>High noon, Australia...
>
>   The sun pounded down on the vast prairies of Australia, leaving 
>only sparse shade where the scraggly bushes grew.  In the middle of 
>one of those clumps of bushes lay a small girl who crawled through 
>the underbrush at an almost revoltingly slow speed.
>   *Just a little father and a Kangaskhan will be mine!  
>...hopefully...*
>   The girl, sweaty in camouflage, pressed forward and looked out over 
>a field of Kangaskhan.  She quickly reached back into the brush and 
>pulled out a camera, taking a couple of quick shots.  She really 
>wanted to catch a Kangaskhan, yet they were really difficult to 
>capture.  They were pack animals and fought viciously, the mother 
>always protecting the baby in her pouch.  The girl, however, had a 
>plan.
>   *And a damn fine one at that* she boasted to herself.  She 
>wiped her sun-faded brown hair out of her eyes and prepared to enact 
>her plan when-
>   "Azel! You done yet girl?"
>   Azel, the girl, grimaced as all the Kangaskhan took fright at the 
>noise and ran away leaving her in a could of dust.
>   *Boy, we sure could use some rain...next time I travel I'm going 
>somewhere cool...somewhere north.*  Azel counted down in her head 
>the days until she left again, waiting for the dust cloud to move 
>off.  Soon the dust moved off and Azel could identify the speaker.
>   "Dang it Lavos! You scared away all the Kangaskhan!" Azel called, 
>directing a scathing glare in the direction of her older brother.  
>Lavos just shrugged off the glare and started walking across the 
>field in Azel's direction.
>   "You weren't gonna catch any of them anyway."
>   "Were too! I had a great plan!"
>   Lavos grinned condescendingly at his sister.  "And what was your 
>marvelous plan?"  His words were thick with teasing sarcasm.  "Going 
>to use a trap?  Yeah, right, it wouldn't work.  Besides, why 
>bother...they're just silly Pokémon," Lavos continued on, despite 
>Azel's continued glare.  "Besides I was on my way to Silvia's and 
>Mom wanted me to tell you that she wants you to help with dinner."
>   "What?!  She has ten other kids with nothing else to do today 
>and she has to ask ME to help with dinner the only day of my visit 
>when I'm actually trying to get some work done?"
>   Lavos just shrugged, his answer to everything.  "It isn't real 
>work anyway...it's just Pokémon, a hobby for the rich."
>   Azel grimaced.  *I'll never get my family to accept that Pokémon 
>training is real work.  I tell them that being a breeder or gym 
>leader has prestige and they just laugh...stubborn idiots...but 
>family is family, no matter how much you wish otherwise.*
>   Lavos stopped walking at the edge of the bushes and waited for 
>Azel to dust off and start heading back home.  Azel, looking around 
>and not even finding a trace of any of the Kangaskhan, grudgingly 
>gave in and trudged on.  Lavos back tracked to head for the road 
>that led to Silvia's place, and in the opposite direction, their 
>ranch.  As she and Lavos headed down the path towards the road home, 
>she noticed once again the height difference between her and Lavos.  
>She paused and considered this once again.
>   *Just my luck to be born short in a family of giants...maybe if 
>I was taller they'd accept my profession...or maybe I just need to 
>learn something else too, like martial arts.  Hey, I have an even 
>better idea!  I'll just bring home a really tall hulking Pokémon 
>trainer and that'll show 'em!*
>   Azel nearly laughed aloud at the thought.  She ran to catch up 
>with Lavos who was leading the way to the main road.
>   *I don't really want to return home...it's always so crowded.  It 
>seems like the place holds twice as many people as it should...and 
>it keeps getting bigger!*
>   Three of Azel's sisters were married and had brought their 
>spouses to the ranch, and if things kept looking good for Lavos, 
>he'd be doing the same soon.
>   Azel looked over at Lavos who was dragging his feet in the dust, 
>almost in the fashion of a little boy caught with his hands in the 
>cookie jar.  Lavos looked up, opened his mouth to speak, but then 
>hesitated.
>   *This could be serious...but come on, it's Lavos.  I bet he just 
>asked Silvia to marry him.*
>   Azel grinned at the thought.  She always like Silvia and hoped 
>that she would spice Lavos up a little.  Lavos had a tendency to be 
>slightly...well...dull.  Azel grabbed Lavos' hand and grinned. 
