• I walked though the tall grassy fields. I was enjoying the breeze, the tall grass brushing against my skin, just enjoying a nice stroll in the park. I’m glad I dress coolly. The only thing I had in my closet was my favorite pair of black shorts, my navy blue t-shirt and red sweatshirt. Ok, the sweat shirt was maybe along the lines of fall cloths, but with the breeze the way it is, and the time of year, I was fine.
    All of a sudden, my cell phone ran. It let out a great tune. It was heavy base, good guitar, good beat. It was some rock song, but I never could figure out what it was. Couldn’t hear the words over the base.
    “Hello?” I said once I dug the phone out of my pocket. “Honey!” mom shouted through the phone. “You got to come back home! I got you some gifts to use as you go out on your adventure! Please come back home!” she pleaded. I sighed. Mom, always the clingy type. “Yeah, mom, I’ll be right there. Ok? Alright, love you, bye.” I said as I hung up the phone. Oh mom…she’s so funny.
    Well, I guess that ends my walk. I turned back around and began to walk back home, when all of a sudden, something jumped out at me and knocked me to the ground. It landed one my chest, attempting to hold me down. I looked up at my attacker. It was a fairly big, purplish rat. It had pretty long whiskers, with huge front teeth and a little looping tail. Its underside was white, while the rest of its fur was bright purple fur. It growled as it looked down on me.
    You gotta love these Rattatats around here. They got spunk. I picked up the kitten sized rat by the loose skin behind its head with two fingers. It began squirm and struggle, wondering what the heck is going on. I stood up, lifting the small thing up to my face, eye to eye. “I got someone that would just love you. Looks like you pounced on the wrong Trainer today.” I said with a smirk grin. The little rat finally gave up, surrendering. I put it in my hand, holding it gently but firmly, making sure that it could possibly bite me.
    With that last interruption, I slowly but surely made my way home.

    Chapter one.

    When I finally got back to my small town, almost the whole town was there to welcome me home after my long trip away from home. All twenty seven of them.
    Hannah, Rebecca, Sophie, Kayla, Lesley, Helen, Edna, Ray, Dave, Paul, Eric, Michelle, Sam, Layla, Jacob, Travis, Troy, Ken, Zena, Jamile, Clare, Lisa, Jack, Adam, Megan, Bennett. Of course mom and dad too. I know them all just like they’re my own family. In a small town you’ll have that. As I walked into town, everyone came to greet me. the little kids pulling on my short’s legs, asking me about my adventure, the adults patting me on the back, saying I was the pride of the town, and the other kids that were about to go on their own adventure, asking me if I had any advice.
    I tried answering to everyone as quickly as I could; but around the sixth question I began to fall behind. My dad, tall and broad man, voice rang out above the others. “Aright, alright everyone. I’m sure Tyler had a long and hard journey and would love to answer all your questions, but lets give him some space, ok?” he said, working his way through the crowd. People always say I get my dark black, almost blue hair from him, my height and wit too. While I get my eyes from my mother. Though I’m not just a scrap book made from my parents. I keep my hair a tad long; under my ear lobes and my eyes are a bit darker then my mother’s. My dad has always worn his hair army buzz cut short. Now, though, there’s a hue of gray rummaging through his hair.
    “So, Tyler, I’m sure the real question on everyone’s mind is,” my dad said, walking up to me and placing a hand on my shoulder.
    Has it really been this long since I left home? When I first left I had just turned ten. I was barley mid torso level of my dad, always inspiring to be him. I would see him battle other trainers, some won, and most others lost. I would ask him why he doesn’t train his pokemon to be the best, so he wouldn’t have to loose.
    He would tell me time after time, “As a gym leader, it’s not my choose weather I win or loose; I just have to do my best, hope I win, but no matter how strong I get, they’ll always be someone else out there stronger then me. Never forget that Tyler.” So I didn’t.
    When I started my journey, I lived by that. I trained my pokemon, and me, harder and harder every day, preparing for that one person that would surpass me. I lost a couple times along my journey, as to be expected, but I always got back up and tried again. Never giving up.
