We camped out in the woods on a hot night. I woke up and my clothes stuck to me. The ground around me was warm. I got out of the tent and saw Willis standing over a pot. He had Quilava and Charmander starting a fire with some sticks to heat up the pot. I had no idea where he kept all of his equipment. Now might not be a bad time to ask him...
     "Good morning, Willis," I said walking towards him.
     "Good morning," he replied. "I see you're finally awake. Whooo. I couldn't get any sleep last night. I cooked most of our breakfast since there was nothing else to do."
     I looked around. There were some strawberry's on a saucer and many fruits in baskets.
     "Looks good," I said. "Hey, Willis. Where do you keep all of your cooking equipment anyway? You don't carry it by hand and it looks like you don't have room in your backpack for it all."
     "Oh, that," Willis said. "I have these things called Item Balls. They can hold up to three items. I have about 10 so that way I can keep in my cooking equipment and other big things I can't carry. They also work as a freezer, so things like ice bags and frozen goods don't go bad. Next time we go to a store you and Lizzie should buy some. It would really lighten your load."
     "Cool. I guess I will," I said. "Ooo, you're making you're veggie soup?"
     Willis made the best vegetable soup. It had all great things in it. Tomatoes, onions and all different peppers. His secret sauce was the best part. It tasted kind of like spicy honey mustard with a hint of cinnamon.
     Lizzie awoke to the smell of the soup. "Mmmm. Something smells great!"
     We told her about Willis's Item Balls and the soup. I then looked up. "Hey, look guys!"
     Three balloons. Three hot air balloons floated through the sky. One was an Electrode, the other was a Koffing and the last looked like 3 Spearows stuck together.
     "Cool balloons," Willis said. "I wonder if there is a contest in town."
     I was already to work on my laptop. "There is," I said. "Tomorrow afternoon at Revel Village there is gonna be a balloon race from Revel to Lead City. It'll be a great way to advance on getting my next badge. That's 2 miles we don't hafta walk anymore. We should enter!"
     "Are you kidding me?" Willis demanded. "We don't even have a balloon. And even if we could buy one, it would probably go to waste because we barely ever do anything in the air. Not even planes..."
     "Oh, please Willis!" Lizzie begged. "I'm sure we can somehow get a balloon."
     Almost as if by Lizzie's words, a hot air balloon floated down from the sky. It was a blue pyramid with a Growlithe in a crown sitting on top. Awesome balloon.
     A girl with black hair and white clothes hopped out and started checking fuel. "Oh, sorry for landing on your campsite. I just need to check out my fuel about every half hour to make sure the balloon is working properly. I've won the balloon contest 2 years in a row and this year I'm hoping to threepeat." She sighed. "Except before I had 2 friends with me. One of them has the flu and the other one began a Pokemon journey in Kanto..."
     "You're missing running buddies?" Lizzie asked.
     "Yeah," she replied. "My name is Kathie. Nice to meet you. I'll just be leaving."
     "Wait," I said when she started to get back inside. "How many people are allowed in the balloon during a contest?"
     Kathie thought about it. "Four people and 3 Pokemon at the most. Why?"
     "PLEASE LET US ENTER WITH YOU!" I blurted out jumping towards her.
     Kathie smiled. I got on my knees and bent down as did Lizzie. "You don't hafta do that,"
Kathie said. "I'd be happy to enter with someone."
     "YES!" Lizzie and I cried in unison. We both turned to Willis. He was sitting down, eating his soup.
     He sighed and looked up. "Fine."
     Lizzie ran over to him and gave him a hug. I turned to Kathie. "You might as well stay for some food," I invited.

We took off in the balloon. Willis sat in the corner and read a book. Lizzie and I looked at the view. We must have been at least 300 yards above the ground.
     "There are the balloons," Kathie said. Kathie had black hair tied in a ponytail, white jeans and a white T-shirt. She was actually quite muscular and very tall. Her eyes were green and they sparkled in the sunlight.
     We landed the balloon and hopped out. Pikachu jumped out after me. Willis and Lizzie looked around. "This place looks great," they said in unison. They were right. There were about 20 balloons around and 10 different cabins to sleep in. The field was covered in flowers and plants.
