Through the guild doors, two people walked in. They had smiles filled with happy greetings, heir warm blue eyes getting everyone's attention.

"We're back." Nic announced.

"Hi, everyone." Vanessa greeted.

Mirajane turned towards the two with a smile. "Welcome back you two!" She said. "So how was your job?"

Vanessa spoke up. "Thanks to Venusaur and Staraptor, rounding up those boars wasn't as hard as we thought."

Nic nodded. "Of course it did pay reasonably well."

Mira's smile widened. "That's great!"

The two had just returned from another sibling job. Ever since Nic started working again, it was either him or Vanessa supervising him until he was at his peak performance once again. It's been almost a week since Vanessa's Krookodile evolved, and Erza had been around Nic whenever she could. Although there were a few adjustments to get ahold of; for example, Erza started sleeping at Fairy Hills again, leaving Nic to sleep in the abandoned building once more all by himself, to which he didn't mind. He began to exercise once more with his Pokémon, but they limited themselves to meditation, five-mile jogging, and tree-jumping. Their battle, combat, endurance, and reflexive training was put on hold for a little while until they got their grip again.

In terms of work, Nic's been taking it easy as could get. Ever since the end of the Grand Magic Games and the fall of Lysandre, requests have been flooding in asking for specific members. Compared to Natsu, Gray, Erza, and the rest of Team Natsu, Nic was getting boatloads of requests. However, Master Makarov advised Nic to not take them until he thought he was ready, and so he's been taking low pay jobs that can accommodate his physical condition. For example, yesterday he went to a local café and was a substitute dishwasher for the day, getting 10,000 jewel by the hour. He got 60,000 jewel that day, and the day before he helped a local art museum with some burglar issues. Nothing too out there, but he was more than content with his pacing gradually picking back up, so long as he didn't crash and burn.

At the moment, he had just gotten back from a job with his sister, which was to round up some loose boars. It only took them a couple hours, leaving them to arrive back around one o- clock, plenty of sun left for the day.

"So where's Erza by any chance?" Nic asked.

"She's on a job with her team. They should be back around dinnertime at the earliest." Mirajane told.

Nic gave a grin and nod of understanding, but it was a little disheartening knowing Erza wasn't around when he got back. He and her did a couple jobs this weak together, but I guess she needed her team around as well. As long as he sees her again soon, that would be enough for him.

He turned towards his younger sister. "So Vanessa, what are you gonna do for the rest of the day?"

Vanessa didn't need a second to think. She knew what she wanted to do. "I think I'm going to train for a bit. I need to keep my Pokémon battling skills at a peak performance. What are you going to do?"

He grinned as he started walking out the guild doors. "I think it's time I resume my usual combat training. This time, I'm going to Kalos." He said. "I'm setting the course for Route 14, so are you going to tag along?"

Vanessa nodded her head. "Sure, I left off there before I decided to come to Earth Land. I think after my time here, I wanna see where I am compared to how I was before."

Nic grinned and turned back towards Mirajane. "You heard that, Mira? We won't be gone too long, around supper."

Mirajane smiled. "Sure, have fun training."

With her word of regards, the Pularis siblings left the guild hall. They made way towards the outskirts of Magnolia, rather close to Nic's little shack of a home. The woods were thick enough for some decent coverage so that no one would get too suspicious, or get an idea to follow. With themselves apart from the others, Nic loosened up his shoulders.

"You ready?" He asked with a serious tone. Vanessa could tell how determined Nic was to get back to his usual training, and she couldn't blame him.

The younger Pularis sibling nodded with the same determination. "Let's do this."

Nic then faced forward and looked at one spot. He waved his hand in front, where a dimensional portal opened up. The outside part of the dimension hole was distorted, and had a rainbow glow reverberating all around. On the other side of the portal, they were already hit with a wave of muggy air. It was Route 14 alright, and they could see the yellow grass and swamplands clearly. It was a known wetland, next to Route 19, where Charizard duked it out with Moltres a while back.

