To say I was exhausted was an understatement. I slumped over Beth, clutching her neck loosely, and groaned while my body racked itself with pain and fatigue.

"Take it from me guys, if you are falling down a cliff, don't try to reach out to it and grab it. It's not fun." I said as the others laughed.

"Noted. Listen, I still have a few things to do here in Reversal Mountain. We'll meet again, Vixen." Colress said, recalling his pokemon and walking down another tunnel. I just yawned in response and nuzzled Beth's neck, making her warble softly. I felt her body undulate underneath me, and turned to see Grimsley smiling warmly at me.

"Get some sleep Vixen, it'll help the pain." He said as he rubbed my back. The queen rumbled while she walked, making new tunnels every time we came up to a dead end to make our journey shorter.

'I'd take you back to the spring, but I'm afraid your injuries are too extensive. You'd HAVE to fully submerge yourself in the water, and I'm afraid the burning would overwhelm you.' She said with a barely audible whimper. I smiled at her generosity and yawned, leaning backwards until Grimsley wrapped his arms around me in a loving and protective embrace.

"Thanks, your majesty, but I'll be okay. I'm the only one who got that hurt, but I'm not the only one who is tired. Your Undella Town idea is better for all of us. Besides, that other Heatran attacked us because he thought we were going to blow the secret of your springs." I said. The queen snorted in response as she made another tunnel.

'No, he attacked you because you are humans. He's too stupid to not use the paths that pokemon who want to be captured use, and he blames the humans who are just following rules for his stupidity.' She explained, and I tilted my head in confusion while a headache that was almost as big as Lola's pounded.

"You make it sound like he's done this before?" I asked.

'Indeed he has. That's why I called for his execution. I've had to intervene several times when he went after unwitting trainers, and he was on his last chance when he attacked you. I let him live this time only because I think you finally got through to him.' She explained, making me blink. I couldn't make a lot of sense of her words, but I attributed that to the headache and decided that sleep was best. With another yawn, I curled up in Grimsley's arms while Beth continued to silently float after the Heatran. The sounds of Caitlin's soft footsteps, Keldeo's hooves, and Heatran's heavy stomping gently lulled me into a deep sleep that I desperately needed.

I was still miserable when I woke up some time later. My whole body ached and my head felt like I had a Heatran sitting on it. I could hear voices around me, but I couldn't make sense of them because of the pain. My eyes were extremely out of focus, but I was able to make out a pair of yellow eyes beside long, golden hair. A blue light shined above me, and I felt a cooling sensation touch my head as the light got closer. Beth crooned her name softly and I felt her cradle me in her coils, gently coaxing me back to sleep.

"Will she be alright?" I heard Grimsley's voice a few hours later.

"She'll be fine. The medicine I made from Garchomp's scales and boiled with Heatran's heat should bring her around." Caitlin's voice said.

"I wish I had a Gabite with me. Gabite scales are better in medicine making than Garchomp scales are." Said a voice I did not recognize.

'Nonsense. Garchomp scales are no different from Gabite scales aside from being smaller and tougher to melt down. As a Heatran, melting things is my specialty, so the fact that your pokemon is evolved makes no difference to the potency.' Said the queen Heatran. I groaned softly and started to open my eyes, and I felt a cold, metallic hand touch my cheek, which was oddly soothing.

"Bisharp!" Cried the curt, proper voice of my 'sister'. Through my eyelids, I saw shadows gather around me, and I tried to open my eyes, only to hiss in pain at the brightness of the room.

"Gar!" Said a gruff, throaty voice as the room suddenly darkened. I felt a soft hand touch my forehead as Bisharp retracted hers, and I felt comforted by the hand that slowly rubbed my aching temples.

"Try opening your eyes now, Garchomp blocked the skylight so that it's not as bright anymore." Said the female voice from before. I obeyed it and forced my eyes to slowly open.

The first thing I noticed was that I was in my pajamas. Looking around the room, it was like being in Carina's luxury hotel room again, though the colors were brighter and more cheerful in contrast to the dark, comforting colors in Castelia. I was laying in a twin-sized bed with white sheets, and I was able to make out everyone around me. Grimlsey and Bisharp stood on my right, looking at me with worry in their eyes. Beside them, Beth and Lola also stared at me with worried expressions. At the foot of the bed, Queen Heatran looked proud and uncaring, though I knew she felt differently since she held herself high enough to be able to see me over the bed. On my left, Caitlin leered at me alongside her Gothitelle. Beside them was a woman I did not recognize, who smiled at me, radiating warmth and love from her eyes alone while her blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders, looking very soft. She had four baubles sticking out of her hair, and the way they bounced when she moved made her hair look even softer.

