[S-HIGHLIGHT]Okay you are allowed to post. I'll add in the moves on the pokémon when I can be bothered.......... it's tedious ;; use your imagination until then? :3[/S-HIGHLIGHT]

Christina & Aberdeen
chapter 6, event #3

The afternoon sun tickled their eyes when Christina and Aberdeen climbed the steep road that led up to the entrance of what was probably the least dangerous cave in Johto. At least that was what the kind nurse at the Route 35 Pokémon Center had claimed. That was why Deen and Tina had decided that it wasn't worth staying the night there - instead they kept going, hoping to reach the city that lay on the other side to the south before nightfall.

It took only a few steps into the Union Cave before a clear shift in the air could be noticed. It was much colder in here than outside. And also strangely moist, despite rain having poured down onto the trainers for most part of the day. A sort of moldy smell lay in the air. But at least it wasn't as dark and eerie as you'd imagine a cave to be. A wide road with lanterns in the walls at regular intervals lay before them. Follow it and you'd be in Azalea in no time.

Christina shuddered a little, once again inwardly cursing herself for not bringing a jacket with a hood or any kind of out-doorsy clothes besides the ones she was wearing aside from maybe a change or two. Glancing down at the Bagon at her side whom she had allowed to walk with them, she smiled lightly as he restlessly walked a little back and forth, staring into the well-lit cave. She looked back up at Aberdeen with the same smile on her lips, one of her hands still holding onto the strap of her bag.

"Alright, the sooner we can get through this cave, the sooner we'll be in Azalea. Ready to go spelunking, Deen?" She asked with a light grin forming on her lips, her cheerfulness and optimism having gotten quite a boost after her and Aberdeen's battle at the campsite earlier.

Aberdeen glanced back and noticed her cheerful attitude. That relaxed him a bit. He had been uptight all since the morning when they had noticed that Winter and Sindy were gone... But Christina seemed to be feeling better now that she trusted her Bagon more, and also had a new Haunter on her team.

"I'm ready..." he began, feeling the presence of what he sort of considered one of the new additions on his team, right beside his head. It was Unown U, whom Ab referred to as plainly U. "So... We should follow the main route, right?"

His sense of adventure told him to sprint into the first dark cavern that opened up to their side as they slowly made their way forward. But after the events of this night, it was as if a new, careful part of him had awakened. At the same time as he itched to run head first into something unknown and thrilling, the last thing he wanted was to endanger Christina. Or her pokémon.

"Yeah..." Christina said, lingering a little on her words, tucking her free hand into the pocket of her shorts. Since she'd been little, she always loved to go exploring in what she imagined was old ruins, caves and the like, and a place like this was thriving with nooks, crannies and hideaways that could be so much fun to explore.

However, her more rational self was more in effect due to the earlier events of their Pokémon having disappeared, so despite her willingness to explore and her curiosity, she shook her head with a light smile pointed at Aberdeen. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Come on, Deen! Time waits for no one, right?"

With that, she took the first step and began heading down the lit, but rather empty path through the cave, the walls quickly expanding to become less of a tunnel and more of a full-fledged cave.

"By the way Deen, how're you liking the new addition to your team?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at the Unown floating along besides the boy.

"He's awesome!" Aberdeen laughed. "Thank you for lending him to me. I have no idea what he's all about yet, and the pokédex really doesn't seem to know anything about them as you said before, but that's all the more fun, isn't it! We'll get to see what you're made of ourselves!"

The last part was directed to U, as Ab tickled it's bend and made it swirl around his head a few loops.

"How's your own addition then?" he asked Christina. "Haunter, I mean?"

Christina looked down to the Pokéball hanging at her waist that continued the newly caught Haunter. She shrugged lightly, lifting a hand to scratch the bridge of her nose. "I'm not really sure... I haven't had it out since catching it. To be honest, I'm a little unsure about it, what with it being a ghost and all. Although I guess it could be a pretty good addition to the team..."

She paused, looking down at Conan, who was marching on ahead in front of the trainers, taking complete charge of this expedition, it seemed. She looked back to the Unown hovering around Ab and tilted her head a little to the side. "Hmh... what type do you think they are? Could be... Dark. Or Psychic, I suppose... hmm."

"I don't know. They don't seem as dark as dark types usually do, I think. But they're certainly not water or fire or something otherwise elemental. And not dragon or bird even though he is flying," Ab pondered, trying to talk a lot to distance himself from the idea of Tina's new pokémon being a ghost. He had tried to forget about it and succeeded, since she caught it.

But then he stopped in his tracks. "You don't think they are ghosts, do you?" he asked with a voice that failed him slightly.

U hovered, unblinking, in between them.

Shaking her head lightly, Christina kept looking ahead of her, down the lantern-lit path of the cave. "Nah, probably not. It's just a typing, after all. 'Ghost type' just refers to them being sort of disembodied and being alot like ghosts, I think. I don't buy into the rumors that they're actual ghosts."

She paused, glancing at Aberdeen while continuing to walk down the path, a curious little smile pulling up her lips. "... You're not telling me you're scared of ghosts, are you?"

Aberdeen opened his mouth but didn't manage to come up with a great rebuttal. Lying wasn't his thing anyways. Especially not to Tina. She wasn't Vincent or someone else who he thought would judge him, after all.

"Maybe," he just muttered, not sure of if he was ready to bring up the reasons for that with her yet.

Bringing her fist up to her mouth, Christina tried to choke down a giggle, but ultimately couldn't help herself, quickly clearing her throat afterwards as she shook her head with a smile. "That's... pretty adorable, Deen. Don't worry, if any ghosts come our way, we'll have my Haunter to chase them off!"

She nodded firmly as if cementing that thought and trying to let Aberdeen know that she didn't judge him for his fear. After all, she had a few things she was scared of herself. But uncharacteristically enough, Ab glared back at her as if she had just hit him.

"There's nothing pretty or adorable about having a dead sister!" he spat out.

While the two were talking, a low hum vibrated through the air, Unown U turning around to see its friend, T, floating up to it. The two did their odd hum-like communicating for a few moments before a sudden, bright flash of light enveloped the small group, just as Christina was about to say something. As the light faded, Christina, Aberdeen, Conan and the Unowns, found themselves in complete darkness.

Christina froze in place, her eyes widening as she quickly whipped her head from side to side, unable to see even an arm's length in front of her due to being used to the lanterns a moment ago. "... Deen! Deen, are you there? What happened?!"

"Either, power just went out, or... Or we're not on the main road anymore," he replied hoarsely from the darkness beside her.

They could both hear Conan shuffling about somewhere nearby and Christina began fiddling with her bag. "Hold on, I've got my... oh, there it is!"

She pulled out her pokégear and fiddled with it for a few moments before a bright cone of light penetrated the darkness, shining at a nearby wall, but none the less illuminating everything in the closest vicinity.

Conan growled at the light, but Christina looked relieved as she looked over at Aberdeen. "If you've got one, you can turn on your flashlight too. Are you okay?"

She moved the light a little around, furrowing her brows in confusion. The area was a mass of rocky floor, walls, several tunnels leading out of the rather large cave, but no sign of the lanterns that lit up the main part of the way through.

"Better yet," Aberdeen's voice, now less gloomy, came before a crackling noise and a blueish light made their general vicinity a bit more visible. "I've got Terribolt!"

Beside the boy stood his newly caught Flaaffy with a face that told them that she didn't quite approve of this moist cave (it made her fleece curl in an unpleasant way). But at least it had the advantage of letting her effortlessly conjure some static electricity to brighten up their surroundings with.

"Seems like we can't enter a cave or ruin without ending up in some dark, unknown place," Aberdeen sighed, but he did it with a smile that didn't quite hide his excitement through the dim light. "What now, then?"

"Oh, nice idea!" Christina nodded, smiling at the Flaaffy. Despite her seeming a little snooty, it was a pretty adorable Pokémon. Christina pulled out a Pokéball and recalled Conan, much to his dismay. "Sorry, but I don't think it'd be a good idea letting you run around in here."

After tucking him away, Christina looked around the cave while chewing on the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, tell me about it... second ruin slash cave, second time I end up in a place like this... I guess we try to find our way out."

Pausing for a moment, she narrowed her eyes at one of the tunnel-exits away from the cave they were standing in. "I'm pretty sure... it's this way. Come on!"

Unable to hold back an excited smile of her own, she hopped onto one of the rocks in her path, trying to traverse the rocky cave floor without getting hurt, leading the way for Aberdeen, Terribolt and the two Unowns floating along behind them.

"Uh, wait! Tina!" Ab shouted as he ran after her. Gosh, and I thought I was reckless.

The tunnel led out into a bigger, more open cave... But there were no lanterns or well traversed road there. Rather just plenty of other openings in the wall ahead of them to choose between. Ab scratched his head and glanced at the eager redhead beside him.

"Any more great ideas? I still don't get how we even ended up here."

The Unowns twirled around in the air above their heads, earning a suspicious look from Aberdeen.

"Come on, Deen, you can't expect us to get out of the cave by just one tunnel." Christina commented, a curious smile on her lips as she continued looking around the cave with her flashlight, her spirits definitely not dampened by them being lost.

"In fact, I think... we need to go... this way!" She pointed at one of the exits and began striding her way towards it, keeping her phone up in preparation for any Pokémon attacks or the like.

Terribolt and Aberdeen shared a look before following the girl. While the sheep had not been completely overjoyed with being captured after her rampaging battle against the Haunter, she was at least somewhat comforted by the fact that Haunter had been captured too in the end. Plus, her new trainer was kind of cute. Not that she would let him know that she thought so, of course. No, she would pretend that the only reason she didn't fry him here and now because she could (because nobody would ever find him here in the deep cave so it would be the perfect crime) was because she felt like letting him live for now. So she followed him.

This tunnel, after a few twists and turns in narrow pathways, also led them out into a bigger cave. But this one had the faintest trace of daylight finding its way down from a hole in the ceiling far above them, glittering in the strange greenish color of what seemed to be an underground river running through Union Cave.

"Wow, this place is actually beautiful," Ab commented as the ensamble emerged onto a ledge above the scene, a few meters up on the cave wall. "But it's still not the main road. Tina, are you just running around randomly?"

"Wow..." Christina commented, staring down at the river, the shaft of daylight providing a small amount of illumination in the rather large cave. She huffed a little at Aberdeen's question, turning around to look at him with a hint of frustration in her expression.

"I- well... sort of I guess, but what do you propose, instead? I mean, at least we managed to not get stuck in a dead-end, right? And it's better than just standing around."

But Ab put a kind hand on her shoulder. "If you hadn't gone first, I would probably have run around randomly too," he assured her. "And hey, at least we're not alone anymore. Look down there!"

Christina followed his pointing finger and down on the cave floor, next to the river lazily flowing through it were a pair of boys. It didn't look like they had noticed them and they seemed pre-occupied with looking around.

"Okay... great, this is the place! Hand me the map, Jamie." One of them said. He looked about the same height as Aberdeen, with brown, curly hair and freckles, but maybe a year or so younger. He put out his hand towards the smaller boy while squinting further into the cave, carrying a flashlight in his other hand.

Jamie, the other boy, looking to be about the same age as the first one, blinked a little and looked up at the first boy. He had jet-black hair, but his was cut short and slightly messy, ever so slightly looking like first kid, though without the freckles and with a different hair colour.

"... Huh? But you said -you- were gonna bring the map, Donald."

Donald turned around and looked Jamie square in the eyes, confusion across his face. "What're you talking about? I told you to bring it, because I was bringing the food!"

Jamie shook his head and reached into his backpack, pulling out a sandwich. "No way, you told me to bring the food, so I did!"

Lifting a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, Donald took a deep breath of air to calm himself. "... Are you telling me that we -both- packed the food and nobody grabbed the map? The -only- reason we came here in the first place?!"

"Well, I would've, if you hadn't told me to get the food instead!" Jamie countered, crossing his arms over his chest, looking annoyed.

"I didn't! I told you to -bring the map- and leave the food to me!"

While the two were arguing, the water of the river rippled and a yellow head poked out of the previously still water, followed by another. They proceeded to rise out of the water, a pair of large eyes, an almost pear-shaped, yellow body, a beak and an incredibly dorky look on their face as the two duck Pokémon waddled up to look at the two kids arguing.

One of them let out a quack, lifting its hands to hold its head while turning to look at the other, who proceeded to quack in agreement, holding its head as well.

"... You never appreciate anything I do, and you always blame me! I knew I should've asked my brother to go with me instead!" The black-haired kid said, frowning and throwing the sandwich on the floor in front of Donald.

"Well, maybe you should've! I wouldn't have been dragged all the way here for nothing, then! You may be my cousin, but next time, I'm going on my own!"

"What?! No way, I bought the map, you can't just steal my treasure! You jerk!"

The two Psyducks let out another quack each, the argument continuing to escalate, causing them to waddle a little in place, quacking louder and more often the more time went on. Eventually, it was a cacophony of shouting and loud quacking, until the two cousins had enough.

"Shut up! We're arguing here!" The cousins yelled at the Psyducks in unison, having turned away from each other to glare at the two Pokémon.

That seemed to have been the last straw, however, as the Psyducks' eyes started glowing, a faint rumbling quickly starting to shake the entirety of the cave, causing the two boys to stagger away from the Pokémon, eyes wide with surprise and fear as the two Psyduck didn't quack any more.

"That's it!" Aberdeen suddenly exclaimed from the ledge where their little group were standing, watching the scene turn less and less pleasant. "I knew I had seen that guy before! I should say hi."

Without any sort of explanation to Christina, Aberdeen seemed to finally be back to his true self again as he motioned for Terribolt to follow him as he practically leaped out from the ledge. Realizing mid-air that it had been a little bit too high up for a quick jump, he forced himself not to panic.

