A Very Unexpected Journey

by xshadowninja4x

When two best friends decide to finally embark on their pokemon journey...they had no idea of the events that would unfold! OCxGardevoir OCxLopunny. I don't own pokemon in any way, pokemon is owned by Nintendo. I only own my OC's. Rated M for a fair amount of swearing and violence at times. Lemons start in chapter 16, be warned! Enjoy! P.S. I suck at summaries XD

38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38: The Missing Piece (Final)

After another long, Zubat battling filled walk back towards the entrance, we had all finally made it back out to the glory of none other than the beatiful sun rays reflecting off of a very white and sandy beach.

"We are NEVER...doing this shit again." I said with a huff.

"Aw come on, it wasn't THAT bad."

As soon as Frank had finished that sentence, I just shot him a bit of a disbelieving glare.

He nods and lets out a little sigh. "Okay. It was pretty fucking terrible. But hey, we're out now, right?"

"Yeah. NOW. After going through another barricade of retarded Zubats." I heave another heavy sigh and forcefully lean against the large boulder to the left of the entrance.

"God, could those things be any more persistent? You know, you'd think that after they watch you like...completely wreck their other twenty friends that they'd be like 'woah, screw these guys, they aren't playing around.' But instead we get 'OOH me too! Beat my ass too please!"

My three other companions all begin to laugh a bit at my statement, as do I a bit as well afterwards, mainly from them laughing. I guess laughter really is contagious.

Frank rubs a tear from his eye and shakes his head at me a bit. "Ah man...but hey seriously, I'm getting hungry. You down for some sushi back in Olivine?"

I shoot him a bit of a stupid look, as my answer should have been obvious beforehand. "I'm pretty sure you already know what I'm gonna say to that."

"Uh...yyyyeah. Guess I should have huh." He let's out a little nervous laugh at the end before propping himself up next to me against the same rock I was leaning on, and looking out to the distance towards the girls and scoffing a bit to himself.

Ranie and Angie had both been a small ways in front of us, messing around with the sand at their feet while paying no mind to the two of us at the moment.

"What's up?" I asked him nonchalantly.

"It's just...you know, this will be the first time that we actually got to have sushi with Ranie and Angie, finally."

I just shrug my shoulders a bit and nod. "Yeah, and?"

"I'm just glad that it's actually going to happen. I mean...you know...with what happened...I mean, it almost...I mean if they would've...like. You know we wouldn't have had the chance to-"

"Frank." I said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder and smiling. "You worry too much man. All that shit is in the past, everything is fine now, and it's gonna stay that way I promise dude. So, just forget about that shit that happened alright? Dwelling on the past is never a good idea bro."

He nods and complies finally after a few seconds of silence and tightens his backpack straps a bit with confidence as the two girls began walking towards us. "You're right man. Heh...thanks. You always know what to say don'tcha?"

"What can I say? I'm awesome." I said with a bit of a cocky smirk.

"Alright Mr. Egotistic. Let's not get carried away now."

I shake my head and chuckle, punching his shoulder lightly. "Fuck you Frank."

"I love you too sweetheart." He said cockily. "Anyways! We ready to get this shit rolling?"

I reach for my belt and grab Drake's pokeball, releasing him right after. "You know it. You ready to head back to Olivine bud?" I asked Drake.

"Sure. Ready when you are." He said with a nod.

"Well hurry up slowbro, we ain't got all day." Frank had already been taking to the air with he and Angie upon Finn's back.

Ranie had suddenly walked up to my side, smiling as she glanced up at me and kissed me on the cheek lightly before hopping on to Drake's back and patting the empty spot in front of her.

I smile and look up towards the sky where Frank had been. "Jesus Christ could you give me a sec? Sheesh." I shouted playfully.

I hop on to Drake's back and Ranie quickly grabs hold of my waist tightly, securing herself to me like a personal seatbelt.

"I'm ready!" She said with a cheerful smile.

I nod and give Drake a little nudge to signal him that we were all set. Within seconds we were up to the same height as Frank and the others.

He looks at his watch as a bit of a smartass gesture and raises his eye. "Well shit it's about time, Jesus."

I roll my eyes and let out a playful sigh. "Fuuuuuck you Frank."

We all share another giggle before finally heading back towards the city of Olivine.

Once we had arrived shortly after, we had wasted no time in rushing over towards the local sushi bar for our, what will be, epic lunch.

"Hell yeah, only like two people in line." I said, throwing a little fist pump to my side.

"So what like...15 salmon rolls right?" Frank asked.

"Hmm...know what? I'm feeling some variety since this is a special occasion. Let's mix it up." I said.

"What's the occasion?" Angie leaned in towards Frank and asked out of confusion.

"Yeah I was wondering that too actually..." Ranie added on, walking up next to her sister and putting her arm around her shouder.

I puff my chest out a bit proudly and give off a hard smirk "Well...it's the first time we're getting sushi together!"

"Uhh...wait, that's special?" Angie asked with her head cocked to the side a bit.

Annnnnnnnnnd just like that, killed the mood.

"Uhh..I...well...I mean..."

"Yeah, I mean...wasn't it kinda the same with all the other times we tried food and stuff for the first time with you guys?" Ranie seemed to be having a rough time understanding as well.

Another shot to the heart in an instant.

Frank and I both look to one another for a moment, and then he smiles.

"Well...this time, it's just a little different. That's all." He said; the smile still hadn't left his lips.

Her and Angie both look to one another and smile as well, nodding afterwards.

"Alright, so special lunch time it is!" Frank exclaimed.

After we had ordered our food, we had all taken the table furthest from the rest in order not to have to worry too much about too many people being around us. Plus, the further we were away, also meant that we could all actually talk amongst one another without really attracting too much attention since they wouldn't really be able to hear us.

"I am beyond ready to kill this stuff right now." I said, setting down one of the big plates of food upon the table.

Frank follows suit, setting the other large plate with the rest of the food neatly next to the plate I had set. "Well then, let's stop wasting time and start eating! What should we take down first?"

I put a finger to my chin for a moment and glance upon both plates of colorful, delicious looking sushi, trying to pick and choose to the best of my abilities.

"I mean, you already know that we're gonna save the 'thing' for last." Frank whispered to me all of a sudden.

"Right. I am definitely not ready for that one." I said with a nod, before looking back over the food once again, with Frank also glancing at it as well, pondering himself.

Finally we both come to a smirk as our eyes hit the same spot.

"Bluefin Tuna." We both said simultaneously.

"Good choice." Frank said with a nod, grabbing a few peices for he and Angie.

"So...this is like...actually raw fish?" She asked with a bit of a discerning face.

"Yeah, I'm...not entirely sure how I feel about this not being cooked..." Ranie examined the small piece of food in her hands a bit warily.

"Yeah, but it's not how you think it is. You just gotta try it...it's good, we promise." I tried my best to step in and reassure the two.

They both look to one another for a moment as if questioning each other silently, before finally nodding and smiling a bit.

"Well, we still have yet to try anything that was actually bad that you guys suggested, so I trust you." Angie said with a little playful wink, raising the piece up to her mouth.

"Hold on a second there bucko." Frank said, grabbing her arm to stop her for a second.

"What?" She asked, a bit annoyed of her being stopped from eating.

Frank smiles and points towards the little cup of eel sauce that we had gotten with our food. "Dip it in that first."

Angie looks over towards the sauce and tilts her head a bit.

Ranie looks up towards Frank as well, before looking over to me for further confirmation.

I just shrug my shoulders and smile. "He's not lying. That sauce is like heaven for sushi rolls. Try it out, you two won't be disappointed."

They both look to one another hesitantly before lightly dipping a tiny amount of each of their pieces into the sauce and holding it in their hands.

"Like this?" Ranie asks, holding up the piece towards me a bit.

"Yeah, that'll work." I said as Frank and I both basically cover our entire piece in the stuff. "Y'all ready?"

"You already know I am." Frank said with a proud nod.

Both girls lightly nod their heads and ready themselves.

"Alright, down the hatch guys!" I say, popping the small piece into my mouth, instantly falling in love with the flavor.

Frank lets out a little satisfied grunt and smiles. "Oohhh...that's actually really good."

"Hmm...definitely still prefer the salmon, but yeah. That is DEFINITELY good as hell."

He and I both turn our attention to the girls for their reactions, and it's pretty safe to say that we could instantly tell what they thought of it, judging by thier facial expressions.

"Heh...told you guys it was good." I said proudly.

Ranie smiles from ear to ear and nods, grabbing another piece and wasting no time in eating it.

"Okay...yet again, you guys win." Angie says with a little playful huff, eating another piece herself shortly after.

Frank and I join in, and shortly after we finish off the last bit of tuna rolls we move on to the yellowtail, then the yellowfin tuna and of course the salmon for the last of our actual sushi part.

"Ooh wow!" Ranie exclaimed as soon as she had eaten her first piece of salmon.

"Yeah...hands down this is definitely the best one yet." Angie said as she stuffed two peices into her mouth at once.

Frank and I both looked to one another and smiled proudly.

"Looks like this special sushi date was a huge success, wouldn't you say kind sir?" Frank said, jokingly holding up his root beer bottle to me for a toast.

I had raised mine in reply to his, lightly tapping it against his bottle before we both had chugged down the rest of the contents. "Ahh...indeed it was old chap."

Once the four of us had eaten our, what I'd say was the main course, it was time to bust out the little challenge Frank and I had secretly planned.

"Owhhhohh...I'm so fullllll." Ranie said as she plopped back forcefully into her seat, rubbing her stomach.

Angie just let's out a little groan and sighs to herself before nodding at Ranie's statement.

"Heh...well, we're gonna need you two to make just a teency tincy little bit more room for the next and very last thing..." I said with a grin.

"Ooh, dessert?" Angie exclaimed.

I shake my head and chuckle a bit, as this was far from anything like dessert.

They both look to one another, a bit confused, before looking back at me in question.

Knowing that they were waiting on me to enlighten them, I slowly pulled out the little Styrofoam box from behind me and set it on the table gently.

"And that would be?" Angie asked, pointing to the box.

"Yeah what's with the secretive container?" Ranie began to open it up slowly as she had asked.

I jokingly slap her hand and shake my head to stop her in her tracks. "Ah ah. I'll open it."

Frank and I had just laughed a bit in preparation, since he and I both already knew what we were getting into of course.

Once I had opened the box to reveal the goods, the girls both had a bit of an uneasy look grow upon their faces.

"Uhh...what...is that?" Angie asked, pointing to the box yet again.

"This? Heheh...this my dear Angie, is octopus tentacles." I said with a smirk.

Her and Ranie's jaws had both hit the floor.

Angie instantly began shaking her head. "Uh, okay that? Nuh uh. Not happening. Nope."

"Uh...yeah Hayden, I'm not so sure about this one either." Ranie said with a worried look, poking at the food a bit cautiously.

"Ah come on don't be babies. Frank and I haven't tried this stuff yet either since...well, we were kinda the same way. We were always iffy about it but...hell, can't knock it till you try it right?"

