Her shaking tired legs seemed to be begging her to sit down. But the thought of sitting down on that same tree stump made a shiver go up her spine. She wasn't sure why this area made her so nervous all of a sudden. But standing there, now as a pokemon trainer, seemed to make things a little different.

'I'm a pokemon trainer. I'm actually an official pokemon trainer now.' Amber realized, with shock. Sure, she knew she was a pokemon trainer a little while ago, but the fact that she really was a pokemon trainer that would battling other trainers, catching pokemon, and traveling just seemed to hit her like a bolt of lightning. She wasn't sure if she was ready for all of it.

So Amber did the first thing that popped up into her mind. She ran. And ran, and ran, and ran. She wasn't sure where she was running as she jumped over tree roots and ducked underneath long branches. All she knew was that the cries of the wild pokemon were getting louder. She could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

And then she tripped.

Amber felt her self lose balance as her body flew through the air, towards the ground beneath her. Her heart leapt to her throat as her arms flailed around madly, trying to find something to grab onto. But there was nothing. Instead Amber fell to the ground with a thud, and a jolt of pain raced up through her body then back down again. The pokeball with the Flareon that she had held in her hand rolled out of her reach just a foot away. She moaned from the pain. But she stopped at the sound of crunching grass. Looking up, she saw the face of a young boy about her age with ruffled brown hair looking down at her. Embarrassed from the position she was in, Amber hastily stood up, brushing dirt off her clothes, and picked up the pokeball.

"Er... hi." Amber said uncertainly. Looking down at herself, only then did she realize she was in horrible condition. Her now grass-stained jeans had ripped in various places. Her jacket was covered in dirt. And her brown hair was now a sweaty mess with leaves stuck here and there. She smiled weakly at the boy.

"Hello." The boy replied. His eyes wandered up and down as he scanned Amber's appearance. His eyes then met the pokeball she held in her hand. "You've been training, haven't you?" The boy said with a grin.

Amber blinked. "Um... yea, that's right. I've been training." She said hastily. 'I wish I wasn't here right now. I wish I wasn't here right now.'

"Well, that's cool. I've been training too." The boy replied. Was that a smirk on his face? "My name is Tyler. How would you like to have a pokemon battle?"

A pokemon battle?! Amber gritted her teeth. The hot prickly feeling on her face was urging Amber to give her answer. But she knew she couldn't refuse.

"Uh... yea, sure. I'll battle you." Amber answered. "Oh yea, and my name is Amber." She added quickly. 'Well, you did it. Now you'll be battling against a pokemon trainer.'

Tyler's expression suddenly turned happy. "That's great!" He said. "Let the battle begin!" And with that, he lazily tossed a pokeball up into the air, revealing a Growlithe in a flash of red light.

Uncertain of what to do, Amber tossed her pokeball up into the air too. The Flareon that was now hers emerged. It looked back at her with its big black blinking eyes. She couldn't mistake that strange happiness in the Flareon that never seemed to go away.

"A Flareon, huh?" Tyler said. "Impressive. Growlithe, flamethrower!" Tyler's voice, now shouting, made Amber come back to her senses. The Growlithe standing before her opened up its mouth to reveal hot flames. They shot out towards Amber's Flareon like an arrow soaring through the air.

"Flareon!!" Amber cried. Her stomach seemed to twist as a sudden feeling of panic rose through her throat. 'I knew this whole thing was a mistake!' Amber thought. She shut her eyes tightly. She couldn't bear to watch her Flareon get hit by the attack.

But there was no sudden cry of pain. Opening her eyes, Amber saw that her Flareon had quickly dodged the attack on its own. Tyler's Growlithe continued to shoot jets of fire at the Flareon, but it swiftly moved through the air, now just a red blur, and dodged all the attacks. Amber felt a sudden rush of air go by as her Flareon dodged yet another attack, just barely missing her by inches. She could feel the hot air of the Growlithe's fire attacks, and beads of sweat rolled down her face from the heat. The Growlithe, tired, stopped its attacks. Amber's Flareon came to a skidding stop, sending dirt flying everywhere. Amber could only just stand there and gawk.

Amber shook her head, her brown hair whipping her face. 'Come on, Amber. You have to attack now.' A voice inside Amber's head said. Hundreds of pokemon attacks she had heard of swarmed through her head. But she did not know what attacks her Flareon knew. That same feeling of panic rose to her throat again. She opened her mouth to issue a command to her Flareon, but nothing came out. She still didn't know what to do.

Before Amber could make another movement, her Flareon decided what to do for her. Burning hot embers were shot out of the Flareon's mouth into the sky, which quickly turned into thick flames. It was as if the sky were on fire- the heat was so intense that Amber suddenly realized she was slowly sinking to the ground- her shaking legs could no longer hold her weight. Squinting in the steamy air, she could see that the same thing was happening to Tyler. That's when there was a huge rush of strong wind. The fire in the sky spread over the clearing in which the battle was going on. Amber screamed and just barely collapsed to the ground in time. Trembling in fear, she could feel the flames just barely licking her back. She shut her eyes tightly. Tyler was shouting something that seemed to be far off in the distance, but Amber couldn't make it out.

"Flareon!!" Amber cried, half choking. "Stop it!!"

Everything stopped.

