Location: Serene Village plaza.

Okay, may have acted a little rash this time around…

The tyke from yesterday, Budew, went missing. Her mother arrived at the school searching for her, and when she fell over from dizziness Audino had to escort her to the infirmary.

I kept toying with the idea that she might've gone to Nectar Meadow, but...Carracosta had made her promise she wouldn't go there, didn't he? I mean, if it were Lyra he forbid from going and she was missing, I'd have no doubt in my mind that's where she went, but this was Budew - a toddler who didn't seem like she'd disobey an adult...would she?

But if she DID go to Nectar Meadow, she'd be in serious danger...

Bah, who am I kidding? This village is FULL of stupid kids who have no issues going to places they shouldn't. I'm allowed to say that - day one of my arrival, and I marched right into the Foreboding Forest.

Not that I'm a kid!

I told the other students about it and Pancham immediately hopped back onto the "Irau's a Liar" wagon. Shelmet didn't hesitate to hop on afterwards, the brainless fool. The other started casting their doubts, and I got a horrible feeling in my chest.

I've seen this sort of situation before...I can't recall where or how, but I know I've seen it. I call it the "Nobody Believes Me" situation, where one person tries convincing a group of folks that something is a certain way, and, you guessed it, nobody believes them.

Can you imagine being an outsider who's watching that happen to someone else, and you KNOW that person is telling the truth? I can't imagine how frustrating that must be to watch...

Fine. Whatever. I'll just go by myself.

Whether the others believe me or not, the fact remains that there's a child missing and there's a dangerous place I'm 90% sure she went. She's so small and vulnerable…it wouldn't take much for something horrible to end her, and for a sickly Pokémon like Roselia to lose her child…

No. I won't allow that.

If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong, but I'm willing to risk ditching class to find out for myself. I'm actually hoping like hell that I'm wrong, and that the child is out playing with her friends instead of doing something as stupid as going to Nectar Meadow. However, I have a strong gut feeling that I'm not wrong. I just hope I'm not too late to save her.

In retrospect...maybe I shouldn't be wasting time writing in my journal.

Location: Nectar Meadow 1F

This…okay, this wasn't how I expected this to turn out. Lyra suddenly joined me, saying she ditched class as well because she believed me about Budew being at Nectar Meadow.

I won't lie…that felt good. Warm and good.

I'm retracting my statement about this being a "Nobody Believes Me" situation. This is now a "Somebody Believes Me, Fuck Everyone Else" situation. Those are infinitely better by comparison.

I hadn't expected our uh…making up to be in this way, us exploring a Mystery Dungeon together, but hey here we are. Let's do it. Let's beat this Meadow and find Budew!

Location: Home (night)

Wow…I was right!

Budew was at Nectar Meadow, the poor foolish child. What's more, she was about to be attacked by three Combees and two Beedrills when we arrived. We stepped in and fought them for her, and then Vespiquen came out and apologized for their behavior. She then turned and scolded them, saying that the freaking toddler was obviously not a honey thief.

What a shock that must've been to them. How often are they threatened by a toddler?

Budew told Vespiquen about how her mother is sick and how she wanted to use her allowance to purchase some honey from the bee Pokémon. Vespiquen simply gave her the honey as a gift and refused her Poké, and once we returned the child to Roselia…

I won't lie, I got a little teary-eyed seeing Roselia so happy holding her child.

Roselia made a good point though when she said that we are also kids (wanted to correct her mistake of calling me a kid, but that wasn't exactly relevant at the moment) and shouldn't have gone to Nectar Meadow on our own. She reminded me that we kinda skipped class in favor of doing this, and that we'd be getting an earful about it tomorrow…but I'm still glad we went.

Sometimes doing what's right means breaking the rules, and in this case we saved an innocent Pokemon from a hazardous situation.

Lyra admitted that she felt glad too, as it meant a happy outcome for Budew. Deciding not to worsen the situation by coming home late, I went to leave before Lyra stopped me. She…apologized for our fight the other day.

"I was real mad and said some hurtful things. You were right…I just wanted to win. After Goomy fell behind, I hadn't even noticed you were gone by the time I returned to Farfetch'd. I'd finally won against Pancham, and being scolded when you guys didn't return…it felt like I was being robbed of that."

I told her that I understood, and tried to reassure her by telling her I hadn't taken her words to heart. After all, I was...I was at fault, too. It's pretty easy to get caught up in Pancham's schemes, but sometimes you just have to be better than that even if he makes you angry. Goomy's safety was most important in that situation, and luckily it ended with nobody getting hurt.

Lyra asked me what I thought of her. I told her that she's rash sometimes, but she has a good heart. She's just hungry for adventure, and someday when she's older she'll get to go anywhere she wants and have so many adventures that her days here in Serene Village will seem like nothing.

She really, really liked that. She was bouncing with glee, and it was super adorable. She said she believed me about being human, and that was probably the best news I'd heard since I woke up as a Chikorita. Oh, the relief I felt! It was like an iron weight was lifted off my chest.

Lyra said she understood how I felt earlier when I'd tried telling everyone Budew was in Nectar Meadow and nobody believed me since that's how they treat her all the time. She then proposed that even if nobody else believed us that at least we could believe in each other. She asked if we could officially be friends.

I said yes.

She was so, so happy that she gave me one of the two teal/green scarves she'd been wrapped in as an infant as a symbol of our friendship. They look really nice on us! Shame there wasn't a way to get a picture of us together because it was a momentous occasion in my opinion. It's like we formed our own little club or something.

This...this is so nice. We made up and we're talking again, and now we're bonding and promising to be there when nobody else is...and that feels incredible. To have someone to look after and to have someone who'll look after me...to be on talking terms with the enthusiastic bundle of energy that is Lyra who knows and accepts that I'm a human...

I'm glad we're friends again :3

A/N: That "Nobody Believes Me" cliche is one of the most frustrating things to watch in TV shows. I know it's meant to create conflict and add realistic storytelling and all that jazz, but when the audience knows the character is telling the truth and the other characters are just voicing their doubts despite the character's best efforts...it's frustrating to me. Most recently experienced this when I rewatched Steven Universe, more specifically the episode titled "Warp Tour". Nothin' like watching the main character spend an entire episode trying to convince the other characters that what he saw is real.

I watch an embarrassing amount of cartoons...