After parting ways with Aarune, the rest of the day was almost entirely uneventful.

There were a few pleasant conversations, and a few mildly awkward ones. A very few other trainers were traveling the route, but the ones there were did offer a scant few battles.

Once Cerberus and Flash started to get into a fight, leading Morgan and Sera to decide they would have to alter which one got to be out at a time for a while, but after one rotation each they both promised to behave and begged to stay out again. They… mostly kept their promise, at least. The girls debated whether to just let them and have another rival battle, but they agreed that while on their little detour, it was probably better to make sure both stayed at the tops of their respective games, just in case.

Toward sunset, they came across an adorable bed-and-breakfast run by a sweet old lady, and opted to stop there for the night rather than push on any later.

"Will that be… two rooms, then?"

Though the woman didn't say it, Morgan thought a slight 'or' hung on that question. With a touch of faux drama, she sighed and responded, "I suppose, if we must…"

Blushing, Sera stuttered, "Y-you'll live."

Morgan chuckled. She hadn't expected Sera to be so easy to fluster, but she was quite enjoying being on the other end of this teasing dynamic, as it turned out. "Oh hey, you wanna do our Wonder Trades before we turn in?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah sure, why not?"

"Wooobbu-"

"Don't." Ugh Morgan almost forgot about that reference/joke. Still, trading sounded good. It would add a little more content to today's 'highlight episode' too. So they found a seat in what served as a small 'lobby' area.

Morgan went first then, trading her Numel for- "I swear to all the gods of both our lands if I get another Zigzagoon."

Sera just laughed, then traded hers. "Ooh! A Trapinch! I think I'll actually use that!"

"Gratz." So now Morgan's Machop, and- "Ohmygods it's a poodle this is amazing."

Sera gave a more confused laugh. "A what?" She leaned over to look at Morgan's screen. "Oh nice, it's a Furfrou. Those are pretty popular and rare in Hoenn."

"It's a dogsheep is what it is." Not to be confused with a sheep dog, obviously. "I can't decide if I think it's beautiful or ridiculous but I love it."

"Worth all the Zigzagoon?"

Morgan shrugged. "Ehhh, that remains to be seen." Looking to Sera, she asked, "You got any more?"

"Mm, no, I didn't catch anything before Fiery Path yesterday…" As she browsed her storage on her Nav, though, she suddenly- "Oh! I have this Makuhita from Granite Cave. I was going to use her eventually, but I never did, so I guess she's actually still viable to trade."

"Oh huh. I guess that makes sense; good to know. Which one is Makuhita, again?" She looked back to the Nav- and suddenly covered her mouth in a failed attempt to stifle her snicker.

"...What is it?"

"It looks-" Morgan shook her head. "No, I shouldn't."

"You can't just-" Morgan tried again to decline, but Sera pressed again.

"It looks… like the guy from Fiery Path," she managed.

"What? That's so mean. No it-" Sera looked down, and grew quieter, and redder. "... Sweet merciful Arceus."

Morgan's snicker grew to a full-on laugh. "Geez, Sera, I didn't know your tastes were that varied."

"Oh gods no." Sera set her Nav in her lap and hid her face in her hands. Even as she did so, Flash sidled up in the seat beside her, making a noise Morgan thought sounded vaguely suggestive. Sera cringed and squeaked before pushing him off the couch, Flash landing on the floor with a thump. "Now look what you did, don't encourage him," she whined to Morgan.

Morgan only found this more hilarious.

"I- I'm trading this before you guys get worse." Picking her Nav back up, she selected the Makuhita within her storage and shipped it off. As the noise sounded to inform them a Pokemon had been received, though, Sera just stared for a few seconds before slowly putting the Nav down and staring at the wall.

"...What is it?" Morgan asked. She picked up Sera's Nav… and saw a Pichu. "...Oh. … Uh. Sorry… again. Do you… wanna head to bed now, or?"

Sera sighed. "Sorry, no. I mean, maybe in a minute, but.. I'm okay. It just caught me a little off-guard is all." She smiled lightly and took her Nav back.

"All right. … You don't, like, want to trade it or anything do you? I'm not sure if there's anything of mine you'd want, but if you'd feel weird having a Pichu right now..?"

