DarkFoxKit: So… what have we learned about messing with fireworks, TM?

Traveling Master: That Charmeleon shouldn't be anywhere near fireworks. Okay, I already helped repair the house, and I'll make sure not to mess with fireworks again...until next year.

DarkFoxKit: Or until New Years anyways. At least it wouldn't be blazing hot by then. Maybe I can ask Mew to put your tail flame in a bubble or something.

Traveling Master: That or just have someone else handle the fireworks.

Dust: Oh, can I-

Traveling Master: NO!

DarkFoxKit: Who else can handle the fireworks though? I've never handled them before. Parents wouldn't let me.

Chihiro: I can work with fire~

Traveling Master: I don't know how to feel with a ghost dragon handling the fireworks, but anything is better than Dust. So Chihiro, you're in charge of fireworks next time!

Chihiro: I'll be sure to have fun with that~

DarkFoxKit: We really need to build a stronger fourth wall, all these characters keep sneaking into the AN...

Traveling Master: Well Dust always had a knack for getting past the fourth wall and Chihiro is a ghost, so I guess that makes sense. We only had the one problem when Dust *I glared daggers at him* decided to bring everyone in here!

Dust: Hey, it made the AN a lot more interesting! You should let me break the fourth wall more often.

DarkFoxKit: No! I had to do a lot of cleaning after what you did before! Next time, you'll be the one cleaning! But I'm going to make sure there isn't a 'next time'!

Dust: I wouldn't be so sure about that. The fourth wall can be a fickle thing. Very fragile, and anyone, not just me, can easily break it. Of course I try to do it myself since it's always interesting to see the after effects, but I'm willing to let others give it a go.

DarkFoxKit: Uh-huh… TM, I'm going to mix up something special for Dust. You keep him entertained.

Traveling Master: Uh...Hey Dust...so what have you learned so far about the fourth wall?

Chihiro: *Pushes the readers to the chapter* Go on, get to the chapter now.

Chapter 25: The Days that Pass

"Wow, this is much better than the food they bring us!" Shab complimented before taking another bite out of the meal that was in front of him.

Team Night Tide had recently returned to Unity Guild. Chihiro was both impressed and amused after hearing their little adventure in the Wild Area. She especially laughed when they mentioned how a wild Absol and Goomy had tried to mate with them. After congratulating on their first Research Mission, the trio decided to stop by the cafeteria, all hungry from today's events.

"You never had the cafeteria food before?" Dust asked in between bites.

"Nope, the ones in charge of teaching us brought us food, but they were all about the same, basic meals," Shab answered. "Who makes this stuff anyways?"

"It depends on who's working in the kitchen," Berry answered. "A Milcery who goes by the name Cupcake usually works here, though sometimes a Lucario named Brody will be working here as well. He's the one I told you about, the one who swoons all the ladies."

"You don't say," Shab replied as he turned towards the kitchen. "I have to meet him!"

"Hmm? Why?" Berry asked at Shab's sudden enthusiasm.

Shab started to nervously sweat until he came up with an idea. "Well his food is so delicious, that I wanted to learn more about the food he makes. In a way, the taste almost reminds me of your slime, though nothing could even match your heavenly slime."

"My slime is pretty toxic, make sure you eat Pecha Berries or drink Pecha Juice so you don't get poisoned," Berry warned.

"I'll make sure to grab a Pecha Berry when I go meet with Brody," Shab replied as he left the table and started heading towards the kitchen.

As Shab got nearer to the kitchen, he saw steam coming from within, most likely the meals that were being prepared. Shab went to the back of the line where others would wait to order their food, luckily most had already gotten their meals, so Shab didn't have to wait too long until he next in line. On the other side, Shab saw a Milcery, most likely Cupcake, waiting to take his order.

"How may I help you?" Cupcake asked.

"I was actually hoping if I could speak with Brody?" Shab asked.

Cupcake groaned. "What did he do now?"

"Nothing, I actually just wanted to ask him for some advice," Shab answered.

"Oh?" Cupcake asked, surprised. "Advice for what exactly?"

Shab started to blush as he thought about Berry. "...I heard he's really good at swooning the ladies and there's this certain one I keep thinking about. I want to win her heart over."

Cupcake was about to answer when suddenly the sound of banging pots and plates shattering had cut her off. More banging, objects falling over, and food being spilled on the ground caused Cupcake to groan once more as a Lucario finally burst out the kitchen door. Brody was covered in all sort of food, his fur slightly mangled, his apron torn, but that didn't stop him from marching up to Shab.

"Seriously Brody? Now I'm going to have to clean all of that up!" Cupcake hissed as she floated to the back.

"I'm sorry my love, I will clean that up myself, but first," Brody then picked up Shab, bringing him up to his eye level. "Is it true? Do you truly wish to seek my help to win the heart of someone you love?!"

The Feebas nodded. "Yes, I do. I heard you were good at swooning the ladies, so I was hoping you could help me swoon the girl of my dreams. She deserves nothing less than the best from me!"

"My dear Feebas, I recognize your noble and just cause and I will do everything in my power to help you win this fair maiden over. Tell me, who is the lucky female that has touched your heart?" Brody asked.

