Sorry for the long pause, this semester is super busy! Hopefully as we get deeper into November, my editor and I can set aside time for writing/editing and stuff. Thanks for your patience. For this chapter, Autumn is prepping to leave, but her mother can't let her little girl go, so it'll be a struggle. Enjoy!

"Hey Autumn? Do you think this would be good to wear?" Wallace pops into her room for the umpteenth time that day.

It's a month until they both leave, and he's getting desperate in picking out an outfit to wear while traveling. Of course, he has multiple different ways of putting each article of clothing together so that it's different from the last. But he just needs to make sure his idea is perfect.

Meanwhile, Autumn has been putting together her bag for school, gathering supplies, and buying some new clothes. Unlike her brother, she doesn't care what she'll be wearing. It's mostly because she'll be clad in a school uniform during school hours. For the rest of the time, she plans on wearing workout clothing, her usual garb.

She glances up from her pile and squints at him; he's holding up his swim team's tank top. 'Sootopolis Sharpedos' is emblazoned on the front with a teal outline against the dark blue background. On the back, she knows there's a yellow 'x' like the pokemon's marking along with some cheesy saying about there being sharks in the water or something.

"Seriously? You want to wear that?" she snorts in reply, shaking her head, and turning back to her pack.

"I'm running out of ideas!" he groans, hanging on her doorknob. "I've got my shoes and pants picked out, but the shirt!"

"Why not a different tank top or something? You have plenty of those," she responds with a yawn.

He perks up at her suggestion and runs across the hallway to his room. Autumn stretches out, twisting her neck this way and that before getting up to sort through the few clothes she'll have to bring. As she's going through her closet, she hears the rush of footsteps running back into her room. She twists around to see Wallace posing for her outside the door.

"Who are you trying to impress? You have to battle gym leaders, not out-fashion them," she laughs as he twirls this way and that for her.

He's donning dark jeans tucked into black hiking boots, new clothes he got from Mom the other day. It's from a fellow designer that has made a new line of clothes for traveling trainers in Unova. As for his shirt, he's picked out a sea blue tank top and a dark gray sleeveless hoodie. For extra measure, he flexes his biceps at her.

"Noodle arms!" she coughs into her hand.

"Come on," he pouts at her, twisting around to show her his backside. "Does it look good?"

"Yes, it looks good."

"I wanna be fashionable. I could be on the cover of magazines."

"Of course, this the outfit the world will see, Wally. It's perfect."

"Why are you saying it like that? I'm gonna be famous. Look at this face! I'm so pretty."

"Be careful, I think your head's a little big."
"Is someone just a little jealous that I'll be more famous than them?"

"Haha, that's a funny joke. Who told you that one? Jeffrey?"

"Say what you want, but I can just smell the jealousy," Wallace turns and swaggers out of her room, his hips swaying dramatically. He pauses at the door and does a dramatic hair flip over one shoulder. "I promise I won't let the fame get to me."

"That's if I leave any for you!"

His laughter is heard from the hallway as he skips away, leaving Autumn to smile as she continues with her packing. The first day of class is circled on her desk calendar. She separated it from the rest of the book as a reminder. Each day, she crosses off the date and glances at the month of September with glee. One day at a time.

OoOoOoO

"Autumn, dear, would you pass the salt?" Audrey beckons her daughter across the table.

With a suspicious glance towards her mother, Autumn reaches for the salt shaker and lifts it from the table. A piece of paper sits beneath it, folded in half, looking innocent. A groan escapes her lips as she sets the shaker down in front of her mother and picks up the paper. Wallace hides his laughter behind his napkin as she unfolds it.

"Mom, this is the tenth time in the past three days..." Autumn ignores him and reads the factoid out loud. Her voice is mock professional and refined as she puts on a fake smile for the table. "'Did you know, one in fifteen people are mauled by Ursarings each year?'" Wallace bursts into a fit of laughter, clapping his hand on the table and holding in bits of food in his mouth. Autumn stares at the paper and gives her mother an incredulous look. "Mom, this isn't even real. And that's only 7%."

"It's real, I found it online. You should be looking too," Audrey hums, sprinkling some salt over her soup. Despite the goal of trying to get Autumn to stay, Audrey still smiles a bit at the nature of the note. It's all she can think of without physically making her daughter stay.

At the end of the table, Liam shakes his head with a soft chuckle at his wife's behavior. Though he is in on it, the strategy of small facts was her idea, and he is going along for the ride.

