A Team Victorian grunt shouted in pain when he foolishly touched the water of the Blue Feathered lake. His entire hand turned black, instantly giving him frostbite.

"That's so strange... the water isn't even that cold" West said, standing on the other side of the lake, hiding behind a tree with Crystal sitting on a branch above him.

"It's the feathers" she said "normal people can't touch them without getting frostbite, or the one I have... blisters and burns like what happened to Amber."

"It's so strange how that's a thing..."

"You idiot!" Britney, the admin they met in the Thorn forest shouted at a blue dressed grunt "Are you that thick!? You know you can't touch that water!"

"I-I'm sorry..."

"If we can just find a way to get those two peasants... then we wouldn't be in this mess!" West and Crystal looked at each other "Fortunately, some big equipment will be on its way. We don't need them wasting our time" she crossed her arms and flipped her bright red colored hair "they won't matter in the end when we become the highest class out of everyone in Kannena."

"West" Crystal spoke "they don't look like they're trying to get a hold of the flute, but something else" she softly landed on the grass "I have to go down there to retrieve the two items" his eyes widened.

"Two items? Do you really believe the Fiery orb can be down there?"

"Every 20 years, the Ice orb will move in order to be hidden. I don't think the Fiery orb moved at all, but I could be wrong. I'm going to head off for a swim with Dewgong" he stopped her before she could go.

"Are you crazy? You're sick! I'll do it" she frowned "it's my orb after all... it's going to make me feel better, and I was technically the one to make the Harmony Flute... I'll bring it back and let you handle the rest" she sighed and nodded, sitting next to Froslass and Cleffa before handing Dewgong over.

"Fine... I'll be here waiting. Don't take too long, and don't get noticed by those idiots" West nodded, handing his things over, kissed her lips, and quietly ran through the darkness around the trees around the sunset, leaving Crystal sitting there with a huge blush on her face "I know I said I like to disappoint people, but... what did he do to me?"

West stood on the other side of the lake where the Grunts won't be able to see him and sent out Dewgong into the water. Dewgong swam in the water without showing any signs of struggle

"The feathers don't affect the Pokémon, so I didn't think anything will happen to you here" he kneeled "Chris is sick, so I decided to go down the lake with you to find a very important item, maybe two. What do you say?" He offered his hand "will you help me?" Dewgong nodded, licked his hand, and turned its back so he can hop on.

The two dived down to the slight darkness of the bottom of the lake with a few Pokémon swimming swiftly through the strange feeling waters.

The water felt pressured with bold currents. The surface of his arms formed air bubbles and slid off as if it failed to absorb into his skin

His arms wrapped around Dewgong for dear life, feeling like the pressure of the water was trying to keep him from going further down.

Holding his breath was hard enough, he was almost to the bottom where he can see a glowing red light on top of some rocks. His ankle was suddenly grabbed by something tight and forcefully dragged him down, making him almost to scream

Cupping his mouth shut, he looked down to see bodies all over the place blended with the weed at the bottom. He was horrified while trying his best to hold in his breath, but he had already swallowed enough to make him struggle

Dewgong attacked and attacked until they were both free and hurried to swim towards the glowing orb. West was slowly losing consciousness while trying his best to hold on. The thought of abandoning Crystal while she waited for him to return to the surface rocked in his head, pushing him to stay awake even if his body was suffocating

Once again, the bodies in the bottom continued trying to grab him and Dewgong. He bit his lips hard enough to make them bleed, needing to push himself to avoid them all. Why are there so many bodies down here..? Is it in his head that he's able to see them or are the spirits of north Kannena so angry that they had to show themselves and attack. Either way, he had to keep swimming

The glowing Orb could be seen inside a small stone shrine in the middle of the lake. West wrapped his legs around Dewgong so he could use his arms to reach the orb.

Once he did, the water instantly separated in a long whirlpool like form and give him access to air again. Coughing over and over again while sitting in the wet sand and weeds, he looked down to see the Fiery orb in his hands, steaming every time a rain drop hit the glass surface holding a ball of fire within

"Rain..." he lifted his hand to catch drops, slowly realizing she was still out there "Crystal!" He stood up, out of breath and looked over at the surface.

The water expanded more and revealed a shining rainbow chrome colored flute that shined amazingly in the little light he was around. Dewgong swam over and grabbed it with its mouth before grabbing West and swam him through the water once again and reached back to the surface. His eyes looked around until they found Crystal hugging onto the tree while soaking wet.

"Chris..." he gasped and tapped on Dewgong to keep going until his body was grabbed by multiple vines wrapping around his body until he couldn't move anything but his hands "what the-!?"

