Hi, guys! I'm back with another chapter!

Defender31415 - Yup, Diamond was definitely a Ground-Type. As for the object...do you remember, in Pokemon Emerald, where you can find the Fossils? :)

May be the OG (Guest) - Thanks! And I most certainly will! Crystal's adventure definitely isn't done yet!

Here's the chapter!

Chapter 52

Crystal breathed in the fresh air as she stepped out of the Petalburg Woods, Richie, Ando, Samuel, and Trisha walking close behind her.

Samuel stretched his arms above his head for a moment before they slammed back under the fronds around his neck, grinning. "It feels so good to be home."

Trisha's eyes narrowed a little as she looked over at the beach near them. "There's too much water…."

"We probably won't be in the area too long," Crystal replied, looking back at the Trapinch. "But I think we're going to end up running into a lot of water when we head to our next destination, though. Sorry, Trisha."

Trisha didn't look too happy with Crystal's statement.

"And Samuel, we probably won't be able to stick around for very long." She nodded to the Breloom. "Besides, I'm going to need you for the Gym match here in Petalburg."

The grin on Samuel's face faded a little. "Yeah, yeah, I get it."

It had been a day since the Mirage Tower's collapse – much to any ruin researcher's dismay, as they had lost any chance to have a look inside it themselves. Brendan and Crystal had traveled back to Verdanturf and gone through the – surprisingly – now-completed tunnel that went straight back to Rustboro. After visiting the Devon Corporation with the rock Brendan had picked up – which one of the Ruin Maniacs had confirmed to be a Pokémon's fossil – Crystal decided she would go on ahead to Petalburg so that she could get started on her Gym challenge, rather than stick around to see what sort of Pokémon was going to be cloned from the fossil Brendan had rescued from the tower's collapse.

"Let's exchange numbers. That way, the next time we see each other, I want to challenge you to see how strong we both are." Brendan had given Crystal a large grin before she had left Rustboro.

And so, Crystal was now walking along the path into Petalburg, her four Pokémon around her as the sun above was slowly starting to set.

"So, now we can challenge Norman, right?" Richie asked, looking over at his Trainer curiously.

Crystal nodded in response. "Yeah. We've got the four Badges, like he said we should get, so we should be able to battle him for his Badge." She paused. "If his Gym's still open. I hope it is."

"It should be," Ando said in response.

There weren't any Trainers or Pokémon to give the group any trouble as they made their way towards the town. Crystal suspected that any Trainers that had been out and about earlier had retired for the day. Maybe they lived nearby and they didn't feel like heading out beyond the comforts of their own home just yet?

"So, we're gonna clobber him now, right?" Samuel jumped from one foot to the other as they entered the town, looking like he was ready to leap at something at any moment.

Crystal shook her head. "It's late; even if he's kept the Gym open while waiting for us, he's going to have closed it for the day. We should head to the Pokémon Center and turn in so that we can take him on tomorrow."

Samuel frowned at Crystal's statement, looking a little sour. "Hmph. Fine."

Crystal gave the Breloom a small, somewhat apologetic smile before turning and starting across the main square towards the Pokémon Center.

They were almost to the building's doors when someone yelled.

"Excuse me!"

Crystal turned her head when she heard the woman's voice, blinking in confusion as her Pokémon team turned and followed her gaze. Catching sight of an unfamiliar woman running towards them from a house next to the Gym, she asked hesitantly, "Yes? Can I help you?"

"You're Crystal, right?" The woman came to a stop in front of the group, taking in a quick gasp of breath before she kept going. "My husband's been waiting for you – he thought you'd be back here by now."

Crystal frowned. "Your husband?"

"Norman."

Crystal's eyes widened at the woman's response. "Norman's your husband?"

The woman nodded, smiling a little. "We've already got dinner on the table. Come on – I insist you join us."

Crystal blinked in surprise at the invitation. "R-really?"

The woman nodded. "Do you want to join us?"

Crystal considered it for a moment, then gave a smile. "Sure. We'd be glad to join you."

The woman's smile broadened, and she quickly turned and motioned for the group to follow her as she walked back towards the house she had come from. A moment later, the group was entering the house and stepping into a small dining room, where Norman was standing and waiting.

