Before Fennel popped the tiny morsel into her mouth, a loud ringing sound pierced the air and startled her. She immediately turned her head toward the source of the noise: a videophone mounted on the wall that blinked and beeped at her to indicate an incoming call.

"Hmm," Fennel mused, addressing the small popcorn flake wedged between her thumb and forefinger, "now who could that be, I wonder."

For a brief moment, the panicked girls experienced a small shred of relief as the gaping pit before them drew shut and the colossal scientist turned away from them. Their torture resumed several seconds later, however, as Fennel appeared to begin speaking. The cacophony of the bizarre and low electronic wailing in the distance combined with Fennel's warped and sonorous voice was both frightening and painful. Without any warning, the enormous digit that held them in place released its stifling grip, and they felt their organs bunch together in their throats as they experienced a sharp descent. They quickly grabbed onto the giant popcorn boulder in an effort to stabilize themselves, and they soon realized that they had been dropped back onto the pile. Before they had any time to react, however, they felt the huge jolt of the popcorn flake's impact with the mountain, and they clung for dear life as the world began spinning around them, their bodies being violently rocked and rattled as the gigantic puff clumsily rolled down the side of the pile. Finally, the boulder came to an abrupt halt and flung the disoriented girls, sending them tumbling onto the paper towel.

Fennel rose out of her chair and walked over to the phone. As she reviewed the caller information on the screen, her eyes lit up. She answered the call, and Professor Juniper's head filled the screen, surrounded by a blue sky.

"Aurea, hiii!" Fennel beamed.

"Hello, Fennel," Juniper said. "How are things?"

"Oh, fantastic, just fantastic," Fennel said through her teeth.

Juniper raised an eyebrow, picking up on Fennel's insincerity. "Uh-huh. Fine, huh? What'd you break this time?"

"W-what?! I-I didn't break anything," Fennel said proudly. "I'll have you know that everything is perfectly under control here!"

"Let me guess, that storage ray is still giving you grief, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh, how did I know that?"

Fennel stuck out her tongue at the screen. "Ya know, I should start charging you rent if you're gonna keep staying in my head like that!"

"Perhaps you should charge library fees instead, since you're basically an open book. Besides, I've known you for how long?"

"Yeah, yeah, what-ever!" Fennel giggled as her cheeks turned bright red. She pulled up a chair in front of the monitor to sit and began playing with her long hair. "Sooo, what's up?"

"Oh, not too much. Just out and about doing research. The usual. Did the girls ever make it over there?"

"Yep! Sure did, and I told them all about the green Munna. They were totally surprised, too!"

Juniper laughed heartily. "Excellent! You know, it required a lot of willpower for me not to spoil the surprise."

"Pssh, yeah, right! It was probably super-easy. I bet you had fun stringing them along, too!"

"Oh dear, you got me on that one," Juniper admitted with a smirk.

Fennel grinned as wide as her facial muscles would allow. "Now who's the open book?"

"Touché."

"I win!" Fennel giggled. "Anyway, they left for the Dreamyard maybe a half hour ago. Amanita went with them, too, so it's just me here."

Amanita groaned as she slowly regained her senses. The high ceiling and massive computer screen were enshrouded in a blurry haze, and the ringing in her ears was only just beginning to subside. As she replayed the harrowing series of events that she had just experienced, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. By some miracle, they managed to avoid being eaten and had been spared a gruesome and unspeakable death. However, her relief was short-lived, for she quickly realized that the ensuing fall might not have been so kind to the others. She could now hear the low roar of her sister speaking far off in the distance, but her vision had failed to come into proper focus, and she quickly realized that her glasses must have been knocked off her head during the fall. She hastily scrambled to her feet and frantically began searching the soft, white ground for anything remotely resembling a pair of glasses. Fortunately, she did not have to look very far, as they had landed close to her position. She reached for the small blur on the ground, fearing that her lenses or the frame might have been broken from the impact, but was relieved to find everything intact. As soon as she donned her glasses, she immediately began checking on the others.

"Owww," Bianca moaned as she began to recover from the fall, "wh... where am I?"

Amanita rushed to Bianca's side. "Oh my gosh, Bianca! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"W-what happened?" Bianca asked as she began to prop herself up.

"We survived," Amanita replied, her voice quavering with a small amount of residual fear. "We didn't get eaten. We're alive."

Bianca sat up and vacantly stared ahead, her mouth agape and trembling. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she drew in a short breath. Her shoulders bounced as she let out a small sob, followed by another, then another.

"We're alive," she squeaked.

"Yeah..."

Bianca began wildly darting her head around. "Oh no... where's Hilda?! Is she okay?!"

"I-I don't know. I haven't checked on her, yet."

Bianca sprang up and scanned the area for Hilda, worried that her friend might have been seriously injured. She and Amanita spotted Hilda a short distance from where they had landed. Hilda had been tossed a bit farther from the popcorn boulder, and she did not appear to show any signs of movement.

"H-Hilda!" Bianca screeched as she sprinted over toward Hilda's motionless body, once again fearing the worst for her dear friend.

Hilda was sprawled out on the ground, lying face-up and eyes closed. Bianca nudged the unconscious Trainer's body in an effort to wake her.

"Hilda, are you okay?! Wake up, Hilda! C-c'mon, now's not the time for jokes! Get up!"

But Hilda did not move.

Tears began forming in Bianca's eyes. "We... we're alive, Hilda! We made it, e-e-everything's okay! Come on, Hilda, wake up, please!"

Bianca started to lift Hilda's torso off the ground, but Amanita quickly stopped her.

"Wait!" Amanita said. "Don't move her! She could be seriously hurt. What if she has a concussion or a broken bone or something?"

Bianca jerked her arms back, but she still wanted to help Hilda any way she could.

"Well, like, w-what're we supposed to do?" she stammered. "We... we can't just leave her like this!"

Amanita moved closer. "Is she breathing? Does she have a pulse?"

"Uh, r-right."

Bianca dried her eyes and placed her fingers on Hilda's neck, and she smiled as she detected a steady heartbeat. She felt as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders knowing that Hilda was alive.

"Hilda, please," Bianca pleaded in between sobs, "you have to get up." She pressed her forehead against Hilda's. "Please, get up..."

"Come on, Hilda!" Amanita shouted. "Hang in there! I know you can do this! We believe in you!"

Hilda's eyelids began twitching, and she began to let out faint squeaks. Bianca's heart leapt, and her eyes grew red and misty.

"H-Hilda! Can... can you hear me?!"

Hilda's eyelids snapped wide open, and she let out a blood-curdling scream that caused Bianca and Amanita to jump back. Hilda's eyes began darting around wildly, and she fell into a panic. She pushed her body up on her forearms and began shuffling backward along the ground while yelling hysterically, as though she was still trying to avoid being eaten by Fennel. Bianca and Amanita were alarmed by Hilda's erratic behavior and immediately attempted to restrain the confused Trainer.

"Hilda, stop!" Amanita yelled as she strained to avoid being shoved aside by Hilda. "It's okay, there's no danger anymore!"

Hilda's thrashing and screaming slowly came to a halt. She began warily looking around the scenery, then to Bianca and Amanita. Her eyes were opened as wide as her lids would allow, and her mouth dangled open as she panted heavily.

"Wh... what...?"

Bianca flung her arms around Hilda. "We didn't get eaten. We... we're alive."

Bianca could not contain herself any longer, and she began violently bawling into Hilda's shoulder. Hilda, however, was completely paralyzed with fear, and she was unable to speak or express any emotion. A shell-shocked expression was frozen onto her face.

"I-it's okay to cry, Hilda," Bianca said, sensing her friend's turbulent emotions. "Y-you don't always have to act so tough, you know. It's okay to be scared."

Hilda was touched by her friend's display of affection, and with those words, the floodgates opened. She unleashed a torrent of emotion and began to cry loudly as all of her fear was finally allowed to breach the surface.

"I can't take it, Bee!" Hilda wailed, gripping her friend as tightly as humanly possible. "It's too much! I tried to act brave, but this is just too much! I'm the Champion, I'm supposed to be strong! I'm not supposed to let fear get the best of me! But we... we were almost stepped on... eaten alive... by a person! Oh my god, everything's so huge and scary... I... I don't wanna die like this!"

"Hilda, you're not weak for being afraid. Everybody gets afraid sometimes, even Champions."

"Bianca..."

Bianca and Hilda silently stared into each other's eyes for several seconds. Finally, the two girls burst into tears and cried until their eyes ran dry. For Hilda, there was a profound catharsis in owning her fear, and as she wept, her fear seemed to wash away and drain out of her tear ducts.

"Hilda," Bianca whispered, "You'll always be the strongest person I know."

Amanita looked on, inspired by the powerful display of friendship. She waited for their crying to subside before walking over to them and placing her hands on their shoulders.