Sera considered it a moment, but shook her head. "Nah. One thing about my Pikachu was that she was pretty set on never evolving since she thought she was cuter like she was. If I ever get around to training this one, I might be able to get a Raichu, so that would be something."

"Ah. Yeah okay."

"Though hey. I know we've discussed trading with each other a few times and haven't really done so yet, but whenever you want to evolve Kitsun, just let me know."

Morgan stared blankly. "...When I want to what now?"

"Evolve Kitsun," Sera repeated. "I mean, since Kadabra evolve by trading- or by the energy given off by passing through the system or whatever- and we can freely trade as much as we want with each othe-"

"Why the hell did you not tell me this a week ago?"

Sera blinked curiously. "You didn't kn-" Morgan's deadpan leer cut off that question. "Right. Sorry. ...For what it's worth, Kadabra does learn more moves than Alakazam, so waiting was probably a good idea anyway."

"Oh," said Morgan. "...Yeah, okay. I guess his moves have gotten quite a bit better. They seem pretty good to me now, though?"

Sera nodded. "And there are TMs too. ... Sssso uh, since it's as good as anything, wanna take my Pichu for about ten seconds to trade Kitsun back and forth?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

The following morning, they set out down Route 113, which was apparently the perfect location usually-downwind of the volcano to be an absolute fucking nightmare. Hopefully this would be over quickly.

Sera caught a Spinda, which she traded for an Octillery. As soon as the Pokemon appeared on her screen, she squealed with delight. "Oh my gods it's so squishy and soft and red and I am absolutely using thissss." And actually, since Pikachu was technically still taking party space when she'd caught the Numel, and the Spinda was now the first Pokemon she'd caught since sending her off, Octillery was already in her party. "Hell yesssssss."

… Morgan smirked. "So what you're saying is-"

"I swear on every god you vaguely acknowledge, if you make a tentacle joke and ruin this for me I will destroy you." Morgan laughed, but refrained.

A few minutes later, Morgan's DexNav beeped. "Mm?" She pulled it out and used the radar until she saw the Pokemon it was picking up on- a huge, gorgeous metallic bird who was digging through a pile of ash that had accumulated on the ground.

Carefully, Morgan tiptoed toward it. Those huge wings had her a little worried, but as long as it stayed distracted, and she was very, very qui-

With her eyes darting solely between the Nav and the Skarmory, Morgan promptly tripped over a Sandshrew, getting her clothes covered in soot as she landed, and drawing Skarmory's attention. Worse, the Sandshrew scrambled to its feet and took a defensive stance, making it the first Pokemon to 'confront' her this route. "Oh for the love of…"

Fortunately, she was able to capture it with ease. Less fortunately, the Skarmory didn't just fly away; it perched on a nearby house's rooftop and squawked at her in what Morgan was certain was meant to be a mocking laugh.

She sighed heavily. "Well, maybe Wonder Trade will be kind."

It was a Spinda.

"Are you SERIOUS?" a voice called in distant earshot.

… "Did you just get a Sandshrew?" Morgan yelled back.

There was a brief pause, then Morgan heard laughter in the same direction, causing her to laugh as well. All the trainers in all the world and she gets matched to one a hundred yards away. Brilliant.

As they continued down the route, another Sandshrew eventually attacked, but Morgan had little patience for battles now that her capture quota was met, so to push through as quickly as possible, she just had Cerberus use his Mega Drain-

And found herself a little shocked when he began to glow.

A gasp and a "Morgan!" were heard from behind her, while before her, her partner grew until he stood a few inches taller than her. The fat tail he'd had as a Treecko disappeared during his first evolution, replaced by vestigial grass-like blades, but now his proper tail was back, as thick as a small tree.

Looking over his new form appreciatively, Cerberus hummed a small "Sceptile..~"

"Nice~" chimed Morgan, but as she turned to Sera, her smile faded. "Wwwhat's with that look?"

Sera shook as if to clear her head, and said, "Oh, s-sorry. I'm just… a little awestruck. I can't believe how quickly he's evolved already!"