Crystal was surprised to see that Norman was in a better mood than when she had last seen him, and he had what looked like an almost-smirk that definitely fit the Gym Leader.

"Crystal." Norman nodded in greeting. "You look like you're doing well. That's quite the mixed team you have there."

Crystal rubbed the back of her head, looking somewhat embarrassed as she looked at her team. "Yeah, definitely. I really like my team members, though - it feels good to be able to mix Types like this. It's actually something that I've never really done very much of before."

Norman chuckled. "That's definitely a good thing." He motioned to the table. "Come on; let's have dinner; I have Pokémon food here for your team, too, so don't worry about having to go to the Pokemon Center."

"Thanks." Crystal sat down in the open, offered seat, while Norman's wife moved to lay out bowls of Pokémon food for Crystal's team. "We've just walked from Rustboro, so we haven't really had a chance to sit and rest for long."'

"That eager to fight me, huh?" Norman grinned, but that faded a moment later to a more serious look. "You do have four Badges, right?"

Crystal nodded, then pulled her Badge case out of her backpack and showed the Gym Leader its contents.

Norman nodded in approval at the four Badges that sat inside the case. "Good job. I'd heard from the other Gym Leaders that you were coming, but I wanted to make sure that you had all the Badges before I let you into my Gym."

Crystal blinked at that, then gave a slight nod before closing the case and putting it away. "So…you know about—"

"You don't need to say anything about it now." Norman gave a wide grin. "How about you tell me what you've been doing against Team Magnus instead?"

Norman's wife looked at Crystal in surprise. "You've been the one who's been fighting Team Magnus?!"

Crystal gained an embarrassed expression and rubbed the back of her head. "I-I haven't been alone. I've had Gold and other people to help me. May and Brendan have been giving me a little help, and there's a Pokemon Ranger who's come to Hoenn, too."

"Start at the beginning," Norman urged. "I've heard some things about what has happened from the other Gym Leaders, but I'd like to hear it from you."

With that, Crystal launched into an explanation of what had happened, starting with what had happened in Petalburg Woods with Lauraina and working her way through the different Magnus events from there. Since Norman knew about her abilities, she went ahead and included everything that had happened, not even leaving anything out. Norman's wife didn't look at all confused, so Crystal supposed that she already knew about her abilities.

Unfortunately, this also meant that Crystal ended up telling Norman and his wife about Ruby's appearance on Mt. Chimney, and Sapphire's just north of Slateport.

By the time that Crystal had finished talking about Mirage Tower's destruction and her journey back to Petalburg, Norman had a dark look on his face – and an equally dark aura over him. Without saying a word, he got up from the table and left, leaving behind his partially uneaten dinner.

Norman's wife and Crystal watched him go, concerned.

Crystal gave a nervous hum in response to Norman walking off. "I thought he wasn't going to be happy, but…nothing like that."

Norman's wife nodded slightly in agreement, her own expression showing how panicked and concerned she was. She looked over at Crystal. "I know those two; Sapphire and Ruby would never do something like this without having some kind of important reason. They might be being forced to do this kind of thing, and they can't tell us that they are. Please, make sure that they're all right, and bring them home safely. I don't want my children to get even more deeply drawn into this than they already are."

Crystal gained a serious expression, then gave a nod in response. "I will. Don't worry."

Norman's wife nodded in response. "I won't. Not with someone like you going after them and stopping them."

Crystal gave a slight smile at that. "I'm glad you think that way."

"Well, how could I not? Now, since you're done, do you think you can give me a hand with the dishes while you tell me about the other things you've done as a Trainer? You did focus a lot on Magnus."

And so, for the second time that night, Crystal found herself speaking again about her journey across Hoenn - and Kanto, when she was asked about that as well.

"You know, you don't have to keep them hidden."

"Hmmm?" Crystal looked up from the soapy sink of dishes at the statement.

Norman's wife placed the cooking pot in the cupboard and closed the doors. "Your...well, whatever it is that Norman says it is you're hiding."

Crystal blinked at that, then gained an expression of nervous understanding. "Um...are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." The woman gave a smile. "There's no reason to hide anything here."

