Perched upon the corner of the nearest building, a Tranquill wheezed lazily. His feet trampled down the cobbled street, echoing lightly. The boy skidded to a stop in front of a fruit stand. A mango was in his right hand, a banana in the other. Before the owner could shout in surprise, he was away again, gusting like a seawind.

Pushing pedestrians out of his way, the black-haired boy came to another stall–this one offering barbeque chicken and pineapples for fair and decent prices. The sweet meat was in his grip in the blink of an eye.

"Hey you… thief! Stop right now!" That was Officer Jenny. He knew her voice well. Growlithe howled fervently. He was running again.

The pineapple was delicious. He was faster than her Growlithe. He sprinted off around a corner, the white stone buildings blurring around his vision. He could hear their footsteps growing fainter behind him. He was faster; he had always been faster. Down another street, the boy found another vendor selling fruit at reasonable rates. It was little effort to take the next corner before Jenny could catch up. The plastic bag in his arms was growing heavier. Pale were the stones; the sounds of his movement echoed across sweltering air.

A Mantine was soaring lazily in the cloudless sky when he reached the marketplace. Breathing heavily, the boy dove behind an unattended stall, looking over the food he'd stolen so far. There were a lot of people here. He could get lost in the crowd if he needed to. Swallowing, he took another bite of pineapple and poked up his head.

Dozens of men, women, and children were perusing stands of food, conversing, and having a generally pleasant time. A blonde-haired girl and her baby Azurill wandered by, nearly spotting him. He ducked down and filled his face. His stomach was still growling.

Looking to make his move, the boy noticed a trio of humans to his left talking to a hotel owner who was peering out of a window-less hole in a wall below a flashing neon sign that read: 'The Pidgeot Hotel! Discover a hotel that defines a new dimension of luxury. Your success is our highest calling.'. "Come on, don't you have any rooms at all?! We can pay!" a purple-haired girl was saying.

"Sorry, we're full. I don't know what ta tell ya…"

"We weren't asking," the girl's mother snapped. She wore a dress with white-and-green flowers, a metric ton of makeup, and her crimson hair was pulled back down her back like a curling Rhydon horn. The girl's father, a clumsy-looking man with blue hair, was wearing dark shades and a cyan-and-rose Hawaiian t-shirt and was engaged in an animated conversation with a sly-looking man holding up a Magikarp for sale. "Either find us a room, or we'll make you pay!"

"Oh… is that right?" The hotel owner sounded taken aback.

The air was full of the fragrances of cooked meat. He had to go. Jenny's gone. Now's my chance.

"Mom… please… we don't have to–"

"No!" the woman shrieked, scowling a mean scowl. "James, get over here! Put this man in his place!"

"Wait, Jessie, this guy's gonna give me a–" His wife jerked him away from the Magikarp salesman, and he let out a wild scream. "Whaaaoaeieaiaieaiaa!"

"James! Hey, pull yourself together!" she reprimanded him, slapping him across the face. "We're spending the night in this lovely hotel, and you're going to make it happen!"

James' face softened. "Oh, I am?!" He looked dumbfounded, but in the next breath, he puffed out his chest and said in a deep voice, "Well, in that case… I think it's time for our motto! Whaddya say, Jess?" He smiled deviously and pulled a Poké Ball from his pocket.

"Please, I don't want any trouble, I just don't have any rooms for you!"

"Oooh, make it double!" James, yelled passionately. "Jessie wants a queen-sized bed and I want a mini fridge too!"

Their daughter's face was in her hands, shaking in embarrassment. Humans are strange creatures. The boy stood up, ready to make his move, when something drew him to her again. There was something wrong about that purple-haired girl. There was an energy radiating from her… a familiar, powerful type of energy that he knew all too well. Could she really have such a powerful Pokémon, though? Or was his hunger making him sense things that weren't there? It doesn't matter. I have more important things to worry about.

"There he is! Stop him, Growly! Don't let him get away!" There was Officer Jenny again. How she had appeared out of nothingness was beyond him.

He'd frozen in place. It was the girl's fault. Across the marketplace, her parents had Poké Balls in hand. Why doesn't Jenny see them? Much of the rest of the marketplace had quieted down to stare at the boy and the plastic bag of stolen fruits and vegetables and kabobs in his hand. He took a deep breath and was dashing off again.

There wasn't one Growlithe after him now–there were six. Officer Jenny had gone all out. I guess she's gotten a little impatient.

