The return of Grimsley.

Rosa had second thoughts as soon as she opened the door to the first room. Darkness coated the arena, and small glowing spheres provided the only source of light. This must have been the lair of Shauntal. Rosa should have known that she would start out with the Ghost-type specialist.

But something else entirely had caught Nate's attention. All over the room, shelves were filled to the brim with books. An entire corner seemed to be dedicated to research, since it contained guides to everything from planning a wedding to leaving clues for a homicide.

"I wonder if she has any spell books I can borrow," he said out loud, and Rosa squeaked.

"You mean Shauntal's a witch?" she gasped, and Nate cringed. "Does the Champion know this? Did Alder know he hired a witch?"

"Were you the visitors the Champion warned about?" a voice asked, and they spun around to see a woman watching from a corner, intrigued. She didn't let them answer, instead taking their hair to be a yes. "Very well. I am Shauntal, your first opponent."

"But what about all this?" Nate declared, waving his arm around the room. He stopped at the research corner, where there was an entire row of the study of magical practices, and Rosa whimpered in terror as a book flew right off the shelf and went soaring over his head. Nate didn't even seem to notice. "Are you a witch?"

The woman laughed quietly. "Yes, I am a witch. And Grimsley's a vampire, Marshal's a werewolf, and I believe the Champion has a Time Lord over for a visit." As Rosa's mouth fell open in horror, and she looked around for any sign of a Dalek or a Weeping Angel, Shauntal sighed. "I was joking. There are no mythical creatures here, though I will admit I do try out a spell now and again. Just in case."

"But the moving book!" Rosa wailed, and Shauntal looked up.

"Jellicent, please. We don't want to scare her more than we have to."

There was a sigh, but the pink jellyfish floated down and dropped the book onto its trainer's desk. She said something that was, judging by the tone, quite offensive, and then floated away to sulk.

"I'm sorry about that," Shauntal said, looking very much like she was starting to get a headache just thinking about it. "But we should battle, if that's why you came. Don't you agree?"

"Um..." Rosa glanced back at the door, but Shauntal's Golurk had already blocked it. "Ok."

Shauntal tried to get her challenger to cheer up. "Ghost-types are like any other type, once you get to know them," she promised. "Here, I'll show you! Come out, Drifblim!"

The big balloon Pokémon floated in front of its trainer, and Rosa was relieved that Shauntal had sent out the only Ghost-type that she wasn't afraid of. "Can we just battle?" she asked. "I think I've been here long enough."

"If you want. Just pick your opponent: my Drifblim or my Chandelure."

"Drifblim." Rosa barely let the woman finish her sentence, and she reached for a ball of her own. "And, since you're using a Flying-type, I'll use an Electric-type! Ampharos, get rid of it!"

Shauntal wasn't going to let victory escape her easily. "Start off the battle with Psychic!" she ordered.

Ampharos didn't know what hit her, but she heard Rosa's call for an Electro Ball clearly, and it was her turn to catch Drifblim in an attack. Shauntal gave another command, this one for Shadow Ball, but after Ampharos launched a second attack, Drifblim was on the ground, unable to continue.

Rosa accepted Shauntal's congratulations, and then jumped onto the teleporter pad without waiting for Nate. Nate, for his part, apologized for his friend before following.

And Shauntal sent her Cofagrigus through the wall to the other three, with instructions to give them each a note that said, "Be careful. They're here."

"Well, that seemed easy," Nate said, his camera still at the ready. "Which one are you going to challenge next?"

"I think I'll go with the next one over," Rosa decided, looking at the stairs next to the set leading to Shauntal. "It'll be easier to keep track that way."

And so they went through the next door, where they found a man playing with a Liepard. The cat had all four paws in the air as she begged for a tummy rub, but the man was saying that she was a respected battler, darn it, and that she should stop acting like a child.

"Are you Grimsley?" Rosa asked quietly, and the man looked up, surprised that he hadn't heard them climb the stairs to his lair.

"Yes, I am," he confirmed, as the Liepard rolled onto her feet. "Are you my challenger?"

"The one the Champion warned you about," Rosa agreed. "No offense, but I kind of want this to go quickly. I haven't seen my parents in days. Maybe weeks, I've lost track of time. Are you going to use your Liepard in the battle?"

Grimsley looked back at the Pokémon, who was giving him a hopeful look, tail swishing across the floor in anticipation. "I'm sorry, Liepard, but after the incidents two years ago, I can never use you in a one-on-one match again."

Liepard made a strangled hissing noise, but sat down in a corner and sulked quietly. Grimsley pretended he didn't notice, and selected a Pokémon carefully. "Bisharp! You know what to do."

"A Bisharp?" Rosa questioned, but she knew that Grimsley hadn't seen her secret weapon. "It's your choice. And Greg, you're my choice!"

Grimsley called for an Aerial Ace at the same moment Rosa commanded a Hammer Arm. Greg had taken quite a bit of damage, but Bisharp's loss was inevitable.

