Warm sunlight piercing the lush, green tree leaves woke my tired body up. Stirring and sighing, I blinked my eyes a few times, yawned, and stretched my wings, feeling the sun's wonderful warmth seep into them.

I'm leaving today, I thought sadly. A pang of both loneliness and gratitude rushed through my body as I remembered that today would be my last day at the Azalea Town gym, where Willow lived.

The female Butterfree had not only been my teacher but also a great friend. She had taught me all about berries during my stay at her gym, from the basics of recognizing berries to the complex art of making berry powders. She had helped me stand up to Crystal Ice, and thanks in part to her, the loud, annoying Scizor no longer bothered any of us.

Thanks for everything, Willow, I thought happily as I peered at the gym from my tree. Lightning was soundly asleep in the tree next to mine, snoring loudly with his head tucked under his wing. Willow was fluttering in circles above the berry garden, while early-rising Bug Pokemon crawled, scurried, and fluttered aimlessly in the dense indoor forest. Thankfully, Crystal Ice and Bugsy were nowhere to be seen. Looking up, I studied the sky through the clear glass roof of the gym. Not a single cloud dotted the vast blue expanse, promising auspicious weather for traveling.

Feeling joyous and playful all of a sudden, I glided stealthily to Lightning, who was fast asleep in his makeshift nest. I landed lightly on his branch and crept soundlessly across the limb. Once I was close enough to Lightning, I shouted, "RISE AND SHINE, SLEEPY OL' SNORLAX!" at the top of my lungs. Then I fluttered away, giggling, waiting impatiently for what would happen next.

The gym instantly became a hive of excitement. Bug Pokemon crawled or flew out of their sleeping places, looking around with confused expressions on their faces. Willow flew towards Lightning's tree, wondering what had happened. From the back of the gym, Bugsy stumbled sleepily out of a door; thankfully, Crystal Ice wasn't with him.

Lightning stirred, shook his head, and leaped into the air to face me.

"Did you have to wake everyone in the gym up?" he grumbled. "And did you have to steal my wake-up call?"

"It's not your wake-up call, Lightning," I said, laughing. "And I'm hungry, anyways. Come on; let's wait for Bugsy to give us our breakfast."

The sunlight warmed my body from beak to tail-tip as I flew steadily with Lightning at my side, on the road once again. As I focused on the horizon, I felt a new sense of security and direction, for the secure pocket in Lightning's tracking device was stuffed with a carefully folded map of the Johto region.

We had asked Willow for the map right after our breakfast. Not surprisingly, Willow had been surprised at my request – "I've never met a Pokemon who could read maps before," she had commented. But Willow had brought me a map of the Johto region anyways. It was huge, almost as tall as the Butterfree herself, and it dangled heavily from her feet.

Willow had told me that trainers often went to Goldenrod City after passing through Azalea Town. With the help of Lightning's literacy, I had easily found the two cities on the map, and studied the routes joining them. I had discovered that I had to travel west to Ilex Forest, then north to Goldenrod City.

"You are truly exceptional, Thunder," Willow had congratulated. "Can you make sense of other human items too?"

"Perhaps," I had said, shrugging. "I've never tried before, though."

Now, the foreboding, shadowy trees of Ilex forest loomed ahead of me, and I skidded to a halt, rapidly flapping my wings in a figure-eight motion to hover in the air. Lightning followed suit, studying the dark trees apprehensively.

"Let's just fly over the treetops," he suggested. "I don't want to run into the millions of creepy Bug Pokemon here."

"Scaredy-bug," I teased, as I peered into the forest. From my viewpoint, the forest didn't look that scary at all. Enough sunlight penetrated the verdant canopy that a lush growth of grass as well as the occasional flower covered the forest floor. "There might be some interesting things down there," I pressed. "Can't we just take a look? We can come out of the forest if there's nothing special down there."

Lightning hesitated for a moment, thinking. Finally, he nodded. "You go first, though," he said apprehensively. "At least you know how to deal with creepy Bug Pokemon."

Giggling a little, I darted under the treetops; Lightning followed more cautiously, looking around for Bug Pokemon and sighing with relief when he saw none. Landing lightly on the forest grass, I studied my surroundings and gasped in awe.

Down here, the forest looked even more beautiful. Stray rays of sunlight bounced off the perfectly round dewdrops that clung to the blades of grass, turning the dewdrops into shimmering diamonds and pearls. The small but beautiful flowers danced and waved lightly in the whispering breeze, scattering their dewdrops that looked like precious jewels. A distance ahead of us was an interesting shrine of some sort, with piles of gold and silver coins scattered around its base.

"This is amazing," Lightning breathed, admiring the perfect dewdrops on the grass. "There aren't any Bug Pokemon here, thankfully."

