Chapter 3:

"So we're really traveling together?" I asked.

We all stayed silent as the truth sunk in. I'm traveling with two people I barely know. Sure, Gary and I had been friends since we were little. But that's just because we had met when he and his Grandfather came to Cinnabar Island to do some research. Since then we had sent occasional letters to each other documenting our travels and interesting battles. Other than that, we were practically strangers to each other. I didn't even know what Pokemon he had!

"We should probably get to know each other a bit," Emily's voice shook us out of our thoughts.

"I guess I'll go first," I said when neither of them spoke up. "My name's Crystal Mapliskee, I'm 13 years old, and I'm from Cinnabar Island. I left home at 10, got all my Kanto badges by 11, and then took on the Pokemon League and lost really badly at 12. Life pretty much sucked for some time after that, so I ended up going back home to do some research with my older brother Seth. That soon got boring and I ended up training for nearly a year before taking on the tournament again. And now I'm here."

"What Pokemon do you have?" Gary asked curiously.

"Houndoom: he's my starter, Salamence: she was my second Pokemon, Charizard: I got him from your Grandpa, Jolteon and Vaporeon: they're siblings, and Dewgong: he's my newest Pokemon, but I've had him for a while now."

"I'll go next," Emily volunteered. "I'm Emily Styles, and I'm 14 years old. I'm originally from Rustboro City — that's in Hoenn. I first got all the badges from Hoenn and competed in the Pokemon League there, though I only got in the Top 16. After that I came to Kanto, got all the badges, and now I'm here. I really want to learn more about legendaries when we travel together, since they're all so mysterious. Especially the dragon ones," she added with a twinkle in her eye.

Gary laughed. "Of course — you're a Dragon-type Trainer, right?"

"Yeah. My entire team is made of dragons: Salamence, Dragonite, Garchomp, Altaria, Flygon, and Kingdra. That's the order I caught them in, too."

"Well, I'm up now. My full name is Gary Oak, and I'm also 14 years old, so that makes you the youngest, Crystal. I live with my Grandpa in Pallet Town and I started my journey at 10 in Kanto. I got in the Top 32 in the Kanto League and then competed in the Johto League where I lost to my rival, Ash, in the Top 16. I then spent a year and a half doing research in Sinnoh before heading back here to take on the Kanto League again. I want to keep researching and battling in my travels from now on, since I love them both. Oh yeah, and my Pokemon are Blastoise, Electivire, Umbreon, Arcanine, Scizor, and Nidoqueen, but I have a lot more with my Grandpa."

Trying to digest the overflow of information, a sudden thought struck me. "Wait a second, if you both have individual goals already why are you traveling with me? I mean, I really want to travel together, but why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Gary asked, surprised. "We want to learn from you!"

"You want to learn from me? No way, you've gotta be kidding!"

"You won the Kanto Pokemon League. Why wouldn't we?" Emily said, clearly amused.

Huh. I had never considered that. Maybe I was better than I thought.

"And then Houndoom charged at Blastoise in this MASSIVE blast of energy, and it was bigger than any other Giga Impact attack EVER, and then he slammed into Blastoise and that COMPLETELY killed Blastoise! I mean he couldn't even get up and th-"

"Okay, okay we got it! You can shut up now," Seth snapped.

It had only taken me two days at home to start bragging about my victory at the Pokemon League. Gary and Emily were going to come over in less then a week, barely leaving me with enough time to re-account the tournament blow by blow, even though my entire family had been there for most of it.

"The only part that worried me was when that Surf attack was fired at Houndoom, but even then I was just a teensy, weensy bit scared. And that's just because Houndoom absolutely HATES water, don't you Houndoom?" I asked my starter, who was currently chewing on rubber Magikarp. He looked at me and didn't reply, so I figured that meant he agreed.

"You'd better eat your breakfast before you beat that, too," my mom said playfully, ruffling my uncombed hair. "Now let's see what's on the news."

I plopped down into my seat at the kitchen table and began eating my bowl of cereal as my mom flipped the TV on. Immediately a picture of me surrounded by my Pokemon came up as the announcers voice spoke in the background.

"Crystal Mapliskee, age 13, recently took the title of Kanto Pokemon League Champion. She has been the youngest female Champion in over a decade, a feat which was last accomplished by Elite Four member Lorelei. It is clear she will achieve great things, but just what those things are nobody knows. Back over to you, Scott."

"Thanks, Jim. Now, regarding the economy…"

The news continued on in the background. Ignoring it, I turned to my brother, grinning "See? I'm on TV!"

"So what? Loads of people are on TV. Of course you don't understand this kind of stuff until your more mature," he smirked.

"I'm plenty mature! I raised a full team of Pokemon and I traveled all around Kanto on my own!"

"Not in my eyes, you're not."

"MOM!"

The week continued on like this, with me boasting more and more about my victories and my brother (and soon the rest of my family) getting more and more annoyed. Finally, when Gary and Emily were due to arrive in an hour, my mom sat me down.

"Now, Crystal: don't keep bragging when your friends are here or they'll leave," she warned.

"I don't brag! And there's nothing to worry about," I assured, giving her my most winning smile. "I'll behave." brag

Keeping my promise, I kept my showing off to a minimum when Gary and Emily came over and instead focused my attention on our next steps. "Maybe we can go to a new region?" I suggested.

"Between the three of us, the only one we haven't gone through is the Sinnoh League — and it's not we'l be allowed let us go across the country alone," Emily pointed out once again.

"Then we could start looking for legendaries," I replied.

"Like legendaries are roaming free throughout the region," Gary snorted.

Hours turned into days that dragged into weeks as we continued to discuss our next destination. Tempers began running high as suggestion after suggestion were rejected for one reason or another. Soon enough simple discussions about the future became screaming arguments and threats to leave.

While it became nice to learn more about Gary and Emily, some things also became unclear. For example, Emily seemed to always switch topics or give unclear answers when the conversation turned to her parents. Another bothering fact was about her and legendaries. Even though her goal was to "learn more about them" legendaries seemed to be a touchy subject for her, especially when it came to the interaction between humans and them.

Overall, this time was one of the most miserable in my life so far. Of course, all this changed one day when my mom brought in the mail holding a letter addressed to me from the Battle Frontier.