"It feels like it's been months." Damien mumbled tiredly, dragging his feet along the ground. Ezra sat atop his head, periodically creating a humming sound with his wings, not for any particular purpose that Everest could see. "I can't wait for the sun to rise."

"You're just being dramatic. It's only been a little more than a week, Damien." Everest rolled her eyes, crossing her arms too. They just managed to exit the cave mouth, seeing the sky for the first time in awhile.

"Even if it was just a week, I feel like it's been a long time coming." Damien groaned, and shrieked in surprise as he fell to the ground. Everest looked at the guilty party, his heavy bat-like Pokémon. Drac echoed his shout, waving his wings wildly, jumping all over Damien's back. "I blame the narrator." The last was mumbled, and Everest wasn't quite sure what he was even talking about. With a sigh, Damien flipped over, knocking Drac off of his back, and Ezra hovered happily over the trainer.

"So, next up is a rock gym. What are you going to do?" It was the middle of the night, the pair guided by Burn. It wasn't much different from the cave, but it did appear that while inside the cave, their sleep schedule got all turned around. Below them, the streets of Cyllage were lit up by street lamps, but the magnificence couldn't even attempt to rival the stars above them.

"I don't really know. It will depend what kind of Pokémon Grant has. There are plenty of rock-ground types that he may have. But ground in general is more powerful." The Ground-type-master-to-be pushed himself off of his knees, not bothering to try and dust off. Wandering around in a cave for a week would make it kinda useless, even when they washed using rivers inside the caves.

"You still haven't answered the question." Icee walked beside Everest, and Spencer was an Ekans curled up on her only grinned.

"Trying to get one up on me, Everest? Maybe you should just wait and see." He teased, still grinning madly. He ran his fingers along his belt, where all the pokéballs laid. "Can't have you knowing all my tricks!"

"Pretty sure that's the whole point of being partners on this whole trip." Chuckling back, Everest nodded. "But hey, this is just your bluff, right? You have no idea."

"That's it Everest!" Damien suddenly was in her face, he grinned, and suddenly snatched her bag, before taking off. "Catch me if you can!"

Gaping in shock, it took a moment to even realize what he had done.

"Come back here you brat!" She took off after him, activating her rollerblades only a moment after he did, their laughter filling the mountain walls.

**DEDRF**

Not too far from the opening of Connecting Cave, a small group watched on. Four of them, each one matched the others clothes wise. The tallest one flipped open some sort of communication device.

"Hey, boss. We found her..." another began recording something in a journal, while the others waited for a reply.

"And is the boy there too?" A gravelly voice responded over the communicator. "Did they get any more Pokémon since the previous sighting?" The group shared a look, one even counting on their fingers... for whatever reason. They couldn't manage to count without.

"Yes, the dragon wielder is in Cyllage as well. They both appear to have the same amount, but I can't tell if they are all the same Pokémon." The phone went quiet, the laughter of the two trainers faded.

"Very well. I need two of you to come back, the rest will keep watch. Delay them if they wander too close to Lumiose while the next part of our plan is in motion."

"Yes, Michal." The group said in unison, before closing the device that brandished a scarlet R.

**EISBSS**

Damien couldn't sleep. At all. Everest was fast asleep across the room, somewhere under the pile of fur. Splash was floating around in the tank, doing his best to ignore the trainers. Damien rolled his eyes, and looked up to the ceiling.

Everest hadn't been wrong, he wasn't quite sure how he was going to beat Grant, just that he was. Drac was hanging from the ceiling by his tail, spinning in circles. The rest were asleep as well, curled up along his bed. Forage was really beginning to fit in, currently curled up between Damien and Reina, his blubber fat enough to protect from poison.

Flipping open his Pokédex, he silently noted it had been awhile since he checked the move pool. Wondering if there were any new additions.