     I thought it was great too, but I didn't when I saw the sight that lay ahead of me. I squinted and looked. There was a man who must've been about in his early 20's. I saw he was wearing a mask over his face and he looked depressed. The mask was completely red. It covered almost his whole face. Everything except for his nose and eyes. Messy black hair came out from all sides of his head. I could see black soot or scorch marks under his mask.
     "Guys, look," I whispered, nodding to the man.
     Kathie, Lizzie and Willis turned to where I was pointing. "Oh," Kathie muttered. "That's Mauno. He got his face destroyed in a chemical accident when he was about ten years old. We used to be friends. Until one day when I made the wrong decision and asked if I could see his face. He said he would never let anyone see his face because it was too horrible, hiding his identity like that. So after that, we weren't friends anymore."
     "Wow," I muttered. "So ... no one's ever seen his face?"
     Kathie shook her head. "Just him and his parents. Not even his best friends or relatives have seen his face since he's got it burned."
     I sighed. "Poor guy."
     I wasn't very depressed about Mauno anymore when a HOT girl walked by. I whistled and turned to her. She stopped in front of me and smiled. "Hi," I said. "Marry me!"
     Lizzie gasped and Willis burst into laughter. The girl had tan skin, curly black hair and beautiful blue eyes. Her skin was perfect and she wasn't a stick figure. She had CURVES!
     "Well, how sudden," she said. "Hmmm. Do I know you?"
     I sighed and then got on my brightest smile. "I'm Edward Redstreak, but you can call me Eddie or Woody. I'm a very nice gentleman. I'm sensitive but also very tough and I can be romantic. Now enough about me. Tell me about you!"
     She got a shy smile. "My name is Cameron Crow."
     My mouth hang open. "The Cameron Crow?"
     "No," she giggled. "I'm a different Cameron Crow. And you're pretty cute, Woody. But I'm not gonna make a move on you because your girlfriend seems angry."
     I turned and saw Lizzie had a red face and was glaring at us. "Her? She doesn't care, she's not my girlfriend. Elizabeth over there -- Lizzie for short -- is just jealous."
     Cameron was wearing leather black pants and a red sleeveless T-shirt. "I won't marry you, of course that's the obvious," Cameron said with another giggle.
     "Isn't she cute?" Lizzie murmured sarcastically.
     "I'll be seeing you around, Woody," Cameron said. She kissed me on the cheek and walked away, giving me a quick glance over her shoulder.
     A lipstick mark was around my cheek. "What a woman!" I yelled.

I had 3 things on my mind as I went to sleep that night. One was the balloon race. I was glad Kathie explained the rules to us and she was a veteran at this sort of thing. I knew that would be a great race. Second was Cameron. She was a hottie and I was going to persuade her to join us on our journey. She would be a great addition to our group. The third thing on my mind was Mauno. It's devastating that nice guy like him had to go through such tragedy for half of his life.
     I eventually dozed off to sleep...

Julius and Kio were again up to no good. They came out of the bushes and sighed. "I didn't know that Torchick's were so protective of their eggs. "Dang." Julius dusted himself off and Kio limped away.
     "Where are you going?" Julius demanded.
     "I'm going to find the twerps and then I'm gonna lock them in their cabin so they won't be able to compete tomorrow. They'll be stuck inside. And the cabins are sound proof so no one will be able to hear them." He laughed evilly.
     "I like the way you think," Julius said.
     "I don't!" a voice cried. Julius and Kio turned around and screamed when they saw who was standing before them.
     "RAY!" they cried in unison.
     Ray had cut his hair and dyed it black. He looked like he was working out. He wore a sleeveless gray shirt and black jeans. His arms were almost popping with muscles. "Boo," Ray muttered.
      "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kio and Julius cried.
     Kio took a Pokeball from his pocket. "I choose you, Geodude." Geodude emerged from the ball, but Team Rocket was way ahead. They ran away screaming like banshees.
     "What a bunch of scaredy Meowths."

I woke up about 7:00 in the morning. The race would start in half an hour. Yeah, pretty early, huh?
     I put on a clean shirt and my sandals. I ran outside. The others were already around the balloon. The sun was warm and shone lightly in my eyes. The grass was damp and the moisture practically hopped onto my feet. "Hey, Woody," Lizzie greeted.
     "Good morning, guys," I said.
     We greeted each other and they opened the small door to get in the balloon. We got in and almost as if on cue, a judge came out of a cabin and spoke loudly into a loudspeaker.