"Cotton Spore!" he instead shouted down to Terribolt who had already landed. She wasted no time in tossing out the electrically engorged bundles of fleece below the trainer, so that his landing didn't end up being quite as painful as it should have been with only the stone floor to catch him.

"Wow, it worked," Ab said, almost laughing, as he got up and examined a scratched leg.

But he was immediately tossed off his feet again by another set of rumblings. The two Psyducks near the river, still many meters away from Aberdeen, were walking with staring and glowing eyes towards Donald and Jamie, forcing them against a cave wall with no escape route.

"Oh, I get it," Ab nodded. "Not the best time for a casual hello. Uh, Tina?" he called back up at the ledge, hinting at there being a situation down here in which he might need her help. At least he hoped that his little shout could convey all that, while he kept his eyes on the two seemingly enraged Psyduck.

Christina, only just recovering from the shake that had gone through the cave, some reverberations still moving through the rocks, didn't need Ab calling her to realize the direness of the situation. "Go, Deen, I'll catch up!" She called down to him.

Reaching to her belt, she grabbed the ball containing the Haunter she had caught earlier, letting him out. He blinked a little, flashing Christina a grin, crossing his arms over his... uh, 'chest'.

"Hey, I, uh... know this is kind of rushed, but I need your help. I need to get over there. Can you help me?" She told him, pointing over at the two Psyducks at the cave floor. She could probably climb down, but she figured this was quicker.

The Haunter looked around, seeming a little surprised at all of the stuff going on, but let out a snicker, clapping his hands together once before offering them to Christina.

She smiled brightly and grabbed them, happy that he was willing to help her without her even giving him a name yet. She almost immediately regret her decision, however, as he spun around, his disembodied hands grabbing hers and promptly lifting her off of the cliff. Instead of gently lowering her down, he sped towards the two Psyducks and the kids in a downwards diagonal manner, leaving her flailing in his grip and letting out a surprised shriek as she flew over Aberdeen's head.

Ab couldn't help but smile in some kind of twisted pride at her way of getting down from the ledge being crazier than his, but the Psyduck turned around to the new threat from above. With another pulse from their glowing eyes, the cave rumbled again, and a couple of stalactites suddenly fell down from above. They narrowly missed the trainers but unfortunately made Haunter cringe enough to misplace his thoughts for a moment and let go of Christina. The girl fell down into the river with a loud splash and a squeal, followed by some panicked splashing. Fortunately, it wasn't very deep and the stream wasn't too strong.

"What kind of attack is that?" Aberdeen wondered after seeing that Tina was momentarily fine, him and Terribolt steadying each other to not fall over anew. "I thought they were water types!"

"IT'S YOU!" a voice came from across the river. It was Donald McCarthey, finally having recognized the trainer he tutored in the Violet Academy.

"Yes of course it's me, but what attack is it?" Ab called back impatiently.

"Didn't you have a pokédex? Look it up! Ah, but it's probably a directed Psyshock. Psychic in nature but does physical damage, for example to the cave!" Donald groaned. Jamie just crouched beside him.

"Psychic, eh? And, somehow I take it these pokémon aren't your buddies."

"Not our buddies at all!" Donald agreed.

But Ab hesitated when he saw the yellow ducks diving into the river, on their way to Christina. "Tina, incoming!"

Christina spluttered as she surfaced again, wiping her wet hair out of her eyes, seething inwardly due to her being drenched a second time in two days. She snapped back as Aberdeen called to her and she saw the Psyducks diving into the water.

Luckily, the Haunter had now caught up with Christina, recieving a half-glare from his trainer, to which he simply grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders apologetically. The appearance of the Ghost-type caused the semi-submerged Psyducks to pause in their advance, giving Christina time to back a little away while still being thigh-deep in water.

"Haunter, hold them back! Hypnosis!"

The Haunter grinned wickedly as he turned to the Psyducks watching the two in front of them as his eyes began pulsating purple, one of the ducks' eyes fluttering before falling completely shut, leaving it floating in the water. The other, however, sat a straight course for Christina.

"Ah, change of tactics," Aberdeen concluded. "Chocolate!"

His starter pokémon came out of his pokéball and landed just by the soggy riverside in the half-darkness.

"Vine Whip! On Psyduck!"

Chocolate wasted no time. With his now evolved and stronger whips, he slammed into the swimming duck hard enough to kick it up into the air... Looking dangerously close to landing on top of the girl in the water.

"Ooh hang on!" Ab said and thought quickly. "Catch it, Chocolate!"

The Vine Whips grabbed Psyduck's leg just before its head bumped into Christina's from above. But just as they let out relieved breaths, the other Psyduck seemed to stir in its floating sleep.

Letting out a sigh of relief as the Psyduck was caught, Christina sent Deen a grin and a thumbs up before making her way towards the side of the river, trudging through the water with alot of effort.

"Oh..." Donald began, having moved closer to the battle on the other side of the river. "Sleep induced by a hostile attack hasn't seemed to calm its headache."

"Headache?" Aberdeen said, his eyes darting between the Psyducks and his own pokémon.

"Yeah, our little... Argument earlier must have agitated them. Psyduck is dangerous when its headache gets too bad!"

"So basically... We shouldn't want to hit them even more and make it even worse," Ab said and took a deep breath. "Right."

He motioned to Chocolate, who tossed the duck he was holding into the other one with a big splash of greenish water. Unfortunately, the half asleep Psyduck had already launched another psychic wave that made the cave rumble even worse than before. Taking help from both Terribolt and Chocolate to stay stable, Aberdeen hurriedly took out two empty pokéballs from his bag and tossed them towards the water pokémon before they could completely get up and collect themselves again.

The balls hit their targets and sucked in both pokémon, but then they landed in the river and started to slowly float away with the stream.

"Yeah!" Ab called out in victory, but he was hardly heard over the roaring cave. "Ouch, something tells me we should get out of here!" he yelled a little louder and spun around to try and spot Christina in the dim light from the ceiling and the Flaaffy's crackling fur.

Christina had managed to just get out of the water, staggering a little from the rumblings still going on, not even bothering with squeezing out water of her clothes at this point.

"Yeah, it seems like the cave is kind of unstable... let's get out of here as quickly as pos- WHAT?"

She spun around to glare at the Haunter who had been prodding her shoulder with a finger ever since she got out of the water. Now that she looked at him, his usual, playful expression was gone, replaced with a look of worry as he pointed up into the ceiling behind her.

Christina turned around and looked up, her eyes widening as just as she looked up, she saw a massive stalagtite cracking off, heading straight for Aberdeen, who didn't seem to have noticed it.

"Deen, look out!"

"It's alright," Aberdeen called back with a smile, thinking that the cave was calming down now. "I caught the ducks!"

Without having wasted anytime, Christina had sprinted up to Deen, thrusting her hands out and shoving them against his chest to push him back, just as the stalagtite came crashing down with a loud roar, a slight dustcloud raising up around them.

Aberdeen fell flat onto his back and lost his breath for a moment, but he still struggled to get up as quickly as he can to try and grasp what had just happened.

There was a lot of dust surrounding both him and the girl, shielding them from the boys on the other side of the river, but he could see her. He could see her red hair sprayed over the rubble as she lay face down. The stalactite had hit her instead of him, as it should have. And she wasn't moving.

For one deadly silent second, Ab just stared and stopped trying to breathe at all. Then, his senses vaguely detected something flying past his ear. A black disc in the shape of a U. It's eye glowed as the stunned Ab looked into it, and suddenly he felt incredibly nauseous.

A flash of light enveloped everything, in the blink of an eye.

Next thing he knew, he felt Christina's arms push him aside again, and then heard the crash of the pointy boulder as it hit the floor once more. Coughing in the new dust cloud and having hit his back just like before, Ab felt extremely confused as he looked back at the crash site as fast as he could.

But there was no girl there now. Instead, she was lying on the ground beside him, both arms around his upper body protectively. Ab couldn't help but stare up into her face, eyes wider than ever. Hadn't he just seen...? But...

Blinking her eyes open, Christina glanced back at the stalagtite and let out a deep breath of relief, her grip on Ab loosening up as she sent him a smile. "That was a bit too close for comfort. Sorry about that. You okay, Deen?"

He kept staring at her, a hundred thoughts running through his mind as they crawled up into a sitting position. One of the thoughts made him reach out and grab her arm before she could pull away completely. He looked at it as if wanting to make sure that she was really there.

"Yeah..." he said slowly. "Comfortable. I mean, too close, yes. Too..." He shook his head to try and get a grip on himself. "Sorry. Are you alright?"

Christina raised a brow, looking at him with an oddly curious look on her face. "Uh, yeah, I suppose. Are you sure you didn't hit your head? You seem a little... out of it. Come on."

She proceeded to smile, pushing herself to a stand, half-covered in water and dust from the broken stalagtite. None the less, she extended a hand to help him up without worrying about brushing herself off first.

Ab cast one glance at the dirty mess she really was and let out a relieved little smile as he took her hand and got up as well.

That was when Jamie chose to practically scream from across the river, making both trainers jump.

"That was -so- cool!!" he called out, grinning brightly while elbowing Donald. "Did you see that? The fight was amazing, but the way she dove in and saved him without a second thought for her own life! Amazing!" He raised a hand to give the two a thumbs-up, the grin still stuck to his face.

Donald rubbed his midsection but nodded thoughtfully. "Indeed amazing. The way Mr Montany maneuvered his pokémon in battle and captured not just one but two pokémon just like that. He has improved since we last met. I think I shall have to study him more closely from now on."

Aberdeen only shook his head at the antics of the two guys before he remembered something. As if on cue, Unown U zoomed down in front of him and gave him a blink with its single eye. Aberdeen didn't know what to think. Christina had saved his life. He thought he had seen something else... But he decided not to ponder it for now. Christina's hand was still in his, and he didn't feel like letting it go quite yet.

"Let's just get out of here now, yeah?" he asked her.

After giving the teens on the other side of the river an odd glance, Christina looked back to Aberdeen, smiling as she gave a firm nod. "Let's."

Suddenly, Aberdeen's eyes widened and he gasped.

"The pokéballs!" he exclaimed and ran back to the river, seeing the two orbs slowly moving away from them. Nothing to do but to jump in the river too. Being dry and clean didn't seem to be the theme of this journey anyways.​

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Christina & Aberdeen
chapter 6, additional antics

The two younger trainers waved goodbye to Aberdeen and Christina as they headed down the well-lit cave tunnel, back the way the trainers had first come. Christina and Aberdeen both waved back to them, the redhead letting out a little breath of relief as they went around a corner and out of sight.

"Phew... thought they'd never leave. At least the walk back through the tunnels more or less dried us off, huh Deen?" She asked with a smile, lowering her hand from waving to pat down her mostly dried clothes. "... Although maybe I should look into getting some new clothes..."

"Yeah, pity we don't have Sindy to dry us now."

Aberdeen nearly jumped himself as soon as the words left his mouth and he gave Christina a guilty look, regretting that he reminded her of their loss. "I'm sorry," he said hastily. "We'll find her. The people at the pokémon center said there were shady figures heading through Union Cave in the night, yeah? And we know there were people around our tent when they disappeared," he mumbled, nodding to himself as he reiterated what conclusions they had drawn earlier that day. "So we'll find them here somewhere. Or organize a bigger search and contact Pine once we get to the next town. I promise!"

"..." Christina had gone quiet at the mention of Sindy, lips pressed ever so slightly together as they continued to wander through the caves, but a moment later, she looked up to Aberdeen with a bright smile, which he wasn't entirely sure whether it was genuine, or just her trying to stay brave.

"Yeah, I'm sure we will! Besides, Sindy can take care of herself. You don't have to worry so much." She said, grinning a little as she lifted her hand to give Aberdeen a light, friendly nudge on his shoulder.

Behind the two trainers, the Flaaffy and Haunter were just trotting along calmly. The trainers had decided to keep them out incase something happened and they had to react fast. The Haunter was watching the two trainers, and as Christina lightly shoved Aberdeen, Haunter glanced to Terribolt, a grin spreading on his mouth as he raised a hand to give the sheep a slightly-too-powerful shove on the shoulder.

The Flaaffy, however, saw the movement in the corner of her eye and charged her body up with electricity right in time for the ghosts's contact. The result was a light shock back at Haunter, at which Terribolt snickered maliciously.

The Haunter's... pointy hair(?) stood on ends as the electricity surged through him, causing him to blink in surprise a few times before narrowing his eyes at Terribolt with a malicious smile on his lips, and you could almost hear him going "... Well played...".

Terribolt, however, was only annoyed when she didn't succeed in making Haunter mad, and pouted even harder. Now, Aberdeen started to notice it.

"Hey guys, you're not still playing enemies, are you?" he asked, trying to keep the tone light.

Christina glanced over her shoulder as well, smiling a little as she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, you know how it is, Deen, some things just don't change. Maybe they've been like this for a long time."

"Huh, I didn't think of that. They could have been living on that route and been rivals for ages before we came along and forced them to behave. How cruel of us!" Ab joked and laughed as he patted Terribolt's head affectionally.

She didn't mind, thankfully, and decided to just ignore Haunter and not give Ab any clues about what their past had actually been like. It could be one of those loose ends you never really find out about in a story. Yeah.

Only a few minutes of walking later, the small group walked from the relatively small tunnel they were in, into a somewhat larger cave, almost like the one they'd been in earlier. However, this cave was a tiny bit smaller and had lanterns hanging across the walls, from the ceiling, and on poles scattered throughout it.

The most peculiar thing about this part of the cave, was that there was a small hut made out of wood, with a food stand-like extension of it. Several benches were scattered around the front of it, and to the side stood a stone well. On a couple of the benches and around the area, a few trainers, young and old, were either chatting, eating, or simply preparing to continue on their trip through the caverns.

Christina raised her brows in surprise at the sight of this almost picnic-like area, glancing to Aberdeen with a 'I did -not- expect this' expression on her face.