"Are you alright now sweetheart?" She asked. I groaned and started to lift myself up, but Bisharp reached out to push me back down while Grimsley shushed me.

"Don't push yourself Vixen. Your fever hasn't fully broken yet. Wait for the Audino to get here." He urged, petting my hair. I nodded at him, instantly regretting the action, as I looked back at everyone else.

"I'm sorry about this, you guys." Caitlin huffed and crossed her arms, sticking her nose up into the air.

"If it's not one thing with you, it's another. I don't know what you did to make yourself so danger prone, but you really need to stop it if you want to live to see the league." She snapped, and I winced at her words. Grimsley's eyes flashed in anger as he stood up from beside me.

"May I see you for a moment Caitlin? Outside." He asked, not waiting for an answer before he strode over to her and grabbed her sleeve, dragging her towards the door and opening it quickly. He threw her out the door and quickly ran out after her to shut the door fast, knowing the light would hurt my eyes. I hissed in pain anyway, and the mystery woman leaned over to rub my forehead again.

"Don't mind Caitlin, she's always been a little rough around the edges. She means well but she still hasn't quite figured out how to manage her temper." She said softly. I blinked as I pulled up my memories of what I learned about the Elite 4 in school, my thoughts clearer and unclouded from my previous headache, and I nodded.

"I read that she wasn't the friendliest of the Elite 4, and most challengers fought her first just to get it over with because of how fiery she could be." I said, and the woman laughed gently.

"Believe it or not, she used to be a whole lot worse." She told me, and I blinked at her in disbelief.

"How could she be worse?" I asked, making the woman smile.

"Well, she has a Psychic Affinity, and psychic powers. Combine that with a white-hot temper that she didn't see fit to control." She said, and I paled at the thought of what a person like Caitlin, who was almost a pokemon herself with her powers, would be capable of if she got really angry.

"My god. I think I'd rather think about Shauntal's insanity. At least I can make SOME sense out of what she says." I said, making the woman laugh.

"Really? Well good for you. Very few people are capable of understanding anything she says." She said. I smiled at her as I reached up to rub my eyes.

"My name is Vixen." I said, trying to make a formal introduction despite my incapacity.

"I am Cynthia." She said warmly, and I frowned as I started thinking. There was something about that name that I should have known.

"Forgive me, but I feel like I should know that name. I know it's there somewhere." I said, creating a new headache while I tried to make sense of it.

"Easy now, don't hurt yourself. You've probably heard of me because I am the Champion of the Sinnoh Region. The reason you aren't recognizing me is because it is dark, and I'm not wearing my Champion outfit." She said comfortingly. I nodded fiercely as I remembered everything she told me, and I would have smacked myself for forgetting if I didn't think it would hurt more than it needed to.

'Yeah, please don't do that.' La said, laying her head across my legs.

'We'll just say that your illness got to your head.' Lo told me gently, which was odd for her since Lo was the rougher, more blunt head.

"How did I get so sick anyway?" I asked quietly, reaching out to pet Lola's down by gently stroking La's neck. The queen Heatran rumbled and smiled softly at me.

'You got heatstroke. It can happen sometimes inside Reversal Mountain when someone stays inside too long, especially if you overexert yourself. Your body was too tired to regulate its temperature after the battle.' She said, humming. Cynthia smiled and looked up, and I followed her gaze to see a large, landshark-esque pokemon clinging to the ceiling. I started to reach for my bag beside the bed, straining because it was too far, when Beth reached her tail over, lifting the bag within my reach. I brought it over to me and reached inside to retrieve my pokedex, holding it up to scan the pokemon.

"Garchomp, the Mach Pokemon, and the final evolution of Gible. Garchomp can achieve a high rate of speed quickly, enabling it to take to the sky and maintain flight. They move too fast, however, to be ridden in flight because their speed can snap human bones." It said as the dragon looked down at us, narrowing its eyes.

"I think she's fine now Garchomp, you can get down from there." Cynthia said. Garchomp nodded and let go of the ceiling, plummeting from the skylight. A flap of its wings and Garchomp made a soft landing, cautiously walking up to the bed as light flooded the room, and I recognized its piercing eyes from before. I smiled and reached up a hand to it, and Garchomp leaned down, nudging its head into my touch with a soft warble.

"Thanks for your help." I told it, making it warble happily. Cynthia stood off to the side, crossing her arms as she watched me pet her pokemon in shock.

"Well I'll be damned. Garchomp NEVER warms up to people this quickly. Unless… Do you have an Affinity for Dragon pokemon Vixen?" She asked while I stroked the rough scales of her pokemon. I frowned at her and stopped petting Garchomp, only for it to growl at me, not stopping until I started petting it again.

