She happily goes into the Pokeball, and then I send her out. "What's your name?"

"I'm Pich. What's your name? I never thought I'd actually see you... oh great chosen one." She spreads her wings in an awkward bow.

"It's Lilly. Wait, great chosen one? What do you mean?"

"Do the golden eyes thing!"

"Wait, you can't mean flashing? How do you know about that? You're still not answering my questions!"

She puffs out air, her swelled chest caving back until she sags a bit. "I'm sorry for overloading you. I'll go from the top. I'm Pich. Ever since I was little, my ma would tell me about these stories. See, long ago, there was this huge war. In this war, a Floette was killed. The Floette's owner built a machine to give it life, but he was so angry about the war that he turned the machine into this huge weapon, using the power of the legendary Yveltal. Yveltal turned into a cocoon and went back to sleep, millions died, and the war was ended. The Floette ran away after that, ya see? Anyways, there are many who want to harness Yveltal's power, create a new weapon. However, when Yveltal reawakens, time will turn in on itself, and Pokemon and humans will be equals again. The change will be brought about by a Pokemon turned into a human!"

"That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard." Rune says dully, "You're crazier than she is."

"Yes, it's pretty strange. Almost every story I've read talks about a human turned into a Pokemon. Have you ever heard the mystery dungeon stories?" Pich says.

They argue for a bit, and I sit there, processing the information. It was hard to make out some of it, since she talks so fast, but I think I get the gist. "So what you're saying is that I have a destiny here, too."

"Yes..."

"Well... hopefully, I still get to go home."

"Where's your home?" Rune asks, pretending he's curious.

"Johto." I say.

"She's lost it. Crazy." Rune mutters.

"You can't mean Johto..." Pich says sadly.

"What's wrong with Johto?"

I see Shauna and Bronze, running up ahead, and suddenly a memory comes to mind. The gray lake. The ruined world. Something terrible happened in Johto.

It can't be gone. It'll be okay. Something inside me tells myself not to ask them, to ignore them completely. I don't want to know the truth yet. I'm clenching my head in my hands, a pounding headache now burning it.

Pich looks worried, and Rune says nothing. I walk silently ahead.

Bronze and Shauna are at the entrance to a forest. "What's this?"

"Santalune Forest." Bronze tells me. "We're going to grind before going in."

"I guess I should too."

I command them both as we tackle all sorts of Pokemon- not just Pidgey, but also new ones, 'Fletchling' and 'Bunnelby' and others I have to use the Pokedex to identify.

"Hey! Over here!" A youngster wearing shorts beckons to me. "Wanna fight my Zigzagoon?"

I gesture to Pich, who smiles, her wings beating the air. "Do the golden-eyes thing!" She pleads.

I don't bother telling her I don't know how. I wish so badly now I had paid attention when Ashley did it.

"Zigzagoon, Tackle!"

"Pich, use Tackle too!"

The two collide in midair, but then it pushes Pich down, who rolls to the side, her wing hurt. It zooms forth for a Quick Attack, and then it clicks.

We dodge, my eyes a gentle glow of gold, and then they're not mine anymore. I can feel Pich's wing, an unsteady flow of energy coursing through it's sprained bones. The Quick Attack hits us hard, and we fly back together, and then we know the chance needs to be taken. We soar up, unsteady wings barely holding us up, then we soar down together in a glorious Peck attack. We hit it on all sides, fly back and hit, repeat. It's overwhelmed, and finally it slumps to the ground, defeated.

I flash back into my own body, the tingling sensation slowly wearing away. It wasn't as steady as it was with Ashley, or as exhilarating, but it was a real flash.

"You did it! You really, really did it! That was aaaamazing! I was gonna die, and then you were there, and we were-" She talks so fast at this point I can't even tell what she's trying to say.

Rune looks at me. "Well, you convinced her."

"Yes, I think I did." I say with a slight smile.

"Alright then, convince me."