CHAPTER 216

Pauline tapped her knuckles against the Pokemon Center's reception counter. She wasn't speaking to anyone, nor was she blocking the line, but she couldn't help but stick around. Mankey had been on the point of collapse, so Pauline had caught and brought him back to Veilstone, but she knew that the longer a Pokemon had terrible wounds, the harder they were to fix, even with Ditto Cells. She was nowhere smart enough to know how the hell they even worked, but it had taken a few hours for her to get here. She just hoped the Pokeball had helped at least.

Run over by a truck, she thought. It was in the headlines already. Pokemon were smart enough to avoid the roads, so it almost never happened. The driver had been Teleported back to a hospital by the Rangers and his half-destroyed truck had been towed back to the city.

"Pauline King?"

The name took a few seconds to register, and she had to be called two more times for her to realize it was her they wanted. She was just so tired due to everything that had happened last night, and she hadn't even slept a minute. One of the nurses walked up to her with a Pokeball on a tray.

"Yes?" She muttered.

"Your Mankey is perfectly healthy. We recommend no training or straining for a week, but other than that, he's fine. There is a scar above his eye, but the eye itself is in perfect condition."

Pauline sighed in relief. "Thank you!"

She didn't really want to tell her he wasn't her Mankey. She'd only caught him to save him, after all.

The girl wandered into the cafeteria to grab a sandwich to go and then after sending a message to Denzel and Emilia, she flew back onto route 214. With her signal, Braviary landed thirty minutes out of the city, and Pauline quickly hopped off the bird with Mankey's Pokeball in hand. She also released Vigoroth and Gothitelle, primarily by instinct than anything else. She was running on fumes at this point, and she expected Mankey to attack her.

Vigoroth shivered in excitement, as he always did whenever he was out. Calming down was impossible for him, but it beat running around like a maniac, and he was pretty level-headed these days even if he didn't look the part.

"Don't hurt him unless he attacks," she warned.

Very well, Gothitelle nodded.

Vigoroth, meanwhile, let out a frustrated groan. He was addicted to fighting, and not getting his fill meant that he'd blow up as something soon. And to think that Slaking were harder to handle than this.

Pauline's fingers felt sluggish as she pressed the release button. The small Mankey simply observed her with a calm demeanor, his red eyes staring right into her own. A large, circular scar where no hair had grown sat above his eye and stretched up to the left of his forehead.

"Uh, hello. I'm Pauline," she said. "I assume you know what happened? You got run over by a truck?"

Mankey sat on the ground and crossed his arms as he grunted.

He says he was crossing the road and the truck came out of nowhere, Gothitelle translated.

"Out of nowhere? It's open road for miles and it's a truck. Not exactly hard to miss," Pauline said.

Mankey shrugged and dismissed her concerns.

He says that you are a stupid idiot and that your lack of intellect worries him, the psychic type said. It was a lot ruder than that, but I removed the swearing. Only I'm allowed to swear at you.

Even Vigoroth snickered at that, and he never laughed except when he was fighting.

Pauline knew she was right, but maybe Mankey was just oblivious to his surroundings? He didn't really fit what she'd expected. Mankey were known to be abrasive and aggressive, but this one was just… there, even if he had a way with words. He was just a calm little guy.

"Well, Mankey, I'm not going to lie, I haven't slept in more than a day and me capturing you was a completely random event, but do you…"

What would Grace say here? She didn't want her friend to pop a blood vessel because she'd messed up the capturing process, even if she'd managed well up until now.

"Do you have people to go back to? A family, friends?" Pauline asked. "If you want, you could come with us. These aren't the only Pokemon I have, I also have a Charizard. I hope you know what that looks like."

Mankey scoffed.

He says that he takes offense at how stupid you think he is.

"Well, I'm not the one getting run over by a truck with miles of open road," she snapped back. "Sorry. Too soon?"

Mankey shrugged.

"So what do you say, then?"

The fighting type shrugged.

"Yes or no?"

He shrugged again.

"Will you answer the damn question?!"

Mankey did not shrug. Instead, he finally spoke.

