A young trainer and his three Pokemon; A Drftloon, Gallade, and Garchomp; are resting in a small clearing in the woods. The trainer is kneeling beside the fire-pit that is currently cooking lunch, Drifloon is relaxing in the shade, Gallade is leaning against a tree and is also enjoying the shade, and Garchomp is perched up on a rock.

A calm breeze blows through the clearing and rustles through the trainer's light-blue hair. He smiles and shuts his forest-green eyes, enjoying the gentle touch from the wind.

Flash is fifteen years old and has been a Pokemon trainer for the most recent two. He wears a slightly loose white T-shirt, and gold pants. Over his shirt was a red, unzipped jacket with no sleeves. His shoes were mostly green, but had black highlights on them and Flash also wore a pair of fingerless yellow gloves with a rainbow cuff. His hair was like Lan Hikari’s from Megaman NT Warrior without the headband.

Flash and his pokemon were visiting his home town, Twinleaf town, for two reasons. 1: To show his family how he’s been doing, and 2: To visit Lake Verity.

After blowing its way past Flash, the breeze slid over the cooking food, picked up its scent, and blew it towards his Pokemon. “Okay everyone, food’s almost ready! Just need to add these Oran Berries and it'll be ready!” Flash reaches down to were he had left the berries, but he didn't feel anything there. He turned to look and found that they were gone.

“Huh?” he asks while scratching at his head, “Hey Drifloon? Did you take the Oran Berries?”

“Loon Drifloon” (No, I've been watching the wind.)

“Gallade? Did you take the berries?”

“Gal gallade gal gallade.” (Nope, maybe Garchomp ate 'em)

“Chomp Garchomp Garchomp” (I stopped stealing food after I evolved into a Gabite.)

Garchomp casually walks by some of the bushes, but stops when hears a faint rustling noise. “Gar?” (Huh?) he mutters while turning to look.

Thinking there's some Pokemon in there, he gets ready for an attack. Before he knows it...

“CHOOOOMP!” (AHHHHHHHH!)

Something very big and very fast flies out of the bushes, striking into Garchomp and sending him flying through the air. Before he can crash land, Gallade manages to catch him by using Psychic.

Whatever the Pokemon was, it was moving way too fast to see. Flash only heard something big hurry over to his bag then dart off into the woods again, leaving the bag tipped over.

Flash lifts his bag up and checks inside. “Whatever it was, it stole all of our berries and food.”

“Gar Garchomp Chomp?” (Great, but uhh...could you put me down?)

Gallade smiles, flips Garchomp right-side up, and gently sets him down. “Gal gallade? Gal gallade gal?” (Shouldn't we follow it? If only to find out what it is?)

Everyone agrees (the quickest one to respond was Drifloon) and they pack up, Garchomp leads the rest of them through the forest, following the Pokemon's scent. The trail leads Flash and his Pokemon to another small clearing in the forest, only this one is pressed against the side of a cliff. Inside of the clearing is an amazing sight, which was...

“A Mesprit and Uxie!”

In the middle of the clearing was a Mesprit and Uxie, but something wasn't right. The Pokemon weren't floating...instead they were lying on the ground. Their bodies were still, and they looked sick. Finding a legendary had struck all of them silent, but when Flash realizes that they could be in trouble, he carefully takes a couple steps forward, but freezes again when a loud, wavering, eerie call rings out.

“AZEEELF!”

Right before their eyes an Azelf appears. It's staring them down, has an angry look in its eyes, and appears to be ready to attack.

“Azelf, we're not here to fight” Flash says very calmly. Garchomp makes a sarcastic grunt and only a split-second passes before Flash turns around and shoots him a nasty look. Seeing the look made Garchomp fall silent, and Flash turned back to Azelf. “Is that your family?” Flash asks while pointing towards the Uxie and Mesprit. The Azelf nods in reply. “Will you let us pass?” He shakes his head no.

Gallade looks directly at the Azelf then closes his eyes. Can we help him? He thinks to him telepathically, We promise we will not cause any harm or try to kidnap them.

