Chapter 3 of A Raichu's Tail

            "Wigglytuff, sing!" yelled a blonde-haired Pokémon trainer.

            "Ryu, use Dragon Rage!" commanded his opponent; a female trainer with long green hair.

            When the large pink Wigglytuff tried to sing, a large, blue, serpent-like Pokémon blasted it with blue flames.  When the flames died down, the charred Wigglytuff fell over and fainted.  Despite it being a warm, sunny day outside, Samantha, Slick, and I were inside Samantha's house watching trainers engage in battles on TV.  Although I found her annoying at times, I was starting to get used to having Samantha as a trainer.  I snatched more chips from the bowl my trainer was holding and munched them happily.

            "Wow," said Samantha, not even noticing.  "Dragonair are really pretty..."

            "Maybe one day you'll be able to train one," said Samantha's uncle Gary.  He sat down in an armchair near us, but not before snatching a few chips from Samantha's bowl.

            "Uncle Gary, have you ever seen a Dragonair?" asked Samantha.

            "Of course I have," bragged Uncle Gary.  "And a Dratini, and a Dragonite."

            "What about a wild one?"

            "Er, no... they all had trainers," responded Uncle Gary.  "Ones who wouldn't trade..." he muttered.

            "What did you say?" she asked.  Slick and I stole the rest of the chips from under Samantha's nose and stuffed them into our mouths hastily.  When she looked down to get some chips for herself and found none, she looked at us accusingly, to which we grinned widely in response.

            Obviously trying to change the subject, Uncle Gary asked, "Gimme the remote, will ya?"  Samantha tossed over a little black stick with buttons on it to Uncle Gary, who easily caught it with one hand and changed what was showing on the TV.

            Uncle Gary switched the channels on the TV rapidly before hesitating on one with a woman talking. "-ilph Company's main headquarters in Celadon City caught on fire this morning around 7 a.m.." reported the woman.  As she kept speaking in the background, the TV showed a group of humans with hoses and water Pokémon spraying water at a smoking building.  "Firefighters have been working hard since dawn to put down the flames, but our sources say that it may take hours before the fire is completely out.  At least seven Silph Company employees are reported missing; possibly dead.  It is unknown how the fire started.  In other news today, the search for 8 year-old Gene Midius and his younger sister Shelly from Vermillion City is still on one year after their mysterious disappearance."  A picture of a smiling boy with red-orange hair and a separate one of an even younger girl appeared on the television.  The number of missing children has grown in the last few ye-"  Uncle Gary turned off the television.

            "Nothing good on TV today," Uncle Gary sighed.  "So are you almost ready to leave on your journey, Sam?"

            Samantha put the empty bowl on the table in front of us and answered, "My stuff is almost all packed, except for the food which Dad said to pack last.  I'm going to be ready to leave by Wednesday when all the other trainers in town leave."

            "That's only two days from now..." Gary sighed.  "You're growing up too fast, you know that?  You make me feel old."

            "I still say they should change the law about new Pokémon trainers already," said Samantha's mother, who suddenly appeared with a basket of laundry and the Pikachu that belonged to Samantha's father.  "The council has already been debating for so long about changing the age limit for new trainers- so I say change it already!"

            "But Mom..." Samantha started.  "Uncle Gary and Dad..."

            "It's dangerous out there, Samantha!  Maybe you should just wait another year."

            "No!" she protested, almost getting up from her seat on the couch.

            "Eh, she'll be fine." Uncle Gary said.  "Both Alex and I started out when we were ten; trainers begin their journey when they're ten.  It's a tradition."

            "But times have changed," argued Samantha's mother.  "It's not as safe as it used to be when you were a young trainer."

            "You're saying it like she's going out all by herself, sis.  She'll have her Pokémon with her!  Plus, with a powerful gym leader as her uncle, I'm sure anyone would think twice about messing with her, ain't that right Sam?" said Uncle Gary, standing up.

            Samantha smiled at her uncle in agreement.  As Uncle Gary walked out of the room I heard him mutter, "And with a Raichu looking like that, people are going to think she's already a master."  Although insulted by his comment, I refrained myself from blasting him with electricity.  Doing so would have been a one-way ticket back to the forest.

