"Finally, I made it!" I said excitedly to no one. I had finally reached the very top of the Tower of Mastery. The wind ripped through my blonde hair, and I laughed. "This is great!" I looked at the beautiful sunset, then down to the ocean below me, and got the usual gut wrenching feeling along with the strong urge to get as far away from the edge as I could. "Dang it. Still afraid of heights."

"Brian, what are you doing up there?"

I looked down at the balcony below me to see the Mega Evolution guru himself. Gurkinn scowled at me. "The others are all deep in their studies. Why are you not with them?"

"Because I already read it all," I called back.

He sighed. "Just get down here please."

I smiled. "Be there in a sec!" backed up a bit, took a deep breath, and took a running leap off the tower, not aiming for the balcony. I stuck my fingers in my mouth and let out a sharp whistle, which led to a Charizard flying out of a window to catch me. I grabbed onto his neck and he pulled me out of the fall. He flew me over to the balcony, where I dismounted. "Thanks Charizard." He huffed at me and flew away.

Gurkinn was not pleased. "Why do you insist on this reckless behavior?"

"Aw, come on, you know it was a good jump." I leaned against the railing. "I'd be happy to show you how to do it."

"That is beside the point." He walked towards the door. "Come on. We're going for a walk."

I didn't object. He led me out of the tower and down to the stretch of land between the tower and Shalour City. I gasped in excitement. "Look at all the shells!"

Before Gurkinn could even say anything, I was off, picking up the shiniest shells I saw. After grabbing a few of them, I saw a small blue pokemon poking its head out of the water. A chinchou. I smiled at him. "Do you want to collect shells with me?" I picked up an especially shiny one, and threw it to him. "Here, start a pile!" He jumped out of the water to catch the shell, then happily joined me in my search. I did take a brief look back at Gurkinn. He was slowly walking in our direction. I knew I was being a little unfair. For a teacher, he really wasn't that bad. And he had a lot of other students to deal with other than me.

Gurkinn finally made his way to us. "Brian, this is serious. Your parents called."

I stopped dead in my tracks, dropping the shells I collected. Chinchou looked at me in concern. I looked at Gurkinn. "What did they say?"

"They asked how much progress you have made, and want to know who your partner is."

I looked down, feeling my face grow hot. "When will they get here?"

"I don't know. I told them to come see for yourself, so I bought you time. You must make a decision." He looked at Chinchou. "Why not this pokemon?"

I rubbed my arm. "I don't know. It's just..." I looked at the little pokemon. "No. It wouldn't be fair."

Gurkinn sighed. "Very well. But you will need to make a decision before-" he froze midsentence, looking behind him. I turned around, and my heart skipped a beat.

My parents were making their way across the beach. My mom was in her yellow sundress, a large hat on her head. My dad was in a very red flowered shirt with khaki shorts. Both had a beer bottle in one of their hands.

"They weren't supposed to get home until next week," I said in shock. They had been at their vacation home in Sinnoh, and I couldn't say I was thrilled to see them.

"Hey there, son," my Dad said thickly, wobbling slightly when he stopped. Great, he was drunk. I looked at my mom. She stood with her legs a bit farther apart than usual, which I knew meant she was tipsy, but she was still on the sane side of things.

My dad smiled stupidly at me. "So, we finally get to see what a great trainer you've become. At seventeen some might say you're a little late, but that's okay. So who's your partner?" I didn't respond. He took a swig from his beer and beckoned me with his free hand. "Come on, don't just stand there. Bring him out. Can he mega evolve? Who am I kidding, of course he can. Why else would you be at the Tower of Mastery? So bring him out. We'll have a quick battle to see how good you are, and then we might as well pop on your skates and see how good you've gotten."

My face was burning now. I didn't know what to do. My mother's eyes narrowed. "Is something wrong, dear?"

I looked at both of them. "Gurkinn, may I talk to my parents alone?"

He nodded. "Very well. I will see you at dinner." He walked back to the tower, leaving me alone with my parents.

My dad scowled at me. "Is there a problem, son?"

I looked him in the eye. "I can't do anything you asked me to do."

Dad scowled even more. He didn't like being disobeyed. "Excuse me?"

