Chapter 1 - A Gift
    The incessant beeping of his wristwatch on his bedsite brought Mez  (13) out of a deep slumber, in which he had been dreaming about which pokemon he might choose as a starter from Proffessor Oak. He got up, and groggily made his way to the shower, as was his custom routine. After he climbed out, he threw on some clothes, a long sleeved  olive drab shirt with blue and white stripes down the sides and some long dark green/gray polo shorts. He also grabbed his backpack, as well as a small scabbard that slung along his back that held a five iron, for protection, as team Rocket had been striking uncomfortably close to home. He made his way downstairs, to find his cubone, Frenzy, in the backyard knocking down old soup tins with it's bonemerang attack. He grabbed a quick bagel and a glass of orange juice before he walked out the door.

    "Hey Mom! I'm going now!" Shouted Mez as he walked out the front door to his mom, who was further up in the garden.
    "Oh! so early? Well, better than being like that ash fellow a few years back..."
    "Yeah, I remember, we all got nicely toasted by that pikachu of his."
    "Honey, you know that wasn't his fault..." replied his mom, slightly scornful.
    "Yes, I know, I know", said Mez,  putting his hands up in defeat, "Anything you need to give me before i leave?" asked mez, a little imaptient as he kept glancing at his wristwatch.
    "Oh, yes, here, your allowance for the past year, and a few things you might need on the way" said his mom as she handed him the money and a few potions and antidotes.
    "Well, see you after i get my starter!" shouted Mez as he jogged down the path to the professor's lab.

    A small crowd had already begun to build up at the Prof's gate, but Mez managed to push through to the gate, and after stating who he was through the intercom, managed to get through the small crack allowed him so no-one else could push in. It shut with a heavy metallic "clang" and a few angry protests from fellow trainers. As he walked into the main room, he saw that his best friend for the past 3 years, Lexi, (Yes, a GIRL, for those of you who couldn't guess from the name) was also in the room, listening to the professor giving his farewell speech. He snook into the room in the back row next to Lexi, who gave him a quick nod before returning her gaze to the professor. His cubone squirmed in boredom on the floor, while the professor finished the speech.

    "And now, I give you your first, or for some of you, second," he said as he scouled at mez, trying to get his cubone to sit still, while making a small din, "pokemon, who will be your faithful companion on your quest, and hoefully the rest of your life, if you treat it well and take care of it. Please follow me into the next room in a orderly fashion" Heedless to his words, everyone (about 6 people) scrambled to the next room, puching and shoving greedily to get the best pokemon,while Mez had his cubone trip some of the people so he sould get as close as he could. For all his effort he only got 3rd pick, after he let Lexi get ahead of him. There were about 30 pokeballs on the table, all of them in different colors  to indicate what type they were, with words printed in gold above the enter button. When Mez got to the table, he was slightly dismayed to find that he couldn't find a ditto, one of his favourites, next to Frenzy, that is. He scanned the table anxiously, hoping for another one of his favourites. The usual were there, bulbasaur, charmander, squirtle,  as well as other first evolution pokemon, such as oddish and bellsprout. He looked for a caterpie, as they were quite strong when well trained, and even more so when butterfree, but was dissapointed to not find one. There was a few others he liked, but not very much, like growlithe and horsea.  In the end, (which was about 3 seconds later, afte a rap on the head from the professor) he decided to go with Abra, which he named Psych. (sike) After he had received his pokedex and 5 pokeballs from Oak, he started out the door.

    "Hey! Mezz!" called Lexi as Mez was in the courtyard, playing with his new abra, "I was wondering, since we're new in pokemon, do you think we could travel together? It'd be alot safer, with TR around and all."
    "Sure!" replied Mez, a little TOO happy with the recent turn of events."I'd love to! but first," he said with a sly grin, "wanna battle?"
    "You're on! one on one!" eagerly relpied Lexi.

