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Mezame breathed in the fresh air and enjoyed the gentle breeze that blew her hair back as she looked out over the fences and towards the grassy path. The sun was starting to shine brightly through the clouds and sense of adventure in Mezame was growing stronger with every step into the unknown. In the distance she could see a couple of Pokémon trainers locked in battle, she was far enough away to be able to both watch and feel safe. She watched a Zubat fall out of the sky, taken out by fire attack she couldn't name and the cheer of the victor could be heard even from where she was.

The path came to a wooded area and although Mezame did consider it could be dangerous, the shade of the trees was too inviting for sheltering from the ever brightening sunshine. She walked a way into the trees looking for a good place to sit and spotted a fallen log. Mezame jumped up onto the log and bounced up and down on it, testing it's sturdiness. Since it barely moved Mezame sat down and lay back to look up into the trees. With a contented sigh she closed her eyes and relaxed.

After a while Mezame thought she could hear something like a lawn mower, but who would be mowing out here? She opened her eyes to see a Beedrill hoovering over her, and it did not look happy. "AIEE!" She screamed in terror rolling off the log, staggering to her feet and breaking into a run. The Pokémon gave chase, she could hear it behind her and she continued to run as fast as she could with tears in her eyes and panic in her chest. She dived over a bolder and found herself tumbling down a hill and splashing into a pond.

The Beedrill had lost interest somewhere between the hill and the pond but Meazme wasn't about to stop and check. She climbed out the pond and continued to run blindly towards another, thicker wooded area that was at the top of another hill. Once reaching the top she tripped from exhaustion and again went tumbling down the other side.

She finally rolled to a stop, crashing into a tree. She groaned loudly and put her hand to her head noting her wet hair and groaned louder. As the tree finished rustling a large egg plopped into her lap. "Huh? What's this thing?"

While Mezame examined the egg she was unaware of the Starly, a small bird Pokémon, that was perched in the tree opposite her. Starly had followed her all the way from the sweet shop in Saffron city. This Starly lived in the woods but it often liked to fly into the city to sample human foods. Starly's friends always warned it not to go into the city, it was dangerous. But the Starly liked the adventures straying from home brought it.

Starly had seen that egg in that tree many times. It knew it didn't belong to the Fearow that lived in that tree but the Fearow seemed more than content to claim it as its own. Starly flapped it's wings and lowered itself to perch on a rock near Mezame.

The flapping noise caught Mezame's attention instantly and she clutched the egg to her chest and squealed in fear, putting her head down and squeezing her eyes shut. When nothing happened she opened her eyes and looked over to where the Starly had landed. Starly cocked it's head curiously at Mezame. She held her breath, almost waiting for it to attack, but it didn't.

"Starly?" The Pokémon asked inquisitively, cocking it's head further at Mezame. Mezame looked from the Pokémon to the egg and back again. "Waaah!?" She yelled holding the egg out to the little Starly. "I-is this your egg? I didn't steal it! Honest!"

"Starly starly." The pokémon replied shaking it's head.

"It's not huh? I didn't think so, it looks too big to belong to a bird Pokémon like you..." Mezame looked up at the tree. "I don't think I'll be able to put it back up there. Ooh what am I gonna do now!?"

"Star starly star" Starly replied in a way that sounded suspiciously like 'I dunno.' Mezame sighed and hung her head. Starly hopped off its rock tottled towards her.

"EEK!" She squealed trying to shuffle away but could only back further against the tree. Starly stopped and stared at Mezame. She stared back hugging the egg closer to her as if she expected it to protect her. Starly hopped backwards and Mezame relaxed. "AIEE!" Mezame screamed again as Starly hopped towards her again. This went back and forth for a few turns. Starly seemed to be having a blast but Mezame was not finding it much fun at all.

"Starly starly starly!" The Pokémon hopped around excitedly.

"Argh! You think this is funny do you!? I'm not playing! Cut it out!" Mezame yelled out from her place hiding her face behind the egg. She stuck her hand into her pocket. "If I give you food will you leave me alone?!" She unwrapped one the the sweets she'd taken out the packet and threw it to the Starly. Starly gobbled it up and it's eyes seemed to glisten with joy.

