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I grinned up at the three other Pokemon, staring at two head on and watching the third from the corner of my eye. A Mareep and an Aron stood across from me, and a Wartortle stretched in place beside me. I had met the Wartortle a few times before and knew he could pack a punch; I would have to be careful around him. The Aron glared back at me; his head was covered in that plating, but I was sure he was smirking at me.

Let him. I would wipe that smirk off his... out from under his... he wouldn't be smirking for long, that was for sure.

We glared at each other and I noticed the Mareep take a nervous step to the side, away from us. I wasn't going to let that distract me from staring down the Aron, but I did let it add to my grin.

Finally I heard my trainer call out from behind me. "Phoenix, use Sand Tomb!" I felt a surge of excitement at Sara's words. Sand Tomb would be perfect for that Aron; if I was lucky it would get a bunch of sand under the plating too. I bet that would be a pain to get out from under there.

I was already starting to rise upwards to start the attack when Sara's next words reached me. "Take out that Mareep!"

I blinked, hesitating. Take out the Mareep? But... the Mareep would be no challenge at all; why would I waste any time on it? The Aron was the real threat, the real problem to deal with. No - Sara must have been talking to that other trainer, giving him advice for what to do with his Wartortle. That made much more sense; obviously any other trainers would want advice from a great trainer like her.

I refocused on the Aron and slammed down on the ground. Dirt and sand flew up around the Aron, shrouding it and obscuring us from its sight. A stream of water flew in from beside me, slamming into the Aron and knocking it back, knocking it out of the fountain of sand.

I sighed at seeing much of my attack go to waste, but it just convinced me of how dangerous the Aron must be. If the other trainer had ignored the advice of Sara to join her in going after it, then it must be really serious. Maybe that's why Sara had told him to go after the Mareep; only a strong Pokemon like myself could handle such an opponent. The Wartortle would probably be badly hurt in a fight with it.

I heard the air crackle as the Mareep hurled electricity at us, but it landed harmlessly off to my side. I stayed focused on the Aron and saw him rushing at me. A headbutt attack. It hit me dead on in my side... but it didn't hurt much. Not to me, anyways.

I wasn't sure what the other trainers were up to. I vaguely heard Sara say something, but I was already in the middle of my own headbutt attack, hitting the Aron right in his side.

I wasn't sure how long the two of us traded headbutts back and forth, but it went on for quite a while. I was vaguely aware of the Mareep spreading cotton-like spores of wool around, and they clung to me and slowed me down a lot, but it didn't do anything else. Neither did the Wartortle; I wasn't sure what had happened to him. And towards the end I was getting worried - the Aron's attacks weren't that strong, but they were adding up, and a lot of the punch was being taken out of my own attacks by his metal armor.

But eventually I felt a surge of triumph as he wobbled. I grinned and pushed aside my own weariness, and ran forward again...

The Aron lost its footing and flew backwards under the force of my attack. It landed heavily on the ground, dirt flying into the air from the impact. It almost looked like it would get back onto its feet and come back at me... but it slumped back down, defeated.

"Yeah! That's what you get when you mess with the Phoenix!" I shouted victoriously and caught sight of the Aron's trainer. He was wide-eyed in clear disbelief. Ha! It would take more than that steely defense to stop me.

Then triumph turned to surprise as the Mareep I had dismissed suddenly slammed into me with a takedown attack.

On its own the attack would have been barely noticeable - physical attacks were obviously not what the Mareep was good at - but I was barely standing up after the Aron's repeated headbutts.

I felt the ground vanish beneath my feet as the attack sent me flying, and the landing took the breath out of me. I caught sight of Sara, disappointment clear on her face... and then the world went fuzzy, and I felt my eyes close as the weariness of my body overwhelmed my will and dragged me into a forced rest.

---

When I woke up I found myself back at Sara's home. I cringed, realizing how much time must have passed. Sara usually brought us to the gym after she got back from school, and we would spend several hours there before going home; if we were back home...