As her mind jumped to the Exp Share in her bag, Morgan laughed nervously. "Oh uh.. Y-yeah. Well, you know. You use a few regular Pokemon pretty evenly, where I use mostly Cer and Mithril and change up my other party more, s-so they've probably just seen a little more action than the others at this point.. Right?"

"Mm, I guess that's true," Sera mused. "And I mean.. I guess it's not that big a difference, but it'll probably be at least a few more days for Tank and-"

… Oh no.

Both trainers suddenly had the same thought, and turned to see it confirmed: Cerberus stood lording his new body over Flash, towering over him as the Combusken shouted angrily at the smugly smirking Sceptile. Morgan didn't know whether to laugh or facepalm, and Sera looked much in the same boat.

"... Pelt and Kitsun?" suggested Sera.

"Pelt and Kitsun," Morgan agreed, and both swapped out their travel companions.

It was late afternoon when they made it to Fallarbor, and after stopping by the Pokemon Center for a quick rejuvenation and to swap out some party Pokemon, it seemed like dinner time. The town was pretty rustic, but with so much farmland around, they found a wonderful little diner with locally grown ingredients. The atmosphere was lovely, the food was delicious, and the whole thing was in absolutely no way anything like a date or anything at all. Though… if viewers took it that way and shipped them, Morgan supposed she couldn't complain about helping get people invested. ...And if she maybe happened to flirt more than strictly necessary to help that happen-

Should she give up and admit she was just being a little self-indulgent at this point? Ahaha… Well, it may have been just part of their game, but games were meant to be enjoyed, right? Yeah… No harm in that…

After dinner, they weren't sure if it might be a bit too late to disturb Professor Cozmo, so Morgan decided to go do a little training at the edge of town while Sera hit the contest hall. Morgan evolved her Weedle, while Sera and Flash took first place in an amateur-ranked Coolness contest.

All in all, a mostly pleasant and fairly productive day. It was almost easy to forget how recently they'd been afraid of getting caught up in some huge terrifying battle with Team Aqua. After such a day, both trainers were feeling quite confident about their meeting with Devon, and resolved to get a bright and early start tomorrow.

It was a morning full of hope, full of promise.

"Can I help you?" a young woman asked.

"We'd like to talk to Professor Cozmo, if he's not busy~" Sera chimed.

"...O-oh.." The woman bit her lip. "I- I'm afraid he hasn't returned yet from going out to meet his last visitors."

"...Last-?"

"They just…" She huffed a sigh. "Showed up in the middle of the night, or.. Maybe very early this morning? But they came in for a while to talk to him, and, well.. Classic Takao. Someone expresses interest in his research and off he goes… I… I hate to ask, but if you're looking for him anyway, could you maybe head out to Meteor Falls and see if you can find him? I'm getting a little worried, and there was something about the way those men were dressed that made me-"

"...Fuck," hissed Morgan, earning a surprised look from the woman. "How um. How exactly were they dressed?"

"I-... Oh, this is going to sound ridiculous, but they sort of reminded me of-"

Sera caught on now two and urgently asked, "Pirates?"

"-w-why yes. How did you-"

"DAMMIT ALL."

They'd been ordered to stay out of the previous conflict, sure. But that was where there was active destruction, a mysterious Pokemon known to be involved, and a Gym Leader just down the way. Now, all they knew was that an innocent man might be in danger, and they were in the middle of nowhere.

As they raced down Route 114, Sera ended up on a heated call with a few League officials. At first they were ordered to stay out of it, Aqua having proven themselves too dangerous recently to let mere competitors get involved. But when it became clear the girls were going one way or the other and the only things the League could do were embrace it or punish them after the fact for trying to be heroic, they grudgingly changed their tune.

They were urged to avoid conflict if at all possible, but whoever Sera was speaking with agreed to do their best to see to it that backup was sent as soon as possible and that their 114 captures could be postponed.

Which was probably a good thing, because Flash was one-shotting things with a measly Quick Attack now, and he wasn't the strongest Pokemon here, he was just the one getting to most potential opponents quickest. A few other battles were quickly fought, though, as needed, and during one, Morgan's Kakuna evolved, though she'd no time to celebrate at the moment.

