I don't know how early I wake up the next morning but I know it's early because the sun isn't over the horizon and my team is still sleeping. I withdraw them silently, save for Rose, and tap her lightly. She rolls over to reveal that she's already more or less awake, both eyes open. She casts me a look but we head outside anyways and watch the sun roll up into the sky together.

"I know what happened last night, Ashley. It emanates from you." she warns, not taking her eyes off the horizon.

"I don't care."

"He barely said anything. Does it really take so little for you to lose your temper?"

"Less, but I'm getting better at hiding it." I say. "You don't know anything about me, Rose."

"I know more than you think." she says. She hardly seems hostile, but her coldness is even more unnerving. "I leave you to solve your own issues, but if anything ends up affecting the team, you're going to pay for it. We're not just puppets for you to toss around, and withdrawing Pokemon without consent is already a breach of the contract we've made."

"Whatever. We can spend the rest of the day grinding. Go enjoy yourselves. I don't care."

"And you have to contact him. I want to see every detail written down on that Pokegear screen or I'm not flying you anywhere." She holds out a stumpy, fingerless hand. "Deal?"
I hold out my own, mildly embarrassed. "Deal."

Her wings fan out and she shakes her head. "Glad we got that out of the way. Where to, Ashley?"

I point towards the ocean. "Take me to Cianwood."

How does one fly with a Pokemon about half of their size if not shorter? The question has been asked by many, but as someone who owned a Crobat instead of a much larger Pokemon (like say, a Pidgeot), I know from experience that the answer is quite simple.

Pokemon.

When Rose uses fly, she doesn't just soar upwards, her wings become massive blades of blue-white energy and if I balance between them, it's actually more or less possible for me to cling on for dear life. She's also rather large for a Togetic, so even though I'm scrunched up into a ball, when you count the relatively 'comfortable' wing blades, I can fit.

Of course, this doesn't make it a fun experiment. You couldn't pay me to get on a flying Pokemon most of the time, but after several nightmares about drowning, I decided that there was no way in hell I was taking another ferry.
Rose is trying to tell me something, I'm sure of it. I can hear her speaking, but I can't make out the words, which is unfortunate. However, I can see the Whirl Islands if I glance out around her neck.

From above, the islands are so much more beautiful than down on the surface level. The bright turquoise water, rippling with waves, glimmers beneath a cerulean sky. This is cut only by stones coming up here and there from the earth, jutting up as if to claim the world for their own. The water sprays and crashes against them, forming swirling vortexes of water where they seek to reclaim the land for their own.

Swiftly, Rose dives down until we're almost touching it, skimming cleanly over the surface until I can see my face in it. My stomach drops into the ocean as she soars back upwards, bright droplets of water flying out behind us in our wake. With extreme grace, she falls onto the sand and I try to roll off as not to crush her and end up with her over me.

We both get up in a terribly dignified manner and look at each other with firm conviction. Rose tries not to snort. "Are you okay?"

I get up, running my fingers through my hair to get the sand off. Then I crudely brush off my shirt and pants. "Thank you." I tell her. "I'm... sand-sational."
"Ashley!" She smiles, her eyes glittering. A bright white dust is flaking from her and her Joy Dust fills the area, reflecting off of surfaces and giving the area a dreamlike feel. "You'll think about it, right?" she asks.

I blink. "Think about what? I couldn't hear a word you were saying up there."
Rose's eyes widen and she slaps her head against one stubby hand. Shaking her head, she sighs, "I'll talk about it later. The team is worried about you, Ashley?"

"What are you talking about?" I ask, trying to laugh it off. "I'm fine. We've been working on the team's... issues, haven't we? Things are going to turn out alright."

She looks solemn. "Is that so... then why did you flash more with the old team, exactly?"

"You guys... you guys are..." I struggle to spit the words out, to lie, to come up with some explanation. She shouldn't even know but even from the context I've given... was it really that obvious? Maybe she does know more than I'm letting on. Maybe her psychic powers are far more dangerous than I had anticipated.

"You can't say that we're stronger with a straight face because even if that were true, you wouldn't be able to reconcile with it."