Only if you help him reach enlightenment, Gothitelle chimed in.

"What is he, some kind of sage?"

He took a vow to never grow angry, but he still slips sometimes, especially when he fights Gothitelle translated. He wants to obtain a peace of mind never before seen in his species.

"Well, we're a rough bunch," Pauline muttered. "But if you can stay calm with us and stay calm with Denzel's mess of a team, then you'll be able to do it anywhere. How about it?"

Mankey stared off into the distance until she snapped a finger to snap him back to reality. He really was aloof.

The fighting type nodded.

"Great. Welcome to the team, Mankey. You're going to love it here. Hopefully."

Of course, Vigoroth immediately challenged him to a fight, which Mankey promptly ignored. Pauline had no time for their antics, though. She needed to get back to Denzel and Emilia, and then she needed to sleep for ten hours straight.

—

Sunyshore was definitely my favorite city I'd been to so far. The streets were wide, with ample spots for pedestrians and bus-only lanes, meaning that there were very few cars driving around. It was also just so vibrant despite the city having been built on a piece of arable land. There were palm trees that lined a lot of the streets! Palm trees! They'd probably been imported from another region, but they fit right in and they were beautiful. We couldn't go more than ten seconds without seeing a solar panel. They were on the bus stops, on the apartments, and even on the floor we walked on sometimes. Long sky bridges linked different high-rises together and made the city a true labyrinth, yet it didn't feel crowded at all. Being here felt like living thirty years in the future, and yet it was happening now. Sunyshore was Sinnoh's technological center.

And there were also plenty of influencers here. It honestly reminded me of Hearthome.

I'd been to Sunyshore once as a kid, but I'd been so young I barely remembered anything. The view of the Ferris wheel on the beachfront in the distance felt familiar, though. It was one of Sunyshore's main attractions and it was situated on the city's famous boardwalk. We'd split from Erin a bit ago after she'd pointed us toward the nearest Pokemon Center, and Cece and I would meet her tomorrow. For now, though? It was time to settle in.

We signed into the Pokemon Center, and Mira couldn't help but notice that it was the first time Chase was staying in the same one we were. All of my Pokemon were completely healthy, so there was no need for me to hand them to one of the nurses. After that, we all split up for the day.

The view from my room was spectacular. I couldn't see the beach itself, but since I was on the highest floor, I could see the Lily of the Valley island far off in the distance, and even a hint of the tall spire that capped the Pokemon League. I gripped my windowsill to stop my fingers from trembling in anticipation. My goal— the Conference— it was right there. The salty breeze kissed my nose and I squinted. So close, and yet so far.

I was more than halfway there.

After looking at the island for a good two minutes, I grabbed my phone and sent the usual text to tell our group chat we'd made it. Louis and Maeve were already there, and we'd meet them another day. Justin probably was too. They had a lot of drama to solve, and I feared that I wouldn't be much help in that department. Denzel, Pauline and Emi had sent Cecilia birthday wishes, but they hadn't called, which I found strange, but maybe they were just busy.

Either way, I had no time to worry. There were a lot of things I needed to do today.

First, I needed to familiarize myself with the bus lanes here as I'd done with the tram lanes in Eterna City, then I'd need to scout out the beach for Buddy and Sweetheart, find where the city's flight school was for when Princess finally evolved— and I was sure Cecilia would appreciate it as well, given she was certain that little Golett was close to his own evolution. She'd always been good at gauging these things. Then of course, there were the usual hours of training. I hadn't lied when I'd told Riley I'd train on route 222, but I'd keep the most lethal parts of it to the mountains of route 214, since there was a lot less risk involved. Hopefully Mira would be okay with lending me Gardevoir or Alakazam today.

My team wouldn't be the only ones to train. I needed to start thinking about my battle with Denzel today. I was sure it'd happen before Volkner's, so his would come first.

I released my team and got to learning which lines went where. And by Arceus, it was a lot more confusing than Jubilife's public transport system.

