(Digidog, yeah, I guess that would make sense. :P

Thanks for your reviews Moonyasha and Digital Skitty!)

Chapter 12

The next morning, Will and Hunter had gotten in when the doors to the Pokemon Center opened for an early crowd. They had pestered Drake all through breakfast about his 'big victory' against the Cobalt Gym leaders. It had come to a point that Drake was starting to turn crimson in the face and he had begun to speak in a more shrill voice.

The snowstorm from yesterday had passed by the time the five of them left the Pokemon Center, leaving Cobalt Strip looking like a scene from one of those Christmas cards. Star had chosen to stay out of her Pokeball, unlike the rest of the trio's Pokemon. Vulpix would have, but she was too annoyed by the Drencos twins to bother.

Today seemed like a normal day until Will pointed at the sky and began to snort with laughter. "I never thought I'd see the day! Ga, look Hunter, a flying fur ball!" Sara immediately looked up to see that he was right; it was a flying fur ball.

"Idiots." Star chirps scornfully, "That's not even close."

The so called 'flying fur ball' had come close enough for them to distinguish two different forms, a bird that was doing the flying, and a furry creature that was hanging on for its life.

"It can't be." Sara mumbles, looking at the furry creature with her mouth hanging slightly open, "That can't possibly be her."

The bird had landed, and was very queer looking indeed, not counting the coating of icy snow on his feathers. He was a Swellow, one with slightly different colorings. The red on a Swellow's head, chest, and tail feather tips were instead a shockingly yellow color. Sara felt Star bristle on her shoulder as the male Swellow hopped a little closer to her.

But what was riding on the male Swellow's back was what got Sara's attention the most. It was Karen, shivering from head to foot, and, like the Swellow, had gotten a coating of snow. She looked proud of herself though, and a Pokeball was lodged firmly in her mouth.

"Karen!" Sara exclaimed, plucking the Eevee off of the Swellow's back and holding the cold bundle close to her chest. "What did you do? Fly all the way here?" Karen shivered against her and nodded weakly.

"Crazy! Crazy, crazy, crazy!" Star sang from her perch as she slides down Sara's arm and covered Karen with one of her wings. The male Swellow, who was much larger then Star, crooned once to Star before passing out on the snowy ground.

"We've got to get them to the Pokemon Center!" Drake exclaims as he picks up the Swellow and darts off in the opposite direction. Elvina and Sara were not far behind.

"Hey!" Hunter called after them. "What about us?"

They ignored him and slammed back into the Pokemon Center. "Nurse… Joy, they need… help!" Sara pants as she holds Karen out to the Nurse. She looked taken aback, as did the two Chansey that she had been conversing with. Right before she took Karen, the Eevee spat out the Pokeball in her mouth in Sara's palm.

The Swellow and Karen went into intensive care immediately. Sara had sat down and was looking the Pokeball that Karen had taken with her. It had teeth marks in it, but was still intact. "I wonder if this is Karen's Pokeball." Sara mused aloud. Elvina grunts and Drake hit himself on his forehead.

"I completely forgot!" He exclaims, digging in his pocket and taking out a certain Pokeball. He winks at Sara before handing it to Elvina, "This is for you. A sort of gift from the two of us. And I don't owe Sara a penny."

"What!" Sara squawks.

"Well, since he didn't take complete credit for it…" Star began.

"And now you're going to side with Drake." She huffs as Elvina tosses the Pokeball.

"Skitty!" The pink kitten exclaims as she looked around, taking in her surroundings. Elvina smiles widely and whistles gently to get her attention. Skitty whirled around, saw Elvina, and pounced into her lap just as Will and Hunter sulked into the Pokemon Center.

"So adorable!" Elvina coos loudly, just so the twins could hear her, "Thanks Sara, thanks Drake!" They, like Elvina must have thought they would, flinched visibly and fled from the Pokemon Center.

"Nice." Drake says happily, "That was the best Will-and-Hunter repelling trick yet!"

