Utopia's POV

After that whole dramatic encounter, I almost felt a little happier. Call me crazy but talking with Tim seemed to clear up a few things. Our truce was now more of a friendship (though I hadn't agreed to it fully yet) and I could trust Tim a tiny bit more now than I did yesterday, even a few hours ago.

Well, we still had to complete the challenges the trainers had for us, so sitting around in Twist Mountain was out of the question. I had to stop thinking about any chance of meeting my worse fear in the flesh and focus on other things, mainly trying to win the challenge and seeing if I could make it somehow in the Pokémon world. I didn't have to wonder about Tim a whole lot now, since he was a little more open about his past and such.

As much as Tim had told me about his life, I still felt a little hidden from him. But that was fine; I couldn't tell him that I felt like a worthless trainer who had no idea what her future would look like. He had his goals all set before him; he knew his trade. And he was in this competition to prove to his dad that he was capable of being a Pokémon trainer. He was so clairvoyant (ooh, I feel so smart using a word that means 'to be perceptive or far-sighted') and I was so… well, in the present, trying to make up things as I went along. No matter if we became good friends in the future, I couldn't mention my uncertainty of the future and what I was going to be. No one needed to know that.

I walked out into the light (which blinded me for a second) and stared at Archeops and Siggy waiting to take us up in the air. Tim was again showing his relaxed and happy side while in a cave, especially since he called this place home. He gave me a small grin and hoisted himself on Siggy's head.

I took my place on Archeops' back and Luke hovered by my head as our mounts took to the sky. I kind of enjoyed the flying, especially since I felt I could trust Archeops to transport me safely. I smiled and said to Tim over the wind, "I guess all of your Pokémon can float or fly now."

"Archen… I mean Archeops is probably happy that he can finally fly. He was annoyed with being the only bird Pokémon that couldn't. Now these challenges today might get easier with his help."

"Ar! Arche Archeops ops!" The fossil bird agreed happily.

I paused and felt suddenly panicked. "Hey, do you remember where our next place is? I don't remember hearing from Chase about our next trainer…"

Tim gave me a degrading look and shook his head. "You really don't plan ahead, do you?" I mumbled back incoherent and discontented words that were lost in the wind. Tim continued anyways, "I asked Chase while you were hitting the bathroom where we had to go next. Then while you were daydreaming in that cave I told my Pokémon where to fly to." He shook his head yet again. "You'd be a complete mess without me, wouldn't you?"

"Not a complete mess! Just maybe a little frazzled and scatter-brained…" I quipped back. Even though he was more of a friend he still had his sarcastic and biting humor.

"Right."

I puffed out my cheeks and asked, "Then where are we going for the next challenge? And will Gregor and that crazy harlequin be ahead of us?"

Tim leaned with Siggy as it turned in its flight and I clutched Archeop's feathers to keep from slipping. When we were flying next to each other again he replied, "Everyone had a lunch break, though I think we spent a little longer on lunch than the others. They might be ahead of us but I doubt it." he paused and said in a more serious tone. "And what was that whole thing about Albert foretelling to not get blown away by the wind?"

"I don't know, it seemed kind of coincidental to me. And he seems to be honest about not having to do anything with Tornadus…"

"If he told you not to get blown away before you got attacked by Tornadus, I'd be concerned. I just have a feeling that something's not right." Tim said darkly.

I didn't want to listen to Tim. Everything was going fine. We were just competing in a gym challenge to master flying-type Pokémon. The Tornadus must've been a freak accident. There wasn't any plot behind this and it certainly wouldn't have anything to do with my greatest fear! "You're just thinking too much; we're in a challenge and once this over and we see who wins, then my life will go back to normal. There can't be anything wrong."

"Or maybe Malcolm decided to borrow his cousin's Pokémon and lost control of it. There are many possibilities in this scenario." He said over the wind. "Even so, we need to be ready for whatever is happening."

"Malcolm wouldn't do that!" I defended my friend. "We both know that he wouldn't want to try to use his cousin's Pokémon for his own selfish gain. He's too friendly to be like that."

"But do you really know him?" Tim gave me a strange, deep stare that seemed to penetrate my soul.