Azelf shifts his attention from Flash to Gallade. After a little bit, he floats aside and gestures at his family.

Flash slowly starts walking toward Mesprit, and smiles inwardly since he knew what happened. Flash didn't know what it was, but apparently he was able to earn Azelf's trust.

As Flash walks up to Mesprit and Uxie, Azelf floats over and starts watching him carefully. Despite being a little nervous with such a Pokemon looming over him, Flash gently places a hand on their foreheads, but almost immediately yelps and yanks it away because of how hot it is.

“They got a fever, a really bad one.” He says while turning to look at Azelf, “What happened?”

Azelf looks directly into Flash' eyes, and his begin to glow. He shows Flash and his Pokemon what happened.

They were happily playing in the forest, hiding from one another and chasing each other around, like a combined game of hide-and-seek and tag. However, their fun abruptly ends when they accidentally disturb a group of Weezing and they begin attacking. Azelf is able to get away from them and the others almost makes it, but are then struck by a Sludge.

Mesprit and Uxie let out a shriek of pain and topple to the ground. Azelf quickly turns around and chases the Seviper away with Explosion, but not before they're hit several more times. They get up and manage to get to this clearing before collapsing. Azelf was stealing our berries and food to try and keep Mesprit's strength up.

“Man, that's horrible.” Flash mutters, then turns to his Pokemon, “Garchomp, Drifloon, head into the forest to look for Pecha Berries, and bring back all of the ones you find. Gallade, use your psychic powers to help. At least try to keep them from getting worse.”

All three of them salute and say, “Right!”

Garchomp quickly scampers off through the bushes, Drifloon takes off in another direction, and Gallade also obeys. He kneels down beside Mesprit and Uxie, rests his hands just above their side, and focuses his psychic power onto the sick Pokemon. First Gallade's eyes glow blue, then that glow spreads out over their bodies.

Azelf knows that we're trying to help, but he still seems to be very distressed. He's watching his famly glow with trembling eyes, and his arms were hanging limply at his sides. After a minute of watching, he lets out a quiet wail and a tear leaks out of his eyes.

Flash watches him a little out of the corner of his eye, and fills a twinge of sympathy. He places his hand onto Azelf' shoulder. The Pokemon seems surprised at the gesture and turns his head to look at Flash. The trainer gives him a smile and says, “Don't worry, your brothers will be fine. Gallade will keep her from getting worse until Garchomp and Gallade get back.”

After hearing this Azelf regains himself and says “Azelf Azelf.” (I'm going to go look for Pecha Berries too.) Then flies up and over the cliff face.

Flash watches him soar away and mutters, “Poor guy.”

In about fifteen minutes, Garchomp comes back with about eight Pecha Berries. Shortly after he returns, Drifloon arrives with a good ten or twelve berries. Azelf arrives last, and in his arm sat three Pecha Berries, but a good dozen more are carried by Confusion. (They don’t know Psychic)

Flash digs a bottle of his bag, and takes the Pecha berries. After squeezing as much juice as possible out of each one into the bottle, he caps it and swirls it around. After stopping, Flash takes a second to look at the spinning pink liquid.

“Azelf Azelf?” (What is that?) he asks curiously.

“This is Pecha juice. The strongest natural anti-toxin known.” Flash replies.

He slowly walks over to Mesprit and Uxie’s head and kneels down. “Mesprit? Uxie I need you to wake up.” He whispers gently. They strain to open their eyes, and would've freaked when they saw a human so close had Azelf not been floating behind him.

“Here,” Flash whispers while holding out the now-uncapped bottle, “Drink this.”

They hesitate and look at their brother who silently nods. Using all the strength she has, they lift their heads up and open their mouth. Flash pours some of the juice in, they close their mouths, and are able to swallow it.

“Az...Azelf?” (Are..are they okay?)

“They will be, Pecha juice just takes a little bit to kick in that's all.”