Shab was blushing as he looked back at where Team Night Tide was eating. "It's… heh… it's Berry, the Goomy from Team Night Tide."

"Berry? The fair maiden of Team Night Tide? Who's bravery is greater than any female I've ever seen? Who's beauty makes the stars pale in comparison? That Berry?" Brody asked.

Shab nodded, started to worry that this Lucario might actually have feelings for Berry.

"Oh what joyous day! To think that Berry has won over your heart. We haven't a moment to lose! I will help you in your pursuit of love!" Brody shouted while hugging Shab.

"You will? But, aren't you in love with Berry?" Shab asked.

"My dear Feebas, I think all females are maiden who deserve all the love I can muster. I do love Berry, but it is nothing compared to the love you have for her. I could sense it the moment you thought about her," Brody remarked.

At that, Shab blushed hotly. "Th-then, I'm honored to have you help me, Master Brody! I… I do have a plan though. I remember seeing Berry's eyes sparkle in awe when she saw a Milotic for the first time. She doesn't appear to be aware of my evolution, however. So I'm hoping to evolve into a Milotic to surprise her and grant her wish of seeing a Milotic again."

Brody gasped. "Are you telling me that your kind are able to evolve into the majestic Pokemon, Milotic?"

"Yup!" Shab smiled proudly before frowning. "But it's very difficult for a Feebas to evolve. It normally takes years for one Feebas to evolve, that is assuming we survive that long in the wild."

"Then my young apprentice, as I teach you the ways of swooning the females, we will also work on getting you to evolve!" Brody exclaimed.

"Brody, I rather you didn't teach him your bad habits, and you're speaking too loud. Shab did say he wanted his evolution to be a surprise," Cupcake grumbled as she floated back to them. "There is an easier and faster way to get you to evolve, Shab. You can wear a Prism Scarf that will continuously make you more beautiful every day until you've reached the point where it will trigger your evolution. And while Brody is free to give you tips on how to treat a lady, you can also go overboard and overwhelm Berry, which is something you don't want to do."

"Okay, so we have a solution for my evolution, I still wish to impress Berry and show her how much she truly means to me," Shab said.

"Worry not, through my teachings we will help you," Brody replied.

"We? What do you mean we?" Cupcake asked.

"It's as you said, while I may be an expert when it comes to treating ladies, I do rather have some unfortunate bad habits. And I don't want to risk our friend's chance at winning Berry over. So with your help, I know we can help him achieve his goal," Brody explained. "Only someone as smart as you could truly help us. So please, help me help this Feebas."

Cupcake sighed before seeing Shab lowering his head to her. "Alright, alright, I'll see what I can do to help. But even after everything we teach you, even after you evolve, you shouldn't expect Berry to return those feelings, okay? The last thing you should do is make someone feel like they're obligated to return your feelings when they don't truly have those feelings."

"I understand," Shab answered.

"Good~ Brody, do you still have that Prism Scarf your team got as a reward for saving that Carbink last month?" Cupcake asked.

"I left it in our storage, so it should still be there. I'll make sure to grab it later today," Brody answered.

"With the Prism Scarf, you should be able to evolve in less than a year as long as you wear it all the time," Cupcake chuckled.

Shab smiled before he started to flop around excitedly. "Thank you so much!"

The next morning, Dust, Berry, and Cliff noticed that Shab was wearing a silver scarf with blue, pink, and red colors on it on his tail fin.

Dust asked him about it, and Shab just said it was a gift from a friend.

Deciding it wasn't that important, they decided to go on their daily rescue missions. Leaving Cliff with Carrie, and Shab got to learn the ropes. Shab, of course, couldn't learn any good moves on his own. All he had was Tackle, Splash, and Flail. Dust decided to try to teach Shab how to use Ice Beam, since he was sure a Feebas could learn Ice Beam from what he read in the books about them.

After they finished their rescue missions, Dust and Berry took Shab to the Dojo to train. Cliff would follow and watch them. Dust began his arduous process of teaching Shab how to use Ice Beam without a T.M. Berry decided to work on her own moves while in the Dojo. Cliff was watching them, seeming to want to join in.

Days passed, Team Night Tide continued with their missions every day. Getting more rewards, Poke, and rank points. They knew they had more than enough to participate in this month's upcoming tournament, but it couldn't hurt to keep building up those points, as well as helping Pokemon in need while getting some decent rewards out of it.

Dust, Berry, Shab, and Cliff go to the Dojo more often these days, wanting to get ready for the tournament.

Shab was beside Cliff, he had to watch her while Berry and Dust were sparring with each other. Berry shot out a Dragon Breath at Dust while Dust shot out an Ice Beam, both attacks hit each other. To their surprise, it seemed to have created an icy dragon breath, which shattered and made some sparkles fall.

"You two certainly have gotten stronger," Vesper noted.

"Thanks, we've been working hard to get stronger," Dust remarked.

"Heh, let me guess; you're preparing for the upcoming tournament, right?" The Corviknight asked.

"That is correct. Ever since we had received that letter to the Strange Mansion, we've had more than enough points to participate. So we've been focusing more on training as we get closer to the tournament," Dust explained.