"Things are getting better."

"Three of our teammates just died and it's likely that Basil is going to be as cooperative as Clay was. I don't know how lucky you got last time, but generally, no one just lays down everything and runs to follow a leader just because that's what they claim to be. You have to earn that trust and the only way that's going to work is if you trust us." She holds her hands to her chest, or what would be her chest.

"You were just threatening me earlier, okay? Look... Let's say you're right. For today, can we just forget all of that and grind?"

Rose finally nods, but it looks halfhearted. "We will be back to Olivine by sundown, right?"

"I guess so. Why?"

"You forgot to get the medicine to Jasmine."

"The Ampharos is going to be fine."

"You also promised to contact Morty..."

"Alright, I get your point."

I finally release all of my other Pokemon, save for Pisces. This unfortunately does include a thoroughly pissed Basil.

"That and Ten could have learned Fly as well, seeing as he's almost twice my size." Rose says nonchalantly.

I sigh. "Look, if you're so good at this, you can make the executive decisions."
"Hullo! Did I hear fly? If I'm needed, I'd absolutely love to fly you wherever you'd need." He does a little bow. "Flying is cool."

"You might at least give me a little less lip." I say sarcastically. Rose says nothing but her faintly amused smile says enough.

I boot up the HM for future endeavors as we walk along.
"So," asks Reginae, "What exactly are we doing?"

"Grinding. I think we need some backup catches as well." I tell them.

Reginae huffs as we enter a large cave, lit only by the entrance and the opposite exit.

"I wasn't thinking about that at all." I insist. "They're in case some of you get injured or just want a break from fighting. Plus, let's say we go into a gym of a certain type. Wouldn't it be so much easier to go at it if we had better type coverage?"

"Come on, Reginae, think about it! Aren't almost all of the gyms weak to grass types, anyways?" Ten insists. At least I have some supporters. I don't know what I'd do if Ten wasn't around to support me, especially when it's become obvious that my other Pokemon think I'm either volatile or emotionally unstable.

It would hurt a lot less if it wasn't true.

Reginae huffs again, this time far louder. "Grass types are one of the best types. I'll have you know I could have soloed almost all of the gyms, but unfortunately that would soak up too much EXP and make everything harder for all of you."

"Yep. Totally what would have happened." responds Rose dryly. Reginae looks intensely frustrated as we pass out of the cave and onto a cliff overlooking the sea. Water cascades all about us, waterfalls coming from cliffs and the fertile land behind us both. The call of seabirds can be heard overhead and the land itself sings with the voice of the wild. There are almost no people and the cliffs are perfect and natural. This is a land that belongs and answers only to itself.

Perfect.

"Dunsparce incoming!" calls Ten.

The team turns to attack and races over the rope bridge, all except for Reginae (who looks terribly timid in the face of the fickle bridge). The water roars and my team strikes out at both a horde of Dunsparce and quite a few Fearow, who caw angrily above.

Basil, our newest addition, can hardly handle a single one, but he tries his best, going at it with poisonous spikes. I try not to think about it but somewhere in my mind, all I can think about is D'spinas and suddenly I'm back on the mainland with a team that no longer exists.

Has it really been that long since I lost the three of them?

No, says one part of my brain.

Yes, says another, an eternity.
This is interrupted by a beam of bright blue as Basil shoots upwards. His new form, that of an Arbok, is much more sophisticated, and he cleans up the rest of the Dunsparce with ease. He gives me a somewhat cocky, somewhat excited look, as if he himself doesn't know if he should be reproachful or exhilarated.

"We should move on. There's another cave ahead." Ten tells the team. He looks back at me, lands, and waves a wing. "Aaaaaaaashley! We're going to the next cave!"

"Not without me you aren't. Come on, we're pulling them together." I tell Reginae.

"What?! I can't cross that!"

"Who said you were crossing it?"

I withdraw him and release him again on the other side, where he's still trembling. He gives me a quick look of indignation but says nothing. With that, I follow the others into the depths of the cave. "Well, this looks like just as good a time as any to get my first catch."