In a few minutes Uxie opens his eyes and floats off the ground. “Ux! Uxie ux!” (Yea! I'm feeling better!) He exclaims while flying toward his brother. Mesprit gets up a moment after. Azelf eagerly embraces them into a big hug and begins to cry. “Azelf Az Azel.” (Mesprit, Uxie, I was so worried.) He happily coos.

“Glad to see you feeling better. Bye!” He says while turning and walking away. Garchomp and Gallade start following and Drifloon does the same after grabbing Flash’s backpack. Quick as a flash, they dart in front of Flash and block his path.

Flash and his Pokemon give her a funny look, “Did you need something?”

“Mes Mespri Mesprit Mes Mespri?” (Can we come along with you?)

Flash still has the funny look on his face while turning around and look at Azelf. “Are you okay with this?” he asks.

“Az Azelf.” (Yes I am.)

At first Flash is quite surprised. It’s incredibly rare for a trainer to even see one Legendary Pokemon, but here are three Legendary Pokemon asking to join him. After a couple seconds, his goofy, surprised look is replaced with the usual smile and he gestures for them to come over.

As the three float over to him, he holds out three empty Pokeballs. Each reach a hand out and press the button, causing the balls to pop open and suck them in. When the Pokemon are inside, they snap shut and start shaking back and forth. A couple seconds pass, three 'dings' are heard, and the balls stop moving.

Flash's other three Pokemon look at the balls. Flash smiles at the orbs in his hands, and then looks at his other three. “Well guys, it looks like we have a couple new friends!” He happily says before tossing the Pokeballs into the air. Both pop back open, and Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit reappear after a flash of light.

“Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie. This is Gallade,” Flash gestures at Gallade who does his best curtsy, “Drifloon,” He holds out his hand and first shakes Azelf's, then gently shakes Mesprit's and Uxie’s while bowing a little. “And Garchomp.” He finishes with the dinosaur giving a small wave. Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit nod back. Flash smiles and starts walking away. “Lets go!” he yells back to his Pokemon.

The rest of his Pokemon follow, with Gallade speaking telepathically to fill them in on how things usually go when camp is set up, meals are cooked, and other such things. As the six of them start walking out of the woods, Flash glances back at the six Pokemon following him and is pleased to see them getting along so well. Oh yea, Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie are gonna fit right in... He thinks while looking back ahead.

Flash's group continues along until they reach the next town. Gallade, Garchomp and Drifloon were resting inside of their Pokeballs. The psychic trio remained outside to keep Flash company. On the hill just before the city, he pauses before continuing on to talk to the three legendaries.

“I think you three should get back inside your Pokeballs.”

“Why?” All of them ask while cocking their heads, and giving their trainer a confused look.

“Well you are very rare Pokemon, and unfortunately that will attract a lot of unwanted attention if anyone saw you.” Flash explains.

A nice breeze begins to blow, and Flash feels something blow against his leg. Upon looking down, he sees a piece of paper caught around his shin. “What's this?” He asks aloud while reaching down and grabbing it. “An advertisement for a Pokemon Contest, being held tomorrow.”

“Mesprit.” (Sounds like fun.)

“You want to enter the contest?” Flash asks him while lifting an eyebrow. Mesprit nods. “I guess it couldn't hurt, but until then you three will have to wait in your Pokeballs.” Flash says while returning them back to the balls, then walks into the town and heads toward the Pokemon Center.

Nurse Joy tells him where the contest is being held and then asks “Which three Pokemon are you going to use?”

“Excuse me?” Flash asks while looking confused.

“This is a special contest that has each entrant use three Pokemon instead of one.” Nurse Joy replies.

Flash ponders this twist for a second. “I don't know, that complicates things.” he mumbles. Nurse Joy walks away to handle another trainer that came in, and Flash walks out back to enjoy the coolness of the evening. Which two? Well if Mesprit is going to perform there's only one logical answer...Flash thinks, then lets Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf out of their Pokeballs.

“Azelf az?” (Something wrong?)

