Dear Grandma,

Thank you for the rest of the stew, I still have two thermos full so it should keep me going till I get to Lavender Town. Thank you for taking me back home, it was nice to see Mom I hope she gets stronger as we go, I'll call before I go to Erika gym so maybe you guys can watch. I managed to register 99 Pokemon now in my dex so I've gotta make my 100th really special!. My plan is to head to Lavender Town and then get the bus across to Celadon City. I write to you once I get into Lavender Town. Give my love to everyone and speak soon

Love you,

Dustin

I slip the envelope into the bag of the Fearow mail man who bows to me before setting off, I watch him from just outside the trainer stop off, he soon disappears and is but a dot in the sky. I pull my backpack up on my back and make my way up the route to Lavender town. The breeze is cool off the ocean, the faint shadow of some of the Sevi Islands can be made out in the distance, there a few Seel's and Dewong sleeping on rocks while Seaking and Goldeen flutter in and out of the water. I send out Poliwhirl and Ivysaur, Poliwhirl to swim in the ocean and Ivysaur to enjoy the undergrowth. Its nice to just have a bit of time to chill, now being two months into my journey my mind goes over everything that has happened so far. I'm proud so far of what I have done, if it hadn't been for losing to Surge I would be well ahead of schedule but I'm still on track to make the junior championships

"POLI!"

I turn to see Poliwhirl jumping up and down pointing out towards a rock in the bay. I look over and there a glint and shine on a rocky out post closer to a small island. I squint to try and see but it too hard to make out

"Is it a Pokemon Poli?" I question looking down to him

It nods back in affirmation

"Can you go check it out?"

It looks over before it swims over, Ivysaur wanders over to join me as Poliwhirl makes it to the rocky outpost. He seems to hitch something onto his back and begins the swim back The closer he get the clear it becomes that it is a Pokemon

"Star…" It moans as Poliwhirl pushes it onto the land

"Oh wow a Starmie"

I look down to see a Starmie, it very banged and bruised. It has lots of scratches across its back and across it gem. Most interestingly it seems to be a different colour to normal Starmie

"Um right okay well lets heal it up" I say pulling my backpack

I grab a Super Potion and swab from my bag. I place my hand on Starmie to reassure it and it doesn't flinch so I begin to spray away on it. I focus on its gem as I remember reading that it gem is what help it regenerative abilities. I spray the whole potion before wiping away at the scratches. After a while it pop up and looks around

"Hya!" it calls in a high pitch tone

"Hey, feeling better?" I say to it as Ivysaur sniff at it while Poliwhirl jumps out of the water

It bows its top leg in thanks

"Let me call Ryan I want to check something" I say pulling my phone out

I call and after three rings it clicks in

"Hey Dustin, you all okay?"

"Um yeah, I have a question, can I video call you?"

"Of course"

I click it on and point it towards Starmie who is interacting with Poliwhirl

"Oh wow thats a shiny!" I hear shouted from the phone

"Well that confirms it" I say scratching the back of my head

"Have you caught it?" He questions as I turn the phone back to me

"No, I saw it out on the outpost from here and it was pretty banged up" I say

"Ah, its not uncommon with shinies, they get chased out by pod or breeding groups as they invite shiny hunter or prey. Although it odd for a shiny to have matured and evolved like this, normally with Staryu they evolve by Water Stone or becoming leader of their group"

"Oh okay, well should I catch it or?"

"Thats your call buddy, take it easy okay?"

"Will do speak soon" I say as I click the call off

"Star! Star!" I turn to see Starmie shouting very animatedly towards Poliwhirl

Indistinctively and grab an Ultra Ball from my pocket and tap it against Starmie, It drops in my hand and shakes before confirming the capture. Before I can celebrate it bursts open and Starmie darts it vision in confusion

"Sorry about that but I really wanted to add you to my team" I say apologetically

"Star?" It says before jumping back into the water, it turn before motion it two side legs to me then to its back

"Oh you want me to ride?"

It nods back before turning around. I jump onto it causing my shoes and bottom of my trousers to get wet. I return Ivysaur and Poliwhirl swims next to us as we move towards the island close to where Starmie had be left hurt. It stops just before and I jump off to the rocky bit of land

"So what's going on?" I question

Starmie looks to me before trying to move closer to the island, as it does a huge flurry of poison pellets fly up which Starmie dodges.

"Tenta!" Comes a screech as a Tentacruel emerges from the depths and shouts out at us

"Hey! Leave Starmie alone!" I shout at it

It turn and looks at me before firing off a water attack, I cover my face but Starmie jumps in the way spinning itself to deflect the attack. It lands back it the water and calls out

"Thanks Starmie, guess we have a fight. Use Psychic!" I shout

Starmie fires off a huge purple beam hitting the Tentacruel square in the forehead, which forces it back into a tree on the island. It stumbles back to its feet before jumping back into the sea and returning back down to the depths. Starmie jumps in the air happily spinning itself around before speeding to the island

"Wait Starmie! I need a lift!" I shout as it speeds onto the island

"POLI!"

Poliwhirl jump and uses Ice Beam to create a little bridge for me from the outpost to the island. I jump onto it and steadily move across, the island is really small, there's only really a small rocky cliff that arc in a circle around the back of the island, there a small cave towards the back which seems to got deeper down into the sea cavern. I spot Starmie jumping up and down in the cave entrance, I wander up it and look inside to see a huge group of Staryu all in the cave looking towards Starmie who calls out happily

"Oh this must be Starmies pod, are these your family?"

It turns to me and shakes its head before hopping out towards the edge of the islands again before pointing out into the sea

"Sorry I don't understand" I say looking to it with a laugh

It fold it top leg down over before perking up with an idea. It begins to scratch into the sand below. It shows an egg then an arrow to a star then a bigger star and other little ones and then one of the little stars swimming away

"Right well um, OH I get it so you look after the eggs and when they hatch and then help the pod move on?"

It jumps up and spins before nodding

"Oh so you're like a like day care nanny"

It nods before looking sadly towards the depths where Tentacruel is.

"Hmm so has that Tentacruel ever shown up before"

Starmie nods

"But its never been an issue before?"

Starmie shakes itself to say no

"Poliwhirl do you fancy swimming down there?"

"Poli" It nod in affirmation

"Okay wait just two seconds" I say digging away in my bag before finally coming across my waterproof camera. I attach it to the stomach of Poliwhirl

"Okay, go and get us a sight please buddy"

It calls out before diving into the sea, I pull up my phone to see the live feed, it swims about a bit seeing all kinds of sea Pokemon like Dewgong, Shellder and Cloyster. It eventually comes across a cove in the base of the island and there's a whole load of eggs, suddenly the Tentacruel bursts out and fires off a Sludge Wave at Poliwhirl

"POLI COME BACK UP!" I shout down hoping it can hear me

All of a sudden Poliwhirl burst up from out of the water onto the beach, Tentacruel follows ready to fight, Starmie moves forward to fight back

"Stop!" I shout to the two before moving forwards

"You just trying to look after the eggs aren't you?" I questioning

Tentacruel moves to a more passive state and nods

"Thats okay, so is Starmie" I say pointing towards the cove where the bunch of Staryu have started t move towards the cave outer

"Tenta" It calls out softly

"Starmie is just trying to make sure these guys can get out to the ocean successfully and you're just trying to look after your eggs, you don't need to fight" I say trying to be as reassuring as I can

Starmie darts out towards Tentacruel, its taken by surprise but doesn't attack. Starmie holds out one of its legs to shake almost in agreement not to fight. Tentacruel stutters before wrapping one of it tentacles around the arm and they shake. Starmie then calls out and the pod of Staryu then come running out before diving into the sea, they all speed off out into the open sea. Starmie shoots off and spins up in the air almost as a send off to the group. Tentacruel slowly returns back to the depth to protect the eggs down below

"Hey Poli come on lets get out of here" I say softly looking to move away off the island

"Poli?" I says looking up questioning me leaving Starmie

"It has a role on the island, I don't want to take it away from here, plus now that I have caught it, it means that no one else can catch it. Means its safe here"

Poliwhirl looks out curiously before nodding

"Do you think you can give me a lift?" I say before being pulled back away from the edge

"Star! Star!" Starmie calls out moving me back to it with its Psychic attack

"Oh sorry, well we should have really said bye" I say scratching the back of my head

"Star!" It calls out unhappily

"Well, I think you are best off here, you have a job to do and I don't want to take you away from it" I say to it patting its top leg

"But now I've caught you it means no one else can, we will come back and see you"

Starmie shakes itself before tapping at my belt

"But, aren't you needed for like the next batch of Staryus?"

It shakes itself again before pointing down towards where Tentacruel went back down

"What Tentacruel?"

It nods

"Oh has it said it will look after the island?"

It then jumps up and spins in delight before nodding

"So does that mean you want to come along with me and Poliwhirl?"

It nods happily it gem flashing on and off

"I guess that's a yes" I say with a huge smile

I pull my phone out and scan it to check its level and moves

"Oh wow, you are super strong, Lv38 you'd be my strongest Pokemon" I say shaking with happiness

Poliwhirl wanders up and welcomes Starmie to the team, I send out Vulpix and Ivysaur to say hello too. They all seem to get on well, in the meantime I serve them up some food and eat some more of Grandmas stew, after a while the sun begins to set

"Oh god, its late. We may have to camp out here guys, it'll take us at least an hour to walk to Lavender from here"

"Star!" Starmie immediately jumps up and dart into the sea

It motions me to get on its back while Poliwhirl stuff the bowls into my bag

"You think you can get us there quicker?"

It nods in affirmation, I return the other three and hitch up my bag before jumping to its back

"Okay well if you THINK SO?!" I say as Starmie begins to speed off at top speed. Its speed is incredible, we zoom past lots of rocks and other Pokemon. I spot some people running toward Lavender town in the same situation as me. After only about 20 minutes we manage to come up to the gate entrance of Lavender town. I jump off Starmie who doesn't even look tired

"That was amazing Starmie, thank you so much" I say to it as it jumps out of the sea to my side

"Hya!" It calls out in thanks

"Well I guess my hundredth Pokemon really was a special one" I say crouching down and patting it top leg

I return it to its ball before walking into Lavender Town, I spot the centre and walk up. The Nurse Joy advises there plenty of rooms are still available. I book one and she hands me the key before I hand my Pokemon over to be healed up. I take a seat at one of the counters, looking through my bag to see if I need to stock up on anything for my journey. I take some time to arrange the guy to learn new moves (Starmie Flash Cannon and Thunderbolt, Poliwhirl Brick Break). There quite a few trainers all in the lobby accompanied by their Pokemon. The screen is showing an old re run of a battle between Cynthia and Leon however it suddenly cuts to a studio with two police officers standing talking to the camera.

"Please pay attention trainers! There are reports of multiple Pokemon thieves in the Lavender region, if you are approached by anyone advising on help with training Pokemon please don't not engage and report it to the nearest authorities. Also please note there is currently a vigilante Pokemon on the loose attacking said groups, if seen again do not engage and please also report to the authorities"

"A vigilante Pokemon? I wonder what kind that is?"

Ivysaur (Lv31) Female

Attacks

Sludge Bomb

Razor Leaf

Vine Whip

Poison Powder

Vulpix (Lv29) Female

Attacks

Fire Spin

Dig

Quick Attack

Ember

Poliwhirl (Lv35) Male

Attacks

Ice Beam

Mud Shot

Waterfall

Brick Break

Starmie (Lv38) Genderless

Flash Cannon

Psychic

Surf

Thunderbolt