I didn’t see her again, really, for a few years after that. It is hard to say, perhaps the odd glimpse every now and then, but as I grew up I had other things to do and experiences to have.

The second encounter I really remember seeing her was when I as about fourteen, I’d gotten my first new bike. This one was nice, Lucario blue and multi-speed. In high gear you could really get that thing moving.

I rode to a neighbor’s house. We’d spend hours every day on our bikes up and down the road. It was nice, but one can only be entertained by doing laps around the block for so long. Eventually we wanted to put our riding skills to the test, popping wheelies and making jumps. Knowing the nature of boys, our parents had wisely hidden most all materials that could be used to make a ramp. What they could not do was hide the curb.

The roadside curbs in our neighborhood were not flat, they were angled, so one could ride a wheelchair over them without too much difficulty. We discovered that with a little speed we could launch ourselves a short distance, and even catch a little air.

I had just geared up for another run when I saw her again. She stood just around the corner of my neighbor's house. Again, those twin ruby orbs, sparkling in the noontime sun, locked on to me and my bicycle with the intensity of a Talonflame. She had grown much larger now, but still very young. Her frame was lanky and lean. Her puppy fuzz long gone, now replaced by a shimmering cascade of white fur, like the rolling breakers of the ocean…

Yeah, I still read a lot, my teachers loved me.

“Purrr!”

But one thing impressed me the most.

“Ouuu?”

Her tail looked like a Zubat had tried to use Fly from behind, but failed the attack in the most spectacular fashion. Either that or she had just sat on the unfortunate creature.

“Errrra!”

Yeah, I was fourteen, what do you want, Shakespeare?

Anyways, the distraction was momentary. I wanted to break the current record. So I got a longer run than any of us riding cycles had dared before. Just to be safe, I kicked the bike into high gear and pedaled with all of my might.

The extra burst of speed, coupled with a well-timed tug on the handlebars had the desired effect. The skid mark on my friend's driveway proved all the distance I had cleared, well over half the driveway!

Then off into the grass.

Brakes do not work well in grass.

Then into the neighbor's fence....

I won't go into any gross details about the types of injuries one can sustain from the various bars and protrusions of a bicycle. Suffice to say I spent the rest of the summer with a cast on my arm. That should have been it, but as I lay on my neighbor's lawn, flat on my back, gasping in pain, a wingull flew over...

I was starting to dislike those bird pokemon.



pokemon belongs to Gamefreak / Nintendo

Not happy with the picture...