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Without Love.

Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
Wut? A fic? From Sem? Ohnoes not again! D: Yeah, well shoosh, I REALLY want to see this one through. Feed back is awesome, though just don't say, "Sem u suk, lulz." tell me WHY I suck, kthx. :p


~Without Love — Prologue:

The sound of labored gasps and running echoed through an otherwise silent night. The cold light of the moon touched the tops of a seemingly endless sea of trees.

"Get back here!"

She ran on, fighting tears that refused to cease their siege upon her young eyes. Tears were nothing new to her; she should be used to them by now. How long did she dare think her happy life would last?

"Hey, cheer up. You can travel with me!"

Nothing ever seemed to turn out right for her. Some foul force in the universe refused to let her be content for more than a little while.

"Don't you run away from me, girl!"

She still ran. Why? She did not know, but running was all that she had done for a while now, and it seemed that it wouldn't stop soon.

"You will learn your place, brat!"

Still fighting.

"Oh you'll love being a Pokémon trainer, come on, I'll help you."

It could have turned out so right.

"Hey, I want you to know that I'm your friend - there's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

So why didn't it?

"Just run! Go!"
"Shut up, you!"

*BANG*

"Get her!"


Finally she cried out; she had tripped and came crashing to the ground. She sniffled once, checking to see that she was all right. She was, though her ankle hurt slightly, but then again so did the rest of her body, running for so long. The girl looked over her shoulder and saw that she had tripped over a root. Immediately, she glanced the way that she had come, and then sighed in relief to find that no one was there. Not that she expected for there to be, she lost them a while ago, but it made her feel better now that she had checked anyway Even though no one was around she dragged herself into the bushes, resting against a tree to catch her breath. Elvia floated down and cuddled her, her eyes full of concern. She held Elvia close to her as she huddled against the tree.

"For something you desire, a price must be paid."

"Make it go away, Elvia," she sobbed. "Make it go away like you always do…"
The young girl was instantly surrounded by a protective sphere, protecting her from nothing physical, only her fears.
 
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Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
-Chapter 1-

Fall was in its early stages, winds sailed across the Violet City area of the Johto region. It was lunch time, and kids were outside in the playground of Violet City's elementary school, eating their food from brown paper sacks and bright plastic containers.

A girl was sitting off to the side a bit, but not completely by herself. She looked down at her food; her silvery-blonde pig-tails flowed down on either side of her face, tips touching the hard plastic of the table. She poked at her thin sandwich, which was little more than a folded slice of bread with cheese in the middle. She had made it herself that morning, as she did every morning.

"So, Fida." The girl looked up at the sound of her name. Another girl was looking at her and was extending her arm. She had a card in her hand. "You're coming to my birthday party, right?"

Fida looked timidly at the card and took it. She opened it and read it; her tiny mouth formed an infinitesimal smile. "S-sure I will." Fida said, nodding her head up and down slowly, her pigtails bobbed and swayed. She tenderly put the card into her old lunchbox.

"Yay!" the girl's gleeful response escaped her smiling mouth. "Just make sure you get me something neat, like a ponyta!" the girls broke down into giggles. Fida tried to laugh too, but a thought interrupted her. Fida knew that the ponyta thing was a joke, but what would she get her? Perhaps something nice, like a drawing. She could draw pretty well. Or maybe give her one of her own belongings… but she didn't have anything worth giving once she thought about it. She wouldn't be able to purchase something, that was for sure, but she was grateful for the invitation and would put some thought into the gift.

The bell rang and the kids hurried inside, eager for the next two classes to end quickly so they could go home. Fida kept her thoughts on this up-coming party. Why had she been invited anyway? It wasn't like she was particularly close with the other girls. She always felt out of place, like she didn't belong. But, perhaps this invitation meant otherwise.

-------

Finally the last bell wrung and students piled up as they gushed through the doorways. Fida walked slowly, and was one of the last out of the building; she certainly had no hurry to get home, and took as much time as possible without getting in trouble for being home late. She wore old, light purple, almost pink sneakers due to how faded they were - many scruff marks covered the top of the shoes. Her dark blue jeans were also faded, enough so that they seemed the standard blue color for jeans. Her t-shirt was not so old; it was violet, with black flower petal print. She walked with her head looking down at her feet, watching the pavement slide past as an autumn chill settled on Violet City.

She quietly opened the door to her house and closed it just as noiselessly. She tiptoed down the hall on her left and to her room that was at the end. It was the smallest room of the three bedroom house. The other room was for a study, but it was mostly used by one of her parents when they had had a fight.

Fida placed her old and scruffy bag onto her bed and finished her homework for the day, not taking long. The girl was a good student, all her teachers recognized that. Despite her extremely shy personality, she had a quick mind when it came to studies.

After finishing her homework she took out a blank sheet of construction paper and a set of crayons. She always loved to make pictures, and she had been told on a few occasions that she was good at making them; not by her parents, who couldn't care less, but by her art teacher whom she saw twice a week. Fida's coloring was smooth and she had recently gotten used to pressing the crayon harder for a darker color, and barely scraping the table for a lighter hue. Details and shading were even easier with the recent sixty-four count box she had been given. She kept these crayon drawings on her walls where they could stare happily down at her, all her hopes, dreams, and fantasies resided in their colors.

Her drawing was for someone else this time, instead of for her. By the time she had finished she had made a nice looking birthday card. It displayed a large yellow present with purple ribbons with ‘Happy Birthday, Cathy!' in bold lettering. She would figure out what the actual present would be later. She walked over to her lunch box and took out the invite and read it to herself once more, however, a loud scream interrupted her.

"DINNER!" came the crude voice of a middle-aged woman. Fida quickly put the card into her pocket and scurried down the hall into the entryway. She took a left and wound up in the living room which she walked through and into the dining room.

She quickly and quietly sat down and began to twirl some of the pasta she had been given around her fork. Her mother sat across from her, scribbling furiously on papers. Fida knew what the papers were, or at least, she knew what her 8 year old mind allowed her to comprehend about them.

Their household wasn't the quietest household in the neighborhood, and a particularly recent and bad fight between Fida's parents had caused the neighbors to call the police. Fida was an immediate concern to the officer, though she wasn't hurt, not during that argument at any rate. They were issued a ticket for disturbing the peace, and told that a social worker would be visiting them.

The papers were legal documents from the court that needed signing, though Fida knew nothing beyond that.

Fida quietly cut up her pasta with her fork and continued eating, slowly her thoughts drifted back to the invitation. She would need her parent's permission to go, but she feared the answer would most definitely be a ‘no.' Still… it never hurt to ask, and Cathy seemed genuinely happy that Fida was going: she would hate to let her down. The girl looked at her mother as she chose her words. Her mother was a bit plump, with long, light brown hair. She had sharp brown eyes and her cheeks were stuffed with the bread she was eating.

"M-mommy?" she asked timidly, she twiddled her thumbs as her hands rested in her lap.

The women kept writing until she had finished signing that piece of paper, she put it off to the side. Taking another bite of the chunk of bread and slowly turned her head to her daughter. "What?" she asked rather flatly.

"W-well, I got this at school toda"-

"What? Shy little Fida got in trouble?" she said in half sarcasm, half contempt. She and her husband constantly received compliments on their daughter from teachers.

"N-no… It's from a girl in my class," she handed the card to her mother; it was snatched from her tiny hand. "It's an invitation to her birthday party…" her mother opened it and read it, taking another bite from the bread. Fida waited eagerly for her answer, though she dreaded that it might be-

"No." her mother said as she carelessly tossed the card back, the card slid across the table and hit Fida's plate. "We can't be going anywhere until that damned social worker pays us that visit, whenever that'll happen," she rolled her eyes then paused and added, "Too bad," and smiled.

"O-oh…" Fida responded looking sad. "It's, just… I promised her…"

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Her mother responded sharply as she returned to her signing.

Fida looked at the card and grabbed it from were it rest by her plate and re-read it, looking it at it with the mournful storm-gray orbs that were her eyes.

Her mother looked over at her and sneered. "What's the point of that silly invite if you can't go?" she toreit from her daughter's grasp and crumpled it up, tossing it at the trash. The shot missed, hitting the wall and falling to the floor with a pathetic crackle. "Finish your dinner and go to your room."

Fida simply obeyed, knowing that to question the reason for being sent to her room would only get her yelled at or hit. Standing on her tippy-toes she rinsed her plate and placed it in the dishwasher before quickly going to her room in defeat. It wasn't so bad; she spent most of her time there anyway.

-------

That night Fida lay awake in her bed. It seemed to squeak every time she breathed and it made it hard to sleep, though it wasn't the real reason as to why she was awake. Her eyes were teary; she really wanted to go to this girl's party, if she didn't she would feel like she had lied to Cathy and let her down. She didn't want to let anybody down. Maybe she could calmly tell her tomorrow that something more important came up? She could try, but it'd sound too much like an excuse. Why did her parents have to fight so much? It was their fault she couldn't go, though she felt bad for even thinking it, even if it was the truth.

Fida didn't like her parents too much, they were always more hurtful than good. In fact, the last good thing to happen to her would be when they replaced her old set of crayons a few weeks before. Fida wished her parents could be more like her classmate's parents; they all seemed so wonderful. But her parents? They were cruel, and they always fought with each other and her.

It was a bit late, but she wanted to get out. She slipped out of bed and got back into her clothes from earlier, along with a jacket.

Fida opened her window climbed out into the brisk night. Her parents were both busy with something, mother with her papers and father with the TV. They wouldn't notice if she was absent for a while, plus she had put pillows and things under her blankets to make it appear that she was there sleeping, they wouldn't bother to investigate beyond that, so long as she was quiet and out of the way they would be happy.

She walked down the street and out behind her row of houses, where the land had yet to be shaped by people. There was a forest there and Sprout Tower loomed in the distance. She had been in the forest before, and she wasn't afraid like most people would be. It was nice during the day and no different during the night, very silent and isolated, it made her feel safe.

She wandered past the numerous trees and dense underbrush. Occasionally a sleeping Pokémon would be startled and scamper off into the night. Fida enjoyed Pokémon, she always dreamed of having one. She sometimes even dreamt of being a trainer, there was a picture of her as a trainer on her wall. She would usually just bring herself down however, telling herself she'd never be any good at it. But even if she was no good as trainer at least she would be free. Trainers all seemed to be free from everything, just fine with wandering the country with companions and battling for fame. What makes you think you're good enough for that? she'd tell herself. She was always arguing with herself. Pushing the thoughts aside she inhaled deeply, letting the chill fill her lungs and cool her body. She was free now, for the moment, and she would enjoy it.

Fida was playing with one of her blonde pony-tails when she heard a noise, or, a commotion rather. Strange, she'd never heard anything like that happening there. Curious, she made her way towards the noise, taking quiet, cautious steps as she slipped past the tall trees, path lit only by the moon. She soon reached a clearing, and what she saw caused to gasp loudly. It was three Gastly, and they were harassing something that was cowered on the ground. Her sudden gasp spooked the Gastly, ironically; they all looked up and scanned around briefly before vanishing into the trees. Fida bit her lip, making sure they were gone and examined a tiny blue thing on the ground. The child approached it slowly: she could hear tiny whimpers as she got closer.

Half of her told her she should go home and leave the thing be. It could be dangerous, it said. Her other half told her that she'd never forgive herself if she went home and let this thing, whatever it was, lie there without an ounce of help, easy prey for the Gastly. She stood awkwardly and confused, bringing her right hand to her mouth and bit her finger in concentration.

Finally the girl kneeled down to examine the creature in full. It was a Pokémon, and she also knew it was another Ghost-type. Gasping again, she recoiled at that realization. One of her teachers, Mr. Klubbin, who taught basic Pokémonology to her grade, said that Ghost-Pokémon could be dangerous, saying that little was known about them.

Fida gulped as the creature stirred. It looked up at her with big red eyes, it was in tears, and its eyes drooped sadly. The Pokémon looked feminine, having a ghostly mane of hair that flowed out behind its head and a small body that didn't look very different from a dress or skirt; around its neck was a necklace of red gems. Fida recognized the Ghost-type as a Misdreavus, a species which she had studied in class briefly.

Without her realizing she stuck out her arm and attempted to comfort the Misdreavus with a pat, but she was shocked to see her hand go through the Pokémon. Fida yelped as a biting cold ate at her hand before she quickly drew it back. Both the Misdreavus and Fida flinched. The girl's gray eyes stared in amazement at the creature. It cried out weakly. Fida stuck out her arm again and was surprised to find that Misdreavus was now more solid and not as freezing cold to the touch

"I-it's ok." She found herself saying. "You'll be alright." Misdreavus stared deeply into Fida's eyes and then closed her own. The girl looked around and saw that there was no one in the area, human or Pokémon. She scooped the Ghost-type into her arms and stood. She turned in order to head home and screamed. The three Gastly from before were staring right at her, all three of which had a sadistic malice in their eyes, mouths open wide to reveal teeth. Fida stepped back and held Misdreavus away from them. "G-go away!" she tried to sound forceful, but the dual Ghost/Poison-types drew nearer. Fida did the only thing she thought she could and ran, veering off to the side and into the woods

She could hear her pursuer's ghoulish cries from behind her as she ran. She feared for her life and held Misdreavus tightly. The trees rolled by her, but they seemed to last forever, she tripped once, but got up quickly, gasping madly at the fear that the Gastly would catch up. Finally she burst from the forest and into a clearing; she could see houses before her. "If you ever find yourself being chased by Ghost-Pokémon like Gastly or Haunter, head for the nearest source of light." She recalled the words of her teacher and immediately sought out a street lamp. She spotted one not far from her. The girl rushed towards its safety and only stopped once she reached it. She caught her breathe and inhaled deeply. Looking back, she saw three pairs of terrifying eyes staring murderously at her from the darkness before fading away, the image of them burned into her memory.

Fida fell to her knees and sighed in relief once they were gone and found herself hugging the unconscious Misdreavus in her arms. She realized she couldn't leave her out here alone, not now. She must take Misdreavus home.

She stood up and looked around, checking for any eyes, and then made a dash for her house. She opened her bedroom window and clumsily stumbled inside, though she managed not to make a sound. Fida cleared her things from under her sheets and placed the misdreavus on her bed. After catching her breath she kneeled by the bed and simply stared at the ghost. She really had no idea what to do now. Discreetly, she went to the restroom to get a wet towel so that she could place the warm cloth on the ghost's head. She didn't know what it would do, but doing that always seemed to help with anything. She wrapped the misdreavus in her own blankets and placed her at the head of her bed.

Fida settled back into her nightclothes and made sure her room was in order and inconspicuous before she climbed into bed. She found herself staring at Misdreavus for at least half an hour, her head whirring with thoughts. Fida had to accept that this creature was really next to her right now, and that she found her in the forest while she was being attacked by Gastly, and those same Gastly went after her too. The little girl told herself she wouldn't be going back into the forest for a while now; the images of the eyes were forever engraved into her mind. She had done a good thing though, saving this pokémon, and she fell asleep with a tiny smile on her face.

-------

"WAKE UP!" Fida sat upright in her bed. "Stupid girl, did you forget to set your alarm?" Her mother stormed out of the room. Fida flinched and looked over that the clock. 8:30am it read. School started in thirty minutes; she would surely be late if she didn't hurry. She quickly dressed herself and brushed her hair, tying it into her usual pony-tails. Taking two slices of bread; she toasted one and used the other for her sandwich, not having the time to make anything else. She grabbed her school things and put them into her bag and looked over at her bed, which was not made well. She noticed that the bundle she placed there last night was now flat. Fida frowned and then walked down the hall and outside, eating her toast as she walked. She looked at her watch. 8:50am; not enough time. She quickened her pace so she wouldn't be terribly late.

As she walked along the sidewalk she felt some sort of presence behind her, a sudden coolness. She turned around and saw the Misdreavus from last night following her. Her heart jumped: she feared the Ghost-type had left forever. The Misdreavus floated a bit wobbly, but her condition had improved dramatically from last night. Fida would never again doubt the power of a warm cloth.

Fida stopped walking. "H-hi there…" she smiled. The misdreavus chirped (if that's the right word) and smiled up at Fida with her large red eyes. "Y-you wanna follow me for a bit?" Fida asked. "I-it's ok if you do!" she said a bit excitedly. The Misdreavus continued looking at Fida. "W-well, o-ok then…" she thought for a moment. "I'm going to school, so you'll have to stay hidden if you do…. C-can you do that?" Misdreavus nodded once and briefly vanished completely, Fida gasped. "W-well, that works," she smiled again. The girl gazed at her watch - 8:55am. "O-oh, but we have to hurry, or I'll be really late…"

Misdreavus floated high above the girl and over the houses and noticed the school way off. There was a way to get there quicker. Misdreavus descended and without first asking Fida enveloped her in a ghostly purple energy. Fida gave out a yelp as she saw her feet come off her ground and screamed as her legs disappeared. She was about to ask Misdreavus what on earth she was doing, but there wasn't any time. Misdreavus rushed head long into the nearest house, becoming invisible as well before passing through the wall. Fida was pulled in along with her, as if towed by an invisible leash, she recoiled as she was about to hit the wall, bracing herself for the inevitable impact, but found that after a few seconds she had passed through it, and was well near the opposite wall of the house.

The duo phased through houses and houses. Fida felt a rush as she watched families go about their everyday business, almost in awe that this was even happening. In only a couple of minutes the detour was over and Fida found herself only yards away from the school property. That had to have been the most exciting thing she had ever done. "M-misdreavus…" she said after a long moment. "T-that was… amazing!" Fida smiled very big and then she looked down at her worn shoes. "…Though… It would've been alright if we d-didn't go through that shower." Misdreavus blushed and then giggled, orbiting around Fida's head. The girl started to laugh along with the Pokémon.

She looked at her watch and saw that it was one minute until the bell rang. "T-thanks!" she cried as she started sprinting towards the doors of the school: no tardy for her today.

-------

The rest of the day passed by normally, though for the majority of the time Fida sensed the odd coolness around her, and the students did too. They complained that it was too cold and begged the teacher to turn on the heater. "But its 80 degrees outside!" the instructor responded. Fida giggled to herself each time.

For the rest of the week Fida spent all the time possible with the Misdreavus in her room. Fida ended up telling the Pokémon everything on her mind, and she was happy because Misdreavus seemed to understand, or at least sympathize. She would often wonder how two completely different species could commune like this. "The world is full of mysteries, especially when it comes to Pokémon." Mr. Klubbin always said, Fida thought he sounded like a famous Pokémon Professor when he said that. They both seemed to enjoy this time together, but soon enough, someone became suspicious of her daughter's activities.

"Little girl, who are you talking with in there?" Dixie, Fida's mother, demanded one afternoon. "I've told you before, I don't want any kids from school at the house!" she yelled. Fida's mother forced the bedroom door open and looked around with her large eyes. "Well?" she walked in. "Where are they?"

"W-where's who?" Fida asked very quickly, eyes darting in a panicked motion as she bit her finger and stood against a wall.

"Don't play dumb with me, girl!" her mother fumed. "Where are they!?"

"T-there's no one here!" Fida urged.

"Liar!" she screeched and slapped Fida across the face. Fida fell to her knees and held her cheek, tears forming in her eyes; it stung pretty badly. She watched as her mother tore up the whole room looking for this make-believe person. Once it was obvious that there was no one she glared at Fida, too prideful to admit her somewhat-false assumption. Dixie stormed out of the room; Fida recoiled at the sound of the slamming door.

She was quiet for a moment then very quietly said, "S-see? I told you she was mean…" Misdreavus' head emerged from the wall right beside Fida and whined, nuzzling Fida on the cheek. The Ghost-type came to rest in the girl's lap and surrounded the girl in a sphere of energy, the only thing she could do.

This pattern continued into the next week, though the duo was more careful and quiet with their discussions, at times Fida's mother rushed in hoping to catch her daughter by surprise somehow, but Misdreavus was always quick and vanished from view. Despite being hidden, Misdreavus still witnessed abusive acts, both physically and verbally on a daily basis.

One day the two friends had decided that Misdreavus would have a name: Elvia. It was Friday, the day before Cathy's party, when Fida stayed a bit after class to ask Mr. Klubbin a few questions.

"M-Mr. Klubbin?" Fida asked as she stood in front of her teacher's desk after all the students had left. He looked up from the papers he was grading. He was probably in his late 30's and had brown hair, and kind brown eyes.

"Yes, Fida?" he looked kindly at her.

"W-well, I have some questions about some… stuff…" she swayed from side to side and twiddled her thumbs behind her back.

He chuckled. "Well, ok. What's up?"

Fida thought about her words for a moment. "W-what do you know about Misdreavus?"

Mr. Klubbin at once had a good idea what this was about. "Well, I know a bit about them," he played along. Fida stared up at him expectantly. "Like, for instance, they're Ghost-type Pokémon, but I'm sure you already know that and a bit more; you're an awfully bright student," he smiled. "Misdreavus are usually very, well, mischievous. They like to play tricks on people and pokémon." He paused briefly. "They don't generally like to be out in the daytime, but they, like all Ghost-pokémon, can get used to it… Oh! And, they feed on emotions, like all Ghost-types. You want more?" he inquired.

"N-no, thanks…" Fida said. The girl actually looked up what Elvia should eat early on. Sighing, she knew beating around the bush wouldn't help her. "Uh, Elvia?" she announced. Elvia appeared in the air above Fida's head and fixed her eyes on Fida's teacher.

"Oh! And what have we here?" Mr. Klubbin wondered, half-surprised. He knew that Fida probably had a Misdreavus, but not there in his room. He got up, letting his Pokémonologist-self get the better of him. He examined Elvia, who simply floated very still, though she looked a bit uneasy with being stared at.

"Well, she seems to be healthy, and she seems nice." He nodded in approval. "Nice to meet you… eh… Elbina was it?" he looked down at Fida

"…E-Elvia" Fida corrected.

"So your parents are letting you keep Elvia?" he asked, but he knew the answer to that too: a couple of parent-teacher meetings had shown him the Fida's parents weren't the best in the world.

"Well, no, n-not exactly…" she looked down to the side. "They don't really know about her yet."

"I see… and how did you meet Elvia?"
"I um… saved her from some… Gastly." She looked up at his suddenly sullen face.

"You're very lucky you weren't hurt. Gastly have a nasty reputation of gassing their prey, it's fatal," his chin rested on his hand as he leaned back in his chair. "So do you plan to keep Elvia?"

"W-well, she doesn't really belong to me… she just likes me… She could leave whenever she wanted…"

"Does she want to leave?" he looked up at Elvia. After a moment, Elvia shook her head. "Well… technically, I think that means she yours," he smiled. He knew he shouldn't do what he was about to, but he didn't care. Fida seemed in much higher spirits the last two weeks and he wanted it to stay that way. He walked over to one of the many shelves and took a spherical device off the shelf. "So, if she's yours." he sat down. "You're going to need one of these.

Fida looked at the ball. "A-a pokéball?" she said surprised. "I-I can't take this." She said desperately and attempted to give it back.

"No, you're right…" he said, taking it back. "It's much too dirty." He snatched a tissue from its box and shined the ball a bit, finishing it off with the sleeve of his jacket. "There." He said, handing it back.

"B-but-"

"Take it," the teacher told her gently. "Elvia's your first pokémon, so you're going to need this."

Fida reached out slowly and took the ball from his hands again. "T-thank you…" she said, staring at the pokéball.

"Now, is that all?" he sat down again. Mr. Klubbin would trust that Fida could keep her friend a secret, and sincerely hoped her parents wouldn't find out about Elvia.

"Y-yes, thank you." She said happily, she smiled, then she turned and left, Elvia following behind her and disappearing.

