A/N: I forgot to mention Soupy edited last chapter. Also this one. So thank you to them for helping me once again! Also a big thank you to all the people who have come back to read this story after so long! I'm super grateful! I don't know when the next chapter will be posted exactly, but work has started on it.

Chapter 36

"I thought you were going to peek on me in the shower," Meri commented as she stepped back into the room her and Serenity were sharing at the Pokémon center just outside Rusturf Tunnel. The bed they'd shared last night had barely been big enough for them to sleep comfortably and Serenity's face down, stretched form had eaten up any room Meri could've used to lie back down, so she settled for sitting at the edge.

Serenity mumbled something into the pillow her face was buried in.

"Didn't catch that."

"The pillow you used smells nice," came the sleepily-slurring voice of Serenity after she turned her head to face Meri's general direction.

Meri just rolled her eyes. "You have the real thing right here, you know. Anyways, we have to get going soon."

"Nope," Serenity then swiveled her face back into the pillow and mumbled some more refusing words into it.

This was at least the third time this had happened this morning. First when Meri woke up a few hours ago. Then when she went to get breakfast, which might be switching over to lunch here soon, now that Meri thought about it. And she thought for sure the invitation for a shower would work. But here they were, still not even close to ready to leave at "11:43, Serenity. Hunter's not going to be happy about this. I want to get going myself."

Serenity turned her head again and stuck her tongue out. "Make me," she glared with a challenging and annoyed frown, then turned back again.

"Seriously?! You weren't even drinking last night, so it's not like you have a hangover or anything! We were only up until like, two or something…"

Meri remembered back to late last night when she had arrived to the Pokémon center, nearly a week after she'd decided to go back to Mauville City. Serenity had been overjoyed at her return while Meri was relieved and a little touched that the two of them hadn't gone further, even though they could have probably gotten to Rustboro City by then.

The mixture of emotional flare and convenient privacy of Hunter being in another room meant that clothes didn't stay on for long. Serenity's still hadn't made it back onto her body; her shirt was still on the door handle, actually.

"You know what I realized last night?" Meri asked, tone dripping with faux sincerity, but some real intrigue. Serenity took a moment then shook her head with a muffled grunt. "Your hair has grown since we left Littleroot Town-"

"You're right, it has!" Serenity suddenly whipped her head around and looked at Meri with a thoughtful gaze.

Meri started running her fingers through Serenity's hair calmly, occasionally kneading the other girl's scalp a little, making Serenity sigh with content. "Long enough that, if I wanted to, I could grab a fistful or two of it and really yank you around."

"Oh, is that so?" Serenity mused. Silence hung in the air, filled with the tension of two challengers facing off against the other's will.

"3…2…" Meri started, hesitating on the last count as she tightened her fingers in Serenity's white locks. Then she pulled hard and stood up, deciding against reaching the last number.

"Ahhh! Ow, ow! Owww, oof!" The yells turned to chest thud as Serenity was yanked off the bed and onto the floor chest first, sheets and pillows following shortly. She clutched at her chest as she picked herself up into a sitting position, resting her back against the bed with a pillow in between.

Meri sighed, amused and annoyed just a little. "Yeah, I bet that really hurt when you have 34D cushions."

"Aww, you know me so well!" Serenity grinned up at Meri, then rubbed her head. "You really CAN pull it now, it kind of hurts." She laughed, not really seeming to be in pain.

"You going to get ready now?" Meri said sternly, a slight smile on her face betrayed her tone.

"Fine… but Hunter is rubbing off on you way too much!" she pouted. "You're being way too responsible!"

Meri couldn't help but let her smile get a little bigger. She stuck out her tongue at Serenity and then pulled it back quickly as she walked towards the door. "Here!" she tossed the shirt behind her and then walked through the door so that Serenity wouldn't have a chance to complain further.

Getting downstairs, things didn't get any easier, with Hunter standing there, tapping his foot and looking annoyed. He was an early riser, yet somehow Meri hadn't encountered him when she'd come down for breakfast a while back. "Hey, it's good to see you, Meri, but," he had a brief, sincere smile, that turned strained in short notice, "do you know where Serenity is? I was kind of hoping to get on the road earlier…"

"Being Serenity," Meri sighed. "I know what you mean, though. It took a while, but I got her going finally. It shouldn't be too long…I hope…"

The last couple words really dropped off in volume, to the point Hunter seemed to not hear. "In the meantime, care to share what you did while you were gone? I'm assuming you already told Serenity since you've already seen each other this morning…"

"Uh, well, no I haven't told her, we haven't talked a ton, mostly just…slept," it was a lame finish, but whatever. "Thanks for waiting for me, by the way!"

Hunter shook his head. "Honestly, we would've, or at least I would've had to leave today anyways. I told my family I would be to Rustboro by a couple days from now. But I would've waited from there."

"Still, thanks," Meri insisted lightly. "We'll move quickly to make up for it."

Twenty minutes of foot-tapping, clock-glancing, and pacing later, Serenity joined them. "Oh yeah, Hunter wanted to get going early today! Let's goooo!" she stepped forward and trotted out the door, barely glancing at either Hunter of Meri.

"Nooo, we're going too fast!" Serenity was whining an hour later about their pace. Meri wasn't happy with the fact that they were passing up battle opportunities by trainers she felt fairly confident about being able to beat, but she agreed to this, she supposed.

"We wouldn't be going so fast if you'd have gotten up on time!" Hunter growled at Serenity.

Serenity repeated him in a mocking tone, glaring at nowhere in particular. "Yeah, well, we wouldn't be going so fast if you weren't so responsible!"

The only effect that served was to confuse Meri and Hunter. "I guess that was meant as an insult." Hunter just shrugged in defeat as a response.

"Anyways," Hunter said, ready to move on. "You never answered my question about what you were doing back in Mauville. We were worried, you know."

"Yeah, especially me! I almost went back for you so many times, but Hunter wouldn't let me," Serenity said excitedly. "So tell us! What did you do, Meri?!"

"It was something personal that had been bothering me for a while, but it's fixed now. It's not a big deal," Meri waved it off.

"Aww, come on, Meri! You won't even tell me?" Serenity looked like she was about to throw her second fit of the day.

Meri thought about it for a moment. Would she even believe me? It's a pretty crazy story, but she believed me on the voices and headaches and stuff. But I can't tell her that I'm not from here, there's no way I can do that! I really can't have her believe me on that…"

"Meri…? You sure you're okay?"

"Wha?" Meri was snapped out of her thoughts by Serenity's questioning.

"You zoned out for a minute there!" She grinned with a little chuckle.

"Oh, sorry…" Meri started slowly, but then picked her frame of mind back up again. "Yeah, maybe later, when it's just the two of us. Sorry, Hunter."

The lack of offense in his tone was easy to hear. "It's fine, you two have known each other forever and I'm the new guy."

"Aw, don't be so hard on yourself! We like you! It would be weird if you weren't here with us!" Serenity said, surprising the both of Hunter and Meri after how tense things had been between her and Hunter so far that day.

"She's right," Meri agreed, thinking back to what he had said earlier that morning about having to potentially leave them behind. "We'd miss you if you were gone."

Hunter laughed for a moment. "Thanks, you two."