"We're going to be fine," she smiled. "Now let's grab some food and then figure out how to get Big Sis' attention."

"Sounds like a plan," Hilda said between sniffles.

"Alright!" Bianca cheered. "Finally!"

The girls proceeded to happily gorge themselves on the giant popcorn boulder until their stomachs nearly burst. Periodically, they could hear the low rumbling of Fennel's voice in the distance, which startled them whenever it started up.

"Omigosh, that's too weird," Bianca remarked. "She sounds like a Wailord!"

"No kiddin'," Hilda affirmed. "I can't make out a word she's saying."

"That raises an interesting question," Amanita pondered, "how will we communicate with Big Sis once we finally get her attention?"

"I think we should focus on actually getting her attention first."

Bianca swallowed a huge chunk of popcorn. "But, like, how are we gonna do that? Everything we try seems to not work for some reason."

Amanita furrowed her brow pensively. "Hmm, we're going to have to think outside the box..."

Outside the box... the box... Box System... Storage System... Pokémon Storage System... Pokémon...!

Amanita let out a loud yelp, startling the other two girls.

"Wah, what is it?" Bianca asked.

"Th-that's it! You guys have your Pokémon on you, right?!"

Hilda and Bianca blinked at Amanita for a second before making the same realization.

"Ohhh!" Bianca said. "Duh! Our Pokémon, Hilda! We have our Pokémon to help us out!"

"Y-yeah, I knew that," Hilda muttered.

"Okay," Amanita continued, "do either of you have any Pokémon that could help Big Sis notice us?"

"Hey," Bianca said, "what about Storm? We could, like, fly in front of Fennel's face and get her attention that way! Besides, you owe me another flying lesson!"

"Oh, yeah," Hilda replied. "Good call, Bee."

Hilda reached for the Poké Ball at her waist and held it out. Before she summoned Storm, however, she hesitated.

"H-hang on. Uhh, is this gonna work?"

"What do you mean?" Amanita asked.

"I mean, like... okay, so we all got shrunk by your kooky invention, right? But, what about our Pokémon? Would they be affected differently or anything like that?"

Amanita scratched her head. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't actually know. Since they're already stored energy, I don't know if they would have been altered during the recombination process. We only tested household objects. I suppose we'll just have to try it and see."

Hilda nervously glanced down at the Ball in her hand. Her Pokémon were now their best chance for survival, but what would happen once she releases them? What if something went horribly wrong? She would have to worry about all that after summoning her Pokémon —what other choice did she have?

"Okay, Storm," she shouted, "let's go!"

Hilda tensed up as she tossed the Ball onto the ground, and a flash of light burst forth from it. She breathed a long sigh of relief as the light took on the familiar outline of a Braviary, and Storm manifested in front of her with a loud screech. He had been shrunken down along with the girls and did not appear to be affected in any other way.

Hilda ran over to the majestic bird and hugged it. "I'm so glad you're okay, Storm!"

"I suppose that answers that question," Amanita said. "So, what's the plan, Boss?"

"Well, I figure when your sister gets back, we fly up in front of the computer screen. That way, she'll definitely see us, and then we can finally get back to normal."

"Awesome!" Bianca exclaimed as she shoveled another large popcorn nugget into her mouth. "So I guess we wait until she gets back, huh?"

Hilda apprehensively looked over to the titaness in the distance.

"Yeah... I guess so."

"Well," Professor Juniper said, drawing out the word in a suggestive manner, "I'm actually on my way to Pinwheel Forest to do some research on a rare Pokémon that was spotted there."

"Oh!" Fennel shouted joyously. "So you're gonna be passing through Striaton City, then?"

"I suppose I would have to pass through your neck of the woods, yes."

Fennel clasped her hands together and drew in a short breath. "Heyyy, I know! Have you had lunch yet?"

"Hmm, now that you mention it, I could probably use some fuel before starting my research."

"Well, I know this great little restaurant that just opened up. It's called The Bayleef. They have the best sandwiches, and their coffee is to die for! We should go! My treat?"

Juniper smiled. "That sounds like a fantastic idea! I just so happen to be in the area, too." She lowered her wrist to show off her current location, and Fennel saw the busy streets of Striaton's commercial district.

"O-oh! That's super! Hey, how about you meet me there in like 20 minutes? I'm still trying to solve this problem I'm having with the Matter Reduction Ray."

Juniper cocked her head slightly. "Huh? I thought you called it a storage ray before...?"

Fennel paused for a second. "Ohhh, right, right, right! I'll tell you about that when we meet up."