Aberdeen just smiled though. "Perfect! I was running out of water," he said. "I mean, falling into a river doesn't automatically make you not thirsty."

He gave Tina a pat on her back and headed up to the well with a tap that was situated on the wall of the hut. After filling his water bottle up, he noticed that Terribolt seemed thirsty too.

"Ah, why not let everybody stretch their limbs outside of the pokéballs for a while. Or what do you say, Tina?" he said, poking one of the pokéballs at his belt to emphasize his point.

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea, actually. We can grab a bite to eat as well." She smiled and nodded her head as she tucked away her own water bottle, which she'd just filled.

Taking a hold of the ball containing Conan, she clicked the button, releasing the small dragon. He immediately eyed the Haunter whom he'd fought earlier that day, puffing out his chest and growling, as if to prove who won the fight. The Haunter, however, simply waved at the dragon with a grin before floating over to the well, peering down the shaft.

Aberdeen let out all of his pokémon... except one. Pangea flapped her wings a bit but stayed on the ground near Aberdeen with a content look on her face. Hero remained sheathed but gave wary eyes at both Terribolt and Christina's Haunter. Chocolate bounced out happily but his smile fell a bit when he remembered that Winter was not around. Luckily, one of the newly caught Psyducks were on Ab's team now and was interesting enough for Chocolate to forget the sorrow for a moment. He wobbled over to the yellow water pokémon and tried to strike up a conversation. Aberdeen couldn't help but giggle when he saw that it was not too easy - apparently the Psyduck didn't seem to be the most intelligent of beings.

Unown U stayed in its pokéball though. After what happened with Tina earlier... Aberdeen felt uneasy in its presence. He still had not straightened out the chain of events in his mind, nor told Christina what he had seen. What he surely must have imagined, out of fear.

Getting caught up in his thoughts again, Ab didn't notice when Hero floated over to Haunter by the well. She seemed to sense the same eerieness about him as she possessed herself. They were both somehow ghosts.

The Haunter turned to face Hero, a look of surprise on his face, probably at seeing another one of his type. He crossed his... hands, over his... chest? And tilted his head a little to the side in a very animated fashion. Whether the two was communicating or not was a bit difficult to determine, considering ghosts could probably communicate mentally or spiritually, somehow.

Christina nudged Aberdeen with her elbow, smiling as she nodded towards the Haunter and Hero.

"Looks like Hero and Shade are getting along pretty well, huh? So far, she's kind of kept to herself, hasn't she?"

"Yeah, she sure hasn't been the cheeriest one," Ab agreed, following her gaze.

Meanwhile, Conan had noticed the rest of Aberdeen's Pokémon having been released, narrowing his eyes as he looked over at Chocolate and one of the Psyducks 'chatting'. He huffed and quickly stepped closer, letting out a challenging little huff while staring up at the somewhat taller Chocolate, seemingly challenging him to a competition of some kind.

Chocolate eyed the dragon from its toes to its armored head, and smiled. Sure, the Quilladin was rather young, but in his eyes this Bagon was but a baby. Of course he would play! He forgot about the confusing Psyduck for a while and turned to face Conan, demonstratively steeling himself as if challenging the dragon to give him its best tackle.

Satisfied that Chocolate took his challenge, Conan took a step or two back, narrowing his eyes on the Quilladin. He scraped his foot along the ground, nostrils flaring as he prepared himself for the charge. Letting out a growl, he suddenly charged forwards, his head lowering to his side just before reaching Chocolate, swinging his head to the left in order to slam into him with even more force.

Chocolate took the hit without falling over, but Conan pushed him several feet back in the dirt. The Quilladin admitted that he was surprised - the baby packed a punch!

Christina sighed happily as she stretched out her legs, having taken a seat on one of the benches. She glanced over at the Pokémon, smiling as she saw them all mingling, before glancing back to Aberdeen. "It's nice to finally have a break from everything, huh Deen? The Pokémon definitely seem to be enjoying the spare time."

Aberdeen liked when things were happening and normally he wanted to be up and on the go at every possibility. But today he concurred; they really needed a bit of a break from trouble. But before he could reply, someone else spoke up.

"Those are mighty fancy pokémon you got there."

Ab turned around to see a tall, skinny teenager with his hair in a ponytail and a baseball cap on his head. He wore a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Beside him and slightly behind was a girl that looked about the same age as the boy, with long, deep-black hair, the ends of which curled slightly, a bored expression on her face.

"They sure are!" Ab replied to the newcomer instead. It must have been one of the trainers that had already been there when they arrived at the hut. "What's it to ya?"

"Well, you see. My friend and I, we were looking for some punks to beat up."

That made Aberdeen raise his eyebrows and glance over at Tina. This was not exactly the start of how he would imagine a 'break from trouble'.

"-Excuse- me?" Christina said, her eyes fixed on the boy as she stood up, crossing her arms over her chest in a very standoff-ish pose.

"You heard him," the girl said in a strangely slow voice. "Battle. Two on two, two pokémon each. No cure rules."

"Yeah!" the guy in the cap agreed. "No cure rules!"

"That's... the regular rules," Aberdeen commented.

"Yeah!" the guy in the cap repeated, unphased.

"You're on!" Christina countered, looking absolutely furious at this point, whipping an arm out to point at the two of them. Her head then whipped around to glare at Aberdeen. "Come on Deen, let's wipe the smug expression off their faces!"

"Uh, what happened to us taking a break?" he asked, but mostly rhetorically. "But sure! I think I want to test this new fellow out anyways," he continued with a wink in Psyduck's direction. The duck finally seemed to react to outside stimuli and the reaction was a nervous one.

Chocolate jumped away from Conan and squeaked excitedly to show that he was ready for battle. But Aberdeen pet him gently on the head with a smile and called for Hero by the well instead. Chocolate would have shrugged if he had had shoulders to do it with. Pangea didn't seem upset over not getting to battle either - she merely took flight for a second in order to land and cozy up atop Chocolate's head to get a good view of what was to come. Terribolt, however, decided to sulk for a bit. She would have wanted to show off her strength to her trainer a bit more and didn't at all enjoy the thought of the new dork in the gang and the angry ghost brute getting the chance instead. Especially since Hero didn't really seem to want the chance in the first place.

"What pokémon will you use, Tina?" Aberdeen asked her as their opponents backed up along the road to put some space between the teams.

"Oh, uh..." She began, glancing back at the leftover Pokémon. After a brief look, she seemed to have made a decision, nodding her head. "I've only got two Pokémon with me right now anyway, so I'll start off with Shade." She motioned for the Haunter to come closer, who promptly pirouetted through the air, levitating down to hover in front of Christina, grinning maliciously at the two new trainers. Conan seemed just as upset as Terribolt about not fighting first, letting out an angry growl as he decided to spend some energy stomping around on the spot. Chocolate put a calming hand on his head as if to shush him, which seemed to mostly calm the little dragon, who let out a little snort instead.

The sound of two pokéballs opening up turned their attention to Ab's and Christina's opponents. A Furret and a Ledian stood in front of their trainers on the road.

"This is going to be messy... Four pokémon in a battle at once?" Aberdeen said, but smiled. "Fun! Hero, you ready?"

The Honedge flied up to her trainer and unsheated her blade with a menacing swing.

"First time for everything, right?" Christina asked, glancing at Aberdeen with a little grin before turning her attention back to the opposing trainers and their Pokémon, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the Ledian. "Alright Shade, let's start this off! Use Mean Look on the big bug!"

The Haunter closed his eyes, lowering his head a little before suddenly snapping his gaze back open and up, his eyes wide, piercing and glowing ever so slightly, undoubtedly enhanced by his ghostly abilities, as he stared down the Ledian with a menacing, wild grin.

"And you start with Swords Dance!" Ab called out to Hero. She immediately started swirling around, whipping up a strange aura around her that would greatly strengthen her attack skills momentarily.

"Hey, hang on!" the guy with the long hair and cap shouted. "Okay then, Ledian. Comet Punch!"

The bug, not heavily deterred by Haunter's stare, flew swiftly through the air to close the distance between the two in mere seconds. It started throwing a flurry of punches at the ghost... But it was not long until it stopped and looked quite embarrassed. To top it all off, Shade looked incredibly bored, lifting one of his hands to yawn deeply into it, giving the Ledian a small smirk as if saying 'Was that it?'.

"What, keep going!" the trainer called out.

Aberdeen couldn't help but chuckling. They weren't dealing with the smartest of opponents. "Normal attacks don't work on Ghost types. But Ghost attacks also don't work on Normal types," he added towards Christina before turning back to see what his own opponent for now would do in response to Hero's dancing.

"Don't lose sight of your opponent. Furret, Thunderbolt." The girl said in her oddly slow, almost quiet voice. The Furret stood up on its hind legs, an oddly determined look on its face as lightning started crackling along its body. It slammed its front feet onto the ground again, tail raising up as a massive blast of electricity was sent directly towards Hero.

Meanwhile, Christina smiled as the Ledian's attack was ineffective against Shade. She was so looking forward to wiping this kid's smug expression off his face. "Alright, we've got the upper hand now, Shade! Lick!"

Shade looked down at the Ledian with a menacing grin plastered on his face, the bug looking very unsure of its situation as the Haunter seemed to almost emit a super-creepy aura. That's when Shade stuck out his tounge and slapped it against the Ledian's face.

The bug froze for a moment as the wet appendage slid against his cheek. Then it positively freaked out and shot up into the air, struggling to get the wetness off. Luckily, it didn't seem to have become paralyzed. Rather spurred on.

"Safeguard put in place," the male trainer laughed. "No status problems here! Now, use Reflect!"

Ledian shaped up and concentrated up in the air. The air around it seemed to vibrate for a moment - Reflect's armor had been activated to suppress physical moves.

"Now, Supersonic!" the trainer called out, breaking a fundamental battling rule by not letting Tina call the next move before him...

The Thunderbolt was completely unexpected for both Ab and Hero. The sword was struck and fell to the ground.

"No!" Ab called out and rushed ahead into the battle. It was a risky move - if more Thunderbolts came their way, he would be fried. But in No Cure rules, it was still allowed to try and reach your pokémon if you could. "Hang in there!" he mumbled as he reached down into his bag for a Potion as fast as he could. He didn't want to lose that quickly just because they weren't prepared for what skills their opponent possessed.

"... Foolish." The girl commented, glancing at the Furred, gesturing to the downed Pokémon and her trainer. "Use Dig."

The Furret squeaked, leapt into the air where it spun around and dove into the ground head-first, quickly burrowing underground.

Aberdeen heard the order but was focused on healing Hero as quickly as he could. The potion did wonders in a split second and Hero soared up into the air again. Only then did the command "Dig" really register in Ab's brain. He jumped up from his spot just in time to not get completely headbutted from beneath, only knocked aside by the force from the ground. Hero was struck too, but she had floated up far enough into the air for Furret's speed to have diminished a bit when the attack finally made contact. Mostly, it bumped the sword and made her swirl around and lose control of her levitation. Aberdeen let out a breath of relief and crept away from the action.

"Wh- you can't do that!" Christina burst out as the boy ordered the Ledian to use Supersonic. The odd vibrations the Ledian created through the air, seemed to confuse Shade, getting a disoriented look on his face. Gritting her teeth, Christina was just about to shout out an order as she looked over at Aberdeen, almost being knocked to the ground by the Furret diving through the air after shooting out of the earth.

"... Shade, use Hypnosis on the Furret!"

The Haunter seemed completely out of it for a few moments before finally snapping back to reality, turning towards the Furret preparing to dig again. He made eye contact, a ghostly cackle escaping him as his eyes began shining a deep purple in an odd, swirling pattern.

The Furret froze in place, staring deeply into the Haunter's eyes before toppling over backwards, fast asleep. Christina hurried over to Aberdeen, offering him a hand to help him up with a confident smile on her face. "Come on, Deen, let's show these twats what we're made of."

Ab let her help him up but kept his focus on the battle. "Hit Furret with Fury Cutter!" he commanded Hero, who didn't hesitate in her rising fury.

She swung her blade at the Furret to deliver a quick cut. It's sleeping form didn't react, so Hero kept going, each cut rising in intensity and damage.

Meanwhile, the Ledian and its trainer were quite a bit disappointed in their efforts so far; the Supersonic didn't seem to have affected Shade much.

"Aerial Ace!" the dude with the cap shouted.

Ledian took aim and seemed to kick off through the air at the same time as its body started glowing with a white energy. Shade had no possible means of evasion.

"Crap! Shade, try to avoid the attack!" Christina called out, biting her lower lip in worry. Shade didn't have any attacks he could use to try and avoid the attack.

The Haunter's grin faded as he saw the Ledian charging its attack. Looking around himself in a somewhat theatrical panic, he quickly noticed Hero, who was still swinging away at the poor, sleeping Furret. A bright grin formed on his lips.

The Ledian shot towards him, one arm outstretched as it slammed into and past the ghost, sending Shade spinning off to the side. Before hitting the ground, however, he managed to pull himself back up, clearly hurt from the attack.

The Ledian, however, was apparently charging up for another attack, the boy grinning while watching his bug preparing the finishing blow. Christina glared, stomping her foot on the ground. "Damnit, stop cheating, you little twerp!"

Shade, however, was putting his own plan into motion. He hurried over to Hero, and without hesitating for a second, he grabbed her by the hilt while she was in mid-swing, using the momentum to spin her around to his front. He had timed it just so that as the Ledian shot towards him, Hero's continued Fury Cutter slammed right into him, sending him flying diagonally down into the ground, completely knocked out.

Christina blinked in surprise as both Furret and now also the Ledian were laying on the ground, unmoving. "... Wow, erh... okay, that's... definitely a way to do it. Nice job, you two!"

Shade had let go of Hero as soon as the attack was over, giving her an awkward, apologetic smile while rubbing the back of his head. She gave him the most furious glare she possibly could with the eye she turned towards him, not quite having grasped what had just happened yet. But her other eye saw both opponents lay knocked out and that must mean something good, at least. She decided to not hack the other ghe other ghost into pieces. For now.