"See you Monday!" he called out after her.

-------

Later that afternoon Fida sat on her bed, looking at her gift, Elvia floated around looking at it. She was very grateful for Mr. Klubbin and his kindness. "Does this mean I'm a trainer?" she wondered out loud and looked at her picture on the wall that depicted her as such. She smiled and held the ball close.

Suddenly, her door burst open. "Come and ea"- began her mother, pausing as her eyes homed in on the red and white ball. "Where did you get that?" she demanded. Fida couldn't answer. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT!?" she screamed as she walked in a stole the ball from her daughter's hand. She examined it thoroughly. "Wait till your father sees this." She marched out of the room. Fida yelped and ran after her. By the time she caught up her mother and father were already in the living room, he was holding it in his hands. He was a large man, with a meaty head and meaty hands, the top of his head was all bald, a ring of graying light brown hair surrounded the bottom half of his head. His name was Rick.

"What's this?" he asked as he saw her.

"I-it's nothing." Fida fidgeted.

"Well that's bull," he said and pushed her down. He pressed the button in the middle of the ball and it snapped open, revealing nothing. "It's empty," he announced, looking at his fallen daughter.

"Y-yes, it's a-a project for, um, school," she responded.

"Oh really?"

"Y-yeah… we have to um, l-label the different parts."

"We've told that idiotic teacher of yours that we don't want you with any of this trainer-stuff!" he huffed, his hands shaking as he held the open sphere.

"We don't want you becoming one of those kids, roaming around doing whatever they want," her mother scoffed.

Her parents weren't fond of trainers. They didn't mind Pokémon themselves, just the trainers. They thought that those kinds of people were afraid of real life, living on the road instead.

"Throw it away," her father ordered. Fida didn't move. "THROW IT AWAY!" he yelled. Fida still didn't move, but closed her eyes. "Fine! If you won't do it then I will." The mass of flesh that was her father rose slowly and hobbled over to the trash bin, his head red like a beet.

"No!" Fida called out after him. She sprung to her feet and caught the ball as it fell and then sprinted off to her room, closing her door. She heard her parents' yells as they came down the hallway. She ran to the corner and huddled in it, covering her ears.

"You will learn your place, brat!" her father roared. The door flew open and one of its hinges broke. They both entered and made for Fida in the corner, raising their arms against her. Fida did her best to brace herself. There was a bloodcurdling scream. It came from somewhere in the room. Fida looked up and saw Elvia floating defiantly in between her and her parents.

"So, it was a lie, you dirty, little, ungrateful piece of-" Her father said.

"And it had to be something like that didn't it?" her mother interjected. "A hideous Ghost-type. Well," she sniffed disdainfully, "at least it fits well with the décor," She wrinkled her nose while scanning the room, looking at Fida's drawings.

"This thing won't help you, as soon as we're done, it's leaving, and you won't stop us." he was now even redder. "We'll stuff it in that," he pointed to the pokéball. "And tie it to a rock and throw it into the deepest crevice in the Lake of Rage!" her father smacked Elvia away before the Ghost-type had a chance to phase herself and both monsters raised their arms again, threatening to resume their interrupted assault.

Fida braced herself once more. "Elvia!" she screamed as the blows were about to connect. A second passed… then two… then three… Fida heard some sort of banging but it seemed so distant. She opened her eyes and saw her parents furiously hitting at her, but none of their attacks reached her, they seemed to hit a faintly visible bubble. Elvia was in her lap, concentrating on keeping the shield up. Fida embraced Elvia and held her close. "Make it go away." She cried. The barrage ended when they saw Elvia glaring up at them from within the Protect. The parental guardians refused to believe that they had been thwarted and resorted to throwing anything at the bubble. After so long they gave up, billowing as they left, leaving a wrecked room in their wake.

Elvia kept up the shield for a long while after they had left, until eventually Fida grew brave enough to climb into bed and collapse. Elvia rested in front of her companion, facing the door. The beasts returned multiple times during the night, and each time they were met with Elvia's red and yellow eyes leering at them through the darkness with a set of red pearls glowing eerily; The house was bloated with a slew of emotions; the whole night was a feast…
 
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Oh wow Sem this is really good! :)

I can't wait to see how the prologue fits in with the rest of the story. Fida seems like such a sweet girl but her mom and dad make Monique and Claude look like parents of the year.

I already like the relationship between Fida and Elvia. And if you don't follow through I just may send YOU an mildly angry PM.
 

Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
(No, I was not abused as a child :p)

Win. XD

Well, you already know what I thought of it. Definitely looking forward to chapter 2 whenever you finally get it up (no pressure ;)). Just how twisted will Semmy get? :3
 

Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
-Chapter 2-

Saturday morning came swiftly. It was a deceptively cheerful, sunny day, and it probably was a cheerful, sunny day for everyone but a little girl climbing out of her window in the early hours. There was a calm breeze adding a bit of chill to the air, but overall it was the kind of day where families would flock to the outdoors.

Fida was determined to spend all day out of the house. Fida was dressed in her usual garb, but with the addition of a light sweater, lavender in color, and a purple scarf. Elvia was right by her side, and planned not to leave it at all that day, though she was in a foul mood, but for why, Fida would not understand for while. Elvia glared somberly at people they passed and seemed to detest everything good in the world. Fida would later learn the term "You are what you eat," applies directly to ghosts like Elvia.

Fida had no specific plans, only to walk around and make the day go by. And so she did. She strode around in the different neighborhoods but steered clear of her own house. Elvia followed unseen wherever her friend went. Eventually Fida got to some parts of the city, where life was moderately busy, but still not like central Violet City. Here she wandered about the shops. She had no money spend, she had never had money of her own in her life, but she looked anyway. The girl still wondered what she would get Cathy for her birthday. Her card wouldn't be enough, but what else could she do. Perhaps she'll make up for it somehow she thought.

Fida eventually came into the vicinity of Sprout Tower, the major monument of Violet City, and a popular monument in general. The tower peered down ominously at anyone looking up at it. Fida had been there once, on a field trip for school. She learned all about its history, and the myth concerning the giant Bellsprout. She always thought it was silly, but in the end, who knew? Fida entered the building; she wanted to climb to the top, just so she could see the city. Sprout Tower was by no means the tallest structure in Violet City, a couple of sky-scrapers in central Violet towered even higher, but it had many floors nonetheless, which meant stairs, lots of stairs.

The tower was full of monks, and they were all strange and solemn. As if there was some big secret or something awful about to happen. Though, it was possible to enjoy your visit if you ignored them. Fida did her best to not let them bother her as she made her ascent. Many parts of the tower were old - boards creaked when stepped on, and the air had a very odd taste to it. Any strong wind would cause the tower to moan, countless boards crying in unison, echoing their sound down the massive pendulum that swayed at the center of the tower. Despite this, the tower was well lit and very clean in its appearance.

After a good ten minutes Fida reached the top floor, breathing heavily as she peered over the rail the surrounded the tower's giant pendulum, looking down at all the floors she had climbed. Then she turned around and walked slowly over to a window. She stood on her toes in order to fully see over the windowsill, and gazed at the city that lay before her eyes. She could pick out familiar locations, such as the school, and her street, and the supermarket. Elvia gazed out as well, though she had seen the sight many times before. Fida had gotten the impression that Elvia had been in Violet for a while.

Fida stood looking for a bit longer until finally turning around, coming face to face with a monk. She gasped in surprised and stepped back a bit, Elvia eyed the man cautiously. The monk did not move, only stared at her with a concentration that would make a rock turn to dust. His black eyes were like deep pools that looked like an abyss, as if they were pulling information from a void, seeing into everything that was. He was old, the wrinkles on his faced showed it, and he was completely bald.

"Uh… h-hi-" Fida went to say, but was immediately cut off.

"For something you desire, a price must be paid," he said in a raspy voice, looking very mournfully at the girl, as if wishing to comfort her in some way. Instead, he bowed solemnly and walked away.

Fida stood frozen for many moments, the words rung in her head, but she did not know why. Who was that man? Why did he tell her those words? Fida would never learn the answer to those two questions, nor would she ever see him again. She left the tower in a very perplexed state, but she thought less and less about it as the day wore on until the experience became unimportant and forgotten.

-------

It was nearly three in the afternoon, and Fida was in the general area of Cathy's house. She was standing against the fence of a house, the white paint was chipped everywhere. She was holding her homemade birthday card; it was clutched in her hands. Her face was a sad one, all she would be able to give her would be this? Cathy probably wouldn't think it all that special. Perhaps she just shouldn't go, she could think up an excuse come Monday. She should at least give her the card though… It'd be a shame to keep her waiting all day.

Fida stopped leaning on the fence and began, squinting her eyes up at the clear sky and started walking towards her classmate's house. As she neared the end of the street she noticed a house with balloons and party decorations outside. Fida walked up to the front door and knocked. Laughter was heard inside; there were probably a lot of things going on. The door opened, revealing dark brown-haired Cathy in birthday attire.

"Yay, you made it!" Cathy beamed, though she stared in minor distaste at Fida's raggedy clothes.

"H-hi." Fida said quietly. "L-listen, um…" Fida chased after words in her head. "I can't come today," she said it straight out. Cathy looked surprised. "I just w-wanted to give you this," she held out her nicely made card; Cathy took it and read it. "H-happy birthday," Fida added before turning to leave.

She heard a confused "Bye" and the door closing, then, "Who was that?" "It was Fida…" "Why did she leave?" "She said she couldn't come, all she gave me was this card." Fida flinched and hurried away. Elvia followed close behind, concerned for her friend.

Fida slowed down once they had turned onto another street, her almost-jog turned into a sluggish walk. That didn't work as well as she had wanted it to. She tried to hold her head up. It was no big deal. It was just a card after all; she would feel the same… Well, no, she wouldn't. A card someone took the time to make for her would mean a lot to her, it was more than she ever got on her birthdays. Sighing, she passed under the shade of a tree.

Just as she was decided what to do next Fida felt a peck and a sharp tug at one of her pigtails. She let out a yelp as something fluttered around her head madly. She tried getting whatever it was off of her, it was tugging at her hair for no reason. Elvia unveiled herself and tried to assist, but she wasn't able to do much of anything, blindly attacking could lead to Fida getting hurt. The thing was black and it fluttered madly, black plumage flew everywhere.

Finally Fida was able to slap it away; it fluttered down to the sidewalk in front of her and glared at her with defiant eyes. It was a bird, jet black in color, though its feathers reflected different colors such as green, blue, and purple. It had a bushy, broom-like tail, and head feathers that resembled a hat of sorts.

"A-a Murkrow?" Fida wondered aloud as she rubbed her head. It cawed in annoyance and hobbled away, seeking other objects to meet its kleptomaniac needs. Elvia shot back her own glare of annoyance. "What did it want my hair for?" Fida asked, examining what she could of her pony tail while Elvia followed the pesky bird with her eyes until it was out of sight. After a few more moments of trying to figure it out she shrugged and started walking again.

The duo spent the rest of that hour roaming the streets of the neighborhoods. Fida was hungry and knew she should go home soon, but she really didn't want to. And who's to say they would want to give her food anyway after all she'd done?

Tonight wouldn't be fun, nor would tomorrow or maybe the whole week. She was in for it for sure. Part of her was telling her not to go back. She could run away. Run to where? Anywhere she wanted. But how? You can find a way.

Fida ceased arguing and pondered her new thoughts. There was a sound of a car screeching to a halt and the door opening. Fida looked and was horrified to see her parents. "There you are!" exclaimed her father.

"Get in here now." said her mother threateningly. Elvia uncloaked herself and stood between them in protest. A ball flew from the car and hit Elvia on the head; she was enveloped in a bright red light and sucked into the ball. "And no monster is going to help you now." Added her mother, twirling the pokéball in her hand, Fida couldn't believe she forgot to bring it with her that morning and kicked herself for it.

Fida's first impulse was to run away, but she couldn't, especially not without Elvia. She reluctantly climbed into the backseat of the car with gritted teeth, noise recoiling against the smell of tobacco that forever haunted the automobile. The vehicle screeched away, back towards home. "Stupid girl, I told you that we can't be leaving the house like that!" her mother began talking. "What were you doing all day anyway?"

"I half-expected her to go to that party." Her father added as he rounded a corner.

"No, she was too busy playing victim all day," her mother sneered at Fida. The girl kept silent throughout the whole ride. When they arrived home there was a man there, having just pulled up himself. "Crap, he's here." Fida did as she was told and went into the house as her parents talked to the man. He introduced himself to them, informing them that he was her for a house visit due to a police report.

Fida went and sat in her room, it was in the same messy state as last night, only she noticed that all her pictures had been torn, probably in an angry at discovering that she had left the house. The girl became teary-eyed and sniffed: she hated where she lived, she wanted to leave.

There was a gentle knock on her broken door. The door moaned as it opened, the broken hinge creaked. "Fida, dear," cooed her mother. "Come with us so we can have a talk with this man," said her mother in a loving voice, the man was right behind her. His eyes widened as he saw the mess of the room.

"W-what happened here?" he asked as he gazed around.

Dixie frowned. "Its Fida, she has quite the temper." She stared at her daughter sympathetically. The façade that her mother was trying to put on was physically sickening to Fida. Nonetheless, she got off her bed and followed them down the hall.

"I see…" the man trailed off and followed as well, scribbling on a pad. They met in the living room and sat down all casual-like. The man started with a series of questions about the state of the family. All the answers were lies, Fida was too afraid to say anything otherwise. The man marked it all down on a notepad, taking note of everything said. The next phase was to talk to each member of the happy family individually.

"Do you ever yell or get angry without reason at your daughter?" he asked her mother, taking a sip of the coffee that had been offered to him.

"We all get angry, but the trick is to talk it out." she answered.

"Do you ever abuse your daughter physically or mentally?"

"No!" she exclaimed again, looking at him with a face like ‘how could I ever commit such an awful sin like that?'

The rest of the questions went by the same way. As they were wrapping up, Fida looked around the room and noticed Elvia's Pokéball on the kitchen counter. Finally it was Fida's turn to talk to the man Her parents shot her looks that told her if she didn't say things ‘correctly' she would, well, she'd rather not think about it.

The social worker merely asked her a series of seemingly trivial questions. "Did you sleep good last night?"

"Yes…" Fida answered softly, though her heart was pounding.

"What did you eat today?"

"I-I, uhm, had some cereal and a sandwhich," she looked away, ashamed at her lie. She realized for the first time that she was rather hungry, not having eaten since the day before.

"You go to school at Violet Elementary?" he asked.

Fida nodded.

"Do you ever miss school?"

Fida shook her head.

"Are you ok, Fida?" he put his pen down. "You're not talking,"

Fida found it a bit hard to breathe, her heart was beating so fast. "I-I'm just shy…"

"You also look like you get angry a lot; I saw your room," he picked up his pen again. "Why do you get angry?"

She didn't know how to respond. She quickly gazed over at her mother who was nodding at her slowly. If she answered in they way she wanted her to, then she would never be free. What should she say? She looked anxiously inside herself for answer. This man could help her, should she tell the truth? What if they don't do something right away? Her parents would be angrier than they have ever been.

"I-I don't get angry…" she replied very cautiously, she was certain people over in Kanto could hear her heart by now. Her parents frowned at her.

"But I saw your room…" he added.

"That wasn't me." Her voice grew lower, but shaky.

"Who was it then?" the man asked. Fida pointed at her parents. Her father turned red, his face twitched.

"Don't lie, Fida-dear." Her mother said, though her voice was strained. "She fibs if she thinks she's going to get into trouble. This man isn't here to punish you, hun," her smile became very large and very forced.

"It's not a lie!" Fida found herself yelling back, she felt a little light headed now.

"Is it?" the man cut in, furiously scribbling on his notepad.

"Yes. It is." The parents went off on how Fida was a girl who constantly misbehaved and was angry. They went back and forth, Fida grew distressed and started sweating, in order to relieve herself a bit she removed her sweater. The man looked over and noticed Fida's arm, and the large purple bruise on it.

"What's that from, Fida?" he nodded towards the bruise.

"Oh it's-"

"Nothing." Her mother intervened. "She fell the other day."

"I asked her, ma'am, not you," he looked at Fida again. His face was quite concerned now and he had stopped drinking his coffee, no longer feeling comfortable.

Fida was already in this, she might as well go through all of it. "I-it's from when I w-was pushed down last night…"

"By your parents?" he ventured to ask, seeing that Fida was no longer afraid to speak.

"Y-yes," Fida looked down. She felt relieved, relieved that she finally told someone who could do something about it.

"I see…" the man stood up. Fida looked at him expectantly. He pulled out a phone and started dialing.

"What are you doing?" Rick asked, face literally jiggling with concealed rage.

"Calling the police, sir, that's the next procedure."

"No, you're not." Her father stood up and took the phone, closing it. "We're not done here."

"E-excuse me?" the man asked surprised, although visibly worried. This was a hostile situation and Fida's father was big man.

"You're not going to believe this girl's dirty lies!" he spat.

"I-I believe Fida and what she says." He tried to say firmly, and then he opened the phone again. It happened before anyone could even blink. Rick's hand closed into a mighty fist and it slammed into the side of the social work's head, crushing the cellular to bits between the man's hand and his ear. He collapsed immediately; he would be unconscious for a while, though he was lucky to even be living.

"No…" was Fida's thought. She wouldn't survive anymore with these people. She put her sweater back on and made sure her scarf was secure. As her parents stood up to examine the man she got up and rushed over to the kitchen counter, snatching Elvia's Pokéball.

"Stupid, little, insignificant-!" her father roared.

"Give that back now!" her mother squealed. "You're not allowed to have that, that, thing!"

"No!" Fida stood back from them. "She's my friend!" her parents stood, murderous intent danced in their eyes. "She protected me last night; I should do the same, for her safety!" she gulped. "For hers and mine…" then she turned and fled the house, ducking under the flailing arms of her parents.

"Don't you run away from me, girl!" her mother howled. But she did. Fida ran. As fast and as far as she could. She ran towards the only place she could go and feel like they wouldn't find her; the woods that stood against her row of houses. It was evening now, and shadows reached across the sky and anything below it. The forest seemed to open up before her and she ran into its embrace. The pines blurred past, the ground rolled under her feet.

After so long she stopped and hid by a tree, behind a cluster of large shrubs. She leaned back against the trunk and her arms fell to either side as she gasped for breath. She held up Elvia's pokéball, its smooth surface shone in the fading orange light that shined through the trees down onto her. She pressed the button and the ball burst open, white energy flowed smoothly out and took Elvia's form, and then faded, leaving the Misdreavus there, floating dazed in the air. "Elvia!" Fida exclaimed and wrapped her arms around her friend. Elvia squeaked happily and nuzzled her trainer.

The two of them stayed in that place for at least an hour. It was pure silence, minus the occasions when they heard a pokémon scramble back into its borough, den, or nest. The earth smelled damp, but good, giving the feeling that you were far away from everything.

The bushes they were sitting by suddenly rustled, Fida and Elvia stood back, Elvia in front of Fida. The bush rustled more, leaves fell, and then the head of a Murkrow poked out at them. It leered at Fida and her pony tails and walked fully out of the bush, hopping around and pecking at the ground, though still occasionally glancing at Fida. It was the same Murkrow from earlier, Fida could somehow tell. Elvia was wary about the bird, and was ready to defend Fida at a moments' notice. Fida was completely fascinated with the thing, being totally distracted from the more pressing matter at hand. Did it follow her into the forest? Or was it just coincidence?

"H-hi there," Fida greeted in a tone that was almost inaudible.

The Murkrow glanced over at her and then jerk its head up and shut its eyes; its way of saying ‘Hmph!' Then it flew away. Fida thought curiously for a moment, though she eventually returned her attention to her current situation. Perhaps people would be coming to look for her soon, or maybe people were already searching. Certainly her mother saw where she ran; if she stayed here in the forest she would be found.

The duo moved east, deeper into the forest. After so long Fida had visions of eyes staring at her through the inky blackness. After about another hour of walking they suddenly stepped from the forest and onto a road. There was a bright light to their right. A delivery truck of sorts was parked; the driver was apparently doing something to the wheels.

The two of them looked around, not being noticed by the man. A mix of emotions ran through Fida's head. Fear, excitement, nervousness, exhilaration, and more. The night was cold now; the child was happy to have her sweater and scarf.

Elvia herself pondered what they should do, trying to be more level headed than her human partner was being. Cautiously she phased into the truck for a brief moment, then came out and beckoned Fida. The girl's heart raced again as she quietly made her way over to the side of the truck. Reaching out towards Misdreavus, Fida found herself consumed by a strange energy and passing through the metal and into the truck. It was full of boxes. What they contained she did not know. She knew that she better not make any noise and simply sat quietly, feeling safer for some reason in the delivery truck of some stranger. After a while the sound of the engine echoed through the back of the truck and they began moving.

Fida's mind raced with countless thoughts. Where would she end up? What will she do once she gets there? What if she's found? What if something happens to her? How will she eat? Her stomach was growling relentlessly, she hadn't eaten for twenty four hours. "Will it be ok, Elvia?" she found herself asking the ghost. Her answer came in the form of a sudden heaviness on her eyelids as she was lulled to sleep with Elvia in her arms.
 
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Sem i just have to say this story is so moving i almost cried when i read what happens to Fida, you are an amazing writer, the story is so well written, they way the characters are portrayed, i felt so move, the plot is just brillent and i hope you post a new chapter soon.

from P.Chao
 
O-O

This is really good! I'm totally drawn into the story now and I can't wait till th next part. I want to know what happens to Fida!
 

Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
-Chapter 3-

A sudden jolt awoke Fida from her sleep. The truck had stopped and voices from outside could be heard. Fida yawned silently and rubbed her eyes. She gazed at her watch; it read 6:00am. Elvia yawned as well and hovered groggily. The latch started moving: someone was coming in. Elvia took hold of Fida and they phased out through the bottom of the truck and snuck out from under it. The morning was just as chilly as it was the morning before. Fida fixed her clothes and rubbed her hands together. They seemed to be at a truck stop, a few of the large vehicles were lined up by the gas tanks.

The sky overhead was cloudy; it looked like it was going to rain. The smell of hot food reached her nose and remembered how famished she was. She clutched her stomach. Her feet crunched on the gravel as she walked towards the stop's diner, despite her lack of cash. The smell only intensified as she drew nearer.

"Oh, you're a young one aren't you?" Fida heard as she went to open the door. She turned and spotted another girl. The girl was older than her; a bit taller for the age she appeared to be. She had long black hair tied into a pony-tail, long enough that if untied it would certainly reach to the base of her spine. Her skin was pale, but her eyes shone in a brilliant blue color. She wore a deep blue top; her tennis shoes were of the same blue. Black jeans covered her legs and a black hoodie was tied around her waist. She had arm warmers on her arms that were blue with black heart patterns. Around her neck was a silver heart-shaped locket.

"…Huh?" was Fida's only response shaken from her thoughts of food in her stomach; though when she finally looked at the girl she took her time taking this girl in, she looked amazing. Even so, Fida was light-headed from hunger.

"Mime?" Fida looked down and noticed a Pokémon standing beside the girl: it was mimicking Fida's confused pose and facial expression. It was tiny, blue and pink in color; it looked like it was wearing a hat of sorts. All in all it looked like a miniature clown. It was something she had never even heard of before.

"No, don't make fun of her, Muku!" the girl scolded the pokémon, it giggled a bit in retaliation. She looked at Fida. "Sorry about him," she smiled. "The name's Tara, and that's Muku," she held out her hand, Fida shook it.

"N-nice to meet you…" Fida responded. "M-my name's Fida."

