"So, you're back for a rematch already? I hope you took my advice on training in Pinwheel Forest."

Lenora had returned from her visit to the Pokémon Center, and the two of us took our places for battle.

"I did. And this time, I know I'll win."

Wasting no more time on words, Lenora calls out her Herdier. I decide to start with my Munna for its high defense. Herdier manages to inflict massive damage with Bite, but not before taking a good bit from Munna's Psybeam. Before Herdier can finish it off, I withdraw Munna and tag in Patrat. As Herdier rushes forward for a Take Down, I gamble on an idea I came up with during my training.

"Patrat, jump!"

Without missing a beat, Patrat leaps into the air as Herdier trips and falls after failing to connect with its intended target. Patrat lands on top of the dog pokémon and sinks its teeth into Herdier's back. Lenora's pokémon jumps to its feet and attempts to shake off Patrat, who clings to Herdier's fur to stay on. Eventually, exhaustion and damage from Patrat's attacks bring it down. Lenora and I both call back our pokémon for the moment of truth.

Lenora's Watchog appears, and when it sees me, it smiles as if remembering how I had presented practically no challenge to it earlier that day. The smug look disappears, however, and is replaced by widened eyes as I send out my secret weapon. Pignite. Smoke puffs out of Pignite's nose as it snorts and stares down its opponent. Watchog darts forward and attacks with Crunch, but if Pignite even felt the hit, it doesn't show as it pulls back an arm and unleashes its new move, Arm Thrust. In the blink of an eye, Pignite's palm launches forward and smashes into Watchog's face. Before Watchog has a chance to recover, it gets again. And again. And again. And again, five in total. With the devastating attack finally over, Watchog sways back and forth before falling to the ground.

"Well done, young man," Lenora says as we recall our pokémon and walk towards each other. "Not only did you manage to beat me this time, you did so without losing a single member of your team. And so, I would like to congratulate you with this Plain Badge."

I take the rectangular piece of purple and gold metal and tuck it inside my badge case. As I turn to leave, Hawes comes rushing down the stairs.

"Lenora, there's trouble! Some people just stormed into the museum and are trying to take the fossils!"

I have an idea on who those people might be, so I tag along with the curators as they run upstairs. Sure enough, Team Plasma members are all over the place. As we descend the steps to the museum floor, the Plasmas form a line in front of us.

"So glad you could join us, Gym Leader," Says the Plasma leading the raid. "It wouldn't feel right doing this if you didn't know the reason behind it. In the name of pokémon liberation, Team Plasma will be claiming the dragon's skull from your museum."

What does Team Plasma want with an old bone?

Lenora steps forward, but the Plasma leader throws something to the ground. A cloud of smoke blossoms from his feet, blinding us as the Plasmas go about their work. When the smoke clears, we see that all of the Team Plasma members have vanished along with the head of the dragon skeleton. Lenora and I rune outside to try and catch up, but they're nowhere in sight. As we look around, a guy with a scarf and poofy brown hair approaches.

"Good day, Lenora," he says. "Found any good fossils lately?"

"Now's not a good time, Burgh," Lenora responds irritably.

"Yes, I thought you looked bothered. Did something happen?"

"Yes, something happened! A fossil was just stolen from the museum!"

While Lenora's yelling at the newcomer, Bianca comes walking over from down the street and Cheren pops out of the museum.

"Hey, guys," Bianca greets us. "I heard something was going on over here, so I came to see what it was all about."

"So it would seem," Cheren says. "I kind of lost myself in a book, and when I looked up, everyone was running outside. What did I miss?"

"Team Plasma raided the museum and took off with one of the exhibits," I explain.

For some reason, Cheren laughs at this. "Oh, is that all?"

Lenora rounds on him with fire in her eyes. "What do you mean 'is that all?' I'll have you know, that fossil is incredibly important to the museum!" The force of her rage freezes Cheren to the spot. "But we don't have time to stand here discussing it, we need to get it back! You two!" She points towards Bianca and Cheren. "Stay here and guard the museum. Burgh, you take Grey and search Pinwheel forest. I'll head out to Route 3."

She takes off toward the east gate, leaving the rest of us standing there speechless.

The man known as Burgh recovers first and turns to me. "I assume you must be Grey. As you may have guessed, my name is Burgh. I'm the Gym Leader of Castelia City as well as the most famous artist in all of Unova!" As he says that last part, he steps forward and points at the sky dramatically. When he notices our lack of any kind or reaction, he clears his throat awkwardly. "Oh, but I guess that's not really important right now. Come on, I'll lead the way."

We make our way down the road past where Cheren and I had been training earlier until the trees around us become so thick, they begin to block out the sun.

As we walk, Burgh explains the plan. "The thieves know we're looking for them, so they'd want to avoid the roads until the coast is clear. So, if they came this way, they must be hiding somewhere in the forest. Now, there are only two ways through here: the road we're on now and a path that leads deeper in. I want you to take that path and try to find them. While you're doing that, I'll take this road straight to the exit and block it in case they try to escape. Sound good?"

"Well... it's better than nothing, I guess."

"That's the spirit!"