"Come on, it'll be a fun experience!" Frank added in a bit himself to lighten the atmosphere.

"I mean...well...I...guess we cou-"

Angie hurriedly grabs on to Ranie's shoulders and shakes her a bit. "Hold on sis, seriously? You're actually considering this?"

She just shrugs a bit and looks at me with a smile. "Well I trust Hayden on food judgement, so what can I say?"

I cringe a bit jokingly and laugh. "Heh...well Ranie I won't lie to you...I'm not so sure about this one myself. BUT that doesn't mean I'm backing out."

She let's out a little sigh and shakes her head. "Well...I guess it still can't hurt to try at least."

Angie rubs the bridge of her nose a bit and groans. "Sometimes, I really do hate you guys."

"Haha perfect! So we're all in?"

Everyone looks to one another, then back to me, and nods, though a bit hesiantly for some.

"Badass." I take a piece of the rubbery food into my hands as everyone follows along with the same right after me. "We all ready?"

"Nuh uh." Angie and Rainie blurted simultaneously.

Frank shook his head as well and sighed. "Not in the slightest man."

"Alright good! Onetwothreego!" I quickly threw one of the tentacles into my mouth before I, myself, would start having second thoughts.

Surprisingly, Angie was the next one to go, then Ranie right afterwards, and onto Frank lastly.

We all sat there for about half a minute or so, chewing slowly to savor the taste before I finally swallowed first with Frank right there behind me after.

He and I look to one another with surprised eyes and nod our heads to one another.

"Bro." He said with a smile.

"Dude, I know." I nodded and smiled back.

"That was goddamn terrible." Frank said, cringing a bit.

"I know du-wait...what?" I had to do a little double take on that one.

"That was gross as fuck. Glad I at least tried it though." He said as he set his chopsticks down on the table.

"You...you're serious?" I asked disbelievingly.

He just nods like it should've been obvious.

"Wow who's the little baby now?" Angie got close to his face with a smirk.

Frank raised an eye at her. "Bruh...don't tell me you of all people actually liked it."

She grabs another piece and instantly tosses it into her mouth with a smile. "Mhm, sure do actually! Its so chewy and good!"

"Hell yeah!" I smile and turn towards the last person in our group with high hopes. "And you Ranie?"

She had still been chewing slowly with a worried look on her face before finally swallowing very unwillingly.

As soon as it had gone down she had let out a little shiver. "Blegh...yuck."

"Tch...jeez you guys are weenies." I turn to Angie and smile, putting my hand up for a high five, to which she immediately complies.

"Hehe, go team Hayden and Angie!" She said with a smile.

Frank lets out a little sigh and shakes his head. "Yeah, you guys have fun with that, team Frank and Ranie will stick to eating the good stuff only, right Ranie?"

She smiles and nods and they high five each other as well.

I just roll my eyes and sigh. "Yep, giant weenies."

Angie lets out a little giggle, gaining a little playful glare from Ranie to which she just shrugs back in return.

"Anyways...since we're all done here, you guys ready to go back?" I asked them.

Everyone looked amongst themselves briefly before Frank finally looks to me and shrugs. "Yeah, seems like it. Let's head out."

"Awesome." I said with a thumbs up. "Just gotta pack these away in my bag real qui-"

"Hold on, what's that for?" Ranie asked, pointing to two more secret containers of food that I had ordered when they hadn't been by us. "You got even more food?"

"Are those for Drake and Finn or something?" Angie asked me. "Though...I thought they said they didn't want any when we got here..."

"Oh these? Nah...they're not for Drake and Finn." I said with a little smirk. "Well, let's just say...I figured that when we got back to my house, I'd share some with-"

Suddenly, my pokedex had begun to go off.

After tucking the food away safely, I reach into my pocket, fumbling a bit with the pokedex and almost dropping it in the process before finally answering.

"Mmmmmyello?"

"HAYDEN!?"

I move the pokedex away from my ear for a moment as the voice on the other end had decided to shatter my eardrum.

"Ahh...jeez. Hey to you too Whitney."

"Dude don't just' hey' me all casually like that! Do you know how many times I've tried to call you guys? I haven't heard anything since the night at Tin Tower!"

"Oh shit dude I'm sorry...that night that we last spoke, after hanging up like that..my dex had actually died. I didn't even turn it on until the day after when we were already in the caves, and we probably had no service or anything whatsoever in there."

I pulled the dex away from my ear once more to check the time.

"Actually, we didn't even get out of them until about an hour ago. So if you called us any time before that, that's probably why you couldn't get a hold of us."

"Wait, caves?"

"Yeah on the Whirl Islands."

"Wait...you mean...you guys already went there? What about Tin Tower? You haven't even told me anything about that yet and you already went to the Whirl Islands?"

"Well...yeah pretty much...heh."

"Uhuh...so?"

"So...what?"

"Uh hello! Tell me what the hell happened! Did you guys...I mean did you...ya know..."

"Whitney?"

"Ah!...uhm...yes?"

"Are you free at the moment?"

"Uh...actually yeah...I'm pretty much free all day today...why do you ask?"

"You mind if Frank and I stop by for a bit?"

"Well...sure but first, tell me ab-"

"We're actually heading to my house today to see everyone again and you're more than welcome to tag along with us as well if you'd like."

"S-Sure that sounds fun...but, will you tell me ab-"

"Awesome! We're fixing to leave now, should be there in about 20 minutes or so. That cool?"

"Yes yes that's fine but-"

"Sweet, see you then Whit."

"Wait Hayden, tell me about everything!"

"Alright, later!"

"Hayd-!"

*click*

I let out a little sigh to myself and smile as I placed my dex back into my pocket.

"We ARE gonna tell her everything right?" Frank asked with a raised eye.

"Of course, just wanna wait till we're in person with her and everyone else."

"Ah. Knock it all out at once eh?"

I nod my head and fold my arms proudly. "Bingo."

Frank smiles and nods as he calls out Finn and hops onto his back with Angie. "Well come on, let's get to it man."

I just roll my eyes as I call out Drake as well, hopping onto his back with Ranie's hand in mine. "You know, you're being really fuckin pushy today Frank."

"You know you love me sweetheart."

"Sometimes I wonder man." I said with an exasperated sigh.

"Ahah...whatever. You ready?" He asked, already taking to the skies without my answer.

I quickly take to the sky and get next to him at the same height as he had been. "I guess I don't have a choice when you do that do I?"

He smirks and shakes his head frantically before hurriedly taking off towards Whitney's place without warning.

I let out a little sigh and shake my head a bit before giving Drake a little nudge to let him know I was ready as well.

No more than 15 minutes later, we had both finally come into contact with the outskirts of Goldenrod City.

"Ah, ol' Goldenrod." Frank said, letting out a pleasant sigh.

"You say that like you haven't been here in years." I said with a raised eye.

"Yeah...just feels good to be here again ya know?"

"Whatever you say man." I just roll my eyes playfully as we slowly make our descent down to the gym to meet up with Whitney.

Once we had touched down, before we could even get off of Drake and Finn's backs, Whitney had come rushing out of the door, sloppily throwing her backpack onto her back, almost tripping over her own two feet in the process.

Frank and I both tried our best to stifle a laugh, though it was proving to be quite the challenge.

"Hey...hey guys...haa." Whitney put her hand up brifely to wave at us as she fought to catch her breath. "Ahh...God I'm out of shape."

"I mean...yeah, considering that you only ran 30 feet and you're already-oof!"

Whitney had decided to punch me dead in the stomach mid-sentence. Although it may have been playfully, it had still kinda hurt quite a bit.

"You're not supposed to agree with a girl when she says something like that you know!" She pouted a bit and folded her arms, giving me a death glare.

Honestly it was just kinda cutesy, so I couldn't even begin to think of being scared of her, although she can get a bit hotheaded.

"Alright alright, I'm sorry." I said, putting my hands up in defeat.

She pointed at me with what I guess was her idea of a serious look. "You had better be!"

"Okay okay I got it." I reach down into my pocket and pull out my pokedex after my little battle with Whitney.

She cocks her head to the side, a bit confused. "Who ya callin'?"

"I'm gonna call my mom real quick to let her and Frank's mom know that we're actually coming home."

"Wait...you already invited me to come with you guys and you never even told your moms that YOU two were coming in the first place?" She shouted.

"Jeez Whitney...you really like to yell when you're excited huh?" I said, poking a bit more fun at her.

She just rolls her eyes and punches me in the shoulder, much lighter this time around than the punch to my gut. "Oh bite me."

I had heard Angie and Ranie both chuckle behind me a bit, though I had decided to ignore it and not say anything more.

After I had dialed my mom's number, the pokedex had only rang twice before she had picked up on the other end.

"Hayden!?"

I'm immediately greeted by mom's loud voice on the other end, causing me to have to once again move the dex away from my ear to avoid busting my eardrums.

"Jeez mom, is everyone out to make me deaf or something now?"

"Why haven't you answered any of my calls?"

"Uhh...wait when did you call me? Because we both had our dexes off basically until maybe like an hour-ish ago."

"Well, I called you four times today just to see how you two were doing, I was worried!"

"Well I can assure you that we're both fine. Actually, I'm calling now to let you know that Frank and I are actually about to leave Goldenrod and head back home in just a b-"

"WAIT YOU'RE COMING BACK HOME ALREADY?!"

I had cringed a bit and yet again pulled the dex away from my ear while my mom had been mouthing off loudly on the line about nonsense.

"Ahh...God mom...the yelling. Please."

"Right! I'm sorry! But are you two seriously about to come home now?"

"Yeah in about ten minutes or so, Frank and I met up with our friend Whitney, who's actually the gym leader here in Goldenrod. She's gonna be tagging along with us too, okay?"

"Ugh...son! Connie and I were going to throw you a surprise party when we had come to the point to figure out when you guys were supposed to come home, you know, around the time when you actually first told us! We thought you two'd be gone for over a month!"

"Well jeez, sorry to burst your bubble, but it didn't end up taking that long I guess."

"Wait a minute...when you say that...IT...didn't end up taking that long...do you mean..."

"Aha...uhh...I'd rather just wait till everybody is actually at the house so we can tell the whole story in person to you all at one time."

"Come on son, you can't at least tell me if you two actually accomplished what you had set out for?"

"Well..I mean...I'd...really rather just wait till we're in person to explain everything, be it bad or good."

My mom heaves a heavy sigh on the other end for a moment and remains quiet.

"I promise, we'll tell you about everything."

"Alright son...I just really was hoping to hear nothing but success from this...but I guess I can wait a bit longer to hear the details."

"Thanks mom. Well, we're about to head out now. Should be home in about three and a half, maybe four hours or so."

"Perfect, that gives me and Connie enough time to go buy food and everything to throw you guys a little welcome home party then!"

"Ah come on mom, you really don't have to."

"Well we will anyways! Now come on, hurry up and come home, everybody misses you two already you know."

"Well jeez, I'd hate to see how it would be if we really were gone for over a month."