    "Abra, GO!" called Mez as his pokeball flew onto the field.
    "Squirtle, GO!" retaliated Lexi.
    Both pokemon sized up their opponent, or, at least squirtle did, while abra just,  sort of sat there.
    "Psyche! ummmm..." said Mez, concentrating to remember some psychic moves, "Confusion!" abra just sat there. Mez's pokedex annoyingly blurted out: "Until abra evolves into Kadabra, the only attack abra can learn without a TM is teleport."
    "Crap!" said Mez, holding his head in his hands, looking up just in time to see squirtle lowering it's head for a Skull Bash.
    "PSYCHE! TELEPORT, NOW!" screamed Mez in a panic, abra was hit just as it teleported, but suffered minor injuries as it didn't take the full brunt of the attack.
    "Squirlte, water gun!" called Lexi as abra teleported back into it's original position. A wave of water hit Psyche  as it teleported automatically to avoid harm.
    "Squirtle! tackle it now! called Lexi, sure of her victory now.
    "Psyche! teleport as it's about to hit you!"
    Psyche began some sort of agility/teleport attack as squirtle kept slamming itself into the ground in futile tackles.
    "Squirtle! stop tackling it! Try Bubble attack !" squirtle began to look like it had rabies, then a mass of "scrubbing bubbles" began to fly straight at Psyche.  It was hit hard by the bubbles and was too confused to teleport right away.
    "Squirtle! finish it off with tackle!" Squirlte immediately took advantage of abra's confusion to slam into it with tackle, knocking it out.
    "No! Psyche!" Mez immediately recalled the fainted abra, though it was hard to tell that it was fainted apart from the fact that it was bruised and scratched up.

    "Good battle Mez," Lexi said, as she crooned over the ecstatic squirtle, who was doing catrwheels down the lawn.
    "Yeah, but Abra need some expierence before it'll start winning anything soon, though." sadly replied Mez,
    "Not exactly, my friend" Mez quickly turned around to see professor Oak walking towards them holding something that looked like a small microchip on a sticker.
    "This is TM35, Metronome, I assume you know what it does?" queried the Prof.
    "Actually, not really," sheepishly replied Mez, a little ashamed at shirking off his studying.
    "It's a psychic move that allows the pokemon to use any attack, no matter what ype, thought i must warn you, the attacks are completely random, and the move is rather unstable."
    "Well, it's better than nothing, i guess..." said Mez as he took the TM, called out Psyche and applied it to it's forehead. Abra's eye's glowed white for a few seconds, then stopped.
    "Alright Psyche, let's see what this attack can do. Pretend that rock over there is a pokemon. Metronome attack now!"
    Psyche's eye's glowed softly for a moment while it gave 2 peace signs with it's fingers and shook then back and forth twice. It stood silently for a second, then glowed birght white and shot into the sky.
    "Sky attack, a particularly devastating flying type attack" rattled of Mez's and Lexi's pokedex's simultaneously. They were all to busy watching the streak blaze across the sky then, in a wide arch, collided directly with the boulder.

    When the dust settled, there was a happy little Abra and several fragments and a small crater where the boulder used to be.
    "Alright Psyche! You did it!" Cried out Mez as he ran over and hugged the little bug like creature. Frenzy was feeling a little left out and let Mez have it with a weak boneclub on the back of the head.
    "OW! Easy Frenzy! I'm allowed to pay attention to Psyche, aren't I? scolded Mez as he rubbed the back of his head sorely.
    "I guess so, but don't forget about me!" Frenzy retaliated right back at Mez, who continuse to rub his head for a moment, then, slowly turning around, gave Fraanzy a strange look. "What did you say?"
    "I said pay attention to me!" repeated Freny, slightly annoyed.
    "Did you guys hear that or was it just me?" Mez asked as he turned around to The Prof. and Lexi.
    "Hear what? I didn't notice anything." replied Lexi.
    "Me neither." agreed Oak.
    "But, but didn't you hear Frenzy say something?" asked a very confused Mez.
    "No, exactly how hard did cubone hit you???" said Lexi, now looking strangely at Mez.
    "But i swore he said....", Mez rattled off trying to explain.
    "Well, i didn't hear anything except "cu-bone-bonecuu", I think  you should have a talk with the Prof, this is creepy."
    "I guess so..." said Mez quietly as he jogged off after the Proffesor.