I smelled the scent of dinner nearby and looked around. I was in the kitchen, on the small rug set there for me. And near the entrance to the kitchen were three food dishes, each with a label - Opal, Sonata, and Phoenix. Sonata's bowl was empty, but mine and Opal's were full. I realized how hungry I was - the fight had taken more out of me than I wanted to admit (so I didn't) - and I waddled over to the bowl and began eating the small cubes of food piled in it. The cubes were satisfyingly crunchy and tasted amazing, making dinner and breakfast exciting parts of the day.

I finished emptying the bowl and glanced over at Opal's bowl. The dark type didn't scare me, but it was easy to see how somebody wouldbe scared of him, with those creepy rings of light and demonic looking eyes, and I didn't like him that much. He had a tendency to just show up out of nowhere and startle me - I mean, other Pokemon - so I preferred to keep him away from me.

I walked over to his bowl and flipped it over, causing his lighter-colored cubes to spill out on the floor.

With that taken care of I walked back to my rug and sprawled out on it. The rug was shaped like a half-circle, which made it perfect to stretch out on - I could rest my body on the soft fabric, and rest my head on the cool tile of the kitchen, which was really nice to relax on. It was my part of Sara's house - Opal had the entire second floor, because Sonata and I couldn't climb the stairs, and Sonata had the sunroom at the back of the house where she took care of various plants, but the kitchen was mine. There were plenty of cabinets to hide inside of, and the chairs and table made for good places to lurk under too. Sara's mom hadn't been happy about it at first and had tried to move me to other rooms, but none of them were as comfortable as this room. Eventually she had relented and stopped moving my things out of the kitchen.

Those things included the rug I was resting on, the bowl I had just eaten out of, a soft blanket that was presently wedged under the lip of a nearby cabinet, a thick branch Sara had gotten from a pet store for me to chew on... and my most valuable treasure of all: a small shard of eggshell.

I fished it out from where it was hidden in the soft blanket and propped it up where I could see it. It had come from my egg - I wasn't sure what had ended up happening with the rest of the egg after I had burst through it, but I had made sure to keep this piece. It was the only thing I had to connect me with my father - he had never seen me, but that little piece of eggshell was something we had both seen at some point. I don't know where I got the idea from, but... with it around, it felt like I had a connection to him, and at some point I had started talking to it in order to talk to him.

"Hi, dad. I had a great fight today! There was a Wartortle, and a Mareep, and an Aron. He was tough, but I took him down. I'm getting stronger every day, just like I told you I would. I think I'll be able to beat that Steelix at the gym soon, too." I paused, thinking of what else I had to say.

"Sara told us that school is going to let out soon for a week - she called it spring break - and she wants to go with John and challenge another gym during it. I'm excited - my first gym challenge! I'm going to do my best, but I know Sara will win anyways. She's gotten six badges even without my help; with it... we'll beat all the gyms, I know it." I paused and smiled. "You'll be proud of me." I sat for another minute, trying to think of anything else I wanted to say.

"Phoenix? Are you busy?" Sonata's voice came from the hallway beyond the kitchen, and I quickly whispered to the eggshell. "Gotta go - goodnight, dad!" I hid it back inside the blanket and skittered over to the doorway. "Nope! Need something?"

The Cherubi was hopping down the hallway and stopped just before another jump. "Yay! Can you help me? I think my Rawst berry tree needs to be moved to another pot; can you help me fill a new one with dirt?"

I grinned and nodded my head. I was good at moving dirt around - better than Sonata and Opal put together, even with how good the Umbreon managed to be at digging with his forepaws. Getting the berry bush moved over would take no time at all with my help, and I eagerly skittered down the hallway towards Sonata's sunroom.

---

Opal stepped out from the shadows of the table as the Trapinch skittered off down the hallway. He whispered a quiet 'Thanks, Sonata', then crossed the kitchen to his bowl of food before sighing at the mess Phoenix had made.

Well. At least with Sonata distracting the rowdy Pokemon, there wouldn't be anybody trying to chase him away in the middle of his meal. Even if it was scattered all over the floor.