The air of Violet City is warm on my skin, complemented by the sun shining over the slightly grim buildings like some grand deity. I find the edges of my mouth turned up slightly as I walk along, bag swinging and the rapidly swelling team chatting eagerly about nothing in particular by my side.

Reginae is still being aloof and Ten is attempting to talk to me, so it isn't much of a conversation, but it's still pleasant. Some part of me really missed the atmosphere of the team.

"Ashley!" Ten calls. "Tower's that way."
I set my sights on the next route, marked by dim lanterns that will only be illuminated at dusk. Right now, it's about midday. If I've estimated correctly, we should still have enough time to get a quick catch and sweep the tower before anyone gets too tired. I don't know how old most of my Pokemon are, but I'm guessing they're relatively young so I'm going to go for a conservative estimate.

"We're getting another Pokemon?" asks D'Spinas. "We have almost a full team. I don't believe this is necessary."

"Four. Tai is just tagging along until we get to the tower." I tell her.

Reginae rolls his eyes. "Alright. What are we going for?"
"I hear there are Mareeps on this route. They could be quite the asset." Clay notes. "If we're going to fight the gym, it could be useful."

"There are Rattatas too. I've heard of vicious uns." D'Spinas says, pointing her barb to the grass. "See that rustle? That's a brawl going down. I say we aim for that."

The grass stops rustling as if on cue. D'spinas pulls back. "Eh, perhaps not anymore. There might not be anything to catch."

"This is Ashley's call." Ten says. "So, Ashley... what are we going to do?"

"I usually just catch the first thing I see." I tell him, slightly nervous.

"That is... unbelievably stupid." Reginae says. The rest of the team silently echoes his disappointment. "I mean, come on! How are you going to catch anything like that?"

I sigh deeply and let it out, trying not to let any of them get under my skin. Not for the first time in my short stint as a trainer (well, my second crack at it, anyhow) I find myself missing my old team out of the sheer disrespect I receive from my new Pokemon. "It's funny." I say, "It's always worked-" I see something bolt upwards from the grass and throw the Pokeball hard as I can. Even though my muscles aren't as toned as they used to be, I remember the arc of the throw perfectly and the Pokeball speeds across the grass and hits the Pokemon head on, which falls into the grass. The Pokeball clicks immediately. "Before!"
I glare back at all of them. "Remember who the trainer is."

I feel revolting as I open the capsule to reveal a Hoppip, who grins at me with the smile of someone who has absolutely no clue how to read the mood. I curse silently, but try to keep my composure.

"A Hoppip? We already have two grass types!" exclaims Reginae. "One of which is yours truly! Come on, Ashley, you can't seriously be-"
I bend down on my knees so I'm closer to the Hoppip's level. "So what's your name?"
"I'm Sunny! Nice to meet you!" cooes the Hoppip. She bounces up into the air and floats there, a curved smile across her face. Her skin is soft to the touch and she smells strongly of wildflowers.

"Nice to meet you as well." I turn to the team. "We should get going."

Even Ten hangs back on our voyage to the Sprout Tower. It's more out of respect than anything else, but I can still taste the bitter tang of fear, even from him. I feel the loose golden bonds about me and sigh. What I really need now is a few good battles to take my mind off of it and draw us together.

What I really need... is them.

Dill's smile, Sky and Khrys's calm parental attitudes, Toxis's silent strength, Bronze, Bronze, everything about Bronze...

I take a deep sigh as I look up at the tower. Upon entering, I can hear the creaking of the giant center pole, which sways precariously.

"Well?" I ask. Tai Chi looks up at me innocently.

"I would be honored to help you scale the tower, if you'd like. I believe you may require... assistance." He dips his leaves at assistance in a manner that suggests less than pleasant things.

We need a group therapist, that's what we need.

"Thank you. That would be absolutely lovely." Without meaning to, my voice drips cold hard sarcasm.

Reginae pipes up, "You're going to keep putting it off, aren't you? It's fine. I'd just love to be made obsolete by being one of three of the single worst type in existence on the team."

"He's serious." replies D'spinas bluntly.

"Anyways, even if he wasn't, that's super rude! Grass types are the best!" Sunny chirrups.

"I have five points to the contrary."

"Enlighten us." Tai Chi says, as sarcastic as possible from a Bellsprout.

"Fire, ice, poison, flying, bug. Three of those are really common too. Huh."