The siblings took a step towards the other side, and just like that, the portal closed behind them. They were now back in their home world, and their home region: Kalos.

Vanessa looked with widened eyes all around. "I forgot how exotic Route 14 was. It's muggy."

"Yeah, it is. It took me some time to get used to it, but this is where I learned to climb trees." Nic explained.

"That's cool."

Nic started walking off, leaving his sister be. I transported us closer to Laverre City, so there should be some dryland on the east. Otherwise you'll be training in the swamp water or marsh ground. I'll be all over Route 14, but I'll be back in time to take us back to Earth Land."

"Alright, be safe." Vanessa waved her brother off as he went to do his own method of training, as to where Vanessa stayed in her spot. She watched as Nic scaled up a tree and embarked through means of swift tree jumping. He was almost like a ninja, and a fast one at that. He was already out of sight within the first ten seconds, but that didn't deter Vanessa from gaining battle experience.

She looked around the tall grass, looking for any possible wild Pokémon to battle. "I forgot what was around here. I know there's Goomy and what else…?"

There was a loud hiss resonating from Vanessa's left. She turned and immediately caught the sights of a purple little scorpion with pincers on the tail and on the sides of its head. Its blue eyes were looking up at her, seeing her as a threat.

Vanessa didn't seem bothered at all by the surprising encounter and took out her Pokedex to analyze the small scorpion in front.

"Skorupi, the Scorpion Pokémon. It grips prey with its tail claws and injects poison. It tenaciously hangs on until the poison takes."

"So it's part Poison, and the pre-evolved form of Drapion." She speculated. "I haven't battled against one of these in so long, I hope I'm not rusty." She pulled out a Poke Ball and threw it with swiftness. "Mawile, go!"

The Poke Ball popped open, revealing Vanessa's Mawile as she was set to battle Skorupi. "(Alright, let's get this over with.)" She said in her voice, as she was no longer in Earth Land.

The wild Skorupi hissed out at Mawile again, poised to strike. The fangs glowed and lengthened, hence Skorupi lunging in for Bug Bite.

Vanessa gave her command in response. "Mawile, Crunch!" Mawile turned around and her iron jaws faced the incoming Skorupi. The jaws opened up and the fangs glowed and elongated. The Crunch snapped down on Skorupi before the latter could get close enough. Mawile swung her head around in circles and had Skorupi in a tailspin until she pivoted and sent the wild Skorupi flying.

The Skorupi landed with a brutal thud in the tall grass, making the Poison and Bug-type groan as Crunch surrounded it in a brief blue aura, signaling a Defense decrease.

Vanessa smiled. "Great job, now, Swords Dance!" Mawile effectively took a stance and remained still as blue, illusionary swords appeared and circled all around her. When the swords all crossed over her head, a thick red aura encompassed her body, increasing her Attack power greatly.

The wild Skorupi shook its head and faltered about a few paces to the left. It straightened out and hissed with anger. The adversary's Bug Bite reactivated again, and it went firing back at Mawile.

Mawile spread her tiny legs apart and smirked. When Skorupi came lunging back with an open mouth, she stuck her arm out and had Skorupi snapped down onto the arm. The vicious biting, however, left Mawile with a ticklish sensation running through her arm. "(Sorry pal, but this'll bite for you.)"

"Feint Attack!" Vanessa commanded. Mawile suddenly disappeared from sight, leaving Skorupi perplexed and looking around left and right. Its flaw, however, was not being able to account one of its many blind spots: Up. A fist struck down on Skorupi's exposed back, the tail failing as a guard. The Scorpion Pokémon gawked at the sheer blunt and fainted as Mawile jumped up and stood back in front of Vanessa with a less than amused smirk.

Vanessa nodded. "Good. Very good."

"(That was nothing more than a warmup.)" Mawile boasted, not feeling challenged by the typing being her advantage.

