A Heart So True

Amaya Yoi scanned the dark night, waiting for something to appear. She had been standing in here in the tall grass for a while now, but nothing had shown up. She knew it was dangerous to be out alone, but she wanted a pokemon so badly! She had saved up all her allowance, and had managed to buy her very first pokeball. She just had to be sure that she didn't waste it.

She had snuck out of her house in Mahogany Town, and walked all the way up to the Lake of Rage. She had expected to find something, even if it was just a lousy rattata. Anything that would get her on her way would be great. She heard something rustling in the bushes, and began walking towards them. She was surprised when she parted the branches, and found a little sheildon cowering near the shore of the lake.

"What are you doing here, little guy?" she asked, concerned. There was no reason she could think of for a rock and steel pokemon to be out here so close to the lake. And what was worse, it looked hurt. She took out her pokeball, feeling a little bad for using it like this. But, if she caught it, then she could take it to the pokecenter and get it healed for free. That would be something, at least. And a sheildon was much better than a rattata, in her book. She threw the ball at the sheildon, and held her breath as a red beam of light sucked the pokemon in. The ball jiggled for a few seconds, the dot in the middle changing from red to white. Finally, it settled on white with a short dinging sound. She had to keep from jumping up and down with excitement as she picked up the ball.

She quickly raced back down the path, this time purposely avoiding the tall grass areas. She burst into the pokemon center, and laid her pokeball on the counter.
"Could you heal my sheildon, please?" she begged. "I just found him, and he seems hurt."
"Of course, dear," the nurse said, taking the ball from her hands. "Just let me take it into the back room, okay? I'll have it back to you in no time at all."
Amaya nodded, and went to the waiting room to sit down.

"May I see your ID sir?", the officer behind the glossy counter asked.
"Here ya go."
"Fin Drivvers? Is that correct?"
"Yes I'm a messenger for the Pokecenter in Mahogany town. I'm here to pick up a package?"
"OH!!! Here it is. Good luck on your trip."
"Thanks," Fin replied as he strapped the package to his mach bike and sped out of the small concrete rest station. The cool air whipped through his hair as he rode out through route 42. Fin peddled with great speed and accuracy as he dodged small obstacles taking extra care as not to damage the precious package stapped to the front of his handlebars. The potions in this package were a vital necessity to the pokecenter in Mahogany town. Fin had become their messenger boy only a month ago and had astounded them with his ability with his bike. They hired him immediately, but delivering and picking up packages wasn't his dream.

Ever since he was a little boy he had always admired the pokemon trainers he saw come through town. His eyes glazed over with admiration everytime they pulled out one of those shiny pokeballs and hurled it toward the ground. He loved watching the trainers battle and how they connected with their pokemon and worked together to defeat their opponents.

Fin had applied for this job to raise money for his first pokeball. His parents had told him they didn't have enough money to buy him his dream. They told he would appreciate it more if he earned it himself. Immediately the next day he applied for the job and was hired. Fin had been saving up his money and calculated this delivery as being his last before he would have the money for a pokeball. He peddled faster, energy surging through his legs as he could see his dream coming to reality. Then something to his left caught his eye.

A flash of white broke his concentration on the road. Suddenly another flash of white appeared in front of him and the world seemed to slow down. His handlebars leaped from his hands as the wheel turned sidways bringing the front of the bike to a stop. He blinked. When his eyes opened he was upside-down watching his bike rotate above him. He blinked again. Before he could open his eyes again, a sharp jolt of pain shot through his shoulders and into his neck. Fin slowly opened his eyes watching the night sky dance and spin around him. Finally getting his bearings he sat up. In front of him lay his bike, the twisted metal spokes of the front wheel now jutting in all directions. Following the bike frame up to his handlebars, a sense of urgency shot through his body as his eyes rested on a certain brown package strapped to the front. He jumped up immediately inspecting the box, seeming to be in perfect condition. Wiping the sweat off his brow he turned and noticed the white object laying on the ground in a condition less than that of the box.

He rushed over to the lump and carefully pushed it over. It was a Ralts, clearly in critical condition. It's body was covered in fine lacerations, probably due to the twisted spokes on the bike's front wheel. Fin carefully gathered up the Ralts and strapped it to the front of his bike with the extra cable he had; securing it gently on top of the package so as not to harm it any further. Once he was sure it was safe Fin ran as fast as he could toward Mahogany Town, pushing the bike with its broken wheel, to the limit.