No one else says everything. The silence is only cut by the crack of a quick Rock Throw as some Gastly disappears into vapor. The others turn to Clay before turning the other way to look for other Pokemon to spar with. I feel my mouth curve downwards.

The tower is a lot smaller and far more bare than I remember it, largely undecorated save for a few stairs that creak precariously and a few dividing walls designed to give the place a mazelike feel, despite the size.

Turning a quick corner, I notice a monk wearing what I can only assume are traditional robes next to the stairs. I step forwards and quick as a viper, the monk releases a Pokemon. A Bellsprout curls up before me. about as intimidatingly as a Bellsprout can get.

"Is he asking for a battle?" I ask Tai Chi.

"It's part of their training, as well as their duty in order to educate and hone the skills of all passing Trainers. You may fight them." he replies.
D'spinas moves forwards. "He's mine, then." She shoots a purple spike from her head, which the Bellsprout dodges effortly. Angrily, she swears, launching a barrage of spikes. The Bellsprout dodges quickly but a few hit it face on and it falls back, skin punctured.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" I say, hands up. "We don't want to kill it!"

"We don't?" she asks.

"No!" I exclaim.

I run to the Bellsprout, but the monk is already kneeling over it. He presses his Pokeball to its face and it returns. "I am so sorry."

"Brute force will not always win you battles. This is a lesson you will learn the hard way if you continue like this." warns the monk.

I sigh deeply. Tell that to my psychopathic Weedle, not me! I pick D'spinas up to climb the ladder. I assumed it would be harder for Tai Chi to get up on his own, but his roots are apparently quite good for snaking up ladders. As I climb the last rungs, the monk echoes from below. "They're your responsibility. Your energy flows out. Affects them. Drives them. This tower is held up by one beam. Similarly, the whole team is held up by your own inner strength."

I turn around, mouth open to retort, he seems to have walked away. Looking up, I see Reginae's slightly displeased expression. "Took you long enough."

"How did you even get here?" I ask.

"Same way you did." Reginae says.

"I flew them all up." clarifies Ten.

Another monk throws out a Hoothoot the second I get up onto solid ground. "Again?" I ask.

"There are at least four more of them." Tai Chi says.

"Great." I huff. "D'spinas?"

"That's a flying type." she says, eyes narrowed. "Not fighting it."

"Alright. Clay, you're up!"

Clay tucks in and rolls forwards. The Hoothoot rushes and pecks, but I call "Dodge!" and he rolls aside, surprisingly fast for a Geodude. Before the small owl can dive in again, Clay blocks it with its hands. The Hoothoot's beak hits his stone fingers and there's an awful clink as it staggers back, wincing.

"There's our opportunity!"

Clay rolls forwards, using his momentum to swing around and land a powerful punch to the dazed Hoothoot, who falls silent.
The monk sends out his Bellsprout and I swap Clay for D'spinas. She lets her first round of poisonous darts fly, but not one hits.

"You have to aim!" I yell. "You're never going to hit it if you fire randomly!"

I feel like this should be basic knowledge, but a few darts later the Bellsprout is down and D'spinas looks immensely proud of herself.

"Alright. Back to grinding!"

The team disperses cheerfully. D'spinas and Clay share a nod of comradery.

Tai Chi is looking right into my eyes.

"Go on then." I tell him, staring away. "The others are training."

"You loosen up in battle." he notes.

"Loosen up from what?" I ask, feeling my shoulders clench even as I do so.

"Your teeth and fists are clenched and you haven't eaten anything all day. These are telltale signs of stress." he tells me. He sounds almost... sad, in a way.

"I'm not hungry."

"That's the stress speaking. Do you have food on you?" his roots extend to look up into my bag, but I shut it.

"No."
"Get something to eat once we leave." He sounds like my father.

"I thought you weren't coming?" I ask, smiling.

"The royal 'we'."

"That would refer to you, not me."
"You know exactly what I meant."

I roll my eyes. "Of course I did. Would you mind checking up on Ten? I want to go see someone."

He nods and moves away. The way in which he moves his roots is actually quite elegant. There's an almost surreal beauty about it.

I turn to Sunny and Reginae, who are sitting over the edge, watching the Sprout Tower. Reginae has his front foot over a Pokeball.

"Bellsprout. Nepenthes Madatsubomi." he says.

"What?" I ask.

"It's the scientific name for a Bellsprout. That tower isn't actually a Bellsprout. The contours in the wood are completely different." He turns to me.

