Here's the new chapter! If I separated this story into books, this one would be the last chapter of the first book!

"Hey Sammy, need a hand?"

I looked up in surprise. Standing on the edge of the cliff above them was the man with spiky hair who Sam had chased in the forest shortly after our journey had started.

Sam's grimace changed into an easy grin. "Long time no see, Dane."

"Looks like you got yourself into a spot of trouble, huh?" The boy said. He had an accent that I hadn't heard before. He jumped off the edge and slid down the steep slope on his heels before easily walking towards us. "I had hoped you could take care of yourself, mate."

"Stay where you are!" Maylin warned, thrusting out her hand warningly. Dane fixed his startling green eyes on her.

"Sorry but I'm afraid I'm going to join the battle too. Sammy here looks like he's a bit outnumbered." He tossed up four Pokéballs. A Bulbasaur, Pidgey, a strange leafy Pokémon that stood on two legs and a Ponyta appeared. The Ponyta reared up and nickered and to my surprise, Dane pat the Ponyta's neck, his hand fazing right through the fire without any sign of being burned. "These two will be our next challengers, Kasta." Kasta snorted flames in excitement. "Listen up team, those guys," he pointed towards us, "aren't the enemy. Sam, try not to get in the way."

Sam's eyes flashed in excitement. "We're not gonna get in the way, we'll be the one's to beat them!"

'Vee!' I agreed. I didn't know why the weird kid had run away when we'd chased him but I was absolutely sure I wasn't gonna be up-staged by the guy, especially when I'd been here fighting the whole time.

Dane rolled his eyes. "Kasta, use Flame Wheel!" The Ponyta charged in a beautiful wheel of fire, throwing back the female Nidoran with enough force that she hit the quarry wall next to one of the miners. She got back to her feet slowly and chittered furiously.

Reinvigorated by the back up, I channeled my second wind towards the Froakie who had been staring at me unblinkingly for the past minute. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Oddish, who despite being asked to fight at the beginning of the battle, bore no scratches or injuries. She didn't even look tired. Pushing down my irritation, I ran at Oddish and picked her up by the base of her leaves dragging her toward Froakie. If the complacent little twerp wasn't going to join the fight herself, I'd make her.

Dodging a stream of fire from Magby, I ran straight past Froakie and heard the creature hop after us."Run." I told Oddish, dropping her on the ground. She had no other choice but to flee. When we had run far away that I felt comfortable with enough room to dodge, I turned on a dime and held out my tail so Oddish ran into it.

"Do something," I whispered. After a second of battle of wills, small green orbs appeared from Froakie's skin and was absorbed by Oddish.

If Oddish could regain energy like that, I realized, then maybe she had been fighting and had just been regaining energy from her foes. I flinched as my inattentiveness allowed Froakie's Water Pulse to get a direct hit.

Froakie's tongue wrapped around my paw, making me fall onto the ground. I raised my other paw and scratched his tongue, causing him to retract it. "Come on, Oddish! Use another attack!" I shot a Swift attack at Froakie but they were cancelled out by his Bubble attack.

"Shut up! You're so bossy!" Oddish grunted. Small green orbs flew towards Oddish again. "But I'll take his energy, for myself, of course!"

I sighed in exasperation. It wasn't much but at least she'd fight. I took the opportunity to tackle him and bite his side. Froakie struggled weakly and lost consciousness.

I took a deep breath and head back to the others, not sure if Oddish followed.

I ran to join Poison and Gold. "Froakie's taken care of."

Gold nodded. "So's Machop, Nidoran and Electrike. And those Drilbur."

"Cleffa fainted too." Poison called from where he was firing projectiles at Paras. "These guys are strong."

"The loud guy's Pokémon are facing the Excadrill. So far, they're struggling." Gold added, ducking as a Spearow swooped down with its talons. I fired a Shadow Ball at it and it crashed into the ground. "Thanks."

"Those Breloom are gonna be a problem—I can't fight them." I observed.

"I found it!" Maylin and Gil's Pokémon stopped fighting, causing everyone else to stop and look at Maylin. She stood a black stone half the size of her palm. "I found the power of the Earth!" Bulbasaur, who was behind Maylin shot out a vine at the stone knocking it out of her hand. It was a good move, whatever it was, if she wanted it so badly, it was probably in our best interest she didn't get it. The stone flew in an arc approaching us. Gold's eyes widened and ran to grab the stone, catching it perfectly in his paws. The three Breloom ran to catch up with him. I ran in the opposite direction of Gold, who stood on tiptoe holding the stone. "I don't know what this is but you aren't gonna get it!" He growled.