Vanessa turned towards another direction. "Let's see if we can find some more opponents. I'm sure there's a plethora around her somewhere…"

Elsewhere on Route 14, all was serene within the tree canopy. The Weepinbell nearby and the Haunter looming around, however, had to maintain a safe distance away as seven figures were seen on one of the thickest branches of one of the thickest trees in the depths of the forest. It was by no means along the path Trainers take to reach Laverre City or Lumiose City, rather it's untouchable…unless you were a skilled tree-jumper like Nic Pularis.

"40…41…42…43…44…" Nic and his Pokémon were doing were unprecedented training again. It was about time they got back into the swing of things. They were all doing handstand pushups on the thick branch, to demonstrate the vitals in their balance. They've done it before, a lot in fact. In Staraptor's case, with was a 'wing'stand, and for Arbok, he was using the tip of his head as a focus point and as he goes down, he scrunches up the muscles in his body. Kecleon, Charizard, Garchomp, and Greninja all had hands and claws on the branch and had their bodies straightened out just like Nic and were going up and down.

"55…56…57…" Nic was counting the reps taken every time he managed to get up. He felt his legs wobble, but he adjusted the weight and kept it aligned so that he wouldn't slip forward and fall, in which case Greninja was there by his side in that case to catch him.

The numbers meant little, but the sun was moving over their heads slowly, and yet they did not care as the canopy's autumn-colored leaves blocked it all out. "98…99…100!" Finally, after reaching that point, everyone's arms and muscles all relaxed, but it was only for that second. Their grips all slipped with Nic's into a swing. "Everyone, five miles! Don't touch the ground!"

As Nic gave the command, he wasn't frowning, but yet was smiling. Everyone followed his lead as they all swing underneath the branch by hooking their hands or necks to it and they all swung and spiraled off the branch. Charizard and Garchomp were the most shocking as their large structures were so agile and nimble, and yet as they passed the nearby foliage and thin branches, not even a small speck was sliced or incinerated as their bodies were tucked in.

Everyone landed on the same tree branch with light feet and light serpentine body. Arbok lunged to the next branch and everybody started moving through the canopy jungle of branches. The dead or wrecked branches were each a stepping stone. Greninja and Nic lunged and swung to each branch without a beat off. Charizard and Staraptor and everyone else were lunging left and right, using light precision as they worked through the depths of Route 14's woods. As they took long lunged, they landed and leaned forward for better momentum for the next lung. Absolute no flying was involved. Arbok landed and zipped to tree branches without having to anchor with a tail or his hood for a swing to the next branch, not even once. Nic pounced with sweat dripping down his face. The humid air was exhausting and making things difficult in terms of stamina, but this was nothing they couldn't take on. Nic sprung with feet and touches as light as a Liepard's paw. Everyone kept their weight distributed so they wouldn't have snapped the branches.

They all embarked deeper as they continued on training, keeping up in complete sync and focusing on what lied ahead, which was more forest branches to jump through.

Vanessa swiped her arm forward. "Mawile, Protect!" A translucent turquoise shield appeared out of thin air on command, and Mawile was spared from a powerful explosion of a thick mass of mud that made small ripples of swamp water right beside Vanessa's feet as they were within the midst of battle with a wild Quagsire.

Having to move their training into the swamp waters, they had to adapt and battle with more effective means. But that did not mean they were still unchallenged. Being sturdier and having better typing than the other Pokémon in the route, Quagsire had the advantage.

Mawile huffed at the damage she took as of late. All of those battles she's had were wearing her down. She huffed and looked tired, but persevered. She shook her head to snap herself back to focus. "(I'm good! Let's keep this up, Vanessa!)"

Although, she couldn't understand Mawile, Vanessa'a magic could still pick up on Mawile's aura. It told her that she was determined, and she accepted that with whole confidence. "Alright then, Mawile, Swords Dance!" Upon that command, her Mawile thus had blue illusionary swords form and circle around. Once they crossed overhead, Mawile was in a thick red aura, signaling her Attack increase.

The wild Quagsire opened its mouth wide and orange glowed inside. Firing from inside was a rapid succession of smaller but quicker balls of brown mud.