He pushed his way past stunned pedestrians, the Puppy Pokémon hot on his heels. He'd have to be more careful in the future. If he kept getting caught, he'd lose the element of surprise. He'd have to switch islands again. That would be inconvenient.

As the boy broke past the people of the marketplace, he bounded down a desolate alley, where piles of garbage and feral Meowth made their kingdom. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the police officer and her team of Growlithe right behind him. They're not giving up. And when the boy looked ahead again, he realized, with a sudden pang of anxiety through his heart, that this was a dead end.

Coming to a stop and breathing hard, he kept his back to them. I don't want to have to do this, he thought. She'll know who I am… but what choice do I have? A Clefairy was sitting on the wall of the alleyway, staring down at the boy curiously. He felt a chill cover his body and tasted salt in the air. He blinked and looked away.

"Looks like this is the end of the line, thief!" Jenny declared confidently. "Hand over the bag and there won't be any trouble."

"No…" he breathed, turning to face her. This was his food now. He'd earned it. He needed it. His belly growled again.

"Growlithe, take it!"

"Grow, grow!" the obsequious beast barked. Jumping into the air, Growlithe opened his mouth wide, preparing to snatch the goods from the boy's grasp.

You have no idea who you're dealing with. He felt the energy come to him, almost by its own accord. His eyes burned white and indigo and black, and Growlithe froze in midair.

"Huh, what happened?!"

Her other Growlithe attempted to avenge their comrade, but met similar fates. All six of them were stopped where they stood, with the lead Growlithe hovering in midair and barking fearfully. The boy glanced at Officer Jenny, and she became rigid too. Gasping, the woman tried to speak, but found she couldn't. You won't be able to do anything until I leave.

He walked right up to the quivering, uncertain woman. "Leave me alone," he told her. "Or next time, it'll be a lot worse."

With that, he stepped behind her, took a deep breath, and kicked off into the air. As he ascended towards the pale blue sky, the boy's form began to dissolve away. It felt good–the sun on his face, the wind at his back. He was in his real body again. He sighed as his purple aura enveloped him, burning away the last human-like features he'd been pretending were his.

The lethargic Mantine let out a cry as she tried to get out of his way, flapping her wings madly. He clutched the bag close to his chest as he flew low towards the water. She's never seen a Legendary Pokémon before, he realized, watching the Kite Pokémon barrel away from him as quickly as she could. Neither has anyone else on this miserable rock.

That was good; that was just what he wanted. He cared little and less about humans and common Pokémon. He just wanted to get his food and be left alone. He hadn't asked for this life.

Flying off towards his cave, which only he knew about, he wondered what the energy he sensed in that purple-haired girl's Poké Ball was. She commanded a strong Pokémon, whatever it was. He would have to check that out later. But first, he had to eat. This would be his first meal in five days. Mewtwo would make it count.

The four bestest friends in the whole wild world arrived without delay at the Sevii Islands' Resort Gorgeous, an excellent name for a resort if I've ever heard one. Checking into their rooms on the second floor of the packed hotel, they were met almost at once by the resort's old butler, Sebastian, who, even Rahul had to admit, had a mustache for the ages.

He bowed low and welcomed them and gave them complimentary empty plastic wrappers and it was very lovely. "Now," the old man said, having not even introduced himself yet, "all of you must show me your rarest Pokémon!"

"Why?" asked Logan. "Who are you to demand seeing our Pokémon without even taking us out to dinner first?"

"Yeah," Rahul agreed. "I'm famished."

"Oh yes, very good." The old man looked very regal and very out of it, and he barely seemed to care who they were. "I should mention that Miss Selphy has a policy at Resort Gorgeous that you may have never heard of before… namely, that if you show either her or me your rarest and most esteemed Pokémon, you will win a prize."

Alex folded his arms, unimpressed. "What kind of prize?"

"Well, that's a secret. You can't know what you're going to get until you show us what you've got."

The big man sighed terribly before scratching his sixteen-year-old goatee and throwing a random Poké Ball onto the floor like a toddler. "Here you go… heh, I shouldn't really be showing you guys this bad boy."

"Ah, a Magneton. Very good," Sebastian said, throwing Rahul something.

"What is this?" Rahul complained, holding up a bronze-colored statue that was almost entirely made up of a carved, ugly face that was hairless and reminded Ryan of tapioca pudding.

"That's a pretty strange souvenir, I'll admit," the old man said. "Alright, who's next?"