Liepard purred in her version of an evil gloat. "Should've used me," she said, her tone of voice clearly mocking her trainer.

Grimsley picked up on that. "You would betray me for a tuna sandwich," he pointed out. "You did betray me for a tuna sandwich when you let that N kid pass. You're only useful as part of a team."

Rosa's eyes flicked between the man and his Pokémon, and then they finally settled on Nate. "I think we should go," she said quietly. "This guy's obviously having issues with his cat."

"Are you kidding?" Nate refused to turn away, or to turn off his device. "This is comedy gold!"

Grimsley didn't seem to notice or care that the girl with the donut hairstyle ordered her Emboar to drag their palm-tree friend behind him. He was too busy remembering the twin heroes from two years earlier, and thinking that perhaps letting teenagers run free was something the League should keep a closer eye on.

"And Bisharp went down with only one hit," Rosa told her mother over the transceiver, as they made their way to the next room. She knew that Marshal wouldn't have used that much glitter, so she felt it was safe to assume it was Caitlin's. "I knew choosing the Fire-type would come in handy someday."

"I'm sure he did well," her mother smiled. "In fact, I believe you can defeat the Champion if you try. Should I expect you to come home with a new job, Rosa?"

"No way!" Rosa laughed. "I'm taking this challenge for Nate. Not for a job."

"Only for Nate?" her mother asked, seemingly confused. "I may be wrong, of course, but don't you think that this is just as much for you as it is for him?"

Rosa thought it over. She usually didn't like it when her mom pulled this sort of analysis on her, especially after she'd been prodding her into 'character development' for years. Was that why she'd let Juniper go ahead with giving her daughter the Pokedex in the first place? It hadn't really made sense, since Rosa hadn't been warned, but the Pokedex had taught her to be brave...

When Rosa questioned her mother's motives, however, she only received a smile as an answer. "I worked as a nurse when Professor Juniper was in college, Rosa, when you were little. She often brought in her Pokémon from battles when her field research went wrong, and I got to know her very well. I accepted her request because I knew there was no real choice." She gave her daughter a meaningful look. "Now, do you think the journey has helped you?"

"I don't know," Rosa lied, refusing to admit that her mom might have had a point.

"Well, think about it. I'm sure your next opponent is waiting."

Caitlin really didn't do that much. She was asleep when they got there, and seemed to be in some form of trance when she sent out her Gothitelle. It looked like a tough opponent to beat, but even the Psychic master's Gothitelle was no match for the power of Rosa's Zoroark. It was especially interesting when Zoroark had taken on Greg's appearance again, and Rosa specifically didn't call the Dark-type's name when summoning it.

Caitlin, for all her supposed power, hadn't seen that one coming. "Gothitelle, use Psychic!"

"Stay there!" Rosa commanded. "Brace yourself for your next move!"

The creature that Caitlin thought was an Emboar grunted, and the second the attack stopped, Rosa gave the order: "Night Daze!"

It didn't take long after that before Caitlin was flicking the switch to allow the pair to leave her arena, and deciding that she was going to go back to sleep and wait for her next mission. And now, they prepared for the last step of the journey.

Marshal, it turned out, wasn't half as scary as the other three. He was a Fighting-type specialist, not a user of those creepy Pokémon that Grimsley and Shauntal were fond of, and not as difficult as Caitlin's Psychic-types. Rosa considered playing type advantage and using Altaria, but then she remembered that the Elite Four usually had defenses put up for their specialty's usual weaknesses. That had to mean Marshal had something to hurt Flying-types if they showed up on the field. So, she picked out a different Pokémon friend, one who had been with her for a very long time.

"That's the one you pick?" Marshal asked, looking down at Azumarill. Azumarill merely hugged her tail and made a happy sound. "I honestly thought you'd use a Flying or Psychic-type."

"I don't have a Psychic-type," Rosa shrugged, "and you have Rock Tomb, anyway."

Marshal was impressed. "How did you know that?"

"I did the research," Rosa lied, pretending she hadn't read Nate's ideas for the movie script, where said detail was revealed. To be honest, she'd just thought her friend was making that part up. But then Marshal made the first move: "Show it what we're made of, Throh! Rock Tomb!"

"Counteract it! Use Attract!"

The poor Throh didn't stand a chance after the hearts hit. It refused to hurt the pretty blue bunny, taking a solid beating at its hands and going down with a smile. Marshal, admitting defeat, grumbled something about some kids from two years ago and let the pair pass. With all four of the Elites beaten, Rosa was free to advance to the second most important battle in her life.

But Nate's mind was elsewhere as he turned off his camera, saving the battery for the most important match. "Are you sure you want to go through with this part, Rosa?" he asked uncertainly. "The Champion's going to come at you with a full team."

"So did Ghetsis," Rosa pointed out. "If I can beat Team Plasma, I can take down the Champion. Now let's go, before I change my mind."

Marshal watched them leave, thoughts turning in his head. So this girl beat Team Plasma?

He definitely owed Alder some money.