Chapter Eleven It’s hatching Polienixes! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sam silently fuming. He wasn’t enjoying this at all, unlike me. I was having plenty of fun! The only thing that put the rain on my parade was the fact that Sam’s egg was due to hatch any day now. It was roughly 4 in the afternoon. We had taken a while to get the clue that would lead us back to the Kingdra Waterhole, and we’d just set off back towards it. Lucky for us though, Ashlee and I had two of those compactable bikes that were so popular, and Sam had apparently ridden his bike everywhere before he won the contest. We’d left Ashlee alone a while back, with some of our Pokemon for protection of course. She had wanted to look over our Pokemon for a few days anyway. Dirden and Artemis were still with us though. Look over my shoulder, I grinned. Dirden was able to keep level with us, as long as we went relatively fast. Any faster, and we’d have left him in the dust ages ago. His wings, though small and shrivelled, did well to support him. Sam on the other hand, kept speeding ahead. After Artemis had almost fallen three times and actually fallen five times, we decided that Artemis was safer in Sam’s pack, which was almost empty, thanks to the people at Trainer Games. Looking up at the sky, I spotted something black which swiftly disappeared behind a nearby cloud. Looks like I’d found where they were filming us from. I didn’t say anything to Sam. I knew he’d have teleported the helicopter halfway to Metone before I could have said anything else. Half an hour later, we arrived at the Waterhole. Breathing hard, Sam wasn’t even panting; I got off the bike and lay down on the grass. Dirden chose that particular moment to land on my stomach. Doubling up, I sucked in breath as soon as I could. Sam wandered off, walking around the edge of the Waterhole while I caught my breath back, and then went to chase after a troublesome Frezint. Giving up after five minutes, I walked back to Sam, still red in the face. He was rubbing his chin, and looking right in the middle of the Waterhole. “What was the Clue again?” He asked, his brow scrunched up as he thought. I frowned too, trying to remember, when the tune popped into my head. “It was ‘Do you know you talk to much, don’t you know you’re out of touch, gotta win, no room to fall, means I’ve gotta catch them all. Can’t you see the game is made, you are you, let me be, ‘cause I don’t care who you are, don’t you take away the cards.” I said, and focused on the water itself. Something seemed to glint under the water, but as soon as I looked at it again, it was gone. “Ah, there!” Turning to Sam, I saw he was pointing to the Waterhole. Following his finger, I looked and saw a small rock. Artemis had been perched on it earlier today, sunbathing before Sam had had to give him a mental shove into the water to get him going. Looking at the rock, I saw it was partially hidden by a mess of leaves. And under the leaves, just visible, looked like a piece of paper, which wasn’t protected by plastic or anything. So, that ruled out Artemis getting it. Dirden couldn’t get it because the platform it was on was too small for him to land properly without going head-first into the water. Sam wouldn’t be able to teleport it because he was too tired, and he would be able to get to it without making it wet if he swam. He wouldn’t be able to reach out and grab it without falling in, not to mention it was just out of reach. I shut my eyes and thought hard. We couldn’t use Zeus, because he was back with Ashlee. Electrum couldn’t fly, even if she was here. We were completely out of options. “Don’t you know you talk too much, don’t you know you’re out of touch.” I murmured to myself, and then winced. We were out of touch, just out of touch of the paper. “Gotta win, no room to fall, means I’ll have to catch them all.” I started pacing, and then accidentally kicked a stone into the water. Watching it sink with a few ripples, I jumped back with a yell as a sudden reflection blinded me. Staggering back, I rubbed my eyes as Sam looked at the water thoughtfully. “Mirrosh, the Mirror Fish Pokemon.” Sam’s Pokedex suddenly quipped. Looking at it through watery eyes, it was pointed at the lake. “Very territorial, it will kill and eat any other creature entering the waterholes, ponds or lakes it inhabits. Very hard to capture, they are also hard to train, because the trainer cannot look at this Pokemon for too long without being blinded.” “Oh, I wonder why we didn’t notice?” I grumbled. “Well, Sam, got any Pokeballs on you? Looks like we’ve ‘Gotta catch ‘em all’” Feeling behind me, I detached a Pokeball from my belt and advanced on the waterhole. “Wait, maybe