            After Samantha's mother had left, Samantha took Slick and I outside in the backyard to play.  Samantha tossed a large red ball to me, which hit me in the head.  Fortunately, the ball was very light.  "Come on, Raizy... Don't you want to play?"  I made no attempt to answer her as she picked up the ball and tossed it to Slick, who hit it back with the end of his tail, which rattled every time he hit it.  After watching them play for a few minutes, I almost decided to join when Samantha stopped the game and spontaneously decided that we should go and visit her friend Toby.

            There was nothing else to do, and I didn't trust Samantha's parents or Uncle Gary enough to not kick me back in the forest, so I followed Samantha and Slick, who was wrapped around Samantha's head like some sort of hat.  The houses where Samantha lived all looked large and well maintained, and each house had its own unique fancy fence and spacious lawns and gardens.  As we walked on I noticed that the residences we passed got smaller and closer to each other.  Finally Samantha stopped in front of a particularly old house with aged brown paint, a peeling roof, and a dead, neglected lawn. 

            "This is Toby's house!" said Samantha happily.

            ""This is where Toby lives?"" I said in awe as Samantha skipped up to the door of the house.  His home looked like the complete opposite of Samantha's happy abode.

            Samantha took Slick off her head, as she had been wearing him like some sort of living hat, and knocked on the door. A frail woman with pale skin and long blond hair opened the door.  She looked down at Samantha with her small, sleepy-looking brown eyes and smiled.  "Hello, Samantha, please come inside.  Tobias is upstairs in his room.  Are these your Pokémon?"

            "Yes, Ms. Denkou." Samantha said sweetly.  "Do you want to pet them?" she asked, holding up Slick to Tobias' mother.  Taking a quick look around the house I saw that it was almost as much of a mess inside as it was outside.  There were empty bottles, food containers, papers, and some clothes strewn about all over the place, and the house had a funny smell to it.

            "Er, no... that's alright dear.  Why don't you go see Tobias?" she answered nervously, backing away from my brother in Samantha's outstretched hands. 

            Samantha nodded and hurried up the creaking stairs, with me following slowly behind.  I would have liked it if we had just stayed at home... Samantha headed straight for a particular door and opened it without knocking.  "Hi Toby!" she called his nickname happily as she entered the room. 

            The pony-tailed boy was hunched over his desk looking at something when we entered.  Tobias' small room was a lot cleaner than the rest of the house, even if it was a lot less spectacular then Samantha's room.  Hand-drawn pictures of trees, objects, and a few common Pokémon like Pidgey and Rattata were the only decoration on the walls.  His bed was merely a mattress lying on the floor without a frame, covered only by a few sheets and a single small pillow. 

            "S-Samantha!" he stuttered in surprise.  "I didn't know you were coming over..."

            "I just thought I'd surprise you and take my new Pokémon for a walk.  So, whatcha doin'?" Samantha asked.  In a few quick movements Tobias shoved whatever he was looking at into his drawer before my trainer could see anything.

            "It's nothing important!  Er, anyway... When are you going to leave on your Pokémon journey?" asked Tobias, quickly changing the subject.

            My trainer and her friend started getting into a conversation about something when an object in Tobias' trash bin caught my eye; a small piece of crumpled paper.  Thinking there might be food in it, I unwrapped it and saw that it was covered in a lot of black and red scribbles.  I tried turned it around and held it upside down, trying to find a picture like the ones hanging on the walls, but didn't find any.  Just as I was about to toss it away and see if I could find anything else in the trash bin Samantha asked me what it was. 

            Her eyes widened as she looked at it.  Then she said, "Toby... you took the Pokémon Handler's License Examination... and failed?"  Poor Tobias bowed his head, but I could see that he was completely red.  Samantha looked up and down at the paper, checking it over.  "I didn't know you wanted to be a Pokémon trainer like me and Daiki.  Oh?  Toby, Vulpix evolves into-"

            "Ninetails!" Tobias suddenly shouted, startling all of us.  "I know that now, but... But on the test I totally froze and I just... I just... I don't know a thing about Pokémon..." Tobias' voice dwindled into a low whisper by the time he was done talking.

