As Ho-oh scanned the horizon, black dots began to appear, and he could soon make out the shape of gigantic ships moving. Many things have changed here since I left, he thought. The humans have built great towers and made great boats, but I can still remember the life of my old home.

While he recalled his deepest memories from his childhood, he started to notice that the hugeness of his shadow was causing the humans to run about in panic, not knowing what that big thing in the sky was and why it was there. Ho-oh quickly used one of his most special powers, invisibility, so that the humans would not be frightened. Though they are the most intelligent creatures on Earth, and have built skyscrapers almost actually scraping the sky, they are still afraid of Pokemon who have actually been foretold to one day be their kind's closest friend. He sighed. Someday I wish that all of them could realize that Pokemon are not meant to be their tools or enemies, but their companions.

Suddenly, he felt the calling of something he could not grasp, that seemed so delicate and fragile that he was afraid that it would slip away, yet it stayed and lingered and pulled him to itself, trying to tell him something that he could not comprehend. For a moment his neck straightened, his eyes darted to and fro, searching for that one thing he could not see. And then, when he was sure of its direction, he went towards it, wondering and waiting for it to reveal itself.

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As Laria and Aaron went towards the Wakisons' home, they prayed that they could say the right thing and let Sheila make a good decision all by herself, without any pressure. And as they neared the house, they hoped secretly that Sheila would decide to go with them on their journey.

Aaron tapped twice on the door, and it opened almost instantly at his touch. "Well, hello, you two! Come on inside; Sheila's been waiting for you all day." While the twosome wondered why Sheila would be waiting for them (since they had told her they were leaving that day, I didn't include it) they waited patiently until a nervous-looking Sheila tiptoed into the room. "Hi, um, I wanted to ask-" Sheila started. "Actually, we wanted to ask you-" Laria interrupted. "Oh, well, go on, Sheila." "Well, I was going to ask if, um, I could, you know, go on your trip with you 'cuz I haven't been on any trips before so I'm hoping that you'll say yes and Dad says I can go and I can be a biiiiiig help so can I go, please?"

With eyes wide, Laria and Aaron told Sheila and her father that they were going to ask the same thing. "So that means that I can go?!?!?!?!?!?!" Sheila nearly screamed. " I can't believe it! I'm going on a real trip with you!!! Yay!!!" While Sheila bounced around (like the silly author Dannichu's hyper Raichu) Laria discussed the dangers of letting her go on a trip with them with Jeremy. "Oh, it's no worry; as long as you two stay with her, I'm sure she'll be fine," he explained. "Well, then, that's all right with us." Laria smiled, wondering what new adventures they would have.

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A young man strode through the trees in the forest that, incidentally, was the one that Laria and Aaron were camping in and also the one that Sheila's house occupied. And eventually, he happened upon Wakisons' house. Hmm, nice little home. I guess I'll just stop by and see who lives in the middle of these woods. At first, when he knocked on the door, there was no answer. Sheila was still bouncing, so Aaron was trying to calm her down. The man outside eavesdropped on the happy group inside, and heard a familiar voice say, "That's all right with us," and another not-so-familiar voice screaming with delight. That must be the younger girl, he thought. But who is the older one? She seems to be... suddenly something in his mind clicked into place. You could practically see the lightbulb turning on in his head. (No really, you could see it.)

"Laria!" he shouted, bursting into the room. (You can imagine what the other characters were thinking, besides just standing there and sweatdropping.) These are their thoughts:

Laria: Oh my gosh I can't believe he found me. Darn! Seriously, I can't believe what he does to make an entrance sometimes.

Sheila: Weirdo. Whatever. Yippeeeeeeee!!! I'm going on a trip!!!

Aaron: Umm, who is this guy?

Jeremy: *cricket cricket*

"Yay! I can't believe I found you! Didn't I say before you went away that I would find you, my beautiful?" said the crazy, Laria-infatuated guy. "Uh, no, RICKY, I don't recall that particular scene. I think you might've said that to one of your previous girlfriends," she replied, pushing his stupid, ugly face away. Rubbing his face ruefully, he muttered darkly, shooting side glances at Aaron who caught certain words like, "...took her away...stole...from me...hate him...so beautiful she is...stupid guy..." and other insane phrases concerning him, Laria, and Aaron. Backing away sloooowwly, everybody else huddled together in a tight group.

"First of all, who is this guy?" was Aaron's first question. "Uh, he's this weirdo who claims to be in eternal love with me." Laria cleared her throat. "We met sometime in first grade, which is when he got a crush on me. He was nicer then. Later he bashed his head while playing with his 'friends', and he's been crazy ever since. Uh, yeah." She looked so embarrassed about having a connection with Ricky that no one knew what to say.

"Well, I guess we should give him a proper sending-off?" Mr. Wakison suggested. "Er, I guess." Laria looked back at the insane lovesick guy and winced. "Except that I'm not sure how to do it."

"Why don't you just tell him to go?" Sheila suggested. "I mean, if he really believes that he loves you, won't he listen to you?" "Uh, I'm not sure about that... " Laria started to answer, but suddenly she saw the logic of Sheila's statement. She's pretty smart! How come I didn't think of that? she wondered. "Oh, okay. I guess it's the only way." She straightened up and walked bravely toward Ricky. "Uh, Ricky, I think it's time to go now," she said cautiously. "Why, certainly, my beautiful," he replied with an amorous smile. Laria breathed a sigh of relief as the deranged lover walked out the door, his "broken" heart apparently mended by his one minute of quiet time.

"Phew, that was seriously close," she sighed. Sheila glared at the crazed guy's back as he skipped out the door. "I think there's something really wrong with that guy," she muttered. When he had burst into the room, she'd instantly felt an icyness drenching her inside. She hadn't felt it much then, but now she could feel the piercing intensity of the mysterious cold. Laria and Aaron looked really relieved that Ricky was gone, but it didn't seem like they had felt anything. Still, it might be that she wasn't wearing enough clothes. She looked down at her short sleeves. I guess a sweater wouldn't hurt, she thought. While she plodded softly into her room to change, though, a small doubt grew within her about the insane lover.