we’ve been going at this the wrong way.” Sam said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “The aim is for us to read the paper, right? Who says humans need to read it?” I looked at him blankly before I caught on. We didn’t need to read it ourselves, but we did need to know what was on it! Putting my fingers in my mouth, I let out a piercing whistle. It was answered, a few seconds later, by Dirden. We had endeavoured to teach our Pokemon basic things for the pat few weeks. Now most of them knew how to read English, and Dirden was the one who liked reading the best. In only a few short weeks, he could already read faster than me, which wasn’t actually saying much. “Hey, Dirden. We need your help.” I said shortly. “Can you fly over to that small rock and read that piece of paper and tell us what’s on it?” “What’s in it for me?” Dirden answered, flapping his wings. “Well, if you DON’T do it, what you’ll get is a good kick in the-“ “We’ll let you drink as much coffee as you want until we reach Romanc City.” Sam interrupted. I blinked, and then shook my head. “Wha-?” “As I recall, I’m the one who went shopping for food, so it is actually MY coffee.” Sam said, glaring at me. “So? It’s not like you drink it.” I told him. Dirden had better be prepared to fight for his caffeine. “That’s not the point. If you hadn’t spent your money on all those chocolate bars, you might have gotten some coffee of your own.” “Yeah, well, they were having a special.” I trailed off. Knowing I wasn’t going to win this argument, I went off, muttering. Dirden was happy with this deal, and a minute later, I heard him calling out to Sam. “Oh, come and try to catch me. Oh, catch me if you can. Oh, come and try and catch me, Come and catch me, if you can. Look out, it’s time the world was ready for a, New thing, it’s time I got ahead. Get bent, nothing’s gonna stop me and I Won’t quit ‘till I’m sitting on the top. Never give up when the going gets rough, I know I’m gonna make it through. So just try, it’ll never be enough. I’ll show you there’s nothing that I can’t do.” I shut my eyes wearily. We’d have to let Ashlee do any running. Sam was in no condition to run, and I wasn’t running anywhere. Not without my caffeine anyway. Placing one hand on Electrum’s head, I kept her in place as I inspected her claws. There were a few holes here and there, but nothing permanent. Releasing Electrum, she stomped off to play with Bugsey, the Venonat. The constant flashes of light bouncing off of Electrum’s skin were distracting, but I got through search Rita and Drogan fairly easily. Zeus was another matter, seeing as I couldn’t touch him physically unless he firmed himself up. So far, I’d learn that he’d only do it around Katrina and Sam, with me, he’d just float there. In the end, I walked around him, looking at his ‘physical’ features, which consisted of eyes, a mouth and a lot of the fluffy lumps. Overall, he looked very healthy, to my knowledge of Nymbis’s anyway. Suddenly, all of the Pokemon turned to look at a nearby bush. Eyeing it, I saw sunlight glint off something metal, and instantly jumped out of the way. My recent experiences with the Flora members had made me skittish. When nothing further happened, and the Pokemon turned back to their talks and games, I went back to look over Star. He was starting to get close to evolution, but he had a way to go yet. Close evolution made me release Sting. The Kakuna tolerated me touching him, but no-one else. But he only let me look over him rarely, and all the time flexing his sting. He was starting to get VERY close to becoming a Beedrill. I could see a thin line where he was cutting through the shell form the inside on his back. I sincerely hoped that when he evolved he’d have a better opinion of me and the others. Letting go of Sting, I stood up and stretched my legs. I had been crouching to look over Sting, keeping myself well away from his sting. Stretching my arms upwards, I wondered when Sam and Kat would be back. Suddenly my Poke-Nav beeped. I jumped, and fumbled to get it out. Pressing the button, my mother’s face suddenly appeared on the screen. “ASHLEE ANNE BOTANIS! JUST WHERE IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!” My mother’s voice roared from the Poke-Nav’s tiny speaker. I quickly turned it down. I’d already gotten strange looks form the Pokemon. “Well, I’m in a place where you can’t get me anymore.” I replied coldly, whispering. “COME HOME NOW! IF YOU DON’T-.” “You’ll what? Hunt me down? I doubt that. I’m sick of not being allowed to do anything at home.” I said, interrupting my mother rudely. “I’m on this journey for a reason, and it’s called making my own choices. I’m not a little