The tension between Rena and I wasn't good. I knew she was just being a protective older sister, but it was kind of overwhelming. She tried to make sure Rudi and I never got alone time, which was odd. Rudi must've notice this too, but he never said anything.

When we finally did get some alone time, Rudi and I made sure we spent every second of it training and nothing more. Our goal was to shut down Team Miasma. Once they're gone, then we could go back to the way things were, or could've been.

There was only one thing I kept the same. Whether this was intentional or not, I'm not sure, but my Sundays were somehow kept free. At least, by the looks of things they were. I didn't go out last Sunday because of the the whole Nimbassa incident, and I also didn't go the Sunday before that I was still knocked out from Team Miasma's hypnosis.

Today would be the first day I could have to myself. Rudi or Rena must've known, seeing that I slept in and no one bothered me. I took Swanna out of her Poké Ball, grabbed a piece of paper, and wrote a quick note, explaining that I'd be back later.

If I'd told them I wanted to go out, I don't think I would have been able to. I felt like I under lockdown until it was considered safe for me to go on a mission. It took me a bit to realize it would never be safe for me if I was a target.

Just why I was the target and not Rudi was beyond me.

I laid the letter down on my bed, grabbed my bag, and looked at Swanna. Today, I wouldn't be going back to Nacrene City. I felt like that would me announcing to the world, "Hey! I'm Swanna girl! Come and beat me up right now!" It didn't exactly sound like a good idea to me. Just saying.

When no one was around, I grabbed Swanna's leg and flew out of here, happy that I would be free for once.

(-o-)

My destination was a place I've never been to before, and my eyes widened at the sight. Rudi was right. Castelia City was breathtaking. I thought Nimbasa was huge, but that was nothing compared to Castelia. Audino walked by my side while I had Swanna tucked away in her Poké Ball.

I didn't want anyone to be suspicious that I could've been Swanna Girl. A Swanna by my side would've grown that suspicion.

Audino was good company. He walked by my side, holding my hand. I don't know how, but it helped since there were three times the amount of people here in Castelia than there were at Nimbasa. It was nice though, seeing how peaceful people were amidst us. Younger kids were playing tag while I noticed some Trainers battling or having a break dance competition. These where the sort of things I would've never seen in Nacrene.

Eventually, Audino and I found ourselves on the coast of Castelia City, where there were huge ships everywhere. Ticket salesmen tried to overwhelm anyone they could into buying a ticket. I sat on a bench, just watching it all happen.

The best part of this place was the fresh air of the ocean. While Castelia was a larger city, the ocean breeze masked whatever pollution there could've been here. I closed my eyes, breathing in the fresh air.

"Wouldn't it just be great if everyday was like this," I asked Audino. "Just a nice breeze full of the ocean air."

"Audino," Audino said back.

Times like this, I wish I could understand what any Pokémon was saying, but that would be nearly impossible. For right now, I just smiled, opening my eyes to take in the ocean that rolled away.

"Sylvia! What are you doing here?" a voice asked.

I turned to see a woman with long blonde hair running towards me. When she got close, I realized it was none other than Mrs. Rhea. Here, I thought she was back in the underground base outside Nimbasa. Of all places, I wasn't expecting her to be here.

"I left a note," I explained. "Just wanted to visit this place seeing how Rudi liked talking about it."

Mrs. Rhea nodded her head, as she took a seat next to me. "He wanted to take you to see this place, and find a way to get you a Castelia Cone without the Miltank milk in it."

I laughed. "Him and his Castelia Cones."

"It's shocking he hasn't had some in the past three weeks," commented Mrs. Rhea.

My had reached for the back of my neck. "Sorry, we made a bet about that. If I won, he couldn't have Castelia Cones for a month. His idea, not mine."

It was the truth...well, somewhat.

The woman laughed. "Always trying to show off, it doesn't surprise me. I'm just glad he went through his end of the bargain."

"What's he up to today?" I asked.

"Up north in Opelucid City. They just got the clear of the smog inside, and he wanted to help out," Mrs. Rhea was so calm about it as she talked. "They're hoping to find the Gym Leader to open up the city for challengers to go through."

It's been months since the city closed down with the Gym Leader trapped inside. I was surprised to see it open so soon. From what I heard, Team Miasma did their toll on the city. Not many people dared go back to the city afterwards.

The television stations didn't cover a whole bunch of it. All they did was highlight how without Braviary Man, people would've been stuck in that city, and presumingly dead. How Team Miasma was able to get there and cause so much damage was a mystery.