"Fida, huh? Pleased to meet you too then little lady," Tara grinned politely.

"S-so, his name is Muku?" Fida looked curiously at him; he was currently lost in his own world, dancing for an imaginary audience. "Y-you want to meet Elvia?" she asked both of them. Elvia appeared on cue and nodded in salutation, smiling a bit as her red and yellow eyes examined these new faces.

"Oh, a Misdreavus!" exclaimed Tara happily. "We have them back home too, some of them are pretty mean, but Elvia seems nice," she smiled big and leaned forward to take a closer look. Muku copied his trainer's pose and expression as he too looked at Elvia.

"Well I'm starved." Tara said finally. "What about you, Fida? You hungry?" Tara asked. Fida nodded. "You are a bit on the skinny side too…" Tara trailed off, her finger was tapping her chin and her eyes rolled up as if there were some cloud right above them.

"Well let's go!" Tara pulled open the door, letting Fida and the once again cloaked Elvia to enter, and then she herself went in, Muku skipped in happily after her.

The two were seated at a table near the back of the old diner. It had black and white tiled flooring and a once-white paint on the walls that was now a dirty grey. Dim light from the overcast day streamed in through the large windows.

They ordered giant glasses of orange juice, a coffee, a big order of pancakes, and a bowl of fruit. Fida could only stare at the food when it arrived. There was so much, and it looked delicious. She had never had pancakes before, but she loved them straight away. They both ate like mad, Fida especially, but even after she was full Tara was still eating.

Eventually, Tara stopped her rampage of pancake devouring. She picked up her steaming coffee and leaned back. "So where are you from, Fida?" she took a sip.

"M-me? I'm from Violet City…" Fida looked down, seeming a bit reluctant or ashamed. Tara took note of this, but decided she wouldn't press her on it.

"Ah, I see…" she stirred her coffee. "I passed through there two days ago… Nice place!" she raised her cup in a toast of sorts. "How old are you?"

"I just turned eight a few weeks ago…"

"Oh, you're very young!" Tara's eye's widened. "I didn't know Johto allowed you to join the league that young."

"O-oh, I'm not registered…"

"Are you a trainer?"

"… I-I don't know…" Fida couldn't provide a definite answer for something not even herself knew yet. Tara took another sip and thought over this strange girl. She was very young, and already on her own. She seemed extremely shy, and almost afraid to speak.

"Just starting out then, eh?"

"S-sorta…" Fida was silent for a while. "What about you? A-are you a trainer?"

"Sure am!" Tara raised her mug. "I'm from the Sinnoh region, started out as an official trainer when I was ten, just a little over five years ago, but I've been with Pokémon my whole life."

She was a trainer! And from Sinnoh too! Fida didn't know much about it. She knew it was north of Johto and Kanto and that there were many kinds of Pokémon there not in Johto, like Muku. "So you caught Muku in Sinnoh?"

"Muku here's been with me for years, even before I was a trainer." She looked over at him. Muku, who had been busy nibbling on fruit while mimicking the different facial expression's in the restaurant, stopped and nodded in response.

"W-what is he?" Fida questioned.

"Well, he's a Mime Jr," she began. "Mime Jr. are psychic pokémon and they can evolve into Mr. Mime. They generally like to copy anything a person or another pokémon does."

"Oh, so every Mime Jr. is like that?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't make it any less adorable," Tara chuckled, Fida smiled a bit too. "Though what he does do that seems entirely his own personal behavior; he dances, everywhere, all the time, like he's in his own little world," she waved her hands around in small circles and wiggled her fingers with her eyes wide and her mouth in the shape of an ‘o'. "In a world where everyone is his audience," she nodded. "He's pretty vain."

The girls chatted a bit more and then left the diner and the truck stop. "T-thank you for the breakfast, Tara." Fida thanked the girl

"Oh, no problemo, kid," she nodded. There was a pause for a moment

"W-well, guess I better get going, see you later…" Fida responded, trying very unsuccessfully to hide her sadness.

"And where exactly are you going?" Tara questioned as she placed her hands on her hips, Muku did the same.

Fida thought for a moment. She had no idea really. She had no money, nowhere to go. "I don't k-know…" she hung her head.

"Hey, cheer up. You can travel with me!" Her stern look turned into a smile. "Come on, we can be travel companions. Plus I'm new here; it's your job as hostess to show me around the region."

Travel? With Tara? Like trainers do? Fida wanted to, she really did. She had only known Tara for a couple hours but she already liked her. She was… nice. She'd only be a burden to Tara though; she'd only slow her down.

"O-oh, thank you… but I couldn't" Fida's gaze drifted off to the side.

"Oh yes you can, you have nothing else to do and no where to go, and you know it too," Tara began tapping her foot and she crossed her arms.

She was right, Fida did know it. After a long while Fida finally answered. "W-well… ok…" she said unsurely, but inside her it felt so right.

"Excellent!" Tara clapped her hands together. "Let's get going then."

-------

They walked for a bit along the road, they were in the middle of nowhere it seemed. Fida really had no idea where she even was, she didn't know where the truck she boarded last night was going, all she cared about at the time was that it was going somewhere away from Violet. They eventually saw someone and asked them. They were on route 32, a bit south of the Ruins of Alph.

Tara was a fast walker, taking big strides, Fida had a little trouble keeping up, she would have to get used to this. Muku and his tiny legs were unable to keep up with either girl without running at full sprint, and so leaned over Tara's right should, making strange hand motions in the air as she walked.

Tara talked most of the time, telling Fida more about herself. About her life in Sinnoh, her gym challenges, her trips to other places. She had only been in Johto for a few weeks, but was enjoying the region she said, and its Pokémon.

About mid-day they reached a large body of water. Rocky cliffs surrounded it on the left side, the route past with on the right. But there was also a bridge running across. The girls decided to stop here for a while and rest.

The sun was high in the sky now, the clouds from before had cleared, and a soft breeze sprayed specs of water at anyone near the waterline. Tara laid out on the grass and looked at the water's surface. Fida sat near her with her knees drawn up to her chest. She was quite content at the moment, the day started out amazingly well for her, and she enjoyed every moment of it.

Tara reached under the sweater around her waist to her bag that was also around her waist and pulled out two spheres. They were pokéballs; one was the completely white with a red center, the other was teal on top with a net-pattern on it, Fida had never seen them before. "Hey Fida, want to see my other Pokémon?" What a question.

"Y-yes!" Fida beamed at Tara. She watched the spherical devices fly through the air; they burst open, releasing dazzling displays of white light. The burst from the strange ball was different as well, the white light came out like a net that was just cast, as it hit the surface of the water it formed together to fit the creature's shape. What was left behind was a floating black symbol that resembled a ‘T' with an eye, and a large blue Pokémon in the water; it had many tentacles and two large, red, orb-like gems embedded into its head. Fida recognized the Tentacruel right away, but the other Pokémon was a mystery to her, though it looked somewhat familiar.

"W-wow…" she looked intently at each new creature; her eyes had a glassy look. "They're both very nice, Tara. The Tentacruel and the… um…"

"Unown," Tara answered. "They're strange things, really. It seems to only know one attack, but it's fairly powerful. And I've witnessed some unique traits it has," she too focused her attention on the floating symbol. "I got him back in Sinnoh- well, I call him a him, I have no idea what gender he really is, or if he has one at all…" she trailed. "I'm surprised you don't know what T was, I hear those Ruins of Alph have had Unown-sightings."

Fida still had no clue; she didn't pay much attention to the news. Though she was surprised that Mr. Klubbin hadn't mentioned them at all. "So, you call him T?" Fida asked, still watching T, who was currently hovering over by some flowers by the water, staring intently at them with his large eye.

"Yep, because he kinda looks like the letter T, you know?" Fida nodded. "Tentacruel here I named Namoraw," she smiled. "He's been with me almost as long as Muku." Muku had taken to looking at the flowers like T. "He looks so fearsome, and he is, but he's also very gentle, I dunno what I'd do without him."

Fida nodded as she observed the pokémon as they went wandered around enjoying their time outside. "S-so, you only have three pokémon?" Fida asked, surely a trainer as experienced as Tara would have more.

"No, I have others, but they're back home. I wanted to have some room for new Pokémon." Calm silence filled the air for a few minutes. "So how long have you known Elvia?"

"Um… two weeks…" she answered. Elvia herself had finally chosen to un-cloak herself and orbited around Fida. "I-I kinda saved her…"

"Oh, that's awesome." Tara widened her eyes in surprise. "She seems very protective of you."

"Y-yeah… she saved me too…" in her mind flashed images of that night.

"Oh?" Tara wanted to delve further, but it was obviously a sensitive issue by the look on her face. Fida would tell her on her own if she wished, but she did have her secrets, odd for someone as young as her. "So you two look out for each other then? That's good," she nodded. The girls relaxed for a while more before resuming their trip south.

-------

As they turned onto the path that went down the lake there was a disturbance in the bushes off to their right. The plants rustled for a few moments, and then from out of them came a black bird. Murkrow walked straight across the path in front of the girls, never taking its eyes off Fida until after it had vanished into the vegetation on the other side.

"Oh… i-it was the Murkrow again." Fida said dumfounded. "I guess it followed me…"

"You're being followed by Murkrow? You are strange," she giggled. Fida's mouth formed a tiny grin. The duo started down the route and mere seconds later they were stopped. A young trainer had walked up to them, he looked a couple years older than Fida, but still younger than Tara. There was nothing too special about him; he wore some simple jean shorts and a red t-shirt with a pokéball on the front, and had some sandy blond hair.

"Hey there!" he said a bit enthusiastically. "Do either of you wanna a battle?" he looked at each of them eagerly.

Tare looked at Fida and then at him. "Do you want to?"

Fida withdrew a bit. A battle? She'd hadn't thought of them yet, nor about her participating in them. She didn't even know if she was going to even consider herself a trainer. "N-no…"

"Hmph!" the boy said.

"Oh, don't worry little boy, I'll battle you." Tara winked, as did Muku.

"You? With that… err… whatever it is," he looked down at Muku.

"You don't look down at Muku, little boy," Tara snapped. "Yes, I will battle you with him." She smirked

"Fine." He closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. The three humans walked off the road to a clear area. The boy pulled a Pokéball off a trainer's belt which he proudly displayed. "I've been training this guy for a while now, you'll have a hard time beating him," he sneered and tossed the ball into the air. The dazzling light-display left a red-orange creature with yellow and purple legs in its wake. It had mandibles and a horn on its insect-like head, purple eyes stared menacingly for prey. The arachnid-like pokémon hissed and prepared for combat.

Tara smirked; she had been training with Muku almost as long as this kid's been alive. Both Tara and Muku were very competitive, even though Muku seemed fairly lost in his own world most of the time. Muku danced and twirled his way onto the field. "One on one?" she asked, the boy nodded while stifling a laugh. Fida watched from the sidelines and was anxious for the battle to start. She had never properly seen one, even when they showed the Johto League live on TV, but she wasn't allowed to watch that.

Then, suddenly, "Poison Sting!" and the battle began. Ariados shook violently, sending needle-like hairs at Muku at blazing speed.

"Reflect." Tara countered. Muku twirled once and began moving his tiny hands in the air in a, well, mime-like fashion. Right as the Poison Sting attack was about to hit a wall of energy formed in front of Muku, the needles bounced off like air and were scattered everywhere, some even back at the ariados. It barely dodged, moving its legs to get out of the way.

The boy looked annoyed, but shook it off. "Agility, ariados!" the spider was gone in the blink of an eye, zooming around the field of battle.

"Muku, Calm Mind." Muku closed his eyes and focused inwardly, working to detach himself from the arena and gain a higher level of power. If the boy was smart he would attack in this moment of opportunity, but Tara figured he'd use Agility to confuse, rather than to rush in and attack; her hunch was correct, and he was too slow with his attack.

"Toxic!" he yelled. Ariados reared back its head and launched a purple colored glop of string from its mandibles. Muku, however, had just tapped into the strand of power he was searching for, and was filled with it.

"Safeguard." A white glow surrounded Muku's form, the goop hit and slid off, leaving behind no trace. "Confuse Ray!" Tara ordered. Muku brought both his arms together and a small orb of yellow-orange energy formed between his hands. The mime launched it at the spider, the orb made contact with the arachnid's head and simply vanished, no visible damage, but everyone knew it would now be in a confused state.

The boy was gritting his teeth now. "S-Signal Beam!" he stuttered. Ariados was teetering on its legs, looking dizzy and, well, confused. It reared back and attacked, but was twirled around from the force of its own attack as it launched; the beam grazed the grass to the left of Muku and some trees, almost hitting its own trainer.

"You see now, boy?" Tara looked over at him with her head tilted back, her left arm on her hip. "You need skill in order to be good, has nothing to do with power; Muku, use Psychic." Muku, who was mimicking Tara's pose, nodded. His eyes turned a light blue color, and his body was surrounded by a faint outline. He reached out his arms towards Ariados, sending fiercely powerful psychic energy to attack it mentally in any way possible, causing it great psychological and physical exhaustion. Finally Ariados was lifted into the air and tossed back at its trainer in a heap. It was knocked out cold. The boy grew red in the face and recalled his pokémon, he walked over and paid Tara a certain amount of money and walked away in a huff.

Tara waved the cash at Fida and smiled. Fida was in awe at the whole performance. Tara was perfect in the way she battled it seemed. Fida found herself believing she could never reach Tara, never be on that kind of level. "T-that was great!" Fida beamed.

Tara chuckled. "I'm just glad I humbled that kid a bit, maybe he'll take what I said to heart. Listen, Fida, it doesn't matter what kind of pokémon you have, if you have the skill, you can do it."

Fida nodded. Muku had just skipped and danced over to where they were and took an elegant bow. "You were great too, Muku!" Fida smiled and giggled.

"Mime!" he responded happily. Fida giggled some more, becoming aware of just how happy she was.

Tara wanted to ask. "Fida, do you want to be a trainer?"

Fida looked down. "W-well… it's always been one of my dreams… I want to."

"Oh, you'll love being a pokémon trainer, come on, I'll help you." She smiled.

Fida grinned. Someone as good as Tara, helping her? "O-ok…!" she paused. "W-well, I mean… Only if Elvia wants to…" Elvia appeared a nudged Fida on the cheek, nodding her head.

"Excellent, most excellent." Tara nodded with approval. "Now let's get going!"

-------

The girls walked for many more hours, until the sun was golden as it sailed down the horizon. They were undisturbed all the way, though they saw a few more trainers, none sought to challenge them, however. They eventually found a spot to settle down for the night. Tara pulled out her sleeping bag and handed it to Fida.

"You're sleeping in this, no buts about it." And she walked away. She knew Fida would protest, and even though Fida stayed silent, she was protesting on the inside.

Tara went about setting camp, Muku helped with the fire, using a move Fida later found out was called Will-O-Wisp. Eventually everything was set and Tara was heating some form of food over the fire. The girls ate, and then Fida spent the remainder of the night listening to Tara speak of her adventures. Fida's mood had gone in a complete opposite direction in comparison to the night before, where she was a runaway sleeping in back of a truck, to now where she felt very content for once in her life, and no one was there to ruin it.
 
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I'm so addicted. More, Sem! :D

I think you've inspired me to write my own. The second post seemed a little funny, the quality wasn't as high as the first two. But I like it. I like Fida. And Elvia.

The girl, Tara. I read her discription and recognized it stright off. "That's Sem in RP form, a-yup." I said to myself. ^^

Brava.
 
Wow, Sem, you've got me hooked. And considering how easily I get bored, that's a maaaajor compliment. I can't wait to read the next part and see what happens to Fida!
 

Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
-Chapter 4-

"Hidden Power!" Tara's confident voice pierced the silence of the morning. T closed his single eye and concentrated; spheres of purple energy surrounded it. As soon as they had become about the size of volleyballs T re-opened his eye and the attack was unleashed. It ripped through the air and over the ground, kicking up a little dust and loose blades of grass in its wake.

"D-dodge it, Elvia!" Fida responded nervously; she had her left arm holding her right, her right hand up to her mouth in her anxiety. Elvia easily floated out of harm's way, the Hidden Power hit a tree, making it shudder - a few leaves danced to the ground.

"Well, I think you have dodging Hidden Power down," Tara put a hand to her hip. "But you need to try attacking more."

Fida nodded. She thought to herself, trying to remember what Tara's Pokédex said Elvia was capable of using. She had spent almost the entire day yesterday looking up pokémon on Tara's Sinnoh PokéDex, she was fascinated with all the creatures that resided in that region.

"Elvia, u-use… Psybeam!" she recalled the name of the attack. Elvia nodded, her eyes filled with a mixture of colors briefly before multi-color beams shot from her eyes, they formed into one ray as they neared T.

"Dodge it and get in close, T." The symbol did as he was told; he glided out of the way just in time and rushed in close to Elvia. "Hidden Power!" Again the spheres of power surrounded the unown and they were sent at Elvia. Elvia had no time to do anything and was hit with the attack. She wailed in pain as she was sent flying and hit a tree.

"Elvia!" Fida squealed as she rushed over. Elvia regained her senses and shook herself, she wasn't done yet. Fida smiled in relief as her friend floated gracefully back onto the field.

"Excellent job, T," Tara smiled. Unown floated up and down; glad to have his trainer's appreciation. "Ready to try that again, Fida?"

Fida nodded again. "Psybeam again, Elvia!" she said more confidently. Again Elvia launched the psychic-type attack against T, who dodged and rushed in close to Elvia just as before. Elvia was ready for it this time though. "Elvia, use Protect!" a faintly purple bubble enveloped Elvia, just as the Hidden Power was about to hit. The attack made contact with the bubble and each sphere was snuffed out.

Tara clapped. "Thad'a girl."

Fida's tiny smile grew bigger. "N-now use Confuse Ray!" A tiny, bright orange-yellow ball appeared before Elvia. The attack made contact with T and sent him into a fit of spirals, too dizzy to do anything else. Elvia's eyes flared up, as if she had made a huge discovery. She looked at Fida, who seemed to understand what Elvia was trying to say, nodded. Elvia turned to face T, her chain of red pearls glowed, turning completely purple. Shadows seemed to be called to her, strands of shadow came from everywhere, every shadow, and condensed into a ball that was forming before Elvia. Once it was at a considerable size Elvia sent the ghostly sphere at T. It pulsed with otherworldly power, dark energy that resembled lighting arced around it. T was helpless to do anything and was hit by Elvia's attack. It whined in pain as it was sent rocketing through the air. Tara ran and caught T before he could collide into a rock. The force knocked Tara onto her rump as she caught T.

Slowly, she got up, wiping dust off her pants, T still in her arm. "Huh, so Elvia learned a new attack." She turned, her grave look softened and she smiled. "That's great."

"R-really?" Fida asked. "What was it?" she was shocked at the attack's power, as was Elvia, who glided over to be with Fida at her side.

Tara nodded. "Yes, that was Shadow Ball, and will be one of the strongest attacks Elvia will ever know," she looked down at the black symbol in her arms, T was just regaining consciousness. "Too bad T had to be the one to witness just how powerful it is." She giggled.

"Y-yeah, we're sorry, T." Fida looked down.

"No, don't worry about it." Tara returned the KO'd unown to its pokéball. "Now, T is rather new to my team, but you were able to beat him. You should be proud." Muku stopped his dance routine and clapped for Fida.

Fida smiled again and hugged Elvia. "You were great!" she cried with glee. Elvia grinned and nuzzled back.

"Maybe next time I'll sick Namoraw on you." Tara taunted.

"O-oh… I could never beat him, or Muku." Fida looked down, taking into account how ferocious that tentacruel looked and how Muku easily dealt with that Ariados the other day.

"Nah, it'd be tough at first," Tara agreed. "But like I said, kido; battling isn't about power as much as it's about skill. And believe me, you seem to have a knack for battling. You got the skill." Tara walked over to Fida and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Now we just gotta help you build it up."

Fida smiled again. Tara thought she was good. Maybe she wouldn't be a bad trainer after all.

Tara stretched. "We better get going." They packed up camp and resumed their journey down route 32. They were close to the end now after a few days of walking, so close in fact that they found the Pokémon Center that marked the end of the route later that day

They walked into the center, their footsteps echoed on the pure white, reflective tiles and the white walls. The center just screamed the words clean and sanitary. Soft blue furniture was arranged on either side of the room, potted plants in the corners. Computers and telephones in the back as well as three mounted flat-screens completed the look.

Elvia chose to cloak herself: she was sure people would make a fuss if they saw her. Muku, however, garnered all their attention, dancing and spinning so smoothly and elegantly on the tile that it seemed like he was skating. He did this the whole way to the front desk, where he jumped up onto the counter, spun around to face the way he had come, and came to a bow. The pink-haired nurse giggled. "What an adorable Mime Jr.," she patted Muku on the head.

"Oh, don't encourage him, Nurse Joy." Tara rolled her eyes. "He's a big a show-off." Muku stuck out his tongue at Tara and cart wheeled off the counter, resuming his tile-skating. Tara rolled her eyes again and then focused her attention on Nurse Joy. "I would like you to check up on these two, make sure they're in good condition." She held up two Pokéballs. "This one especially," she wiggled T's Pokéball with her fingers.

Nurse Joy nodded. "Sure," she smiled kindly, the way all Nurse Joys did, and took the two Pokéballs. The girls rested in the lounge, watching news reports and other things on the flat-screen near them. Before long Nurse Joy called them up, telling them Tara's pokémon were in perfect health. "You planning to go on ahead into Union Cave?" she asked. "You could probably get through the whole thing if you leave now. You'll be out the other side by nightfall."

Tara considered this. "What do you think, Fida? Up for it?" she turned to face the younger girl.

Fida was unsure, she'd never been in a cave before - didn't sound safe either. Still, Tara would be with her, and it did sound pretty thrilling. "I'm ok with it…"

"Mm, me too." She turned back to the Joy. "I guess we'll go."

"Go with caution then, lots of accidents happen to those who aren't careful," for once, instead of a smile there was a frown of concern. Tara nodded. "Do you two have enough supplies? Rope, healing items, medicine, food, water?"

"Yep, we have all that, miss. No worries," she grinned to put the nurse at ease.

"All right then, just remember we're open twenty-four seven!" she called to the duo as they left the center.

The two followed the path in the cave, a path that was forged by countless travelers that came before them, worn into the cave floor. It was fairly simple to stray from the trail if you wanted to, but the eerie and mysterious darkness called only to those who sought perilous adventure. Two flash lights were their guides, Tara and Fida each held one. Muku clung to Tara's shoulder; Elvia circled around Fida constantly, her red and yellow eyes piercing through the abyss.

The whole trek was relatively silent, other than the occasional Zubat or Geodude they disturbed with their lights or footsteps. They occasionally saw other lights, which signified the presence of other trainers, and they even heard sounds from a battle.

Their journey turned a little creepy near the end. Haunting wails echoed throughout the whole cave, a call from deep within the mountain. The very sound sent chills down Fida's spine. "T-think we're close to the end, Tara?" she asked, looking up at her.

"I hope so," the older girl frowned. She held her right arm that was holding the flash light with her left. They walked for another half an hour, and the wailing finally stopped, but something new had shown itself now. There were boulders blocking the path. They were massive and seemed immovable. Tara walked up and ran her hand across the smooth stones. She shined the flash light around. "Hm, well, that's alright. You can handle a few boulders, right Muku?" she shifted her eyes to Muku. He nodded and jumped off her shoulder. He waved his arms and hands rhythmically in the air and was surrounded by a light blue aura. As he was about to use the attack he stopped.

"Mime," he looked back at Tara, and shook his head.

