Chapter 40: Rise of Rivals

The orange rays of the setting sun beamed down on the snow of the courtyard. The shadows of the nearby pine trees projected onto the lightly falling snow. A school bell rang, echoing through the area. Inside of a school, floods of students poured out of the classrooms. Keeping his head low, Ceailean shuffled his way out of one of the classrooms. He made his way down the hall, silently eager to make his way home.

“Hey! New kid!” said a voice. Ceailean hoped they weren’t referring to him. He walked a bit faster towards the exit. But a hand grabbed him by the shoulder. “Hey! I was talking to you!”

Ceailean didn’t face whoever was talking. “I don’t want to talk now. Please let me go.”

“You were hanging out with that rich girl, weren’t you?” the voice asked.

Ceailean turned around. It was a boy, maybe a year older than he was. His brown hair was combed back with a hardened gel. His pale yellow eyes were quite reserved, making it hard to read his expression. He wore a brown designer shirt, a thin red windbreaker jacket, dark blue jeans, and black snow boots.

“I don’t know any rich girls,” said Ceailean.

“Come on, everyone was talking about it. Someone saw you go in her car the other day, so you guys must be hanging out right?”

“I guess-”

“So it was true!” said the boy, jumping for joy. “So what’s your plan huh?”

“Plan?”

“You know, to get ‘gifts’. No one actually believes that you would actually be friends with her.”

Ceailean sighed. “Who cares what people think.”

“I do bro. I want to know what you think. That way I can get a piece of what you’re getting.”

“You want to have someone talk to you all the time?”

“No! You don’t get it! She’s the spoiled rich girl, but you’re her ‘friend’ right? You’re trying to get some money from her aren’t you?”

“Is… is that what people are saying?”

“Well yeah.”

“That’s not very nice of them, or of you.”

The boy threw his hand out defensively. “Hey whoa! I was just sayin what everyone else was sayin. I didn’t say anything.”

Ceailean sighed. “Whatever, is that all you have to say?”

The boy looked around awkwardly. All the students had already left. “Um… what’s the story behind your arm?” The boy pointed to Ceailean’s cast on his left arm.

“I’m not telling.” Ceailean said simply. He turned to leave.

“Hey, hold on-”

Another boy then pushed the two out of the way. “Move!” he said aggressively. He pushed the door forcefully, making it slam against the stopper on the ground. This boy had black and orange attire meant for deep snow expeditions. His skin was pale and his hair was silver. Though his expression was sour, his eyes were twinkly orange.

“What’s his problem?” asked Ceailean, somewhat disinterested.

“From what I hear, that boy's name is Mallen. His dad is a mechanic and his mom is a seasonal scrap yard operator. That all I heard though, doesn’t explain his mean attitude.”

“I’m sure he has a reason.” Ceailean then tried to leave again.

“W-Wait! Hold on!”

“Could you stop bothering me?”

“Last thing, I promise!” The boy pulled out a sticky note with a poorly written phone number. “My name is Devin, that is the number to my house. If my mom picks up, just ask for me.”

“Why do I need this?”

“Because you’re hanging out with Marie. Now, for whatever reason you are hanging out with her, you must know a lot about her and her dads company.”

“Her dad owned a company?”

“Why else would Marie be called the rich girl? Her dad is the current owner of the animation company, Visu Visuals. They’ve made some of my favorite movies of all time! With her dad being the owner and all… maybe he can tell you about new movies that are coming up.”

“Why would I tell you though?”

“Man, you’re still not cool? Fine, I have a pretty big allowance this month, how about I pay 1,000 bucks for every time you tell me something you found out about the movies Visu Visuals is making?”

Ceailean pondered for a moment. Living at his Aunt’s vacation home, they only had what was inside. He had to take what he could get. “Fine… I’ll tell you something if I ever find out anything.”

“Haha! Now you’re talkin’!” Devin moved past Ceailean. “My bus is about to leave, so just call when you can!”

“Uh huh.” Devin waved goodbye and ran down the street toward the parking lot. Ceailean took one more look at the sticky note. He then crumpled it in his hands and stuffed it down his pocket. Upon doing so however, the school burst into flames.

Ceailean was thrown back by the explosion. The sweltering heat made him feel like he was getting baked from the inside. He tried to back away, but his limbs wouldn’t move. A shadow lurked inside the school, walking eerily through the flames. Ceailean’s breathing grew heavy, it felt like he had been in a sauna too long. The shadow then approached Ceailean, but stood just outside the door.

“You saw me.” it said, pointing to Ceailean.

“I did?! Who even are you?” he asked. But then he looked at himself and gasped. He was back in his present day body.

“He didn’t tell you? Hmph, no matter. I only need you to hear.” The shadow stepped forward. Ceailean vaguely recognized it.

“S-Solga? Why’re you here? And… what happened to you?”

Unknown to him, what stood before him was actually Freak Solga. Its red crystals on its crown glistened in the fire. It bent down slightly. “Incomparable are the mountains to the anger one bears upon itself. Seek it out. It awaits in Shalour.”

“What the… what do you…?” The heat was getting unbearable. Ceailean felt dizzy and nauseous and struggled to breath. The fire warped the air and Ceailean started to lose consciousness.

Freak Solga took one more step. “They are coming for you. And when that time comes, accept who you are.” Ceailean took one final breath before the world went to black.

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() Ceailean woke up absolutely drenched in sweat. He felt the heat his blanket emitted like it was broiling him. He kicked it off to the side and let the cool morning air soothe his body. His breathing was heavy. He wondered how he could’ve gotten so hot in the middle of winter. Once he sat up, he figured out why immediately.

He felt awful just moving. He was nauseous, his bones ached, and his nose was clogged up.

“Shit…” he said to himself. He then looked over to the side. His blanket was messily draped over Falt. He gasped and quickly took back the blanket. He had completely forgotten that Falt and Topaz were there. Thankfully, both were sound asleep. Scorbunny and Noibat even got comfortable with their new guests as they were sprawled on top of them, sleeping as deeply as they were.

Ceailean felt a warming of his heart watching them. But now was not the time to sit around. He fished his glasses out from the bunched up blanket of his and put them on before getting up and unzipping the tent flap. He grabbed a foldable chair before leaving. He wrapped his blanket around himself tightly, now feeling the chill of the damp outside air. He then placed the chair down and sat on it. The area was still dark, but the breeze felt comforting.

“Ugh, this sucks.” He then looked at the campfire, still blackened from burning the night before. He sighed as he leaned forward to work.

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() Two hours pass by. Marie rolled around her bed, curling up under her thick blanket amongst the cold morning air. Fennekin slept peacefully in her arms as if it were a stuffed animal. Snom slept to the side of them, feeling absolutely at home. Fennekin’s nose then started to quiver. After a moment, it silently sneezed, sending a small cloud of embers out of its ears. Marie unconsciously smiled at the wave of warmth washing over her face. But then one of the embers danced right into her nostril.

Marie’s eyes shot open. Her nostril burned with a stinging sensation. She was about to yelp when she remembered Fennekin was in her arms. Not wanting to wake it, she stifled her yelp by covering her mouth. She held her breath, all the while carefully trying to slip her arm out from under Fennekin’s body. About halfway there, Fennekin twitched. Marie stopped dead. Fennekin squeezed its eyes and yawned, stretching its legs as far as it could before falling back asleep.

Marie internally squealed at seeing such a sight, it was so cute. It was such a shame she couldn’t capture it on her pokédex. But there were much more pressing matters. Something was coming up Marie’s throat and she wasn’t sure if she could hold on much longer. She quickly slid her hand out from under Fennekin’s body, opened the tent flap, and went outside.

Once outside, she got as far as she could from the tent before she bent down and started coughing. After a couple of coughs, the ember flew back out of her nose. She watched it for a moment before it dissipated in the cold morning air.

“Well that sucked…” she said to herself. The sun was just cresting over the horizon. The sky was filled with gray clouds, suggesting that it might still rain later on. Marie then started to feel drowsy again. She made her way back to the tent, but not before noticing someone at the campfire. “Hey Crisis…” she said in the middle of a yawn.

“Hey Marie.” said Ceailean with a sniffle.

Marie nodded with her eyes half closed. She moved towards her tent until she realized something. “Wait a minute, Crisis doesn’t wear glasses.” She teetered back in front of Ceailean. “C?”

“Yo.” he said. His voice was nasally.

“I didn’t know you'd be awake this early.”

“I was for a while, when it was still dark out.”

“Oh okay, do you mind if I join you?”

“No…”

“Okay, lemme just-”

“Wait, YES! I do mind.”

Marie was a little hurt by this, but she hid it as best she could. “W-Why not, C? Are you angry about something?”

“No, much worse.”

Marie grew anxious. “Like what?”

Ceailean coughed. “I’m sick.” Marie was relieved and worried at the same time. Out of instinct, she placed her hand on Ceailean’s forehead. She could feel his bangs lay softly on her knuckles. “Marie! What’re you-?”

“Shh! Nurse Marie is on the case!” she said in a whisper. Ceailean cleared his throat and cleared his eyes, accepting his fate. Marie’s hand felt like it was touching an electric warmer. “By Arceus, you really are burning.”

“I just need a day. *Cough* Plus, it beats being poisoned, right?”

Marie sighed. “Definitely.”

“I hope we can stay away from any more poison Pokémon. We keep getting poisoned so much that I’m starting to think it's a bad omen.”

“Mm, let's wait for Crisis to get poisoned, then we’ll officially call it a bad omen.”

Ceailean chuckled. “That’s mean, Marie.”

“It's only a joke.” Marie then removed her hand. “How do you think you caught this sickness anyway?”

“Oh, probably because-”

“I would believe it was because he was tempting fate.” said Crisis sternly as he approached the campfire.

“Tempting fate?” Marie asked, confused.

“Over the past couple of days I would say it's hardly surprising.” Crisis eyed Ceailean. “Playing around in a cold lake with your casual wear for instance.”