     "WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, BOYS AND GIRLS, AND POKEMON! THIS IS THE 8TH ANNUAL REVEL BALLOON RACE! THE RULES ARE SIMPLE. YOU MUST NOW RIDE A DISTANCE OF 3 MILES! THERE WILL BE SOME DANGEROUS WEATHER CONDITIONS YOU MUST RIDE THROUGH! THE FIRST RULE IS TO PULL OVER IF THE CONDITION IS TOO BAD! IF YOU STAY ON THE GROUND FOR MORE THAN 45 SECONDS, YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED! THE FIRST PERSON TO REACH THE FINISH LINE IS THE WINNER. YOU MUST STAY AT LEAST BETWEEN 30 AND 200 YARDS ABOVE THE GROUND! ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS?"
     No one had a question. A gun shot into the air and balloons lifted. "Okay, which Pokemon is gonna power the balloon?" Kathie asked.
     "Quilava can do it," I said.
     "And if Quilava gets tired, Charmander can fill in," Lizzie said.
     "Good. And we'll use my Wingull to test air drafts," Kathie said. She sent out a blue/white bird Pokemon with a long orange beak. I recognized it as one of the few Pokemon that could only be found in the Hoenn Region.
     Without any further ado, we rose about 60 yards into the air and floated forward. We were in about fourth place out of 13 balloons. Not so bad.
     Lizzie sat down and let Charmander out of her backpack. "I wonder what place we'll finish in," I said as Quilava shot a flame high into the (I don't know what the thing where you put the fire into to levitate the balloon is called) of the balloon.
     We rocked gently as we floated forward. "Okay, we're allowed to have the Pokemon pull the balloon also," Kathie said. "Wingull, grab the bar!"
     Wingull put his talons around the metal bar on the balloon and flapped. I was surprised at how powerful he was. He sped forward and I was jerked hard. I hit the back of the basket of the balloon.
     My head banged on it. I clutched the back of my head. "Dang, that's a fast bird..."

Julius and Kio climbed up Mt. Revel. "When the balloons pass over here, we blow 'em all up with this dynamite," Julius said. He put three bombs under the ground on top of Mt. Revel.
     Kio sighed. "Are you obsessed with bombs or something?"
     "They're so cool!" Julius said with an evil laugh. "Ha ha ha ha ha!"
     Kio sighed again. "Julius, don't laugh like a maniac. You're gonna hurt your throat again."
  
The balloon rocked through the air ... not so gently now.
     A Voltorb balloon passed right under us. "Faster, Wingull!" Kathie cried.
     "Quilava, use your flame a little harder," I said. Quilava was sweating.
     "Quilava is tired," Lizzie cooed. "Let Charmander take over now."
     Quilava jumped off of the stand and rested. Charmander now took over. I climbed to my feet and peeked over the balloon. "How high up are we?" I asked.
     Willis looked on my laptop. "We are 199 yards high!" he said. "The limit is 200. If we get any higher, we'll be disqualified. Charmander, go a little easier on the fire. Wingull, bring the balloon down a little bit."
     "Hey!" Kathie snapped. "I'm the captain!"
     "Well, I was just trying to help!" Willis snapped back. "Besides, haven't you ever heard of co-captains?"
     "I don't want to be co-captains!" Kathie yelled. "I brought up the idea and I know what is best for our team. So you should just stay out of it and do your job which is to let down the sand bags if we get too low!"
     Willis glared at her. He began to say something, but there was a sudden blast of fire!
     "Aaahhhhh!" Lizzie and I screamed. The balloon flipped over. I yelled as I fell through the air. I was caught in the side of the head with the metal bar of the basket and I was abruptly tossed back into the balloon basket. I rubbed my head and winced in pain.
     Lizzie landed on top of me. Charmander had held onto the stand so he didn't fall and Quilava held onto his legs. Kathie was lying on her back, sprawled onto the basket. And Willis---.
     "Where's Willis?" Lizzie cried.
     "I'M DOWN HERE! HELP ME!" Willis yelled at the top of his lungs.
     I looked down. Willis was hanging onto the bottom of the balloon with 3 fingers! I saw blood coming from his hand. I reached down. "Willis, grab my hand!" I yelled.
     "I can't!" Willis called back up.