"I'd rather not really think about it."

"Aha..right right. Well, I guess Frank and I'll see you in no more than four hours then."

"Okay, sounds good! I'll go ahead and call Professor Oak and tell him as well. See you when you get home Hayden. Love you son."

"I love you too mom. Bye!"

*click*

After hanging up I let out a sigh and immediately begin to dial yet again.

"Wait, who you calling now?" Frank asked curiously.

"Calling Dawn now. I'll just get her to tell May and Lyra and all about this too so they all know to come as well."

Frank nods his head and leans up against the fence outside of the gym where we had landed. "Yeah, good idea."

I put the dex up to my ear once again and wait for Dawn to answer. It had actually rung for quite a while now.

"Huh...maybe she's not-"

"Yeah, hello?"

A voice that was most certainly NOT Dawn's had answered on the other end.

"Uh...yeah, can I speak to Dawn please?"

"Dawn? What you wanna talk to her for?"

I cock my head back and double take, trying to keep my composure, though it didn't help me very much.

"Uh..who is this?"

"This is Dawn's boyfriend, Zack."

"Uhh...wow, that's news to me. Well, Zack, let me talk to Dawn please?"

"Nope."

I let out a heavy sigh and try my best to keep my composure.

"Would you...PLEASE...let me speak to Dawn?"

"You deaf? I said it's not happening."

"Alright, now I'm getting a little tired of being nice. I'm not gonna ask again."

"Good, don't then."

"Okay dude for real, hand the phone over. I don't know who you think you are, but I'm her best friend. I called for her, not you. Now hand the damn phone to her."

"I ain't handing shit over to-"

All of a sudden I could hear voices in the background and also what had faintly sounded like laughing.

"Yo, quiet down or she's gonna hear you, idiot!" Someone whispered in the background.

"Dude, what the fuck is going on, who is this?!"

"I told you this is Zack bruh. I'm tired of-ohshit."

"What the f-"

"God damnit Ian I knew you had it, give it to me!"

This time around, a much more familiar voice had been heard in the faint background.

"Wait...did she just say Ian?"

"Come on hold up like two more minutes, this is getting good!"

"Stop screwing around with my pokedex when my friends call!"

"Come on give me just a sec to-"

Suddenly I could hear nothing but a bunch of loud noise as if someone had been fumbling around with the pokedex on the other end.

"Wait who are you talking t...H-Hayden?"

Now I had finally realized what was going on.

"Yooo hold up, that was Ian doing that voice? Holy shit, I really thought he was you're boyfriend! He played the asshole part of it pretty well too heheh."

Dawn lets out an annoyed grunt for a second before going silent.

"Hey don't stare at me like that, it was just a joke!" Ian called out from the background.

"You made him think I had some douchey boyfriend you dumbass?"

"Hey now that isn't very nice to say to your wonderful cous-OW OW! Okay jeez I get it stop pinching me!"

Dawn sighs heavily on the other end for a moment before clearing her throat.

"Sorry if he said something to make you mad or anything..."

"Ah well shit, it doesn't really matter now that I know it was him."

"Yeah...I guess heh...but anyways, what's up? I'm surprised to hear from you again so soon! How's the hunt going?"

"Well that's kinda what I'm calling about. Honestly the fact that Ian is there also saves us one more person less to call."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Well, I'm calling because I want you, May, Chris and Ian to be at my house in about four hours."

"At your h-wait...are you guys coming home already?"

"That we are."

"Hold up a sec! I literally just asked how the hunt was going thinking that you guys were still like in the middle of it or something, but...well now you're coming home? Does that mean...does that mean that you two-"

"I promise that we will explain everything to all of you once we're all in person, okay?"

"...Well that's no fun now is it?"

"Well, tough shit little missy, you gonna have to wait juuuust a bit longer."

"What did you just call me?!"

"Ah come on I'm only kidding. Hey...that other random guy voice I heard in the background when Ian was pranking me...that wouldn't have happened to be Chris, would it?"

"Well I guess so, since Chris is the only other guy here in the room. It couldn't have been Professor Birch, sinch he's in the front with May."

"Oh damn, Birch is there too?"

"Yeah, he and Chris and Ian came to visit May and I for a few days so they've been here since actually."

"Perfect, tell them all to come with you too okay? Oh...and before I forget, you can go ahead and invite Lyra too."

"Alright, sure thing. So...four hours from now right?"

"Yup yup."

"Heh...alright. I don't wanna wait too long to see you so hurry up!"

"Yeah yeah. Don't worry, we'll try our best to get there a little early."

"You better!"

"Haha...we will. I promise."

"Good! Well...I'll see you then, okay?"

"Sounds good."

"Hehe...bye Hayden."

"Later girl."

*click*

I heave a heavy sigh and puff my chest out a bit afterwards.

Whitney takes out her pokeball and lets out her Fearow, hopping onto his back shortly after he had been released.

"We all set then?" I turn to everyone and ask.

They all just nod one after the other as Frank and Angie hop back onto Finn's back together.

I hop onto Drake's back and gently grab Ranie by the hand, pulling her up behind me. "Alright, NOW...we can go."

We all take to the skies together as a group and begin our last little flight, for the time being, back to my place.

Sure enough, about four hours later...

*knock* *knock*

"..."

*knock* *knock*

"...Sooouhhh...maybe they're not back yet?" Whitney said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I mean...we did get here about 20 minutes earlier than we said, but...man what the hell is up with our moms never answering the door?" I turned to Frank and asked.

"Yeah really. They're famous for that shit." Frank said, letting out a heavy sigh as he sat down atop the railing on my porch.

I plopped down on the ground close to where Frank's feet were hanging and leaned my back against the railing as well. "We really need to invest in an extra set of freakin house keys."

"...Ya know, why the hell DON"T we have any?" Frank scoffed a bit at the thought.

"Man I even called my mom twice ten minutes ago, yet no answer. You think they're out still buying food and stuff?"

Frank just shakes his head and looks at me like it should have been obvious. "Come on dude, for four hours. I really doubt they...you know what I take that back, they take forever when it comes to shopping."

"Heh...yeah. But honestly, I don't think they'd still be out getting food and all when they knew we were on our way h-"

Suddenly I was cut short by the sound of my front door opening and Frank had even almost fallen off of the handrails from being startled from it.

"Oh son! You're here!"

"Mom? Why didn't you answer your phone? Or the door for that matter." I asked folding my arms with a joking disappointed look.

"Oh, sorry! My phone's been in the kitchen and Connie and I have been back and forth setting everything up after cooking and all...we we're just in the backyard with everyone too so I didn't hear the door either. Sorry..."

I let out a little sigh and smile. There's no way anyone could be mad at my mom when she's like that anyway. "It's okay Mom, you know...you guys seriously didn't have to do this. Really."

She folds her arms and leans against the door frame with a raised eye. "Well we did, so I guess you'll just have to deal with it and...hm?"

My mom catches note of Whitney standing behind us finally and smiles a bit. "And who might this be?"

"Oh duh. Mom, this is Whitney! She's the gym leader in Goldenr-"

"Oh so this is Whitney now? Wow you've grown quite a bit haven't you?"

Whitney turns her attention towards me momentarily and smiles. "Wow so it really is true! Your mom is definitely one of the ones that my grandma was friends with!" She walks up to my mom and gives her a little friendly hug. "It really has been a long time huh? You haven't aged a bit Miss Tracy!"

"Well I sure appreciate that!" My mom nods and smiles before turning towards the other two girls. "Ah, and hello to you two as well!" She says, holding her arms open as they both ran up to her and hugged her.

"Hey Miss Tracy!" They both said in unison.

Frank and I had both immediately choked up for a second and instantly shot our attention over to Whitney, who had just as big of a surprised look as I'd expect.

"Uhhh...did...did they..." She simply muttered out, pointing towards the girls.

"Oh uh...yeah...by the way Whitney, Ranie and Angie can...kinda talk." I said, rubbing the back of my head nervously.

"And by kinda, we mean completely." Frank added.

Next, came a huge punch dead in my shoulder.

"Ow! What the hell Whitney?" I shot her a glare as I rubbed my throbbing arm.

"Uh, ya'd think that you would have told me this a little sooner!"

"Yeah yeah, sorry...jeez. Still didn't have to freaking hit me." I let out a sigh and rub the bridge of my nose as I begin walking into my house, beckoning the others to follow.

"Wonder who's all here?" Frank said as he slid the back door open.

"Dunno, guess we're about t-oh shit!" I had literally barely set my foot out of the back door before instantly being trampled down by Dawn, landing only a couple inches from the pavement.

"Hayden! You're back!" She shouted.

"Is probably now fuckin broken..." I said jokingly, although my back really did hit the grass pretty hard.

She lets out a little grunt and backs away from her trampling hug while shooting me a glare.

"Ahah...but seriously, it's good to see you too." I said.

She shakes her head and sighs before finally smiling and letting me up before walking towards Ranie and Angie to greet them as well. "Well, now you two are here so let's go! Out with it! Chop chop!"

I finally stand, rubbing my slightly damaged back a bit. "Jesus Dawn, can we say hi to everybody first?"

"You boys hungry?" Miss Connie had suddenly passed by us, holding two plates full of barbequed chicken, beans and a few hot dogs.

I glance over towards the plates of food for a second, and then back to Dawn. "And also wreck that food real quick?"

She lets out an annoyed sigh before finally nodding.

"Good!" I said with a smile. "Because I was doing it regardless anyway."

"Tch...asshole." She said, punching me in the shoulder lightly.

"Frank?!" Suddenly, May had come running towards us (or really more towards Frank obviously) from over by the pool once she finally had caught attention of our presence.

"Oh crap." Frank said with eyes wide.

I gave Frank a push and looked him dead in the eyes. "Dude, run."

"Got it."

With that Frank had sprinted away from us jokingly to avoid getting trampled by May like Dawn had done with me.

May had thrown her fist into the air as she began to chase him down. "Get back here and hug me damnit!"

Frank had simply continued to sprint away from her through the yard.

"Never!" He yelled playfully.

Seconds later, Whitney had finally come out from the back door behind me.

Dawn was the first to catch attention of her. "Whitney?"

"Oh, hey Dawn! It's been a while huh?" She said, hugging Dawn cheerfully.

"Hey there you are, I thought you got lost in there or something." I said with a smirk.

Once again, though much lighter this time around, she punched me in my arm. "Shut up you ass."

"Jeez, what's with everyone hitting me and calling me names today?" I said, rubbing my now fairly bruised arm.

"Well that's because you're an ass obviously." Dawn said, playfully sticking her tongue out at me.

I just rolled my eyes and shook my head in reply.

"Oh shit!" Frank said as he suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground near our feet.

"Haha!" May jumped into the air and landed directly on top of Frank, not even giving him a second to think about running again.

"Oof!"

"Heheh...gotcha ya little shithea-...oh, hi Ranie! Angie!"

They had both just chuckled a bit and waved as they smiled.

"Well I see you guys really are good friends huh?" Whitney said from behind Dawn.