I didn't even dare to ask Rudi himself. At the time, I blamed him for letting it get out of control and not stop Team Miasma when it happened. There was no way I could fathom the thought he was doing everything he could to save the city from destruction.

Things were different now that I got to know him.

"What happened there anyways?" I asked.

Mrs. Rhea's eyes widen in shock. "You mean no one told you? I thought you knew. It was all over the news."

"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly confused, remembering that Opelucid City was closed down due to an attack, but that was all I really knew about it.

"I don't even know where to start," Mrs. Rhea told me, "but there a member of Team Miasma everyone knows about. She goes by the name Gila, and she is the notorious for causing mass destruction throughout Unova. Gila was the one who planned the attack on Opelucid City. That's why it was so dangerous."

"Why haven't I heard of Gila?" I asked.

"That's what I want to know," Mrs. Rhea explained. "She's all over the news whenever she attacks, though, after the one in Opelucid, I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't get out."

I nodded my head. "Makes sense."

"Don't worry, Rudi can take care of himself, he always has," Mrs. Rhea explained. "I should let you get back to your day off. Enjoy."

Mrs. Rhea stood up from the park bench and left. I waited for her to leave before I looked back at Audino. He grabbed his stomach, giving me a worried look as his stomach growled. I laughed.

"Looks like it is lunch time, isn't it?" I laughed. "Why don't we get you a Castelia Cone?"

(-o-)

I ended up buying Audino two Castelia Cones, as the man kept telling me it was a Castelia City delicacy that should be enjoyed by both people and Pokémon. Not wanting to bring up my allergy to the man, I purchased two of them, smelling the sweet scent of vanilla escaping the cone. As sweet as they smelled, I couldn't eat them, so I gave them both to Audino.

By the way the Pokémon devoured them, I could tell how amazing these cones had to be. I smiled. At least one of us could enjoy the cold treat on a nice warm day. We walked over towards the fountain, where I found a group of dancers break dancing to an old rap song.

We sat down, and I pulled out a sandwich and a lava cookie I bought from a street vender. We ate our food happily when I noticed something strange.

On a park bench, on the other side of the fountain, I saw a young girl with long blonde hair, holding her knee in pain. Audino and I exchanged looks before I tucked away the remainder of the sandwich in a bag. It was a good thing I didn't touch my cookie.

It was just nice to give a treat to someone who needed it. Audino and I walked over, taking a seat by this girl. She wore a purple dress with fancy sandals, and had bright green eyes. The girl didn't even look at us or noticed that we were there. All she did was hold her knee in attempts to stop the pain.

I pulled out a sheet of gauze and a pair of scissors from my bag. "Here, let me help."

The girl looked at me, but listened as she let go of her knee. I carefully wrapped the bandage around it. This girl had every excuse to be hurt as she scraped her knee very badly. Blood was even rolling from it. Luckily, I got there in time to stop it and wrap it up so it wouldn't get infected.

Once I was done, the girl looked up at me and smiled. "Thank you so much. I should've been more careful when running around the streets. My name's Lyla."

"Nice to meet you," I said. "This is my Pokémon, Audino."

I didn't have time to introduce myself as Lyla's eyes widened in excitement. "So you're a Pokémon Trainer! So am I! We should have a battle right now."

For someone who looked to be sixteen, Lyla had a lot of energy, the kind of energy that would've made for a good cheerleader. Then again, with all these breakdancers around, I wouldn't be surprised if she somehow absorbed all this energy around us like a grass type Pokémon. I looked at Audino who nodded his head eagerly. For a healing Pokémon, Audino surely did break the mold.

The blonde haired girl leapt up to her feet and ran away to give us some room to battle. I watched as she grabbed a dirty Poké Ball and threw out a Serperior.

Her first Pokémon must've been given to her by Professor Juniper. I could tell because of the kind of pokmeon it was. The three starter Pokémon in Unova were hard to find living on their own in Unova. Seeing this one in its final form showed how strong this particular Pokémon was.

Audino took a step in front of me, ready to battle.

"We'll start this," Lyla announced. "Use toxic!"

"Dodge it, Audino, and use take down!" I yelled.

My Pokémon tried to dodge the attack, but what ended up happening was that Serperior anticipated the attack. Serperior slid around, shooting It's attack onto Audino, poisoning him. While poisoned, Audino rammed into his opponent, knocking it down for a bit.