I braced myself for the usual argument, but this time I was determined to win. "I can't battle you, since I don't have a pokemon. I have only used some of Gurkinn's pokemon when I needed to. I don't even have a keystone, so I can't mega evolve even if I wanted to. And I know I've told you this before, but I hate skating. I'd much rather skateboard."

He blinked at me, then laughed. "Hah! That was a good one!" He nearly doubled over in his laughter. Mom, however, saw that I wasn't lying the minute I had finished. When my dad realized how she wasn't laughing, he stood straight up, towering over me and looking very angry. "You mean to tell me that you have made zero progress?" His fists balled, and he started yelling. "How are you supposed to become the champion if you don't have a pokemon? How can you prove this Shalour City family proud if you can't even mega evolve or skate? You're pathetic! We have put good time and money into you, and I expect some results!" He looked at my feet, and smiled. "Here, we'll just get you this pokemon!"

I looked down, completely forgetting about Chinchou. I stepped in front of him. "Dad no!" Chinchou took off running behind me, but it was no use. My dad through his pokeball. "Conkeldurr, stop it with scary face!"

The large pokemon appeared out of the pokeball, smiling evilly at Chinchou. He froze in his tracks, shivering in fear. "Now force palm!" Dad yelled.

Conkeldurr let go of one of its large concrete pillars and slammed his hand on Chinchou, sending him flying back. He landed with his face in the dirt, and probably could have been caught then, but Dad wasn't done. "Great job! Now use focus punch!"

Abandoning both piallars, Conkeldurr darted forward, his left fist glowing white. "No!" I yelled, running forward. I jumped into the air, vaulting off of Conkeldurr's fist, which broke apart the attack. I landed in front of him and held my ground. He stopped, knowing better than to attack me. I looked over my shoulder. "Chinchou, run!"He didn't need to be told twice. Before I could blink he was back in the water, swimming away.

"What do you think you are doing?" Dad bellowed, running over. He took a swing at me with the beer bottle, but I dodged easily. I took off towards Shalour city.

My mom tried to come after me, but she didn't make it very far since she was trying to restrain my dad. "Brian, come back! Bob, get a hold of yourself!" I sped up, trying to put as much distance between me and them as I could. I ran all the way back to our house, but I knew that staying wasn't an option. They would find me, and I was over this abuse. I packed some supplies into a bag and took off into Reflection Cave.

I didn't stop running once inside. It wasn't until I nearly fainted when I finally slowed down. I slid down the cold stone wall, breathing heavily. Once I caught my breath, panic hit me like a truck. I grabbed at my hair, only now fully seeing how stupid I had been. Why hadn't I run to the Tower of Mastery? Gurkinn would have easily saved me. No, I had to run into Reflection Cave, a home for wild pokemon, with no pokemon to protect myself and a small bag of previsions which didn't have a map of the cave. So now I was hopelessly lost with very little hope of finding my way back out. Looking at the reflective crystal in front of me, I saw my scared face, with my dad's deep blue eyes. They made me sad, angry, embarrassed, and homesick all at the same time.

I reached into my bag and pulled out my lime green hoodie, which I was glad I grabbed. Now that I wasn't running, the sweat and air were making me cold. I pulled it on over my head, and checked everything that I had brought. My heart skipped a beat. I had grabbed a few essential things that came to mind, but I had forgotten food.

I felt tears coming to my eyes. This was the biggest mistake I had ever made. I knew how easy it was to get lost in here. If I didn't find my way out, I was doomed. And if I found the exit that lead to Shalour City, I was still doomed. It was a pretty hopeless situation.

I decided I might as well get moving, so I picked up my bag and started through the cave. The crystal clear mirrors had me all turned around, and they made the cave seem way bigger than it probably was.

I was about to call it quits for the night when I heard something just around the corner. Knowing it was most likely wild pokemon, I peaked around the corner very carefully. I was right. There was a large group of pokemon in a circle. They seemed to be laughing at something. I was about to leave when I saw what they were laughing at.

There was a small carbink lying in the middle of the circle, and he appeared to be wounded. A bigger carbink was yelling at him. The little one said something, only to be blasted in the face with moonblast. The other pokemon laughed harder.