"It's using Mud Shot! Use the water as a defense!" Vanessa commanded. Mawile processed that as a means to use the water as a blockade, and to do so, she looked down and swung her jaws overhead. With a powerful slam of her jaws, the water in front splashed violently all around. The erupting blast of water acted as a barrier to counter the Mud Shot, which managed to work.

"Now, Feint Attack!" Mawile disappeared as the water drizzled down all around. The wild Quagsire had its head tilted off to the side in question, but then it was met with a swift whack from the left as Mawile reappeared in midair and swung her jaws, scoring a clean hit.

"(How was that? Better?)" She rhetorically asked.

Quagsire regained footing and looked back down at Mawile. With such a close proximity, Guagsire opened its mouth again. Mawile frowned. "(…uh oh.)"

An explosion of brown mud erupted from the close-range Mud Bomb. Mawile was seen skyrocketing and tumbling through the air as Vanessa's eye widened in shock. "Mawile!" She cried out. Her Mawile splashed right into the water with a powerful thud. Water sprinkled all around as the shock of Mawile's landing was painful. Vanessa clenched her fists. "This is bad. Our reaction wasn't fast enough. I should've gone for Protect." She cursed herself.

Mawile groaned at the pain flaring in her head. "(Uuuugh. Someone got a Super Potion…?)" She groggily said.

"Mawile, can you still go on?" Vanessa asked.

Mawile struggled to get back up, and it most certainly didn't help that Quagsire was readying another assault as its mouth opened back up. But still, the Deceiver Pokémon did not back down. She stood up and looked back at Vanessa with a tiresome smile. "(We're not giving up that easily. Vanessa, let's finish this.)"

Vanessa smiled and nodded. "Alright, then let's use Crunch!" She commanded. Mawile turned around and had her giant jaws open back up. The fangs glowed and elongated as she went and lunged ahead towards her target.

Quagsire fired another Mud Shot attack at Mawile as she went diving in. Vanessa swiped her arm. "Dodge!" As Mawile lunged on in, she widened her eyes and gave a skip in her footing. The Steel and Fairy-type jumped up, dodging the Mud Shot that pelted the dirty waters. The wild Quagsire looked up as Mawile was right on top.

"(You're so annoying!)"

She dove down and whipped her jaws around, snapping her Crunch onto Quagsire. The Water and Ground-type fell backwards with Mawile as the swamp water splashed and raged on. The rippling reached Vanessa's aura-like feet and she watched with anticipation as the water began to stop swaying left and right. It revealed her Mawile, still standing with panting while Guagsire was lying on its back and fainted.

Vanessa saw it as a win, but she felt nervous nonetheless. "That was a close call. You okay, Mawile?"

Mawile slumped back into the water, groaning. "(Yeah. Just give me five…hours.)" She pleaded.

Vanessa held up her Poke Ball. "Okay, I think that's enough battle experience for you today. Return.)" With that, she recalled Mawile, and in turn learned of the scenarios placed in front. As she walked out of the swamp water, she was left to be more decipherable. "So when Mawile is close, we have to be ready to use Protect in the events of a counter." She smiled. "That's worth something in the end."

She felt a small drop on her nose, making her blink. "Hm?" She looked up, realizing that it was beginning to cloud up. The sun was no longer there like it was half an hour ago and she saw darker clouds rolling in. She frowned. "I forgot Route 14 is known for occasional rains. I should move to dryland."

As a light drizzle was coming down, so did Greninja from the dark and cloudy sky. His Bounce attack made him shoot down at an alarming rate. Nic brought his elbow back and swung it ahead. Greninja's foot and his elbow collided, making a ripple of energy below outwards. The sudden stalemate of opposite forces, however, was only brief as Nic used the momentum that Greninja was providing and loosened his elbow. This resulted in him flipping himself in a near sideways fashion and he vertically kicked. Greninja blocked with a forearm and Nic landed in a low crouch.