Ezra- Bulldoze, Rock Slide, Dig, Earthquake, and Sandstorm

Drac- Poison Sting, Knock off, Acrobatics, and X-scissor

Reina- Double kick, Poison Sting, Fury Swipes, and Bite

Forage- Powder Snow, Mud Bomb, Ice Shard and Take down.

Nothing new, noting with a sigh. After all, they were pretty much without new or useful moves to learn until they got some TMs or got lucky enough to evolve. Looking over the move sets, he tried to come up with an idea.

"Hey Ezra, how are ya doing buddy?" The dragon type was perched atop his knee, his wings vibrating just loud enough to be heard. Big orange eyes looked down curiously, and nudged the trainer with his tail.

"Viiiii. Vi vibraaaa." Quietly enough, his Vibrava fluttered down to sit on his stomach, heavy enough to be reassuring. That and the caring look in the big eyes, he was easily his best friend.

"Yeah, I'm a little nervous too bud." Idly Damien tried to picture what Pokémon the gym leader had. As far as he knew, maybe Grant had exactly the Pokémon that could take him down. "I'm thinking, you and Drac. Then, if we get more, Forage could use some battling help." The wings were like steel, but thinner than paper. Ezra remained silent, only nodding. He glanced out the window, the battlefield for the center in sight. "Wanna practice?"

Out on the field, Damien stood at the center line, Ezra and Reina at his right, Drac and Forage on his left. He had a grin on his face, watching his friends excitedly.

"This is a double battle, no switches allowed, first team to run out of Pokémon is the loser." Damien announced with a hand cupping his mouth, masking his voice, and making fun of most officials. "Battle begin." Drac and Ezra immediately took to the sky, Forage and Reina bristling, ready for a fight.

"Gliiiiii." Drac taunted, flipping in the air. Ezra didn't fall for it, staying well out of the flying type's way. Damien put on his goggles, pulling up the bandana, grinning.

"Ezra, use sandstorm." The storm immediately took hold, "You guys need to be ready to battle in a sandstorm! That's our ace!" He shouted above the sand. "Drac, use acrobatics, and get lost in the storm." Obediently, Drac began flying faster, the sand whipping up faster and faster, hiding his body. "Reina, go after Forage, use bite. Forage, dodge, and use ice shard."

This was a test, a test of teamwork, awareness, and combat ability in the sand. After years in the desert, Damien could see much better that it looked like Reina could. Drac, Forage, and Ezra were all ground types, leaving Reina at a disadvantage.

"You've got this Reina!" He watched as Reina managed to get behind Forage, and dive in for a bite, only to come up empty. Above them, Ezra and Drac were in a battle of evading, neither landing a hit just yet. As the only female member of Damien's team, she definitely was important to make sure she was as strong as possible. There were trainers out there who used moves like charm and infatuate, and if they managed to use it on his Pokémon, he needed at least one that was immune.

The sandstorm continued, kicking up more and more dust, and Damien felt a little bad for Reina, as she would be slowly losing health, as the only non-ground type.

"Reina! Use fury swipes to move faster, use them to kick off the ground!" He shouted to her. Blue ears twitched in recognition, and she started to do as he asked, now moving a little bit faster than before.

"She's doing pretty well, considering she's at a disadvantage." Everest was suddenly beside him, watching, with her own goggles watching. "I hope you tell her that later." She said just loud enough to be heard over the roar of the storm.

"Course I will." Damien grinned, watching Drac try and dive bomb Forage, who somehow always managed to be just out of reach. "Keep moving like that Forage!"

Before too long, Damien cut the training short, making sure to have them save energy for later today when they would challenge the gym leader. By then, the sun was finally rising, just over the horizon.

"Damien, I was wondering, do you think Ezra would be willing to try and teach Shawn dig?" She looked over at the crowd of Pokémon. Shawn was batting at Burn's tail, while they sat and chatted with Damien's Pokémon. Except for Reina who had wandered off somewhere, and Drac who was currently flying overhead of the trainers, dive bombing them from time to time.