I gulped at his intensity and shook my head slowly. "I know about him… but not a whole lot about his life and interests. Maybe I don't know him that well but I don't think he could have an ulterior motive. Besides, why would he want to send his cousin's Pokémon on me? He's my friend."

Tim rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, you are so observant to things you want and oblivious about other things…"

"What?" I huffed.

"We'll talk later, our stop is right up ahead." Tim said seriously as both Siggy and Archeops began to descend.

From the sky the place that we were landing in was a small clearing in the forest. In fact, I recognized the place. I stared in wonder as we started to circle around the large tree that I had followed Tim to when Pidove was quarantined. Strange how that worked out… if fate or some Arceus Pokémon is up there is has a weird sense of humor. Or maybe Tim knew ahead of time… "Hey you little plotter!" I gave Tim a sly look. "Don't tell me that you planned this whole friendship conversation as soon as you heard where our next stop was."

He mirrored my look. "I didn't. The timing was just right to talk to you about it then. It's coincidental but not by my methods."

"Sure…" I giggled to myself, and then realized that I had just acted like him again. He was becoming a bad influence! That or we were more alike than I originally figured.

We landed in the small clearing to see only a pilot reclining his feet on a collapsible and cloth-covered table and playing with a model airplane. I thanked Archeops for the ride and got off his yellow feathered back. Tim got off of Siggy and returned both Pokémon to their balls. I stared at the pilot and waited for him to notice us.

The pilot glanced lazily up from his playing and noted, "You took a while for your lunch break I was just about… wait, I thought Team Specs was up next."

"We passed Team Specs at Chase's challenge." Tim said evenly. "So what's your challenge?"

The pilot shrugged. "I dunno, if you ask nicer I might tell you."

I stepped forward and said with a smile, "Can you please tell us about your challenge?"

Tim groaned behind me to show his disgust for being friendly for the sake of information.

The pilot stood up off his chair and lifted the cloth on the table to reveal the painfully familiar cage of Pidoves. "Now that you've asked nicely, I'll tell you. You see, my name is Ted and I've dreamed of being a pilot for as long as I can remember. I played with model planes, constructed them, went to the flying shows here, and once I even got to see the Blue Angels. So since I can do whatever I want with this challenge, I took the liberty of claiming your Pidoves from the earlier rounds and with their help they will find ten hidden planes in this huge tree."

Tim interjected, "And what about my Pidove? It caught rabies."

"Guy has that same problem. All I can say is 'sucks for you'." Ted said with an obvious dislike. Strangely this pilot seemed a little more child-like and immature to me, almost like he had never grown up from his model planes. He turned back to me and continued to explain the rules of his challenge. "So your job is to use your Pidove and any other small flying Pokémon to search in the tree for my model planes and place them on the correct tables. Each table is marked with its model number and name. This is more of a puzzle game and you need a knowledge of planes. After all, if you are serious about being in this gym, you need to know about airplanes. And be careful, these are my precious models!"

So we have to know airplane models and names? Landorus! I knew next to nothing about planes. I gave Tim a nervous look. "I don't know anything about plane models…" I admitted.

"I don't either."

"So… how are we going to label them?" I gulped.

Tim drew out a Pokéball and said confidently, "First we'll find the Pokémon, and then we can figure out labeling."

"Hey, you can't use your big flying Pokémon that you flew in on. These are small planes!" Ted interjected with a pouty frown. "Call out a smaller Pokémon, not that fossil thing."

Tim gave Ted a withering look. "Then can my Yamask be qualified?"

The pilot looked at Luke hovering by my head. "I thought the Yamask belonged to her…"

"He's just a good friend-I-mean friendly to me." I corrected myself quickly. "Luke is with Tim."

"Ya yamask." Luke said out loud. I was surprised to not hear any telepathy from him. Maybe I was so used to his thoughts that the absence of them was foreign.

Ted the pilot nodded slowly. "Even though it isn't flying type I guess I can trust it to be careful." He turned to the cage and took out a Pidove. "I believe this one will aid Utopia."

Theo chirped and fluttered over to my arm and clamped his claws in my unprotected arm. I jerked my arm under the pain and Theo the Pidove flew back into the air, twittering madly. "Your claws hurt you idiot! Why can't you learn that your claws hurt me? That's the third time you've done that to me, Theo." I scolded the angry bird right back. I sighed and set my large backpack on the ground to find that shirt to cover my arm with.