"That wasn't a-" Elvina states, but her words were drowned out by loud singing coming from the intensive care rooms. The male Swellow had appeared at the window, his feathers puffed up as he sang to his audience, which didn't seem to include Star. She huffs and flaps over to perch on Elvina's wrist, offering her wing feathers for Skitty to play with.

"I think that Swellow likes you Star." Sara states matter-of-factly as the Swellow flapped over to a window that was closer to her and sang louder. "And I also think he's done healing up."

"No kidding." Star grumbles as Skitty accidentally pulled out one of her inner wing feathers.

He was done healing after all, because a second later, the Swellow was perched on Elvina's shoulder, trying to get closer to Star. "Gah!" Elvina exclaims as she gets Swellow feathers in her face.

She didn't have long to suffer though, because Star and the male Swellow began to play a form of air tag. The Swellow was 'It' and Star had a time avoiding him. "Looks like they're having fun." Drake remarks, watching the two with interest. Elvina had let out Huan now, and he was rolling on the ground with Skitty in a play fight.

"I am NOT having fun!" Star retorts as the other Swellow grabbed her left wings with both of his talons and dragged her back down to the ground. Star got to sit on Sara's lap as he settled a little bit away and began to chirp deeply at her.

"Is that what Star always sounds like?" Sara asks, since she hadn't heard her Swellow chirp since the first day they met. Drake nods, being the only one who didn't understand Star's speech.

"That's interesting." Elvina remarks after he was done, "This Swellow's name is Mellow. Interesting huh? Mellow the yellow Swellow."

Drake snorts with laughter, "Who named him that!"

"He named himself that!" Star snaps.

Huan and Skitty had stopped their game to look up and see what had caused Star to go off, again. They shared a conversation, which was probably about Star.

Mellow tweets at Star again, and she bristles. "Then go back to where you belong! The wild!"

Karen mews loudly from Sara's feet. It appeared that she had just gotten out, and was purring gently. She said something to Sara and jumped to the side, since Star still occupied Sara's lap. "She says that was her Pokeball." Star translates dully, "She wants to be your Pokemon. Like me."

Sara looked down at the marked Pokeball in the palm of her hand, then at Karen, and smiled. Karen returned to her Pokeball with a happy mew and Sara put the Pokemon Translator around her Pokeball then. As her backpack had been destroyed, Sara had to carry most of her stuff in her pockets, Drake and Elvina hefting the rest around. She would have to get a new backpack soon…

After the gizmo had stopped hissing, Sara released Karen again and watched her yawn and curl up next to her new trainer. "Nighty Sara." She mews sleepily, but before she could fall asleep, Star demanded answers from her.

"Mellow said he would only take me here if I had something to offer him in return. So I told him about you, Star, and he gladly accepted. So I took Mellow with me through a big snowstorm. We got frozen, but survived and found you guys. Can I go to sleep now?"

"Yes, go ahead." Sara says quickly, before Star could squawk anything else out. The Eevee fell asleep as Sara repeated what she had said to Drake, and he grinned at Mellow.

"Fancy a battle?" Drake asks with a glint in his eye as he lets Dorovi out. Mellow chirps defiantly as they all headed out the door, since they couldn't battle in the Pokemon Center.

Mellow was good, but not as good as Star, and defiantly no match for Dorovi. He was knocked out with a final Water Gun. Star cheers for their victory before Drake drew out a Pokeball, she chirped angrily then. But Drake threw the Pokeball at the Mellow anyway, capturing the Swellow in a flash of light. The Pokeball rocked once, twice, and fell silent.

"Ha ha!" Drake exclaims, pointing at Sara with a triumphant shine in his eyes. "You're not the only one with a Swellow!"

"Well he doesn't have a good one." Star snaps with ruffled feathers.

Drake bragged about his catch all through lunch, and then dinner. He promised Star that he wouldn't let him out though, today, and kept that promise through the rest of the night. But as they all were settling down to fall asleep, Drake flicked the Pokeball in Star's direction and pretended to be asleep.

Star didn't sleep well that night at all.