Once Team Ultra-Stars returned to the Warriors' Guild, Commander Aegislash allowed them to recuperate before speaking to them about their performance in Echo Forest. The team took the time to rest up from their encounter with Pangoro and have some dinner.

Before they could settle in the barracks for the night, Aegislash decided it speak with them. So, the four of them were in the common room with the Commander standing before the three smaller Pokémon.

"Overall, I have to admit you three were rather sloppy out there." Aegislash bluntly stated.

Then he faced Zora. "I suppose with your lack of experience in battling, that is to be expected, you looked like you were struggling with your moves for a while. However, I am willing to respect your willingness to fight, even when the odds were against you, in order to defend your teammate."

Despite the criticism, Zora couldn't help the tiny burst of pride within her, pleased with herself that despite her sloppiness, she still managed to hold her ground.

"Oshawott, like Fennekin, I respect your courage to help your teammate when she was getting attack." Aegislash said to the small water-type. "However, you were too impulsive during your fight, and you weren't paying attention to your surroundings and put too much energy on offense and not enough on defense, which allowed Pangoro to easily knock you off."

Oshawott crossed his arms and looked the ground. Despite not saying anything, Zora could tell that his pride was wounded.

Then Aegislash faced Rowlet. "You, however, were very disappointing." Rowlet flinched at the words. "You were too focused on trying to come up with a plan that you allowed yourself to be an easy target, and when you were unable to make a plan, you ran away."

"I was going to get-" Rowlet tried to defend himself, but Aegislash wasn't hearing it.

"You ran away." Aegislash declared. "I highly suspect that help was the last thing were going to get when you escaped Pangoro."

Rowlet looked at the ground, very much ashamed of himself. Despite the earlier anger Zora had when Rowlet flew off, she couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him now.

"You were going to let me and Zora get crushed by that Pokémon!" Oshawott accused.

"I panicked!" Rowlet admitted. "If you had just followed my idea earlier, I wouldn't have flown away!"

"Don't blame me because you're a coward!" Oshawott argued.

"I am not!" Rowlet argued back.

"Enough!" Aegislash ordered, shutting the two up. "That's another reason for your poor performance today. You two wasted so much time arguing that you most likely would've missed the mission entirely with your petty squabbling."

Rowlet and Oshawott wanted to state their defenses, which would most likely devolve into another argument between them, but Aegislash motioned them to stay silent.

"You two argued so much that I'm starting to question why you two want to be on the same Warrior Team." Aegislash confessed. "But I'll give you two the benefit of doubt and assume there is a reason I just don't understand yet. So, I expect you two will learn to work better in the future."

"Yes, Sir." Rowlet and Oshawott quietly replied.

Then Aegislash faced Zora again. "As for you, since you had to end their bickering multiple times, I am appointing you as leader of Team Ultra-Stars."

"What?" All three members exclaimed in unison.

"As I said, she's the one that had to stop you two from fighting multiple times." Aegislash explained. "And from what I saw and heard from Pangoro, she is shown to have good initiative, and a potential for good leadership. So, she's honestly the only choice among you three."

The three were quiet, none of them were sure what to say at the moment. The Commander spoke once more. "That will be all. Head to the barracks and get some sleep."

"Me, a leader?" Zora questioned as she laid uncomfortable in her bed.

Oshawott and Rowlet were already passed out in their beds, exhausted from their disastrous time in the forest and Aegislash's evaluation of them. Zora was genuinely surprised they went to bed quietly; she honestly expected them to get one last argument before sleep. A part of her almost they were, so she could have an excuse to talk to them about Aegislash's decision.

She couldn't understand why Aegislash wanted her to lead this team. Sure, she had stopped Rowlet and Oshawott from arguing a few times, but that was hardly enough to qualify her as leader material.

Even if she was, she wasn't going to be on this team for long. She still intended to find a way to become human again and return to wherever she came from.

That made her realize that she still had no memory of who she was or where she was from. All she knew was her name and that she was human. But anything beyond that was a blank. She couldn't remember who home, her family, or if she even had one at all.

Who knew remembering you don't remember something can hurt this much?