    "It seems you have some mild telepahtic abilities" said the professor after a quick examination.
    "telewhutta abilities? You mean I'm psychic?" Asked a very perplexed Mez.
    "Well, not exactly, that thump your cubone gave you may have activated something in your brain, but these are the first signs of psychic abilities, such as your ability to understand your pokemon. You may be able to understand others, but normally you can only communicate with one that you've been around for a while. In time, if nurtured, you could become a psychic to rival Sabrina." Explaind Oak.
    "Wow, tight!" exclaimed Mez.
    "But, is it contagious?" asked Lexi, suddenly stepping out from the backround?
    "Well, not really, though sometimes, if you frequently talked together telepathically, something may rub off."
    "Cool! Hey Mez, can you do that?" Asked Lexi, now very excited.
    "No I cannot! I'm not an Abra!" stated Mez.
    "Well, now, that's not far from the truth. You might be able to do that in time..." Chirped In Oak again.
    "C'mon Mez. Try it!" Went on Lexi.
    "No! C'mon! Let me be for the moment! I just want to start training now, ok???" Defended Mez, now storming out of the room.
    Lexi immediately jumped up and went after him, following him outisde.
    "C'mon, Mez, I'm sorry for pushing you like that, I just got a little over-excited! C'mon, please forgive me?"
    "Well, I guess..." Began Mez...but try to contain your excitement, as we ARE going to be travelling together" reprimanded Mez.
    "I will" said Lexi, "But for now, ready to face our parents?"
    "Well, do I have a choice?"
    "Guess not, let's go then!" Shouted Lexi as she ran off in front of him.

    "So, don't keep us all in suspense, what kind of pokemon did you get?" said Mez's mom, fussing over him like she would never see him again.
    "Ok! Give me some space!" Unless you want to be fused permanently with it!" Stated an annoyed Mez, at which everyone gave him plenty of room"
    "Alright, c'mon out abra!" Said Mez as he tossed the pokeball into the middle of the circle.
    "Oh! How......um.....cute it is. It's so, so.....relaxed...." began his mom, as Abra just sat there, unaware of anything around him save his dreams.
    "Don't worry mom, it's natural. Abra don't do much until they evolve. They tend to sleep about 16 hours a day, or so the pokedex says."
    "Well, if you're sure that's ok, don't you want a feistier one? After all, you've become so used to little frenzy over there...."
    At the world "little", the cubone went into a mini thrash attack and Mez had to hold him back to keep him from throttling his mom. Ater cubone's brief anger had subsided, Mez and Lexi bid farewell to their parents, Mez checked his backpack once more, gave his five iron a quick polish, and they set off down the road together.
Chapter 2 - The Road to Viridian
    Mez was a little bit bored as he walked out of the town with Lexi, so he took out his walkman, put one of his 9 CD's in, and happily hummed along.
    "What group is that?" asked Lexi.
    "Five Iron Frenzy. They're a ska/punk band. They're really good! Here, listen!"
    said Mez as he gave Lexi a taste of FIF, she began to giggle at some of the lyrics, as FIF isn't a potentially "serious" group.
    "My evil plan to save the world? Weird name for a song, but, they're pretty good. Does it have anyhting to do with your "defense"?" asked Lexi, giving Mez a sly look.
    "Well, that's the idea, but it's better than a gun, and lighter than a baseball bat, so, there you go." Replied Mez sheepishly.
    "Hey! Quick! Look over there! A flock of pidgeys!" Said Lexi as she ran off the path and hid behind a tree.