It didn't take long for the wild Pokemon to realize these trainers were on a mission and really weren't to be trifled with, which gave them a straighter shot. Flash was able to race far ahead, back and forth, to act as a scout.

Once they reached the base of the mountain, though she'd never ask it of him under normal circumstances, Cerberus proved big enough and strong enough now to carry Morgan and then Sera up the cliff face, cutting probably a good hour out of what might have been hike time at the expense of somewhat tiring a single Pokemon from their collective teams. Not a bad trade.

The girls were a bit winded themselves when they made it to the cave's entrance, but they could hear voices ahead, and pressed on.

Two Zubat swooped down as they entered, startling them. Sera had recalled all her Pokemon for Cerberus to carry her, and in her panic to release one now, she accidentally threw an empty Pokeball. ...Which. Worked. … Okay. Morgan shrugged and tried the same. "... So that was easy." But they had more to worry about right now.

At last, a cluster of figures came into view. Chief among them appeared to be a tall, dark woman with long blue-streaked hair. "This doesn't have to be hard, darling," she cooed, leaning in so that her face was but a few inches from a man who could only be Professor Cozmo. "Just give… us... that meteorite~ We really don't want to have to take it and risk breaking something, now, do we~?"

Cozmo swallowed hard. "I-I-I guess not? P-please, just-"

"Hey," barked Morgan. "Back away from the nerd."

The Aqua Admin turned to look at them, then barked a laugh. "Oh? Nerd? But I don't see anyone from Team Magma here," she teased. A particularly nasally, obnoxious laugh resounded behind her, causing her smile to fall as she groaned.

"Guess again, Aqua filth." Wait, Morgan knew that voice.

The Aqua woman turned to see the same researcher Sera and Morgan had met in Fiery Path now approaching, this time decked out in much more red. "Well if it isn't Team-" She did a double take. "TABITHA?"

Tabitha's smile fell now as well. "Sh-shelly?"

Both floundered incoherently for a few moments before Shelly demanded to know, "Why on earth would you side with Team Magma!?"

"Hyunh!?" Tabitha scoffed. "I, Tabitha, have always been Leader Maxie's loyal right hand!"

"...This seems like a personal matter," mumbled Cozmo. "Can I just-"

""No,"" both Admins barked, and the professor just sadly sat down with his rock.

Tabitha turned back to Shelly. "But- you! I shared coffee and donuts with you!"

"Oh, like you needed them," Shelly jabbed.

""Hey that's not fair,"" Sera and Tabitha defended in near unison.

"Besides, Archie and I have been-friends since we were just-"

But Tabitha's attention was on Sera now, and Morgan by proxy. "If it isn't the children. I didn't expect you'd make it here so quickly. I suppose we owe you thanks for that little tip, but now I suggest you stay out of the adults' way."

...Tip? Oh, shit. "Look, I don't know why you want a meteorite," Morgan half-bluffed, imagining it probably related to that Mega Evolution bit Genevieve mentioned before, but seeing no reason to divulge as much. "But neither of you are walking out of here with it."

Tabitha gave his nasally laugh again. "Isn't this amusing!? Is it really your intention to oppose two Admins and a slew of grunts on both sides, just the two of you?"

As Morgan considered an answer, debating whether this counted as unnecessary conflict, Sera suddenly shifted into an odd, rigid salute. "Sir!" Morgan turned to look at her, stunned. "I wish to apologize for my past ignorance. It has become clear to me now that any side opposing Team Aqua's madness is a side I want to align with, and that Team Magma's vision holds the best interest of Hoenn at heart. With your permission, I would prove my loyalty by taking out the Aqua trash."

Shelly scoffed. "Just how young is Magma recruiting now, Tabi?"

As Tabitha looked Sera over skeptically, she rolled her eyes and bit back to Shelly, "For Arceus's sake, I've graduated school and I have like one month until I'm a Legal Adult. Like if everyone could please just drop-"

"Very well," Tabitha said, cutting her off. "Let's see your true colors, child." Sera pursed her mouth a moment, but then calmed herself and nodded.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Morgan snapped.

