"so where did you get your items?" I tried to casually ask Cass but miserably failed as she gave me a smirk but said nothing, "it's cool, it's cool," I raised my hands up.

"in the competitions," was what the Ace Trainer said, I gave her an odd look and the smirk that she returned matched that of Cass's, "what? it's a pretty good place to train casually if you ask me," the others around her nodded, she continued, "and besides, what makes you think that Pokemon items are just thrown around? you can't just find them lying in a heap of dirt somewhere,"

"I just thought that... you know, I could get someone to get it for me?" I said with a wince,

"well you shouldn't," was what the camper/ranger replied, "you're already a good trainer, why bother skipping steps?"

"well I... thought that it's a little childish-" I smelled head-ache inducing perfume before I could finish my sentence and two arms were wrapped around my body, before I knew it, my feet were off the ground and the world was spinning.

When the beauty was done, she let me go and I struggled to get any resemblance of a bearing, "ugh-" I gagged but didn't puke, someone patted my head and the other my back, judging from the perfume on the hand that's on my head, it was the beauty's but the one on my back... I turned around- "thank you "Cass,"

"oh? you're jumping way too quickly if you're gonna use her first name like that," I heard the beauty say, "and besides~~~ Cass is not into little boys~"

"that's not what I mean?" I quizzically replied, "but I guess you saying that is expected..." someone snorted at that.

But I wasn't really saying that as a joke- no, oddly, the people around me felt and act like the stereotypes that they're trying to represent, with the Beauty being playful, the Hex-Maniac being calm and creepy and so on and so forth. And I must've been showing my emotions on my face because the Ranger smiled, "we're normal underneath all this," he gestured to himself, "can't say for Annie though,"

"hey!" she stomped her foot and pouted- then her act evaporated and she faced me with a clear smile, her voice lost its pitch when she spoke again, "don't tell anyone this, but... I'm actually pretty normal!" she said in a soft, smooth voice followed by a wink.

"and except for Cass," one of the elite trainers said, "but that's normal for channelers like her, acting all creeply like,"

I eyed cass who simply smiled at those words, must've been the aura that she used earlier affecting her... "right, right," I nodded, not daring to mention what she did just now. I didn't know why, but I had a bad feeling that told me I shouldn't do something like that, "I heard that you guys also get possessed by your Pokemon from time to time?"

So I decided to settle for something less.

She scoffed and took a seat on a nearby bench, the female Elite Trainer handed her a can of soda and she started to take small sips. She met my eyes, "oh?- ah, yeah, that's just a myth," she finally answered, waving me off, "whatever it is that the other people say to you, don't believe em, Morty's been using Ghost Types for a while now and he's never been shown to be possessed isn't he?"

A few of her friends nodded at that, "damn right," the Male Elite trainer said.

"so back to the items..." I said, changing the subjects, "how do you know what you will win in the competitions?"

"you want to join in?" one of them asked, I nodded, "well, there's always a prize pool shown before the matches so that you can know which one to pick,"

"I'll see if I can find something nice for my Pokemon then," I gestured to the far distance and they nodded, "but before I go, do the leftovers look like a fully eaten apple?"

Soda erupted out of Cass' mouth and the others started laughing, when it died down, she glared at me, "what makes you think it looks like that?"

"nothing?" I replied quickly. Now that I think about it... handing a fully eaten apple to a Pokemon does sound a bit too absurd... "what does it look like then?"

Cass pulled out a lunch box from the trainer bag on her hip that I've only noticed, "this," she smiled, "is a Silph Co. made Leftovers that when connected a Pokemon's natural energy, will allow them to constantly heal during battle,"

I eyed the Lunch Box and Cass let me, "that is so cool..."

She chuckled, "whatever you say, but yeah, this is what a Leftovers is."

"how do you connect it to a Pokemon's energy by the way?" I asked,

"you open their Pokeball while they're inside, place the item, let it get sucked in, and then once it pops out, it's connect to your Pokemon," she put the Lunch Box back in her trainer bag, "easy as pie,"

I bowed, "thank you," I uncoiled the tarp on my leg and let it fly, "I will go now,"

"see? told you he was psychic," the Female Ace trainer smirked, "money, now," and so, she took the Beauty's money with the ease of someone getting handed a bottle of water, "thanks kid,"

I nodded, "you're welcome?"

And then I left.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

...

Arriving at Azalea town had brought back some memories that I didn't like to. It also made a few... unsavory feelings that I preferred to have just stayed where they were- and standing there, in perfect view of Azalea Town's skyline a few meters away from the edge of Ilex Forest, I felt...

I felt sour. I guess.

And I hated that I couldn't have just felt anything more.

I didn't want anything more than just to get everything over with and so, I started running down the path as fast as I could. I didn't know where Kurt lived but it couldn't possibly be that hard to find him right?

Right?

...

"who's that?" was the reply of the person - a middle-aged guy that wore a simple business suit, - in front of me as he looked at the Pokewatch on his wrist impatiently, he started walking away, his eyes still glued to the Pokewatch, "sorry kid, I really don't know who that person is," he said in sorry before leaving.

I took a sip of my soda, not at all minding that I had asked the 5th person where Kurt lives. Even though the first place that I went to was the upper-west side of the city where I thought Kurt lived, after all, it was the place where his smith-house was back in the games and I didn't know where he is in the anime but I don't think that show gave out directions.

Regardless, searching for him around the town had made my feeling of guilt ease over time and after spending two hours walking around the place, that feeling faded. All that's left is impatience, annoyance, and the desire to say thank you to Kurt for saving Whitney.

