A/N: Gaaaaaaahhhhh, I officially HATE improving, but I'd rather do it myself than have someone else do it for me. No offense... xD

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon in any way, shape, or form. :)


The blazing star rises early in the morning as the indigo skies of night are altered to look orange and dark red. Julian and I had already gained the opportunity to train a bit by battling with some of the wild Pokémon around our camp site. Though I didn't catch any new Pokémon, a couple good things came from all those fights: Julian's now learned Water Sport and Focus Energy. However, he was incredibly tired from training, so I decided that we should take a break.

"Chester, why don't you come out and play for a while?" I say to the Scout Pokémon inside his pokéball. After, I aim it for the ground as the white flash discharges from the capture device and brings Chester into view. Julian surprises Chester with a tackle as a greeting, and then the Pokémon begin chasing each other all over the place.

I take the opportunity to relax as I sit down on the soft grass and remove the mystery Pokémon egg's container from my bag. While my eyes examine the egg a bit more closely, I notice that it's a yellowish color with some kind of red stripe around it. Being thorough as not to move it too much, I set it down on the ground carefully.

The egg fascinates me to no end, and I can't refrain from racking my brain for likely Pokémon possibilities. Maybe it was some kind of egg from another region like Sinnoh or Johto, or maybe even a rare Pokémon from right here in the Unova region... but, on the other hand, I wouldn't mind having a normal Pokémon. They're just as special as a rare or legendary Pokémon.

"Patrat, rat, patrat!" I hear Chester's voice come from beside me.

I face towards the Scout Pokémon yanking on Julian's arm impatiently. It appears Chester would like for Julian to see the egg as well since Chester's already seen it, and as the Scout Pokémon at long last hauls Julian over to me, he points at the glass container. Julian immediately goes into a state of admiration as he looks at it and walks closer to the container to peer through the glass.

"Are you two excited to be big brothers?" I ask them in which they respond by jumping around and hollering in joy.

"HEY! YOU CROOK!"

A loud voice explodes from within the woods, making a flock of Pidove just above us take to the skies and cry out in surprise. Right when I'm about to look back to see where the voice came from, I suddenly become a human speed bump as someone-who I suggest was running full-speed at the time-topples over me, kicking my in the back of the head as the person falls to the ground with a thud. I seize the sore spot and rub it a bit to make it stop hurting. As I look up, I discover than the person's wearing the same outfit like the members of Team Plasma... and I also catch a glimpse of something pink in the individual's arms as the person flees the scene.

"Ouch!" I exclaim, putting a hand on the back of my head yet again as I feel the pain intensifying. "That jerk could've said 'I'm sorry' before running off like that." I rise up to my feet and dust my clothes off, and then reach a hand up to see if N's hat's still on my head which, unsurprisingly to me, didn't even budge.

"STOP RUNNING, YOU COWARD, AND FACE ME!"

There it is again... I think. When I turn around, I perceive a young-no more than ten years old it looks like-dark-brunette girl dressed in a black and pink martial arts outfit running my direction with some kind of Pokémon following right by her side. I fish out my Pokédex and aim it at the Pokémon. Sawk, the Karate Pokémon. Sawk train high up in the mountains by punching trees and rocks and the sound can be heard from far away.

"OshOsha!" Julian cries out in alarm.

Before I have the time to look up, the girl is already skidding towards me with her heels digging into the ground in an attempt to stop herself, but she's still coming at me pretty fast. Sooner than I can move out of the way, she crashes into me, sending both of us tumbling to the ground on our backsides just a few feet away from each other.

"Couldn't you've moved out of the way, lady?!" the girl shouts while Sawk helps her up to her feet. "Now I've lost some ground, and I have to find that guy again!" She stomps over to me with a glare and points a rigid finger in my face. "Stay out of my way!" Afterwards, she takes off down the road after the Team Plasma member, all while yelling furiously, "YOU BETTER HOPE TO YOUR PERSONAL GOD I DON'T FIND YOU! UNLESS YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE, GIVE ME BACK MY MUNNAAAAAA!"

An awkward silence fills the air before I ask myself, "What... just happened?"

"OshOsha, oshawott, wott?" Julian questions as I turn my head to see him scurry over to me. He hops into my lap and cries as he tries to wrap his arms around my waist; however, they're too stubby and small, so I pet his head in reassurance that I am okay.

"Wait a minute," I say to myself as I look around to find no sign of Chester or the Pokémon egg container. "Oh no... don't tell me-!"

Just as I'm about to jump to my feet and look around for Chester and the egg, I hear the Scout Pokémon's voice come from behind me, "Rat, patrat?"

