"Bravo, bravo," a child's voice floated over, and Link paused reluctantly before waving Ordon off and turning to face the one who had addressed him.

She was small, with wispy blue hair and a simple white dress. Bright blue eyes studied him, and he noticed the deathly grey of her skin as she stepped closer, her sandals making barely a sound as they forged a path through the grass. She seemed like a picture of innocence, but he felt his insides do a flip as he saw her shadow.

Midna!

"Hehehe..." Midna laughed, and the girl turned to look at Midna, who was once again as Link remembered her - small and floating, with a stone mask covering one eye, she laughed eerily as her levitation shivered. In her own dimension, she would have had runic magic surrounding her limbs and her skin would have been a curvy mottled black-and-white, but since this wasn't her dimension, all he could see of her was a shadow with one orange eye, hiding behind the girl.

"Miss Midna?" the girl asked, clearing her throat.

"Sorry, Amber," Midna laughed, tapping the girl's shoulder. "Don't worry. Link is a good doggy."

Link's eyebrow visibly twitched.

"Okay then," Amber decided. "Mister Link?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Miss Midna said you could help me." Amber explained.

Link nodded dubiously. "What do you need?"

"Do you know about a Pokémon named Mewtwo?" she inquired.

"No, I'm afraid I haven't seen one yet," Link admitted. "Is this Mewtwo important to you?"

"He's like a brother, but not quite," Amber explained. "I... was experimented on, and only with Midna's help was I able to... come back," Amber said vaguely. "I want to see him again. It would tear him apart if he thought I was gone."

"I'll keep an eye out for him," Link promised, patting her on the head instinctively. There was something indescribably sweet about this child that made him feel all fluffy inside.

Midna hopped from one shadow to the next, hanging out on Link's shoulder.

"Well then," She said in her disembodied voice. "What say you about having us join you?"

"I don't see why not," Link admitted, "but why?"

"Well..." Midna looked dodgy.

"Miss Midna doesn't want to admit that she placed a tracker on you, and that she has no idea where we are or where to go." Amber said, smiling gently.

Midna looked legitimately embarrassed, but she soon found a distraction.

"Ow!"

Rose had just jumped onto Midna's back, and was promptly tossed back with a panicked swing of Midna's hair (Link could never quite get the confidence to ask if it was actually hair; he was glad to simply think it was and not ask questions). She was about to sigh in relief when Rose hopped up onto Link's other shoulder and stared at her in wonder.

"Oooh!" Rose chittered excitedly, pointing at Midna.

"Yes, yes, I'm partially invisible, you would have seen me if you'd looked where you were going," Midna grumbled, though Link assumed whatever Rose had said flattered her.

Joan interrupted the moment. "If Mewtwo is anywhere in Kalos, we ought to be able to find him. Link is taking the Gym Challenge."

"There isn't time for that!" Midna protested, astonished. "We ought to go right away-"

"We need to have the badges to actually traverse the land anyway," Link interrupted. "Would you be happier if I got the first one right away? Then we could keep going."

"Right," Midna grumbled. "Ugh, why can't it work like it does in Hyrule and the Twilight Zone?!"

"Because this is Kalos?" Amber suggested.

Midna was too cautious with the young girl to speak in an uncouth manner towards her, which was a new idea for Link.

"It's this way," Joan pointed, and Midna rushed off without a second thought. Link shrugged, signalled to Amber, and ran after her.

Viola's gym was an interesting place. It managed to stay out of the way while being larger than most of the buildings in the entire township.

"So this is Viola's gym?" Link inquired.

"Yes!" The man at the entrance, in an elaborate suit, rubbed his hands together in excitement before spinning off an entire spiel about Viola. Link tuned most of it out, instead paying attention to the string of spider-ish silk. It looked stronger than any he'd seen before.

"C'mon!" Midna cried, rushing forward and floating down. Luckily, the disembodied voice was applied to Amber, who was already swinging her way down. Link nodded to the suited man and followed.

They dropped down.

"Woah..." Amber awed, looking around at the tightrope maze. "So cool!" She pranced from string to string, balancing on them with expert care. Link followed, calling on his skills to help him across. After a minute, he decided to let Amber find the solution, seeing as she was enjoying herself. He was particularly optimistic about how colour seemed to be returning to her face.

It took about twenty minutes, but with a triumphant hop she stood proudly on a platform in a brighter part of the room, where Viola stood.

Viola lifted a black box to her eye, and Link closed in to investigate. A few moments later she lowered it again.

"Move a bit, will you?" She asked with slight tones of annoyance. Link complied, and a few moments later there was a bright flash.

"Ahh, good. You didn't ruin the photo," Viola sighed. Link hesitated.

"Well?"

"Um... what's that black box there, around your neck?" Link inquired seriously.

Viola laughed, but it died out as she realised he was totally serious. Midna whispered something in Amber's ear, and a few seconds later, she said, "He's a country boy."

