April's Team: Mars; Burn (Charizard); Happy (Ludicolo); Thunder (Electabuzz); Sam (Riolu/Latios)

James' Team: Gardevoir; Nidoqueen; Ninetails; Grovyle; Corey (Mewvee)

Luna's Team: Ace (Blaziken); Shade (Lucario); Bravo (Gallade); Thalia (Ninetails); Bumble (Pichu); Moltres

Red's Team: Jake (Charizard); Volt (Pikachu); Mewtwo

Hey everyone. So I'd like a little bit of feedback concerning the characters, for reasons I have yet to reveal. Tell me who you like, who you don't like, who you'd like to see more of, who you'd like to learn more about, that sort of thing. If you could get back to me, that'd be great. Thanks. PM me or leave it in the reviews, if you would.

Anyways, now that that's over with, enjoy the story.

POV: Red

I stretched and yawned, feeling the wind rushing through my hair. This had always been one of my favorite feelings. Flying through the air on the back of a Pokémon, there was nothing greater in the world. The sun was shining, and Wailords were surfacing beneath us, shooting spouts of water into the sky.

"This is amazing!" April cried, her Charizard coming to fly next to Jake. Comparatively, Jake was much larger, though Jake was also older, which was probably the reason for that. I grinned and nodded.

"See?" I said. She laughed and patted Burn on the neck before turning her face up to the sky. I had found her exactly where Lucien had said she'd be, on an island in the middle of the ocean. I wasn't sure how she got there, but I didn't care either. At least she was ok. She turned and nodded to me, before commanding Burn to dive again. "Well, at least she's having fun. How long until we get to One Island, Jake? Think about thirty more minutes?" I asked. Jake grunted, and I leaned back, closing my eyes. Might as well get a quick nap then.

POV CHANGE: Gardevoir

James sat on the steps leading up to the Pokémon center, anxiously twiddling his thumbs. Red had called earlier today, telling him that he'd found April, and was bringing her to One Island. James glanced up at the sky.

"Think they'll be here soon?" He asked. I nodded, sensing their approach with my strong psychic abilities. About two minutes away. James opened his badge case, revealing his sixth badge, the Volcano badge. We'd fought the gym leader Blaine as soon as we'd heard that Red found April and was going to pick her up. He'd say otherwise, but I knew it was merely to release a lot of pent up stress from April's disappearing. James sighed and threw out his other four pokeballs, letting out Nidoqueen, Ninetails, Corey, and the newly evolved Grovyle, who yawned and looked listlessly at James.

"Yay!" Corey yelled, shooting straight up into the sky. "I get to be free!" She whooped, swooping down and attempting to tackle James, who narrowly avoided her by pressing himself against the ground. He grinned and shook his head, looking at the others.

"Nice job on the last battle, everyone. You were awesome. And Grovyle? Freaking amazing, man. I hadn't expected you to dominate that Magcargo like that. No offense." James said, grinning at Grovyle, who waved his hand dismissively and shrugged, sitting down at James' feet.

"No big deal." He said. "The guy was too slow. He packed a punch, but couldn't move worth a damn." Nidoqueen sighed and looked at the sky, shaking her head.

"I'm embarrassed about losing to that Arcanine. Sure, I beat his Rapidash, but still…I should've done more with my type advantage." She grumbled. I shook my head and smiled at her.

"Don't worry about it, Nidoqueen. You did great. If you hadn't hurt his Arcanine with that last body slam, we probably wouldn't have won. You too, Ninetails. Don't worry about losing to Magcargo, the guy had a type advantage, and you still held you own against him for a while." James said encouragingly. Nidoqueen grunted, refusing to show any emotion, but I felt her spirits lift ever-so-slightly.

"I wasn't worried." Ninetails snapped, sitting down with a huff. James sighed and shook his head, understanding the gist of what Ninetails had said.

"Arceus, you're a pain sometimes…." He muttered. Ninetails glared at him, and I turned my eyes to the sky to watch as April and Red descended on their respective Charizards. They landed with a thud, startling everyone but me and Grovyle, who was never surprised at anything.

"Yay! Sam is here!" Corey yelled, zipping past me and racing towards April. She pressed a button on one of the pokeballs on April's belt, and out popped Sam, who blinked in surprise at being let out. "Tag! You're it!" Corey said, giving Sam a full on punch in the face before zipping off, giggling uncontrollably.

"Hey! That hurt, you!" Sam yelled, racing after her at Mach speed.

"April!" James said, standing up. April grinned as she leapt off of Burn's back, letting Mars out of his pokeball before placing it deep inside her backpack. The grizzled Absol shuddered, causing his entire body to shake. I raised my eyebrows at him. His fur was now kempt and groomed, and looked like it had been cut. Red leapt off of Jake, who grunted as another Absol squirmed out of his arms, shaking herself off and shuddering.

"Never again." The two of them said in unison.

