Okay, for this chapter... yeah, in case the title didn't give it away, Starfire's going to get her first caught Pokemon (well, first official caught Pokemon. Clefairy is technically her starter, in a sense), and we only not get into the psyches of Ash, but also a bit of Starfire's homelife! And a lot more! Stick around, because we got a LOT to cover!

LAST TIME, IN STARS OF A JOURNEY...

Ash and Starfire narrowed their eyes in determination as they locked their eyes on the Bug Pokemon before them. They readied their balls… and before anybody could react, but Ash and Starfire threw the balls right at the Caterpie…

And only one managed to get a successful catch.

The Caterpie gave a squeak as it felt the sensation of a red light surrounding it before it disappeared into a ball as one of the Poke Balls opened up and sucked the red light in before closing it right in. The ball then fell directly on the ground.

Starfire could only look at the Poke Ball with a small, curious look on her face as Ash prepared to pull out another ball, just in case.

One wiggle.

Two wiggles.

Three wiggles.

And then… the ball stopped as a clicking sound was heard.

For a long time, Starfire could only stand in silence as Ash looked at both Poke Balls… one with the caught Pokemon, and the other just opened up. Ash took a look at the empty ball, before giving a groan.

"Shoot! I thought I had it that time!" Ash held his head… before turning to Starfire with a small smile. "Well, congratulations, Star. Looks like you just caught your first Pokemon!"

"I… did?" Starfire cocked her head in confusion. "I was just following your hand motions… I do not understand what is going on…"

"How could you-?" Ash started to say, before giving a small sigh. "Right… you're not of this planet… uh, well, when Pokemon enter Poke Balls, it depends on if they're comfortable with the ball. Sometimes, you have to weaken Pokemon first, or try to befriend them if you can… and if it admires your battle prowess OR sees you as a good friend if the Poke Ball gets thrown… then it trusts you."

"Ohhhhh…" Starfire smiled before floating upwards in the air and doing a flip. "Oh, joy!"

However, in doing that flip, she had rather unintentionally exposed a bit of her panties to Ash, causing the boy to blush as he tried to look away. But Starfire hadn't noticed as she went over and picked up the Poke Ball, looking at it in awe. "I have the first of many Pokemon! A little Caterpie… oh, I bet he's so cute!"

"Y-yeah… cute…" Ash groaned as he shook his head. At around this time, Clefairy and Pikachu approached the alien girl with a smile.

"Hey, good going, Star! I think you might become a natural at this!" Clefairy smiled as she looked at the small ball.

"I'm no fan of Poke Balls, but it's good to see you're slowly getting into it!" Pikachu nodded.

"Oh, you guys!" Starfire giggled as she flew up in the air, directly above Ash as the young man looked up… causing him to blush furiously as he tried to look down, but not helping himself as he just had to take a peek under her skirt. "This is the most joyous of joys! Oh, Ash, is this how it feels to catch a Pokemon for the first time?"

Silence was heard as the red haired girl blinked twice and looked down. "Ash? OH MY GOSH!"

Turning her body, Starfire floated down as she noted Ash on the ground, spirals around his eyes as a little blood came out of his nose. The young girl pulled him up as she said, "Are you okay? Oh my gosh, what happened to your nose?"

Ash stammered a bit as his eyes slowly went back in focus. "Ugh… uh…"

He shook his head as he gave a small blush, not wanting to admit the small embarrassing moment he had. "N- it's nothing. Ugh…" He pulled out a cloth to wipe his nose before giving a small smile towards Starfire.

Clefairy couldn't help but give a small snicker as Pikachu cocked his head in confusion.

After taking a moment to get his bearings, Ash approached Starfire as she had just released the Caterpie from her Poke Ball as the little guy started to crawl on her shoulders. She gave a giggle as she patted the small green worm on the head.

"Aren't you just so sweet and the adorable!" Starfire giggled as the Caterpie gave a small sound.

"You are very unique… and your shoulder is nice to sit on…" Caterpie said as he cuddled close to Starfire's shoulder. "Something about you just feels… wonderful."

Starfire giggled as she gave the small worm a kiss on the head. Ash looked over at Starfire, a bit jealous, but at the same time, rather curious.

"You know, most girls I know don't even like bugs… they often think they're gross and disgusting." Ash pointed out.

Starfire blinked twice, before giving a small eye-roll. "Well, it must be quite different on your planet. On Tamaran, we all treat animals with respect… although I do quite like this little Caterpie… he reminds me of my old pet Zarnic… before he was eaten by a Glorg."

"Zarnic? Glorg?" Ash asked, looking rather confused. "Are they types of Pokemon?"

"No, silly." Starfire giggled. "They are the types of creatures that roamed my planet, along with several others. It would make sense that you do not have the unusual creatures here."

The raven haired boy adjusted his hat as he said, "Look, in this world, our animals are basically Pokemon of various shapes and sizes. So, forgive my naivety IF I'm not familiar with your world's creatures."

Ash crossed his arms and gave a huff as he turned around. It was then Starfire had noticed Ash's slight change of attitude. "Ash? Are you okay?"

"No, I'm fine…" Ash sighed. "It's not like I wanted to actually catch that Pokemon, to have for my team and to treat with respect and…" The young man shut his eyes. "But no, I'm rather PROUD of you… I really am!"

Starfire just stared at Ash, more concerned than before as Clefairy and Pikachu, who had noticed Ash's problem, turned to Star as Clefairy coughed, "Sounds to me like somebody is jealous."

Starfire paused in confusion, before her eyes widened. "Is this true, Ash? Are you jealous of me, just because I caught Caterpie and you didn't?!"

"Jealous?" Ash laughed a bit. "What's there to be jealous about? If anything I am MORE than happy for you! Happy that you captured a Pokemon I laid my eyes on, and wanted to get! Happy that you're getting all the quality time with it!"

As Ash kept talking, his tone started to get a little angry as he looked towards Starfire, a glare adorning his face. But then… it started to soften as he noted Starfire shaking nervously, looking at him. After taking a few deep breaths, he looked down, feeling remorseful. "Star, I… I'm sorry. I am proud of you, and you're doing good. It's just…"

He sighed as he looked down at the ground. "How am I going to be the world's greatest Pokemon master if I only have the one Pokemon on me… uh, no offense, Pikachu."

"I get it, don't worry about it." Pikachu sighed.

"It's just… aside from meeting you and saving the Viridian City Pokemon nurse, things just haven't been going right for me this journey." Ash looked down.

"Oh, Ash…" Starfire covered her mouth. "I didn't know you felt that way… hey, if you want Caterpie, I can give him to you. I don't mind sharing…"

Caterpie looked up from Starfire's shoulder as it trilled, "I'm actually rather comfortable up here, thank you…"

"No, Starfire, it's fine. You caught Caterpie. He's your Pokemon." Ash smiled a bit. "And… I'm sorry I took out my frustrations on you."

"That's okay, Ash." Starfire smiled as she gave him a hug. "Not all of us are perfect…"

However, as Starfire hugged Ash, he couldn't help but note that his head got planted in between her breasts, causing him to blush once more. Upon being released from her grasp, he gave a chuckle. "Y-yeah…"

After a small moment of silence as Ash looked over at the beautiful girl with a smile, he decided to ask, "So, now that you caught your first Pokemon, what do you plan to do with Caterpie? Training it to become its best is a good option…"

"I'm not quite sure, honestly…" Starfire smiled as Caterpie quietly nuzzled her. "He's so adorable as he is…"

"Girl, I love ya, but you need to have your Pokemon toughen up!" Clefairy rolled her eyes as she turned to her 'trainer'.

"What do you mean?" Starfire asked as she turned towards Clefairy in confusion, leaving Ash flabbergasted to see her speaking in Poke talk once more.

