Hi, guys! Sorry it's been so long. I was at camp last week. Then I got a little lazy and didn't really feel like writing…. Anyway here's chapter two!

Chapter 2

The Bird Battle

"Piplup, dodge and use Pound!" Damien shouted as Turtwig was closing in with Tackle.

"Turtwig, Withdraw!" I called. Turtwig tucked his whole body into his shell as Piplup slammed her fin on his shell.

"Pip?" she cried out angrily. Turtwig popped back out and stuck his tongue out at Piplup. "Pip!!!" Piplup cried indignantly.

"Turtwig, use Tackle!" I called. Turtwig slammed his whole body into Piplup while she was distracted.

"Piplup, Pound!"

"Turtwig, Tackle!

"Pound!"

"Tackle!"

"Pound."

"Tackle"

"Pound…"

"Tackle…"

We weren't really getting anywhere with this. Neither of our Pokemon had any good moves yet. Turtwig had Tackle and Withdraw. Piplup had Pound and Growl. Nothing good yet. Damien and I were both bored and we knew it. Turtwig and Piplup looked annoyed with this "battle", too.

"You wanna just call it a draw?" I asked Damien.

"Yes!" Damien moaned. I laughed. "Let's battle some of the wild Pokemon around here." Damien suggested.

"Okay." I agreed. I turned to our Pokemon. "What do you guys say?" I asked. Piplup and Turtwig both nodded their approval. "Cool."

"Hey, Kat, look! There's a few Starly over there in the grass." Damien whispered.

"Yeah?" I asked, peering in the direction he pointed. Sure enough, I could see a small gathering of about five Starlys pecking around in the gently swaying grass.

"Let's get 'em!" Damien said.

"I don't know… Do you really think we can take five?" I asked, uncertain.

"Sure we can!" Damien cried, without hesitation. "Go!!!!!" He cried charging towards the Starly before I had a chance to reply.

"Damien, wait!" I cried running after them. Turned out I didn't need to worry about the Starlys they flew away as soon as they saw Damien. They were letting out strange little crying noises. They must have still been babies.

"Aww, man…" Damien groaned. "I wanted to catch one…"

"Well, Damien, that's just how it-" I saw something dark swooping down out of the trees that ringed the lake. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Damien asked. Just then something rushed over our heads. As soon as it was past I jumped up and squinted into the sky. Whatever it was, it was extremely fast and was coming in for another dive. As it flew closer I could make out what it was, it was a Staraptor. Damien and I ducked as it came in for another pass.

"Cool!" Damien laughed, and pulled out his Pokedex.

-Staraptor. Female. The Predator Pokemon. It never stops attacking even if it is injured. It fusses over the shape of its crest.-

Those Starlys from earlier must have been her babies! I realized. They must have been crying for her when they flew away.

"Damien," I shouted, "Those Starlys you wanted to fight earlier were her babies! She's mad because we attacked her babies!"

"Oh." Damien said simply as we ducked under yet another dive bomb. I thought quickly, there was too much open space between the lake and our houses so running there was no good. Besides if it was angry enough it could just break through the window or something. But if we went into the forest it would be harder for the Staraptor to fly around, she might even give up the chase!

"Damien, run into the forest!" I shouted sprinting towards the forest that ringed the clearing around the lake. Damien nodded and followed close behind me. In the forest it was impossible for Staraptor to perform diving attacks so it settled for Gust instead. The Gust attack pushed me straight into a tree. I couldn't see Damien. Actually I couldn't see much at all at the moment. I had banged my nose on the tree and my eyes were all watery. I could see the shape of something rushing towards me. I wiped the tears out of my eyes and was relieved to see it was Damien.

"Kat, we got ourselves cornered." Damien informed me. I looked around quickly. In front of us was the Staraptor who with her giant wingspan was struggling to turn around and find us. Behind and all around us there were brambles and thorns.

"How did we not realize this when we were running?" I whispered.

"Ummm, Gust attack, yeah that sounds good." Damien replied.

"Well, Turtwig and Piplup aren't strong enough to defeat Staraptor." I mumbled.

"What do we do?" Damien asked. This was usually my job when things got out of hand.

"Hold on, hold on, just let me think…" I said. Let's see bird-type vs. water and grass. Grass won't last long water may have a chance. Wait a sec, Staraptor fusses over its crest so if we could mess it up…

"I got it. We need to mess up her crest. They fuss over it, they need it to look good." I explained.

"How are we gonna do that?" Damien asked. "Our Pokemon only have Tackle and Pound I don't think those'll work and I know you can't be thinking about us actually trying to do it ourselves." Staraptor had managed to turn around by now and was flying towards us.

"Let's see. Well, if we can get Turtwig and Piplup up high enough we could get them up on the Staraptor they could mess up her crest from there." I said, thinking quickly.