"I don't know. I have been asking myself that since day one. The only wild Dragon I've encountered is Beth, but the first few times I met her, she had no interest in me beyond protecting me." I said, taking note of a small patch on the side of its head where scales appeared to be missing. I rubbed the spot gently, and Garchomp whimpered and turned its head so my hand moved away from the spot.

"I'm thinking you do. Garchomp has NEVER been so…cuddly with anyone except for people with a Dragon Affinity. Even Ground people don't get to see the softer side of her." She explained. My eyes widened at the dragon who had completely melted at my touch, collapsing on the side of my bed, dead to the world except for the occasional twitch of her huge dorsal fin. I wanted to say something, anything in response to this revelation, but I couldn't find the words. I heard a soft knock at the door, and Cynthia quickly rushed over to it, opening it up and allowing two Audino inside. I smirked as I looked out the door, seeing Grimsley and Caitlin in a heated, though whispered argument, most likely about her curtness towards me. Cynthia shook her head at them and closed the door while the Audino made their way over to the bed, shooing the pokemon away. Garchomp, Lola and the queen growled and reluctantly backed away, but Beth and Bisharp were much more understanding as Bisharp grabbed my bag and pokedex from me, carrying them with her to a corner of the room.

"Audino." Said one of the pokemon doctors, who had lavender and cream fur. The antenna on its left ear uncurled and it grabbed the tip in its small paw, reaching towards me and laying it on my forehead.

"Audino." It whispered, pressing the end on me, and I stayed perfectly still until it frowned at me.

'She wants you to hold it there.' Said the queen, and I made a silent 'oh' sound and quickly shot my hand up, pressing gently against the fleshy string. Audino smiled and turned to its companion, a pink and cream Audino who extended its own antennae and pressing the left one against my chest, in between my breasts. It also chirped at me and I raised my other hand and pressed it against the other tendril, holding it against my shirt harder so that the Audino could hear whatever it wanted in my body. The two Audino grabbed the other tendrils that hung from their ears and pressed them to my body, the lavender Audino listening to my forehead and neck while the pink one listened to my chest and stomach.

We stayed silent while the Audino listened to my body, and after a few minutes they nodded and hummed to each other. They lifted my hands while their antennae curled back up. The lavender Audino got closer up my body while the other one went further down, and they raised their paws. Their limbs hovered over my body and began to glow, and they started to hum as a warmth welled up inside of me. I sighed happily and allowed my head to sink further in the pillow, feeling the absolute bliss of Audino's Heal Pulse. Lola and the queen Heatran looked like they wanted to say something to me, but I guess Telepathy was out of the question when part of the Heal Pulse was focused on my mind.

When the glow faded and the warm feeling stopped, the Audino smiled warmly at me. They slowly walked up to my torso and each grabbed a hand, slowly and carefully pulling me up into a sitting position. They started poking and tapping me, making sure that their treatment worked, and each gave a happy chirp. The lavender Audino pulled out some sort of notepad and a pen and started to write on it, tearing it out of the book and carrying it over to Cynthia, who took it and read it over carefully. She smiled and handed the paper back to Audino, pulling out a large wad of cash and handing the whole thing over to it.

"Keep the change, I am really grateful that you were able to come out even though it's a holiday." She said, and the Audino frowned and returned half of the bills to Cynthia, shaking its head and chirping at her.

'He says that such a gross tip for simply doing his job is not needed in his profession. While human doctors call the oath "Hypocritical", his kind takes it to heart and will answer the call of duty no matter what. Illness and injury will not spare his patients because of a tight budget or a holiday, so he will not skip them.' Said the queen, and Cynthia smiled warmly at the pokemon. I was touched by his kindness and the devotion to his duty, and I started to stand up. Lola quickly reacted to my actions and rushed over to me, holding me up and helping me walk over to the Audino. I knelt down in front of the purple doctor and wrapped my arms around him, hugging the pokemon tightly. Audino returned the hug with a purr before he pulled away and patted me on the shoulder, cooing at me.

'That he will accept. The health of his patients is all he wants, and the gratitude that he gets from it is what makes him happy.' The queen translated as the two Audino opened the bedroom door, walking out knowing their job was done. I stood up shakily and petted Lola's heads, and the queen stood up, stretching her limbs and starting for the door.

"Where are you going, ma'am?" I asked, tilting my head. She stopped and turned around, regarding me carefully with her eyes.

