Chapter 3

They soon arrived at Professor Birch's laboratory and went inside. "Thank you again, Crystal, for helping me," he said.

"I was happy to, Professor," she said before looking sad.

"What happened?" The Professor asked.

"A big meanie hurt my Sawk really bad," she said, bringing out her Pokeball and opening it to reveal the karate Pokemon, who the professor could see was in bad shape and barely standing.

"Oh, my," he said. "Who did this?"

"John did," Rachel said, frowning. "He took advantage of Crystal being a new trainer and beat her in battle."

"I just wanted him to leave my big sister alone," the young girl said, sniffling a little.

Professor Birch smiled gently. "Don't worry, Sawk will be alright," he said. "I even have some potions and berries that can help him, if that's alright with you, Crystal."

The child perked up. "R-Really?" She asked. "You can help Sawk feel better?"

"I can certainly try."

Crystal nodded eagerly before looking at Sawk. "It's okay, Sawk. Professor Birch is a friend," she said.

The professor smiled. "Come have a seat here and I'll see about those potions and berries," he said.

Moments later, he came out with a large plate of all kinds of berries and a bag filled with potions. "Alright, first we'll do the potions," he said, spraying the healing medicine on Sawk's injuries. The Pokemon tensed up a little as the potion stung a bit, but didn't utter a sound.

"It's okay, Sawk," Rachel said gently. "You're not the first injured Pokemon the professor has helped."

The professor chuckled. "That reminds me, how is Sky doing?" He asked.

The blonde-haired girl pulled out her Pokeball and tossed it up into the air, allowing her Zubat to fly out. "He's healthy and strong," she said as the bat-like Pokemon flew up to the professor and gave a small squeak in greeting.

"Professor Birch helped Sky too?" Crystal said.

"Yeah, a while ago," Rachel said before looking at her sister. "Didn't I tell you how I met Sky?"

The young girl shook her head. "I'm not sure you told me either," Kairi said.

"Sounds like a good story," the professor said as he continued treating Sawk.

Rachel smiled. "I was about Crystal's age when one day, I saw John and a few of his friends doing something that made my blood boil...,"

Flashback...

Nine-year-old Rachel was excited as her tenth birthday was coming up soon, which meant she could pick her very first Pokemon. She would also be able to start her journey, but she had told her uncle she would wait until Crystal was old enough to go on a journey too. She now looked around the sanctuary at the Pokemon that were currently there. A Hariyama was helping to feed some baby Rattata that had lost their mother due to a poacher while a Gardevoir was gently singing to some baby Pichu. Rachel approached carefully and smiled at the baby Pokemon.

"Gardevoir," the embrace Pokemon said softly to her and the girl nodded, knowing the Pokemon was asking her to keep her voice down so that the Pichu didn't wake up. Since living with her uncle, the girl had learned how to understand the Pokemon and speak with them as she would with her uncle or friends.

"Gardevoir, do you think I'll be a good trainer someday?" She asked in a whisper.

"Gardevoir," the Pokemon said with a smile and a nod, gently patting the young girl's head in affection.

"Hari, Hariyama," they heard quietly and looked to see Hariyama was motioning to their feet and Rachel looked to see one of the baby Rattata, which had green fur, was looking up at her. Smiling, she gently picked up the baby Pokemon and went up to the fighting Pokemon, who gave her a bottle with the special food for a baby Rattata and Rachel fed the little one, who was content to stay in her arms.

"He seems to really like me," she said with a smile, making sure to keep her voice down. "Maybe I can ask Professor Birch if my starter Pokemon can be a Rattata or another Pokemon. What do you think, Hariyama?"

"Hari, Hariyama," he agreed with her, encouraging her to talk to the professor about it.

Just then, a horrible screech filled the air, startling Rachel that she let out a surprised cry and the baby Pichu woke up as a result of the horrible screech and began crying.

"Gardevoir!" The embrace Pokemon said.

Rachel noted the sound was sounding a bit familiar. "I think a Pokemon's in trouble," she said, handing the baby Rattata in her arms to Hariyama. "Get my uncle! I'm going to see what's going on!" She called out as she ran for the forest behind the house and sanctuary, where the screech seemed to be coming from.

She made it to a clearing and saw the neighborhood bully, John, and two of his friends were beating up on a poor Zubat, who was trying to fly away, but had been knocked down and was tied to a tree nearby, unable to get away from the bullies' Pokemon, which were a Scyther, a Beedrill, and a Butterfree, all three much larger than the small bat. "Hey! Leave him alone!" Rachel said, getting in between Zubat and the attacking Pokemon.

"Hey!" John said angrily. "Get out of the way, dumb girl!"

"No!" She said sternly, staying put.

Just as he was about to go up to her, a shiny Haunter suddenly appeared in front of Rachel, along with a Dusknoir, and a Flareon.