I finished my soda and threw it away to a nearby trashcan.

"right, now where's the next stop?" I asked to myself as I started walking- "ah, sorry about that," I said to the girl who I bumped against, she glared at me and I stared back, "I said sorry?"

"tch- n-no it's fine," she smiled and pulled her hair to the back of her ear, "I'm Mariah," she raised a hand shake,

"uhm... Lionel?" I took the handshake and tried to let go,

her grip was firm.

"can you uh..." I pointed at our hands and she let go, "thank you, now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go yeah?" I inched away to her side, "goodbye,"

"wait!" I stopped walking and turned around, "can- can you help me?"

"with what?"

"uhm... a wild Pokemon hunt?"

I was skeptical about what the girl was trying to do but when I was about to say no, I had a hunch that told me that saying that wouldn't end well for me and so, here I am now, sitting in a bench on the outskirts of Azalea Town, a street food that looks like a rounded up ball of wheat with vegetables on it. I didn't know what it was called and I didn't bother to ask when I pointed out to the seller that I wanted the same food as "Mariah" - yeah, I doubt that's her name but I didn't care.

"so, uh, where's this Pokemon of yours?" I said, stuffing a vegetable ball on my mouth, they were roughly the size of my thumb and for 15 Pokedollars a piece, I didn't have any complains in eating them, "we can search for them right now you know?"

Mariah wiped the sides of her mouth with a napkin, a box of which was placed on top of her thighs, "oh, no, no!" she giggled, "I don't think we'll need to do that for the time being,"

"but it's your Pokemon,"

"they're gonna be fine!" she waved me off, "instead of doing something like that, how about you tell me a little bit about yourself?" she said with an innocent smile, "I'm not trying to pry deep into anything or something like that but I'm just curious, what kind of person are you?"

The way she asked that reminded me of those people who changed the words on your trainer cards back in the games and I couldn't help but get a nostalgic smile at the thought of that. It must've been a shock to her to see me do that because she looked taken aback, "well, for one, I guess I'll just say that I'm... strange? I guess? I don't really know how to put it but I'm... not normal?"

She nodded, "of course, of course," her expression had regained its calmness as well, "but what I'm asking is... uhm... as a person, what are your goals?"

"goals?" did I have any? "well I want to be champion? if that's appropriate?" I mused, she smirked, then nodded, I took her gesture and continued, "but, more than anything, I guess I just don't have a goal?"

"bullshit," she suddenly said, I looked at her and asked 'come again?' but she didn't do anything but give me a stiff smile, "you probably have one goal or the other right? I mean, you're psychic, you have friends that are clearly planning on doing something in the near future, they're potential says so," she started ranting, I listened, "and that whole Rocket incident made it sort of hard for me to continue with what I was doing you know? and the hospital-" I cut myself from hearing her after that.

I didn't want to show it but I tried to observe her as much as I could, she had blonde hair, a small, petite body and had clothes that were, all things considered, pretty high-end on the financial side. Her hands were a bit animated, her eyes were black, but her voice...

"-and my Dad has taken most of the Pokemon he gave me as well as-" she was cut off as I said her real identity.

"oh, you're that red haired girl!" I snapped my fingers in realization and when she met my eyes, I pressed the button on Grimer's Pokeball and released him, my other two Pokemon have fainted but him? all I needed was to spray a potion or two on him and he was fine, - I grabbed Mariah's hands, she tried to pull back, I didn't let go, "so, tell me exactly, just who are you?"

I knew she was Rocket, that much was obvious but other than Jesse and Arianna, there was no one else in the Team that had bright red hair. Even then, Jesse's shade of red was a bit suspcious because it bordered on pink, Silver, Silver held it close but he was a guy.

When she stayed silent, I tightened my grip and glared, "you know, I was suspicious back in the hospital-" I emphasized and she whined, "- but now that I think about it, you were holding a napkin as well as a Pokeball back in that elevator weren't you?"

She tried to pull her arm back and I was actually forced to use Telekinesis to hold her still, when she saw that she couldn't move, tears welled up her eyes, "look, I don't know what you're trying to pull but clearly, if they're sending you to me then Gio-" I stopped when I saw that her eyes were widening, "the head of Rocket doesn't care enough about me so you might as well show some of your use, who are you?" I asked again with narrowed eyes.

She tried to pull her arm back, she failed, she then glared, "listen here-" I raised a finger to stop her,

"ah, ah, ah, I asked you a question first,"

She cleared her throat and made a gesture that she was going to spit on my face, I pulled back, "listen here okay?" she started, I listened, "if you think you're not important then that's all going to change when I go back and tell Giovanni-" she smirked after she said that, "that you know who he is,"

It was in these moments that I was glad that I had my ability and as I searched for possibilities, the world started to slow.

Then it sped up again, "will he believe you though?" I asked and she raised an eyebrow, I continued to look at the things that I could possibly say, and my ability gladly fed me the information that I didn't notice before, mainly- "didn't you say that your Dad took your Pokemon?" she stayed silent, "I mean, I'm not saying this to sound confident or anything but that Heracross was pretty strong and it being taken from you means that..." I trailed off to see if she would finish my sentence.

She didn't, "well it means that you're clearly in trouble inside Rocket and you stalking me just means one thing right?"

She nodded, "you win then," her eyes had a flash of resignation, "now what?"

"well? nothing, just tell me who you are and I'll leave you alone,"