"Wow, what a move!" Aberdeen laughed. "Ghost power!"

Only after he said it, arms outstretched in a victory pose, did he realize what he had just said. Ghost... Some color faded from his face.

Noticing Aberdeen's sudden meekness, Christina glanced over at him, a worried look coming over her for a moment before taking a deep breath, turning to face forwards again. "... Alright! We took down your first two Pokémon! Let's see how well you do against my ace in the sleeve. Come on back, Shade! You did well!"

She glanced over at Aberdeen again, sending him a smile to try and snap him out of it. "Who're you going to send out next, Deen? Chocolate?"

"Um, no," Ab said, recollecting himself. "Time for Psyduck to show what he's made of!"

The duck, who had been standing far behind the battle with a vacant look, now almost jumped at the mention of himself. He blinked a few times before waddling up to Ab, glancing up at him as if asking what he was supposed to do.

"You'll be fine," Ab ensured the fellow with a pat on the head. "Just see it as a game! We're playing!"

Hero swooshed past them with rolling eyes, away from the battlefield. She didn't really think this dork of a pokémon was able to 'play'. But their trainer was so trusting. He was sure lucky she had decided to come with him.

Following Hero was Shade, looking pretty happy with how he handled the fight, but also seemingly muttering something quietly to Hero, seemingly trying to give her the credit for beating both of the opponents in order to make her less grumpy towards him. He only got another glare in return, but still no death by ghostblade, so that was well at least.

Christina couldn't help but snicker as the Psyduck waddled up next to Aberdeen. She liked the look of Psyducks. They were pretty dorky and adorable. She smiled to herself. They were pretty adorkable.

"Alright Conan, you're up!" She called back to the little dragon having taken a seat besides Chocolate. But now that his name was called, he jumped to his feet, letting out what was supposedly a roar to him, but sounded more like a mix between a cat and a dog growling and purring. He proceeded to charge past the two ghosts, coming to a stop in front of Christina, growling and scraping his feet along the ground.

The girl on the opposite side of Aberdeen rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "... This is so stupid. I knew I shouldn't have let you pick our opponents, Derrick."

"Don't worry, don't worry, Jenna," Derrick said with a wave before picking up another pokéball and sending his new champ out. It turned out to be a Venonat.

"Hrmph," the girl replied, releasing her next Pokémon as well, which turned out to be a yellow and black-spotted, four-legged Pokémon, which seemed to have another face on its tail.

"What the heck...?" Christina muttered at the sight of the Pokémon now preparing itself for battle. She flicked out her Pokédex and scanned the Pokémon, raising her brows. "Girafarig, huh? And it's... Psychic-type. Hmh."

"And that's a Venonat!" Aberdeen said with a grin. "Easy! Okay, which opponent do you want to start with?"

But they didn't let Deen and Tina choose. Before the red haired girl could reply, the Girafarig and Venonat both charged forward towards Psyduck and Conan respectively.

Girafarig's tough body easily hit the surprised Psyduck hard, making it tumble over backwards with a weak 'psy?'.

"Retaliate, boy!" Ab shouted encouragingly. "Water Gun!"

But Psyduck slowly got up to its feet, blinked a few times... and then used another move. Judging from the cascades of water foaming up from beneath of him, drenching the battlefield in muddy water, it seemed to be the move Water Sport.

"What?" Ab exclaimed. "I guess he heard wrong..."

Christina cringed at the Venonat tackled right into Conan, sending the small dragon stumbling backwards, growling in anger. Why do I always have to fight the bugs...?

"It's okay Conan, get revenge on that stinking bug! Use Rage!"

Conan let out an angry growl, locking eyes with the Venonat, scraping his foot on the ground before charging forwards, swinging his head upwards and slamming it squarely against the Venonat, knocking the insect backwards. "Nice one!"

"Looks like you can't control your Psyduck, little boy." The other girl commented, the first sign of emotion coming in the form of a small smirk as she nodded to her Girafarig. "Go, use Confusion."

The Girafarig turned around, letting the weirdly-shaped tail face Psyduck. It grinned, staring at the yellow duck before a faint wave of something purple erupted from it, aimed straight at Psyduck.

The eyes of Aberdeen's pokémon widened and it started wailing strangely.

"What are you doing?" Ab asked in annoyance. "Use Water Gun this time!"

Psyduck shut its beak and shook its head, arms stretched up to hold the sides of it as if he was hurting. Then he closed his eyes and fired a Water Gun... Right into the back of Conan's head, sending the little dragon toppling forwards. As the dragon fell over, the Water Gun beam continued on and splashed the eyes of the unsuspecting Venonat, effectively knocking it out at last.

Conan, however, was not happy with this development. The dragon got up and turned around, glaring and baring his teeth at the Psyduck. With a little snarl, he charged at the duck, swung his head and knocked it down squarely on top of Psyduck's head. It wasn't a full-fledged attack, but seemed more like a sort of punishment for attacking him.

"HEY!" Aberdeen shouted, as Derrick started laughing despite his pokémon just having lost. "Tina, what's your pokémon doing?"

"I... I don't know! I think he's... really angry that Psyduck hit him instead of the Girafarig?"

However, after the first initial knock, Conan started growling and whacking Psyduck on the head, supposedly telling him off in Pokémon language. Christina and Aberdeen could do nothing but stare on in amazement at what was happening, and Girafarig seemed unsure of what action to take.

Psyduck didn't fight back, he just stood there, eyes closed, and let Conan's growls and whacking shower over him. Until, suddenly, Conan was stopped midair. Psyduck's eyes had opened, and they were glowing so brightly that the pupils weren't even visible.

Girafarig's scream made the trainers turn around. It was being lifted off its feet, into the air, by a mysterious force. It wasn't hard to put two and two together and realize that this was Psyduck's doing.

"Okay... It's not Water Gun, but we'll make it work!" Aberdeen said with a shrug. "Tina, let's finish this!"

Christina blinked, turning away from... whatever the hell was going on in front of them, to look at Aberdeen. She nodded and gave him a smile before looking forward again as Conan staggered back, letting out an angry huff at Psyduck stopping him, but deciding that he'd had enough anyway.

"Now, Conan! Use Bite!"

The dragon turned his eyes onto the Girafarig flailing in the air, a glutteral, but still rather adorable growl escaping him. It was the perfect outlet for his frustration. Charging forwards, the dragon was surprisingly fast as he lept into the air, opening his maws mid-flight before chomping down on top of Girafarig's head, which was slightly too large for him to bite over, which left him dangling while the Girafarig continued to flail in confusion and pain.

It only took a few seconds before the psychic-type's eyes rolled back in its head, the sheer stress and pain from Psyduck and Conan's attacks simply being too much for it. With its foe defeated, Psyduck let the Girafarig fall to the ground, Conan finally letting go, letting out a little huff before raising his head proudly, turning and waddling back over to his trainer.

Ab laughed in triumph and high fived Christina before he ran up to Psyduck. The water type's eyes were just dimming and his arms didn't clutch his head anymore as he blinked up at his trainer.

"You did that when we found you too," Ab said. "When you fought off Jamie and Don. So you're psychic really, eh? But the pokédex doesn't pick up your psychic moves in the list..." He shook his head as he returned the once again hardly responsive Psyduck into its pokéball. "Psychic pokémon are starting to freak me out even more than ghosts," he mumbled.

Derrick groaned and put his cap down lower over his forehead. "Whatever," he said. "I guess you can have some prize money. Jenna?"

The girl, after calling back the Girafarig turned to her companion and gave him a raised brow. "You were the one who picked the targets. Your mistake." And with that, she simply turned around and moved over to one of the empty tables, sitting herself down again.

Derrick groaned even louder and tossed his cap on the ground. But Aberdeen looked over at Christina and blinked.

"I think we're starting to get good at this trainer thing," he said.

"I think you're right." Christina replied, sending him a soft smile after returning Conan.



Blaine (Greiger)
- Legious (Nincada) grew to lv 13!
- Brutus (Smeargle) grew to lv 11 and learned Sketch!
- Derpy (Croconaw) grew to lv 25 and is able to learn Flail! Forget an old move?

Aberdeen (Adventure)
- Terribolt (Flaaffy) grew to lv 15!
- Chocolate (Quilladin) grew to lv 21!
- Psyduck grew to lv 16 and learned Confusion!

Christina (Sir Bastian)
- Shade (Haunter) grew to lv 15 and learned Night Shade!
- Conan (Bagon) grew to lv 14!

Melody (Carnivore Chie)
- Hawk (Taillow) grew to lv 18!

Morgan (Dragon)
- Combusken grew to lv 21 and is able to learn Sand Attack! Forget an old move?

​

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​

Christina & Aberdeen & Morgan
chapter 7, Azalea Town

"New day, new town!" Aberdeen gleefully exclaimed as he exited the pokémon center into the morning sunshine in Azalea Town. It had been really nice to get a good night's sleep in a proper bed again, as opposed to how worried they had been in the cold rain on Route 32. Nevermind that he had been spending his night mere meters from a sleeping girl again. He was almost getting used to that by now.

As if on cue, Christina came to a stop besides Aberdeen, sighing happily as she stretched her arms over her head, bending a little left and right to stretch out, a bright smile on her lips as she planted her hands on her hips.

"I remember my brother telling me about Azaela. Going to be fun seeing it for myself, don't you think so, Deen?" She asked, sending the boy besides her a cheerful grin.

"I guess," Ab said, nodding. "It's not overly big from what I've heard... But bigger isn't always better! Isn't that right, Chocolate?"

As he spoke, he released his starter from its pokéball. The Quilladin materialized in front of them and yawned loudly before flexing his muscles for the trainers.

"Oh, right, you're not exactly tiny anymore... By the way, Christina, have you talked to your brother for a while?" Ab asked.

"Oh, uhm..." Christina began, lifting a hand to rub the back of her neck, glancing away from Chocolate and down the road into the town proper. "Well... every now and then, he calls me. He's almost never home though."

She shook her head, beaming a bright smile at Aberdeen. "Doesn't matter though, this isn't about him! This is about going on a journey and making new friends, yeah?"

"Of course!" Ab beamed back at her.

"AND ANOTHER THING," a shout screamed from inside the inn. Of course, it had to be coming from Morgan. "Just what was with the air conditioner?! It was even colder than a Lapras's belly! No! I think it was even warmer! AND ONE MORE THING. What was with the beds?! It was even rougher than an Onix! Not only has it destroyed my back, it has destroyed my good mood!"

The keep then bowed her sincerest apologizes, as.. there hasn't been much complaints before, or rather, they were not existent. Morgan then huffed her traditional 'hmph!' as she stormed out with her hands on her hips, straight out of the door.

"I should of mentioned the poor room service too," she said to herself. "How hard is it to ask for a parfait at 3:00 a.m in the morning? It's a joke!"

Soon she regained her composure, only to spot something she hasn't seen before. It seemed like... a hedgehog... thingy? At least, that's what she thought. Of course, trainers were nearby, so, no one would be rude enough to validate a pokemon's existance, especially if it belonged to them.

"...Just what is that[i/]?" Morgan asked, after she approached the small group. She crouched down to observe the little pokemon.

Aberdeen gave Christina a glance and a shrug before crouching down beside his pokémon as well.

"It's Chocolate!" he replied cheerfully, wondering who this sudden girl might be. "I mean, he's not made of chocolate so don't try to eat him, please. It's his name, and he's a Quilladin."

Christina, on the other hand, simply gave the girl a look as she crouched down in front of Chocolate, folding her arms across her chest with a fairly neutral expression on her face.

"And are you proud to have something like this.. this...Chocolate aka. a Quilladin as a pokemon partner?" Morgan asked as she looked up at the young man. "Allow me to introduce you to something. It's called, standards."

Raising a brow, Christina took a slight step forwards, as if wanting to emphasize herself. "Sorry, but who are you again? And what exactly is wrong with Chocolate? For your information, Chocolate is an amazing Pokémon, he's helped out Deen and I in more than one tough spot."

"If Chocolate's my standard, then I'm pretty badass," Aberdeen said with a wink towards Christina. "Who are you to talk anyways?" he shot back at the new girl.

"First of all, my name is Morgan," Morgan replied. "And secondly, try taking some chill pills with your whine. I was only asking, is all. Chocolate, was it? Well, if he's that important to you, then I guess that's okay. Odd as the pokemon looks, anyway... And you are?"

This girl certainly had a bite to her, Aberdeen thought and wrinkled his nose a bit. "I'm Aberdeen," he said, stubbornly staying cheerful. "And this is Christina. We're traveling trainers! Hey, do you happen to know if there's a gym in Azalea?"

Christina simply huffed and gave a little nod, keeping her arms folded across her chest. She was clearly not a fan of this girl.

"I don't really pay much attention to hick towns," Morgan pointed out as she stood up. "But if there's really a gym, then color me interested! I've gotten the badge from Violet City, see? But I suppose you're trying to collect as well, Abra? Er.. Abdul? Abba... Aber...deen? That's your name, right?"

Ab scoffed, but smiled. "Aberdeen, yeah. I guess you can call me Deen if you want," he added, with an unsure glance at Tina. She had been the only one to call him that up until now. He almost regretted suggesting it to Morgan, because some part of him wanted that nickname to be special.

He quickly shaped up again, though. "I've got the Violet badge too! I've decided to challenge all the gyms in Johto. We've got to find the Azalea one!"

"...You make it sound as if we're playing a game of 'where's waldo?'," Morgan followed up with a sigh. "However, I suppose I need to find it too. How about the Gym leader? Did you deduce a possible plan for defeating them?"

"I don't even know what kind of gym leader Azalea has. Probably not bird pokémon, is all I know. So, uh, no. No plan yet! But we'll crush them, right Chocolate?"

Chocolate flexed even more at the mention of his name again.