Once May had caught attention of her as well, she finally had stepped off of Frank and stood to give her a hug also.

"Ahh God...why.." Frank cried, finally standing up and brushing himself off a bit.

"I guess they're OKAY friends when they wanna be, to answer your question Whit." I said, folding my arms with a proud smirk.

Dawn and May both shot me a death glare like they were ready to kill me.

I quickly put my hands up as if to defend myself from whatever they were about to do, if anything. "Jesus I'm only kidding!"

"Yeah, you better be mister!" Dawn said, pointing her finger into my face.

I just roll my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "For the love of God can we go and eat now? It's been like ten whole minutes since Miss Connie had walked by us with that food and it's been killing me."

"Fine fine go and eat. May and I did earlier so we're just gonna mingle."

Ranie had suddenly tugged on my shirt a bit to get my attention. "Yeah...we're still kinda full from the sushi Hayden..."

"Well you guys can just chat with us then! I'm sure you could use a little time away from these two anyway heheh." May said with a little cocky smirk.

"...Hell is that supposed to mean? We're awesome." I said, fistbumping Frank a bit too proudly to be honest.

"All day." Frank said, complying with my fist bump.

Dawn let out a little snicker and shook her head. "Tch...yeah I guess you're alright. But still, you see em all the time and we don't sooo..."

I look over to Frank and we both just shrug to one another.

"Fair enough." I said nonchalantly.

"I'm gonna stick with them too okay guys? I actually ate like ten minutes before you guys showed up at my gym sooo...I'm good for now." Whitney said, walking over towards the girls as well.

"Aight, sounds good. You all know where Frank and I'll be."

"Okay!" They all said in unison.

Frank and I both walk over to the table my mom and miss Connie had set up alongside the pit by the pool and fill our plates up full of food before walking over to where everyone else had been at.

"Eyyyy there they are!" A voice called out from the small crowd as we had walked over.

Frank cocks his head to the side for a moment and stops. "Unc?"

Sure enough, Surge steps into view with a huge smile and slaps the everloving shit out of me and Frank's backs. "Hey Frankie! Hayden!"

"Ahh...hey to you too Unc." Frank said, cringing a bit from the pain.

I rubbed my back with my free hand, wincing a bit from pain as well. "Man that guy hits like a goddamn freight train. I'd hate to get on his bad side for sure."

"So,I heard about you guys' little journey for some legendaries eh?" He asked with a very curious tone.

"Ahah...yeah that's right. We-"

He quickly puts his hand up to Frank, effectively cutting him off mid sentence. "Woah woah hold on a sec there Frankie. Don't tell me just yet, I'm sure you'd both rather wait to tell everyone all together right?"

"Well, yeah I mean...I wasn't actually gonna tell you the story yet, I was just saying-"

"Yo, there they are!" This time around, it had been Chris that cut him off.

Right after he had ran up, Ian had trailed right behind, quickly coming up to Chris' side with a half eaten hotdog in his hand.

"Sup guys?" Ian said, taking a bite of the hotdog right after. "What's the news?"

"Haha...ya gonna have to wait a bit longer I'm afraid, Ian." I said with a smirk, finally taking a bit of my hotdog myself afterwards.

"Man, you suck. Well, fair enough I guess." Chris said, shrugging his shoulders before turning around.

"We just wanted to come say what's up and hear the deets, but ya wanna be a friggin buzzkill." Ian said jokingly, finishing off his hotdog and turning around as well. "Let us know when you guys are ready for storytime for real!"

"Yeah yeah, run along now kids." I said, shooing them off with my free hand as I took another bite of my food.

Ian just rolls his eyes and shakes his head a bit before he and Chris head over towards where Dawn and the others were.

"Seems like you really got everyone wanting to eat outta your palm with this one huh?" Surge chuckled a bit at his little joke.

"Yeah...heh, does seem that way. Can't blame em though I gue-"

"Ah! And here they are!"

Once more, Frank had been cut off mid sentence, this time by the Professors; specifically Professor Oak.

Frank lets out a little sigh and smiles, picking up another hotdog off of his plate. "Guess I'll just shut up and eat my food then haha."

"Ahah...sorry about that Frank but...it's just that we're a little over intrigued to hear about everything!" Professor Oak shouted as he shook my hand.

Elm and Birch had been giggling behind him cheerily like a couple of pre-teens.

"Heh...nah we understand Professor don't worry." Frank replied as he shook the other two's hands after Oak.

Elm steps forward and clears his throat. "I assume we'll have to wait a bit longer when everyone is at attention?"

Frank and I both nod, stuffing our face with some pork n' beans in the process.

The three of them all look to one another and laugh before nodding along.

"Very well then." Said Professor Oak. "Just don't keep us waiting too long alright you two?"

"Yeah, the suspense has been killing me ever since you had called Dawn!" Birch exclaimed.

"Heck I couldn't even continue with the research I had been in the middle of when your mother called me!" Elm stated, pointing to me in particular with a little grin. "And I was working hard on that stuff too!"

"Haha yeah...well, I guess I could see why due to the situation." Frank said, finishing off the rest of his beans after.

"Well, us three are going to go back by the others for the time being." Oak said, pointing over his shoulder towards our moms and the others.

I nod my head and lift my plate a bit as a gesture of acknowledgement since my mouth had been too full of food for me to respond verbally.

The three professors had walked off moments after, making their way towards everyone else, leaving just Frank, Surge and I together.

Frank and I had both glanced over towards the crowd to where Ranie and Angie were, who had both just so happened to catch our gazes at that moment. They had both smiled and waved a bit shyly.

Frank and I simply had both smiled back and waved normally...or at least that's what we had thought.

Seems that we weren't the only ones who had caught their gazes.

"Hey, Frankie." Surge asked with a very odd bit of sincerity in his voice.

I could tell that it had taken Frank off guard as well due to the weird expression he had given off. "Yeah, what's up?"

Surge simply just looked between the two of us momentarily before coming to a smile, putting his hands upon our shoulders. "You two happy with em?"

Frank's face had gone almost pale and I had nearly choked on my food.

"U...uhh...what do you-"

"Frank, I already know what's up. Your mother is my little sister you know, you really think she wouldn't tell me everything?"

Frank lets out a little sigh and finally comes to nod. "Yeah...yeah we are."

"Truly?" He asked once more with his eye raised in suspicion.

Frank and I both look over to one another for a moment, before we both finally smile and laugh a bit.

"Yeah...we do Surge." I replied confidently.

He keeps his eye raised for a moment afterwards as if to see if we were really telling the truth.

Finally though, he just scoffs a bit and pats us each on the shoulder before finally pulling his hand away and begins to smile once more. "Good to hear then. I'm glad for you guys."

"Heh...thanks unc." Frank said, punching him in the stomach lightly.

"Hayden! Frank!" My mom suddenly shouted from over by the other group of people.

The three of us all quickly shot our attention over towards her and the others.

"Come on, you guys are supposed to be the stars of the party and you're not even by the party itself!" Miss Connie said, following up to my mom.

Surge looks down towards both of us and gestures his head towards them all. "Shall we fellas?"

Frank and I both nod, finishing up the rest of our food and tossing it in the trash behind us.

"We shall." I said, following Surge with Frank right behind me.

Once we had gotten everyone all together in one big group, everyone had begun taking turns asking about how we've been, things we've seen, how the other regions were...simple things like that. I guess they had all decided to keep eveything that way for the time being as to not pressure Frank and I on the real matter at hand.

After about thirty minutes though, it had begun getting to Frank and I regardless. Pretty soon, it was at the point where neither of us could hold back any longer.

It was time to get everything out into the open; whether it had been good or bad didn't even matter.

One after the other, Frank and I had finally stood up from the table, effectively gaining everyone's attention.

"Guys?" Dawn asked curiously.

Frank and I had just continued walking towards the middle of the yard with our backs turned towards everyone. Once we had walked about 20 feet or so out, we had finally come to a stop.

May had cocked her head to the side a bit, clearly just as confused as everyone else. "What...exactly are you two-"

"Professor Oak." I called out, cutting May off in the process; she didn't even say anything about it to our surprise.

He had quickly stood up, anxious as ever. "Y-Yes?"

Frank and I had both turned around to face everyone, and we both just smiled.

The three professors all looked amongst each other, confused. You could tell that we definitely had their undivided attention.

The two of us had finally opened up our backpacks...slowly pulling out each of our masterballs.

The second we had done so, the other two professors had clearly caught on and stood up as well.

Frank and I both looked to one another and nodded, tossing the balls towards the professor.

"Here!" We shouted.

The professor had gone wide eyed as the two balls had flew towards him. Surprisingly he had caught both of them, only fumbling with them slightly.

The whole backyard had fallen dead silent. You could literally hear a pin drop...in the grass.

Everyone had all just stared at the two masterballs as if waiting for any and everything that could possibly happen, to happen at any moment.

After about half a minute of nothing happening, Professor Oak had finally brought his attention back to Frank and I, more confused than I've ever seen him before.

"I...don't get it, I mean...why did you give me-"

"We didn't need them it seems." I simply replied, shrugging my shoulders along with it.

Oak looks at the two of us completely dumbfounded, before looking back towards the masterballs. "So...these...these two balls are..?"

"Completely empty." Frank finished his sentence for him.

All three of the professors slump down a bit at the statement, though Oak had clearly been the more upset of the three.

"I...I see." He replied in a monotone voice.

Everyone looks to one another sincerely for a few moments, before my mom finally stands and smiles. "Well, who cares right?"

Now, everyone's attention was drawn to my mom's sudden shouting.

"Yeah!" Miss Connie said, standing up alongside my mom. "Just the fact that they even ATTEMPTED to take on something such as this...I mean, just that is a serious feat!"

I put my hand up, trying my best to make a statement on the matter. "Uhh...well yeah I guess, but-"

"Hey, yeah! I agree too!" Dawn was the next to stand up.

"Well, thanks Dawn but I-"

Next came May. "And think about it! It's not like you guys didn't get ANYTHING out of it, I mean...you iced all of the gym leaders along the way too, didn't you!"

"Hey now!" Whitney was the next one to stand up due to May's sudden outburst. "You don't have to put it that way, I do have my pride ya know!" She said jokingly.

"Hehe...sorry Whit!" May said, sticking her tongue out.

"Hmmph...but, I agree as well. I mean, you two were probably the best battles I ever had! And honestly, I'm thankful because I made two really great friends out of it as well!"

"Haha...yeah, Frank and I are happy about that too but-"

"I'd say they came a long way from where they started, wouldn't you all?" Surge said, pulling out a cigar and beginning to light it.

I let out a little sigh and smiled, deciding to just keep my mouth shut for the time being and let eveyone give their dues.

"You know...they're all right." Oak said, finally coming to a smile. "I'd honestly still say that this was a big success for them, and they definitely deserve much credit for all of this."

"They do indeed! Honestly when they had first come to me when they arrived in Johto and told me of their plans, I had thought they were insane to try something so...well, insane!" Elm began to chuckle a bit along with everyone else doing the same.