"We're hoping to get Bronze or maybe Silver Rank," Berry stated. "Though Dust is aiming for the Gold."

"That is quite the feat, a rather difficult one too," Vesper noted. "I believe the last group to achieve this was your mother, Eclipse, and her partner."

Dust nodded. "Yes, mother is quite impressive, but I'm sure that we might be able to achieve the same thing."

Shab and Cliff came up onto the arena seeing how the sparring was over for the time being.

"That was an excellent spar. Berry, you were battling as gracefully as always~" Shab complimented.

"Mommy is strong. Daddy got strong too!" Cliff smiled. "I wanna be strong too!"

"They sure are strong, especially Berry~" Shab remarked.

"Can I fight in tournament too?" Cliff asked.

Dust and Berry hesitated at that.

"We appreciate your enthusiasm, Cliff, but the tournament is going to have a lot of very strong Pokemon," Berry warned. "Perhaps you can join in a tournament with us when you're older and have grown stronger yourself."

"Aww," Cliff grumbled.

Dust then went and picked her up and put her on his back, noticing how easier it was to carry her now. "Hey, don't worry, we all have to start off somewhere. Did you know that in my first sparring match, my opponent knocked me out in one hit?"

"Really? Daddy was knocked out by one hit?" Cliff asked, surprised. "But Daddy is strong! How?"

"Well I wasn't very strong back then. But ever since that loss, I've been training and getting stronger and stronger. Sometimes I worked a little too hard and ended up having to rest for a long time," Dust gave a warm smile to Berry. "But thanks to my friends, I've been able to improve."

"Did you ever fight that Pokemon again?" Cliff asked.

"No, he did not. Instead he would coward and back down," A new voice answered, causing everyone to turn to the newcomer.

Dust and Berry were surprised to see Crimson and Blizza enter the Dojo. It had been a while since they had spoken with Team Crimson Raiders, not that Dust and Berry were complaining. But to suddenly see them show up had caught them by surprise.

"Dust, it's been awhile," Crimson called out. "You seem to have been keeping busy now."

"Well you should know that the life of a Crusader can be busy," Dust remarked. But then his eyes moved towards the Hakamo-o. Dust recalled Berry telling him that Blizza had evolved, but he still couldn't hide his amazement at seeing her.

"Take a picture, it'll last much longer," Blizza replied as she noticed Dust looking at her.

Blizza then looked at the Goomy beside Dust. She saw the Feebas on her head and started laughing. "Look at you! How much more pathetic can you be? Having such an ugly fish on your head like it's some kind of hat?"

Berry glared at the Hakamo-o. "Hey! This is Shab, and he's a new teammate of our's! I know the concept is a bit foreign to you, Blizza, but at least show a tiny bit of respect!"

"Oh, I know all about respect!" Blizza took a step towards Berry. "I've practically had the thing shoved down my throat my whole life, so don't be preaching about respect, not until you've proven yourself."

"I was talking about Shab, you scaley bone head," Berry muttered.

"You wanna say that again?" Blizza challenged, only for Crimson to raise his arms and block her.

"Blizza, save it for the tournament, we didn't come here to fight," Crimson said.

"So why are you here?" Dust asked.

"To congratulate you," Crimson answered. "You two have made quite the reputation, and to find out that you'll be participating in the tournament this time, well I for one was shocked to hear that. Maybe we might end up fighting against each other. Wouldn't that be nice, a rematch between Team Crimson Raiders and Team Night Tide?"

Blizza cracked her knuckles. "I've been waiting for a chance to redeem myself after my embarrassing loss to this little gooey creature."

Berry was both intimidated and angry at Blizza's comment. Dust on the other hand felt different. Before, whenever they had come across Team Crimson Raiders, Dust had always felt nervous and intimidated. And even though he still had those same feelings, Dust noticed a new feeling welling up inside. One of anticipation, his body was actually itching for a fight, one that Dust had been both dreading and looking forward to for a long time now.

"... Why is that big dragon so mean to Mommy?" Cliff asked Dust.

"Where did you find a Larvitar?" Crimson asked, looking at Cliff sitting on Dust's back.

"I came across her egg when we were in the Phoenix Desert Dungeon, though at the time I thought it was a special kind of rock. She hatched some time after I had taken it back to the guild," Dust explained.

Crimson studied the Larvitar a bit more, Cliff gave a challenging glare at the Zoroark. "Impressive, to think you would find such a rare Pokemon. A shame that she ended up being hatched by you, but I supposed luck was on your side. You've found yourself a very fine addition to your team."

Berry was about to respond, but Dust had beat her by taking a threatening position. "Do not talk about Cliff like she's some random item."

For a brief moment, Dust's blue eye had glowed, only for it to return back to normal. It happened so fast hardly anyone else had noticed.

"Whatever, you've both always been way too sentimental, no wonder you can't get very strong," Blizza huffed before she looked at Berry. "I would've expected you to have evolved by now with all that training you supposedly did, not to mention the reputation you two have been building up lately. But you still disappoint me."

"I don't need to evolve to be strong enough to defeat you," Berry glared.

