Casey watches on with a fond smile on her face, both proud and glad for Autumn and Ilta. Watching the two of them together really puts things into perspective for her. If Autumn can get past the adversary in her life, then what's stopping her from doing the same? With those thoughts in mind, Casey knows that she can get through all of the trials that she'll undoubtedly face from here on out, especially with her Pokemon and friends right there beside her cheering her on through it all.

She just knows it.


"Alright, Ash! Try it again!"

Casey moves across the park to stand opposite Ash. She joins Monferno, who's been stood opposite Ash and his training partner for the afternoon, Turtwig, for the past twenty minutes now. Ash and Turtwig are currently trying to perfect Turtwig's Energy Ball, which has definitely shown a stellar amount of improvement in the last couple of days. Casey knows that with just a little more work, Turtwig will have the move down pat.

They've stopped in yet another city on the way to Veilstone City, though Casey's noticed that this city is oddly quiet. In a way, it almost feels as if its been completely deserted. Despite the eerie silence that seems to sweep through the bare streets, the group managed to find a nice park to have lunch in. That's where Casey's other Pokemon are right now, sat on a picnic blanket alongside Dawn, Brock and their Pokemon as they all continue to tuck into Brock's well cooked food. Ash and Casey both wolfed down their food in eager anticipation to begin with some training, and it wasn't long until both Turtwig and Monferno followed suit.

"Turtwig, use Energy Ball!" Ash orders. The leaves atop of Turtwig's head glow brightly as the Tiny Leaf Pokemon charges up its energised attack. Turtwig fires off the attack moments later and though its power looks great, the attacks accuracy is all off. It doesn't go anywhere near its intended target, instead redirecting and soaring high up into the air and out of sight. Casey watches the attack in awe for a few moments, surprised at how far it goes before it dissipates. Turtwig sure has gotten incredibly strong from all of its training.

"That was great, Turtwig! Your power's great. You just need to work on your control, 'kay?" She praises the Tiny Leaf Pokemon for its efforts, Monferno joining in with an enthusiastic cry himself, "See, even Monferno agrees! You're doing great!"

Both trainers smile when Turtwig cries out joyfully at their praise, a joy that is unfortunately rather short lived. All of them are caught by surprise when a dark shadow sweeps over the park, leaving all of them feeling apprehensive and on edge. Casey glances up to the sky to find the source of the shadow and is oddly surprised by what she finds. A large flock of Pokemon are flying overhead, a certain glint in their eyes that only adds to her uneasiness.

She recognises the majority of the Pokemon as Gligar, the purple FlyScorpion Pokemon that she encountered once when she was travelling through Johto. She ran into a Gligar around about the time she arrived in Blackthorn City to collect her eighth and final Badge in Johto, and attempted to capture it, though the pesky bat-like fiend of a Pokemon got away from her before she even had the chance to so much throw a Pokeball at it. The majority of the flock of Pokemon are Gligar; there's only one other Pokemon amongst them, right at the front. Casey feels as if she recognises it, though she can't quite place it. Regardless, it seems to be the leader of the pack, a fact that becomes even more apparent when it begins to swoop down towards the ground, the masses of Gligar following suit.

What in the world are they doing?

Casey watches in surprise as the intruding Pokemon swoop down and rush towards the picnic blanket. Brock and Dawn figure out what they're up to and manage to rush away before the flock can reach them, all of the Pokemon sat with them on the blanket rushing away alongside them. The Gligar and their leader proceed to steal up all of the remaining food before making their way for the nearby trees, presumably so they can eat the food that they've wrongfully stolen.

"Mon!" Monferno yells angrily beside her, his sights fixed on the flying thieves rushing away from him. She can tell that he's angry and she doesn't exactly blame him. However, as much as she'd like to see him stop the thieving fiends, she knows that could end badly for all of them. Besides, they aren't going to want to eat their food if its been burned my Monferno's fiery attacks.

"Easy, pal!" She tells him, drawing his infuriated eyes away from the Gligar and onto her. He looks as if he's going to argue back at her, but he ultimately restrains himself when he notices what Ash and Turtwig are doing just beside them. Casey notices it too.