I whip my head around to find Chester holding the glass container in his arms with a smile. He walks over to me and sits it down, and then hops into my lap with a soldier salute. "Haha, now I know why you're called the Scout Pokémon. You watch for danger and get anything and anyone out of the way before it can get hurt." I place my hand on his head and stroke him as thanks. "You saved the egg, and for that, I'm grateful."

Nevertheless, my attention goes back to the girl who chased after that Team Plasma member like her life depended on it. She was in such a hurry... and very aggressive towards the guy. She said that she wanted her "Munna" back. Is that some kind of Pokémon? To answer my question, I search through my Pokédex and come across the Pokémon in question. Munna, the Dream Eater Pokémon. Munna can eat the dreams of people and Pokémon alike, and then project those dreams by emitting Dream Mist from their body.

The image on the Pokédex catches my attention almost immediately. It's pink... the same color as the object that man was running away with. Oh, no! That jerk must've taken her Pokémon! I grab the glass container and place it in my bag, and then hop up to my feet and face Julian and Chester. "Hop up on my shoulders, guys! We've got a thieving Plasma member who needs to be taught a lesson!"

In unison, they nod and jump onto my shoulders, clinging to them tightly. With that, I take off for the girl, hoping that they didn't get very far and that I would catch up to them soon.


As I take a moment to rest and catch my breath, the girl's voice explodes from within the forest, "NOOOOO! WE LOST HIM!" She doesn't sound very far away, actually... almost like she's right beside where we stand.

Suddenly, Julian and Chester dismount my shoulders and scamper over to a small shrub where they poke their heads through the leaves to get a better look. After, Julian extracts his head and waves an arm as a gesture to come closer. In reply, I move toward the hedge and descend to the ground on my hands and knees, and then stick my head through the bush.

There in front of us, I spot the young girl with her head resting against a tree. Then, to my surprise, she brings up a clenched hand and clobbers the hard bark of the sizeable Oak with such force that it creates a deep cavity within the tree that reaches up to her elbow. The wood splinters around her arm, and I watch as some of the fragments stab through her skin, making the red liquid drip down from her wounds and fall to their death as they come into contact with the ground; crimson droplets stain the brown soil beneath her feet a dark red color.

Then, while releasing a loud roar filled with pure, unadulterated rage, she begins attacking the tree relentlessly, slamming her fists into the bark with the same outcome like before as she takes out her anger. Though Sawk tries to stop this by seizing her arms and holding them back for a mere few moments, the girl jerks her arms out of his grip and continues her outburst, battering the Oak with no holds barred.

My Pokémon and I watch in shock as the girl unleashes one final, powerful blow that makes the tree give way and collapse to the ground just inches away from the girl, kicking up a large cloud of dust that shoots into the sky and veils her and Sawk. As it dissipates, I see the girl still standing in the same spot; her head hangs with regret while Sawk gapes at her in complete bewilderment, and then looks down at the hacked lumber that almost crushed his trainer.

This compels me to run out from behind the bush and come to a stop at her side. I notice her ivory skin is also discolored to match the color of the blood still dripping from her cuts, and as I look up at her face, I pay attention to the large tears that trickle down her cheeks and dampen the ground when they fall. Her knuckles are bruised and blood-spattered from hammering her fists into the tree.

"It's all my fault..." I hear her mumble silently under her breath as she drops to her knees and covers her face behind her hands to hide her tears. "It's all my fault my Munna was taken from me."

The poor thing, I think and get down on my knees, but as soon as I place a comforting hand on her shoulder, she jerks away, and then looks up at me; her large, dark-emerald eyes watery from sobbing.

"H-hey, I know you," she states, drying her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. "You're that lady I ran into a while back."

I nod as a reply.

She sniffles, still trying to cease her tears with her shirt sleeve as Sawk pats her on the back and talks softly to get her to settle down. Eventually, she's able to stop crying and lets out a sorrowing sigh. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Sawk." Her grief-stricken expression turns to shame, and she hangs her head to hide this. "I'll never do it again."

The Karate Pokémon shakes his head and wraps his arms around the small girl in a caring embrace and places her on his lap, stroking her long, dark-brown locks sympathetically. This brings tears to my eyes as well, but I wipe them away quickly before they have time to gather at the corners of my eyes. Just then, I feel my shoulders become heavier, and as I glimpse over, Chester and Julian are perched on them, looking at me with worry; I just shake my head with a smile to tell them that I'm fine.

Her attention comes back to me. "Did you... see what happened, too?"

Reluctantly, I nod, and then take out my pen and notepad to write something down, but before I can do that, she asks, "What are you doing?"