“Yeah… I guess.”

“Then without allocating the proper time to dry off correctly, you overexerted yourself after coming to blows with a territorial Pokémon. Then ran off deep into the mountains by yourself to save Marie without even consulting me!”

“I sense a bit of hostility…” said Marie.

“Of course I’m hostile! Ceailean almost got himself blown up right after the mountain decided to randomly unleash its fury!”

“I said I was sorry! How was I supposed to know that magnesium was flammable? Or even what magnesium looked like? Or what magnesium is?”

“I understand, but please do not make such irrational decisions while inside of caves. You never know if they were mined in and filled with flammable mining equipment.”

“Yes, I got the cave lecture after I told you my side of the story.”

“All's well that ends well.” said Ceailean. “Plus, if you did blow me up. You could say I was blown away by your presence.”

“Ugh! That’s not funny C!” She went to pound him with her fist, but remembered his condition and reeled back “You could’ve actually got really hurt!”

“*Cough* Sorry, I had to.”

“In any case, yesterday raised the chances even further,” said Crisis. “Though you may have decided to stand out in the pouring rain, you had to in order to save our new guests. So for that, I commend you and cannot blame you for the action you took.”

Ceailean sniffled. “Thanks I guess.”

“New guests?”

“Oh yeah. A couple of kids got caught up in the storm last night. Me and Crisis saved them and they’ve been resting in my tent ever since. You weren’t awake for it so-”

Marie then realized something. “By Arceus, your tent!”

Ceailean looked at her, confused. “Y-Yeah?”

“Why are you outside?! You should be in your tent resting!”

Ceailean gestured to the campfire. “Is the fire not good enough?”

“No! Absolutely not!”

“Well, let’s wait for the new guys to wake up first. I don’t want to go in and potentially get them sick too.”

Marie looked over to Ceailean’s tent, her expression sour. “No, I’ve got a better idea.”

“Shoot, what is it?” Ceailean asked nonchalantly.

Marie walked past him towards his tent. “You’ll see.”

“Will I? You’re kinda heading the wrong way and I’m too lazy to swivel the chair.”

“Just know it looks like it's going to be quite unpleasant.” answered Crisis.

Ceailean slumped all the way down to the seat of his chair. “Oh…”

Marie made her way to Ceailean’s tent and unzipped the flap. Inside was Falt and Topaz, peacefully sprawled out sleeping on the floor. Noibat and Scorbunny were on top of them, sleeping in what seemed like uncomfortable positions. She eyed the Pokémon. “Sorry guys.” she said to the Pokémon. She then chuckled slightly with a smirk. She took a deep breath.

“HEY!!!”

Everyone in the tent was startled awake. “Ah! What’s going on?!” yelled Falt.

“Mom, I didn’t do anything bad I promise!” shouted Topaz. Noibat and Scorbunny slid off the two inside, just as startled and confused as them.

“Both of you!” Falt and Topaz looked at Marie. She gave them the most stern face she could and pointed her thumb behind her. “Get out!”

Falt scrambled out of the tent. “Yes Ma’am! I’m so sorry!”

“Wait Falt!” said Topaz, following him out. Noibat and Scorbunny did so as well.

The four stood stiff outside the tent, as if they were in the military. Marie went inside the tent and began to rearrange it.

“Who is she to tell us what to do, Falt?” asked Topaz in a loud whisper. “That nice boy let us sleep in there. And now she’s up all in here acting like she owns the place?”

“You can argue with her all you want.” said Falt. “You leave me out of it. No way am I going anywhere near a lady that scary.”

“She doesn’t even look that much older than you! Stop being a baby!”

“So I see you two got acquainted.” said Ceailean, still facing away from them.

“Ceailean?” asked Topaz. “Do you know her?”

“Yeah, she’s my friend.”

“And she’s kicking us out, why?”

“Well, what I could probably tell you is that it isn’t really your fault.”

Marie poked her head out of the tent. “What? From what I heard, it’s totally their fault!”

“It’s my fault I got sick didn’t I?”

“You’re sick!?” asked both Falt and Topaz.

“Ugh, whatever! I don’t care who’s fault it is anymore! It’s your tent, C! You shouldn’t have to excuse yourself when you’re sick.”

“They were still sleeping though and I woke up before them, I don’t wanna be rude.”

“Yeah, I know but… just get up okay!” Marie then took Ceailean and brought him up from his chair.

“Hey, I was comfortable there.” said Ceailean, his steps a little wobbly.

“That’s not the place you rest while recovering from a cold.” She dragged him over to his tent and stood him in front of the tent flap.

“Could you at least be friendly to them while I’m in there?”

Marie looked over to the twins. Falt gave a subtle gasp and looked away slightly while Topaz gave her an unamused look. Marie sighed. “I’ll try, C.” She then shoved him down onto his bed. “Now hurry up and get better! You have us all worried.”

“Oh, now I get it.” said Falt and Topaz. Marie then gave them a fierce look.

“Yep! I got it! I ain’t tellin’ nobody!” said Falt, throwing his arms straight in the air. Topaz sighed at this.

“Can I at least have Noibat and Scorbunny look after me?” asked Ceailean.

“Are you kidding? You might get them sick too!” scolded Marie, zipping Ceailean inside his tent. Scorbunny gasped and ran over to the tent flap. It pushed against the material, begging to be let in. “Scorbunny, didn’t you hear? If you go in, you might get sick too.” Scorbunny looked at Marie, its bottom lip quivering.

“Come on, Marie,” said Ceailean from inside the tent. “I’m sure Pokémon don’t get sick from human disease.”

“We don’t know if they do or don’t.”

“Crisis! How about you? Do you know anything about it?”

Crisis crossed his arms. “I’ll admit that I am lacking experience in that field of study.”

“Can you at least convince Marie to let my Pokémon in?”

“I am quite stuck on this issue as well. I am not quite sure what the best course action is.” Scorbunny gasped as if it was betrayed. Noibat then walked up next to Scorbunny and tried to convince Marie to let them out. Scorbunny was on the verge of tears.

“Aw, Scorbunny! I really am sorry, but I just can’t-”

Ceailean then quickly unzipped the tent, snatched Noibat and Scorbunny inside, and just as quickly zipped it back up. “Sorry Marie, I decided to veto your decision.”

“What?! How did you do that?”

“I said I’m sick, not disabled. It didn’t feel good, but I can still move. Unlike you, where you act like a little baby refusing to wake up in the morning.”

Marie blushed profusely. “Don’t say that in front of a couple strangers!”

“Oops.” Ceailean then started cackling. Marie was tempted to open the tent and beat Ceailean up. But then she looked at the twins.

“Who are you guys anyway?” she asked.

Topaz put her hand on her chest. “I’m Topaz, and that dingus is Falt.”

“Do you always have to refer to me as a dingus to anyone we meet?” asked Falt. “Couldn’t you just say ‘my brother’ or ‘my twin’? Either works great.”

“And be so boring? I’ll pass thanks.”

“Fine, be that way. If I ever introduce us to anybody, I’ll refer to you as a dork!”

“Oh, good luck even doing that! You could barely get yourself to talk to Ceailean last night!”

“I’m just sayin’! I’ll do what you do until you stop!”

“Hey!” shouted Marie. Falt was scared stiff.

“Mm-hm.” said Topaz, seeing this.

“Do you guys have all your stuff?”

“Yeah, why?” asked Topaz.

“Well, obviously we can’t move anywhere because of Ceailean. Are you guys just gonna hang around here until he recovers?”

“I see your point.”

“I can move, Marie. It just won’t feel good, like I said.” said Ceailean from the tent.

Marie then kicked the tent. “No, this time I’m vetoing your decision! You aren’t moving until you recover.”

“Come on, I can even ride Scolipede if you’re so worried.”

Crisis then walked up to the tent. “As much as I commend your commitment Ceailean, I must also corroborate on behalf of Marie’s decision. I cannot allow you to further tempt fate.”

A moment of silence. “Fine guys, I’ll do my best to recover.”

“Thank you, C.” said Marie.

“Quite a boy, isn’t he?” asked Topaz.

“Tell me about it. He gets me worried sick all the time.”

“As if you don’t do the same thing for us.” said Ceailean.

“Just shut up and REST!”

“I am, and boy am I loving it. Thanks Marie.”

Marie groaned. Falt leaned over to Topaz with a hand over his mouth. “They’re meant for each other, don’t you think?” he whispered.

“Definitely.” Topaz whispered back. She then stepped forward. “I-I thank you guys again for taking us in during the storm. I think we’ll be going now. I really need a shower…”

Marie sighed. “Yeah okay.” She scratched the back of her head. “And uh… I’m sorry, I guess for being rough on you guys.”

“It’s okay, you were worried about your boyfriend and stuff. So I guess he takes priority over us.”

Marie blushed profusely while Ceailean spit out a drink in the tent. Scorbunny voiced its protest afterward. “B-B-Boyfriend?” stuttered Marie.

“You kids sure do have an imagination.” said Ceailean.

“Oh! Sorry! I just assumed through Marie’s uh… ‘generous’ way of caring for Ceailean.”

“C-Can we change the subject please?” said Marie, with a bit of a squeal in her voice.

“No Topaz, remember Ceailean said before last night That Marie was just his friend. Not really saying Marie was his girlfriend.” said Falt. Marie’s whole face turned red while she mouthed the word girlfriend as her voice grew too high pitched for her vocal cords to catch.

“How was I supposed to remember that? That was a whole day ago!”

“That was only 8 hours ago at the max. And if you had just been listening, you would have remembered.”

“I swear to Arceus, If you ever give me advice on how to talk to someone, I’m gonna-“

“Guys!” shouted Marie. “Talk about something else!”

Crisis then put his hand on his chin and pondered. “To me, it doesn’t quite make sense to continue this charade.”

“Thank you Crisis, but what do you mean by charade?”