Ash and Turtwig are fighting back

"Turtwig, Energy Ball, now!" Ash orders angrily, clearly not planning on allowing the Gligar to get away with stealing their food. If there's one thing that you should know about Ash, it's that you should never mess with his food.

Turtwig follows its trainers command and charges up its Energy Ball once again, firing it off at the fleeing Gligar as quick as possible. At first the attack seems to be going well, but it unfortunately falls short and misses the Gligar by suddenly changing its trajectory and crashing down into the pavement. Ash doesn't let that failed attempt deter him, as he's quick to give Turtwig yet another command in order to try and stop the Gligar.

"'Kay, Razor Leaf, go!"

Turtwig fires off a forage of green, bladed leaves at the Gligar that have already nestled up in the nearby trees, but the troublesome Pokemon dodge the assaulting leaves with ease.

"Okay, return!"

Casey turns towards Brock and Dawn, who are stood to the side of the park, as they begin to return their alarmed Pokemon to their Pokeballs, presumably wanting them all to be safe from the attacking Pokemon. Soon, only them, Piplup and Pikachu remain, all of them physically fine but visibly shaken. Casey follows their actions, rushing towards the group and returning her other Pokemon to their Pokeballs, only leaving Monferno out of his capsule. She might need his help if the Pokemon decide to rush at them again.

"Are you guys okay?" Casey asks, looking over at her friends in concern after she pockets the Pokeballs in her hands.

"We're fine, but who are those Pokemon?" Dawn replies, looking at the Pokemon up in the trees with a fearful look in her eyes.

Ash rushes towards the group then, Turtwig following in tow, "That's what I'd like to know, too."

"I know that the purple ones are Gligar, but I'm not sure what that other one is." Casey remarks, expressing her knowledge on the Pokemon before turning to Brock. He's the most knowledgeable out of them all. If anybody will know what that other Pokemon is, it's him, "Any ideas, Brock?"

"That's a Gliscor."

A Gliscor, huh? Sounds interesting.

"Woah! I've gotta see this!" Dawn says, quickly reaching into her pocket in order to withdraw her Pokedex. She aims the high-tech Pokemon encyclopaedia at the Gligar first, the feminine, robotic voice of the device sounding out as it records the data.

"Gligar, the FlyScorpion Pokémon. It glides using the membrane attached to its arms and legs, and attacks the face of its prey with its claws."

She then directs the Pokedex at the single Gliscor amongst the fray, also recording its data into the device like she did for the Gligar before it.

"Gliscor, the Fang Scorp Pokémon, and the evolved form of Gligar. It watches its prey as it hangs from trees by its tail and attacks from above when it sees the chance."

"So it's the evolved form of Gligar, huh?" Casey murmurs as she looks up at the eating Gliscor curiously, "That's new information to me. I didn't even know that Gligar h-."

Two icy blue beams of striking light catch Casey out mid-sentence, her attention fully captivated by the bright beams racing towards the Gliscor perched in the tree. Gliscor manages to dodge the beams just before they can strike; Casey and their friends quickly scan the area for the source of the attack.

Her blood instantly boils when she finds the source, and by the sound of his snarling just to her right, Casey knows that Monferno has the same feeling.

"It's Paul!"

The purple trainer who's renowned for his cruelty towards his Pokemon is stood at the entrance to the park alongside his conniving Weavile, who looks rather pleased of itself after just having tried to attack an unaware Gliscor. Paul's quick to act when Weavile's attack doesn't go as planned, sending out his Murkrow in order to have another go just moments later.

"Murkrow, use Haze!"

The Darkness Pokemon bursts out from its Pokeball with a battle ready caw, but before it can so much as attempt to carry out its trainers order, Gliscor decides to fight back. The angered Fang Scorp Pokemon lets out a loud, booming cry, resulting in a powerful wind coming swooping through the empty city. Nothing happens at first, but it's apparent what Gliscor is up to when even more Gligar begin to swarm the area, their flying part passing directly through where Murkrow is flying above Paul.

"Quick, Murkrow! Dodge them!"

