"And we shall never forget the spirit and love that this wonderful Sandshrew has given us through the years. Kin Aomari will be deeply missed, but he now shall live in Heaven with his brethren as he looks down on us, now and forever. Amen."

"Amen," we repeated. The priest bowed to us, wished us luck in life, and left us alone with Kin's grave. It was hard to believe that under the cold, hard dirt was my happy, hyperactive Sandshrew who would rip apart all my belongings. Our time together had seemed so short; I had only captured him a few months ago. Five or six months, I believe it was.

But why? Why had God decided to take Kin away from me so soon? And why do the flowers bloom and wilt whenever I lose someone or gain someone? I rubbed my temples that were hidden underneath the black veil that covered my red face. Everyone, even the Pokemon, was crying until their eyes were red. Katsu hadn't said very much at all. To much on his mind, I suppose.

"Goodbye, Kin. I love you..." I whispered, wiping away a tear. "We should get going, Katsu. It's pouring and thundering out." I said quietly, and he nodded silently and we all headed into the nearest Pokemon Center and rented out rooms.

I slipped into my pajamas and returned all of my Pokemon, except for Sakura, as I let her sleep next to me. She had a few small tears in her eyes as she watched me cry. "It's okay, Sakura. Mommy is okay." I hugged her tightly and I pulled the white blanket up and over us. "Goodnight, Sakura." I whispered, and we both drifted off to sleep.

-----

"Murderer."

"Sandshrew hater."

"You killed him!"

The voices... they won't stop... They're torturing me, make them stop...!

Wait... Bright lights... Gold... Yellow blob... It's coming into focus. Kin? Is that you?

"You killed me, Keiko. It's all your fault."

No, wait, I didn't mean to. I try to talk. I can't.

Now they're coming towards me. They're claws are extended. I try to run. I can't move. As far as I know, I'm dead already.

"You killed me. Open your eyes, it's so obvious! Wake up, Keiko! Wake up! Wake up...!"

"Wake up, Keiko!"

"What!" I immediately shot out of bed in a cold sweat, and Katsu was looking at me.

"You kept talking in your sleep. Are you okay?" He asked, feeling my forehead. "Are ya sick?"

I pushed him away grumpily. "My Sandshrew just died. Do you think I'm okay?" I replied, glaring at him. He hung his head down, and I immediately felt bad for being so rude. "Sorry," I mumbled. "I'm just... not myself anymore." I cradled Sakura in my arms, who had begun to cry. "Shh, it's okay, Sakura," I looked at Amaya who had somehow escaped from her Pokeball. She was scraping at the window while whining.

"It's raining and the middle of the night, Amaya. I can't let you out now." I said groggily. Her bright yellow eyes seemed to glow in anticipation as she pawed at the window. I sighed. Katsu plucked her from the sill and set her on the foot of my bed. "Sleep here, Amaya, and we'll let you out tomorrow." He said, and gave her a scratch behind the ears. "I'm going to go back to bed, Keiko. You should try to, too."

I nodded, and shut my eyes, but sleep would not come. I groaned as I flopped around hopelessly. "Need sleep," I muttered, flopping onto my back. I sighed and opened my backpack and took a sleeping pill. "I'll need these for a while," I whispered before drifting slowly off to sleep.

-----

I yawned, stretched my arms and checked the clock - 5:48 AM! Why on earth did I wake up so early? I sighed and dug through my backpack for some quick breakfast. A granola bar? ...Whatever, it'll do. I thought as I took a bite of the granola bar I found. I gave Sakura a few pieces which she nibbled on happily.

I squinted as I looked up at the golden, shining sun that had begun to creep over the hills. It's brilliant colour had reminded me so much of Kin... I couldn't take it. I broke down again, and began to cry my eyes out. Amaya walked over to me and nuzzled me, while Sakura was giving me little hugs. I smiled weakly and pet both of them, telling them I was okay.