But Sera just flashed her a grin. "What?" she asked as she started to head down the half-eroded stair path to Shelly. "Would you prefer to give me a kiss for good luck first~?" She winked playfully.

…Wwwhy was she mentioning- Oh. Because they were both fake. Ha. Right, getting one team to stand back while they took on the other was probably a good idea, wasn't it? Perhaps Morgan gave Sera too little credit sometimes. "Well, I guess I can't let you do it alone," Morgan muttered, faux-grudgingly.

Shelly gave a deep chuckle. "I see how it is. You think you can all gang up to make a fool of me." She smiled viciously then. "Bring it. I won't forgive any of you if you beg for mercy." Morgan wasn't sure if she was talking to her own men or them… but her money was on both.

The battle was chaos. Sera and Morgan had never battled cooperatively, but they stopped getting under each other's feet quickly enough. Soon, all the Grunts' Pokemon were knocked out or dead, and Shelly's Carvanha was having a tough time of things. Her Mightyena was proving tough, but ultimately the super-effective attacks of Morgan's new Beedrill took it down.

As her last Pokemon fell, she bit back, "Fools."

"Excellent," praised Tabitha. Wait, his voice was closer? All eyes turned to see him taking the meteorite from Cozmo.

"No!" hissed Shelly.

"I don't think so," said Morgan firmly.

As she stepped past Shelly to face him, Tabitha sneered with a "Hnn". He stood, bringing Cozmo with him, then flippantly shoved his hostage away. Cozmo promptly lost his balance and stumbled toward the edge of the natural bridge on which they stood; Tabitha's widening eyes said that was not his intention, but he didn't have time to process it and move in time.

Fortunately, Sera did. "Professor!" She barely caught him, and the air of relief could be felt throughout the entire cavern. It seemed Cozmo was more valuable to everyone alive than dead, so at least that worked in their favor. "Be careful," Sera scolded over her shoulder.

Tabitha frowned. "You'll watch your tongue around an Admin, child." A tense beat passed, and he added defensively, "That was clearly an accident. … But nice work, I suppose."

"Tch. Nice work," Shelly seethed. "I'll say 'nice work', you just let Team Fiery Destruction over here get their hands on-"

"Not yet," huffed Morgan. "Because I don't intend to let you keep it."

Tabitha laughed, slowly, menacingly. "And I suppose you, with your weakened team, will stop me and my squadron all by yourself?" Morgan looked urgently to Sera, and Tabitha turned a glance somewhere between smug and questioning her way as well. "Let's see if your so-called loyalty holds, shall we?" … Sera bit her lip.

Morgan half-sighed, half-growled. "We don't have time for this." Despite herself, muscle memory raised a hand in preparation for a spell, but a half-second later she shook of that urge and instead lunged at Tabitha herself.

"Sir!" two of his grunts exclaimed, both releasing Pokemon to force her back.

Once a comfortable distance was restored, Tabitha sent his own Pokemon into the fight as well. Their battle formation was far more efficient and coordinated, but that also made it predictable, Morgan soon realized. As she managed to hold her own, albeit barely, a streak of gold suddenly zipped into her field of vision. "Finally," Morgan mumbled.

Flash attempted to recover the meteorite the same way he'd recovered the Devon Parts, simply snatching them away- but Tabitha, it seemed, was deceptively strong. He held tight, and when the force of Flash's leap was not enough to free it from his grasp, Flash found himself cut short, anchored to the spot by his own grip on the meteorite.

Tabitha twisted such that Flash could not quite reach the ground, and with no traction, he was easily pulled off and tossed to the ground.

"FLASH." Sera urgently rushed to his side to find him thankfully only shaken, but Sera still seemed to have had enough, ordering Tank to join Morgan in battle.

"And there it is," Tabitha muttered, scoffing in Sera's direction. "Get up. You're going to regret trying to make a mockery of Team Magma."

Sera helped Flash to his feet as she got to her own, stammering, "B-but, you don't-"

"Hush, little baby. Don't dare say a word." Morgan thought Sera's eyes looked a little wetter as she shut her mouth tight. "Now accept your punishment as I teach you both just how terrifying adults can be."