Letting out a little snicker at Chocolate, Christina's mood seemed to thaw a little as she bent down to pat him on the head, smiling. "Well, I'm planning on challenging the gym too, but I think I'll let you two have your fun first. I want to have a look around, see if anybody's seen Sindy or Winter in town."

"Oh," Ab said, feeling a sting of guilt from having been so cheerful when their pokémon were still gone.

The red-haired girl looked a little absent-minded for a moment before shaking her head, standing up with a smile again. "I hope you two'll do well, though. I've heard the leader here isn't a pushover. One of her Pokémon is supposedly super strong."

"Just a moment," Morgan started. "Sindy and... Winter? You know, if you're looking for the season of winter, try Snowpoint City in Sinnoh."

"No, not like that," Ab said and couldn't help a smile. "She means my Whismur, I named him Winter. And her Quilava, Sindy. They are, uh... Well, we don't really know where they are. So we keep looking."

He put a reassuring hand on Christina's shoulder.

"As a fellow trainer, I should be lecturing you both on how to take better care of your pokemon!" Morgan snapped. "But, it seems as though you.. knew that. I'll help you look, if I see them, that is. How I would be saddened if someone happened to my darling Combusken..."

Christina seemed just about ready to give Morgan an earful, until she added in the second part of her statement. This calmed her down somewhat, offering a light smile towards Aberdeen, nodding her head back at Morgan.

"That's... actually really nice of you Thank you. And... you really have a Combusken? My brother has the evolution of it! A Blaziken! I'd love to meet yours, though."

"I-It's not like I'm doing this for you or anything..." Morgan grumbled as she blushed. "And um, sure. If I remember."

Aberdeen now looked from one girl to the other. He really wanted to check out the gym, if there was one, but at the same time he didn't want to let Christina down.

"So..." he began cautiously, "how about... We look for a gym first? Maybe the gym leader knows about things that are going on around Azalea and might have heard something about missing pokémon?" He was not sure that it sounded convincing, but it was worth a try.

Christina smiled and shook her head. "It's okay Deen. I think it's better if we split up, and I want to prepare before facing the gym first, anyway. But you two go ahead." She paused, looking over at the girl before offering her a hand. "It was nice meeting you, Morgan."

"Okay!" Ab said with relief. "I'll see you later then!"

He turned to Morgan. "So, ready to find a gym?"

"Very well," she said. "However, if you find yourself crying at the end, don't come to me."

​

Vincent & Melody & Sarah ​

After their encounter with the strange creature, things had been rather quiet as Melody, Vincent, and the Beldum exited from the secret passage that the floating eyeball had discovered. Perhaps it was because neither one of the two trainers actually knew what to say, or perhaps the whole event had been so unsettling that neither one of them wanted to really speak at the moment. Truth be told, Melody honestly would not have been too surprised if the creature had decided to eat the both of them right then and there. She was quite surprised that it had not, in fact.

Eventually the brown-haired girl broke the silence, her eyes gazing down to the crystal shard that she now carried in her hand. "...So, what do you think that thing was?" Melody inquired. She knew that Vincent most likely would not have the answer, but felt that something, anything breaking the creepy silence of the cave was more than welcome at this point. "I'm no researcher or anything like that, but that... thing didn't look like any Pokémon I've ever seen..."

"You act like there is only 150 Pokémon around, Melody," Vincent said with a sneer. "I am sure there are plenty more than we think are out there." Vincent powered through the cave with newfound determination to get out and take it some fresh air. The Beldum continued to follow along, occasionally leading the way for the two. Vincent followed along, knowing this time that it wasn't leading to some random cavern. Finally, he saw a glint of light. "Hey, I think this little guy is getting us out of here."

"About time... I've had enough of this cave to last me a life time," Melody replied, not really acknowledging Vincent's earlier remark. She found it a bit odd that the boy did not seem even the slight bit interested in discussing what that creature was, but in the end Melody chalked it up to him maybe just wanting to forget the encounter for the time being. "So... I guess Azalea is right on the other side of this cave, huh?"

Vincent almost smiled as they inched closer to the archway, the sweet embrace of the sunlight within arm's reach. "It better be," he said. "I got a Gym Leader to beat and a badge to claim." The Beldum continued to follow as Vincent stepped outside the cave, floating around the boy's head with a curious look, but seemingly polite enough to allow Vincent and Melody to talk.

"Oh, yeah... I forgot there was a gym over in the next town..." Melody replied, placing her hands behind her back as she walked. "I wonder what kind of gym it is? Hopefully it's not one like the first gym was... I kinda had a disadvantage there, ya know?"

"Not sure," he said with a shrug. "Doesn't matter to me. I'm going to win regardless." The Beldum nearby seemed to dance around in agreement.

"Looks like your friend agrees with you," Melody said, giggling at how Beldum was still floating rather close to Vincent. She gave a curious glance from the Pokémon and over towards the trainer. "So... You gonna catch him or something? He seems to like being around you a lot."

"Oh right. I guess I should, huh?" Vincent asked, before looking at the Beldum. "But, he's got to prove he's got that fighting spirit. Hanzo and Brian do. You think you got it, little guy?" Vincent said, glaring down the Beldum like a predator leering at prey. The Beldum was taken aback by Vincent's rather sudden aggression, but leaned forward to face him. Vincent let a small smirk out, before dropping a Pokeball and leaping back.

Emerging from the light was Brian, the small Pidgey. It was the first time in a while the Bird Pokémon was released from his ball, so it stretched out with a yawn. "Alright, Brian. Simple little match. Weaken the Beldum!" Vincent yelled at the Pidgey, which looked over at the Beldum with a curious look. It was this moment that Vincent realized he would probably want to avoid his go to strategy with Brian, as the Beldum only liked him because cleaning out the single beading red eye. Him liking me already will make taming him a lot easier, the logical part of Vincent's mind said flatly. That and I'll admit, the little guy has grown on me despite leading us to some random giant Pokémon's house.

Vincent's dialogue in his head left Brian open for a sneak attack as the Beldum charged forward with a take down, the one small Pokémon rolling on the dirt ground in a small dust cloud. Rather suddenly, Brian burst out leaving the Beldum in the dust quite literally. "Brian, circle back with a tackle." The Pidgey swooped down with a wide tackle, but seemingly bounced off with Beldum seemingly unfazed from the blow. "Well, that confirms that," Vincent observed. "Steel types are hard to hurt with physical moves like that." Vincent snapped his fingers in frustration. Brian flew back to deliver another tackle again, only dishing out a glancing blow. The Beldum, catching on, charged forward with another Take Down, hurting Brian much more than before.

It was at this point that Vincent caught on to something. Take Down was a damaging move, no doubt but it was high risk. Beldum, despite landing what Vincent could only call a critical hit, seemed wounded himself. The recoil had weakened the Beldum quite significantly. "I doubt he can take much more before fainting," Vincent observed. "Brian, use Gust!" Safely in the air, Brian buffeted the Beldum with a sharp burst of air, barely scratching the surface of Beldum's crystal-like armor. The Beldum lunged forward again, missing Pidgey but the skin of its teeth.

"Too bad you don't have a Fire-type or something..." Melody mused. The girl had taken a seat on a nearby rock and was watching the battle unfold before her. At some point during the battle, she had called Franky out of his ball, and was now happily playing with the Sandile a little bit. "That would make fighting Beldum a bit easier... Oooh, or a Fighting-type!"

"Can it!" Vincent yelled back at Melody. "I already have a fire type in mind, just waiting for him to pop up.." Vincent sighed. "Brian can handle it. I trust him." Vincent believed that the superior maneuverability was all he really needed. That, and the Beldum was hurting itself with its own moves. Figure...Pidgey dishes out two Quick Attacks and manages to avoid the Take Down at least once...yeah, that should do it. "Brian, Quick Attack!" The Pidgey flew down from its vantage point and managed to do a fair amount of damage, seemingly more than before. Yet, even so, it was hard to tell as Beldum's staunch defense had tanked all of Brian's attack. The steel type replied with a quick Take Down, seemingly weaker as if the Pokémon was trying to hold back in order to stay longer in the fight. Brian spun around and snapped out a Quick Attack, deflecting off the Beldum and rolling on the ground due to fatigue and injury. As Pidgey fell back with a quick chirp, Vincent threw a Pokeball at the Beldum, absorbing the steel type in light. The ball squirmed on the ground for a few stiff bounces, before settling on the ground quietly.

"Ooooh, that was some fancy battling right there, Vinny! I knew you could do it the whole time!" Melody cheered, smiling brightly at the boy as she hopped off the rock she had been sitting on and made her way over towards the boy. Franky followed close behind, flashing his own rather toothy-grin at Vincent. "Are ya gonna name him?"

"You really like naming Pokémon eh?" Vincent asked. He hadn't thought of naming the Pokémon . "Tank. Because he basically took all of Brian's moves without flinching," he finally said after a pause, before recalling Pidgey. "How's that name?"

"Kind of a funny name... I mean, it's no Franky or Blossom, but I guess that'll work out fine!" Melody replied happily.

"I prefer my names over yours, personally," Vincent insisted.

A soft ping sound could be heard coming from the dormant Pokeball which lay on the damp and murky cave floor. "YES!" shouted Sarah as she clenched her fist tight. "Another addition to the team". She walked over and picked her new companion up off the floor. She stared at the Pokeball with a big grin before she started to speak softly, "Beldum huh? You're a strange little guy you know that?"

Sarah's grin started to slowly disappear as she placed Beldum's Pokeball on her belt. She let out a sigh and sat down on a small rock nearby. Where are you Fennekin? I miss you a lot, I just hope I'm not too late that's all. As much as Sarah didn't want to admit nor think about it, Fennekin was truly lost. Who knows where the little fox might be. Considering the fact that the thieves have had an entire night's head start and that they possibly might know this region better than Sarah, a better question she should be asking herself is, 'Who should she catch to replace Fennekin? She wiped the tears that were building up in her eyes and decided to press forward, no good sitting in this cave crying now is there?

Sarah slowly pushed through the cave but her progress was halted due to some faint echoing voices. She peered from behind a rock and could see a boy and a girl standing just up ahead.

Sarah swallowed a lump in her throat, dried her eyes as much as she could before jumping up and strolling casually towards the trainers. Time to make a good first impression! thought Sarah as she neared the trainers. Everything seemed to be going well until she felt her left foot catch on something. Her shoe had hit a small stone in the ground causing her to stumble awkwardly towards the trainers. She hastily recovered her footing and smiled nervously as she stopped just a few feet away.

"Hey there! I'm Sarah, it's nice to meet you"

"Right," Vincent replied flatly. "Did you need something?" Vincent scanned the girl and was hardly impressed, turning away from the girl rather quickly and returning his attention to Melody.

Melody smiled softly at the girl who identified herself as Sarah. Extending a hand forward, the brown-haired girl shook Sarah's hand and nodded. "Nice to meet you too! My name is Melody, and this guy behind me is Vinny!" Melody greeted, motioning to the boy standing behind her as she spoke. She slowly looked over at the rocks that Sarah had stumbled over, before glancing back over in her direction. "Um... Are you okay? You didn't hurt yourself in there or anything, did you?"

Sarah was slightly taken back by Vincent's flat and disinterested tone but quickly recovered thanks to Melody. On the surface at least, Melody was easy to read, she was clearly the cheery and jolly force behind this two person team, Vincent on the other hand was a tad bit more difficult. What did he bring to the table that interested Melody? Why was she traveling with such a jerk?

"The rocks? Pfft nah I'm fine, happens all the time. Well I mean it doesn't happen ALL the time but it happens often enough I guess. Heh, anyway uhh … you two wouldn't happen to know the way outta this place? I'm kinda lost and I need to get to the next town as soon as possible" said Sarah in an upbeat tone while keeping her vision mostly focused on Melody.

"There's light that way," Vincent gestured towards the archway in the distance with what appearing to be the evening sun peering in. "You're welcome," Vincent said as monotone as ever. "Let's go Melody," he continued, grabbing her by the collar and slowly dragging her away.

"H-Hey, wait a minute!" Melody replied, almost tripping over her own feet from Vincent's rather sudden decision to escort her out of the cave. The girl managed to pry her shirt from the boy's grasp, before glancing back over her shoulder at Sarah. "She was lost, Vinny. We should at least do the nice thing and let her tag along with us out of the cave! Besides, we were lost in it ourselves not too long ago."

Despite Vincent dragging Melody towards the exit of the cave, Franky had decided to hang back a bit. The Sandile slowly made his way closer to Sarah, slowly circling around the girl curiously. For some reason or another, he decided to slow down a bit while he circled around Sarah's backside, letting out a small gurgle before returning to look up at her with a rather tooth-baring smile.

Once again Vincent made no effort to prove to Sarah that he wasn't anything short of a real jerk. Sarah shrugged off his attitude and watched as both he and Melody headed towards the exit, not Melody's choice of course.

Sarah could faintly hear both her and Vincent talking amongst themselves. They were close enough to hear but no so close so that Sarah could hear everything they were saying. She awkwardly looked around the cave in an attempt to make it seem as if she wasn't listening. The situation was tense to say the least. Sarah continued to look around until her attention was caught by a small little Pokémon letting out a small laugh just behind her. It was a Sandile! And a cheeky one at that!

"Haha! What do you think you're doing back there little guy? Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?" said Sarah in her usual cheery tone. As creepy as the actions of the little Sandile were, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Damn it, Melody. Put your Pokémon in their Pokeballs more often! At least new captures!" Vincent yelled, clearly annoyed. He released the small girl, clearly sighing. "Go get Franky, alright? I know how much you like him already." Vincent rubbed his eyes and crossed his arms, waiting patiently. He would be the first to admit he would like to let them run free more often but he knew how wild Pokémon could be, especially one that were just caught. It would be awhile before he would allow Bane or Tank to run around...then again, Tank seemed to really like him.