Shab was frowning, but stayed quiet.

"You better not disappoint me further, cause I'm coming at you with everything I got!" Blizza shouted.

"I look forward to our battle then," Crimson added, looking at Dust. "Show me what you can do now that you're not such a weakling anymore."

Crimson and Blizza then walked away, heading to another section of the Dojo to train.

"They're… quite intense…" Shab noted.

"Well...they aren't Silver Rank for nothing," Dust replied. "They're definitely strong, but it's like you said, Berry. True strength doesn't come from pure power."

"What makes someone truly strong is if they choose to use their power and strength to help the weak. And…" Berry looked back at Dust. "Isn't that what being a Crusader is all about? We get strong so we can help the weak and helpless."

"They're still meanie buttfaces," Cliff pouted.

Dust laughed at Cliff's remark, feeling better now. "That's right Cliff, they are meanie buttfaces."

"Then we'll have to show those 'meanie buttfaces' how strong we can be," Shab decided. "That Hakamo-o have no right to speak to Berry that way!"

"I do admire your determination, but there's one thing you should know," Vesper spoke up, getting all their attention. "You won't know who your opponents are until the day of the tournament. And even then, there still might be a chance you may not even fight Team Crimson Raiders. The battle between teams are chosen at random, so there's no guarantee you'll be able to fight them unless the two of your teams managed to get chosen to battle each other or you make it to the finals with them."

"Knowing our luck, we probably will end up battling them anyways," Berry sighed. "Not to mention even if we don't, there's still going to be a lot of strong Pokemon battling to raise up their ranks."

"Just remember all the training you had, all the experiences you've acquired and you will do fine," Vesper commented. "Remember, even if you lose, doesn't mean that you still can't increase your rank. The purpose of the tournament is to show others how well you coordinate as a team, strategize against your opponents. Show them how much you have grown."

"Then that is what we will do," Dust agreed.

"I've almost mastered the Ice Beam attack," Shab stated. "Just a little more training, and I'll be able to use it for sure!"

"Can I train too?" Cliff asked. "I wanna be strong too!"

"Perhaps you can start with the basics, little one," Vesper chuckled, seeing the Larvitar's enthusiasm. "There's a training ground for young Pokemon like you to begin their training if you're that eager to train."

"Then I'll train!" Cliff smiled. "Make Mommy and Daddy proud!"

"Are you sure, Cliff?" Berry asked in concern.

"Yes! Mommy and Daddy are training hard, Uncle Shab is training hard too. I will train hard to be strong too!" Cliff answered.

Over the next week or so, Team Night Tide had been training themselves hard. They completed the hardest missions their ranking would allow in order to train themselves against the wild Pokemon and the Mystery Dungeon. Shab had managed to use Ice Beam through Dust's teaching, so they didn't need to waste Poke buying a T.M. for it.

Berry would have Dust try to hit her with his Ice Beam attack, so she could get used to the super effective Ice type attack hitting her. As Berry withstood the attack, she noticed her body was getting stronger. At first, she thought maybe she was learning a new move. However, she couldn't seem to use any new moves at all. Berry did work on her Sludge Bomb more, dividing the purple ball into several smaller balls so she would be able to hit her target with the poisonous balls easier. Dust had been working on his Iron Tail as well. Cliff was working on her basic attacks with Vesper and Carrie, Carrie decided to help teach Cliff a few moves when she heard Cliff wanted to train to get stronger. Chloe would mimic her mother's moves in her pouch.

Berry started trying to condense her Dragon Breath again. Though she still couldn't quite get it right like when she was in her outburst mode as they had taken to call it. Still, Berry did notice her moves have gotten stronger, and her body was able to take hits more often than before. Things were starting to look up for them.

However, later that night after the last day of training…

"So tomorrow is when the tournament will begin?" Shab asked as they got settled in their room.

"That's right. To think a month has already gone by. And to think it was only about a month ago when I had almost…" Dust paused when he looked at Cliff. "When I had recovered from my accident. A lot has happened since then."

"We've all grown pretty strong in a month," Berry chuckled.

"Strong! Win tournament!" Cliff smiled.

"While winning the tournament would be nice, we should also remember we need to show how well we can work together if we want our rank raised," Berry reminded.

"We've been working on our teamwork pretty well, especially in the Mystery Dungeons," Shab noted. "We should be good. We're definitely getting a Bronze at the very least. Your new Bronze badge will shine just as brightly as you, my lovely Berry~"

"While Bronze isn't bad, we shouldn't settle for minimal effort either," Dust commented. "We should shoot for the very best we can do, visualize your goal, set plans for it and you'll be able to achieve them. Instead of thinking that we'll get Bronze at the very least, we should be thinking of aiming for Gold."

"Gold! Gold is pretty." Cliff smiled.

"We'll definitely be trying our best, Dust, but Gold might be reaching too high for us," Berry remarked. "I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's… very unlikely we'll get Gold."

"I know, our chances are pretty slim, but we should still give it our best shot as though we can achieve Gold," Dust replied.

"I wouldn't mind being at Gold rank so early in my career, the gold badge would shine even brighter! Of course it would still pale in comparison to Berry~" Shab grinned.