"Starly!" Starly chirped happily and hopped around flapping it's wings. Mezame breathed a sigh of relief, it was short lived though as the Starly flapped up into the air and flew around the tree singing happily. It landed at Mezame's feet and she squealed again.

"Okay! okay! Just take them all!" Mezame yelled stuffing her hand in her pocket and throwing a hand full of sweets at the Pokémon. Starly pecked at the sweets but couldn't get to them in their individual wrapping. But Mezame was busy looking for another handful. She pulled her hand out of her pocket wondering why the last one felt bigger than all the others.

Her thumb accidentally pressed a button and a Pokéball expanded in her hand. Mezame jumped and squealed in surprise causing the Pokéball to fly out of her hand, up into the air and fall square onto the Starly's head.

"Star-" The knock to the head had given Starly a dizzy expression on it's face and caused it's body to freeze up before it started to glow red and disappear into the Pokéball. The ball's button flashed, once, twice, three times... Click

Mezame, wide eyed, blinked a few times in shock. "Oh no... WHAT HAVE I DOOOONE?!"

Starly shook off the other two Starly who were clutching it from above and followed after them without complaint, the last Starly wanted was for any more of it's flock to get hurt. They flew safely into route eight, passed the spot where Mezame had caught Starly and into the woods where the Starly lived.

Usually the bird pokémon would have flown up into one of the bigger tree's but this time Starly was lead to the base of a hollow tree. Inside lay the head Staravia and next to it were a pile of rawst berries that the other Starly had collected for it. Rawst berries were known to heal burns and although the Staravia could have really done with being taken to a Pokémon centre, the berries were doing a decent job.

The Staravia, laying slumped over, pulled itself to lay more upright. It's wing was badly damaged and had lost a fair amount of feathers. Mezame's Starly cringed when it saw the Staravias injuries. A female Starly caught Mezame's Starly's attention and before Starly knew it, the female had used wing attack right across Starly's beak. "This is all your fault ." She spat angrily.

Starly sighed at the floor then directed it's words at the Staravia. "If you had left well enough alone you wouldn't be injured like this. I'm sorry for what happened but I am not to blame for this." The Staravia wasn't looking at Starly and again the female Starly responded instead.

"If you weren't such a selfish fowl this never would have happened in the first place." Her anger hadn't soothed from Starly's words, in fact, they only seemed to have angered her more.

"That's enough." The Staravia spoke up in a voice strong and clear despite it's injuries. It's eye's bore down on Starly and Starly met it's gaze reflecting stubborn expressions. The female Starly retreated to Staravia's side and said no more. "You know our flock is small, we need all the Starly we can to provide for the children. Our flock will never grow and we'll never be able to compete for territory and protect our families when our strongest providers would rather spend its time with humans." Staravia's speech started off calm but it grew more angry as it drew to a close.

Mezame's Starly held it's ground. "We've been over this before Staravia but I was not meant for flock life. I have a trainer now, that human is my friend and I wish to be free, I'm leaving the flock." Starly turned to leave and there was a squawk and a ruffle of fluttering feathers.

"Uncle!" A baby Starly hopped into the hollow tree and tackled Mezame's Starly with only the strength a baby could possess and Starly barely flinched from it. Starly's sister came fluttering in after it.

"I'm sorry Staravia. You know what the babies are like when they start flying." She said embarrassed. Staravia merely nodded, it's eyes glistening with admiration for the baby Starly. Staravia was every bit the family man that Starly wasn't.

"Hey buddy!" Starly said happily and ruffling it's nephew's head feathers with it's wing. "You're flying already?! That's awesome. Did you fly down from the tree all on your own!?" The baby Starly puffed up it's chest proudly.

"Sure did!" It said confidently.

Staravia cut in. "You'd so soon just leave your family?" Staravia was laying on the guilt hard. Much as Starly did love it's nephew and all it's friends and family, it was just not happy unless it was out in the world.

"You're leaving?" Starly's nephew asked sadly.

"I'm going to travel the world." Starly told it's nephew excitedly. "I've made friends with a human that's lots of fun, she freaks out when I sit on her head, it's a blast!" Starly laughed remembering the numerous times Mezame had squealed from Starly getting in her hair. "We even battled a Weedle and won!"