"What? Why?" Tara thought for a moment.

"Elvia can help!" Fida offered excitedly. "Elvia, use Shadow Ball again."

"N-no! Stop!" Tara yelled and waved at Elvia, Muku mimicked his trainer. It was too late however; the Shadow Ball attack flew at the boulders and made a terrific explosion of dark energy. The boulders shuddered and began to move, the sound of rock grinding against rock filled everyone's ears, along with a rumble, that started low at first, but rose to a deafening roar. The boulders were moving, but not because they were falling, more like rising. Tara shined the light to their left and saw a giant head rising from the ground. It turned and faced them, roaring again. It appeared to be an enormous snake made entirely of rocks.

The creature looked at them and then raised its tail.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" Tara yelled. The girls dove off to the side as the tail slammed down to where they once stood. Rocks flew up everywhere, dirt and dust rained on the girls.

"W-what is it?!" Fida screamed over the noise. Elvia was so close she might as well have been attached to Fida.

"It's an Onix!" Tara yelled back.

Fida blew it big time. She had just provoked an Onix to unleash its wrath upon them. She was a failure, and now they were doomed. Hot tears streamed down her face, more out of fear that moment than out of shame. There was another loud crash and the cave rumbled. Tara ran through the dirt cloud over to Fida. "Come on!" she shook Fida.

"W-hat d-do we do?" she whined.

"We have to either find a way around it or fight it off," she paused, her breathing was heaving, her eyes wide and alert as she looked around and listened. "The latter is the only choice now," she frowned at Fida. "Come on, don't worry. It's alright," Tara wiped Fida's tears away with dusty hands. "I can't fight it off without your help."

Fida sniffed again and nodded. "A-alright."

Tara nodded. "Good. Now, Muku, use Meditate!" Muku nodded and sat still, surrounded by an orange aura. The area around them still shook violently, the Onix was tearing up the cave to find the ants that disrupted its slumber.

Muku opened his eyes, which now glowed with the same orange for a moment, then it flickered away. "Right then." Tara said. "Give it a good Brick Break." Muku nodded. It jumped out from behind the rock they were all behind and faced the Onix. Then he jumped up, using his own psychic power to make his jump high enough, then he delivered a powerful punch right in-between the Onix's eyes.

The rock snake reared back in pain, grumbling and shaking its head. Just as it regained its senses it was hit by a Psybeam attack from Elvia. Tara shot her gaze at Fida and gave a thumbs up. Fida nodded in response. The rock snake growled ferociously, the cave shuddered, stalactites cracked and fell, stalagmites shattered and crumbled. It was using Rock Throw, and it added to the chaos of the falling stones by smacking boulders at the girls with its massive tail. Elvia retreated back to Fida, touching the girl, causing the boulders to simply fly through her; Muku stood at Tara's feet and created a Reflect.

No harm befell the girls, boulders simply bounced and rolled off of Muku's wall and phased right through Fida and Elvia. The onix grunted, its attack having been foiled. It decided to really test that barrier. It roared once more, the loudest so far. The cavern shook more violently than ever, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, everything cracked.

Tara's eyes widened. "Earthquake!" she shouted. Instinctively Elvia took hold of Fida and hoisted her into the air. Muku focused all his will into the Reflect. The shaking continued, it seemed like forever, the moments ticked by slowly. Elvia and Fida fared well in the air, but Muku and Tara were having a rough time. The Reflect surrounded them completely, like a cube, but the Earthquake was ferocious, and cracks soon appeared in Muku's walls of psychic power. They threatened to shatter, leaving both to feel the raw force of the quake.

Fida pointed at them and Elvia went into action. She surrounded herself and Fida in a Protect and moved their floating bubble over to Tara and Muku, enveloping them in it. This happened just in time: the Reflect broke into millions of shards, knocking Muku back. Elvia hoisted them in the air for the remainder of the attack.

Muku regained himself in the bubble. "Thanks, Fida," Tara sighed in relief. "Fida, you think you can distract that thing for a bit?" Fida nodded. "Good." She turned to Muku. "Let's try a Calm Mind." The Mime Jr. nodded and sat still, in deep concentration. The quake finally ended, the Onix saw its attempts were futile. Elvia gently set them all on the ground.

"E-Elvia, try a Confuse Ray!" Fida said unsurely. Elvia sent the orb of confusion at the titan-snake. Onix was hit, and immediately began swaying to and fro. It would have been the opportune moment to escape then, if it wasn't for the fact that the Onix was wriggling and writhing around in a hazardous manner.

Fida looked over at Muku, noticing he was still not ready; the power he was looking for must have been deep. She had to keep distracting the serpent. "Psybeam again, Elvia!" Fida cried out to her friend. Elvia nodded and launched her attack. The multi-color ray again hit the desired target. Onix recoiled and mumbled, then shook its head. It looked from Elvia to Muku and dove straight for the immobile mime.

"No!" Fida yelled.

Tara ran out in front of Muku and held her arms out. "YOU GO THROUGH ME FIRST!" she yelled adamantly at the top of her lungs. Onix did not stop but continued moving forward like a train, and would probably hit the both of them with the force of one. Impact was only seconds away when, suddenly, from Tara's left, came an incredibly large Shadow Ball attack. It tore through the air, close to the ground, leaving a huge scar in the floor. It knocked the Onix completely off-course, sending it rolling into a wall, the cave rumbled angrily in response.

Tara looked over at Fida and an incredibly serious looking Elvia. Color soon returned to Tara's face; despite her braveness, such an experience would terrify anyone. "T-thanks," she put her hands on her knees, gasping for air.

The onix, however, did not seem to want to go down. Groggily it rose again and glared at Elvia. It lunged forward at its new target. Fida, moved by Tara's bravery, was in front of Elvia in an instant. Elvia let out a sharp cry and tried her best to push Fida out of the way.

"Enough!" Tara shouted. The onix stopped and leered at her. "This struggle is now over," the teen stated very simply, but it seemed more like a fact, not her opinion. Beside her was Muku, floating in the air, eyes glowing furiously, his body burned with psychic energy. In one swift move of his arm the Psychic attack was launched. It was so powerful that the rocks and boulders in the immediate area began to float as gravity ceased to have an effect; Tara was lost in weightlessness as well. Even Fida herself, from her distance, felt a little light.

The onix soon found itself assaulted by tendrils of psychic power; they wrapped around and covered it completely. With another swift movement of the arm the onix was hurled through the air and into a wall on the far side of the cave. There was a terrific shudder, one that any living thing in the entire cave could hear and feel.

Tara flicked her head back, removing a stray strand from her eye, and then she caught Muku as he descended. He looked weak for a bit, but soon regained his composure.

"You did excellent," Tara rubbed Muku against her cheek. Muku smiled and giggled in return.

Fida simply stood in amazement. So much power, from that little creature. Fida was in awe, she one day hoped for Elvia to be that powerful. Then she realized that Elvia was already fairly strong - that Shadow Ball was her best yet. "You were great too, Elvia," Fida told and embraced her friend.

"Yes, she was," Tara said. "She saved us," Tara walked up closer and bowed, as did Muku. "Thank you, Elvia... and you too, Fida," she added. "It wouldn't of worked without you," she pulled Fida close and embraced her. Fida gasped, blushing intensely. The hug was a bit strange and sudden, she received them very rarely, and the sensation was new. She felt safe in the arms of such a good person. Perhaps that's what all hugs felt like.

"Now then!" Tara looked up ahead of them now that the way was clear, although a bit battle-scarred. The faint purple of a setting sun was visible up ahead. "Ah! And there it is, the exit," she looked down at Fida. "I say we get the heck out of this god-forsaken cave."

The two were out of the cave and into the cool evening air in only minutes. Something was there to greet them however. They both looked down at something that was immediately in their way. It cawed at them and leered at Fida with its eyes. Fida could simply not believe this bird was still stalking her. It had shown up the other day as well while they were training.

"Hey, look!" Tara pointed. "You're starting to scare me, Fida," she nodded. "Being followed by Murkrow is not normal, and causes bad luck." She teased.

There was a low rumble. Murkrow cawed again and fluttered away. Tara watched it curiously as it flew away, then looked at the ground. Within seconds it erupted. Chunks of earth flew everywhere and there was a lot of dust. The four of them heard an all too familiar roar.

"Oh, gods," Tara moaned as she gazed up at the onix. "Fida, do you mind?" she asked, pulling out a Pokéball, the strange one with the net pattern. "I see only one way to deal with it once and for all." Fida understood and nodded silently, taking a step back with Elvia.

"Your battle is with me, beast!" she called out to it. She threw Namoraw's ball into the air and released him. Though he looked a bit out of place on land, his tentacles supported him just fine.

The Onix roared mightily in response, accepting her challenge. "Let's start out like always then," she glared at the serpent. Namoraw nodded and lifted his two foremost tentacles into the air, waving them around in a rhythmic pattern. The red orbs in his head began to glow. Faster and faster the arms moved, flowing as if they were liquid through the air, until finally the silence was broken by the sound of thunder. Dark clouds rushed in from all sides and formed together. First there was one drop, then two, then one hundred, then thousands and thousands. The rain came in sheets, thoroughly soaking the ground.

Onix mumbled in annoyance, rain was not its most favorite weather. "Good," Tara confirmed. "Now let's make some noise!" Namoraw growled deeply and slammed his two tentacles into the ground. The growl was magnified many times; Fida had to cover her ears - her whole body vibrated with the sound. The Onix did its best to endure the Supersonic, but it couldn't focus on anything else.

"Hydro Pump!" Tara commanded, pointing her arm at the snake. The Tentacruel opened his beak wide and an enormous jet of water issued forth, slamming into onix and making it slide back several feet. It moaned in pain and sought an escape. Onix was soon underground, and no one knew where it could pop up, though the best guess was right under Namoraw.

"Feel for the vibrations," Tara told him. "and move out of the way once you're sure where it will re-surface." Namoraw grunted in response and did as he was told. As predicted, the Onix surfaced right under him, but he moved just in time. Using its tail, Onix slammed it into the ground, sending large chunks of rocks into the air, then it quickly brought its tail back up and slammed them at Namoraw.

"Barrier!" Tara said quickly. Tentacruel waved his arms around in a another pattern, all of the rain falling around the water-type began to follow the arms and formed into a wall of liquid. The jellyfish slowly lowered his arms, putting the wall under high pressure, making it as hard as any steel wall. The boulders slammed into the wall and crumbled, though Namoraw and his wall were pushed back by the sheer force.

Onix saw its chance and rushed up, hitting the wall head-on with its horn. The wall dispersed and the water splashed to the ground. Namoraw was knocked back into a tree and fell to the ground with a groan. Slowly, he pulled himself up and stood ready.

"Let's try a Screech!" Again the tentacruel barraged the rock snake with sound waves, only instead of a dull rumble is was a piercing shriek. The Rock-type closed its eyes and shook its head, the sound was unbearable, more so for it.

"Water Pulse!" Tara said quickly. Namoraw reared his head and shot three rings of water, which also sent out sound waves. One by one each ring hit the onix, making a distinctive tone while doing so. The onix was thoroughly soaked now, and it disliked it greatly. It opened its mouth wide and a jet of green fire shout out, aimed at Namoraw. Dragonbreath hit dead on with the jellyfish Pokémon and he groaned in pain. Burns appeared on his flesh and he seemed unable to move.

"Paralyzed…" Tara spat, Muku looked on with a worried face. "Try to move!" Tara urged Namoraw. "Try an Ice Beam!" With great effort, he was able to get into a position for attacking. Slowly his beak opened and a blue spark flashed, faint at first, but then it grew into a light blue colored ball of energy. Three lightning-like strands of energy burst from the ball and hit the soaked, stone serpent. Ice formed quickly and soon covered the beast completely. It stood still, like a great sculpture of ice.

Namoraw stood shakily, trying his best to get used to his condition. There was the sound of cracking and shattering, onix was breaking free. "Quick! Get in close!" Tara ordered. Namoraw did so just, using the slick ground to slide over as Onix broke free of its icy casing. It was visibly weak, as was the dual Water/Poison-type, but Tara had her plan.

"Now!" she boomed. Before Onix could react Namoraw had jumped up onto it, near the base of the head, and wrapped his tentacles all around. Onix could shake all it liked, but Namoraw was latched on and wouldn't come off. Then there was a brief flash of green. Tiny yellow balls of light emerged from onix's body and were absorbed into his enemy's tentacles. The more spheres absorbed, the weaker onix seemed to get, and the stronger the jellyfish Pokémon seemed to become. This went on for a couple minutes until finally the Onix collapsed.

"Finally," Tara sighed in an exhausted manner. She pulled out a Pokéball and threw it at the Rock-type. The massive creature was converted into red energy and absorbed into the ball, miniscule in comparison. The ball fell to the ground and shook. Fida new this was a tense moment, and both girls waited for the familiar click. The seconds stretched into hours, sweat dripped down Tara's already soaked face. Finally, the ball clicked and ceased movement.

Tara strode over to where the ball lay. The rain began to slow down, but she was soaked to the bone. She picked up her prize and examined it, as if the ball should now be any different than from before she threw it. "This one's going to take some work…" she commented as she put the ball away. "Thank you, Namoraw." He grunted and nodded as he was returned to his ball as well.

It was dark now, the sun had long gone over the horizon. The immediate area was completely soaked, thus not suitable for a good campsite. The girls walked on for a bit until they found where it was dry. Tara set their clothes to dry on a line and huddled around the fire. The older girl cooked up some instant noodles for dinner and it was silent other than for the sound of slurping.

After they were done Tara stretched and leaned back. "So, Fida. Thinking of catching anything else?" she inquired. "Or are you happy with just Elvia?"

Fida had been thinking about that actually. She kept replaying the incident with Onix in her head. Even though it could have been a potentially fatal encounter, Fida found it exciting as she watched Tara give orders and Namoraw execute them. Then there was the throwing of the ball itself, how exciting that must feel, though anxious as well.

Fida realized she could be totally happy with just Elvia, but she also liked the idea of being able to catch any new thing that she came across, something tiny, or something mighty. She could just imagine the face of the next person Tara battled. They would see Muku and think she had a bunch of Pokémon like him, only to have her summon that enormous Onix.

Fida giggled to herself. "Um… I'm not sure," the girl twiddled her thumbs. "I mean… It'd be nice, and fun… and exciting…." she realized it was also dangerous. They were both in a very dangerous situation today, either of them could have lost their lives - Fida could have lost Tara. Tara was the only person so far who acted like a respectable adult in her life, aside from her teachers, and she wasn't even an adult! What if she did lose Tara? Or Elvia? What would she do then?

Tara nodded her head slowly. "Yep, I remember my first capture… it was Namoraw in fact. He was just a Tentacool back then," she broke Fida's silence and then mused for a moment or two, recalling the events of that day years ago. Then her head snapped back and she looked at Fida. "First order of business when we find a town is to get you some trainer gear and supplies."

Fida nodded after a moment; it sounded good enough to her. She hadn't lost Tara, that was something to be thankful for. Life on your own, on the road, was always dangerous. They just needed to take better care. She fell asleep that night excited about the next day, and happy that another day went by relatively well. She was getting used it.
 
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Now I'm really curious. Are things really looking up or is it all going to just come crashing down again on poor Fida? I can't wait for the next chapter!
 
Funny...I just noticed that I haven't commented here yet Sem. :p Now why didn't I comment earlier?

Great piece of fanfic here Sem. I love how it all flows together. The story itself puts me there. I'm not reading the story. It's so good that I can live it too. My imagination takes over and it's like I'm there. Your writing tone is soo good. Sem. Keep it up!
 

Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
-Chapter 5-

The girls awoke a bit past sunrise the next day. The morning wasn't warm like the past few mornings- it was a bit cool and crisp. The sky was cloudless, but it seemed that the morning chill cooled the sun's rays so much that it made no difference if they shone on you or not.

Fida changed out of the clothes that were many sizes too big and into her own, now dry after hanging on the line. The clothes were cold at first, but it felt good to Fida: a nice wake up call.

Tara slowly rose and stretched, shaking loose hair from her face. She tied the long hair into the usual pony tail and began packing things up. Fida decided to do the same and as she was rolling up her sleeping bag she noticed something on it. She looked closer and examined it; it looked like some form of nut or seed: it was deep blue in color.

"Oh!" Fida said as she grabbed it. "Look! I found an apricorn on my sleeping bag.

Tara walked over and leaned in to take a look. "Huh," her brow rose. "Wonder if we can eat it…" she stuck out her tongue as Fida looked up at her. "We don't have too many of these back home, in fact I don't think we have any," the older girl stated as she dragged a finger across the surface, feeling its texture. Elvia and Muku came over to investigate the object as well. "I'm sure we don't have any blue ones at least," she chuckled. "Keep it. It looks awesome."

The girls ate a small breakfast and continued on their way west, but not before Tara could check up on her new team addition. They found a large, clear area and the teen released the gargantuan creature. There was a massive flash of white light and Onix was lying before them. It cricked its eyes open weakly and let out a low rumble - it was still in pretty bad shape.

Tara frowned. "Should get Onix to a center pretty soon," sighing, she pulled out her dark blue PokéDex and did a quick examination. "This one's old," she murmured while her eyes scanned through the text. "No wonder he was so strong." The PokéDex closed with a click sound and she patted Onix before returning him to the ball.

"Too bad I don't know how far we are form the nearest town," she gazed around.

Fida looked down and tried to call back memories of what little she knew of Johto geography. "W-we were in Union Cave yesterday, right?" she asked; Tara nodded. "So…" Fida's gray eyes flickered. "We shouldn't be far from Azalea Town…"

"Hmm…" Tara pondered. "Alright then," she said simply and began walking.

------

The girls walked for a few hours, during which time nothing really change about the scenery, though it did get warmer. They found a rickety sign that read, "Slowpoke Well." They looked ahead of them and saw the town not far off and arrived there after only half an hour.

An arced gateway displaying the words ‘Azalea Town' told the girls that they had made it. The town was fairly small and quite homely, as well as green and wet.

"Well… here we are," Tara stated matter-of-factly as she looked at a map of the town that was placed conveniently near the gate, a map like those you see in amusement parks. Tara looked down at her blue watch. "Just past noon," she informed no one as she turned and looked around.

"What should we do?" Fida asked. She longed to sit down; they had been walking all day.

"Well, I say we stop at the Pokémon Center for starters," she suggested as she started walking in the center's direction. "We leave the pokémon there and then we find somewhere to eat: I'm starved."

Fida nodded in response and walked after her friend. The center they found felt the exact same as the one they were in the day before, everything was identical, down to the Nurse Joy smiling from behind the countertop. Tara pulled out her Pokéballs, minus T's, and handed them to the nurse.

"Yes, Muku, you too," She growled and forced him into his ball after a short struggle. "Time for your check-up anyway, plus we have to make sure that psychic storm of yours didn't do any damage."

Nurse Joy smiled and placed all the spherical containers onto a specialized tray.

"That one," Tara added, pointing to Onix's pokéball. "He's rather new and badly hurt."

Nurse Joy nodded her head. "I'll take care of him." Then she placed the tray on a machine and began typing away while looking at a mounted computer screen that showed statistics of each of Tara's pokémon.

Fida felt a nudge on her shoulder. She looked up at Tara who said, "I think maybe you should have her check Elvia too." Fida thought for a moment. "It'd be a good idea, just to make sure she's healthy. I'm sure yesterday took a lot out of her."

Fida nodded and whispered to her invisible Elvia. The ghost-pokémon slowly phased into sight and Fida returned her to her Pokéball. It was the first time Elvia had been inside since the night she ran away. The young girl knew Elvia would rather not be separated from her, but Fida felt it was very important to have her healthy.

"U-uhm…" Fida stuttered. "Nurse Joy?" she asked, standing on her toes and looking over the counter. Nurse Joy stopped typing and turned her head.

"Yes, sweetie?" she responded.

"C-can you make sure Elvia is healthy for me?" she rolled the ball across the top of the counter.

"Sure I can," Joy smiled and stopped the ball, placing it in the tray with the others. Then she noticed the apricorn Fida still held in her hand. "Oh? You're going to see Kurt?" she asked as she resumed her typing.

Fida looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Kurt?"

Joy nodded. "Mmhm, Kurt. The man who makes Pokéballs from apricorns?"

Fida looked over at Tara, who shrugged her shoulders. Tara propped herself on the counter with her left arm. "This Kurt makes Pokéballs from apricorns?"

"Yep," the pink-haired nurse nodded again. "No one's quite sure how he does it, except his granddaughter, but she never lets one word slip."

Tara tapped her chin with her index finger and had her eyes half-closed. "Where's his shop?" Nurse Joy proceeded to give them some directions by drawing on a piece of blank paper she took from the nearby printer. Both girls thanked her and Tara said they'd be back later to pick up their pokémon.

"This Kurt-guy sounds neat," Tara commented as they walked down the street, looking for a good place to eat. Fida nodded and held up the apricorn. She wondered what kind of Pokéball could possibly come from it. She felt a bit lonely without Elvia's familiar presence at her side, even though she was with Tara. She was very used to having Elvia nearby by now.

They found a burger place and ate there. Tara stuffed her face with her burger and a load of French fries. Fida managed to eat most of her burger and some of her fries but could eat no more after that. She wondered how Tara could eat so much yet still keep her figure.

Tara paid the bill and left a tip and the girls left the restaurant. The older girl pulled out Nurse Joy's directions from her pocket and unfolded the paper. She looked around at street signs and businesses. "It's down this way, not too far," Tara murmured as she still eyed the paper while walking.

After no more than ten minutes of walking they were outside of a very homely-looking house. Ivy wrapped around half the structure and the windows were open. A path leading to a back garden could be seen. Tara knocked gently on the door and stood back. Soon enough footsteps echoed from inside the house and the door creaked open. A girl, not much older than Tara, stood and looked at the visitors.

"Oh, hello!" she said cheerily. She noticed the blue apricorn. "You're here for a Pokéball"? she reached out for apricorn. Fida placed it into the girl's hand. "Grandpa's been pretty busy with requests lately," she twirled some of her brown hair around her finger. "It should be ready in two days," she nodded and smiled politely.

"Hm, alright then," Tara agreed. "We'll come back then." The girl bowed curtly before gently closing the door. The girls walked back from the direction they came.

"You know." She said after a while of silence. "While we're out and about we should get you those supplies," she suggested, adding a bounce to her step.

"I-I don't really have any money…" Fida responded, looking down at her shoes.

Tara sighed. "I'm paying for it, kido," she patted Fida on the head. "I would be more than happy to," she chipped, Fida smiled.

The PokéMarts were almost as easy to find in a town as the Pokémon Centers, only, instead of red roofs, they were a bright blue. There the girls got some basic needs for Fida, such as medicines, camping items, rope, food, and other such things. Fida was also able to pick up the latest version of the PokéGear, a multi-functional trainer's device. She got a field guide for the region and a messenger bag where it would all fit comfortably thanks to some item balls.

Fida was out of luck in the area of pokéballs, the store was on back-order. Tara purchased the supplies and both girls left the store. Fida was quite pleased; she didn't feel so bare with a bag on her person. In another store Tara bought Fida some extra sets of clothes and some personal hygiene items.

Tara looked Fida over and nodded several times. "Now you look like a proper trainer," she smiled big.

Fida could not help but run up and hug Tara. "Thanks so much!" she said gleefully. "I'll make it all up to you, I promise," she insisted as she stepped back, looking up into Tara's sapphire eyes.

"You make it up to me by becoming an elite trainer, k?" she laughed, throwing her head back.

Both trainers walked back to the center in order to get their pokémon back. Nurse Joy pulled out the tray that held the spherical devices and handed it to them.