"You can trust my Yamask to be careful." Tim said to Ted.

"Yup, but if you call me an 'it' again I might be tempted to… you know, accidentally throw the model plane into a herd of stampeding Bouffalants…" Luke thought in an innocent tone.

Both Tim and I chuckled at Luke's thoughts, leaving Ted to wonder what was so funny.

Suddenly a stray wind picked up and I wheeled around from my ruined shirt searching in fear of a green Pokémon planning on putting me in a whirlwind again. I relaxed as I saw that a large and graceful Swanna was causing the wind.

The rider directed the swan Pokémon to land in the clearing and jumped off its back. The rider, Leader Skyla herself, marched up to me with a worried expression and put her hands on my shoulders. She looked me in the eye and said, "Are you ok? I could only come out now to check up on you. I heard this terrible story of a Tornadus attacking you. If you need, I can pull you out and let you rest!"

I held up my hands and replied nervously, "No, really, I'm fine. Tim and Luke saved me and I feel fine now." Since when did Skyla want to check up on me?

The red-headed gym leader stood up straight and looked at Tim. "I know Tim, but who's Luke…?"

"Yam ya." Luke waved his thick black arm in greeting.

Skyla looked surprised at this fact. "A little Yamask took on a Tornadus? Maybe I underestimate-"

"Luke just used a special ability of his, we didn't wound the Tornadus." Tim explained and gave Skyla a slight bow. "So you came to check up to see if we were ok? You are very kind…"

The leader nodded thoughtfully, and then smiled. "Hey, it's no problem. It's just a hop, skip, and a jump to find you. And a legendary Pokémon showing up is unexpected, so naturally a gym leader would be up in arms about it. I mean I don't want to go into the fight against the seven sages those few years ago, there was an epic battle between the king of Team Plasma and a kid named Black… that had legendary Pokémon all over it!" she winked continued, "Don't want that to happen again."

"Gym leaders investigate when legendary Pokémon are involved?" I gulped. And did gym trainers come with if a certain legendary Pokémon showed up? And by 'certain' you know what I mean.

"Yes, the job of a gym leader is to fight trainers, protect their town, and to aid in a crisis that involves the Unova region. We're almost like a police force."

"Yup! That's what my dad says." Luke thought happily. However, only Tim and I heard him. Maybe Luke didn't know how to (or didn't want to) talk to Skyla.

I gulped and nodded to hide my fading confidence. "Cool."

"Well if you could stand up to a Tornadus, the both of you, then you might be gym leader material. However, you still need a long ways to go." Skyla said cheerily and yet threateningly at the same time. How she was able to sound cheery and evil at the same time was a mystery to me. Skyla sighed happily and said, "Well, I'm glad to hear that the both of you are fine. Maybe at supper I could get to hear the full story?"

I shrugged. "I don't really think you want to hear, I mean… it just came and then Luke made it go away…"

"If you want us to, I guess we can." Tim said in a slightly louder voice than me. I gave him a slight glare but didn't really care to fight him on that. Besides, he probably was looking forward to showing off in front of the gym leader.

Skyla gave us a quick glance and said, "I swear that there's something different about you two. It's almost like you are more than just 'tolerating' each other if you know what I mean…"

"Sorta friends… of a sort…" I mumbled.

The red-headed gym leader smiled and hopped on her Swanna's back. "Ok then, Team DragonVow, good luck on the challenges." And without another word or moment more, she took back to the sky, a gust of wind indicating her leaving.

I sighed and looked at Tim. "Ok, so now we get to find some planes hidden in that big tree, right?"

"Sure, friend." He smirked.

"I didn't agree to that yet!"

"You said it to Skyla."

"I said 'sorta' as in 'almost'."

"Then I'll 'sorta' help you in your phobia." He said haughtily.

"For the LAST TIME-"

Ted interrupted us from our little squabble. "Hey, stop arguing and search the tree for the ten planes. And did I mention there's a time limit?"

"Landorus!" I swore angrily. I threw Pebbles' Pokéball at the ground and pointed to the tree. "Pebbles, Theo, and Luke, go get those planes stat!"

