“But Professor, I’m just a goof-off…”, “No, you trust your instinct and that take talent, drive and determination to never waive from that. This is perfect for you.” The words of Professor Willow rang through the young blonde’s head as he strolled down the pathway nearing the exit of the Virdian Forest. It had been three years since he was given the task to capture the Legendary bird Zapdos and gain his position as a leader to up-coming trainers. Neither one of the other leader’s in training (if you will) had succeeded in capturing their own legendary birds but… well Spark himself didn’t know where to start.

Then again, when you go on out for your first time as a Pokemon Trainer, you were never really handed an instruction guide on how to do so. Just a pokedex and your first pokemon; even though he had been a trainer for a while, it was weird to get thrown back into the same seat once again.

A long sigh left the blonde as he worked his way through the forest. “Pika-Pee.” Beside him was his starter pokemon and longtime friend, Pikachu.

“Oh yeah, I got some food.” Spark’s voice echoed through the forest as he stopped walking and crotched down. Pulling his backpack from his back he set it on the ground and opened it with a gentle motion. Inside sat a warm egg which he gentle patted. After giving the un-hatched egg a bit of attention he reached into a side pocket and pulled out a pokemon’s snack bar. “Here you go buddy.” He said with a grin as he pulled apart the packaging and handed it to the Pikachu.

“Pikachu!” The pokemon said excitedly as his little hands grabbed the treat and his head nuzzled against Spark’s hand as a thank you. Soon the two were back on the road again, the young man’s hands laced together behind his head and the pokemon munching away on a snack.

“Beautiful day.” He said as he looked up at the sky with his bright blue eyes. Inside of him, he could feel what could be best described as a pull. Somewhere in Pewter City, someone had information on where he could find the hiding place of his legendary bird… or maybe it was something else pulling him there. Who knows but he was following his instinct and hiking to Pewter City.

"Pewter City has to be close by," Naia murmured for what was probably the fifth time in an hour, her brows having creased with more and more worry with each repetition, "Don't fret, okay Ithel? We'll get you to a Pokemon Center soon."

The Gastly in question was presently cradled in the young woman's arms, clearly worn out but otherwise no worse for wear. Naia was relieved that she had had the foresight to buy a variety of potions during her last stop, but there was still only so much that she could do herself. She didn't know why the swarm of beedrill they had encountered had been so aggressive, but had Ithel not leapt to her defense, she was sure that she would be lying on the forest floor by now.

Still, she couldn't claim to be pleased considering the present circumstances either; it felt like she had been circling the same trees for hours on end. At some point, Charity had pulled herself out of her own Pokeball in order to check on and tend to her ghostly friend, but the fact of the matter was that Naia wasn't going to rest easy until Ithel was under the careful watch of a trained nurse. The only problem was finding her way out of here, or--

"Ah." Her eyes grew round as a flash of blond hair caught her eye. Turning, her gaze immediately fell on the young man and his Pikachu, and before she could even think about it, her lips parted.

"Hello there!" There was a pause as she struggled to find what to say, and then she smiled weakly and tilted her head. "Do you happen to know which way I should go to get to Pewter City?" Please say yes.

Spark and Pikachu continued on their walk, the blonde young man with a happy grin on his face rested his hands against his palms as he walked. What a wonderful day. Sure he was a little lost in the forest but it wasn’t his first trip through nor would it be his last. He had done this trip when he was younger and becoming a trainer and there had been more than one occasion where he had to travel through this forest. Sure sometimes he got more than a little lost but that never stopped him from having a good time.

His merry tune was cut short by a shout and, matching his Pikachu’s actions, his ears perked and his head slowly turned; which then pulled his whole body to look behind them. “Chu…?” As the young woman approached them, Pikachu made a bee-line for the girl, with Spark hot on his tail. Once the two were at the girl, Pikachu climbed up on his shoulder and gazed down at the exhausted looking Gastly in her arms. “Pica Pi.” He called down to the Gastly.

“Yes, we’re heading there now. Is everything alright? Are you hurt?” Spark’s gave her a worried look as he gazed from the pokemon in her arms to her. Pull his bag from his shoulders he reached inside of it with a practice hand and fished out a small bottle of potion and gave the Gastly a few sprays. “You look warn out there buddy.” He spoke softly to the ghost pokemon in her arms. “Don’t worry we’ll get you to the Pokemon Center.” He put the bottle back into his bag and slung the backpack back onto his back.

“Come on, we’re near the exit and we’re heading there anyway. We’ll escort you.” Spark said in a bright and cheerful tone as he pointed in a direction and his Pikachu nodded in agreement. As the two began to walk he gave her a smile. “I’m Spark by the way.”

To say that Naia was relieved by the others' willingness to help was an understatement; she could feel the tension in her shoulders relax slightly as the man and his Pikachu came forward. The latter was met by a quiet reply by the Gastly--an indication that he was alright, just tired--while the pair of them received a small, grateful smile from the trainer. "Yes. So sorry to impose on you like this. I'm sure that you had other plans of your own before we showed up, but..."

She trailed off uncertainly, casting another glance down at the ghost Pokemon in her arms. The second potion seemed to help immensely, though to be safe, she still wanted to get him to a Pokemon Center as soon as possible.

Quickly falling into step beside him, Naia returned Spark's smile with one of her own. "Nice to meet you, Spark. My name is Naia, and this fellow--"--she glanced down pointedly at the Gastly--"--is Ithel." There was a pause, and then she dropped her head sheepishly. Perhaps it was best if she explained what led to these circumstances since these strangers were so kind to help.

"We...we got caught in a swarm of unusually aggressive beedrill," she told him, brows creasing at the memory of being surrounded by loud buzzing, "I suppose they must have been protecting their home and misinterpreted our intentions, but they suddenly attacked."

Poor girl had been through a lot, and while the blonde walked with his fingers laced behind his head, he kept an eye on her. She seemed to be a bit more stressed then she was letting on and his instinct told him to keep an eye no her. It didn’t take long before she admitted what had happened. And her expression showed discomfort as she seemed to be reliving her experience.

“Well that sucks you had to go through that.” He began with a nod, his blue gaze turning forward finally, “But you have someone who wants to protect you, that much is obvious.” His mention of the protective pokemon in his arms made his Pikachu perk up. “Yeah yeah.” He said giving the pokemon a gentle push with his foot. “And it’s obvious that you want to protect your pokemon as well or you wouldn’t be in a panic to get to a pokecenter. That is a good quality.”

“Pika!” The Pikachu said with a nod of his little head as they arrive to the exit of the forest. “It’s just up this road.” Spark said with confidence. “Did you know that the group you probably ran into was most likely collecting food for the Beedrills that are about to be born? When the beedrills hatch they are typically starving and in the wild, the already hatched beedrills will collect food and bring it back to the soon to hatch ones; they cannot really fend for themselves since they will be so weak at the hatching stage. That’s most likely why you were attacked because the Kakunas are about to hatch and they cannot defend themselves because of their state.”

“Oops…” He said innocently as he ran a large hand through his blonde hair in embarrassment. “Sorry… that doesn’t justify their actions towards you though…” There he goes again… talking without thinking. Poor guy’s a bit of a space-case.