Murkrow ascends to an even higher altitude in order to avoid the new flock of Gligar, who simply soar right past it and over to their leader as another strong gust of wind rushes through the park. Gliscor and the Gligar use this powerful gust of wind to propel them right out of the park and away into the city, the large cluster of Pokemon disappearing into the city mere moments later. At least, most of them disappear.

Casey and her friends turn towards one of the trees when they hear a small gurgling noise near it, surprised to find a lone and unaware Gligar eating away at a stolen apple from their lunch. The Gligar soon notices that they're watching it and scoffs down the final contents of its apple before making an attempt to flee, though its attempt doesn't go quite as well as the other Pokemon's did.

The klutzy Pokemon ends up soaring down towards Casey and her friends, crashing right into an unsuspecting Ash and knocking the Kanto native to the pavement.

"Ugh! Get off me!" Ash yells, scrambling to push the heavy FlyScorpion Pokemon off of him. The Gligar eventually jumps off of Ash and looks frantically around at the group, shaking frightfully under the piercing glares of the other Pokemon. It doesn't stay for long as it's quick to soar off into the sky after the rest of its flock, away from the angry stares of the other Pokemon and their trainers. Casey watches it go with an innate curiosity.

That Gligar sure is an odd one. I've never seen a Pokemon quite like it. It almost doesn't fit in with the rest of its flock.

"At least that Gliscor lives up to its reputation." Paul murmurs from behind her, pocketing the Pokeballs that now contain his Murkrow and Weavile.

"Does that mean that you're here to catch a Gliscor?" Ash asks, him and his friends turning around and directing their attention towards the obnoxious trainer that joined them in the park and caused all of the commotion in the first place.

"Stay out of my way, got it?" Paul snipes back, turning around and walking right out of the park without another word. Casey suspects that he's off to find that Gliscor that he's clearly so eager to get his hands on.

"I see that he's as charming as ever." Casey murmurs as she watches Paul leave, the distinct sound of Monferno snarling still present just to her right. Casey's not surprised at his reaction to Paul. His distaste for the awful guy rivals even her own.

Still, their hate for Paul is soon forgotten when Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny pull up in a truck, both of them jumping out of the vehicle and rushing through the park over to them.

"Are you folks alright?" Jenny asks, doing her civic duty in ensuring that they're all okay.

"We're fine, except I'm afraid they got away with our lunch." Dawn replies, her voice disgruntled as she mentions their stolen food. She never even got the chance to finish her lunch, so Casey understands why she's so annoyed.

"It looks like they've done it once again." Nurse Joy sighs.

"And we weren't in time once again." Officer Jenny adds, her voice sounding just as disappointed as Nurse Joy's did.

Casey's about to ask what exactly they're going on about when Brock, being Brock, rushes forward and kneels down at their feet, speaking to them in his usual, sappy, love-sick voice, "On the contrary, I think that your timing's perfect! My heart was feeling so empty, but now my heart is feeling full again! All because of you!"

"Brock, you mig-."

Before Casey can even have the chance to warn Brock, knowing full well what's going to happen next, Croagunk appears from outside of its Pokeball and delivers a lethal Poison Jab to Brock's backside, crippling the former Gym Leader as he keels over in pain.

"Of course...I'm feeling other things...as well!"


"The Gliscor and Gligar have turned our city into a ghost town. They've eaten every bit of fruit and vegetables that they can find, and now they're grabbing food right out of our hands."

Casey looks out of the clear glass windows from atop of one of the many skyscrapers in the city as she listens to Officer Jenny explain whats been going on in her city. The Gliscor and Gligar have been causing trouble for ages, and they've been wearing down both Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy for just as long. They've both been working frivolously to stop the Gliscor and Gligar from spreading terror across the city, but their attempts have all been fruitless so far.

"But Gliscor and Gligar usually live in the forest, don't they?" Brock says, the knowledgeable boy quick to question whats been going on, "What are they doing here?"

"We think they've all managed to get lost."

"That is so weird!" Ash remarks.

"But true." Nurse Joy sighs, her voice sounding defeated and hopeless. Casey turns around to face her then, leaning back against the sturdy glass windows as she listens to her explanation, "We had a storm one day and the wind was particularly fierce. It was so strong that Gliscor was unable to escape its force, so it ended up being trapped in our city. Of course, Gliscor wanted to return to the forest, but the winds were just too strong. They still are."

