I walk into the castle, awestruck Pokemon by my side, the midday sun turning the golden castle into an enormous ball of gold fire. The gates are open, and there are cobwebs lining some of the inner workings. Despite that, when I get inside, I find it quite nicely maintained. It does, however, contain more antiques than Rune can poke his stick at.

"So, uh, I was told to come here to receive a Pokeflute?" I say to a plump man nearby, trying to glare at Shin who has unsheathed his claws and at the same time, keep eye contact so the guy in front of me doesn't suspect anything.

He nods. "Well, if you want it, I'm going to need your assistance in a certain matter... See, my precious, precious Furfrou is in the gardens and my maid walked out on me. Can you rescue it?"

Inside, I wonder to myself why this idiot can't just walk into the garden and pick up his dog. It would probably take him fifteen minutes to catch it at most. Then again, he doesn't look particularly bright- just a stupid person who can't even take care of his own Pokemon.

I walk out into the gardens, my team behind me (Shin has some fancy looking fabric in his paws- oh dear). The gardens are beautiful, the topiaries melded into the shapes of different legendaries. Some are too familiar- I see a Celebi soaring above and the familiar shape of Ho-Oh.

I bite my tongue as I pass by them, for fear I'll let something slip to my team. What they know right now is good enough. I don't want them to know too much. They'll think I'm crazy for sure.

Especially because only Rune and Pich know I have anything to do with the overly happy green pixie legendary.

I lower my head as I walk past it, trying to avoid Celebi's innocent smile.

"Fruf!" Furfrou barks from a nearby bush, and I see someone else scream and tackle the bush. The Furfrou walks away casually, and I help the random person up just to recognize the brown, curly hair and crescent moon ponytails.

"Hey, did you come here because the road was blocked too?" Shauna dusts herself off, picking leaves out of her hair while giving me a much too large smile.

"Uh... yes." I pull a flyaway leaf out of my shirt. "So, uh, these are my Pokemon. We can help you catch the Furfrou if you want."

"That would be great." She looks at a watch. "IT'S ALREADY 2 O' CLOCK! NO WAAAY!"

"I can't believe it," I say, taking a glance at her watch and then a disbelieving glance at my own. Sure enough, the digital clock reads 2:01 PM.

The Furfrou barks mockingly and I frown at it, leering as it trots away.

"Rune, you lead Shin and Juliet around the left side. Geyser, you and Chrona go to the right. Pich? Attack from the air."

"Right on it!" She chirps, and Shauna clasps my hand. I notice her face is bright red.

We walk together, strolling casually through the bushes. "It's so pretty!" She exclaims, picking a rose from the bushes. "Look at that color."

"Shouldn't you be focusing? No taking the roses." I say, and she looks crushed.

A blur of white is visible in the distance. "COME ON GUYS, I SEE IT!"

Rune lunges, almost as if he was still a Fennekin, and scrapes his cheek against the concrete leaving a trail of blood and fox fur. He gets up, and slams his stick against the ground. "It was just concrete!"

I see Juliet and Shin wobble up to us, Juliet holding him steady with her ears while she picks out thorns with her paws. "White thornbush." She says dismayed.

"Well, I thought it was just a really tiny Furfrou! How was I supposed to know it was a plant?!" He says it as if running into plants was just an easily made mistake.

Chrona and Geyser run up to us, Geyser on Chrona's back, and they say in unison, "She found it!"

"What do you mean, she..." I say, and then I hear the predatory and familiar screech.

"Pich." Everyone says it at the same time.

Juliet yells, "JINX!" and runs off towards what must be the place where Pich has captured her prey.

I can't tell where it's coming from, but the rabbit with ears twice the size of it's head probably has the right idea. Rune pricks his too, and then gestures for me to follow. It looks so cute and sort of strange when he does it now- seeing as he's a magical girl more than he is a fox.

I see wings fluttering, and sure enough the Furfrou is stuck there, yelping like mad as Pich tries to cling on to it's deep, luscious fur. Rune smacks it on the head with a stick and it goes out like a light.

Shauna and I spend another thirty minutes dragging the body back to the man, who smiles like I just gave him his dog in mint condition and says, "BRILLIANT! Please, come back at 8. We can have fireworks! All for you two sweet children!"

Hahahaha no. Well, we apparently have to if we're getting the flute, and he pushes us out of the castle. We spend the day until 8 doing nothing but wasting time- first, we train for about an hour (at least I do, Shauna doesn't bring out any of her Pokemon for some reason. Second, we decide to go shopping, which I hate. Humans have the weirdest clothes, and they poke and pinch all over you. After about an hour, she walks out of the store with three bags and I walk out with one hat and a fandom t-shirt for Juliet, even though she can't actually wear it.

When we get back to the castle, holding some ice cream we got after dinner, a butler leads us to a nice balcony. From there, I can see the whole garden, and a bit beyond it.

"It's... really pretty." I say, and then I hear it.

Cracking. The butler comes out, hands me the PokeFlute, and is gone. Shauna grasps my hand and pulls me away from the team.

"I like the view better here." She decides, and then I hear a screeching noise.

Fireworks explode suddenly above us, lighting up the gardens below.

They're so beautiful. I've only heard about them back in Johto, and now here they are. All the colors of the rainbow erupting overhead, and Shauna... holding my hand again. Maybe a little too tight.

"Today has been really fun. I thought... you liked Bronze." I say, curious.

She looks like she's about to cry. "F-f-fun. As friends."

"What's wrong? Of course we can be friends."

"Lilly."

A red heart explodes overhead.

"I don't want to be friends."

My heart is beating as fast as the one overhead is fizzling out. She... she's crazy. She can not be seriously about to...

"I love you."