"Wow! Really?! All by yourself?!" Starly's nephew hopped around excitedly. It usually took a few Starly to chase off curious bug pokémon when the babies were out and not able to fly yet. They weren't usually a threat but in the past some of the babies had been injured by the larger bug pokémon. Starly were always stronger in numbers but with Mezame as Starly's partner Starly was becoming more than competent at battling on it's own.

"You bet! I wanna get out there and see the world and get stronger. Then I can come back and tell you all about my adventures, would you like that?" Starly looked down fondly at it's nephew, it was glad at someone understood, even if it was a kid.

"That'd be awesome!" The baby Starly chirped.

"I won't allow it." The Staravia cut in.

All eyes turned to Staravia. Starly's nephew looked scared, like it'd done something wrong, and Starly glared at their leader angrily. This dispute was not about to be solved easily.

Amie listened to Mezame's story while walking alongside her and keeping an eye out for any of the pokemon they were looking for. There were a lot of pokemon on this route, green ones that stayed near the bushes and a few red ones that dashed around the trees quickly. She didn't have time to figure out which pokemon they were with her dex as she knew none of them were the Starlies.

"So your parents are pokephobic?" Amie asked Mezame. She didn't meet too many people that were afraid of pokemon, only jumpy around them like how Mezame sounded she was. She figured it was hard for there to be any people like that since pokemon were every where. Though she did hear a story about some people that where pokephobic living in a place that pokemon didn't like being around.

Continuing to listening to Mezame, it pipped her interest when she was talking about running away from Beedrills and finding an egg. She nodded her head in approved and said, "Sounds like you had a rough day then." The chitchat was a nice distraction as they went further into the route, still looking for where Mezame's Starly could be.

"Poképhobic." Mezame laughed. "I like that." She'd never heard that word used before but it was certainly apt. "Yeah, my parents are human doctors and they're always complaining about there being too much emphasis on pokémon health and not enough on human health. They wanted me to follow in their foot steps but it just wasn't for me."

They were approaching the wooded area Mezame guessed Starly's flock must live and she would soon have to stop talking and pay attention to the area. "But yeah." Mezame finished. "That was a rough day, but at the same time the best day of my life cause I met Starly and realised I didn't have to follow my parents path."

As they entered the more woody area and Mezame looked back at tree's they'd already passed to double check them. Looking behind her though, something else caught Mezame's attention, she discreetly looked back at the tree's again and her suspicions were confirmed. Mezame leaned closer towards Amie and whispered. "I think that boy from the Pokémon centre is following us..."

Amie smiled having made Mezame laugh. Mezame's parent's had an interesting take on things, but that shouldn't have meant forcing something on their daughter without giving her a choice in the matter. She quickly wondered what would Mezame did want to do, but didn't bring up the thought since other things were happening on the route.

As they were heading deeper into the route, Amie heard what Mezame whispered to her and took a peek toward in the area she had just been in. It took her awhile to see, but with some rustling in the trees she spotted the boy from the centre. Amie remembered that that boy was talking to Mezame before, but Amie didn't hear anything they were talking about.

"You don't think he's..." Amie was about to say something about the suspicious boy but was distracted as the boy climbing up the tree and disturbing some Starly. The Starly flew off in on one direction and Amie got an idea "Hey we should follow those pokemon!" Amie said excitedly, "They could lead us to your Starly!" She forgot about the boy stuck in the tree as this could be a chance to find Mezame's pokemon.

When Mezame turned back to look for the boy she couldn't see him so she followed Amie who'd run off to follow the Starly that had flown from a near by tree. Mezame didn't have time to find out why he was following them anyway but in the back of her mind it bothered her. Mezame ran looking up towards the sky trying to keep sight on where the bird pokémon were going.

"Starly!" Mezame heard a call from somewhere on the ground. She stumbled to a stop wondering why she heard a Starly call from the ground, it was a familiar voice as well, her Starly perhaps?

"Was that you Starly?!" Mezame called looking around confused.

