Journey Through Johto |Discontinued|

Chapter 2.37: Full of Hot Air

As our protagonists are walking through a plain, peaceful meadow, they encounter something a little out of place.

"Why is there an 'X' on the ground?" Sky questioned, seeing the grass was cut to form the shape. There was a circle around the 'X', connecting it together. "Maybe it's a no parking zone." Emmy thought.

"Why would there be cars around here?" Zia asked her skeptically. "Then maybe it's a crop circle from a UFO!" The Serperior gasped and began looking at the sky. Only, she saw something falling towards them. "It's true!" She screamed and fell backwards, barely avoiding the object as it fell to the ground in front of her, onto the 'X'.

"Sorry!" A voice called from above. There was a boy sitting in a hot air balloon, the balloon part looking like a Fearow. It made sense considering a Fearow was pulling the air balloon.

They slowly landed on the other side of the 'X'. "I'm real sorry. I didn't hurt anybody, did I?" The boy asked, jumping out of the basket. Zia picked up the object, it being a small, white, and spherical with pieces of cloth on top, and walked over to him.

"No, just gave my Serperior, Emmy, a scare. My name's Zia, and this is my Luxray, Sky." Zia introduced. "Sky, huh? That's pretty cool since my name's Skylar!" The boy exclaimed.

"That's her full name as well, but we usually call her Sky. It'll help us from getting you two confused." Zia chuckled. They had never come across another Skylar before. "What is this, by the way?" She asked, handing the object back.

"There's no big mystery about this old thing. It's a marker I use for target practice." Skylar explained. "Ah, that makes sense now." Zia looked back at the giant 'X'. "Y-you mean it's not a UFO?" Emmy asked, still half passed out on the ground from fright.

~~~

"Do you do a lot of hot air balloon flying?" The girl asked after Skylar led them back to his house. There was even a large storage bunker next to it. "Yup, I want to be a professional balloon pilot one day. At first, I only used balloons for flying with Spearow and Fearow to help them train and evolve. But pretty soon, I got interested in hot air ballooning as a career." He told her as they went into the storage bunker.

"I'm back, papa." Skylar announced as he opened the big door. There was a man sitting near the back, a small pair of glasses on his face as he sat in front of a board. "Yes, and I see you've got company with you." His father said and got up, walking over to them.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Zia said politely. "Well, it's nice to meet you too, young lady. Welcome to my studio." The older said with a smile. "My father designs and builds hot air balloons that look like Pokémon." Skylar gestured over to a wall of pictures, each containing a photo of a hot air balloon with the balloons shaped as different Pokémon.

"You can tell right away what Pokémon it is, amazing." Zia said, impressed. She wondered who did Team Rocket's since theirs looked like a Meowth. "I love balloons as much as Pokémon." Skylar stated.

Zia turned back to look at him. "I've never really been in a hot air balloon before, I'm sure it'd be a lot quicker to get around." She said curiously. "Hey, there's going to be a big balloon competition tomorrow and there's still time to enter. Why don't you sign up?" The boy suggested excitedly.

"Well, I'd love to, but I don't have an air balloon." Zia shrugged. "You're in luck. I think there's something in my storeroom that may interest you." Skylar's father told her.

They all went outside as he brought an air balloon out. As the flame was turned on, the balloon began to inflate, showing the design to be a Luxray. The basket was a purple color.