"I will never fly again." The other Absol said.

"Never put me in that bloody thing again." Mars said to April. April laughed and waved at James, letting the rest of her team out of her pokeballs. Thunder and Happy, who I was surprised to see was a Ludicolo, greeted Nidoqueen and Ninetails cordially.

"Hey, James. I'm back!" April said, smiling. James frowned, looking her up and down.

"Are you ok? What happened?" James asked. April shrugged.

"I'll tell you a bit later, when Lucien and Luna get here." April said. James stiffened, and Red shook his head, recalling Jake. April noticed James action, and suddenly became worried.

"What? What happened?" She asked. Red intervened before James could say anything stupid about Lucien. He was still mad at him for leaving the way he did.

"Lucien got a job from InterPol and had to go work on it. He's the one who found out where you were, actually." Red said, shooting a warning look towards James. James shrugged and looked away angrily. "As for Luna, James can answer that." He said.

"Luna went shopping or something." James muttered. "She'll be back soon. She said she wanted to get you something for when you got back." April smiled, and Mars slowly walked up to me, casting a glance up at me with his one red eye. For some reason, his other eye was closed. He usually kept it open, despite it being blind.

"You look remarkably well groomed today, Mars." I noted, smiling to myself as he shuddered.

"Arceus, don't remind me. That was worse than the bath. The brush wasn't that bad, but then she….she got out the scissors." Mars shuddered again. "I'm going to have nightmares about that for weeks. They snuck up on me while I slept. Burn and Thunder held me down while April cut my fur, saying something about it being too long." Mars shuddered once more, and I snickered, earning a glare from him. "Not funny." He said.

"It is pretty funny." I said. He sighed and shook his head.

"No, it's not. It was a traumatic, life changing event, and I am scarred for life because of it." He said. I laughed out loud that time, and Mars just grinned. I looked back at April, who was just smiling and listening while James talked about Arceus-knows-what. That boy could go off the wall sometimes. I smiled to myself, when Mars interrupted my thoughts. "Dialga." He said simply. Every muscle in my body tensed, and I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

"What?" I asked, trying to keep the tension out of my voice. He nodded as if to confirm something, and began to speak again.

"So you do know then." He said. "Who has been talking to you? Is it Darkrai? I think I remember you mentioning him once. And we saw him once, I think."

"What do you know about it?" I snapped, glaring at him. "If you know anything, I want to know right now. Darkrai has been warning me about Dialga for the past two weeks." Mars shrugged, taking this news without even batting an eye.

"Awesome. Now we get to have even more fun. I don't know anything other than it's going to be collateral. Suicune warned me about it. Watch yourself. My meeting with Lugia was….less than pleasant." Mars said, watching me carefully. Before I could say anything, he continued. "It'll all become clear when April explains it. For now, I don't think we should discuss this. It's kind of….hard to believe, and impossible to prepare for." Mars said. I thought about speaking more, but held my tongue, instead turning my attention to Luna, who was walking up to us. She spotted April and yelled, sprinting up to her and giving her an enormous hug.

"April! I'm so glad you're ok!" She squealed. I smiled at the warm feelings wafting through the air. Everyone was happy, a nice change to the stress and tension that had been hanging above our heads before. "What happened?" Luna asked, worriedly looking into April's eyes. April shrugged.

"I'll tell you over lunch. I'm really hungry." April said. Red nodded in agreement.

"So am I. Last time I visited the Sevii Islands, I found this really good restaurant that serves Unovan food. Want to give it a try? I'll buy." Red said, smirking. I wondered what that was about, but decided to let it slide. April and James nodded, and Luna adjusted a bag that was on her shoulder.

"Alright, but afterwards I've got a little surprise for you, April." Luna said. April's eyes lit up, and she grinned.

"Really? Thanks, but you didn't have to get me anything." She said. Luna laughed and shook her head.

"I know, but I felt like getting you something. Now let's go to this restaurant, Red." Luna said. Red nodded, and both April and James recalled everyone, minus me and Mars. Sam and Corey were forced into their balls just as Sam was about to catch Corey for the first time, causing him to yell in indignation. Red nodded and looked up from signing a little kid's notebook, sending him on his way with a pat on the head.

"Alright. Let's go before I start to attract a crowd. That's the one thing I've always hated about being Champion. Freaking fan clubs." He muttered, pulling his hat down lower on his head. I didn't see how that would help, as he was the only person I knew of that wore a red hat, red vest, and red sneakers. James nodded, and we followed him towards the restaurant.

POV CHANGE: Mars

I wolfed down my food, devouring every last crumb and then licking the plate. The food at Lugia's hadn't been bad, but it hadn't been satisfying either. I yawned and looked around the restaurant, which had all but cleared when Red walked in. It wasn't much, just a small restaurant with maybe a dozen tables and a mural depicting two black and white dragons on one wall. The white one was surrounded by fire, while the black one was surrounded by electricity. Outside, a few people were lining up, pointing excitedly inside and saying unintelligible things through the glass. Red sat with his back to the door, looking more and more nervous as more people crowded outside the restaurant.