            Samantha sighed, then smiled.  "That's alright, Toby.  Not everyone can pass the first time."

            "Daiki did," Tobias muttered, but Samantha either ignored or didn't hear him.

            "It seems that this problem only has one solution!" declared Samantha loudly.  "I'm going to help you study."

            "Wha?  But... you don't ha-"

            Samantha put a gloved hand on Tobias' shoulder, sending an easily visible shiver down his spine.  "Of course I have to help.  You're my best friend," she said smiling.  "Now pull out the book you hid when I came in and we'll study together."

            Tobias was obviously at a loss for words.  What a wuss... and when it came to Pokémon, an idiot.  Slick took an interest in watching, and sometimes helping Tobias and Samantha study.  With nothing else to do, I snooped through Tobias' things- and to tell you the truth, he didn't have much.  In addition, I was always stopped by the humans whenever I found something almost interesting to do, such as looking through some drawings that were bound together in some sort of book-like thing or ripping up a piece of clothing.  I eventually decided to see what Samantha and Tobias were talking about so I tugged on Samantha's pant leg for some attention.

            When Samantha looked down I held my paws up in the air, beckoning to be picked up.  Samantha understood and with great effort lifted me and held me in a tight hug.  From where she was holding me, I got a better view of Tobias' desk.  It was covered with a thin layer of dust around the corners and where it was pushed up against the wall, and had a mess of papers and writing utensils covering the rest.  There also were some photographs of people, each in their separate hand-made frame, save for one.  The one picture that was in what seemed to be a nice store-bought frame was a picture of a much younger Samantha and Tobias; Samantha was happily hugging Tobias in the picture.

            "Alright, without looking at the book: What are all the different types of known evolution stones?" asked Samantha.

            "F-firestone, Thunderstone, Waterstone, Moonstone, and Sunstone."

            "Good!  What plant is used to cure Stun Spore from a Vileplume?"

            "Uh... Wasn't it like... Salvation weed?"

            "Wrong!" said Samantha cheerfully and somewhat annoyingly.  "It's Salveo weed."  Samantha picked up my tail and batted Tobias lightly on the head with it.  Out of both annoyance and boredom I shocked them both with a small jolt.  "Ouch!  I guess Raizy is just bored," my trainer said, putting me on the floor.

            "Raaaai," I grumbled in frustration before proceeding to chew on one of the desk's legs.

            My trainer pulled me away from the desk leg as she sat down slowly next to Slick on Tobias's bed.  She placed me in her lap and rubbed my head and asked Tobias, "So why didn't you tell me that you wanted to be a Pokémon trainer?"

            Her friend jumped slightly and answered, "I, er... I wanted it to be... sort of a surprise.  But I... er, I guess..."

            "Oh," said Samantha.  Her hand moved down to scratch me behind my left ear; it felt good.  I sighed and leaned back into Samantha.  "Were there many people in this week's training class?"

            "There were only a few people," Tobias answered.  "I was the only one who wanted to be a trainer, though..."

            "Yeah, not many people want to be trainers anymore.  My dad said that it was a really popular profession when he first traveled around the world...  Daiki and I were the only ones who wanted to be Pokémon trainers in our class."

            After a short silence, Samantha put my sleeping brother into his Pokéball.  "Raizy, do you want to ride on my back?  Climb on my shoulders," she offered, leaning forward.  I took the offer and sat with one leg over each of her shoulders and my arms on Samantha's red hat for support.  Samantha stood up slowly and said to Tobias, "I should go before my parents start worrying about where I am.  I didn't tell them that I would be coming over here.  Good luck on your exam!"

            We were almost out of the room when Tobias finally responded. "S-Samantha!" Samantha turned around.  "I... er, I was wondering if ... if I c-could go with you on y-your P-Pokémon Journey when I become a trainer.  We.. Could we... travel together?"  He stammered.

            I almost fell off Samantha when she rushed to Tobias and hugged him happily.  "That would be great!  My mom is worried about me traveling around by myself, so I'm sure she'll be delighted to hear about us traveling together!  Is Wednesday fine with you?"

