"We won't have to leave directly after this, will we?" Reginae asks as I enter the gym. The interior of the gym is the city raised to the second power- wall to wall, it's coated in plants, and they're all bright green despite the ensuing winter outside. The air is moist and thick with the scent of fertilizer and leaves, but Reginae takes it in as if it's the freshest stuff he's ever inhaled in his life. "We could be gym trainers."

"What, and switch the whole team to Grass-types? That's not happening." I reply. "Hey, where's Minerva?"

Minerva is halfway down the field, racing through indoor arches overgrown with vines with fire brimming in her mouth. She rounds a corner, her tails sparking up as well, and enters battle with some poor, overwhelmed trainer before they can withdraw their Bulbasaur.

"I should go get her." I say.

"Uh, uh... You know how you were thinking about how you can't socialize earlier?" Fang asks me, nudging my leg away from Minerva and towards the side of a gym.

"Mew, were you listening to that?" I ask, tripping out of his way and falling flat on my face, where the wet grass cushions my fall.

Fang stands over my face, his old cocky expression spreading across his face. He informs me, "As the team's token extrovert, we're gonna practice. Right now." As I get to my feet, I notice a girl watering the flowers along the gym's edge, which is rife with berry plants and ornamental flowers. Fang pushes me again, and I fall against the opposite wall, landing with one hand pressed against it and my legs tilted into an awkward cool-kid lean.

"Are you a trainer?" I ask her.

"Seeing as I work in a gym... yes." The girl, who has dark hair in a pixie cut, looks up at me with one eyebrow raised. She's wearing informal gardening clothing, a nice straw hat, and oh Mew I'm staring at her. This is going well.

"Oh! Ha! I'm a trainer too. What a coincidence."

"Get your act together, Ashley! Ask her about her hair or something. That's... that's a girl thing, right?" Reginae calls, though the trail off at the end is anything but reassuring.

"Unbelievable. You're even worse than she is." Ten says, covering his face with his wing.

"S-sorry, that's my Meganium. "He just wanted to say he loves the flowers. You know, I can talk to Pokemon. You're not one of those people who are freaked out by Goldeneyes, right? Someone once told me I was an abomination against nature and I um- don't want you to feel uncomfortable-"

"Abort, abort, abort!" yells Fang.

"That's not what he said," she replies.

"Erm. Excuse me?"

"He said something about getting your act together, followed about a comment about my hair...? I'm afraid I'm a little rusty, since I haven't talked to my Pokemon in a while, but that was the gist." She holds out a hand. "My name's Cecily. I'm the lead gardener here, and while I'm not a Goldeneye, I can speak with my Pokemon. It's a rare gift, but it seems to run in my family. You've heard of the dragon tamers of Johto, correct? Lance, Clair? Sort of like their family, though nowhere near as flashy."

I shake her hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"Do you like the flowers?" she asks, but she's not holding my gaze anymore.

"Oh! Oh, yes. The carnations over there are a really nice compliment to the Sitrus berry trees. I haven't seen Sitrus blooms that large since before I went to Elm's lab, and- this composition is stunning. Did you import those Qualot berries?"

"I sure did. Do you garden yourself?"

"We bought some succulents the other day. We're keeping them in berry pots."

"In the bag? The lack of light in there can't be good for them. Have you considered putting them in the exterior pockets instead?" she asks, concerned as if we had mentioned putting live animals into the deep recesses of my bag.

"That's brilliant."

"I can give you tips any time." Cecily gives Reginae a thumbs up. Meanwhile, I'm standing in the corner, trying to look neutral as Minerva's banshee laugh sounds in the distance.

"Err, we're leaving tomorrow. Or soon, anyways. Can I get your number? Ashley doesn't use her Pokegear for anything anyways."

Thanks Reginae.

I hold out my Pokegear and Cecily inputs her number, scattering a fine mist of dirt across the screen. I pray she doesn't notice that I have less than five contacts and one of them is my mother. She must not, because she's smiling as she hands it back. "There you go."

"Th-thank you." I say, putting it away. "We should go."

Minerva, tails with blades of grass and paws covered in dirt and that green liquid you get from dicing up plants, springs on top of my bleating Meganium the second we're an arch away from Cecily. "Reginae! You can't ask a human girl for her number, like you're going to ask her out or something. That's a human thing, you creep."

"I'm not a creep." Reginae insists. "I'm asking her for gardening advice. What, do you think the trainers in this gym are attractive?

"By human standards, they're very hot. No wonder there's so many men waiting outdoors."

"Wow! Minerva thinks some random girls are attractive! Let's tell the whoooole neighborhood. Look, not everyone wants to make out with every single member of their preferred sex they share more than two words with." Reginae sticks his head up in her face.

"Okay, what if I share more than two words with someone and they refuse to get it through their thick skull that I'm interested?"

"Is your idea with flirting being an asshole to everyone? If so, looks like you flirt with literally everyone."