"Right," Viola blinked, then relaxed. "Yeah, this is my camera. Look at this," She pointed to the shiny hole on the front, "and don't blink." She raised it to her eye again and the bright flash nearly blinded him. A few moments later she walked over and showed him the other side.

There was a screen, and on the screen was a static copy of Link.

"How?" Link asked eagerly. "It looks just like me!"

"The camera does it," Viola explained."It can take pictures of anything that I see in the viewfinder. So I look through the viewfinder, and I snap a picture, and 'Voila!' A picture!" SHe giggled. "I can't believe you don't know this, cameras are so common nowadays."

"As I said," Amber repeated, "he's a country boy."

"Yes, right," she nodded, putting down the camera to rest on her chest like a necklace. "Well, I suppose one of you is here to challenge me?"

"Yes, I am," Link confirmed. "Although it is my first battle, I'm pretty confident."

"I see," Viola considered. "Alright, I can explain the rules, too. So, stand over there, in the white box drawn on the floor. The little one." he walked over to it and did so, and she walked to the one on the opposing side.

"In a Pokémon battle, any number of rules can apply. I'll explain the ones here." She grinned. "The battle is two versus two, No switching is allowed until there is a victor between the two Pokémon on the field. Send out your first Pokémon!" Link nodded, and with a swift motion he released Chimchar, who nodded and ran out into the field, while Viola threw her ball right at the ground in front of her in a swift, practised motion. Link watched as her Pokémon was released and she put her hand out to catch the ball - which, apparently, could bounce.

And, in the sudden moments that ensued, Link became stressed as much as he had been when he had been fighting the strongest Monsters in Hyrule. He almost panicked, but Chimchar sent him a reassuring look, and he let his stress level decrease from 'life-threatening battle' to merely 'overwhelmed'.

And, of course, when her started telling her attacks, he didn't say it out loud.

Link, being a well-known one for giving people the silent treatment when under stress, had learned sign language. And that's what he did.

Miracle of all miracles, Chimchar knew sign language. Benefits of having a hatched Pokémon, perhaps.

By frequently doing running checks, she could take commands, and the Vivillon couldn't even predict what was going to happen next. The large, creepy butterfly swung around Chimchar in circles in attempts to have her scales touch Rose, and Rose kept burning them away with her sheer body heat. Link pointed hurriedly when he saw an opportunity, quickly sending out a message.

B-U-R-N T-H-E P-O-W-D-E-R

Chimchar nodded excitedly and sent a wisp of flame at a cloud of scales that should have completely missed Vivillon, who had already flown out of reach again. Instead, the wisp caught the scales and a fire started dancing it sway up the path of discarded powder into Vivillon, who despite her best efforts couldn't possibly avoid something that would home in on her no matter what.

She fell, coughed, and raised a small arm.

"Vivillon says she would like to not do that again," Viola announced helpfully. "Or at least, I think that's why she's forfeiting. Are you going to recall your Chimchar?" she asked sweetly.

Link considered. Rose had actually taken a bit of damage from the constant array of attacks that Viola's Vivillon had sent. If he continued, Rose was likely to go down to whatever she had in her mind to send out, so he decided that Ordon could muscle his way through a few bugs and returned Rose.

"Oh?" Viola smiled. "Alright, then." With a smile, she threw her Pokéball, while Ordon released himself and walked out onto the battlefield.

"Well, darn," Viola laughed. Her Surskit sighed. "I was thinking that I'd trick you into keeping Rose on the field... but it seems you've already outsmarted me. Oh well." She paused, as Ordon pawed the ground impatiently. "To be honest, most people don't have a fully-evolved Pokémon so early in their journey. Most will act out on their trainers until they have proof of your strength, like gym badges. If you don't have any..."

Ordon snorted.

Joan released himself, and translated, "He says that he trusts Link, not just because he is intelligent, but because he is fully capable of lifting a Gogoat over his head and throwing it a good fifty meters. Which I have witnessed, so it's true, he is that oddly powerful." Link blushed momentarily at the praise, but returned to the fight at hand.

Ordon sniffed, took a few steps forward, and shook. some static build up, and he pawed the ground, glaring at the small bug. It screamed in one of the highest-pitched voices Link'd ever heard, glared at Viola, and returned itself.

"Right," Viola held out the Pokémon's Ball. "Right. Well, I have to say, I'm sure you're strong enough - and smart enough - to protect yourself. Here, catch." She threw a small brown-and-green badge to him, which he caught, and held up to the light.

"Cool!" Link decided, staring at it happily. "What does it do?"

Viola stared blankly, then shook her head. "It's, uh, proof. Proof that you are strong enough to handle this move," she explained, handing him a CD. "This is a TM, you can use it to teach new moves to your Pokémon. The move this one teaches lets you cut down trees." He took it and stared at both of them in wonder.

"I'm sorry," Amber said on cue from Midna. "He's always been like this, and he doesn't mean anything by it."

"I see," Viola smiled.

A/N: I got bored, I accidentally wrote another chapter. Okay, that works. Here you go.

Reviews are always appreciated, I read them all!