            Tobias was still blushing furiously when he asked, "Fine for what?"

            "I'm going to swing by your house so we can go see my great-grandfather for your Pokémon and supplies!"

            "Oh, oh yeah.  Y-yeah, sure... um.... bye..." he said quietly as we left the room.

            That evening at dinner Samantha announced that she would be traveling with Tobias on her journey, to the relief of her mother.  Apparently Samantha and Tobias had known each other for a long time, so her parents had no problem with letting their own daughter travel with him.  As I ate my dinner slowly alongside Alex's Pikachu and my brother, I thought about what it would be like on a Pokémon Journey.  What other Pokémon would we meet?  Would Samantha find a reason to abandon me on the way?  What if I got lost?  Would it be a fun adventure?  My mind wandered on to thoughts about my family as I watched my trainer and her relatives eat at the table.  Even though it had been seasons since he died, I still missed my grandfather a lot.  Also, what of my other family?  Who was my father?  Who was my mother?  Was Slick even my real brother?  I snapped back into reality when Slick asked me if I would finish the rest of my food.  Grinning I pushed him away from my food dish.  Regardless if we were connected by blood or not, Slick would always be like family to me.

            The days passed slowly and uneventfully until the day of departure finally came.  Wednesday morning I actually woke up before my brother and Slick in spite of myself.  I still didn't like the idea of being trained to battle by Samantha, but part of me still thought there was a chance of it being fun.  Either way, I was excited about traveling.  I looked at my brother.  He was sound asleep, half wrapped around the Lapras doll's neck and half sprawled onto the floor upside down.  After stretching I hopped onto Samantha's bed with its disheveled covers and looked out the window.  Since it was summer, the morning sun was already well into the sky. 

            I looked at my sleeping trainer.  The bedsheets had halfway fallen off the bed during the night.  Samantha was on her back with one arm wrapped around her beloved dragon doll and the other was extended away from the bed.  However, now that she wasn't wearing any gloves on her hand I noticed something strange.  Her uncovered hands had terrible burns on them, as if she had put them right into a fire the night before.  But because Slick and I were with her the entire time until we went to sleep, I know that it couldn't be the case.

            Suddenly Samantha sat upright and yelled fearfully, "Fire!"  This surprised me so much that I acted entirely on instinct and electrocuted her with a Thundershock attack.  After I was done Samantha coughed, "Electricity..."

            "Churaai..." I muttered.  I wouldn't have shocked her in the first place if she hadn't scared me like that...

            Samantha recovered quickly, greeted me, and got off her bed.  As she was gathering her clothes from her dresser I got off as well at looked up at her scarred hands from beside her.  I followed her out of her room as if in a trance until she went into the bathroom, then I went back to wake up Slick from his slumber.   When Samantha got back she was fully dressed, complete with gloves covering the burns on her hands.  She was wearing a white shirt with a sun, star, and moon on it and blue jeans.  For the final touch she put on her father's old hat and told us to follow her downstairs to breakfast.

            May and Uncle Gary were already in the kitchen when we arrived, but Alex was nowhere to be found.  However, his Pikachu was already eating breakfast from his food dish.  Slick and I waited for our breakfast next to Pikachu while Samantha got out two plastic food dishes and placed them in front of us.  After she was done filling them with PokéChow and we started eating, she sat at the table and waited for her own breakfast.

            Soon everyone was busy eating their breakfast without a word.  Uncle Gary broke the silence by saying, "I have my birthday gift to you before you leave, Samantha.  I didn't give it to you because I wanted it to be a surprise, and it's sure to be of great use to you on your journey".

            ""He's giving it to her now because he didn't get it until yesterday,"" Mercury whispered to us from under the kitchen table.  I didn't notice her because my mind was thinking only of Samantha's scars and food.  I was about to ask her what she was doing under the table when I noticed Samantha secretly slide Mercury a slice of toast.  Mercury ate it happily and winked at me.