"Alright. How about I meet you at the restaurant then? You said it was called 'The Bayleef'?"

"Yep yep, that's it!"

"Okay, I'll meet you there, then. See you in a bit."

"Okie dokie, byeee!"

Fennel giggled as she hung up and began walking back toward her desk, humming and twirling as she moved across the room.

The girls watched the giant inventor slowly dance her way toward them, and they began plotting their next move.

"Alright, you guys," Hilda announced, "now's our chance. All aboard!"

Hilda hopped onto Storm's back and had him lower his body to allow the others on. Amanita was the first to approach the large bird Pokémon. She climbed aboard, storing her glasses in her pocket, and situated herself closely to Hilda's backside so that she would be safely sandwiched between Hilda and Bianca. Bianca tucked her beret into her vest and happily jumped on Storm's back, sidling up to Amanita and wrapping her arms around the young hacker.

"I've never flown on a Pokémon before," Amanita said with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Don't worry," Bianca reassured her. "It's a little scary at first, but it's tons of fun!"

Hilda waited for Fennel to move closer to the desk before making her move. Within a minute, Fennel had arrived at her seat and was now looming over the tiny girls. She had woken the computer and was now once again typing away.

"Alright, Storm," she shouted, "let's do this! Hang on, you guys!"

Hilda lightly kicked Storm's sides, causing him to screech loudly and take flight. Bianca and Amanita were laughing and hollering as they ascended toward Fennel's face.

"Wow," Bianca gasped, "this is too trippy! We're moving so fast, but it looks like we're barely moving at all!"

Amanita reached for her glasses and briefly slipped them on in order to get a better view of the world around her. "Oh wow," she exclaimed. "You're right. I can feel us moving, but everything is so big that it looks like we're standing still. What a weird feeling!"

Bianca shouted ahead over Amanita's shoulder. "So what's the plan, Hilda?"

"Well," Hilda started, "not much of a plan, really. We're just gonna fly in front of the screen so that Fennel sees us. We'll play the rest by ear."

The girls felt their stomachs drop into their legs as Hilda commanded Storm to rapidly ascend toward the unaware scientist's face. Beyond Fennel's body, the immense room sprawled across the horizon, the unmoving far wall now seeming miles away from them. They watched as Fennel steadily sank toward the ground, her head slowly descending to meet them in the sky, and as they climbed higher, they could feel a mild breeze pour forth from her nostrils. Once Storm had reached an adequate altitude, Hilda positioned him such that they fell directly within Fennel's line of sight; there was no possible way that she could miss the girls now.

"Alright," Hilda proclaimed, "we're here! Just start yelling and waving and she'll eventually see us!"

On her command, the three girls and the Pokémon all began waving and making noises, doing anything in their power to capture the giant woman's attention.

Fennel continued typing away at the terminal, ensnared in an obsessive trance. Although she was excited to see Professor Juniper, she still desperately wanted to make some form of progress on her current set of problems, and she figured she could afford to wait a few minutes before leaving. As she unblinkingly stared at the screen, she noticed a small smudge near the bottom. However, she quickly found her eyes following it upward along the screen, and after a short second, the smudge stopped in the center of the screen. Focusing her gaze upon the tiny smudge, she realized that it was not a smudge at all, and that whatever it was, it was not even on the screen. At first, she thought it was a small dust particle that had floated into her vision, but was shocked to find that it had stopped moving and now appeared to hover at a constant altitude before her.

The three girls held their collective breath as the two gigantic blue orbs locked on to them.

"I think she saw us!" Amanita cheered.

Fennel's eyebrows slowly rose, virtually in response to Amanita's comment. The girls all began cheering and shouting happily at the giant face in front of them, thankful that their nightmare would soon draw to a close. They watched as Fennel pushed back in her chair and began to raise her cupped hand, presumably to create a safe landing zone for them.

"I can't believe it!" Hilda said. "It's finally over! We're saved!"

Hilda began to command Storm to descend into Fennel's palm. However, the giant hand veered away from them, and it was soon ominously hovering over their heads. The girls stared up into Fennel's cupped hand, completely at her mercy and wondering what she was planning.

"W-what's she doing?" Bianca asked nervously.

"I dunno," Hilda replied, feeling uneasy at the sight of Fennel's enormous hand leering over them.

Suddenly, the hand rapidly began to grow in size, and in that instant, they understood what was going on.

Fennel was not going to rescue them. She was going to swat them out of the sky.