The Torchic Named Torchyana (The Friend I Fell In Love With) edited version #1

Once the two had stepped outside, the Team Aqua grunt that she had battle before ran by her, almost pushing her over. She growled slightly and prepared to have Torchyana set him on fire, but then she noticed the same man from the forest, trying to chase after him.

"Oh, this is bad." The man muttered, watching the criminal run into the woods.

Utterly curious as to what was happening, the young trainer ran to his side and he turned to her with a desperate expression twisting his face. "It's you! Could you help me?! Those are important goods!"

She nodded and ran into the woods after him, following the path and crashing through fields of waist high grass until she came across a house near a cave. She looked about for a moment and then saw a man standing near the cave. Without any hesitation she ran to him.

"That grunt kidnapped Peeko!" he burst out.

'Oookaaayyyyy. That might almost be as weird as my Combusken's nickname.'

Steph ran a short distance into the gloomy cave and came upon the grunt standing there, cornered. The tunnel hadn't been completed, obviously. He was holding a defenseless Wingull and seemed extremely frustrated.

The teenager approached him with Torchyana at her side, ready to battle him so that they could return the pokemon and the stuff that he had stolen.

"Just GREAT! The boss said this was going to be an easy job!" He looked with disgust down at Peeko. "And this pokemon turned out to be worthless!"

He called out his Poochyena and Torchyana jumped in front of it.

"Poochyena, bite!"

"Torchyana, fire spin!"

Poochyena was trapped in a tube of spinning fire and was getting scorched and burned, and gradually it became worse.

"Finish it with ember!"

"Poochyena, get out of there!"

Poochyena attempted to free itself from the fire, but that resulted in it being burned worse. Torchyana's ember shot through the giant tube of fire and came into contact with the poochyena: knocking it out.

The grunt called his pokemon back. Torchyana took a threatening step toward the grunt and the grunt cowered. He released Peeko and dropped the goods and then ran past her. The Combusken picked up the ‘goods’ and handed them to his mistress.

The old man that she had seen standing outside of the came walked up to ‘Peeko’ and the small Wingull cried out happily. They had a cute reunion while Torchyana and his trainer had a weird expression on their faces as they watched.

"Com?" Torchyana asked.

"I dunno." she whispered.

"You saved my Peeko, lass!" she smiled at him and he continued. "My name is Mr. Briney. Come by my house, later." he walked away happily with his pokemon.

"Busken."

"Yeah, maybe we shouldn't. I mean, who knows what he wants after I get there." she agreed, but how, no one really can explain.

Steph made her way back into the city and found the man standing in exactly the same area he was when she had left him. She smiled at him once he noticed her and quickly offered the 'goods' to the overjoyed man.

"This is the second time you have helped me!" he grabbed her arm. "Come with me!"

"H-hey!"

"Com!"

He drug her to the building that Steven had identified as the Devon Corp, so she stopped struggling, figuring that there had to be a reason for him to be dragging her there. They walked up a few staircases, through a few hallways, and finally came to what Steph imagined to be the top. He motioned for the young girl and her pokemon to stay near the door and then he walked away from her and across the room to an older man sitting behind a desk. He spoke with him a little and then came back.

"Go talk to Mr. Stone." he motioned for her to go over to the older man.

'Wait, Stone? Like Steven Stone?' She wondered absently as she approached the desk and stood there, waiting for the man, who seemed to be in his forties, to speak.

"May I know your name?" the man asked, jotting a few things down on what she perceived to be paperwork.

"Steph Fire."

He pushed a few papers to the edge of his desk and looked up at the brown haired girl, "I hear you have saved one of my workers twice just this day." she nodded. "Thank you." he smiled at her. "I was wondering if you could deliver something for me?"

It caught her off guard for a moment, "Sure."

"I need you to deliver this letter to Steven Stone in Dewford. Do you need me to describe him?" he pulled out an envelope and held it out to her.

"No," she took it and blushed slightly, "I've met him."

"Good. Next I need you to deliver this package to Captain Stern."

Steph nodded and placed both items in her pack.

"Of course I wouldn't expect you to do this without a payment." he chuckled, as if he had forgotten before. "Here is a pokeNav." He placed it in her hands. "Now go on and thank you!"

- -
Steven and his Aron continued searching through the Granite cave for rare stones. He had been desiring to have another fire stone to add to his collection, but it wasn’t looking far too promising at that moment, but they were considered rare for a reason so he simply resumed his hunt.

Thoughts of the young trainer that had collided with him came swirling into his mind and he found himself wondering how she had fared with her battle against Roxanne. Maybe there's something to that one.

"Ar! Aron!" Aron called to his master and ran down another corridor.

'Perhaps she did well.'

He ran after his pokemon, hope stirring within him.
- -

Steph made her way to the Pokemon Center and left her pokemon with Nurse Joy for the night. It had gotten quite late and it had been a busy day, so it did not take long for the young girl to fall asleep in the room that she had requested.

"Do you know how I can get to Dewford?"

Nurse Joy thought for a moment, "You could use a pokemon or you could get a boat and sail there."

Steph arched an eyebrow at the nurse, "How would I get a boat? Are there any sailors around?"

"Well, Mr. Briney used to be a sailor in his younger years. You could ask him."

"Oh." she blinked. "Okay."

She left quickly, almost running out of the city, only stopping to catch her breath when she absolutely had to. It was unnerving to her that the days always seemed to be spent so quickly, so she was determined to attempt getting to places faster so that she could save some time for other things. In that fashion she made her way through the accursed wood in around half the time it had taken to go through it the first time.

Steph jogged up to Mr. Briney's house, having gotten directions from Nurse Joy before leaving, and collapsed at the door, panting heavily. She rested for a few moments before standing back up and knocking on the door.

Mr. Briney's gruff voice emanated from within for whoever it was to enter, so she did so. The first thing she saw was Peeko the Wingul being chased around a table by the old sailor.

"Um? Excuse me?"

"Wait, lass!" he looked up from his pursuit. "Oh, you're the one who saved my precious Peeko! What do you need?”

"I, uh, need to go to Dewford and Slateport to deliver a couple of things."

"Oh, what a busy life you must lead." he commented. "Dewford, first, right?"

"Yeah."

She followed him outside and climbed into the small boat that was tied to the dock beside his house. He started it up and he mentioned that it would be a nice time to let pokemon out to enjoy the fresh air. The rookie trainer nodded in agreement and unleashed her two partners. Torchyana seemed a bit nervous about being near that much water, but Tailow was having a great time flying around and playing with Peeko.

Hours passed and all Steph did was stare out into the water, into their great depths as she drifted through countless thoughts of innumerable things. Every once in a while she would toss something in the air for Tailow to fetch or to attack. That was how the day passed and it was late at night when they finally arrived at Dewford.

"We've landed at Dewford! Now you have to deliver the letter to, who was it, Steven?" Mr. Briney’s voice broke the silence.

"Huh?!" Steph jerked awake and looked about, "Oh. Yeah, and thanks, Mr. Briney."

"Oh, it's no problem. I'll be waiting here until you get done."

She nodded, called her pokemon back, then leapt out of the boat and onto the dock, and then she located a Pokemon Center to stay the night in.