            After breakfast Uncle Gary gave Samantha her present.  It was a long, brown coat that had a large white Pokéball symbol on the back on its left side.  Samantha gladly put it on; it was a little big for her, but otherwise a great fit.  She hugged her uncle happily and thanked him many times before going upstairs to get the rest of her things.  I leaned against a wall and waited.  Mercury looked at me and grinned; she kind of freaked me out with those red eyes of hers...

            I heard Samantha rush down the stairs long before she entered the kitchen wearing a large backpack that was packed so full it almost looked like it would explode.  There were many hugs, good-byes, and words of caution from both Samantha's relatives and the Pokémon.

            "Don't do anything your father would probably do!" called Uncle Gary jokingly as we went down the front yard.

            "Be careful, Samantha!  Call often!" May said, waving.

            ""Take care of Samantha, you two!"" yelled the Pikachu.

            ""Whatever you do, don't get killed!"" Mercury shouted, a big grin plastered on her muzzle.

            It was a very nice morning; the birds were chirping, it wasn't hot, and the sky was clear.  Samantha hummed a tuneless song as we walked to Tobias’s house to pick him up.  When we got to his dilapidated home, Samantha skipped happily up the front steps and knocked on the door.  The door was opened almost immediately by Tobias.  He blinked his bright blue eyes and blushed almost as soon as he set eyes on Samantha.  He was wearing a white shirt with dark grey sleeves and colored Pokéball symbol at the top and a pair of long blue shorts.  I looked at his legs and almost giggled at how pale he was compared to any other humans I've seen.  He was wearing a large bag over his shoulder and was about to leave with us when his mother appeared behind him

            She held her head and said, "Ungh... You're going now, Tobias?"

            "Yeah." Tobias said seriously.

            "....give me a hug." Tobias' mother flopped lifelessly on top of him.

            "M-mom!" said Tobias, straightening up his mother.  "I'm leaving now.  I don't know when I'll ever be back."

            "Have fun with your friends dear.  I love you..." she whispered.

            There was a long silence as we walked down the sidewalk on the way to Professor Oak's house.  It was broken temporarily by Tobias, who shyly complimented Samantha on her new coat.  During the walk I noticed how Tobias' ears were a lot rounder than any other humans' ears.  Then again, he was so skinny I was afraid he would break if he tripped on the sidewalk.  He was definitely a strange boy.

            After a long walk uphill, we finally reached the laboratory of the increasingly senile old professor.  Samantha pushed a button next to the door and let herself inside.  "We're here, Great Grandpa!  Oh, hi Muk!" she said cheerfully, greeting a large, smelly blob with eyes that came out to meet us.  They were about to hug each other (much to Tobias' horror) before Professor Oak himself appeared and led us through his lab to a large room.  In the center of the room there was the display case I had noticed in the past with a transparent dome that held three Pokéballs.  Professor Oak pushed a button on the side and the dome withdrew.

            "So Mr. Denkou, have you decided what Pokémon to choose?" the old man asked.

            Wordlessly, Tobias' hand moved towards a Pokéball.  However, before he even touched it, a voice cried out "Stooooop!!"

            The black-haired boy from Samantha's birthday party suddenly burst into the room, almost stepping on my brother's tail.  "Wait..." he panted.  "Wait.... Ok!"  He declared, standing upright next to Tobias.  As he stood next to Tobias I noticed that he was at least an inch or two taller.  He was wearing a red jersey with a black shirt underneath and black pants and boots to match.  "Professor Oak, I am ready to select my Pokémon!"  He snatched the Pokéball that Tobias was reaching for.  "I choose Charmander!"

            "A good and popular choice, Daiki.  Why, when I first started on my journey I had a Charmander myself..." complimented Professor Oak as he handed five Pokéballs and a red, flat, rectangular object to the black-haired boy.

            Tobias looked like he was going to kill Daiki, but somehow he restrained himself.  His fists were clenched so tight that a vein was showing.  ""I have a feeling that this wasn't the first time Daiki has done something like this to Tobias,"" Slick whispered to me.  I noticed that Daiki had ears almost as round as Tobias'.  A strange thing to notice at the time, but I was kind of bored.  When would we go adventuring already?!