"That Onix you have there should be doing much better," pink-headed Joy informed Tara. "Though, he's weak right now - that battle must've taken a lot out of him…" Joy trailed off as she looked under the counter as if looking for something.

She pulled out two bottles of vitamins labeled Iron and Zinc. She tapped both bottles with her index and middle fingers, telling Tara to "give Onix one of these each day until gone, preferably in the morning."

Tara nodded and put both bottles into her bag. "Thank you, Nurse Joy," she bowed her slightly.

Joy bowed her head in return and turned to look at Fida. "As for you, your Misdreavus seems very healthy and happy; you must be taking very good care of her," she curved her lips.

Fida smiled in return, the signs of a blush on her face. "T-thank you," she bowed her head as well.

"Well, seeing as we'll be here for a couple days; do you have any rooms available?" Tara asked, placing her arm on the counter and leaning against it.

"Yes we do, hold on just one second…" the nurse began typing and clicking at the computer. "Room for two?" she asked, Tara nodded. "And your license please?" she held out her hand.

Tara dug into her pocket and pulled out her PokéDex and handed it over.

Joy took the device and looked at it briefly before opening it and pointing the Dex's reader at the computer's own. "You're from Sinnoh, huh? I haven't seen very many people from there around here," she waited for the computer to verify the information. "Tara Valens?" she asked, Tara nodded again. There was the sound of more typing, then, "Alright, you're all set!" she handed Tara two keycards. "Your room number is 22."

"Thank you." Tara said politely and led Fida away towards the elevator, taking them to the second story of the center. They came out of the lift and looked around, using signs to guide them to their room. Once Tara found the room she scanned the card and both of them went in. It smelled very clean, not unlike a hotel room that you first walk into, and looked very much like one. Tara threw her pack onto a bed and put her Pokéballs away, but not before releasing Muku.

He blinked, stuck his tongue out at her, and resumed his never-ending dance act, as if he had never been interrupted.

Fida placed her new stuff on the other bed and let Elvia out. The ghost smiled cheerfully and rubbed against Fida's cheek. "All healthy, Elvia?" Fida giggled.

"It'll be nice to have actual beds tonight," Tara remarked as she laid back and closed her eyes.

Tara napped for the afternoon so Fida took to watching the TV. She became fascinated with watching a channel that showed almost nothing but official battles. She studied them closely, trying to understand them, and any strategies behind them. Most seemed practical when she gave them enough thought. Though there were also some that she couldn't understand at all no matter how much she thought of them. But nonetheless, she dreamed of being one of the trainers she saw on screen.

She turned and looked at all her newly acquired things. She was well on her way now, she just needed to practice, to train. Perhaps Tara would help her later.

Tara eventually woke up from her nap, she grabbed at her stomach; it was growling fiercely. "We will eat now," was all she could utter; it wasn't a question or statement, but a declaration.

The cafeteria was easily the busiest part of the facility. There would always be hungry people, no matter what time of day. A few Chansey served as "lunch-ladies," piling up people's trays with many different varieties of food.

Tara went straight for the pizza, grabbing a few good-sized slices. Fida figured she might as well eat now so she too and grabbed a slice.

The girls found a table and sat down, Tara dug right in. Muku soon came with a bowl of fruit, which he took bites of every so often as he danced past the bowl.

"Tara?" Fida asked after swallowing a bite.

"Yers?" Tara answered with her mouth full.

"Think we could train some more later? I want to try and help Elvia learn some new attacks… but I dunno what."

Tara swallowed her mouthful and grabbed a napkin. "Sure," she agreed as she wiped away any sauce. "And I've got a couple things we can try for starters," she leaned in closer. "Misdreavii happen to be able to learn many things, quite a few useful attacks up their arsenal," Tara winked and went back to eating. Fida smiled and shifted excitedly in her seat.

-------

The girls walked out after their meal and went behind the center, finding a good open area.

"Now," Tara began. "You'll probably be surprised to know that Muku is capable of using attacks like Thunderbolt."

Fida stood there and nodded, Elvia appeared in visible form beside her.

"You'll also be surprised to know that Elvia can as well," she stated. Fida widened her eyes a bit at Elvia, she was surprised.

"She's also capable of learning things like Psychic," she added. Fida instantly recalled the situation in the cave with Onix.

"R-really?" she asked.

"Yep," she nodded again. "However… to be able to use such power, Elvia must learn to use a certain move first."

"Which move?" Fida cocked her head to the side, looking curiously at Tara.

"Calm Mind. You've seen Muku use it a couple times," she looked over at him; Muku froze mid-twirl and nodded, then resumed.

"Calm Mind?" Fida questioned.

"Mmhm, you see, Calm Mind makes attacks stronger, but it does this by basically allowing Pokémon to access their inner power and ability. Any move that they're able to know is ‘stored' there, if you get what I mean," the teen paused for a second and then resumed. "But it's not all easy after you master Calm Mind, because it takes lots of practice to draw and call upon that power. But, eventually, with enough practice, Elvia would be able to use those attacks without Calm Mind's help."

Fida moved her head up and down to show that she understood. "So… how does she learn how to use Calm Mind?"

"That's what I'll teach you," she sat down on the ground. "Now be still… close your eyes… and focus," Tara instructed. Muku sat before her as an example for Elvia.

Elvia did as she was told. She hovered low to the ground; Fida sat by her. She closed her eyes and began to focus, on what she was not sure, but she had an idea.

"Think about your power, and where it comes from," Tara said softly. "Follow it, and find the source."

Elvia's mind did as Tara told her and focused on her power. After a while she opened her eyes and let out a sigh.

"Not easy is it?" Tara chuckled. "It could take a long while to master, but you'll get it."

Elvia nodded and tried again. Fida felt as though she should be doing something and also closed her eyes. She tried to find something to focus on. She had no attacks of her own, and the thought of her having any was pretty funny, so she instead tried to focus on other things. She thought on her life and what it had been a month ago, or even a few days ago, to what it was now. The fights, the running away; it all drifted towards Elvia. Fida felt the closeness they had, both physically and mentally.

She thought intensely on the presence she felt whenever Elvia was near.

There was a flash. Not a real one, only inside Fida's mind. She saw what could be described as a river of sorts. It wasn't comprised of water: it seemed to be comprised of energy. There were different strands of different colors, and they twirled, snaked, and wound around each other while moving in a single direction. She felt a sudden warmth, and a rush of good feelings. She felt Elvia so close it was like she was Elvia. Fida could somehow see what Elvia was seeing in her own mind.

Elvia was moving up the river, against the flow. She could feel what it was she wanted, but it was getting harder and harder to go against the current until finally it pulled her away.

Both Fida and Elvia opened their eyes and gasped. Tara smiled. "I take it you two linked?" Fida and her ghost gave the older girl confused looks, but realized that that could be the only way to describe what had just happened; they both nodded. "I remember the first time that happened with Muku and I. It's amazing isn't it?" she leaned back and gazed up at the sky which was blazing with the fading light of the setting sun. "Though, I didn't expect it to happen to you two this soon," she looked back at them. "But now you both know what to look for," she spoke directly to Elvia. "Fida can help you achieve the goal, because without her, it's impossible. You need her strength along with your own."

The girl and the ghost sat silent, taking in all of Tara's words. "You weren't going to tell us about the… ‘link'?" Fida asked.

Tara shook her head. "Nope. It's something that needed to happen on its own," she stood up. "Now good luck. I'm going back to the room," and she walked away with those words, Muku skipped along after her. "Don't stay up too late!" she called back.

The child waved at her friend and continued to look at her until she was out of sight. Sighing, she looked down at the grass, plucking a few blades with her fingers before releasing them. A smile teased her face, which she showed to Misdreavus.

"Let's try again?" Fida exclaimed; Elvia nodded. Both of them tried the same thing as before and managed to reach the same state. Each time they tried they seemed to get closer and closer, but they never reached ‘the source.' It was not until the pale moon was high in the sky and bathing the land with its light that they decided to turn in for the night. They were not disappointed that they didn't succeed: both of them felt that they had done some major progress that day and they felt that they understood each other even more. And besides, tomorrow was a new day.
 
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Sem, I absolutely love how you describe everything. Your writing creates such vivid imagery. nd I love how you advance the story. Very Nice Sem, very nice work. I really can't wait to read the next chapter.

*Plap waits patiently for the next chapter
 
I can tell the bond between Fida and Elvia is going to lead somewhere as soon as they complete it. Very nice chapter, I could really see it happening in my mind.
Can't wait for the next chapter.
 

Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
-Chapter 6-

"Still at it?" Tara asked while leaning against a tree. She was speaking directly to Fida and Elvia, who sat not too far off still practicing Calm Mind.

"Yes…" Fida sighed. "It's hard," she looked at Tara with her pale eyes, Elvia nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," Tara walked over to them. "It is," she sat down next to them on the spongy grass while Muku stayed where he was doing a strange-looking dance around a specific tree. It looked like a ritual of some sort.

It was about mid-day and the sky was nice and blue and spotted with cumulus clouds, and a light, cool breeze topped it off rather nicely.

"No giving up though," Tara said sternly, she wagged her finger in Fida's face, who giggled a bit in response. "You two could use a break however," Tara stood up again. "How about a friendly battle with Amaro?" she pulled out the Onix's pokéball. "We both could use the practice."

"Hmm…" Fida thought for a moment. She looked at Elvia, speaking to the ghost using only her eyes. Elvia nodded. "O-ok.." she replied shakily.

Tara grinned. "Excellent." She walked to one side of the clearing, Fida and Elvia made their way to the other side. Any trainers in the vicinity knew what was about to unfold, so they gathered around and anxiously waited for the battle to begin.

Fida flinched as soon as she saw the crowd forming. She didn't want all of them watching her. It meant that if she made a mistake, or failed, then all of them would be there to see. She looked at Tara while wearing a distraught expression. After briefly thinking about it, she reassured herself, knowing she shouldn't expect perfection. People learn from their mistakes, and this was a learning experience. Tara gave her a comforting look before calling upon the Onix.

Amaro roared as he arose out of the ball's energy. He did not seem as mighty as he had the other day, but he was still formidable. The didn't he seem so keen on being captured by Tara, but she was slowly gaining his trust; Tara was also giving him those vitamins everyday, which were slowly helping him regain his former strength. He knew he would have to warm up to the girl eventually, though he was somewhat reluctant about it still.

"R-ready, Elvia?" Fida stuttered. Elvia nodded and floated out before her friend and onto the field. One of the trainers offered to referee the match and then it began with a swift Rock Tomb.

Fida had no idea what Rock Tomb was, but she felt the ground rumble, like something under the ground was moving towards them. "Be careful Elvia…" Fida held her left hand to her mouth and bit her nail.

Then they both saw it, the tips of four giant slabs of rock protruded from the ground. Elvia only had a split second to react but she barely managed to move out of the way of the imprisoning stones.

A few people clapped softly at the successful dodge. Fida started with the most practical thing she could think of at the moment. "Confuse Ray!" she yelled. Elvia went into action and summoned up the attack and sent it at Amaro.

"I don't think you want to take that again, do you Amaro?" Tara teased. "Block it." Amaro cut through the attack cleanly with the tip of his tail; Tara grinned. "Dragonbreath." Amaro brought his head back and inhaled deeply, then thrust his head forward and opened his mouth - mystical green fire rushed at Elvia.

"Protect!" Fida shouted just in time. Elvia was surrounded by a ghostly purple sphere and she leaned it against the oncoming blast of dragon fire. The attack hit the bubble and reflected off in all directions, Elvia was pushed back a couple meters.

"Use Shadow Ball!" Fida said before Tara could give another command. The shadows were summoned to Elvia's location and formed into a sphere of energy. After it had reached a considerable size it was released at Amaro.

"Dodge it," Tara said through a toothy smile: Fida was learning fast. Amaro swayed out of the way, his upper body formed an arc and Shadow Ball went straight through. "Rush in with Iron Tail!" Tara added. Amaro sped towards tiny Elvia and stopped suddenly when he was meters away, using his momentum to bring his tail around. It glittered against the sun, looking very polished before it hit Elvia. Elvia screamed in pain as she flew out into the trees.

"Elvia!" Fida squealed. She started sprinting towards the trees but Elvia came out just as quick as she went in. "Elvia…" Fida smiled. The ghost nudged the girl and then returned to the field, eyes blazing with a Psybeam. The erratic, multi-color beam hit the Onix and he growled loudly, clenching his eyes closed.

"Ha, good work, Fida," Tara clapped. "You're doing very well with battling…" her face turned serious in a heartbeat. "…but how will you do against this?" she pointed at the four slabs of rock still jutting from the earth. "Rock Throw!" Amaro proceeded and smacked the rocks clear out of the ground in one solid swing and sent them at Elvia.

Elvia dodged the first two and barely missed being hit by the third, but the fourth got her. It sent her into the ground where it almost crushing her had she not phased herself through it. Fida ran over to help Elvia back up. Elvia shook her head, knocking some specks of rock off of herself.

The crowd was much bigger now, and they pointed wildly at both sides while chattering amongst themselves. Fida was determined not to lose utterly, but she became a bit discouraged when she looked at Tara. She was so mighty, the way she looked, and stood, and her expression, and the large Onix at her side didn't help matters any. In a strange way, Fida felt encouraged by it at the same time: that was the person teaching her. She was determined to make Tara proud.

After a brief moment of consideration the girl decided just to say it; "Calm Mind!" The moment she did she felt the sensation again. Her vision blacked out and she was moving up the mental-river with Elvia very quickly. Tendrils of power seemed to reach at them in order to pull them away. Still they moved on, avoiding the snares and moving faster and faster. Eventually the river was almost gone from sight, before them was only what appeared to be a sun, only it was comprised of the energy strands. They unwound from the sphere, creating the river. The ‘sun' pulsed with power and warmth. A purple tendril reached out from the ball towards them and they grabbed it. Fida felt that she was being rushed back into her own mind, the sphere shrunk until there was only the river again.

"Shadow Ball," she murmured as soon as she was within her own body, taking a moment to regain her balance and clear her mind. She saw layers and layers of shadow warp from all around, coming from any shadow imaginable. The attack grew very large and was so thick with darkness that you could feel it, even from far away. Elvia fired her attack. It tore through the air at an amazing velocity, it ripped up the ground beneath it and sent loose grass and leaves and dust sailing high into the air. Everyone was silent as time slowed and they watched the Ghost-type attack on its course towards the Onix who stood firm and defiant; though, there was a hint of despair in his eyes.

Time caught up with everyone and there was a large explosion, a big dirt cloud covered Amaro and Tara blocking them from everyone's sight. Tara smiled wryly from within the cloud. People waited eagerly for the dust to clear, there were no cries of pain from the Onix, yet nothing was happening.

Fida stood with her hands clenched into tiny fists, sweating in her anxiety to see what had happened. Once the dust finally settled the people gasped: Onix was perfectly fine. Fida's eyes widened; the attack had done no damage at all. The girl and the audience wondered why until they noticed tiny Muku standing before the large Onix with the remnants of a Light Screen fading away.

"Cheater!" "Boo!" they jeered at Tara.

"Oh, shut up," she waved them off with her hand and an irritated glance, (as did Muku) and walked over to Fida, smiling again. Fida and Elvia were both confused and they stared at Tara and each other.

"That was the only point of that battle," she told while pointing at them. "You did it," she leaned down and smiled even bigger.

Fida knew that they did indeed do it, she saw it, she was there with Elvia, but it simply hadn't hit her until now. Fida felt herself being lifted from the ground and swung around in circles in Tara's embrace before being gently placed back down onto the grass.

"Now, sorry about making Muku intervene," she frowned. "But I wasn't about to let you totally re-weaken my Onix; he doesn't want to go through that again, especially now that he's recovering," Tara chuckled as she patted Elvia on the head. "To make you feel better, if I let the attack hit, you would have won - that was a pretty wicked Calm Mind and Shadow Ball combo," she nodded towards Elvia. "Congratulations." Elvia nodded back with a tiny smile on her face.

"T-thank you!" Fida hugged Tara around the waist and looked up into her face and smiled.

"Ha!" she laughed. "You still got it down faster than I thought you would. I was half-expecting nothing to come of that battle…" Tara's voice trailed as she stared off into the bushes. Fida, Elvia, and Muku all looked as well, following her gaze.

There was a tiny, black, avian head sticking out of the leaves, glaring at Fida directly.

"Gods…" Tara stepped back and tapped her chin. "What is up with that Murkrow?" she stifled a giggle. "You obviously got a fan, Fida, and a creepy one at that."

"Whenever I try to get close to him he flies away though…" Fida replied.

"Then he's a weird fan too," she said. The Murkrow glowered at Tara briefly and then disappeared off into the bushes as he always did. ‘C'mon," Tara spoke up after a few moments. "Let's go eat."

-------

"Watch closely," Tara instructed as Muku twirled around in front of her, waving his arms about as if drawing something from the air. Soon enough sparks were dancing all around him: most of them were concentrated around his tiny hands. The sparks grew into strands and bolts and cackled loudly.

"Now release," Tara ordered. Muku directed both his arms at a large boulder that was not far off. The lightning surged through his arms and out of his palms and hit the rock in the form of a mighty Thunderbolt attack; a black, sizzling scorch mark was left on the surface.

"Wow…" Fida said as she watched, Elvia examined every possible detail.

"Now, Elvia doesn't have arms, so I'm not sure how she should channel the electricity, but my best bet would her red pearls," Tara said as she rested her chin on her hand. "But she has to figure out how to draw it out and into the pearls first."

Fida nodded and inhaled the cool air. It was evening now and the sky was purple; darkness had almost overtaken the light of day and the stars burned brightly in the sky.

"Now," Tara began calmly as she sat cross-legged on the grass. "Use Calm Mind again."

Fida and Elvia nodded and entered their state. They started moving up the river but it wasn't too long until it dragged them back down. "Huh?" Fida wondered woozily as she opened her eyes.

"The battle was a bit of a shortcut," Tara stated. "The rush of the moment did a lot to help you get to that state earlier. But," she held a finger up. "if you did it once, you can do it again," the teen added with a wink. "Don't worry, it'll get easier and easier as you practice," she leaned back. "Nod when you're there."

The girl and the ghost tried again, and again, and were eventually able to find the source on their fourth try.

Elvia nodded and Tara sat forward again. "Alright, now there's a whole bunch of strands there I'm sure. Look around at it for a bit and… err… how should I explain this…" she muttered, taking a moment to think. "Call out towards the one you want. Look for it like you really want it. If you do this right then one of the strands will reach out to you."

Fida and Elvia spent quite a while doing this, and although Elvia was ultimately the one that had to call out the tendril of power and draw on it, she couldn't do it without Fida's strength and support. After what seemed like forever, the duo noticed an electric blue tendril of power starting to reach out to them.

"I think we found it…" Fida managed to say.

"Good, now help Elvia draw it in. Go slow: it won't come easily. Slow and steady."

Slowly the strand came. It felt very heavy at first; it took all their mental strength to tug it back down with them.

Outside Tara thought she saw a tiny spark.

The more the girls tugged, the more the sparks appeared around Elvia. She felt the energy surge within her. Finally Elvia's pearls glowed with the same electric blue and when she opened her eyes the attack was released from the main pearl in the form of a tiny blue lightning bolt, it hit the same rock that Muku hit earlier, leaving a miniscule scorch mark.

Fida and Elvia blinked. The attack had been rather pitiful.

"Excellent!" Tara and Muku clapped.

"B-but…?" Fida and Elvia looked at her with the same look of befuddlement.

"Hey, that was your first time. You didn't expect the rock to explode, did you?" she teased. "It'll take some practice before you can use it in a battle, but the more you practice, the more you train, the stronger it gets. Stronger and stronger until…" Muku released another, stronger charge of electricity at the rock and it crumbled to pieces.

"See?" Tara smiled. "Just… keep… ah ih," she yawned. "Gah, excuse me," Tara shook her head. "Anyway, don't stay up too late tonight," she wagged her finger at them with a faux-stern expression on her face. "Your apricorn-ball-thing will be ready tomorrow and then we're out of here, into the Ilex Forest." The older girl had actually decided to make it a point to know where it was they would be going next.

"Ok," Fida nodded.

Tara was about to get up before she stopped herself. "Oh! And before I forget…" she dug around in her bag and pulled out a brown pouch. "I wanted to give you this," she handed the pouch to Fida.

Fida looked curiously at the bag as she took it and emptied its contents into her hand. Her eyes widened as she saw it. It was a crystal of some sort, dark purple around the edges and black at the center and very beautiful.

"What is it?" she asked, holding it up to the nearest light, though it did practically nothing to illuminate the stone; it was like an abyss, a black hole.

"It's a pretty rock isn't it?" Tara answered. "I found it a while back in Sinnoh," Tara shot a quick glance at Elvia, who seemed wary of the stone. "I thought you might like it… as a gift."

"I-I couldn't…" Fida stuttered as she placed the stone back in the leather pouch and attempted to give it back to Tara.

Tara held out her hand in rejection. "Nope I won't take it back." She shook her head.

"B-but-"

"Hey, I want you to know that I'm your friend," she cut Fida off and looked directly into her eyes. "And me being as such, there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. Keep it," Tara stood up and walked away with Muku skipping along after her, after he jumped into the air and twirling around, waving goodbye at the Fida and Elvia.

Fida looked at Tara until she was out of sight. Then she looked back down at the pouch. "We were really lucky to run into her, weren't we, Elvia?" she asked before putting the stone away.

Elvia nodded, though from the expression in her eyes she seemed to be thinking of other things.

The two of them continued the training. Elvia managed to be able to use Calm Mind after only three tries this time, though they failed to get that strand of power again. On their second try they got it and managed to use another Thunderbolt.

They did this a few more times with some more trial and error. At the end of the night Elvia was able to produce a much better attack, which could probably do decent damage, to a Weedle. It was a start though, and both of them were pleased with the progress.

-------

Tara's battery-powered alarm clock sounded at 6:00 in the am. Her arm reached out zombie-like from under her blanket and beat the device until it stopped making the annoying buzz.

After a minute or two of dead silence she sat up abruptly and stared blankly at the wall before her. Her hair was in disarray and her eyes were dark. She rubbed her eyes and stretched, and then lurched out of bed.

She dug around in her bag for some fresh clothes and a towel and stalked over into the bathroom and showered.

She woke Fida up once she was out. "Time to get up," she told her as she tied her damp hair into her usual pony tail and slipped her arm-warmers onto her arms.

Fida showered while Elvia still slept. She tried on one of her new outfits. It was lavender shirt with darker purple vines etched onto the bottom. Her dark blue jeans also has purple vine patterns stitched into the front and back pockets. She slipped her feet into her brand new white shoes and tied her purple jacket around her waist.

She had played with her new PokéGear the day before, the clock was set and the map, phone, and radio functions were operational. She had only Tara's number in her phone book so far, but that was good enough for her. Fida slipped it over her neck, and admired her new look in the mirror.

Tara slung her bag over her shoulder and walked over. "Ready?" she asked - she looked much better than she did half an hour before.

"Yeah," Fida nodded and trotted out the door of the room with Elvia following close behind in her invisible state.

The girls ate breakfast at the center; food always tasted best when it was free, or so Tara claimed. They had waffles with cereal and fruit, a good breakfast to start the day with.

"Checking out?" Nurse Joy asked as the duo approached the counter. She took back the two keycards she had given them and checked them out. "You're all set, have a safe journey through Ilex," she bent over to the side a bit and pulled something from under the counter. She gave Tara a map that was specifically of the forest.

"I don't know how well digital maps have the forest down, but better take a traditional map just to be safe."