Once he was in town, he headed straight for the pokemon center to deliver the pokemon and his package. "Oh my! What has happened?" exclaimed nurse Joy.
"Can you heal him? I brought the potions you needed."
"Sure, just let me take him to the back. You can sit in the waiting room out front."
Fin ran his hand through his hair as he walked toward the front of the building. He started pacing the the clean tiled floor of the waiting room when he noticed a girl sitting in a chair off to the side wearing a worried expression on her face. Fin stopped for a second then walked toward her. Stopping in front of her she slowly looked up with sadness in her eyes. He hel out his hand, "Hi, my name is Fin Drivvers. What's yours?"

Amaya looked up, confused. She had been so busy thinking about her new pokemon, that she didn't notice this new person coming in. She blinked once before she could actually process his words.
"Oh," she said finally, "I'm Amaya. Amaya Yoi." She glanced at the door to the treatment room distractedly. She quickly turned her attention back to Fin, not wanting to seem rude.
"I think I've seen you around town before. You're the delivery boy, right?"

Her eyes flicked back to the treatment room door for just a second. What could be taking so long? She hoped the sheildon wasn't hurt very badly. She sighed. This wasn't how she had expected to spend her first few hours as a pokemon trainer.

((Guess I'll drop myself in right here then. >3>; ))

Anson sat in the corner of the Pokémon center quietly, reading a book. She had come in a short time earlier. Her few Pokémon were well due for a check-up, so before passing through Mahogany she decided to stop at the center. She knew better than to continue battling and traveling while her Pokemon weren't in peak condition. Her father had told her that over and over, and she intended to remember it. She was still a novice by most standards, only traveling for maybe a month and a half, so she couldn't afford to let any advice slip by.

She glanced up at the other patrons of the center. A boy, presumably some messenger boy by what she overhead of the conversation with the nurse, and another girl. She shrugged to herself. Not important, she guessed, though by the apparent emergencies that had come along with them, she wouldn't be getting her Pokémon back anytime soon.

"Yes, I am a messenger boy for the pokemon center. I just brought them a package of potions. They recently ran out at the mart," Fin replied. He noticed that Amaya was a little distracted and kept looking at the treatment room doors.

"Your pokemon should be out shortly now that they have the potions." Fin gave a nervous smile and sat down next to her noticing another entity sitting across from them in the small room. She seemed to be engrossed in a book, but he wasn't completely certain.

Amaya nodded, grateful for his kind words.
"This is my first trip to the Pokemon Center," she said, as if that much wasn't obvious. "I'm just a little nervous. I just got my first pokemon, and I want to make sure that he's okay." She smiled with a blush, and looked down. Her attention was drawn back to the treatment room as the red light above the doors went out.

Nurse Joy came out of the room, and smiled when she saw Amaya sitting in the waiting room.
"You're sheildon is feeling better now," she said kindly. "It had hurt one of its legs, but we were able to heal it up nicely. Would you like to come see him?"
Amaya nodded, and stood up quickly. She trotted over to Nurse Joy, excited to see her pokemon. Before leading her away, Nurse Joy turned to look at the other two occupants of the waiting room.

"You're ralts is doing better as well, if you'd like to come see it. And," she turned to the other girl across the room, "I'm sorry, but we're a bit short staffed. Your team will be healed and returned to you as soon as possible. My best chansey is working on them now."

Anson glanced up from her book to look at the nurse, and gave a slight smile. "It's alright," she replied, her voice barely loud enough to be heard. "Looks like there's been some more important stuff going on. None of my pokemon were really hurt like these others sound like, so they can wait, and so can I." She returned to her book. It didn't bother her that she had to wait. She would much rather see the pokemon of those other two in good condition if they were hurt, rather than make those wait just because her own were a little bit tired.

Fin followed Amaya and nurse Joy through the double doors. "Here is your sheildon Amaya." Nurse Joy smiled and walked over to a patient table where the prehistoric pokemon was lying, Amaya following suit. "Oh and Fin. The Ralts you hit is lying on that table over there," Nurse Joy directing him toward a table in the corner. "Both of these pokemon healed up quite well."