“Actually there is a slight problem. In that contest, each entrant has to use three Pokemon instead of one. Since Mesprit was going to perform, I guess that the only logical partner would be you two.”

“Uxie, ux uxie?” (Interesting, anything else?)

“Well...I've got a few ideas for some moves, but you two will have to practice really hard to get 'em down tonight.” Flash explains.

-------------------------------------------------------------

He sleeps through most of the morning, and finally awakes close to noon. With a groan he glances over at the clock and quickly jolts awake. Oh no! I over-slept! He thinks while smacking himself in the forehead and scrambling up. “I gotta hurry before the registration closes!” Flash says while grabbing up his Pokeballs and slamming his feet into his shoes.

Flash clips the balls to his belt, and runs down the hallway while struggling into his jacket. He finally gets it on right as he flies out the front doors and tears off towards the the Contest Hall.

Luckily he reaches the Contest Hall and manages to register just before the contest starts. “Phew... That was a little too close for comfort.” he mumbles while moving into the waiting room.

The contest begins and Flash is the last to perform in the first round. That's alright, I could use the time to catch my breath...besides, the audience should enjoy the finale I show. He thinks to himself, while watching a TV set that's showing the other contestants perform.

Some of the performances seem to be pretty good to Flash, but the highest score the judges give is 25 out of 30. Barely half of the audience enjoy any act at one time, and even then they're barely cheering.

“Okay everyone!” The MC yells into the mic, “Time for our final Coordinator! Its Flash!” Flash walks out of the waiting room to a mild applause.

He waves a little, then throws Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit's Pokeballs into the air. When they appear on-stage, everyone apart from Flash falls silent, intently watching from awe and interest. The judges are similarly stunned, and even the MC has been silenced.

Flash takes a quick second to look around at the silenced crowd. Good, now these two can perform in silence. “Alright Aelf, Uxie Extrasensory, Mesprit Swift!”

Uxie and Azlef use psychic energy to create psychic rings. Mesprit waits for three rings to form then he also takes flight. He performs a graceful dash through each of the rings, soon spinning in circles creating a screw of stars. Once he's flown through ten rings, all of them start flying back to Flash.

“Now, perform the grand dive!” Flash commands. Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie divert from their path and quickly fly up into the sky. They fly straight upwards for a ways above the stadium, then grab the other's hands, flip over and begin plummeting. On the way down, they begin spinning around and around at such a high speed that they are viewed as three halves of a ball, one bright pink, the second brilliant yellow, and the other a cool blue. Finally they reach a speed that makes the two colors blend into one; a beautiful rainbow Tye dye.

Two seconds before they slam into the stage, they break apart and fly back to a position beside Flash.

“Now the big finale! Mesprit Swift! Uxie Extrasensory! Azelf Explosion!”

Uxie created more psychic rings and combined them into a atom like structure, Mesprit created a giant three dimensional star from the tiny stars of swift, both attacks surrounded Azelf who let off his explosion. The three attacks connect in midair and explode not into smoke, but into thousands or maybe millions of sparkles of light that flashed in every color of the rainbow.

The audience was stunned throughout Flash's whole performance, but upon the finale, they quickly erupt into a deafening roar of cheers, whistles, and applause.

Somehow the MC is still heard over the noise as she yells, “That was amazing! Ladies and gentlemen you've actually seen three Legendary Pokemon right here and a beautiful display of their power! Let's see what the judges have to say!”

“What can I say? That performance was absolutely awe-inspiring!”

“Yes, remarkable!”

“I've never seen a performance like that in several years of judging contests, it was amazing!”

“And the scores are?!”

Three little beeps are heard as the screen in front of each judge's podium changes from a decorative picture, to a black screen with a bright yellow '10' on it.

“Amazing! A perfect score of 30 points!”

With this the audience re-explodes into a cheer, almost as if thirty points was barely enough for that display, and Flash calmly walks off-stage with the psychic trio floating behind him. The rest of the contest is easily won by them, and they earn the Trio Ribbon for their efforts.