Nic's eyes looked down as he felt strong vibrations. In a flash he leaned away and broke into a backwards bridge as Garchomp shot up with Dig. The shockwaves and shattering ground shot Nic back, but he instantly grabbed a piece of flying rock and latched on. He jumped from rock to rock until high enough, where Charizard and Staraptor both ambushed him.

Nic's reflexes weren't as dull as he thought, as were Charizard and Staraptor's. All of their reflexes were their key points, and their furious display of masterful hand and claw combat was pit against Nic. Nic blocked punches from Charizard while at the same time elbowing Staraptor's wing strikes. Each strike was hard to trace.

Nic twisted his body and wrapped his legs around Charizard's neck. "There's an opening!"

Charizard opened his eyes. "Think again!" He whirled his neck and used his claw to strike Nic, but he let go and brushed the claw away while upside-down and in midair. While still in midair, time slowed down or him as his eyes dilated.

In a sudden change, he twisted again and dodged the Shadow Sneak that shot straight up from the ground. Kecleon twisted her body while still invisible and dealt an axe kick, to which Nic maneuvered and dodged. He caught the leg in a flash and reeled Kecleon in to palm strike her. He was close, but then Arbok's tail came from behind. His senses picked up the disturbance and he twisted his body again and threw Kecleon up and ducked beneath the tail swing.

In midair, Kecleon used the momentum for spinning. She gained greater kinetic energy and speed as she tumbled and went down right as Nic punched Arbok's side of his hood, only for Arbok to shove his hood towards him as a guard.

Using his senses again, Nic backed away and leaped into a backflip as Kecleon's downwards punch struck the earth. She felt no pain, but the soft ground absorbed the impact, leaving a small dent.

Everyone was loving this. This was their daily activity: combat, reflexive, and durability training. They could go hours upon hours on end, and they would just keep it up until the sun had set. They had the will, the focus, and especially the commitment to keep on going.

Nic blocked and intercepted a number of blows coming from every single angle. Close calls were exchanged here and there, but every blow, twist, pivot, and shift meant everyone's physical assaults were all blocked. Nic flipped and dodged Arbok's tail swing, and then twisted and dodged a midair roundhouse kick from Greninja. As Nic landed, he parried a number of blows and jabs from Greninja, each one of their punches colliding; their knuckles cracking with every blow absorbed.

Charizard spread his wings and took flight above. As he was above, he got an aerial view of Nic and dove straight downwards. He readied a downwards kick and his eyes dilated when he saw Nic's pivot, meaning he was gonna turn from a counter.

In a hurried change of pacing, Charizard instead did a vertical flip and slammed his tail down. Nic used his left pal and grabbed the tail slam that could've knocked him down or even a Golem perhaps with the force applied as a ripple of air reached outwards towards the trees. Nic used his right fist and twisted his body again, doing a spiraling uppercut on Greninja while throwing Charizard off to the side. Greninja leaned away from the uppercut, and Charizard easily straightened out with a claw dug into the earth.

Garchomp and Kecleon alike appeared on either side of Nic, and he was panting as sweat covered his body. His shirt and coat were both off to the side so they weren't in too much sweat. As Nic was barely holding onto his breathing rhythm, he dared not falter in the slightest. He threw blocks and blows left and right in no order as Kecleon and Garchomp were both giving lightning-quick attacks. Garchomp swung his tail as a break from his relentless parrying and Nic did a backwards bridge that turned into a handstand. As Kecleon went for an upwards kick, Nic pushed up and straightened out to maneuver from that kick.

Garchomp closed in further and drove a hurried knee and Nic. Nic swept the knee strike with his palm and went for a side punch. Garchomp reeled away and came back with a claw. Nic intercepted with a punch to match the claw and another bone-crushing sound resonated.

As both reeled away, Staraptor spiraled in from a steep angle above with Charizard, with Greninja, Arbok, and everyone else were having sweat and feeling their muscles cramp. That was a good sign. That meant they were really exercising. They all went after the other, Nic included as he had a smile on his face through his heaping breathing.

"Let's keep going!" He yelled in a vivid pant. He lunged after his six Pokémon as they were all running faster than Heliolisk with great Speed training.

