Chapter 3

Memories

The next morning, everyone had been up early. When James got outside, he found everyone up and ready to get moving. With that, they set off.

During the passing by of Olivine city, they received many greetings from friends, and even got a few gifts. After that, they set out North West to Hallow Grove.

Along the path, everyone talked to each other. But one had been piqued with interest about a certain someone. James had been watching Lillie and Violet tease Jagex, but only paid attention to Lillie. He began to think about her. He recalled the first moment he'd even saw her.

It was five years back, back in New Bark Town. James and his father Vincent, had been called to come see Professor Elm on an urgent matter. James was only 10 at the time, but he was very interested in what was going on. When they had arrived, his father and Professor Elm had exchanged greetings, Elm commented on how fast James was growing, the usual. Then, three other children had arrived at the lab. Elm had asked the two to sit down while he took care of some business with the other three. It amazed James to see Elm effortlessly hand over three pokeballs to the others. He was actually jealous! But like James, Vincent was also perceptive. "Calm down my son, I'm sure Elm didn't call us here for you to lose your cool."

James looked back at his father wide-eyed and nodded with a big smile. He supposed his dad was right. He knew Elm for a long time. He knew he wasn't THAT mean.

After dinner with Mr. Elm, the scientist had called Vincent to the side to talk to him. It was night time.

"Vince…you realize that he's only ten. I'm sure he's not irresponsible. I'm just worried about him. What if he gets carried away?"

"I know Elm, I worry too. But he's going to have to start sometime, right? Besides, he has me and Squall if he ever needs help. I mean, my first pokemon was a shiny charmander. Want to know how I got him?" -silence…- "I became his friend. I made sure to teach James correctly that he must become a pokemon's friend in order to become strong. He's going to be great. Trust me."

"I do my friend, I do."

Through all of this, James had been listening in. What exactly was going on…?

Suddenly, his father appeared in front of him. "Come little one. It's time."

He followed his father to where the others were given their pokemon. Elm pulled out a tiny key and stuck it into the floor. All of a sudden, a hidden trap door appeared from beneath the floor. As they walked down the stairs, James discovered a completely different lab. A secret lab!

When they reached the center of the new lab, Elm turned to James. "Well my dear boy," he began, "It is time for you to receive your first pokemon…"

James' heart soared. Was he going to get a really tough totodile? Maybe a sturdy and strong chikorita!

Elm then reached to the side, and pulled out a peculiar pokeball. This one, had a ribbon symbol across the top of it. He then handed the ball to James. "Try it out son," motioned his father toward an empty part of the lab.

James nodded and tossed the ball. A bright red beam zoomed to the room and a mysterious form started to appear. James had realized. It was…a cyndaquil. But. Something was odd about it. "Father? Why is it…pink? I thought cyndaquil were blue?"

"James. This cyndaquil is very special… you see. It is a very rare one. When Elm had found it, he called me immediately. He thought that you should have it!"

James slowly approached the creature who's back was turned towards them. James saw that it was trembling, so he decided not to startle the poor thing. "H..hello?" This alone made it jump. The creature turned around slowly and saw James sitting down Indian style.

"H-hello?" By the sound of it's voice, James determined that it was female. "W-w-who are you..?"

James felt frustrated. He knew that she was talking to him, but he couldn't understand her. He tried to pay more attention to her. Then he finally put the pieces together. He had held his arm out to her. She backed up slightly, but looked on with interest. "F-friend…" James said in a low tone, in order to not scare her.

She looked back. She understood what he had said and took his hand. "Friend…".

She then rushed into his arms and hugged him tightly. He giggled slightly. "So son, what are you going to name her?"

James thought to himself. She looked so cute, her and her pink coat, round body. She looked just like…

He gasped. "Lillie! Her name is Lillie. Do you l-like that name?" He had asked the little one in his arms. She nodded.

He gazed at her magnificence as they walked, him in the back of the group while the others conversed with each other. He felt great pride with her around. She was his golden egg, his silver lining, his best pokemon. Ironic to the way she looked, she was actually the strongest among the group. She just never liked to show it.

