Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon

"You're never going to get anywhere on your own." the gym leaders' little sister said as she handed over the badge. There was something satisfying about seeing my sister beat theirs using my precious Nightmare after watching him defeat all three of the older sisters for me.

"Like, we told you she was too strong." I could tell these weren't the kind of sisters who let you barrow their lipstick.

"Yeah, that psychic type is way too much, even for us." Their voices were so annoying.

"Even my staryu couldn't handle it, and she knows psychic moves too."

"You can't depend on your big sister to solve all of your problems for you." At least the redhead seemed reasonable- she actually gave a decent battle. "One of these days you're going to have to fight your own battles."

"Trading isn't against the rules." Verde reminded her. Her tone changed as soon as we walked out of the gym. "Do I depend on you too much?"

"No. All they know is what they saw. You're a good trainer, and part of being a good trainer is knowing how to make the most of your time." I explained to her as we headed back to the Pokemon Center to undo the trade. "We were running out of time, so we did what was necessary at the moment."

"If I had a strong water pokemon, we wouldn't have had to do that."

"Now we know what we need." I agreed with her "So as soon as the competition is over, let's get a few water types."

"Do you think we're going to win?" she asked, her voice filled with doubt.

"We have a good chance." I wasn't going to lie, we weren't exactly in the best of shape yet. Our pokemon were probably going to be exhausted by the time we got there and I wasn't entirely sure is I could stay awake through it, if we even made it in time. But if we made it in time with enough energy, we would probably win.

"I wish I had trained Fluffy more." she admitted "He's not ready yet."

An idea came to mind. "Then why don't we make a short detour and drop him off at the daycare? They can train him while we compete. Then we can just pick him back up on our way to Pewter."

"That's going to take some time." Verde reminded me as we neared the center "Do you want to drop one off too?"

"Trance doesn't like the sunshine much, so I don't see any reason to take him. Most of the competitors are going to be around your age, so most of the battles will probably take place during the day."

Since we were already there, we went ahead and got our pokemon checked up on. I trusted this nurse now, since I had a better understanding of what was going on. Still, I wasn't convinced that a bunch of rocks was still the focus of whatever was going on, but at least she wasn't likely to turn her back on her region, was she?

Verde was sitting on a comfy couch while I turned in our pokemon and undid the trade. "I don't suppose you've heard anything about the water stone?"

"I heard the Pokemon League has been keeping a tight watch on them lately."

"I guess I'll just have to add 'defeat the Pokemon League' to my to-do list."

I turned away and sat next to Verde. She was watching tv- it was supposedly the latest on the war. I half trusted what they were saying, hoping that I wouldn't get stuck with a front row seat to the show.

While we were waiting for them to finish their checkup, Nurse Joy gave me a small notebook. "Your story is unique." she said softly "You may want to write everything down- you may need to share it one day."

I took it as a 'if you body ever goes missing, maybe someone could still get ahold of your diary' and followed her advice. So if you're reading this, chances are that I'm dead. Ether that or someone stole it.

Once we had our own pokemon back in our legal possession we dropped off Trance and Fluffy. Luckily there wasn't any problem with leaving them there for a few days. We decided to go ahead and grab a few more pokeballs and stuff when we got back into town.

I think I made a mistake.

Verde had asked if I would mind if she sat outside while I grabbed them. I thought about it, and quickly decided that her legs needed a break. Mine were tired too, but we needed that competition if we were going to get stronger. The sun was going down when I came back out, and apparently the crooks were out early. I recognized the two grunts I had seen in the cave of Mount Moon. Verde had her eyes closed, and those two were too close to her.

"Verde," I said casually. They looked at me and ran. I continued as though nothing was wrong. "are you ready?"

I gave her a bag of stuff and she put her share into her perfectly organized backpack. I should have went to the police, but I didn't want to scare Verde. I guess I still felt guilty about whatever I was trying to find out. I didn't know what I was getting into, but I was pretty sure it was a one way road. I needed to get her out of this mess, so I had made my mind up right after my conversation with Bill: Verde couldn't come me.

I was going to take her to Pallet, give her some time to talk with her mother, then walk away and never go back. By the time she was done talking to her mother and probably getting a snack, I would be long gone.