Logan let out his Chansey and was rewarded with a face full of stardust. He collapsed shrieking as he tried to regain his sight. Alex showed off his majestic Radon, an Aerodactyl of rather healthy proportions and was rewarded with a pretty big nugget.

"No fair, I want a nugget too!" Rahul pouted. But somehow I don't think you want one made of gold.

"Then I suggest you go find some rare and unusual Pokémon, Master Bigman," the old butler replied. "Now what about you?" he asked Ryan.

"Oh, uh, how about this little guy?" the teal-haired boy said lazily, pointing to tiny Katagiri on his shoulder. "I have no idea what kind of Pokémon he is, though."

"That is a Froakie," Sebastian responded, "a Water Pokémon popularly used as one of three starters in the Kalos Region."

"Oh neat, well I guess that solves that deep mystery," the boy yawned. He was hit in the side of the head by an escape rope. "Gee thanks, I think I'll use this now," he said, jumping up from the uncomfortable and bright orange bean bag chair he had been getting swallowed up into. "Come on, let's blow this joint."

Everyone followed him out to the beach, where there were several people, but very few who were tolerable to look upon. Resort Gorgeous wasn't the biggest resort in the Sevii Islands, but it had been the cheapest one. They weren't about to stay here all day, however. The Sevii Islands were vast and mysterious, and this tiny island, just north of Five Island, was not their end-goal.

"I want to go to Two Island, pleeeeeeease, Ryan!"

"Is that where all the Clefairy live?" Alex asked as they walked down the beach.

"No, Alex, quiet!" Logan reprimanded him. "Nobody knows about the secret of the Clefairy except for me! I was raised by them, dude! I'm like one of them! There aren't any down here… although I know a few made to Two Island. Most of them are on Three Island. We need to go to Two Island first, though."

"Why?"

"That's the only place around here to buy Lava Cookies."

"Alright, let's go," Rahul said quickly. "But after that, I want to check out that Ember Spa on One Island… I've got a killer neck cramp that needs to be dealt with pronto."

"That's because you slept like a sack of potatoes on the boat ride over, Rahul buddy," Ryan shot back.

"Gree!" agreed Katagiri.

Rahul was about to say something very witty (promise), but as they reached the beach, the four boys noticed that there was a rather old and rather balding pony-tail flaunting gentleman sunbathing just at the water's edge. He was wearing an inordinate amount of sunscreen, instantly bringing to mind a host of other such similar instances Ryan had witnessed in his off-time back home.

"Yo, Jesse!" Ryan shouted in his ear, using his hands to make a dastardly sand attack and bury the old man in a heap of it. "Jesse Ventura!"

"Huh?!" The man perked up, looking around. "I'll tell ya what, I was a governor, a fighter, a Pokémon SEAL!"

"And you also left your Sandslash in the middle of the woods when you went running off after you thought you saw a drone in the sky."

"No, that never happened. Thank you for your service!" the old man spat angrily, his big flabby cheeks becoming red as tire irons. He was hideous, like a Pelipper that had been stranded on a sea rock for hours just hoping to get a chance to peck out some wash out's tasty-looking eyes.

"You're lucky I didn't bring him with me down here," Ryan shot back, "otherwise I'd have ol' Skorge tear you a new blowhole, dude."

"Ah heck. Who you callin' dude? It's not like we live in the seventies anymore. Ah, I'll tell ya what," complained Jesse, leaning back in his chair, "I'm a reasonable man, get off my case!"

"Only a coward abandons his Pokémon," Alex shot back. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Thank you for your service!"

"Alright, get up," Ryan said, folding his arms to look like a badass or something. "We're gonna fight like men."

"Why?" the old man complained. "I just wanna relax for the rest of my life!"

"I want to throw you into the ocean."

But it was exactly at that moment that the five of them noticed something flying low over the water, towards them. It was a Pokémon, lanky, with a green tail and greyish-pink skin. Its belly was also green. "Ah, heck. You think you know the whole story?! Think again! I've heard things that'll blow your mind, and now I think it's time you get the whole story, rawr!"

He was clenching his fists and looking directly at the camera, and it was very scary.

"What are you on about now, man?"

"That's a drone, headed right for me! Ah heck, I better get outta here!" the old man complained. He grabbed his chair and ran off up the beach, back to Resort Gorgeous.

The so-called drone veered left and was lost on the horizon a moment later. He is such an idiot. I bet he did that just so he could run away without getting humiliated… but he did a pretty good job of doing that anyways.