"What are you aiming for?" asks Ten, his voice a hollow echo.

"I don't know. I honestly can't see anything." I close my eyes. "I think this worked last time."
"Ashley, what are you doing?" asks Reginae.

"Aiming." I tell him.

"Ashley, no."
"Aaaaand a one, two, three!" I chuck the ball into the inky darkness. There's a loud and terrible roar and then it clicks. "Hey, I think I caught something!"
"Great job. Now how in Lugia's name do you plan on finding it?"
"Does anyone have night vision?" I yell. "Just curious. Not for any particular reason, but if you do have night vision, this might be the time to step up."

Rose uses her telekinesis to deposit the Pokeball in my hand. Even though I can't see her face, I know that she's silently shaking her head at me. "Reginae's right. You are ridiculous."

"Yes, I am. Anyways, time to do what I should have done from the beginning." I open my Pokegear, sending a brilliant light through the cave.

"My eyes are in so much pain right now." she tells me.

"So are mine." I say, clicking in a name.

Rhodes.

I turn the Pokegear around, giving us a flashlight to navigate by. Fang jumps for joy just before almost falling down into what looks like a giant pit of darkness embedded in the ground.

"I think I found the exit!" Fang tells us. "Oh wait, that's a hole. That's a really big hole. I mean... HOLE-Y SHIT!"

"Fang, if you make one more pun, I swear I will push you down the hole myself." threatens Basil.

"See, this is why you don't trust a snake... they're never there to give you a hand!"

"That one didn't even make sense." Rose sighs. "You had to aggravate him over a pun that didn't make sense, too."

"Doesn't make sense? Wow, rude! It wasn't even that much of a reach. Snakes don't have hands. Geddit?"

"Fang, none of us have hands." Ten tells him.

"Oh."

"Thank goodness I didn't step in there. That would have been a terrible way to go." I sigh, trying to break off the hellish awkwardness that prevades the entire conversation.

A voice sounds in the darkness. "Traveller! Are you looking for the way out?"
"Yes." I say. "Wait, who are you?"

"Just a camper. If you look at the back of the hole, we've installed a rope ladder. Should get you to where you need to go." He flicks on a flashlight with a winning smile. I try to give some sort of halfhearted grin back but I'm really more focused on my near death experience. "Oh, see that?" His flashlight illuminates a huge rope ladder hanging from the ceiling not far from us, which I somehow managed to miss with my Pokegear as a makeshift flashlight. "Should get you out of here."
Rose and Ten immediately fly up, and I withdraw the others and grab onto the rope ladder like it's the last remains of my slowly fraying sanity. Fortunately, the cave is surprisingly small upstairs and we practically walk right out and onto a remarkably wide and stable bridge. I release the others and Basil makes some comment about hikers under his breath.

"That wasn't very nice." Fang says. "In fact, if one of the hikers heard you say that, they might tell you to-"
Basil's tail flies in front of Fang's mouth and he almost falls over the edge. He skids and turns, one paw over the edge, and very calmly steps forwards.

"I see how it is."

Basil hisses under his breath again.

"Okay! You know what? Why don't we fight somewhere where you guys can't fall to your deaths?" I say, picking up Fang and walking to the other side.

Fang hops out of my arms. "I wasn't going to fall."

"Yeah buddy. Sure you weren't."

He pouts and the others move past me carefully. Reginae leans in close. "So. Um. YOu talked to Rose right?"

"Yeah, why?"

His nostrils inflate as he takes a deep breath in and he keeps inhaling for a solid half minute. Finally, he says. "I- uh. Well, the two of us. We."
"Are you two a couple?" I ask loudly. Rose turns around and Reginae flinches.

He takes in another deep breath. "Nope."

"Ouch."

He nods. "You should also know that she talks about you a lot. She's really concerned about you."

"I might have picked up on that." I say, sarcasm dripping from my voice. I'm still clenching my arm and there's this intense sense of mild indignation I can't quite place. Some part of me really just doesn't want my Pokemon looking after me instead of the other way around, even if it was pretty heavily mutual the first time. I turn back to the road and see a bright field of grass up ahead.