"Heh," Berry chuckled. "It's going to be pretty nerve wracking though. Battling with wild Pokemon and other teams and training are one thing, but we'll be doing that in front of a lot of Pokemon, especially important Pokemon that come from all sorts of guilds. Oooh, I hope we don't make fools of ourselves out there…"

"I guess the best advice I can give is to just remember why you are there in the first place," Dust commented. "If I constantly thought about what others would think of me every time I was about to perform an experiment, well I wouldn't really be doing any. Just remember to give it your best shot, forget the crowd, those important Pokemon, and I promise you that you will do well."

"Besides, they'll be too distracted by your beauty to care if you made a mistake, Berry," Shab reassured.

Berry blinked, she never thought about herself as beautiful, but Shab had been giving her compliments like that since his talk with Brody.

"Mommy will do well out there." Cliff smiled.

Berry smiled a little. "Thanks everyone. We should get some sleep though, we don't want to be too exhausted for the tournament tomorrow."

Everyone agreed to that. Shab went into the pot of water to sleep. Berry decided to sleep on her bed again since Shab needed to sleep in the water. Cliff liked sleeping with Dust because she liked how soft and warm his fur was, so Berry didn't need to worry about poisoning Cliff.

However, in the middle of the night while they were sleeping, something was bothering Berry.

In Berry's dream, she saw a silhouette in front of her. The silhouette started becoming more solid as it turned to her. Berry backed away from it.

"Who are you…?" Berry asked.

The silhouette approached her, it appeared to be a big slug of some kind. "I'm you."

Berry slithered back, feeling scared. The silhouette kept approaching her. "You can't be me, you're bigger than me, you look different than I do. What do you want?"

"I'm here to show you 'you'. The real you," The silhouette answered as they continued going towards Berry.

"No, stay back!" Berry demanded before she quickly turned to slither away from the silhouette.

However, when Berry did turn, she wasn't in the guild anymore, she found herself back in Waterfall Cavern. Berry let out a gasp before she jumped into a water, hoping to swim away from the silhouette.

The water and the cavern were surprisingly empty. It was eerily empty. Berry didn't like it, it was as if every Pokemon had vanished from the face of the earth. As Berry swam, it got darker and darker. There was a little bit of light above her, however, and she quickly swam up to it.

As soon as Berry came up to the surface, she saw an exit to the cavern. She could already see Spring Swamp on the other side. However, she also saw that Goodra again that was near the exit. Berry stopped, not sure what to do. Then something else came up from the water behind her. Turning around, Berry gasped when she saw that silhouette had followed her.

"You can't run from who you are," The silhouette said, their voice seeming to echo all around. "Come, resign yourself to your fate."

Berry, in a desperate attempt to get the silhouette to go away, shot out a Dragon Breath attack. The silhouette did the same, however, the silhouette's Dragon Breath was far stronger than Berry's. It easily overpowered Berry's Dragon Breath. Berry yelped as she was hit and pushed back by the stronger attack. Her body felt numb though, she didn't feel any pain, but she felt tired.

Now lying on the ground, the silhouette towered over her. The voice sounded clearer than before.

"You've always been afraid of who you really are. Afraid that you will turn into a monster," The silhouette said. "You won't be able to hold back for much longer, accept yourself for who you truly are."

It was then Berry recognized that voice as her own. The silhouette was nearly on top of her at this point. Berry's eyes widened as the silhouette began to melt on her.

Berry woke up to a sudden surge of power. There was a bright light that was lighting up the dark room. The others were still asleep, except for Cliff, who opened her eyes sleepily, seeing the light that was surrounding the Goomy.

"Mommy… glowing…?" Cliff asked groggily.

Berry's eyes widened when she realized where the light was coming from. She looked down at her body, seeing that it was glowing in white light. The light was getting brighter around her, soon bathing her body in white and blue light. Berry quickly shut her eyes and struggled to hold back the surge of power, trying to bury it. The glowing light that had bathed Berry's body started to dim as Berry buried the power. The glow kept dimming until it was flickering on her body before it finally faded. Berry panted tiredly, but she was still a Goomy.

"What happened?" Dust asked as he sat up, still half tired. "Did something happen? Was there a bright light just now?"

"No…" Berry spoke up. "No… just… just go back to sleep, Dust."

"Well if you insist," Dust yawned before laying back down.

Cliff gave a curious look to Berry. Berry gave Cliff a small smile. "Just go to sleep, Cliff, nothing's going on with Mommy."

"Okay Mommy," Cliff yawned before laying against Dust's fur once more.

Berry frowned to herself, hoping she wouldn't suddenly evolve again in the middle of the night, or ever.

It was early the next morning. Dust was carrying Berry and Shab. Cliff had started walking on her own, and decided to walk beside her 'daddy'.

"Berry… are you okay?" Dust asked in concern as he was heading to Chihiro's office. "You're looking a little…"

Berry yawned, her mouth stretching out as she did. Her eyes looked tired.

"... Exhausted," Dust finished.

"Did you not get enough beauty sleep last night, Berry?" Shab asked in concern.