"Of course!" Brock gasps in realisation, "Those skyscraper currents are strong, too strong to fight."

"Skyscraper currents?" Dawn asks, voicing the question that's stuck on hers, Casey's and Ash's minds.

"The taller a building is, the stronger the winds that swoop around it are."

"So Gliscor had no other choice but to stay here, and before long it attracted the Gligar in the surrounding area." Nurse Joy adds, adding more confusion to her story.

"But how'd it do that?"

"Gliscor and Gligar fire off a certain sound wave in order to detect obstacles and fly around them. But in the city, these sound waves can become magnified and scattered, bouncing wildly off of buildings. These powerful sound waves are what attracted the Gligar to the city." Nurse Joy explains, "We've tried many times to capture them so we could return them to the forest, but they're very cautious and we can't get ahold of them."

"So our latest plan is to lure them all in by using Gligar's favourite fruit as bait." Officer Jenny adds.

Casey guesses that their plan adds up. It all makes sense - all of the unfortunate factors have contributed to such a large swarm of Gligar and Gliscor residing in the city. She's also not surprised that they haven't managed to get rid of them yet, especially considering that it's just the two of them who are trying.

"Mon!"

Casey's surprised when Monferno suddenly calls out, jumping down from the seat that he's sat on and rushing towards her. He chatters at her excitedly, gesturing between himself, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy as he chants. Casey can't help but smile, knowing instantly what he's trying to say.

"What's Monferno trying to say, Casey?" Dawn asks.

Casey glances down at Monferno with a proud smile before directing her attention back to her friends, her pride for Monferno shining through as she voices what he's trying to say, "He's saying that we're going to help get the Gliscor and Gligar back to the forest."


Casey braces herself as the car swerves onto yet another street, the tyres rolling over the tarmac at a rapid speed. They're currently trying to enact their plan to catch the Gliscor and Gligar. Officer Jenny is driving the truck through the city, which is full to the brim of all kinds of fruits that the Gliscor and Gligar love. Nurse Joy's sat in the front passenger seat, her laptop placed in front of her so she can monitor the wind currents as they drive. With any luck, they might just pull this off.

"They're following!"

Casey glances out of the window as Dawn calls out, almost yelling in fear at the sight of the approaching Gligar and Gliscor. She'd be lying if she said that they didn't look scary, rushing towards them at top speed with a hungry look in their eyes.

"I'm heading for the target!"

The car swerves once again, the force causing Casey to buck backwards into her seat and away from the window. She's kinda glad for that. She doesn't know how much longer she could watch the Gliscor and Gligar approach without going into a full on panic.

"The wind is about to get a lot stronger." Nurse Joy says as she continues to watch the data that's coming through on her laptop, "Let's hope that does the trick."

"So the idea is to use the strong winds to blow them all back to the forest." Brock says.

Casey nods, "That sounds like a good plan. Hopefully it'll be eno-."

Casey stops abruptly when she hears a chorus of loud, pained cries from the Gliscor and Gligar. The truck screeches to a halt and Casey quickly fumbles with her seatbelt, trying desperately to unbuckle it and get out of the truck. She manages to unbuckle it despite her panic, and she hastily rushes out of the truck alongside her friends to try and find out what's going on.

The Gliscor and Gligar have been unwillingly trapped within a thick glass container by the one and only Team Rocket, who are cackling gleefully from their balloon as they lift the captured Pokemon into the air, the glass container attached to their balloon by a single, sturdy cord. Nurse Joy calls out to them angrily, demanding them to stop immediately, but the nefarious trio merely chuckle at her feeble protests.

"Listen, is that some clueless claptrap that I hear?" Jessie taunts extravagantly, clearing enjoying how helpless they are way more than she should be.

"Clueless, but-."

I'm not listening to their ridiculous motto! I've had enough!

"Enough, you three!" Casey yells, her shrill voice cutting off their motto instantly, "Let them go right now!"

"Not a chance, Twerpette!" Meowth snipes back nastily, "So quit your whining!"