—

The bus was cramped, and extremely so. I shrunk as everyone else towered over me. Men in suits, students from Sunyshore University, trainers, tourists, there were all kinds of people here. I had managed to find the city's flight school's address online, so I was going to the beach first since Mira told me she was busy with Alakazam and Gardevoir at the moment, but that they'd be free in a few hours.

I got off at the boardwalk, and I released Honey so he could walk with me. There were even more people here. Sunyshore was Sinnoh's third most populated city behind Jubilife and Hearthome, but its relatively small size and huge tourism industry meant that it was really densely populated and it felt packed at all times. Not only that, but it was also the seat of Sinnoh's civilian government branch. The Directorate was at the city's outskirts away from the buzz, so I hadn't seen it yet. Apparently Cynthia had been here just last week to give a speech, but she was back in Veilstone now.

The boardwalk was one of Sunyshore's hot spots. It flanked the massive beach and was lined by stores, stands, and there was even a Pokemon Center there, although Erin had told us it was always full because of its location. Even in February, people were on the beach. They weren't in the water save for some Pokemon, but children played in the sand and adults relaxed there. Sunsyhore's close proximity to the sea meant that it actually wasn't cold. It was 12 degrees Celsius at the moment, so it was basically scorching hot for a Sinnohan even if Sunshine would say otherwise. I only had a hoodie on me right now, and I had the hood up and kept my head down as much as I could so people wouldn't recognize me. I wasn't nervous about it— not anymore. I'd grown since my original rise to fame after surviving Mount Coronet. Having people ask me for pictures and a thousand questions just felt like a hassle.

Now if they asked me for tips about battling? Then I would have felt happy to help! But nine times out of ten, it was just a picture they wanted so they could brag to their friends or online or something.

The goal was to find an isolated spot I could relax in with the family… or potentially bring Cece for a date. I had promised her I'd plan one, but it was the first date I was going to organize and I already felt anxious even if I already had ideas. My phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket, and I grabbed it, expecting Cecilia to be calling me.

It was Lauren. She usually never called.

I was so astonished that my finger almost clicked on hang up instead of picking up. She usually never called.

"Hi? Lauren?" I asked. "What's up."

She said something in her usual quiet voice, but I barely heard her. Honey tapped on my shoulder and pointed me toward a section of the beach that was blocked off by some rocks.

"You're going to have to speak up, I'm in a crowd, I can barely hear you."

"Grace Pastel—"

"Grace is fine," I stopped her. "We're friends."

"You own an Electabuzz, and I own a Magmar. Both of these Pokemon have evolutions that are secrets. Do you have a plan?"

I stopped in my tracks and raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Ask for Volkner's help after I hopefully impress him in a battle. What about you?"

"I thought so," she murmured. "I don't know much about people, but Sirris does. He told me that Volkner and Flint are best friends. People say they're so close they might as well be brothers."

I nodded to myself. Volkner was the most powerful Gym Leader behind Fantina, even if the way he ran things didn't exactly show that. But while Flint chose to go work for the League (and was promptly promoted to his position a few years later), Volkner decided to become a Gym Leader instead.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Ah, I see your angle. Flint's the only trainer with a Magmortar in the entire region and you want to somehow get Volkner to ask him for you? That's going to be tough, Lauren," I said. "Getting an Elite Four member's attention is an order of magnitude above a Gym Leader, and Volkner's pretty introverted and hard to get a hold of."

"But you plan to impress him anyway," she said a little more forcefully than I expected.

"You've changed a bit, haven't you?" I smirked.

"I'm just trying to be myself more, even if it's embarrassing," she said, her voice back to a whisper. "What do you say we team up on this? You're good with people."

I hummed as I thought about my options, but I swore when I stepped onto the sandy beach.

Lauren squealed. "I'm sorry for even asking! Goodbye!"

"No, no, don't hang up! I'm on a beach right now and some sand got in my damn shoes, I'm sorry," I groaned. I stuck out my tongue to Honey, who was mocking me like there was no tomorrow. "Stop it, or I'm going to throw sand all over your face, kid."

"My face?"