James slowly recalled all of her battles through the years, from a young cyndaquil, to a maturing adult. Contrasting to her species, she had rarely ever lit the flame on her back. It wasn't that it wasn't strong, that it was puny, or that she never used a flame attack on the field, but rather, she never wanted to burn her most prized possession: her ribbon.

As he closed his eyes, put his hands behind his head, leaned back, and remembered memories passed, Lillie had gotten curious due to his silence. She slowly looked over to see the pose her trainer was currently in. The wind slowly strolling through his tied up pony tail, the sun beaming upon him, shade on his eyes due to the beret blocking it, and his masculine outlook. She herself had gotten a sense of honor. She sighed and thought to herself while glancing back, "What a nice guy…He's been my best friend for as long I could remember…" With that, she slowly looked down to the silk around her neck. She closed her eyes and hugged it, as usual when she liked remember things.

It was a rainy day. The two were hiding under a tree to avoid getting wet, while James set up a tent. When he was finished, he quickly rushed the cyndaquil inside, him following short after.

It was only 4 months after he had gotten her. Although, he had been through much trouble, considering he was a brand new trainer. He had never thought of food, traveling conditions, and many other factors. Tired and beaten, the two laid down in the tent while the rain tickered off the roof.

"I'm sorry Lillie…I had no idea traveling would be this hard." James confessed to his young friend as she shook herself dry. She looked up and shook her head with a big smile. "Hmm..? Awh…thanks. After this rain passes, we'll try and dash for the next town. They should have a motel." He then held up a small red card. "Luckily my dad set up an account for me." He sighed. "Let's get some rest. Let's hope the rain passes in the morning."

The next morning, the two were packed up and running over the hill they were on, catching glimpse of the town they were headed to a half mile away. They made no effort as to dash as fast as they could to jump through the front gates in a time of three minutes. "We should've done that last night!" James remarked. Lillie nodded with a laugh.

While James stocked up on supplies, Lillie had spent time exploring the town. She saw shop after shop after restaurant after very glowy red stand after shop aft- Hey wait. Glowy red stand? She retraced her steps to come across the stand. It had many flashing lights and there were six bottles placed in a weird triangle shape on top of a pedestal. Next to it, there was a man announcing "Come one, come all! Try your aim at a game of toss!" Lillie was now officially interested in this very glitzy event. "If one is able to knock down all six, count em, all six bottles, then they shall win, THIS!" He held up something that Lillie shall never forget for her entire life. It was a long, beautiful pink ribbon. "This ribbon has been treated to help pokemon become stronger, and is also laced with an element retardant substance so it never needs to be cleaned!"

Lillie was memorized at it's beauty. She sat there for what seemed like an eternity. The man had caught glance of her several times, until he finally spoke up to her. "Well, hellOO there little lady! Do you have a trainer?" He only asked her, not to see if he could catch her, but instead to get ready to protect her from anybody with enough guts to try and catch her. To his gratefulness, she confirmed that she had a master. "Whew! Well. I've seen you staring at this scarf for quite some time now… Why don't you go ask him if," he was managed to inform her up until James had appeared behind her. Lillie was at first surprised, but cheerful when she knew her trainer was back.

James had asked the man what was happening. He explained what Lillie had been doing while James was gone. "She was staring at the scarf?" He said this more in the direction of Lillie instead of the man. She lowered her head in shame. She didn't want her new master to think that she was a needy little punk who wanted everything she saw. But what she didn't know, was that James sort of understood what she wanted.

"…How much for one ball?" James inquired. Lillie's face lit up slightly. She glanced up with hesitation, thinking that she had only heard what he said in her head. But she knew it was true when the young master was already holding a ball. She glanced at the bottles and closed her eyes.

"Can he really do it? They look very far away…I mean…Oh who am I kidding. He's probably only doing this so he could sell it for some food…I've never even done anything for him besides light a campfire or two…I'd never deser-"BAM. Her heart soared. He hit them! But to her dismay, she remembered what she was just thinking about. How he would never give her something as special as that ribbon…

She lowered her head in sadness. After a few moments of the man and James talking to one another, James finally spoke to Lillia. "Ahem..?"