    "Squirtle, GO! BUBBLE ATTACK BEFORE THEY FLY AWAY!"
    Squirtle, or, "Poisedon" as Lexi had named it, sprayed a huge amount of foam at the pidgeys, and while most were able to get away, two or three were too wet to take off. Lexi chose the biggest one, and had squirtle give it a water gun to stop it from flying  away for a few minutes.
    "Squirtle! One more tackle!" Called Lexi to the blue turtle, who rammed the pidgey, and knocked it unconcious.
    "Geez, don't go too easy on the mercy Lexi" said Mez sarcastically.
    "Don't be jealous. POKEBALL, GO!" cried Lexi as she hurled the ball at the fallen bird.
    The ball hit Pidgey on the back, and it materialized into a glowing mass of energy, and it was pulled along inside, and didn't even struggle, the light easily went off.
    "Alright! I got a Pidgey!" Lexi said as she called out Pidgey and gave it a potion, as well as scanning it with the pokedex to find out what level it was on.
    "Pidgey, a small flying type pokemon, it is ideal for beginning trainers. Level 6." said the pokedex's mechanical droning voice. Lexi put the pokedex down, unknowingly facing squirtle.
    "Squirlte, a water turtle, capable of storing vast amounts of water under great pressure in it's shell. Level 8." Droned on the pokedex.
    "Cool! Squirtle grew another level!!! But you can shut up now." She said as she quickly pocketed the pokedex.
    "Well, we now both have 2 pokmon I guess, no, hang on a second...." said Mez as he spotted a purple blur disappearing behind a tree.
    "A rattata! cool!" said Mez, sneaking up on the pokemon, getting ready to have cubone give it a full-body "massage".
    "Frenzy, go!"

    Frenzy appeared about 20 feet away from the rattata, who was chewing onj some berries it had found.
    "Bonemerang!" whispered Mez, hoping to catch the little rodent off guard.
    The bone whistled as it made it's way to rattata, slamming into the back of it's head, and coming roun in a wide arch to slam into it again from behind.
    The ratta was in bad shape now, and groggily wondering what had attacked it, when a pokeball came and whacked it on the head, for the third time, bringing it's health down dangerously low, and sucked it in. The rattata struggled for about 5 seconds, before succumbing to exhaustion.
    "Alright! rattata's mine! said mez as he danced around with his pokeball.
    He called it out and applied a potion to the pokemon, much thankful for the relief, and happily jumped up and sat on Mez's shoulder, getting his tail caught in the walkman's cord as he went up.
    "Hehe, poor guy," said Mez as he untangled rattata, and placed him on his shoulder.
    "Now what should I name you?" Said Mez, sitting down and beginning to think.
    "How about Berry? Since that's where you found him." chirped in Lexi, who had  now caught up to Mez, after tending to her pidgey. Rattata gave Lexi a long, hard look, showing that it didn't think much of the name.
    "Well, now let's see, uhhhhhh....." Mez rambled on, trying to think of a name.
    "How about Riot? I have no idea why i should pick that, but it sounds cool, don't you think?"
    "Ra-taaa-taa!!!" said rattata happily, doing it's best to wag it's tail, but now doing a very good job.
    "Well, anyway, i guess we should get going now." Said Mez, after Rattata had decided to ride on Mez's shoulder for a while, while cubone voted for a nap in his pokeball, and, needless to say, abra already was.

    As Mez and Lexi walked on down the road, they saw several other rattatas and pidgey, but neither of them really wanted one. They kept on going, Riot happily waving to the other rattata's from Mez's shoulder, and Mez was able to understand most of what it said, mostly just "BYE! I'M GOING TO SEE THE WORLD" and "I'VE FOUND A REALLY NICE TRAINER! I HOPE YOU DO TOO, BYE NOW!" Mez's ear was beginning to hurt.

    They managed to get to Viridian city without much more trouble, except Lexi had fallen in a river and had pulled Mez in as well, and they were both throughly wet, while rattata had jumped off in the nick of time to a stepping stone. Rattata was on level 7, thanks to a few minor battles with pidgeys.