'Just wait a minute.' I simply write, and after I'm done showing it her, she nods. Once I'm finished writing, I hold it up to her and allow her to read it, 'So, what happened just now? Why'd you do that?'

"It's all because of that guy who took my Munna," she begins as her eyes well up with tears once more. "I wasn't paying attention to her because I was training with Sawk, but when I heard her cry out for help, it was already too late. The man ran off with my Munna once I turned to see what was wrong, and after I bumped into you, I lost his track." She tries her hardest to keep her tears restrained. "I got so mad at the man... and so angry with myself that I had to take it out on something." Lines of water stream down her cheeks as she looks at her blood-saturated arms and hands. "It hurt, but I couldn't stop because the pain I felt was replaced by my anger and frustration."

I write, 'Well, you're hurt pretty bad. It would be a good time to bandage those cuts.'

This seems to make her mad as she looks at me with anger in her eyes. "You think I need you to tell me what to do?! Who do you think you are?! My mom?!"

'No, but I'm worried about you. You should cover those up before they're exposed to anything contagious in the air. If you put too much strain on your arms, your wounds will continue to get worse.'

She rises from Sawk's lap and points a stern finger at me as she yells, "If I wanted to hear all that, I could've gone back home to listen to my parents complain!"

'Look, I'm just trying to help.'

"I don't want your freakin' help, lady!" she yells. "I can do things on my own, now! I don't need someone telling me what to do because I'm my own boss!"

'Well, if you won't take my advice, then maybe I can help you look for your Pokémon.'

"NOOO!" she roars at the top of her lungs, making the woods around us become completely silent. "FOR THE SECOND TIME, I DON'T WANT YOUR FREAKING HELP! And what are you gonna do when we find the guy, hmm?! Write him to death? I don't need the assistance of Silent Sally when all you do is write what you should be saying! I mean, what the heck's up with that anyways?!"

I exhale noisily from holding my breath while she yelled, and then write, 'It's a long story.'

"Well, I don't have time for lengthy anecdotes, lady!" she affirms and turns to her Sawk. "C'mon, let's go find Munna!" Her eyes then revert to me and she gives me a menacing glare as she growls, "And I don't want you to follow me or come to my rescue. I'll save my Munna myself, so stay out of my business."

They take off without another word, leaving me behind with a blank expression as I recall the threat in her voice. Even Julian and Chester seem scared because I feel them shaking on my shoulders, but how can I just stand here-umm, maybe "sit here" are better words-and not think about how she's doing? What if she passes out from losing too much blood, or what if she gets into a fight with the guy and collapses due to exhaustion?

I have to help her, I think and lift myself up off the ground, obtaining Chester's pokéball and calling him back to it without his say in the matter. I then turn to the Sea Otter Pokémon. "Julian, we're going to make sure that girl doesn't get hurt. If she does, we'll be right there to help her. Okay?"

"Oshawott!" he affirms with a nod.

And, if anything else, we have to be careful...


After a few minutes of nonstop running, I decide to take short break, but this is before I hear the girl's voice shout, "I SAID GIVE HER BACK TO ME!"

"And what if we don't, ya little runt?"

This voice is unfamiliar to me for it is a male's. The yelling persists, yet all I can make out are the shouts and screams of both the girl and the man... and they sound nearby. Out of the corner of my left eye, I see two shadows moving amongst the clusters of trees beside me. I turn my head in that direction and hurry over to the trees where I hide behind them and examine the area.

In front of me are four figures: the girl and her Sawk, as well as two members of Team Plasma-a male and a female. I also notice that the woman has the Dream Eater Pokémon in her arms and is holding the Pokémon tight against her chest even though it's struggling to get out of its captor's grip.

"C'mon, little girl," the male entices, motioning her to come closer to him. "Show me what you've got."

She lets loose a terrifying growl as she dashes toward the male. Once she stops in front of him, she jumps off the ground and thrusts her leg straight out at the man; he dodges swiftly by turning to his side, taking hold of her foot with one hand and propelling her backwards with a forceful thrust of his palm. She lands on her backside a few feet away, but manages to stand up soon after as if unharmed. Again, she charges at him full throttle. This time, as she draws nearer, she drops to the ground and brings her right leg around, hooking his ankles and tripping him, making him fall to the earth hard on his back with a thud. She somersaults backward, and then gets into a fighting stance.

The male spits before getting to his feet and saying, "You ain't bad, kid."

"You are, though," she affirms with a scowl on her face. "Now give my Munna back to me."

"Tch, you wish," he states.