"Here!" I called. Usually, Gold wouldn't throw to me because I didn't have hands but this time he did.

"You'd better frickin' catch this, Rusty!" I ran faster, trying to catch up to it. It looked like it was going to fall into the stream flowing through the quarry. I jumped over the stream, catching the stone in my mouth in mid-air. When I landed on the other side of the bank as a strange sensation came over me.

"Nova! Throw it here!" Gold called. He had been able to break away from the Pokémon surrounding him.

I felt this strange ripple of tension run through me. I dropped it to the ground. It wasn't just black, I realized, it had bright blue veins through the core of the stone. A strange sense of vertigo ran through me and suddenly, the ground felt like it was getting further away. Everything was starting to get brighter, not from the sun but from the back of my eyes. I looked back at Gold and Poison who were staring as the brightness increased. It wasn't just them, everyone had paused and was looking at me. My muscles tensed then relaxed again, feeling more powerful. I felt stretched and my hair follicles burned…my fur was growing out on my collar.

Instantly, I realized what was happening. I had never been anything but an Eevee. I stared at the stone as best as I could because the light, which I realized was emitting from me made it nearly impossible to see. It wasn't any type of evolution stone. I had no idea how this was happening. With one final surge, my legs lengthened and chest broadened my tail and tuft on my head grew bushier. I blinked as the light receded and my eyes registered colors that seemed stronger than before. My nose picked up the scents of my foes and friends. The blue veins of the stone at my paws faded and the rock became cold.

"What just happened?" I asked, distantly registering my deeper voice. I turned around to see a bushy yellow tail. A strong buzz of energy ran through me as I saw Gold, Poison and Sam run up to me. My eye level was now just above Gold's. And when Sam crouched down to hug me, my head nearly reached his shoulder. This body, it should feel so foreign, I thought, but instead it felt like the next step in getting stronger. Poison jumped up and down excitedly. While Poison had been at least half a foot taller than me as an Eevee, the tips of his ears only just reached my eyes. I licked Sam's face and nuzzled Poison and walked up to Gold so we were chest to chest while he pat my shoulder affectionately.

"Rusty fits you even more now," Gold laughed. "How's it feel, Flareon?"

It felt great, especially hearing the word spoken out loud like that.

Kasta the Ponyta trotted up to us as Gold and I pulled back. He tentatively sniffed me. The tips of my ears fell short a few inches short of Kasta's full height . "A fire-type, good choice," he rumbled happily before turning his attention to the stone. "That isn't a Fire Stone, did you evolve just by touching it? That doesn't make sense." His eyes narrowed and his ear twitched in irritation.

Then the voice of Maylin cut through the moment like a Scyther blade through an apple. "How did that Eevee evolve into a Flareon? That isn't possible!" She looked scared. "Magby! Paras! Everyone! Attack! Bring me that stone! And the Flareon!"

I made eye contact with Magby. It was as if I could register her inferno-like temperature from where I was across the quarry and it interested me. My ears twitched.

"I guess the battle's not over yet!" I ran straight towards Magby, jumping over the stream much easier than when I had while I was still an Eevee. It was slightly difficult adjusting to a taller height—I was nearly three times my previous size—but the stilt-like sensation faded quickly as I charged at Magby, who fired off an Ember that should have sent me scrabbling backwards. Instead, the insulating fur on my chest protected me from the attack and I carried out a strong Tackle using the weight of my new form. I lowered my head and swung upwards, hitting him in the stomach with enough force to send him to the ground with no resistance. He picked himself up and I charged up a Shadow Ball, which seemed to intensify right before I shot it at her. My power had surged when I had evolved. The attack hit him in the side but he still fell to the ground unconscious. The space had erupted into battles again.

I saw the three Breloom headed towards the strange leafy walking Pokémon identified as Levanny. A moment of inspiration hit me. Not only has I now longer weak to their fighting-type, I was strong against their grass-typing.

"Hey mushroom-faces!" I taunted. One by one the three Breloom realized I was talking to them. "Yeah, stoner trio, I'm talking to you!" I met them half way, ready to blow them away with a stunning fire attack. I charged up my energy but instead of a vortex of swirling hell-fire, I produced a small steam of smoke. Taken back, I only just managed to roll out of the way of a Double Kick.

Not a problem, I thought. Plenty of other ways to skin a Skitty. I nailed one with a Quick Attack, and wheeled around to another with a Shadow Ball. I saw the same small green orbs leave my body and be absorbed into one of the Breloom but it barely had any effect at all. I lashed out, scratching one across the stomach.

