Today is the day. It's been roughly a week and a half since I started my journey. Most of the last week after the forest was spent 'grinding', which is our little code for Juliet singing, Pich asking me questions about my past life as a Pokemon, Rune and Shin yelling at each other, and Geyser just casually chilling out in the background.

"What are we doin' today, bro?" Geyser asks first thing in the morning, in a comfy little resort room near the Pokemon Center.

"I thought we'd challenge the gym leader." I say, pulling myself out of bed. I feel oddly naked as usual, my face is so flat and I don't have a tail. I miss my tail more than anything else about who I used to be, excepting my old home and the team.

"The GYM leader?" Rune says, suddenly pricking his huge, fluffy ears.

"Yeah..." I say, pausing a moment to let out a huge yawn.

"Well, who are you going to use?" asks Juliet, stopping a refrain of what she calls 'After Ever After 2'.

"I looked up her Pokemon, so I was going to use Pich for her Surskit and Rune for the Vivillion." I say plainly.

Pich unsheathes his claws, jumping on Rune with a loud and angry snarl. "COME HERE, YOU FUZZY PIECE OF TRASH!"

Rune kicks him off. "Let's settle this like gentlemon. I fight, and later, you get to head the team on the way out of the Route."

Reluctantly, Shin gets up, holding a clump of ear fur in his jaws, which he spits out, gagging like he's going to pass a hairball. Finally, swishing his tail for the attack, he turns to Rune. "Not like you to be generous. What's up with that, fuzzball?"

"Anything that gets you to close your trap is beneficial for the entire team." Rune replies wryly, smirking as he walks away to go sit in the sunlight on the hotel couch.

I check out, and before we go to the gym, I decide to take a last few stops in Santalune City, leaving Geyser to prepare brunch and Rune and Shin to sleep for a while, which will hopefully get their temperaments to smooth out a bit. It's a good day to stay inside a gym- I can already feel the first few raindrops falling.

Pich has already found her customary seat on my fedora, which is already showing some slight strain, and Juliet hops alongside me.

Something about today is ominously quiet, like the world is sucking in it's breath before a huge catastrophe. I ignore it, hastily rushing from store to store. I buy, in total, a good tent, a new and much cheaper fedora for emergencies, a lot of berries and a few Poke Puffs, not to mention a cute little bow for Juliet, who refuses to leave the clothing shop without it.

I'm about to open the door to the quaint hotel when Pich asks, "What's wrong?"

I suck in my breath, hoping for some reason if I ignore the question it won't linger in the air like the rainclouds, slowly dripping out.

That's when I hear Juliet, absentmindedly singing to herself. "I do everything you ask, I always come when you call..."

The song is painstakingly familiar.

I slam the door open, leaving to my room, trying to get the pictures out of my head that stream like acid, burning my mind. Dill, laughing and jumping on Toxis like he's still a little Eevee, Dill singing the song to himself out the window at night when he thinks no one can hear him, Bronze, there by my side, his fire burning bright, it's crackling warmth and sweet scent soothing me.

Home.

I walk in silence to the hotel room, Pich's cries of "Lilly, talk to me!" are drowned out as I swipe the key and enter the room.

"Guys, we're going."

That was that.

A thick steam fills the air around Rune's ears and Shin's tuft of hair on his head, surrounding us in even more gray. The city's charismatic wood buildings look sullen and lonely.

I fling open the gym doors, my team trailing behind.

There's a room filled with pictures, and a small wire edging down. I look around nervously, wondering what's going on and why the gym leader obviously isn't here, when suddenly I see someone come up behind me and then I'm falling. I see brown hair, blond streaks, and... a tail?

I don't have any more time to contemplate it as I fall, screaming, and land on a huge net that looks like... a spiderweb? I bounce up, landing firmly on my feet on the net. All around me, the spiderweb stretches out like an endless trampoline, and some youngsters stand on pedestals surrounding the place.

"Team ... uh..."

"FireBlast?" Rune and Shin say together.

"HeartGold?" Pich suggests.

"I don't really care what it's called, 'mon." Geyser shrugs.

"Lemme think... think... thinking..." Juliet covers her eyes with her ears.

"Can we think of a team name later? Team, move out!"

Everyone runs in different directions, each running off to defeat a different youngster.

"I got one!" Pich holds up a Scatterbug head, smiling and dripping blood.

