I was leaning against a tree, watching the Duckletts bathe in the cool lake nearby. Fieritis was sat in one of the tall trees, reading a book, with an engrossed expression on his face. We had a fire lit, surrounded by big stones, keeping us cosy. It wasn't exactly cold, it just made us (me especially) feel more at home. I could hear footsteps, not too close but not too far away either. I got up slowly and nervously, and walked into our tent, deciding to wash my face after getting it dirty earlier on in the day. I picked up a bottle of fresh water and poured it into a water bowl, putting the bowl on the floor, kneeling down and washing. I closed my eyes and washed the dirt away before carefully opening my them to see a small Spinarak staring at me. I was terrified of spiders; I always had been. Well, not until I had seen a whole nest of Ariados, weaving their web. I sat there for a moment, too scared to move, just watching its many legs crawl closer and closer towards me. Finally, I gained control of myself and launched out of the tent, screaming, looking for Fieritis. Then, and only then, did I realise I had got the water bowl in my hand. There was a boy, a bit older than me, especially taller, standing there, studying me. He had dark brown, thick hair and deep matching eyes. Fieritis was standing alongside him.
"Hey Scarlett, this is my buddy." he smiled, then whispering something to his friend and returning to face me. I don't know what he said but the boy looked really unsure. "Okay, as I said, my buddy here is Lucus. Lucus, this is my sister." I glared at Lucus, scanning him quickly, also feeling slightly paranoid that the horrible Spinarak would follow me. Fieritis nudged me, whispering in my ear:
"He's not that bad, honest." I nodded, gaining my confidence again and introduced myself.
"Hi, I'm Scarlett." I said, and he greeted me back, smiling. I couldn't help but notice the awkward silence, fiddling with my hair to pass the time. It was the new guy that spoke first.
"So what is the reason you guys are travelling?" he asked. My face lit up as I was eager to answer, mostly because I felt like boasting a bit.
"We're going to an academy of some sort." I bragged, seeing his thoughtful look.
"Wait, what? I'm also going to an academy!" We didn't really expect to come across someone going to the same place as us, and it was pretty suspicious, so we both made rather confused faces. I guess it was just our luck. I looked at Fieritis, grinning at him just like he was doing to me. Well, at least we knew we might have some hope.

I glanced over at the fireplace, realising that it was starting to burn out, and that the sun was beginning to set. Being me, I'd never liked sleeping outdoors but for the last few days, I'd had to deal with it, however much I'd hated it. I shook my head and returned to the conversation.
"Are you sure you're also heading to THE Academy?" Immediately, I could tell that he didn't know what I was on about. I looked away and rolled my eyes.
"And what do you mean, THE Academy?" Which one is THE?" I focused on the ground, regretting meeting him and groaned.
"Flipping idiot." I mumbled. So far, I didn't really trust Lucus. He just didn't seem right...
"What do you actually know about the school? I haven't been there." It proved that he didn't know a thing. I tried not to come across as too agitated, trying to get used to it. Fieritis, pulled his hands out of his pockets and that meant hand gestures. When he was giving a big long lecture, the hand gestures would always be there. Always.
"Well, we have a friend, and he also went last year to this particular academy. You see, we come out of a middle-class family," I bit my lip, knowing what he was leading up to. "and never really got the greatest education. My sister became very close to a local pokemon," He was on about my Cyndaquil. It had been a stray 'starter pokemon' roaming around our village and I just couldn't help but fall in love with it. "but our dad was against the creature since he'd had a terrible experience with it." My father had tried to catch Cyndaquil when he didn't have any of his own with him. Obviously, he was attacked, but you can't blame my pokemon. It's my father's fault for not having his own pokemon on him. I'd never even liked him anyway. My cheeks were going red hot, blushing out of embarrassment. One by one, we all sat down on a hard tree trunk, on which I sat behind Fieritis. "So, as I was saying. Scarlett got friendly with a local pokemon. Our mother thought it was good since I had already got my first pokemon, but our dad didn't like the idea. My mother and father got into a huge fight and we had to run. I've always taken care of little Scarlett here," I frowned at him, but he just winked. That was the most ridiculous thing he'd called me yet. "and I didn't leave her just for that. Mostly in times like this, we just return in a day or two and everything is fine again. But sis didn't want to return, and for half I neither wanted to. So we'd travel to this same school as you're traveling to. We've been traveling for a few days now and according to an old map I found a while ago, we must be pretty close." my brother seemed as if he'd seen something amazing, but then he returned to looking rather grim. "That's pretty much how we got here." I nodded at Lucus, waiting for a response.
"You've got a special story there, but I think mine would surprise you even more!" I was desperate to hear something other than Fieritis' stories so I got myself comfy. "Before I'll tell you, I got to drink a bit, is that alright?" my brother and I nodded in sync. He rummaged through his backpack, pulling out a water bottle with a sticker of the former Elite Four member, Koga. He was also the owner the founder of the academy we were heading towards.
"Are you a fan of Koga?" he twisted his lips to the side, confused.
"How do you know Koga?" Us sibling glared at him, mortified by his lack of knowledge about the school he was going to join. Fieritis stood up, going right up in Lucus' face.
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO KOGA IS?!" I laughed as he flinched.
"Yeah, but I know... How do..." he obviously needed visual aid. He hardly knew a thing! I ran over to the tent, searched my bag and brought a big poster over to our friend. I unravelled it and spread it out across the ground. It was a picture of Koga, pointing at us saying, 'Do you have what it takes?' and underneath it simply said, 'The Academy' in big bold writing. Then my brother continued to spit,
"He has created the school! Somebody else is now in charge of it, since Koga retired from being a gym leader and afterwards making his 'debut' as an Elite member. But they say he's still living in these woods!" I could tell that Lucus wasn't really paying attention but just trying to absorb everything at once while Fieritis continued to go on at him.

Lucus told us all about how he'd bumped into us. I wasn't really listening though. I know I'd been excited but I was beginning to get tired and kept zoning out, staring at nothingness. Only now ha I realised how grumpy and grouchy I'd been all day. I mean, it's hard to get used to living without a home... I managed to stay awake for a couple more hours though, while we talked and chatted, getting to know each other. I told some stories about Koga and where he might be. I yawned, stretching my arms out wide. Fieritis got up quickly, getting his two stones, only now realising that it was particularly late and began poking at the fire. I grabbed Lucus' arm and dragged him behind a tree to talk to him. During the time that he had been talking to us, I'd really changed what I'd thought about him. Now I felt that he was a pretty nice guy, and he could be helpful. I didn't know how to word my question, but I just blurted it out in the end.

"Lucus, do you think that the three of us..." I paused, "Do you want to travel together with us?" Fieritis was in the background, cursing away to himself, biting the tip of his thumb where he'd burnt it badly in the firepit.
"I'd love to Scarlett." he beamed. I nodded, cheerfully, skipping over to the fire with my friend behind me.
"What's all the commotion about?" Fieritis was rubbing his red thumb still.
"I'll be travelling a while with you guys." Lucus replied happily, smiling at me. And of course, I smiled back.