The time comes for us to split up, and Burgh gives me an encouraging smile before continuing up the road. I let out a sigh and start down my own path. I don't see why I'm doing the hard part, but there's not much to gain by arguing with a Gym Leader.

Going deeper into the forest, I start to come across several new pokémon, mostly bug or grass-types. I don't really bother with them, though. I'm not a big fan of bug-types, and I already have a Pansage, so why bother getting another grass-type?

I turn around a bend in the path and jump back just in time to avoid colliding with someone coming the other way. In the dim light, I can make out the person's outfit and realize it's a Team Plasma member.

"You!" the Plasma exclaims. "You're the brat who keeps interfering with Team Plasma's plans! Well, I'm putting a stop to you."

Instead of getting pumped for the battle, I groan inwardly at the monotony of constantly beating these guys. At least this one uses a Sandile instead of the usual Patrat or Purrloin. But that doesn't mean he puts up any more of a fight than the others before. He calls back his pokémon and runs back toward the forest entrance. It seems I'm going the right way, but one Plasma doesn't guarantee that the rest are still here.

Some time later, I start to see these strange mounds of earth off to the side of the path. Curious, I approach one of these mounds. The ground seems to explode, and I let out a shamefully high-pitched yelp as a woman in orange appears in front of me.

"Sorry about that," she says. "Did I scare you?"

"I think it's pretty understandable to be caught off-guard by a person jumping out of a hole in the ground! What were you doing down there anyway?"

"I'm a Pokémon Ranger assigned to watch for troublemakers in the forest. We use these holes when we want to stay out of sight while we do it."

"Okay. Then why did you decide to pop out now?"

"You looked like you were looking for something, and I thought I could help." The Ranger starts rubbing the side of her head. "But your scream was almost enough to make me reconsider."

I chuckle nervously and feel my face heating up. "Um, did you happen to see a group of people in weird outfits run through here?"

"Yeah. They passed by a few minutes ago. They seemed to be in a hurry for some reason."

"Thanks." At least now I know they're still in the forest.

Leaving the Ranger to her work, I follow the path as it runs parallel to a deep ravine. A flash of movement on the other side catches my eye, and I spot a Plasma disappearing into a cluser of trees. I also see where a tree on the far side had fallen over and gotten stuck on the rocky wall a few feet below me. If it would support my weight, I could use it as a bridge. But if it didn't...I really wish I had a pokémon that knew Fly.

Time to roll the dice.

I take a deep breath and jump. My stomach lurches for a split second before my feet make contact and I latch onto the bark for dear life. I freeze, waiting for any sign that my landing disturbed the log's position. When nothing happens, I slowly straighten up and take a shaky step forward. I start feeling a little more confident until, halfway across, I hear a sound from behind me. I turn around and see the end of the tree starting to slide downwards.

"Oh, that's just typical."

I pick up the pace as my makeshift bridge slowly becomes an uphill climb. Just as it's about to give way entirely, I leap forward and roll into the grass on the other end. I lay there for a minute catching my breath, and the only thing that comes to my mind is, "Why is no one ever around to see when I do something awesome?"

I stagger to my feet and move to where I saw that Plasma enter the trees. I follow the trail of trampled grass and broken tree branches and come upon a Plasma that seems to have gotten separated from the rest of the group. Even better, he was the one that had been in charge of carrying the dragon skull that now rested at his feet. A twig snaps under my foot and the Plasma turns around, thinking I must be a cohort. When he realizes I'm not, he backs away and tosses out three Poké Balls at once: two Patrat and a Sandile.

"I must be getting a reputation," I remark with a smirk. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were afraid of me." The Plasma tries to put on a brave face, but he also swallows nervously, ruining the effect. "Three at once, huh? I think I'll go with Purrloin and...Pansage."

It's saying something when I use two of my softest-hitting pokémon at once. Pansage uses its Vine Whip on Sandile and defeats it in a couple of hits while Purrloin downs both Patrat with a Fury Swipes combo.

The Plasma stumbles backwards and trips over the dragon skull. He doesn't even get back up to continue the retreat, he just crawls off into the trees. Shaking my head at Team Plasma's latest show of incompetence, I pick up the skull and return to the path. I meet up with Burgh a few minutes later, and we return to Nacrene. When we reach the museum, we find the others standing outside. When they see me and Burgh returning with the fossil, Lenora rushes forward to take it from me.

"Thank you, Grey. This is-"

She stops mid-sentence, and I turn around to see what's caught her attention. An old man in robes similar to the man from Accumula Town, Ghetsis, stands behind us.

"I am Gorm, one of the Seven Sages of Team Plasma," he says. "Several times now, the child in the red-and-white hat and his friends have thwarted Team Plasma in several of our endeavors. Even now, he has managed to stop the theft of the dragon skull. But do not worry, I have no interest in attempting to take it back. We had believed the skull to be that of a legendary pokémon, but our research has proven otherwise. Regardless, know that Team Plasma is not to be taken lightly, and further interference will not be tolerated." His eyes sweep over everyone assembled. "That goes for all of you."

I get the feeling that this guy means business, and with a swish of his robes, he walks away while we watch in silence. I find it unlikely that I'll follow his advice, but I'm starting to think it can't end well.