Blood everywhere... the grass is teeming with it. I walk through the empty, silent fields, the bloody blades of broken grass collecting on my shoes. Unfeeling, uncaring, I walk on, and find myself going down, down, down... There's the metallic scent of blood, assailing my nose, and then with a snap it clicks.

I'm standing on something. Something hard. Something... that feels eerily like a shell.

I lift my foot away. There, under it, is Stella's crumpled body.

"You killed her."

Someone is watching me.

I blink, looking for a sound, terror welling up in my throat as it chokes out everything else. I pant, in and out, asking, "Who's there?!"

No noise. No one. Nothing.

The grass is surrounding me, choking me, and suddenly it crackles within me, the spark I had lost for so long. I sparkle like a firecracker, electricity bursting off my body in a million different directions.

The sparks fizz out in the grass. That's not right. It should at least be burning by now. So why is everything completely unchanged? A dark form emerges behind me, a huge, twenty-foot tall Gyarados that crashes down onto me.

I scream until I wake up, still alive.

Stella's gone.

I knew my first death would happen eventually, but it was all too fast and too soon. Worse yet, it was so easily preventable. Are all deaths that way? How did Ashley bear it so many times? Rune grumbles from around where my feet are on the bet, twitching and moaning in his sleep. He still curls up like he did as a Fennekin, so he looks a little lopsided. It's hard not to feel sorry for him. My evolution was quite easy- the transition from Mareep to Flaafy never bothered me. After all, I had my sister to walk me through it.

Is my sister here too?

"Morning, sleepyhead!" I scream again as a huge, three-foot pigeon lands on my head, her huge carnivorous beak twisted into a smile. Flapping my arms in terror, Pich falls off my face laughing.

Juliet wakes up with a Pokeball in her hand, and then she throws it at me and Shin comes out. "I took your Trainer Card and withdrew him last night."

"Lovely." I say sarcastically, stretching out and getting a faceful of angry lion. "Listen, we need to make sure nothing like that happens again. So please, please stay with me. If I'm right, the next town is to the left." We leave early in the morning, even having lame cereal instead of great and glorious pancakes. That's how desperate we were- crazy, right? We live in strange times.

The road ahead is a simply short one, but I stride right past the split in the road to a quaint little bridge where for some reason... there's literally a giant freaking Snorlax in the way. "Hello? Trying to do some traveling?" I call out, and a guy in a martial arts uniform turns around, smiling all too largely at me.

"HEYYYY TO GET ACROSS GO GET THIS FLUTE I LEFT AT HOME THIS TOTALLY ISN'T A CHEAP WAY TO LURE PEOPLE INTO MY TOURIST TRAP!" He says, and then pushes me back. Rune smacks him over the head with the wand, tries to attack the Snorlax in every way possible, but even with the whole team, it's impossible to go over, around, or under.

"Screw this, let's go to the tourist trap." Chrona turns around, and before I know it she's off.

"Darn it Chrona!" I run after her, panting like a dog, and the rest of the team follows suit.

"We're off to see the Wizaaaaaard-" Juliet sings as loudly as possible, and everyone just rolls their eyes and laughs along.

By the time we see Chrona on Route 6, she already has an Oddish wrapped in a Vine Whip and has evolved into Ivysaur. Curiously enough, one of the leaves still hangs down in her face. "I... I'm going to make it up to you guys. Sorry for wandering off again." I catch the Oddish discreetly while they're watching her.

"Nothing can make up for a teammate." Rune tells her coldly, and I can feel her heart crack in two.

Suddenly, I feel tingly. I can hear a voice in my head. Why, why, why? I just wanted to make him happy. He's already taken and now he hates me.

It takes a minute to register that I can hear Chrona's thoughts. I go out on a limb- I run into the nearby bushes and flash to her. Rune looks confused, looking around for me immediately. I feel Chrona's heartbeat and then I'm looking up through her eyes.

We think of a hasty excuse- "She's just getting a catch for the Route." We don't tell them I caught the Oddish- they wouldn't know. "Why don't we train some?"

Rune looks hesitant, but Pich cooes, "Worrywart." And his ears prick up, his tail straight up in the air like someone crept up behind him.

"Oh, it's on. Bet Pich and I can defeat the most tourists before Ashley gets back!"

"It's on!" Chrona and I say, and the whole team gets into pairs. We're with Geyser, which is disappointing to me, as I've never felt very close with him, but still, that's alright. I share Chrona's bulk as she charges Clefairies, our tactics of Leech Seeding and Poison Powdering unmatched, and in the end, we win. Geyser celebrates with some victory brunch, and Rune still looks around for Ashley.

"Where is she?" He asks, pricking his ears for the sound of my approach. We try not to giggle- Rune can't tell I'm right in front of him. He reminds me a bit of Bronze. Maybe that's why I like him so much.

"What do you guys think about m- uh, Ashley?" We ask.

"I thought she was crazy, but you know, with the whole flashing thing... I think she might be telling the truth." Rune says.

"I know she is!" Pich insists. I feel a rush of affection which Chrona dulls. The two of them hate each other, I already knew that. I just didn't know how deep it ran in Chrona- I'm not the only one with nightmares. Gashing talons, sharp beaks... it makes me shiver.

"Wait, 'mon, what's this about Ashley being crazy? What did I miss?" Gesyer asks.

Rune sits there and calmly explains everything. I blink, noticing something odd- I can see the golden web of bonds between my teammates, criss-crossing every which way. Only for a second is it there, before it disappears again.

To my surprise, when Rune finishes, everyone seems okay with it and agrees to accept it until proven wrong.

"She's nice, 'mon. Not the lying sort." Geyser concludes.

"SO AWESOME!" Juliet says, shaking Shin with one ear.

"I wish I had a cool backstory." Shin sighs.

"I can help you come up with one." Juliet tells him, making him purr as she runs the ear up and down his spine.

I feel a pang of regret as I return to my own body. I never realized how much I missed being on a team. It was worth every second, wasn't it? Those twilight moments with Bronze, friendly competition and tactics with Toxis, the motherly advice from Sky, Khrys's willingness to lend a hand if ever needed, and Dill's silly jokes and the way he talked about his dreams- I miss it all.

I emerge from the bushes, some vegetation in my hair, and walk over to the team.

"Lilly!" Rune gives me a foxy grin.

"Where were you?" Juliet asks.

"Don't ask," I say, pulling a holly leaf out of my hair. Chrona gives me a wink, and I give her the thumbs-up back. I look north from our location, and my jaw drops. "Hey, guys? I think we're here."

A giant gold castle stands before us, glimmering in the midday sun.