    They were now in the pokecenter, and had changed into dry clothes, while their clothes were in the dryer, and they let their pokemon play in the "pokemon pen" with other pokemon,  a little caged in area outside the pokecenter monitered by nurse Joy, while they went out shopping at the mall. except for rattata, whon would not leave Mez now for love or pokemon pellets.
    They passed a few vendors trying to hawk a few cheesy half-rate pokemon products at their stands, and looked at a few shops, then, suddenly, Mez ran off into a shop, drooling over a CD.
    "Hey Mez, we're SUPPOSED to be getting a some potion and antidotes! Hello?" Lexi slapped Mez on the back of the head really hard, and he snapped
    out of it.
    "Sorry, but it's FIF! I don't have this CD yet!" said Mez as he ran off and bought it before Lexi could do anything.
    "Well, I hope you have enough for your potions, you'll need them when we reach the forest."
    "Don't worry, I have plenty. And if  I do run out, I can just battle a few trainers." Said Mez confidently.
    "Well, you better, I don't want to mooching off me the whole trip." Said Lexi, scowling at Mez.
    "Who's FIF?" asked Riot.
    "They're a band, here, listen!" Mez gave Riot the headphones and let him listen to "Go and get your riot gear".
    "Hey! they said my name in the song alot!" said a very suprised rat.
    "Well, good for you!" said Mez, as he patted the glowing rodent.

    They finally reached the pharmacy, and bought a few potions, as well as the antidotes, and went back to the pokecenter for the night.  Abra had stayed awake long enough to play with a Nidoran, and frenzy was playing "chicken"
    with Lexi's Poisedon, in which both pokemon raced headfirst at each other and smashed their heads together. There was always a five minute lull in between rounds, because that's about how long it took for both pokemon to become conscious again.
    "You cheated!" said squirtle later as the ate dinner.
    "Did not! how did I cheat?" asked a defensive Cubone.
    "You have a helmet! that's unfair!"
    "Well, i stayed knocked out the same amount of time you did, didn't I?"
    "You just acted like it!"
    A mini-battle ensued at the dinner table until Lexi recalled her unconscious squirtle.
    "Frenzy! Cut it out!" said Mez as his cubone did a victory dance on the tables and was immediately recalled.
    Afterwards they all went to their assigned room, and took a well earned rest.
Chapter 3 - Into the Forest
    The next morning, they were all awakened by a Dodrio right outside their window.
    "I swear, after I eat breakfast, me and frenzy and gonna put that damn bird out of commission." said Mez as he rubbed his head where he had fallen out of the bunk.
    "Don't hog it all to yourself, I want some too! My squirtle is gonna absolutely wipe out that stupid bird."
    At breakfast, they each had a bowl of Jiggly charms (they're magically delicious!) and a few doughnuts, and set out for the forest. It was about Half and hour's walk, so they set out early, hoping to come to Pewter before sundown, as the forest was pretty Big.

    As they entered the forest, Riot on Mez's shoulder, while everyone else got some sleep in their pokeballs, they saw a few bug pokemon, namely weedles, but decided to leve them for later, as they didn't want to be chased by some beedrills.
    "Wow, this place seems alot bigger than on the map!" said Lexi in wonder, after they had walked on for an hour down a twisting path.
    "Speaking of maps, where eactly ARE we? It isn't had to get lost in here." Said Mez.
    "Well, according to the map, I have no idea." said Lexi. "Your guess is as good as mine."
    "Rats. I just hope we can at least find the forest gym." said Mez.
    "The what?" asked Lexi.
    "Some guy, I think his name was Icy, started a forest gym here somewhere after he beat the snot out of the elite four." replied Mez.
    "Oh, cool! I'd like to meet him, he sounds cool. know anything else about him?" asked Lexi again.
    "Well, I heard he was psychic, but I'm not sure. I guess we'll just see."

