The feeling of happiness she feels just by seeing them all, okay and safe and joyous, fades when she turns to Metang. It's stood away from everyone else, even as Dawn rushes back to the group to show them all Swinub (who Casey hadn't even noticed she had caught), and it's staring at her with a mixture of emotions.

Anger, confusion, hurt...and something else that she can't quite figure out.

It's unsettling, and now that the adrenaline and angers faded, she can feel the overwhelming sense of guilt hitting.

It's even more painful than the Meteor Mash.


Hearthome City - Sinnoh

Casey looks around at the numerous buildings of the city as they walk towards the Gym, admiring their intricate architecture and designs. Of course, she's been to Hearthome City before, but she was far too wrapped up in the Tag Battle Competition to really appreciate the city.

But now, as she walks alongside her friends and Monferno as they near the Gym's entrance, she's getting the chance to do just that.

"Sure haven't been in Hearthome City in a while." Ash remarks.

"You're right." Casey replies, "But at least this time we'll get to have our Gym Battles!"

"I don't know about that you two."

The two of them turn to Dawn, frowns coming to their faces when they see what she's gesturing to. A big, red lettered sign reading 'closed' is plastered on the front door of the Gym, making both of them groan at the sight.

"What? Are we ever gonna get a Gym Battle here?" Ash whines hanging his head, Pikachu mimicking his actions from his shoulder.

Casey glances down to Monferno, and though he looks rather crestfallen, he seems to be dealing with it far better than Ash and Pikachu, who both look near distraught at the Gym's closure.

Still, Casey can't help but wonder why it's closed. Surely a Gym Leader can't be away from their Gym for this long, right?

"Oh, excuse me."

Everyone turns around at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, and the first thing that catches Casey's eye is the ginormous limo that's parked on the side of the road. In front of it stands a tall young woman, her red hair and periwinkle dress standing out against her complexion. To her side stands a Lopunny, who stands with elegance and a certain air of class that Casey hasn't really seen a Pokemon possess before.

"I thought so. You were the winner of the Hearthome Tag Battle. You're Casey, right?" She says, a look of recognition flashing in her eyes when she makes eye contact with Casey.

"Yeah, that's me." Casey replies, slightly confused.

"Wow! It's such an honor to meet you face to face like this." The girl gushes, "Are you looking for the Hearthome Gym Leader?"

"Yeah. You see, Ash and I really want to battle her for a badge, but this is the second time that we've been here and she's not here." Casey explains, gesturing over to the raven-haired boy at her side.

Her friends all look just as confused as she does, but Casey figures that there's no harm in being polite.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you that Fantina the Gym Leader's still not back. She's been gone on an important training mission to develop a whole new battling style." The girl explains, and that's all it takes before Brock's rushing over to her and kneeling down on one knee in front of her, beginning to ramble about his own involvement in the Tag Battle Competition.

"It's really her!" Dawn gasps suddenly.

"Who?" Ash asks as both him and Casey turn to the bluenette in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm with Ash on that one." Casey adds.

"Ash! Casey! I can't believe that you two don't know!" Dawn exclaims, "That's Paris, the world famous Pokemon Stylist!"

"What's a Pokemon Stylist?"

"First: she's called a Poke Stylist." Dawn corrects him, "A Poke Stylist is a fashion designer, helping Pokemon look their best!"

"Sounds interesting." Casey replies, shrugging. She's never heard of a Poke Stylist before, and fashion isn't exactly her biggest interest, but combining it with Pokemon sounds like a lot of fun.

"Oh! Tres bien!" Paris suddenly exclaims, and the three of them turn around to see her peering down at Dawn's Buneary (whose been walking by Dawn's side since they got into the city) excitedly, "What an adorable Buneary you have here!"

"It's mine! Thank you!" Dawn gasps out rather exasperatedly, rushing over to Buneary's side to stand in front of Paris. She instantly regrets her brashness and is quick to apologise, "Oh, sorry. My name's Dawn."

"Now, you wouldn't happen to be a Pokemon Coordinator, would you, Dawn?" Paris asks.

"Yes! And going for the top!" Dawn replies enthusiastically.

"You might want to know that the Hearthome Collection starts tomorrow, so why don't you and your Buneary sign up?"

"Hearthome Collection?"

Paris nods, "Right! It's a Pokemon fashion show and it's open to the general public. Everyone gets to dress up and model their Pokemon in their own original designs. A Poke Stylist is one type of Pokemon Coordinator, you see? And the winner of the Hearthome Collection will get to work on the Poke Chic campaign photo shoot. It's a great way to become a Poke Stylist."

