Chapter Seven

"Do you have any other Pokémon besides Zero, Amanda?" Colby asked curiously.

They had entered the outskirts of Portsburg and were leaving the big city lights behind for the rolling plains. Ellis wasn't exaggerating when he said that the unwritten road to Afron Village was small…three people could walk side by side and that was the width of the road.

It was a simple dirt path that was easily distinguishable from years of footprint wear. On the other side of the path, rolling plains occupied an area as vast as the eye could see. Amanda stopped and started to unzip her backpack.

"Well…I just have Zero…and this." She pulled out something that was wrapped in white cloth.

It was huge; amazingly it could fit in the medium sized backpack. "What…is it?" Colby asked with wonderment.

Amanda slowly unwrapped the object and let the linen fall to the ground. She was holding a huge egg in her hands. It was an egg of a Pokémon of some type.

"Oh…"

Was all Ellis could say as he also gazed at the egg with wonderment. Amanda had a smile on her face as she wrapped the egg back in linen. She zipped up the backpack and started to walk along again.

"What Pokémon's egg is that?" Colby asked.

Amanda shrugged, "I have no idea…a stranger gave it to me. I was passing by the Pokémon Center on the way to my friend Holland's house when a man gave it to me. He said to take care of it and I didn't object…because I've always wanted a keep a Pokémon egg. It's due to hatch in a week or so."

"Oh wow…that's so neat! Can you believe that we will be able to see a Pokémon hatch? This journey is going to be awesome!" Ellis said peppery.

They came to the top of a steep hill and Colby stopped. As she turned around, she could see the morning sun beginning to rise on weary Portsburg. Its brilliant rays of orange and red were reflecting off of the shiny buildings, making them gleam like new silver wear. The sight almost took Colby's breath away.

"It's so beautiful…" Amanda trailed off as they all gave Portsburg one last farewell.

Ellis waved and they began to walk again, toward Afron Village with a smile on their faces.

After about an hour of walking, Nicksy seemed to be fairly tired. That was to be expected, since he was still recovering. Colby decided to carry him for a while since she didn't yet have a Poke Ball for him to call home.

"About how much longer Ellis?" Colby asked.

"Not far…we've tackled the brute of the walk. Maybe about ten minutes or so?"

Amanda and Zero seemed to be fairly content, walking side by side the whole time. Colby looked out over the rolling fields of grass in the Aurora Region. The wind rustled her hair a bit, but sent the swaying grass into rapid movement.

Colby glanced at the horizon, and was awed by what she saw. Out of the wisps of clouds, jagged peaks of mountains could be seen. Snow capped like a cherry on an ice-cream sundae, completing the look.

"Oh…wow…Ellis, you didn't tell me this Region had mountains," Colby said. Ellis glanced at her, "Oh yeah…they are quite beautiful aren't they? Prae Mountains, that's their name."

That was an interesting name. Colby liked it though.

"I'm going to add to that if you don't mind Ellis… The mountains were supposedly, according to legend, were said to have grown up around the crater left over from The Great Battle. You know what that was right?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, Ellis told me the story," Colby replied.

"Good! Well, inside the crater, the Elite now reside in the Spiral Towers, which are where the trainers go for their final battle. I've never actually been there, but some of my instructors said it was a great place," Amanda explained.

Colby was eager to complete their journey just from Amanda's description of the Elite. Her final battle would be a great one, and she wouldn't go down without a hard fight.

"Hey! What's that!" Ellis exclaimed, interrupting Colby's thoughts.

Out of the tall grass, a Pokémon of some type peeked its head out. "It's an…Oddish," Amanda said.

The little Pokémon looked fairly curiously toward them, but it still seemed to be unsure about what to do. Nicksy did though. He immediately stepped out beyond Colby and arched his back in preparedness for battle.

Colby was about to fight her first battle, with Nicksy by her side. She didn't exactly know what type of moves Nicksy was capable of executing… He was a dark and a fire type…so any of those types of moves should be able to work.

Ellis nudged her, "Ready for your first battle? Nicksy seems to know what to do. Just follow his lead and tell him what to do."

Nicksy looked back at Colby with a look of determination in his eye and eagerly awaited the call to battle.

"Nicksy! Use Shadow Ball!" Colby shouted.

The Oddish looked absolutely terrified as Nicksy bore down upon it. Upon receiving the order, Nicksy formed a black ball of darkness and shot it at the Oddish. It was knocked off its feet and into the grass.

"Nice job Nicksy! Now use Tackle!"

Nicksy obeyed and tackled the Oddish with ease. The wild Pokémon didn't seem to have the taste for battle and feinted.

"Murr! Murr!" Nicksy said.

Then the realization hit Colby, they had won their first battle together!