It's been more than a couple hours, and the drizzle had turned into another usual rainy day. The rain wasn't too big of an issue. Vanessa was okay with it, since she's been used to Sliggoo's Rain Dance on a constant basis. After a little wild Pokémon training was done for mostly everyone, Vanessa decided to work on having her Pokémon dodge.

"Braixen, jump! You too, Krookodile!" She commanded. Both Braixen and Krookodile did as told and they jumped, dodging the massive wave of brown water that swamped the whole area that was beneath. They managed to dodge Sliggoo's Muddy Water, but that left Magnezone to make an attack of his own set on Krookodile.

"(Flash Cannon!)" The Electric and Steel-type stored a very powerful sense of light into his center, in front of his red eye. The light became a single big sphere and he fired the Steel-type move with gusto, making airwaves as the bright white and light blue beam traveled after Krookodile as he was in midair.

"Lean back!" Vanessa told him.

Krookodile did as told and leaned back. He was caught by surprise as the trick worked. The momentum brought on by Flash Cannon flew right over his head, barely grazing his large snout. Though not a direct hit, he did feel a strong force from Flash Cannon's power. He fell back to the ground on his knees, sliding backwards in the soft, mushy ground.

"(Dragon Breath!)" Sliggoo was surrounded by rounds of loops that surged up her body as a blue orb was forming. She opened her mouth and fired a blue beam at Braixen that traveled over the ground.

"Braixen, shift left!" Vanessa commanded.

"(Whoa!)" The Fox Pokémon did as told, barely missing the Dragon Breath as the blue beam trailed onwards.

Sliggoo wasn't gonna be played, and she turned her head, making her Dragon Breath in turn move around and curve around towards Krookodile.

Vanessa narrowed her eyes. 'It's just like what Sting did back in the Grand Magic Games…' "Krookodile, Dig! Braixen, into the hole!"

Krookodile raised his claws and crouched. He dove into the soft ground, easily making a hole swift and quick. Braixen lunged off to the side and jumped. She hurried inside the hole and barely escaped as Dragon Breath went right over the hole made. Inside the whole Braixen and Krookodile covered up as the force of Dragon Breath was enough to quake the ground. When Dragon Breath ended, both Pokémon jumped out of the hole, but they were panting from all of the footwork they needed to apply. Magnezone and Sliggoo were both looking a little worn out from launching attack after attack.

The rain kept pouring down, and with it the more training Vanessa applied.

With one final Dragon Claw, Charizard let out a roar as his and Kecleon's Slash collided. No matter how brutal it was with Dragon Claw, Kecleon was equally as physical and brutal, thus keeping a stalemate, the sudden power break from their collision made a shockwave rattle through the ground, shattering it to pieces that made rock fly.

At the same time, Garchomp and Staraptor both parried one another, with Garchomp's Crunch biting against Steel Wing. The Steel-type move collided with Garchomp's elongated sharp teeth. The impact made silver static fly, including rippling blast waves as neither side was giving even an inch.

At the same time, Arbok's Ice Fang clashed with Greninja's Bounce. The foot to the solid ice not only made icy cold air bellow, but also made the wet grass turn to little bits of ice. Greninja back flipped away before his entire foot could be covered in ice, but as he landed his heel was already trapped in ice. Adapting came over his mind, and he picked up a leg and roundhouse kicked Arbok with a frozen foot. Of course Arbok ducked and dodged the assault without a second to spare.

While they were all working on combative training and keeping their moves used in top condition, Nic was keeping up just as well as he joined in against Greninja and Arbok. He came flying in from the trees above, but Arbok and Greninja looked up and they easily diverted a tail swing and near-thawed foot up at Nic as he did an axe kick, which he backed off and planted his feet to a tree trunk and jumped off and landed onto the ground.

They adjusted their trademark training with last fifteen minutes set for the day with pairing training. Every minute they were to pick a random opponent and give it 110 percent with whatever means in terms of battle, reflexes, and parrying. No rest in between the minutes of switching and picking an opponent. The catch was Nic as he would join in abruptly on a random battle ensuing and provide and extra challenge as they would all have to work against Nic for the remainder of that minute.