Tara took the map. "Thank you," she pocketed the map. Both girls waved goodbye to the nurse and left the center. They walked silently for a few minutes, stretching their legs and waking up fully. Curt's house was on the way to the forest, in fact the forest stood just beyond his home, and so it was nice for them not to have to go out of their way.

Soon enough they were at the apricorn magician's house and they knocked gently on the door. It was a nice day again like the day before. The brightness of the sun illuminated the grass so that it was vivid green, and the sky was completely clear of clouds. The ground was damp, but the sun felt good on the girl's backs.

The door opened with a small creak, the same girl as before stood behind it. "Oh, it's you two," she smiled. "Good morning, you're the one with the blue apricorn right?" she asked as she went back inside briefly. The young woman could be heard shifting through a box full of objects, before returning with a Pokéball. It looked the same as any other ball; except the top had a large blue band that fanned out to the sides with three yellow lines on the front.

"Here you go," she said cheerily. "There's your Lure Ball."

Fida smiled and took it. It certainly looked like a Pokéball, but this one felt a bit more organic. Pressing the button she took a look inside it; it looked exactly the same as any other ball on the inside.

"Lure ball, huh?" Tara asked as Fida handed her the ball. "Feels kinda strange, almost like wood or something," her eyes drifted up and looked at the girl while her face was still facing downwards. "Guess that's the apricorn part of it, huh?"

The girl shrugged. "I guess so," before adding, "if you couldn't tell from the name, the lure ball is good for capturing things while you're at or on the water. People tend to prefer it while fishing."

Tara rotated the ball around for a bit and then handed it back to Fida. The younger girl looked up at Curt's granddaughter. "Tell him thank you very much," she bowed her head.

"I sure will," The girl replied as she patted Fida on the head, making the girl's pig tails bounce a bit. She went back inside and closed the door, allowing the other two females to continue their way up the path.

"Pokéballs from nuts," Tara murmured as she clasped her hands behind her head, leaning it back. "I don't get it, but oh well…"

The forest loomed ahead. The trees they started seeing weren't very big, some were only saplings, but soon enough every single tree they passed towered over them. Fida figured that most of them had to be as tall as Sprout Tower.

Tara played around with her watch, which Fida recently learned was called a Pokétch, and was Sinnoh's own kind of ‘PokéGear.' Tara pulled up map function to see what the device's map of the forest looked like. She had to wait for a moment, the words ‘Please wait, receiving information…' scrolled across the screen, the watch needed to access a server to update the watch's Johto-chip.

There was an almost silent beep and the map was projected a few centimeters above the screen. "Hrm, it's not as detailed as I'd like it to be," she muttered as she used her finger to zoom in and out of different locations.

Fida tried the map function on her PokéGear, and though it was a bit more detailed than Tara's, they ended up using the one Nurse Joy gave them.

The girls walked for hours. The forest was very vast and it would take them a couple days to get through it. Tara eventually decided not to rush their trip through the peaceful forest where time seemed almost non-existent; it would be a waste to miss anything due to hastiness.

The girls stopped by a large pond they found and rested there for lunch. Tara released her bunch of pokémon so that they could enjoy some of the enriching air. T floated around looking absent-mindedly as always, examining the ancient trees and exotic flora. Muku hopped aboard Namoraw as he waded out to the deep part of the pond at the center. The tiny mime danced happily upon his new stage for his imaginary sea of adoring fans. Amaro stayed as far away from the water as he could without knocking down a tree.

Tara got to making sandwiches with a fresh loaf of bread she picked up that morning while Fida and Elvia practiced Thunderbolt more.

Elvia was able to use Calm Mind after only two tries this time and also managed to succeed in drawing out the strand of power she wanted. Electricity crackled all around her and her pearls glowed with energy again. Muku offered a target by lifting some water into the air with Psychic. Elvia locked onto the floating glob of liquid and released her attack. It was her strongest yet. A satisfying zap was heard as it sliced through the air and hit the floating water. Muku dispersed the water into thousands of droplets, letting his audience watch as the lightning danced between the thousands of individual droplets before letting the water rain down all around him as it glistened. He took a very large and dramatic bow; Namoraw looked rather humiliated.

"Show-off!" Tara yelled. Muku simply stuck out his tongue in response.

Elvia turned to Fida and grinned. "That was great!" Fida exclaimed.

"Yes, that was a pretty decent one," Tara said as she spread mustard from condiment packs (which she stole from the burger place) across slices of bread. "You two learn too fast, you really do." She pointed accusingly at them with the knife.

"Let's try again!" Fida said gleefully. The second Thunderbolt wasn't much better, bit it did show slight improvement.

"Hey. You two. You show-offs," Tara pointed at them again. "Come eat."

"Mime," Muku pouted because of not being called over.

"No sandwiches for you!" Tara shouted. Muku couldn't get Manoraw to move so he was forced to swim back to land. Tara and Fida and even Elvia giggled once he finally sat down with them in a miserable soaking-wet state. He glared at each of them in turn before shoving a piece of fruit into his mouth and crossing his arms as he chewed.

One they had finished eating Tara went over to her bag and started digging around. "Here," she told Fida, she was holding a fishing rod out to her. "You should put that Lure Ball to some good use," Tara nodded over to the pond. "Plus, it'll be interesting to see what you hook."

"If I hook something..." she mumbed as she reached out for the pole. "I've been fishing before."

"Didn't catch anything?"

"Not even a nibble."

"Oh don't be like that," Tara frowned. "There's bound to be some amazing Water-types in this kinda forest. Plus!" she stuck something onto the end of the line. "Nothing will resist that bait, guaranteed," she nodded.

Fida smiled grimly, finding a large rock by the water's edge and awkwardly cast her line. Tara busied herself with cleaning up their lunch and Muku decided not to go back out with Namoraw, instead he splashed around in the shallows. Elvia joined her friend and looked into the water, waiting for something to happen.

Fida sat for a long while with nothing happening. The water was smooth as glass and green due to all the trees. Fida had the Lure Ball handy, having set it next to her. "You ready, Elvia?" she asked. Elvia nodded and looked intensely at the water.

The minutes ticked by until an hour had passed. Tara was giving Amaro his vitamins and Muku was still lost in the depths of his own mind. Fida loosened her grip on the rod and yawned, leaning back. There was a powerful tug on the line and whatever it was was swimming away quickly.

Fida gasped and took hold of the reel and pulled. "Tara!" she yelped. Tara, who was doing some fishing of her own, (fishing for chips in her bag that is) looked up, a bag in her mouth, at Fida. "Oh!" she said as she dropped the bag from her mouth into her hand as she rushed over.

Fida was trying her hardest to reel the thing in but it was powerful. Elvia was really no use at pulling at a rod so she was left with only being able to watch. Tara pitched in and took hold of Fida and the fishing pole and began to pull. Gradually the catch was coming in closer to land, but it was still putting up one heck of a fight. Five minutes… ten minutes. The creature was only a meter or two off now, but its form was still hidden by the violent splashes.

"This… thing…" Fida gritted her teeth. "M-must be… huge," she gave one final tug, pulling her absolute hardest, added with Tara's strength, the thing was finally pulled from the water. It sailed high into the air until it eclipsed the sun; hundreds of water droplets surrounded it, intensifying the light. The girls shielded their eyes with their arms as it fell to the grass with a flop.

"Excellent," Tara exclaimed with a very satisfied tone as the light danced on her face and teeth. She lowered her arm to examine the mighty catch in all its glory. "Let's see what it is- … Oh…" Tara trailed as she stared at the pitiful orange-red fish flopping pathetically on the ground, gasping wildly for air, or, water, in its case.

"A… Magikarp?" Fida asked. That was the thing that had put up so much fight? It was rather large for a Magikarp, about twice the average size. She looked at Tara, who looked back in return.

"Well? Go on! Catch it!" Tara said as she pointed at the fish.

"Right!" Fida said as she narrowed her eyes. "Elvia, Confuse Ray!" she pointed at the creature only a few feet away from her.

"I think it's plenty confused already…" Tara murmured to herself as she watched Elvia assault the fish with her attack.

"Now let's try Psybeam!"

The fish was knocked back by the Psychic-type attack. Magikarp's eyes grew very serious for and using its fins it managed to jump into the air at Elvia with a vicious Tackle. The Water-type phased right through Elvia's ghostly body and hit the ground face-first.

"Erm…?" Fida looked at Tara.

"Thun-der-bolt," Tara mouthed.

"Ok! Elvia, let's try Thunderbolt!" Elvia turned back and nodded. Magikarp attacked Elvia many times, or attempted to, while she was using Calm Mind. It worked the first time she tried, allowing Elvia focused on Thunderbolt. Sparks lit up all around her and her necklace of gems began to glow. The Ghost-type used Thunderbolt on the poor Magikarp, sending it soaring back into the water.

"Quick!" Tara urged Fida. "Throw the ball before it swims away!"

Fida rushed back to the rock and picked up the ball. She threw the ball but turned at a weird angle. She feared the ball would miss, and it would have hadn't the Magikarp regained consciousness and unknowingly swam directly under where the ball fell.

There was a terrific flash of red light and the poor Pokémon was snatched into the ball. The ball snapped shut and landed in the water, shaking a bit, making small ripples in the water.

Fida looked on very anxiously. Her mouth was pursed very tightly and her hands were in fists, her grey eyes focused on the lure ball and nothing else.

The shaking did not seem to stop - it seemed to be taking as long as it had taken to pull Magikarp out of the water. Finally, the ball stopped, Fida held her breath, the center of the ball stopped glowing red and there was a loud click.

It took a few seconds for Fida to realize, but when she did she jumped so high into the air that she was almost eye to eye with Tara. "Yay!" she beamed at the floating ball and then at Tara. Muku clapped from where he sat.

Fida grabbed Elvia and spun her around and around. "You did it!" she hugged Elvia close.

"Mm-hm." Tara nodded. "Very nice Thunderbolt," Tara turned and waved at Namoraw. "Be a dear and bring Fida her Pokéball!"

Namoraw grunted and swam over to the ball's location. He pushed it towards the water's edge so that it was within Fida's reach. She grabbed it eagerly and held it in her hand.

"Congrats on your first capture," Tara patted Fida on the shoulder. Elvia came in closer to examine the ball. "Now, I suggest you let it out so you can fix it up a bit with some of your meds."

Fida nodded and tossed the ball up into the air. The ball opened, sending a white flash like lightning down at the water. Magikarp was left in the water looking completely dopey as it floated very still.

She sat down at the water's edge and rummaged through her bag. She brought out a Potion and began spraying her new team member with the medicine. She placed a multivitamin into its mouth and then put the things away. Magikarp did not move one bit during all of this.

"It won't swim away?" Fida asked.

"No, he won't," Tara answered; she was looking at her Pokédex. "Magikarp are usually pretty loyal once captured, they do what they can for the trainer, and if they can't they at least try to," she handed Fida her 'Dex so she could look at it.

Fida looked at the information for a bit. "They don't learn many attacks do they?" she asked as she handed the device back.

"No, but as I said before, it all depends on your skill. I've heard stories of some pretty strong Magikarp, and I've even seen one use Splash offensively," Tara kneeled down and whispered into Fida's ear. "Plus, I'm pretty sure you know what Magikarp can evolve into…"

A brief image of an enormous, blue, terrifying leviathan flashed into Fida's mind. She'd only seen one once, at an aquarium of sorts, and it was under heavy watch. Other than that she saw one on TV the other day in the Pokémon Center. Fida had also heard Mr. Klubbin talk about them for about half a class period one afternoon: she'd take an Onix any day.

"On don't worry." Tara lightly punched Fida's arm. "I'll help you train him into the mightiest Magikarp that ever was," Tara held her head high. Both girls looked at the motionless fish for a while. Elvia stared curiously, and Muku came over to have a look as well. T took a peek but other than that was completely oblivious and aloof, and Amaro couldn't care less what was going on over in the water. As for Namoraw, well, he was probably feeling very hungry at that moment in time and he was eyeing the fish greedily. Magikarp himself didn't seem to mind all the stares.

"Got a name for him?" Tara eventually asked.

"Hmm…" Fida thought for a moment. She wasn't very good with names, she always ended up taking names from characters in stories she read. Elvia was named after her favorite character in her favorite book, who sacrifices herself to save those she loves.

"Calhoun," Fida said, naming him after a warrior from the same book.

"Calhoun the Magikarp…" Tara repeated and then giggled a bit. "Excellent," she nodded as she stood up. "Most excellent."

Tara returned her pokémon, minus Muku of course. Fida pet Calhoun on the head before returning him to his Pokéball.

Tara took out the map and looked at it briefly before pointing off in a direction and shouting, "Onward!"
 
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I love how you progress the story. That and how Elvia is learning most of its attacks slowly. I also see some foreshadowing with that 'stone'. I'm anxious to see what happens.

Nice Job Sem.
 
Love it, would love to see Splash used offensively though, that sounds hilarious! Can't wait to see what happens later on with that stone.
 

Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
-Chapter 7-

Night came much faster in the forest due to all the trees blocking the sun's light on its journey over the horizon.

Though it was only 7pm, the girls found a creek to stop by for the night. Fida kicked off her shoes and walked over to the stream. Tenderly she slipped her feet into the water and was relieved to find that it wasn't freezing cold.

Camp was set up and a fire was made so that they could cook their dinner. Tara filled a container with water and set it over the fire.

"What are we eating?" Fida inquired as she saw the water. She actually knew what the older girl was making, and she knew that Tara knew she knew.

"My specialty!" Tara grinned as she dug through her bag. She took out two packets and displayed them proudly to the night sky. "Instant noodles!" She sat down and put the noodles aside. "You simply must try some, my dear," she held a finger up. "Only a privileged few have ever gotten the chance to try my amazing noodles."

Both girls broke out into giggles. After they finished eating their five-course, gourmet meal they sat beside the creek to wind down and relax before going to sleep.

Fida took out Calhoun's pokéball and released him into the river to check up on him. After a bright flash he fell into the water with a plop; the girls were sitting along a recess in the stream so current wasn't affecting the fish. He simply looked at Fida just like before while she sat with her knees up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs.

"He looks better than he did earlier." Tara noted, pointing to a few bruises that were now barely visible.

Fida nodded. "Mm-hm." She was eager to train him; perhaps they'd have the chance to before they set out in the morning. "Think we can do some training with him before we leave?" she asked.

"Sure," Tara agreed. "And I have a wicked idea for it too," her toothy smiled gleamed in the moonlight.

Fida took out her potion again a sprayed it on Calhoun a couple more times. She also took out a packet of Pokémon food and crushed a few pellets before placing them in the water. Calhoun ate the pieces, pecking at them as they drifted by and then returned to staring at Fida.

"Calhoun might pass up that murkrow in the sport of staring at you," Tara joked with a snort.

"It's kinda weird…" Fida said while she looked back at the Magikarp. His simplicity in how he just stared at her was causing Fida to stare as well, and even Elvia was pulled in.

"Well," Tara said after a moment as she got up. "Tell me in the morning who wins this staring contest." She walked off to lay out her sleeping bag, leaving Fida alone with her team of pokémon that now consisted of two members instead of one.

In all her thoughts she'd never think her first official capture would be a Magikarp. Magikarp were a popular butt of trainer-jokes and were always looked down upon, despite their mighty and fearsome evolution.

Fida never liked to talk bad about anything, even Magikarp. She actually thought they were pretty cute in their own way. Fida also felt it was never fair to look down upon something that was so weak and defenseless - well, for now it was.

Calhoun wouldn't be weak; Fida promised herself this and promised it to him. "You'll be a strong Magikarp." She whispered. "I'll do my best to train you." Fida could just imagine a battle in her mind, like the one with Muku and that Ariados. That boy instantly thought he was going to win because he was fighting Muku, a Mime Jr..

Fida sat leaned back and looked at all the stars. Not too long ago, all her hopes and dreams seemed farther than any one of those stars, and now they were all within her grasp.

-------

"Alright!" Tara exclaimed. It was morning now, and everyone had just eaten breakfast. Both girls were standing by the stream and Calhoun was already in the water. "I believe it's important for any Pokémon to believe in themselves and have self-confidence," she gestured towards Calhoun. "But this is especially true for Magikarp. They need to believe they're strong in order to be strong. So…" Tara pulled out a Pokéball and tossed it into the air, releasing Amaro.

The rock snake appeared beside the stream and rumbled, shaking dust from his body. He looked around then down at the water, grumbling.

"Oh, you," Tara furrowed her brow and very lightly kicked the Onix: she didn't want to hurt her leg. "Suck it up and help Fida and her Magikarp out."

Amaro grumbled further and then looked at the girl before him and the fish that was a bit off to the side in the water.

"You ready, Calhoun?" Fida asked. Calhoun was for once not focusing his attention on her and was looking straight at Amaro; his eyes looked serious. "Tackle!"

Calhoun sped down the stream at an angle. He leapt out of the water at Amaro and attacked, throwing his body at him. He bounced off pitifully back into the water.

Tara kicked Amaro again. It took a him a few seconds to get the hint, but when he did he reluctantly faked being knocked back and let out an exaggerated faux roar.

Fida blinked for a second but then realized what was going on. "Wicked indeed." she thought with a smile, which was more due to the fact that she was adopting the older girl's vocabulary more and more.

"Good job, Calhoun!" Fida waved at him while he swam back to Fida's side. "Let's try again!" This continued on for a few more times. Despite how weird it felt, Fida noticed that it was working; Calhoun seemed more and more pleased with himself each time.

"Go down!" Tara hissed fiercely at Amaro after the seventh Tackle. Amaro was getting irritated and growled to show it, but he listened anyway after another kick. The growl turned into a mighty cry of defeat as Amaro fell back and collapsed onto the ground with a loud crash, shaking leaves from their high branches.

"Yay!" Fida clapped for Calhoun as he bobbed happily in the water.

"Thanks," Tara whispered to her fallen Onix as she returned him. She walked up to Fida. "Well that should do for now, he seems pretty pleased with himself."

"Thanks a lot," Fida beamed and bowed her head.

"You're welcome," Tara grinned and walked over. "Anyway, you should train Magikarp on your own too. You could do some speed training, and have him practice dodging by having Elvia lob attacks at him. Oh!" she added. "And don't forget to keep training with Elvia now that you have Calhoun."

Fida shook her head. "I won't. We practiced some more Thunderbolts before breakfast this morning."

"Good girl," Tara patted Fida on the head. "You seem to have that down; I'll give you two a new attack to learn later."

The tips of Fida's mouth curved up. "Really?"

"Yep. But later - we should get going," she pulled out the map of the forest. "Most of our progress today is just following that stream. You should leave Calhoun out and practice with him, see how long it takes him to swim through sections of the water.

"Ok," Fida nodded, finding it a practical idea.

The girls then set out. Fida spent the majority of the day doing what Tara instructed. Using the timer function on her PokéGear's watch she timed Calhoun as he swam beside them. It wasn't very efficient, due to certain lengths of stream being longer or shorter than the last, but she always congratulated him if she thought he had a good time, and encouraged him when he didn't.

The girls stopped around noon and ate lunch. Afterwards Tara walked over and helped Fida and Calhoun with their training.

"Right now," Tara began. "You have only two attacks to work with; Tackle and Splash, until he learns Flail and Bounce that is, but even then..." Tara paused to make sure Fida was keeping up.

"Now, the majority of the world hardly considers Splash an attack, as they see it being completely useless," Tara wagged her finger around in the air. "This is where the majority of the world is wrong, and it's pretty silly, because making Splash useful is rather simple and actually doesn't take much practice at all."

"Ok," Fida acknowledged to show that she understood.

"Right, get Calhoun to use Splash." Tara said. Fida did so; Calhoun began flopping around in the water and moving his fins around, creating splashes both big and small.

"Good, now you see that?" Tara asked as she pointed towards Calhoun. "Looks pretty useless, huh? Well of course it is when you use it like that. But what about when you simply focus the Splash on something or someone?" She told Muku to stand in the water. He pouted and refused to at first, knowing what would happen, but he was eventually grabbed and forcibly placed into the water.

"Now, tell Calhoun to focus his Splash on Muku." She grinned.

"Uhm… alright… Calhoun, use Splash on Muku!" Fida said uncertainly, Elvia looked on in curiosity. Calhoun himself was unsure what to do. He swam closer to Muku, then, using his tail fin, splashed a good amount of water at Muku. The tiny psychic crossed his arms as he stood there dripping, his ‘hat' drooped to one side.

"Is that it?..." Fida asked.

Tara nodded. "Yep, that's it. That did absolutely nothing damage-wise, but think of it this way: a Pokémon rushing in to attack you and you splash them in the face. Totally unexpected and their vision is momentarily impaired, giving you enough time to rush in with an attack of your own. Think of it like Sand Attack or Mud Slap."

"Oooh… I get it now!" Fida said, her brows knitted together.

"Simple as that really. It's practical, unexpected, and gives Magikarp something to resort to in a pinch," she placed her hands on her hips. "This makes me wonder why more people don't use it."

"You're really smart, Tara," Fida told her. "You know so much about battling."

"Ha!" she laughed. "Thanks, but there are plenty of people who know better than me. Plus I was raised in it and I have seen plenty of battles. Half the stuff I know is from stuff I've seen," she placed her hand on Fida's shoulder. "Always pay attention to anything you see and learn from it, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem."

The girls continued on through the forest. They walked straight through until night fell, only stopping once for a brief time.

The forest was beautiful towards the end of the day; the position of the sun and the way the light hit the forest turned the trees golden. Greenish-yellow light from the leaves danced upon the forest floor. Once darkness fell, however, the forest became pitch black and made seeing anything difficult.

The stream turned away from their path about an hour before they stopped, forcing Fida to return Calhoun to his ball.

They stopped in a clearing, surrounded by rocks and trees. They set up camp and ate their dinner which consisted of noodles like the night before. Once they were finished both girls and their companions sat off to the side to relax. After a while Elvia showed Tara she was ready for another attack by performing a Thunderbolt; it was almost perfect.

"Good!" Tara clapped once. "Very good," she leaned in closer. "I think I'll help you with your next attack now." She instructed Muku to sit before her and placed a small rock in front of him. "You've seen Muku do this attack before, at least twice." She nodded towards Muku and he closed his eyes.

He sat perfectly still and within seconds was surrounded by a blue aura. When he opened his eyes they were the same blue. He moved his arms and directed them at the rock. It too was then consumed by this aura, and with a motion of Muku's hand was lifted into the air.

"Psychic?" Fida gasped.

"Mm-hm." Tara responded. "I warn you now though. Psychic takes a lot, I mean a lot of time to perfect. Actually, I lie by saying that. You never really perfect Psychic, as it can always be more powerful, you can always build it up, you can always practice and learn something new. I should say it takes a lot of time and effort to get good at it."

Fida nodded.

"Once you get the basics down it's important to not only practice strength, but precision. And we need to make sure Elvia has one heck of a will-power, because Psychic doesn't work on physical, but mental strength," she paused for a moment, choosing her words in order to instruct the two. "Alright, now get into Calm Mind-mode, nod when you're there."

Fida and Elvia closed her eyes; Elvia was soon able to get into the proper state with Fida's help. Elvia nodded, though Fida was distracted. She was looking at the power source, gazing at something beyond the sphere. It had always been there, she just never really paid attention to it. It was like a gate, completely white, sitting wide open in the darkness.

"Right-"

"Wait," Fida interrupted, her eyes opening. "I just noticed something while Elvia was using Calm Mind," she started, trying to find a way to explain what she saw. "There's a… like a doorway, or a gate, behind the source of power… What is it?"