"Climb the tree. Here take Piplup with you, too." Damien said handing me Piplup's Pokeball. I nodded and began inching my way up the tree. There weren't any low branches so I was gonna have to pull myself up until I could reach a branch.

"Woo-hoo! Staraptor! Hey, look over here!" Damien called trying to buy me some time to get up the tree. The Staraptor squawked angrily, it was having a lot of trouble getting through the thick brambles in this area. I was almost up to a branch I stretched my arm just a little bit farther and… Got it! I groaned, pulling my self up on the branch and the scooting to a point where I would be able to drop the Pokemon down onto Staraptor. I got to that point quickly. The Staraptor was directly below me still trying to get through the brambles. It was almost through, though!

I pushed the button on the front of the Pokeballs and Piplup and Turtwig appeared on the branch with me. I tossed Piplup down onto Staraptor first.

"Mess up her crest!" I told Piplup. Piplup nodded and happily jumped up and down on top of Staraptor's crest, effectively smashing it down. I grabbed Turtwig and tossed him down, too. The two Pokemon quickly and efficiently destroyed the poor bird's, uh, hairstyle, I guess. The Starptor flew off calling angrily as I recalled Piplup and Turtwig. I shimmied down the tree and grabbed Damien by the arm.

"WE ARE NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN!" I screamed in his face.

"Okay…Sheesh!" Damien said. I sighed and pushed my bangs back out of my face.

"Sorry, Damien. That was just… we could have…" I paused. Damien was grinning at me. "What?" I asked.

"That was kinda fun." He replied.

"Shut up, stupid." I said, hitting him on the arm and smiling

After a little while we decided to head back home. We took the short walk in silence and parted way at the entrance to town.

"See you in a couple hours!" I said. Damien grinned and ran off to his house. I grinned too and walked back to my own.

"Katrina, where have you been?" My mom complained. "Your lunch is cold!"

"Oh, Damien and I got distracted at the lake and lost track of time." I said. I didn't really think telling her we were attacked by a Staraptor was really the best idea…

"Alright." Mom replied, looking at me suspiciously. She pointed at the bowl of soup on the counter. "Just pop that in the microwave and it should be good." I nodded and did as she said. I ate my lunch in silence and watched as my mom scurried around cleaning things that were already clean.

"Mom?"

"Hm?" she answered not turning around.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "You seem a bit…" I watched as she put the plate she had just washed into the fridge. "Distracted." I finished.

"Huh?" Mom said, then she noticed the plates she had been stacking in the fridge. 'Oh." I watched as she pulled the plates out and restacked them in the cabinet. "I'm just worried about you." she smiled slightly.

"It's okay, Mom. I'll be totally fine." I assured her. "I mean, what could happen?" Mom laughed cynically.

"That's what I'm worried about." she answered. I smiled. It was a bit annoying to have Mom fuss over me like this, but it was also a warm feeling to know she cared so much.

-THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! -

Someone sounded like they were about to come through the door!

"That must be Damien." I jumped up and went to answer the door. Sure enough an impatient Damien greeted me.

"Hey, Damien!" I chirped.

"What's up with locking the door? You never lock the door during the day!" Damien demanded. "Did something happen?" I laughed.

"No way, man. I just locked it by accident." I assured him.

"Okay, good. Let's go get our stuff and get outta here." Damien said happily. He ran inside and up the stairs.

"Wait!" I shrieked. "You can't be in my room by yourself! You're a guy!" I thundered up the stairs after him.

"No running in the house!" Mom shouted at us.

"Sorry!" I said. At the top of the stairs I could see Damien waiting at the door to my room. I smiled. As soon as I took one step in my room Damien zipped past me and grabbed his dark green backpack off the bed and immediately put it on, straightening his light green T-shirt. I grabbed my tan backpack and threw it on as well. I looked down at my shirt and saw the Skitty staring up at me.

"I don't want to wear this shirt." I complained. "Go downstairs so I can change." I commanded Damien. Damien rolled his eyes and walked out the door. I shut and locked it behind him. I knew I was being a bit fussy, but I couldn't help it. This was one of the most important days in my life. I knew whatever I picked I would have to wear for a while because it's too hard to carry a lot of clothes. As I pawed through my dresser drawer I spotted the teal t-shirt I had bought a few months ago.

"Perfect." I muttered. I slipped out of the Skitty shirt and pulled the teal one on. "Now, I'm ready." I told myself.

I trudged down the stairs slinging the backpack over my shoulders as I went. Oof, it was heavy… Mom was standing near the door talking to Damien.

"Kat!" Damien cried. "Finally! Now we can leave!"

"Bye, Baby." Mom said wrapping me in a tight hug. "Call me from every town." she demanded.

"Okay, Mom." I promised. I hugged her back. "Bye, Mom." I said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "See ya!"

Alright that's it for this chapter. I know the story's moving kind of slow. I'm having a bit of trouble finding a good speed, so please just bear with me until I get the hang of it.