This was it. Today was the day Faith had to say goodbye to one of her best rivals. He had decided to travel around the world and train to become a stronger trainer. Faith thought he was already very, very strong, which meant that he probably was, considering that the Kalos and Alola Champion thought he was a worthy opponent.

Tears rolled down her face as she made her way to the dock. She didn't want Gladion to leave Alola. She didn't talk to anyone but him and Lillie, and sometimes Hau. The only time she would talk to ANYONE else was when she would visit her sister in Kalos or when her sister would visit her in Alola, and that was usually only once a year. She missed her sister... a lot.

"Hey."

A voice from behind her made her turn. Gladion was standing there, looking at her. Faith immediately tackled him into a hug.

"Why are you crying? What's wrong?" He asked, stroking her hair.

"I... p-p-please don't l-leave... I-I d-don't want to be h-here w-w-without you..."

"You could always come with me, you know."

"I-I know... but I don't have too many friends around the world... please stay... please..." she begged, clinging to his hoodie tightly.

"I'll be back in about a month, okay?" He assured her, hugging her.

"N-No! I don't want you to leave. Please stay here with me," she pleaded.

Gladion sighed. He knew she wouldn't let go of him anytime soon. "Okay... I'm staying."

"If all you want is to get stronger... I'll help you... okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

Faith smiled, parting from him but still holding his hand. "So... should we get going? I know the perfect Pokémon you should add to your team next."

"Which is...?"

"Absol! And since we can buy Mega Stones at the Battle Tree, all we need is a Mega Ring and I can teach you how to use it!"

"Sounds good to me." He smiled at her energy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The duo trained in Poni Plains. They had gotten a Mega Ring and an Absolite for Gladion's new Absol, and Faith was showing him how to use it. She sent out Abby, her Shiny Absol.

"So, when you're about to Mega Evolve a Pokémon, you need to make sure you give it the Mega Stone. Have you given Absol the Absolite?"

Gladion nodded. "Yeah. He seems to have a little trouble holding it, though."

"He'll get used to carrying it around, don't worry. Now..." she showed him how to use the Mega Ring. Abby was enveloped in a bright, harsh light, before appearing in her Mega Evolution.

Gladion repeated the process that Faith had done, and his Absol also Mega Evolved.

"Great work!"

He smiled. "Thanks.

Suddenly, the two Absols approached each other. They started to purr and rub up against each other affectionately.

"Aww, look!" Faith said, pointing. "They like each other!"

Gladion smiled again. "Yeah..."

"By the way... you look really cute when you smile, you know that? Why don't you do it more often?"

He blushed at what she said. "I-I don't know... I guess I just... don't have a lot of reasons to?"

"Aw, come on! There's a lot of reasons to smile here! I mean... don't you see that?"

He shook his head. "No... not really. Especially with how my mom acts..."

Faith wrapped her arms around him. "I know. I know it's hard for you, with your mother being so abusive. But it's okay. You're safe now."

She felt him hug her back. "Okay... if you say so," he said.

Faith smiled and continued to watch the Absols.

"Oh... and Faith...?" Gladion asked, pulling away from her after a while.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Anytime."