Casey glares up at the cackling villains, her hand instinctively reaching for one of the Pokeballs in her pocket. She has a feeling that this isn't going to go down peacefully. They're going to have to put up a fight.

"They're going back to the forest where they belong!" Ash yells, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt! Go!"

Casey springs into action as Pikachu leaps down from Ash's shoulder, the Electric Mouse Pokemon charging up his electrical power at his cheeks. Casey withdraws a single Pokeball from her pocket, tossing it out in front of her and calling out a command, "Monferno, come on out and use Flamethrower!"

Monferno bursts out of his capsule in a flash of white, bright light and instantly springs into action, landing on the ground beside Pikachu and firing off his attack in unison with the Electric Mouse Pokemon. The sparking bolts of lightning merge with Monferno's searing Flamethrower as the combined attack smashes into the glass case; Casey expects the powerful attack combo to shatter the glass case, but she finds that to not be the case when the attacks dissipate, revealing the case to be perfectly intact and unscathed.

"But...how?"

Casey hears Nurse Joy gasp in shock just behind her, but she doesn't turn to her and simply keeps her angered eyes fixed on Team Rocket. As much as she doesn't want to admit it, Team Rocket have put some thought into their plan this time around. If they can't break into the case, then what are they supposed to do? They have to get the Gliscor and Gligar back to the forest!

"I remember that Gligar!"

Casey glances down at the glass box when Ash calls out, surprised to find a lone Gligar perched atop of the glass case, next to the cable attaching it to Team Rocket's balloon. At first, Casey's confused as to why the FlyScorpion Pokemon is up on the case, and why it isn't inside the case with the other Gligar and Gliscor. Her confusion soon turns to amusement when Gligar reaches its claw out to the cable, closing its pincers around it and releasing the case from Team Rocket's grip.

The case plummets towards the ground, sending the panicked Gligar that released it down with it. The Gligar in question is sent soaring up into the air as the case smashes onto the ground; it flails its arms around as it helplessly calls out for help. Ash rushes towards Gligar in order to help it out whilst Casey fixes her sights on Team Rocket again, noticing that the trio are visibly paler and less snarky than they were before.

She smirks as she looks down at Monferno, who looks just as pleased and ready to go as she does, "What do you say, pal? Should we give them a taste of their own medicine?"

"Mon! Monferno!"

Casey smiles at her trusted partner, turning back towards Team Rocket and speaking in a confident and determined voice as she prepares to give Monferno one final command, "Alright, Monferno use Fla-!"

She stops when the Gliscor and Gligar rise up into the sky, obscuring their view from Team Rocket. Monferno stills as they observe the Gliscor and Gligar enact their revenge on the malicious villains. The Gligar all swarm the balloon, preventing Team Rocket from escaping. This gives Gliscor the perfect chance to fire off a decisive X-Scissor at the balloon, causing it to burst and send Team Rocket ricocheting around mid-air. They eventually crash down right by a nearby building and are sent vaulting into the sky, screaming as they blast off into the distance.

Casey sighs in relief, glad that all of the commotion is finally over and done with. She hopes that they can now try and get the Gliscor and Gligar back to the forest. But, of course, nothing's as simple as that. Just as she starts to have a hopeful outlook on the situation, the building that Team Rocket crashed next to tumbles down to the ground, fully blocking the only way out of the city.

This isn't looking good.


"So, plan B?" Casey says, leaning back in her seat as she looks around at her friends. They decided that after the disaster with Team Rocket they'd regroup and try to come up with another plan. Right after the building collapsed in the middle of the road the Gligar and Gliscor took to the skies, and they're now terrorising the remaining people in the city in their search for even more food.

Basically, their plan totally failed and now they have no idea what to do next. They need to get the Gliscor and Gligar out of the city before they can cause anymore damage than they already have. They're gonna need a plan for that, though.

"If we could somehow produce a current of air that's strong enough to carry them all out of the city, then our problem would be solved." Nurse Joy says as she looks at her laptop screen, presumably running some kind of algorithm to see if their plan would work.

"That's it!" Ash gasps, jumping up from his seat rather abruptly, "We'll use Gust!"