     "Watchu talkin about Willis?!" I yelled.
     He didn't hafta answer. I looked over more and saw he was already dangling by two fingers as blood oozed from his hand. A pained expression was on his face. We must've been 180 yards in the air. I also saw that from the explosion, 4 balloons had fallen to the ground and we were now in second place.
     "Wingull, just keep going!" Kathie said. "I've got Willis!"
     She put one leg over the side of the balloon.
     "What are you doing?" I demanded.
     "If I weren't fighting with him, I could have paid more attention to what was happening and we wouldn't be in this mess. So, grab my legs!"
     I didn't even protest. I clutched Kathie's legs as she hurled herself over the balloon. She was still about a foot above Willis. I loosened my grip and let Kathie slip down further. To make things worse, it started to rain! I gasped as the cold water suddenly hit my face. Kathie stretched her hands. She tried to hit Willis. Pikachu was busy making sure Wingull and Charmander were steering the balloon right, so we'd still have a chance of winning the race.
     There was a hard air current and I was thrown off of my feet. I gasped and started to fall over the balloon. I was relieved as a pair of hands grabbed my feet. I turned and saw it was Lizzie. She had blood coming down the side of her head. She kept a tight grip on my ankles.
     I looked down. Kathie reached for Willis. Willis yelled and he lost grip of the basket. We jerked forward again. Kathie this time clutched Willis's arms. Kathie held tight onto Willis. I held tight onto Kathie. Lizzie held tight onto me. Quilava grabbed the bottom of Lizzie's pants and backed from the side of the balloon. Pikachu grabbed onto Quilava. I felt myself being lifted up. I was now in the basket. Kathie was in next. Finally, she lost her grip on Willis. Willis now grabbed onto the edge of the balloon and hoisted himself in, bloodied and all.
     I was relieved. I let myself fall backwards and closed my eyes. The balloon went through the air.
     "Guys, look," Lizzie said, looking over the balloon. "We're in first place and the finish line is only a quarter of a mile away!"
     I looked at the back of the balloon. We were defiantly in first place. I saw about 5 balloons behind us. I turned and our problems turned for the worse.
     A Geodude balloon decorated with pink R's rose up in front of us. "Oh no..." I muttered. "It's Julius and Kio."
     They smiled at us. They were facing us.
     "There is no way anyone is gonna win this race!" Julius yelled. "We will end this ... the hard way!"
     Kio sent out Geodude. Julius sent out Sneasel. The two Pokemon floated over to our balloon. I glared at them. "We can't let them mess up this race!" I yelled. "Wingull, Quilava, Charmander, you 3 just keep doing what you need to keep up the balloon!"
     I sent out Noctowl. Lizzie sent out Butterfree. The 2 Pokemon hovered in the air and charged at Team Rocket. "Butterfree, Noctowl, Psybeam!" Lizzie and I cried in unison.
     The 2 Pokemon used Psybeam at the same time. It was aimed at Sneasel, but it dodged out of the way. Geodude used Rock Throw. He balled his hand into a fist and it glowed white. Three big rocks shot out, hurtling towards Noctowl and Butterfree.
     "Butterfree, use Confusion and send them right back at Geodude," Lizzie ordered.
     "Noctowl, use your Quick Attack on Sneasel!" I commanded.
     Noctowl sped at Sneasel. Sneasel ducked down and grabbed Noctowl with his hands. He then slammed him into the side of Team Rocket's balloon. I gasped as a flaming hunk of metal suddenly blared into vision and sped towards my head!        
     I ducked down and it bounced off of the balloon, falling through the air. It hit a balloon right under us, a Spearow balloon. It caught fire and fell to the ground.
     "You could have got them killed!" Kathie yelled. "Wingull, Blizzard!"
     I felt a sudden chill as the sky darkened and snow built up. I looked up at the attack. Wingull's eyes glowed white and icicles flew at Sneasel and Geodude. They pelted them and sent them flipping through the air. I looked. Sneasel fell into the basket, Geodude falling right on top of them. I finally had enough energy to climb to my feet.
     "This is too dangerous," Lizzie said. "Team Rocket is determined to kill us!"
     "Yeah," I muttered. "They have to be stopped. PIKACHU, SHOCK WAVE!"