girl anymore.” “And how long do you think it will be before a Team Flora, Fauna or Rocket member ambushes you? Where do you think you’ll be then? In fact, I hope it happens, to teach you a lesson. In fact, I hope they kidnap you, to teach you not to do anything alone.” My mother retorted, glaring at me. “Who said I’m alone?” I said quietly. “I have two people with me. And I’ve already been ambushed. They took Slasher with them too.” “Serves you right. And as soon as your so called ‘Companions’ come back from wherever they are, make one of them call me. Otherwise I’ll be calling the Police.” “Fine.” Flicking a switch, I deactivated the Poke-Nav. My powers were the only thing of my Dad’s that remained. Otherwise I’d never have escaped my mother’s home. I didn’t know anything about my father at all. My mother refused to tell me anything. I needed a hug. Grabbing Rita, I gave her a squeeze, while she waved the leaf on her head around. I could hear grinding rubber on ground behind me. Turning around, I saw Kat and Sam riding back to me. Sam was looking worse for wear, while Kat was very red in the face. “So, what was the clue?” I asked tentatively. “Forget the clue, I need water. Katrina gasped, getting off the bike and swaggering over to her bag. Rooting through it, she found a bottle of water and opened it, downing almost a quarter of it with one gulp. “The clue was an extract from everyone’s favourite song on Pokemon: The First Movie.” Sam said, getting off my bike with more dignity than Kat. He lost it all almost instantly when he collapsed onto his bag, staring at the sky. “Take a look at number thirteen on the CD. It should be in Kat’s front pouch.” Working around Kat, I opened the front pouch of her bag, and drew out the CD and my Discman. Turning on the Discman and putting in the CD, I flicked to song thirteen. I listened to it for five seconds, and then ripped off the headphones. “Are you kidding me?” “Yes, we are. In fact, if we were messing with you any more than we are now, we’d- uh.” Sam cut off, lost for words to finish his sentence. “Ok, I get the picture.” I said. “Just so you knew. Oh, and by the way, in case you couldn’t tell, I was being sarcastic!” Sam said. Before I could respond, he shut his eyes, and to all appearances, went to sleep. I scowled at him. “So, just what are we meant to be chasing?” I asked Katrina. She looked at me and shrugged, her purple strands of hair bouncing up and down. I sighed and sat down again, almost on top of Rita. Rita squawked her irritation, and bounced away into some bushes. I sighed. We were all running out of energy. Sam from teleporting, me from giving Sam energy, and Kat from lack of food most likely. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a packet of lollies, ones that gave a quick burst of energy. Throwing a couple to Kat, I took some for myself, and then shared them out with the Pokemon. The eyes they were giving me were hard to resist. I could have shot them more easily than refuse to give them lollies. Pulling myself from the middle of the road, I leant my pack against a tree trunk, and looked up at the sky. There were a couple of clouds, a few bird Pokemon, Zeus, a large blimp…. A large blimp? Sitting up, I looked at it closely. Fumbling behind me in my pack, I drew out my binoculars, and looked up at the blimp. There it was, the ‘TG’ that represented Trainer Games. And the blimp was heading into the forest. Getting up and running a distance away from the forest, I saw the blimp heading for one tree. It was huge, a tree that stood out from all the others because of its sheer height. Get bent, nothings gonna stop gonna stop me and I won’t quit ‘til I’m sitting at the top. Looking over at Kat, I saw that she was taking a nap too. I sighed. It was time to help pay off my debt to Sam for rescuing me from Team Flora. I hated heights, and I hated climbing trees, but I did owe Sam. Sighing again, I dashed to my bike and got on, and took off into the woods. It was harder to manoeuvre through the woods than I expected. I had to keep stopping or risk getting on the bad side of several Pokemon. And then there were trees getting in the way, and bushes and patches of long grass. I had to completely stop once when I ran into a rapid stream. I almost gave up then, but a song lyric strayed through my head. Never give up when the going gets rough, I know I’m gonna make it through. I almost screamed from exasperation. I got off my bike, and paced on the edges of the stream. From beneath the water, there suddenly appeared several green circles. Blinking, I leant down to get a closer look. From under the water, several Lotads appeared, looking at me. I smiled at them, I had a particular