"But..." He continued. "The fact that they actually followed through the entire thing and didn't give up...well, that's definitely success if you ask me."

Chris was the next to stand up and chip in. "Honestly bro, I would have loved to see you guys bring home some legendaries...but hey, you guys gave it your all, and that's just as good!"

Ian had came right after. "I agree! Granted if you guys woulda brought the legendaries home and they would have surprised Frank's uncle, I woulda totally won 20 bucks from him, but still you guys followed through til the end and that's awesome!"

"How about we give them what they deserve? Three cheers for the boys eh?" Chris exclaimed.

Everyone all nodded and got themselves ready to shout out in celebration.

Chris made a fist with his right hand and threw it into the air as he shouted. "Hip Hip!"

"HOORAY!" Everyone followed.

"Hip Hip!"

"HOORAY!"

"Hip Hip!"

"Hold up!" I raised my hand and shouted.

Everyone all drew their attention to me out of the sudden mass confusion. Everyone except for Ranie and Angie that is.

"Hey how come you two have been so calm this whole time?" Dawn asked.

They both just remained silent and smiled as they shrugged their shoulders.

"Listen, everyone. We really appreciate all of your kind words...seriously. We're happy to know that you all think that way." I said with a smile.

"But...you're all kinda jumping the gun a bit." Frank said, folding his arms and smirking.

If everyone hadn't been confused before, they sure as hell were now.

I just shook my head and laughed a bit. "Mom."

"Yes, Hayden?"

"Thanks for getting eveyone hyped like that, like that was cool and all...but you never let us finish."

"...What? Wait, what are you talking about?" She asked, confused.

"I admit, I'm also a bit curious as to what you mean, Hayden." Oak took a step forward to make his statement known.

"Just what I said, Professor. We never got to finish."

He cocks his head to the side and raises his eye. "But...you said that the two masterballs..."

"Are empty, yes." I replied.

Oak just glances back down to his hands where the masterballs had resided and remains silent.

Frank and I both reach behind our backs to the back pouch of our bags and each pull out a single regular pokeball.

"However, these on the other hand?" I said.

As soon as I had said that, everyone had shot their attention towards me faster than a speeding bullet.

Without wasting another second, Frank and I both lightly toss the pokeballs a few feet to the side of us into the big open area of grass. Before anyone could think to say anything further, the two pokeballs had shot open, revealing two big red rays of light, much larger than most normal ones.

Once the light had finally faded and eveything had come into plain view, the entire crowd let out a loud gasp, followed by complete silence.

Nobody had said a word. I could literally feel everyone's heart rates skyrocket tenfold.

The cigar that Surge had lit up had fallen out of his mouth as his jaw had hit the floor. Oak had dropped the masterballs that he was holding onto the ground and I swear that our moms looked like they were about to completely pass out.

Frank and I both take a few deep breaths and clear our throats.

I was the first one to speak and break the dead silence. "Well, everyone...uhh...I guess now you all see what I mean by what I had said."

"You two...it...it's really...you really..."

"Calm down mom, I don't need you having a stroke now dude." I said, trying to lighten the mood a bit, but of course to no avail.

Frank turns behind us to the two who just joined us and smiles. "How about you two introduce yourselves?"

They both look to one another and nod a bit nonchalantly.

"Very well." The first one spoke out.

Everyone let out another gasp as soon as he had spoken.

"I, am called Hurricor...guardian of the seas." He said, taking a slight bow towards the crowd.

"I, am Infernias, guardian of the sky." He bows as well just as the first did.

For about five minutes, the unnerving silence had continued, until suddenly Surge pulls out his wallet and walks over to Ian.

He pulls out a twenty and lightly taps Ian on the shoulder, finally breaking him out of his little trance.

"W-Wha...oh." Ian said, stuttering a bit before finally taking the money.

Surge simply nodded and looked over towards Frank and I; you could tell he was still a bit shaky, even as big as he was. "So uhh...you...uh...you really got em..."

"Well...'got em'...isn't really the term I'd use." Frank replied, slowly walking closer towards his uncle.

"Yeah...more like 'asked them'." I said in return, starting to walk back towards the others as well.

Infernias and Hurricor both trailed right behind us, though their steps had been a bit louder than ours.

Everyone began to look a little worried as Frank and I drew closer with the two legandaries, until finally...

We came to a stop in front of the professor.

Frank and I both looked up to him and smiled, to which he just looked at us with a blank expression.

"The way I see it professor...if a mere pokeball can contain something as powerful as this...wouldn't you say that something like a masterball most certainly would as well?" I said, putting a hand upon his shoulder.

"Yeah I mean...think about it like this as well...we didn't have to waste two of the only ones you have right now. So now you can pass it on for another set of research for when the time comes right?" Frank walked up next to Oak as well and rested his palm on his shoulder.

"Thanks for putting us up to this from the get go Professor. Frank and I wouldn't have even had the thought cross our mind if it weren't for you ya know."

Frank suddenly turns his attention behind him towards the legandaries and smiles. "This man right here is the one who we got the wing feathers from in the first place. He's the main part of the reason that drew us to you guys and made this all possible."

Professor Oak swallows hard for a moment as Hurricor and Infernias both stare him down momentarily.

The two legendaries look to one another briefly and smile before the both lightly bow their head once again.

"Seems we have you to thank then." Hurricor spoke humbly.

"F...For what exactly?" Oak was still clearly taken back by the whole situation.

"Ahh...uh, well professor to make a long story short...it was all supposed to happen."

Oak just gave me a very weird look, but remained silent out of curiosity.

"Like...it's literally fate. I'm not even exaggerating. According to what Hurricor and Infernias first told us when we first met in the middle of the whirl islands-"

"You two were in the middle of the whirl islands!?" My mom shouted out suddenly.

I just look over to her and raise my eye. "...Can I finish please?"

"Ah!" She quickly covers her mouth after her little outburst. "Sorry.."

I put my hand up to my mouth and clear my throat to continue. "So as I was saying, during our first meeting, they had both told us that...well basically the reason that this all happened in the first place...is because it's...I dunno, like written in the threads of time? I guess is how I'd explain it?"

I glance back towards Hurricor, and everyone else does as well to follow me.

"In a matter of speaking, yes. It is all part of fate, simply put." He said.

"Right! So basically...well...me and Frank are the 'chosen ones' of this age...as there have been 'chosen ones' before us and others before that...as will there be the same in the future."

"But...for what exactly?" My mom asked.

"To keep the peace and balance in nature itself of this age." Infernias said, taking over this time. "They are like the locks, and we the keys, to making sure exactly that happens."

Frank and I both look over our shoulders towards him and raise an eye.

"Shit, that metaphor was top notch man." I said to Infernias.

"Seriously." Frank nodded along.

"But...why?" Miss Connie finally stepped forward as well to ask.

Infernias ponders only for a moment before responding. "Hmm...that part is not for us to know. We only know that it is HOW it should be...not WHY."

Miss Connie dwells on the thought for a moment, and smiles. "I see...well, we always knew that they were born to do great things...just, well...maybe we didn't expect it to be THIS great, but...I guess that's just how it is, huh?"

Infernias smiles and nods back to her sincerely. "Indeed it is."

"Oh! Almost forgot. Hey, Hurricor? Infernias?" I asked, turning towards the two once more.

"Yes?" They both asked simultaneously.

I began walking over towards Whitney, and her eyes had grew wide when she caught wind of what I was doing.

"Hayden, what are you doing?" She whispered to me.

"This girl right here?" I said, gently grabbing Whitney by the arm and walking back over towards them.

"Hayden, what are you-"

"She's the granddaughter of those people we showed you in those pictures of you guys back in the cave."

Suddenly, Whitney had gone completely quiet, as did everyone else due to the fact that they probably had no idea what we were talking about.

Hurricor simply just nodded. "Ahh...I see."

"The reason I wanted you to know, is because her grandparents are the ones who actually passed those items along to Professor Oak here. When we met Whitney and told her about our journey, she didn't even know that Frank and I had come to obtain the wing feathers at first, but she was still trying to do everything that she could to help us. That...is when she first gave us those pictures we showed you two and showed us the proof that you two were...well...real."

"It's true." Frank added on.

"Hmm...I see. If we had known that before, we would have thanked them long ago when we had first met. May I ask...where are they now? I'd like to meet them more personally this time along." Hurricor said with a smile.

I had tried my best to gesture to him as he was speaking to stop where he was, but he didn't end up seeing it until after he had already spoken.

Whitney had simply just averted her attention towards her feet and kept quiet.

Hurricor just cocked his head to the side, awaiting some sort of response.

"Uhh...well they actually...well my grandpa passed away a while back...and my grandma...she passed away just two years ago..."

"I...am sorry. That was inconsiderate of me." Hurricor bowed his head once again, though this time it had been out of complete sincerity.

Whitney quickly puts her hand up and smiles the best that she could. "No no...it's okay. It's not your fault, you didn't know so it's fine. I'm...used to them not being around anymore."

"You know, it was actually her wish for us to follow through with this as a way of carrying on her grandparents' spirits...and honestly you helped us do that for her guys." I said, pointing towards Infernias and Hurricor respectively. "So honestly, now it's our turn to properly thank you guys for that. So...thanks you two."

"Not to mention that you both made it even better by actually deciding to tag along with us. Otherwise, this would have all just been a story to everyone else here, other then the real thing. So...thanks for that too, ya know?" Frank added with a smile.

They both just smile and nod, remaining silent for the time being.

"I still can't believe this is all really real..." My mom had finally gotten the courage to walk right up to us, alongside Miss Connie of course.

"So it looks like you two are part of the family too now huh?" Miss Connie said, looking at Infernias in particular.

"Hmm...it seems well enough to put it that way, yes." He replied.

She smiles genuinely and giggles a bit. "Good to hear!"

Dawn and May were the next to get the courage to come up to them after our moms.

"Uh...excuse me, Hurricor?"

He nonchalantly looks down towards Dawn and raises an eye. "Yes?"

"Can I like...touch you?" She asked shyly. "I'm still trying to figure out if I'm actually dreaming or not."

Hurricor and Infernias both chuckle a bit at her statement before he finally nods to her. "Sure, go ahead."

Dawn slowly walks up to him and gently brushes her hand against his left wing.

"Holy shit that's definitely real..." She muttered to herself as she continued to gently stroke the side of his wing.

I quietly walked up behind Dawn as she wasn't paying attention and grabbed her by the sides.

"Raghh!" I yelled at the same time as I had grabbed her.

"SHIT!" She cried, effectively jumping out of her skin.

Everyone had begun to laugh a bit at my little prank, including the legendaries themselves who had even scoffed a bit at it.

She once again punched me in my shoulder just as she had done earlier. "Tch, asshole!"

"Ow, come on it was just a joke!" I defended.

After everyone had shared a little laugh, they had all seemed to finally start warming up to Hurricor and Infernias pretty well. I guess all that really needed to happen was a bit of lightening to the atmosphere, and we seemed to have nailed it.

"Alright everyone come on! Picture time!" I said, grabbing Drake and Scorch's pokeballs, letting them out with us all.

"Aw yeah I'm in." Frank grabs hold of Finn and Squirt's pokeballs too and calls them out as well.

"Come on! Everyone get close!" I said, pulling out my digital camera from my backpack.

"Aw come on Hayden, my hair is all meh today I don't even look good..." Dawn cried, fiddling with her hair a bit.

"Oh whatever, you look fine. Now come on everyone, pick a spot!"

Everyone slowly makes their way over and groups up close together as I walk out to set up my camera.

"Alright, everyone good? We all where we want to be?" I asked.

Everyone casually glances to one another before finally all nodding.

"Sweet!" I said with a thumbs up. "Alright annnnd...timer is set!"

I quickly ran back over to everyone to get into my position as well.

"Alright we all good right? Everyone get ready for the light, alright?" I said pointing to the camera.

The warning light before the picture had finally lit up after a few seconds, signaling that it was about to take the photo.

"Alright people, say cheese!"

"CHEESE!" Everyone yelled.

*flash*

"Hell yeah, let's check it." Frank said, running towards the camera with me.

I lift the camera from the table I had set it on for Frank and I to review the picture before showing to everyone.

"Hey...that actually came out really good." Frank said, admiring the photo quite a bit.

"Hey yeah it actually did. I actually didn't look all that bad!" Dawn said, suddenly popping up from behind us two.

"The hell did you come from?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder.

"Wow, that actually is a really good picture!" Whitney was the next one to pop up behind us from nowhere.

After that, everyone had come over one by one to come and see the picture as well.

"Hey, that's one for the books!" Surge said with a laugh.

My mom had almost yanked the camera from my hands out of curiosity. "Oh wow! Hayden, can you put that on my computer so I can print out a big one to hang up in the kitchen?"

"Yeah, sure thing mom."

"Can you make me and Dawn a copy too Miss Tracy?" May asked, glancing at the camera which was now in my mom's hands.

"Same here Trace, I want one for the living room!" Miss Connie pitched in.

I couldn't help but to laugh now that the whole situation was exactly how it should have been. We not only sought out this big journey, but we succeeded in it, AND even got to have the legendaries themselves become part of our official team. Everything was out on the table and the whole rest of our family and friends got to be a part of something this insane too. I couldn't have been happier with the way this thing had turned out.

After all was said and done, everyone began to help clean up and whatnot since it had gotten pretty late anyway.

"Well...what now?" Dawn suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"Yeah I was gonna ask you two the same thing..." May followed.

"Huh, what do you mean?" I asked them, confused.

"I mean like...well...I was just thinking about it for a bit and it hit me...you guys said that your role is to keep the peace and balance in nature right?"

Frank and I both look to one another, then up to Hurricor and Infernias, then back to Dawn after.

"Yeah, and?" I was still pretty confused as to what kind of point she was getting at.

"Well...isn't like...everything balanced right now? I mean it's not like anything major is going on or anything that's like...breaking the balance in nature or anything is there?"

I ponder on it for a bit before looking up to Hurricor and letting him take this one.

He just acknowledges me by nodding. "At the moment, no. The balance is being kept well from what I can tell."

"Right...so if that's the case...then like...what are you guys gonna do now?"

Just like that, Frank and I once again became the center of attention. Literally everyone's eyes were on us now after Dawn had said the whole bit.

Once I really began to think about it, it had actually hit me as well. Frank and I hadn't actually considered what we'd do after this was all said and done.

"You know, that's actually a really good question." Frank said, putting his finger to his chin.

"Truth be told, we didn't really think ahead this far because we didn't know we'd actually get to this point." I said, taking a seat on one of the chairs that still hadn't been picked up yet.

"Yeah, I mean Hayden and I would have probably just gone back to the usual regardless even if we had failed this. You know...just chilling home for a while and playing video games and stuff until we eventually would decide to go train some more and all."

I just shrug my shoulders and lean back against the chair a bit harder. "I mean we could do that either way, just...now if we did that, the only difference is that we'd have legendary pokemon on our team."

"Yeah you're right. We really have come a long way from where we started you know. I mean, we've met some great people along the way, made awesome friends, ate hella good food, we've beaten everyone everywhere we've gone so far, save for only a few losses. We've also got all of our gym badges from everywhere we've gone too. Hoenn, Johto, Kan-"

All of a sudden, Frank freezes mid sentence, and the second that he did, the same exact thought had hit me as well.

"That's it!" We both shouted simultaneously.

"How did we pass that part up?" He asked, facepalming himself at the thought.

"Seriously! I can't believe we almost completely forgot about that!" I said, jumping out of my chair.

Dawn just raised an eye at the two of us. "What are you talking about?"

We both looked at each other briefly before I turned back to Dawn and smiled.

"That's simple." I said, folding the chair and placing it against the others lightly before turning back towards Dawn in particular. "We're gonna pay an old friend a little visit tomorrow."

[The Next Day] (3rd person pov)

Another raging afternoon battle inside of the Viridian City gym comes to an end, and another earth badge unfortunately unobtained by yet another random trainer who had decided to step up to the challenge.

"Ahhh...sorry kid...better luck next time. But hey! You did really good, you know that?" Blue said, walking up to the young boy whom he had just defeated.

The young boy simply wipes a tear off from his cheek and smiles. He couldn't have been more than ten years old.

"Thanks mister Blue! I promise I'll keep training and become super strong so I can win!" He said confidently.

"Hey that's the spirit! I'm gonna be looking forward to it alright?"

The little boy nods and runs towards the door leading outside and pushes the big door open. "You had better be ready for when I-oof.."

Not paying much attention, the little boy had slightly bumped into two other people who had been walking into the gym at the same moment.

"Oh I'm uhh..."

The boy glances up towards the two people, who had both been dressed in shorts and black hoodies with their heads facing downwards as if they didn't want to be seen.

"S...sorry..." The boy nervously finished his sentence before running off.

The two mysterious strangers had walked in right after the boy left and had begun making their way towards the battle floor, sticking more towards the corner to where there had been less light.

Blue had finally caught attention of the two after healing up his Poliwrath and began putting on his usual greeting routine.

"Ah challengers. Name's Blue! I'm assuming that you're here for a battle?"

Both of the shady figures had looked to one another and nodded without saying a word to Blue.

He just raises an eye and decides to remain silent as well. "Wonder why they're acting so wierd like that. Seems a little suspicious to me"

One of the strange men steps up to the plate first; the hood of his jacket still drooping over his head, effectively hiding his face.

"I'm guessing that you're going first then mister...?"

He just nods his head and remains silent.

Blue clears his throat, albeit a tad nervously now, and straightens his posture a bit. "Well...this will be a single pokemon battle then. After our battle is over, I'll be doing the same for your friend over there. The rules for this battle are as follows-"

"We're aware of the rules, don't worry about that." The hooded man finally spoke, smirking a bit afterwards.

Blue raises his eye at the sudden break in his silence and simply nods. "...Very well then."

"Why did that voice sound so familiar?" He pondered to himself.

"Let's go...Angie." The man lightly tossed his pokeball a few feet in front of him and smiled a bit as the light from the ball had revealed his pokemon.

"Hmm, a Lopunny huh? This is the first time I've actually seen one personally, let alone battle one." Blue seemed a bit more intrigued for the battle now.

The man just simply nodded and remained in the same stance he had been in before.

"Alright, guess it's go time Sumo!" Blue had sent the same Poliwrath out that he had finished healing up just before since he was good and ready to go again.

The two pokemon both walked towards the middle of the playing field, just staring each other down...awaiting their trainers orders.

"I'll let you go first since you're the challenger if you'd like?" Blue asked, gesturing towards the two pokemon.

The guy in the hood simply shook his head and pointed towards Blue in response. "Your gym, you have the honors."

Blue lets off a little smirk and nods, quickly readying himself for battle. "Hmph...very well then, but you may regret that! Sumo, let's start off with a banger! Dynamicpunch!"

Sumo instantly rushes forwards toward Angie with his fist cocked back, ready to strike with everything he had in him.

Once he had gotten down to a mere few feet away from attack...

"Angie, duck!" The man yelled.

Just in the nick of time, she was able to duck under the raging fist that had been flying at her, sending Sumo a few feet behind her, even causing him to almost trip due to overshooting such a powerful move.

"Go Sumo! Hydro pump!"

Without even giving Angie a second to breath, he launches an insane sized beam of water directly towards her.

"Angie, bounce!"

As soon as the move was just about to connect, Angie had jumped high into the air, successfully evading the attack.

"Sumo look up, watch out!"

"Get em Angie!"

After reaching peak height, she torpedoes down as fast as she could directly towards Sumo with both of her feet aimed straight at him.

"Block it Sumo! Block the-"

Before Blue could even finish the sentence, Angie had come down onto him harder than Thor's hammer, sending a powerful after-shockwave that resonated almost throughout the entire gym.

Blue had went completely wide eyed for a few moments afterward. "Holy crap, what's he feeding her? Jesus.."

After knocking Sumo back a whole five feet, it was easy to tell that he surprisingly had blocked the attack in time...but that didn't mean that everything was necessarily in his favor.

Though he may have been successful in actually blocking the attack, he most definitely wasn't successful in avoiding any damage as there were multiple visible bruises and scratches covering his body from the attack.

"Come on Sumo you got this!"

He finally puts his arms down from the block beforehand and weakly gets back into his battle stance; he had been breathing quite a bit heavier than he had before.

"Damn...that much damage by only one attack? I've never seen him so worn out so fast like this..."

"Alright Angie, lets wrap this thing up. Use your agility!"

As quick as lightning, she rushes forward towards Sumo, ducking and weaving back and forth along the way.

"Watch her, Sumo! Hurry and counter her with thunderpunch!"

Sumo cocks his arm back and electricity begins to flow through his fist.

"Let's go Sumo! Hit her with everything you got!"

"Get behind him Angie!"

The instant that he had told her, she had quickly ducked under his attack successfully and had gotten behind him.

"Sumo watch your b-"

"Angie, jump kick!"

Before Sumo could even fully turn around, Angie had kicked him full force dead in the stomach, sending him flying a few feet back right onto his ass.

"Sumo!" Blue yelled, clearly a bit worried.

He tries his best to stand, but after a few seconds, falls right back down onto the ground...completely out of the fight this time around.

Blue lets out a big sigh and nods as he pulls out his pokeball. "Alright Sumo...good job buddy. Return!"

After putting Sumo back into his ball, Blue chuckles a bit to himself and looks up at the hooded man.

"Gotta say, that was impressive. Glad that my first fight with a Lopunny was this interesting..." Blue trails off for a moment and looks over towards the other challenger and smirks. "Looks like I'm going to have to step my game up a little more for your friend here just in case."

The other man finally begins walking up to take his friends place, until finally getting into position.

"Hey." The man simply called out.

"Yes?" Blue asked with his eye half raised.

"Does this mean I get to fight Luna?"

