A Heart So True

"Well we could all stay at my place. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind," Fin said pointing his thumb over his right shoulder toward the door. "I think they would be delighted to have company."

Fin watched intently as nurse joy handed the tray of pokeballs over to Anson. 'What pokemon could this trainer possibly have?' Fin wondered. "Maybe you can show us your pokemon later too!?"

Amaya laughed pleasantly. This whole day had been so weird. She would love to see Anson's pokemon, though, so she nodded her agreement. Her house wasn't far out of town, but she saw no reason to return. Her mom would surely understand if she didn't. After all, technically she shouldn't even be in town still. And she would love to get to know these people a little better. Maybe they could even travel together, as Fin had suggested! She had been nervous about traveling alone, so that would be wonderful.

"What d'ya think, Shieldon?" she whispered to her little pokemon. "Wanna spend some more time with these guys?" The shieldon snorted, and nodded a bit. Amaya laughed.

"Well, I guess if nobody minds, we can do that," Anson agreed to Fin. She pocketed two of her pokeballs but kept one out. She pushed the small button in the center, and it popped open. The red light shot out of the open ball and quickly formed a small Growlithe sitting on the floor, wagging eagerly. It barked and leaped up at its trainer, who laughed and caught it in her arms.

"I know, I know, Flame, I kept you in there for just so long!" Anson laughed as the pokemon licked her face, despite her attempts to hold it back.

Fin watched as the growlithe emorged from the pokeball relieved of its confinement. Feeling left out of the fun, Fin rapidly scooped the pokeball out of his pocket and clicked the center button. The ball of light quickly took the form of Ralts. The psychic pokemon began to jump and hold up its arms at Fin wanting to be held. Fin bent down and hugged the pokemon to his chest and stood back up. "I am going to have to figure out what to name you?"

Fin looked at the other two trainers in affirmation. "Alright follow me!" Fin turning and walking toward the door glancing over his shoulder to make sure the two were following.

Amaya gasped with glee as the small puppy-pokemon emerged from it's ball. It was so cute! Growlithe had always been one of her favorite pokemon, and she was very excited to see one in person. She didn't have much chance to interact though, as the ever-hyper Fin took off out the door. She followed, happy that she was not alone.

"'Kay, you have to walk now," Anson told her Growlithe. It gave her a sort of indignant look but jumped down, landing neatly on all four paws before trotting behind its trainer. Anson smiled cheerfully as she followed the other two out of the Pokemon center. Today was turning out to be rather eventful. She didn't often meet new people when she traveled.

Fin gasped when the crisp night air blew across his fce as the glass doors slid smoothly apart. The night sky was very clear showing all the glinting stars and their constellations, the moon illuminating the world around them. Fin felt the Ralts hands tighten slightly around his neck as he started to walk.

"Right this way guys!" Fin exuberantly led the group away from the pokemon center and down toward a row of houses being careful to stay with them and not walk too far ahead. "So Amaya, where did you find your Shieldon there?" Fin questioned realizing he had not talked to her since recieving his pokemon.

"Oh!" she said, surprised to be addressed. She had gotten lost in her thoughts, and his words brought her back to reality suddenly.
"I was searching the tall grass near the Lake of Rage, and I found this little guy," she said, squeezing the shieldon very gently. "He was hurt, so I . . ." she blushed, slightly ashamed of how she had caught him. "So I threw a ball and ran it to the pokemon center."

Anson listened halfheartedly to the conversation as they walked away from the center. She thought about when she had gotten Flame; it really wasn't all that long ago, but sometimes it felt like it. That had been a happy day, although she had been lucky enough to not have to catch her Growlithe. Her father had given it to her. Still, it was a cheerful memory. She smiled a little to herself.

"Oh. Well I guess since it was for a noble cause it's ok." Fin replied walking clumsily backwards in front of the two girls. Caught up in his thoughts about how he managed to obtain his Ralts. His eyes moving from Amaya's face to Anson's taking note of the slight smile stretching between her cheekbones.

"I need to get some more pokeballs." Fin realized. "I guess I'll have to do that tomorrow."

Amaya couldn't help but laugh. This boy was so . . . interesting. His movements and words all seemed so random, how did he keep them in order in his head? He was fun to be around, though. She could have definitely found worse traveling partners. Although she still didn't know much about the other member of their little party: Anson. She shrugged. She would find out more as they went along, she was sure of that. After all, she had only met the girl maybe an hour ago. She couldn't expect to know all her deepest secrets.

"I'll have to wait to get more, I suppose," she said, half to herself. "No money, now. I'll have to beat a few trainers, first." She looked down at her shieldon, dreading their first battle. She hated to send it out into that. But that's what her dream had always been, and Shieldon didn't seem upset by the idea. In fact, it's little tail was even wagging slightly.

"If you're really serious, you'll have to get registered for the league, too," Anson put in. "If you intend to battle at gyms and everything. That way you'll be eligible to get badges and everything."

Flame sniffed around a little, then bolted off ahead of the group. Anson watched the Growlithe mildly as it came bolting back toward them again. He was too energetic for his own good.

"Where do I get registered? I've never done this before. I guess I don't know as much as I thought I did about trainers." Fin looked over at Anson with questions all across his face.

