"Quil!" I heard a voice speak my name. "Quil. Come on you sleepy head. Wake up."

I turned over grumbling, "Let me sleep."

"Quil, don't make me have to wake you," the voice warned. But of course, I went ahead and ignored the warning as I kept on sleeping. "Fine then. But I did warn you." A second went by where nothing happened. Then suddenly, I jerked awake as a cold blast of water hit my body.

I was definitely awake now. I jumped up and looked all around for the attacker. All I heard was laughter behind me. I turned around to see that one of the Quags were laughing.

"Oh man," he said. "I've never seen anyone move so fast like that before. You should have seen the look on your face. It was priceless!"

I glared at the Quag who disturbed my sleep and still laughed at me. Luckily for me, I was near the apples. There were still quite a number of them left. I quickly snatched one from the pile and lobbed it at the still laughing Quag. He didn't even see it coming until it got him in the face.

The Quag smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I deserved that one too," he said.

I sighed as I realized that this Quag was the one I hit with my first apple last night.

"You better have a good reason why you woke me up, Quag," I said annoyed.

"First off, my name's Gus, not Quag," the Quag said. "And the reason I woke you up is because it's a good day to go swimming."

"Is that all?" I asked in a flat voice.

"Come on," Gus said. "It will be fun."

"No that's okay," I said, looking away.

"Aw come on," Gus said. "Almost everyone loves to swim, except for rock and some fire types. But you can handle the water. So come on."

"I said I'm fine," I said, still looking away.

"Oh don't tell you don't know how to swim," Gus said.

I felt a blush creeping up on my face. I tried hiding it, but I couldn't stop it from showing.

"Quil, how are you ever going to make through life if you don't at least try things?" Gus asked. "Just about everybody in this world has to try everything just once in their life. If they don't, well, they become pathetic losers."

"Take that back," I snarled, my anger bursting free like that. If it was one thing I hated being called it was a loser. Gus himself seemed pretty shocked at my anger, but regained his attitude.

"Take that back," I said again.

"So there is some fight in you," Gus said. "I don't think I want to take it back."

"Take it back or I swear you'll regret it," I said threateningly.

"Oohh!" Gus mocked. "I'm so scared. Please don't hurt me little Cyndaquil." He pretended to cry as he pretended to wipe away a tear. "I didn't mean to call you such names."

"You have one last chance to take that back," I said. I felt something starting to feel alive on my back. But I didn't even bother caring. What I did care was wanting to make Gus pay for his mockery.

"Hah!" Gus said. "As if."

"Fine then," I said as I prepared to charge.

"What's going on over here?" someone suddenly asked. I stopped what I was doing and noticed Sire walking over.

"I was just trying to get Quil to come and swim," Gus said. "But he went off and started chewing my head off for no reason."

I glared at him angrily, really feeling like hurting him. Sire beat me to it first though with a good punch to the face.

"When are you going to start behaving yourself?" he yelled. "Honestly you cause more trouble than any other pokemon I know."

"You know I can't help who I am," Gus said. "I just have to be me."

"And that's what worries me a lot," Sire mumbled as Gus ran off towards the pond. Sire sighed irritably as he turned to me. "Don't worry about him. He always pick on weaker pokemon just to anger them."

"Well it definitely worked well," I said angrily.

"Don't let Gus spoil your day, Quil," Sire said. "One day he'll end up in that same situation. But in the mean time, I know that you can't swim."

"So what if I can't?" I snapped. "I'm just a loser who can't do anything."

"Calm down, Quil," Sire said. "I didn't mean any offense to that. I just said that because of how you struggled against the current when I came to save you."

"Sorry," I said a bit more calmer. I heard Sire mumble something, but it was too quiet for me to hear. "I guess I did let Gus get to me."

"Don't let him," Sire said. "If ends up bothering you again, come and get me. Don't confront him on your own."

"Got it," I said.

"So," Sire said. "You want to try swimming?"

"I don't know," I said, looking away again. "I'm too afraid to."

"Well the way I see things, the only way to confront your fear is to face them," Sire said. "Once you face your fears, you will no longer be afraid."

I looked up at him, a smile starting to creep up on me this time.

"So how about it?" Sire asked. "I'll even be your tutor on swimming."

"O.K.," I said as I followed Sire over to the pond.