The Spirit of Fire

Part 1

About ten years later...

She opened her eyes, only to quickly shut them at the sight of the blinding sun that was warming her body. And comforting her mind. She turned her head to the right and opened her eyes again, this time sighting the sparkling glass of lemonade in her cup holder. The ice cubes that once floated in it were now long gone, but the sliced lemon was still there, juicy as ever. The girl yawned and sat up, squinting in the sunlight. She was sitting in a long chair with the backrest laid back, in her swimsuit. She tossed her wavy brown hair to the side as she stood up.

"Guess I better go back inside..." The girl muttered. She took a hold of the glass of lemonade and slowly walked back into her house. Her mother greeted her at the door and smiled.

"How was your rest, Amber?" The girl's mother asked.

"Fine." Amber simply answered, as she continued her way through the house, up to her room. When she got to her room, she changed into her clothes- a tight red shirt with spaghetti straps, a dirty light-blue wrinkled un-zipped jacket, and ripped flared dark-blue jeans. Amber then collapsed onto her bed. The nice fresh sheets on her bed felt good as she closed her eyes. She breathed in deeply. 'If there's more to life than this, then I don't know what it is.' Amber thought. Her eyes flashed open and she sat up quickly. "Of course there's more to life than this." Amber muttered. "It just hasn't found me yet. And I haven't found it either." Which was true. Nothing exciting had ever happened in Amber's life. As she awoke every morning, she couldn't find a reason to get up.

Amber sighed and stood up. She'd go outside, again. And try to find that reason in life for living, breathing, for getting up everyday.

Again.

Amber walked outside and breathed in the fresh air of the small city she lived in. But something was different. Very different. She could feel the hot breath of something breathing down her neck.

Amber drew in a sharp breath and whirled around. Nothing.

"This is so stupid." Amber muttered as she turned around and continued walking. After awhile she stopped again and held her breath. There it was again- it felt like something was breathing down her neck. Again she whirled around, only to see nothing. "Am I going crazy?!" Amber shouted angrily, receiving strange looks from people passing by.

Amber breathed deeply, trying to focus. 'Keep calm and continue walking, Amber. Just ignore it.' A voice inside Amber's head said. 'Yea, but what if there really is something following me?' Another voice said. Amber shook her head and tried not to think about it. She continued walking.

Skyscrapers and other buildings slowly started disappearing, and were instead replaced by big oak trees and lush green grass. Amber had never been outside the city before. Here you could think more. Here you could actually hear the wind whistling in your ear. Here you could see the wild pokemon scuttling around in peace.

Amber sat down on a thick tree stump. She breathed in deeply. 'Even the air here is fresher!' She thought, as the wind tickled her face. She closed her eyes.

There it was... again. Hot breath down her neck. As Amber turned around quickly a big gust of air was pushed into her face. She stood up, coughing, and turned her back to the wind. Trying to see through the thick strands of her hair that was being blown in her face, she could feel someone... something... something was there. Near. That's when the wind pushing against her turned hot. If felt like a huge fire was just behind her, flames licking the back of her jacket. Beads of sweat rolled down her face. She took a deep breath and then whirled around.

Everything stopped.

Everything.

The air had disappeared. It was no longer hot. Amber had turned around to face nothing. Amber just stood there for a moment, puzzled.

There was no movement. None at all.

Stillness.

Not a sound was in the air. None at all.

Quietness.

The stillness and quietness was driving Amber crazy. Yet she could still feel something in her presence. It felt like a pair of eyes was focused on her, staring at her, watching her. Watching her every movement. As Amber slowly turned her head to the left, she saw them. Two big black eyes staring at her from behind a bush. Before Amber could even do anything such as move, the creature leapt out from the bush.

It all happened so quickly. A blur of red zoomed around the area, knocking Amber off her feet. She collapsed to the ground, sending a jolt of pain through her spine. Sharp claws pinned Amber to the ground and she shut her eyes in fear. She could feel that same hot breathing. Except this time it was on her face. And it was very close.

Very close.

Amber slowly opened her eyes to meet the same big black eyes of the creature that was staring at her. It was a Flareon.