A karate chop hit me in the head, making everything fuzzy for a second but I had the presence of mind to twist around and latch my teeth around the Breloom's arm, pulling it off balance and knocking it into one of its teammates. Then I blasted them both with a Shadow Ball. The other Breloom went to punch me but pulled its punch short and whipped around striking me in the side with its heavy tail.

I exhaled heavily and jumped back, waiting for the pain to pass from my ribs. At least my earlier injuries had been healed when I had evolved. I heard footsteps towards me. It was Kasta the Ponyta.

"Need some help?"

"No thanks." I told him. I had reached my quota for being saved today and Kasta and his owner were a little too prideful. I'd rather take a few more blows than except help from someone who might be one of Sam's biggest rivals.

"You just evolved, you can't be used to your new form yet. Let me help out, one fire-type to another."

"Alright, fine." I conceded. We didn't have time to be arguing. Kasta was quick to wheel around and smack a Breloom on the side of its head with his hooves. I almost winced at the sound. It took a second, but the Breloom pulled itself up. My Swift knocked it back onto the ground permanently.

"These last two shouldn't be two hard." I said, preparing to run at them. The ground shook underneath them. "What's that?" I asked, looking around.

"The other Pokémon were knocked out, everyone else is battling Excadrill."

"That behemoth?" I raised my eyebrows. "They've got their paws full."

I charged at slipped around a Breloom using my foreleg to knock it off balance and biting it in the shoulder until it cried out. I let go as its eyes unfocused a little. A wave of fire from Kasta grilled the final Breloom.

We looked at the battle against the Excadrill just in time to see Poison and Pidgey deliver a final attack on it.

Maylin and Gil recalled all their Pokémon, as did the grunts. "Retreat!" Maylin yelled. The team had retreatedup the crest of the hill before the exhausted humans and Pokémon thought to give chase.

"Right, so what now?" Sam panted. He was a little scratched up, having fought a few Pokémon off himself.

"I suppose finding out what the rock they wanted so bad was. And how it evolved your Eevee." Dane suggested.

"Yeah," Sam said. He stopped short. "Guys, it's not here."

"What?"

"It's not here, they must have taken it!"

"Are you serious?" Dane let out a frustrated sigh and kneading his forehead. "After all that work?"

Rae walked over to Sam. "Sam, who is this guy? I grateful for his help but why did he help us?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. This is Dane, he's kind of a jerk but he was a good friend in Pallet."

"Nice to meet you." Dane said, recalling his Pokémon, unconcerned at his introduction. "Gotta go."

"You're just gonna leave again, you nomad weirdo?" Sam asked in disbelief.

Dane thought about it for a second. "Yep. See you later."

Sam sighed and looked at me. "He's always like that. He's not very social. But it looks like he got a pretty tough team." He hugged me again. "I can't believe you evolved, Nova! You're so strong now!" I stretched up and laying my paws and head on his shoulders.

"Hey Sam, I don't think it's a good idea for us to keep going towards Lavender Town like this. You heard those grunts earlier. They made it sound like we were still a week away and I really want to get Abra some proper treatment…"

Sam sighed, standing up again. "You're right. We should go back."

Rae nodded. "Sam, Kurt, if it's all the same to you, I'd like to stay in Vermillion for a little while. You guys can go ahead without me but Officer Jenny gave me a great offer to train me and my team for a week or two. Before I thought that I didn't need it…but today I realized that we need to get much stronger…"

Sam looked surprised and a little sad. "Yeah that's fine. Kurt and I will find something to do then. We wouldn't just leave you."

"Actually," Kurt started excited. "If you're gonna take a little break, Rae, there's somewhere I want to go too! There's gonna be this big Adventure Convention in Cerulean in five days and I really wanted to go. Sam, you can come with me and we can you just meet Rae back in the Vermillion after a week or so."

"Sounds great, Kurt!" Sam agreed.

Nova and the others were all relaxing in the Pokémon Center three days after the battle. They had just gotten there hours before. Suddenly, one of the computers on the side of the room started to ring. Sam's Pokédex pinged and he pulled it out.

"Incoming call. Incoming call. Please answer the nearest video phone promptly," it said in it's robotic voice. Sam eased his sleeping Flareon of his lap and made his way over to the chair. All his Pokémon were exhausted and for good reason. Sam picked up the phone and the monitor came to life.

"Sam?"

"Professor Oak?"

END OF BOOK ONE-Please review!

!: I was recently flamed by someone explaining in over a 1,000 words how the first chapter sucked. PLEASE give me your honest opinion or what I could do do improve the story because I do want to keep writing it if people want to read it!