“Nice job you three.” Flash praises them back in the lobby of the Contest Hall, “Return!” All three are hit with a small red laser from their Pokeball and drawn back in. Surprisingly, no-one bothers him inside the building, but trouble happens when he leaves the contest hall.

Outside, Flash is ambushed by a barrage of flashes and incomprehensible chattering. There's an enormous crowd of reporters approaching, all of them with microphones out and cameras focused on Flash. To avoid being suffocated, Flash takes off across the decorative lawn towards the fence.

Using some amazing agility, Flash throws his hand out, grasps onto the fence and flips himself over it. On the other side however, another crowd was waiting...this one full of trainers asking for a battle, people complimenting him and asking for autographs and so many other things it’s all a jumbled slur. Before he's surrounded, Flash takes off down the street with the crowds of people and reporters following.

It’s quite the odd sight to the normal pedestrian. One teenage boy goes speeding past, and then two seconds later a stampede of people rumble by.

After several unsuccessful attempts to ditch his pursuers, Flash finally gets a break. He speeds around the corner of a large office building and notices an alleyway right there. Not taking a second to hesitate, he quickly runs into the alley and dives behind a dumpster, hidden from view.

A second goes by and the rumble of the crowd reaches the alley, but apparently ignore it and continue down the street. It takes a good minute for the noises to pass and fade away. Flash quietly gets up and pokes his head out of the alleyway and can only see the backs of the people at the end of the crowd.

Once they're gone, he lets out a big sigh of relief. “Finally...they're gone.” he mutters happily.

“Excuse me?” a voice from behind him asks. Not expecting that, Flash yells a little, loses his balance, and falls over.

“Ouch.” He mumbles while shaking his head and getting up.

“Are you that trainer from the contest hall?” The voice asks, “The one with the Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf?”

Flash turns around and sees a girl standing there who looked to be about his age and height. She seemed and sounded harmless enough. She didn't look like she wanted to ask for a battle, or an autograph, or an interview...she was just standing there with a curious look.

“Yeah that's me.”

“Hi.” She says while holding out her hand, “My name's Maylu.”

“I'm Flash” he says while shaking her hand.

Maylu was a very cute girl, most of her flame red hair fell a little bit past the top of her shoulders against her back, but some was resting over the front of her shoulders. Her eyes were a calming ocean-blue, and seemed to be as deep as their color look-a-like.

She had on a gentle-blue T-shirt, and long pants that were a matching blue to her shirt at the waist, but slowly darkened as they went down to her ankles. Over her shirt was an unzipped, red vest that went from the base of her neck to just above her waist. Finally she wore a pair of fingerless gloves with a pink cuff that matched her shoes, which were white with a couple pink highlights.

After they shook hands, Maylu starts giggling.

“What?” Flash asks out of confusion.

“You've got a little...something right here.” She pats at her left shoulder and Flash brushes at his right one. “No, no, other side.”

Flash places a hand there and brushes away a clump of alley-dirt. “Thanks.”

Maylu gives him a big smile, “No problem. Would you like to come back to my house? Since you lost that crowd, they've probably surrounded the Pokemon Center to wait for you.”

“Sure, and thanks. Good thing I've got all of my things with me.” Flash says. Maylu turns around and starts walking away, letting Flash follow her.

Maylu leads Flash through the city, taking a route that doesn't go by the Pokemon Center (just in case). She leads him to one of the suburbs at the edge of the city.

Maylu lived in a small house with her two parents, and Flash politely introduced himself to them. They were amazed when Maylu said that he had the psychic trio, but didn't ask for anything or start worshipping him, they were as polite to Flash as they would be to any other guest.

A couple hours pass, and Maylu's mom served a delicious stew for dinner. After it was gone, and Flash and Maylu helped to clean up the dishes, the two of them walk out onto the raised porch to watch the stars. While doing this, they also slip into a little conversation.

