Beginning note: Italics is a pokemon talking to Ellie via telepathy.


Ellie stepped out of the closet wearing her old purple skirt and light purple shirt. She slipped off those ridiculous Team Rocket boots and slipped back in to her converses. She still had a faint red mark on her neck but she was just glad to be done with this whole mess. Nearly being killed had opened her eyes to a lot of things and she was set to make things right.

She finally noticed Lance staring up at her.

"Where did that come from?" he said, pointing to her neck. She rubbed the mark slowly.

"Well, Archer found out and apparently he makes his Houndoom strangle anyone he doesn't like," Ellie replied as if it was obvious.

"Oh," Lance said as he got a far-off look in his eyes.

"Go do your champion stuff. I need to pick up my pokemon and get on with my life. Besides, Lyra made Team Rocket disband...so it's okay," Ellie said with a forced smile. Lance just sighed.

"I don't believe they are gone for good...be careful out there okay? I don't particularly want to answer to your Grandpa," he replied before walking out the door with a wave.

Ellie looked at the black fabric in her hand and wondered what she should do with it. She really never wanted to wear black all over ever again. She liked her colors and black was just depressing. She shrugged to herself and dump them in a nearby trash can and walked out the door. She hurried along as fast as possible. She had already let her pokemon wait for the hour it took for Lance to fly here. She knew they had to be worried sick. She knew she was about them.

When she finally arrived she waited in line, resisting the urge to push everyone aside.

"Hello, how may- Oh it's you," the nurse said.

"Um, please don't think bad of me," Ellie said, hanging her head. The nurse crossed her arms and motioned for another nurse to take her place.

"Come with me," she said to Ellie. Ellie just nodded and followed the nurse to the back rooms. The nurse opened the door and she was surprised to see two huge blue arms wrap around her in a tight hug. Ariana soon followed along with Hazel. Luna found her hand and began to rub up against it.

"Okay guys," Ellie said laughing as they enjoyed the group hug.

She didn't realize that Nurse Joy had released a tall green and white feminine pokemon.

"Ah...you are a brave young child," a calm voice came out of no where. Ellie jumped.

-"Who said that?" she said panicking.

"I mean you no harm. My trainer just wishes to know that you are a good person. My name isGardevoir...Turn around child," the voice continued. Ellie turned to see who was talking to her and stared shock.

"You are really pretty," Ellie said, offering a smile. The voice laughed.

"Thank you. I do come from your native region. Such a nice place, Hoenn...I wish to go back some day," Gardevoir said.

"Uh how do you know I was born in Hoenn?" Ellie asked.

"I'm sorry...I was prying in thoughts I had no business seeing...I wish I could say more but I'm afraid you will begin to feel the effects of our conversation soon...They are not so pleasant for humans who aren't use to it," Gardevoir replied. Suddenly Ellie could that the physic pokemon had left her mind and was rewarded with a dull headache.

The nurse and the pokemon seemed to be communicating and Ellie decided to socialist with her pokemon until the Nurse came over and handed her pokeballs.

"I'm truly sorry. You must have been through a lot. I'm sure I can manage to get you a room...if you want to stay over night," the nurse said. Ellie gently grabbed her pokeballs and returned all of her pokemon with the promise of letting them out soon.

"I would love that," Ellie said offering a smile.

"Also, I need to make a call...can you lead me to a telephone?" Ellie added quickly. The nurse nodded and led her outside into the lobby. She stopped a moment to give Ellie back her ID and a room key. She then led Ellie to the back room with a telephone.

"Go right ahead, dial 9 then the number," the nurse said before leaving.

Ellie did so and held her breath as the phone rang. She was even more nervous then when she called Lance to come and bail her out.

"Hello?" a slightly tired sounding voice came from the other side of the line.

"Mom?" Ellie asked unsure.

"Ellie? Is that really you?" the voice exclaimed causing Ellie to hold the phone away from her ear.

"Yeah," Ellie replied.

"I can't believe it. Where are you? Where have you been? What were you thinking! You are in so much trouble young lady!" Ellie's mom said talking rapidly.

"Harold, it's Ellie!" her mom called out away from the phone.

"Are you serious! Tell her to get her butt right here now," a distant yet distinctive male voice came.

"If you want me to come back...I will. After I get all the badges. I don't even want to take the trip up to the League! I just want to prove to myself I can do it! I even have four really strong pokemon with me now!" Ellie exclaimed before her mom or dad got say anything else.