“It’s really a simple question. And the reward far exceeds the risk. If anything, you might become stronger as a trainer if it all goes well. Plus, that risk could be unwarranted considering how close the two of you are. So why not just-“

Marie then grabbed Crisis by the shirt collar and shook him back and forth. “Do not boil down this life altering decision into a statistical analysis! The subject! Change it!”

Crisis looked at Marie, completely unfazed by her intensity. “Alright, seeing as Ceailean seems eager to leave, I’ll head to the nearest town and grab some medicine.” Crisis then brought out Decidueye. Topaz and Decidueye locked eyes, causing Topaz to hide behind Falt. “Do your best to watch him, if you would Marie?”

“Uh huh, you got it.” she said, saluting. Crisis then hopped on Decidueye and flew off.

After a moment, Falt looked over his shoulder. “It’s gone, you can come out now.”

“Really?” asked Topaz.

“Yes.” said Falt, annoyed. Topaz stepped away from him and gave a sigh of relief. The twins and Marie then stood for a moment as they watched Crisis fly off towards the distance.

“Y’all are crazy you know that?” said Ceailean, audibly chewing on some kind of food. “These assumption and stuff.”

“The subject!” Marie screamed into the air.

“Me and Marie will only be friends, nothing more.” Marie gagged, feeling like she just got stabbed in the gut by Ceailean’s own words. “And you’d be crazy for thinking otherwise.” Marie felt another stab and she fell to her knees.

Marie then noticed the twins looking at her. She cleared her throat and stood up. “Y-Yep, wouldn’t want anything else. Heh heh.”

“Liar!” Falt and Topaz both said in their heads. Topaz sighed. “Well it looks like you guys have some stuff to work out, so I think we’ll be on our way.”

Marie perked up slightly. “Oh okay, I guess I’ll see you.”

“No! Wait wait wait!” shouted Ceailean. “Remember what you wanted last night, Topaz?”

“What I wanted?” she asked.

Falt then raised his finger matter of factly. “Well, if you had been listening-” Topaz growled at him as he continued, “You’d have remembered that you wanted to battle Ceailean when you found out he was a trainer.”

“How am I supposed to listen to myself?”

“That’s not what matters. what matters is who he said you should battle instead. Do you remember who?”

Topaz closed her eyes and faced the sky. “Uh…”

Falt allowed her to ponder for a moment. “You know, Ceailean’s friend?” Topaz twisted her body, trying to think harder. Falt looked past her shoulder, making eye contact with Marie. “Straight haired blonde, red and black plaid pajamas… a little bit of bed head.” Marie growled at him. Falt shut his mouth, but felt like doing one more. “Maybe 4 foot 4?”

“4 foot 8.” corrected Marie.

“I just can’t remember, can’t you just tell me?” asked Topaz.

“Topaz! Like…” Falt gestured to Marie. “Look behind you.”

Topaz looked at Marie. “You?”

“Why did you say that like it was a question?”

Topaz rose her hands in defense. “No no! I didn’t mean it insultingly. I guess… I’m still in awe of what Ceailean’s Pokémon did yesterday.”

“Yesterday?”

“It was so cool! The overpowering heat and light of the fire that Scorbunny used and the inside of the aura that Noibat projected! It was almost like I was in a real episode of Lifeorb Z!”

“Everything is anime to you Topaz, you watch too much of that stuff.” said Falt.

“Did I ask, Falt?”

“Still needed to be said.”

Topaz scoffed. “Anyway, it was so cool! I wish you could’ve seen it!”

“Oh trust me, I’ve seen it plenty of times.”

“You really see it on a regular basis? But he told me he wasn’t the battler of your group.”

“He isn’t. I would say I’m the most eager.”

Falt raised his eyebrow. “Could you be implying that you could do cooler things than what Ceailean did?”

Marie blushed slightly and raised her head high. “Well, I don’t mean to brag. But I would certainly like to think that I’m a lot cooler than Ceailean.”

“I can still hear you guys.” said Ceailean from inside the tent.

Marie brushed her hair to the side. “Shut it, C. You know it's actually true.”

Topaz stepped forward. “Um. Seeing how you two might be on par with each other. I have full confidence that you’ll be just as cool as Ceailean. So…” Topaz gave a deep bow to Marie. “Please have a battle with me!”

The two stood silent for a moment. “Yeah, sure.” said Marie, nonchalantly.

Topaz stood up quickly. “Really?”

“Yeah, you don’t need to be so formal about it.”

“I know, but-”

Falt stepped in. “It’s been hard the last couple days.” he said somewhat solemnly, “I guess no one wants to fight a couple of 10 year olds who had just started their journey. Especially when they have only in-evolved Pokémon.”

Marie walked up to the two of them. “Hey, don’t be ashamed for having us-evolved Pokémon. As long as you guys work together with your Pokémon, as friends, you guys can do anything.”

“We know,” said Topaz. “We would never be ashamed to work with our Pokémon. But its just hard taking all that rejection.”

“About 16 since we started, if we counted right.” said Falt.

“I get how you guys feel. Though our circumstances may be different, I’ve also found it difficult finding trainers to battle with.” said Marie.

“Could you tell us how many?” asked Falt.

Marie scratched her chin and looked away, remembering that the only trainer she ever challenged over her entire journey other than Ceailean and Crisis was Aeise. “A few… I really can’t remember.”

“Do you think we can get started right away? Right now?” asked Topaz.

“I think my Pokémon are still asleep. Oh! But I should have one that is awake. Gimme a minute, be right back!” Marie ran off to her tent. She dove in, rummaged around, and dove back out with a pokeball. “Okay, ready when you guys are!”

“Right!” Topaz fished a pokeball out of her pocket and pressed the button, making it grow into its full size.

The three moved away from the tents towards an empty part of the clearing. “Why don’t you lead us off Topaz,” said Marie.

“My pleasure.” Topaz threw her pokeball. “Dewpider, let's go!” Dewpider came out of its pokeball. It yelled triumphantly into the air.

“Alright, today is your debut! Go on, Scolipede!” Marie threw her pokeball.

“A what?” asked Topaz, unfamiliar.

Scolipede popped out of its pokeball. It landed on the ground with such force that the ground shook. Dewpider looked up in awe as Scolipede rose its head as if it were an unraveling tower.

“A Scolipede?! You’re kidding me!” shouted Falt. Scolipede bent down and closely observed Dewpider, sniffing around its head curiously. A bead of seat went down Dewpider head as it tried its best not to make any sudden movements. Then, Ceailean’s tent flap quickly zipped open and Noibat popped out. It flew over to the battlefield and landed nearby, eager to see the battle.

“Oh, you’re excited to see Scolipede battle?” asked Marie. Noibat nodded. “Is C doing okay?” Noibat nodded again.

“This doesn’t even seem fair. But you’re not one to back down from a challenge, right Topaz?” Falt looked to his side, only to see that Topaz had completely disappeared. He then looked back to see Topaz peeking her head out from a tree near the edge of the clearing. “Topaz! You finally get a challenge and you run away? Who knows when you’ll get another chance like this!”

“I-I’m a nice sister. Maybe you should go at it first.”

“Isn’t it ladies first?”

“N-Not this time. Just go first please! Dewpider, come here!” Dewpider complained loudly, but complied anyway. It mumbled on its way to Topaz, kicking a pebble in frustration.

Scolipede looked at Marie, asking what it did wrong. Marie could only shrug, “Don’t worry Scolipede, It isn’t personal. She does this with every Pokémon we see.” said Falt.

“Do not!” shouted Topaz.

“You were literally about to fall apart from just having Scorbunny sitting next to you!”

“Was not!”

“Really? But Scorbunny is the nicest jellybean of a Pokémon we have.” said Marie.

Topaz groaned in defeat. “C-Can we change the subject please?”

Falt sighed. “Fine, I’ll go first. Swirlix, lets show ‘em what we’re made of!” Falt tossed out his pokeball and out popped Swirlix. But upon coming out, it immediately whipped around and started nibbling on Falt’s hair. “Ah! Why?! Swirlix, we’re in the middle of a battle!”

Marie chuckled. “Seems like it likes you.”

“Yeah, I found Swirlix when we had an incident in Lumiose. A chef moving a bag of sugar tripped and poured it all over me. Of course, Topaz never let’s me forget that.” Falt and Marie heard Topaz audibly giggle. “She apologized a lot and we forgave her. But on the way back to our hotel, we cut through a park.” Falt then rubbed his hand on Swirlix’s head. It stopped nibbling his hair and started nuzzling him. “And this little guy thought the sugar in my hair was so scrumptious that it wouldn’t leave me alone. When we got back to our hotel, I asked if it wanted to be my Pokémon. And the rest is history.”

“Aw, that story was so sweet.” said Marie with a smile.

“We originally went there to get our starters. But the whole thing about Tuviere happened and we weren’t able to get them. Thank Arceus Swirlix was there before we had to leave or we would’ve never had any Pokémon.”

“So Topaz didn’t have one either? How did she come across Dewpider?”

“That story is actually kinda funny. Though not as interesting as mine.”

“What do you mean?!” shouted Topaz. “I drew in a whole crowd and stuff!”

“More like a bunch of unwanted attention.” said Falt.

“You just can’t handle crowds, I was absolutely swimming with adoration.”

“What happened exactly?” asked Marie.

“Oh, Topaz won Dewpider as a carnival game prize.” answered Falt.

“Really? On what game?”

“The shooting gallery.”

“The what?”

“Yeah. She tore the place up too, I give her credit.” Crowds were gathering everywhere to see her shoot. She never handled anything resembling a firearm before. Guess that’s just one more natural talent she has over me. Dewpider was one of the prizes so she chose it. Though the funny thing is that my story and hers happened on the same day. She refused to go inside the hotel room until I put Swirlix in its pokeball and she wouldn’t let Dewpider out of its water box until I shook her by the shoulders and told her to let it out.”

“That’s not true!” said Topaz. “I heard it's sad little tummy grumble and I felt super guilty. So I let it out to give it some food!”