After a small break, Maylu says, “You know, I'm going to start my Pokemon journey soon.”

Flash looks at her out of the corner of his eye, “Really?” He asks curiously, “Why so late? You only seem to be about my age.”

“Well, I was going to start like most trainers do, on their tenth birthday...but a couple days before that day came, my dad fell and broke his leg very badly. I had to put my journey on hold to stay home and care for him while my mom was busy at work.”

“It took five years to heal?”

“No, it only took about two, but that's because it was fractured and cracked and busted apart. The other three came from helping him recover with his injured leg.”

“Hmm...so, you're a new trainer?” Maylu nods. “Why don't you come with me and my Pokemon?”

“Really?” She asks.

“Sure! I've been traveling for at least five years, and I won't mind a little human company. Besides, it'll probably be more enjoyable traveling with someone whose had experience instead of on your own.”

Her eyes seemed to light up, and Maylu quickly sped off to ask her parents. She came back in a few minutes with her bag and equipment.

“Whoa...slow down. It’s too late to leave today. I can stay here for the night, and we can leave in the morning.”

Maylu blushes a little, “Yea...that's a good idea. Hey! Did you want to see my first Pokemon?” Flash nods and she tosses a Pokeball into the air. A Drifloon appears after the light burst, it was a female. “Driffy, say hi to Flash. He'll be our new traveling partner!”

“Loon!” (Hi!) she happily exclaims before hopping onto the porch railing and then onto Maylu's shoulder.

“I also have a Growlithe, but he's asleep on my bed right now.”

Flash chuckles a little, “Cool, I'll show you my Pokemon too. Go Garchomp and Gallade!” He throws their Pokeballs, and they appear between him and Maylu. “Guys, this is Maylu, and she will be traveling with us from now on.”

Garchomp and Gallade give Maylu a friendly smile, and bow respectfully to her. Garchomp accepts a small handshake from Maylu, as does Gallade.

“Now for my last one. Go Drifloon!”

Drifloon emerges at Flash' feet and waves hello. Upon seeing Drifloon, Driffy's eyes light up, and she quickly jumps down and runs over to him. Driffy's sudden dart at Drifloon catches him off guard, causing him to lean back a little and look incredibly nervous.

Maylu watches this with a eyebrow raised, “Huh...that's odd. Driffy has never acted this way before.”

“And I don't think I've ever seen Drifloon this awkward before...Oh well, we'll need a bit of extra sleep so we should get to bed, right?”

“Yea. Good night Flash. Come on Driffy.” She says before going to her room, with Driffy following her. Driffy hesitates at the base of the stairs, steals a quick glance back at Drifloon, then quickly runs up after her trainer.

Flash enters the house and lies down on the sofa in the living room. Drifloon follows and curls up next to him. Maylu seems like a great person, she should be a lot of fun traveling with. He thinks to himself I did feel a little odd about her though...ah its probably just because its my first time talking with a girl my age.“Good night Drifloon” Flash mumbles.

“Drif drifloon.” (Good night Flash.)

Flash groans a little as a sunbeam comes in through the window and pegs him in the eyes. He tries to roll over to get the light out of his eyes, but seemed to forget that he was on a couch since he rolled right off it and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

“OW!” he yells, “GAH!” He quickly puts a hand to the back of his head.

Drifloon opens his eyes and lazily looks down at his trainer from the arm of the couch (He had moved during the night). “Drif Drifloon?” (You okay?) he asks before yawning.

“Yea, yea...” Flash mutters before hissing a little, “Just forgot I was on a couch, that's all.” Flash sits up and rubs at the back of his head.

“What happened?” came a voice from the other side of the couch. Flash gets up enough to look over the back of the couch and sees Maylu standing there in a slightly loose pink bathrobe that had slipped off her left shoulder. He quickly blushes and pulls his head back down.

“I just...rolled off the couch, that's all.” He says. “Sorry for waking you up.”

