THREE

When the former Team Aqua Admin returned home later that night, her head was spinning. Her niece had ended up having the best time of her life, though Lana's mother wasn't too particularly happy about having her daughter get bitten by a Mightyena. What was Harlan on about? What he somehow high on drugs? No, it couldn't be. Like her, he'd given up the bad-guy life a long time ago, after realizing that controlling Mother Nature wasn't a good idea. So what was all that mumbo-jumbo with the "she was part of his past"? Did that have anything to do with why Harlan joined Team Magma? She trudged into her room.

Shelly peeled off her outfit of denim jacket, black yoga pants, and tank top, and donned on a simple night gown, a light blue dress that reached down to her thighs, then cruised on downstairs for a midnight snack. Scouring around in her freezer, Shelly pulled out a frozen yogurt bar, which she proceeded to unwrap and take a small bite out of. The strawberry flavored block melted in her mouth, filling it with a delicious sense of sweetness. This usually calmed her down a bit when she was bothered by something. But it didn't.

There was something about Harlan that was different. He'd been a little more… open with her than he had before. Why'd he give her that tirade of the failure of their gangs? And what did he mean by their past? Their past did have some complexities, now that she thought about it.

They had met one day as Harlan was journeying through the Hoenn region, seeking to become a powerful Pokemon trainer, slowly making his way to Evergrande City, where all powerful Pokemon trainers gathered to see who would become the Champion. She remembered their first encounter like it was yesterday...

*****

Harlan plopped down on the porch with a small bowl of chicken noodle, his eyes grazing over the little groups of Pokemon that mingled together. It all seemed very peaceful, everyone getting along and helping each other raise the little Pokemon. But deep inside, Harlan felt strangely disturbed. The visit from Shelly, he knew, had been total coincidence; she hadn't known this ranch belonged to him. But she definitely didn't show much joy in seeing him.

"Shelly... you don't understand..." Harlan's voice was a soft whisper. A gentle prod at his elbow told him Mightyena was sitting by his side. With a heavy sigh, Harlan placed a hand on Mightyena's head. There was a long pause before he turned to talk to his life-long partner.

"You know, biting the little kid wasn't entirely necessary." It was Mightyena's turn to sigh, a quiet whine going along with it. "Kids get that way when they're excited. Kind of like… excited Poochyena, get it?"

There was a blink in his Pokemon's eye, then it nodded slowly, an assenting rumble resonating from its chest. The two friends sat side by side, the young man quietly slurping at his noodles, and Mightyena vigilantly gazing out at its charges.

Harlan's thoughts traveled elsewhere, toward the time when he'd first met Shelly. He had stopped by her mother's lodge in Dewford Town for a gym battle; he had first beaten the Lavaridge gym leader some time last month, then the Rustboro gym leader a few weeks before and was going for his third badge. They had been teenagers that time, both fifteen years of age. Like now, she was haughty and thought very highly of herself. And she was pretty good at handling her Pokemon. He had trouble going past her sneaky attacks…

"Mudkip! Let's go! Dig into the ground!"

"Come back up with a Take Down, Mudkip!"

It was then he had learned that Mudkip could learn how to use Dig. His Poochyena had been almost completely overwhelmed before an alternating rapid-fire of Shadow Ball and Iron Tail granted him victory. Even with that, he was impressed with Shelly's prowess, promising her that one day they would have another great battle. Only, that day never happened.

He got tangled up with the beginning marks of Team Magma after he was able to make it to the Top 8 of the Evergrande City Conference. Maxie, knowing that this kid's desire was power, promised that to him, saying that if they could finish their quest, he could have all the strength he wanted. His belief then was that he could impress Shelly and maybe bring her along to join Team Magma, then they, two powerful Pokemon Trainers, could work side by side and make the world a better place. Little did he know that she had been recruited by Team Aqua at around the same time. So much for his 'work side by side' plan.

"Why did I ever join Team Magma?" Harlan muttered. "Maybe Shelly would've done the same and not bothered with Team Aqua. We'd both have better lives, too." His thoughts floundered around a little bit before he settled on an idea.

"Hey, Mightyena? Go ask your friend to help keep an eye on the farm. We're going to go on another little adventure."

Mightyena gave a small croon of surprise, a short, sharp tone that raised in pitch. Its maw turned to face Harlan with an obvious question posed on its face. Where are we going?

"I'm going to go look for Shelly. Tell her I'm sorry. Tell her everything. I just… don't know where she is."