"Alright, so Kin is gone. I can get through this." I whispered to myself. "Like they said... he died with glory." I rubbed my eyes to find no more tears - I suppose I'd used them all already. I sighed and put on some clean clothes, released my Pokemon and slung my backpack over my shoulder.

"Come on, guys. Let's go to the Gym." I whispered to them as I tiptoed through the Center. "And be quiet, we don't want to wake anyone up."

"Good morning miss, do you need us to heal your Pokemon before you head out?"

I squeaked, surprised, and turned around to see that one of the Nurse Joys was already awake, smiling at me and waiting. "Don't be so surprised. We're always up early in the morning. Trainers often like to get a head start on the day."

I shrugged. "Oh, well, that's convenient." I looked down at my Pokemon, and they seemed healthy enough right now. Besides, I didn't want to take the trouble and return all four of them just to get them healed when they were almost at full health already. "No, I don't need them to be restored. Thank you anyway." Nurse Joy nodded as I walked out the automatic doors with my Pokemon.

I picked up Rune and placed him on my head. "Are you ready for a battle, Rune?" I asked him, and he simply shrugged.

I'm ready... but are you sure that you're up for one? He asked me, concerned about my sudden want to battle the gym leader.

"Of course." I replied, furrowing my brow. "I'm just peachy, okay? I'll be fine. Look, there's the gym right there. Let's go." I added, pointing to the large building ahead of us. We ran as fast as we could towards it until we were all panting for breath in front of the doors to the gym.

It was really, really hot in there. To keep the plants healthy, I guessed, but it was still nearly unbearable. Dozens of bright, healthy green plants lined the walls and formed a maze to get the leader - and it just had to be packed with dozens of amateur grass-pokemon trainers. I sighed. "Looks like this'll take a while..."

-----

Soon enough, we made it to the gym leader. My Pokemon were still in great shape - those trainers were a breeze.

"Well, ready to lose, fellow trainer?" Erika said as she smirked. I shook my head 'no', and told Rune to get out there and win. He hopped onto the Arena, posing and ready for battle. Erika sent out her Victreebell - a big yellow... thingy.

"Victreebell, use Wrap!"

"Rune, blast the vines off with Psybeam!"

Vines extended from the gaping mouth of Victreebell, and they wrapped themselves around Rune, squeezing him every second. Rune focused himself, energy glowing around his hands, and after a few seconds, he released the power of the vines of his opponent, each move taking health off of each side.

"Rune, Metronome!"

The Abra waggled a finger, and suddenly ice beamed out from his hands and hit the Victreebell, who blinked as it kept coming towards it. "Gah, I was aiming for a fire move..." I looked up when I found out that the Victreebell had been frozen solid, and I smiled. "But that'll work too."

"Alright, Rune! Metronome again, and try for a fire move!" I shouted, and he did. Lucky for us, fire suddenly formed around his fist, and he ran towards the Victreebell and punched through the ice with all his might. He made it close enough to the Victreebell to melt the ice and set it on fire, fainting it in a matter of minutes.

I cheered for Rune, and he suddenly began to glow... He was glowing white, and he seemed to be changing shape. After a few minutes of staring, confusion, and thinking, he stopped glowing. He was taller, with long whiskers sprouting beneath his nose. A red star was imprinted on his head, along with another red marking on his stomach beneath the brown armor that protected his chest. He now gripped a spoon in one hand, and had a longer and seemingly fluffier tail. I ran up to him and gave him a hug. "Congratulations, Rune! You've evolved into a Kadabra! I'm so proud!" I sobbed as I continued to hug him. He chuckled and said thank you before returning to the arena.

Erika was fuming as she returned her Victreebell, and sent out a purplish little Pokemon, with an orange flower growing on its head. It was beautiful, and then I could smell it. God, that smell was atrocious!

Covering my nose, I told Rune to use Confusion. The blasts hit Vileplume but barely did any damage.