“Eh, its okay, I needed to get out of bed anyway and that thud was enough motivation.” Maylu replies. She walks over and looks down over the couch at Flash. “You sure you're okay? You seemed to fall back down pretty quickly.”

“Yea I'm fine. Its just...you're...uh.”

It takes Maylu a second to understand, then she also blushes and quickly moves away. “Sorry.” she says.

“Don't apologize, its okay.” He waits about a minute before looking again. Maylu had gone back upstairs, and Flash sighs before sitting down on the couch. “Man that was awkward.” he mumbles while Drifloon also sits up.

“Drifloon rai? Drifloon rai Drifloon chu?” (What's the matter? Embarassed to see a girl like her in a bathrobe?) he asks in a teasing voice.

Flash glances at Drifloon out of the corner of his eye, smirks, then chucks a pillow at the mouse. Drifloon easily jumps out of the way.

“Smart-aleck.” Flash mutters before standing up.

“Drif Drif.” (I try.) Drifloon responds while shrugging.

“Believe me, you don't have to.” Flash says back while rolling his eyes. A couple soft footsteps coming from the stairs gets Flash to turn around. Maylu's standing there, this time in the same attire as yesterday, minus the vest, gloves, and shoes. “Hey.” Flash says for a greeting.

“Hi. So, apart from falling, how'd you sleep?”

“Pretty good, and you?”

“Alright.” Maylu smiles a little then glances down and sees a pillow lying on the floor. “Do I want to know?” She asks while pointing at it.

“The pillow?” Flash asks, “Drifloon was being a little...annoying.” he gives his Pokemon a glare out of the corner of his eye. Drifloon just shrugs again.

Maylu giggles a little then walks over, “Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to embarrass you.”

“Its okay. Are your parents up yet?”

“I don't think so...and my Driffy and Growlithe are still in their Pokeballs, so I doubt they're awake.”

Flash gives Maylu a curious look, “You keep your Pokemon in their Pokeballs during the night?”

“Yea, why?”

“Well, it’s just that with my Pokemon, I let them sleep outside of their balls. Of course when I'm in a building, like this house or a Pokemon Center, then I'll keep them in the balls, but with small Pokemon like Drifloon and Growlithe, its fine to let them sleep out of their balls.”

Maylu thinks this over for a second. “Now that you say it, it makes sense. Guess that just never occurred to me.” Flash smiles at and gestures for her to come over. The two sit down on the couch and Flash begins telling Maylu other aspects of being a trainer, such as keeping her Pokemon well groomed, not pushing them too hard when training, and what random events could happen out there.

As Flash spins her tales and advice over the next hour, Maylu listens and occasionally asks her own questions. When Flash finally finishes, Maylu waits a couple seconds before speaking. “You know, I've got all of these really weird feelings in the pit of my stomach right now.”

“Like?” Flash probes.

“Well, I'm excited to finally start my journey, and really glad that someone will be helping me along, but...I'm also really nervous and kinda scared.” Maylu replies while looking down into her lap.

“About what?”

“I'm nervous since this is such a big change in my lifestyle, but really...I'm scared that I'm going to fail or do badly.”

“You're not alone then.” Flash says, getting Maylu to turn and look at him, “Most new trainers feel at least a little scared or nervous and its perfectly natural. But trust me, there is no failing or doing badly as a trainer. Sure, you may fail at catching a Pokemon or do badly in a battle, but when it actually comes to being a trainer...the only way you can fail is to not try.”

Maylu gives Flash a smile then quickly leans over and gives him a small hug. “Thanks, I needed that confidence boost.” she says before pulling away, leaving Flash a bit stunned with red cheeks. Maylu can't help but giggle a little when she sees him like that. “You're blushing?” Maylu asks in surprise, “Flash. Haven't you been hugged by a girl before?” she asks with a light-hearted tone.

“Not one my age.” Flash admits with his cheeks deepening their shade of red.

Maylu giggles a little bit more then stands up. “I'm going to the kitchen to fix my parents a nice breakfast before I go.” she says before walking towards said room.