Just then, she appears right in front of him like greased lightning and crunches her fist into his right eye, forcing him to fly back at least twenty feet away from her and brutally smash into the ground which then creates a dust cloud that surrounds him, screening his body from our view, but once it clears, he is now standing up and covering his now bruised eye with his right hand.

What amazing power! I think with a shudder after seeing the young girl display her monster-like strength. She must be as strong as ten men to be able to do that for someone so young and so innocent-looking!

She laughs heartily. "Haha-HA! How's that for showing you what I got?!" However, just when she gets through with this sentence, she limply collapses to the ground. I gasp as I watch Sawk shake her to get her to wake up, yet she is unresponsive.

At this moment, I know I have to help her out, so I force my body away from the cover of the trees and run to her side. Once I arrive, I crouch down next to her and put my head on her chest. After I hear her heart beat, I sigh with relief when I discover that she is, in fact, okay. I rule this as exhaustion after all of the activity she performed just moments ago, but as I look down at her arms, they're still dripping blood, so maybe she lost too much.

My shoulder feels lighter than before, now. I look over to my right to find Julian pointing his scalchop at the man and shouting furiously at him; sometimes the Sea Otter Pokémon goes back and forth between the male and the female members, pointing at the male, and then the female, then the male, and so on... as if not knowing who to yell at or who to be angry with more, but he is pretty ticked off as by the tone and loudness of his voice. He growls and stares, but as he does this, a Purrloin comes out from behind the female and sits beside its trainer with a wicked glare; Julian just returns the look.

The female member laughs scornfully, "Don't you know that it's improper for a Pokémon to stare like that? You obviously haven't taught it much manners."

Oh, I haven't taught mine any manners? I sneer at the thought as I look at the woman and the Purrloin, but my attention immediately goes back to the girl. I have to get her out of here before any more damage is done. I look up at Sawk and tell him, "Can you carry her out of here? Don't worry, I'll save her Munn-Agh!" Before I have time to finish my sentence, something tackles me forcefully and knocks me down flat on my back.

"OshOsha!" Julian cries out in alarm.

As I sit up to see the perpetrator, I find a Lillipup standing in front of me with a devious grin on its face.

I hear the man whom Yukii had punched earlier laugh, "HA! No one's going anywhere! Not until we take your Pokémon and free them from their captivity!"

Just as I'm about to get up off the ground, the Puppy Pokémon growls and snarls at me... almost like it's telling me to stay where I am or else. This is absolutely unbelievable! Now even the Pokémon under their care are acting just as criminal as the members of Team Plasma! The very thought of that makes me detest them even more.

"Oh, and don't worry," the female begins, "we'll make sure that your Pokémon learn to behave better by the time we liberate Pokémon from people across the Unova region!"

No! No, that won't happen! I... I won't let it-!

"OSHAWOTT, OSHA!" Julian shouts in a rage, cutting of my thoughts and then becoming enveloped in a glowing white light that shines as brilliantly as the moon. We all watch in amazement as the Sea Otter Pokémon begins to develop and change before our eyes.

Once the bright light breaks away from his body, it reveals an entirely different Julian than before. He's become noticeably taller, his body's colored all light blue except for a dark blue, fringed adornment that covers his thighs, and instead of one scalchop, he now has two, yet they are placed on different sides of his adornment. While the others are distracted, I take the opportunity and reach into my bag to retrieve my Pokédex, and then I scan the new and improved Julian. Dewott, the Discipline Pokémon, and the evolved form of Oshawott. Through rigid training, Dewott uses the double-scalchop technique to accomplish its fluid swordsmanship.

A faint glow makes me look up from the Pokédex where I find Julian with both scalchops in hand. A light blue aura stretches from the shining shells and curves to form blade-like weapons. Suddenly, he pushes off the ground forcefully with his legs and cuts through the air like a speeding bullet, hurtling himself at the Lillipup. Once he's close enough to the Pokémon, he performs a vertical uppercut with his right scalchop, making the Lillipup shoot into the sky with a whine of pain. As it plummets to the ground, it begins to accelerate, ultimately crashing into the ground and stirring up a cloud of dust around it.

Julian looks over his shoulder as the curved, blue aura is withdrawn back into the shells and looks at me worriedly. "Dewott, dew, dewott?"

"I... I'm fine, Julian," I affirm with a smile and extend my arm to place a kind hand on his head, petting him as a sign of my gratitude for his actions.

Then, a faint, yet perceptible, ringing noise sounds throughout the now dead-quiet wooded area. I watch the man putting a hand up to his ear as he seems to be concentrating on something. He then turns to face the female, "Change of plans. Boss wants us to go to Nacrene City immediately."

This seems to confuse her, "But, what about-?"