I scowled. There was no way they were going to get away with bullying a pokemon like that. I reached into an outside pocket of my bag and grabbed a small round item I had grabbed. With it in my hand, I took a deep breath, and walked towards the pokemon.

The second they saw me, they fell silent. Hopefully they thought I was a trainer. I walked right into the middle of their circle. "I'm going to say this once, leave the little carbink alone." I reached down and picked him up. "If you want him, you have to get through me."

All the pokemon looked at each other in silence. Then one of the roggenrola said something, and they all started muttering to one another. They seemed to have realized that I hadn't gotten a pokemon out. They started moving in. "Fine then. Have it your way!" I squeezed the item in my hand, and we were surrounded in a thick cloud of purple smoke. Using this distraction, I took off into the cave with the carbink in hand.

Once I no longer heard the pokemon or smelled the smoke, I slowed down. I looked at the carbink, and smiled. "That was fun. I had never used my smoke ball before. You okay?" He nodded. "That's good. What was that all about?"

The little pokemon looked down in shame. He then closed his eyes, and a small pink orb along with a few purple rocks appeared in front of him. "Moonblast and power gem." I said. He nodded, letting the attack die down. Then he closed his eyes, and he let off a very dim glow. I had to think about this one. "Calm mind?" He nodded. "Now there are some interesting choices. I know carbink are defensively oriented, so calm mind isn't too weird, but you have two different attacking moves, so it seems you use calm mind more for an attack boost." I frowned. "Wait, is that why you were attacked? Because you want to be an offensive pokemon?"

Carbink nodded, looking away. I huffed. "Well that's stupid. You should be able to be whatever you want to be." He smiled slightly at this. "You know what, Why don't we get out of this cave? I'll help you train, so when you meet those pokemon again you can beat them up." He smiled, and nodded in agreement. Floating out of my arms, he headed through the cave, beckoning me to follow. We made a bunch of turns, way too many for me to keep track of, but soon the exit was in sight.

Unfortunately, we didn't get there first.

The other pokemon, led by the mean carbink, were all there waiting for us. "That isn't good," I said. "I don't think they'll fall for my smoke ball as easily this time." I thought about it. "I have a plan." I whispered the idea to carbink, and he nodded. We made our way to the pokemon. I stepped in front of Carbink, facing our angry opponents. "Good evening."

They all glared at me. It appeared they didn't care for small talk, but I needed to keep trying. "So, I know we had a little run in earlier, but that's all history now, right? I know it was rude of me to barge in like that. I don't know what came over me."

The mean carbink said something angrily at me. I shrugged. "Hey man, I don't have a clue what you're trying to say. But I know that you don't really want this big fight, right? It's such a hassle. Why don't we just agree to disagree, and we'll be on our way?"

The other pokemon all started yelling at me. I sighed. "Fine. If you insist. Carbink, get them!" I dove out of the way, and Carbink formed a giant pink sphere above him, which had to be at least five times the size of him. I smiled. The plan to distract them while he used calm mind had worked perfectly. He let loose his attack on the pokemon, and hit them all, causing a rather large explosion and, luckily, more smoke.

"Let's go!" I grabbed him and took off running past the pokemon. We popped out on a path with a bunch of crystals popping up. We had come out on the Miroir Way side. I saw a bus stop not too far away, and a bus was pulling in. I ran over as fast as I could and hopped on just before the driver shut the doors.

"Whoa, kid, what's the hurry?" He said.

"Nothing, but we would really appreciate if you could step on it."

He shrugged, and started driving down the path. I let go of Carbink, and we both sighed with relief. I only now realized that it was pitch black outside, and raining. It was already night time. I looked around the bus, and we were the only passengers. Luckily I had grabbed some money so we could pay for the ride.

I pulled out a potion and started treating Carbink. He managed to stay very still while I worked. I finished rather quickly. "There. That should make you feel a bit better." He smiled at me, and said something which I guess was a thank you.

I laid down on the seats, and set him next to me. "I guess it can't hurt if we rest before we reach town." We closed our eyes, and before we knew it, we were sound asleep.