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Note to ShadowTrainer: Yes, I have read your story and I think it's great.  By the way, how often does the FanFic page get updated?  I want to know how often I should check for new FanFics. :)

A Master in the Making: Part 3: Pallet Pit Stop

by Seth Bowman (jediseth@hotmail.com)

    Luckily, the trio made it out of the forest without another Spearow run-in, although they saw some fly past on several occasions.  Zeth was almost sure he saw a Fearow once, but none of them wanted to get close enough to check.  "There's Pallet Town," Zeth pointed at the small town, "Let's find that pokemon center, if this town even has one."

    Pallet did have a center, but when they arrived at the small building the door had a closed sign on it.  "Why is a pokemon center closed in the middle of the day?" Zeth asked, looking at another sign underneath the first.  "Gone to Prof. Oak's Lab - Nurse Joy" He read.  "Well it looks like we'll have to go to the lab then, guys.  Come on."

    As they neared the lab, they suddenly heard the sound of an explosion coming from  the back, followed by another, and another.  "What's going on over there!" Zeth yelled over the noise.  As they ran around the corner, they saw a Meowth hot-air balloon rising and a Charizard flying straight towards it.  They people in the balloon were frantically throwing something at the Charizard, but it just knocked the objects back at them. Something landed nearby, and Zeth turned to look.  Some kind of bomb had just fallen next to them!  They hit the ground as the explosive went off, spraying them with shrapnel and filling the air with smoke.  When the smoke cleared, the balloon was gone, and the Charizard was flying around causing havoc.  Ignoring the angry dragon, Zeth checked to see if his pokemon were injured in the blast, but they didn't seem to have any life-threatening injuries although some of the gashes were pretty bad.  He turned back and saw the Charizard's scorched trainer recall it.  [Good move], Zeth thought, [that lizard was doing as much damage as the bombers].  Suddenly, he recognized the trainer as the kid from the Pokemon League.  [Ash something.  I should go say hi].

    At the moment though, he needed to find Nurse Joy, which wasn't hard.  She had just gone over to check on the kid's Pidgeotto, which had apparently been injured in the fight.  "Nurse Joy," Zeth called, running over to her. "My pokemon need your help, they were injured by one of those bombs."  He pointed at Florio and Eva.

    "How terrible." She looked at the kid, "Don't worry Ash, your Pidgeotto will be fine, Professor Oak can deal with its injuries."  She rushed over to Zeth's pokemon, leaving him with Ash and his companions.  Remembering his Spearow, Zeth called to Nurse Joy and tossed her the pokeball.

    "So, who are you?" asked a girl, who was standing beside Ash.

    "I'm Zeth, a pokemon trainer from Valencia Island.  I was looking for Nurse Joy, but I never expected to walk into a battlefield!"

    "I'm Misty, he is Brock," she pointed at a teen who was following Nurse Joy around as she patched up Zeth's pokemon, "and that's Ash."

    "I saw him in the Indigo Pokemon League Games before I left.  He's the one with the Muk, right?

    "Yeah, that was me!" Ash said proudly.  "I made the top sixteen!  That's what this party was about before Team Rocket decided to ruin it."

    "So that's who those people were.  Nasty bunch, aren't they." He glanced back at Nurse Joy who was motioning for him to come over.  "I'll see you guys later, I need to go see Nurse Joy right now."

    "We'll be here for a little while.  Oh, and if you're hungry, you can have some food, if you can find a table that hasn't been knocked over!"

    Nurse Joy told Zeth that his pokemon would be fine, but she wanted to take them to the center so they could rest.  "Go ahead," Zeth said.  "I'll come around in an hour or so."  He handed her Florio and Eva's pokeballs, then headed for a table of food that had somehow survived the assault, even though it was surrounded by small craters and debris....

     After his meal, he located Ash and his friends again.  The were just about to leave when he found them.  "Hey, guys, hold on."  he called.  "Where are you going off to?"

    "Professor Oak asked us to go to Valencia Island and bring back some kind of pokeball from Prof. Ivy," Ash said.  "He says that for some reason, it won't transport like a normal ball."

    "Oh, that ball, I remember asking Prof. Ivy about it myself.  If I had known that Prof. Oak wanted it, I would have brought it with me."

    "You know Prof. Ivy?" asked Brock.

    "Of course I do, I'm from Valencia Island.  I will warn you, there are some nasty Spearow along the trail back down, so be careful.  Anyway, don't let me stop you from getting started.  I have to get going; I'm headed for the Pewter City Gym to earn a Boulderbadge."

    "Pewter City? That's where I'm from," said Brock, "I was the leader of that gym. As a matter of fact I still have a Boulderbadge with me, If you want we could have a quick match before we leave."

    "You're on!"

To be continued: