EDITOR'S NOTE: "Olivia has both of my dream jobs - jewelry maker and professional Pokémon trainer. If only I could get paid for either."

"So you're telling me that Olivia uses Rock-types?"

The nurse at the Pokémon Center backed up slightly, as Diana's enthusiasm was almost frightening. "That's right," she said, voice breaking a little bit. "Do you have a plan?"

"Do you count a Poliwhirl, a Stufful, and a Dartrix who has single-handedly won me two trials as a plan?" As she named them, her Pokémon cheered, leaving Murkrow and Lycanroc to make uncomfortable eye contact before going back to eating their beans.

The nurse's eyes widened slightly. "Well...yes, I suppose that could be considered a plan."

"Awesome!" Diana turned to face her team, grinning maniacally. "Did you hear that? Today, lady and gentlemen, we will fight! We will win! We will get that Z-Crystal!"

"Aren't we supposed to go to Olivia's shop first?" Lycanroc asked.

"Aren't we supposed to go to Olivia's shop first?" Eli repeated before Rotom could translate. He had his Salandit on his shoulder, Larvesta on his lap, and his pet-looking pets both curled up at his feet, watching Diana get excited as they chomped away.

"There's no way she's going to believe I said that first."

Diana looked over at Rotom, her smile becoming more nervous. "So," she said after a moment. "Where is Olivia's shop, and can you tell me what it is she sells? For science, of course."

Murkrow made a sound of disbelief. Salandit nodded in agreement. Rotom just pulled up the map.

"It's right across the street."

"Great." Diana adjusted her bag and called her Pokémon back to their balls, Eli following her lead. Murkrow alone remained, and he hopped along behind his trainer, feeding her anticipation with his own. "If I beat Olivia on my first try, I'll check out the shops. Right now, I need some Hyper Potions."

Olivia's shop was everything Diana and Murkrow had dreamed it would be. So many shiny and sparkly things covered the walls, tables, even the cash register. He watched as both girl and bird struggled to restrain each other, each clearly doubting their own self-control, Diana running her fingers across a crystal necklace and Murkrow half-jokingly scooping stuff into a pile with his wings. He was about to get involved, but that was when the Probopass arrived.

The Probopass had a paper stuck in its 'mustache,' and floated away from the boy when he reached for it. "Come on, dude," Eli promised. "I'm a lot better than I was. I think happiness is the extinguisher. Just hand me the paper, and I'll get out of here."

Probopass eyed him suspiciously, but came within reach. "Just don't hurt the shop."

Eli took the paper, and read it through quickly. "She's not here, Diana," he called, and she turned her head away from the sparkles, the sound of her name bringing her back to reality. "She wants to meet us at the Ruins of Life, past Memorial Hill."

"Doesn't she know you Eli'd the last ruins we visited?"

"Just the bridge!" Eli complained, but Diana's attention was gone again, this time as she sadly explained to Murkrow how they couldn't afford so many pretties and had no place to put them all.

Probopass almost knocked him aside as it went right for Diana, something balanced on its 'hat' this time. It bowed when it got close to her, the Max Potion falling off its head.

"Is this for me?" Diana asked, Rotom popping his face out of her bag to translate.

Probopass said something quickly. "It says that Olivia wanted you to have it."

Diana picked up the gift, frowning. "She gave me medicine? That almost makes it seem like she doesn't have any faith in me..."

But then she got distracted by the sight of evolution stones, and rushed to the front to ask if they had Dusk Stones for her Murkrow. Eli groaned and pulled out Robbie's ball.

"We're gonna be here forever, aren't we?" he asked it.

The Torracat said nothing, for obvious reasons. His trainer still took that silence as a yes, and forcibly dragged the girl and the crow out of the shop.

Memorial Hill was another cemetery, to no one's surprise. Diana considered going after a Phantump for her investigations, but decided it would be better if she just focused on her current mission first. She could come by later and catch more Pokémon. With that in mind, she put her Poliwhirl up in the first party slot and gave him the Amulet Coin she'd found by a truck.

"I need to have money for my new outfit and my healing supplies," she told them all. "If I'm going to set a good example for Lillie and wear what I want to wear instead of what Mom buys for me, I have to be smart about it."

