Torchic

August 25

I got the Torchic! The boys were arguing as usual, so I slipped by them into the lab. That way, Professor Birch gave me first choice. My Torchic is very cute: as soon as I picked him, he started hopping along after me. If I stop suddenly, he bumps into me and falls down. Poor guy. His balance is kinda bad right now, but Birch told me that he'll improve.

I was so excited. I named him Trails, because I wanted to take off right away. But then we got an unwelcome announcement. Since we're only ten, we can't leave because we have to start school tomorrow. It's so unfair. People keep talking about how exciting it is to pick your starter, and then go off on a journey around the land, maybe even around the world, but then school has to butt its ugly head into the picture. Gah.

I still like Trails, though. He's watching me write, occasionally nipping at the pen. Stop it, Trails! He's funny.

September 2

I feel bad about going to school and leaving Trails on his own. He always follows me to school, giving me the most forlorn look for leaving him behind with the other Pokemon. I keep telling him that I'm sorry, that I'm not abandoning him, that I'll be back to pick him up when the school day is over, but he still gives me those sad eyes.

The principal says that we can't bring our Pokemon into the classroom. He says it would be distracting. Well I think it's distracting when I feel bad about leaving him behind.

September 14

Trails has been better about not giving me a guilt trip over leaving him for the school day. I guess he's figured out that he just has to be patient. However, he's been tired whenever I do go and pick him up. I've caught him napping when I get out of class. I wonder what he's doing.

I don't think he's fighting. The Mudkip and Treecko are getting really good at battles, while he hasn't improved much at all. It's weird, but I bet the boys are going to pick on me about that, saying that a girl can't be a good Trainer. I've tried to tell Trails that we can't slack off. But I don't want to make him fight if he's tired.

September 17

I found out what Trails has been doing while I've been in school. It's funny and it proves that he's much cleverer than the other two.

At lunchtime, he came up to my table and got my attention by nipping at my pants and tugging. I thought he was just looking for attention at first, but then he would hop off elsewhere and look back at me. I finished eating early, so I followed him into an unused classroom near the room where our Pokemon stay.

There was a TV with a DVD player on the desk. Trails can get up there by hopping onto a chair, then onto the desk. And he's figured out how to peck at the buttons to turn them both on and off, as well as control the volume. When he turned the DVD on, there was a screen saying that there was no disc inside. He chirped at me.

I fiddled with the TV and discovered that it doesn't get any channels in. I figured he was just watching movies during school; I wish I could watch movies during school. Anyhow, I went to a shelf with DVDs and pulled one out for him. But that wasn't what he wanted. When he saw the movie previews, he shook his head and chirped again.

Then he did this funny little dance where he scuffed his foot along the desk, then tried to kick up. But he unbalanced himself and fell down. It took him a bit of pointing and more attempts at dancing for me to figure out what was going on. There were five DVDs of tap dancing lessons in with the others. He'd been watching one repeatedly, trying to figure out how to tap dance.

I probably shouldn't have laughed at him, but it is a silly thought, isn't it? But I figure, if he wants to dance, I might as well let him try. So I put in one of the tap dancing lessons and he was happy with that.

October 28

I bought Trails a couple more videos on tap dancing with my allowance money today. Mom was surprised and asked if I wanted to take lessons. I hadn't really thought of it before, but it could be a lot of fun to learn to dance with my Torchic. So I told her about what he's been doing and had him show off his progress. He's still tripping himself up and stumbling over his little feet, but he seems to have a few routines memorized.

And starting in a couple of days, I'll be taking dancing lessons too! It should help both of us.

November 5

I got a new outfit for my dance lessons, and new shoes. I think Trails is jealous, though, because my shoes are actual tap shoes and make clacks when they hit the floor. He can only make little scuffing sounds. I asked the salesman if they made tap shoes for Pokemon, but he said no.

That's really disappointing.

December 11

My dance instructor got after some of the other kids for not practicing by saying that Trails was a better tap dancer then they were. He heard that and puffed his little chest up proudly. It was so adorable; I wish I'd gotten a picture of it.

But then he stumbled onto his face when he was trying out a new step. Poor Trails. He's really happy when other people comment on his dancing, but then gets upset when he fumbles a lot. I've been telling him not to give up yet. I've been having some trouble too, but it'll be so cool when we can dance great together. We can go to contests and surprise everybody with our moves.

I hope that cheered him up.

December 25

Dad just proved himself to be the most awesome dad ever. He normally fixes up old cars, but for Christmas, he used his best tools to make a pair of tap shoes that fit Trails' small clawed feet perfectly! He even made them a little bit wide so that he can balance himself better.

I think Trails loves them for the noise. He hasn't let anybody take them off yet. Mom says that she'll always know where I am now, because she'll hear Trails going 'click, click, click' right behind me.

January 3

Well the reason Professor Birch called us back to his lab was because he wanted to check on our Pokemon's progress. He said that he'll use this to decide who gets to be his assistant over the summer. I was worried when he said that at first, because of the boys.

They made fun of me and Trails at first because he's still a Torchic. Their Pokemon have already evolved into a Grovyle and a Marshtomp. But then Birch started asking all sorts of questions: what did the Pokemon like to eat, what kind of personality did they have, what they liked to do. The boys could answer stuff about battles, but on other things, they were clueless.

On the other hand, when Birch asked me about Trails, I proudly told him about how we were learning to tap dance. I even put his shoes on and let him demonstrate his favorite routine. And Trails was happy to do so. He's happy whenever he gets to dance and shows it by fluttering his wings and stretching up on his toes.

The other two Pokemon must have been mean, though, because he ended the dance suddenly and shot fireballs at them for making fun of him. They both squealed and jumped away. The Marshtomp just had a burn on his front legs, but the Grovyle's skin became blacked with soot. He whined until a Burn Heal was sprayed over him, and then he quieted down to a sniffling whimper.

The boys laughed, but then the Professor said that I had learned far more about Pokemon then they had. And that means that I'm more likely to get picked as his new assistant when summer comes. But I'll have to wait and see about that, you know. I might want to take further tap dance lessons with Trails during the summer.

We'll decide later. That is, when Trails stops nipping at my pen! He's always trying to get my attention when I'm writing.

Could he want to learn to write? Nah, that's just silly.

…

Ruby entry: Torchic sticks with its Trainer, following behind with unsteady steps. This Pokemon breathes fire of over 1,800 degrees F, including fireballs that leave the foe scorched black.

You know, since a Torchic is a Fire Pokemon, that means that this one is a Trails Blazer… giggles.