Fin walked over to the table, the white pokemon sitting and staring back intently at him. "How are ya little feller?" Fin inquired smiling and sticking out his hand to pet the little pokemon. "The Ralts flinched a little at the touch of his hand, but relaxed after it realized Fin's intention. "Sorry for running over you with my bike like that. I didn't mean too. I was just in such a hurry that I wasn't paying close enough attention to the path." The Ralts stared at him for a few seconds, then embraced his hand in a little hug.

"This one has seemed to take a liking to you Fin. What are you going to name it?" Nurse Joy said aprroaching the table.
"Name it? What do you mean?" replied Fin.
"Well he seems like he wants to be your pokemon. You have to name him."
"But I don't even havre a pokeball."
"Oh that reminds me, we had the pokemart send one over seeing as you've been talking about this for the past month. We thought it would be a good way of paying you for your latest trip." Nurse Joy smiled as she walked toward a cabinet. "Here you are."
"Oh my gosh! Thank you so much. I can't thank you enough!" Fin jumped with excitement as he held the pokeball. "Would you like to be my pokemon little guy?"Fin asked the Ralts holding out the pokeball. The Ralts jumped and hugged his hand again as a sign of approval. Fin grinned from ear to ear and hugged the Ralts back picking it up in the process. The Ralts then grabbed the pokeball and went inside, the glowing red light on the outside of the pokeball fading to white immediately. Fin picked up the pokeball and hugged it with a grin.

Amaya smiled up at Nurse Joy.
"I can't thank you enough for taking care of him," she said, before turning her attention to the little pokemon that was standing on the table in front of her.
"Hey there, Sheildon," she said quietly. "I know I kinda caught you unfairly, but I just wanted to get you somewhere that you could be healed. Are you mad?"

The shieldon regarded her as if considering her question. Finally, it nudged her a bit, and gave her a smile. She sagged with relief.
"Will you still stay with me, then?" The shieldon cocked it's head again, before nodding. Amaya smiled, and picked it up. She gave it a small hug before setting it back down. The shieldon snorted a bit in what sounded like laughter.
"I think we'll get along just fine," she said, stroking its shield-like helmet. She looked over at Fin, glad that he seemed to be getting along well with his pokemon too.

"Well," she said, "we should let you get back to that other girl's pokemon, since we know ours are okay now."

Anson dog-eared the page in her book and stood up to stretch, yawning widely. She was beginning to get a little impatient, no matter what the circumstances were for her having to wait. Books were nice and all, but they could only keep her so occupied for so long before she wanted to start looking for a place to spend the night. She was just about to leave when she glanced back toward the doors. Through the window, she could see a lot of activity, and it looked like the pokemon that had been brought in were doing well. She decided to stay after all, figuring her own wait couldn't be much longer. How long could it take to heal her three pokemon, after all?

"Well I guess I better get these lat three pokemon healed before that trainer out in the waiting room gets impatient," Nurse Joy enthusiastically remarked as she walked down the hallway and into another door. Fin followed the nurse with a skip in his step and a grin on his face, too caught up in his new achievement to notice he was leaving Amaya alone in the room.

Standing in front of the double doors he stared at the girl standing in the waiting room. "Is that the trainer who is getting her pokemon healed?" Fin shoved open the swinging doors and ran to the trainer screaming like a little schoolgirl after an admired idol. "Oh MY GOSH!!! Are you a real live pokemon trainer?!"

((lol))

Amaya blinked in surprise as the other trainer went running - practically frolicking - out of the room. She wasn't exactly sure what to do now, since Nurse Joy had left without saying anything. She shrugged. She couldn't expect people to hold her hand anymore. She considered putting her Shieldon back in the ball, but decided against it. She could still hardly believe that it was hers, and she didn't want it out of her sight. She picked it up in her arms, and carried it out of the room. As they walked, she began talking idly to it. Some people had called her crazy, but she truly believed that pokemon could understand human speech as easily as any human.

"Alright little guy," she whispered to him, "I'm still pretty new at this, so I'm not really sure where we go from here. I think we need to contact Professor Elm, to get certified as an official trainer. How's that sound?" The Shieldon looked up, and licked her cheek in agreement. She giggled, and hugged him a little tighter. "This'll be fun!" she declared.

She finally found herself back in the lobby. She stood in the doorway, amused and slightly shocked by the scene that greeted her. She giggled as she watched Fin jump up and down, and stood aside to watch the action unfold.

