I hadn't been to Amity Square in ages. I gushed about it to Ash and Brock. "That's fantastic!" Ash exclaimed. "Man, I miss Amity Square, too. Pikachu and I had a great time there—right, buddy?"

Pikachu squeaked in pleasure and waved at me and Piplup through the screen. Hearthome City attracted many tourists, so the Pokémon Center was bustling with people trying to contact family and friends. I had to battle my way to get a spot, but one Ice Shard from Mamoswine knocked out my Hoenn opponent's Salamence.

"Dawn, do you realize," Brock said, starting in a serious tone, "that Kenny asked you out on a date?!"

"Huh?!" I tried to picture it: me and Kenny, my friend since nursery school, on a date. My face turned pinker than a razz berry. "No way!"

Piplup patted my hair, helping me to smooth it. "No, no way! Now I have to look good! I need to fix my hair." I took off my hat, pulled out a comb, and got to work.

Ash blinked. "You look the same to me."

"Ash Ketchum, you are such a boy."

I hung up and ran out of the communications hub to get ready for my first date, changing out of my red jacket and boots into the outfit I'd wear to Alola: long-sleeved white blouse, pale pink minidress, matching dress sandals. I wished Zoey were here to help me style my hair, but I did my best to braid it in a trending style that I saw on a Kanto professor's daughter.

"What do you think, Piplup?"

Piplup compared my result to the photo of the pretty, green-eyed schoolgirl, looking back and forth between us. He shook his head. "Pip-lup."

"Well, thanks a lot!" I undid the braid. Now my hair was wavy. I covered as much as I could with a wide-brimmed sun hat that matched my outfit.

Kenny had also dressed up. His auburn hair stuck out in all directions as usual, but he wore a dark turquoise button-down shirt open over a pale green turtleneck and red-brown jeans. He grinned at me. "You look nice, Deedee."

"Oh, shut it, Kenny." I stood on my toes and compared our heights; I was still a little taller.

Kenny placed a hand on my shoulder. "Try comparing our heights without standing on tiptoes or wearing high heels."

I stuck out my tongue at him. "Where's your Pokémon?"

"Empoleon is waiting at the gate." We made our way to the west gate, Piplup walking a few steps ahead of us on the gold-patterned streets.

At the gate, a tall, dark-skinned woman was fawning over Kenny's Empoleon. "He's so handsome! So regal! So cute!"

"Thanks, Nerissa." Kenny made the introductions. "Dawn, this is Nerissa, the lady in charge of Amity Square. Nerissa, this is the Top Coordinator I was telling you about."

Nerissa gasped. "Oh, Dawn, you're even prettier than I thought! And your Piplup is adorable."

Piplup puffed out his chest with pride as Nerissa showered him with compliments until he fell backward. Nerissa touched my shoulder. She was beautiful, her saffron eyeshadow making her light brown eyes pop out. "I hope you and your cute Pokémon enjoy Amity Square."

"Thank you!"

"Please leave the rest of your Pokémon at the gate."

I was surprised but did as she said. I supposed this way, it'd be a special day for Piplup, and I could come back later to do this again with my other Pokémon.

The green grass was trimmed to springiness under my dress sandals. Kenny and I walked hand in hand down the path. Piplup and Empoleon, being water types, were drawn to the pool in the center. Kenny and I hopped across the wooden planks forming a bridge to the island in the middle of the pool. A young couple rode a Swanna boat; the lady had a Jigglypuff on her lap, while a Psyduck swam in lazy circles nearby.

Kenny and I climbed the ridge dividing the island vertically. From high up, I could see the shape of the island. I gasped. "It's Sinnoh!"

"Which means we're on Mount Coronet."

"Then that flower patch must be Flower Paradise."

"Know any stories about Flower Paradise, Dawn?"

I watched Piplup frolic among the flowers, while Empoleon scoured the small meadow, searching for something in particular. "Flower Paradise is safe from Sinnoh's cold winters and Stark Mountain's harsh summers, flourishing in an eternal spring. If you bring a meaningful letter and read it out loud among all the gracidea flowers, a mythical Pokémon will appear. This mythical Pokémon has the ability to purify the land for a wedding."

"A wedding?"

"Or any special party, I think."

Kenny leaned close to me. He smelled like Cherubi fruit. "So if I wrote a letter to you and you read it in Flower Paradise..."

My face warmed. His lashes were long and tickled mine. As our noses touched, he tilted his head to the side. Before our lips could meet, someone cried out, "Come back here, Skitty!"

We leaped away from each other. Empoleon looked disappointed, having been unable to find what he was looking for in the flower patch, while Piplup sneezed from all the pollen. A pot-bellied man waddled after an energetic Skitty that darted into a rock castle. A second later, it reappeared from another rock castle farther away.

Kenny and I looked at each other in excitement. That looked fun! For the rest of our time in Amity Square, we darted in and out of the rock castles, which were like portals, trying to help the man catch his Skitty. Empoleon crashed into the man at some point. I ran into a lady with her Happiny—I was struck by the memory of Brock's own Happiny. I wondered if she'd evolved into Chansey to work alongside Nurse Joy's Chansey. Brock was studying to be a Pokémon doctor, so he'd get to work with Nurse Joy a lot. Somewhere in the distance, I could imagine Croagunk preparing a Poison Jab to make Brock focus on the task at hand.

Kenny couldn't catch Skitty, though he caught a child about to be carried off by a Drifloon. "Hey, I was riding Drifloon!"

"I'm watching over him," the child's mother assured Kenny.

"Oh, sorry!"

In the end, it was Piplup who caught up to Skitty, stopping the energetic kitten Pokémon with one flipper.

Tired after a great date – was it a date? – Kenny and I left Amity Square through the east gate, where the rest of our Pokémon were waiting in their Pokéballs. A familiar, nasally voice whined, "What do you mean my Pokémon isn't cute?!"

Conway held up his Shuckle, which looked like maggots crawling out of a poison-drenched rock. I didn't blame Nerissa for shuddering.

Other distressed trainers were complaining that their Pokémon wouldn't be allowed inside, either. I recognized Aaron from the Elite Four with another older teenager his age. The other trainer had spiky purple hair and wore a metal-studded punk jacket. Both boys were accompanied by Drapion, though Aaron's friend's Drapion was differently colored.

Nerissa took a step back from the angry trainers. She noticed me and Kenny, and her eyes widened in a plea for help.

Piplup and I stepped forward. Things were about to get ugly.