"No, I'm talking to Hon— Electabuzz right now. We're just fooling around, don't worry about me. Uh, let me think for a minute."

On one hand, seeing the Lily of the Valley Island, a visual representation of my goal had made me realize that this was closer than I realized and everyone around me was going to become a competitor soon enough. Lauren had practically thrown herself at me, and she didn't have the resources I had. No Cynthia to answer her questions, no way to access Flint without getting in Volkner's good graces, and there was no way she was going to use her brother's clout for this even if that was her most realistic avenue.

We were both really stubborn.

In other words, I was in control here, and there were more reasons to refuse than not.

But she was also a friend. Not as close as my others since she refused to hang out, but a friend nonetheless.

"Fine, we can team up," I said. "But I want to spend more time with you while we're in Sunyshore in exchange. We get to know each other better first. We're going to need to employ strategy for this. Two back-to-back battles that Volkner would enjoy would be enough to convince him, I think, so we need to sign up at the same time. We're the bait, and we have to hope he bites, and we have to be in top form."

"That's okay," she said. "Thank you. I have to warn you though, my fans in this city are pretty rabid… they're scary sometimes."

"Scary?"

"They wait outside of my Pokemon Center and stuff."

"Oh. Yeah, are you sponsored by any companies right now, or do you plan on getting sponsored in the future?" I asked.

"No, but I sold the rights to a TM to Silph Co, so I'm not struggling with money."

I nearly choked on my own saliva.

"You what?"

"Sirris set up the meeting for me. I get a small percentage of each sale. I sold them Fire Pillar, since it wasn't an integral part of my arsenal."

"Oh. Well, good on you, I guess," I said.

I recalled that Craig had told me that it was one of the avenues to make money, but I had never expected someone I knew to be doing so. Originally I was going to tell Lauren to just scare them off with her Aggron if she didn't care for bad PR like Chase, but I was a lot more intrigued by this. There had been a small trial run where Silph Co. had checked if the move could actually be easily recreated and taught to Pokemon. Make a move too complicated, and there was no way you'd be able to sell it. If your move passed trials, then they'd sign a contract with you. While Lauren wasn't rich by any means, she was about as wealthy as I was from the sales. Trainers certainly wouldn't say no to what was essentially a fire type Earth Power.

"Ok, well, we can hash out the details on our Volkner strategy later," I said. "I'm coming up on an isolated part of the beach and I'm going to spend some time with my Pokemon there."

"Is tomorrow okay?"

"The day after tomorrow, if possible? How does 10 AM sound?" I said. "I'm going to be helping out a new friend tomorrow."

"Every time we speak, you have someone new in your orbit…" Lauren sighed. "Okay. The day after tomorrow."

"See you later."

I hung up and Honey lifted me up the rocks. I was almost scared some lifeguard was going to stop me, but nothing of the sort happened.

"Look at you," I smiled as I jumped down on the other side. "You've been growing up."

The electric type easily cleared the rocks in one hop and grinned. When he'd just evolved, he'd only been slightly taller than me, but he was a head and a half taller now. Maybe he was getting his growth spurt?

In front of us lay an untouched patch of beach that went on for at least a mile. There were no crowds, no parasols, no food stands. Just me and nature. It was exactly what I was looking for. Just when I was about to release the entire team, I noticed a tall girl standing in the distance. She must have noticed us as well because she shot us an awkward wave. The sunlight made her hair look white, but upon closer look, it was more of a very light beige than anything. She looked to be in her late twenties and was built similarly to Justin before his stint in dark type energy, meaning that she was lanky and looked very frail due to her height. Even in this cold, she wore sandals and a pale blue and white dress with a bright red ribbon on her chest.

And of course, she had Pokeballs with her, so she was a trainer.

Well, it'd be weird not to at least say hi when she waved at me. Plus, she was already coming my way right now.

"Hello," she smiled. Her voice was quiet, but unlike Lauren, she didn't seem shy at all. More like soft-spoken.

Her accent hit me hard as well. She definitely wasn't Sinnohan.