Autumn pockets the factoid and glares at her brother who is trying, and failing, to clean himself up from his explosion. He waves his hand at her, brushing off her glare for more laughter. His wheezing gets her to smile, but she's in no mood to laugh at her mother's stubborn attitude.

So far, Audrey is okay with the fact that Autumn is going away to school. It's the idea of her traveling after school that is making her do this. She's trying to convince Autumn to not go, but to stay within the Hoenn region. Except, this behavior just makes Autumn want to leave even more, and to go even farther away than she had originally intended.

After dinner, Autumn finds one more fact in her room tucked into the pocket of her sweatpants. She sighs and pulls this one out, unfolding it carefully and reading it to herself.

'Too much fresh air may lead to fungus in the lungs. - Dr. Rx PhD; "The Dangers of Leaving Your House"'

"Okay, this one isn't even real!"

XxXxXxX

"Duffel bag? Check. Backpack? Check. List of textbooks and map of the academic building? Check. Info on my roommate Hooper-er, I mean, Harper? Check," Autumn glances around her room for the millionth time since she got up at the crack of dawn. She's not going to hide the fact she'll miss the house. It's all she's ever known. But she's not going to tone down the fact she's finally getting out, that she's going to become...someone. She'll find out just who Autumn Mikuri is, and hopefully, they're a person she'll be okay with being.

She snaps her fingers, remembering one more thing. "My best buddy?"

Glancing around the room, she sees a bump under her blankets and sneaks up to the bed. With a gleam in her eyes, she reaches for the lump and shouts 'Bah!'.

"Kir-li-lia!" her pokemon squeals, leaping out from under the sheets.

The two fall into laughter, clutching each other tight. Autumn hugs her pokemon's lithe body close and sighs. "This is it, girl. We're going out into the world, you and me. We can do this, right?"

"Lia!" the psychic type nods, ecstatic about going somewhere new. This is as much of an adventure for Kirlia as it is for Autumn. New people, new pokemon, new friends.

Autumn smiles at her partner before sitting up with a fresh smile on her face. "Okay, let's head downstairs for breakfast. I'm starving."

From the top of the steps, Autumn can hear a small clamour of voices echoing from the dining area next to the living room. A frown forms on her face as she races in that direction. She passes many photo frames and the piano before pausing in the large entryway. She finds it bustling with people and not just random people, but her instructors. She and Kirlia share a look before Autumn clears her throat nice and loud for everyone to hear.

"Awww, you weren't supposed to come down for another half hour!" Wallace gripes from across the room as he and Juan hold up a banner. "Go back to bed!"

"What's going on?" she replies, glancing around the room looking for her mother.

Audrey sweeps into view with Liam right behind; her mother is looking classy and beautiful as usual. Dressed in a black and white sheath dress, it sticks to her gentle curves perfectly. Draped around her neck is her favorite pearl necklace received from her husband on their fifth anniversary. Around her waist lies a deep red belt to match the heels clicking across the tiled floor. Her hair has been pinned back, revealing her soft, angular face.

Beside her, Liam dons pressed jeans folded precisely at the tops of his dress shoes and a white button up with a red bow tie. The shirt clings to his big build. His blue hair has been brushed back, leaving his handsome angles to greet the world.

Autumn loves seeing her parents coordinated and dressed up. There's something about it that warms her inside.

"It was a surprise, but, it was bound to be revealed anyway," Audrey clasps her hands at her waist, giving Liam a pointed look.

He coughs and smiles at his daughter. "I was supposed to keep you in your room... Surprise! It's a goodbye party."

"What?" Autumn gasps, looking around the room at all the people who've been in her life for a long time.

They all shout surprise and lift their glasses in her general direction. Each of them smiling at her as a proud father would look at their child. She stares at each of them, touched that they would gather at her house for something so meager as sending her off to Academy.

"Wow...Thank you everyone, I-I don't really know what to say," she stammers, a shocked smile taking over her face at the sight of the banner being hung behind the small crowd.

"We just wanna wish you luck," Juan offers with a gentle hug. "We're all so proud of you, mon élève. We want to see you off as you take a big step out the door."

"Awww, you guys are sweet," she chuckles before setting off to talk to and thank everyone.

Wallace gets some music playing in the background, and Jeffrey whips up some party snacks. The mingling begins. Autumn's shocked not by the amount of people who showed up, but by who showed up. Her old etiquette tutor has come by, an old woman by the name of Lynette Caldwell that taught Autumn to address her elders and how to speak in a formal setting and such. All the basic things anyone should know about being in the world. It brings on a wave of nostalgia to see her just as lively as she remembers.