"Look, I'm not telling you how to train or properly take care of Pokemon, but eventually, there may come a time where you might have to send your Caterpie out to battle!" Clefairy explained as she strutted her arms out. "Sure, you could do well with me, but you saw how I crumble against Poison Types! If anything, Caterpie could very well help with Poison."

"Yes, please! I'm a very good fighter! I can prove it too! Watch!" Caterpie leapt up on Starfire's shoulder before shooting out some sticky white thread right into Ash's face.

Ash just looked unimpressed as the Pokemon snickered a bit. As he wiped his face off with a cloth, Starfire couldn't help but giggle. "Sorry, Ash, but even I have to admit, that WAS pretty funny!"

Ash just lowered his eyelids a bit… before giving a small smile as he gave a chuckle of his own. It would seem that the momentary anger issue had been dropped, and things were slowly, but surely getting back to normal…

After walking through the forest for at least a couple of hours, Ash noted that it was getting a little late in the day as he and Starfire agreed to stop for the time being and set up camp. Pikachu, Clefairy and Caterpie were out and about as Clefairy seemed to be setting up some rocks for target practice, with Pikachu watching.

"Okay, kiddo, let's see what that String Shot of yours can do." Clefairy grinned before pointing towards the rocks. "And… NOW!"

With that, Caterpie started to spring into action as it shot out more thread on each rock, some hitting the rocks to the side, others missing, but some of them had direct bullseyes.

"Not bad." Clefairy chuckled. "With a little more practice, we'll get you shipshape and running!"

"I've never had to do this much String Shot before…" Caterpie panted as he looked at the two. "Is this how training for Pokemon battles works?"

"In a sense. Sometimes, you got to prepare yourself in the event something happens, and you need something to defend yourself with." Pikachu said as he gave a smile. "For example, mine is my power of electricity, and Clefairy here is a Fairy type user, so she uses Fairy moves…"

"Though if necessary, my fists can be of help!" Clefairy grinned before punching the air. "It's all a matter of finding your own technique…"

"I wish I COULD find my own technique…" Caterpie sighed as it looked down.

"Look, once you get your evolution, you'll be fine in no time!" Clefairy smiled. "It's ALL a matter of patience!"

"Patience…" Caterpie said as it prepared itself.

"Dinner time!" Ash's voice called out.

The Pokemon were called out to attention as they turned their attention to Ash and Starfire, Ash having cooked up some nice Japanese spice-flavored curry over rice for both him and Starfire, and a couple of bowls of Poke Chow for the Pokemon. "Come and get it!"

Feeling their stomachs, the three immediately bolted over to the food as they sat down.

"Ah, finally!" Clefairy grinned as she picked up a handful of chow and ate it. "Girl needs to keep her strength up, after all!"

All the while, Starfire was trying the curry as she let the taste boil over her mouth. "This is pretty good, Ash."

"Thanks…" Ash chuckled nervously. "Honestly, it's about the only thing I can make at the moment… aside from toast, but we're nowhere near a toaster."

"Well, I still think it's good." Starfire smiled as she took another taste. "Your mother taught you how to make this?"

"Well, in a sense." Ash said. "My mom runs a good restaurant in Pallet Town… well, the only restaurant in Pallet Town. And she's always made the best dishes. Granted, this isn't as good as my mom's cooking, BUT this was one of the few dishes she helped teach me how to make. Guess she figured if I ever got hungry and wanted to make my own meals, this would be the best meal for a growing boy like me."

"Your mother runs a… what?" Starfire asked in curiosity.

Ash looked over to the beautiful red-head, before his eyes widened. "I guess you don't have restaurants on your planet… well, they're basically places where you can go to eat and be served your meals… as long as you have enough money to pay for the meals."

"Ohhhh…" Starfire paused, before giving a smile. "It would seem I am learning quite a lot about your planet."

Ash laughed a bit as he kept eating. "Say, Star, I've been talking about my planet a lot, why don't you tell me a little about yours… Tamaran? What about your family, what are they like?"

