OoO( 3 )OoO

Darkness had fallen when the boy finally reached Cherrygrove City. His wrist gear flashed with a red dot as he got closer, then beeped as he entered the city. The first place he ran was to the closest building, the Pokemon Center. The doors slid open as the tired boy stumbled inside with the girl in his arms, the fire pokemon coming in after him, ruffled and scratched all over from the different pokemon they had run into on the way.

The nurse behind the counter of the pokemon center saw him and immediately ran to help him. "Oh my...what happened?" she asked frantically.

"She's been stung...by Beedrill..." he said as he gasped for air. The nurse grabbed the girl and rushed her into the back as another nurse came to attend to the two.

"Are you alright? What happened?" she asked. "Please, come with me." she said, taking his arm and leading him to a chair in the floor. The growlithe followed, but fell injured in front of it. She gasped, then knelt down to the pokemon. "What happened to him?" she asked.

He reached up and wiped a mix of sweat and blood from under his brown bangs. "He...tried to protect us...we were attacked..." he said wearily. "Please...help them..." he said before his head fell back in the chair and he slipped into unconsciousness.

OoOoO

When Felix woke, he was in a bed. He looked around and noticed that there was a hospital-like feel about the place. Looking down at himself, he had been stripped of his clothes and bandaged in numerous places. It ached for him to move, and each pain in his body reminded him of what he had gone through.

He held his head as the memories came back to him. "There were so many..." he said as he remembered the attack. He had run through the forest and towards the city as fast as he could. He thought he might have been able to make it to the city before dark, but the break he took lasted longer than he thought. He ran and darkness fell, then they came.

They were everywhere. Murkrow had flocked all over him and began to attack. If it weren't for Shepard, he would have been history. The fire pokemon used every ounce of energy it had to fend off the crows while he ran towards the city. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Shepard..." he said, then jumped out of the bed, ignoring the pain he felt all over. "Shepard!" he shouted.

The nurse came into the room and walked over to him quickly. "Sir, you should be laying down. You haven't healed yet." she said.

He tried to get around her, but was failing with his limited movement. "I'm fine, now where is Shepard?" he asked forcefully. She stopped him, then looked him in the eyes.

"If I take you to go see him, will you get back in bed?" she asked. He looked at her, then nodded. "Alright then, follow me." she said, leading him out of the room. He walked with her down the hall and into another room. Inside there were many tanks and attached tubes to the ceiling, with many pokemon in them. He walked past a tank with an Eevee laying in it, seemingly asleep.

"What is this place?" he asked her as he looked at all the others.

"This is our intensive care unit. When a pokemon is damaged badly enough to leave scars, we take them in here and use an even stronger healing process than the one up front in order to keep them from getting worse." she said. The thought of his growlithe in that condition made him feel almost sick. Finally, they arrived at a tank near the back.

The fire pokemon was sleeping soundly inside the tank. "Will he be alright?" asked Felix as he touched the glass.

The nurse smiled. "Actually, he will be just fine. He healed amazingly fast. He is just sleeping right now, but as soon as he wakes up, he is free to go." she said, causing him to sigh in relief. Then she turned to him. "Now, I'd like to warn you that he won't be able to battle for at least a week. He is healed, but still very weak, and if he battles and gets injured, he may not recover as well the next time." she said.

His eyes widened. "But...how am I going to get down Route 30 without a pokemon?" he asked looking at the puppy through the glass.

"I don't know, but I would advise you to keep him out of battles and in his pokeball until he is healed." she said. He looked at her with shock, and she immediately understood. "I see...he doesn't have one does he?" she asked. He shook his head. "So...he will be vulnerable to danger if he goes with you."

Suddenly, a voice behind them startled them both. "I'll take care of him." said the young girls voice. They turned and saw the same girl he carried in his arms walking towards them. "It's the least I could do." she said.

"But..." he said, but couldn't say anything more. He knew it was the right thing to do. "Alright." he said. "Just, take good care of him." said the trainer. She nodded and smiled at him.