As her mother and father flit around the room, keeping everyone equally entertained, Autumn sits down for some breakfast. Jeffrey has made her favorite, pecha and chocolate crepes drizzled with Oran sprinkles and topped with whipped cream. Wallace plops down beside her on the bench as she guzzles down the food.

"By the way, the party was my and Dad's idea. Mom helped plan it," he leans on her, stealing a bite of food on her fork.

"Thanks, Brother," she pushes her plate farther from him before taking another bite. "What about you?"

"Yeah, they're also here for me, but mostly you because... Well, you know, Mom's struggling with this," he shrugs one shoulder. "Her two kids are splitting up, it's heartbreaking for her… for me, too."

"You really are sweet sometimes."

"Don't forget to say that in the interviews about me and my fame," he swipes his finger across the whip cream.

Autumn turns to him with a glare. "I'm going to tell them horrible things in the side comments of my interviews for my fame."

"You could say, we're having a contest then, huh?"

"... I think you're trying too hard there."

"My humor will be my focal point, it's under appreciated."

"For a reason."

He just ruffles her hair with a smirk, allowing her to finish the rest of her meal in peace as the party slowly winds down. At the door, Jeffrey hands out party favors with a smile and a request to come again. Autumn says goodbye to each person, thanking them for coming, and that, yes, she'll study hard.

"Autumn, Wallace," Juan bows his head to them, a fond smile on his face as he regards each of them with twinkling eyes.

"Master," they both say in unison.

He turns back towards the coat rack to pick up a colorful blue bag with white tissue paper sticking out the top. In his other hand is a pokeball wrapped up in wrapping paper. Beside her, Wallace nudges Autumn and gestures to the pokeball as being for him with a proud gleam.

"I am proud of the both of you, you have flourished and become two outstanding adults, well, almost adults," he chuckles at Autumn, holding out the bag for her. Wallace coughs as if to say, 'I told you the ball was for me'. She ignores him and accepts the bag with a giddy grin. "For you, a decoration for your dorm room."

Autumn beams as she pulls out a wooden letter from the bag. It's elegantly carved, curling up on one side and slanting at the top, she knows that he got it from the carver in town with a paper of his own handwriting. Covering its entire surface are black and white pictures of her over the years. At the top are her baby to toddler years down to the bottom where it's almost to the present. Almost all of them are pictures of her and Juan, as he's been present in their lives for a while because of their mother.

"I love it. Thank you," she grasps the gym leader in a tight hug.

"I'm glad you do," he hums in reply before giving her brother the pokeball. "As my apprentice, it is custom I give you a pokemon that has come from one of my own. I picked this pokemon especially because you've been asking since the beginning."

"Yes!" Wallace leaps, tearing the wrapping off the pokeball and tossing it into the air.

Juan's eyes widen, and he lifts a hand to try and stop the young man with a small shout, but too late. The ball pops open and out flashes, not the Milotic Wallace was expecting, but a Feebas. The water type flops onto the ground and flails about looking for a source of water.

Wallace sobers up and fumbles for the pokeball as Juan keeps the pokemon from knocking anything over. Autumn bursts into laughter, clutching her stomach as all the air escapes her.

"I-I got excited," Wallace stammers, after Feebas is back in her ball.

"I would not give you a Milotic, that is for you to do on your own," Juan chuckles, shaking his head and smiling at the both of them. "I'll be seeing you. Good luck to the both of you."

"Thanks, Master."

Autumn eyes her brother with a derisive grin. He pouts, nudging her, trying to get her to look away. It only makes her laugh a bit harder when Ms. Caldwell, taps her back a bit hard to straighten it and regards her with crinkling eyes. This time, Autumn sobers up fast, remembering that she's the last to go from the party.

"Don't be afraid to use your words out there, Autumn. Better yet, don't be afraid to lift your chin and speak clearly. You'll find that some people want to shut you up because you're right, and they don't want that," she offers advice before waving off Jeffrey's gift. "I'd rather not have a basket filled with goodies worth more than my house, thank you. I have enough pictures of little Autumn in my home already. Good bye, dearie."

Wallace and Autumn share a laugh at their instructor's same old attitude before disappearing back into the house. There they find their parents waiting for them with big smiles on their faces. Audrey holds up a camera and snaps a photo of them before they can pose.

"Am I blinking?" Wallace quizzes as she looks at the photo.

"No... My little darlings are all grown up," Audrey whimpers, clutching the camera close.