It's familiar.

"Oh." I say, my voice soft in my throat. It's like walking back into a dream.

This was the last place we caught a Pokemon before Clair's gym.

"Is something wrong?" asks Ten.

Reginae, Ten, and Rose, who are probably all on the Ashley Support Squad, are all staring at me now.
"Don't worry. Nothing but good memories."
"Guys! Look what I found!" calls Fang. I can't see him for a bit, and then his tail flashes above us, followed by a bolt of fire. "Don't be afraid! We are not your enemies!"

In the grass, only discernible by its perfectly curled fur, is a Vulpix. She growls, "Is that why you tackled me?!"
"She's a fire type!" Fang yells again. "Don't be fooled by her feminine charms, she's really- ow! That was my nose!"
"Feminine charm this!"

There's a blast of fire and Fang comes flying out of the grass. Basil is grinning from ear to ear- err, or whatever snakes have- and the rest of the team just looks dumbstruck. I silently bless him for taking the pressure off me for a second.

The Vulpix sprints away, causing the grass to fly up all around her, and I throw a Pokeball after what I can only assume was her last position. I hear a click and pick up the Pokeball. "Minerva." I smile. "Good job, Fang."

Fang grins wearily, although his fur is still a little singed from the blast impact.

"In the future, please try to remember that every girl on the team could kick your ass."
He stops grinning.

The others venture into the grass themselves, mainly in pairs, and Rose returns to my side. "I think a certain someone would like to grind with you."

Pisces comes roaring out of her Pokeball and looks down on the grass with contempt. "Is this necessary?" she asks.

I shrug. Cupping my hands around my mouth, I call up to her, "Only if you want!"

"Yes... but first, I must ask... what is the purpose of the smaller snake?"
"New teammate. Traded by old trainer." Basil replies. "Is there a problem?"
Pisces bows down to his level and sniffs him with her huge nostrils. I can feel my hair raise a bit in the breeze it creates. She grumbles finally, "You are angry."

"Thanks for the psychoanalysis." he hisses back. "Any more impressions, genius?"

Pisces brings her head back up and with a single thunder attack fries a Fearow from half a mile away. "I will fight."

"Aw yeah! Time to do some serious damage!" Fang's bell rings around his neck as he jumps up towards Pisces, who lowers her head to let him on. She roars again and I hear excited chatter above, so loud that I can hear it all the way down here. "Hit that one! No that one! I don't know, just go for it!"
Basil slithers into the grass, Reginae sits down to sunbathe, and Ten flies just over the grass, looking for opponents. Occasionally I see him dive and know all my Pokemon are well cared for, at least for now. I begin typing up my letter to Morty and load Ten's Pokeball with the Fly HM.

While the latter is easy, the former is making me nervous.

Dear Morty...

No.

So Morty,

This is a text. Not an email. More importantly, I don't want to spark a conversation.

Sorry.

Better.

I detail Dill's life, specific details of the previous timeline he might find useful, everything he told me, and I find myself towards the end when I stop again.

So that plan fell into the lava. I woke up in the hospital. You and Bronze were there and it felt like a bad dream. You told me something about how sorry you were all this happened, some bullshit about it not being my fault, and-

I bite my lip. I'm not ready to admit certain things to myself, I confess.

We held hands as the world ended around us.

It's a compromise.

Rose taps the send button from behind my shoulder.

"Hey!" I turn around, exasperated, and see her fluttering there. She's wide eyed and innocent, but the edges of her mouth are turned upwards.

"You did a good job." she assures me.
"I did what I could." I tell her, slipping the Pokegear away.

Her arms intertwine, the stubby hand stumps rolling over each other as she stares down at them. "I do have a request though. If you're not too busy, do you think we could fight together?"

"What?"

"Flash."
I blink. "I... I guess we could try. See an enemy?"

She nods.
"Rose! Extrasensory!" I yell.

Bright pink energy encases a nearby Tauros and throws it sideways. It gets up, calling loudly, and bolts at Rose. She dodges just out of the way and it charges again, the two of them locked in heavy contact.