"I'm going to have to ask you to get back into bed sir." said the nurse. He looked at her, then nodded. Walking out of the room, he headed back to his room and laid in the bed again. Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell deep into sleep.

OoOoO

Felix had slept decently, however he was woken up in the morning by a loud shouting from outside his door. He tried to ignore it, but it got louder as if someone was coming down the hall. Sitting up, he was thinking of going and telling them to shut up. But, listening to the yells, he figured it would be best to stay where he was.

"Where is he!?" yelled a deep male voice.

"Sir, you can't come back here!" yelled the nurse. But to her dismay, the man didn't listen.

"I want to know where he is!" shouted the man again. Suddenly, Felix's door opened and a large man, or...more like a huge man entered the room and looked straight at him. Walking towards Felix, the man stopped at his bed and the boy flinched, thinking he was going to be attacked again. "You...are you the one who attacked those Beedrill yesterday?" asked the giant.

Felix wondered if this man was the bug pokemons keeper. If so, his next words might be his last. "Y-Yes..." he said closing his eyes as if he was about to be struck. But, he felt his hand get pulled and almost shook off.

"I tell you boy, if it wasn't for you my little girl would be lying stone cold out there in that forest..." he said, his face changing from the earlier determined and ferocious, to a softer, almost tearful expression. Then what the man said struck him.

"Wait...your little girl?" he asked surprised. "You mean that girl was your daughter?"

The man nodded vigorously. "She said she was going out to have a picnic in the forest. I had forgotten that the insects of the forest are very active this season."

Felix stared at him oddly. "You forgot?"

The man sighed. "I did. And they get very territorial, especially the Beedrill. If you hadn't been there, I couldn't imagine what might have happened to her. And to hear that you ran here, fighting through attacks to bring her to safety..." he said. Felix smiled nervously. It amazed him that such a big man could be so soft.

"Don't worry about it, it was nothing..." said Felix. But the man smirked at him with a face that looked like it could break a Graveler in half.

"Nothing? Nonsense!" said the man loudly. "My boy, Mina told me about your situation with your growlithe. When you get out of this place, you stop by my house next to the pokemart and you can borrow any of my pokemon for your journey." said the man smiling.

Felix's face lit up. "Really?" he asked.

"Of course! You did save my little angel after all." said the man. "Now, I have to get back to the house and check up on things. I expect to see you later, so don't disappoint me." said the man, nearly ripping Felix's arm off with a handshake one more time before leaving.

"Sorry about that..." said the nurse. "He kind of forced his way back here."

Felix smirked and sat on the side of the bed. "By the looks of him, I'm surprised anyone tried to stop him. You are very brave." he said, making her giggle. Then, his mind turned elsewhere. "How is Shepard?" he asked.

She smiled at him. "He's good as new. He woke up a few hours ago and is wondering around the pokemon center. He's already been fed as well, so he seems pretty content."

"Who was that man?" he asked her.

"His name is Barnes. He is the pokemon breeder for this city, and takes great care of many of the abandoned pokemon that come wondering into the city." said the nurse.

"I see...well, I need to get out of this bed. Healed or not, I can't just lay here." he said, then stepped onto the floor and began putting the rest of his clothes on again. When he picked up his jacket, he saw that it was torn to shreds though. "Oya...those birds got my best jacket..." he said.

"Yes, I'm afraid we couldn't save it." said the nurse, making him laugh. Taking it anyway, he walked towards the door and out into the hall, then followed it to the main lobby. As soon as he got there, he saw Growlithe doing tricks for a little girl sitting in a chair. She giggled as he stood on his hind legs for her.

"Good boy!" she said, petting him on his head gently. When he looked over and saw Felix approaching, the pokemon trotted over and stood in front of him, his tail wagging.

Felix smiled and knelt down. "I see you are feeling better." he said as he pet the pokemon. The little girl got up and walked over to Felix.

"Is he your pokemon?" asked the girl.

The boy looked up with a smile and nodded. "Yes he is."

"He's a cute puppy. He played with me today." she said happily, petting him also. The pokemon simply sat and enjoyed the attention. A nurse came up to the pair and tapped the little girl.