The young red haired woman paused as she thought about it. "My family… they are but good people. I have two parents, very loving parents, but they were always a little busy with their own activities. That didn't mean they didn't make time for me and my siblings, but things were always a little… well, busy on my planet. We were a bit of a peaceful planet, you know. I was often cared for by my guardian, and who I saw as a second father, Galfore."

Starfire smiled. "He's a very nice person, and always so caring, taking care of me when my parents weren't around. If I ever get a chance to find our home from here, I'd love to take you there and meet him."

"Sounds like you liked him." Ash said as he looked at the girl in interest.

"Well, yes. We always got along quite well…" Starfire smiled. "Of course, I also got along great with my siblings… there was my brother, Wildfire, who was always so kind and sweet. He sort of left one day to take care of something for my parents, and he has yet to return…"

"Oh…" Ash paused as he noted the depressed look on Starfire's face.

"Of course, Wildfire was not my only sibling. No, my big sister, Komand'r, or I suppose Blackfire in your language, was someone else that I…" She paused. "Well, I want to say we are sisters, but she and I do not connect a lot. But still, she is just so wonderful… she helped saved my life on occasion."

Ash paused as he looked at her. "Seems like your sister was very important to you."

"Oh, she is." Starfire smiled. "In fact, she was always more of the 'cool' girl than anything else. She prefer hanging out with the cool kids and was always the best fighter out of me and her…"

"Best fighter?" Ash asked. "But aren't you a peaceful sort of people?"

"We are, but that does not mean we can not fight." Starfire sighed. "Talking about them… I'm worried about my planet… worried about my sister and my parents… I haven't seen them at all, and… I wonder if they worry about me."

"Ohhhh… Star…" Ash whispered as he put aside his empty plate (having finished his meal) as he sat down next to the young woman. "I'm sure once you try to communicate with them, they'll be elated to see you're okay…"

"Could there be a way, though?" Starfire asked as she looked down. "I must be millions and millions of light years away by now…"

Ash put a hand on her right shoulder as she looked over to see him. He gave a flashy smile. "Wouldn't hurt to try… but hey, whatever happens, I'll be with you every step of the way. Okay?"

Starfire paused as she gave a smile towards the boy, her heart beating rather fast. "Thank you, Ash. Thank you."

Ash could only give a small smile of appreciation. As the two decided to continue talking, Clefairy seemed to be looking up and overhearing the conversation as she looked to be in thought.

Meanwhile, up in space things seemed to be quiet… too quiet. All of a sudden, an anomaly opened up as a spaceship was seen being spat out. A very familiar looking spaceship.

And inside that spaceship, a groan was heard as a very familiar black haired Tamaranean was rubbing her head. "Ugh, feels like I just went to one of those raves…"

Blackfire then looked around as she noticed the strange planet she thought she had just explored was seen before her. "And it would seem I went nowhere in my expedition… great, back to square one…"

Blackfire grumbled angrily as she tried to tap some buttons. "Ugh, whatever, maybe I'll have better luck on the next plan-"

Some odd, negative beeping was heard as Blackfire turned. "Hm? What th-"

Blackfire curiously examined the radar to see that, although there was a planet marked Earth, the way things were arranged looked… different somehow. And the planet she wanted to go to… didn't exist anymore?

"What is going on here?" Blackfire whispered to herself as she tapped on the screen. But before she could go any further, a large thing rushed to the side of the ship, knocking it off course.

"AHHHH!" Blackfire gave a scream as she fell out of her chair. Getting her bearings, she climbed back on and groaned. "What just-"

Quickly, she turned on the monitors outside the ship as she saw what seemed to be some large floating green… creature rushing through, and it seemed to be making a reverse course towards her ship. Blackfire quickly regained control as she backed up the ship, getting it out of the way as she pushed a few buttons, summoning some laser guns in an attempt to shoot the creature down.

A few lasers struck the floating creature, causing it to yell out before stopping. It was then Blackfire FINALLY got a good look at what had just attacked her.