"Um, the time limit is forty-five minutes and if you can't complete it in that amount of time you automatically go on to the next challenge…" Ted explained.

I tripped over my own feet and nearly sprawled on the ground face down. Why me? Why'd I have to be so weird and overactive, especially around Tim? In other words; showing my regular, bumbling self. Again, I tended to be like this normally on my own (as example of stumbling of Jamie's tea party) but not in front of people. And now after my performance of my usual sloppiness, I was just asking for an insult.

"You need a break; I think you're acting way too energetic for your own good." Tim observed calmly. I wasn't sure if that was an insult or not but it wasn't concern for my health. He almost seemed embarrassed of being in my company.

I sighed and sat down on the ground. "Energetic for my own good…" I mumbled angrily. "Ok, you can take over the competition then."

"Luke and the two birds are already in the tree if you care to look."

I sighed and let my head drop a little. "Ok, say it, I'm incompetent and will drag you down in this whole challenge…" There it went; my whole-self-pity mode again. Boy, I was sure emotional that day and emotionally frank. I couldn't explain why I was so reactive other than the previous emotional roller coaster of fearing Kyurem and stuff like that.

"Um, what's wrong with you?" Tim asked ignorantly.

I cleared my throat and shook my head. "Well, do you want a list?" I snickered at my own joke and leaned back a little while sitting down. "Maybe you're right, I just need some rest or something." I sighed once again and stared at the tree, not caring to see where Tim was standing. What bugged me was that I was acting like my normal self while traveling the Unova region with a friend/partner person. Were my own actions speaking louder than my words? Was I already accepting Tim as a friend? Well, my nicknames for him had disappeared for the most part. That was a sign of me knowing someone…

A small glint of light caught my eye and I squinted to see if I had spotted a plane. It was hard to tell, but I certainly saw something in one of those lower branches. I waved my hands and called out, "Hey, Pebbles, Theo, I think I see one!"

Theo popped out of the tree branches and started looking around for my directions.

I pointed to the glint of light and said, "Check out that spot."

"Pi?" Theo chirped and stared fluttering in the opposite direction.

"No, no, your other left." I called back. "One of the lower branches."

Theo turned back around but was still at a loss to where I was trying to tell it to go.

I clapped my hands together in frustration and yelled, "It's in that bunch of branches." I suddenly felt a little weird, as if I had been poisoned with a spore of some kind. I spun around to see if a notorious Foongus was being evil and covering me with its variety of spores, but nothing was there and the feeling vanished as well. I shivered to myself and thought, whatever that was I sure hope I don't do it again…

However, Theo was fluttering back with the plane I had spotted in the tree clutched in his talons. He set it at my feet and chirped happily. I stared at the bird and asked, "How'd you…? Never mind, good work little Theo. I guess you found it after all." I stood back up and held the little grey plane up for Tim to see. "Did you see that?"

"I heard you yelling and look around you like you were crazy." Tim said oh-so helpfully. He showed me a plane that Luke had found and set it on one of the tables. "I'm starting to wonder if you are. Seriously."

I set the plane on the same table and gave him an exasperated look. "Don't judge me, ok? I'm blaming it on Tornadus…"

Luke floated over to Theo and asked the Pidove something. After getting an answer he floated back to me and thought, "Theo is very impressed at your commanding skills."

I smirked at that. "What commanding skills?"

"Well, after a little he said that he could feel with you where the plane was hidden. It takes a great trainer to connect with a Pokémon like that." Luke thought happily. Then he gave me a strange, searching look. "Do you have a certain skill of it?"

My blank stare spoke for me.

"I'm just wondering. If you don't want to talk-"

"No, it's just that I have no training skills whatsoever. My own Larvesta (who I raised from an egg) doesn't listen to me, how can I be good at training Pokémon?" I answered. Ok, this was getting weird. That strange feeling while instructing him… and Theo felt that I made a connection with him? "I don't know… I guess Theo's giving me more credit than I deserve." I frowned and started thinking about what just happened. What did I do to make a little Pidove feel that I was connecting with him?

"Or maybe you have 'utopia' powers." Tim smirked. "The last time I heard you yell like that was back in the gym."

"Very funny…" I huffed back.