“If you have problems with how I’m telling the story, why you come over here and tell it yourself.”

“I can criticize you from here just as much as I can from up there.”

“Ugh, you’re insufferable!”

Noibat then stamped its leg, impatiently waiting for the battle to start. “Oh, sorry Noibat. I guess we got a little side tracked.” Marie stepped forward, Scolipede did the same.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Falt pushed Swirlix in front of him and got into a battle stance. “Alright Swirlix, this trainer is no joke. Stay on your toes.” Swirlix nodded. Its expression became ferocious, off putting Marie slightly.

“Okay Scolipede,” said Marie. “This is your first battle. But I’m gonna ask a lot from you right off the bat. Will you trust me? I need to find out something.” Scolipede pondered for a moment, then nodded.

“Alright, let's go.” said Falt. “Swirlix, go in and fly all around it as fast as you can!” Swirlix charged ahead and flew past Scolipede’s head. It flew around in circles, going every which way in an attempt to confuse Scolipede.

“Can you track it, Scolipede?” asked Marie. Scolipede subtly nodded. As Swirlix flew around, It could feel Scolipede’s cold, yellow, calculative eye looking at it. Swirlix felt it was a losing battle and backed off.

“No good?” asked Falt. Swirlix shook its head. “Then forget it, hit it with all you got using fairy wind!” Swirlix took a deep breath and blew an intense pink wind.

“Take it.” said Marie. Scolipede glanced at her questioningly, but decided to follow her lead. The fairy wind poured over Scolipede. It stood there stoically. The wind rubbed against its skin like the heated friction of rubbing cloth. Tolerable, but still nonetheless unpleasant.

“Nothing?!” said Falt, surprised. Swirlix shared the same sentiment. “Then try this out! Use flamethrower!” Swirlix spewed out flames from its mouth.

“Dodge right!” said Marie. Scolipede tilted its head to the right, having the flamethrower pass right by. But Falt noticed something and decided to capitalize on it.

“Use play nice!” Swirlix swung its tail like a bat, shooting a blue orb at Scolipede.

“Dodge that!” Scolipede lifted itself in an attempt to pivot on its hind legs. But as it moved, the orb followed. Scolipede braced for impact, only not to feel anything. A blue aura sunk into the ground around its body.

“Ha! You can’t dodge play nice! Now we have the advantage! Fly in and use flamethrower point blank!” Swirling charged in with flames pouring out of its mouth.

“Did that move affect our speed? No matter, Scolipede, intercept with cross poison!” Scolipede’s horns flashed a sickly purple as it flung its head directly into Swirlix. It hit so hard that practically got folded in half. Swirlix flew well over the tree line and landed hard on the ground.

“Swirlix!” shouted Falt. “Are you okay?” Swirlix struggled to its feet and took deep breaths. “Even after that, it's still so strong? Suppose I should be thankful, without play nice, I think we would’ve got one shotted.”

Marie then pulled out her pokédex and looked up the move play nice. “Oh, its an undodgable move that lowers the attack of a pokemon. Very interesting.”

Falt pointed at Marie accusingly. “Hey! Why are using a pokédex?”

“Why not?”

“It’s against the rules!”

Marie was astounded. “Wha-! Since when?!”

“It’s banned in all official battles isn’t it?”

“No, it's not.” Marie waved the pokédex in her hand. “Trainers are able to use it anywhere. Gym battles, the league, even against the champion.”

“Then why-?”

“Oh right, I told you that when we played virtual Pokémon battles that way you would stop taking 15 minutes a turn,” said Topaz.

“What?!”

Marie chuckled. “Suppose you don’t research things for yourself.”

Falt grasped the sides of his head in frustration. “Augh! But research is so boring!”

“Well how else are you supposed to figure out what you did wrong?”

Falt made a sour expression before digging into his pocket. He pulled out his pokédex and began to mash buttons furiously.

Topaz then stepped up nervously. “Um, Miss Marie.”

“Hm, yeah?”

“I… I can’t stand by anymore! Please let me have a battle with you!”

Marie smiled. “I already said yes earlier. You being nervous isn’t gonna change my answer.”

Topaz beamed. “T-Thank you! Miss Marie.”

Marie scratched her chin. “What’s with the miss stuff all of a sudden?” she said to herself.

Noibat was absolutely beside itself in awe from the sheer strength of Scolipede. It was almost unbelievable that it fought Scolipede and stood a chance. Then, a nose came into Noibat’s peripheral view. It looked to see that Fennekin was standing beside it.

Topaz stepped up confidently. “Alright Dewpider! No more waiting around! It’s time we-!”

Fennekin shouted over the battlefield. It’s voice echoed slightly over the horizon. Marie looked at it, surprised by its presence. “Fennekin? I thought you were still sleeping?” Fennekin shook its head. It then looked at Topaz and smirked. It stamped its front legs, eager for a challenge.

Topaz stepped back, a bead of sweat rolled down her head. “Um, Miss Marie? Is that pokemon mad at me? Did I do something wrong?!”

Fennekin looked at Marie, confused. “It’s not personal!” said Marie and Falt at the same time. Marie sighed “Fennekin, did you come out here for a battle?” Fennekin gave a confident smile and nodded.

“Good, maybe we’ll actually stand a chance.” said Falt.

“Falt! Don’t disrespect Miss Marie and Scolipede!” said Topaz. She then bowed apologetically to the two of them. “No offense, miss Marie!”

“Eh, some taken.” Marie placed her hand on Scolipede’s body. “Sorry Scolipede. Fennekin looked really eager. There’s still so much to learn about you, so I hope you don’t mind if we do it at a different time.” Scolipede nodded in understanding. It then trotted off to where Fennekin and Noibat were. Fennekin thanked it for letting it have a turn. Scolipede nodded and laid down next to them.

Fennekin excitedly ran up to Marie’s side. “Okay Fennekin, I know it might be a lot to take in, but just know that these are our new guests Falt and Topaz.” Fennekin chuckled, remembering that the only reason it was awake was because they were all arguing loudly outside. Suddenly, a loud voice started approaching. Snom came flying over with icy wind and landed on Marie’s head.

“What’s up Snom? You wanna battle too?” asked Marie. Snom then shot a stream of icy wind into the sky to emphasize its conviction.

Topaz’s knees began to buckle. “Whoa! What’s it doing that for? Is it a vicious pokemon that-!”

“Topaz! Just… Don’t even right now!” interjected Falt.

“Oh, but who to choose? I’ve already battled one of them.” said Marie. She thought for a moment, then her eyes flashed. “I got it!” She stood up and stepped towards the twins. “Hey you guys, why don’t we make this a double battle?”

“Huh?” The two asked.

“You want the both of us to go against just you?” asked Falt.

“I’m sorry Miss Marie, but even I have to say that’s a little overconfident of you.” said Topaz.

“Come on, I’ll fully admit to my overconfidence if I lose. Plus, you can’t say that it wouldn’t be cool.”

Falt and Topaz looked at each other. “You wanna?” Falt asked.

“I dunno, I’ve never been in a double battle. And I worry about having you be my partner.” said Topaz.

“Just admit that you’re too scared now that there’s new Pokémon around.”

“Why you little-!” Topaz stood straight up. “Miss Marie, we would love to accept your challenge!”

Marie started jumping with excitement. “Oh ho! This is gonna be so good!”

Falt sighed. “I guess I pushed it a little too hard. Oh well, no backing out now. Swirlix, can you still battle?” Swirlix cheerily flew around Falt’s head before standing in front of him, ready for battle.

“Dewpider, this time for sure.” Topaz offered her hand to it. Dewpider jumped on. She then tossed it towards the center of the battlefield. Dewpider somersaulted and landed perfectly on its feet. It yelled with determination.

“I’m counting on you guys.” said Marie. Fennekin and Snom nodded and made their way to the center of the battlefield.

“Pst, Topaz.” whispered Falt.

“What’s up?” she said.

“That Pokémon on the right, I think she called it a Snom. And I don’t know what to think of it, but…” Falt tried to inconspicuously show his pokédex to her. “It’s rated stats are abysmal.”

“Why are you hiding it? I can’t see.”

“Oh right, I just found out you could use this okay, don’t judge me!”

“Forget it! Hurry up and tell me what you’re planning!”

“I have no idea what the goal is with Snom, so that scares me, so I want to double into it. Here’s the plan-“

Marie bent down and stretched her legs. “Hey guys, I’ll give you the first move. My courtesy.” The twins ignored her and kept talking in secret. “Guys?”

“-you got that?”

“Will they be able to pull off such a thing?”

“Have faith in them. I’m sure it’ll be easy.”

“If you say so.”

Noibat flew up in between Scolipede’s horns and cheered as loudly as it could. All the trainers stanced up for battle.

“Swirlix! Pick up Dewpider and toss it towards Snom! We’re gonna end it in one shot!” Swirlix scooped Dewpider onto its head and swung it towards Snom.

“What?! What do you guys have against Snom?” asked Marie.

“Thanks for telling her the plan genius!” said Topaz. “Dewpider, use bubble beam!” Dewpider spun around mid air and shot a beam of bubbles down directly onto Snom. The attack exploded into a watery mist on impact.

“Snom! Are you okay?” The mist quickly cleared away, revealing a white light underneath. Snom was covered a white, scaly, translucent shield. Marie gasped. “Ice scales! I almost completely forgot you had that ability!”

“Ice scales?! What ability is that?” asked Topaz. “It looks completely okay!”

Falt quickly fumbled with his pokédex. “I’m looking it up right now!”

“Get off that dang thing! We’re in the middle of battle!”

“Fine whatever! I don’t care what ability it is, it isn’t enough to protect against a 4 times effective move! Get in close and use flamethrower!” Swirlix flew up behind Snom, ready to fire.

“Snom isn’t alone you know! Use psybeam!” A psybeam bashed against Swirlix and knocked it into a tree. Fennekin barked triumphantly.