"Vileplume, Sleep Powder!"

I didn't like the sound of that.

Pollen of some sort began to float up and out of the middle of the flower on Vileplume's head. It slowly blew over to Rune and let itself fall onto him, causing him to yawn sleepily and curl up to nap. I pulled on my hair. "AUGH! Rune! Wake up!" Erika laughed, instructing Vileplume to keep using Mega Drain. Quickly enough, Rune had fainted.

"No! Rune! Wake up!" I screamed, clutching my head. Erika simply laughed. "He fainted, relax. Just send out another Pokemon." She replied, and I glared. I held Rune in my arms and instructed Minoru to battle. He hopped out, looking eager, and immediately used leach seed on Vileplume.

"Nice attack, Minoru..." I told him, grinning. "Alright, now let's take her out with a Sludge Bomb!"

Purple goo slowly dripped out of the bud on Minoru's back, and it was suddenly launched at the Vileplume, soaking it in sludge. She spun around for a moment, dazed, and fell to the ground. I cheered and ran up to Bulbasaur, hugging him. "Good job, Minoru! Ya did it!"

Erika pouted as she handed me the Rainbow Badge. "Well, you defeated me. You earned this." I took it from her hands and smiled. "Thank you," I replied, and put it in my badge case as me and my Pokemon walked confidently out the door. It was around seven now, I believe - the battle had taken about an hour. I healed Rune and knocked loudly on Katsu's door, trying to wake him up.

"Wha...? Who's there?" I heard him ask groggily.

"It's me, Katsu. Get up. I got the Rainbow Badge, and now I'm making sure you do, too." I answered, and before I could say anything else he opened the door and was already completely dressed.

"Nice! Now let's go get me a badge!" He exclaimed, grabbing his bag and running out of the Center. It must've looked strange to see two Trainers with a Kadabra floating beside one trainer, a Cherimu in the same one's arms, and a Treecko, a Poochyena, a Shuppet, shiny Eevee, and a Bulbasaur running after them. People did stare, but it only made us laugh as we ran to the gym.

As we made our way to the gym, Amaya leaped onto Katsu's shoulder, nuzzling his cheek happily. He looked over at her and smiled sadly, their eyes locking as Katsu and his old pet indirectly reunited, in a way. I could only smile as the two bonded with each other.

"Look, there's the gym!" I shouted, pointing to the building. Katsu looked over his shoulder at Shuppet expectantly, who simply floated in the air, a cold look in his eyes. My rival shook his head, and entered the gym with only confidence in his mind.

"Great, another one." Erika said crossly, putting her hands on her hips and flipping her hair back. "Well, let's get this over with, shall we? Go, Victreebell!" And then emerged Victreebell, gaping mouth, sharp teeth and all. Of course, Katsu sent out Shuppet - his only Pokemon that knew fire attacks. "Shuppet, Sunny Day!"

As if it weren't already bright and hot enough, the sun shone brighter than ever. "Alright, Shuppet, quick, use Will-o-wisp!" Katsu ordered. Fire formed around Shuppet, and the flames seemed to dance around him as he shot blasts of fire at the Victreebell, who was now on fire, screaming, and bouncing around helplessly as he burned. Obviously, he fainted rather quickly. Erika crossed her arms after sending out Vileplume.

"Vileplume, before he can attack! Mix Sleep powder with Poison powder!"

The Vileplume nodded, and shook up the flower on its head before releasing the combined powders onto the Shuppet, poisoning it - but it stayed awake. Katsu grinned. "Thank God for Insomnia. Alright, Shuppet, keep using Will-o-wisp! Don't stop until she's fainted!"

Shuppet did as told. He kept blasting fire at Vileplume, and Vileplume kept sending Poison powder at Shuppet. Eventually...

"Shuppet fainted! Ha!" Exclaimed Erika happily.