    And now here I am. Seeing my father eye to eye after so long. I last saw him two years ago. I didn’t come to say hi, no, I came to challenge him. But that was two years ago.
    I’ve grown since then. Now, crossing into manhood and out of boyhood, it was pretty emotional. A tear was welding up in his eyes; cause me to wonder if I was going to cry too. When all of sudden, a smack on the shoulder from a rock hard hand snapped up both out of it.
    “As I was saying, the real question is Tyler, where are those pokemon we heard so much about!?” he shouted happily. We both smiled. I nodded, whipping that close-to-be tear away and fished around in my pocket for the small, round objects I hold so dear.
    “You kept them in your pocket?” I heard Megan said. Megan. Last time I say her, we were both little kids, playing in the field out behind my house. I haven’t seen Megan or anyone besides my dad, in seven years.
    I turned around, almost flapper gasped as the woman standing in front of me. When we were little, she was a cute girl. Long brown hair, cute little face and bright brown eyes. Back then, she was adorable. Always wearing a sundress with pink bows in her hair.
    Now, standing only maybe two inches shorter then my six one stance, was a beautiful woman. Her cute little face turned into a round, model like face. Her bright brown eyes now grew into glimmering, almost seductive pools of chocolate. Her brown hair was gone, only to be replacing by a long, blond pony tail tied in place by a blue hair scrunch.
    She had certainly out grown her small sundress (in many ways then one, if you catch my drift). She now had on dark blue denim jeans with a white t-shirt. Of course though, they jeans and sleeves on the t-shirt had stylish tears in them. Her whole attire was completed with the cowboy hat she wore on her proud head.
    My jaw nearly hit the ground.
    “What? You’re not the only that had changed around her.” She said, walking up to me. I shook off the shock. Well, as much as I could. “Well, yeah…but I mean, at least I didn’t fall into the country trend…unlike others I know.” I hinted with a grin, poking her in the shoulder. She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut up and show us those pokemon of yours.”
    I smiled. I dug the round objects out of my pocket, holding six small, red, white and black orbs in my hands. They all hand center buttons on them. I pressed them all at the same time, throwing them all in the air soon after.
    Then, as if my magic or super advance technology, the small orbs grew almost by five, now turning from big marble sized, to softball sized. Then they all opened up, releasing six red rays. The red rays seamed to buzz and crack through the air as they raced to the ground. As each ray hit the ground, they rapidly began to form figures all of shapes and sizes. When the figures finally formed, the small orbs all fell towards me. I caught them all in my hands, putting them all back in my pockets.
    As the figures stood there, the town’s people (mostly the children) looked frightened by the figures. “No, its ok, they’re all really friendly. Go and check them out!” I said. That caused the entire town’s people to either run or walk over to the creatures. I’ll go from left to right.
    The big, red and orange one to the far left was Charizard. He’s a big one for his kind, at six feet three inches, and look like a dragon really. He had two, monstrous feet that it stood on with three toes on them. He had short, T-Rex like class that, like his feet, had three inch sharp claws on them.
    The wings on his back were about the size of his body and where a dark green color. Those wings, might I say are incredibly strong. His head was pretty big. It had a mouth full of sharp teeth, only to have four near the begging of his mouth that were the longest and biggest, like an alligator. While his head was smaller then an alligators, it came back into a long horn that came back into a dull point.
    The last mentionable thing on the creature was the long tail it had. It’s tail, like its wings were as long as his body, but at the end of his tail was a small flame. The flame could become bigger or smaller, depending on how my rage he was feeling.
    He’s my main pokemon but also, like the others, a really great friend. He was my first pokemon. I remember when he was just a Charmader when I first got him. Now we have to move on to my second pokemon.
    Pidgeot. Imagine a giant hawk. When she, yes she, stand on her talon she’s a tall five foot. She has a sharp beak and beautiful feathers on her head. They fly behind her like long blond hair with a bright red streak in it. She’s really a beautiful bird. Powerful too. Last time I timed her, she could break speeds of mach-2.