soft-spot for Lotads. “Can you help me? I’m stuck, and I need to get to the other side.” I asked them, pointing to the other side of the stream. Blinking at me, they ducked under water. I groaned in distress, when a large lily pad than those from the Lotads appeared. Coming up from the stream, two Lombres and a Ludicolo danced their way up the bank, stopping beside me. I stared at them in disbelief, and then my mind caught up. “Can you please help? I need to get to the other side of the stream.” I asked them, looking up at the Ludicolo in desperation. The Ludicolo appeared to think about this, and then nodded. “Oh, thank you!” I told it happily, hugging its wet body. It looked down in surprise, and then nodded to the Lombres. They picked up my bike, and held it over their heads as they entered the stream. The bike bobbed up and down, but didn’t get very wet. I smiled at the way it bobbed up and down, and then screamed as I felt myself being lifted, and then deposited on a broad platform. Looking down, I saw that the Ludicolo had put my on the lily pad on its head. I laughed, drawing myself together, so that I wouldn’t fall. I stayed level above the water, and in a few minutes, I was on the other side of the stream. The Ludicolo reached up and grabbed my arms, before swinging me down. All at once, I found myself on level ground. “Thank you.” I told the Ludicolo. It clapped its hands, and started to dance back into the stream. Getting on my bike, I continued my journey, hoping I was going in the right direction. The forest was starting to get darker, and there was a very good chance I might miss the tree. Fat chance. Two large spotlights lit up the bark of a tree as I swerved around another one. Riding up to the tree, I saw a sign hammered into the ground that said “This is the tree.” “Oh, thanks for that Sherlock.” I muttered. Gritting my teeth, I got off my bike and walked up to the tree. Looking up, the top seemed to stretch forever, I shivered slightly. The sooner you get it down, the sooner it’s over. I told myself. Grabbing the lowest branch I could see, I hoisted myself up, and told myself “The secret is, don’t look down.” After what seemed like ten minutes, I decided to see how far I’d gotten. That was when I made my fatal mistake. I looked down. The ground was more than thirty metres away, a fall that could very well end up killing me. I looked up determinedly, forcing my shaking arms to climb. Higher and higher I went, until I looked down again, like the idiot I was. The ground was very far away. My limbs locked, and I shut my eyes, imagining myself in a safer place. Five minutes later, I opened my eyes to find myself in the same place, and what was worse, I could see the blimp, which was starting to get close to the tree. Sam helped you, so you help him. I told myself. Stretching out a trembling hand, I grabbed the next branch. Grab next branch, step up, and straighten up. I repeated to myself. This high, the branches were starting to get thinner. Some actually bent when I grabbed them, but the didn’t snap. At the top, I could see a blue flag fluttering around. It looked small and pathetic, and when I looked to the right, I could see a large blimp that DIDN’T look so small and pathetic. Not to mention, there was a hand stretching out from the blimp to get the flag. I ignored all of my fear then. Scrambling up the tree, faster than I thought possible, I reached the top and grabbed the flag, just as the other person reaching for it touched its tip. I clutched the flag to myself as I hung on with one hand. The other person frowned, and then beckoned. Just slightly, the blimp got closer. Get in. The person mouthed. I wanted to do so, quickly, but there was a distance between my foot and the door of the blimp. I shook my head, and looked down. The man must have seen something in my expression, because he yelled something into the blimp. The blimp got closer by almost a metre, but it still wasn’t close enough. The man mouthed something to me again. I frowned, and gasped when I figured out what he was saying. Jump. There was no way I was going to abandon my nice, solid tree to take up flying lessons. I shook my head again, but the man beckoned, and continued to beckon. I gave in. I slowly stretched out a foot, just as a strong gust of wind decided to blow, making the tip of the tree swing violently. My grip on the tree shattered, I fell backwards, and felt hands in my armpits as the man made an attempt to catch me. We fell, a distance, I knew I was screaming the whole time. The man grabbed on to me, obviously intending to cushion my fall when we landed, when something in my mind gave. Suddenly, I was in the blimp, seats, metal, everything. And