'Home. I came only because I worried for your well-being. Since you are safe and back at full health, there is no reason I need to stay anymore. My colony needs their queen. Goodbye, Vixen. This has been good fun, I will treasure the experience always.' She said, turning back around and heading out of the bedroom and out of the building. I smiled and with Lola's help, I walked into the fancy living room where Caitlin and Grimsley were watching the scene play out, and I stood in the doorway, waving at Heatran.

"Thank you for everything, your majesty! I had a lot of fun too, and I'll also keep this in my memories! I wish you and your colony the best of luck!" I called to her retreating back. I heard her deep, guttural roar in return as she made her way towards the mountain, scaring the few people who were brave enough to stay out during her presence. I snickered at the thought that she was probably laughing at them, and I felt myself lose balance, falling backwards. I fell onto Lola, right in between the two heads, and the dragon carried me over to the couch where Grimsley laid sprawled. He sat up when we got closer and helped me onto the couch beside him, leaning over and draping his arm protectively around me.

"I know you are feeling good right now, but let your body have some time to catch up." He commanded, and I nodded and leaned into him in a weird sort of hug.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. So, 3 questions. Where are my other pokemon, where are we, and who dressed me? Preferably in that order please." I asked, making everyone except Caitlin laugh. Cynthia stepped forward and sat on the other side of me on the couch.

"Everyone is on the upper floors, scarfing up my food. I really hope I have enough to feed that Salamence of yours." She said, pointing to the stairs. I shrunk in embarrassment, but Cynthia only laughed and patted my shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't worry about it, Grimsley and Caitlin told me she just evolved. Shelgon don't eat at all so when they turn into Salamence they are absolutely ravenous. Anyway, you're in my Villa, which you are more than welcome to stay in for the entire time you are in Undella Town. And I dressed you with Garchomp and Lola's help. Caitlin considered it beneath her." She said, making the woman huff. Without warning, Caitlin slumped to the side and started to fall, and only Garchomp's fast reflexes kept her from hitting the floor. Grimsley cackled at what just happened, though Cynthia only shook her head and barely suppressed a chuckle of her own while I blinked in confusion.

"Does that happen often?" I asked, still confused.

"Yes it does. And it's hilarious every single time." Grimsley said as he struggled to compose himself.

"How is she a member of the Elite 4? I don't see how she can battle if she's going to fall asleep halfway through." I asked. Cynthia patted my shoulder softly again while Garchomp carried Caitlin to a chair.

"Well, her position as a member of the Elite 4 is sort of shared between her and her pokemon. They'll still battle even when she falls asleep." She explained while Grimsley calmed down.

"She'll usually only fall asleep for a few minutes, but on a really bad day she'll wake up long enough to call out another pokemon if one gets defeated." He said, and I nodded, not quite understanding but not wanting to argue.

"So, any other surprises I should know about?" I asked, looking back and forth between my master and the Sinnoh champion.

"Shauntal and Marshal will be here too. The Elite 4 Challenge is suspended right now, so they should be here soon." Grimsley said with a nod. Cynthia reached towards the coffee table in front of us while Garchomp wedged herself between it and the couch, seeking more pets from me.

"Anyone have a preference on what we should watch?" Cynthia said as she grabbed the remote, turning on the giant flatscreen in front of us. While she channel surfed, debating with Grimsley on what to watch, I continued to pet Garchomp, Lola lumbering up to the couch and poking the back of my head with her two snouts. I smiled and allowed myself to heave a huge sigh of relief, letting out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. Aside from the heatstroke, all was calm again, and with the presence of a champion and 2 of the Elite 4, with the other 2 on the way, I couldn't have been safer. I relaxed into the back of the couch, feeling the caress of Lola's heads and Garchomp propping my feet up, and I smiled.

If this was a dream, I didn't want to wake up.

TBC

Aww, I lost the community who added me. And they looked like they only chose the cream of the crop too. That sucks :( Also, I noticed that I used the word "as" a lot in the last chapter. Sorry about that. I'll be more careful with it XD

Okay so we had a little sick scare there, but we're all good. And yes, that was a Shiny Audino. No, I did not actually ENCOUNTER a Shiny Audino in Black 2 *and I doubt I would have caught it anyway since it's Black 2, a rom that I have a shiny cheat code for anyway*, but I felt the alternate coloration was necessary so we could distinguish between them.

You guys don't think I'm going overboard with Caitlin do you? I mean, she WAS known for massive temper-tantrums in Platinum. And she's still kinda rude in BW and BW2. Speaking of the 5th gen games, in Black and White, her chamber is pretty much her bedroom and we have to wake up her EVERY time we challenge her. And she yawns in both timestream's VS sprites. It makes sense to me to have her be a narcoleptic bitch XD

Imma get some sleep now. More Undella fun tomorrow. Night guys!