    Next up on the line is my third pokemon, Butterfree. Butterfree’s really, really small for its species, only at two in half feet. Butterfree always is able to cheer me up. Because its size, I’m able to take it with me anywhere. Stores, museums, houses, etc. I usually keep Butterfree how of its poke-ball for that reason.
    The cool thing about Butterfree is that it has rain repellent dust on its wings. Sometimes it’ll even coat me with a little of it so I down have to get soaking wet when it rains. Next up is Sandslash.
    He’s about the size of a porky pine and looks like one two. Its legs and feet are similar to Charziard’s, but of course smaller and only have two claws but his are twice as long. He’s average for his kind, standing at three feet and three inches.
    He has short arms, but at the end of his arms are two long claws on each arm. He uses though to dig around in the ground quickly and precisely.
    He has a pretty weird looking face too. Its triangle shaped, while his huge alien looking eyes are completely black. He’s blind, but since his species usually live underground he doesn’t really need to see. He senses even the minute vibration. The thing I like about him a lot is the long, dagger like spikes on his back. They’re muddy sand colored, and he can control the sharpness of them so he doesn’t accidentally poke anyone.
    The next one up is Lapras. Have you ever seen an Elasmosaurus? Imagine that, but a lot, lot friendlier. Lapras is about eight feet tall from its belly to the small knobby horn on its head. It has a long neck and some of the cutest (and I don’t use the word cute a lot) flippers ever. She has a shell like rock on her back that floats out of the water. I usually ride on her back, floating in the ocean from place to place. She’s really smart too. Though she can’t speak it (no pokemon can) she can understand human speech very easily.
    Last but not least, Steelix is up. Steelix is huge. It’s like a giant, thirty foot snake made out of boulders made of steel. Some of the boulders it looks like they have a huge, nature made rods through them also. His head is somewhat flat too, even though if he opens his head he has a hundred, fist size flat teeth. Those teeth are about as hard as diamonds too. He’s been really trust worthy, but someone troublesome I have to say.
    That’s the gang. Through thick and thin, these guys have been through everything with me. I couldn’t ask for better pokemon to go through this journey with me. While everyone went go see my team, my dad and Megan stayed behind to talk for a second.
    “So,” my dad said. “I see you haven’t gotten sick of these guys yet. You used the exact same team two years ago when you came to challenge Me.” he said proudly gazing upon my team. I nodded proudly. “Yep. They sure are. Same everything really. We’ve just practicing hard each and everyday.” I said. Megan came up to me now, standing next to me with her slender hands on her hips.
    “Huh. These are the new Champion pokemon huh? For some reason, I expected more.” she winked. I winked back. “Is that a challenge I sense in the air?” I concluded.
    “Sure is.”
    “Name the time and place and we’ll be there.”
    “How about a one on one match, my Pidgeot vs. yours? In the field behind your house say in, a couple hours?” she asked. I about jumped with excitement. “Nice! I can’t believe you got that broken wing Pidgey into a healthily Pidgeot. That was nice Megan. I thought they said its wing would never heal.” I confessed. She loved that Pidgey. I remember when we first found it.
    We were walking in the woods one day when all of a sudden, it fell down out of a tree and laid on the ground in front of our feet, still as the dead. Megan quickly with out thinking picked up the injured creature and took it to back to the town’s pokemon professional, Prof. Oak.
    He helped nurse the Pidgey back to heath, but he said its wing had been broken in mutable places and it would never be able to fly again. Megan was devastated, but I guess through out the years she’s be able to heal it.
    “What? I never said anything about it being able to fly.” Megan said with a dangerous grin. That caught me off guard, I have to say. Though, I’ve come to expect the unexpected with Megan. “Alright Megan, you’re on, but I want to give you a heads up, you’re pokemon is already at a disadvantage.”