Rune triumphantly stands on three more bug Pokemon, puffing his chest out and giving us a foxy grin.

"Will this work, 'mon?" Geyser shows a still struggling, dripping wet Caterpie, then shrugs and gives it a good punch to the face.

Juliet slaps one down with her ears, but it bites hard, and she screeches in sudden pain. Shin notices, looks up from his fight, and then runs at him and shoots an Ember straight at her foe, a Ledyba.

"My prince..." she says, pressing her face excitedly with her ears.

He extends his tail luxuriously. She grabs it with one ear, squealing with excitement and blushing.

Rune, Pich, and Geyser are already at Viola. Viola just kind of stares at us, and then to the various trainers mourning for the Pokemon, and then back at us. "Who the heck are you?"

"We are team... you know what, I'm going with HeartGold. And we are here to kick your ass."

Viola looks us up and down, and then produces her Poke Ball. "GO, SURSKIT!"

"Pich, go!"

Pich flies forwards, dodging a blast of water and then a steady rain of water. She pulls her wings back, then thrusts them forwards, causing the water to splatter all around Viola, who watches with slight amusement. Pich then flies straight down, a beautiful Peck attack, and then her wings are glowing too. The sword-like beak slashes Surskit, then she pulls away, her wings at her side, retracting the blade.

The Surskit sits defeated, it's legs twitching feebly on the ground. Viola pulls back Surskit, and I send forth Rune.

"Go... the devil butterfly... Vivillion!"

"Wait, how is that-"

The pink butterfly before me is anything but a devil. It chirrups, waving merrily, and I resist the urge to laugh. "It's Pokemon 666 in the Pokedex. Get it? 666? Devil... you know what, never mind. I didn't expect anyone to care."

"Rune! You're up!" He bursts forth, flame at the edge of his mouth, his eyes alight in savage pleasure, the thrill of the hunt.

"Vivillion, Harden!" A sheen of gray passes over it's body.

"Rune, Tackle!" Rune leaps forth, slamming into it's chest, and falls back, a bruise forming on his head. The effects of Harden, no doubt.

The Vivillion dashes forward, and expecting a Tackle, Rune braces for it, and then leaps again, but it dodges straight up, smashing Rune into the dirt.

"INFESTATION!" Vivillion sends out silver scales from it's wings, which turn into tiny bugs, forming a circle around Rune, trapping him.

"Rune!" I try to call him back, but he's stuck, the pain of it searing him. I can feel... I can feel his pain.

I close my eyes, the faint glow lighting up me from the inside like a ray of sunlight.

Slowly, I feel the steady beat of his heart. I open my eyes, and sure enough, the bugs surround us, stinging, biting. I feel our legs buckle. Is this where it ends? I feel our combined despair washing over us like a powerful wave, and now it's receding, intent on dragging everything away.

No.

A fire flares up inside of us, the pure coils of red blazing around us. I recognize it at once- Flame Charge.

Rune roars, blazing like a living fireball, and slams into the Vivillion, which, wings burning, falls backwards down to earth, and it's defeated. Viola recalls it, and hands us the badge and the TM for Infestation, although I don't particularly want or need it.

We leave quietly, everyone decently satisfied by this turn of events. It's still raining (no surprise) but I could honestly care less.

One eighth of the way home is better than nowhere. I've got to tell Bronze, but first, we need to heal.

I'm about to walk into the Pokemon Center when I see someone leaving, walking in the opposite direction.

He catches my eye in the same way Bronze does, for although I do not know this stranger, he looks eerily familiar. He's about ten, although very mature for it, even though he's a bit on the short side. He's got brown hair with gold highlights, and a brown shirt on with tan cuffs and a target on the front, which is tied in a ponytail in the back giving him something that looks like a tail. He has short brown shorts and a snarky complexion, although right now those eyes that seem to glitter with malice are bright with concern.

That's when I notice his eyes, which glitter, for a mere second, with gold.

I watch him run off, but instead of going into the Pokemon Center, I run the other way, after him.

Rune, whose ear fur is currently matted and wet, looks at me, exasperated. "What are you doing, crazy? I'm tired!"

"Sorry, sorry, and this is probably crazy..." I sigh, "but we need to follow that guy."

(A/N: Who is this man of mystery? Work it out in the comments. :D)