Blue instantly froze after what he said. "How the hell does he know...maybe...maybe he's just heard of her from other people I've battled? Yeah...that's gotta be it. Still...that's a bit weird and I've barely ever used her in the gym and..."

"Yo, Blue?"

Once he had spoken again, Blue had finally snapped out of his little trance. "Oh...uhh...well it wasn't exactly what I meant, to answer your previous question."

"May I suggest that you use her then?"

"...You want me to use my strongest pokemon, just like that?"

The man just nods, backed by complete confidence in his request.

"Hmm...well, if that's what you want...I guess I can do that then."

"Heh...good. I was looking forward to that." He said with a bit of a cocky smirk.

"Hmph...dunno what this guy's got up his sleeve...but I don't think he'll be smiling like that for much longer. Luna is definitely not one to be underestimated."

"Well then, shall we get to it?" The hooded man asked with that same little smirk across his face.

Blue just scoffs to himself and smiles back. "Very well. Would you like to go f-"

He just shakes his head and folds hims arms, staring at Blue with a hint of pure confidence.

"Hmm...alright then. Guess that means I'll go first again it seems. Are you...completely certain that you want to take on Luna?"

The hooded man had already begun to take out his pokeball and release his pokemon before Blue had even finished his statement. "Hundred percent."

As soon as his pokemon had finally emerged from the red light, Blue had instantly become more intrigued; a bit more than he was the first time around with the other guy's Lopunny.

"...Is...that...a Gardevoir?" He asked, stunned a bit.

"That she is." The man simply responded.

"Hmm...seems this may really be one for the books."

"Alright, let's do this! Come on Luna!"

Blue tossed his pokeball high into the air with excitement and shortly afterwards, out came Luna in all of her glory. Or at least, that's how Blue had seen it anyway.

"Your move Captain." The hooded man said cockily.

Blue just smirks and points towards the Gardevoir with a shout. "Aura sphere Luna! Let's take em down quick!"

Luna begins putting both of her hands together at her side, forming a large purple ball of pure energy in her paws.

"Let em have it!" Blue shouted, confident as ever now.

In an instant, she launches the ball directly towards the Gardevoir ruthlessly at an unforgiving speed.

When the energy ball had come within a mere foot of her, the hooded man just smiled and scoffed.

"Teleport." He casually stated.

Right as he had said so, the ball of energy had hit the ground right where the Gardevoir stood, exploding to twice the size it had been before due to the impact.

"Heh...sorry man, but it seems you waited just a bit too long to-"

"Did I now?" The man still had the same cocky smirk as he did before the battle had even started.

Blue just grits his teeth and stares intently at the big smoke cloud from the impact. As soon as it had cleared up, there had been nothing there but a big black burn from where the impact had taken place. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Holy crap, she actually dodged that?" He said to himself.

The Gardevoir had obeyed the teleport command instantly and flawlessly, allowing her to successfully avoid the devastating attack and get up into the air.

"Alright Ranie, future sight!"

"Watch out Luna! She's in the air!"

Luna gets into a defensive pose, but nothing had actually happened at the moment.

Blue raises an eye for a moment and scoffs at the situation. "Heh...seems like your pokemon doesn't want to listen to you all of a sudden, seeing as she hasn't carried out the attack."

The hooded man continued to smirk harder than ever now, as if he had something else up his sleeve. "Is that so?"

"Alright Luna, sky uppercut!"

"Ranie, move!"

Luna's attack had unfortunately come into contact with Ranie, though not completely due to her quick movement. Still and all, she had definitely taken a bit more damage than needed due to Luna's move type advantage.

Finally for the first time through the whole battle, the hooded man finally seemed to show just a slight amount of concern. "It's all good, you're alright Ranie, just shake it off, you're doing good!"

"Hmm...well at least those guys do seem to care for their pokemon at least."

Ranie picks herself up off of the ground and gets back on her feet, immediately getting back into battle stance.

"Well, I'll be damned, she's really tough. But let's see if she dodges this one! Hit her with a high jump kick Luna!"

Luna quickly darts forward at Ranie with some serious speed and jumps into the air, sticking her foot out directly towards her face for full contact.

"Ranie, duck!"

Quickly, just in time, Ranie lowers her head just barely enough to avoid the attack, causing Luna to fly about a foot past her and lose her balance ever so slightly as her feet hit the ground where she hadn't expected.

"Get behind her Ranie!"

"Luna, watch your back! Use protect!"

Luna quickly turns around, plants her foot into the ground, and begins to cover her entire front with a large energy like shield.

"Atta girl!" Blue yelled with a little fist pump.

Suddenly, Ranie had begun to glow a thin aura of Blue as she remained still for the time being.

The hooded man looks up at Blue and smiles while remaining quiet.

"Wait...what is she doing?" Blue asked out of curiosity.

Before anyone could say anything else, a huge psychic force launched itself directly towards Luna from behind her, connecting perfectly and sending her flying about ten feet forwards straight onto the ground.

"Luna!" Blue's eyes had grown wide from the sudden shock. "How the hell did that even hit her!?"

The hooded man chuckles to himself a bit and clears his throat before speaking. "Seems my pokemon listened to me after all."

"Wait...what are you..."

"Future sight is a move that doesn't actually engage until two turns from when it's first called. Hence why the actual move came from behind Luna. It had come from where I had first told Ranie to use it. It's called future sight for a reason...it's literally a move that doesn't connect until a 'future' time from when you call it...hence where the name comes from. Or so I'd imagine at least."

Blue stares at the hooded man with complete disbelief after his little explanation before getting back into battle mode. "Well...this isn't over just yet! Come on Luna, we still got this!"

Weakly, but surely, Luna gets back up onto her feet, though very visually fatigued this time around.

"Alright Luna, let's try that Aura sphere again!"

This time, Luna had been much slower in charging up her Aura sphere, much likely due to her fatigue from the attack she had taken previously. It seems Blue hadn't actually realized just how bad she had gotten hit from the attack.

"Ranie, hurry and use moonblast before she can send her attack off!"

"Luna hurry! Don't let her get-"

Before Blue could even finish, Ranie had quickly begun to glow blue again for a moment, before releasing the powerul fairy move straight towards Luna and connecting yet again perfectly.

The hooded man throws a little fist pump to his side as a little bit of celebration for the attack being carried out so well. "That a girl Ranie! One more should do it!"

"Luna! Come on...it's okay, I know you've got this!"

She nods back at Blue weakly...this time around, she had barely even managed to get onto one knee, let alone be able to stand up.

Ranie begins to charge up another moonblast attack, walking closer and closer towards Luna as she does so.

"Damnit...I shouldn't have been so careless about this...I'm sorry Luna..."

Finally as she pushes herself to come to a stand, Ranie finally takes her last step towards her, stopping mere inches away from her with a readied blast of energy to finish the battle for good.

Blue just cringes a bit and turns his head as Ranie charges up the last bit of energy needed. However, right as she was about to release the attack...

"Ranie! That's enough." The hooded man yelled.

She immediately rids herself of the charged energy and nods her head, running back up to her trainers side obediently.

Blue instantly shoots his attention towards him and raises his eye, confused as ever. "Why...did you tell her to stop?"

"I think that was enough, don't you think? Here." The hooded man tosses over a max potion to blue and smiles.

Hesitant at first, he finally runs over to Luna and gives her the max potion, instantly bringing her back to her pre battle state.

"But...I mean rules state that...the battle isn't finished until one pokemon has completely...f-fainted..." Blue had swallowed pretty hard at the last bit that he had said.

The hooded man just laughs a bit and shakes his head as he smiles genuinely. "You almost couldn't even say that last part man. Tell me...did you want me to faint someone like her that bad?"

Blue turns his head away from embarassment for a moment before he cocks his head to the side a bit. "Wait...what do you mean someone like-"

"You know, somebody once told us a while back...that one day, we'd understand a little something."

Blue just looks at the hooded man questionably, but remains silent.

"He told us, that pokemon's strength, rely on how strong of a bond they have with their trainers. He said to us...'if you treat pokemon with love and respect like they deserve, that they will in turn do the same for you.' He also said that pokemon can only go so far from care and respect...and that the real and most important factor, is love."

Finally, after the man had finished his little bit, Blue's eyes had shot wide open as the realization had hit him like a train. He looks up to both of the hooded men and his jaw drops to the floor as they begin to take their hoods off.

[Regular POV]

"It's been a while, hasn't it Blue?" I said with the cheesiest smile I could muster up.

Frank just scoffs and nods along. "Honestly I can't believe we even got this far without him realizing hahahah."

Blue hurriedly rushes over to us after the reveal, and slaps our hands one after the other to greet us. "Dude! I thought you guys were going to rob me or something when you first walked in!"

"Sorry man, we couldn't help it hahah. It had been so long, we wanted to surprise you a little." I said.

"Jeez but you guys really took your time huh? I was wondering if you guys would ever come back to try for your badges again. Truth be told...I had thought maybe that you guys had just given up...but it's good to see that isn't the case!"

"Us? Give up? Heeeeellll no. We're both way too persistent." Frank said with a light chuckle.

"Good to hear. But hey...I actually want to ask you something." Blue had begun to walk over to the large table by the wall and grab two earth badges from it.

"What's that?" I asked, following behind him.

He hands the two of us each an earth badge and smiles after doing so. "When you brought up the whole bit about...you know...what I said to you guys back then...does that mean...?"

"What? That we figured it out?" Frank finished his statement for him.

Blue simply nods, almost a bit nervously.

Frank and I both looked to one another and smiled, nodding afterwards.

"Yeah, we did." I said, walking a bit closer to Ranie as I had done so.

Frank walks over to Angie and puts his arm around her, causing her to smile wholeheartedly.

Blue lets out a sigh of relief and smiles at the four of us. "Sooo...I'm guessing that means that you guys...and these two here are...?"

Frank and I both look towards our girlfriends, who both smile back, blushing a bit as well.

"Yyyyup." We both said simultaneously.

Blue smirks and puts his arm around Luna, who also smiles just as hard as Ranie and Angie had. "Well, how bout we have us a little triple date then? Ya know, to celebrate you guys finally getting your badge?"

"I say that sounds like a plan man." Frank said with a thumbs up.

"Awesome. You guys wanna order a crap load of sushi and eat it on the roof? There's supposed to be a small meteor shower happening right now for the next few days, so maybe we'll get lucky and see something."

"Uh...yes we absolutely do." I said it as if it should have been obvious.

Frank pulls out his pokedex to check the time before sliding it back into his pocket. "It should work out perfectly too. If we order now, by the time it gets here it'll be like 30-45ish minutes afterwards. It shouldn't be but maybe half an hour after that and it should start getting dark since it's already 5:30 now."

I clap my hands together loudly, actually scaring Ranie and causing her to jump a bit by accident even. "Alright then, shall we get to it?"

"Way ahead of you guys." Blue had already had his pokedex up to his ear to order.

After an hour or so of anxiously waiting, the food had finally arrived and we had wasted literally no time in rushing up the stairs and onto the roof of the gym.

