The door to the inn creaks open, ushering in a rush of warm air that floods my damp body. I find myself jolt a bit as the shivering stops and my muddy Pokemon tramp their way into the small, wooden room. There's some semi-popular songs that were popular years ago (then again, they could be from just months ago and I wouldn't remember) playing in the background on a chic radio and the entire room smells faintly like the woods, car fresheners, and cinnamon. It's a strange combination but it works.

"Do you have any rooms?" I ask, my hair covered in water and mud. I must look like a straggler from off the streets, utterly unkempt and slightly savage.

Then again... I suppose both are true.

The innkeeper fixes me with a kind, sympathetic stare, but her eyes quickly move up and down my body, stopping on every bit of dirt caking to my sides.

"Well! We do happen to have quite a few vacancies."

I throw a considerable amount of money onto the front desk and she takes it and slides me my change. "Junebug, why don't you show our guests to their room?" She tells a nearby Slowpoke, sitting amiably in a basket.

The Slowpoke yawns and trudges out of its bed, looping a key around its tail and walking down the hall. I follow, my team and I tracking mud all the way down the hall.

Note to self: take shower.

Additional note to self: get team to take bath.

When we reach the room at the end of the hall, which is conveniently facing the Pokemon Center and Gym, I take the key off the Slowpoke's tail and turn the lock. Inside is a homey wooden room with freshly made beds and extremely nice wooden flooring that is being utterly destroyed by my team and I's presence.

Ten jumps up onto the top pillows of a sofa near the windows, getting his muddy claws all over the plush cushions. He stares out the window and tilts his head quizzically. "Who's that?"

I move up to the window. An old man is standing in the center of the town as if to address a mass of people who aren't there. At least, that's what I assumed, but slowly people seem to be drawing towards him. The light glimmers heroically around him, resting on his wrinkles and his kindly smile. For a second, I'm almost convinced of the illusion that he knows what he's doing. "Azalea Town, your patron saint is here!" he declares to a host of childlike citizens and tailless Slowpoke of around the same intelligence.

Kurt bends down, which takes a solid minute, and pats one of the Slowpoke. It drools contently, unaware of its surroundings. "Hua," it mutters, which even I can't translate. Perhaps Slowpokes are so infalliably smart that their language has evolved beyond the reaches of regular Pokemon speak.

That or they're just really stupid.

Probably the latter.

"Such needless pain," Kurt mutters. "Cruel are the people who would do such a thing. They must learn the price of their insolence."

"I know where this is going," I mutter.

"Didn't you say something earlier about it?" whispers Reginae.

Ten narrows his enormous eyes.

Kurt hobbles out of side, most likely towards the well. There's a crack that reverberates through the town and all sound and light are suddenly sucked away with the realization that the ladder down to the well isn't the only thing that could break.

Reginae says some words he probably learned from my outbursts under his breath and I regret every time I've sworn in front of the team.

"That's quite a way to go." D'spinas says, although her expression conveys no empathy whatsoever.

"D... did you know?" Ten asks.

I don't say anything. Last time, he just tumbled down. He basically righted himself down there.

Not this.

"You knew." Ten accuses me, his feathers on my neck.

"I- not like this last time-"

"Did you think to maybe go out there and prevent it from happening, Ashley?"

Rage and resentment, most of it towards myself, floods me as I attempt to rationalize my decision. "Right, and tell everyone that I magically knew because I'm the reincarnation of a legendary Pokemon? If I revealed myself, what do you think they'd do? What do you think Red would do?"

When no one seems to realize the gravity of the situation, I continue, "They would have thought I was crazy anyways! It's not my fault the townsfolk here are backwards!"

Someone stirs in the hall. I immediately regret my choice of words.

The rest of my Pokemon, half disturbed by my foresight and half confused that Ten and I are fighting over anything, stare blankly at the two of us.

"He could be dead down there!" Ten wails.

"He didn't die last time. He was injured, but he was more or less fine." I insist.

"Not if we don't do anything about it!" Ten turns, ruffling his feathers, and hops down off the sofa towards the door. Grimacing, I catch up to him and open it for him.