“A fire type knowing a psychic type move?! I’ve never seen such a thing!” Falt fumbled with his pokédex some more.

“Falt! I swear if you don’t keep your head in the game, I’m gonna knock you senseless!”

“Just gimme a sec! Look, Snom hasn’t moved the entire time we’ve been battling, it has to be a sitting Ducklett!”

“Do I have to do everything?! Dewpider, use headbutt on Snom!” Dewpider rushed towards Snom.

“Sitting Ducklett? Oh really?” Marie said with a smirk. “Snom! Icy wind!” Snom rocketed itself towards the sky. Dewpider watched in astonishment.

Falt typed in his pokédex so fast his fingers began hurt. “No way a Snom can move that fast! What the heck is going on?!”

“FALT! Come on!” shouted Topaz at the top of her lungs. “Forget this! I’m taking the lead! Swirlix, chase down Snom! Dewpider, use bug bite on Fennekin!” Swirlix flew up and engaged Snom in an aerial dogfight. Dewpider jumped towards Fennekin with a small green projection of fangs.

“Dodge it Fennekin!” Fennekin dodged to the side. Dewpider lunged past Fennekin and slid to a halt. “Keep your distance for now.” Fennekin started to circle around Dewpider. Dewpider wiped the dust off its bubble head and did the same.

“Dewpider, bubble beam! Swirlix, use energy ball!” said Topaz.

“Fennekin, intercept with psybeam! Snom, Keep moving!” said Marie. Fennekin and Dewpider shot their attacks at the same time, putting the both of them in a beam struggle. Snom flew circles around Swirlix as it desperately tried to land an energy ball on it. The sky was peppered with explosions.

“Come on Dewpider! Show that Fennekin what you’re made of!” shouted Topaz. Dewpider felt a wave of determination wash over it. Suddenly, its bubble beam doubled in size and power, almost immediately breaking through Fennekin’s psybeam and hitting it dead on.

“So powerful.” said Marie to herself. “What for?” Marie quickly scanned Dewpider with her pokédex and skimmed the text. “Water bubble and S.T.A.B.? I can’t take that thing on in a ranged engagement. So let’s take a gamble. Fennekin! Use howl!” Fennekin howled loudly, blowing away the dust around it. A red aura rose up from Fennekin’s body. The same aura rose around Snom’s body.

“What was that? What did it boost?” asked Topaz.

“Use scratch!” Fennekin’s claws shined a bright white and it charged in. It slashed against Dewpider water bubble, carving claw marks into it. Dewpider flung to the side and slid to a halt on the ground.

“That power. That must've been what Howl boosted.” said Topaz. “Dewpider, get back and shoot it with bubble beam!” Dewpider jumped back.

“Don’t let it get away!” Fennekin charged in faster than Dewpider could get away. It slashed Dewpider again with scratch, interrupting its bubble beam.

“No… no no no!” said Topaz. “U-Use headbutt, Dewpider!” Dewpider recovered from the hit and went in for a headbutt. Fennekin clashed against the attack with scratch. But Fennekin quickly overpowered it and pushed it back. “Nooooo!” The explosions in the air then got Topaz’s attention. “Swirlix, come down and help Dewpider!”

But at the same time, Falt finished looking at his pokédex and looked up at Swirlix. “Swirlix, use fairy wind!” he said at the same time as Topaz’s command. Swirlix stopped dead in its tracks and became overwhelmed with confusion. “Hey! Why are you telling Swirlix what to do?!”

“You just noticed now?! I’ve been doing this battle all by myself for the past 3 minutes!”

“You’re making that up! I wasn’t on it for that long!”

“You were!” said Topaz and Marie at the same time. Topaz gasped. “You were able to pay attention to the whole battle and him at the same time?”

“I was, and now I can do this! Snom, quick use struggle bug!” said Marie. Swirlix tilted its head curiously, wondering what Marie was up to. Then a green explosion hit it directly the back of its head, sending it hurling down to the ground. It groaned in pain as a blue aura poured down its body.

“Wait, what did that move do?!” shouted Falt. He then went straight back to his pokédex. “I gotta see! Cover me!”

“NO! Just stop!”

Marie grit her teeth. Even she was starting to get annoyed by Falt dependency of the pokédex. “Fennekin, knock away Dewpider with scratch!” Fennekin bashed Dewpider away near where Swirlix was. “Now Snom, icy wind the both of them!” Snom flew in above the two opposing pokemon and blasted them with icy wind. The area around them erupted into a pillar of ice crystals. The surrounding grass was blasted with frost, as if a rocket of ice had taken off from that location.

Falt finally looked away from his pokédex. “No! Swirlix! Get out of there!” Swirlix got back up and flew back, but it was considerably slower than how it was moving before. “What?! Swirlix can’t be that weak right now! Just what did that icy wind do?” Falt went back to his pokédex.

“No! That’s it!” Topaz walked up and snatched the pokédex from his hands.

“What, hey! Give that back! We need that to win!”

“We are clearly losing and you haven’t been helpful one bit! So now I’m grounding you!” Topaz then tossed it as hard as she could into the air.

“NO!” Falt pushed Topaz aside and chased the pokédex down. He held out his arms ready to catch it. But it never came back down. Noibat had grabbed it in midair and was now flying high above Falt with his pokédex. “Hey! That’s cheating! Give it back!” Noibat blew a raspberry and flew off. “You little-!”

“Falt! Listen!” said Marie commandingly. Falt’s shoulder stiffened as he slowly looked over to her. “I said you could use the pokédex during battle. But that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna sit around and let you get all the information you want! If you want to win, you have to take this battle seriously!”

“What?! I’ve been taking it seriously this whole time!”

Marie pointed accusingly at Falt “No! You’ve been treating this battle like a freakin joke!” Falt was so stunned he couldn't even speak up. “You disrespect me! Disrespect my pokemon! Disrespect your own pokemon! But most of all, disrespect your battle partner! You left them and your pokemon to fend for themselves for a long time! While you looked like a spoiled kid playing on their phone! So I ask you, trainer to trainer. Get a freakin’ grip!”

The battle had grinded to a halt. Everyone waited in anticipation. Falt grew meek. He looked down guiltily and twiddled his fingers. “I-I’m sorry, Marie. I’ll try to do better.” he mumbled.

“Speak up and say it like you mean it!”

Falt gasped and stood up straight. “I’ll try to be a better trainer from now on!” he said loudly.

Marie smiled. She then pulled out her pokédex. “Good, then shall we continue?” She tossed her pokédex to the side.

“Marie? What’re you-“

“Yes, let’s hurry this up.” said Topaz, tossing her own pokédex to the side as well.

“What’s going on?” asked Falt.

“A trainer has to be able to think quickly on the fly. So I’m gonna show you just how capable I am, even without a pokédex.” said Marie.

“You mean, I’m gonna show you how capable I am?” said Topaz.

Marie chuckled. “You’re welcome to try.” Fennekin and Snom got ready to battle again.

Falt stretched his arms, jogged in place, then slapped his hands on his cheeks. “Swirlix! Close in on the Snom and use flamethrower!” Swirlix sprung to action and flew as fast as it could towards Snom.

“Dewpider, keep that Fennekin at spittin’ distance with bubble beam!” said Topaz. Dewpider immediately shot its bubble beam at Fennekin.

“Fennekin! Play Dewpider's game with psybeam! Snom, close that distance against Swirlix first and use struggle bug!” said Marie. Fennekin dodged the bubble beam and swung back around, shooting a psybeam at Dewpider. Snom then used icy wind to rocket itself toward Swirlix. Swirlix was caught off guard and got blown up with the green energy of struggle bug.

Dewpider dodged Fennekin’s psybeam and fired back a bubble beam. Fennekin dodged again and shot back. The two traded beams, getting faster and faster with each return. Dewpider couldn’t keep going and it tripped, giving Fennekin the perfect opportunity to blast it with psybeam. Dewpider flew back from the explosion down at Topaz’s feet.

“Keep it going Dewpider! I believe in you! Use aqua ring!” Dewpider jumped to its feet and surrounded itself with rings of water. A green aura emitted from its body. It seemed as if the scuffs and dust was disappearing from its body.

Marie observed it closely. “Hm. Fennekin, use howl!” Fennekin howled loudly, flattening the grass around it. Both it and Snom were surrounded in a red aura. “We gotta finish that Dewpider before it becomes a problem! Close in and use scratch!” Fennekin’s paws burst into white claws with a golden tint. It charged ahead towards Dewpider.

“Keep it away! Bubble beam!” said Topaz. Dewpider fired its beam.

“Don’t back down! Slash through it!” Fennekin slashed at the beam, making it break into harmless mist.

“What the heck?!”

Falt noticed his sister’s dilemma. “Swirlix! Use play nice on Fennekin!” Swirlix turned around and shot a blue rod at Fennekin.

“Snom! Take that attack for Fennekin!” said Marie. Snom blasted itself towards the blue orb and took the attack. A blue aura surrounded its body.

Falt ruffled his hair in frustration. “Why won’t you just stay still! Use fairy wind!” Swirlix blasted a vicious pink wind at Snom.

“Shoot back with icy wind!” said Marie. Snom shot its icy wind, colliding with fair wind. The sky became turbulent and vicious with rushing winds.

Fennekin closed in on Dewpider. “Dodge it any way you can!” said Topaz. Dewpider bobbed and weaved in between Fennekin’s fast scratching claws. Topaz watched anxiously, looking for any opening she could. Then, Fennekin lunged a bit too much and fell past Dewpider as it slashed. “Now Dewpider! Use headbutt!” Dewpider bashed its head against Fennekin’s body.

“Ha! They fell for it!” said Marie with a smirk.

“What?!” Topaz said, confused.

“Now Fennekin, scratch!” Fennekin flipped back over on its legs and scratched straight through Dewpider’s bubble head and hit its face directly before it could even look back up.