     Pikachu jumped on top of the balloon and closed his eyes. He glowed yellow. I felt the air suddenly change again. A bolt of formed.
     "Wait!" Julius cried. "You wouldn't wanna hurt your little sweetie, would you, Woody?"
     He reached down and pulled up someone. CAMERON!
     I gasped. "Pikachu -- stop!" I yelled.
     It was too late. Pikachu had already released the charge and the balloon was surrounded with electricity.
     The balloon burst. It twisted and turned as it flew through the air. TR screamed. I looked up and saw Cameron fall from the sky. She was unconscious.
     "Cameron! No!" I cried. I leaned over the side of the balloon as she fell. I looked, wide eyed. Not because Cameron was falling, but because she was slowing down, and glowing white!
     I stared at her, with my mouth hanging open. She floated up towards the basket. The glowing white light surrounding her. I watched as she was gently put down on the basket. She stopped glowing white and suddenly, there was another glowing light. This time it was yellow.
     I saw it was a Pokemon I'd never met before. It was green with big blue eyes. The Pokemon was small and smiled gently at me.
     "Celebii," it cooed.
     I watched the Pokemon. The balloon rocked through the sky. I got on my knees and looked at the Pokemon. I took my shaking hand and reached in my pocket for my Poke'dex. "Celebii, the time Pokemon. Celebii is known to be the gauridan of Johto forests. It is a grass/psychic type Pokemon and is believed to be able to glide through time with no difficulty."
     Celebii smiled and then did a flip. After that, it vanished.
     "That... was... weird," Kathie said.
     '"Guys, look, the finish line is right there!" Lizzie yelled. I looked forward and saw 2 trees out in an open field with a red ribbon tied between the 2.
     "Pika, Pikachu," Pikachu said. (We can make it! We'll win!)
     I nodded. I looked behind us. During the battle, the balloons had caught up. 3 of them, anyway. I saw a Lure Ball balloon, a balloon that looked like a chair, and right beside us was a balloon which looked like a Snorlax.
     We were only 20 yards from the finish line. Cameron started to come to. "Where am I?" she asked. She felt her head. I helped her to her feet. "I'll explain later."
     We floated closer to the finish line. The rain and snow had passed. Suddenly, the Snorlax balloon ducked in front of us. "Come on!" Lizzie yelled.
     We got close to the finish line, before the Snorlax team suddenly shot up in front of us. We hit the back of them, pushing them through the finish line.
     There were a lot of groans. The people in the Snorlax balloon (3 brothers all with black hair) turned to us. "Thanks for the push! Losers!" they yelled.
     I shot them a dirty look.
     Cameron sighed. "That's my team. They're my cousins."
     "How'd you end up with Team Rocket?" I asked as the balloon ordered.
     "Those two... Team Rocket men, they threatened to hurt my cousins unless they gave me to Team Rocket. My cousins took out their Pokemon to fight, but when they saw how strong Sneasel was, they said Team Rocket could have me..."
     "Those jerks!" Lizzie said.
     We got out of the balloon. Cameron was still dazed.
     "Hey!" the judge yelled, running up to the Snorlax team and us. "I saw what the Snorlax team did, and that is a disqualification!"
     "WHAT?!" the three triplets yelled in unisons. "How did we cheat?"
     "I saw you show bad sportsmanship to the other riders," the judge said. "You used their team's balloon to jump yourself into the finish line, and you gave away one of your team mates and the rules state, you can't do ANY of those three things!"
     The first one groaned. "Let's go, guys! Cameron, are you coming or not?"
     Cameron shook her head. "I'm going solo. I don't trust you three."
     That made them even madder. They got into their balloon, and floated away.
     "By DQ, you guys are the winners," the judge said. He handed each of us -- including Cameron-- gold medals and then gave the co-captains a trophy.
     "You should have it," Willis said.
     Kathie shook her head. "No, you."
     Willis pushed it back to her. "I'm traveling. I have no place to put the trophy. Besides, you're the original captain. Really, I don't want it."
     Kathie smiled. "Thanks, Willis. Maybe we can do this again next year."
     Willis shrugged. "Maybe," he said.

"I hope I see you again some day," Cameron said. "Thank you for everything." She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Seeya."
     "Bye," I said with a smile.
     We waved as we walked off to Lead Town for another adventure.



                                  TO BE CONTINUED...