"Whoa…" Alex was staring off at the horizon as the waves crashed against the beach, foaming blue. "That wasn't a drone… that was a Pokémon."

"I've never seen a Pokémon that looks like that," Rahul replied. "Therefore, it cannot be real."

"I swear… it almost looked like a Mew, but it was all wrong…"

"No way!" Ryan remembered what the legendary Mew had looked like, and it had looked nothing like that thing. "Mew is completely different, Alex. The one I saw had blue fur, but even so, its tail wasn't nearly so long and fat!"

"It has to be a Legendary Pokémon of some sort."

They were having a really nice and proper conversation when at that moment a man with the face of New Jersey (and a little extra scruff) came ambling up to them with a bottle of vaseline in one hand. He wasn't wearing a shirt, which was unsurprising on this hot day, and he kind of had a beard but eh. He looked very mad, and despite how macho and manly he looked, when he spoke, he sounded like he had sucked in a breath of helium. "Well… like, there's no such thing as Legendary Pokémon," he snapped at them.

"What are you talking about, jive boy?" Logan screamed. "Haven't you ever seen Granddaddy Clefable after the Dance of Alpha Centauri?!"

This new fellow looked at Logan like he was a slice of swiss cheese dropped on the kitchen floor. "Literally who the heck are you?"

"My name's Logan, and I'm going to be the best Pokémon Breeder of all time!"

"Does that mean you're going to be the best at breeding with them?"

Logan was flummoxed, so he blushed, and it was very unseemly."Wh-why you…"

"You're an idiot," Alex said simply. "There are plenty of Legendary Pokémon that have been documented. Ryan saw one of them just a few weeks ago back in Kanto."

"Yeah, I saw a blue Mew! He was there, I saw him!"

"No you didn't. Literally anything else is more likely," the resentful-looking peasant man without a shirt screamed. "It doesn't matter what your Poké Dex tells you, there's no such thing!"

"There's video proof–" Rahul cut in.

"No, I looked at some Pokétube comments and they debunked every single one!" the bearded boy snarled. "I'm Rustled David, and me me, I'm a handsome boy! If there's one piece of advice I can give you cretins, never look at Pokétube comments. They are literally cancer."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Ryan asked.

"I have a freaking crazy idea right now, okay?" Rustled David replied. "What if Legendary Pokémon are just reflections in the water, huh? They could just be a bug on the windshield. Of course every video of them has to be one pixel, from a mile away, it's never up close and…"

"Alright guys, I'm going to have to give this jabroni a smackdown," Ryan told them. I've never used Katagiri to fight before, but this seems as good a time as any. That Sebastian dude said he's a Froakie, whatever that means. He's a Water starter, so he should be pretty good. Ain't nobody pickin' Bulbasaur, yo. "Yo, Lil Dexy," he purred, pulling out his Poké Dex and pointing it at Katagiri. "What are my little buddy's moves again?"

"Katagiri the Unknown Pokémon knows the following moves: Pound; Growl; Bubble; Toxic."

"Hey, we were talking about me," Rustly Boy interjected. "What do you think about my insane theory? Give me some praise, dang it! I need you all to praise me while I never say anything good about you ever!"

"Cool, man, let it all out."

Alex called out, "Hey Ryan, I was going to suggest you use Toxic on him, but now that I think about it, it wouldn't be very effective on a guy like that."

That was savage. "Now, now, Alex, we can't use our Pokémon to attack real people," Ryan countered.

"But you were just about to take out Jesse!"

"Snitches get stitches, yo!"

"Enough about that," Rustled David scoffed. "I'm insecure so I need you to praise me. Aren't I beautiful? Don't I have amazing Pokémon? Aren't I the smartest? And don't think for a second I need to say anything nice about you! Don't think that I have to even pretend I care about you in return! It's all about me, baby!"

"Get your Pokémon out right now, or Katagiri's gonna waste you." He's so dramatic and emotional. I'm surprised he hasn't tired himself out already.

Rustled David called Ryan a very bad name, but that was okay, since it couldn't be re-printed here, it didn't have any effect! Everyone is countered most by the style they use against their opposition. I'll have to keep that in mind. "Fine, whatever. Go, Minior!"

It looked like a rock, and that seemed about right.

Dex, of course, had yet to be updated to be able to distinguish non-Kanto Pokémon, so he had to rely upon Rahul and Alex's great wisdom.

