Soon after the bus ride home from the Falls, Tina sat at the end of her bed, staring at the four Pokeballs in her hands. She'd painted each one with a special symbol, which represented the Pokemon's most valuable trait.

"Loyalty," Tina said to herself, tracing the symbol on Taja's ball with her finger. She turned her attention to the ones that held Kezme and Tsai, her new Dewgong, saying in turn, "Dignity and selflessness."

Her eyes fell upon Rowan's ball and the symbol she'd marked it with. "Free spirit..."

Tina set the Pokeballs aside with a somewhat disheartened sigh. "Something I'm not." She stared out the window into the clear, starry night. "Not so long as I'm trapped in here."

She crossed over to the dark portal and placed a hand on the chilled glass. "The course is charted for my escape. All I have to do. is take it."

It was right then that the words of her younger cousin, Gary, echoed through Tina's mind.

"You're only going to that school because you can't cut it in the real world, like I can!" he'd jeered when she told him she'd been accepted. It wasn't until that moment that she began to feel like he was right.

Tina shook her head, as if to sort out her thoughts, and climbed into bed. Turning off the lamp on her nightstand, she rolled over and tried to sleep.

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The next morning seemed to come all too soon. Fortunately, it was a weekend, so it didn't matter too much that she slept in. With a yawn and a stretch, Tina dragged herself out of bed, surprised to see Tsai before her. Not just sitting or laying, mind you, but floating!

"Wha..." Tina stared in amazement.

It was then that the airborne Dewgong spoke. Not in its mind, but in actual English. "Do you know why I chose you over my home?" it asked simply. Still in shock, Tina could only shake her head. Tsai seemed to smile. " I wanted to keep you on the right road."

"The right road?" Tina repeated, skeptical. "What is the right road?"

"Whichever road you choose."

"But what if I chose wrong?" The sinking feeling from the night before was beginning to sink in again. "I did choose wrong."

"There's no such thing as a wrong choice, just as there's no wrong road." Tsai was beginning to seem almost human with the more she spoke. "Your heart will always lead you where you belong, and it will never lie." _________________________________________________

Tina's alarm clock started to blare with a raucous "Reee!Reee!Reee!"

Her eyes jerked open, "It was. just a dream?" Glancing at the Pokeballs on her nightstand, Tsai's in particular, she got a warm, comfortable feeling. "No. It wasn't."