Author's note: Remember how I said that this was rated M partially due to strong language? Well, this chapter contains part of the reason why. I only own the original characters in this work of fiction and do not own Pokemon or any of their trademarks.

The breeze was much stiller as Gardevoir continued on her journey. The heat, while not humid and oppressive, was still considerable, and sweat was beginning to form on her delicately pale body as she moved through the grass, flushing out many small birds and bugs along the way.

Of all the things she hated, it was bugs. She wasn't entirely sure why, though she figured being a Psychic-type had something to do with it. It was not on the level of being absolutely terrified when she saw one, but it was still not a pleasant encounter whenever one happened to cross her path.

She looked up at the sky as the noonday sun was beginning to slowly slide off into the distance. At the rate she was going, she knew that she'd be lucky to reach Violet City before nightfall. That knowledge alone caused her to quicken her pace in walking around a small cliff, but in her haste, she tripped over a rock and fell, nearly crushing her bags as she hit the ground.

"Well, that was unnecessary," she grunted as she started to get up, but then she came to a complete halt.

A tiny Caterpie had raised itself up on a thick stem of grass and was staring at her intently. Her fear of bugs reared its ugly head as she suddenly sat up and started backing away in a terrified crawl, her eyes never leaving the bug.

"Oh shit," she fretted. "Oh shit."

She kept repeating those words as she fearfully kept backing up, dragging the luggage with her.

It had been a very long time since she was this frightened. Not since she was a tiny Ralts had she felt this kind of deep-seated terror.

Her mind, trying to free itself from the state it was in, drifted back to Hoenn, back to what seemed like many ages ago, and suddenly….

The soft tops of the grass tickled the nose of the Ralts as she tried to find her way back to what she remembered as home but what was more of a bare patch in all of the foliage than anything else. The grass made it hard to see, and having a messy helmet of hair in front of her red eyes did not help matters any. She used her small arms to brush the grass aside, repeatedly tripping over herself along the way.

It was a warm day, but not hot. A gentle breeze caused the grass to sway a bit as she moved unsteadily around. She raised her head a bit to see where she was going, but all she saw was more grass. She kept pushing through, unsure of her surroundings, and then she bumped into something and fell down.

And then she heard the growling.

She looked up, scared by whatever it was she had heard, and saw a very upset Poochyena only a couple of inches away, fangs bared.

Frightened, she scrambled to her feet as best as she could, but the Poochyena knocked her down almost instantly. She tried to get up, only for it to knock her down again. She didn't know what to do, so she tried to crawl away, but it attacked her in mid-crawl, rolling her and ramming her with its head.

"RAL!" she squeaked, hoping that someone or something would hear her and chase the Poochyena away. But there was no reply, and the attacker continued to tackle her unabated. Ralts squeaked again, but it was much weaker than before, and she thought that this scary Pokemon would never stop hitting her.

Then she heard the voice.

"MUDKIP, GO!" it yelled, and upon hearing the voice, the Poochyena ceased its attacks and fled.

Ralts slowly got up, in serious pain from the assault, but then she saw a small blue Pokemon with an orange fin on top of its head staring at her. "Kip!" it barked.

"Ral?" squeaked Ralts. It was all she could muster.

Then, before she even knew what was coming, a small, round red and white object landed in front of her and opened up. She felt herself getting sucked towards it, but she was powerless to resist the pull as it closed itself around her.

Inside the thing, it was quite dark. There was a strange feeling to it, as it was not warm, but it was not quite cold either. The sensation was something she was unable to describe then or later as a Gardevoir.

After what seemed like an infinite length of time, she suddenly felt a different sensation as all the pain was lifted from her small body like a massive weight. A few minutes later, the thing opened up and she was rapidly yet safely ejected. She looked around her as best as she could before lifting her head up. She saw two tall dark blue things that seemed to stretch to the sky. She craned her neck as best as she could to see where they led, but she found herself unable to see far enough.

Then she suddenly felt herself being gently lifted into the air, and she found herself looking into the soft gray eyes of a human.

"Well, hello there, little thing," he said as softly as he could. Ralts began to whimper, and the human cuddled her close to him. "Shh, it's all right, kiddo, you'll be safe with me, OK?"

She didn't want to admit it, but it felt somewhat comforting to be close to him, his voice doing much to soothe her fears….

A sudden hardness to the ground jarred Gardevoir back to the present. She looked and saw that she was well away from the Caterpie that she was so afraid of.

Quickly, she got up, dusted herself off, picked up her bags, and continued walking. Remembering the day that she had been caught by Karl caused her to again quicken her pace, although she was much more cautious this time as she went effortlessly through the grass and continued on her way to Violet City….