"Oh, that…" Tara's voice drifted. "You'll find out about that in due time. Maybe," Tara answered simply.

"Have you gone there? Will she go there?"

"We, Muku and I, haven't gone there, no. And as for you? You might, you might not. It all depends on you and Elvia, more on Elvia," she paused. "Okay?"

"Ok… sorry I interrupted…" she apologized.

"No worries, it's always good to ask questions, so don't ever hesitate," Tara smiled. "Anyway," she continued. "You're going to be doing the same thing you did with Thunderbolt. Call out for the attack; look for it in that ball of strings. Nod when you find it."

Elvia and Fida began to look.

"Now, since it's Psychic, an attack with almost limitless power, the strand's going to be pretty big," Tara told them as they searched.

After a few minutes the girl and her ghost found it. It was much bigger than Thunderbolt and purple in color. Elvia nodded again.

"Okay, now, since it's bigger it's obviously going to be harder to call upon, and once you do you have to focus the psychic-power on something," she crawled forward as she spoke and placed the stone before Elvia and then went back to her place on the grass. "I put the stone in front of you, Elvia. Once you manage to bring out the power focus it on that rock."

Elvia struggled to pull the strand back with her, even with Fida's help, and they eventually failed. Fida opened her eyes and shook her head.

"Heh," Tara chuckled. "It's going to take a lot of work, a lot more than Thunderbolt."

"You said Psychic had limitless power? That makes it seem way too powerful…" Fida asked, her voice going lower.

"Well, yes, it has almost limitless power. The reason I say that is because even the strongest psychics lack the mental power under normal circumstances to make it god-like. That's not to say you shouldn't fear psychics; a Psychic attack from a fully trained Alakazam, or Gardevoir, or Metagross, is a force to be reckoned with-"

"Mime!" Muku interjected.

"…Or from a fully trained Muku," Tara teased, "or any well trained Psychic-type for that manner," and then she continued. "and you should fear for your safety if they're directing it at you… but even they have their limits," she shrugged. "The power depends on Elvia, and what she's using it for. Take Gardevoir for example: they're so fiercely protective of their trainers that they'd die for them. With such loyalty, a Psychic attack from one that's in such a dire state of mind would be truly amazing, amazing but also very terrible in strength… Don't ever make a trainer's Gardevoir angry. Ever. Because if that's not the last day you live you'll wish it was," she murmured, her eyes grim.

Fida and Elvia blinked, their eyes were wide open in awe but also fear. Fida made a mental note to ask Tara what a Gardevoir was.

"Anyway!" Tara smiled. "Enough of that; keep practicing," she nodded at the rock. "And remember, it takes mental strength."

Elvia and Fida tried again. This time they were able to pull the tendril back with them even farther than before, but it still wasn't enough. They tried again and again with the same results, until finally on their eighth try Elvia was able to bring it back the whole way.

She was surrounded by a purple aura that looked much like Muku's blue one, her pearls glowed with it as well.

Tara sat up straight and excited. "Good! Now focus, focus on the rock," she leaned forward.

Elvia struggled with the power as she opened her eyes; they were also a solid purple. She focused her mental strength on the stone. The aura began to partially consume the stone and it wiggled a bit, but Elvia couldn't keep hold of the power and it faded back inside herself. Elvia gasped as her eyes fluttered open, her hovering wavered.

"That's alright," Tara assured them. "That was good for a first try," she sat back again. "Hard isn't it?" she asked Elvia. "It's hard to hold on to the power."

Elvia nodded.

"Muku had a hard time at first too, but because he's actually a Psychic-type it came a bit natural to him. It's harder for anything that isn't a Psychic-type, but a lot of Pokémon have psychic potential actually. For example; I've heard rumors of Magmar being able to use Psychic," she chuckled a bit. "So it can be done."

Elvia and Fida tried again several times that night. Towards the end Elvia got the psychic aura to fully surround the rock, but she wasn't able to lift it off the ground, she couldn't do more than make it wobble a bit.

"You think she did a good job?" Fida sighed; both she and Elvia were exhausted.

"What do you think?" Tara asked as she crossed her arms.

"I think she did great!" Fida took hold of Elvia and hugged her.

"Well, that's because she did, both of you did great," Tara grinned. "Just keep practicing and before you know it you'll be lifting Muku and chucking him around - I'd like that," she smiled darkly.

Fida and Elvia giggled as Muku walked away in a dignified fashion.

"And don't forget to keep practicing Thunderbolt, soon enough you won't even need to go into Calm Mind to use it."

And with that the girls turned in for the night.

They set out early the next morning in order to be out by the time night fell. Elvia and Fida practiced Thunderbolt and Psychic a couple more times each while breakfast was prepared. Thunderbolts were now starting to come almost instantly, but Psychic hadn't improved any from the night before.

It started to rain as they set out, but it did not make the forest any less beautiful. The sound of the rain as it fell against leaves and bark as it fell, the smell; it was very calming, but at the same time invigorating.

In the middle of the afternoon they came across a small lake in the forest. They decided they'd rest here and have a late lunch.

Fida released Calhoun into the water before sitting down to eat, that way he could get his exercise.

Tara looked out on the water as she ate. "Pretty nice lake," she noted to no one in particular after swallowing. Fida nodded in response as she watched Calhoun swim about.

Tara had an idea.

"Fida, you ever hear of double battling?"

She shook her head. "What's that?" she asked.

"Well, it's like normal battling, only both people use two Pokémon at once. It adds a whole new level of strategy because you have four pokémon to think about at once." She paused. "You wanna try?"

"S-Sure!" Fida agreed. It sounded like fun to her and Elvia was all for it. She looked around and noticed there was hardly any room to have a battle. "Where?"

"On the lake of course." Tara said as she stood up and took out her net ball that contained Namoraw. She released him into the water and then motioned to Muku to come to her. "You two; make us some platforms please," she bowed her head.

Muku nodded and proceeded to use Psychic to lift water into the air. He made two good sized circles and two half circles. Once Muku was done Namoraw used Ice Beam so the water could hold the shapes.

"Should be all right to stand on…" Tara said as she stood on one of the half-circles. "Just don't move around a bunch."

Fida tenderly stepped onto the other half-circle and balanced herself. Once they were both firm on the platforms Muku moved them out to the center of the lake with Calhoun and Namoraw following behind.

The girls stood on either side of the water-arena, the two ice platforms floated between them. Muku leapt off Tara's shoulder and landed on Namoraw and took a battle stance. Calhoun floated before Fida and Elvia hovered beside him.

"Ready?" Tara asked. It was still raining, though not as hard as before, each drop made the water ripple. Thunder clouds still loomed overhead, casting gray light on everything.

"Yes," Fida nodded.

"Right then, you start," Tara offered.

"O-k then…" Fida bit her lip as she thought about the moves to use. "Elvia, use Confuse Ray on Namoraw! Calhoun, Tackle Muku!" Elvia fired her attack as Calhoun swam in to make his.

"Muku, Safeguard! Namoraw, move out of the way of that Tackle!" Tara ordered. Muku twirled around on the Tentacruel's head with his arms raised above him. His twirl ended in a kneeling position as he brought his arms down around him. White light fell around Muku and the water-type; Confuse Ray hit the veil and went out like a puff of smoke. Namoraw swam off to the side in order to avoid the Magikarp.

Fida was speechless for a moment. Tara effortlessly had her pokémon protect each other from her attacks. She realized if she were to go anywhere she would need to separate them, but she would have to survive this wave of attacks.

"Use Psybeam on Elvia, Muku. Namoraw, use Poison Sting on Calhoun," Tara said calmly. Her pokémon initiated her orders, Muku sent a Psybeam forth from the palms of his hands, the jellyfish spun around in the water, sending a barrage of needles from his tentacles.

Fida surprised herself by finding a simple solution to the issue. "Elvia use Protect on yourself and Calhoun!"

The ghost rushed over to the fish's location, barely dodging the Psybeam. In an instant she and Calhoun were surrounded by a sphere of ghostly energy; the poison needles bounced off helplessly.

"Good girl!" Tara clapped. "You're getting the basic idea of double battling down: it's a team effort."

Fida's mouth formed a tiny smile and she nodded as an idea popped into her head. "Elvia, go under the water!" Elvia did so without question, submerging herself. Moving in the water wasn't too different for her than moving through air due to the nature of her body. Looking around the only thing she could see was a threatening mass of tentacles not far off. She heard Fida scream out for her to use Thunderbolt and she did so. The attack came almost effortlessly now. The attack was released and went through the water like a wave; Fida had Calhoun jump out of the water to avoid electrocution.

Tara widened her eyes, though more from surprise than fear - she didn't think Fida would be so resourceful yet. Muku had only moments to jump off of his companion as he was electrocuted in the water; the attack came too swiftly for Tara to command Namoraw to do anything defensive.

Muku flew through the air, aiming to land on the ice platform. That was when Fida had Calhoun Tackle Muku mid-air. The magikarp rushed in, sliding across the ice and into the water and onto the other ice platform. He slid over and leapt off of it using his momentum, hitting Muku and sending him falling into the lake.

Tara was speechless for a while. She eventually burst into a fit of laughter. "Well I certainly didn't expect that! Excellent, excellent job, Fida," she grinned.

Namoraw grumbled as he sat in the water, the occasional spark dancing on his body, making him flinch. "Oh, you," Tara crossed her arms. "Suck it up you big baby." He shot her a glare and another grumble, as if he was telling her, "Why don't you go and get zapped, then?"

Fida grinned at Elvia as she emerged from the water, then she looked at Calhoun and waved at him. "Good job!" He did seem very pleased with himself.

There was a loud crack of thunder and the sky lit up with lightning, the rain began to come down harder.

"I believe we should stop now," Tara advised. "We'll call it your win." She winked. Muku moved the girls to the shoreline and they set off once more.

The Mime Jr. provided an umbrella of psychic energy so that the girls wouldn't get soaked. The rain dragged on for the rest of the day, thunder continued to roll overhead.

Fida spent most of her time thinking about the battle. She really did surprise herself; she didn't realize she was capable of such strategic thinking. The girl was very pleased with herself and her Pokémon, especially Calhoun for doing so well.

It was very dark by the time the girls emerged from the forest. The fading rays of sunset could be seen reflecting off the sea far beyond them, past the cover of the clouds. They could see Goldenrod before them - it was lit up beautifully.

"We'll reach Goldenrod tomorrow, too far to walk tonight," Tara groaned. "Let's look for a place to camp."

The girls trudged off to find a suitable place to rest for the night. It was difficult because everything was wet, which meant they would have little luck for a fire unless they found a somewhat dry area. They eventually found a place against a rocky side of a hill. Rocks stretched out over them in an overhang, shielding the ground below from getting wet.

"This looks good," Tara said as she shined her flashlight around. The beam of light hit Fida's head, causing the metal rings on her hair-ties to shine in the light.

Fida heard a sound to her left and turned, screaming as something latched itself onto her head.
 
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Semmm....why the suspense?

Now to not ask questions all day....very nice...very nice indeed. I wish I could advance a story like you can Sem.
Keep it up. I want to read the next chapter soon.
 
Love your story! I'm hooked and can't wait to see what happens! Please continue!

Also, random moment but... I can't help but think Fida's going to catch that Murkrow...
 

Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
-Chapter 8-

Tara stood back wide-eyed, trying to get a good look at what was going on. She couldn't see a thing due to the rain and darkness, also for the fact that the creature itself was black and constantly moving, and thus it was hard for the girl to pin it with her flashlight.

Fida squealed and spun around, trying to cover her head and shake off whatever was pulling at her; Elvia was trying desperately to find some way to assist. The ghost was feeling something very similar to déjà vu.

After one final violent tug the creature fell back and landed on the ground. Fida yelped as she felt the back of her head: one of her pig tails was undone. The loose and dripping wet hair matted itself against her face.

Tara chuckled as she saw the Murkrow strut around, finally able to shine a light to it; it was proudly displaying its prize in its beak.

"My hair tie…" Fida said as she noticed her purple hair tie in the Murkrow's beak; the metal ring gleamed in the light of Tara's flashlight.

"It was after that the whole time," Tara concluded with a nod of her head.

"What?" Fida turned to look at Tara.

"Murkrow as a species are attracted to, well, shiny things. It's common for them to collect such objects, even if by means of stealing."

"But it followed me all the way from Violet…"

Tara shrugged. "Like I've said before; it's a strange Murkrow."

Fida nodded and slowly walked towards the Murkrow. It hopped back away from her a few times and held its head down as if to protect his stolen item, for it was certain that Fida would try to take it back.

"You can keep it if you want," Fida said as she kneeled down, feeling that she would get no closer.

The Murkrow immediately looked up and glared at Fida: she had just ruined its dramatics as it had already planned out a method of escape.

The two sat staring at each other for a moment, and then Tara broke in. "What is it with you and staring?" she teased. "Just catch it."

"What?" Fida jerked her head.

"Catch it." Tara repeated.

"I-I…" Fida stuttered. Did she really want to catch the Murkrow? It really was a strange character. "W-well, I don't have any Pokéballs."

"Hurrr..." Tara pondered as Fida and the bird resumed their staring. She first looked at the dark sky as the rain continued to fall, then her gaze settled on the Murkrow. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I just remembered…" she started as she began to dig through her bag. "that I have…" she rummaged around more. "this," she held a Pokéball in her hand.

Fida looked at it for a few moments - it looked even stranger than Namoraw's ball and the Lure ball she used to catch Calhoun. It was black with a red ring around the middle. Dark green spots covered the surface of the device.

"It's a ball I still have from Sinnoh. It's called a Dusk ball and can really only be used at night as its almost useless during the day. Probably why I forgot I even had it. Use this," she held it out for Fida.

Fida looked at the Murkrow, then the ball, then the Murkrow again, and then grabbed the ball out of Tara's hand.

"I challenge you to a battle, Murkrow," Fida looked directly into the bird's eyes with determination.

The bird shot her another look and hopped up into the air and turned itself until it faced Fida. It dropped the purple hair tie on the ground and cawed. "C'mon, Elvia," Fida beckoned to her friend. Elvia glided out before Fida and looked back at the girl to express that she was ready. Fida then turned her head to look at Tara; Tara nodded and Fida smiled, then she turned and called out, "Thunderbolt!"

A bolt of blue lightning was blasted out of the glowing pearls around Elvia's neck. The Murkrow quickly jumped to the left and then spread its wings. It soared high into the air and began flying towards the ghost. The bird's eyes glowed with a dark purple energy and two beams came forth from the eyes.

"That's Night Shade!" Tara yelled.

"Protect!" Fida countered.

A purple sphere surrounded Elvia in time for the attack to be deflected, but when the bubble faded the Murkrow was up close and began pecking at Elvia. She shrieked with each sharp jab of the crow's beak.

Fida bit her lip. She needed to get the Murkrow off of Elvia but she couldn't think of a way. She looked desperately at Tara, who said nothing, only looked on.

Elvia suddenly opened her eyes, there was a gleam in them and the wind began to pick up. It was slight at first but then it turned very powerful. Even through the rain Fida could see that the wind was laced with ghostly purple energy. Eerie noises came from the trees and rocks as the wind blew making Fida feel very sick, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as Elvia let out an unearthly wail.

The Murkrow was blown away from its prey and it clung onto a branch to keep from being thrown from the battle field.

Fida covered her head with her arms to shield her face from the wind; rain drops that had been picked up with the wind hit her arms and neck, biting into her skin.

The wind did not last for long, but it had a chilling effect on the mood of the battle.

"I'm thinking that was a move called Ominous Wind…" Tara informed as she began fixing her hair back into its original shape - Muku was clinging to her leg.

"W-whatever it was," Fida gulped. "It worked."

"Just a bit. Ghost-type attacks aren't too effective against Dark-type pokémon," Tara noted. "But at least you got the bird out of Elvia's hair."

The Murkrow smoothed down some of its ruffled feathers and flew back down and landed in front of Elvia.

"You all right, Elvia?" Fida asked her ghost. Elvia shook herself a bit and then nodded. "Let's try a Psybeam then!" Fida said with her head back in the game.

Elvia fired the multicolor beams from her eyes and they hit the Murkrow dead-on. "Yes!" Fida clasped her hands together.

The Dark-type seemed completely unfazed by the attack and simply walked out of its line of fire.

"Wha?" Fida was confused.

"Not sure if they taught you this or not but Dark-type pokémon are completely resistant to Psychic-type attacks," Tara told her.

"Then what can beat a Dark-type?" Fida asked.

"Most darks can be easily knocked out by Fighting or Bug-type moves, however, because Murkrow is part Flying, those attacks only do neutral damage. You don't have any Fighting or Bug-type moves at your disposal at the moment anyway," Tara chimed. "So if you can't affect the thing's ‘dark side' per se, then go for its Flying-type attributes. Rock, Ice, and Electric-type attacks hit Murkrow hard, and since you don't have any Rock or Ice-type attacks at your disposal either as of now, Elvia's Thunderbolt would be a main key for your victory."

"Right," Fida nodded with new determination. She would use Thunderbolt, but first she needed a plan, else Murkrow would just fly out of the way. Looking around at the wet earth around her, and idea formed in her head.

"Come back, Elvia. I'm gonna send out Calhoun!" she said as she pulled out the Magikarp's Pokéball. She tossed the sphere into the air and it released the fish onto the muddy ground. He flopped up and down for a few seconds and then settled down.

The Murkrow took one look at the Magikarp and began to squawk in a way that resembled laughing. Meanwhile Tara looked on intently to see how Fida and Calhoun could handle the situation.

"Don't laugh at Calhoun!" Fida shouted at the bird. "C'mon, Calhoun, let's get that bird with a Tackle."

Calhoun used his caudal fin to fling him out of the mud and into the air, heading straight towards the bird, the slick ground giving a boost to his speed.

The Murkrow wasn't at all paying attention to the situation, as it was too busy laughing still in a haughty manner.

Calhoun hit his target exactly as Fida wanted him too, all the training the two were doing was showing. The Murkrow was knocked back face-first into the mud.

The bird lifted its head up with half-closed eyes that expressed, ‘I should've seen that coming.' It stood up and shook itself in an attempt to shake off the mud that was now caked onto its feathers. It glared at the fish which was lying on his side, simply staring back at the bird in turn. The black bird ‘smirked' (If birds can somehow express a smirk.) and then seemed to vanish completely, as if it melted into the shadows.

"That's Faint Attack!" Tara shouted.

"What do I do?!" Fida asked as she desperately scanned the area for the bird. Calhoun too was darting his eyes around in search for his opponent.

"…Tell Calhoun to keep moving and to not stay in one spot!" Tara told the girl, even though she knew the attack was almost completely unavoidable.

Calhoun flopped around the area using his fins to propel him into the air. Even though the Magikarp was trying his best to evade this strange attack the Murkrow appeared from under the fish while he was air-bound and struck from below, sending the red-orange fish into a rock.

"Calhoun!" Fida shouted.

The Murkrow let out a cackle of sorts as it landed not too far away from the fish.

"Calhoun, aim your Splash attack on Murkrow, only..." she looked around at the ground. "Use the mud…?"

Calhoun, despite his trainer's uncertainty did as he was told and used his fins to slap a large amount of mud at the bird. The bird watched as the mud flew towards it, a large glob sent it back into the muddy ground.

"Good job!" Fida waved at her fish. "Now return!" she recalled Calhoun back into his ball. "Let's try again, Elvia."

Elvia nodded and flowed out onto the field again. The Murkrow was busy trying to get the mud out of its feathers and attempted to take flight multiple times but could not.

"My plan actually worked…" Fida muttered to herself, swelling with happiness. "Time for a Thunderbolt!" Fida yelled.

A single, large bolt of lightning issued forth from Elvia's location and the Murkrow had just enough time to look up and drop open its beak before being struck. The attack was made even more effective due to the fact that the Murkrow was wet.

The black bird collapsed in a heap; unable to move for the time being.

"Now!" Tara urged.

Fida nodded and took the Dusk ball and threw it at the bird. Her aim was actually true this time and the ball hit the bird's rump. The black ball split open, but instead of a red beam, there was only a shadow-like substance that enveloped the Dark-type, dragging it into the ball like some evil blob. The ball snapped shut and began to wiggle; its red center was flashing green with each shake. The ball stopped moving and there was the sound of a click.

"I got it?" Fida turned to Tara, who nodded.

The little girl and her ghost Pokémon went over to the ball and looked at it. She picked it up and examined it in her hands, smiling at it. Looking up, she scanned the ground around them looking for her hair tie. Upon locating it she walked over, kneeling down to scoop it up into her hand. She let the rain wash the grime off of it and put it in her pocket.

Fida was met with clapping from Muku who was smiling along with Tara. "Good job," the older girl smiled. "Now let's get out of rain; I'm running out of clean changes of clothes," she chuckled as the group walked under the safety of the cliff that stretched over them.

-------

Blinding white rays of light descended on the girls the following morning. There wasn't a cloud in sight and it felt like it was going to be a warm day; already the slosh-like ground was beginning to dry.

The girls changed out of their night clothes and into some clean garments, putting the dirty ones in their bags.

Tara set out for making breakfast while Fida and Elvia practiced with Psychic. The girl and the Ghost-type sat before a small flat stone, Fida cross-legged and Elvia floating by her shoulder. Elvia entered the Calm Mind state just as before and began to call upon the power she needed. Soon enough the energy surrounded the stone and it began to wobble.

"Hang in there, Elvia…" Fida encouraged her friend while she looked at the stone in earnest. "You can do it, just lift it into the air…"

Elvia strained, her eyes closed tighter. She used the power and felt the rock before her. She began to understand that the psychic energy was simply an extension of her own mind, like an arm or leg. Instead of trying to force something to happen she was now trying to simply imagine herself lifting up the rock.

"Elvia! It's working, you're doing it!" Fida said excitedly as she stared at the rock in awe. It was floating in mid-air right before her so freely, as if gravity had just stopped enforcing its dictatorial rule. "Tara! Tara! Look!" she cried out for the older girl.

Tara looked over with her tired gaze, which vanished as soon as she saw the rock. "Whoa!" She got up off her knees and scrambled over and watched silently for a few moments.

"Keep it up, Elvia!" Fida had her hands clasped together and a smile on her face, her gray eyes wide in excitement.

Elvia was now attempting to move the rock around, left and right, up and down, forward and back. Though after only a few of these movements she lost control again and the stone fell to the ground with a plop.

"That was great!" Fida hugged Elvia, Elvia smiled in return.

"Yes it was. I think you got the basics down; you just have to sharpen your precision and skill. Moving the stone around mid-air would be the next step. Try practicing with that. Try throwing it too, like throwing it at targets and such. Once you got that down you can move on to a bigger object."

Elvia nodded and smiled once more. Tara realized that her growth was excelling very rapidly; she had lots of potential and could take Fida very far. Fida herself also had the potential; Tara placed a lot of faith in her.

After breakfast Fida pulled out the Murkrow's pokéball and released it. It was still caked in mud and it was already glaring at her. Tara walked over with her PokéDex and pointed the device at the forlorn-looking bird.

"Well, it's a he. And he knows quite a few attacks already," Tara nodded. "And as you saw last night, he's decently strong," she added. "I'd say he's a nice addition to your team."

The Murkrow was now hopping around the ground, poking at the terrain with his beak in search of edibles.

"He's a funny one though, isn't he?" Tara commented. "Sorta arrogant, a little dramatic, and a bit… sinister…" Tara paused for a moment and then asked, "You got a name for him?"

Fida pondered, searching through her list of possible names and seeing which one fit the bird. "Well, there's this one guy from I story I use to read a lot, Murkrow acts like him, so I'll name him Kieran."