"Of course! We'll use our Pokemon to get them all the way out of here!" Brock agrees, instantly catching on to what his long time friend is trying to say.

"Okay, guys, we need to think about this." Casey says, "This plan sounds good and all, but we aren't going to be able to do anything if we can't find the Gliscor and Gligar."

"Okay, so lets go and find 'em!"


Casey, Monferno and their friends turn the corner onto yet another backstreet of the city, still on the hunt for the Gliscor and Gligar. They've got to find them and convince them to head to the Pokemon Center, where Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy are waiting to enact the final part of their plan. They've spent a good twenty minutes searching having not come up with anything, but that soon changes when they notice a large purple blob towards the end of the street.

They speed up as they get closer to the blob, discovering it to be one of the Gligar. They stop breathlessly in front of it, Ash quick to interact with it, "Gligar! You okay?"

The Gligar sits up and takes a moment to examine them before winking over at Ash, a look of realisation crossing Dawn's face at its action, "I can't believe it's the same one!"

"The same one who cut the cable?" Casey asks, receiving a nod in response from Dawn. She looks back to the Gligar, stumbling over her words as she tries to find something to say to the FlyScorpion Pokemon, "Gligar, wow, uh...thanks for your help."

The Gligar winks at her cheekily, clearly pleased to be receiving all of this praise. The pleased look on its face soon fades as it becomes replaced with a look of terror; moments later, the Gligar takes off down an alleyway, using a sudden gust of wind to propel itself forwards.

"Hey!" Ash calls out, "Where are you going now?!"

"Gliscor must be somewhere down there! Let's go!" Brock declares before rushing down the alleyway that Gligar went down. Ash is quick to follow Brock, and it's not long until Dawn and Casey follow after them, the group of trainers following Gligar down the alleyway. They fight against the strong winds as they rush down the alleyway, eventually running into Gliscor and his flock of Gligar.

"Gliscor! We wanna help you get back to the forest!" Ash calls out, catching Gliscor's attention as the Fang Scorpion Pokemon attempts to flee the area, "You come with us over to the Pokemon Center, quick!"

Gliscor seems to consider Ash's proposal briefly. Casey thinks that, for just a moment, they've won the Fang Scorpion and its flock over, but those thoughts are soon dashed when a striking bolt of lightning rushes over their heads, striking Gliscor directly. The Fang Scorpion Pokemon falls down to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain as the effects of the unexpected attack takes its toll.

"Now what?!"

Casey and her friends turn around and find that the attack has come from Paul's Electabuzz, who is stood in front of his trainer alongside Paul's Weavile with a proud look on its face. Casey notices a Pokeball in Paul's right hand, and it doesn't take her long to realise what he's about to do.

"Paul, no!"

Paul doesn't listen to her and tosses the Pokeball right at the injured Gliscor, the device pulling the Fang Scorpion Pokemon inside of it in a flash of bright light. The Pokeball falls to the ground at Pauls feet and shakes briefly, everybody watching with bated breath as it makes its slight movements. The device clicks moments later, signifying that Gliscor's been successfully captured, and Paul reaches down to pick it up, aiming his Pokedex down at it to scan it.

What is he doing?! The Gligar won't be able to function without Gliscor! It's their leader!

"Paul, stop!" Casey shouts angrily at Paul as he pockets his Pokedex and Gliscor's new Pokeball, desperate for him to understand the repercussions of his actions, "What about the Gligar?!"

"They're none of my concern, see." Paul replies nonchalantly, clearly already bored of their conversation.

His reaction is making Casey's blood boil. His complete and utter disregard for Pokemon that he doesn't seem 'worthy' or 'valuable' is simply disgusting. She knows that she shouldn't expect any less of him, especially not after what she's seen of him before, but it still repulses her nonetheless.

She knows that it repulses Monferno as well, as she can hear him growling as he glares intensely at Paul just to her right. She would've expected that from him, but what happens next is something that she wasn't expecting at all. Monferno suddenly leaps up into the air and begins to spin at a rapid speed, a fiery inferno surrounding his body as he charges up a very familiar attack. She knows what he's about to do, but she fails to find her voice before he shoots off in his intended direction, only managing to react when he's halfway towards his destination.