    Later that day, they had still not found the gym, and had only seen weedles, too far away to capture, and too close to beedrill nests.  Suddenly...
    "Hey! what's going on over there?" said lexi, as far ahead, they could see two men hitting something.
    "I don't know, but if they're attacking a pokemon, they won't wake up for a while..." said Mez as he drew his Five Iron from it's sheath, and calling out Frenzy and putting Riot back in his pokeball.
    "You'd better saty here, they could be TR members. I'll try and stop them , and If  I'm in any trouble, frenzy knows what to do." he said patting his cubone.
    He took out his walkman, and put in his "seltzer" cd, seting it on #16 "locked in a cage", to work up a rage.
    Mez snook up behind the men through the trees, and ducked behind them when he was about 10 feet from them. He saw that the oneof the men was  TR member, and was actually a teen-ager more than a man. The other was probably here for "initiation" into Team Rocket. He then calmly walked out, and saw that they were beating a charmander with a club. Now, if Mez was angry before, he was totally pissed off and enraged now.
    "If you want to see tomorrow, leave that charmander alone." said Mez through clenched teeth.
    "Ha. And what are yougoing to do about it?" scoffed the Rocket.
    "This" Said Mez as he flashed his Five Iron.
    "I'll one-up you." said the Rocket as he pulled out a .45
    "Frenzy, NOW!" A bone whistled through the air from one of the surrouning trees and sent the gun flying, hitting the Rocket on the return flight.
    "urrgggghh....you'll pay dearly for that....." said the Rocket as he charged at Mez, the other with the club stood behind him, ready to intervene if needed. The charmander looked weakly up at Mez through a bruised eye, thankfully. Suddenly, something picked up the poor pokemon and ran off....

    *thwok* went the Five Iron, and the Rocket sprawled back with a broken leg, the other rushed Mez, and managed to land a fist on Mez's jawbone, sending him flying back into a tree. Then he raised  his club, and Mez, expecting the death blow, raised his golf club to protect him. The expected blow never came. When Mez looked up, he saw the man, club raised, but gently glowing blue and floating about a foot above the ground. Mez could tell there was some psychic powers at work, and saw another teen-ager standing behind the two, but his eyes glowing bright blue and arms straight out. Mez stood up, in awe, and could hear a voice in his head....
    "Alright you, you'll never trouble anyone ever again.  Take THIS!" The club guy flew back into a tree, and was knocked unconscious. Then, both the Rocket and the guy with the club disappeared in a flash of white light.
    Mez slowly went to the tree where his cubone was and caught him as it jumped down into his arms, then turned and faced the other teen-ager, his eyes no longer blue and glowing.
    "Uhhh....who or what are you?" asked Mez, still holding his cubone.
    "Oh, sorry, I'm Icy. As you can see, yes, I am psychic. sorry if i scared you, but I felt that something needed help out here, either the charmander or you, and it appears i got here in the nick of time. What's your name?" said Icy.
    "Well, I'm Mez, and my friend, who should be somewhere around here, is Lexi. Oh, crap...." Mez said, going quiet....
    "WHERE'S CHARMANDER????" they said simultaneously.

    "Don't worry. Here he is." said Lexi as she walked out from behind one of the shadows of the trees.
    "Man, thanks for the heart attack, Lexi. How is he?" Mez asked.
    "He's Ok, thanks to about 3 potions. But he still needs time before he'll be fully healed." replied Lexi, setting charmander on the ground.
    "Well, he's Ok for now, but where's it's trainer? Maybe one of those guys was...charmander packs aren't found in viridain forest. You have to go to Cinnibar to get one." said Icy as he walked up to the other two.
    "Well, wherever it came from, I'm sure not leaving it out here. Icy, don't you have a gym here? Couldn't we take it there for the night?" asked Mez, now distraught.
    "Of course. We'll decide what to do with it tomorrow. Would you like to have dinnner with me and my girlfriend Sarah?" asked Icy. At the word "girfriend" both Mez and Lexi blushed.
    "Sure, I'd love to. what about you, Lexi?"
    "Of course! Why not? we're definitely not going to make it to Pewter by tonight. Might as well get some sleep." said Lexi cheerfully.