"Look what the Purrloin dragged in!" Britney laughed "I had a feeling someone jumped into the water! You seem to come back in one piece, that only proves you're the real deal! This is perfect! You even got the Fiery orb in your hands! Even better! Drag him over" she told the Grunts. One false move and the orb might fall out his hands.

"Let go of me!" He shouted

"Don't be so difficult. This is going to be great for all of us. You'll see" Britney giggled "now all we need is that little bitch of yours who thinks she's the top shit or something. Have any idea where may she be?"

"The only bitch around here is you! Put me down, or you'll regret it!" his voice deepened in anger. He couldn't stand the fact that someone called his girl a bitch, and that she was still waiting for him and he couldn't even do anything about it "don't you dare stand in my way in protecting the one I love! Let go of me, now! I don't want to be part of your bloody gang! And neither of us is going to surrender to you! We're going to stop your ridiculous plan if it's the last thing we do!" Crystal pushed herself against the tree to stand. Froslass took her arm to stop her

"I've got to save him..." even if she's feeling weak and burning, she had to find a way to save West before they take him away from her.

"Gong!" Dewgong called, throwing the flute in her direction. Catching it without hesitation, her shaky fingers felt on the shell-like material that was as smooth as glass. This instrument is over several hundreds of years old, and it still looks like it was made just yesterday

"Let go!" West shouted at the sky. Britney and the Grunts looked uncomfortable at how he was behaving. "If I'm in these ropes any longer, I'm going to kick your asses all the way to the other side of Kannena! You're keeping me away from what's important!"

"West..." Crystal frowned

"Doublade!" Doublade flew pass Crystal in a heartbeat and stabbed into the vines of the grunt's Pokémon, purposely hurting them and dropped him to where Dewgong was swimming

"Damn you! Why are you making things difficult?! Go Altaria!" Britney send out her Pokémon "Use-"

"Ice beam..." Crystal commanded. Froslass shot an ice beam towards the dragon/flying type and nearly got it falling into the water with a frozen wing before Dewgong tail whipped it back to Britney's side.

West fell into the water before questioning where the attacking came from. He saw Crystal shaking by the edge of the lake, getting more soaked than before

"Hey! Stop that!" He shouted, seeing her crimson red cheeks from a few yards away "get shelter now! I don't want you getting more sick!" She ignored him and kept walking

"Oh? What have we here? The princess was here this whole time?" Britney glared, returning her Pokémon "trying to make a fool out of me again? Peasant?"

"You're doing that all on your own, bitch" Britney and West was taken back by the roughness of her voice "stop causing trouble for us... remember, my Dewgong right there is on the water... make one false move, and I'll have her splash you."

"D-don't! That's water is dangerously cold-!"

"I'm aware..." Britney and the Grunts took steps back "do you think I care if you get hurt? You hurt my friend... Tell me now why I shouldn't punish you?" Froslass flinched at her words "I mean... I couldn't really care less about anyone's feelings, so I won't hesitate to harm you if that's what it takes for me to avenge my friend" she got close enough to stand a few feet away, walking to the lake to grab a blue feather in the color of the sky and carry it while facing their nervous tension "I dare you to do something else..."

"Y-You think we're scared of a little feather?"

"Want to test me?" The Grunts got their Pokémon to stand up for them "that's how you want to play then..." she held her head, feeling the world spinning "fine... Dewgong, use surf" Britney gasped and grabbed the Grunts to storm away. Crystal snorted, falling on her knees exhausted. West swam to the edge on time and rested her in his arms.

"Chris! I'm sorry for taking so long! I got held back by spirits trying to drag me down underwater" she sighed and looked at his worried eyes "you shouldn't have shown yourself to them... I had this. I had Doublade."

"I don't care... I have to protect you" his eyes widened.

"Protect me? That's my job!" She smiled and rested her head on his chest while touching on the orb he laid on the side

"It's so warm... You'll be able to stay warm like this, and feel safe again... without those terrors bothering you" not knowing what she was talking about, he already saw that she passed out

"Chris!" He gasped "Crystal!" Doublade grabbed the Fiery orb and followed him up "Let's go! Hurry!" Froslass already got a hold of their bags and Cleffa and followed West running as fast as he could to the Kimana Tower a few miles over, since there was no shelter anywhere else near them

His feet finally carried him through Zalma City, not wasting any time to continue his way to the bridge leading to the island where his family's tower stood.

