A Boy and His Dragon Book 1: The Journey Begins

Book 1: Chapter 28

Emma walked along the edge of the ocean as her pokemon played ahead of her. Chimchar stayed away from the waves. Bunnelby jumped in and out of them before rushing around the fire monkey.

"You two are so adorable." Emma stated as the two ran further ahead.

"Emma." Sycamore said as he walked up to her.

"Yes, professor."

"Can you walk with me?" He asked as Emma nodded her head as the man started to walk along the beach with her.

"Is something wrong?"

"I got a call..." Sycamore started. "It's about Zack." Emma froze hearing her brother's name.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked.

"The rangers called... He got injured on his last mission. He's currently in Shalour city in intense care. I'm sorry." Emma didn't say anything as her pokemon came back to her. She bit her lip and did her best to hold back the tears that tried to run.

"Can... can you tell the others that I went ahead to Shalour." Emma whispered as she turned and headed up towards the cabin to gather her things.

"Char?" Chimchar asked as he pulled at her hand. He took her hand as Bunnelby took her other hand with his ears.

"Thanks guys..." She whimpered as the tears began to fall.

"Char!" Chimchar jumped up as Emma held him in her arms as Bunnelby ran ahead opening the door to the cabin.

"We need to go." Emma stated as she walked inside and grabbed her bag, pulling it onto her back. She looked over at the other bags on the beds before pulling Chimchar closer. Emma tried to ignore the tears and shivers that crept through her body as she pulled him closer.

"Char..." Chimchar whimpered as he dug his head into her neck. Emma didn't even hear the footsteps as they entered the cabin and began to gather up their things. After a few moments the footsteps stopped and she looked up feeling someone watching her.

"What are you?" Emma asked as she looked over at Ryder, Jack and Izzy as they stood there with their backpacks on ready to go.

"We are going to Shalour, to talk to the rangers." Ryder stated as Emma's tears rushed faster down her face.

"Thank you." She said as she rushed over to them and embraced the group.

"We should get going." Jack said after a few minutes of silence of the group. Emma nodded as the group walked out of the cabin and began to head down the road to Shalour city.

It was dark by the time the group got to the city and no one was on the streets. Jack and Izzy lead the party with Grovyle and Zorua in Izzy's arms. Ryder walked with Emma holding her hand as the two walked close to each other. Purrloin was curled up around Ryder's shoulders as she watched the dark streets. Chimchar was partly laying on Emma's head and was fast asleep as they headed towards the ranger base.

"Do you think they will be open?" Emma asked as Jack looked over his shoulder at her.

"They should be." He stated as they turned down at block.

"Are you certain?" Izzy asked looking up at her older brother.

"I hope so." Jack stated as the base finally came into sight. It seemed almost dark but there was a faint light on in the main door of the building. They walked up to the door and attempted to open it only to discover it was locked.

"We should head to the center?" Ryder asked as Emma stared at the ground.

"There isn't much else that we can do." Jack stated as they turned to head back towards the center.

"Can I help you?" A voice yelled at them causing them all to stop. They looked up at the building and noticed a woman in a red ranger uniform looking down at them. Her long blonde hair was pulled back and tied up so it was out of the way. She leaned more out of the window as a Spritzee fluttered past her head and out of the window.

"Yes, we came here because Professor Sycamore said that our friend's brother was injured." Jack stated.

"Zack's sister? I'll be down in a minute." She said as she called the spritzee back and shut the window. The group was silent for a few minutes as the ranger flicked on the lights and ran up to the door unlocking it.

"Sorry about that." She said with a smile before gesturing them inside.

"It's okay."

"We've been under lockdown since we found him." She stated as Emma rushed forward.

"What happened? I need to know, will he be okay? What about his pokemon partner? How bad is it?"

"Easy..." She said as she put a hand on Emma's shoulder. "He's going to be fine. It's going to take some time for him to recover. As for his partner, we don't know where she went." Emma nodded.

"Can I see him?" She asked.

"Of course. I'm Macy by the way." She answered as she led the group up the stairs. Walking down the hallway they walked past a few other ranger. The rangers were out patrolling the hallways with their pokemon.

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"He radioed in that he found something with a mysterious group called Team Flare and when we went to go help him. We found him injured and his partner nowhere to be found."

"Did he say what he found?" Ryder questioned as she stopped.

"Something about a green pokemon." She answered as she stopped outside a door and knocked on it. A ranger opened the door a moment later with a floette at his shoulder as it fluttered there for a few moments.

"Come in." He whispered as he stepped aside allowing the group in. Emma immediately rushed over to where her brother laid on the bed, his right arm was bandaged and so was his head. An I.V. ran from his left arm up to the saline bag on the hook and a heart monitor beeped to the side.

"What's your name?" Macy asked.

"Emma." She whispered as she took her brother's hand entwining the fingers.

"I think we can take the room." Ryder said as he walked over to the corner and sat down as he called out Frogadier, and Leafeon.

"You certain?" Macy questioned.

"Certain." Jack said as he sat down on the opposite corner as Grovyle and Izzy sat beside him. The rangers nodded before leaving the room as Emma cast the group a small smile.

"Thank you."

"You don't need to thank us for anything. Family always comes first." Ryder stated as he stroked Purrloin.

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Time for some Team Flare action. Had to bring them in, they are one of my favorite evil teams.