"Only four? Honey, you left behind a full team plus some. Perhaps we should send you that Dratini back to you. Hm, what pokemon do you have on hand?" her mother said. Ellie sighed knowing what came next was not going to be ok.

"Feraligator, Ampharos, Delcatty, and a Marowak," Ellie said.

"Not one dragon? Shame on you Elizabeth Marie!" her mother said, her tone slowly rising.

"I've told you before! I don't like dragons and they don't like me! I'm not training them! I don't care if my grandfather is a famous dragon master or if you and dad train them! I like my pokemon and I'm not giving them up!" Ellie replied her tone already above what was acceptable. Her mother sighed.

"Fine. You want to keep them? Get your lousy badges and come challenge Clair. If you beat her with your stupid non-dragons then we will think about accepting your decision! Don't think we are going to help you again!" her mother yelled before hanging up the phone. Ellie stretched.

"Well, that could have gone worst," she said to herself, hanging the phone back on the receiver.

She dug through her bag and let out Luna to walk with her. She felt lonely not having anyone with her. Perhaps when she got to Ecruteak she would ask Zuki if she knew where to find Chloe. She had to apologize to the poor girl after just running out. She felt bad about it but it seemed necessary at the time. She wondered why she had just gone along with whatever she was told to do in Team Rocket. It nearly got her kill back with Archer but she didn't think twice about it no matter how weird the request was. She noticed she was lingering when Luna suddenly meowed and rubbed her head against Ellie's hand.

"Okay, I'm going..." Ellie said with a smile before walking back in the lobby. The nurse who had Gardevoir was sitting behind the desk looking out on the now empty lobby. Gardevoir was close by watching the news on the television. Gardevoir waved.

"Ah young Ellie...Tell me...do you know a man named...Alex? Sorry the connection...isn't strong..it seems your mind is in a state of unrest..." that calm voice came igniting Ellie's headache once again. Ellie just nodded as Gardevoir didn't seem to let the nurse on their conversation.

"Hmm...be wary of him. I can't put my finger on it but something seems off about him..." Gardevoir warned before turning her attention back on the television. Ellie looked at her confused but the presence of Gardevoir was gone from her mind.

When did Gardevoir meet Alex? Come to think of it was Alex even in Goldenrod? She didn't remember seeing him in the tower and surely if he had been there he would have chased after her while she was running away from Archer. That was really odd. All Team Rocket members were to be station in Goldenrod. She shook her head. Perhaps he had been in the underground and she was just over reacting. He probably moved on with his life and left Goldenrod. Perhaps he even went back to Blackthorn. After all, why should she care. She hated his guts. Yup, she defiantly hated his guts.

She walked out the door all the way to the gym. Luna kept away most of the people after freezing one guy's foot to the ground for stepping on her paw. Luna and Ellie had to run away to keep away from the guy's persistent yelling about her mangy pokemon.

"Don't worry Luna, you don't have mange," Ellie said with a little grin. Luna just held up her head higher and kept walking until they got to the Goldenrod gym. They stepped inside and Ellie signed themselves up for a gym match. The list was surprisingly smaller then the and Ellie had only a three day wait. She couldn't wait to beat Whitney and now that she knew what was coming she could better prepare for it.

However, that would come later. Ellie owed a lot to her pokemon and they were going to have fun today. Ellie already had the perfect place and she had a feeling her team was going to love it. Ellie smiled at Luna and told her to come on and keep walking much to the surprise of Luna. They went out onto Route 35 and kept walking. A few trainers tried to battle her but she politely turned them down and kept walking. The more persistent ones got the threat of having Luna freeze then into a popsicle and they soon left her alone.

Luna still followed even when they got to a big building and walked inside.

"Luna! Guess where we are?" Ellie said with a kind smile on her face. Luna just shook her head.

"The park!" Ellie answered for her excitedly.

"Deeel!" Luna replied just as excited as Ellie and ran forward. Ellie shook her head and laughed at the sudden kitten like display. She ran after her excited pokemon while people stared.


Author's Note: This chapter is a bit shorter then recent chapters. I just couldn't think of doing anything else in this chapter. After all, a lot of important information is leaked out. Such as Ellie's grandpa and you are introduced to her parents...among other things such as the Gardevoir who may or may not be important later on.

Erm...expect a new Pokemon for Ellie very very soon and a reappearance of a past character! No, she isn't getting a bug pokemon. .

This chapter comes late because last Saturday night I lost my internet so I couldn't post this chapter last Sunday. There's probably only going to be two chapters this week.