"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to help him and kick Team Rocket's ass, like I did last time! You're tagging along with me."
Ten stands down almost immediately, and we file into the hallway. The door slams right behind Reginae's leg and the rest of the team stares at me with wide eyes.

"Alright, stop standing around! If we're going, we're going right now!" I snap.

The crack still echoes in my head.

Time is fluid.

You could've fixed that.

Fixed it.
Fix them.

I fly out the door and race to the well, each footstep cold from the grass laden with the remains of a rainstorm. The team dare not speak behind me, anxiety present in every step they take. When we finally stop, I kneel down beside the well and realize that the crack came from the ladder, although Kurt seems to be quite still at the bottom.

Chiaroscuro takes a deep sniff and recoils. "We can't go down there."

"Why not?" I ask. "It's a bit damp, sure, but-"

"It smells like blood."
Since none of the other Pokemon on my team have quite the same sense of smell, we decide to investigate anyways. Unfortunately, the ladder is entirely gone at this point and it looks like there's no real way down. I withdraw all my Pokemon save for D'spinas and Ten. "Do either of you think you could get me down there?" I ask.

D'spinas takes a glance at her semi-broken wings and shakes her head.

Ten looks at his stubby wings and makes a sad clucking noise.

"Well, Celebi can fly, right?" I assure myself. "It's... it's not that far of a fall."

Ten is already gone. D'spinas glares at me. "For a 'legendary hero', you're a bit of an idiot." she buzzes.

"Thanks." I withdraw her, close my eyes, and jump.

For a second, the darkness is thick around me and the wind blows at my clothes. It slips its fingers around my shirt sleeves and whistles through my ears, warning me of the descent. The thrill lasts for less than a second before I land squarely on the ground. I'm inches from Kurt's body.

He's still.

My eyes fill with tears and my breath shudders slightly. "N-no..."

Kurt opens one eye. "Go- Maribelle-"

A Blissey pops out of a feebly rolled Pokeball. It immediately sets itself to work, taking eggs out of its enormous pouch, cracking them open, and rubbing the goo all over his back. Softboiled. While it doesn't look like the eggs are doing very much, Kurt manages to roll over with a grimace.

"You."

The accusation in his voice shocks me. Does he know? Could he know?

"You have to stop this. Team Rocket must be defeated."

I nod.

"I'm getting too old for this..." he sighs. "Regardless, Roserie should be able to fly me out of here. I should be fine after a few nights rest."

"Is she your bird Pokemon? Is she a Pidgeot? Noctowl? Fearow?" I ask, distinctly curious. The Blissey has piqued my interest- it's not exactly a common Pokemon.

"A Flygon."

"A- a what?" I say, mouth agape.

"Don't look so surprised. I was a trainer back in the day as well."

"You could fight all of these guys off completely on your own!" I protest. "Why the hell do you want me to risk my neck for you?"

"So I don't risk my back. I assure you, they may seem like a bunch of fools, but Team Rocket has done much worse things than leaving an old man face down in the water at the bottom of a well."

I huff. "Tell me about it."

"Have they hurt your family, too?"
The smell of smoke fills my nose, a memory from the only time I've seen a human die. It makes me feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

"Yes," I affirm.

My Pokemon emerge from their Pokeballs. The enormous Flygon emerges from one of Kurt's. Despite her immense size, there's a frailty about her much like Kurt. Perhaps once, back in the day, they were both fighters, but those days are clearly gone.

"We should go." He caresses her neck and her wings buzz.

"Oh yes." Roserie turns back to me, head cocked slightly. "What a curious young trainer.

"Isn't she? Before you go- your Hoothoot went on ahead." Kurt tells me. "I'd catch him."

Damn it!

"Ten!" I call into the darkness. Only the silence and the distant moan of a Slowpoke answer back.

I remember how he last died and I feel my heart drop. The rest of the team senses my fear and they tense themselves.

Heart flying and the disgusting smell of the cave assailing my nostrils, I race headlong into the shadows.