"HRAH!" Nic and Greninja's fists collided, the sound reverberating off the tree trunks, scaring away hordes of Ekans snooping around.

With that collision of punch, the minute was up. That was the last minute, and afterwards, everyone backed off. Garchomp and Staraptor both got to knees and panted, the same implied to the remainder of the team. They all were beyond exhausted as they hadn't done that in awhile, but it was fun to them.

"Great job…everyone…" Nic smiled.

Greninja panted with one eye open. "(We did…pretty okay…for 6 hours straight…)"

"(Wish we could do…more…)" Kecleon said in between breaths. "(But we can't…overheat our…toast…or it'll be charred.)"

"(But still…that was fun.)" Charizard huffed.

It took a minute, but after everyone had finally caught their own breath, they stood back up and had Nic take the lead. He was stretching his arms all around and he was applying stretching to his calves and legs. His Pokémon all stretched, stretching their spines, legs, and necks.

After finally stretching, they heard a cry from a distance. "Nic!"

Nic turned around towards the tree line, where he saw something rustling amongst the bushes and tall grass. Realizing and recognizing the cry, Nic blinked. It was Vanessa as she emerged from the trees, looking more than a little exhausted from having to trek through the uncharted boundaries and Laverre Nature Trail.

"Vanessa?" Nic said in surprise. "How did you manage to find me?"

Vanessa frowned. "I followed your aura. You were all over the place. Nic, it's seven o' clock. Let's go home."

"You were fortunate. We just finished." He looked back at his team with a grin. "I guess we lost track of time. We were lost in our training I suppose." He turned back towards Vanessa, still grinning as she shook her head with a sigh. "Sorry, for worrying you."

"It's okay. I understand." She said. "What do you say we head to a Pokémon Center, heal up, and get a family dinner started when we get back to Magnolia."

Nic reached and grabbed his gray V-neck and his coat. "You're in luck. Erza said she would be happy to cook up dinner again. She's getting a little better at it thanks to that cookbook." He pulled out the Poke Balls for his own team. "Rest up for now, thanks for the endeavors conquered." He returned everybody back to their Poke Ball…all except Charizard. The Flame Pokémon remained out as Nic approached him.

Charizard lowered his head as Nic petted the side of his face. "Charizard, how about using Fly one more time?"

"(Sure. I'm not done yet, not even close to having my reserves dwindle.)" To prove it, Charizard spread his wings to show he was ready. Nic jumped onto his back, with Vanessa hurrying over. With her on Charizard's back the Fire and Flying-type took flight, using Fly as he embarked out of the rains of Route 14 and towards Laverre City and its Pokémon Center.

Back on Earth Land, in the guild hall, all was as it should be. With Natsu and Gray back in the guild after such an exhausting day, they still had just enough energy to bicker around. Of course this almost started another scuffle if not for Erza's threats. She butted their heads without even a fuss, and everyone watched as the duo slumped to the ground.

Lucy sighed as she sat at a table with Happy munching on a fish. She face palmed. "Good grief."

"Well at least nothing's changed for those two." Carla chided.

Wendy sweat dropped. "Uh…yeah."

Erza let out her own sigh. "Good grief." She turned her attention from the duo that learned their lesson and went towards Mirajane at the bar. "Hello, Mira."

"Hi, Erza." Mira greeted. "I trust that your job went well."

"As well as it can get." Erza replied. "If not for Natsu's…ambitious energy, we could've managed more outcome. The lumber yard in Oak Town was set ablaze and half the lumber was incinerated from his temper. We barely made any effort on this one I'm afraid."

Mira sweat dropped. "Oh my. Guess the Master's gonna bite his ear off when he hears about this."

"I'm sure he will. By the way Mira, have you seen Nic by any chance?"

"Of course. He and Vanessa got back from a job recently and they went back to their world for the rest of the day."

Erza raised a brow. "They…went back?"

