Chapter 4

The Mahogany Town contest had been an excellent closing match for Solidad, who was now all geared up for her five-month exploration-cum-training regime. After he had lost the finals, Drew had been the good sport that he'd always been and congratulated her on the win, but vowed once again that he'll be training harder and will beat her next time. May had been sulking in the stands, having lost to Drew again (she said it was probably the sixth or seventh time) and was busy asking Caitlin to help her figure out what her problem was. Robert had disappeared again, even though she had seen him in the audience during the battles.

Settled comfortably outside the contest hall, Solidad was giving her pokemon a feast in celebration of their victory. The receptionist had told her that the Grand Festival package would only be ready later in the day, so she had decided to stay nearby to enjoy herself. In the distance she could see May, Drew and Caitlin chatting, or rather Drew was taunting May who was getting annoyed and Caitlin was trying to act as a mediator. As May was about to explode into Drew's face, he had somehow managed to procure a rose and stuff it in her line of vision before the final explosion came, causing her to sputter lamely to a stop.

"Congratulations on the excellent battle today. I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of collecting your package for you."

Solidad turned from her kneeling position on the ground to find Robert holding an envelope out to her and smiling lopsidedly as he watched the younger coordinators in their exchange.

"Our young friend there sure has a peculiar way of flirting with the lass."

Solidad raised a questioning eyebrow as she stood to face him, at the same time nodding her thanks for the package. He seemed to have picked up on the group dynamics pretty quickly.

"Well it is sort of obvious," he clarified, clearly tickled by the picture of Caitlin holding May back by the upper arms as she attempted to strangle Drew for whatever it was he had just said. Solidad chuckled too, and decided that since she was in a celebratory mood, she'd have a little fun of her own.

"Speaking from experience are we?"

She wasn't sure how her rival would respond to such a cheeky statement and was rather curious to see his response. She thought that it'd perhaps be a calm denial or a shrug, maybe even a violent coughing fit if she stretched her imagination enough. What she didn't expect was to have to have the tongue-in-cheek response thrown back at her.

"Perhaps," he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows, which contorted his normally serious features in a rather comical manner.

"Sure!" was all she could cough out before surrendering to a fit of giggles as the bottled up happiness from her earlier victory bubbled over, catalyzed by this strange and hilarious response.

By this time the teens had noticed the two older coordinators standing outside the contest hall and had already made their way toward them. May and Caitlin looked quizzically at the still-giggling Solidad while Drew eyed the envelopes in both their hands.

"I'm afraid Solidad is a little overcome with joy at being one of the first two to know what will be happening at the inaugural Johto Grand Festival," Robert offered sardonically, handing Drew the package to read as he nonchalantly slipped his hands into his pockets. The girls exchanged disbelieving looks and returned to looking at Solidad, who had by now recovered and was fighting to prevent a blush of embarrassment from creeping up her cheeks.

"You must admit it is exciting," she said rather uncharacteristically and proceeded to read the contents of her own envelope, careful to keep the sheets up to cover her face. She had regained her composure by the time she'd finished flipping through the new contest rules, and answered the eager questions of the two girls. May and Drew only had two more ribbons to go with five whole months left, while Caitlin was one ribbon behind but still stood an excellent chance of making it in. They hung around to chat for a while until May realized in a panic that she was supposed to call her brother to check on his journey. Caitlin smiled apologetically for the abrupt end to their conversation and took off after her friend while Drew flipped his hair, declaring that he should go too. This was not before he managed to throw a sidelong knowing glance at Solidad, indicating that he knew what was going on during that very random giggling episode. She was, after all, like an older sister to him.

Returning her pokemon to their pokeballs, Solidad took a slow walk back to the Glacier Hotel with Robert, discussing their respective plans for the coming five months until the Grand Festival.

Solidad raced out of the Ruins of Alph with her recently-caught Pichu hopping close behind. Just as she threw herself out of the cave opening, there was a brilliant flash of light before the cave entrance was sealed with large boulders.

"I never want to see another Unown again for the rest of my life," she huffed, glaring at the now unrecognizable entrance.

Two months from the Grand Festival, she had decided to take a short break from training to explore the famous Ruins of Alph. She had initially been fascinated by the carvings of Unown on the walls, along with several prehistoric pokemon which she did not recognize, so was busy taking notes hoping that Professor Oak could enlighten her. However as dusk fell, she had the distinct feeling that she was being watched. Pichu's excited squeals brought her attention to a stray Unown floating close to its carving and all of a sudden she was surrounded by countless Unown swirling in a hypnotizing dance.

The small cavern was being slowly transformed into a dream world as flashes of her past materialized before her eyes. Her parents (who had passed away when she was young so she lived with her aunt and uncle), the first time she had befriended Lapras, her first badge (she was a trainer before she became a coordinator), her first ribbon, her childhood friends… but slowly the images became unrecognizable. She could identify them, but she knew that they weren't from her past – a bluish-silver ribbon cup like the one she had seen in the Johto guidebook, a young red-head seated next to May's friend Ash, evidently in Professor Oak's lab, she could smell the misty air of a lake at night but she saw nothing, and the last straw came when she could distinctly feel arms around her waist, but she turned to see no one there. Had she been any younger she'd have stayed to see what more the Unown could do, and probably would not have been able to differentiate their illusions from reality. But she had come to learn that illusions, no matter how much they tugged at the heart, were always accompanied by danger. Calling a thunderbolt from her companion, she raced through the small opening in the psychic force field Pichu had managed to create and dove out of the cavern, finding herself lying flat on her belly on the dusty road.