"Come on now, I know they can't like being cooped up in those little balls all the time, Vinny..." Melody retorted, quickly making her way towards Sarah and her Sandile. She gave the girl a small smile, quickly bending down to pet Franky on the head. "Um... Sorry about that. I haven't really had him long and I guess he's not too used to following me around outside of his ball... I swear he's never done this before, really!"

"Melody...he did it the first time he saw you, I thought? I mean he did untie your shoes...or at least that's what you claim" Vincent yelled from where he stood, with a sarcastic shrug of the shoulders.

Melody looked over her shoulder at Vincent, shooting him a rather surprised look. "Did he...?" The girl glanced down at Franky, who in turn gave her as innocent of a look as a Sandile could probably muster... which quite honestly did not look too innocent in the slightest bit. "I... Don't recall that."

Sarah returned Melody's smile with a slightly weaker one. She really had no idea how to act right now considering this is the first time that she's met someone who really has no interest in becoming friends, that person being Vincent of course.

"Listen … Melody is it? I really didn't mean to come between you and your … you know, boyfriend" whispered Sarah quietly with an innocent smile.

Melody's eyes widened, a facial expression which quickly resembled a Deerling in the headlights. "W-What? Um, no. No, no no... It's nothing like that at all!" The girl's face was beet-red at this point. She glanced back and forth between the two, trying desperately to get her blush to retreat from her face. "We're just friends! Traveling to Azalea Town together, and that's it! Right, Vinny?"

Vincent walked over and threw his arm around Melody. "Oh come on now, Mel. Let's not lie to our new friend here," Vincent began, half hugging the blushing girl. "We've been dating for a long time. It might even be destiny that we met back at Violet. The road together has felt like months though. She is just shy and likes to sell this...thing short ya know?" he finished, flashing a half smile at both Melody and Sarah.

Melody could not find even one clue at how to form the words at this point. The girl's face grew even more red, if it was possible. She shot Vincent a look at that practically screamed for him to stop at this point.

"I knew it! Come on Melody you don't have to lie about it. You guys look great together and forgive me for saying but Vincent's a good looking guy … his personality could use some work though, but still … a nice catch if I do say so myself" said Sarah with a large grin plastered across her face.

"See? You don't have to be embarrassed because of me~" Vincent egged on, internally laughing as he hugged her closer, his face brushing across hers.

Melody began to quickly squirm and fidget, pulling away from Vincent as best as she could. The girl did manage to trip over her own feet this time as she did this, causing her to land roughly on her backside with a small whimper of embarrassment. Not wanting the moment to become even more awkward than it already had become, Melody did not waste a single moment and picked herself off the ground, quickly dusting herself off before making her way towards the door.

"You were in a hurry to get to Azalea, right?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at Vincent. "Let's hurry up and get going, then! Come on!"

Vincent merely shrugged his shoulders and followed her, keeping some distance from the girl as to give her the breathing room he robbed her of only moments ago.

"What a strange couple!" whispered Sarah as she fought to keep the laughter at bay. They did say they were going to Azalea though. I wonder if that's the next town? she thought as she watched Melody and Vincent slowly head towards the exit.

"Hey! Mind if I tag along with you guys to the next town? Some company would be uhh ... nice for once." said Sarah with a loud enough tone so that both Melody and Vincent could hear her. She darted her eyes back and forth between the two, unsure of which trainer was going to answer first.

Melody turned and looked over at Sarah, a weak smile gracing her lips. While the girl usually tried to be friendly and put the best foot forward in any interactions she happened across, the last thing that she wanted to do at this point was allow the girl her more or less (even if innocently) just embarrassed the living hell out of her. However at the same time, Melody just could not bring up the will to.

Rather, the brown-haired girl found herself replying with a short nod. "Of course you can," Melody said, slowly slipping into yet another long-winded ramble. "I know for starters just how this place can get on someone's nerves quick. I bet it can only get worse when you're traveling around on your own. I know I'd be screaming for some social interaction at this point if it were me. Some dark and damp and creepy cave? I'd be all like, 'Hello?!' You know what I mean?"

"Oh, I think we can imagine that," Vincent quipped with a slight smirk. It only took a few moment for them to leave the cave, having been only a few meters away from the exit. At least it felt that way to Vincent as it felt the couple had been in the cave for months. The light felt blinding to Vincent's eyes. It took several minutes to recover, mostly because the fresh air felt foreign and the view of grass and trees was alien to the young man. "Azalea ought to be close now," Vincent said when his eyes stopped agonizing him.

Sarah slowly jogged after Vincent and Melody, slowing her pace down as she neared them. Her legs were tired enough as it is, the sooner she got to Azela town, the better. All of a sudden, the sharp piercing light of the sun hit Sarah dead in the face causing her to avert her eyes. She took a few seconds but soon regained her composure and looked around. The area around her was paradise compared to the dank and dirty cave she had to trudge through in order to get here. A soft breeze brushed against her face as a smile spread across her face.

"Man is it good to be outta that cave!"

"I'm a bit beat too... I dunno about you guys, but I'm looking forward to finally reaching a Center and taking a load off, ya know?" Melody commented.

Vincent did not really bother replying to either girl and started marching down the path, firmly believing the town's limits were due west in a short walk. At least that's what the maps said, and being from Goldenrod, he vaguely knew where the small town was in relation to his urban mess of a hometown.

"So, what are you gonna do when you reach the town, Vinny?" Melody questioned. "Are you gonna call it a day and get some rest or head straight for the gym?"

"I'll probably sleep," Vincent said nonchalantly. "I normally don't get tired, but that cave...something about it drained me." He figured it was the seeing that strange creature, or the ordeals with dealing with his newly found friend in Beldum that exhausted him so greatly. Regardless of the source, he was feeling fatigued. A quick rest, even for a few hours, would do him wonders.

Melody nodded in response, remaining silent for a moment as the trio made their way into town. "I guess that means that once we get to the Pokémon Center, me and Vinny will be going our separate ways... We've been traveling together for so long now, I was honestly starting to get used to it..."

Vincent walked to the Pokémon Center and shoved his meager collection of Pokeballs on the desk before the nurse and silently requested for healing. It had be a long time since he was in one of these centers so he could feel himself already relaxing. He sighed as he got his team back from the nurse. "Can I get a room please?"

"Of course! For how many?"

Vincent looked back at Melody, considering to continue the joke he planted earlier. "One," he finally said. The nurse handed him a key and he turned to the others. "Good night," he finally said, before walking upstairs and locking himself in his rented room.

"Guess I should probably heal my Pokémon as well. Long journey … you know?" said Sarah in a hesitant tone. She removed all her Pokeballs and placed them slowly and carefully on the counter for the nurse to collect. Sarah used this brief opportunity to awkwardly lean her arm on the counter and slouch her body.

"So … Melody. Um … thanks for letting me tag along. Probably wouldn't have found the exit if it wasn't for you guys, heh. What's your uh, plan now?"

Melody had not actually put a great deal of thought into what her plan of action should actually be up until this point. The girl knew that she wanted to take on Azalea Town's gym at some point, but there was also the point that Napoleon was still missing. It was true that Melody had crossed through Union Cave and caught Franky without his presence. However at the same time, Melody knew that she could not keep plowing ahead on her journey without her Buizel. She wondered if it was possible for the girl to find some information on those Team Rocket thugs who had taken him here.

"Well, I do need to take on the gym while I'm here, but... I need to look for someone," Melody finally replied. "Someone took something really important from me, so I'm gonna look around starting tomorrow to see if I can turn anything up. What about you?"

"I'm sorry to hear that someone took something from you. Truth is, I lost something really special as well and every day that I don't find it, it hurts me a little more inside. Heh, sorry… didn't mean to bring the mood down. So! You said there's a gym in town? Wouldn't mind challenging it myself."

Sarah knew that finding Fennekin was top priority but at the same time she didn't want to pass up the opportunity to challenge the gym. Challenging the gym meant using up time that would be better suited to finding her lost Pokémon. Thoughts raced through her head until they vanished at the sound of a voice. Sarah quickly snapped out of her trance and looked behind her to find the nurse standing with all of Sarah's Pokeballs on the counter.

"Thank you" smiled Sarah as she picked them up and clipped them onto her belt.

Melody took a moment to hand the nurse the balls containing her own Pokémon. She was a little confused about Sarah's sudden change in demeanor. However, what she was sure about was that whatever had happened to Sarah, it definitely reminded her of herself. Melody seemed a bit apprehensive about poking into Sarah's private concerns, but she had something she wanted to find out.

"You lost something too?" Melody replied in question, after what more than likely felt like an eternity passing. "Um... If it's not too much trouble... Would you mind telling me what?"

Sarah was a bit taken back by Melody's sudden interest in her problem. Of course there was no denying that Sarah was the one who brought the subject up in the first place so naturally Melody would inquire to see what's wrong. Sarah *did* want someone to talk to about her troubles, she was just unsure if she should do it now. After battling with herself for a few second she came to the conclusion that she may as well tell Melody. She's the only "friend" Sarah has made on this journey so far, and who knows when the next person wil come along. She inhaled and then exhaled deeply before looking at Melody to tell the story.

"Okay so … before I set out on my journey I visited Professor Pine to get my first Pokémon, I chose a Fennekin. We traveled together as best friends right up to the point where I fell asleep one night in the woods and when I woke up in the morning, her Pokéball was gone. Stolen by some thieves in the night. Perhaps the same ones I battled at the Museum not that long ago? Who knows! All I know for sure is that Fennekin is out there somewhere and I don't have the slightest clue as to how to find her … but anyway. Sorry if I made the mood more depressing that I already had. It was just nice to finally talk to someone about it," said Sarah as she masked the tears welling up in her eyes with a smile.

Melody clenched her fists as she listened to Sarah's story. So this was not just a single incident that happened to herself and Vincent. The brown-haired girl began to wonder whether or not this sort of thing had happened to Christina and the others. Still, she could not just leave Sarah standing there on the verge of tears. Melody stepped closer to Sarah and put a hand on the taller girl's shoulder.

"The same thing happened to me and Vinny on our way here, Sarah. Both of us lost a Pokémon to a thief just like you," Melody explained. "I lost my Buizel and he lost his Honedge. Vinny says he knows who did it though... He blamed it on some group of thugs named Team Rocket... In fact, I've already had a run in with one of them myself..."

"So … Team Rocket then? Do you know where they are?! We could go get our Pokémon back right now!" said Sarah in an abrupt and hasty tone, taking little time to digest what Melody had just said.

"Wait … you said you had a run in with them. What did they look like?" added Sarah once Melody's last sentence had caught her attention. If this Team Rocket that Melody describes looks the same as the thugs that Sarah had run into at the museum then it'll make much more sense. Sarah's confrontation of the thugs at the museum must have angered them and in order to seek revenge they knocked her unconscious with a Koffing. However perhaps stealing her Pokémon was an even greater method of teaching her not to meddle in other people's business.

Melody closed her eyes for a moment, thinking back to her encounter with the Team Rocket member she had way back while on the way to Violet City. "Let's see... I think they wore a jumpsuit-like thing... It was all black, with white gloves and boots. They had a black hat too... Oh, yeah! And this one had a big, red 'R' on his chest. Does that look like the guys you ran into?"

"I do remember them being dressed in all back … hmm, but I don't remember an 'R' on their chest. I did see a face, pretty clearly actually."

She had never given it much thought but this quick recollection of the events had reminded Sarah that she got a pretty good look at one of the thieves. So much so that she'd probably be able to identify the thug if she met them face to face.

"Hmm... Well they do sound pretty similar regardless," Melody replied. She paused for a moment as the nurse came back, collecting her team from the woman with a quick word of thanks before resuming her conversation with Sarah once more. "I think we're definitely talking about the same people here, so yeah! I think we should definitely see what we can do about hunting them down and all that sort of thing."

"Alright then! Umm … so where do we start? I know next to nothing about this town. You mentioned there was a gym, maybe the gym leader knows something we don't. You wanna go check it out?" quizzed Sarah as she felt her spirits lift. She was finally getting somewhere in her search for Fennekin, as long as she kept tabs on Melody and Vincent then the chance of finding her Pokémon were greater.

Melody nodded. "Sounds like a good idea to me. If anyone probably knows anything weird going on in town or stuff like that, it's probably the gym leader. Although it is starting to get a bit late, yeah? Maybe we should start this plan off in the morning?"

Sarah took a quick glance outside and seen that it was indeed getting late. "Maybe you're right yeah. Get a good night's sleep and then be well rested for tomorrow Sounds good!"

Sarah turned herself around and called the nurse over. "Could I get a room for one please?"

"Certainly"

Sarah got the key from the nurse before turning to Melody. "Guess I'll see you sometime tomorrow then?"

"Sounds like a plan, sure!" Melody replied. "We'll meet up down here first thing in the morning, and then we'll see what we can find out."

Melody smiled brightly at Sarah. The shorter girl was honestly starting to have a good feeling about this whole incident. Sure, she really did not know Sarah that well yet. However, Melody could tell that she was an honest girl that cared about her Pokémon just as much as she did.

"Alright well I'll see you tomorrow morning then Melody. Bye!" said Sarah as she returned Melody's smile. She soon turned on her heel and headed towards her room while the days happenings flashed through her head. She finally reached her room and slipped inside, being sure to lock the door behind her.​

Aberdeen & Morgan
Azalea Town's Gym

It was not difficult to find the gym once they knew that there was one. It was one of the largest and most peculiar buildings on the southern side of the town, near the forest.

"The gym doesn't look very imposing," Aberdeen said with a raised eyebrow when he and Morgan approached it on the street. "Rather, it looks like... A daycare or something? For pokémon. Sorta cuddly. You know what I mean?"

"Sure, if I actually paid attention to all of your babble," Morgan replied. "Hm, but it does look rather.. cozy? Is this the gym?"