the floor was solid, wonderfully solid under my knees. I panted, hard. I was never going to go anymore than five feet from the ground again, unless I was in a building or aeroplane. I resolved never to climb another tree. It was lucky that I had teleported; otherwise there would have been a good chance that I’d be a human pancake right now. And it was a good thing that my teleporting had decided to take me where I wanted to go; someplace safe! Beneath me, the man groaned and opened his eyes. I looked down, and then rolled off him, and curled up. He sat up, and looked at me, pity in his eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen.” He told me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Here, you deserve this.” He held out a small bottle. I looked at it, unable to read it the first few attempts, but when I did, I almost laughed. It was a Psy-Replenisher. If a person was tired from using their powers, they could take this and feel back to full strength. I took it, and opened the bottle, taking a little sip. My energy went up a little, but I put the lid back on and put it in my pocket. I’d give the rest to Sam. The man held out a piece of paper. Taking it softly, I looked at it, willing my eyes to focus. Just ‘cause I’m small, I’ll bet you were all “You’re only a girl, what to do?” Let me sing, My song for you. When you lay down late at night, I’m the siren you can’t fight, I know you don’t stand a chance. There is nothing you can do, Once I put my spell on you, When I sing my lullaby. .Now that you see, it wasn’t no dream, Reality got the best of you. I told you boy, I would come after you. I blinked at the paper, wanting it to make sense. Looking at the words, I could only think of one thing that actually described something like this. But they couldn’t have done it, could they? One of the last clues, how could they, and more importantly, when could they have planted it on her? Opening my eyes, I groaned. The sunset shone light directly into my eyes. Rolling over, I tried to find a more comfortable position. From under a fog in my mind, I noted that it was sunset. Another part of my mind asked why that was so important. I shot up, skipping the sitting up stage and getting to my feet. Looking around me wildly, I saw Katrina sleeping, using her bag for a pillow, but Ashlee was nowhere to be seen. Her bike was gone too. Her Pokemon though, they were playing with all the other Pokemon in the field. Artemis was there, and Zeus. Dirden and Drogan were playing, and a couple of other Pokemon that must be wild. A sudden wind made me look up, and yell. There was an enormous blimp above me, and standing in one of the doorways, was Ashlee. I sighed with relief. When the blimp was only a few metres above the ground, Ashlee dropped something. Running to catch it, I saw it was white, and had a bottle shape. I nearly missed it, but for once, my hand-eye co-ordination skills decided to help me. Looking down at my hands, I saw that I was holding a piece of paper wrapped around a bottle. Looking up, I saw Ashlee returning her Pokemon to their Pokeballs from the blimp. She pointed at Katrina, vigorously, and then the blimp started rising again. A green light surrounded Ashlee’s bag, and then it was gone. All at once, she was gone. The blimp flew above the forest, and out of sight. I frowned, and looked down at the paper and bottle. Sliding the bottle out of the paper, I looked at it and grinned. This would help! Downing the contents of the Psy-Replenisher, I instantly felt a lot better. Unfolding the paper, I looked at it, and the song on it. I blinked at the paper, and then thought about Ashlee. She must have read it, so why was she pointing at Kat? Did she want Katrina to read it? Re-reading the song, I grinned. This song actually sounded a bit like Katrina. Just not the singing part. I shuddered, combine the sound of Electrum the Coperagon’s claws going down her belly, along with a half-dead screeching Meowth and you’d be complimenting Kat’s singing. I walked over to Kat, and nudged her side with my shoe. She muttered and moaned, but didn’t wake up. I muttered to myself, annoyed. Artemis! Can you come here for a second? I thought at Artemis, opening a telepathic link. I felt Artemis agree on the other end, and cut the link, while I looked at Katrina. Nothing seemed different from normal. She was still small, scrawny and annoying. I bit my lip as I mulled over the problem. Looking at her belt, I saw that she had four Pokeballs on it. Dirden, the Frezint, Drogan, the Dratini, and Electrum, the Coperagon. Who was in the last Pokeball? There was only one way to find out. Reaching down, I grabbed the unknown Pokeball, and pressed