    At the gym, everyone sat down to dinner, Icy, Sarah, Mez, and Lexi.
    "So, why did you attack those guys? I mean, that was pretty dangerous, but also stupid." asked Icy.
    "Well, i just sorta went into a rage, and ignored all sense. I was lucky you came along right then." said Mez sheepishly.
    "Well, anyway, that's over now, any news we haven't heard about? I don't get out of the gym too often." asked Sarah.
    "Well, as you can see, Team Rocket has been busy. They're becoming more and more bold, striking places that no-one seems to think they'd be interested in." said Lexi.
    Mez suddenly heard something that sounded like "What are those caterpies up to now? I though they were all in their forest balls."
    "What are forest balls?" asked Mez.
    Icy suddenly looked dumbstruck, as well as Sarah. Mez just sat there with Lexi, looking strangely at Icy.
    "Why do you want to know?" asked Icy, trying to act normal.
    "Well, i could have sworn i heard someone say something about caterpies and forest balls."
    "Mez, come with me into the other room, please." said Icy, suddenly getting up.
    "Um...Ok.." Replied Mez, getting up and following Icy into the study. "I wonder why?" thought Mez.

    "Mez, I think you are a psychic. I don't know how strong you are, but I picked it up when i cme near you. I sensed something in my mind. And now I'm sure of it, you just read my thoughts at dinner." said Icy.
    "Well, I knew I was psychic, but i didn't think it would go beynd understanding pokemon..." Said Mez
    "Well, even if you do already know, I'm telling you again. You posess a very unique gift. I think if psychics are near each other, their powers seem to grow faster."
    "You mean, when I leave, I'll be alot stronger than when I came in?" asked Mez.
    "That's about it, but i don't know how much stronger. You might be alot, you might be hardly stronger. Here." Icy said as he handed Mez a small metal wire.
    "Ok, I don't need psychic powers to know what you want me to do." said Mez, as he stared at the wire for about 5 seconds, with nothing happening, then, faintly, barely noticable at first,  it began to curl. Ever so slowly, it rolled into a small ball, and floated into the air.
    "Well, you've mastered the basics, and if you practise, your powers should row stronger." said Icy. "But for now, lets go join our friends, shall we?"

    The next morning, Mez woke up early, to find Icy up and about, fixing a cup of coffee.
    "Want a cup?" asked Icy
    "Sure, though I normally don't drink that much coffee, but I enjoy a cup. What about charmander? How's he been?"
    "He's been sleeping quielty, I haven't talked to it yet." replied Icy.
    "Well, i guess now's as good a time as any, don't you?"

    Icy and Mez kneeled next to charmander, and gently poked it 'till it woke up.
    "Hey, why'd you wake me up?" asked the charmander sleepily.
    "Mez would like to ask you something." said Icy.
    " Do you belong to someone?" asked Mez.
    "I used to, that guy with the stick..." said charmander sadly, tears forming in his eyes.
    "Well, don't worry, he's in a a police station now, and can't hurt you or any other pokemon." said Icy "I teleported them there."
    "And one more thing," asked Mez. "Would you like to come wih me?"
    Charmanderlooked down, and thought for a while.
    "How do you treat your pokemon?"
    "Ask them yourself" said mez as he dropped his three pokeballs onto the floor, and Frenzy, Psyche, and Riot appeard.
    "I'll leave you 4 to talk for a while, ok? Me and Icy are going for a walk. I hope you decide to come with us."

    Mez and Icy took a walk through the forest, and Mez finally saw a pokemon worth capturing.
    "Hey, look! a caterpie!" said Mez, as he suddenly ducked behind a tree. Icy just stood there.
    "Hey! get under cover! I don't want you to scare it away!" Said Mez, trying to get Icy to take cover.
    "Scare it away? You HAVE to be kidding. I know almost all the pokemon in the forest!" Suddenly, Icy just walked up to the caterpie, and it climbed onto his arm.
    "See? They all trust me. Hang on a second...." said Icy as he began to whisper to the small bug.
    "Hey, Mez, do you want caterpie to come along with you?" asked Icy, suddenly breaking away from his conversation with the caterpie.
    "Of course!" said Mez, amazed that a psychic could be so dumb sometimes.
    "Well, he says it'll come with you, on one condition."
    "What is it?" asked Mez.
    "He wants to meet your pokemon and see how you treat them. Is that Ok with you?"
    "Sure! C'mon caterpie!"

To Be Continued…

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