Crystal blinked again, looking over at her Pokemon, who had gathered around the table after finishing off their dinners. After a moment, she looked away from them and nodded to herself before dropping the illusion, revealing that her tail had partially curled itself around her and her ears were somewhat flicked back.

Norman's wife let out a soft gasp, causing one of Crystal's ears to flick towards her. "Oh, my..."

Crystal's tail uncurled from where it had been circled around her middle; she gave a slight smile. "It's so strange; I didn't think that I was going to be showing who I was as much as I am here. Very few people in Kanto know about my abilities, and those that do have sworn they'll keep it secret. Not even all the Gym Leaders know yet."

"Really? I'd have thought that you would have told all of them, at least. Why haven't you?"

Crystal ducked her head at the question. "Well, it has a lot to do with Team Rocket and what they did to my home. If they hear that Mythos - Mewtwo - wasn't the only project that they made in order to be a weapon of some kind, I might get attention that I don't want. Blaine's already doing all that he can in order to protect me, and Professor Oak is, too." She paused. "I guess that's another reason why I haven't done a Gym challenge before - I'm not known at all in the region except for a few people and Pokemon...and no one in Jhoto knows me as a possible Champion - they just all think I'm Gold's sidekick... I've always been worried about getting the wrong kind of attention, so I kept to myself a lot of the time."

Norman's wife looked at Crystal with an expression that seemed to be mixed between amazement and awe before her gaze softened. "You probably don't need to worry so much about that kind of thing. The Gym Leaders are all powerful, and they can keep people and Pokemon alike safe. Besides, I'm sure that you're powerful enough to defend yourself, too." She smiled.

Crystal gave a small smile in return, but that faded a moment later. "I can't exactly help it all the time. It's in a Mew's nature to hide themselves, even when they know they can fight whatever or whoever is looking for them. They - we - are secretive and mysterious by nature. That's why no one's ever really been able to prove that Mew really exist."

"Until recently," Norman's wife pointed out. "You obviously had to have come from somewhere."

Crystal's small smile returned, and she gave a slight nod. "Yeah. Nine years ago, Team Rocket made me." Her expression hardened as her ears flicked back. "And now Team Magnus has done the same thing that Team Rocket did, creating more human and Pokemon combinations. But why? Blaine only created me because he wanted to see what would happen if the human-to-Pokemon DNA ratio was changed. So...what was their reason here?"

Crystal's team and the Gym Leader's wife looked at the Mew girl with expressions of concern and curiosity.

"The only way I'm going to be able to know that answer...is if I manage to find the leader of Magnus." Crystal raised a dishsoap-covered fist and clenched it. "Either him, or his head scientist. Maybe then I'll be able to let them know what's wrong with what they're doing to the region - and what they're forcing those Trainers to do." She lowered the fist back into the sink and sighed. "Still..."

"You'll be able to do it," Richie spoke up suddenly, getting Crystal's attention. She looked back at the Gallade as he added, "You've been able to take them out so far with our help. We'll keep helping you, too."

"I still have to pay back that freak for having messed with my home," Samuel added, raising a paw. He grinned devilishly. "She's so going to get it the next time I see her!"

Crystal smiled at her team's encouragement. "Thank you - all of you."

The dishes were finished off rather quickly after that, and Norman's wife showed Crystal and her team to the guest room - after Crystal had explained that Samuel would not be leaving Effect Spores all over the house, meaning that it was safe for him to be in the building for the night.

As soon as Crystal had disappeared into the guest room with her team, Norman's wife went and found him standing on the porch in front of the house, a tired air about him.

"You're worried about them."

Norman looked over at his wife for a moment, then back at the rest of the houses in Petalburg. "I'm concerned that when we see them again, they won't be the children that we raised them to be. Ruby...Sapphire...Crystal's news of them-"

"We will make sure that they are all right when Crystal returns them to us." Norman's wife slipped her hand into his. "Don't worry. Everything will be all right soon."

Norman sighed, closing his eyes. "I hope you're right."

Pretty quiet dinner...except for the fact that Crystal had to bring in some pretty bad news...

...and on Friday, I will present to you Crystal's Gym battle against Norman! See you then!