Deciding that thinking so much would give her more pain than help, she decided to close her eyes and try to force herself to get some sleep, no matter how little. Anything to get her mind of these distressing thoughts.

When she opened her eyes, she realized she was floating. Looking around, it looked like she was in some kind of dark realm that was inhabited by sparkling crystals floating around and rings of light. The sight made her feel like she was flying in outer space.

Then a flash of purple came into view, making the same high-pitched giggles she heard back in Echo Forest. As she tried to get a better look at the purple giggling thing, it continued to fly around so fast, making it hard for her to get a good look.

"Hey!" She called out. "Wait! Who are you?" But the purple thing seemed to ignore her and continued to fly around.

"Please, help!" She said in desperation. She hadn't been sure why she said that, but it felt like it was what she needed to say. That finally seemed to get the purple thing's attention, but the image was still too blurry for her to get a decent look at it.

Then the image seemed to get even blurrier as one of the rings of light seemed to glow brighter and grow bigger, until it engulfed both her and the mysterious purple thing. Zora had to close her eyes to keep herself from being blinded by the light.

When she opened them again, she saw she was back in the Barracks of the Warriors' Guild. She was still laying in her bed, with her teammates laying in their own beds.

"It was just a dream." She realized. It made sense when she thought about it, the place she was in was so unnatural only a dream could possibly conjure such a place. Sure, it felt real at the time, but all dreams have that effect on everyone.

Then the loud bell of the guild went off, waking up her teammates and any other Pokémon that lived in the Barracks.

She quietly got out of her bed and waited for her teammates to follow her out of the Barracks.

"Team Ultra-Stars." Commander Aegislash called after dismissing the other warriors. "A word."

The trio went over to their Commander. "Is it about our training today?" Zora asked.

"Sort of." Aegislash replied. "As you three most likely remember, I appointed Fennekin as your team leader."

"How can we forget?" Zora couldn't help but say. That was what kept her up most of the night, after all.

Aegislash nodded. "Well, I imagine you three need some more time to adjust to this, so you three will take a day off from training and you won't be going to missions."

"With all due respect, sir, shouldn't we train so we can work better as a team?" Rowlet questioned.

"I understand your reasoning." Aegislash admitted. "However, it is something of a tradition to allow teams to take a break after yesterday's 'initiation'. Gives teams time to adjust and see if they want to continue training or not."

Then he added. "Or even if the team still wants to work together or not."

It didn't take a genius to understand what Aegislash was talking about. He was refering to Oshawott and Rowlet and he wanted to see if they still wanted to work together or not.

"Please say you will." Zora silently prayed to her teammates. While they were rough around the edges, she didn't want to lose one or both of them. "You guys are all I have."

"Why don't you three head to Alcremie's Cafe for breakfast?" Aegislash suggested. "It will be a great way to show Fennekin more of the city." Then he left the group.

The three were quiet for a moment, looking at each other.

"Well, leader?" Oshawott asked. "What do we do?"

Zora frowned. "Aegislash may have appointed me leader, but I can't control what you guys do. What do you guys want to do?"

"I guess I could go for some of Alcremie's pancakes." Rowlet spoke up.

"Kiss-up," Oshawott mumbled, earning a glare from both Rowlet and Zora. Then he sighed. "Alright, I could use some food that's better than what served here."

"Alright then." Zora said, trying to sound more chipper in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Lead the way, boys."

Unfortunately, the mood was not any better by the time the three finally arrived at Alcremie's Cafe. The three had ordered pancakes for their breakfast. Oshawott's had syrup, Rowlet had bananas, while Zora settled on apples on her pancakes.

But the delicious treats were not enough to cheer anyone up, there was still a sense of frustration and uncertainty within the group.

Deciding this could not go on much longer, Zora spoke. "Look, I know you guys aren't happy with me being appointed, but I promise, I don't like this any more than you guys do."

"I don't have any problems with you being leader." Rowlet declared. "Oshawott's the one with the problem."

"I do not!" Oshawott disagreed.

"Yes, you do!" Rowlet accused. "You've had an attitude all day about her being leader!"

"My problem isn't with her!" Oshawott explained.