"What… is… that? I don't remember seeing this sort of creature in the alien encyclopedias…" Blackfire muttered as she looked at the creature in awe.

Up close, the creature looked like a floating snake-like creature with a dragon face, with yellow and red markings on its body, two stick-like arms and some parts that looked like it was from a rocket. The creature let out a loud roar as it narrowed its eyes on the ship.

Blackfire frowned as she tried to aim at the creature. "Whatever it is, it's attacking my ship!"

With that, Blackfire pushed some buttons to try and shoot at the large snake-like dragon, only for it to fly up and rush forward, as if in moving extremely fast, striking at the ship. This caught Blackfire off-guard as she hung onto her seat. She gave a small growl as she tried to push a few buttons to attack at the dragon-like creature, only for it to rush forward and slashed at the guns using the air in some way.

The ship's radar started to sound and sound, as if trying to issue a warning that the ship was taking critical damage, but Blackfire ignored it as she gave a growl. "Hold still, you freaky abomination!"

She tried to push a few more buttons, but unfortunately for her, the guns were either failing or in critical condition that they could no longer work. The large creature, narrowing its eyes towards its target flew up in the air as it opened its mouth, a large sphere of light forming from it.

Blackfire recovered as she looked in awe. "What is that thing doing n-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the dragon-like creature unleashed a large beam of light that critically damaged the ship, causing Blackfire to scream as the ship started to spiral off-course. "AHHHHHHH!"

Blackfire growled angrily as she tried to keep the ship in the air, but it was of no use. She looked down to see that the ship was about to crash towards the planet she had saw earlier as she tried to regain control. "Got to… land… safely!"

The dragon-like creature could only watch the ship go down to Earth as it started to huff. Whatever that thing was that came out of that anomaly seemed to be gone for the moment… but he had a weird feeling that person could be back…

As much as Blackfire tried to take control of the ship, she couldn't exactly find control as the next thing she knew… it had crashed at a nearby cave located somewhere on a path. At least, that's what she knew as she got her surroundings in gear as she got out of the crashed ship, a bit wary, but otherwise, all right and well.

"Ugh… my head…" Blackfire then looked over to see the damaged ship, much to her chagrin. "Dang it! This is going to take WEEKS to repair!"

As Blackfire went back in the damaged ship to see what had survived, all of a sudden, she heard something from inside… a radio transmission? Could something be trying to communicate with her?

Well, at the very least, she knew the transmitter worked. Of how, she did not know why, but, either way, if she could use it to call for help…

However, before she could push the button… she heard a voice coming out of it… a VERY familiar voice.

"Hello? Calling anybody from Tamaran? This is Princess Koriand'r." Starfire's voice sounded. "I'm trying to communicate a message through my friend's, uh… special power."

"Starfire?" Blackfire asked in shock as she kept silent, raising an eyebrow… before giving a small smirk. It would seem that she had found her sister at last… and listened carefully to the message Starfire received, one talking about what had happened to her after escaping the Gordonians… one that described her world… and one that particularly caught her interest… a young boy who is helping her on a journey of some sort. A boy named… Ash?

"I don't believe it…" Blackfire frowned as the message from Starfire ended. "Does my little sister have a crush on this… boy? Who is this… Ash?"

As she took a slight pause, she shook her head. "First, I need to figure out where I'M at…"

Shaking her head, she climbed out of the crashed spaceship and looked towards the cave, where she saw some flying bats without eyes flying out of the cave and giving some screeches. It was then she noted a sign next to the cave. Curious, she walked over and read it.

"Welcome… to Mount Moon…"

Yep, Starfire had just made contact with Blackfire, even if she was unaware of it... and hey, we have Blackfire NOW in the Pokemon world... though it'll take a little time before she meets up with her sister and Ash... how that'll go down, you'll have to wait a bit longer. But at least we got more character look-ats with Ash and Starfire, at the very least! Speaking of which, it's Ash's turn to actually catch a Pokemon in the next chapter... along with running into QUITE a big problem! Let's see how all of this is handled... Until next time.