"Starly!" Mezame looked down to see her pokémon hopping towards her from a small cluster of tree's that surrounded a larger tree that was hollow at the bottom. Starly took flight and swooped into Mezame's arms.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I can't believe I found you!" Mezame said happily but her voice wobbled with emotion.

"Starly Star!" Starly agreed. Mezame looked down to see a group of Starly surrounding her and out from the hollow of the tree limped an injured Staravia.

"Avia..." It said low and angrily.

Mezame held on to Starly defiantly. "I guess this is the leader of your flock, is it?" Mezame asked Starly. Starly confirmed her suspicions by simply staring down the Staravia. The leader glared at the couple of male Starly from before and they took flight and flew over to Mezame to retrieve Starly from her arms. Starly fluttered away from her as she shrieked, Mezame was getting more and more used to Starly but wild Starly flying at Mezame scared her.

The other Starly herded Mezame's Starly over to the Staravia. "Hey!" Mezame complained. "What do you think you're doing?!" She directed at the Staravia. "Starly doesn't want to stay with you!"

With renewed strength, Staravia flapped it's wings and started chattering at Starly. Starly chattered right back. They looked as though they were going to go for each other. "Fine." Mezame nodded. "You want to battle, we'll do it. Are you ready Starly?"

"Starly!"

"Alright then use wing attack!" Starly wasted no time in carrying out the command and hopped off the ground to slam it's wing into Staravia from above. The move seemed to deal some damage but quick as a flash Staravia retaliated crashing it's body into Starly before it had a chance to move away from finishing it's first attack. The quick attack from Staravia was incredibly strong, it sent Starly flying and hurling into one of the near by trees with a cringe worthy crack.

"Ah! Starly!" Mezame cried in dismay and she ran over to it. She reached out to pick it up but Starly pulled itself up and walked back over to face Staravia once more. "Alright. If you wanna keep going lets try a tackle attack this time!" Starly took flight and circled through the air a few times to gain speed before it swooped down taking Staravia out and tackling it to the ground.

"Follow it up with quick attack!" Mezame commanded. Before Staravia had a chance to pull itself to its feet Starly again crashed itself into Staravia's body. The Staravia was weak, weak already from it's injuries but weaker now from Starly's attacks. Starly was also tired. Staravia was a much more powerful pokémon, Starly's evolved form, Starly was lucky to have done so much damage already even with Staravia's injuries.

Starly had jumped back to face off Staravia once again, readying itself for the leaders next attack. Staravia was fast, it swooped off the ground and flew at Starly beak pointed straight towards it. "Look out Starly! Dodge it!" Staravia was too fast and although Starly had dived out the way the attack hit. Starly rolled out the way to avoid another fury attack from the Staravia but the attacks kept coming and Starly couldn't keep up with avoiding them. A second landed on it's mark and again Starly rolled away but lay sprawled out exhausted.

"Starly..." Starly said weakly as it tried to pull itself up. Mezame wished she could just call Starly back to it's pokéball now but she knew Starly had to see this through, for it's honour and for it's freedom.

Staravia chattered at Starly as Starly tried to get to it's feet. No sooner had Starly got a steady footing Staravia had moved lightening quick, Mezame didn't even have time to react and the leader of the flock made the finishing move, again crashing into Starly at an intense speed and exhausting Starly's efforts once and for all.

Staravia turned and walked away, only looking back to make what must have been some condescending comment before returning to it's tree hollow.

Mezame rushed to Starly's side scooping it up in her arms and holding it close. "I'm so proud of you Starly. You fought for what you believe in and you did so well." She pulled the pokéball out from her belt and held it to Starly. "Rest in here and I'll get you back to a Pokémon centre right away."

Starly returned to it's pokéball and Mezame sighed in a mixture of sadness for her pokémon's defeat and relieve to have it back at her side.

H was still in the tree, he saw one of the girls beat the Staravia he had fought before, the Starly did not stand a chance but they did very well, he wanted to climb down but he saw the other girl was still looking at him, he moved to the other side of the tree where they could not see him and he jumped down.

H was standing with his back against the tree, there was nowhere he could go without the girls noticing him, he was stuck there and it would only be a matter of time before they saw him.