Eli didn't answer. He was busy focused on an Aether Foundation employee - easily recognized by the white outfit - and the man accompanying her. The man, like Colress, was tall and wearing both scary shiny glasses and a lab coat, but where Colress had been immediately attached to Diana once he'd heard of her interest in science, this guy looked like he was barely paying any attention.

"Team Skull! Give back that Pokémon!"

Diana froze at the sound of the team's name. "Back away," she ordered her cousin. "Slowly. If they don't see us, we won't get involved."

One of the grunts jumped at the white-clad pair, fortunately still unaware of the kids. "Don't give me trouble! I'll reduce you to rubble!"

The other grunt nodded. "We're gonna sell this Pokémon to get rich, and we won't make no bones about it!"

The Slowpoke beside them stared off into the distance, and Diana thought, for just a moment, that it made eye contact with her. She shook her head slowly. Slowpoke, very deliberately, looked away.

And there was more intelligence in those eyes than rumors stated, so Diana immediately changed her mind on not getting involved.

"Think of what the president would say," the strange scientist warned the woman, and the Aether employee, very clearly, struggled not to roll her eyes.

"So I assume you're going to do something, then?"

"I am the Aether Foundation's last line of defense!" The man sounded so obnoxious with that one little line that Diana couldn't stop the eye roll. "What would become of the foundation if something were to happen to me?"

"Wicke," was the immediate answer. Clearly, the employee had dealt with enough of this guy before.

Luckily, Diana interfered at that moment. "I'm interested in that Slowpoke," she told the Aether employees. "I've defeated Team Skull grunts before. Maybe we can make a deal out of it."

"Don't." Even as the word left his mouth, Eli knew it was a waste of breath. He couldn't stop Diana before, so nothing would change now.

The scientist looked at Diana, distaste in his eyes. A small child, dressed in a flower-print shirt, was offering to make a deal? Who did she think she was?

But, as the only one here who could keep the foundation's hands clean of the fight, he had to relent. "Defeat Team Skull first," he told her. "Then we shall see what happens."

"But it's for science," Diana protested.

The man smiled, but it was more condescending than excited. "How cute. She believes she's a scientist."

He wasn't like Colress at all. Diana tried and failed to look intimidating. "So maybe I haven't graduated, or destroyed my backyard. But I'm investigating rumors like a real scientist."

"Really? Then what's your hypothesis?"

"My hypothesis is that you're a butt!"

"I think a hypothesis has to be a theory, not a fact, Diana," Eli interrupted.

The man's anger was almost boiling, but he stepped aside. "Fine, then. Save the Slowpoke, and then we will talk."

Diana reached for a ball. "Poliwhirl! You're up!"

By the time Diana and Poliwhirl had defeated the Raticate, the scientist had changed his opinion. He mentioned something about a resort, but Diana wasn't paying attention. The Aether employee had taken the Slowpoke while the battle was going on, and her annoyance at the confiscation of her test subject was clear on her face. Eli had to half-drag her back to town.

But, with a quick backtrack to the Pokémon Center, they were heading back to the ruins. They were stopped by a woman with pink and yellow hair, black clothes, a belly tattoo, and, most irritating of all, a Team Skull symbol around her neck.

"So, you're the ones Gladion was talking about?"

Diana crossed her arms stubbornly. "Are you Team Skull's boss?"

The woman shook her head. "I am Plumeria. The boss runs it, but I hold Team Skull together. Like a big sister."

"And you're aware that your little siblings are idiots, right?"

"Very," Plumeria answered without missing a beat. "But don't you think some dummies are cute in their dumbness?"

Diana glanced over at Eli, then nodded, as if in agreement. "I have the same feelings whenever he claims he has alien ancestry."

"We have alien ancestry," Eli corrected. "And you're only a few months older than me."

"See what I mean?" Diana grinned. "I guess I kind of am like a big sister to him."

"That's not my point!" Plumeria snapped. "My point is that you beating up my cute, dumb siblings is annoying me, and I want revenge!"

"You don't want to do that," Eli objected, but Diana had already pushed him forward.

"I beat the last Team Skull agent," she told him. "It's your turn again."

Fine. If she wanted it that way.

As Plumeria sent out Golbat, Eli sent out Salandit. "A Poison-type showdown," he summarized. Salandit looked back at him and nodded, and he smiled back. "Let's see who wins!"