"Maybe Mommy's glowing thing made her tired," Cliff suggested.

"Glowing? Berry, you were glowing?" Dust asked.

"She's always glowing in my eyes~" Shab commented.

"It's nothing to worry about," Berry answered, rubbing her right eye with her right antenna. "Just give me an Oran Berry to wake me up."

"Wouldn't a Chesto Berry be better suited to helping you wake up?" Dust suggested. "We can see if they have any at the Cafeteria. But first, let's get registered for the tournament."

Cliff smiled as she hopped and skipped around Dust as they were heading to Chihiro's office, the Larvitar seemed to be enjoying being able to walk on her own.

"Looks like someone's full of energy today at least," Dust chuckled.

"Don't worry, Berry, we will get you wide awake soon," Shab promised.

The Absol soon came into the guildmaster's room. Chihiro perked up when she saw them walking in. "Good morning, Team Night Tide, or should I say, Team Morning Tide?"

"Hehehe, good one, Grandma!" Spooks chuckled.

"Right," Dust forced a chuckle. "Good morning, Chihiro."

"So am I to assume that you are here to talk about the tournament?" Chihiro inquired.

"That is correct," Dust answered.

"Good, let's review real quick your progress since becoming Team Night Tide," Chihiro replied as she started looking through some papers. "Well you have been very busy lately, taking on many missions. Add that with the special mission from the Strange Mansion, your team has about 245 Rank points."

"So do we qualify to participate in the tournament?" Dust eagerly asked.

"You actually overqualified. That special mission alone already guaranteed you enough points to participate," Chihiro answered. "Sometimes there are those who after getting the necessary amount of Rank Points, they end up doing less missions and focus more on training. So it's good to see that you and your team were still doing as many missions as possible. There's always someone out there who will need your help. And it also makes it easier for you to be able to participate again when you reach a higher rank. Higher ranks will need a lot more points before they can participate again. Which is why you'll mostly be seeing low ranking teams participating in the tournament. But that doesn't mean you should let your guard down, even low ranking teams can be as strong as a Platinum Rank team."

"We'll keep that in mind," Berry stated.

"Good, then I know you are ready~" Chihiro smiled. "Phantom, if you please."

"Yes, Grandma," Phantom took out some papers from the desk, she was carrying the papers with her head before putting it down in front of Dust. "Here are your registration sheets. It's where you put in your team name, the number of teammates you'll be bringing, what rank you currently are, things like that. You must have at least 2 members on your team to qualify. And for Normal to Silver Ranks, you can only bring 3 team members with you in a battle to keep it from getting too cluttered."

Dust looked over the papers before replying. "Hmm, looks like we may have to have Carrie watch over Cliff while we are battling."

"Of course, you can also leave her with me if you want, so she'll get front row seats to your battle~" Chihiro grinned.

"I wanna watch your battle. I wanna see Mommy, Daddy, and Uncle Shab battle!" Cliff hopped around excitedly.

"Do you need any help signing anything, Dust?" Berry asked as the Absol was looking over the papers.

Dust looked over the paper some more before replying. "Just a few things. These are more to your personal information, like moves you know, any possible medical history that might become an issue… Oh, here's a weird one, evolution. It asks if you feel you might be evolving soon or not. Chihiro, why would they want to know something like that?"

"As a precaution. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, someone might undergo an evolution, and the sudden burst of energy could actually be harmful to the participants, since they are going to be much stronger than before. This is to help keep an eye out for which fighters might be evolving, so that we may be ready to provide medical attention, if needed," Chihiro explained.

Berry looked a little pale at this.

"What is evolution?" Cliff asked innocently.

"A wonderful question, Cliff," Dust replied, excited to teach the young Larvitar. "You see, certain Pokemon are able to alter their forms after gaining enough experience. Through evolutions, Pokemon can become stronger, faster, able to do new amazing things. Usually when one is about to evolve, their body will brightly glow as their body changes to their new form."

Cliff then turned to Berry. "Mommy, is that why you were glowing? But you don't look any different."

"Berry was… glowing?" Shab asked, surprised. "I mean you're always glowing to me, but how brightly were you glowing?"

Berry sweatdropped, she hadn't expected to be put on the spot like this.

"Mommy's body was glowing really bright, like so bright I had to close my eyes for a moment, I thought she was using that move Flash that I heard about or something," Cliff explained.

Dust did remember waking up to some kind of bright light before it suddenly faded, and seeing how tired Berry looked after the light faded, it got his gears grinding his head.

"Uh…" Berry hesitated.

"Berry? Is this true? Did you almost evolve last night?" Dust asked.

Berry was starting to sweat more. Chihiro, Phantom, and Spooks all gave curious looks at Berry as well.

"I…" Berry hesitated.

Suddenly the Goomy felt a surge of power go through her body. All the tensing and stimulation at being put on the spot likely triggered it. Berry's body suddenly glowed again, and was bathed in the bright white and blue light, which took everyone by surprise. Cliff was hopping with excitement, while Shab was looking in awe and amazement. Phantom and Spooks had covered their eyes from the bright glow while Chihiro kept on looking, having a proud expression on her face. The moment Berry had started glowing, Dust had grabbed a notepad from his bag, already writing down as much as possible.