"Haunter!"

"Dusknoir!"

"Flareon!"

The bug Pokemon all looked a bit worried, especially when Rachel looked at them all with a glare that could have melted steel.

"Haunter, use Shadow Ball! Dusknoir, use Shadow Punch! Flareon, use Fire Spin!" The nine-year-old girl said.

The three Pokemon did so, the shadow ball hitting the Scyther, shadow sneak hitting the Beedrill, and the fire spin hitting the Butterfree. Because all three Pokemon had been raised by Rachel's uncle, their attacks were very strong and knocked out the bug Pokemon with one blow.

"What?!" John exclaimed.

"Let's get out of here!" One of his friends said as they called back their Pokemon and ran away, especially after Haunter and Dusknoir roared at them.

Rachel went up to the Zubat, who was exhausted and looked very sick. "Hang on. We'll get you help," she said as Flareon carefully burned the rope that held the bat Pokemon captive. Quickly, the girl knew that Professor Birch's lab was near and ran for it, hoping he could help the injured Zubat in her arms. She burst inside just as he was about to open the door and he jumped in alarm.

"Rachel?" He asked in shock before seeing the injured Zubat in her arms. "Oh, my. What happened?"

"John and his friends were hurting this one," she said. "Can you help him, Professor?"

"I'll do what I can."

After a bit, the professor shook his head. "It's very serious," he said. "You need to get him to the Pokemon Center. I'll take you there."

Cradling Zubat in her arms, the girl jumped into the car with the professor and they were soon at the center, where they ran in and Nurse Joy looked up and gasped. "Oh, my," she said in worry.

"Nurse Joy, he needs help," Rachel said, tears gathering in her eyes as she handed Zubat to the nurse.

"Don't worry. Zubat will be well taken care of," Nurse Joy said soothingly as she quickly headed to the exam room with the injured Pokemon.

The professor and Rachel waited patiently and Charles came in too, having learned what had happened. "How is Zubat?" He asked.

"He's still in the exam room, but he didn't look really good, Charles," Professor Birch said. "In my opinion, if Rachel hadn't found him when she did, it could have been much worse."

Rachel hugged her uncle. "I'm sorry, Uncle Charlie. I know you said not to go into the forest, but when I heard Zubat screech in pain, I just had to see what was going on."

"You did the right thing, sweetie," Charles said. "Your sister is napping and Deoxys is watching over her, as is Meowth.

Just then, Nurse Joy came out and she was smiling as she gently pushed a gurney with Zubat on it. "Zubat is going to be alright," she said. "But he does have a bad ear infection. We've treated it, but he's going to need antibiotics every day until the ear infection clears up."

"I can do that," Rachel said instantly before looking at Zubat. "If Zubat is okay with me helping him."

"Zu...bat," the bat Pokemon said weakly, reaching out a wing to the girl, who gently took it and held it.

"Don't worry. I'll keep you safe," the girl promised.

A week later, Rachel returned with Zubat to Nurse Joy, who gave him an examination and smiled. "The ear infection is gone," she said. "And he's gotten much stronger."

"I've been giving him the medicine and making sure he gets plenty of exercise every day," the girl said proudly. "Uncle Charlie gave me a book about Zubats and I've read it many times."

"I can see that," the nurse said, still smiling. "Well, I'd say he's ready to go back into the wild."

But Zubat surprised them by flying up and landing against Rachel's shoulder, to which she caught him in surprise before blinking. "Um, what is it, Zubat?" She asked.

"Aww, I think he wants to stay with you," Nurse Joy said.

"Looks like it," Professor Birch said, smiling.

Rachel blinked. "You mean...I can keep him? He can my starter Pokemon?" She asked, excitement filling her at that.

"Well, he seems to have chosen you, so I don't see why not," the professor said.

"Zubat," the Pokemon said.

Rachel grinned. "Well then, how about a name?" She asked.

The Pokemon looked at her and she smiled. "You're blue like the sky, so I'm going to call you Sky," she said.

"Zu! Zubat!" The Pokemon squeaked happily.

"I think he likes his new name," Nurse Joy said with a smile.

Later on, as Rachel and Zubat were headed home, John came out and he looked angry. "You got in the way, Rachel," he said.

"Go home, John," she said, rolling her eyes.

He glared at her. "Beedrill, go!" He said, calling out the Pokemon.

Rachel looked at Sky. "Want to show him what you're made of?" She asked.

"Zubat!" Zubat said in agreement.

John smirked. "Beedrill, use Drill Run!" He said.

The drill of dirt was headed right for the Zubat. "Sky, dodge it and use Gust!" Rachel called out.

Zubat dodged the drill run and flapped his wings at high speed as they glowed a light blue and stirred up dust, temporarily blinding the Beedrill, who groaned at the attack.