After doing that attack, I noticed Audino's health go down. Take down had a recoil of its own, but with him now being poisoned, well, it wasn't good.

"Great! Now use taunt," Lyla cheered.

Taunt? Of all the moves Lyla could've used, I wasn't expecting this one. With Audino standing beside Serperior, he couldn't dodge the attack. I could see Audino becoming very aggressive afterwards.

That meant I couldn't have Audino heal himself from poison for a bit. Not until he cooled off. I sighed. Looks like I wasn't going to be able to heal him like planned. It was on to plan B.

"Use double slap Audino!" I yelled.

"Too easy!" Lyla explained. "Serperior, let's wrap things up!"

I didn't know what she meant until Audino slapped Serperior once. When his hand slapped the serpent Pokémon, Sereprior's tail wrapped around Audino, making him unable to move.

"You could give up," Lyla suggested. "Serperior and I have yet lost a battle. Unless you have another Pokémon you'd like to use."

My hand almost reached for Audino's Poké Ball to call him out and switch him out with Swanna, but then I remembered. I wasn't going to have Swanna out at all until we left. If anyone finds out who I was, Team Miasma would hunt me down. It would be the end of Swanna Girl.

Right now, I couldn't afford that.

Right now, I needed to find a way to win this battle.

Maybe...

"That wouldn't be fair," I reasoned. "Audino, use attract."

Audino continued to struggle out of Serperior's grasp. Not once did he open his eyes and listen.

That was when I remembered, making me feel like a real idiot. Audino could only use offensive attacks right now. Since Attract wasn't considered an offensive attack, it couldn't be used. I couldn't believe I didn't think of this.

"Oh, so your Audino's a boy," Lyla observed. "That's nice to know. Use your attract, Serperior."

The battle was already over. Before Lyla's Pokémon could even use his attack, I saw Audino hurt by both poison and wrap. That's all I took for him to go down.

Lyla didn't care. Her Pokémon didn't notice. The move was used, and nothing happened.

"Or maybe she is a girl," Lyla wondered out loud. "Then let's use solar beam."

Apparently Lyla didn't even notice my Pokémon was already out for the count. I grabbed his Poké Ball and tried to return him, but he wouldn't return. Serperior blocked me with her long serpent body, and pointed her head down at my Pokémon to use its solar beam attack.

This was just abuse.

"Stop it! Can't you tell he's fainted!" I screamed.

Serperior let got of Audino, who was badly injured. I ran over to him, kneeling down to see my Pokémon refuse to open his eyes. I didn't understand.

Raising his Poké Ball, I returned him inside. At least we could get him to a Pokémon center soon and get him healed up. If only a Heal Ball could heal him up every time he was sent back to his Poké Ball, it would really make things a lot easier.

"Oh my gosh! I didn't see that! I'm so sorry," Lyla apologized.

I looked up at her, seeing her and Superior genuinely looking sorry. Standing up, I slid Audino's Poké Ball in my bag, and shook my head.

"How could you not see him injured?" I asked. "As a Pokémon Trainer, you need to really look out for your opponent's Pokémon to make sure they don't get injured. Fainting is one thing, but having a Pokémon faint and you still battle them, that's another problem. A Pokémon could have broken bones afterwards, or a torn muscle."

Lyla's eyes widened in shock. "I had no idea. I'm so sorry. Please, let me make it up to you. I can get you and Audino a Castelia Cone."

I shook my head. "Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. Audino needs medical attention now."

Once again, Lyla's eyes widened, only this time her face paled. "How could you say no to a Castelia Cone? They are the best treat ever invented!"

"Funny," I told her. "My friend said the same thing once."

Waving goodbye, I ran to the closest Pokémon Center to heal Audino. At least that girl wouldn't be running around, unintentionally harming other people's Pokémon from now on. There was a reason Trainers stoped the battle as soon as a Pokémon fainted. I thought it was common knowledge.

It was common knowledge. Lyla must have just been too excited about winning that she forgot.

Author's Note:

I know a lot of you are probably wondering about what happened to the battle between Rena and Sylvia. Let me explain. How I wrote this book so that it would be exactly 30 chapters. If I were to add the battle, it would've disrupted the flow of the storyline by either being there with not purpose or by adding another chapter (which would've drove me insane!)Plus, it's not really important to the story line. 

Moving on, question Thursday, if the battle between Rena and Sylvia were to take place, who do you think would've won? Can't wait to hear what you all think.

Hope you are all doing well. Take care!