"But you failed to notice that so has your Vileplume," pointed out Katsu proudly. "And since I still have one Pokemon remaining, the badge goes to me!" He puffed out his chest importantly, and Erika sighed and handed him the badge. "Fine, fine. You earned it, so here you go." Katsu did another stupid victory dance and put the badge in his case as we walked out the door.

"So where to now, Keiko?" Asked Katsu after we healed our Pokemon. "We've beaten the gym already."

I looked over at a sign next to a building. "Hmm... The Game Corner. Let's go there! We need a break from all this battling, anyway." I suggested, and already started to walk there before Katsu could say yes. The air was cool here, a nice break from the boiling heat of Erika's gym.

I looked around - poker tables, slot machines, a gambler's dream world! I smiled and walked up to the counter to buy some coins, and looked over to see a suspicious looking man standing in front of a poster. After buying my coins, I went up to him, with Katsu following. Just as I was about to ask what he was doing, he glared at me.

"There's no secret button behind this poster! Get out of here!" He snarled.

I blinked. "I never said there was..."

"What, you don't believe me? Grr, I'd better alert the Boss!" He hissed, and lifted up the poster and disappeared behind it. Me and Katsu exchanged nervous glances, lifted up the poster, and began our journey through the Team Rocket Hideout.

-----

It was plain in here - white walls, white tiled floors, and nothing except a few stray items lying around, which we picked up for later use. I was scared when I saw the Rockets, though - I rounded up all my Pokemon and sent them back into their balls, except for Rune and Sakura, who I always kept out, due to their hate for Pokeballs. Sakura was crying when she saw the Rockets. It must have brought back some bad memories... All I could do was comfort her and tell her it was okay, but I knew that it really wasn't.

Dozens of Rockets threatened us, battled us, cheated us, and even tried to fight us without using Pokemon, which we politely declined to. One of them had the nerve to run after us trying to punch us, but Rune sent him flying back with a Psybeam. Not many Rockets tried to fight without Pokemon after that.

We didn't see any Mightyena's, luckily, or else I probably would have frozen up. Most of the Rockets here had only Kanto Pokemon. Regardless, some of them were strong, some of them were easy - but in the end we beat most of them, and sometimes were able to avoid them. The real trouble is when we came to the Boss...

"Here already? I figured you would have been beaten up by now..." Chuckled a deep voice. We had finally made it to an office-like room, complete with a desk, lamp, computer, and all the things you'd expect to see in an office. Excluding the strange, purple-topped pokeball with an "M" on it, that sat in a glass case on his desk.

Sitting on a chair behind the desk was the Boss himself - Giovanni, and his equally evil Persian. He stroked his loyal Pokemon behind the ears while he looked at us, smirking with a gleam in his eyes. "I suppose you're here for revenge for your pathetic little Sandshrew, aren't you?" He chuckled. "Well, you won't be getting that. The only thing you'll be getting is-"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun, pointing it at us. "-a quick, painless death. Unless you comply to my demands and give me that 'Cherimu' or whatever you call it, you die. An undiscovered Pokemon is just what Team Rocket needs to become famous."

"You will never get Sakura! You hear me? Never!" I hissed back, holding her closer to me. "She means more to me than just a rare one of a kind Pokemon! She's like the child I never had! And you will never, I repeat, never get your filthy hands on her!" Tears were welling up in Sakura's eyes as she whimpered in fear. I was crying as well, but I was to angry to notice it. What made that wretched scum think he could take my baby! No matter the answer, I wouldn't give her up.

"Very well." He replied calmly. "You have made your choice. You all die, and I'll get to keep the Cherimu anyway."

"Wait!" exclaimed Katsu, shaking with fear. "Please don't! Can't we work something out, somehow!"

Giovanni didn't move the gun, but thought for a moment. "Perhaps I can make a deal with you. We have a Pokemon battle. If I win, you and your little girlfriend die, and I keep all your Pokemon."