"Unless they have put this sign up in the wrong place, it probably is," Ab suggested, patting a wooden sign with his hand, bearing the words 'AZALEA GYM'. "Let's go inside already!"

"Hmph," Morgan huffed as she accompanied the young man inside. "Yes sir, Mr.Leader! Tch."

The inside was not quite as daycare-like. But it was like a greenhouse. A jungle, if you will. There was no entrance hall or reception desk - instead you stepped right in onto a grass covered floor, thick bushes lining the path in front of the trainers like low walls. There were also real, proper trees growing here and there in the big building.

"Now we're talking!" Aberdeen said eagerly. His Quilladin had been put back inside his pokéball, but if he was out he would have shared his trainer's enthusiasm.

"Hm, a grass field? And actual trees..." Morgan observed. Then after a brief chuckle, "The gym leader.. maybe they like steel types?"

Ab looked at her questioningly and was about to say something, but then changed his mind and smiled instead. "Or maybe they're a really hardcore vegetarian?"

I was only joking, but the scary thing is, I'm not sure he is... Morgan can only think. "Really though, I'm guessing either bug types, or grass types, so, I hope you'll be prepared! But honestly, you'll probably flop like a Magikarp. Good luck though!"

Aberdeen shook his head as he plowed forwards through the grass. "Why do you do that?" he asked with a chuckle, without looking back at her.

Morgan blinked once. "Why do I do..what?" she asked.

But before Aberdeen could respond, someone jumped out in front of them. Aberdeen jumped high and nearly stumbled into Morgan.

"You! Were you invited?"

It was a girl with huge glasses and tiny pigtails, glaring at them with arms crossed. She was dressed in laced trousers and a slightly worn buttoned shirt.

"I thought anyone could come into a gym and challenge the leader!" Aberdeen tried.

"So you're not spies then?" the girl asked, emphasizing the 'spies' word.

"No," Morgan replied slightly annoyed. "Do I even look like one to you -- Why would spies even come to a dump like this?"

The girl narrowed her eyes towards Morgan for a second or two, but then eased up drastically. "Nevermind that. So, you are here to challenge Bugsy?" she instead asked with a wide smile.

"... Bugsy?" Aberdeen repeated, unsure if he had heard what he assumed was a name correctly.

"I assume Bugsy is the gym leader, yes?" Morgan guessed. "Then who are you?"

Aberdeen was still snickering at the name when the girl took a step towards them and put her hands on her hips.

"I am a very important person! Crucial to this gym, actually! Without me, there would be no-"

"Lara, are you intimidating challengers again?" came another voice from behind the 'important' girl.

She turned around, flustered, and apologized rapidly. "I was just telling them about the gym, leader!"

"You did not!" Ab interjected, but then saw the person who was walking up to them.

It was a fairly short, lean person with light skin and soft lines on their face. The hair was a shimmering purple, reaching down to the shoulders and framing the face elegantly. The eyes were alert but friendly as they surveyed the two new trainers curiously. The clothes were not really elegant though - they rather reminded Aberdeen of the farmers he had seen on the outskirts of Cherrygrove.

All in all, Aberdeen couldn't help thinking that this leader girl, whatever silly name she might have, was nothing short of hella cute.

"So you're Bugsy," Morgan said, wanting to make sure. "I'm Morgan, and that guy is Aberdeen. What's with this Gym anyway? There are actual trees and grassfields.. are you trying to start a farm or something?"

"Most bug pokémon enjoy the forest life," Bugsy told them as he motioned for them all to follow him further in through the grass and bushes. "I often venture out to Ilex forest and study them in their natural habitat, but over the years some have followed me home and I have even trained some to become strong battlers. And in order to care for them properly, I set my gym up to reflect their natural habitat as well as I could."

"Bug pokémon? Oh, you're specializing in bugs! Haha, I can't wait to see Tina's reaction to this," Aberdeen giggled. "Say, are you scared of bugs, Morgan?"

"Hah, you're talking to a girl who has a poster of a Scyther," Morgan remarked. "I THINK I can enjoy a few bug pokemon. Except for those.. Ariados, ugh."

"Not Ariados?" Bugsy said with his smooth voice. "Pity, I find them very intelligent."

He pointed upwards as he spoke, and of course there was not one but two rather large, red spider pokémon watching them from the branches of the nearest tree, just above their heads as they were walking.

"U-Ugh," Morgan gagged. "I-It was just something that happened when I was younger. A friend of mine decided it'd be a good idea to surprise me with a Ariados crawling all over my body when I slept. When I woke up it was... uuuugh... Of course I punched him on the nose later on, but... soooooo muuuuuch leeeeegs...."

"You've got a point," Aberdeen chuckled. "There are many legs there. But that just makes them fast!"

"Fast and cunning," Bugsy agreed, and Aberdeen felt his cheeks go red from the approval.

Morgan turned to give Aberdeen a hard, yet awkward look. "Say, Aberdeen?"

"Mhm?" Ab responded, snapping out of it.

"Shut up."

"So, you were thinking of challenging me and my bug pokémon battlers?" the leader continued as they turned around a particularly colorful shrubbery and came out into a clearing. A clearing that had the unmistakable white lines of an arena painted on the grass.

"I suppose I'll observe and let this one go ahead of me," Morgan suggested. "I'm curious on how you two will battle, after all this.. bug talk."

"Oh, but ladies first, right?" Aberdeen countered with a wide grin. "If I go first, you might run away from fright before you get the chance to battle yourself!"

"Fiiiiine, I guess I'll be first," Morgan accepted while rolling her eyes. She then turned to Bugsy. "Just say where, and I guess we can start."

"I'll cheer for you!" Ab assured her. Truth was that he just got the idea of watching Morgan battle Bugsy and get a grasp of what kind of tactics he could use in his own battle later. And also... He didn't want to make a fool out of himself in front of this cute gym leader by not being prepared.

Bugsy backed away from them, taking a spot on the other side of the grass field. "Right here," he said calmly. "Three pokémon each is my suggestion. 'No potions' rules. Will that work for you?"

"That'll be fine," said Morgan. "In other words the first one to lose all three of their pokemon will be the loser.. something that I'm familiar with!" She then got out her first pokeball. "I'm ready when you are!"

"You're familiar with being the loser?" Aberdeen asked from behind her with a raised eyebrow.

"Silence in the peanut gallery!" Morgan warned and got a stifled giggle in reply.

"Then let the match begin!" called out Bugsy. His first pokemon.. was set. "I choose one of my favourite pokemon, Butterfree!" Soon Morgan was faced off against a small winged butterfly-like creature; a Butterfree, hovering quickly with its silver wings. "She's pretty cool, huh?"

"Super cool!" Aberdeen commented happily from his spot safely behind Morgan, recalling an attempt of his to capture a similar pokémon a few routes ago...

"I guess, but it's still not like one of MY favourites!" replied Morgan, throwing her pokeball. "Mareep! Give this guy a shocking experience!" Her prized Mareep came right out of her pokeball, as it cried once, and shook her head, removing some of the excess woll that usually appears on her head.

"SUPER cool!" Ab cried again. "It looks almost like Terribolt, my-"

Morgan cut him off. "Now try this! Mareep - use Charge!"

Mareep then relaxed, as it used her wool to start building up elecrical current to be stored. It also seemed as though it had a fun time doing it - she always loved to curl up against televisions or dryers, just to absorb electricity for herself. Of course, not without a scalding from Morgan at times.

"I see! You like to play the passive game, waiting for your chance!" pointed out Bugsy. "Very admirable! But how about this - butterfree, use your Poison Powder!" Butterfree cried in agreement, flapping her wings to release a small toxic cloud that scattered, covering the field, including Morgan's Mareep, with poison spores. Morgan's Mareep started to cough as it was soon taken by the poison.

"Wh-what is this?!" Morgan said in examination. Her Mareep stumbled here and there, as it didn't seem she could regain proper footwork. "Poison...?"

"Yeah, and as long as your pokemon are in the field, it will slowly sap away on its strength. One of the many wonders of Bug pokemon!" declared Bugsy. "Follow up with a Tackle attack, Butterfree!" His pokemon swopped in, as it readied its wings to do a diving tackle charge towards the target.

"Think you're confident enough to hit us with a physical attack?!" Morgan said in a somewhat frustrated tone. "Mareep, counter with a Thundershock attack!" Mareep then used up her stored energy to release a stronger-than-normal electric attack, all thanks to the Charge from eariler. But Bugsy didn't appear to be worried.

"Actually, I was expecting that!" he boasted. "Butterfree - Confusion!" Soon his pokemon lit up its eyes in a tremendous blue light, as it appeared to release telekenetic waves of energy towards the lightning attack, as though it quickly appeared to be taking control of the energy itself. Morgan could only stand bewildered as the Butterfree repelled the Thundershock attack, right back towards Mareep, followed up with a quick Tackle to make it stumble on its belly.

"It.. repelled the attack...?" recapped Morgan. "Even after the charge to make it stronger..."

"You shouldn't underestimate the psychic powers of a Butterfree!" Bugsy explained. "See, back when I was younger, I raised a young Caterpie. My dad always told me that when a Caterpie became cornered, it's true power will sine. That of course, became appearent when it first evolved into a Metapod, and was attacked by a wild flock of Spearow - it evolved into the Butterfree you see before you, and managed to paralyze the swarm with just a flick flutter of its Stun Spore. As for the rest of her powers... well. You'll see soon enough!"

"Still cool," Aberdeen breathed.

"Gh...!" Morgan uttered.

"Butterfree, keep up the pressure with a Gust attack!" he commanded. His Butterfree then scopped back up in it's comfortable flying position, as it again used its wings to release a strong gust of wind, rendering Morgan's Mareep unable to move, let alone stand up.

"K-Keep strong, Mareep!" Morgan encouraged, as she herself was trying to fight the winds. Her Mareep struggled to get back up to its feet, thanks to the strong winds of course, but soon, it had the strength to keep going, and finally back on all fours. "O-Okay, fight back with your Thunder Wave!" Morgan then ordered. Mareep mustered up her strength to release a strong Thunder Wave attack, to push back against the strong Gust of wind.

"Sorry, but we already know what to do!" proclaimmed Bugsy. "Push it back with Confusion!" Butterfree then stopped the strong Gust move to lit up its eyes again, releasing her trademark telekenetic waves to combat Mareep's Thunder Wave. Like before, it proved to be too strong, as the electric move was sent right back.

"Morgan!" Aberdeen shouted, not able to sit still and literally jumping up and down. "He's a gym leader, he's seen every sensible tactics before. You've gotta fight crazily! Be unexpected! Confuse HIM!"

Ugh, I know that Aberdeen, I know! Morgan thought to herself. But between the offensive and defensive traits of that Butterfree of his, how can I counter? Plus he IS smarter than he looks... Morgan stood for a while as her Mareep tried to recover for the electroparalysis. Electric attacks weren't working, so it was definitely time to try something new. At least, that's what she thought.

"Okay, this time we'll move in close. Mareep - Tackle!" she commanded. Mareep cried, as she, along with the best that her short little legs could take her, charged right in towards the enemy.

As it looked like the powder was going to fall, Morgan had an idea. "You're not the only one who can be adaptable!" she shouted in delight. "Mareep, use your Cotton Spore!" Mareep cried once more as she lit up her wool. Some of her woll came out from her body, and soon developed larger, and larger, as the incoming Stun Spore was engulfed by it. But soon, combined with the mixture of the spores, the cotton became too big to Butterfree to avoid, and thus, it bcame covered in a mixture of all sorts of spores, rendering it unable to fly and flap its wings as much as she wanted to.

"Uh--Oh no!" Bugsy cried. "But how did you--"

"You're not the only one who studyed up in science!" Morgan boasted. "No more menuverabilty from your precious Bug! But don't worry, cause Mareep is gonna shock it to hiiiigh heaven! Thundershock attack!" Mareep sent out one more of its electric type attack move, this time shocking the Butterfree in contact, making it a Super-effective hit, thus making the Butterfree drop, and soon, it completely stopped moving.

"N-No way," Bugsy said in disbelief. She's unable to battle! Darn!

"Yes!" Morgan cheered, as she congratuated her victorious Mareep with a couple of pats on her head, and a brief hug. "You did admirably!" she complimented, with Mareep giving a happy cry.

"That's more like it!" Aberdeen cheered too. "Bugsy will never know what hit her!"

At that comment, the gym leader looked in Aberdeen's direction with a strange smile, which made his heart skip a beat. Not really because it was pleasant to have 'her' look at him, but rather because he suddenly became very self-conscious and nervous. But Bugsy left no direkt remark, and instead turned back to the challenger.

"Well done! You're pretty fast to think on your feet!" Bugsy complimented. "However! Let's see you stand up to... Heracross!" He threw his second pokeball in the field releasing a fairly large single-horned stag beetle: a Heracross. It wounded up its horn and cried, preparing for a battle.

I've never faced a Heracross before... Morgan thought. It's a Bug and a Fighting type, if I recall. I'll try to hit it hard and fast! Then, with a change in her direction she shouted, "Mareep! Use your Thundershock!" Mareep charged her thunder energy from her wool and let loose a barage of lightning jolts towards the bettle pokemon.

"Heracross! Use your Horn Attack!" Bugsy ordered. Heracross lowered its horn as it started to charge in head first towards the electric attack. Unfortunately for Mareep, the Thundershock attack proved to be moot as Heracross used its horn to deflect the attack like it didn't even faze it at all. Soon Mareep found herself to be stuck hard and fast itself with Heracross's powerful horn, causing it to lose it's balance and drop. It stopped moving.

"Mareep!" Morgan called out. Mareep only gave a small cry as it couldn't move. It was unable to battle. Morgan got out Mareep's pokeball and returned it safely. "But how...? In just one hit too?!"

"Strong, right?" Bugsy asked. "See, I caught Heracross one day in one of my expeditions. It was sucking the honey out from a nearby tree, happliy enjoying its meal. Course, Heracross are also known to be so powerful that it can send a tree hurdling to the ground like a day in the beach! And, this one is one of my favourite bug pokemon of all!"