"Great Nicksy! Brilliant!" She said with excitement and she pulled Nicksy into a bear hug.

"Awesome Colby! You handled that like a pro!" Ellis smiled, giving her a high five.

Amanda and Zero looked quite happy and also congratulated her. Colby glanced at the Oddish that was still feinted, and felt a pang of sadness for it.

"What do you think we should do with the Oddish?" Colby asked.

Ellis shrugged, "It will wake up eventually and it's a wild Pokémon. I would just leave it…"

Colby didn't exactly want to leave it…maybe she could take it on as her second Pokémon!

"What if I kept it as my next Pokémon?" Colby asked.

"I'm sure that you could train it! Zero was wild when I first found him," Amanda said, rubbing Zero's ears.

"You could sure try! You're an awesome trainer Colby, and for a first battle that was pretty good!" Ellis congratulated.

"Thanks guys! I think I will try and train the Oddish. I will name her…Mara!" Colby picked up the feinted Oddish and they all continued on their trek to Afron Village, chatting about the battle.

Colby could see the houses in the distance that Ellis was talking about…and they did look like cottages.

"Hey! We are getting close!" Colby pointed out.

It was late afternoon now and Colby was getting hungry. Hopefully, Afron Village had some place to eat. They approached the town and came upon a small cottage that was encircled by a simple white picket fence. Flowers were planted by the door and green grass surrounded the house.

"Well, here it is!" Ellis said, pushing open the gate.

Colby followed him up to the door and watched as he knocked on it. A few seconds later, a light red headed woman came to the door. Her eyes lit up when she saw Ellis and immediately pulled him into a hug.

"Oh, Ellis! I'm so glad you're safe, because I've been so worried," She said. "I'm fine Mom, just glad to be home. Let me introduce you to my friends, Colby and Amanda."

The woman smiled and said hello to each of them.

"Rosie! Ellis is back!" The woman called into the house.

A little girl with flaming red hair came bounding down the steps and tackled Ellis into a hug.

"Ellis! I missed you so much! How is…Eddie?" She asked with eager green eyes. Ellis laughed and pulled a Poke Ball out of his pack.

"He's all safe and sound Rosie. Eddie is just fine," Ellis assured her, handing her the Poke Ball.

She threw it and out popped Eddie with a sneeze. He made a noise when he saw Rosie and tackled her into a hug. Rosie giggled and hugged Eddie back, planting some kisses on his forehead.

"Oh, Eddie! I missed you so much, but not as much as I missed Ellis," Rosie said with a smile to Ellis.

"Why don't you have your friends stay for dinner? I was just finishing it up when you knocked," Ellis's Mom said, assuring everyone in and shutting the door.

"Sure! You guys okay with staying for dinner?" Ellis asked.

"Sure," Colby said.

Amanda agreed and they all filed into the dining room behind Ellis with Colby's stomach rumbling all the way.


"Your Mom is a good cook," Colby said.

They were all sitting outside on the porch after eating dinner. Ellis's mom had made something that Colby had never actually tried before…to bad she couldn't remember the name of the food she ate.

"Yeah, she is and always has been," Ellis answered.

Amanda was searching through her pack for some food for Zero, who was also hungry. The Oddish was still out cold, and was crashing on the deck beside Colby's backpack.

"So…do you think that this thing will ever wake up?" Colby asked Ellis with a laugh.

"Doubtful…Nicksy smacked him pretty hard." Colby smirked and glanced out over the setting sun with eagerness to get going again.

"Will we just stay here tonight, then set off for Ft. Jonova in the morning?" Amanda asked, finally finding some food for Zero, and watching him eat it happily.

"Yeah, I think that would be best. After all, it is just about sun down, and we won't get very far in the dark," Ellis said.

Amanda nodded her head in agreement and came over to sit with them.

"Do you know anything about the Ft. Jonova gym leader, Amanda? Ellis thought he looked pretty stuck up," Colby asked.

Amanda shrugged, "All I know is that his name is Josh and that he has a Mr. Mime."

Colby nodded agreement, "That's all we know too. Ellis just can't wait to battle him."

Ellis rolled his eyes, "Yeah, right."

For the next hour, they chatted about various things. They talked about everything from Pokémon, to embarrassing stories, and even their dreams. Colby, for once, felt at peace with her new life, new Pokémon, and new friends.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! I am so so so so sorry that I haven't been posting chapters every other day lately. XD I have been busy with school and fighting geography map tests (ewwww) also writing papers (double eww). I will try to start posting again really soon, because the real Amanda has been going through withdrawal from not being able to read new chapters. We can't have that! Anyways, sorry this chapter was so short and succinct, but as I said, I've been busy. Well, just letting you know that haven't fell off the flatness of the earth (ha). Happy reading! ~colbyjackchz (and Nicksy) :p