Lillia slowly raised her head, only to see James handing it to her with one hand outstretched, while he slowly gained a big goofy grin. "I believe this belongs to you..?" He closed his eyes with a hearty smile.

She couldn't believe it. He was actually giving it to her? She rubbed her eyes several times and even pinched herself to see if it was a dream. He saw this and chuckled. "Here...let me help you…" He outstretched his hands toward her and tied a bow around her neck.

"R…real-really?" Tears slowly started to swell in her eyes as she rubbed her head along the new item around her neck. "Th…th…Tha-" She tried to thank him before she started bawling into his shirt.

"That was such a long time ago…" Lillie thought to herself and she sighed. She glanced back at James who was still in his own little world. She giggled to herself and slowed her pace to where she was walking right next to him. She felt so happy next to him, that she couldn't stand to just put on a great big smile. As she walked very close to him, James could feel a presence next to him. When he opened his eyes, he was startled to see the very one he was thinking about walking right next to him with a great smile.

He actually jumped up, his face turning a shade of red. "Lillie! I…ermm…never mind" he shrugged off his blush with a smile. She giggled. They both looked ahead to see the group watching the whole scene. Everyone went silent. "Ummm…" James had to think of something quick. He didn't want the others to get any ideas. "Uhh, TAG!" He yelped as he quickly poked Lillie's unexpecting belly. She squealed at first, eventually everyone was laughing as they had a game of tag through the forest on their side. In the end, Lillie won because she was the fastest. She still had trouble catching James who had a knack for hopping from tree to tree though.

As the sun was setting, James told everyone, "Guys, we should set up camp. We can reach the festival town in the morning." Everyone agreed.

As the fire was made, and everyone settled down, the sleeping bags were distributed. When Jagex got his, he slowly walked up to the side of Violet, who was already lying down on her side, facing away from him. "Uh…uhmm…Violet?"

With a lazy yawn, "What is it feather for brains…"

"Can I uhm…s-sleep next to you…?"

Violet turned over on her side to face with an obviously pissed off mood, "Ok, that's it. Why is it that every time we go on a journey, you have to go and sleep next to me!?" Jagex began to blush. He slowly moved up to her ear and confessed his secret. "Your…your afraid of the bloody dark!?"

"Sssssh! Not so loud!"

As much as Violet wanted to laugh at him, she couldn't help but…find it sort of cute. A beefed up warrior asking to sleep next to her because he was afraid of the boogie-man or something. Yet again, with another, but more content sigh, "Yeah…you can sleep next to me."

On the other side of the fire, Gaia was still star gazing, James was eating the last of a meat stick, and Lillie was setting herself up. When she sat down on her bag, she couldn't help but watch in awe with the ferocity that James ate with. She could've never figured that her trainer was even capable of that.

When James saw her staring yet again, they both let out a small giggle. When he was finished, he curled up and lied down in the direction of Lillie. "Nighty-night" he said with his tongue hanging out along with a sleepy yawn.

An hour later, everyone was asleep except for Lillie. She was just watching the fire reminiscing about all of her memories.

She recalled several times where she had fallen ill and James had given her most of his own food so she wouldn't feel forgotten, just because she couldn't fight. Other times when she was injured, he'd stay by her side all night long, hoping for her to get better, telling her jokes so she'd at least laugh.

There were multiple times where they had met nasty trainers who treated their pokemon like crap. She remembered them calling her weak just because James treated her like his best friend. She giggled as she recalled woopin' their butts.

She could even remember as he took everyone to an expensive restaurant to celebrate them getting their 5th badge, and wracking up a very expensive bill. On their way out, the five heard a group of rich snobs talking about how it was such a waste of food, to be giving it to pokemon, especially stupid ones. She laughed very lowly as she remembered how it took eight of their men to pull James of the one man's tupé. "You'll be hearing from my lawyer!"

"LET'S JUST HOPE HE GETS HERE IN TIME BEFORE I RIP OUT YOUR VOCAL CORDS, YA PUNK!!!" They were lucky enough for Gaia to haul James over his shoulder as they ran away.

As all of her memories came to her, she started to drift into a blissful sleep. She watched her master snore as she layed her head down. "Good night...James…"