My sleep came to a sudden stop when a knock entered my ears, forcing me to groan heavily and roll in the bed.

"Mr. Quaza, there are some visitors that would like to see you."

Hearing my last name, I opened my eyes slowly but I struggled in keeping them open because my body still wants to keep it close.

A second knock came through the door and I was forced to deal with reality.

Sighing, I moved away from the bed and walked to the door and opened it. Seeing people waiting for me on the other side.

Immediately, I recognize two of those people. The girl I met at Mt. Pyre and my... teacher. Jin Fulan, the psychic type gym leader, and father to the famous psychic twins, Tate and Liza, my friends.

My eyes went past them and noticed a young woman, standing behind them. She noticed my stare, nodded and walked away. Probably the nurse that informed me of the visitors.

"Andrew!"

I turned to face my teacher and saw him stretching his hands outwards and enveloped me in a tight hug.

"Ughh" I tried to get out, using my hands to push the oversized child off me while smiling awkwardly at the girl who looked at me with a smile of her own.

"Don't you miss meee?" Jin whined, hugging me even tighter.

"I just left a month ago!" Finally, I managed to push them away but they were still trying to get close to me.

"And that month ago felt like a decade!"

"Just come in." I sighed at him, then I paused, looking at the girl. "Uh you too."

I pointed at her and to the room

They both nodded and went inside. I grabbed them both a chair to sit in and I contented myself to sit on the bed.

"So are you all good?, no lasting damage? I can get Stacy to inspect every inch of your body and even your insides if you wan—"

"No." I said immediately.

"But—"

"Where's Ralts?" I asked.

Jin looked down in defeat and accepted his loss "He's in your room at the Pokemon Center you were staying at."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He stopped for a moment. "He's... a bit tired after using teleport too much, so he's resting for now. I'm sure he'll see you immediately when he regains his energy!"

Ralts? Lose energy? Resting?

I didn't respond but instead took out my phone and showed the girl a message I had already prepared for her.

[Hey. Were alive! Our stupid plan worked yay! First off, are you okay? I saw you flinch when Chingling screamed, are you actually deaf? Also I'm sorry for deciding to bring you with me to go hunt some ghosts that had only led us to danger, I shouldn't have. I hope you'll forgive me.]

"What's this?" Jin asked, putting his head in front of the phone, blocking it from the girl's eyes.

I shoved them away and let the girl read the text.

"It's okay, I forgive you" The girl said, using her voice.

Her voice is soothing and calm although she was being too quiet, a complete contrast to her personality.

Does she.... actually forgive me?

"And for your information, I am deaf! Just not completely." She shouted, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks.

Nevermind, she does.

She grabbed her phone and texted a message this time, typing quickly.

[I did not lose all my hearing,so I can still get startled by loud sounds. Anyway, Ralts decided for me to say this to you. 'If you want me to forgive you for keeping me locked in my pokeball suddenly and making me skip my breakfast then making me save you all of a sudden, bring me a huge tub of ice cream and oh give Myra a super big tub of ice cream, chocolate flavor, the one near the contest hall and maybe I'll forgive you'.]

My eyes twitched from the long message she sent and when I reached the end of the message, I gave the girl a blank look.

[Ralts didn't say that last bit.] I typed

She smiled "No, but pretty please?"

I sighed [Fine, It's the least I can do. Does Sableye want too as well? Where are they anyway?]

Suddenly, I felt a presence near me, patting my shoulder.

My head moved slowly to stare at my side and there I saw, Sableye with a huge grin on his face.

I flinched and almost jumped out of the bed but I stopped myself, glaring at the gremlin who was laughing at me.

I grit my teeth. So this is how it feels to have someone else tease you. "So what flavor do you want, you little gremlin."

The Sableye continued to laugh but they answered, forming shadow hands and communicated with the girl.

[They want diamond ice cream!]

[That's gonna be expensive... How about rocky road?]

The girl shook her head [He only eats minerals or rocks.]

[Rocky road then but with actual rocks.]

Jin, who was unusually listening to our conversation quietly, spoke up. "Oh! If you guys are picking flavors then I want strawberry!"

"Go buy it with your own money." I responded.

He looked at me "But Andrew... your money is my money."

My mouth moved to speak but no words came out and after a few seconds I closed them as Jin looked at me with a smug look on his face.

"You're still buying your own ice cream."

________________________________

Sitting in front of me is a big empty tub that was once filled to the brim with delicious cookies and cream ice cream.

And the one laying down on the floor is my supposed teacher, Jin.

I cast my gaze to the window, looking at the orange sky and the setting sun. The window is open, allowing a soft breeze to enter and cause a pleasant sensation to flow through me.

The girl and her pokemon had already left and despite spending time with her for most of the day, I still hadn't gotten her name.

I did ask but she didn't respond, merely putting her finger over her lips. Although I managed to get her contact and now we can call or text each other freely.

The door creaked but I didn't look away from the window, already knowing who entered by guessing the owner of these new emotions inside my head.

The emotion is... shocked? Betrayed?

I turned my head to face Ralts and my eyes widened as I understood why he's feeling that way.

Ralts looked at me, eyes frowning and gesturing to the empty tub of ice cream while shouting his name over and over again.

I chuckled but that seemed to awaken him as he stopped shouting and shot a glare at me.

"Don't worry, your tub of ice cream is safe, it's on the desk over there." I pointed towards the side of the bed.

"It's kinda melted by now." I said, scratching my cheek.

Ralts frowned again and looked at Jin laying on the floor and decided to walk over him, acting like he wasn't there. Jin still didn't wake up however.

He continued walking until he was just right in front of me and stood still, waiting for me to start.

"I'm sorry." I said.

Ralts raised one of his brows and gestured at me to continue.

"Sorry for forcefully recalling you and making you skip your breakfast then let you out in the middle of a fight and expect you to help us do something not so smart."

I let out a huge breath.

Ralts nodded and kept gesturing for more.

"I don't really know what more do you expect from me"

Ralts frowned.

"But..." I continued, ""I know I messed up so I'm going to do this. Do you remember what I had said when we first met?"

He paused, tilting his head for a while then looked down to think and after a few seconds had passed, his eyes immediately widened and I felt myself getting excited.

"You know I've been calling you Ralts all this time because I couldn't think of a very cool name for you, but... I think I know now what I'm gonna call you." I smiled.