"Wow! Poke Chic campaign?" Dawn gasps, eyes glistening in excitement and interest.

Casey doesn't blame her. What Paris is describing is right up her alley.

"You might say it's a shortcut to becoming Top Coordinator." Paris adds, and then she looks past Dawn to look over at Ash, "And Ash."

"You know who I am?" The boy asks, surprised by the recognition.

"Of course. I recognise you from the Tag Battle Competition." She replies, "You should compete with that cute little Pikachu of yours. And Casey, what about your adorable little Dratini?"

"Dratini actually evolved into a Dragonair." Casey says, and she doesn't miss the slightly crestfallen expression that befalls Paris' face when she hears her.

She has to admit: Dragonair was incredibly adorable as a Dratini.

"Dragonair is a gorgeous Pokemon." Paris adds optimistically, "You could still enter and be in with a shot of winning."

"Thanks, Paris, but I'll pass. Besides, I've got a friend I want to pay a visit tomorrow, anyway."

"Are you talking about Duncan?" Brock asks.

"Ah, Mayor Enta's nephew." Paris says, surprising Casey when she mentions him, "I've met him at the Mayor's office before. I loved his performance in the competition as much as I loved yours."

"Really? Do you know where I can find him?" Casey asks.

"Probably the Mayor's office. I think he spends a lot of time there now." Paris explains, "I'll give you the directions if you want."

"That'd be great!"


Casey sets off right after breakfast the next morning. She wishes both Ash and Dawn good luck for the Hearthome Collection, promising that she'll be there in time to see them take part. The Collection's starting soon, but both of them have quite a few other performers before them, so she reckons she'll be able to make it there in time with ease.

She heads out with Monferno at her side and enough lunches in her bag (props to Brock for preparing it all) for herself, Duncan and all of their Pokemon. Brock even prepared a bit extra in case Duncan's caught any other Pokemon since the last time they saw him.

She's also got the directions to City Hall that Paris kindly gifted her, and right now she's following them closely as she makes her way through the city.

Thankfully, Hearthome City isn't actually that difficult to navigate. It's not the smallest city she's ever been to, but it's nowhere near the largest either, and she's soon able to find a large building that matches the description that Paris provided her with.

"This must be it, pal." She remarks, sliding the instructions into her pocket and looking up at the building.

The building is relatively large, bigger than a Pokemon Center even, and its architecture has to be the best of all the buildings in the city. From the gorgeous windows to the detailing on the balconies, it's certainly a building that Casey wouldn't mind working in one day.

As she stands there and admires the building, Monferno seems to have different plans, as the Playful Pokemon soon runs from her side and begins to head around the side of the building, sneaking around the dense shrubbery surrounding it without reservation.

"Monferno!" Casey calls, rushing after her partner as he disappears into the shrubs, "Monferno, come back!"

No response.

Sighing exasperatedly, she turns around, quickly checking the surrounding area for anyone passing by. When she sees nobody else in the area, she pushes through the shrubbery and, after some struggle, reaches the other side, surprised by what's waiting for her there.

It's a battlefield, one similar in design to the one that you find outside every Pokemon Center, and in the middle stands Monferno, who's conversing with a familiar face.

"Duncan?"

He looks up, smiling, and realisation dawns on his face.

"Casey! Hey!" He says, eyes flickering down to Monferno, "I knew I recognised you!"

"Mon!" The Playful Pokemon replies enthusiastically,

Still smiling, he looks back up to her as she approaches, "It's great to see you! What are you doing here?"

"We came back so Ash and I could battle Fantina, but she's still away." She explains.

"Yeah. She goes away a lot. I secretly reckon she runs off to Alola for a vacation." He jokes, chuckling, "Where are the others?"

"Ash and Dawn are competing in the Hearthome Collection, and Brock's gone to watch the whole thing. I said I'd make it there to see them compete, but I thought I'd come and see you whilst I'm in the city."

"Well, I'm glad that you're here, because I've got someone I'd like you to meet." He says, a sudden schoolboy level of excitement hitting him. He backs up a couple of steps and reaching for his belt, unlatching a single Pokeball and tossing it high into the air, "Come on out!"

The Pokemon lands on the ground after bursting open, and out of it spills a quadruped figure that spawns in front of its trainer with a confident bark.

"Wow! You caught a Houndour!" Casey gasps, reaching in her pocket and aiming the device at the Pokemon as it begins to interact with Monferno.

Houndour, the Dark Pokémon. