When Lexi opened her eyes the next morning, she could almost see the heat hanging in the room. She took some objects out of her backpack and went to the bathroom to get ready. Aiden woke up a couple of minutes later, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly. ''Hey mom, is breakfast done yet?'' he asked, lying back down. ''You're not at home Aiden, but I'm sure Nurse Joy will have made us something. '' Lexi joked while zipping up her backpack. This caused Aiden to fall out of his small bed, almost crushing his glasses that had fallen out of his pocket. Lexi quickly picked them up and gave them to Aiden, who went to the bathroom to clean up. Lexi walked to Serafine and Pero. The geodude had buried himself deep in a flowerpot, the floor beneath it was covered in dirt and flower petals. Lexi made a mental note to keep Pero in his pokéball from now on if they slept inside. Serafine was lying next to the egg with her head near the pillow. ''Hey there, are you guarding the egg? That's so sweet.'' Lexi said, stroking her neck. Lexi put her pokémon back in their pokéball and cleaned up the mess from the flowerpot. Then, with her backpack on and the egg in her arms, sat down and waited for Aiden.

After having a quick breakfast, Lexi and Aiden went looking for the gym. They had decided to take a look at the gym first, instead of immediately challenging it. The sun was making the heat even worse and Lexi could feel the red brick road burning under her shoes. The people of Crocuta Town seemed immune to the rising temperature. They were casually walking around, stopping to look through shop windows and Lexi even saw a couple of kids running.

It wasn´t difficult to find the gym, Nurse Joy had said it was the highest building in town. But it was only recognizable as a gym because of the sign that was placed next to the doors. From the outside it looked more like a hotel. It had the same yellow color and grey roof as the rest of the houses, but had much more windows and decoration. Lexi wondered if the inside would look more stone-like.

Aiden seemed to think a bit and then slowly started to walk towards the gym. ''Aiden, what are you doing?' Lexi walked after him and tapped his shoulder with her free hand.

''I want to go in, I want to fight'' Aiden kept walking and Lexi followed confused. The door led to a grey hallway filled with bright lights. The walls were bare and the same black pillar stood every few feet, making Lexi feel like she was walking on a treadmill. At the end of the hallway was an identical door to those out front.

Lexi felt uncomfortable criticizing her travel buddy, and didn't want to start a fight, but she felt like she had to say something. ''Are you sure you want to do it now? You only have Flying type pokémon and we have barely trained. Do you really think they stand a chance?''

''But I want that badge, and I can always try again if it goes wrong.''

Aiden put his hand on the doorknob but didn't open the door. Lexi looked at him nervously, unsure of what to do.

''Maybe…''Aiden let go of the doorknob and turned around, ''You're right, I shouldn't let my pokémon fight yet. They don't stand a chance against the rock types right now and it would be unfair of me ask this from them.'' he said scratching the back of his head, and together they walked back to the Pokémon Center. Lexi was happy Aiden understood and didn't get frustrated at her for interfering.

''I know!'' Aiden stopped and took a pokéball from his green belt, ''Let's go train, then I can try the gym after practicing!'' Before Lexi could say anything Aiden had disappeared behind some red bushes that seemed far too colorful for this dry climate. It took a while before Lexi found him, he was busy fighting a young boy who's ralts just dodged Hoothoot's Peck.

Lexi looked around seeing if she could find a battle partner as well. There was a girl with red hair swimming in the lake with her Goldeen who seemed like a good first opponent.

(_)

The sun had disappeared behind the trees, causing the temperature to drop. The lake water was still warm to the touch but a fresh gust of wind moved through the field on which two pokémon were busy in a heated battle. A phanpy tried to grab the quick moving feet of its foe with its nose, to make it trip and fall. But the ponyta was too fast and galloped around Phanpy, just outside of its reach.

Lexi had been battling the entire day, just as Aiden. Both had gotten a lot stronger and felt more confident than before. Serafine had even learned her first fire move. Just as they had finished their dinner, a girl had come up to them asking Lexi for a fight.

''Serafine, use Ember.'' The fire missed Phanpy, and the pokémon looked at his trainer for direction on what to do now. ''Phanpy use Takedown!''

Phanpy lowered its head and charged. Serafine moved away but Phanpy quickly changed direction and threw itself against her.

The two pokémon stayed on the ground for a moment. Serafine stood up, breathing heavily, and had clearly taken some damage. Her fur was covered in grass stains. The phanpy also stood up, but seemed dizzy.

''Serafine, do Ember''

Lexi had won every battle today but none of them had been so hard for Serafine as this one. Lexi was sure Serafine could win this, she just had to find out how.

Serafine shot a small fireball out of her mouth, but something seemed weird. The ball of fire was very small, but Serafine's mane and tail were bigger and brighter than before. Phanpy dodged the attack and prepared to tackle again when Lexi suddenly realized something.

''Serafine, do Flame Wheel!'' Serafine's mane and tail grew even bigger, lighting up the surrounding area and giving the trees a spooky appearance. The air around Lexi became hot again and but didn't give such a dry heat as the sun had done during the day. The flames grew so big that Serafine was barely visible. Serafine ran towards Phanpy, who seemed to be blinded by the light of the fire, and tackled it. The phanpy let out a short yelp when the flames hit its body and stayed on the ground. ''Are we done?'' Lexi asked, filled with happiness because Serafine had learned another new move. But the fight wasn't over yet, with great trouble Phanpy got up again.

''Serafine, Tackle!''

''Phanpy, Tackle!''

Both pokémon charged and met in the middle with a loud *bang*. This time the phanpy stayed down. Serafine walked back to her trainer and Lexi cuddled her. Phanpy had been a worthy opponent but Serafine was just too incredible.

Lexi gave the other trainer a hand and went back to Aiden, who had been watching the fight with the egg in a towel beside him. Lexi quickly took the egg back and held it close to her chest. Aiden stood up and picked his backpack from the ground. 'Good job Lexi. Now let's get Serafine checked out and then go to bed, I'm tired. I want to be fresh when I challenge the Gym tomorrow.''

Lexi wanted to tell him that one day of training might not be enough, but she felt a lot more confident herself as well. And she had won every battle today. She was ready, wasn't she?

When Lexi woke up the next day she still felt tired. She had been very active yesterday and the warm air made her feel sleepy. She had remembered to keep Pero in his pokéball this time so she didn't step in any dirt when she walked to her backpack to get her hairbrush. Her ponyta was still allowed out of her pokéball and was sleeping next to the pillow with the egg. Suddenly Lexi had an idea, took the pokédex out of her backpack and pointed it to the egg after lowering its volume.

''It doesn't seem close to hatching'' the robotic man-like voice seemed to whisper. Well, that didn't work. Lexi put the pokédex back in her backpack and went to the bathroom to get ready.

(_)

The weather was just as warm as the day before, with not a cloud to be seen or a puff of wind to be felt. Lexi and Aiden walked past shops with Serafine between them. Aiden stopped in front of a shop that had many different pokéballs displayed in the window. The shop looked very dusty but the pokéballs seemed freshly polished.

''I already have some pokéballs I bought at Diptera Town,'' Aiden opened his backpack and Lexi could see 4 small pokéballs rolling around between a pair of socks and a yellow badge box, ''But they don't look as good as these.''

Lexi's eye fell on a small poster at the top corner of the window. ''Hey look! It says that if you buy ten pokéballs, you get a special pokéball with a different design for free!'' Lexi pointed to the poster, '' Look at how cool that looks, I want one!''

Lexi eagerly stepped into the shop. Serafine snorted but stayed outside and looked at her trainer through the glass door. Lexi took a deep breath and enjoyed the cooled air inside the shop. She recognizing the man with the blue uniform and smiled shyly. ''Excuse me, could you tell me how much a pokéball costs?

''200 pokédollars, but if you buy ten you will get a free Premierball'' the cashier took one from under his counter and showed it to them. The ball was pure white with a small red line around it. Lexi grinned as she saw it, the ball looked even nicer than on the poster and she was sure she was going to get it now. ''Ten pokéballs please!''

When they got out of the shop Aiden looked a little jealous. ''Was it really smart to buy so many pokéballs? I doubt you will need that many and now you have used up some money that was necessary for your journey.'' Lexi looked at her pokéballs and felt some regret now Aiden had said that. But she didn't feel comfortable going back and getting a refund after she had just bought them. So she shook her head at Aiden and said ''I have enough money left, and I could always work and get more money, right?''

Just as they both passed a small stream, they heard a weird sound. ''Did you hear that? It sounded like…Ku Ki, or something'' Aiden looked around and pointed to some sharp rocks that stood in the middle of the stream. ''It think it comes from there''. He walked closer to the water and squinted his eyes. The water made it difficult to make out what it was so Lexi took out her pokédex and pointed it to the rocks.

''Krabby, the River Crab pokémon. If it senses danger approaching, it cloaks itself with bubbles from its mouth so it will look bigger.''

''Okay, so it is a krabby, but it doesn't sound very happy. I think something is wrong.''

Suddenly the krabby jumped out of the water towards the trainers but got pulled back and plunged back into the stream. ''He's stuck, that is the problem. One of his pinches must be trapped between the rocks.''

''We need to help him!'' Aiden exclaimed, ''What can we do? Should we just go to him and try to pull him out or maybe we can use an attack on the rock to get it out?''

Lexi stared at the krabby, thinking. ''An attack should be last resort, we could accidently hurt it.''

''I can try to get to him and pull him loose.'' Aiden was already up to his knees into the water and walked slowly to the krabby.

''Hey there, I'm here to help you okay? So don't be scared.''

But the krabby didn't appear scared at all. It seemed angry and tried to grab onto Aiden's fingers with his free pincher. After a couple of minutes Aiden gave up and went back to Lexi and Serafine.

''Well, that doesn't work, I think we need another plan'' Aiden said and he began wringing the water out of his clothes.

Lexi recalled Serafine, looked at the pokéball and got an idea. ''Aiden! My pokéballs, we can just catch him to get him out!''

''That could work!'' Aiden agreed and both trainers took some of Lexi's newly bought pokéballs and started throwing. This was a good practice of aim that was very necessary, because both trainers missed more than they hit and Hoothoot had to keep flying up and down the stream to return the pokéballs to them.

The krabby was still being pushed around by the water and tried to attack them with bubbles, but those got taken away by the water as soon as they left his mouth. His call got more rapid and he started jumping around in the water making it even harder to aim.

Eventually Aiden managed to hit it on its free pincher as the krabby had tried to knock the pokéball away. But the movement had been too much for krabby's other pincher.

With an awful cracking sound the pincher tore off.

Lexi and Aiden watched surprised as the pokéball moved past the rocks with krabby's sad looking right pincher hanging between them, and traveled farther down the stream with its button blinking fiercely, as if it was trying to guide something through the water. Aiden got over its surprise first and shouted while pointing ''Hoothoot, get that pokéball!'' Hoothoot flew down the stream and effortlessly grabbed the pokéball between his talons. When he reached Aiden the button had stopped blinking. ''Great job Hoothoot, now we need to get this pokémon to the Pokémon Center quick!''

Lexi had to pick up the egg first and when she turned around Aiden was already far ahead of her. ''Don't worry, we'll meet him at the Pokémon Center'' Lexi assured her egg and quickly followed him.

''I hope Nurse Joy can still help that poor krabby.''