"Boss' orders," the male interrupts, taking the Munna from her arms and then walking over to me. As soon as he gets as close to me as he wants to, he holds out the Pokémon with a glare as he says to me, "Now take it before we change our minds."

Instantaneously, my arms shoot out to seize the Dream Eater Pokémon and hold it close to me as its body trembles in fear.

The male backs away from me to come to a stop near the female's side and says to her, "Let's get outta here! I'll explain everything to you when we get there."

Afterwards, they both take off into the thick woods while their Pokémon trail behind them. I retreat to the young girl's side and sit on my knees next to her; she begins to stir from her recent fainting episode, and once she becomes fully conscious, her eyes widen at the sight of the Munna in my arms.

"M-Munna?" she questions in disbelief, and then grabs onto Munna, embracing the Pokémon while tears stream down her cheeks. She says to it as it nuzzles into her chest, "It'll be allright, Munna. I've got you, now."

"DewDewott, wott, dew?" Julian asks, making me turn away from the reunion and see the Discipline Pokémon smiling at me. Then, he comes closer to me and collapses in my lap, clinging to me by wrapping his arms around my waist and embracing me with all his strength. This startles me a bit, but I return his feelings by placing a hand on his back and patting him in a comforting way.

"Why are you being so affectionate, Julian?" I ask him.

He responds by tightening his grip around my waist and cozying up to my stomach with a content expression on his face.

Suddenly, it hits me. When he was an Oshawott, his stubby arms prevented him from ever holding me close, so he had to manage with me hugging him. Now that he's evolved, he is finally able to put his arms around me and actually hug me back. I smile at the thought as I bring my hand up to the top of his head and pet him understandingly.

"Um, I wanna thank you," the girl speaks.

I look over my shoulder and shake my head in denial of her gratitude toward me. After, I remove Julian's arms from my waist and rise to my feet, and then take out my pen and notepad to write down, 'I didn't really do anything.'

"I... should've listened to you, though," she affirms with a sigh, looking down at her arms which are still bleeding a bit. Suddenly, she shakes her head and flashes me a wide grin. "Besides, you saved Munna, and even though I told you to stay away, you came to the rescue anyways!" She gives me a thumbs up. "You ain't so bad, lady!"

'First off, the name's Madelynn.' I write quickly.

Her face turns a bright red; she brings her hand up to the back of her head and scratches it in embarrassment. "Hahaha, I guess I was so caught up with trying to save Munna that I forgot to ask you your name and introduce myself!" She clears her throat before her and Sawk bow to me. "I am Yukii Song, and this is my partner, Sawk."

'It's very nice to meet you, Yukii, but though I'd like to stick around, I better get going.' Once I show it to her, I bow and walk off, but I'm immediately stopped as Yukii and Sawk jump over my head and land right in front of me, holding out their hands in a "halt" gesture.

"And just where do you think you're going?" she questions with a flustered tone of voice and a cocked eyebrow. She continues before I can write anything down, "There ain't no way I'm just gonna let you leave me here. I owe you big time for saving my Munna, and until that time comes, I'll be tagging along with ya for the time being."

'You don't really owe me anything. I was just helping because it's common courtesy.'

She waved off my last comment with a shake of her index finger, "There ain't no way you're writing your way outta this one lady-er, uuhhh, I mean... Madelynn. From now on, until I can repay you, I'm not leaving your side."

I shake my head at her need to feel like she has to repay me, but I accept her offer to travel with me, and then place the two objects in my hand back into their pocket in my bag.

While Yukii marches in front of me with Sawk by her side and Munna resting atop her head, I can't help but think what Team Plasma wants to do at Nacrene City. Are they going to have another rally there, or will they just start stealing Pokémon willy-nilly like they did with Yukii's Munna?

Suddenly, I feel a hand slip into mine. As I look down, I discover that the hand is Julian's. He walks beside me with a casual expression on his face like he's doing absolutely nothing, and I can't help but smile at him. My fingers wrap around his hand while we walk down Route 3 to Nacrene City. Hopefully, we don't have to run into Team Plasma there or be part of another gathering... but then again, what the hell am I saying? Team Plasma pops up in the most random and the most unexpected of times that it's nearly impossible to tell where they are at what time and what they are planning to do. Please, just let me have a regular Gym battle in a regular town without having to go through what I went through last time.

Heaven forbid anything like that happens again...


A/N: T.H.I.S. T.O.O.K. E.V.E.N. L.O.N.G.E.R. T.H.A.N. T.H.E. O.L.D. C.H.A.P.T.E.R. 7. Dx ... And it's over five thousand words? Holy crap... I'm freakin' nuts!