Amber just lay down on the ground for a second, breathing heavily. 'What just happened?!' Amber sat up. There stood her Flareon, blinking innocently in the middle of the now scorched battle field. Tyler was already standing up on the other side of the field, him too breathing heavily. He was staring at his Growlithe. Amber's eyes wandered over to the Growlithe too.

Just a second went by.

No, only a heartbeat.

Just after one heartbeat did Amber realize something was terribly wrong with Tyler's Growlithe. Tyler seemed to realize it just then too.

"No!! Growlithe!!!" Tyler cried out. His Growlithe collapsed to the ground, its unblinking eyes wide open in which seemed to be like fear. First it just started twitching, but the twitching turned into horrible shaking. Small and sad whimpers turned into howls of pain. It looked like the Growlithe was having a seizure. Amber's stomach seemed to twist. It was just too horrible to watch. Through the corner of her eye she could see silent tears rolling down Tyler's cheek. Then everything stopped. The Growlithe lay motionless on the ground, its eyes now closed. Amber and Tyler just stood there for a moment.

"What did you do to my Growlithe?!" Tyler suddenly choked out, now sobbing uncontrollably. He ran over to his Growlithe and carefully picked it up. Giving a final angry glare at Amber, he turned around and then started quickly running. "I've got to get Growlithe to a pokemon center, and quickly..." Amber heard Tyler mumble.

"Wait!!" Amber cried. But Tyler was already long gone.

She stood there for a moment, staring at the spot where the Growlithe once stood. Her eyes searched the clearing in which they battled. Everything was scorched. The once dark-green lush grass was now a burning black. Then her eyes met the Flareon's eyes. "What did you do?!" Amber whispered softly, horrified. She looked back at where Tyler had run off with his Growlithe. "I've got to follow him." Amber murmured. Glaring at her Flareon, she took out a pokeball and returned it. Grass now crunching underneath her feet louder than ever, she followed Tyler.

**********************************

The path in which Amber ran, following Tyler, eventually led to a small town. Amber stopped on top of a tall hill overlooking the town, gasping for breath. Her eyes searched the town, looking for the pokemon center. Finally she found it. Looking a little to the left she also found the tiny speck that was Tyler with his Growlithe. Taking a deep breath, she ran down the hill, into the town beyond her. Wind tickled her face and ran through her tangled brown hair. After what seemed like a long time, she reached the front doors of the pokemon center. She pushed through them and almost collapsed on the bench.

There, standing right in front of her, was Tyler. A look of pure furry sparked in his eyes. But he quickly looked away.

Amber slowly walked towards him. "Tyler, I'm sorry. I really am." She said softly. Tyler merely grunted. Amber stared at the ground, unsure of what to say. "How is your Growlithe doing?" She asked.

"Nurse Joy said I got Growlithe here just barely on time and that he could've died." Tyler mumbled, continuing to not look at Amber. Amber's heart sank.

"She also said that whoever attacked my Growlithe like that, despite of how well they've trained their pokemon, should be arrested." Tyler's eyes finally met Amber's.

Amber just stood there, gawking at Tyler. Her? Get arrested?! Her heart sank even lower.

"Look, Tyler. I've never trained my Flareon before. That was my first pokemon battle ever. I just became a trainer." Amber said. Tyler muttered something that sounded like "Yea right." Amber, taking a shuttering breath, continued on. "I never told my Flareon to do that. I don't know why it did that attack, or how it knew it. I'm really angry at my Flareon right now, and at the same time, horrified."

Amber held her breath. Tyler said nothing.

"You see, Flareon aren't suppossed to know any attack that strong. Not even a Charizard should." Amber said softly. Tyler looked up.

"Then that isn't any ordinary Flareon, is it?" Tyler whispered. Amber stood there for a moment, blinking.

"Yes, I guess you could say that." Amber said. 'He's right though. This isn't any ordinary Flareon I have.'

The two just stood there, staring at each other, not sure of what to say. Finally, Tyler spoke up.

"Well then... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was so angry at you before for your Flareon attacking my Growlithe. I was just so upset about all that had happened." Tyler said, avoiding Amber's gaze again.

Amber and Tyler's conversation was interrupted by the sound of a cart being pushed into the room. Glancing to the right, Amber and Tyler saw Nurse Joy pushing a small cart with a bed on it. On the bed lay the limp Growlithe. "Growlithe!!" Tyler cried. He ran over to the cart. Amber walked over.

"Again, your Growlithe is badly injured but will heal in a month or so." Nurse Joy said. "But I must show you something. Your Growlithe received a scorch mark underneath his ruff."

"Well, yea. I'm not surprised. After all, it was a fire attack that hurt him." Tyler said. He glanced at Amber. Amber looked away.

"Yes, but this is um... no ordinary scorch mark." Nurse Joy said.

Pushing back some fur of the Growlithe's ruff, she revealed at small scorch mark. It was no bigger than one inch in length. But the scorch mark showed a picture of a small fire, in which there were two big black eyes.

Note from Author: Meh... sorry I didn't update last week. ^.^;; I had a cold and so therefore couldn't write. If you've had a cold, (and I'm pretty sure you have) you know what it feels like. Well, yesterday I got burnt on a hot glue gun during social studies. XD Goes along perfectly with this story, doesn't it? Oh yes, and I forgot to mention this in my previous note... feel free to send a review!

~Kitten >^.^<