Flash also stands and says, “You've got a good heart Maylu.”

“Thanks.” is her reply. Flash couldn't see it since Maylu was looking away from him, but when she heard the compliment, her cheeks begin glowing red too.

Flash watches her walk around the corner and sighes when she leaves his view. Drifloon whistles a little and nudges Flash in the leg. “Drif Drif Drifloon...” (Flash has a crush...) he says tauntingly.

“Knock it off.” Flash mutters to Drifloon then follows Maylu to see if she needed any help.

Flash only helps when Maylu needed some ingredients, all of the actual cooking was done by her. When her parents woke up, they found fresh pancakes, fruit, bacon, and scrambled eggs waiting on the table in the dining room, all still hot.

Breakfast was eaten, and afterwards Maylu put on the rest of her outfit, grabbed her bag and Pokeballs and met with Flash and her parents outside on the lawn.

She first hugged her dad, then her mom good-bye and accepted one kiss from each of them. “You be careful out there, okay?” her mom says more then asks.

“Don't worry mom, I will be.” Maylu replies with as much confidence as she could use.

“And if she should get into trouble, I'll make sure to protect her.” Flash says with a lot of true confidence. “You both can trust me.”

The two trainers walk out of the yard and down the street that led to a road out of town, both waving good-bye to Maylu's family. The walk to the route out of town was uneventful, but when they reached the route out of town...Maylu seemed to move a little bit slower then she was when in the town.

The path was brick for a ways, then became a regular dirt path after a couple hundred feet. The dirt path led up gently up a hill, then leveled back off just as gently. Flash and Maylu reach the top of the hill, but Maylu stops and turns back to look at her home-town. She sniffles a little and lets a tear roll down her cheek...this was the last time she would see her home for several years.

“Maylu? You okay?” Flash asks, but only silence is his answer.

Maylu doesn't budge for a couple seconds, then quickly turns back and runs down the route, tears streaming from her eyes.

“Maylu! Wait!” Flash yelled as he began to run after her.

She could move pretty well, keeping ahead of Flash for a good five minutes. Finally he catches up to her when she stopped to sit in the shade of a large rock. Her tears were still falling, and her face was down in her hands.

“What's wrong?”

“It...it was just...so hard to leave.” she says in between her sobs. Flash watches her sob for a second, then sits down beside her. He puts an arm around her shoulders and gently tugs her towards him.

Maylu takes the hint and leans over, placing her arms around Flash' ribcage, her face on his chest, and continued sobbing. Flash said nothing, all he did was gently wrap his own arms around her to provide Maylu with at least a little bit of emotional comfort.

Her weeping slowly changed to normal crying, then whimpers, and then she stopped. “Thanks Flash.” she says, still a little misery in her voice, “I'm okay now.” With that Flash let go, waited for her to release him, and stood up. After helping her to her feet, Flash and Maylu continued down the trail.

A couple minutes pass before Maylu speaks up, “Flash? Why did you try to comfort me?”

“Why wouldn't I? You're my friend, and if something's upsetting you, I'd want to help.” Flash replies.

“But why didn't you just continue on? I let my emotions get the better of me...”

“No. No you didn't.” He says to stop her and causes Maylu to turn to look at him. “Those tears came from you missing your family and your home, and there's nothing wrong with that. Its fine to cry sometimes when you miss someone or something, or when you're sad or whatever...I do it too. Besides...” Flash pauses while he turns to look at her, “...I can't see a cute girl cry and not try to help.”

Maylu started to blush and looked away. Flash grinned and yelled, “Race ya!” before speeding off. Maylu looked surprised for a second, then quickly smiled and sped after him.

What a fun guy Maylu thought, He has three legendary Pokemon, yet he doesn't behave like it. He also seems really sensitive for a man...most of the ones I knew were all brawn and no emotion. He's going to be a very good friend.

A couple seconds pass and Maylu notices that she's starting to fall behind. “Wait up!” she yells and does her best to catch up.

SO LONG BUT COOL!!!