the release button. The Pokeball snapped open, and a red beam of light poured out, and shaped itself into a Wigglytuff. For a moment, I stood blinking at it, and it at me. It abruptly inhaled, and from its mouth poured a beautiful melody. If it stopped, so would the world. I smiled drowsily, completely content. I yawned, and then lay on the ground, noting how comfortable parts of it made. A cold rush of water hitting my back woke me. I yelled, and got up, turning as I did. Artemis had come, and so had Electrum. Glaring at the Wigglytuff, Electrum flexed her claws, and then drew it down her stomach, drowning out the Wigglytuff’s song with the ear-splitting screech. I gritted my teeth and blocked my ears. Trying to concentrate, I sent out some telepathy to the Wigglytuff. I’m sorry, but can you please stop that? I really need help right now. I sent at the Wigglytuff. The Wigglytuff stopped for a second, confused, and then started singing again. Please, unless you want to find yourself stuck in a tree. I’d given up being nice. It was time for threats. The Wigglytuff stopped, and blinked its eyes in surprise. Electrum however, continued to use her screech attack. Gritting my teeth, I pointed at Electrum and trapped her in a bubble. Silence filled the air, and I let out a sigh of relief. Turning to the Wigglytuff, I crouched to meet its eyes. “Do you have anything to give me?” The Wigglytuff looked at me solemnly, and then handed me a small, folded piece of paper. Taking it, I sat back on my haunches and read it. Congratulations Trainer, you have beaten this round of Trainer Games. Our Secret Base is located beneath the place where the setting sun shines. Looking at the sunset, and shielding my eyes, I saw that the sun was setting between the two hills that we had gone to earlier. The place with the Pokemon avalanches. I groaned and rubbed my head, I was getting a headache. “Artemis, can you wake Kat up?” I asked him without opening my eyes. “With pleasure.” Thinking, I ignored Artemis and Kat. I didn’t know whether I would be able to teleport that amount of distance. Of course, if I sucked the power in the bubble in, I’d get some more, but I’d end up being too tired to climb the hills. Ignoring Artemis spraying Katrina with frigid water, and her jumping up with a scream, I continued to think. We wouldn’t be able to walk or run there fast enough, and it would be almost impossible to navigate the landscape by foot after the sun completely set. We couldn’t fly, wait. “Zeus.” I said aloud. Katrina stopped where she was, chasing a cackling Artemis, and stared at me. “Zeus what?” She asked. “We need Zeus.” I told her shortly. Placing my fingers in my mouth, I whistled, and Zeus looked my way. Waving him over, I picked up my pack. “Katrina, I need you to ride over to those hills on Zeus. I’ll teleport. I can’t teleport the both of us at the same time, otherwise I’ll be too tired to climb.” She looked at me and blinked. "Aren't you too tired right now?" I glared at her, angry that she would ask the question. I was doing my best to hide how tired I was. Even the Psy-Replenisher could only do so much. I shut my eyes and folded my arms, making it plain that I wasn't going to listen, or even look at Kat until she did what I told her. I heard her sigh, and then I heard her feet leaving the ground. Opening on of my eyes a crack, I saw she was on Zeus, her and my packs beside her. Zeus floated up, and then he was gone. Opening my eyes all the way, I held out Artemis's Pokeball and returned him. Summoning the fleeting dredges of my strength, I gather my powers around myself and teleported. And miscalculated. Instead of being right between the mountains, I managed to wind up on what I think was the right side of the right mountain. Sighing with weariness, I trudged around the hill in time to see Kat disembark from Zeus, her face pale and sweaty. I smiled, and waddled over to them. Falling to the ground beside Kat, I looked up at the mountains. Darkness was well and truly coming, and the ground was so comfortable. A small nap, we have plenty of time. My brain soothed me. I accepted it, and sleep took me. The cracking of thunder in the air woke me. Zeus was right above me, angry lighting bolts playing around his cloudy body, he had gone from his normal yellowy-white to a dark shade of purple. Suddenly, I gasped and sat up. Fumbling out my Poke-Nav, I almost fainted again when I saw the time. 11:58 pm. I stood up, quickly, the landscape swimming around my head. Dashing for the nearest object taller than myself, I threw myself up and levitated in a short burst. When my levitation ran out, my feet luckily hit ground beneath me. The ground still moving around