Meanwhile, Morgan could hear Aqua grunts murmuring amongst themselves behind her. "I wish we could do something."

"Maybe we should get out of here while we can."

"Quiet, boys." That one was clearly Shelly. "If these trainers manage to weaken their Pokemon enough we may still get a shot. Just hang back."

Well, Morgan couldn't worry about that now. Between Mithril and Tank, they had some pretty formidable defenses even with Tank fighting of his own accord, and Cerberus's attacks were nothing to scoff at either even as tired as he was.

Just as the battle seemed to be winding down in their favor, however, another voice rose from nearby. "What on earth could be taking you so long? Don't tell me you're actually having trouble with those sub-par Aqua trainers." This voice was unfamiliar to Morgan, but Sera became visibly nervous.

"M-maxie!" she squeaked as a red-headed man came into view.

With a look somewhere between boredom and disgust, he surveyed the battlefield, eyes pausing a moment on Sera. "... Hm. I thought I'd warned you, child. A pity you had to choose the wrong side."

"B-but-"

"Maxie, ye spineless dog!" That voice Morgan recognized, and she turned to see a slightly out-of-breath Archie standing above them. "Seems like I got here just in time."

Maxie sneered. "... It would seem things are getting a bit crowded, wouldn't you say? Tabitha!"

"Sir!"

"You have the meteorite, I take it?"

"Affirmative."

Maxie smirked. "Very well. Then let us waste no more time with these imbeciles. Execute emergency escape maneuver. Grunt Number Four!"

"Sir!" said the grunt, who had remained on the sidelines until now. He quickly release a Koffing, then paused for just a moment. Maxie took on a grim expression, but nodded at him. The grunt took a deep breath before mumbling, "Sorry pal." Then he ordered, "Self-Destruct!"

Suddenly, Morgan was on the ground, ears violently ringing, and smoke filled the air around her. "Squadron C, move out!" called Maxie's seemingly distant voice. Coughing as she began to push herself up, Morgan could just make out the forms of Maxie and Tabitha releasing two very large quadrupedal Pokemon, each climbing on the back of one with a grunt or two joining each. Morgan could make out little about either Pokemon, save that one looked orange-striped and very large, and the other looked brown-ish and even larger.

The smaller of the two creatures gave a canine growl in protest at carrying so many passengers, but it was soon drowned out by the larger one letting out a fearsome roar- as loud as the one Morgan had heard on Mt. Chimney she'd suspect, but different. All the same, it blasted a hole in the cavern wall- causing a few stalactites to crash to the ground around them, but thankfully no worse- and with a few leaps, Team Magma was gone.

"That-! Filthy- underhanded, amoral piece of fucking-" Archie had found his feet now, and rushed down to check first on Shelly, then the Grunts.

The smoke was clearing, now, and Morgan both saw and heard Sera crying. "Tank!" Having been closest to the blast, it seemed the Marshtomp took the worst damage, and he now lay in her arms with staggering breath, severe wounds, and a fiercely determined expression on what could still be discerned of his face. Morgan's gut turned. That was the face of someone who should by all means be dead, but flat-out refused to die.

"He'll be safer in his Pokeball," Morgan reminded her.

Sera's mind and body were both scrambling, but she stuttered, "R-right," and managed to recall both him and Flash as she fought desperately to keep from hyperventilating.

"Well, I hope you're happy, scamp," Archie chided Morgan. "Thanks to you two, those lunatics might just succeed in calling forth the power of Mt. Chimney."

"Like you had better plans," retorted Morgan.

"Stopping them, for one," bit back Archie. He growled, but then stood. "Right. Better get after them if we're going to do it. All right boys!" he called, getting the team's attention. "You know the drill! There ain't gonna be enough room for everyone so head for the hills!" Immediately, the Grunts began to scatter, while Shelly moved closer to Archie. He looked down to her and nodded. "Do it."

Suddenly, an aura of power came over Shelly, and her eyes glowed bright blue-white. "BOREAS!" she cried.

Her call was answered with a great roar of "KUUUUUUUUUUUUU;" Morgan felt a sudden chill.