    My father suddenly leaned back and let out a roar of a laugh. “That’s right; I forgot you have never seen Meg’s Pidgeyot. You might end up eating those words Tyler. Megan is one of the best trainers I’ve seen Tyler, she may even pass you up one of these days.” He said. Now, that was interesting. I always love a challenge. “Ok, ok, I won’t go easy on you then, ok Megan? Now dad, mom called me. Where is she?” I asked him. He sighed, his happy face suddenly getting serious. “She’s at home, making you the largest welcome home meal I have ever seen. Which brings to this question; are you hungry?”

    When we got home, mom greeted me at the door like any mother who hasn’t seen her child in seven years would. A hug to end all hugs. “OH TYLER, YOU’RE SO GROWN UP NOW!!!!! YOU’RE THE SPITTING IMAGE OF YOUR FATHER!!! Now, after dinner you have to tell me about your whole journey ok? Everything, I mean it. Every battle, every pokemon you’ve seen, everything.
    “But first, please, sit down and eat, please!” she said as she dragged me to my seat. When I sat down and laid my eyes on the table, my stomach growled and my tongue started to drool. There, in front of me, were all my favorite foods in giant bowls, plates and pitchers. There was Mac and Cheese, Hot Dogs, pepperoni pizza, BLT ingredients, tomato soup, chips and salsa, steaks, two chickens, apples, candy apples, some cooked carrots and to top it all off was homemade ice-cream in the freezer.
    I thought I died and gone to heaven. “Mom…this is amassing!” I shouted as I began to go around the table, filling my plate with as much food as possible. I had enough food to feed maybe three people. I was either going to eat it all or die trying today.
    “Well, I’ll leave you all alone to have some family bonding.” Megan said a little awkwardly as me and my dad sat down at the table with our plates full. We’re not shy about food in my family. Though when I heard that, I almost forgot about the food.
    “Megan, what do you mean? You’ve been part of this family since both of us were in dippers.” I said. My mom agreed. “Yeah honey, come on in, take a plate and get some food. Even with a stomach like Tyler’s, I’m not sure he’ll beagle to eat it all.” my mother said, smiling.
    I just noticed that my mother looked like a mess. Her hair was fighting the pony tail it was tied into, her face was a little singed with ashes and patter, her cooking apron she had one was just a mess with anything you can think off, and her hands had bandages and burn marks on them.
    Most the burn marks were old, her being as clumsy as she is, but some where fairly recent. God I love my mother. She’ll put her blood, sweat and tears in a welcoming meal for me. Metaphorically speaking hopefully. When we all settled in, we began to chow down.
    There was chit-chat now and then, but it was mostly just eating. After we all had eaten, of course me and my dad were sicker then dogs, but we still helped clear the table and put food away. When the food was away, dishes in the dishwasher and table cleaned, we all sat back down, just talking as Megan and Mom ate dessert. I and my father were too full.
    “So, tell me, am I going to see that Champion team of yours anytime soon?” my mom asked me sweetly. I slowly straighten up in my seat, fearing I was going to puke. “Yeah *moan* yeah, they’re just out visiting with the children, and Prof. Oak is studying them. You know, his way. So he’s probably flying around on Charizard or messing around in the dirt with Sandslash. I told Lapras to call the gang together here in about…twenty minutes. Of course Lapras will be hear before them all, since she can’t move on land real fast.” I said.
    My mom nodded, excited and anxious to see them. It was my father’s turn to ask me a question. “So, tell me, find any really rare pokemon while you were out and about?” he asked me with a smirk. I smirked back. “Actually, yes, I have. Remember that weird looking Pidgey me and Megan said we saw one time? It was a weird black and gold color instead of the brown and white?” I asked my father. He nodded, and Megan spoke up. “No way! You caught it?!” she asked.
    I shook my head. “Nah. I didn’t want to catch it. If it hasn’t been caught yet, I didn’t want to end its steak yet. It had evolved into a Pidgeyotto. Other then that, I haven’t seen a thing.”
