball and was now standing next to Bonnie with Espurr at her side.

"I didn't know either," Bonnie replied, surprise in her voice. "I think it's a new move. Litleo, you're amazing!" She shouted to her little companion.

The shock when both fire attacks reached Trevenant proved too much for the grass pokemon. Its use of reflect didn't save it from lots of damage, and an energetic flame thrower from the police officer's growlithe decided the issue of the battle. Instantly, the thief turned towards his car, intending to flee, but Officer Jenny was quicker, and she handcuffed him before he could take more than two steps.

Bonnie and Laura jumped in excitement and high-fived each other at the victory. Bonnie gathered her pokemon to her.

"Dedenne, Litleo, you were really great!" She told them. Dedenne jumped affectionately in her arms. Litleo was looking very proud of itself as she scratched it behind the ears. "Another new move eh?" She murmured. "You are one gifted pokemon, you are!"

Meanwhile, Laura had gathered Espurr to her. "Thank you for saving Swablu!" She told it quietly. It showed the pertinence of its name by purring loudly in her ears.

"Thank you both for your help" Officer Jenny said, approaching the girls. "That was one strong pokemon thief, I think we would have been outmatched without you. My men are bringing him to prison right now. I will take his jeep and bring the furfrou to the pokemon centre now, it looks in a bad shape. I believe your pokemon also needs some attention, will you ride back with me?"

"Of course, Officer Jenny, thank you!" Bonnie replied.

xxx

"So, what are you going to do now?" Laura asked.

It was the morning after the arrest, and the girls had spent the night at the pokemon centre. The evening had been full of excitement. Both Bellsprout and Furfrou's trainers had showed up very quickly, and tearful reunions had followed. All pokemon had been treated by Nurse Joy and her wigglytuff. Both had been quite exhausted at the end, but all pokemon were perfectly healthy again, and watching all the pokemon happy had been their best reward. Bonnie and Laura had soaked it all in, quite tired as well. The day had been much richer in emotions than either had expected, after all. Bonnie could hardly believe that it was the very same day she had woken up in Santalune, it seemed like weeks had gone by in that single day!

"I don't know," admitted Bonnie. "But right now I think something quieter would be perfectly alright for me! I had enough excitement to hold me for a while, thank you very much!"

The girls laughed.

"Yeah, me too," Laura agreed, when she calmed down. Her face went serious. "I'd like to stay here until they find Espurr's trainer, though. I'm worried about it, it looks very despondent today."

Bonnie glanced at the grey kitten, who was sitting quietly nearby, watching their other pokemon play together. They had been unable to locate Espurr's home the evening before. Neither Officer Jenny nor Nurse Joy had heard about an espurr missing. Nurse Joy had offered to keep it at the pokemon centre until they could reunite it with its trainer, but it was obvious that Espurr didn't care much for the solutions. All evening it had followed the girls, keeping especially close to Laura, and it had insisted to sleep in the room they had shared, as well.

"You know," Bonnie said seriously. "I've been thinking about that. To me, it looks like Espurr is mostly worried about us leaving it, and not about not finding its trainer. Especially, it's worried about you leaving it. Remember when we thought yesterday that the thief had caught wild pokemon?"

Laura's eyes went wide as she caught on.

"You think Espurr is a wild pokemon?" She asked. Bonnie nodded, and Laura went to kneel in front of Espurr.

"Espurr, do you have a trainer?" Gravely, the little feline shook its head. "Would you like one?" Laura pressed on. "I mean, you were really brave and you showed lots of initiative yesterday, you impressed me! I think we could be good together. Will you come with me?" She took out a pokeball with a trembling hand.

For a few seconds, Espurr didn't move at all. Then lilac eyes met caramel ones, and slowly, Espurr advanced until its paw touched the ball. It pressed on it, and the pokeball engulfed it with a flash of red light. Laura looked incredulously at the pokeball, as if unable to believe what had just happened. Then she turned to Bonnie with one of the biggest smiles the blond girl had ever seen on anyone.

"It chose me!" She said reverently. "Me!" She repeated.

Bonnie smiled as well, not really understanding the incredulity but happy for her new friend.

"It's great! I'm sure you'll have lots of fun together!"

"I think we will," said Laura tremulously.

xxx

One hour later, they were both packed and ready to go. Bonnie was dawdling outside the building, uncharacteristically shy. She knew what she wanted to ask Laura, but would the other girl agree? She did not even know where she came from or where she lived!

"Laura, where are you going from here?" Bonnie enquired finally.

"Acquacorde Town", the dark-haired girl replied.

"Hey, that's where I'm heading too! Shall we travel together?" Bonnie suggested, happy at the coincidence. That was perfect!

Again, Laura seemed surprised by the question.

"I mean, if you want to," Bonnie hastened to add, not sure how to interpret the girl's reaction.

"Of course I want to!" Laura replied immediately.

Bonnie got a mischievous smile.

"Then I'll race you to the end of the village, come on!"

Laughing, both girls departed at a run.