Through the hole created by Maxie's Pokemon, a blue quadruped nearly the same size leapt into the cave, taking a place next to the Aqua leaders. This gave Morgan her first good look at just how massive these beasts were; Archie was far from being a small man, and this thing stood a little taller than him just at the shoulder. Archie and Shelly pushed aside its massive purple mane and climbed aboard.

"To Mt. Chimney, old friend!" commanded Archie, and the beast bounded away.

The last of the grunts was disappearing deeper into the cave now, but getting their Pokemon healed and Professor Cozmo to safety was far more important than chasing the small fish right now.

"W-what…" Cozmo was stuttering. "H-how… why would they…"

Sera, meanwhile, just stared awestruck after them. Softly, stunned, she managed to breathe the word, "Suicune…"

Back at Fallarbor's Pokemon Center, both faced a severe amount of scolding over their Navs as they waited for their Pokemon to be healed. If one good thing had come of this, it was that Professor Cozmo was willing to give any and all research to Devon without question if it meant keeping it and himself safe from those ruffians.

Morgan wasn't so sure that was the case, attempting to explain that Tabitha had clearly been in a Devon coat back in Fiery path, and that for that matter, Tabitha and Shelly appeared to know each other from somewhere work-related, quite possibly Devon itself. Of course, since the broadcasting had been down at the time, officials claimed they had no proof of these wild allegations and swore that Devon was as secure as it had ever been.

Sera had explained that the Pokemon Archie escaped on was Legendary, revered as a god, and far more in other parts of the Pokemon world than Hoenn. Some didn't believe it existed, and those that did usually expected it to stay in its native land. Sera was only even aware it existed because she was so deeply interested in myths and fairy tales. That it was not only real but here in Hoenn was… concerning, and Sera suspected one or both of the other Pokemon may have been its counterparts.

All the while, Morgan found herself fuming that they had no way of stopping whatever was about to go down at Mt. Chimney, no way of fixing their mess. At least the day for them couldn't get much worse- unless, of course, Magma brought about some world-ending disaster or something. Wouldn't that be just their luck?

"RRRRRRAAAUU!" A roar as loud as the others but once-again different resounded from outside.

The Center went quiet for nearly a minute, then the roar echoed again.

Morgan's Nav began to beep, but she simply stuffed it in her bag, into the folds of her sleeping bag to muffle it as best as she could, and approached the counter. "Are our Pokemon battle-ready?" she asked the nurse.

"Hm? I… They could probably use a longer rest, and I recommend some potions if you insist on taking them now, but the worst of their injuries should be patched up enough to manage."

"Good. Give them to us."

The nurse's eyes fell to Morgan's faintly beeping bag, but seeing little other hope for a savior just now, she reluctantly complied. "Be careful," she urged. Morgan nodded and shoved Sera's PokeBalls at her.

They went outside expecting to face another foe, but saw only a singular creature, just barely smaller than those from the Falls, standing firmly before them and looking not the least bit aggressive.

"...Raikou?" Sera asked. The Raikou stepped forth, and as it did, a pendant hanging from its neck caught both trainers' eyes. "Does… this mean anything to you?" she asked. Morgan shook her head, and Sera went on. "It… looks vaguely familiar, but I can't place-" Raikou let out a few low rumbles. "What?"

Morgan just stood back and watched. She still wasn't sure if Sera could really understand Pokemon, or if she just sincerely believed she could, but it seemed they had nothing better to go on right now, did they?

"... Morgan. Climb on."

"What?" Looking between her and Raikou now, she asked the most sincerely she ever had, "What did it say…?"

"They can't stand by while Suicune and Entei take part in Aqua and Magma's feud. We won't get there before the battle starts, but we just might before it ends." Sera climbed on Raikou's back herself, now, locking her legs around their torso as best she could and gripping the fur on the back of their neck. "Climb up here and hold on tight."

Both Navs were beeping wildly, but Raikou shot them a glare, and suddenly both shorted- Sera's on her belt and Morgan's confirmed by a quick look in her bag. The lights continued to flash urgently, but it seemed the audio had been disabled. Thank the- Morgan found herself smirking. Well, apparently, thank this particular god.

"All right then," she said as she joined Sera. "I guess we're going mountain climbing."