"Millie! Congratulations!"

The events of a few nights ago is all I can think of as me, Lilligant, and Meowstic continue onwards to Snowbelle City. Throughout the whole trek all I can do is stare down at my Key Ring bearing all three required Princess Keys, glad that I can participate in the Master Class.

As for Chloe, once I stepped off the stage and went back into the dressing room, Chloe was nowhere to be seen. The other performers, some of them sad, greeted me as if I'd just become a celebrity.

With the repetition I have now, the one I could never dream of ever obtaining, I have to do my best to live up to it in the Master Class!

"Millie?" I quickly put my Key Ring into my bag as I hear my name being said, thinking that it must be Chloe and how she must be feeling.

"Chloe, I know that-" I begin as I turn around, but quickly stop at the sight of another red haired girl.

That wavy orange hair, those eyes.... It's Lennie!

I take a step back as Meowstic bristles and Lilligant glares at the girl who was once our worst enemy. "S-shouldn't you be in Geosenge Town?"

Where the rest of Team Flare are bound to be attempting their evil plans?

Surprisingly, Lennie doesn't sick her Braixen on us. An apologetic look swims across her face with her shoulders sloped down, making her overall look glum.

As I watch her closely, I also happen to notice that she's wearing a casual black dress, nothing like the uniform she wore as a grunt.

"I need to apologize."

As she tries to get closer my Pokemon and I take a step back with caution. I can't trust her this easily, but I guess the least I could do is hear her out.

"I really messed up being a part of Team Flare, and, and I didn't know they had those plans." She really does seem to regret what she's done as a Team Flare Grunt, but it almost sounds as if she's trying to put it all past her.

"I thought Team Flare could offer me something I've never had before, and I thought they had everyone's best interests at heart! Or, at least, that's what Lysandre always told us."

Brainwashing the young to make them believe their horrible actions are justified? Clara! Clyde! You need to bring hem down!

"So I'd like to apologize, Millie." She bows, and so does her Braixen, the both of them giving off a remorseful air.

Braixen should have ran away, since after all she was stolen from her original Trainer. Or perhaps, they've become too attached.

Lilligant. I look over at my Lilligant who is now too big to carry. Then at Meowstic at my left. I bet they'd follow me to the ends of the world, as I would for them.

"Well, apology accepted. You didn't know what you were doing." I say these things, but all I can do and all I'm willing to do now is accept her sincerity, but not hand over my trust.

I can't forgive Team Flare, just like I couldn't easily forgive one of their former members, and that's just the way it has to be.

"I saw you won your last Princess Key." Quick to change the subject, Lennie brings up my win, apparently hoping to either get on my good side or to make my happiness overpower the sorrow that matters most.

"Yes." I keep my answers t and short. Talking to this Lennie isn't automatically like speaking to my friends.

"So, are you heading towards Snowbelle?"

"Yes." It'll take a long time, and on too of that it will most likely be freezing cold, so I must make sure to make something warm for my Pokemon. I have a coat for myself in my bag that I've never really had much opportunity to wear on my journey, but it'll come in handy soon.

As I turn and start to walk away I soon realize that Lennie's business isn't finished with me just yet. Why would she talk about my third Princess Key? Why would she ask about my destination?

She must want to go with me.

The two of us stop by a Pokemon Center to rest and begin our traveling again in the morning. In that time I turn my attention to measuring my Pokemon and sewing clothes that match them.

Lennie, or Lenette as she wants me to call her, begins talking about her Braixen. "I tried to return her, but she didn't want to go. On top of that, the Trainer who had her already had a Greninja and said he didn't remember ever having a Fennekin, or at least didn't care."

I nod as she speaks to indicate that I'm listening, but I keep my eyes on my crafts.

"Lil." Lilligant begins to hum the song we played in the Showcase in her seat next to me.

"I saw how you made her evolve." Lenette's comment brings me back to that fateful moment onstage, where Lilligant was destined to evolve, where we'd show everyone how much we've grown since back then, in the beginning of our journey.

"A lot of people are saying you'll surpass Aria."

"You're interested in Pokemon Performing?"I ask as I hold a coat up to Lilligant.

"To be honest, I used her performance choreography for my battling."

"Yes, I remember that." I always felt that her Braixen reminded me of Aria's Braixen, now a Delphox, but I thought that it could have just been a coincidence that their moves were similar. "That's interesting, I guess."

"Thanks." Our conversation going nowhere, Lenette decides to get up to get a drink.

Once she's out of earshot, Meowstic blows up at me, no longer playing nice."Meow! Meowstic! "

"I know she's not our favorite person, but just give her a chance." Lenette may have done wrong in the past, but the only past we've seen of her is part of her involvement with Team Flare. We don't know anything else that happened, or the real reason she joined in the first place.

I hold Meowstic's paw, trying to send my thoughts to her. I don't love her or anything, but I truly don't believe she's a bad person.

Sure, bad actions can make what seems to be a bad person, but what really matters is the demeanor they give off.

"Anyway, we have to practiced for the Master Class, and before that, you both know who we have to call."

"Meow." Meowstic sits back in her seat, instantly getting quiet, while Lilligant, for once since her transformation, looks nervous.

"We have to show her our growth." That's what it means to be a Pokemon Performer! And to be able to give to everyone else, to shine your own light, is to be Kalos Queen!

"I know we can do it!" But as I say those words, I wish Clara and Clyde were here to cheer me up, but they're off busy doing the same for their home.

"Here you are." Lenette returns with a tray, the mugs on it steaming hot and full of what appears to be hot chocolate.

"Meow...."

She can't be a replacement, and if I'm aiming to do what only one performer in Kalos can do, which is Kalos Queen, then I'll have to put certain things aside and show that I can still have a kind and giving heart.

While I'm not there completely, I nod at Lenette as I lift the mug and take a sip.