"Here you go sweetie. Good as new." she said as she handed the girl a small Cleffa. The little one hugged the pokemon and smiled widely.

"Yay! All better!" she shouted and ran out the door to the pokemon center. The nurse smiled widely, and walked back to the counter.

"Well, you ready to go?" asked Felix. Shepard nodded, letting out a yip. "Alright. We have to make a stop first." he said as he walked out of the center. Looking around, he looked down at his watch at the small map again. "Pokemart." he said, and it reacted by showing him a red line leading to the Pokemart.

Following the map, he made it in minutes. Looking around, he spotted the girl, Mina, out in front of a house nearby. He walked to the house and smiled as a bunch of Eevee ran circles around the girl as she twirled around a small fuzzy toy. Tossing it out further into the yard, the eevee all ran and tackled the toy. She laughed as they began a tug of war with the shelldar plush.

Looking over, she noticed Felix and smiled brightly. "Felix! I was hoping you would come by!" she said and ran to him, hugging him tightly. Felix blushed madly and patted her on the back. "Dad! Felix is here!" she shouted.

The boy's face turned nervous. "Wait...no!" he said to her. But it was too late.

From the house sounded a loud, "WHAT!" followed by loud footsteps as the man ran outside. When he saw the boy out front, he ran forward and grabbed the boys hand again, shaking it like before. "Felix! Glad to see you ma'boy!" said the man as he rattled the trainers body with his shake.

"You too sir..." he said, holding his shoulder.

"Sir? Nah...you can call me Barnes. This here is my breeding center." he said showing the wide fenced area in front. "Come with me, I want to show you something." Felix followed him into the house. It was a small, but very quaint home. He admired the style, thinking that his own house was very small. "This is our center." he said, taking the boy out back.

Felix looked outside and gasped. The yard was huge, with a large pond in the center, as well as trees surrounding the area. There were many pokemon running around the area, from Nidorina basking under a tree, to several Tentacool swimming laps around the pond. There was even a Machamp lifting a boulder over its head over and over, obviously its daily workout.

"Amazing..." he said as he saw them all. As he drank in the scene, a small pokemon walked up to him and stared at him. Looking down, he smiled at the Eevee that had approached him and went down to pet it. Suddenly, the eevee attacked him, latching onto his hand with its teeth. The boy yelled out loud as he swung his hand around trying to get the fox pokemon off of him.

Barnes grabbed his hand and flicked the eevee across the snout. It let go and shook its head, growling at the owner. "Sorry about that mate. This ones got a bit of an attitude." he said as he held the fox around its whole body so it couldn't escape. It growled angrily at him. Felix glared at the pokemon.

"Did something happen to it?" he asked.

"Not sure. Some trainer came to me one day and said that they didn't want it anymore since it was violent towards them." said the man.

Felix thought for a moment, then smirked. "I think I'd like to try this one." he said as he looked at the Eevee.

Both the man and the girl looked at him surprised. "Are you sure? We have plenty of other Eevee if you want one." said the man.

"No, I want this one." he said determined.

The man shrugged. "If you say so." said Barnes, then set Eevee on the ground and walked off.

"Why did you pick this one?" asked Mina curiously.

"Because. I have a feeling if I don't, then nobody will. Every pokemon deserves a trainer that will will take care of it. Even this one." he said trying to pet Eevee again. It snapped at him, almost nipping his skin.

She smiled at him. "Well, I hope you can convince her that humans aren't enemies." she said.

"If I don't eat her first..." he said glaring at the eevee.

"Huh?" asked the girl.

"Nothing..." he said, turning away. The man came back up to him with a pokeball and handed it to the trainer.

"Here you go. This here is her pokeball." he said. Felix expanded the capsule and aimed at Eevee. The red laser shot out and hit Eevee, drawing the pokemon inside in a flash of light.

"Thanks, now to tell Shepard..." he said.

A few minutes later, everyone in town looked towards the breeders house as they heard a young boy yelling and saw flames shooting from behind the house.