Berry stiffened her body before she began to push down the power again. The glowing light began to dim once more, flickering a few times before it faded away, leaving Berry still as a Goomy, though it did exhaust her a little.

When the glowing light faded, but hadn't changed Berry at all, the room was in silence for a moment.

"You sure Mommy is evolving…?" Cliff asked, seeing that Berry hadn't changed at all.

Dust didn't answer at first, as he was too busy observing Berry. He put away the notepad, now a bit more concern. "Berry, are you okay?"

"She's either struggling to make herself evolve when she's not ready, or…" Chihiro frowned a little. "Her body wants to evolve, but she's stopping it. Those are the only explanations I can think of to why she was glowing, but didn't evolve and looks exhausted after it stops."

"I never thought of the possibility of forcing or negating evolution," Dust noted.

"How much have you been training lately?" Chihiro asked.

"Well we've been training at the Dojo when we could. It was only until after the Research Mission that we started training more and more, while also taking on more difficult missions that our Rank allowed us to," Dust explained.

"I see…" Chihiro noted.

"Is something wrong?" Shab asked in concern.

Berry frowned, trying not to look so exhausted.

"Berry is ready to evolve," Chihiro determined. "But she's stopping the evolution."

"She is?" Shab asked.

"Mommy, why don't you evolve?" Cliff asked.

"Because… I don't want to evolve," Berry answered.

"And that's fine," Dust added. "Cliff, something I should've added when talking about evolution is that just because a Pokemon can evolve, doesn't mean they have to. It is completely up to their decision on whether or not they wish to evolve."

"Hmm…" Chihiro noted. "I must warn you, however, that it will be difficult for Berry to keep stopping the evolution. A Pokemon that evolves by getting experience and getting stronger have the hardest time stopping their evolutions. They will always get stronger in a battle, and if something causes them a lot of stress, it could trigger the evolution as well. It wouldn't be very healthy for Berry to keep holding back the power, and there's a high chance it could trigger in the middle of a battle."

"Is there anything we can do to help Berry?" Dust asked. "If it means that she won't be able to participate, then you can count me out too."

"But Dust, this could be your chance of getting that Gold Rank you wanted." Berry frowned.

Dust forced a smile, trying to hide his disappointment. "That may be so, but I rather we do this together, than having to leave you behind."

"That's what I like to hear from you." Chihiro smiled. "Maybe you will be able to get that Gold Rank. So, there are two easy solutions to this. One of them is the most obvious; have Berry evolve before the tournament. The 2nd, if Berry really doesn't want to evolve, then I would suggest you give her this."

Spooks grabbed something from the desk and placed a small, ordinary looking stone on the desk.

"What is it…?" Berry asked. "A pebble…?"

"This is an Everstone," Chihiro answered.

"An Everstone?!" Dust exclaimed. "That is incredible!"

"Dust, what is an Everstone?" Berry asked.

"An Everstone is a unique rock-like item that is able to prevent Pokemon from evolving. Think of it as a type of block or barrier," Dust explained. "When one holds an Everstone, all the excess energy gets nullified by the stone. As long as they are holding the stone, they will never evolve."

Berry's eyes sparkled. "This little Everstone can do that?"

"Yup. I've kept a few with me in case there might be some Pokemon who don't want to evolve for one reason or another," Chihiro chuckled. "Of course, while most guilds would want their members to evolve, we here at Unity Guild don't want to force our members to evolve if they feel they're most comfortable staying the way they are now. Sometimes a Pokemon can bring out their fullest potential by not evolving."

"Thank you very much, Guildmaster, for being so understanding and giving me this item to keep me from evolving," Berry said gratefully.

"Here, we can do this~" Phantom smiled before she and Spooks took out a string before they began doing something with the Everstone.

"Ta-da!" Phantom and Spooks smiled, showing the Everstone now had a loop string on it. "It's a necklace!"

Berry smiled as Phantom put the necklace around Berry's neck, which overlapped her Defense Scarf. "Thanks, Phantom, Spooks, I appreciate it."

"Evolve or not, you're still the perfect Berry~" Shab complimented.

"Just make sure to write down about the Everstone in your registration papers, all items that are being used must be listed," Chihiro explained.

"Will do, thank you Chihiro," Dust said. "Okay, let's get our stuff ready and head to the tournament!"

"Wait a minute, Dust, aren't you forgetting something?" Berry asked the eager Absol.

"Hmm?" Dust stopped in his tracks. "I don't think so. Am I forgetting something?"

"Yes…" Shab spoke up before chuckling. "Like… do you know where the tournament even is?"

Dust was about to answer until he paused, realizing that he didn't know where the tournament would be held. At seeing his reaction, Chihiro gave a slight chuckle.

"Always eager to rush into things," Chihiro remarked. "The tournament will be held in a location not too far from White Leaf Town. It goes by the name White Peak."

"Really? That's one of my favorite locations, the tournament is being held there this month?" Berry asked, surprised.

"Yup. White Peak is a good spot to set up the stadium. It's large enough for it, and it has a great view~" Chihiro smiled. "And it won't get in any of White Leaf Town's residents' way while the tournament is being held."

