I close my eyes and imagine the bond weaving its way from Nico's heart to mine, binding us together. I also imagine being slightly less sweaty. I attempt to hold Trevenant pose, foot on my other knee as I stand upright, but I'm sweating harder than a water type Pokemon in a desert.

 Nico stands without wobbling, paws pressed against each other. His eyes are closed and he doesn't seem hot or flustered, just focused. I try to emulate his calmness and close my eyes, only to find myself fall over without a focal point to balance me.

 He extends a paw.

 "Thanks." I say.

 He nods, then puts his hand over his mouth, trying to mimic the human gesture he can not perform with his paws to get me to be silent. Nonetheless, I get the message, and return to the quiet inside my own mind.

 It's about fifteen minutes later when we leave. Nico strides out and I stagger behind him. We return our mats and Nico stares at the decorative candles for a bit before we leave.

 "Have you ever considered buying some of those? They're good for your aura."

 "Candles? That's sweet, but I don't know how much they'd actually help."

 "No, I'm sure they work."

 "Was one of those catnip flavored or something? Do you Lucarios have a problem with that?"

 "First of all, no. Second of all, no."

 "Really."

 "I may or may not have a problem with anise, but no. It is not catnip for Lucarios." He crosses his arms, ruffling his fur up in the cutest way possible. He looks so adorable when he's irritated. I've never actually seen him show much emotion, and especially nothing like this.

 "Well, we can go buy one tomorrow, then." I say, and Nico pricks his ears.

 We reach the others and Pich is there, her head feathers a bit longer than the last time I saw her. Her eyes have wild excitement in them and she half runs, half flies to me. "Lilly!"

 "Pich! You're out!" I say, opening up my arms and then realizing that it was a mistake when I'm tackled by almost ninety pounds of happy bird of prey.

 "Yeah, they used all of these medical procedures for fast feather growth and now my crest is a lot longer. I still can't fly for another..."

 "Three days." Rune says.

 "Keh. Three days." Pich looks down at the ground.

  "So, what have you guys been doing?"

 "Whatever we want." Chrona smirks.

 "Sounds fun! So what else is up for today?"

 "Well..." I say, "Have any of you ever had a massage?"

 ***

 I walk out of the yoga place for the final time. Petal Dance Studios has claimed a good portion of the vacation spending and a place in my heart- I might have to fly back here sometime, just to do some more lessons. I've gotten pretty flexible. I can almost touch my toes. I'm pretty sure that's really good.

 The other Pokemon are still standing around, watching me cross the field looking empowered and Nico carrying a bag full of scented candles. The two of us have been researching what scents appeal to certain Pokemon, and we've amassed a large bag of candles in every color of the rainbow.

 I even got some for Ampharos- they're scented like bark from trees that grew around the Lake of Rage. Mine was the most expensive- that species of tree was almost wiped out when Johto was destroyed. Speaking of that, I've also done research- apparently, in this world, someone tried to summon Ho-oh, who razed the land, and Lugia came out to fight Ho-oh. The aftermath was bad, but it was made worse when the two came to a stalemate and another, more sinister legendary interfered. Their identity is still unknown.

 On a more positive note, today is the day we leave for Lumiose. I smile and say, "Alright, it's time to go."

 Everyone collectively groans. Nina throws a can she was holding on the ground. "What? Don't stop the party, Lilly. Not cool!"

 "Seriously. We need to get on with the journey. We've had fun, but I'm almost out of cash. I hear the next gym leader pays a lot. Maybe we can go do something after we beat him."

 The negativity in the air seems to clear a bit.

 "Well, it's okay. I'm sure we've all learned something from this." Rune says.

 Crypt mutters, "Yeah, that we should take more breaks." I laugh, and the rest of the team joins in, Pich included. The dinosaur perks up immediately.

 Pich swoops up to me, each flap of her giant wings causing my hair to flutter as if caught in a strong wind. I stroke her on the head, running my hand through her beautiful feathers with a warm smile. "You better now?"

 "So much better." she replies. "Well, we do have to get to Lumiose, don't we?"

  "Would you mind giving me a ride?" I ask.

 "With pleasure. I haven't been able to stretch these beauties in so long. They ache really badly." To prove her point, Pich gave her wings another solid flap while still standing, sending dust flying everywhere.

 "Okay. Everyone, back in the Pokeball."

 Chrona takes her Pokeball and knocks it against her head, opening it and closing her inside. I take out Nico's and place him back inside as well, then turn to Nina and Crypt and do the same. Rune sighs and holds out his hand. "You know it's boring in there."

 "Oh yeah?" I say. "I used to go in them all the time when I was a Flaafy. No one cares but you. It's just a lot faster than loading you all on Pich."

 "I'm not carrying Chrona anywhere ever. I think that would break my back." Pich points out.  "Don't even get me started on Crypt."

 Rune chews on the end of his stick.

 "Just get in." I hand him the ball. He opens it with a whack of his stick and disappears inside.

 I take it in my hand, gently rubbing it and placing it into my bag. "They grow up so fast, huh?"

 "He's still such a brat sometimes." Pich complains. "Not to mention he's completely oblivious. It took him months to catch on to the fact I had a crush on him."

 "You two need a wedding at some point."

 "What?"

 "You're so getting married."

 "Oh, for the sake of every legendary we use for expressing disappointment. We're barely dating and you want us to get married?"

 "You are going to have the wedding Bronze and I never got to have and now we can't have because for some reason we are now underaged."

 "Lilly, get on my back."

 I get on, finding it a comfortable fit, if a bit cozy. She takes off with relatively no difficulty, and I just cling to her for dear life, hoping my bag is properly zipped. "This is terrifying."

 "Relax. I'm a safe flier. It's not like I'm going to do loop-de-loops or something."

 "Please remind me never to do this again."

 "Understood." Pich says. "For now, it's only a three hour flight until we get to Lumiose."