I wake up in the morning and birds are chirping, my eyes have bags larger than Lugia wings under them. Groaning, I fall off the bed, wrapped in blankets, tumbling onto Rune, who probably moved last night. He yelps with pain as I land on his tail, and begins hissing insults in his more bestial, foxy tone.

He does this a lot when I spend all night having nightmares and fall out of bed in the morning.

What they don't tell you about being a Trainer is that when all these lives depend on you, and you're bound to fail at least five times before finishing your journey, you spend long, sleepless nights being alone and tired and hating yourself.

He bites the cold open air and then closes his jaws, growling a bit as he does so.

Nothing here but emptiness.

I get up, get breakfast, and put extra whipped cream on my pancakes. Hey, when you run around a continent for fun on a daily basis, you get whipped cream. I look at the pancake again, and then pour maple syrup on it. I offer some to Juliet, who is now officially 'the Pokedex manager'.

A few minutes later, Geyser comes back with Mimsy, the little Drifloon from earlier. Her tiny black eyes look up at me, scared, and I pet her on the head. The little white fluff is soft as Mareep wool. I miss the sensation of nice, fluffy wool on my back to curl up in. I ignore it, choking back the whimpering sobs that always come with the feeling of remembering.

The pancakes are the only things between me and a world of memory, so I bury my head in them and eat feverishly.

Rune recognizes the tell-tale signs immediately, so he just watches, poking a fork he's now capable of holding at a piece of bacon. Pich is eating off his plate, dodging the fork as she steals piece by piece of bacon.

Chrona is sitting on the floor.

I'm really happy when we have to leave, because leaving the room is one of the few good ways I've found to deal with breakdowns. You just leave the room, and wherever you end up has to be better than where you were.

You can't run away from who you are, but you can keep hiding until it sneaks up on you.

I look around for a gym, but the whole town is devoid of them. It's around noon (not that late, considering we had a late start- 10:00) when I get bored of window shopping and walking around corners and ask a young woman in the Pokemon Center for help.

"There's no gym here."

"So I have to go through another city?" I groan.

"Well... actually, the road to the next city is blocked for the time being. We do have something to take up your time, if you're bored. Trip for two?" She hands me a brochure. It describes a journey through Glittering Cave, with couples riding on Rhydons and laughing, exploring the caves, picking up jewels, and encountering rare Pokemon.

I take it, and thank her and head off.

Turning more corners, ignoring the annoyed groan of Chrona, who's carrying Juliet (who is riding on Chrona's back, writing her story on my Pokedex), I finally make it to a sleek cream building where Bronze is already inside, holding the same brochure.

"Well, on a matter of scientific inquiry, would you be willing to- oh, and the young woman too." a scientist is asking him something, and then her goggled eyes turn to look at me, giving me a big wave.

"Hey Lilly, same deal with you? I can't believe there's some sort of construction here too... it seems like Kalos is really one big construction site. How many times do you think they'll use the excuse before we get to the Elite Four?"

I laugh. "Probably a few too many. You want to do this in the meantime? Together?"

"Sure." I say.

I get out some money and slam the golden coins on the counter. "Done."

"Be careful! There are reports of a suspicious group of characters around the area." she says, waving us off.

"Well that's lovely." I mutter, and Bronze laughs.

We laugh a lot around each other, and I can never tell if it's because we're perfect for each other or if we're both scared we'll fall apart if we don't act like we're the perfect couple.

Our Pokemon follow us as we leave, I notice that Bronze now has an Espurr. It's the creepiest gray cat I've ever seen, and when I open my mouth to say something, Bronze silences me with, "Her name's Pacifica, she keeps rambling about the supernatural and gravity and someone named 'Mabel'. Before you ask, I don't know what she's talking about."

Pacifica looks up at me pleadingly, and yells, "I'm not crazy! The triangle said I could go free! You-I-" She starts talking exceedingly fast and I just kind of stand there wondering if I sound like that when I ramble about my ridiculously dubious origins. We make it out to the rocky route near us and sand immediately hits me in the face.

It's a full-fledged sandstorm out here.

"Should we keep going?" Bronze yells.

"The sand never bothered me anyways." I lie.

We jump on a Rhydon and withdraw our Pokemon.

At one point, a Helioptile jumps onto the Rhydon, and our Rhydon rears up. Bronze blindly throws a Pokeball at it and it hisses before going in.

"What should I call it?" He asks, and when the sand clears a bit I realize I'm grabbing his waist.

"Sun." I say.

As we keep walking, we talk some, sharing tales of our adventures. He nods earnestly when I tell mine, and I find myself entranced by his stories with Shruikan, who's newly evolved, quirky and fashion obsessed Pacifica (who may or may not be slightly insane), Pyro the loyal Fletchinder and then his first death- Crystal the Flabebe.

I tell him about Juliet and Stella, and we both make a pact to get in touch with Shika soon. Bronze seems excited about my sightings of Dill and Toxis, and I smile.

Maybe in the end, it was just me being paranoid. The two of us are fine. I take his hand as we get off the Rhydon, and I see a small Sandile hiding in a nearby dune of wind-blown sand, golden as the hidden sun.

I chuck a Pokeball without thinking, and brandish it. "Well, now you choose a name."

"Dusty." he says solemnly.

"Dusty it is." I smile. "Was he one of your friends?" I ask, noticing the empty expression on his face.

"Yeah. He's here now, though. He's okay. It'll all be okay."

He's crying, and I hold him, even though I'm shorter than him, we support each other perfectly. I feel his lips touch mine, and my face lights up brighter than the gem I wear around my neck, the little red gemstone that is a perfect replica of an Ampharos's jewel.

"Bronze, if we both make it through... I want to have the wedding back in Johto. I don't care if it's blown to bits."

He nods. "Now... let's go explore the cave. Together."

"Together." I agree.