He noticed a rustling in his left ear which was now pointed toward the direction they were walking in. As he turned his head he felt a slight pressure push his shoulder down and then dissipate. He watched amusingly as his Ralts leaped from its perch and landed in front of the Growlithe now running back toward the group making the rustling noise he heard two seconds ago. The Ralts jumped forward at the Growlithe and lightly tapped it on the head and then took off in the opposite direction mildly taunting the rowdy canine.

"Ralts must want to play tag." Fin said to no one in particular, but as more of a realization to the event that just played out in front of him.

Amaya laughed light-heartedly; it was a cute scene. She looked over at Fin, slightly surprised that he didn't know that registration was necessary.

"Oh. We actually just left the best place to do that. All we have to do is contact Professor Elm and show him that we have our own pokemon. And then he'll send us pokedexes. Or, so I understand." She shrugged. Her understanding of the process could be completely wrong, of course. She too turned to Anson, wondering if the more experienced trainer would have the answers they were seeking.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it works. You can get in contact with him at places like the Pokemon centers," Anson agreed, her eyes on Flame. The Growlithe looked surprised for a moment by the Ralt's playfulness, but he quickly gave joyful chase, barking happily. "Once you get your Pokedex and get signed up, you're officially in the league."

"Oh My Gosh! We need to go do that right now!... errr... we can do it tomorrow," Fin caught himself getting overly excited and decided to tone it down a notch.

"Well here it is." Fin looked up at the large mansion-like house through the hedge archway that was the entrance to their front lawn. The front lawn, which actually looks more like a garden and courtyard, contained a stone path stretching up to a large decorative fountain in front of the house. The columns lining the courtyard grandly framed the door. He turned to look at his two new friends, "Its a little much don't you think?"

Amaya couldn't summon words for a moment. The house was so. . . elaborate. She thought back to her own little one-story cottage, and blushed. Her and Fin obviously came from different tears of life.

"It's beautiful," she said honestly. She wondered what it would be like to stay in such a fancy place.

"Wow," Anson said dumbly, her mouth agape. She lived in a regular one-story home, and none of the buildings in Ecruteak ever came close to being this elaborate. Flame trotted back from playing with the Ralts and stared a bit too, unaccustomed to seeing such large homes either.

"Well," Anson said after clearing her throat, "You must live pretty nicely."

"Eh, it's ok," Fin sighed as he turned and walked up the stone pathway toward the house.
"Are you guys comin?" Fin turned at looked at the two as they continued to admire the house. Ralts stepped forward and began walking toward Fin, but his attention was glued to the extravagant architecture surrounding him. Fin was getting tired of how people acted at finding out his family was rich and what a lot of the 'lower class' people thought of him being spoiled and what not.

Amaya cleared her throat, realizing that she was being rude. She realized that she had been holding Shieldon for this whole time, and offered to let him down. The pokemon seemed content to stay in her arms however, so she shrugged and followed Fin towards the house, trying to make it look like she wasn't gawking.

Anson looked down, suddenly feeling embarrassed for gawking at the house. She sensed Fin didn't like their reactions, either, so she decided it was better to stop. Flame got over it as well, although he looked nervous that everything was so much bigger than him, and he reluctantly followed behind Anson.

Fin led the group around the fountain and up towards the large double doors. "MOM, D
AD, I'm home!" Fin hollered into the house as he stepped through the door. "And we have company!" Fin stepped into the center of the hall; two curved marble staircases on either side leading up to a second level and a grand chandelier hanging in the middle of the space above him created a very luxurious atmosphere. His shoes tapped on the marble floor as he crossed the room toward two more tall mahogany doors between the staircases. "Right this way."

Amaya followed silently behind, looking around the house with wide eyes. She tried her best to look like she wasn't still gawking, but the sheer magnificence of the house was slightly overwhelming. Shieldon began squirming in her arms, but she wasn't sure if she should let him down. How would Fin's family feel about pokemon in the house? Maybe she should just return him to his pokeball. . .

Anson was silent, trying to contain a number of worries. Was she tracking dirt on these clean floors? Was Flame? Maybe she should make him return to his pokeball, just in case Fin's parents didn't like Pokemon running around free . . . But Fin hadn't said anything in warning, so she had to assume that it was okay. She tried to keep those worries silent as she looked around the house, attempting to appear as unimpressed as possible for the sake of Fin's feelings.

Fin held the door open as Ralts and the other trainers entered with their pokemon. They were now in the kitchen, which opened up into a living room on the right and dining room to the back of the space. All of the walls, trim and columns in this room were made of mahogany and other dark woods and all of the appliances were very new and shiny.
"Hello honey!" A woman walked through a door on the right of the room holding her arms out to Fin for a hug. She had brown hair that kept its volume very well and was dressed in a black jacket and white skirt that showed off her girlish figure. "Hey mom," Fin replied a bit embarrassed by the affection he was getting fromhis mother.

"And who are these two lovely young ladies!" Fin's mother turning to Amaya and Anson.

"This is Amaya and Anson mom, they are trainers that I just met today." Fin's mom hesitated before smiling at the two girls and proceeding to shake their hands, "Well how nice to meet you, my name's Jody." Fin watched confusedly as his mom struggled to hold her fake smile.

"Hey, boy, how's it goin?" Fin's dad asked as he entered through the same door his mom had.

"Dear we've got company," Jody nodding her head towards Amaya and Anson. "They're trainers."