Damien's face brightened at the suggestion, before whistling, getting all the Pokémon's attention. Burn in particular hopped up, sending Shawn to the ground in surprise.

"Ezra, would you teach Shawn how to use Dig?"

There was an excited chatter, before the dragon landed on Shawn's back, chittering. She couldn't help the smile when Shawn's tail lightly tapped the other Pokémon's back, as some sort of acceptance. Meanwhile, Burn was sad at the loss of attention to him, and tackled the two to the ground.

"I was reading TM's that Splash can learn, so I'm going to go talk to him about them, as long as you'll watch them." Damien nodded, silently wishing her luck, as she headed over to the small pond behind the poke center.

Spencer followed behind her, clearly worried about the loose cannon. Everest could hear Damien trying to coax Burn off of Ezra, and she couldn't help her snicker, before raising Splash's pokeball. The red light flashed, revealing her grumpy Pokémon.

Getting on her knees at the edge of the pond, Everest fished her PDex from her pockets, flipping it open. The Pokémon didn't watch her, instead it just floated around the pond, mindless.

"So, I was looking into the moves you can learn through TMs last night, and a few sounded like good ones to start with. There's Scald, waterfall, and surf. It's going to take a little while to come across stores that sell them, but if you're interested in learning them, I wouldn't mind looking around for them." Looking up from her device, she wasn't surprised, just sad, that the Feebas wasn't even listening to her.

"Zoroooooo arrrr." Spencer growled lowly, a calming sound, as she nuzzled her trainer. No doubt she was sorry for whatever the hell was up with this Pokémon.

"It's okay Spence. We'll work through this eventually. Imagine-" she was cut from her musings, by a loud, painful roar. "Shit." It sounded like Reina.

Everest quickly recalled Splash, and ran to where she left the rest of her Pokémon. Damien was already recalling Forage and Drac, leaving Ezra flying around him. Following his lead, Everest recalled Shawn and Burn as well, before following Damien down to the beach.

It was more so jumping from rock to rock, because the sound was leading them away from the leisure part of the beach, to the stone fields that came from landslides off of Connecting Cave.

What they saw stopped them in their tracks.

Reina, was curled in on herself, roaring in pain. Her body alight with a light that she had only seen during evolution. Damien moved faster than Everest. He jumped over the last few boulders, to come to Reina's side, petting her reassuringly.

"It's okay." He spoke softly, eyes looking around for the source of her evolution. There would have had to be a Moon Stone in order for her to evolve, but he couldn't see anything in her hands, or right below her in case she dropped it.

"Niiiiiiiidoooo!" She was louder this time, as her form slowly grew.

"I think she must have accidentally stepped on a Moon Stone." Everest spoke, worry filled her voice. Generally Pokémon would search means of evolution when they were ready. But Reina was still kinda small for a Nidorina.

The pair of trainers and their Pokémon could only watch on, as Reina was forced into evolving. It took maybe ten minutes for it to complete, the entire time, she wailed in pain. Everest and Damien tried to calm her with words and reassurances, until the light finally died down.

"Nidoqueeeeen!" She finally roared, her arms waving proudly, now almost the same size as Damien and Everest.

"Hey Reina." Damien sighed, happy she finally wasn't hurting anymore. "What's - oh." As he spoke, she lifted one of her legs, revealing the shard of a rock, lodged in her foot, which was bleeding. Damien carefully took it out, and the trainers examined it.

"Definitely a Moon stone." The color was familiar, and Everest looked at the Drill Pokémon, feeling sorry for her.

**DEDRF**

Far away from the beach, a Rocket grunt was speaking into his phone.

"Yes, it's done. It's a Nidoqueen now, it's potential should be stunted now, forced to evolve too early." He laughed, looking at his assortment of evolution methods he had, that could easily wreak havoc on the two trainer's teams.