"Is this when it usually happens?" asks Rose.
"I don't know! It just does!" I clench my hands, frustrated. The bond is there but it's not... well, it's not vibrating properly. I try to grab it and touch empty air. The vision in my mind's eye is cut off altogether as the Tauros's horn moves upwards and straight towards an unprepared Rose.

"Rose!"
She moves up just in time, the horn barely grazing her skin. Another Extrasensory sends the Tauros flying far back into the grass, defeated, but the herd has noticed us.

She turns to the next Tauros, sweeping in from above and cutting it with her bright wingblades. Tauros are beginning to scuff the ground and several are running. "Get back here now!" I call. "Everyone!"
Basil trips a Tauros with his tail and slithers back through the grass, biting anything in his way. Reginae is following in his wake, terrified as the Tauros horde begins to rise all around us. Loud calls fill the air and one even begins to go against the herd and charge us. A blast of lightning strikes it out of the air.

"Yeah!" Fang calls. "That's what happens when you mess with Ashley's team! Amiright?"
Pisces continues to blast stragglers at Fang's command, and Rose is still fluttering near the center of the grass, watching the bolts over her head with her mouth just open. There's another blast of purple light and I tackle Rose out of the way. She looks up at me in the grass, her body still, and then I pick her up and we leave. Pisces stares down at both of us, Reginae and Basil are already safe, and finally Ten swoops down from above, fanning his wings out. He's carrying his newest stick in his beak and his chest is puffed out.

"We're all here." I confirm. The team nods. The sun is still bright in the sky but it's coming down quickly now. I finish, "I think we're about done today."

"I don't know if I'll be able to fly you back." Rose says. "I think this whole day took a lot out of me." She sighs, "Thanks.. and you were right. I guess you can't force it."

"Force what?" asks Fang.

"Nothing." I tell him. "Get down from there!"

Fang slides down Pisces's back and falls face first into the grass. "I'm okay!"

"Great!" I turn to Rose. "We're going to make this work." I promise her. "Now, Ten?"

Ten's wings spread wide and bright blue blades of energy appear around them. "Bloody hell!" he exclaims happily. "When did these get here?"

I try not to laugh. "Alright, everyone back in the Pokeball. I'll see you all soon."

Everyone returns save for Rose and I climb onto Ten's back, holding onto him for dear life as he ascends upwards unevenly above the mountains and caves. Despite how much more experienced he is than Rose (who is happily coasting alongside us), Ten is a far less steady flier and he flaps far more often. His wings are a lot longer but the blades are thinner, to the point of being a bit flimsy. My knuckles are white from holding on and I feel queasy.

I stare down at the Cianwood beach, seized by another wave of nausea. "Ten, get down!"

"What?" Ten asks over the roar of the wind.

"Down!"
He seems to get the message this time, doing a full circle and then soaring downwards. "As you wish!" We hit the sand and I roll over several times before stopping, my mouth and hair tangled and ratted. Rose descends besides us. "Is something wrong?"

"I think I'm going to take an alternative way home." I try to get up, the world spinning, and throw a Pokeball towards the water. "Pisces!"

Pisces rears her head in the ocean. Ten slaps his own Pokeball and returns, leaving a long trail in the sand where he crashed out of the sky.

"We've really got to stick those landings, don't we?" Rose asks.

"Yours wasn't any better." I inform her, my head still reeling. I stumble into the water and climb onto Pisces's back, my knuckles white and pained from holding onto small flying Pokemon all day. "Let's go!"

Pisces roars and rushes forwards through the waves. I tremble at her sheer might as she rushes over the water. We make good time in silence as Rose moves overhead like a small comet, our constant guide until we hit the other shore.

Pisces finally speaks when we reach the other shore: "Tell me if the tiny snake gives you trouble. I do not trust him."

I stroke her head delicately. "I will."

With that, Rose descends onto the beach, I climb back onto the shore wet below the knees, and my whole team emerges again to watch as the sun, now a brilliant ball of crimson, sets over the horizon and covers us all in darkness.

(sorry this one took so long. i still have a lot of problems with it but I hope it's at least good enough now)