>   "Come on, what were you going to say?  Spill!  Did you ask Silvia 
>to marry you?"
>   "No, not exactly, but it sort of has to deal with that..." Lavos 
>back at Azel more seriously, he seemed to hesitate answering.
>   "You got engaged?  Betrothed?  Promised at least?"
>   "No...it actually has to deal with you.  Mom thinks it be best if 
>you gave your little hobby-"
>   "Pokémon ISN'T a hobby!  It's my life's work-"
>   Lavos stopped walking and continued talking.  "...as I was 
>saying, hobby and got married-"
>   "Married?  Nah, I'm not ready to settle down yet-"
>   Lavos growled at Azel.  "This is hard enough as it is.  Stop 
>interrupting."  Azel made a gesture of apology, though she really 
>wasn't apologetic.  Lavos realized this and gave her a cross look.  
>Azel just looked back innocently and sat down on a rock, as if to 
>give him more space to talk in.
>   Azel grumbled on, "She always thinks that.  So what's new about 
>it this time?"
>   "You know Mark?"
>   "Yeah, I know him, the jerk.  He keeps hanging around the ranch 
>hoping he'll marry one of us and get some land.  He doesn't even 
>care what gender the person is, he just wants the land."  Azel 
>wrapped her hands around her knees.
>   *Boy, I hope his ends soon.*
>   Lavos just sighed and continued.  "Mom told him if you'll agree 
>she'll give him your hand and the land."
>   Azel was shocked.
>   *My mom's a sensible women...she wouldn't say that!*
>   "She wouldn't!  How could she!  She knows Mark's a loser-"
>   Lavos began to stare down the road, avoiding Azel's face.  "I 
>hate playing the devil's advocate, but it's not about Mark.  It's 
>about settling down and getting married-"
>   "I don't want to get married yet! I've barely even gotten to see 
>the world, meet new people, discover new cultures-"
>   "It's not even about marrying! It's about settling down!  
>Gracious knows what you've been picking up in those foreign places, 
>uncivilized people.  You know, settling down isn't such a bad idea.  
>You could come back and stay at the ranch permanently..."  Lavos 
>trailed off, looking for words to say.
>   Azel grimaced.  "How could you say such things?  You've never 
>left Australia!  You don't know how things are like out there, so 
>many new things, exotic places, adventures, my profession with 
>Pokémon, how DARE you speak!"  Azel was enraged at, not Lavos, but 
>all that he stood for.  Hermit-like life, settling down without ever 
>trying anything, the whole closet life.
>   Lavos looked bewildered.  He had never wanted to try such things, 
>never had the motivation...  "Azel, please, we only want what's best 
>for you-"
>   "Shove it!" Azel replied.  She scrambled up from the rock she had 
>been crouching on.
>   *I'm not going to let anybody run my life!  No way!  Only I know 
>what's best for me, and that's why it's best for ME.  Well, I'll 
>show them! I'll go somewhere exotic and totally foreign.  I'll 
>become a great Pokémon master, so famous everyone will have heard of 
>me!*
>   Some part of her realized that this was a childish statement, but 
>she didn't care.
>   *I'm not a little child.  I'll make it work,* she swore to 
>herself.  She had traveled before, but never quite far enough to 
>remove herself from family obligations, visits so often they 
>crippled her professional life.  
>   *This family has used up all the obligation it's gonna get.  I'm 
>leaving for good.  Finally I can become a real Pokémon trainer, 
>maybe someday even have my own gym!*
>   Azel ran down the road towards the ranch, needing her stuff from 
>her room.  When she gave one last look back at the field where the 
>Kangaskhan had been, she saw Lavos standing around looking 
>confused.  He apparently gave up trying to understand his little 
>sister and headed off in the direction of Silvia's house.
>   *Good, that ties up one loose end...he won't be home till dark.  
>Lavos always follows his schedule,* Azel thought sarcastically.  She 
>than continued to run back to the ranch...but she wasn't going to 
>stay this time.
>   *Oh no...I'm not staying this time.  I have better things to do 
>now.  Like creating my own world...with the perfect place.  Just.  
>For.  Me.*