About an hour later, I found myself sitting on the stairs of the dorms, Swinub sleeping in my lap. The sun was starting to set at that time, and everything looked like it was on fire. Eris had wanted to grab something our dorm before forcing me into whatever torture she was about to subject me to.

Well, maybe it's not torture, for all you know, I thought, absentmindedly stroking Swinub's fur, maybe you'll actually some fun.

"Hey, Clara!" I turned around when I heard my name called, and was barely able to move my resting arm before the boy with the mop of a haircut tripped over it. Markus. That's what his name was.

Markus stopped in front of me, seeming to have lost his balance a little bit as he pivoted around to face me. I felt a small pressure against my arm, and saw that his Shellos was out of her ball, refusing to go down the stairs.

"Did Eris tell you to meet her out here, too?" Markus asked, pushing his brown hair out of his eyes as he rested his hands on his knees.

"Yeah, I didn't realize she was dragging other people along, though." I couldn't help but give a small laugh at Markus's difficulty with his hair. "Do you have any idea what she's doing?"

"Nah, she said that she wanted to make it a big surprise." Markus looked at me, giving a small smile as his hair fell back in his face.

"You need a haircut."

"Oh Arceus, you sound like my mom. I'm going to get a hat, and that'll make it work better. Don't worry 'bout me." Markus tried to push his hair out of his face again, but it continued to fall back as if it was mud.

"Shell! Shellos-os!" Shellos started to grow tired of Markus ignoring her, but was too terrified to actually go down the stairs herself. So instead, she kept yelling out until Markus walked over and picked her up. He sat back down next to me, cradling the blue and green Pokémon in his arms.

"At least I'm not the only one here with a needy Pokémon, I guess." I looked back down at Swinub, who was acting oh-so innocent for the moment.

"Well, they're probably saying the same thing about us, honestly." I looked back at Markus as he spoke, and he was about to say something else, but he wasn't able to formulate his idea before the queen of the surprise, Eris, busted out of the door.

"Ladies and gentlemen, people and Pokémon! Are you all ready for a fun time?" She yelled out into the street, making me jump and almost fall down the stairs.

"Ah yes, the three genders: ladies, gentlemen, and people." I turned around, just as the kid with the shoulder length, dusty blond hair that talked to me before walked out of the door, their arms crossed. Their Chimchar bounded up to me, squeezing between Markus and I to look at Swinub.

"It's what sounded right, okay? I'll work on it." Eris nudged the kid with her elbow, before running down the stairs. "Now, let's get moving before we get in trouble!"

"Wha-" I tried to get some information out of Eris, but she grabbed my arm and dragged me across the street before I could get much out. I held tightly onto Swinub, making sure he didn't fall onto the ground.

We stopped at the battleground behind the Pokemon school, where we had circled up and introduced ourselves earlier that day. The only problem was, I didn't really pay attention to anyone's names, since Swinub decided to be really annoying. I knew Eris, and Markus, but the third kid? The one with the Chimchar?

I had no clue.

"Okay, everyone!" Eris turned towards the three of us, who ended up standing in basically a line. "Now, I've always been told that the best way to bond with a Pokemon is though a Pokemon battle, so, I think it's best for us to--"

"Uh, I don't think that's really the best thing. We're not supposed to be fighting until we learn how to." The unknown kid spoke up, actually saying something important for the first time since I knew them.

"But, the best way to learn to battle is to battle!" Eris took out her Pokeball, sending out Rotom with an excited flair. "Anyone up for the challenge?"

"Grunts! See those Pokemon over there?" The four of us looked up, hearing a voice yell out a bit down the road. "Seize them!"

Four people came into view, running towards us as they took out their Pokeballs, sending out two Glameow and two Zubat. They had stupid-looking bowl cuts of blue hair, and had outfits that made them look like they were aliens coming to abduct us.

"Glameow, attack that Shellos!"

It hit me then that they wanted not just any Pokemon, but our Pokemon.

"Rotom, use Thunder Shock!" I looked over to Eris as she sent Rotom into action, electricity bouncing off of it as it aimed for one of the Zubat. Markus and the kid also got prepared with their Pokemon, leaving just Swinub and I not ready.

"Zubat are poison-flying, so they are damaged normally by normal-type moves and weak to ice-type moves," I whispered as I kneeled down, placing Swinub onto the ground. "Glameow are just normal types, so they're damaged normally by both. So, ice-type move on the Zubat it is."

Thankfully, the other two were smart enough to go for the Glameow, leaving the last Zubat for Swinub and I.

"Okay, Swinub, don't fail me now." I stood up, taking a deep breath. "Swinub, use Powder Snow!"

Thankfully, Swinub listened to me this time, the soft ice hurling out of his nose towards the Zubat at a speed that would thankfully actually hurt the Zubat. Not so thankfully, it dodged out of the way before it could even graze his wings.

"Zubat, use Bite!" The grunt that sent out the Zubat yelled out to it gruffly, the blue annoyance streaking towards Swinub as soon as he finished.

"Swinub, dodge!" I felt the gears in my head turning, planning out what my next step could be after the Zubat inevitably hit the ground.

But Swinub didn't listen.

At least I got one in, I thought, as I watched my personal annoyance fling itself towards the Zubat, preparing to what seemed to be an interception on Zubat's attack, instead of listening to my perfectly sane plan. Somehow, though, Swinub was able to hit the underbelly of the Zubat, sending it flying back towards his trainer.

"Swin!" Swinub turned towards me once it landed, giving me a proud smile.

"Okay, I'll admit that was good. But, let's keep going, shall we?" I gestured over back to the Zubat, who was already trying to get back up. "Use Powder Snow again!"

Swinub turned back around, sending out another stream of the soft ice at the struggling Zubat.

"Get away from those kids!" I looked up as a girl and a guy ran over, standing between the four of us and the four grunts.

Yes, show up when we have it under control, I thought, watching as the four grunts suddenly panicked. And a great job of, wait.

The four grunts ran away, and I finally realized why they had the stupid hair and the alien-looking outfits. Or why I kept thinking of them as grunts. Those were Team Galactic grunts. The group of people that was supposed to disband four years ago.

"Oh no..." I stared after the four as they ran, starting to feel a pit in my stomach. The guy then turned to us.

"Well, you kids beat them up pretty well, I'll give you that."