"Sounds like the perfect place then," Shab noted.

"Cliff, are you going to stay with Chihiro while we get ready for the tournament?" Berry asked the Larvitar.

Cliff nodded as she went to hug Dust and Berry. "Uh huh! Good luck Mommy, good luck Daddy! Good luck, Uncle Shab!"

"Hehe, we'll do our best!" Shab blushed a little.

Spooks and Phantom flew around Cliff, always eager to have their friend over with them.

Dust, with Berry and Shab on his back, eagerly began running through the guild. Excited to join in this tournament, and hopefully, with Berry and Shab by his side, they will be able to get that Gold Rank.

Greatest Guy: Dust: Please don't remind me.

Traveling Master: Don't mind him, they all had an...interesting time meeting with wild Pokemon.

DarkFoxKit: Yes, Shab is adorable~ Berry will know what type she is soon enough, she technically already knows, even though she's denying it. Heh, we thought it would be interesting to have the wild Absol and the wild Goomy deciding to copy the two they fell in love with.

Hmm… Squish and Soot… not bad. In an alternate universe, maybe they would've been the main characters instead of Berry and Dust.

Traveling Master: SHHHHH! Don't mention anything about alternate universes and such! Dust is crazy about those things and if he hears you talking about it he won't shut up about it for a week, at best!

Chihiro: Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. What's more important was that pun, I'm gonna have to borrow that for later~

FoxyKhai0209: DarkFoxKit: Hopefully we didn't keep you waiting too long this time.

Yup, Shab finally joined Team Night Tide, I know people have been asking about him. Well, here he is. XP As for Shab having a crush on Berry, well that was to be expected since he was already attached to her when they first met. XD Brody pretty much likes every female he sees, so he's a bit of an exception. As for Shab evolving… I wouldn't say soon, but we do plan on him evolving, because like I said before, Milotic is perhaps my favorite Water type.

Yeah, I raised up a Feebas into a Milotic in Alpha Sapphire, but it was easy compared to how you had to do it in the original versions. I hated trying to evolve a Feebas in Emerald, especially since you were limited to how many Pokeblocks you could feed a Pokemon. If you fill up the meter before getting to the beauty requirement on the Feebas, you're out of luck, it will never evolve. You'll have to hatch or catch a new Feebas and try again.

Cherry Smooch: Traveling Master: Yeah, the idea about mating season was too tempting to resist, and when we thought about it, we had to do a scene with Dust and Berry meeting a wild Absol and Goomy. I'm sure it's one mission those two won't be forgetting anytime soon.

As for Brody, well he considers himself a ladies mon, but that doesn't mean he won't hesitate to help a fellow male who is in love with someone else. To quote a character from a movie, "Guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess."

DarkFoxKit: Yup, I thought Shab's desire to evolve to steal Berry's heart was cute too~

Rose Snowflake: Traveling Master: Thanks, and glad you liked the chapter. As for the fruit, never heard of anything like it, but it does bring up interesting ideas. So who knows, maybe the Yanaoni Berries will be used in a future chapter.

Lillypad Glow: DarkFoxKit: Thanks. It was a pretty funny chapter. X3

Sapphire Flower: DarkFoxKit: We don't really do holiday specials, we just focus on the plot of the story. Sometimes we may throw in a holiday or two if we want to write it out with our characters, like with the Princess Day, but otherwise, it would be rather difficult to have to follow real world holidays, especially with the schedule we've been trying to work with.

Lonelyboi69: Dust: I...I don't even know what that is...and I'm afraid to ask. I'm still a bit traumatized from almost mating with a wild Absol.

Guest: DarkFoxKit: No, Dust doesn't know that Feebas evolves into Milotic, neither does Berry. Because Feebas are so rare and not many Pokemon were willing to give them a lot of attention, not many know what they evolve into. I also think that would make it all the more surprising later. Of course, higher rank Pokemon would know since they likely have Milotic of their own, but the lower ranks are usually more ignorant about a lot of Pokemon they're not familiar with. So Chihiro knows, but Dust doesn't. Yes, they will eventually learn it, and as for how Feebas evolves… it depends on the game. ^^' In Mystery Dungeon, it requires a Beauty Scarf I believe, though I think we changed it to it being a Prism Scarf. Shab won't tell Berry what he evolves into because he wants to surprise her.

Mega Evolution will be something that will come in later on in the story. For now, it's something that only exists in legends and lore. You will see if Berry will acknowledge what she is, I'm not saying how, when, or where.

Lunar Candy: Traveling Master: No! Please, I mentioned before, we can only handle Chihiro and her puns so much! The more puns you guys give, it just motivates her even more!

Chihiro: Too late~ And as for your quality pun, here's a piece of candy, something sweet, just like you. Keep bringing in those puns!

Traveling Master: Oh boy, there's no stopping her now...

Velvet Love: DarkFoxKit: Heh, we thought it would be funny for Dust and Berry to deal with wild Pokemon of their own species during mating season. Dust running away, and Shab battling out of jealousy seemed to be the highlight of the last chapter. XD