"Dude c'mon, open it all up!" I said to Blue specifically, since he had implied on carrying all of the food up there himself.

He just rolls his eyes and sets the bags down onto the roof gently. "Okay give me two seconds! Sheesh."

Frank and I quickly plop down next to him and Luna along with Ranie and Angie at our sides. Once Blue had opened the first bag, he quickly passed Frank and I each a container for the first round.

"This is the tuna right?" I asked him.

"Uhhhhhh..." He opens up his container to confirm and nods his head. "Yup, tuna."

"Alright cool. Definitely gotta save salmon for last." Frank said, stuffing a piece of the tuna into his mouth and feeding one to Angie at the same time.

Blue hands a piece to Luna, who happily takes it and smiles before eating it. "Ah right, I forgot about how much you guys like salmon...heh...guess you two definitely haven't changed much huh?"

Frank shakes his head and stuffs another piece into his mouth. "Nope, we sure haven't. Good to see that you haven't either honestly."

"Of course not hahah...man...how long HAS it been now?" Blue asked with a curious look.

Frank puts a finger to his chin for a moment to think. "What...four years I believe?"

I nod my head and close my now empty container to signal Blue that I was ready for round two. "We were fifteen when we first met Blue, and we're nineteen now...so yeah, four years."

"Time sure flies huh?" Blue said with a smile, reaching for the next bag and opening it. "Ready for the next set?"

Frank quickly eats his last piece and closes his container and sets it down. "Now I am."

I just scoffed cockily and shook my head. "About friggin time."

Blue hands Frank and I another container and we all slowly open it to reveal the next set of food.

"Shit, it's the salmon." I said with a heavy sigh.

"Well, so much for the best being last." Frank lets out a little sigh as well before brushing the thought aside and stuffing a piece into his mouth.

Blue just chuckles at Frank's statement and clears his throat a bit. "So anyways, how'd you guys meet Ranie and Angie here? And when did you guys first realize how you felt about them?"

"Ahh...that's a bit of a long story. But basically, to make it short, when we went to Hoenn, Hayden and I were heading back to Rustboro to heal up Scorch and Squirt right? Next thing you know we see these two run out of the woods like...freaking the fuck out. So Hayden and I we're all like 'Bro, we gotta save em.'"

"...Then what?" Needless to say, Frank had Blue eating out the palm of his hand with his little story now.

"So next thing you know, these mightyenas show up and they were chasing after Ranie and Angie here, and we're like 'Aw shit man, not bueno.' Next thing you know these two douchebags that we actually knew stepped out of the woods from behind the mightyenas and turned out to be their trainers. Well, turns out that they were trying to take em a bit forcefully, so Hayden and I, we whipped out Drake and Finn and beat their ass of course and saved them."

"Well that's good that you two were there in time for-"

"So after we saved em, we were finally about to leave and then next thing you know, Angie here started LITERALLY talking to us like...actual words, and then she introduced herself and-"

I quickly turned my head to Frank and gestured to him for him to shut up, but it had already been too late.

Blue raises an eye at Frank questionably. "Uhh...did you say that she started to talk to you?"

I let out a bit of a disappointed sigh and shake my head at Frank.

It was already too far gone, so Frank had finally just ended up nodding his head silently in the end.

Blue looks over towards Ranie and Angie calmy and tilts his head to the side a bit. "Can...you two actually talk for real?"

They both look to one another for a moment, and then towards Frank and I for confirmation.

We both just nod our heads.

"Yeah...we can talk." Angie said with a nod.

"...Tadaa?" Ranie said with a cheesy smile.

"...Well that's good! Hell, I thought Luna would've been the only pokemon I'd ever meet that knew how to do that!"

Frank and I's jaw both hit the floor.

I shake my head in a bit of disbelief at the statement. "I'm sorry, come again?"

Frank just nods along with me. "Yeah if you wanna run that back one more time please?"

Blue simply just looks at Luna and smiles to which she nods back.

"Yes...I...can talk too." Luna said shyly.

Frank and I both cock our heads back in surprise before we both begin laughing a bit.

"Ahhh man...this is crazy...but so awesome at the same time!" I wipe a tear away from my eye and put my hand on my hips as I puff my chest out a bit proudly. "Now you DEFINITELY have to come adventuring with us, you don't have a choice."

"Yup I agree, we can be like the three amigos! Well...with girlfriends included haha. So...you gonna be in this time when we head out again Blue?"

"Ehhh...I dunno. Maybe."

"Tch...buzzkiller." Frank said, giving Blue a thumbs down.

"Heh...sooo...any other crazy stuff happen to you guys I can get in on?" Blue asked curiously.

Frank and I both look to one another for a moment, and it was pretty easy to tell that we had the same thoughts at the time.

I just laugh a bit to myself and nod. "Yeah...you could say that."

"Ooh, do tell?"

I shake my head and fold my arms with a proud smirk. "Nope. But I tell you what...you come tag along with us the next time we head out...and I'll not only tell you, but we'll show you too. Deal?"

He shoots me a bit of a glare for a minute before letting out a little sigh and smiling. "I guess I can take a little vacation the next time you guys head out. It sounds like fun anyways, so I'm down."

I throw a little fist pump to the side for victory and nod. "Hell yeah man."

"At least give me a hint though..."

I shake my head, continuing to remain stubborn. "Nope."

"Dude, ONE hint."

"Nope."

"I mean come on is it that crazy? It can't be like you guys found a legendary pokemon or some shit, jeez."

Frank and I both go a bit wide eyed for a moment before he burst into laughter.

As soon as he did, I couldn't help myself but to start laughing as well.

"Dude what's so funny? Come on guys tell me!"

Frank and I both just continue laughing, shaking our heads at him in the process.

"Tch...man you guys suck." Blue had paused for a moment after his statement before he began to laugh as well.

Shortly after, our pokemon had even begun to join in, turning the roof into some huge laugh party of some sort.

"Awww man..." Blue said, wiping a tear from his cheek. "I'm glad you guys came back man."

I slap Blue on his back firmly and put my arm around his shoulder. "Of course we were going to man, you know that."

"So...where do you guys plan on going when we all head out this time?" Blue asked.

Frank glances over towards me for a second before shrugging his shoulders. "That's a good question...guess we'll just go with the flow ya know bro?"

I raise an eye at Frank and shake my head. "Pff...what are you, a rapper?"

"You like that little rhyme huh?"

"Hahah...Shut up Frank." I punched him in the shoulder playfully to which he shoved me back a bit in return.

Suddenly Blue walks over to the little cooler that he had on top of the roof by the roof access door, and pulls out three glass bottles and cracks them all open one after the other. "Well guys...I guess wherever we do go...we just gotta make the best of it!"

"Yo is that beer?" Frank asked.

"You know we're only 19 right Blue?" I said with a raised eye.

He completely ignores us and walks up to each of us, handing us a beer anyway. "Ah, close enough. Gotta celebrate the descision of the new journey eh?"

Frank and I both look to one another and shrug our shoulders simultaneously.

As soon as we had done so, right as we all looked up to the sky, a brightly colored meteor passed directly overhead, just long enough for us all to catch it in all of its meteoric glory.

"Yoooo!" I simply said, pointing up to the night sky.

"You saw it too?" Angie asked.

"I think that we all did!" Ranie said, pointing towards the others who were also looking up to where it had just passed.

"Know what guys? I think that was a sign from the heavens that we're on the right path with all of this." Frank said, all philisophical like.

"Amen to that. Looks like I really can't back out now huh?" Blue said with a little chuckle. "This calls for a toast, wouldn't you say?"

Frank and I both nod and smile in agreement.

Blue clears his throat a little and nods proudly. "To good luck...to good fortune...and to friendship."

"Hell yeah! Cheers to that!" Frank said holding out his beer.

"Cheers!" Blue said, putting his glass up as well.

"Ah what the hell. Cheers guys!" As I raised my glass lastly, we all bring the necks of the bottles together, creating a little 'clang' sound, signaling our successful toast, and the start of what would be yet another eventful journey...

[Not So Far Off Into The Woods Behind The Gym]

Two pairs of eyes had been steadily monitoring over the roof where we had all been for quite some time now...just watching...observing.

"Seems they're pretty content with how everything is now."

"I agree...those two are...quite fascinating, wouldn't you say Infernias?"

"They're definitely...different. I sense no Ill will from either of them at all. Seems they really do truly care for their pokemon."

"Agreed. Good to see that, coming from some of our previous ancestors' stories. Things...don't always seem to work out with the ones our Arceus chooses it seems."

"Well, you can't control fate. Though sometimes it may not seem right...it is still that way for a reason."

"Yet here we are...it somewhat feels like we are controlling our fates in choosing to leave into the open world like this with them as their personal allies, does it not?"

"Hmmm...yes, in a way I can see how it would seem as that would be the case."

"Let me ask you something, Hurricor...Do you really think that we made the right choice in doing so?"

He glances over towards the roof at the two specific trainers for a moment. They had both been joking around, laughing amongst each other in the most genuine way possible for anyone to see.

Hurricor lets out a light chuckle and finally comes to a nod. "Who knows? Sometimes fate can be a bit...say...unexpected."

"Hmm...indeed it can." Infernias turns towards the gym roof for a moment before finally coming to a smile, directing his attention towards the trainers once more. "Indeed it can."

Well Guys...shit. It has been...a long. Time. Coming. But I'm finally done...it's actually done. Almost three years I've been writing this, I almost can't believe it sometimes honestly. You're probably all like, "Uhh...what the shit Hayden, no explanation on where the hell you've been?" Well, allow me to elaborate.

A few months back I had found out that I was going to be a dad, (to which as of two months ago, I am now officially lol.) and I have been working extra days and stuff in preparation for that, so I haven't written in quite some time due to that...but, I finally got back on track after my daughter was born and, well...I'm back!

Now you're probably also all like "Damn Hayden, now that the story is finally over, is that it for you?" Well my answer would have to be, definitely not. I still have a bunch of stories planned for the future, both pokemon ones and non pokemon. I'm going to write as much as I still can what with my newborn and all having most of my time now, but I promise I'm not going anywhere. It'll be a bit before I post my next pokemon story though since I'm working on the other one I already have up here on my profile, which is not pokemon for those who don't know. But alas, It will come in due time, as will the ones after that.

But honestly with all that aside, the thing is, I feel like even though I don't know any of you personally or whatever, I feel like I still know you all mentally, especially the few of you who have been following me since my first few chapters back in 2014...you guys are AMAZING. Honestly if it weren't for all of you, I wouldn't even come close to finding any motivation to do any of this so...thank you for actually being there on the other end. I literally love hearing from you guys, and it makes my day when I see your feedback, seriously, not even bullshitting.

But enough of the mushy stuff...I'm still here, and I'm still writing...just...a bit slow, so bear with me lol. But anywho, you guys all know what to do...R&R it up my dudes, can't wait to hear from you guys again and moreso beyond that. And as always...

Stay Awesome Guys! B)

-H