Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

Note: To any confused, a few chapters ago, knuckles referred to the weapon, not the body part. For anyone still confused, look up brass knuckles. Sorry for any confusion.

As Weevil and I stared each other down, sizing each other up, I couldn't help but notice my nervousness. Well, that, and that lingering chill. I had had it ever since I changed into the Dark Form. I shook my head and made the first move, hoping to end this quickly.

"Night Slash!" Darkness began to surround me, but as I was about to hit, he grinned and shouted, "Megahorn!" The horn on his head began to glow and intercepted my slashes. I was thrown backwards, as was he, and neither of us seemed to have taken much damage. I tried a different tactic. "Dark Pulse!" A mishmash of dark energy began to form between my hands, but as I shot it, he shouted, "Signal Beam!" The two collided in mid-air and created an explosion of smoke. I couldn't see him, but my instincts told me-

I whirled around. "Thief!" I struck him with a hand of dark energy, and I felt something in my hand. I looked at it…and it was the Bug Ring!

He looked at himself, then at the ring, then at me. "Dude."

I looked at him. "I'm so sorry! Here, take it." I made to give it to him, but he shook his head and started to laugh.

I, naturally, had no idea what the hell was going on, but his laughter got under control and he managed to chuckle out, "I've never seen that ingenuity before! It's a move, so it's legal. Go ahead, take the Ring as your own!"

I looked at the ring, shocked at my own luck. I put it on, transformed back, and…huh, that chill was gone. I shrugged. I looked at Weevil, who was still laughing. "Where now?"

He finally stopped laughing. "Ah…that was funny. Oh, Hoenn."

I frowned. "Sorry?"

He gave me a 'wow' look. "Next region. I'm the last Johto guardian. You can catch a plane in Goldenrod which'll take you to Slateport City."

"Is that the only airport in the whole region?"

He shook his head. "No, actually. There's one in a place called Fortree City, but that one…kinda hard to get to. It's better if you go to Slateport."

I shrugged. "Fine. We'll head that way."

He smiled. "Head that way through the forest and you should be pretty much at Goldenrod." He pointed north.

"Thanks, Weevil. See ya around."

The five of us headed north. A little while later, we got out of the forest, and just like Weevil said, the city was pretty much right there. A few hours later, we boarded a plane to Hoenn.

As I looked out the window, enjoying the view, I thought about all that happened so far. One conversation kept coming back to mind for some reason. Back in Kanto, some Nevermore goon had said Nevermore had killed me over and over again. A bit after that, we met this guy named Spencer who pointed us towards the Psychic Ring. Before we left, though, he wanted to talk to Eoniai and Tardon…privately. After they came back out of his house, they had looked incredibly spooked. I asked them, and all they said was… 'We know why that Nevermore guy said you were dead.' That still bothered me that they knew something I didn't. I knew they weren't doing it out of spite-they had told me Spencer told them not to say-but still, it bothered me…

I looked around the cabin, and the first thing that caught my eye? Lots of dark colors. Call me paranoid, but…I turned to Alyssa and asked, "What was this flight called again?"

She shrugged. "I just got the one that left the soonest for Slateport. Something about a bird, I think…"

I looked around, wary. But my paranoia didn't come to anything during the flight. Uneventful…oddly enough…

We landed in Slateport without a hitch. I still couldn't shake that uneasy feeling, though…just, something on the edge of my consciousness…I turned to Eoniai. "Where to?"

He pulled out a map of Hoenn. "Hm…well, there's more than one place to check, unfortunately…for this particular region, Rustboro, Lavaridge, and Fortree are all good choices…"

Tardon interjected. "What about Fortree? When Weevil mentioned it, he shot himself down pretty fast. Maybe he was trying to cover?"

I looked at Eoniai, who looked at me, then we looked at Tardon. He had a good point, I had to give him that. Weevil gave us our biggest clue, and that was on accident. I turned to Eoniai. "Direction?"

He looked at the map. "North to Mauville, then west for a bit, then north again for a long time, then west, then we're there. Simple." He put away the map. "Shall we?"

I nodded, and we headed north. It started to get dark, so we made camp. Just some jovial campfire chat tonight, then we went to bed. Not long after that, though, I heard a rustling. I got up, peeked outside, and saw Tardon just sitting on a log in front of the fire pit. I went over to him. "Mind if I join you?"

He jumped a bit, but nodded. I sat next to him. "You all right? You're not a night person."

He looked at me, a bit glum, then stared at the fire pit. "It's nothing. It's so trivial, you shouldn't even worry about it."

I gave him a 'bullcrap' look. "Tardon."

He sighed. "I'm the only one in our group without someone. You have Alyssa, Eoniai has Tranco-"

"In what sense do I have Tranco?"

We looked over, and sure enough, there was Eoniai, just standing there. He came over and sat next to me. "Mind if I join?"

Tardon gave a wry smile. "Dude, you heard her. She likes nerds. That's put you on top of her list, cause your one of the biggest nerds we know."

Eoniai shrugged. He couldn't argue with that good of a reason. "You'll find someone."

"Pfft. You found someone before me, man. I'm truly screwed."

I gave him a light slap. "Eh, you're not a bad catch. Just try not to be despondent about it."

He shrugged. "Maybe…" He went into his tent. Eoniai and I looked at each other, and we followed suit. Well, Eoniai did. I stopped outside my flap, and turned to look at Alyssa's tent. I went over to it and went in. Thankfully, she was covered by her blanket.

"Alyssa?" She didn't respond. "Alyssa?" I asked a little louder, but she was out cold. I sat next to her, figuring she wouldn't mind. I looked at her, studying her face. I still couldn't get our tent talk out of my head. I thought she liked me, but I couldn't tell for sure. I brushed aside a stray hair off of her face, then realized I had. I hadn't even really thought about it, yet…I looked at her more closely. I just couldn't get over her personality and prettin-whoa. That…huh…I shrugged, smiled, then kissed her cheek softly. She shifted a little, and I backed up quickly and quietly. She was just shifting, thankfully, so I decided to take my leave. Just as I got to the flap, though, I heard from behind me, "Redoni…"

I froze and turned around. She was still asleep, just apparently had me on the mind…hm…my curiosity won out, and I went back over to her to listen to her sleep talk.

A small smile had formed on her lips. "Mm…Redoni…take me away…"

My eyes widened. Was she…fantasizing about us? I knew I could read her mind, but I decided not to, out of respect.

Her smile got wider. "Oh, Redoni…be mine…"

Yep, she definitely had a crush on me. I wondered what to do, when all of a sudden, the answer was given to me. She shifted again, and she slowly woke up and saw me. The smile disappeared and her eyes widened as she sat up. Well, when she sat up, she forgot the blanket, so…in short, it turns out she sleeps without a shirt, but with a bra for some reason.

She looked down, then at me, blushing. "Um…did you hear me talking?"

I nodded, saying, "Yeah, nice fantasy. You want me to take you away, eh?"

Her blush deepened, and she looked away. "Son of a bitch…I didn't think you would find out so soon…"

I shrugged. "Well, the tent talk some time ago didn't help."

She blushed even more somehow. "Well…you know how I feel now. What about you?"

For an answer, I smiled broadly and kissed her (and for those of you who want tons of detail, yes, the lips, not the cheeks). I felt her take this in, but she broke it off. I looked at her quizzically. She explained, "I do like this, but tonight, I just need time to take it in. Tomorrow, maybe, we can do more…"

I nodded. "Very well. Until next time." I smiled, kissed her again, and left. I went back to my tent and attempted to wrap all of this around my head, but all I could really think about was Alyssa and her soft, smooth lips. I fell asleep with a smile.