Up ahead, two individuals walked the sidewalk with umbrellas walking the opposite direction he was running. His eyes looked over at the tall woman with a lab coat and Leafeon on her side slowly looking up to notice him running. Her eyes were the familiar blue color he always sees in so many people, including Crystal

The other person was what almost made him slip and stop on his tracks. The woman stopped walking and stared at Crystal, slowly widening her eyes at the same time her Leafeon's tail wagged back and forth.

West glared at the boy in front of him, staring at West up and down, and at Crystal in his arms "Westly..?" The boy blinked confused at West's change appearance after so many years of not seeing him

"Out my way! I got someone important to take care of!" He ran pass him "hang in there, Chris!" The woman shut her book she was reading and furrowed her brows, confused

"Crystal..?"

West hurried into the Kimana tower out of breath, cheeks red and breathing heavily without a break. He tripped on the slippery tile floors and accidentally threw Crystal across the room

"Chris!" He jumped back on his feet but slipped again, resulting in him having to crawl to her side and check for injuries "are you okay?!"

"It's hot..." she cried "its cold..." she hugged herself "got to... head home..." tears ran down her cheeks "I can't go home..." he bit his lips hard and brought her back in his arms. A receptionist and security guard hurried towards them.

"Get a doctor and room immediately!" He shouted while shaking "my friend needs the most attention right now!"

"Shouldn't she-" The receptionist got interrupted by a loud female's voice.

"When he asks you to do something, he doesn't expect back talk!" Rhea walked into the room with a Jolkic on her head "get a doctor now! And take her to get dry!" The guard nodded quickly and led the Kimanas to the elevator while the receptionist rushed behind the desk and called for an ambulance

The trip upstairs was quiet "Westly, what happened..?" Rhea frowned, looking at how awful Crystal looked "You were supposed to keep her healthy."

"I know that! Team Victoria got in our way!" She gasped "We... got held up on something," he said, trying not to say much around the guard  "and it started pouring rain. It came out of nowhere, and she was already getting sick to begin with when we left Rosebud" he glared at the floor "if they didn't slow us down, this wouldn't have happened! They almost captured me, so Chris came out her safe spot and rushed to help me even if her face gotten red" the elevator doors opened to take them to a floor where there were full of rooms challengers would come to stay when challenging the Battle tower. Not only do his parents own the Battle tower and are champions, but they also run a hotel

The guard opened the closest door and let them in with a maid already cleaning inside. RHea hurried West to sit Crystal on the chair and push the guys out.

"We can take care of her getting dry. Go downstairs to wait for a doctor and lead him up here."

"B-but!"

"I can take care of her from here. We need to take off these wet clothes immediately. Okay?" She pet his head "she's going to be fine. We won't take long" she looked at the maid "get towels ready!" The maid jumped and obeyed. West frowned down at Crystal still breathing heavily

"Chris..." she opened her eyes halfway and stared at him "I..."

"Shut up and get out of here..." he smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"Alright, see you later" he walked out of the room and followed the guard to the elevator again to the lobby. The receptionist called him over

"The ambulance will be on their way any minute." She said

"I asked for a doctor, not an ambulance" he groaned "I'm not going to let them take her away. Tell them the Kimanas ask for a doctor, right now" he walked to the exit without another word to look at the rain starting to slow down

"Geez..." he held his head "why did this have to happen? I knew I should have kept her in Rosebud... but she was so determined to leave immediately for that flute" he looked at Doublade floating over to hand over the Fiery orb. He gasped and took hold of it, seeing the water in his hands evaporate, and felt calmer than before "this is the Fiery orb the gang's been looking for. This and the Ice orb are the only way to summon Glēgotan. I have a feeling we're going to see more of those guys again" he sighed and sat on the stairs, hugging the orb "it's really warm... I feel like I can fall asleep while holding this" Cleffa peaked over to his face "oh... Cleffa. I didn't know you were still with me" It felt so strange how it was so long ago that they hatched Cleffa back in the Red Feathered lake.

From the moment Cleffa thought of them as parents and West confirmed it, Crystal thought he was stupid to assume they could have such a relationship even if it was with a Pokémon, but it still made him happy that they came a long way since then...

"She'll be fine... I promise" he sighed, not knowing if it was a good idea to lie like that. She looked worse than she did when he found her in the middle of the rain storm when he set off to meet the last gym leader.

He sat there for what felt like hours, thinking of nothing but the girl he couldn't be with at the moment "Crystal..." he looked down, seeing a car drive through the bridge and approach the tower, letting out a man with his medicine bag and suit, under an umbrella "I'll be the one taking you home, safely... I'm not going to back down on that promise."