"Hi. Sorry if we stole your spot," I said. "I was looking for a quiet place."

"You hate the noise too, hm?" She said. "Don't worry, I was just leaving anyway. I'll come back at some point, though."

"Are you a tourist? I can't place your accent," I asked.

"That's exactly right. I'm from Johto," she said as she sat in the sand. "Work was getting overwhelming, so I'm taking a year off and traveling."

I blinked. A year? That was a long time to be off work, but I wasn't going to question her. Plus, it'd be impolite to ask her about it.

"Sorry to hear that. How's Sinnoh been treating you so far?"

"Oh, it's very pleasant," she smiled. "The cold is annoying, but the people are nice and Sunyshore is quite a beautiful city. It reminds me of home."

"That's cool. I only made it here today."

"You're a trainer, I assume? First year?"

"Yes. We've come quite far already, but I want to make it to the Conference," I declared. Electabuzz cheered alongside me. "We still have months to go."

"Good luck to you, then," she nodded. "I'm Jasmine, by the way."

"Oh, I'm Grace. Grace Pastel."

We stood in silence, not knowing what to talk about next, but her phone thankfully saved us from the awkward silence.

"Well, I'll be on my way. The beach is yours for the taking," Jasmine said.

Two things happened next that made my jaw drop to the floor.

One, she uttered Volkner's name as soon as she picked up the phone, meaning that she knew the Gym Leader on a personal basis somehow. Two, she released a Metagross that lifted her up the rocks to access the public section of the beach. They were extremely rare and living supercomputers that thought faster than even Alakazam thanks to their multiple brains. The hulking steel type grabbed her with their psychic powers and she recalled them soon after, waving at me as if nothing had happened.

Like she hadn't known she had dropped two bombs before leaving.

"What the hell just happened…?"

Electabuzz shrugged.

—

I still didn't trust Sweetheart enough to let her play in the water without supervision, so I stood with my bare feet in the water with her Pokeball in hand. She preferred the sea over lakes because of the waves she could ride, and she looked to be having the time of her life even if the saltwater slipping inside of her shell annoyed her. Buddy was soaking inside of the water and riding the waves and Princess was making sand castles with Angel— and it was really funny how she desperately tried to get him not to touch her castle. Their sculptures were night and day. On one side, there was a literal castle that looked like it could be lived in and was as tall as I was, and on the other, well, there was Angel's mound of sand. He looked pretty happy with it, though.

Sunshine was here too, of course, and he kept harassing me about the state of Sinnoh's beaches as if I had something to do with them.

I crossed my arms.

It was time to brainstorm for the battle against Denzel.

"Hey, just a sec," I told Sunshine. "I'm gonna be thinking."

He blinked, but then nodded as he lay against the soft sands. I grabbed my phone and opened my notes app. Trainers came into battles hoping to push any advantage they had. That was why I came in with as much information as possible or why Cecilia pushed on the power angle so much.

Denzel was good at everything and a damn good trainer in his own right, but what he excelled at were drawn-out fights. He'd shown it in a multitude of battles, but especially in our double battle in Hearthome. While I wasn't as weak stamina-wise as I had been, there was no doubt in my mind that he would outlast me. The longer the battle went on, the more mistakes I'd make while Denzel would stay solid and only hit his stride. He was a diesel engine, and I was a petrol engine.

Unless diesel cars went faster than gas engines, in which case this would make no sense.

What I needed to do, then, was shut that shit down right away.

He would have counters, of course. I remembered that he'd told me that he regretted not teaching Milotic Recover for his battle with Maylene, so I knew that he was guaranteed to have learned it by now. What I needed to do, then, was overwhelm. There would be no switching the tempo in this battle unless I needed to. This was one of the rare cases where things would work in my favor because Denzel took time to get in the grooves of things. So long as I kept him on the backfoot, I would have the advantage, and I couldn't let him recover and think, because he was arguably the best out of all of us at thinking on his feet.