Liam wraps an arm around his wife's waist and pulls her close. "They're not disappearing into the world forever, love. They'll be back."

"Yeah, Mom. We'll call and write," Wallace promises. "It'll be fine."

"I know, I guess I'm just not ready," Audrey sniffles, accepting a tissue from Liam. "You two call me everyday."

"I don't know about that, how about an email every week?" Autumn supplies instead.

"Deal."

Jeffrey appears then, carrying Autumn's duffel bag, a container full of decorations and Wallace's hiking backpack. They're taking a ferry to the mainland. Their parents bought the tickets as a gift. It's going to take them to Slateport, where they'll board one more boat to get to Route 104 and walk the rest of the way there. A pretty normal trip.

"Now let me know when you're settled in. Your father and I will be visiting tomorrow for lunch, okay?" Audrey straightens up her daughter's outfit. Since she doesn't have to arrive in a school uniform, nor does she actually own one, she has put on some skinny jeans, ankle boots, and a simple black and blue tank top. Her mother brings a hand to her chin and pats her head lovingly. "Be careful, okay? Take your vitamins, eat healthy meals, and get some rest."

"Don't worry, Mom, I'll be fine," Autumn chuckles, running a hand through her medium length hair. "I'll message you when I'm there."

"Good," the older blonde grins. "And just know that you can always come home if you feel that it's too much or you don't know what to do."

"I won't do that, but thanks."

Liam and Audrey trade to dote on the other child. Liam embraces his daughter, picking her up and twirling her around.

"No boys in your dorm alone with you, and if you must, please use con-"

"Dad!" Autumn wiggles out of his grasp and hides her face in embarrassment. "I'm not doing any of that."

"Alright, alright, I was just saying," he laughs. "We do have business partners in Rustboro, so try to stay out of trouble?"

Autumn grimaces. "There will be effort."

"I'm sure you'll do great," he puts a hand on her shoulder, his blue eyes somber as he regards her. "Just be careful."

"I will," she sighs, tired of answering the same thing over and over again.

Audrey dotes on her children some more as they try and leave the house. It boils down to Liam holding his wife back from following them down the stairs. Autumn feels herself choking up, but manages to bite it back as her brother shouts something about them being free. The positive vibes from her brother are more of an aid than she expects. The dread of leaving home dulls, leaving only the excitement of seeing the mainland for the first time in a long time.

"What's the ferry like?" she blurts out the question as they approach the marina lining the shore line of Sootopolis.

"Oh yeah, you were pretty young last time we went for a ride. Well, the boat moves a lot in the beginning, but after awhile you get over it. There are people on board that are here for vacation, so they might stare and take pictures of everything. It goes by pretty quickly, we'll be in Slateport in about four hours."

"'Quickly?'" she gives him an incredulous look. He shrugs in reply.

"As a trainer, anything goes by pretty quickly. It'd suck to think about every single step I'd take, it'd make the trip even longer."

"You haven't even started."

"Au contraire, ma soeur," he taps her nose as they walk along the dock amongst the small crowd of people boarding the S.S. Tidal. "We have only just begun."

OoOoOoO

Just as Wallace had said, the fours hours did fly by quickly. Autumn found herself enamored with the way the boat rocked on the sea, the wild pokemon swimming alongside the ship or flying in the sky above, and even the tourists. At first, the amount of people on the ship unsettled her. They watched her and her brother as if they were foreign, or was that just an illusion?

She felt out of place as everyone talked to each other with smiles on their faces and stories falling from their mouths. Wallace stayed by her side, pointing out different sights as they went along.

By the time they reached Slateport, it was two thirty.

Most of the passengers got off and made room for some new ones heading towards Rustboro. At this point, Autumn spotted Mt. Chimney, a sight she never got to see from Sootopolis. It was a lot bigger than she expected, looming so far in the distance with its top almost touching the clouds. It emanated adventure, and she had the sudden urge to venture to the top to see some lava churning within its crater.

Soon, it left her focus as Route 104 came within view. Together, the two siblings ventured off the boat and into Petalburg Woods. At that time, it was about four, and the trek through the woods took no longer than thirty minutes. Wallace got in a few battles, and Autumn cheered him on.

By the time they reached Rustboro, Autumn had almost forgotten about attending school in the rush of traveling. But as the city's buildings came into view and the sound of busy streets hit her ears, she felt ready for the challenge ahead. Her excitement rushed back along with a small surge of nerves. She was finally here.

Rustboro City.