"Yeah, saying they were gonna do some training. Guess they wanted to stay in their routes, get a feeling to be in their world after being here for some time. But I wouldn't worry too much about it. They promised to be back later on today."

Erza grinned at the prospect. While she was a little shocked that Nic had gone back to Kalos to train for the day without her, she knew he could take care of himself; besides, it'd take a miracle for her to keep up with his astronomical level of reflexes. When she thought about it further in depth, she could see that it would indeed be a nice change of pace for his sake.

Mirajane turned towards the guild doors as the sky was again a radiant sunset. Through the doors emerged two people. "Well speak of the devil. Welcome back!"

Erza turned towards the guild doors, seeing none other than the Pularis siblings with smiles as they looked refreshed. When she saw Nic after having the kind of day she had, it was comforting to the point her smile widened.

"We're back, sorry for making you waiting it the case was drawn there." Nic apologized.

Erza approached him with a smile. When the two met, they both met each other's eyes. "Welcome home, Nic, Vanessa."

"Thanks…Erza." Nic said with a happiness in her name.

"It took longer than we'd anticipated, but we didn't mind. While we cleaned ourselves up after being in Route 14, we got our Pokémon back from Nurse Joy and came back here." She turned towards Nic. "And on that note, she commented on how it was a pleasure for Nic to appear, and was startled by how sturdy his Pokémon were." She could still remember the face Nurse Joy made when Nic ventured into the Pokémon Center. Everyone inside nearly flipped out seeing the savior of all of the universe in their presence.

"It's no problem, really. I'm glad you two had fun training your Pokémon." Erza said.

Vanessa nodded. "A little battle experience never hurts, and we managed to work on dodging."

"And my Pokémon and I are getting back into the swing of things." Nic told. "Which reminds me, we all worked up a hefty appetite. Why don't we all go to the market and get a recipe started?"

Erza nodded in agreement. "I think that's a lovely idea. And we can all pitch in." She thus marched out of the guild hall, with Nic right beside her and Vanessa on the other side of Erza.

"I think we'd like that very much. We'll have a nice family dinner, with Erza as well." Nic said, happily looking forward to this family dinner. When he thought about it, the last family dinner he had was really…never. He always wanted a family dinner, but he was never even allowed near the table as Vanessa as like a princess while Magneton shocked him. It was bittersweet thought, and Vanessa could understand the pain.

"…well we'll be sure to make this one to remember." Vanessa smiled at her brother's hollow thoughts. Her aura picked up on his droopy remembrance, and she could be in his shoes and know what it was like to not have a true family dinner.

The three headed back up to the abandoned second building, Nic's little hideout sort of speak. The Pularis siblings had a long day's worth or work and training, and with their Pokémon included, this was a nice way to unwind and relax before calling it a night.

For those who have noticed already, I accidentally updated the wrong file for chapter 3, my sincerest apologies. I managed to catch the mistake thanks to you guys pointing it out. Again, sorry for the convinience, but at least I fixed the problem, so no more worries!

I thought I would make a cute little chapter about the Pularis siblings and compare them. In terms of how Pokémon training goes, Vanessa's is more proper and much more normal compared to Nic's, which is much more unique in its own rights. I provided the clear way of how Vanessa and almost all Trainers train their Pokémon, which is battling all the time and working on techniques. Nic's style is more private, unrivaled, and unchallenged as he exercises every state of mind, body, and moves, but you've learned that from the prequel. I wanted to give this chapter and story a more Pokémon feel compared to the scenery always being in Fiore and Erath Land, so this was a nice change of pace.

On that note, some chapters in this sequel shall be randomly long or short, depending on it being a major milestone, or a little idea part of the plot such as this one. I have maybe one more little idea before heading into one of the major arcs of this story, so I hope you loved this chapter.

Also, if you were hoping to see more of those mysterious figures like from the past two chapters, they really didn't have a place in this chapter. Those couple of characters will be extremely vital when the time comes.

As always, review and comment, and thanks for reading another entertaining chapter!