Me and Katsu rolled our eyes. "The last thing he is my boyfriend," I replied honestly, "He's my rival." Katsu nodded in agreement.

The Team Rocket leader shrugged. "Whatever you say. Now, stop stalling, and let's battle! Go, Kangaskhan!" He grabbed an Ultra Ball from the line of three Pokeballs on his desk. The ball enlarged in his hands, and the beam of red light took the form of a two-legged dinosaur-like Pokemon. She had a thin layer of grey-brown protection over her head and two horns on each side of her skull. She had brown scales, with a yellow underbelly and pouch. Sitting in the pouch was a smaller version of the Kangaskhan - her baby. I'd feel bad about hurting a Mother, but this was for our lives.

"Alright, Rune, you first. Use Focus Punch, but try to avoid hurting her baby!" I shouted - no matter how evil this Kangaskhan could be, I couldn't hurt her baby, who was new to the world and ignorant of evil and hate - sort of like Sakura, I thought to myself.

Rune did as told. He focused on his target, putting all of his power into his one clenched fist as he darted towards his opponent, teleporting in different places while he did so to confuse her. When he was close enough, he drew back his fist and punched the Kangaskhan in the nose area, right below it's helmet-like armor. It roared in pain and angrily charged back with it's jaws opened wide, and clamping down on Rune's tail as he turned to run. Rune winced in pain, but kept his act together.

"Kangaskhan, use Rest!" shouted Giovanni, and Kangaskhan simply nodded, and curled up to sleep to restore its health.

Seeing my chance and thinking quickly, I told Rune to use Dream Eater.

I couldn't see what Rune was doing then, but one night I asked him what using Dream Eater was like. He described it sort of like this:

"Using Dream Eater can make me feel guilty at times... but it gets the job done. When I was fighting that Kangaskhan, for instance...

"As my soul escaped, I could see my body laying limply on the ground, and it sort of makes me shudder at times. It's like seeing your body after you die. I shrugged it off and entered the mind of the napping Kangaskhan. Pokemon have the most interesting dreams, you know - often they are memories of their past. And everyone has a particularly sad moment in their life, and my job is to seek it out. I pick through their dreams and nightmares until I find one thats painful to even watch.

"I found one. It was when the Kangaskhan had three children, a few years back, it looked like. Before she was captured. There was a horrible fire, and she could only protect one of her children... The other two burned. She saw their bodies. And then I reminded her of it in her dreams, the one place where she was supposed to be able to be happy.

"When she woke up I could see the pained expression on her face as she fainted, and I knew my job was done. The only bad part? It hurts me too. Not outside, but inside. Seeing a Pokemon in so much pain - and knowing that you put it there - is unbearable. I was so hurt I was close to fainting."

The way he described it to me wanted to make me cry. I probably would have never instructed him to use Dream Eater if I had ever known what it did.

I watched as the Kangaskhan fell to the ground with a pained look on her face. Giovanni cursed, and sent out his next Pokemon - a huge, bulky rock-like rhino. It's hard to describe what he looked like - I guess you could say just a big creature made up of rocks, really, with a horn above where his nose would be. Two sharp fangs hung out of his mouth as he scraped the ground with his claws, ready to battle.

I noticed that Rune was looking weak; so I told him to come back, and I sent out Minoru, hoping that the tiny grass Pokemon would be able to defeat this massive hunk of rock.

"Minoru, Leech Seed!" I ordered, and a couple tiny seeds fired out of his bulb, landed and injecting themselves into the Rhyhorn who snorted, as if to say "That's all?"

Giovanni nodded at his Rhyhorn, and the rock-type's horn began to slowly twirl, and as it started to pick up speed, it charged at Minoru, head lowered and his horn aiming straight for the Bulbasaur. "Minoru, use your vines top stop the drill!" I shouted, and he nodded and about half a dozen vines emerged from his bulb, each of them wrapping around the drilling horn. They kept getting tangled and twisted, but Minoru wouldn't give up. He planted his feet on the ground, holding on with all his might.