"Hey, I'm better at it than Ashley!"

"You guys are just being mean to me now." I say, and Ten pats me reassuringly with his wing.

Cecily is watching us out of the corner of her eye. She gives me a thumbs up, which I think is either a good sign or an expression of profound pity.

"Forget it! Let's go burn some things. I'm bored." Minerva says, sauntering off, leaving the rest of us confused and dazed in her wake.

"Alright," I sigh. "I'm guessing you've taken care of the rest of the gym already, so that leaves Erika."

Erika is ordering around several other women on where to place some new Oran Berry trees when we get up to her platform. "More to the left... that's it, into the hole there... oh my." The tree drops in the background and she looks up with a smile. "You must be challengers! It's been a while, quite frankly. Few people come to Celadon for the battles themselves. We're more of a recreational sort. Ah, don't mind me rambling. I'm sure you want to get right into it, and I have to get right back to my gardening. Either way, this'll be quick."

"Damn right it will be," Minerva growls at my side. The whole team's keeping their distance from her, even Fang. She's poised in a crouch, but Hycanith waddles onto the battlefield first. The modest Marowak spreads her arms wide.

"Buttercup, use Leech Seed!" Erika instructs her Jumpluff.

As the round of seeds soar through the air, Minerva lunges over Hycanith and burns them to bits. The flaming projectiles fall around the Ninetales's feet and she looks ruefully up at the Jumpluff. Another blast of fire, quick as a whip and bright as the sun, sends the Jumpluff falling back to earth like a flaming comet, tearing across the sky.

"Next?" Minerva asks, licking flame from her lips.

A concerned Victreebell takes center stage, but it, too, is a sitting Ducklett doing little more than standing in her way. Minerva's tails alight and she spins around, sending a barrage of flame through the area, and as the sparks hit the Victreebell they erupt into a new column of fire. I've never seen Fire Spin used like this, but Minerva's not done, either. The sparks begin catching all over the gym, with little regard for what or where they hit. They don't explode into columns, but they do burn through everything they touch, consuming grass and reducing the front pillar of an arch to smoulders.

Most of the gym trainers have turned to watch, and a few are trying to put out the fires with SquirtBottles. When the embers turn to veritable patches of fire, and threaten the more tender parts of the greenery, SquirtBottles turn to hoses and the sprinkler system begins to spray the whole gym with a fine mist.

Minerva doesn't seem to mind at all. She dodges an AncientPower from Erika's Tangela, and sets it ablaze as well. By the time Erika's Bellossom enters the ring, Minerva's tails and mane are both sopping with water, but it only serves to make her look all the more dangerous. She walks forwards, poised, to the trembling Pokemon before her, and fire flickers in her mouth.

Water pours down around them both, and Minerva's jaw springs open to engulf the poor thing in bright, white flame. Erika draws her Pokemon back as fast as she can, holding the Pokeball in one trembling hand, and then snaps.

The sprinklers shut off. She shivers, then says, "It happens more often than you'd think. I was... more surprised that you didn't give her a single command than anything."

I look across the gym and see other dents, places where hasty replacements have covered the old plants, and even a suspicious scrape across the ceiling.

"Grass types have a lot of weaknesses. Even given that, their stats are often subpar. Few use grass-types for a strategic advantage. We use them because we love them. We love their beauty, their companionship, and we love being close to the earth. Understand, trainer, that there will be others who don't think the same way." Erika holds out the badge.

"Shouldn't have become a gym leader, then," Minerva scoffs, and I want so badly to withdraw her.

Though my eye is twitching, I take the badge, and whisper, "Thanks- and sorry."

Reginae's discomfort seizes me as I pick up the rainbow-hued token and place it in the box. That was nuts.

Uh huh. I think back.

We exit in silence, but the second we're out Minerva whips around and nudges her snout right up in Reginae's face.

"This is what happens to pansies! I burn them." Minerva warns him.

"Are you flirting with me now? Is that what this is? Did I hurt your feelings in there?" Reginae asks, unflinching. "I'm not interested. I'm not going to be interested."

"You're never going to move on, are you?" Minerva asks.

Reginae's expression curls and I feel him tugging at me. It's a holdover from the times back in Johto when we used to lapse into each other during any kind of emotional distress, but now, unlike then, he's in total control of the situation. "Fine. Because you refuse to be blunt, I'm going to be. I don't have to move on to be happy. I know I carry her with me into every fight, and the love of the team's all I'm ever going to want for. Past that, I'm no longer interested in pursuing a relationship."

Minerva's eyes light up with dangerous energy and I withdraw her. It's a split second decision, but I don't want to risk anything. I hold the Pokeball in my hand until it starts burning up, after which I manage to drop it right into the bag. She knows better than to try to escape from there. I hope.

"Thanks for helping me out today, guys. Had a great time with... whatever that was."

"Can we go to sleep now?" Reginae asks.

"It's noon," Fang says.

"What's your point?"