"Let's go check out the shrine," I suggested. "It looks very interesting."

"Sure," Lightning said, and flew off. I followed him, landing at the foot of the mysterious structure.

The shrine was unlike anything I'd seen before. It was rather small, with a read roof and a sign with some fancy handwriting on it instead of a door. A golden statue of a Pokemon I couldn't recognize perched on the roof, and the many piles of gold and silver coins at its foot dazzled my eyes.

"Interesting," Lightning murmured, as he hopped closer to the sign to read it. "This shrine was built a long time ago to worship Celebi, the Guardian of the Forest," he read. "Legend has it that Celebi has the sacred ability to travel through time, making peace and helping plants grow as it travels. Here, people pay their respects to Celebi by leaving treasures such as gold and silver coins. It should be warned that Celebi will greatly punish anyone who tries to damage the shrine."

"Wow," I gasped, staring at the gold statue on the roof. "Is that mysterious Pokemon Celebi?"

"It sure is." The answering voice was not Lightning's, but someone else's. Whirling around, my beak dropped open as I confronted a familiar, elderly Pidgeotto.

"Cascade?" I cried in disbelief. As the old female Pidgeotto nodded slowly, more familiar faces revealed themselves. Standing near Cascade were some of my former flockmembers!

"Hey, Sky!" I exclaimed happily as I recognized my friend. "Spirit, Breeze, Wind, Fog, Feather, Soul, and Stone. Leaf and Boulder, you two are here too? How did all of you get here?"

Spirit, the skilled hunter, spoke mysteriously and quietly. "It's a long, strange story," he said. "We would like it if you told us your progress first."

"All right," I said without hesitation, happy to be back with my flockmembers again. "We're doing very well on our journey. Lightning, Falkner's Pidgeot here, can read human writing, and that ability is greatly helping our journey."

As I was talking, Breeze and Wind's daughters, Fog, Feather, and Soul, pushed their ways to the front of the crowd. The three inquisitive female Pidgey surrounded Lightning, asking more questions than he could answer.

"Can you really fly faster than all the other bird Pokemon in the world?" Feather asked.

"Can you really read the human language?" Soul asked excitedly.

"I heard that you defeated a Tyranitar once!" Fog squealed.

"Now, now, give Lightning some respect," Breeze chided, herding her daughters towards their father. "He's probably really tired from his journey."

"No, I'm fine," Lightning said. "Who are you, anyways?"

"We're Thunder's former flockmembers," Sky explained. "Thunder was our leader, and I was her deputy."

"We're actually really glad that we've run into you two," Stone said quietly, changing the mood of the meeting to a more serious one. "We have a problem we must discuss with you. It involves how we got here from Kanto."

"Sure," I whispered, as Lightning tensed beside me. "Is it a big problem?"

Stone nodded and dipped his head to Sky, acknowledging his leader. "Would you like to speak, Flock Leader?" he asked.

Sky shook her head gently. "No, Stone," she said. "You are a skilled speaker. And by the way, you were the first one who saw the Nature Hunter."

"Nature Hunter?" I asked. Apprehensive curiosity flared inside me. Somehow the title seemed familiar…

Stone nodded. "It began like this," he explained. The forest seemed to stop moving as the young male Pidgey told his story, while the golden sunlight glinted on the shiny Celebi statue that perched on the shrine. "This happened two days ago. It was moonhigh, and I was on night guard. From the guard branch, I could see movements in some nearby bushes. Alert, I squinted at the bushes, ready to warm the flock if the source of the movement was an enemy. And then, silently and stealthily, a mysterious young woman stepped out of the bushes, followed by a fierce-looking, intimidating Charizard.

"I tried to fly back to the Roosting Tree to warn the flock, but the moment I took off, I found myself completely paralyzed. Looking around in horror, I spotted the frightening trainer, standing firmly on the ground near the Roosting Tree, a long thread of cold blue electricity extending out of her gloved index finger and surrounding me. Suspended helplessly in the air, I could only watch in horror as the trainer commanded her Charizard to torch the Roosting Tree with Flamethrower. And that was exactly what the orange dragon did – a great orange flame sprouted from its gaping mouth, burning all the leaves of the Roosting Tree to ashes. Unfortunately, all the flockmembers were sleeping on the tree, and they all fell to the ground with sickening thuds, dazed by the fiery attack."

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, feeling a stab of horror course through me. "Was anyone not knocked out by the attack?"

