Author's Note: Pokemon Spring and Autumn features a large cast of original characters. For a quick-reference guide to the main and secondary cast, check out my author profile.
"She's down there."
Claire pointed to a solitary figure winding through the copper-colored dunes ahead of them. Beside her, the two Team Power grunts urged their Staraptors forward to block the fugitive's escape. Claire pulled on the reigns of her Braviary and began a slow, unwavering descent. She wouldn't get away this time.
Dustra came to a halt as she felt the Staraptors pass overhead. She shielded her eyes as she turned to see Claire's Braviary gliding down behind her, casting a long shadow over the entire valley.
"Hmmph," she snorted, "It took you long enough."
As Claire's Braviary landed gracefully a few meters away, Dustra reached for the Pokeball dangling from her belt.
"Shizo belongs to Team Power," began Claire in a voice as cold as the desert wind, "You will return to Westpeace City with me and answer to the Grandmaster for your crimes."
"Does your daddy really have you running little errands?" said Dustra, her green eyes sparkling, "I guess you haven't found Rasmus yet."
Claire narrowed her eyes.
"I think you know where Rasmus is," said Claire, dismounting her Braviary and starting towards Dustra, "Tell me."
Dustra laughed.
"If you followed me all the way across the Tarkmalan Desert for that, you will be disappointed," sneered Dustra, "The Gym Leaders of Shizo put Rasmus away where you will never find him."
"You will tell the Grandmaster," said Claire through gritted teeth.
"I hear you never earned a badge back in Nanzo," said Dustra, looking down at her last Pokeball, "Are you sure you are a match for the bearer of the Dune Badge?"
"I'm sure," said Claire, "Bisharp, let's shut her up!"
"Camerupt," said Dustra, brushing the desert sand almost lazily off of her headscarf, "Let us put Team Power in their place."
"How much further, Vasi?"
Liam glanced up from his bowl of noodles at his friend Mori. She was looking at Vasilio with an annoyed expression—her large, black eyes reminding him that this trip had, after all, been his idea.
"Should be there by this afternoon" said Vasilio, his blue eyes meeting Mori's unblinking gaze, "Depending on how fast we go."
His tone was even and businesslike. Vasilio, more than anyone Liam knew, wasn't one to be prodded by Mori.
"We can make it," said Sylvia, adjusting her round glasses and checking her watch, "If you and Liam don't spend forever having breakfast."
Mori rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.
"I'm ready," she insisted, "Liam's the one who only woke up five minutes ago."
Liam slurped his noodles uncomfortably. Next to him, his Murkrow nibbled at the Poffins his classmate Stephanie had brought along.
"There's no rush," said Stephanie with a smile, "Five minutes won't be the difference between getting the badge."
Liam nodded appreciatively at Stephanie. This wasn't the first time he had been very glad she had come with them on their journey to the Karst Forest. Besides her expertise in nutritious Pokemon food and her knack for treating injuries—whether on people or on Pokemon—Liam couldn't deny that he just liked to look at Stephanie's sea green eyes, wavy brown hair, and aquiline nose.
"I'll be done in a minute," said Liam.
"Sounds like just enough time for a Pokemon battle," said Jonah, jumping from the embankment where he had been sitting, "Vasilio, you wanna go?"
"Sure," said Vasilio, and the two of them walked a few paces away from the small campfire. Vasilio took off his jacket and set it on the damp grass beside him. Jonah stretched his neck and cracked his knuckles. The jewel studs in his ears glistened in the early morning sun.
"Vasi's gonna lose so bad," muttered Mori.
Lima snorted. Above their heads, Mori's Misdreavus gave a malicious cackle.
"Hakamo-o, go!" said Jonah.
"Gogoat, let's do this!" said Vasilio.
Liam hurriedly finished his bowl as Gogoat and Hakamo-o traded blows. He had seen Vasi and Jonah battle enough times this summer to make instant noodles more interesting. Across from him, Mori was preparing Anastasia, her Bouffalant, for the day's journey. As she finished fitting the Pokemon with a black saddle, she paused, pushed a strand of black hair out of her face, and gave a long, anxious sigh.
"I'm really, really not looking forward to fighting Ashima," Mori muttered.
"She's not too bad," said Sylvia, who was cramming the girls' tent into a canvas bag, "At least Rock type is pretty easy to work around. She was my first badge back in 7th grade."
"Easy for you to say," said Mori, "Not everyone started Pokemon training when they were two."
Sylvia laughed.
"Not true," she said as she helped Stephanie and Mori load their camping gear onto Anastasia's back, "But I'll do the best I can to help you win. That's why I'm here, after all."
Sylvia adjusted her round glasses and gave a toothy grin. Mori only shrugged. Liam knew Mori didn't quite trust Sylvia after their class's clique-y middle school years, but Liam had learned to respect their classmate—and now student body president—over the previous semester. She was tirelessly energetic, and responsible beyond her years, but when she expressed concern for others, Liam somehow believed that she meant it. Despite all the perfectionism and ambition, she was still approachable.
"You okay, Liam?"
Liam realized that he had been staring at Sylvia and quickly turned to finishing his bowl of noodles. A few meters away, Jonah's Hakamo-o sent Vasi's Gogoat skidding through the grass.
"I told you he was gonna lose," whispered Mori.
Liam smiled. With a stretch, he rolled up his sleeping bag and stuffed it roughly into his backpack. He was glad to be on the road with Mori, Vasilio, and his other classmates again. Summer was almost over, but he was looking forward to autumn. The Nanzo region was finally starting to feel like home, but nowhere in Nanzo felt quite so much like home as Everspring International Pokemon Academy. In a strange way, he couldn't wait to be back at school.