"Wake up, Keiko! Look what we found!"

I opened my eyes groggily and saw a hyperactive Katsu holding up Sakura who was chirping a little tune as she flapped her arms around in the air. I gasped and snatched her back.

"That's Sakura! She hatched from that egg I found." I stroked her head and smiled at her. "And she's just a big cutie, isn't she? Isn't she?" I hugged her tightly before turning back to Katsu. "Apparently she's something called a "Cherimu". Have you heard of that Pokemon?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Never. Maybe we're the first ones to know about it! We could get on the news!" He exclaimed, eyes brightening up. I sighed, and got up to stretch. It was early in the morning, but we'd have to get to the next town so we could challenge the next gym leader, since there wasn't one in Lavender Town. Pulling out a map, I concluded that if we got to Celadon City by the afternoon, we could have just enough time for us to each challenge Erika, the grass Pokemon master.

"I'll be able to beat her easy," Katsu said proudly. "With all of Shuppet's fire-type moves, there's no way I could possibly lose!" He popped Shuppet out of his Pokeball for a demonstration. "Shuppet, Flamethrower." He said nonchalantly, and Shuppet spit out flames that barely missed Treecko, who hid behind his trainer.

"Well, I don't know about me," I replied. "Rune can probably take 'em all out with a few Confusions, if he's lucky. I don't know about Kin, though..." I looked down at Kin, and this time he was digging through my backpack, probably ripping the inside apart. I sighed and shook my head. "Well, we'd better go soon. I want to get to Celadon by the afternoon so I can take a shot at challenging Erika." He nodded, recalled Shuppet, and packed his sleeping bag and other items into his bag.

-----

"Bulllllll-basaur!"

"Eeee!"

"Bababa! Saurrrr!"

"Veeeee! Eee!"

Our group of five spun around to see who on earth was making all that ruckus. Bursting through the calm breeze and lush green grass was a white, fox-like creature, with a cream-coloured mane wrapped around her neck. An shiny Eevee, I could see, and what was chasing her was a small, green dinosaur with a bulb on its back. Bulbasaur. A Bulbasaur holding wildflowers in its mouth, at that, with a lovesick look in his eyes.

The small Eevee spotted us, and immediatly ran up to me and looked at me worriedly as the Bulbasaur was coming closer. She whimpered, putting on a pouty face and pawed an empty Pokeball on my belt. Me and Katsu exchanged glances, and I blinked and turned back the Pokemon. "You... want to be caught?" I asked it, cocking my head to the side. She nodded anxiously as the Bulbasaur was coming even closer.

Shrugging, I took a Pokeball from my belt, pressed the button, and just as the Bulbasaur was about to pounce on her, she turned into a red beam of light and disapeared into the ball. I chuckled as I looked into the red-top of the Pokeball - the Eevee was sticking out her tounge at the Bulbasaur who sulked in front of me.

"Saaaaurrr..." He pouted sadly, looking down at the ground with tears in his eyes. I frowned and patted his head. "Aww, you're just a little guy, aren't you? You wanna be a daddy?" I smiled and he looked at me with bright red eyes. "You need to find your own species, little fella. I don't think Bulbasaurs and Eevees can mate." I laughed, and he looked sad again. "Hey, you want me to help you find another Bulbasaur? Would you like that?"

He nodded with a wide grin on his face, and I grabbed a Pokeball and tossed it at him calmly. He was caught without a struggle, and I held the two newly caught Pokemon's Pokeballs up to each other. Bulbasaur was making lovey-dovey eyes at Eevee, who's ears were pinned back on her head angrily. I laughed.

"Now we just need names," I said to myself. I looked over at Katsu, who was eyeing the Eevee in her Pokeball.

"Let her out for a second," he replied, pointing at Eevee's Pokeball. I nodded, and as soon as she came out, she looked around in fear, but sighed with relief when she saw Bulbasaur wasn't there. Katsu looked at her sadly. "One of Amaya's kits was white... With bright yellow eyes..." He said quietly, and pointed at the Eevee's golden eyes.

I smiled, holding up Eevee to Katsu. "Do you remember this cute young fellow, Eevee?" I asked, and she smiled and pawed at Katsu playfully, squeaking "Veee!" happily. Katsu gave her a small smile. I took her back and poked her on the nose. "Your name will be Amaya." She smiled back at me and licked my face as if to say she loved the name.

Katsu nodded silently and petted Amaya's head, with a look in his eyes that was a mixture of sadness and happiness. "He looks just like her," He whispered, combing out her white mane with his fingers. "Except for her colour. But she has the same eyes as her Mother." Katsu closed his eyes as he felt her soft fur under his fingers. "She's beautiful."

"You won't be sad when you look at her?" I asked him, my voice small and quiet. He nodded his head.

"Never. I've caused to much trouble to her and her sibilings to ever be sad or mad at her." He smiled. "The way I abandoned them... I can't believe I could ever do that."

I smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, it's in the past, right? You're sorry for what you did, and it's forgiven." I opened up the Pokeball with Bulbasaur in it, and he raised his eyebrows seductively at Amaya, who growled at him fiercely. "Now we need a name for this lovebird here." I said, pointing at Bulbasaur.

