The skies above the three cities in the Battle Zone were filled with dragonites and helicopters carrying refugees from all over Sinnoh.

High up in the clouds, Candice's cell phone rang. Answering it, she said, "Hello?"

"This is Cynthia, Elite of Sinnoh. Candice, as a Gym Leader, your prescence is required at Seabreak Castle."

"Why? What's happened?"

"Well, your city was attacked, despite being such a remote community. Do you really need to ask why?"

"You mean there's been other attacks?"

"Of course. I've come back to Sinnoh personally to oversee the evacuation."

"All right, I'll be there." Candice closed the phone. "Everyone, I've got to go to Seabreak Castle. Could you drop me off there?"

Lance frowned. "You do realize how long of a detour we must take, right?"

"Could I take a different Dragonite, then?" Candice asked.

"Uh, okay..." Lance sat up, calling to another Dragonite. It flew next to theirs, until the wings were almost touching. Lance ordered, "Glide position!" Both dragonites stopped flapping, angling their wings so as to catch wind.

"Their wings are pretty strong; they could hold you," Lance told Candice.

Candice climbed onto the wings, and leapt onto the other Dragonite. Lance gave another command to this other Dragonite. "Southwind, seabreak castle." It gave a soft growl, and began to flap its wings again, turning south towards Seabreak Castle.

Candice called, "Thanks, Lance, I'll tell everyone you said hello." She and her Dragonite flew off in the direction of Seabreak Castle.

Slick and the others arrived at the Resort Area, finding it packed with evacuees."Hey, were you with the people from Sunyshore?" asked a trainer, approaching Slick. "I'm Eddie, by the way."

Slick shook hands with Eddie. "Yes, I was. My name's Slick."

Eddie nodded. "Ah, I see... by the way, might you know what's going on?"

"I don't know," responded Slick. "Personally, I'm hoping that we get evacuated. It's been a long time since I was in Hoenn."

Eddie nodded. "Personally, I came from Sinnoh. My sister's Candice, you see..."

"Candice? You're Candice's brother?" said Slick, amazed. He looked around. "Where is Candice?"

"Urk... the Champion called her to Seabreak Castle," said Eddie with an edge to his voice, looking down at his shoes. "I mean, I know that she's important to Sinnoh or something. But honestly, I don't care for all this glamor and status. The Candice I know isn't someone I care about because she's famous. I care about her because she's my sister."

"I have a brother," said Slick softly. "He always looked out for me when we were young, making sure we were safe. But then, as we got older, he began to focus on battling. The battles consumed him as he traveled through all the regions. And when I ran into Chris again, he was completely different. "

"Whoa, whoa!" exclaimed Eddie. "Your brother's name is Chris, and you're Slick. You're not the Hoenn Elite, are you?"

Slick was taken aback. "I, well, yes I am... why?"

"You seem so friendly," said Eddie. "You're not bragging, you're not showing off or anything... unlike Cynthia."

As they talked, Slick found that he was taking a liking to Eddie. For the first time since entering Sinnoh, Slick had found someone who he could get along with, who didn't fawn over him for his status... someone he could call a friend.

"Anyway, it's been great talking to you, Slick," said Eddie. He looked away and sighed softly. "Except that I don't have any place to sleep tonight, since Candice is in Seabreak Castle... she had the tent."

Slick offered, "Well, you could stay at my villa."

Eddie's eyebrows raised. "You've got a vacation home?"

Before Slick left for Sinnoh, the gym leader from Ever Grande City and previous Hoenn Elite, Steven Stone, called him up. Steven had owned a villa in the Resort Area, but it had been unused ever since Steven became a gym leader. He had given Slick the villa for free, mailing him the deeds.

As Slick had never been to the Battle Zone before, he hadn't gotten a good look at the vacation house yet. However, Slick had mentioned the house to his cousins, so he would inevitably find Rex and Wilsa there. Sure enough, when he reached his villa, Rex and Wilsa were just outside the door, arguing.

"I'm telling you, Lucario is a legendary Pokemon!" said Rex.

"How is it a legendary? It can mate with other Pokemon!" said Wilsa.

"But Manaphy can mate with a Ditto, and it's legendary!" Rex argued.

"But Manaphy can't make more baby Manaphies, can it?" Wilsa pointed out.

"How would you know? You just started battling," Rex said cynically.

"But you think Pound and Scratch are the same!" replied Wilsa, with just as much cynicism.

"Hello, you two," said Slick, taking both of them by surprise.

"Aah! Slick, where'd you come from?" asked Rex, taking no notice of Eddie.

"Oh good, you're here. Tell Rex how Lucario's not a legendary!" said Wilsa.

"But it IS!" cried Rex. The two began arguing again.

"Excuse me, I need to get inside," said Slick. Walking between them, Slick and Eddie entered the vacation home for the first time.

"Are they always arguing like that?" wondered Eddie.

"Oh yes, definitely," said Slick.

The villa contained two couches, a television, a table, and some other furniture. Looking around, he said to himself, "Didn't Stone say there was just a table inside? Where'd all this come from?" Then on the table, Slick saw a furniture catalog. "Oh, for the love of... those two..." Eddie skimmed the catalog, totaling up the costs. "Let's see... 360,000 Poke!?"

Slick went outside, where the two siblings were still quarreling.

"Why'd you chose an Umbreon? Its attacks suck!"

"Umbreon's not that bad, it took out your Turtwig!"

"It's not that good either, it's worse than Regifire!"

"There's no such thing as Regifire, Rex!"

Slick interrupted. "Hey, you two! You owe me 360,000 Poke! Quit fighting, or go find another place to spend the night!"