"Beedrill! Use Pin Missile!" John yelled and sharp spikes headed towards the bat Pokemon.

"Sky, use Supersonic to send them back!" Rachel called out.

Sky opened his mouth and multiple small, light-blue soundwaves flew out, hitting the spikes and sending them back at Beedrill, who couldn't dodge them all and ended up getting hit quite a few times.

"Beedrill!" John cried out in alarm.

"Finish this with Wing Attack!" Rachel said.

"Zubat!" He said as his wings glowed light blue again and he swooped down, striking Beedrill with one of his wings, knocking the bee Pokemon to the ground and unconscious.

"No!" John said in shock.

"Good job, Sky!" Rachel cheered before walking away and Sky followed her, leaving a shocked bully and his unconscious Pokemon behind.

Flashback ends...

"And ever since that day, Sky and I have been inseparable," Rachel said, smiling as Sky was resting in his special pouch. "I made this special pouch for him so that he could rest when he was tired."

"Wow," Kairi said.

"Neat! You showed that big meanie!" Crystal said.

Rachel chuckled. "Yeah, but he apparently doesn't learn," she said.

Professor Birch came out. "Alright, let's check on these three," he said as he opened the Pokeball and out came Torchic, Treecko, and Mudkip. "Let's give these three a checkup and Crystal can pick one of them to have as a starter to go with Sawk."

"Sawk," Sawk said in agreement, looking much better now.

Kairi giggled. "Remember when we first helped Professor Birch with these three starters sometime ago, Rach?" She asked.

"How could I forget?" The blonde-haired girl said, chuckling.

"What happened?" Crystal asked.

"Oh, the three began arguing about who was better and they began using the laboratory as a battle ground. Kairi and I tried to wrangle them up, but they got outside and into the woods," Rachel said.

"We looked all over for them and refused to go back until we had found them," Kairi said. "When your uncle and the professor found me and Rachel as it was almost dark, we told them what had happened and refused to give up. Rachel managed to find Treecko while I found Mudkip, but finding Torchic was harder than we imagined it would be."

"Fire types are know to be headstrong, but this little Torchic we had been looking after was very stubborn," said the blonde-haired girl. "We managed to find it in a cave where a Machamp was and that Machamp was quite angry. Thankfully, Deoxys arrived in time, thanks to Uncle Charlie, and saved Torchic."

"We were expecting to get scolded for not being more careful, but Professor Birch viewed the cameras and saw we weren't at fault," the brown-haired girl said.

"And you two went to find the starters," Charles said with a smile.

Rachel nodded. "The three were chosen by three new trainers and from what we understand, they've all evolved to their final forms," she said.

Just as she finished saying that, the three starters started to fight in the lab. "Hey! That's enough!" Kairi said scoldingly, quickly scooping up Mudkip in her arms. "You know better than that, Mudkip."

The small water Pokemon began to cry a little while Rachel caught the small Torchic and gave it a stern look. "If you keep fighting with the other two, then you're going to be put in a time out and no trainer will pick you today," she scolded, making it look down in shame.

"Treecko, stop it!" Crystal said firmly. "Or I'll change my mind about picking you as my starter!"

The little Treecko looked shocked at that before looking down, tears welling up in its eyes, making Crystal feel bad. "You guys have to get along together," she said, her tone softer now.

"She's right," Kairi said, her voice also softer. "If you want a trainer to pick you, you have to be on your best behavior."

"That goes for you as well, Torchic," Rachel said, her voice firm, but softer too. "Now, you three need to apologize to each other."

"Torchic," the small fire Pokemon said softly in agreement.

"Treecko," the small plant Pokemon said with a nod.

"Mudkip," the small water Pokemon chirped softly before the three face each other and apologized, to which the trainers nodded.

Professor Birch smiled. "So Crystal, who would you like as your starter Pokemon?" He asked.

She smiled. "I'd like Treecko, please," she said.

Treecko looked surprised before he gave a happy squeak. "Treecko!" He said, hugging her and she hugged him back.

"I think this is going to be an interesting journey for you girls," Charles said.

"I think you're right, Uncle Charlie," Rachel said.

"We'll tell you guys about any adventures we have," Kairi promised. "But for now, it is getting late. Maybe we should get to the Pokemon Center and ask if there's room for the night."

"That's not a bad idea," Professor Birch said.

"I'll drive you girls there," Charles said.

Once the girls were at the Pokemon Center, they waved goodbye to Charles and headed inside, where Nurse Joy guided them to a room. "Have a good night," she said sweetly.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy," Kairi said as the girls went inside, ready to rest after an eventful day and looking forward to the next day.

So now you guys know how Rachel first met Sky and how he became her Pokemon. :)

Please leave robotman25 and myself a review, but no flames!

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