of its own accord, I ran uphill. A few seconds passed, and I started to lose hope of finding the hole that Ashlee and Kat had fallen through. The ground beneath me suddenly opened up, and I fell like a stone. Hurtling through the tunnel, I snapped a string as I entered out into the huge cavern. Right in front of my eyes was a digital clock with angry red letters that read '11:59.59'. I groaned with relief, and fell back, noise filling my ears. Cheering and applause. I slowly opened my eyes and Ashlee's head filled my vision. "Sam, you did it!" Grabbing my hands, she yanked me to my feet, and lead me to a table. People were bustling around me, and I noticed I was being followed by two people. That barely registered on my mind. On the table Ashlee had lead me to where my clothes, Potions, Pokeballs and other things, artfully arranged around the Pokemon Egg. I grinned, blinking wearily and reached out to grab the egg. The instant I touched it, it turned a blinding white. Everything paused around me, as everyone stopped and turned to look at the source of the light. A few black lines developed in the white, becoming more numerous, until the egg half-exploded and a small, blue little bird sat in my hands, looking as tired as I did. It chirped, and then looked up at me. "Mommy?" I chuckled, and brought the brand-new Polienix closer to my face. It looked at me critically, and then hopped onto its feet and rubbed its head against my chin. I grinned, and then rubbed the Polienix on the head. "Hello Hera." I whispered to it. "And cut!" A man shouted. Turning around, I saw a man holding a camera. Looking up, I saw a microphone had been dropped almost on top of me. Cradling Hera in my hands, I blinked as several bright lights flashed and a man came forward. "Sam Sapphire, you have won the first of the Dictian Trainer Games!" He announced, grabbing one of my hands and shaking it vigorously. I raised an eyebrow, and then grabbed my hand back when his hold on it weakened slightly. "Hi." I said tentatively. "Who are you?" The man's smile faulted a bit as Ashlee jumped in. "This is Rick, he nearly died along with me when we fell out of that blimp you saw." "That was smart." "Oh, we didn't mean it. Anyway, he's the host of the Dictian Trainer Games, and we were the first trainers in Dictioy!" Ashlee ended with a squeal. I grimaced, and then turned to Rick. "I guess you're to blame for all this?" I asked him, daring him to deny anything and say it wasn't him. "Oh yeah, and more. You were meant to come here right away, not fall asleep you know!" He joked. A door slid open in the wall behind him and Kat was lead in, blinking. Zeus followed behind her, chortling, the reason was obvious. All of Kat's hair stood on end, testament to a good shocking. "But now, you got here only JUST on the deadline. You won, but you nearly didn't." Rick informed me. Fishing behind him, he grabbed a remote and clicked it towards the wall opposite to where Kat had come in. The rock slid apart, revealing several Pokedolls and other things. Grabbing me and Katrina by the arm, Rick lead us up to the stage that our prizes were on. "Sam, for solving the Water-Hole puzzle, winning the Pokemon Battle and defeating Wigglytuff, you have now got an added $5000 on your Trainer Card, Five Pokeballs, three Greatballs and two Ultraballs. You also get a Large Lapras Pokedoll, a Mudkip Pokedoll, a Large Blastoise Doll, a Water Stone and a Five-Night stay at the Waterfall Hotel in Lesre City!" Glancing up on the stage, a white light surrounded the specified dolls and a few flashes on the table. They disappeared, on their way to my Item Box or back to my Secret Base on Southern Island. "Katrina! For solving the first puzzle and for getting your Pokemon to tell you the riddle at the Kingdra Water-Hole, these prizes are yours! You will be getting a Soothe Bell, a Fire-Stone, 4 Super-Potions, 3 Hyper-Potions, 2 Max Potions and a Full Restore! You also get $2500 and a five-night stay at the Waterfall Hotel at Lesre City!" "And Ashlee, for solving the puzzle that happened in this very cavern and climbing that treacherous tree, you will get a Moon-Stone, a Leaf Stone, bottles of Protein, Calcium, Iron and Zinc tablets for your Pokemon, $2500, a sack of Sitrus Berries, a Full-Restore and a five-night stay at the Waterfall Hotel in Lesre City!" I smiled and sank to my knees, being careful not to crush Hera. I groped at my side, until I came into contact with a small sphere. Grabbing it, I enlarged it and tapped Hera lightly with it. She was sucked into the ball, and being asleep, was caught almost instantly. I looked up and grinned at Kat and Ashlee. "Well, nobody can't say that I didn't earn my Polienix!"