Katsu looked at the plant-Pokemon with his hand to his chin. "How about Minoru?" He suggested. "It means seed, I think. And it suits him."

I looked Bulbasaur over, repeating "Minoru the Bulbasaur" over and over in my head. Finally, I nodded, scratched his head, and smiled. "Minoru the Bulbasaur. I love it!" Bulbasaur began to repeat "Saur!" proudly. "And apparently, Minoru does too." I chuckled and patted his head.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder. "Well, this was quite an eventful week... I found an undiscovered Pokemon, and found two rare Pokemon in one day. You could call me lucky."

Katsu laughed. "Could! You're the luckiest person I've ever met!"

Little did I realize, someone was watching us from the bushes as we began to walk to Celadon.

"Your luck is about to run out..."

-----

"Do you hear that, Katsu?" I asked as we walked along Route 8 towards Celadon. I had heard a faint rustling in the bushes that was made by to big of a something to be a Pokemon.

"Yeah, I did. It's probably just a Pokemon," he replied as he crunched on an apple. "No need to worry."

I snuggled Sakura closer to my chest as she let out a small, scared squeak. "It's alright, Sakura, we'll be fine." I lied, stroking her little yellow head lovingly. I honestly didn't think that it was a Pokemon in those bushes. I knew it was something else... something worse.

And, out of nowhere, leaped the big, grey and black dog Pokemon that was the Mightyena that had attacked us not so long ago. Snarling at us with large, white fangs and swishing his mangled tail angrily, he looked around for his target, and then glared straight at me. "Yena..."

His growl was deep and husky as he slowly walked towards me, his extended claws scraping at the dirt. I was frozen still, and I couldn't hear the screams from Katsu telling me to get out of the way. I couldn't hear the worried crying of Sakura or the angry screams of Rune as he tried to tell the Mightyena to back off.

All I could see was the dark-type slowly coming closer to me, and all I could hear were his angry growls and barks.

And then he lept at me.

My vision was covered by swirling crimson blood as I screamed in pain, clutching the gash in my head as I heard Katsu command his Pokemon to attack the Mightyena. My head was getting light as I continued to lose blood, and I felt dizzy. I felt the large furry body of the Mightyena lunge on top of me again, slashing away at my face and chest.

And suddenly, the weight that was on me was lifted as I heard high pitched screams of anger. A golden blob dashed past me and lunged at the Mightyena. The fight when on for a few minutes, with all our Pokemon fighting with all their strength. And then I heard two words that would haunt my mind forever.

"Kin, NO!"

I smelled something faint then. It was a mind-boggling one that could make you go mad. It was the same smell that I had when my Mother told me that my pet Pidgey had to go away forever as we looked at his stiff, lifeless body.

It was the scent of death.

-----

"Kin... Wa- wake up, Kin..."

The tears were coming and refused to stop. I was shaking his cold, unmoving body while everyone surrounded me, tears in their eyes. Those beautiful, black eyes that once flourished with enthusiasm and love were now emotionless and glazed as they stared into nothingness.

"Kin, wake up. Wake up, dammit!" I screamed. "Here, you see this? This... this is my backpack! Chew on it, okay? R-rip it apart! Just wake the hell up!" I fell onto his body, hugging it tightly. "Please... you can't be dead, Kin... I love you..."

Keiko...

I looked up, and Rune was looking at me sadly with tears in his eyes. It'll be alright, Keiko. We can go to the Pokemon Tower and give him a proper burial.

"No," I whispered. "It's... It's my fault. He died because of me."

Don't say that! He died protecting you! He went out with glory! He loved you! Rune said angrily, clenching his fists. He calmed himself down and sighed. Keiko, he didn't die because of you... he died for love.

"He's right, Keiko." replied Katsu, who sat down next to me. "He at least went out with glory. And... We'll all miss him. It'll be okay." He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly, while I still had Sandshrew in my arms. "It's going to be okay."

"No it won't."

We all looked up to see a figure emerge from the shadows. He wore black clothes, a black cap and a distinctive red "R" on his shirt. "That will teach you to meddle with Team Rocket. Now give us that Cherimu unless you want another one of your pathetic Pokemon dead!" He grinned evily as an injured but still strong Mightyena appeared next to him.

Get out of here... Hissed Rune. You killed a Pokemon! How can you live with yourselves! You're going to pay, you scum. He clenched his fists, and his hands glowed with psychic energy stronger than I had ever seen. You may want to close your eyes, everyone. He said, as he turned to us. And I did, clutching Kin in my arms all the while. And then, there was a huge, bright flash of light, and screams and howls of pain as Rune unleashed his most powerful powers on the Rocket and his Mightyena.

I opened my eyes and lay Kin gently on the ground, and pulled the forget-me-nots out of my backpack, resting them by his feet. Five had blossomed. That's two new ones... I thought to myself as I petted Kin's unmoving body. One was yet to bloom.

And the last one, that had ended up over Kin's chest, was faded in colour, with leaves crinkling off as it drooped with death. The tears came again, because I knew.

Kin was gone.