Topaz anxiously stepped in place. “How do you even plan such a thing?! I didn’t hear any commands or anything!”

“Trainer’s secret.” Marie said with a smile. The sky then exploded with ice crystals and silver shavings.

“Come on Swirlix, we just gotta hit once!” said Falt, “Use energy ball!” Swirlix shot green energy balls, trying its best to hit Snom. Snom simply flew around in circles, performing ailerons and barrel rolls to dodge each attack seamlessly. Swirlix breathed heavily, having used most of its stamina. “What do we do?” Falt said to himself.

“Dewpider no!” shouted Topaz, right as Dewpider was blasted away with an ember. Dewpider was struggling to even stand up. Then its water rings dissipated off its body.

“Finish it with psybeam!” said Marie. Fennekin began charging up its attack.

“No! I can’t do this by myself!” Falt said to himself. “I gotta save Dewpider, but Swirlix is moving too slow, it would never make it.” He then eyed Snom closely. “Plus, Snom will make it hard to get close.” He looked a little bit longer. The way Snom moved. Small, precise, backwards, propellant. Then an idea clicked in his head.

“I got it! We’re coming, Topaz!”

“What?!” she said.

“Swirlix! Propel yourself down and save Dewpider with flamethrower!”

Marie gasped. “He stole it!”

Swirlix turned around and blasted itself down with flamethrower. A trail of flames followed it like a rocket.

“Chase it!” said Marie. Snom chased Swirlix down with icy wind. But as Snom closed in, it had to dance around the rapidly swirling flames. Its ice scales were grinding against the flames. Snom decided to break off the pursuit and flew off to the side. “Darn! Fennekin hurry and fire!” Fennekin then shot its psybeam. Dewpider watched in horror as the attack approached, but then it got scooped up by Swirlix just as the attack hit where it was standing.

Swirlix and Dewpider cheered triumphantly as they flew through the air. Topaz and Falt cheered as well.

“That’s cool and all, but try getting away with the weight of 2 pokemon!” said Marie. Snom then appeared behind them. “Use struggle bug!” Snom blasted itself towards the 2 pokemon.

“Dewpider jump!” said Topaz.

“Swirlix, use fairy wind!” said Falt.

Dewpider jumped high off Swirlix’s head just as Swirlix whipped around and sent a wave of fairy wind at Snom. Snom had no choice but to use struggle bug early to repel the attack. The attacks collided, filling the sky with a bright white light, making Marie have to shield her eyes. Snom successfully repelled the attack, but it was confused to only see Swirlix in front of it.

“Now Dewpider!” shouted Topaz. Snom and Marie looked up and were shocked to see Dewpider right above. “Use headbutt!” Dewpider bashed its head against Snom as hard as it could. Snom yelled in pain and it rocketed down to the ground. It hit the ground hard and bounced next to Fennekin.

“Yes finally!” said Falt.

“Keep going!” said Topaz. “Pour in every ounce you have in you! Right now!”

“Yeah! Use flamethrower!”

“Use bubble beam!”

The two pokemon blasted their attacks as hard as they could. Before the reached, Fennekin jumped in front of Snom. The attacks hit and a massive explosion erupted from the impact. A plume of smoke and mist reached over the treetops. Swirlix and Dewpider landed back on the ground, both completely exhausted.

“No way.” said Marie to herself. “You guys actually got us. You’re really quite something.”

Falt and Topaz wait anxiously. “Did we do it?” asked Falt. The all waited another moment. Marie then saw a slight hint of a silhouette inside the plume. She smirked.

“Use howl!” she said confidently. Fennekin howled loudly, blowing the plume in its entirety. A red aura surrounded Marie’s pokemon. Snom’s ice scales was in the shape of a small dome that had covered both of them from the attacks.

Topaz’s breath grew shaky from disbelief. “D-Dewpider, use bubble beam!”

“Use energy ball!” said Falt. The two pokemon charged their attacks.

“Snom! Icy wind!” Snom blasted to 2 pokemon with a huge stream of icy wind. The two shielded their faces from the attack, their own attacks dissipating into particles. “Fennekin, scratch!” Fennekin charged in through the icy wind, its claws bursting with a deep orange color.

“Weaken that Fennekin with play nice!” said Falt desperately. Swirlix formed a blue ball of energy on its tail, but Fennekin was too fast. It slashed Swirlix, destroyed the blue orb in the process, then slashed Dewpider immediately after. The two were scratched so hard that they were flung a few inches into the air.

“Now ember!” Fennekin pivoted around and shot an ember before the two pokemon even hit the ground. The ember and the icy wind combined upon them and swirled around into a tornado before exploding out into a cloud of particles.

Scolipede watched in awe as a star struck Noibat watched with its mouth agape from Scolipede’s horns. As the particles fell to the ground, Marie peeked over to see Dewpider’s and Swirlix’s eyes were swirled. She gave a sigh of relief.

“Dewpider and Swirlix are unable, the battle goes to Marie!” shouted a voice. Everyone looked to see that Crisis had returned with a raised hand. He looked back and forth between the trainers. “Congratulations to you all, you have battled valiantly.”

Falt and Topaz dropped to the ground, having to catch their breath from the intensity. “We lost?” asked Topaz.

Falt reached his hand over to Topaz. “Heh, look. My hands… they can’t stop shaking.”

Topaz looked at her own hands. “Me neither.”

Crisis approached Marie. “So how did it go, Crisis.” Marie asked. “Did you get the medicine for C?” Crisis fished a bottle out of his handbag and showed it to Marie. “Oh, cool.”

“Miss Marie!” called Topaz, running over with Dewpider in her arms. Falt did the same with Swirlix. “That… That battle was amazing!”

“Yeah, we’ve never been in one so intense!” said Falt.

“Your attacks were able to flow so seamlessly between each other, no matter if the pokemon were together or apart!”

“So strong too! Just how did you get them to be so strong?”

Marie scratched the back of her head. “Oh, let’s just say a particular set of circumstances.” Fennekin and Snom nodded to this. Snom boosted itself on top of Fennekin’s head and they approached the group.

“I’ll have to agree on what Marie had stated,” said Crisis. “The trials we had to go through to get her haven’t been entirely pleasurable.”

“Oh, so did the Tuviere incident affect you guys too?” asked Topaz.

“More or less.” said Marie with a slight chuckle.

“The Tuviere incident affected every kind of trainer, Topaz.” said Falt, “Of course she would’ve been affected also.”

“You don’t have to be all smarty pants on me! I’m just asking an innocent question!” shouted Topaz.

“You guys are at each other already.” said Marie. Dewpider and Swirlix nodded tiredly. Then the twins got closer to each other as they argued, smushing their pokemon’s faces into each other.

“I believe it is what Rival described to me as sibling rivalry.” said Crisis. “And juxtapose to its appearance, it's actually a subtle form of love they have for each other as a family.”

“Huh?! Your friend must be weird!” said Topaz.

“Yeah, we argue all the time! How could you get love out of that?” asked Falt.

“Well, if we were to prove this definitively, I believe I may have a solution.” Crisis lowered his head down the twins. “Simply say you hate each other. Only then may your true feelings unfold.”

“Fine!” the twins said at the same time. They looked each other dead in the eyes, words just at the tips of their tongues. For a moment, they stayed like that. But they turned their heads away.

“W-Whatever, Falt doesn’t need to know how I feel!” said Topaz.

“S-Same. Saying it ain’t even worth the time!” said Falt. Dewpider and Swirlix both gave a sigh of relief.

“Then I supposed it's settled.” said Crisis, walking off towards the tents.

“Is it weird that I’m somewhat envious?” asked Marie to no one in particular.

Both Falt and Topaz got flustered and chased after Crisis. “Don't get the wrong idea! I would never love my brother like that!” said Topaz.

“Yeah! Topaz is the most annoying sister ever!” said Falt.

“Well you’re the most annoying brother ever!”

“You’re more annoying than me!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah-huh!”

Crisis calmly turned around and faced them. “Notice how I never explicitly said what was settled. I believe your reactions prove the feeling you two are too prideful to express.”

The twins blushed slightly. “W-What are you trying to do!? Play mind games with us?!” said Topaz.

“Well it ain’t gonna work! Topaz is to dumb to fall for it!” said Falt.

“What was that?!”

The twins devolved into senseless arguing once more. Crisis scratched his chin as he observed. “If anything, I really do hope that Rival knew what she was talking about.”

Over the arguing, a desperate voice called out to them. Crisis looked to see Scorbunny running up to them, flailing its arms about trying to get their attention. “Scorbunny? What seems to be the issue?”

Scorbunny slid to a halt and pointed towards Ceailean’s tent. It cried out desperately with tears in its eyes. Crisis immediately knew something was wrong. “Ceailean!” he shouted. He then ran towards Ceailean’s tent.

“C?” asked Marie. Her concern grew when she saw Crisis running. She gasped and ran up to Scolipede. “I think something is wrong with C. Take there as fast as you can!” Scolipede nodded and Marie jumped on its back. They galloped over Ceailean’s tent.

Falt and Topaz were broken out of their feud as Scolipede rushed past them, making them almost lose their balance. “Whoa, what are we rushing for?” asked Falt.

“Is something wrong?” asked Topaz. The twins followed everyone’s lead and made their way to Ceailean’s tent.

----------------------------------------

() The sun was starting to set. An orange tint washed over the sky and the clouds were scattered. Ceailean was breathing heavily in his bed and was covered in as many blankets as possible. His stove was being used to boil water as a makeshift humidifier. Marie took a wet cloth from a separate bucket of water and placed it on his head.

“By Arceus C, don’t worry us like that.” she said, her voice cracking as if on the verge of sobbing.

Ceailean chuckled. “Sorry, I guess I got too absorbed into your guy’s battle. I was watching with Scorbunny when I felt this huge wave of nausea and I guess I passed out.”

“Geez, you don’t have to push yourself so hard.”

“Aww, but I was bored.”

“Then let me rephrase, you shouldn’t put yourself so hard.”

