The Path of the Guardian A “General” category By Mr. Highwind Sorry I didn’t write as fast, I was grounded from my computer for a while. Well, I’m back for Spring Break. Last where we left off, Sparks and his friends were about to take off. Let’s continue... --------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3: The Sponsor “You have got to be kidding!” All four tires of the van popped before they even left the street. “You should’ve let me drive,” said Lorenzo. “Alright guys, there’s plenty of cars around us. Find some tires, plus some spares for the road, and let’s get going; I’m gonna go see if I forgot anything,” said Sparks. Sparks went back to his half-demolished home to see if he forgot anything. “I can’t believe I forgot about a First Aid.” He went to his bathroom to grab everything that would help them out with injuries. Then he went to his room to grab a health book as a medical guide. When he went in, he saw that his mini- fridge was in one piece, so he grabbed that to keep some drinks cold. After that he sat down, resting. He felt something in his pocket and pulled it out. It was some of Shadow Lugia’s feathers. Hey were dark violet and glowing, with little sparks dancing around inside Sparks stared at them for a minute and noticed that they were getting brighter & brighter. “Wait, maybe if I kept one of these, I’d know when Shadow Lugia is close. I think I’ll tie it to my dream catcher.” So he went up to his desk, found some string and tied one of the feathers tight on the ring. “Alright, I think that’s enough. Time to join Josh and Lorenzo.” His friends had already taken care of everything and were waiting for Sparks. “Wow, you guys were fast.” “Just hop in already,” said Josh. “This time look out for glass,” said Lorenzo. “Right, right”. Sparks decided to use this time to find a sponsor for all of them. An hour went by and still there was nothing about a sponsor. Sparks tried everything: Google, Wikipedia, Askjeeves, even Pokemon nerd websites! After trying Google one more time, he found a directory “Famous rare Pokemon merchandise collector sponsorship.” He clicked on it and read... Lawrence the Third: Famous Collector Everybody should know about Lawrence. He is the biggest in collecting merchandise. There is nothing that he doesn’t have. “It all started with my Mew card,” he exclaims in a cool voice. “After that, I tried bigger rarities. Now all that you see here is hard work and research. I’ve learned so much! And I’m not even beginning to stop. There is so much more for me to find. But I don’t want to have all the fun, which is why I’m starting a sponsorship program, for all who wish to be as great as I. Pokemon trainers, breeders, even collectors, I host them all. If you wish to accompany everyone else, come see me in Los Angeles. Do enjoy the adventure.” You heard it folks, come see Lawrence the Third for your big adventure. “Hey guys, I’m gonna bring up a map for us to go to Los Angeles, cause that’s where a Pokemon sponsor’s at,” said Sparks. “Cool”, said Lorenzo. After bringing up the map for Josh to follow, Sparks told them he was going to sleep the entire way there. And so, he fell asleep. Sparks looked around. He was in the same garden from his last dream. Red & blue feathers were falling again. And as he looked up, hoping to see what was making them, it got really bright again, followed by darkness. “wake up...wake up...Wake up!” Sparks woke up to find Lorenzo over him. He only slept for five minutes. “C’mon Sparks, we’re at the place.” “Huh? But I was only asleep for a little time...” “Whoa, you look a lot better now that you slept,” said Josh. Sparks looked in the mirror to find that his eyes weren’t dark anymore, and his skin was a lot clearer from acne. “Sleep doesn’t do this much,” said Sparks. “Oh well, let’s go meet Lawrence.” The three were parked outside a huge building near the beach with a dome on the top. As they walked in through the brass doors, they saw many rare items. It was like a museum. They also noticed that it was pretty crowded, especially around a particular table. Sitting there was a man with light blue eyes and light green hair, wearing a blue and purple coat. He was answering questions and signing contracts. “That must be him,” said Josh. “C’mon, let’s go see him.” Lorenzo stopped him and said, “The line’s too long, let’s come back later.” They all agreed and decided to go out to eat somewhere. As they ate seafood at Pappadeux’s, they all wondered what it would be like to travel with pokemon? Speaking of which, where are they kept? Such a big world, yet the three never heard of pokemon sightings. “You know, it must be a secret island,” said Josh. “It’d have to be a really big island to hold a lot of civilization, so it must be hard to stay undetected,” said Sparks. “What if it was more than one island, though?” asked Lorenzo. “Then that means more the fun...”said Sparks. All of them quietly ate there food, thinking of which pokemon they’d collect. It was 7:00 PM, closing time at the sponsor building. As the last dozen of new trainers left, Lorenzo, Josh, and Sparks made their way to Lawrence, who was now packing up some contracts. “Excuse me, Lawrence is it?” asked Sparks. Lawrence, not looking up, replied in a cool voice, “sorry, you’ll have to see me tomorrow, I’m done for now.” “Listen, we need to talk now, we don’t have a tomorrow,” said Sparks. “Well then, that’s too-“. Lawrence looked up to see that this was an unfamiliar group. “Hmm, you don’t seem like you’re from Kanto.” “Kanto?” asked Lorenzo. Josh was delighted to hear that. “Ha! I knew there had to be a secret island!” “It’s obvious that you’re all Americans. Found my article have you? Clever.” “Okay listen. Our town’s demolished by a pokemon attack. We’re homeless, and kind of on the run right now. We’re hoping you can sponsor us so we can acquire help from other pokemon to stop the attacks on us.” “Sorry, but I’ve ran out of room for more trainers. I’ll have to make more contracts tomorrow. Hope you’ll live long enough to see tomorrow.” After that, Lawrence made his leave. Lorenzo and Josh were disappointed to hear this, and sulked for the door. “So much for the plan,” said Lorenzo. Sparks did not give up so easily. He grabbed Lawrence by the shoulder to say one final statement. “C’mon you jerk! We need to get sponsored or else Shadow Lugia will come here and-”. Lawrence eyes lit up hearing the pokemon’s name. “Hold on, did you say what I thought you heard?” There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Lawrence bent down and opened his briefcase. “I said I ran out of normal pokemon trainer contracts, but not the “special privileged” ones,” said Lawrence. Sparks’ friends soon caught on to what was going on and ran up to Sparks and Lawrence. “Sign every line you find in the contract, after that, you will be given a $10,000 starter check that will increase for every tournament you compete in. I’ll explain everything else tomorrow. In the meantime, find a nice place to sleep in the dormitories here.” Sparks grinned and thanked Lawrence, and all three went to the dormitory to think the night away. As they left, Lawrence eyed Sparks thinking... “Hmm...this one is most intriguing. A rare pokemon like Shadow Lugia chasing him would be the perfect opportunity to make a move. In fact, why collect rare items...when there are pokemon to collect? This American will be of great use to me...” -------------------------------------------------------- End of Chapter 3 Well that can’t be good...Now we know why he’s like that. Plz review...spat1@sbcglobal.net