Wind, Breeze's mate, spoke up. "I somehow managed to get up," the rather hardy male Pidgeotto said proudly. "I tried to rescue my flockmembers, but that didn't do any good. Before I could help anyone, the Charizard's trainer reached into her pocket. 'Ugh! I forgot my Nature Checker!' she grumbled. Unfortunately, she threw a Pokeball at me, attempting to catch me. Of course, in my weakened state, I just couldn't break free of the capsule. The last thing I knew, I was being sucked into the Pokeball. Then I fell asleep, like all Pokemon do when they return to the Pokeballs."

"A Nature Checker," Lightning murmured, pronouncing the two words slowly and clearly. Interest was apparent in his voice when he asked, "Does anyone know what happened next?"

Leaf dipped her head. "It took a while, but I summoned all my strength to recover from the attack," the small female Pidgey chirped. "I knew, as my duty as Berry Expert, that I had to heal my injured flockmembers. Unfortunately, I was too late – by the time I woke up, my flockmembers were nowhere to be seen. All I saw were nine Pokeballs and one Ultra Ball, scattered like leaves in front of the Roosting Tree. Before I could do anything, however, a Pokeball bounced off my head and sucked me in. It was horrible."

"Well, the next thing I knew, I was in a huge cage with some of my flockmembers. The cage was in a small building of some sort," Sky chirped, confusion apparent in her voice. "The Nature Hunter – that's what we call the trainer who captured us – was standing in front of the cage, a small, Pokedex-like device in her right hand. As we all stumbled awake, she sneered, 'Well, hello, my brainless soldiers. You're all far away from your home, right? Well, that's too bad! My name is K, and one of you will become my unstoppable, good-natured Pidgeot. I will use one of you to become the most powerful Flying Pokemon trainer of them all."

"Wait," I interrupted. "What was her name? K?"

Sky nodded. "Yes, K," she confirmed. "Then K, the Nature Hunter, pointed her device at me. 'Let's see what your nature is, Pidgeotto," she said expressionlessly. The device mad a few beeping sounds, and K frowned. 'You're Docile. What a horrible nature,' she grumbled. She then used that device to check the other flockmembers' 'natures'. Spirit was 'Bold', Breeze was 'Calm', Wind was 'Hardy', Fog was 'Naughty', Feather was 'Naïve', Soul was 'Sassy', Stone was 'Rash', Leaf was 'Gentle', Boulder was 'Modest', and Cascade was 'Mild'. Apparently, K wasn't too happy with our natures – she grumbled, 'Ugh; why aren't any of you Adamant or Jolly?' Then, finally, K walked over to an opposite wall and pressed a red button on it. Our cage immediately began to lurch and slide, and the next thing we knew, we were falling in open air. K had imprisoned us on an airship!

"Thankfully, the cage snapped open during its plummet to the dense treetops of the dark, mysterious forest. We all managed to stabilize ourselves and decided to explore this forest for a while before we made any attempt to fly home. And that, Thunder, is how we got here."

For a long time, uneasy silence engulfed Ilex Forest as tension crackled in the air. The story was so scary and familiar that my insides were yelling at me to scream in anguish. The whole talk about "natures"… What were "natures" supposed to be, anyways? Why did Nature Hunter K want an "Adamant" or "Jolly" Pidgey or Pidgeotto? Why were natures so important to K, if they were just mere personalities?

Finally, I opened my beak to talk, but suddenly a strange jolt of electricity coursed through my body, rendering me almost completely unable to move any part of my body but my eyes. Groaning in pain, I felt another jolt, this one of terror, course through me. I was surrounded by a cold blue electric force – so were Lightning and my former flockmembers.

Looking around, I gasped in horror when I saw Nature Hunter K, standing behind the Celebi shrine. It had to be K. The trainer was a female of about eighteen years old, with flowing dark blue hair that concealed one side of her face. She wore an even darker blue hooded cape, and under the cape she wore a long-sleeved, pitch-black dress. She sported a pair of dark sunglasses, which did nothing to hide the cold expression of hatred on her face. An interesting glove covered her left hand; the cold blue bolt of electricity that paralyzed us extended out of her index finger. In her right hand was a small, Pokedex-like device: the "Nature Checker".

I could do nothing as K sneered, "Well, pathetic, bad-natured Pidgey and Pidgeotto, I release you just so you could take me to some good-natured Pidgey or Pidgeotto. You didn't know that, did you?" She pressed a few buttons on her Nature Checker. "And now, you've led me to Pidgeot. Let's see what their natures are."

She pointed the Nature Checker at Lightning. It beeped a little, and she groaned, "Grr. You're Brave. That nature not very good."

K then pointed the Nature Checker at me. This time, instead of beeping, it played a short five-note scale. A sinister, pleased smile crossed the Nature Hunter's face.

"And you are Adamant. An absolutely perfect nature for a fine, strong Pidgeot." She grinned evilly, showing her teeth. "I'll have you."

To be continued...