“Alright Mom.” said Ceailean with a slight groan. Marie blushed slightly at this. “I should probably call her soon.” Now Marie’s heart sank, she had to get out of this situation. Ceailean’s mom’s number was still blocked on his pokedex and he might wonder why. And finding out what was going on at home might convince him to leave her behind. She couldn’t let that happen.

“M-Maybe you should call her later. You know, maybe you’ll freak her out if you call and you’re sick like this.” she said.

Ceailean sniffled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll do it after I recover.” Marie gave a subtle sigh of relief.

“Anyway, get some rest. My gym challenge can wait until you get better.”

“I hope it's soon. I’d feel bad if I held you up for a long time.”

Marie smiled. “Worry about yourself first, C.”

“Never.”

Marie chuckled slightly. She stood up and left Ceailean’s tent. Falt and Topaz waved to her from the campfire. Marie approached them and sat on a foldable chair next to them.

“So is he gonna be okay?” asked Topaz.

“Yeah, he should be. He was just being a stupid head. With Crisis’s medicine, he should be up in no time. He’s tough like that.” said Marie.

“What kind of name is Crisis though? Sounds cool and kinda scary at the same time.” asked Falt.

Crisis walked up behind him. “It was designated to me by my guardian, Armageddon. With the notion that he would reveal its true meaning once the time is right.”

“Armageddon? What, he some kind of evil villain or something?”

“I would appreciate it if you would restrain from slandering his name.” Crisis said sternly.

Falt sank into his chair nervously. “Yes sir.”

“Anyway, thanks for healing up our Pokémon too.” said Topaz.

“We couldn’t just leave you guys hanging like that. Any pokemon deserves special treatment after trying their hardest in any battle.” said Marie.

“They sure do.” Topaz then leaned forward towards the fire. “What are you planning to do after today?”

“Do what we’ve been doing. Participate in the gym challenge, win the league, beat the elite 4, become champ. You know, simple stuff.”

“Pfft! You know its gonna be way harder than that!”

“But what I said is still basically what needs to happen.”

“Make it sound so easy.”

“Simple, not easy.”

“I guess. Say, Ceailean said you guys were from Snowbelle. What’s it like there?”

“Me and him were, but Crisis we met along the way. Snowbelle though? It’s a super pretty place. Snow everywhere, just like in the name. But where its true beauty lies is in the light.”

“Really?”

Marie leaned back on her chair and looked up to the sky. “Yes. The sun, the warm streetlights at night, and the blue light of the moon. I could look at it forever.”

“That sounds so… fantastical.”

“Fantastical?”

“Too fancy?”

“Maybe.”

“Well anyway, me and my brother have never seen snow before. Family being too busy and all. We’ve always wanted to see it for ourselves. So on our journey, we hope to visit Snowbelle. To see Snow for the first time.”

Marie sat up and looked Topaz in the eyes. “Oh, you guys too?”

“What do you mean us too?”

“I have another friend that’s never seen the snow before, nor the ocean. So I took them along to show them those places. I'm sure you guys know each other already.”

Topaz felt a slight rumbling behind her. She sank into her chair until she could see what was behind her. Scolipede bent its head down and sniffed her curiously. She reached her arm out and poked Scolipede’s body. “Bewp.” Scolipede leaned back a bit, unsure what to do with that unusual show of affection.

“Not scared no more, Topaz?” asked Falt.

“Last I checked, you weren’t either.”

“Yeah, fair.”

Marie sniffled and pretended to wipe a tear away. “My, I think that’s the first time you guys have ever talked to each other without it going into a bitter argument.”

“We’re not that bad, are we?” asked Falt.

“Only because you keep starting it.” said Topaz, accusingly.

“You just started this one!”

“Ugh! Whatever, I don’t have the energy anymore.”

Marie chuckled. “Oh, if only I knew what it was like to have siblings. Sounds so fun.”

“Don’t, they’re annoying.” said Topaz

Falt then swung his body across the armrests of his chair. “I agree.”

Topaz shaded her eyes from the sun as she looked over the horizon. “Man, its getting late. And we’re nowhere near a pokemon center.”

“You guys could camp with us again if you want.” said Marie.

“Really! You’d let us?”

“Yeah! It’ll be fun! But uh, girls go in the girls tent. And boys go in the boys' tent.”

“I don’t wanna sleep next to the sick guy, no offense.” said Falt.

“Plus, we already have it covered.” said Topaz.

Marie tilted her head curiously, “Covered?”

----------------------------------------

() 30 minutes later. Topaz wiped the sweat off her forehead. “There, done.” She gestured to a home-like tent. Standing tall and yellow, it was a huge sizable tent that dwarfed Ceailean and Marie’s. With four proper walls and a zip up door, Marie couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.

“Finally, I’m so tired!” Falt dramatically kicked the tent flap away and flopped onto the foldable mattress and bed frame.

“Just where the heck have you guys been keeping this stuff?” asked Marie.

“There was this guy in our hometown of Santalune that was like this crazy, magician, luggage packer. He said it was a family tradition that dated back to the Sinnoh region. And we saw him pack crazy amounts of things into things like purses or handbags. He taught us everything he knew, but it cost a fortune!”

“Can you teach me?” asked Marie with a hint of excitement.

“I dunno, do you have 3 hours?”

Marie’s enthusiasm quickly melted away. “Uh, maybe another time then.”

Topaz sighed. “I don’t blame ya, I don’t think I’d be a very good teacher.”

Marie put her hand on Topaz’s shoulder. “Don’t think that. I’m sure you would’ve been fine.”

Topaz smiled. “You mean that?”

“I do. Everyone has at least 1 or 2 things to teach someone, and everyone has a certain style. I’m sure you would’ve been a good teacher.”

“Oh, thanks!”

“Don’t sweat it.” Marie then shaded her eyes with her palm and looked over to the sun. “It’s getting dark, are you guys planning to do anything else?”

“Mm, no. I think we’re gonna hit the hay. To be honest, today and yesterday have been the most exhausted Falt and I have ever been. So I think we owe ourselves some TLC. Why? Were you guys gonna do anything?”

“With C out of commission, I doubt we could do much. So I was just thinking some smores would be cool. After that, I think I will hit the hay also.”

“Smores? What are those?”

“What!? They’re this sacred camping delicacy that-” Marie stopped herself and grinned mischievously. She grabbed Topaz by the wrist and dragged her towards the campfire. “Com’on, I’ll show you!”

“Ahh! Wait up Miss Marie! I can’t move that fast!”

----------------------------------------

() The sun quickly set and the stars of the night sky appeared. They swirled through the sky until the sun came back up upon the horizon. A tent flap opened up and Ceailean stepped out. His breath fogged up every time he exhaled. He took a step forward, his bare foot getting soaked in the grass’s morning dew.

“Okay, let’s get this started before anyone notices.” he said to himself. He snapped only one of the structural joints of his tents when he heard a distant shriek.

“Noooooo!” Ceailean quickly turned around, thinking someone was in trouble. But his mood quickly changed to shock as he saw Marie full sprinting to him. Marie popped the plastic cap off of something and thrust it towards Ceailean’s head. His instincts took over and he blocked Marie’s advance. There, straining against Ceailean’s arms just in front of his eyes, was a thermometer.

“Marie?! What the heck?!” Ceailean exclaimed.

“Who said you could get out of bed!? You could still be sick after all?!” she said.

“I feel as healthy as a Mudsdale! We don’t need stuff like this!”

“We do! How else are we supposed to know you’re not lying?”

Ceailean managed to push Marie away. “I’m fine, I’m telling you!” he said. His breathing became heavy.

“Oh really?” asked Marie, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at him suspiciously. “Then just why are you so worn out already?”

Ceailean gasped. His physical appearance was deteriorating fast. He forced himself to stop breathing out of his mouth, though his nose still seemed equally as loud. “Y-You’re stronger than you look, that’s all.”

“You’re sweating and your hands are shaking.”

“Uh… you’re really really strong. Like… almost as strong as me?” Marie growled at his response. “Ugh! Fine! You want to make sure so badly?” Ceailean snatched the thermometer out of Marie’s hands and put it in his mouth. While he waited, he spent every precious second looking for a distraction.

There, he found one! The flamboyant looking tent across from them. He pointed at it. “Whose tent is that?”

Marie turned around. “Oh, that’s Falt and Topaz’s tent. A bit much, don’t you think?”

“Y-Yeah.”

Just then, the tent flap opened and Falt stepped out. His dreary eyes were barely open. He shaded them with his palm and looked around. “The heck is makin’ all that noise.” Marie squealed and grew beet red while Ceailean was caught in surprise. Falt had exited his tent in nothing but his underwear. Blue and white striped boxers.

“Falt! What the heck?!” screamed Marie, covering her eyes in embarrassment. Though her eyes still caught glimpses through the cracks of her fingers.

“Huh?” asked Falt, barely processing what was happening around him. A pair of arms then grabbed him and pulled him back inside the tent.

“By Arceus Falt! We aren’t alone out here anymore! You can’t go out in your underwear and freak out the guests!” shouted Topaz, absolutely mortified.

“The what-” he asked, still sleepy.

“Oh man, oh man, oh man!” repeated Marie, over and over. She fidgeted in place trying to forget what she just saw.

Ceailean saw this as an opportunity. He had almost forgotten his plan. Before the thermometer could beep, Ceailean opened the tent flap, only to see Fennekin inside with a water bottle in its mouth.

“Oh Fennekin!” said Ceailean in a whisper, “You’re a lifesaver! Quick, gimme the bottle!” He reached over, but Fennekin then dove out of the way. “What?!” Fennekin jumped out of the tent, avoiding Ceailean’s grasp. It moved a little ways from the tent and stopped. “Fennekin! What’re you doing?! Gimme the bottle!” Ceailean walked as fast he could towards the bottle. In response, Fennekin untwisted the cap and tipped the bottle on its side.