Now, I could have gone deeper than this, find ways to exploit some not-so-good traits and flaws that sometimes reared their heads and that he refused to talk about with me, but this wasn't like my battle against Maylene. Denzel was a friend and this was a friendly battle. There were still easy tells that he had when he got nervous, though. Him clenching his fists so much, running his hand through his hair, but also him trying to keep a positive attitude in spite of that in a very non-convincing manner. Those forced smiles weren't fooling me. If I had him stressed, I'd be able to tell and push his buttons whenever something worked.

"Good, good," I muttered.

Easier said than done, but at least the scaffolding was there. Now, none of his Pokemon were to be underestimated, but until I gathered more data about what Roserade could do, I would focus on the two main problems on his team. Froslass and Lopunny.

They were both slippery and difficult to hit. The rest of his team was relatively slow, even if Sylveon's ribbons would be annoying to deal with, but the ice and normal type would be the main problems, especially when every single hit Lopunny landed on us would be extremely punishing due to Power-Up Punch. Froslass, meanwhile, would be well out of reach of Angel's Knock Off at all times and would destroy him with Blizzard anyway, so I needed to find another way to deal with her.

Nearly twenty minutes passed, and something clicked.

"High risk, high reward. And it requires Angel anyway," I sighed. "Let's keep it as a plan B for now."

Sunshine sighed and desperately asked me to stop talking to myself. I ignored him. If push came to shove, he was good enough with Ancient Power to raise a protective shell around himself to hide from Blizzard, but that wouldn't be good for my strategy. I needed offense.

Well, I had a few days to think about it.

—

"Hello, I'm here to borrow one of the psychics again," I said as I opened Mira's door.

"Oh, yeah," she said dismissively, "Alakazam can take you, Gardevoir's completely wiped out."

"Sure. And thanks again. I'll pay you back one day."

"Stop being so fairy-brained, it's a nice thing between friends. Alakazam, you can go."

The psychic type nodded, and before I could even blink we were back on route 214. I once again released my entire team, although Sweetheart was sleeping in her Pokeball.

Today was the day.

"Are you ready?" I asked, patting Honey's shoulder.

The electric type nodded, and Togetic and the others offered him some more encouragement. Even Sunshine reluctantly told him to break a leg. All those weeks he'd trained had led to this. Thunder. One of the most powerful electric type moves was at the tip of our fingers. In front of us stood the mountain's facade.

I took a dozen steps back and Princess erected a psychic barrier in front of me. Her training with Gardevoir was going well in that regard, even if she hadn't been able to do so today.

Honey took a deep breath and took a look at his palm.

He clenched it.

Honey grunted, sending sparks of electricity crackling through his fur. The yellow part of his fur began to glow as it brimmed with intense power against the dark stripes on his back, arm and legs. The smell of ozone clung to my nostrils and all of my hair stood on end. My heart raced in anticipation as he raised both of his hands. He was so blinding now that it was as if he was evolving. The floor under me shook and pebbles rattled.

He finally unleashed the Thunder, and the environment responded in kind.

I covered my ears as an explosion rocked the entire mountain. A flock of Starly flew off in the distance, desperate to escape from the noise as Electabuzz finally released an enormous amount of energy. I covered my eyes, but the light still shone through my eyelids. I was too blinded to see the attack itself, but I heard it despite the fact that my ears were still ringing from the explosion. The mountain cried. Something collapsed— like a landslide running down the facade. When I opened my eyes, I blinked the clear the last remaining blotches of light in my vision.

Honey was panting, but he was still standing tall.

The mountain's facade had been altered beyond recognition. There were deep gashes in the wall, and a part of it had collapsed completely. The ground under Electabuzz's feet was blackened stone and was smoking slightly. I was glad to see that Alakazam had stopped the landslide from going further down with a psychic net.

But still, Honey had done it.

He'd mastered Thunder.

"You did it! Honey!"

I ran toward him, but Angel wrapped a vine around my waist to stop me from touching him and he took a quick step back. His body was still overwhelmingly charged with power, and even though I wasn't going to touch him, the arcs of electricity that jumped out of his fur might have tried to go through me. Electabuzz flashed a toothy grin as the rest of the team congratulated him.