"Of course not," I say, though I'm shocked at how quickly he's figured this out. All I can see in the wood are lines. Is this a skill grass types are supposed to have? Attempting to justify my own ignorance, I say, "It's symbolic."

"You sound like a psychic type." he says bitterly.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I say, raising my voice. Celebi is Grass and Psychic, so I feel a bit personally offended.

"You should. Psychic types are dangerous. You can't trust them."

"I met a Psychic type once." Sunny says, scooching in between us. "I think he was quite pleasant."

"Sure he was." Reginae looks at me and I remember that we've flashed once. How much does he know about me? The look says that he knows plenty, at least more than he's letting on to- that ditzy airhead.

I look into his eyes, noticing his slight frown. Were those... his thoughts?

He looks back up at me with feigned innocence. "Ditzy." I whisper.

His eyes narrow and leaf curls. "Like I said. Psychic types." He gets to his feet, letting the Pokeball roll away. Sunny squeaks and races after, catching it just seconds before it falls over the edge. "We've defeated everyone on this level. We should move on."

I pick up the Pokeball. "What's in here?"

"We caught something for you! Aren't you proud?" asks Sunny.

"Oh. Uh... yes!" I try to smile. "Thank you... so much." I pocket the Pokeball. "I can't open it right now." I respond, seeing her eager eyes. "Six Pokemon rule."

Sunny nods eagerly. "Later?"

"Later." I confirm. I stare up at the ladder. "Wait, how do you scale these things, anyways?"

Sunny bounces up, hovering in the air lazily. "I'm a flying type, silly!"

"Ten." Reginae says.

"Are we going up?" Ten asks, then mutters, "I'm taking Clay again, aren't I?"

"At least I'm not a Graveller." Clay says. I scoop him up, only to almost drop him. "You're... really really heavy! Ten, how did you-"
"A timelord never reveals his secrets." Ten says, although his expression says that his 'secrets' may just have been stubbornness and a few good tries.

I sigh. "Clay, mind going in the Pokeball for a few moments?"

"Absolutely."

I withdraw him and we ascend, Ten carrying Reginae who dangles awkwardly from his grip like an angry plush toy.

I place my hand over and feel a sharp pain. "Ouch! Hey, what the-"

Silver stands over me, his foot on my hand. "Didn't see you there."
"Bullshit. Out of my way." I stand straight up, facing him.

"As you wish, m'lady." He practically courtseys as I get up.
"Don't make me regret not telling you off." I whisper.

Silver's expression changes immediately. I shoot him a smug grin as I pass with my team.

"See you, then." he says. "For the record? I've already beaten him. This old man is pathetically weak. Should be a good match for you. All talk, no bite."

"You don't want to see me bite." I tell him. "If we scuffled, it might mess up your obviously gelled hair."

"Well screw you too." he growls.

"I'd rather not. Bye!" I say, kicking him down the stairs. Fortunately (perhaps unfortunately, honestly), the stairs aren't far down enough to cause him anything but discomfort. I do make sure to close the hatch over them and ignore his angry yells from below.

Across the room, a slightly amused face watches my own. "Rivals, I see." says the old man.
"Are you a fortune teller, too?" I ask.

"If I was..." he says, "I'd tell you that dark things loom in your future. A shadow lies over you like a stormcloud. It growls. Whimpers. There is something feral within you that begs for release."

I hold myself a little higher, fists clenched. "I'm a teenager. We're all edgy like that."

"I believe you're far more than that, Ms. Hart. Now... shall we do battle?"

I nod. "D'spinas!"

"Bellsprout!"
The Bellsprout curls about D'spinas like a snake. The Weedle rattles angrily, scouring a long gash down its side. Sap trickles from its thin stem, a sickly green color. Its eyes narrow angrily and vines extend from the back of its 'bell', whipping D'spinas over and over again. She screeches in pain, an angry vibrating noise that makes my stomach churn.

"Poison Sting!" I call.

"I'm on it, I'm on it!" she yells, ducking out. She slashes to the side, getting in a single shot before being secured by the vines again.

"Aim for the vines!" I tell her.

"With pleasure." She slices through them both and the Bellsprout barrages her with more. Her spikes continue to fly until the Bellsprout hesitates and a single spike impales it through the neck. It disappears in a flash of purple as it crumbles to the floor of the tower.

"Hoothoot, come forth!" yells my adversary.