Ceailean gasped. “Noooooh!” he said in a high pitched squeal. “Fennekin! Why would you do that?!” Ceailean desperately reached out to save what was left of his water in his bottle. Fennekin then intercepted by harshly pawing away his hands. “Ow! Ow! Stop! Why though!?” Soon, the bottle was empty and all the water pooled up on the ground.

“I don’t know what you’re getting at, but I can still work with this!” Ceailean then approached the puddle. He took the thermometer out and reached towards it. That’s when Scorbunny came rocketing in from the sky and used blaze kick on the puddle, completely destroying the ground under it. Ceailean watched in horror as all the water quickly drained away into the cracks.

“Scorbunny! You too?!” Scorbunny rubbed its nose and gave a great big smile. “Fennekin I get, maybe. But you?! Who would- Oh, I know who…” Ceailean felt a huge presence behind him. He turned around to see Marie staring him down with her arms crossed.

“I knew it!” she said sternly.

“K-Knew what?” asked Ceailean. He then noticed that the thermometer was still in his hand.. He quickly re-inserted it into his mouth and chuckled slightly.

“I just absolutely knew that you would try and change the temperature. So I had the pokemon try and prevent you from doing just that!”

“Oh really? On what evidence?” Ceailean gestured to the hole in the ground, “Last I checked, there wasn’t any evidence!”

“The bottle is evidence enough.”

“Well how do you know Fennekin wasn’t just being mean?”

“First, Fennekin would never be mean to people for no reason! So I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your insinuations to yourself! And Second, I’ve also got eyewitnesses!”

“What! Who?”

Crisis then dropped down next to Marie, soon followed by Decidueye. “That would be us.”

Ceailean sighed, accepting defeat. “Whatever, I guess.” The thermometer beeped and Marie snatched it out of Ceailean’s mouth before he could grab it.

Marie sighed. “Alright everyone, you can come out now.” All of Marie’s and Ceailean’s pokemon came out of various hiding places. Ceailean’s jaw dropped.

“She had a whole army ready to foil my 1 plan!” Ceailean thought to himself.

“Tsk tsk, 103.9 degrees, C? You really wanted to travel with a temperature that high?”

“I would've been fine. It’s what I have an immune system for, right?”

“It doesn’t matter when you’re straining yourself like that!”

Ceailean sighed. “And to think you even convinced all my Pokémon too. Shows what’ll happen should you convince them enough.” he said with a hint of sadness.

“There you go again, being pessimistic and all.” said Topaz. She walked up to them and rocked herself on her feet. “They weren’t doing it because they were bribed or anything. They did it because they were worried about you.”

“R-Really?” Ceailean looked to Scorbunny, whose smile started to melt away into concern. Noibat and Solosis both flew beside it and showed the same concern. Scorbunny put its paws together and asked Ceailean to please stay and rest, on the verge of tears.

“Yes really,” said Topaz. “You keep wanting to move forward with reckless abandon even though you know you’re not fit to do that.”

“I’m fit.” Ceailean mumbled.

Topaz sighed and raised a finger. “Since you keep insisting, I’ll just say you’re delusional then.”

“Hey!”

“Point is, they’re worried about you. Everyone is. So please, just try and rest. For their sake if not for yours.”

Ceailean looked to Topaz, then at Marie, then at his own pokemon. Ceailean sighed. “Fine, I’ll uh… rest a little longer.”

Marie walked up to Ceailean and placed her hand on his right shoulder. “Thanks, C.”

“S-Sure.”

Topaz then skipped her way past then and crouched down near Scorbunny. “You did good, here.” She held out a muffin. Scorbunny’s eyes sparkled and it gladly took the muffin, digging in immediately.

Ceailean pointed accusingly. “Wait a minute! You did bribe them!”

“Topaz! You were supposed to wait until C was inside the tent!”

Topaz covered her mouth with her hand. “Oops! My bad!” Crisis sighed disappointingly at the whole situation and excused himself.

“Y’all set me up!” shouted Ceailean.

“Whatever!” shouted Marie. She then chucked a wet towel directly upon Ceailean’s forehead, knocking him back inside his tent and on his bed. He was then quickly covered with a blanket. “Just stay here until you actually feel better! No sooner!” Then his tent was zipped up and Ceailean was left within the filtered, blue colored sunlight.

“Now Scorbunny, Noibat, and Solosis!” All ran up and stood at attention of Marie in front of Ceailean’s tent. “Make sure he doesn’t come out until tomorrow morning!” All the Pokémon saluted.

“Wait! I have a proposition!” said Ceailean.

“You’re supposed to be resting,” said Marie.

“I aaaaam. But I wanna relax the way I want to. Solosis, if you come in with me, I’ll get you something from The Ol’ Love Garden.”

“Psssh! As if Solosis would get bribed by you!” Marie then noticed Solosis dreamily drooling. “What! Solosis?!”

“All you have to do is come inside and I’ll order it for you.” Ceailean goaded. Solosis immediately used its psychic power to open the tent and hop inside.

“Huuuuuh!?” Marie screamed.

Noibat shrugged its wings and commented on Solosis’s weak will. “Oh Noibat.” Noibat quickly steeled itself, ready to reject any temptation. “If you stay out there, I’ll watch all the anime you were watching.” Noibat gasped. “Due to your enhanced hearing, I know you’ll hear it outside. And even if you get away, I’ll just spoil it for you!” Noibat quickly jumped inside the tent.

Scorbunny was startled at how fast its brother in arms were falling. It quickly closed its eyes and covered its eyes, squirming in place. “And Scorbunny.” Scorbunny whimpered, thinking of what possible way Ceailean’s supposed silver tongue might entice it. But then there was silence. It went on for 1 second, then 10 seconds, then 30 seconds.

“I uh… don’t actually know how to convince you. You’re just too nice of a Pokémon. And I think you give more than you receive.” Scorbunny sighed in relief, but its calm reaction made it expose its ears. “Oh wait, I know! Do you wanna… race?”

Scorbunny’s ears twitched. Marie gasped and quickly grasped both its paws with her hands. “Scorbunny, don’t listen. It’s for his own good.” Scorbunny squirmed in place, its ears still upright and attentive.

“It could be against something you’ve never raced against before.” Scorbunny scrunched its face up and tried to resist the temptation. “Maybe… Scolipede?” Scorbunny’s eyes flashed open. Its mind went wild imagining how a race against Scolipede would be like. “It may be big, but it's fast. I’m sure you know.” Scorbunny whimpered and nodded.

“Scorbunny, please,” said Marie.

“And we could race as soon as I’m better. Maybe we’ll invite all the Pokémon to race, and you’ll get a rematch against Fennekin.” Scorbunny couldn’t take it anymore. It freed itself from Marie’s hands and jumped inside the tent.

“Com’on! C, you can’t just out-bribe your Pokémon like that!”

“I did and I will! I know them better and I’ll use that to my advantage!”

Marie pounded her fist on the ground in defeat. Topaz walked up behind her. “Why didn’t you just say you could have it race Scolipede right now?”

Marie gasped. “No! I didn’t think of that!” she complained. “Why are you using my Pokémon as a bargaining chip anyway!?”

Ceailean inside the tent cackled to himself, scoring an absolute victory over Marie. He sighed and brought out his pokédex, his Pokémon gathered all around him anticipating what was going to be shown on screen.

“We’ll get to the anime soon guys, first I gotta order Solosis’s food.” Solosis nodded excitedly. “And might as well see what you guys want as well.” Scorbunny and Noibat cheered, high fiving each other in the end. “One more thing,” Ceailean put the pokédex on his side. “Thank you guys, for worrying about me.” Scorbunny teared up and gave Ceailean the biggest hug it could give. The other two Pokémon nuzzled him affectionately. “I may be stubborn, but I’d do anything for you guys.” All the Pokémon nodded. “Now, first order of business.” Ceailean started typing in his pokédex.

----------------------------------------

() Crisis walked around the edge of the clearing. Then his communicator notified him of a message. He quickly opened it, thinking it was Team Harmonious. But it was actually Ceailean with a text request.

“Hey, could you order me and my Pokémon some stuff from The Ol’ Love Garden? I would pay for it myself but the money I have isn’t digital. So if you could get it for us, that’d be great! I’m also willing to pay you back if you want! Okay? I’ll let you know as soon as all my Pokémon have decided.”

Crisis’s eyebrow twitched, agitated that he was stuck ordering food again. But he sighed and put his communicator back in his pocket. “Thank Arceus that I am still on a salary.” He then continued on his walk.

----------------------------------------

() A little later, when the sun hung in the middle of the sky at noon.

“Okay guys, I think we’ll be off!” said Topaz.

“Alrighty, hope to see you guys soon!” said Marie, waving goodbye.

“May you be safe on your travels.” said Crisis.

“Just make sure your brother doesn’t pull any stuff like what he did today anymore.”

“You don’t have to remind me!” shouted Falt, already much further down the path than Topaz was.

Topaz chuckled nervously. “Oh! One more thing! You guys are heading to Cyllage City right? Maybe we could race to see who gets there first?”

“Eh, you go on ahead. C still can’t move, you know.”

“Oh yeah.” Topaz cupped her hands around her mouth. “Ceailean! Hurry up and get better already! Don’t keep Miss Marie in one place!”

A moment passed “Noooooooo!” said Ceailean jokingly.

Topaz giggled. She then jogged down the trail a ways before turning back around and waving. “See you later, Miss Marie!”

“Yeah see ya! Oh, and Topaz!” Marie gave her a thumbs up. “When you see that Gym Leader, Grant. Tell him Marie’s coming! He’ll know what you’re talking about.”

“Okay, I will Miss Marie!” Topaz then started jogging down the path.

“Could you stop with the ‘miss’ stuff?” Marie then raised her fist to the sky. “And both of you kick his butt for me!” Topaz giggled and gave one last wave goodbye.

Marie and Crisis watched until they were both out of sight, disappearing beyond the hill.