Rune wakes me up by thwacking me over the head with his wand-stick. "We have a problem." he announces.

"Oh, and what would that be?" I mutter sleepily.

"Pich and Chrona are both missing!" he says, genuine fear in his voice.

"How awful," I mutter sarcastically, "Go organize a search party or something, please just let me sleep..."

I finally get up for real about five minutes later and Rune, Crypt, and Mimsy are all hovering over me at this point, ready to go and in Crypt's words, "Save Chrona, and also Pich."

"Guys, I already know where they are. I was being sarcastic earlier, it's just... you guys had no idea. Argh. Sorry, I'm so tired, I only got six hours of sleep..."

"Well, you'd better wake up, because once we have Chrona and Pich we're challenging the gym." Rune says, teeth bared in a savage grin.

"What?! You're kidding me. I wasn't consulted about..." I sputter.

Mimsy interrupts. "It was my idea. I just think we need to keep moving onwards. I am tired of feeling useless to the team, so with your permission, I would like to go and challenge this gym."

"I..." I pause for a bit, unable to come up with any reason not to go, and close my mouth, giving her a swift nod. Her vague and emotionless expression stays constant, but somehow I feel as if a weight has been lifted from both of us.

I turn to the others. "Rune? Crypt? Are you two okay with this?"

"I'm a Psychic type." Rune says. "I think I'll be just fine. Just make sure I don't get my robes too dirty." He brushes them carefully with a paw, nose up in the air. I can still see the smirk on his face.

"Yeah, that would be such a shame, wouldn't it?" I say mischievously.

"Crypt, are you good?" I ask.

"I-" He starts.

"Yes?"

"I..." He's shaking his head furiously, like he's trying to tear something apart.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't want to fight in this one." Crypt finally snaps, then tears well up in his eyes. "Please don't make me."

"That's fine." I say. "I know you're still upset. I am too. We just have to trust it will be okay. You want to help me go get Chrona and Pich?"

He nods, hugging my leg. I reach down to stroke his head gently, a softer smile on my face.

An hour later, Dill is waving goodbye from the porch as I return to the heart of the city with my sleepy four foot bird and giant plant monster. Chrona, especially, is quite irritable at having to leave. "We were going to have pancakes," she protests sleepily.

"We can have victory pancakes after we crush the gym. Right, Mimsy?"

"I can't eat." Mimsy says dully. "However, you are welcome to enjoy the trivialities of pancakes while you are still able on your brief stay on the planet."

We change the conversation. "So, you get a good night's sleep?" I ask Chrona.

She grunts. "More or less."

"Nice... to know."

There's silence for a while before we enter the gym, and to my surprise, it's a giant roller skating rink.

"How are we supposed to have Pokemon battles while skating, exactly?" Rune asks.

"How are you supposed to skate with your tiny baby feet?" Chrona asks him. She's grinning.

To think she used to have a crush on him. I guess I'm just happy she feels more confident in herself now, without hiding behind a leaf or being the 'emotional, moody goth one'.

"It's okay, guys. None of us have to skate over there. I'll handle this." Pich ruffles her wings.

I put on my skates and begin casually doing laps. With a deafening shriek, Pich falls out of the sky and lands on a nearby trainer.

Rune runs after, falling on the rink with a thud. Getting back up, he brandishes his stick for battle. The trainer's Pokeballs all open when they hit the rink, and suddenly it's three on three. Pich, Rune, and Chrona are all at it, with Rune fighting the toughest of the lot, a huge, bulky Throh. The two tussle for a while before Rune knocks it off balance with a low sweep boosted by psychic energy and then pushes it backwards across the rink. There, it hits the Pancham Chrona is fighting and knocks it out. Chrona reaches over and slaps him with a Vine Whip.

"Hey!" He complains.

"My target." Chrona reminds him.

A battered Pich flies over, landing on Chrona, who scowls up at her. "That's no good. We all need to work together!"

"I think I'm doing just fine. That Pancham was already fainted before Rune interfered, just for the record."

Another Trainer skates up. "You're making quite the mess." He clicks open his Pokeball. "Allow me to clean it up." He throws it and out comes a Heracross, its horn sharp and its shell glittering in the harsh light.

"Good luck cleaning up the ashes off the floor." snarls Rune, bounding forwards, whacking his stick against his left paw.

Mimsy floats right in front of Rune, blocking his view of his adversary. "I can handle this." she tells him.

"What?! Get out of the way, Mimsy!"

Mimsy is already fighting, launching repetitive Gusts from her strings (are they called that? What do you call Drifloon appendages?) as she gracefully dodges Heracross's punches. She barely misses one, then stops to aim another Gust attack when Heracross nails her to the ground with it's horn.

It begins pressing.

Mimsy begins to deflate, thrashing wildly, and I yell, "HANG IN THERE!"

My hand reaches for the Pokeball, hoping to bring her back in, but as soon as I lift it I see a flash of bright blue. She has her strings locked around the Heracross's arms and she's glowing. Evolution.

As the blue energy floods her, her strings grow longer and more ribbon-like, adding two more and a larger tuft of white, cloud-like fluff atop her head. As she grows, the Heracross bounces off. She latches her other two ribbons around it's arms and lifts it up, throwing it in a circle before launching it down. It lays there, defeated, and she calmly returns to the ground.