Fida walked over to Kieran. He was about to back away at her approach but she pulled out the hair tie from last night. "I told you you could have it," she told him softly. She stretched it out as much as she could and placed it over the Dark-type's head. The elastic retracted when she let go, letting the tie hand freely from Kieran's neck.

"There," Fida smiled.

Kieran was actually flattered by the gift deep down inside his pitiful soul, but chose not to show it by throwing his head off to the side in a ‘hmph' gesture.

"We'll also get you cleaned up once we get to Goldenrod." Fida added.

"We should get going by the way," Tara intruded. She already had the campsite packed.

The girls set off up route 34 towards the large city of Goldenrod. The forest and rough terrain soon smoothed out into lush farmland. The area around Goldenrod supplied food for all of Johto and also exported to other regions.

Milktank and Tauros grazed the fields, carefully watched by Growlithe and Houndour. The galloping of Ponyta and Rapidash could be heard from time to time and the occasional farmer was seen.

Tara brought up the idea of staying in Goldenrod longer than she originally planned. She said it was in order to properly help Fida in her training. Meaning they would be in Goldenrod for a couple of months; which is about as long as the center would allow free of charge, and even that was pushing it.

Tara also said Goldenrod would be a good place for Fida to get more practice with other trainers, because as of then she had not yet battled a trainer other than Tara. Fida was happy with the plan and so was Elvia. If all went well then by the time they left Goldenrod Fida would be one big step closer to being a good trainer.

The farmland soon gave way to housing developments and neighborhoods. Goldenrod wasn't far at all now and the girls hopped on a bus to shuttle them downtown, at which was the Pokémon Center and the enormous PokéMart, as well as some other excellent stores and restaurants and the famous radio tower.

The bus went up the streets, buildings rolled by. The sidewalks were filled with people who were uninterested in any affairs other than their own and didn't look up too often. Busy was the main word you got from looking at everything.

The bus slowed to a stop, and the opening of it's doors let a rush of city air into the vehicle. The passengers walked off the bus and then went their separate ways.

Tara and Fida dodged cars as they crossed the street to the Pokémon Center. The center was enormous and elaborate, as it also functioned as a hotel for passing trainers; its medical facilities and technologies were nothing to scoff at though.

There were quite a few Joys on duty, as one could not expect a single pink-haired nurse to take care of everything by herself. The girls got into a line of trainers waiting to be checked in.

Fida pulled out her three pokéballs and looked at them fondly. She couldn't wait to resume training, and she wanted to start with Kieran right away.

The line dwindled down and soon they were at the front.

"Hello!" said Nurse Joy cheerily. Although she sounded just as chipper as any Joy, one could easily see the dark lines under her tired eyes. "What can I do for you two today?"

"A room, please." Tara leaned up against the counter. "For two, and I'll just mention it now that we will be staying for a while."

The nurse nodded as she began typing away at her keyboard. "PokéDex please." She asked. Tara handed it to her. This Joy didn't seem too surprised to see a Sinnoh dex, probably because Goldenrod was a port city and a popular destination.

The nurse returned the device, and after only a few more taps and clicks produced two card keys for room 713. "Have a good day." The Joy smiled.

"W-wait." Fida piped up. "I would like for you to check out my Pokémon," she returned Elvia to her pokéball and handed the three spheres to Nurse Joy.

"Of course," she nodded and grabbed a tray, placing the balls on it.

"Me too," Tara added. "It'd be nice to be rid of you for a few hours," she told Muku as she returned him.

The nurse grabbed another tray and placed Tara's pokémon on it. "All right. They should be all done within a few hours."

Tara nodded a thank you and the duo walked off towards the elevators. The shining doors slid open and let the girls as well as a few other people inside. Each party pushed their own respective buttons and the lift began to rise.

The girls got off and looked at the signs to see which way they needed to go. The signs directed them left and left they went.

"Good gods I'm hungry…" Tara muttered as they walked down the brightly lit hallways, though she looked more like she wanted a nap. Fida had found that Tara could, in fact, sleep instead of eat, but so far sleeping was the only thing that got in the way of her eating.

"710… 711… 712…" Tara mumbled as they passed the rooms in the light colored hallway. "713!" she stopped and inserted the key. The lock gave a tiny click and opened.

Tara threw her stuff down and launched herself onto one of the beds. Fida gently placed her possessions on the floor and sat quietly on the other bed.

"Here," Tara said in a muffled voice with half her face buried in a pillow. She handed Fida her PokéDex. "Use it and look up some stuff for Kieran and Elvia, see if you can find any good attacks you want to teach either of them, as well as strategies."

With that Tara rolled over and fell asleep. Fida smiled to herself and flipped open the device. This was going to be a good couple of months.
 
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I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BWA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Sorry for the caps... Just had to put them....)

Awesome chappie! I hope you continue soon!
 
T'is a fine chapter Sem. How could you have writers block with that quality. I think your lying. :p

Anyways, I can't wait to see the next one.
 
I just read the lot, and I have to say, I love it. I found it funny that Murkrow was hanging around her, being associated with ill fortune and all, but all he was after was the hair tie :p

Hmm... with the addition of Murkrow it raises the question: Who does she use her Dusk Stone on?
 
I agree with Jet, how can you have writers block and write something that good. :p

And yeah, it made me laugh how Murkrow was merely after her hair tie :D
 

Shiny Motley

2016 Singles Football
*Shiny/Lyn applauds Semmie*

That was very nice. And not just the chapter; I personally think the whole fanfiction was amazing (haven't posted here yet, so might as well just tell you what I think of all of it rather than a single chapter).

Can't wait to see who else is going to be on Fida's team, as well as how well the rest of the story goes. Hope it'll be as good as this one! [size=3pt]And I, too, think you're lying about that writer's block thing.[/size]
 
James hurry up and finish Chapter 8 or I'll eat your face!
Good story by the way. Yes... very good.
 

Sem

The Last of the Snowmen
Former Administrator
-Chapter 9-

The two month period of training started on the next day. Tara saw it best to work with just one of Fida's pokémon each day, starting with Elvia.

They worked Elvia in more basics, such as speed and dodging abilities as well as accuracy, and they had her practice Protect constantly, as it seemed to be the move she could use best. Sure she could dish out some strong attacks, but she could take them even better with her Protect.

They also continued helping her with Psychic, of course, and after the first week she showed some good progress. She was able to move small objects around freely with little difficulty, but she was still losing control every so often.

The next day was for the training of Calhoun. There was a rather big aquarium for trainer use in one of the facilities in the Pokémon center, though it was strictly for training only; the nurses had enough to deal without having to worry about battle injuries occurring in their own center.

Calhoun was trained as well in speed and skill with his two available moves. Muku would use Psychic to raise blobs of water to be used as targets for the fish. The Magikarp's abilities were improved through these methods and his self-confidence was raised even higher.

Kieran was a bit difficult at first. He would do his own thing half of the time and what he was told the other half. Tara thought it would be best to work with the bird in dodging and maneuverability. Simply because even though Murkrow tended to have good attacking power, they didn't take hits very well.

After Kieran Elvia was up again the next day, and this was the pattern that began to form. The Pokémon developed fast and Fida did as well. Fida herself spent many hours at night studying different types of attacks, Pokémon, and strategies. Tara planned to pit her against a trainer very soon.

-------

It was now the start of the second month and Tara was helping Fida and Elvia with the next step of the Psychic-training.

"Now, I think it's great that Elvia is moving on to moving bigger and bigger objects, but it's time to focus on another aspect. Psychic can be used to lift and throw an opponent around, yes, but that's not the only area in which it shines. The key to a good Psychic attack is to also be able inflict mental damage onto a foe," Tara explained while munching on a bag of chips.

"How do you do that?" Fida inquired as she sat cross-legged before her teacher, Elvia hovered nearby.

"Well, basically, you interrupt their thoughts with your own," Tara stated. "They don't have to be bad thoughts mind you; they could be about practically anything, like food!" she leaned in closer and raised her finger. "The thing is, when you rush someone's mind with your own thoughts at random without stopping, they can't take it, because now they have to handle their thoughts, which are now escalating due to the other presence in their head, and the other Pokémon's thoughts. It exhausts them, and in some extreme cases it'll hurt them and leave them with a big migraine."

Fida nodded her head. "How is Elvia supposed to practice that?"

"Well that's the trouble…" Tara sighed. "I'm thinking she should just practice with Muku," she leaned back, using her arms to support her in her cross-legged position. "Because Muku is a Psychic type anyway I figure he would be the best choice."

Fida nodded again, "All right."

Muku twirled out from wherever he had been and spun into a sitting position in front of Tara. Elvia glided out and hovered before him.

"So, Elvia," Tara began. "You know how when you first use Psychic there's like a field around you were you can sense anything within it? And that in order to manipulate the object you want to have to focus on it?"

Elvia nodded.

"Alright, this is kinda the same, except you want to try and sense another mind instead of an object; in this case, Muku's mind. Shouldn't be hard to spot, trust me."

Elvia began to use Psychic, which had become easier now and she didn't even have to get into Calm Mind to call upon the power. The month of training had definitely helped. She immediately sensed a large well of power which she recognized as Muku, and two other minds, which belonged to the girls. Tara's mind was rather different from Fida's in that hers had a very small, yet strong core of sapphire-blue light at its core. Looking at it more closely Elvia saw that there was in fact a dark blue within the sapphire-blue.

"Nod when you find him." Tara said, interrupting Elvia's focus, who went back to looking at Muku and nodded a second later. "All right, now you want to focus on that mind but instead of wanting to rip it out of Muku's head you want to enter it."

Elvia attempted this, taking a second to figure out how to do so, but she figured out it was much like entering a room, and it was surprisingly easy.

Muku stayed calm as he felt Elvia enter his mind and let Tara know that the ghost had succeeded.

Elvia ceased the attack and felt herself rushing back into her body.

"Excellent," Tara clapped. "Normally it won't be so easy: Pokémon will offer you plenty of resistance. Though, it's easier to invade some minds than it is others, it depends heavily on the Pokémon's type, but also any psychic training they've endured. You'll rarely find any trouble entering that mind of a Fighting or Poison-type, and Toxicroak practically invite you come in," xhe chuckled, Fida looked at her confusedly.

"Ahaha, anyway…" she cleared her throat. "At the same time many types will offer you plenty of resistance, such as Steel-types and other Psychic-types of course, and it's completely impossible to invade a Dark-type's mind under normal circumstances," she nodded her head in a sagely manner. "Now, Elvia found no trouble at all getting into Muku's head simply because he offered no resistance."

Fida nodded.

"Now that you have an idea of how to get into minds, you're probably wondering what now? Simple really, just think. Think about anything and everything, the bigger the thought, the bigger the impact. Lot's of smaller thoughts work just as well though," She paused again to choose her words. "The kind of thought also makes a difference. Filling the thing's head with scary images will have a bigger impact than images of pizza and burgers, though that's only if you have the heart to do so. Some pokémon attack their opponent with the most malevolent intentions, all sorts of images could crop up in their mind…" she frowned.

"Tara?" Fida asked.

"Hm?"

"If Elvia can get into things minds, could she get into mine? Could she… talk to me?"

"Well, at this point it would be difficult. She understands human speech and understands humans fairly well anyway due to her ability to sense emotions. But, though she knows our words, she has no idea how to pronounce them. The only way she'd be able to communicate with you would be via images and emotions, and even memories, which works to an extent."

Fida nodded once more, excited at the prospect of any kind of further communication between her and Elvia. "Do you and Muku do that?"

"Truthfully? All the time," she raised her brow. "He knows exactly what I'm feeling every single second of every day," she stated matter-of-factly

"Wow… sounds nice," Fida leaned in.

"Sometimes, other times it can be a pain," she teased and flicked the little white ball on Muku's ‘hat.'

The girls laughed and took a break from their training for the day.

-------

"Kieran please try a Wing Attack?" Fida begged.

The crow moved his head off to the side and closed his eyes in another ‘hmph' gesture and then took to the air. His wings stiffened for a brief moment and he hit another balloon, slicing it open.

It was a clear day, and warm as far as winters went. Everyone was still bundled in jackets and coats, but it was a good day for training.

"Good job!" Fida sighed. Training Kieran was taking a toll on her. Kieran nodded in acknowledgment and landed on the ground where he began grooming himself.

"Why does Kieran only listen to me half the time, Tara?" Fida asked as she got up off her knees and stood over by where Tara was standing.

"I'm not exactly sure, though I'm thinking it's due to pride," the older girl answered.

"Pride?"

"Yes, pride in himself - he's awfully vain, you know," Tara snickered. "I wonder, if you were to win a battle with him, and then, another and another, perhaps he would start having more pride in you as a trainer instead of himself."

"You think?" Fida responded, clearly happy with that idea.

"Like I said, I'm not sure," Tara shrugged and looked up into the sky. It was afternoon on a warm day. They were out training in a park and they had tied some balloons to a piece of unused playground equipment.

"Any progress with Thunder Wave?" Tara asked.

"Not really…" Fida answered. "I've seen him make some cracks and little sparks, but he can't ge-gen-generate enough for the attack."

"Generate? You're starting to talk like me, you know?" she cackled, failing to notice Fida blush.

The younger girl really did look up to Tara, she was even picking up her speaking habits. She knew her vocabulary had expanded immensely since meeting Tara, it had to in order for Fida to understand some of the things Tara said.

"Well anyway, that's all right. Just keep working with it," Tara resumed. "It'll be a nice thing for him to have in his arsenal. And keeping working with Drill Peck too," she added.

Fida sat silent for a few moments. "Do you think I should battle somebody?"

"Definitely," Tara replied. "You wanna?"

"Well…" she looked towards Elvia for an answer. Elvia nodded her head and smiled. "Alright… but we need to find somebody."

"Oh, that's easy," Tara patted the girl's shoulder and walked away to some distance. Fida was unable to see her for a few moments but she heard a tremendous shout.

"IS ANYONE INTERESTED IN A BATTLE?"

Fida winced.

Moments later Tara came back with a male trainer, a bit younger than she was, maybe 12 or 13. He had sandy blond hair and wore a simple pair of jean shorts and a blue t-shirt with some sort of sports team emblem.

"I'm fighting her?" he questioned.

"Got a problem with that?" Tara smiled in a way that made him feel very cautious about how he would answer.

"Well, err, no…"

"All right then, let's get started!" Tara cheerfully pointed to two places, signifying where the trainers would stand and marked herself as mid-field.

"This will be a two on two battle with no time limit, anything goes," she raised her arms and then lowered them while shouting, "Begin!"

"C-c'mon, Elvia." Fida said, nervous of the forming crowd. Elvia positioned herself on the field and looked at the opposing trainer.

"Let's do this quick, Kobra," he said as he pulled a Pokéball off his belt and tossed it onto the field. A large snake was left in the white flash's wake. It was purple in color and had a large hood with sinister markings. The Arbok hissed and glared menacingly at Elvia.

"I'll let the lady go first," The boy said and bowed, though Fida doubted it was hardly for the sake of politeness.

Fida furrowed her brow and for an instant and then issued a command. "Psybeam, Elvia!"

Elvia's eyes lit up and she fired two multicolored beams of psychic energy at the Poison-type. The attacks hit the front of the serpent and caused it to hiss in rage.

"It'll take more than that! Crunch!" he pointed dramatically at Elvia and his snake rushed forwards with its maw wide open.

"Move out of the way and use Confuse Ray!" Fida countered. Elvia flowed sideways through the air, narrowly avoiding the rush of purple scales. From her largest pearl came a yellow-orange orb that only had to travel a short distance before it made contact with the Arbok.

The snake weaved back and forth as if dizzy and tried orientate itself.

"Shake it off, Kobra! Fire Fang!"

The Arbok shook its head and then focused its cold reptilian eyes on the ghost. It opened its mouth and dived forward, fangs seemed to light ablaze with red-hot flames.

Fida heard Elvia scream in pain as the snake bit deep into her body. The arbok ripped its head around, throwing Elvia off to the side: the attack had burned her.

"Now, try another Crunch!" the boy commanded.

Fida waited only a couple of seconds until Arbok was near enough before shouting, "Protect!"

The Arbok rammed into the solid wall of ghost energy.

"Great job, Elvia! Now try another Psybeam!" Fida continued.

Elvia rushed through the fading remnants of her Protect with eyes blazing and fired the attack once again at the serpent. The attack once again hit its intended mark and the Arbok winced in pain.

Elvia herself winced in pain; the burn was painful and impaired her ability to attack at her full potential.

"Poison Sting!" The boy growled. The arbok reared its head back and shot forth several strings of poison from its fangs at a high speed. Elvia attempted to move out of the way but was still hit by the attack.

"Thunderbolt!" Fida told her friend. The crowd was in suspense now, they didn't expect much from Fida, but she was holding her ground well, and a Thunderbolt was impressive from a Misdreavus.

Elvia let loose a bolt of electricity at the snake that shocked the creature to its core. She grinned at her successful hit, but was forced to wince again due to her burn - it stung painfully whenever she moved.

"Finish it with Crunch!" the other trainer screamed.

"Psychic!" Fida yelled.

Elvia closed her eyes and focused on the snake's mind and rushed it with all she had. She broke through the barriers easily and assaulted the snake with random thoughts as Tara instructed, before forcefully pushing the snake far out of the field and sliding it across a patch of grass.

There was silence for a moment. Kobra did not move and was considered KO'd. The trainer angrily returned his Arbok.

"Let's get her, Pidgeotto," he threw another ball high into the air, releasing a moderately sized bird, yellow-brown in color with a reddish-pink crest. It cooed as it landed on the ground.

"Come on back, Elvia." Fida said concerned, though happy that Elvia pulled off her first successful Psychic in battle.

"You ready, Kieran?" Fida asked the black bird which was busy pecking at the ground nearby, pretending to be uninterested in the battle. He hopped out onto the field and faced the Pidgeotto. He spread his wings and cawed in a Taunt. The Pidgeotto narrowed its eyes.

"Quick Attack!" the trainer commanded.

"Haze!" Fida knew having ample amount of cover would be the best way to go. She felt the temperature around her plummet, water molecules in the air froze, forming a fog that blanketed the field. With a simple hop to the left Kieran was able to avoid oncoming bird.

"Great, now use Faint Attack!" Fida added. There was silence for many moments. The Pidgeotto peered this way and that into the fog but was unable to see clearly even with its Keen Eye ability - Kieran simply wasn't there.

There was cry from within the fog and the Pidgeotto went flying out of it into the clear sky.

"Grr, enough of this hide and seek stuff! Whirlwind!" The pigeon flapped its wings vigorously sending a powerful gust of wind towards the cloud, dispersing it completely and revealing Kieran, who was glaring up at the bird as he stood against the wind currents.

"Great, now get that bird with Wing Attack!" The Pidgeotto obeyed and spread its wings before diving towards Kieran with them outstretched.

"Night Shade, Kieran!" Fida knew a projectile type attack would throw off an attacker coming at them physically, Tara had told her so.

However, instead of using Night Shade Kieran spread his own wings and flew straight up towards the bird with a Wing Attack of his own.

"No!" Fida shouted.

The birds crashed mid-air and came falling to the earth, both were damaged but Kieran more so, being the smaller bird.

"Ha! Didn't even listen to you," The boy mocked, as did a few other people in the crowd, a few others murmured to each other.

Fida cheeks burned red in embarrassment. Tara glared at the boy and the crowd members.

Kieran collected himself and stood up. He noticed the jeers and scorn he was getting and couldn't help but become angry. In the chaos of the moment he rushed in with a relentless Peck attack on the Pidgeotto.

"Hey!" the boy yelled. "Shake that thing off with Gust!"

Pidgeotto jumped into the air and flapped its wings repeatedly, forcing the Murkrow back, but Kieran retaliated with a Night Shade that hit dead on, sending the Pidgeotto crashing back to the ground.

"Kieran!" Fida yelled, but she was ignored, much to her further humiliation.

Kieran rushed forward with a Faint Attack, melting into the shadows and then appearing behind his enemy and striking it into the air, where it followed with a Wing Attack. Pidgeotto let out continuous cries of pain as Kieran followed it to the ground with more Peck attacks.

"Your Murkrow's out of control!" the boy shouted. He pulled out Pidgeotto's Pokéball and returned his beat up avian, but not before Kieran could savagely sneak in a Pursuit.

He felt triumphant for only a moment before he felt a dark aura surrounding him and pulling him back. Fida had returned him and put the ball away. "I'm sorry!" she yelled to the boy who was walking away in order to apologize.

"Get lost!" came her answer. She fell to the ground in dismay, her wounded Elvia rushed in to console her as did Tara.

"T-that didn't turn out so well…" she sniffed.

"Oh don't worry about it." Tara rubbed Fida's back.

"My first battle with another trainer too and I blew it."

"No, no. Elvia did excellent, she pulled off Psychic excellently." She reminded the girl. "It was a good first battle in my opinion, Kieran's just difficult…"

"Y-yeah… I'm proud of her for that…" Elvia nuzzled herself against Fida's slightly damp cheek.

"C'mon, let's get back to the room and get Elvia and Kieran all healed up." Tara helped Fida up and they walked back towards the Pokémon Center

-------

"So, why did Kieran do that?" Fida asked later as they sat in the air conditioned room.

"I'm not sure, but despite how he acted, you have to have noticed how well he fought," Tara pointed and and Fida nodded almost reluctantly. "Another thing I did notice was that was how he reacted due to all the mockery he was receiving. Nobody likes to be mocked, I know, but he reacted especially strange and violent, like, maybe he's had to endure it before?" she shrugged. "But who knows?"

"Hmm…" Fida thought.

"Whatever it is, he's going to need a lot of work." Tara noted.

-------

The rest of the month passed by without too much trouble. All three of Fida's Pokémon had developed a great deal, though Kieran took a lot more effort than Elvia or Calhoun and still wasn't fully obedient. Fida was still happy with all the progress made however, and she felt a lot more ready than she did two months or even a month ago.

Fida was sitting by the window of their room admiring the night and the moon. Two months had passed already and they would be leaving Goldenrod. Fida had to admit that it was a nice city, very pretty, especially at night. As she looked she could faintly hear the horn of the infamous Magnet Train as it left the station. Pulling her hair back she briefly smiled at Elvia before focusing on the sun as it disappeared behind the sea.

She knew she would be forever grateful to Tara and what the teen had done for her. Fida wasn't sure what to expect when she ran from home; even though she had Elvia she didn't really expect to start being a trainer, though thinking back on it there would have been little else she could do.

Now that she was battling she was receiving an income. Though it wasn't much per battle, it was something, and certainly enough for the lifestyle she lived. Food could be found cheap, and lodging was free at any Pokémon Center. (Though, the staff had begun telling Tara that they would start charging her soon.) The most costly items were the Pokémon supplies, food and medicines, which the PokéMarts tried to keep down to suit a trainer's budget, but they were still costly.

She didn't imagine that she would do this forever. Fida did find herself missing school, and felt a pang of guilt whenever she passed a child her age on the street with their school uniform. The girl knew she would go back to school, somehow.

All in all, her situation was working out quite fine for her, and she was very pleased with everything. Despite the guilt she felt at times, she wasn't sorry she left her old life for this new one.

"Time to pack up!" Tara clapped as she burst through the door. "Joy's threatened to bill me if we don't leave tomorrow," she growled and slouched into the room and sat on the edge of the bed, her expression turned light again. "Tonight is our last night," she grinned while Muku danced around her feet.
 
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Yay! Go Elvia (and Fida)!

I wonder if Keiran used to have an abusive trainer... Or maybe he's just a weird Murcrow.

Please continue this awesome story!
 
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