    “Huh. Did you happen to get a picture of it?” my dad asked. I shook my head. “Huh.” He said, looking like he had just reconsidered asking the question. “Well, I haven’t believed you then, and I guess I’m not going to believe you now. At least, not with out proof.”
    “Oh honey, quick teasing him.” Mom said. “Now tell me Tyler, this question has been bothering me for a while now. Is there a special someone in your life?” My mother asked. I about fell out of my chair at the mention of the question. “What?! Mom! I’m the Champion of the Elite Four which, I might add, would not have been possible if I didn’t have every gym badge! I’ve been a little busy!” I said at last. My mom seamed to let the answer roll off her.
    “Oh please Tyler. You’re a boy. You will always make time for the girls. I mean, look at you! Honey, I don’t me to embarrass you in front of Megan, but you’re a hunk. I mean, you could have any girl you-”
    “You know what Miss. and Mr. Willow, it’s about time for Tyler’s and mine’s battle. Thank you for dinner, but he did promise after all.” She said suddenly. She then proceeded to stand up, take my arm and drag me out of my house. Before we could get to the door, my mother stopped us. “Wait, I have a gift for Tyler!” she said, standing up and walking to her and my father’s room. When she returned, I smiled.
    She had a new back pack for me. “I thought that yours might be getting a tad beat up, so I got you this.” She said with a smile. I smiled too. It was nice. Weather treated leather, lots and lots of pockets, strong, super comfortable and it had only one shoulder strap which made it very hip.
    “Wow, mom, this is awesome.” I said, slipping off my old backpack. I was about to hand it to her when I took one more look at it. It had on shoulder strap, just like the other, but that was about it. It was water stained, food stained, utterly stunk like pokemon food and numerous supplies. Duck tape almost fully replaced the strap, while bits and pieces of duck tape covered up holes in the pockets. I’ve sewed it up a little, but I wasn’t very good at it, so that’s where the duck tape came into play.
    “Mom…I really love this bag…but I got to keep this old one. I mean, it’s held so much more then supplies for me. It’s just packed full of memories that I don’t think I can give up. I’m really sorry.”
    My mother sighed, holding the new bag in her grasp. “I had a feeling you would say that…I can understand though. Your father still has his original bag from his days as a trainer. Megan would you like it?” she asked.
    Megan seamed a little taken back by the question. “Oh, Miss. Willow, I can’t.”
    “Oh please Megan. You’re like my second child. If you don’t take it I’ll have to donate it to Prof. Oak.” She pleaded with Megan. After that, Megan broke down and took the bag. I said good-bye to my mom and dad, and I and Megan went out to the front of the small loft like house, where my team was waiting for me.
    I dug out the poke-balls and one by one, I called them back by hitting the center button. The red rays like before, shot out and cracked through the air. It would touch the pokemon, turn them into a red ray and would be suck right back into the poke-ball. I did that for my whole team, expect for my Pidgeyot.
    From there, we started to walk behind the house, on our way to the empty field behind my house. “I want you to know Megan,” I said, arms behind my head, eyes towards the setting sun. “I’m not going to go easy on you. Do you really want to risk your Pidgeyot heath by going against mine? I mean, its handicapped Megan. It could really get hurt.” I said.
    I know that sound mean, maybe even rude to say it that coldly, but I had to make it hurt. I don’t want her to hurt her pokemon, and by now best friend, just for a match. She let out a single chuckle to my question. She never looked at me that entire walk, but what she did say was “You just better watch your back, that’s all I’m going to say.” she said.
    When we where a good distance to the house, and a good distance from the surrounding woods and a little space before we got to the end of the field, we thought this was a nice space to fight.
    “Ok, this is it Megan. Are you sure about this?” I asked one more time, my Pidgeyot landing beside me. We were both ready to go, but when Megan stood about forty feet from me, holding that poke-ball, I had to say I felt a little nervous. I’ve never seen Megan battle, I don’t know what her pokemon knows, I literally going into this blindfold with both arms tied behind my back.
    “Bring it.” I heard her shout when she launched the poke-ball into the air.