With how he looked right now? I reckoned he could use three before tiring out, so essentially only two in battle unless I was going for some kind of desperate play. If we managed to make him charge it faster, then he would be a devastating opponent to face.

Oh man, this was just so awesome.

"You've worked hard, Hon, feel free to bask in your superiority today," I smirked. "I'm sure Sweetie will love that when she wakes up from her nap."

He chuckled and said he wished she'd been there to see this.

"Can't take a nap away from her," I said. "She's growing. By the way, when we get back, I can finally go and buy you that new battery! Anyway, if you'd like, could you try out another one? Right now, I think your limit is three, but I'd like to test it to make sure. Then come tomorrow, we can start working on Screech and Low-Kick."

The electric type nodded, and electricity hummed again.

—

I knocked on Cece's door, and she quickly opened it and dragged me into a long kiss. I laughed against her lips as we spun, stumbled around the room, and fell on her bed.

"How was your day? Productive?" I asked.

"Oh, the usual. I trained, but I also found you the perfect gift," she grinned.

"What? I thought you had it already!" I said. "You were all nervous when I mentioned our birthday party."

"I had it in mind, but I was scared that traveling with it in my bag would spoil the surprise. Plus, I wasn't even sure if— you know what, never mind. I'm going to reveal too much if I keep speaking."

"Well, I'm looking forward to it. I found the city's Flight School, by the way. Maybe we can attend together if our evolutions line up."

"That'd be nice. Golett's been different since I released him near Lake Valor. He was always changing, but it's sped up now, and it makes sense considering the whole Willpower thing."

"Aw, he's growing up. Cute. Anyway, today Honey mastered Thunder, and…"

I started telling her about my day in no particular order, although I kept the beach and my encounter with that Johtoan woman hidden because I wanted to keep the spot a surprise. Cece told me she'd brought Talonflame to the spot she had first caught her in and that the flying type met some of her old friends there. She hadn't said it, but it was obvious that Talonflame liked to bask in their admiration. They were still Fletchling, after all, and seeing Talonflame all grown up must have felt weird for them.

Cece gently placed my hair behind an ear. "Oh, by the way, what are we doing with Erin tomorrow?"

"I was thinking that route 222 was too crowded, so we could get Alakazam to Teleport us to assess her if it isn't too difficult for him. Then maybe we could go and see what this New Wave thing is all about. I sent her a message saying that we'd meet her at nine in the morning in front of her house."

"She gave you her address?"

"She's way too trusting, I know."

"Sounds like a fun day. You know, part of me is glad we've returned to events with such… low stakes. It's probably rude to Erin, but little things like this almost make me forget the world could end."

"Cece…"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," she smiled, kissing me again. "What I'm saying is that Sunyshore could be a nice little vacation. Have we ever stayed in a city where nothing happened? Wouldn't that be nice?"

"Don't jinx us."

She laughed. "You're silly. Anyway, don't scare Erin."

"Scare her? I wouldn't scare her."

Cecilia raised an eyebrow at me. "Okay."

"No, seriously, I wouldn't scare her at all! She likes me!"

"Let's just watch a movie or a battle or something. By the way, are you sleeping in my room tonight?"

"Well, obviously. I'm going to need to grab the usual, though. Toothbrush, pajamas, laptop, and I'll let my team out in my room so they can hang out."

Cece paused. "I can just lend you some pajamas."

"They're too big for me."

"That's the point, Grace. And may I remind you that it's still my birthday."

I chuckled. "Okay, you win."

I probably wouldn't have said no even if it wasn't her birthday. Wearing my girlfriend's clothes? I hadn't done that since Eterna City, and she hadn't even been my girlfriend then. I'd let her think she won something, though.

"You're playing me," she noticed.

"When you say play like that, you make it sound a lot worse than it is."

"I'll use my birthday privilege on something else, then," she said, tracing a finger down my collarbone.

Her words and touch sent tingles down my spine.

"Don't get too excited now," she smirked, pulling her hand back. "Later."

"You suck," I playfully groaned.