She floats over to me, the white tuft on her head bobbing in the breeze. "I feel happier. Stronger. I'm glad we came."

"Me too." I tell her, eyes still on the Heracross.

"Well, it appears we're almost to the gym leader," she continues, "Shall we challenge her?"

"Alright." I say. We stride over to what looks like a ramp, of the skateboarding variety. It's a long, narrow thing

"So you came." Korrina says, unbuckling her helmet. "Well, well."

"I have to defeat this gym at some point." I tell her. "Let's get this show on the road."

"With pleasure." She does a quick spin on her skates, then throws a Pokeball up in the air. It glitters above her for a second as she comes to a stop, then it enters as she gracefully finishes. "There we go. Meinfoo! I choose you!"

"Show off." Chrona mutters. She lumbers forwards.

"Chrona! Are you sure you want to fight? There are a lot of us here with type advantages who can-"

"Shut your beak. I'll be fine." She readies her vines. Pich flaps her wings indignantly, snapping loudly at Chrona about how risky she is.

The Meinfoo turns out to be startlingly fast, hitting Chrona with Fake Out and then slamming her sideways while she's stunned with a Force Palm. Being the tank she is, Chrona bares the hit pretty well and braces herself for another. This time, she's ready. When Meinfoo comes in with a weak attack, she grabs its hand with a vine and drags it downwards, throwing it against the floor. It cuts the vine with its other arm, leaving Chrona wincing again as green blood spills out of the wound.

"I think you can do better." taunts Korrina. She waves her arm over her Mega Bracelet.

"Yes, we sure can." Chrona says, grinning. "Let's go."

I press the stone, and Chrona's glows faintly. However, unlike last night's connection, it quickly flickers and dies.

"C'mon, c'mon..." Chrona mutters.

I press the stone again, and my eyes glow gold. Not what I was going for at all, but... it doesn't look like we're getting anywhere. Chrona and I look up at Korrina, who lets out a quick 'tsk' and bites her lip. "Yeah, you really do need my help." she says.

"Oh really? Who says we're not every bit as capable as you?" We say, vines extended.

"Meinfoo! Power-Up Punch!"

The Meinfoo hits us, it's attack weak and barely bruising us. However, it's even faster now, and every attack is stronger than the last. We try to dodge, but our bulk proves a larger problem as any sort of movement risks a punch in that general direction.

Chrona, I ask her silently within our connection, do you still know PoisonPowder?

Yes, why? She asks, as we lose focus and take another hit to the face.

We need to scatter it without raising any suspicions, I say.

What? She asks.

Trust me. I plead.

Fine. She consents, finally, and I ready the plan. We sprinkle some PoisonPowder in the air around us, a fine layer. The Meinfoo darts forwards, even faster than before, and this time, wheezing and aching in ten different areas, we snare it with Leech Seed. The poison takes effect as soon as the seeds do, encasing its fists in vines that grow up its arms and weigh it down. It hits us and the leaves burst into flowers, sapping more of its strength.

I flash back as it hits the ground.

"Finding a way around a problem doesn't get rid of it." Korrina warns.

"I know." I say. "Chrona, return."

She groans as I recall her, indignant but secretly grateful for the rest... I can always tell.

"Machoke!" Korrina calls.

"Rune!" I yell. Rune, who was engraving designs on his stick while waiting, walks forwards calmly.

"Am I going to fight at all?" asks Pich.

Mimsy waits on the sidelines, "Well, I was going to take her ace, so..."

Pich sighs.

Rune has obviously been practicing with the wand. With a flick, he controls ridiculously precise parts of Machoke's arm to get every punch to miss him by mere inches. With a long stroke down, he pushes it back and grins. "My turn."

He lights the wand with a single breath, like the reverse of blowing out a candle. Gracefully, he throws the wand in a full circle in mid air, and catches it, spinning it around effortlessly while small flares shoot from it.

The Machoke is defeated within moments.

"There we go. Mimsy, you're up."

Korrina looks slightly intrigued now. "Alright, here we go. Let's make this one a bit more interesting." She sends out her Hawlucha.

Mimsy pulls on it with her ribbons, but Hawlucha uses them to throw her to the side. She slides across the field.

"Rock Tomb!" Hawlucha summons rocks seemingly from nowhere, lifting them and then throwing them towards the already deflated Pokemon. Mimsy lifts one ribbon, trying to get up feebly, and then the rock hits her with a solid thud. There's a loud popping noise and a great deal of smoke and then... silence. Dead silence.

I wait a few seconds in disbelief, hoping she'll get up.

"MIMSY!" I yell. Nothing.

The Hawlucha bares its claws, letting out an angry warcry as it surveys my other Pokemon. I can hear the deadly words beneath the seemingly garbled language, but it falls on deaf ears.

"Hawlucha, stop!" Korrina looks up at me. "We stop here."

"But-"

She throws me the badge. "Listen, if you really want the badge, and that's it, we stop there. If you want revenge, you should know that I don't take rivalries lightly. If you want to know how many Goldeneyes are really in this region... well, let's make a date. Tower. You. Me. Ten. Tomorrow." She shakes her head. "If he hadn't taken an interest in you, I'd never do this, but... I can't ignore the signs."

"What?! No apology, just toss me the badge and-"

"Listen. What I'm going to tell you is far more of an apology than someone as weak as you deserves. Go heal your team. Battle's over."