            "So, Samantha,  I guess I'll be seeing you on the road sometime.  I'll be glad to have a battle with you someday...." Daiki grinned then looked at Tobias in surprise.  "Tobias?  I didn't know you wanted to be a Pokémon trainer... you don't even really like Pokémon.  Ah well, you must have another motive for going, eh?" Daiki nudged Tobias and winked. "See you both around!"  The energetic human disappeared as fast as he appeared, stepping on my tail on the way out.

            Tobias was staring angrily at the door where Daiki had exited long after he disappeared.  His bright blue eyes reflected that he was infuriated and almost ready to kill. Samantha's voice snapped him out of his rage.

            "Where were we?  Tobias, there seems to be only two more choices left.  Which will it be?" asked Professor Oak.

            The dirty blonde human stared at the display case for a minute before he picked up one of the small red and white spheres.  The one he chose had a green leaf etched on the front.  "Bulbasaur." Tobias said simply.

            "Great.  Bulbasaur is a fine and sturdy Pokémon, and perfect for beginners," informed the old man as he went to gather Tobias and Samantha's supplies.  Tobias seemed to twitch at the word "beginners".  "Samantha, here are your extra Pokéballs and a Pokédex.  Tobias, here is your belt with ball holders, extra Pokéballs, and your Pokédex.  To be honest I never saw you becoming a Pokémon trainer."  Poor Tobias was looking downright depressed at this point, even though he was on the verge of setting out on an adventure with his best friend.

            Samantha hugged her great grandfather as we said our farewells.  It was another long walk down the hill and various streets until we reached the point where the paved streets ended abruptly changed into wide dirt roads.  Samantha knew exactly where she was going while Tobias had to follow her just like Slick and I did.  Only one thing came to mind as we walked by various small cottages and even in the vicinity of a few large farms: why the heck did my brother and I have to walk (and slither) while Tobias' Bulbasaur stayed comfortably inside his Pokéball?!

            Far past the property of the last ranch, we finally we reached a large gate that had a sign on the front.  "Route One," said Samantha.  "This is it, Tobias.  This is where our journey really begins."  She slowly pushed open the creaking gate and none of us said a word.  With all the drama I half expected someone to play some triumphant music for us as we passed though.

            Walking along the dirt path past the tall grasses was largely uninteresting to me.  Partly it was because I was tired from all the walking, and partly because I was so short I couldn't see anything but grass.  Taking advantage of my trainer's kindness, I went to Samantha and got her to give me a ride on her shoulders.  That way I didn't have to walk anymore, and I could actually see over the tall plants.

            However, there wasn't much to look at on Route One.  Just a sea of tall, brown grass and a few large trees scattered here and there.  The scenery didn't change much even after an hour of walking.  Looking forward I could see that the trees were getting more plentiful in the distance; the route would go through some woods before long.  Looking back I couldn't even see Samantha and Tobias' hometown.

            As the sun reached its zenith, Samantha and Tobias looked for a place to rest for lunch.  They decided to rest under the shade of a tree so large it looked like it was as big as Samantha's house.  The tree had large, yellow orange fruit hanging from its tall branches; they looked a lot more appetizing than any PokéChow.

            "Look at all the mangos, Toby.  They're huge!  I wonder how we can get them?"  she asked.

            Tobias looked up as well. "I don't know.  Maybe if we shake the tree, they'll fall down?" He stood up and rammed himself into the tree, but it didn't budge at all.  He tried a few more times until his last attempt made him fall over.  I laughed at the sight.  If Tobias the human skeleton was trying to impress Samantha with strength, then he had a better chance of sprouting wings and flying away.  Suddenly I thought I heard something rustle in the grasses to my right, but when I looked there was nothing.  I thought that it was probably just the wind.

            "I have an idea!" exclaimed Samantha as Tobias gathered himself off his feet.  "Why don't we use your Bulbasaur to help?"

            Tobias nodded and released his Bulbasaur.  "Bulba!" it cried happily.

            "Now what?" the Bulbasaur's trainer asked.

            "Try using its Vine Whip to reach the fruit!" Samantha answered, pointing upwards.

            "Er, ok.  Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip and get some of those mangos down for us!" Tobias commanded.