"That's a rock!" Rahul shouted helpfully. "Rock Smash!"

"That's a Rock Type Pokémon, Ryan. Keep that in mind," Alex said.

"Gotcha. Katagiri, use Bubble!"

"Oh Minior, do one of your moves!" Rustled David shouted.

The big rock thingy hit his little froggy boy hard, pushing him back. Katagiri, for whatever reason, didn't so much as flinch. He jumped immediately at the thing that had just hit him, eagerly spitting bubbles at it. The rock was hit by the Bubble attack, and it was truly devastating, just as one would imagine. But yet, the creature survived and managed to hit Katagiri a second time with a Tackle.

Now Katagiri looked to be worn out. It's his first battle… he's gotta win! A second Bubble hit that Minior so hard that it simply dropped from the sky, half-buried in the sand like some ancient monolith, and Rustled David was forced to recall him.

"I told you I wasn't very good at this, gosh! Why would you mock my insecurities like that, geez?! Praise me, dang it!"

"Shut up and bring out another one or run away already."

Rustled David looked like he wanted to dig right into a big, plump, juice melon, or maybe two. He especially looked like he did not want those melons to be the same size. "You know, you're a bit of a Zork sometimes, you know that, kid?"

"And you're a kewlu! Come on, Katagiri, Bang, Bang, Fire!"

The man with the very high voice tried to make a joke, but it was lost in the waves, and he had to run from that next cough of bubbles, lest he be hit himself and no doubt be confined to his bed for three or four days as a result.

"Well, that wasn't interesting at all," Alex remarked, watching the bearded kid run off. "He doesn't look like much of a warrior to me."

"Man, I'm starving," complained Rahul. "Hey Logan, how good are those Lava Cookies anyways?"

"Gosh, Rahul, we're not going there to stuff our faces! Those cookies are for Granddaddy Clefable!"

And with that, annoyed not only at Rahul's heretical assumptions, but Ryan's and Alex's banality, Logan threw a Poké Ball, and out came his little Murr, the Squirtle. Without thinking, he jumped on Murr's back, and struggling, the Squirtle attempted to walk into the ocean when they were both hit by a violent wave that swarmed over them and pulled them out to sea.

Shaking his head, Rahul, who looked more like a parent now than any other one of them, released his Lapras, hopped on, and went out looking for them.

Alex too released his Water Pokémon–his Gyarados, Tsunami, whose time had not yet come–much to the oohs and aahs of the various people standing around on the beach, and jumped on its neck. "Alright, Ryan? You coming?"

"Yeah… but, as a tall-haired scrub once told me, personally… I prefer the air."

Thurnax released from her Poké Ball. I only brought her to test out that Mega Stone Lance gave me. But she's definitely my strongest Pokémon at this point, either way. I've gotta find a Pokémon to test her new powers against. The graceful Dragonite landed on the beach before them, and it looked as if at least three of them were not, indeed, noobs after all.

On Two Island, there was not one thing of interest except for the marketplace (allegedly). The island was tiny, and while it had been somewhat modernized and inhabited in the past few years, there were still no more than a hundred or so people here, and aside from the market… there wasn't anywhere else to go.

There were a whole lot of Growlithes, however, and they all seemed to be in the service of the island's Officer Jenny. Officer Jenny is so pretty. I wonder if she dyes her hair blue or if that's all natural baby.

Rahul was complaining about the price of Lava Cookies. "Two hundred Poké Dollars apiece, are you kidding me? I should be able to buy a dozen for half that…"

"If you don't like our prices, you can shut up," the merchant, a fat man with a painted green curled mustache and a gorgeous green-and-white bonnet smiled. "We're the only seller of Lava Cookies in the Sevii Islands, so suck it up!"

Rahul looked entirely pissed off, but he threw his money in the man's face even so. That's the big man I know, Ryan thought happily.

"I'll take ten orders," Logan said hastily, after Rahul had gotten his fill.

"Where'd you get that kind of money?" Ryan asked him, entirely shocked at how much he was willing to spend on those stupid cookies.

"It's my life's savings yo!"

"That's crazy. You should save your life's savings," Alex counseled.

"Thanks for the tip, Alex. I'll keep that in mind next time."

The merchant was very pleased, and he threw in a free jug of MooMoo Milk to go along with the cookies, but Logan merely poured that into the ocean once they got out of sight of the man.