'I'm going to die. I'm only fourteen, and I'm going to die right here, this very moment.' Amber realized. She shut her eyes again, ready for the pain to come. She wondered what it would feel like, if it would be a sharp piercing pain, or slow jabs of pain, or maybe it would be instant death.

But there was no pain. No pain at all. Instead, something wet and rough licked her face. Amber opened her eyes to look at the Flareon again. Was it smiling?!

"GET OFF ME!!" Amber shouted. The Flareon blinked and leapt off Amber. Amber stood up and wiped some dirt off of her clothes, muttering angrily under her breath. She would normally have been glad to be greeted by a happy Flareon, but not right now. Not after she had thought she was going to be killed. Amber glared down at the gleeful Flareon but then turned away. The Flareon was so happy, it was making Amber sick. "Happy little thing, aren't you?!" Amber snapped. She turned around and then started walking back towards the city.

As Amber quickly walked back to her house through the dusty streets of the city, muttering things about "really happy pokemon that scare you to death" under her breath, she didn't realize that the Flareon had been following her the whole time until five minutes later. Amber turned around.

"What are you still doing here?!" Amber snapped. "Go away! Your NOT what I need right now." And then she continued walking. But only after walking five steps did she turn around again. "STAY, you stupid pokemon!" Amber shouted. The Flareon blinked up at her then sat down. Amber sighed and continued walking. "That's better." Amber said. Never before had she been in such a bad mood.

After walking awhile Amber finally got home. She walked into the house, slamming the door behind her, and then collapsed onto the couch.

"What's wrong, honey?" Her mother asked.

"Nothing." Amber mumbled, rolling onto her stomach. She yearned to just fall asleep right then and there, but every time she closed her eyes an image of that Flareon appeared. Amber rolled over to her side to stare out the window, only to see the real thing. The real Flareon.

"You!" Amber hissed, standing up. Her mother walked over.

"What is it?" She asked. But her question was answered as she turned to the right to see the Flareon blinking up at them through the window. "Oh, look! A Flareon!" Amber's mother exclaimed.

"Yes, a Flareon." Amber said through gritted teeth. "And it's been following me around all afternoon!"

Amber's mother stared at the Flareon for a moment, then at Amber. Her eyes lit up.

"Come on outside with me." Her mother said, dragging Amber by her hand. As soon as they got outside the Flareon trotted up to meet them, smiling in the same gleeful way it did for Amber before. Amber's mother continued dragging her towards the big laboratory up on the hill.

"What the?!" Amber choked out as her mother pushed her through the doors of the lab, the Flareon still following them. Professor Lily walked into the room to greet them.

"What may I do for you two?" Prof. Lily asked.

"We found a starter pokemon for Amber. I'd like to register her to become a pokemon trainer." Amber's mother answered, smiling. Amber opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Prof. Lily.

"Sure thing. I'll be right back." Prof. Lily said. As soon as Prof. Lily was gone, Amber turned to look at her mother.

"I'm not going to become a pokemon trainer!!" Amber cried.

"Yes you are. Don't worry, it'll be fun!" Amber's mother said gleefully.

Amber stared angrily at the ground. 'If it wasn't for that stupid Flareon, none of this would be happening!' Amber thought. She looked at her blinking Flareon. It was just an ordinary Flareon.

No. Of course it wasn't.

Perhaps it was on the outside.

But something was in that Flareon. Something itching to get out. Something someone out there was searching for.

But they were searching for the wrong thing. Of course they were.

As a pokedex and a couple of pokeballs were shoved into Amber's arms, and then she was packed up and found herself standing outside of the city, the Flareon in one of her pokeballs, she didn't know. Didn't know anything. Not just about being a trainer, but about that thing inside her Flareon. Soon Amber would find what she was searching for. But she'd pay the consequences. The consequences of just a simple mistake, a mistake made by a person. A person who had everything go wrong.

A person who had everything go wrong ten years ago.


Note from author: Sorry about not updating this story for two weeks! I've been really busy with homework and stuff. (Not to mention I got writer's block in the middle of this part. XP) Yes, that's right, school started for me on August 15th. So you may not see me updating as much as usual. Well, I had a piano recital today and it went great. W00t. XD Anyways, be sure to watch for part 2 of "The Spirit Of Fire"!

~Kitten >^.^<