When the double doors opened, Anson didn't expect much more than to see the trainers exiting and, hopefully, Nurse Joy returning with three pokeballs. She did not expect for a boy to come bolting out of the room--and toward her. Immediately she yelped and stumbled backward from shock even as he came skidding to a halt in front of her.

"Um . . . yes?" she said hesitantly to his question, staring back at him in confusion and fear. She didn't know what she was supposed to say. This was a bit frightening for her; not even she reacted that way to getting her first pokemon, and that had been a fairly enthusiastic reaction.

"OH MY GOSH!!!" "What town are you from? Do you travel a lot? What are your pokemon? Are they getting healed right now? Were they badly hurt? Was it an epic battle? What is your favorite color?!" Fin quickly bombarded the trainer with as many questions he could think of slowly leaning closer and closer into the trainer's personal space.
"I just got my first pokemon! I'm a trainer now too!" Fin exclaimed dumbly not realizing you had to register first.

Amaya couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the trainer. She walked towards them, and put a hand on Fin's shoulder.
"Why don't you give the girl a chance to answer before you smother her with more questions?" she said lightheartedly.

"Um . . ." Anson hesitated to answer all the questions, trying to sort through each one. "Ecruteak City, sorta, I can show you later, yes, no, sorta, blue?" She was leaning back about as far as she could without falling over backwards, which was becoming painful to maintain with the boy in her personal bubble. "Could you . . . give me some space please?"

"Oh... sorry," Fin realized he had been a little too flamboyant with his behavior. "I just get so excited when a trainer comes to town, and now that I am one, I'm doubly excited" Fin was trying to maintain himself and not explode with another handful of questions. He had never actually had the opportunity to talk to a real trainer, only watch from afar.

"Why don't we start over? My name's Fin Drivvers." Fin stuck his hand out in a kind gesture hoping the trainer would act likewise. "What's yours?"

Amaya took her hand off of Fin's shoulder, and took a step back. She could leave if she wanted to; it would help to get a head start and call the Professor, but she was interested to learn more about the trainer as well. She had watched many battles on the television, but she had never gotten to talk to a real trainer that had more than one pokemon.

"Anson Beryll." Anson managed to let a small smile come across her face now; now that Fin wasn't being so close, it was a little bit flattering. Most people ignored her presence entirely, but now somebody was looking up to her, kind of. She grasped Fin's hand for a brief handshake, then looked over at the other girl who was standing there. "What about you?"

Fin was thrilled he was actually shaking another trainers hand. He swore at that moment he would never wash his hand again. "How about you?" Anson said. Fin looked up a little confused then felt dumb as ever. Fin stepped to the side a little realizing that he had been rude and hadn't introduced his new friend Amaya. Actually up until now he had forgotten her all caught up in his new pokemon. Fin thought he would let the two get introduced on their own.

Amaya smiled at the other girl.
"I"m Amaya," she said simply. She wasn't really one for long conversation. "I just got my first pokemon today," she admitted, motioning to the Shieldon in her arms. "Any tips?"

"Tips?" Anson echoed. "Well . . . I guess just make sure to take good care and give it a lot of attention to start with, so you can make sure it likes you before you heap attention on other pokemon you might catch." She laughed a little bit nervously. "I've really only been traveling two months or so . . . I don't know that much yet."

"OH MY GOSH! You're traveling? How is it being out on your own?" Fin had been wanting to become a trainer and travel the world his whole life and now an opportunity had just fallen into his lap that he couldn't pass up. "Umm... Anson?" Fin muttered nervously rolling over the qusetion in his head. "Would it be possible for us to join you?"

Amaya wasn't sure if she was included in 'we', but she nodded, inserting herself in.
"We both just got our first pokemon today. It would be. . ." she blushed, "really cool if we could travel with someone like you."

Anson laughed a little nervously, rubbing the back of her neck with one hand. "Well . . . Not that I have anything against you guys, but I don't know," she said slowly. "I mean, I just met you and all."

Nurse Joy came back out at that moment, carrying a tray with three pokeballs resting on it. Anson gratefully took her pokemon back with a "thank you" and turned back to the others. "But I guess we could find somewhere to stay and talk about it some more," she added. "I'm sure having some extra company would be nice."