"Cool, I want a Heracross too!" Aberdeen mused in the background.

"Alright, fine!" replied an annoyed Morgan. With no time to hesitate, it was time for her next pokemon. "Let see how it stands up to my new pokemon, Dratini!" she released her Dratini that she caught from the Union cave. Her Dratini cried as it swoohed its tail back and forth. Of course, Morgan had little to no practice battling with her Dratini, since she sort of only learned about its moves from the last minute.

"Wrap attack!" she ordered. Dratini slithered its away as fast it could towards the Heracross. Before it could react, Heracross found it's horn wrapped around Dratini. "Now use Thunder Wave!" Morgan quickly planned. Dratini released a sudden static electric pulse that shocked Heracross to its core, rendering it paralyzed. But what was odd was... Bugsy didn't mind it?

"That's what I'd hoped you do," said Bugsy in amusement. Morgan stoo there confused. Why would he intentionally let his pokemon be paralyzed? It was then that she saw it - Heracross's eyes turned a bright red as it soon seemed to have a strange.. red aura. It then managed to shake her Dratini off with its powerful orn with ease, as Dratini could only fall to the ground.

"Use Night Slash!" Bugsy then ordered. Heracross's claws turned a dark black as it quickly slashed Morgan's staggered Dratini with all it's might, Dratini stood little change against it, as it crashed, having it's snake-like body all sprawled out. It stopped moving, indicated it fainted on the spot. Morgan stood in disbelief. Again, one hit? But that move seemed way to powerful. Was there something more to that strength..?

"Seems like you're a tad confused," Bugsy started to say. "As I said before, Heracross is one tough bug, and do you know why? It's also because its a fighting type with a strong fighting spirit. You see, what I've learned from this Heracross is that certain fighting pokemon like it have a remarkable fighting sense, which is directly triggered whenever it's hit with a stats conflicting move, like paralysis. I knew that your Dratini had to have a move like it somewhere, so, all I had to do is wait for my chance. You activated Heracross's fighting power: it's Guts!"

Morgan couldn't even begin to reply, as she returned her Dratini back in its pokeball. Fortuantely for Morgan, all was not lost. She had an ace up her sleeve this whole time, waiting for her chance. And now, the time has finally arrived. "This isn't over yet! You can do this, Combusken!" she then sent out her strongest pokemon - her Combusken. The embers that charred all around it soon flew off as Combusken readied its fighting stance. "You're not the only one who has a pokemon with a fighting spirit!"

Ab only got more and more excited, finally getting to see Morgan's champion. He raised his pokédex to take its readings, but the result made him raise an eyebrow.

"Ah, so you had a fire pokemon after all!" Bugsy pointed out. "Not bad at all! Combusken is actually quite rare around in this region! But still, we've been fighting against Fire pokemon for as long as I can remember; this isn't new to us!"

"My Combusken isn't like the other Fire-type rifraf!" Morgan boasted. "Let's see how you handle this! Combusken's Ember!" Combusken leaped and spewed its trademark fire-type move, showing Bugsy's Heracross with a baragge of Ember swarms. "Too bad your pokemon wasn't fast enough!"

It's true... Bugsy could only think. The paralysis from before hasn't died at all.Only one thing to do. His Heracross slowly recovered. "Aerial Ace attack!" From the order, Heracross used the last of her strength to charge head first with a burst of speed. Of course if this hit, it would have been more of a super-effective hit then Heracross's other moves. Aberdeen stopped his pondering and gasped at the scene on the battlefield.

"Combusken, just hold still!" Morgan then called out. In truth, this was a hidden technique, so to speak, that she and Combusken had been working on ever since Combusken evolved from a Torchic. There was one thing that Morgan noticed upon meeting her new evolved pokemon - how powerful it's strong arms were. Heracross flew in closer and closer, as Combusken stood there, ready. Soon, the time was set... "Now, grab it!" Combusken quickly reacted, as she was able to block the fast attack, grabbing a hold of Heracross's long horn.

"Heracross, get out of there!" Bugsy shouted. But it was too late.

"Now, throw it!" Morgan then ordered,as the strong fire-hen threw the stag-bettle as hard as she could, causing the Heracross to crash on the field nearby. Combusken, following another command from Morgan, used it's fantastic Ember attack to deliver a finishing blow, directly onto the Heracross, causing it to faint.

"Heracross..." Bugsy shrieked as he looked on. Heracross didn't respond, as it simply laid there, unconscious. Bugsy then returned it to its pokeball. "I never thought that your Combusken was on such another level! I mean, your other pokemon were good, but your Combusken is in a whole different league from them all together! I'm quite impressed! But then again... you're not the only one who has a ace up their sleeve!"

Bugsy had just one more pokemon left to send out. And this was it. His eyes seemed more triumphant and as brashful as ever. He had a good feeling about this next battle. "This is it! Scyther!" He threw his pokeball, as it landed on the field. Released was an even larger and more menacing bug pokemon, with seemed to have really large an sharp looking blades... no other pokemon deserved to be called a Scyther. It raised it sickles upon a fighting stance, preparing for battle. It then leered upon Morgan's Combusken, only to have a compensated stare down in return.

"To think that you even had a Scyther too!" said Morgan in the midst of starstruckness. "After this is over, I'm soooo catching one!"

"Yeah! Out of all the bug pokemon out there, I'd say Scyther is my favourite!" Bugsy explained. "See one time ago, I met this Scyther in a forest as it battled against other Scyther, which I guess it was for territory. The amazing thing was that out of 20, or even 30 of them, this Scyther always seemed to rise at the top. I can even tell just by looking at, this Scyther might have been fighting all of his life."

"From all of his life..." Morgan repeated. Meaning this Scyther must of gotten through some very harsh battling and weather conditions. Even so, no matter how strong it was, it had to be taken down. Her Combusken looked back at her. Combusken itself was ready. Morgan nodded in agreement. "Alright then! Combusken! Ember attack!" she called, singalling her Combusken to perform a wide spray of Ember showers.

"Dodge it with Agility!" responded Bugsy. His Scyther ran and leaped out of the way from the danger with such incredible speed. "Now, False Swipe!" His Scyther with his speed then ran towards Combusken, preparing his scikle for a devestating swipe.

"Block it, Combusken!" Morgan quickly ordered. Combusken fortuantely reacted fast enough to block the move from its Scyther foe, with its forearm. "Now that we've got him at a point blank range, quick, use Ember again!" Combusken prepared its attack.

"Dodge with Quick attack!" commanded the bug-gym leader, with Scyther in a short of a blink of an eye, leaped out of Combusken's Fire-move range, as the Scyther then landed in a more favourable position. It then came back with even more force, delivering a strong tackle towards Combusken, causing it to stagger a bit. However, it soon got back up on its feet, retaliating with a strong Peck attack towards the bug pokemon, most likely as a sign of pride, as Scyther itself slowly recovered as well. Combusken and Scyther soon find themselves short on breath. They were both starting to get exhausted.

"We don't have much left to give..." Bugsy explained to his tired Scyther. "So, we're going to have to end this with one more attack. All or nothing!" His Scyther cried in agreement.

"Combusken! You can do it!" Morgan cheered on to her pokemon. "Let's not hold back this time!" Combusken nodded and cried to agree.

"Focus Energy!" they both ordered. Scyther and Combusken both stood on, closing their eyes. as it seemed that they were getting themselves pumped up and ready for their next move. They both were soon ready.

"Scyther, use your Quick Attack!" Bugsy then ordered. His pokemon readied itself as it soon quickly used its wings to bring its body to deliver a strong tackle towards the fire pokemon.

Bugsy... you're not the only one who has a past with their pokemon! Morgan stood in thought. I had Combusken ever since she was a Torchic, as while we always had our tough times during our travels, she was the first one who taught me what it meant.. what it meant to have a Pokemon.. a true friend. Morgan lit up her eyes. "Combusken, use your Double Kick!" Combusken cried as she leaped in the air, did a backflip, and readied its powerful legs to deliver a barage of kicks.

The two pokemon were coming closer and closer to each other, as they both soon collided as fast as the eye can see. The two pokemon then landed on the ground, as they simply stood there, backs towards each other. Morgan and Bugsy stood there in silence as the two pokemon waited... and waited. And then, it was all over. Scyther fell down on its belly, as it was unable to move, leaving Combusken as the winner.

"It can't be!" Bugsy said as he looked on. "Scyther... lost...? Aw man..."

"Morgan then ran up to congratulate her pokemon with a successful hug. "I knew you wouldn't let me down babe..." she whispered to her pokemon. Her Combusken cried in happiness, taking in her affection. It was then that Bugsy came up to pat his own pokemon on the head.

"Well done, my friend," Bugsy said in a compliment. His Scyther wasn't too used to losing, but, his pride fortuantely can make him accept the loss, as long as it was to a worthy opponent. Bugsy then returned it to its pokeball, and approached the victorious Morgan.

"It looks like my research isn't complete just yet," he said. "You're an expert on pokemon indeed! Congratulations, you win! This is the Gym's prized posession... the Hive Badge!" He then got out a badge that looked just like a small ladybug. It was unique to a bug-type gym alright, but, Morgan happliy accepted it.

"Thank you very much for this! Uh, I'm not going to have to say something dorky like.. I JUST GOT... THE HIVE BADGE! or something like that, right?" Morgan could only ask.

"Not if you don't want to!" Ab assured her, coming up to put an encouraging hand on her shoulder. "That was amazing. You really are a battler, Morgan. I thought Heracross had you for a while there!"

"Yeah, well, I haven't even seen one before let alone battle one," Morgan replied with a small blush. "But.. thanks. I guess."

"By the way, before I forget," Ab added, pulling up his pokédex again. It was currently showing a picture of a regular Combusken. "I was wondering... Is your pokémon shiny too? You know, like Chocolate is."

Morgan blinked. "What the heck is a 'Shiny pokémon?" she asked. "Well granted my Combusken's fur IS shiny, thank you very much, I combed it and washed it each day..."

"No, no I mean, it's color is shiny. Different! Look," Aberdeen explained and let Chocolate out of its pokéball. The brown Quilladin smiled happily at them, and Aberdeen made the pokédex scan him instead. A green pokémon showed up on the screen, not a brown one. "Your Combusken has sort of different colors as well, I'm sure! Are you on Pine's mission too?"

"Oh, you mean that old bat," she hissed as she crossed her arms. "I said I was THINKING about it. As in, if I don't have anything else to do. Trust me, I'm a person that tends to have more important things to do. But whatever, there's nothing to think about, really. Combusken is only Combusken. My Combusken."

"Haha, of course. And Chocolate is Chocolate! But that's cool, I meet more and more Pine trainers on this journey. It's cool!"

"Wait a minute," Bugsy suddenly said, having listened in. "Are these pokémon given to you by professor Pine?"

"They were, yeah," Aberdeen nodded. "Only Chocolate. The other pokémon on my team, I've captured myself! And, well, they are not shiny."

"Yeah, don't wet your pants over it," Morgan suggested. "I've met a few others who gotten their pokemon from that old bat too. Apparently though, those idiots can't find theirs at the moment."

At that, Aberdeen just opened and closed his mouth and gave Morgan a betrayed glare. "We didn't just lose them. Some think they got kidnapped. There's nothing funny about that."

"Your pokémon were kidnapped?" Bugsy asked.

"Maybe," Aberdeen sighed, his earlier bright mood now ruined as he thought of his Whismur.

Bugsy looked from one to the other and seemed to be thinking hard. "If Pine trusts you, so will I," he finally said. "Listen... You are not the first trainers to have told me that their pokémon were stolen. Somewhere between Azalea and Violet, right? I think I know who did it."

Aberdeen's eyes grew wide. "What? Who?!"

"I can't tell you here," Bugsy said, even glancing around the battlefield as if worried that someone was already listening in. "But I could really use your help. I can't promise anything, but there might be a way for you to see your pokémon again, if you help me. So, if you feel daring and believe that your pokémon friends are worth much to you, please meet me... behind the pokémon center at midnight."

"Whoa," Aberdeen said, not sure that he understood what was going on all of a sudden.

"B-Bugsy..." Morgan said quietly. "What's the meaning of--"

"Did you steal our pokémon?" Ab shot out.

But Bugsy only looked surprised. "No, certainly not! But there are things going on in Azalea... All over Johto as a matter of fact. Like I said, I can't explain it here. But please bring your pokémon team and meet me tonight. And..." He seemed to hesitate for a moment. "Feel free to tell any other Pine trainer you might meet to do the same."

Aberdeen threw an unsure glance at Morgan. Morgan shot a glance right back.

"...Alright then," Morgan agreed. "If it means getting the tweps back their pokemon, I guess I'll cooperate."

"Me too!" Aberdeen agreed. "Count on us, Bugsy."

The gym leader gave them a relieved smile. "Thank you. Now, I have some people I should talk to... See you at midnight. And Morgan," he added towards the girl. "Great battle, again!"

He disappeared into the foliage and Aberdeen let out a breath. "That was odd," he said. "But I knew you had the heart in the right place!" he added towards the girl. "I wonder what it's all about, really."

Morgan didn't reply, but simply crossed her arms and looked up at the celing above. Just what is going on in this region...?

They made their way out from the gym in quiet contemplation, and it wasn't until they were outside the front doors that Aberdeen facepalmed himself.

"I forgot to challenge him to a gym battle myself!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, right now it's better that you didn't," Morgan pointed out. "But you'll see him later on, don't worry. You should ask your friends to join us too. I know someone named Blaine, so, if I see him, I'll spread the word too."

"Okay," Aberdeen sighed, but then shaped up. "Yeah, we should let the others know. But first... Aren't you getting hungry? How about lunch!"

"ME, eat with YOU?" Morgan took in. "I think I lost my appetite."

​