"Guys, stop." Zora ordered. "It's too early to start another fight. Let's just enjoy our breakfast and we'll talk more after we've calmed down."

But before any of them could take a bite of their food, a familar voice taunted them.

"Looks like the little leader is having trouble~." Zora heard Purugly tease.

Team Ultra-Stars groaned as Team Purr approached them. "What do you guys want?" Zora asked.

Purugly smirked at her. "No need for an attitude~."

"We merely wanted to check up on you three after your disastrous initiation yesterday." Persian explained.

"You heard about that?" Rowlet asked nervously.

"How could we not?" Delcatty teased. "It's all anyone talks about back at the Warriors' Guild."

Rowlet seemed to sink deeper into his seat in embarrassment and shame.

Delcatty started giggling. "It's true then! You did fly away like a scared little bird!"

"Shouldn't you guys be working instead of bothering us?" Zora asked.

Persian grinned. "We're getting supplies and a quick breakfast before we start our assignment. We saw you and figured we check and see if the rumors were true. And clearly, it is."

Rowlet sunk even deeper in his seat and Oshawott glared at his pancakes. Zora was about to speak up, but Purugly interrupted her.

"I'm surprised you all are still a team with the amount of arguing those two did." Purugly commented. "If you want to reach the top, Fennekin, you gonna wanna get rid of them and join a real team."

"This team is fine." Zora defended.

Persian rolled her eyes. "A trio of magikarp would do better than you three."

"What's going on here?" A deep voice asked. Soon, the two teams were approached by Pangoro. Team Purr seemed to get smaller under Pangoro's intense stare.

"N-nothing, sir." Purugly stuttered.

"We were just leaving." Persian explained.

"Y-yeah!" Delcatty quickly stated. "It's not like we were messing with them or anything!"

"Shut up, Delcatty." Purugly growled.

Delcatty flinched. "Sorry, Purugly."

Pangoro glared at the three felines. "Well, then. Get going."

Team Purr wasted no time leaving. Pangoro then smiled at Team Ultra-Stars. "You guys, okay?"

Zora nodded. "We'll be fine."

"I'm outta here." Oshawott said, getting out of his seat and walking off.

"Where are you going, Oshawott?" Zora asked.

"They're right." Oshawott declared. "A trio of Magikarp would do better than us!" Then he stormed off, ignoring Zora calling for him to come back.

Then Rowlet started to fly off. "Don't leave me too, Rowlet!" Zora protested. But Rowlet said nothing as he flew off.

Zora sighed sadly as she stared at her now cold pancakes.

"Yesterday got you three pretty badly, huh?" Pangoro gently asked.

"You have no idea." Zora answered. "Aegislash was very disappointed in Rowlet, he and Oshawott have been fighting a lot, and now, Aegislash wants me to be team leader."

"Sounds like a lot of pressure." Pangoro commented.

Zora nodded. "It is. I never wanted to be leader, but I don't want to lose Rowlet or Oshawott. They're all I have."

Pangoro nodded at her. "Sounds tough. But don't worry. Aegislash knows what he's doing. He's tough, but only because he wants to push teams to be the best they can be."

"But there was something he said that got to us." Zora mentioned. "He made a comment about wanting to see if our team still wanted to work together or not. There's no way he wasn't talking about how Oshawott and Rowlet fought yesterday."

"I'm sure he was." Pangoro agreed. "Teamwork and cooperation are important for a Warrior Team, without that, nothing will get done. But determination is important too. Despite yesterday, I could see how determined you three were. So, you can't let mistakes and failures break that."

Zora thought over what Pangoro said. Sure, it was right about all that, but to her, it felt like they were going to need more than determination to keep this team from falling apart.

"Take some time and determination will pay off." Pangoro said. "Have a good day." Then he left Zora alone.

Zora stared at her cold food, thinking more about what Pangoro had told her. While she wasn't sure if determination was going to keep the team together, she did know one thing: Oshawott and Rowlet are her only friends in this strange world. They took her in and helped her when she had nowhere else to go. While she didn't really know much about them, she knew she wasn't ready to lose them just yet.

Deciding to give that determination thing a try, she got out of her seat and went to find her teammates.