There's Always a Better Day

With her victory against Falkner behind her and having acclaimed a Zephyr badge, it was time to seek out a new challenge. Kaiba checked the map and said the next gym would be located in Azalea Town. The group decided to settle down for a while before heading out to Azalea Town. After a long battle, Emily decided to give her Pokémon a good grooming. Shade, Sylphid, and Luna were bathed and brushed and were looking good as new. They had been working hard, so it was time to get the rest of the family trained up for battle.

While Emily was getting her Pokémon spruced up, she decided she wanted to learn more about where they came from. So she asked the siblings to tell her more about their parents and who took them. Undine explained that their parents were captured by poachers dressed in dark suits. While in captivity, Undine and her siblings and parents heard commotion about being sent to collectors or zoos. There was even a rumor about being sold to the wealthy for their fur. To keep their children from suffering a terrifying fate, two fully-grown Eevee named Adam and Mary freed their children from their cages and helped them escape through the ventilation shafts. To keep the humans occupied, the Eevee worked in freeing the rest of the inmates and caused a commotion in the labs. The six Eevee were safe, but they wanted to go back for their parents. There was no time for that now. They had to escape before they could get captured.

Undine and her siblings still missed their parents, but they wouldn't give up on finding them. But now that most of them had evolved, would their parents recognize them? The only way to know for sure was to find the Eevee that had been captured. But who knows what could have happened since the fiasco at the lab? Undine tried to remember where the lab was located. She said it was near a lake. Shade said it was in a forest. Salamando said it was near a mountain. Maybe finding the lab wouldn't be a difficult task. Emily and her friends still had the whole region to travel and new places to see.

Emily didn't feel like calling the siblings back into their Pokéballs. She decided to let them all sleep close to her. They all curled up on the bed and snuggled up together. It was precious. They really were close as close can be. After being separated from their parents, they really were all that they had for each other. No child, human or monster, deserves that misfortune. I can't get my parents back, Emily thought to herself, but I promise you guys, I'll help you get yours back. Because… you're my family too. Undine, Sylphid, Salamando, Shade, Lumina, Luna, now you're my brothers and sisters too. And I promise to protect every one of you. She releases her tears and strokes her fingers through their fur. At home, people love their pets like family. It should be no different with Pokémon.

Sensing sadness in her friend, Luna rubs herself against Emily. Maybe the blonde wasn't a Pokémon, but she was making a good mother as well as a good trainer and friend. Luna's brothers and sisters thought so too and began snuggling Emily up. If she thought they were family to her, then the siblings agreed that Emily was family too.

None of the boys could comprehend how Emily could understand Pokémon as if they were talking to her in plain English. But they did agree that they had missed their families too. Going on a Pokémon journey sounded like fun at first, but now they were starting to feel a little homesick. Traveling to new places in their world is one thing, but being trapped in another with the only way home being to win is difficult; physically and emotionally.

Kaiba lied down in bed. "I'll bet our disappearance caused a big fuss at school and all over town. But we've been gone for so long; everyone must've given up on waiting for us to come home."

"Téa and Tristan wouldn't," Emily protested sadly.

"We'll find our way home," Yugi promised. "We just have to keep traveling through the rest of the Johto Region and find the Cobalt Star shard."

"Yeah, but that could take weeks," Joey groaned. "This place is huge. I mean, it took us a whole week to get from New Bark Town to Violet City and who knows how long it's going to take for us to get to Azalea Town?"

"Let's just settle down and try to get some sleep," said Emily. "Things will look better in the morning." Her friends agree and lie down and shut their eyes.

Things did look better in the morning. The heroes were feeling a little cheerful after resting up and ready to get back on the road. They decided it would be best not to worry about not being able to get home. Despite their mission, they still wanted to see the rest of the Johto Region and they remembered there would be fun awaiting them. To keep the optimism, Emily waved her tambourine and began singing.