Rahul nearly fainted. "Are you kidding me?! Are you kidding me…?!" He was half laughing to himself, half stuttering in disbelief. "I could've drank that for you! I love MooMoo Milk! You wasted it all!"

"Well, it was mine, not yours, Rahul. And I get to do whatever I want with my–"

"Halt right there!"

They froze like bugs pretending to be space aliens on the outside of an F18 windshield that also somehow showed up on radar, but let's not question that because that is more likely than literally anything else.

"Huh?" Logan screamed, jumping back as a Growlithe snarled at him.

Officer Jenny pointed at him rudely. "You… oh, my apologies! I thought you were that thief!"

"What thief?"

"The one who's been stealing all the food from the marketplace…" the woman said, her voice lowering. "I'm sorry. You looked like him from behind… but he had black hair."

"Are you sure it wasn't Rahul?"

She looked at Rahul and shook her head swiftly. "No, no. He didn't look anything like that. You four better watch out for him, though. He'll steal from anyone… even other kids."

"Hey, we aren't kids!" Ryan complained. "Look, Rahul even grew a goatee. How many kids can do that?"

"Well, um, okay… but just be on the lookout for him, okay? He's dangerous. He seems to have psychic powers."

Alex's ears perked up. "What does that mean? He can move things with his mind?"

"Uh huh," Jenny replied. "And he was able to freeze all of my Growlithe in place. Watch out for him, alright? Well anyways, I better get back on my patrol… Sorry about scaring you guys like that!"

She wandered off awkwardly.

Alex narrowed his eyes, scanning the sea again. "That's strange. Most people don't have psychic powers… I wonder…"

"What about all those kids who turn into Kadabra, huh?" Logan retorted. "They don't teach you about that in school! It could happen to any of us!"

"I think not."

"What is it, Alex?" Ryan asked him.

"Nothing. Let's go to that spa."

Strange. I didn't see anything particularly weird about what Jenny said… am I missing something? Maybe he was, and maybe he wasn't, but Ryan barely cared. He was on vacation, and that meant he was in vacation mode–he didn't like to think critically in vacation mode. I'm looking forward to that spa… and I bet all my buddies are too. He wondered vaguely if he'd be able to fit Thurnax inside, but considering Rahul would be allowed in, that hardly seemed like something to worry about.

It was very late by the time they returned to Resort Gorgeous. Thurnax was tired from all the flying, and the other Pokémon were likewise ready for bed. Logan and Alex were arguing about the viability of various eeveelutions, and Rahul was waxing poetic to Ryan about a man named Chunk Ugo'gir when they noticed, standing on the beach, in the moonlight, a young girl with purple hair talking in a very angry tone with old noble Sebastian, bless his whiskers.

"You don't get it!" she was saying. "We've gone everywhere… all the other hotels are booked. You have to have room for us in there! You must! We're not leaving again!"

"I'm afraid the only unfilled room is the luxury suite, which can hold upwards of twelve people. However, it is being rented by four individuals who are… blimey, look, there they are!"

She spun, her cheeks rosy red. Jessica. Are you kidding me?!

"You would have to stay with them… however, we cannot force them to accept you. You would have to convince them to let you use one of their spare rooms, and even then, you would have to pay full price… it's our policy, after all."

The rest of the world melted away, and it was just him and her, tempered by the heat in his throat. For a moment, she looked lost. Then her instincts kicked in, like a fire alighting in her eyes. "Well, well, well… look what the tide dragged in. I didn't think we'd be meeting again this soon, Ryan."

She enunciated his name with the foulness of a nameless thing. Katagiri croaked from his shoulder, as if daring her to back her words up with any sort of meaning. That's right, boy. We're not afraid of her. But simply stating something didn't make it so. He could not so much as change reality with a thought.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked her, approaching with the others behind him.

"None of your business."

"You're right. I don't care why you're here, or what you're doing. I'm just on vacation with my friends."

It was precisely at that moment that Rahul said, "If you call him the Indigo League Champion, we'll let you stay with us."

You horrible fool! "Rahul, what are you doing?!"

"Shush, Ryan. Trust me, I know what the ladies like." He grinned wide, his white teeth sparkling in the moonlight. "And I saw the way you two looked at each other. Come on then, what'll it be…?"

She looked utterly embarrassed and utterly enraged. Jessica's eyes did look a little cute in the moonlight, though, he had to admit. But why… why couldn't he just let it go? Swallowing, Ryan looked away, and he only noticed with his peripheral vision that she had pulled a Poké Ball from her belt.