"Ten, go!"
The Hoothoot attempts to use Hypnosis, emitting a high sound that shakes the entire area while beckoning still with its eyes. Ten closes his eyes and slams it off balance. It quickly devolves into a beak-and-claw shuffle, both of them grappling for dominance. Ten screeches as its claws dig into his face, sounding nothing like my Ten and instead like a feral, wounded creature. I withdraw him.
"Clay!"

Clay waves his hand drops a rock on the Hoothoot. It disappears as the old man withdraws his own Pokemon.

"Well, well. Down to my last Pokemon. I'll admit you have me on the ropes here, Ms. Hart."

"Let me guess. Is it a Bellsprout?" I say, remembering a certain something from long ago.

"I'm not the only fortune teller in the room, it would appear."

The Bellsprout bows deeply. It reminds me of Tai... On the sidelines, he watches with interest as I draw my own Pokeball. "Clay, retreat! D'spinas, it's your turn!"

D'spinas draws a raspy breath, kneading the ground with her many legs. She zigzags across the room in a mad dive only to land right into the Bellsprout's vines.

"Come back! Go-"
She's not retreating.

D'spinas seethes under her bindings, a mad light in her eyes. "Oh my Arceus, you're kidding me."

Reginae looks up at me and shakes his head. I yell, "Just come back!"

"I can't! I have to-" She looks away, just in time to drive her spike up the Bellsprout's sensitive bell. It gasps the greenish fluid all over her. She doesn't cough, barely struggles, and I realize what I have to do.

I close my eyes and focus, reaching out- no, yanking her consciousness towards my own.

Here to help.

That's all I need. She accepts my assistance at once, and I feel our breath shorten as some part of the enormity of what I am races through her, although honestly it might just be the disgusting taste of the sap in our mouth.

We take a full swing at its vines, which cut clean away as our spike elongates for Fury Attack. As the Bellsprout falls, a warmth fills our whole body, like the sun amplified a thousand times over. It shapes and molds every part of our body, and when our eyes open, we are a Kakuna. Several dozen poison darts appear around us, a perfect halo, and they cascade onto the Bellsprout, whose eyes widen in surprise just before it falls back, defeated at last.

I feel myself return to my own body, gasping for air, and open my eyes.

The master of the tower nods. "That was a very good performance for one so young. You seemed so tense at first, and yet... you loosen up in battle."

"So I've heard." I say.

Tai steps forwards and bows his head. "I believe this is where I leave you."

I nod, although I'm sad to see him go. The others don't look nearly as emotional. "May your..."

"Roots be long." he muses, "Though I believe you have none."

That's where you're wrong. I weave my fingers around golden string that only I can see, thin stories between me and my new team transmitted in a language of light and silence. "I suppose not." I tell him.

They're still very weak, but there's a new reverence with which my Pokemon stare at me. We'll be taking small steps before we get anywhere, but we're still taking them.

As I walk down the battered steps, withdrawing all my Pokemon save for Ten, I feel my stomach growl angrily.

"Hungry?" Ten asks.
"I haven't eaten a thing all day. Of course I'm hungry!"

"Bloody hell, Ashley. There's a nice traditional place around here with good sushi. We should just leave."

I take another sniff of the exotic spices on the way out and find my nose, too, remembers the old place, if only vaguely. Running my hand down the old wood of the entrance, I realize that my roots are firmly planted in Johto as they are in my old team. I suppose I'll just have to make new ones.

"Ashley!" Ten calls. I smile inwardly. He's all I have left of home.

I look around only to find him fluttering beneath me. "Ashley, it's getting awfully late."

"I know, I know. We'll get to bed soon." I tell him.

"The two of us should get some food first."

"I think you mean the seven of us." Five glowing forms emerge from their Pokeballs, including the new Rattata, who acknowledges me with a mixture of fear and reverence.

Ten nods. "I suppose I do. So what were you thinking?"

"Do you think they have pancakes?" I ask. 

((Before you ask, yes we're returning to updates every other day. Just thank April Agony! It's like March Madness but it involves more of my prolonged suffering as I attempt to do more with my life besides screaming internally and rowing a boat (although the latter is pretty rad let's be real here). Anyhow hopefully between writer's block, crew, and a broken computer up until 4 days ago (and a shitty renter as my only compensation) hopefully this wait is somewhat understandable. Regardless please accept my 3000+ word apology complete with extra sass because Sassley is best character.))