Never know what's around the bend

We go up the hill and down again

And when there's trouble, we'll get through

We always have and we always do.

Her friends joined in and sang, Nothing in the world can bring us down, no, not us

We'll spread a little sunshine all around. There's never enough.

Altogether, everyone sang, All we wanna do is have a good time

Having lots of fun with all these friends of mine

All we wanna do is celebrate

Every time we've been together, it's been great

Looking for adventure big and small

Just being with friends like you is all we wanna do.

Yugi began to dance around. All my friends are here with me

And things are good as they can be.

Emily waved her tambourine and sang, Travel places near and far

But home is always where we are.

Altogether, everyone sang, Traveling the world is what we do

Because everywhere we go, there's something new for us.

As they repeated the chorus, the Pokémon began dancing around with their friends. Do you wanna come along? Just be prepared for everything.

Get into the flow, get ready to go, get ready to spread your wings!

After that last verse, the heroes jumped. They tried to release their wings, but they couldn't. Unfortunately, the heroes couldn't use their powers in this world. But after feeling so cheerful right now, they wouldn't let that simple downside bring them down. They laughed about it and continued singing.

Some wild Pokémon appeared and wanted to take part of the fun. One of them was a little mudfish called Wooper. Not only were they cute, but they were also very slick and smart. Joey got excited and wanted to catch Wooper, so he challenged him to a battle. Wooper just looked at Joey curiously and grinned. Joey tossed his Pokéball in the air and called on Totodile. Totodile approached Wooper and tried to touch him, but he was too slick. Wooper jumped and smacked Totodile in the face with his tail. Outraged, Totodile used Water Gun. It didn't work. Wooper took no damage from that attack. Wooper used his own Water Gun right back at Totodile. The blue crocodile shook the water off and wanted to attack again. Wooper was about to smack him in the face again, but Totodile caught his tail with his jaws and whiplashed him to the ground.

Joey took this opportunity to catch Wooper now that he had been weakened. He tossed his Pokéball at Wooper. The Pokéball tossed and turned for a few times, then the center glowed, confirming that Wooper had been successfully caught. Joey raised his Pokéball in the air and cheered in triumph. "Yeah! I caught a Wooper!" Totodile cheered with him and his friends congratulated him. Things really were looking up for the heroes.

As they continued their path to Azalea Town, the heroes noticed that the area was starting to look wider with the large fields. The Johto Region was like a countryside and there were lots of fields for farming. There were herds of Tauros, Miltank, Ponyta, Rapidash, and Mareep. It came to show that Pokémon and people really did belong together and could help each other. On top of that, it was like becoming closer with nature. That was what made the adventure fun and worthwhile.

These kinds of Pokémon didn't usually live alone. That was why they always came in herds. They were racing through the fields and grazing in the grass. And it was because these Pokémon lived in herds that the heroes couldn't bring themselves to want to battle, because there would be no telling if they were wild or if they belonged to anybody. So it was best if they kept passing through the valley without trying to cause any trouble for themselves and the Pokémon.

As they were heading out of the valley, Emily noticed a Mareep was following them. She looked a little smaller than the other Mareep. Joey remembered that Mareep were attracted to electricity like most electric-type Pokémon and wondered if it was drawn by Sylphid's electricity. But that couldn't be it because Sylphid was in his Pokéball all day. Perhaps she wandered off from the herd they saw back in the fields. They decided to turn around and take her back to her friends.

Mareep was taken back to her friends, but just when Yugi and the others were about to head back on their way, Mareep started following them again. They say there's a black sheep in every herd. Perhaps this Mareep was an outcast and needed a shepherd boy to see her through. That was what Joey wondered. He got down to his knees and petted her fleece.

"What do you say, Mareep," Joey asked as he continued petting her. "Do you want to come with me and my friends?" In answer, Mareep bleated cheerfully. Joey held out his Pokéball and gently tapped Mareep with it. The capture was a success. Joey had made two friends in one day. This adventure really was going to get better along the way.