"Monferno, no!"

Monferno doesn't listen to her, and instead the Playful Pokemon continues to race towards Paul at top speed, not letting up for even a second as he rushes towards him. Paul remains surprisingly stoic as he approaches, uttering a single command as he keeps his eyes fixed on Monferno, "Electabuzz, Thunder Punch!"

Electricity crackles up Electabuzz's right arm as it charges up the Thunder Punch, slamming its electrical fist into Monferno mere moments later. The two intense attacks collide, and despite Electabuzz's strength, Monferno manages to gain the edge and send it flying backwards, much to everybody's surprise. Electabuzz hisses as he goes flying backwards onto the gravelly pavement and Paul looks down at Monferno angrily, who has stopped before him and is glaring up at him menacingly.

"Mon! Ferno! Mon! Monferno!"

Casey knows that Monferno's yelling - of course she does. She knows that her friends are both curious and confused, but Paul's reaction is slightly different to theirs. He still looks angry, but he's also beginning to look...almost understating. It's as if he know what Monferno's trying to say, and he doesn't look happy about it, that's for sure. He reaches into his pocket and withdraws two Pokeballs, returning both Electabuzz and Weavile silently before turning around, beginning to walk right back out of the alleyway.

What is with that guy?!

They all watch silently as Paul turns the corner out of the alleyway, leaving them and the panicked Gligar behind. Casey expects that to be the end of it, but her expectations are proven wrong when Monferno begins to rush down the alleyway and after Paul.

"Monferno!" She yells out to him, but he simply ignores her and continues to rush away from her.

She turns back to her friends wordlessly as Monferno runs right out of the alleyway, not exactly sure of how she should react. On the one hand, she knows that she needs to go after Monferno, but she doesn't want to abandon her friends either. They need to help the Gligar get back to the forest. Thankfully, Dawn knows exactly what to say to ease her mind,

"Go." She says, nodding her head in the direction that Monferno ran in, "We'll deal with the Gligar."

Casey gives her a grateful smile before rushing off after Monferno, leaving her friends to deal with the swarming Gligar. Although she feels bad for leaving them, she'd feel even worse if she didn't go after Monferno. She turns the corner and runs slightly further down the road, surprised to find Paul stood there seemingly arguing with Monferno.

"What is your problem?!"

She slows her approach and walks towards them, taking her place behind Monferno and looking accusingly at Paul, "I think the question is, what's your problem?"

"I did nothing wrong." Paul replies bluntly, glancing up from Monferno to glare at her instead, "You're all just pathetic."

"We're the pathetic ones, Paul? Really?" Casey snipes back, not letting the obnoxious boy get away with insulting her and her friends like that, "If we're so pathetic, then why do you even interact with us? Why did you battle with Ash, huh? Why did you have a battle with me?"

"To prove just how pathetic you are!"

Casey has to stop herself from scoffing at that. Monferno even looks at Paul indignantly for his statement.

"That went well, didn't it?" She says sarcastically, "You lost our battle because you didn't have any faith in your Murkrow! You're too harsh, Paul! And until you realise that...you'll never be a successful Pokemon trainer. Not really."

What she says seems to really take Paul aback. He stares at her briefly wordlessly, clearly surprised at what she's just said. He probably isn't used to be people being so brutally blunt with him. Casey expects him to argue back with her, but he instead swallows his pride and turns around, walking away from her and Monferno without another word. She can hear Monferno growling at Paul once again, but she is quick to snuff it off before he can act on his anger once again.

"No, pal. Just leave it."

Monferno looks up at her with confusion and frustration written across his face. He begins to protest her order, but he falls silent when she gives him a single, piercing look, bowing his head in shame. She laughs at his reaction, kneeling down beside him with a smile,

"Don't worry about it, pal. He's not worth it, believe me." She says. Monferno picks his head up and looks at her wistfully, fully understanding what she's try to say. She stands up and looks back down the way she came, "Besides, we've got something more important to deal with right now."

"Mon?"

Casey looks back down at him with a quirked smile, "We've got some Gligar to return home, of course."