Eventually, the Rhyhorn grew tired and gave up. He stopped the drill, stepped back, and waited. I simply smiled at Minoru proudly, and ordered the next command before Giovanni could. "Minoru, Solarbeam! Take twice as long to charge up so we have more power!"

Sunlight began to literally stream down into the opening in the Bulbasaur's bulb, giving Minoru energy for the attack. He was able to dodge the Rhyhorn's tackles and drills and bites long enough to gain twice as much energy than normal for a Solarbeam. The light Minoru had collected started to glow at the top of his bulb, and an amazing beam of energy shot out at the Rhyhorn. The room brightened up so much; I had to cover my eyes to not go blind. It was like looking at the sun.

When the light cleared, Minoru stood proudly, looking at a fainted Rhyhorn. I gasped, and went up to Minoru and squeezed him tight. "Your first victory!" I exclaimed, looking him in the eyes. "And that victory happened to be one step closer to saving our lives." I said jokingly, and stepped out of the arena.

Giovanni still remained calm, even after we wiped out two of his Pokemon. "You have brought me down to my last Pokemon. It is my strongest of the three, and I have almost no doubt he can take out all of your Pokemon in just a few hits." He smirked, and grabbed the last Pokeball off his desk.

Out came a gigantic rock snake. There's no other way to describe it, really; a mass of rocks conjoined together to form a snake-like beast, towering at least 20 feet. I could only stare in fright, before noticing that the Onix had already crushed Minoru. Stunned, I returned him into his Pokeball, and sent Amaya out to do the job.

"Alright, Amaya, use Toxic." I stuttered, and she nodded, and went up to Onix and, somehow, sunk her teeth into him, and released a poisonous venom from her fangs into the rock snake. He merely grunted, knowing that being poisoned by such a tiny thing couldn't hurt him very much.

"It is time for my most powerful move," Giovanni said confidently, "Onix, use Tornado."

The Onix reared up to it's full height, and suddenly began spinning itself around and around, forming the shape of a tornado. It hurled rocks everywhere, crashing down on Amaya ruthlessly, and eventually it picked her up inside the tornado. Soon enough she was launched out of the arena, crash-landing at my feet, fainted.

I gasped at what I had just seen. Although it had severely hurt my Pokemon, I had to admit - that move was amazing. I sighed, returned Amaya to her Pokeball, and sent out my last hope - Rune.

Low on health, Rune couldn't put up much of a fight, but he tried. He managed to lower the Onix's health, but it wasn't very long until he too was a victim of the dreaded rock tornado himself.

I noticed that all my Pokemon were fainted and in their Pokeballs already. I turned to Katsu, and he seemed to understand.

He grasped a ball in his hands, ready to fight, "Alright, my turn! Go Poochye-"

"Ah, ah, ah," Interrupted Giovanni, wagging a finger. "This is between me and that young lady there. And unless your Cherimu there can defeat my Onix, I'm afraid that you've lost already."

Me and Katsu had tears in our eyes; our lives were on the line and the only one who could save them was the little bundle of pink and yellow that I held in my arms.

"Sakura?" I asked, kneeling down and looking her in her beady red eyes, "I want you to make that Onix faint, okay? I want you to try your very hardest to win this battle for mommy. I'll be very proud of you if you do." I wiped a tear away from my eye.

"Cheri!" she replied happily, and hopped off into the arena. I sniffed as I watched her prepare for battle, and Giovanni eye the gun on the desk as he grinned with pride. I was depending on a newly hatched Pokemon that I didn't even know the moves of, so she'd have to fight for herself. She was a baby! A baby! I knew I would lose... But I was so close to victory I could taste it. I had to believe in her... but I nearly fainted when I heard Giovanni command Onix's next attack.

"Onix, use Tornado."