"So, yeah. That's what happened." April said, finishing her story. James stared at her open-mouthed, while Luna and Red just nodded, accepting the story without a moment's hesitation. "I…uh….I heard most of that from Mars…" She said, fidgeting with her thumbs.

"Wait, you can understand him?!" James asked incredulously.

"James, hush. You know that psychic types can communicate with their trainers by speaking with their minds. This is probably the work of a very strong psychic, they can create those psychic connections with other Pokémon as well." Red explained. "My psychic type did the same thing, letting me communicate with all the members on my team." James just stared at him blankly, and Luna spoke up.

"So then Lugia is done now, right? Nothing more to worry about? No more disappearing acts?" Luna asked. April nodded nervously.

"That's what Mars said." April said. I licked my paw, trying to get a few crumbs off of it. This place made excellent food, even if it was made by humans. Normally I just stuck with berries, but for these guys I'd make an exception.

"Ok, ok. So Lugia did this, right?" James asked, standing up. April nodded, and James balled his fists. Gardevoir took a step forwards, but thought better of it and went back to eating her food. "Alright, then. Point me in the right direction, and I'll go kick his butt. I'll make sure he never does this again." James said. April stared at him for a second, and then started laughing. "What? What's so funny?" James asked, taken aback. I snorted and looked down at my plate, disappointed that the food was gone. It had been so good, too….

"Nothing, nothing." April said, controlling her giggles and standing up. She kissed James on the cheek, and smiled at him. "Thank you." She said. James stared at her in shock, turned about fifteen different shades of red, and then sat down.

"Ok." He said, completely dumbstruck. Red shook his head, polishing off his plate and laughing at James.

"Still a silver-tongued devil, huh, James?" He asked. James just stared at him blankly, and Red sighed. "Never mind." Luna suddenly sat bolt upright in her chair, startling everyone.

"Oh, right! April, come here. I've got a little something for you." Luna said. April grinned and walked over to Luna, who handed her a large blue bag. April reached inside, and pulled out a piece of cloth with a gasp. I blinked, looking at it harder. That was a dress, not a piece of cloth. It was blue and fringed with white, and looked a little big for April.

"Oh my gosh, this is so pretty!" April said, examining it. "Thank you so much!" Luna smiled.

"I thought you might like it. I knew you were into Contests and all, and I figured you might like a new dress, you know, if you wanted to get another shot at it. There's a contest coming up two days from now, and I thought you might like to go give it a whirl. What do you say?" Luna asked. April nodded happily and clutched the dress to her chest.

"Yes! I'd love to do that! I'll go try this on right now!" April said, excitedly running towards the bathroom.

"Girls and clothes…" James muttered, shaking his head. I stood up and looked out the window again. The crowd had grown fairly large since I had looked away. I stretched and looked around the room again. Rose was nowhere in sight, she said something about hating human towns and disappeared. I shrugged, and turned back to April, who walked out of the bathroom in her new blue dress.

"That's so pretty!" Luna said. April giggled and did a little twirl, causing James to roll his eyes and dig into his food once more. "That suits you so well!" April bowed and sat down in her seat once more. I walked over to her and sat down next to her, hoping that someone would drop food. That stuff had been incredible.

"Thank you!" She said.

"So, now that we're done with lunch, what are we going to do now? I might have to ditch this crowd in order to do anything, really." Red said, risking a glance through the glass front of the restaurant. A few girls screamed his name, and Red quickly averted his eyes, looking back towards April. "See what I mean?" April nodded and looked at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"I was thinking of taking the gym challenge. James has already got his Volcano badge, right?" April asked. "Then I was thinking I'd give it a shot." Luna looked at her, shocked, while both Red and James nodded in approval.

"What?! But you just got back! You should rest!" Luna said. April shook her head.

"No, I've been resting for the past two or three days, and my team's been resting even longer than that. I'm sure they're itching to battle." April said. Red nodded and stood up.

"Alright, I'll go secure you a spot to battle Blaine. I'm sure he'll be happy to battle you." Red said, turning towards the door. "On second thought, I'll slip out the back. Head to the gym when the crowd disappears." Red said, turning back around and walking towards the kitchen. April looked at me and grinned.

"Think you're ready to battle, Mars?" April asked. I shrugged and stood up.

"My self-confidence is at an all-time high right now. I'm thinking I could probably take the gym on myself." I said casually. "But you'd better use the others first. They're probably more anxious to fight than I am." April nodded and watched as screaming fan girls ran off, presumably chasing after Red.

"Then let's go."

There you go, another nice, easy chapter. Simple and a little relaxing.

Also, don't forget about the character thing. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. (It applies to the plot, so it's not completely pointless.)