            The Bulbasaur nodded and two vines shot out from under the bulb on its back.  They stretched several feet up into the air, but the Bulbasaur's vines were still a few feet short.  Samantha then lifted Bulbasaur over her head, boosting the Pokémon enough so its vines could reach the branches bearing fruit.  Soon mangos were raining down from the tree with Tobias frantically trying to catch them all.

            Soon we all had our own delicious mangos to eat.  As we were enjoying our lunch Samantha asked Tobias if he planned on giving his Bulbasaur a name.  His Pokémon looked up from his meal, his face sticky with fruit. "Saur?"

            "Er... well, I guess I should..." Tobias said.

            "He's your first Pokémon after all, Toby."

            "Joe.  His name is Joe."

            Joe, huh?  Well... It was kind of plain, but I still thought it was better than Raizy.  I guess Tobias wasn't as horrible as Samantha in choosing names for Pokemon.  I mean, he could have opted to name his Bulbasaur "Bulby" since he never thought about giving his Pokémon a name before...  When everyone was back to eating, I soon thought I heard something rustle in the grass again.  Slick noticed me staring and asked what it was.  He stared at the grass again, and we both noticed it rustle with something.  Joe the Bulbasaur butted in and asked what we were doing.

            ""We saw something move over there."" Slick answered.  Joe offered to go check it out, but we both refused.  We would just ignore it until it decided to show itself.  I thought, what could possibly live here that would be serious threat to any of us?

            Just then a round pink ball with a heart on it came rolling out of the tall grass.  Surprised by this unexpected sight, all three of us stared wordlessly at the pink ball as it rolled past us and bumped into Tobias.  He picked it up in confusion and showed it to Samantha, who was getting some drinks from her backpack.

            "That's a Love Ball!  It's a special kind of Pokéball... where did you get it?"  Samantha said as she took the pink Pokéball and inspected it.

            "You can keep it if you want.... it just rolled out from over... there." Tobias pointed to the grass and looked surprised when he turned his head.  We all turned to see what he was looking at and saw that a Rattata had poked his head out from the grass. 

            Everyone was completely still: Rattatas were known to be very skittish and scared easily.  Samantha said quietly, "Raizy... thunderwave."

            I did as my trainer asked and hit the Rattata with a special wave of electricity for paralysis.  The Rattata squeaked and fell to the ground, twitching but unable to move.  Samantha crept closer to the paralyzed Rattata and tossed the Love Ball at him.  "Pokéball, go!"

            The pink Pokéball bonked the Rattata on the head and levitated in mid-air over him as it sucked him inside as pink energy.  The Love Ball wiggled a little bit with a red light on its button glowing after it landed on the ground, but it didn't take long for it to stop.  Samantha picked the ball up after it stopped moving and held it up triumphantly.  "Thanks to Tobias and Raizy, I have a Rattata now!"

            Samantha sat down next to Tobias and released the Rattata.  He looked at Samantha, noticed that she was holding the Love Ball, and sighed.  I had seen many Rattata in the forest where I came from, but I noticed that this particular Rattata had especially long hair on its head, not unlike mine.  "I should give you a name," Samantha wondered out loud.

            The Rattata reacted quickly.  ""Mango!  Mango!"" he said, but I knew only Joe, Slick, and I could understand him.  He pointed up at the tree branches that were filled with fruit ready for the picking.

            "Sky?" Samantha guessed.  "Tree?  Leaf?"

            ""No, like, there!  Mango ith my name!"" the Rattata said, trying to make Samantha understand.

            Trying to help I looked up at the tree, carefully aimed, and shot a small thunderbolt at a large mango.  It fell down right on top of the Rattata that Samantha had just caught and burst.  ""Oops,"" I said as I pulled the soft mango off of him.  I didn't mean for the fruit to land on him.

            The Rattata slowly got up and pointed at the mango I was holding, squeaking loudly.  Samantha finally got it.  "Alright then, I'll call you Mango!"

            I couldn't believe that the Rattata actually wanted to be named that.  Mango the Rattata smiled as he went up to Samantha and was quickly swept up in a hug.  "Hm... you even smell like mango," said Samantha.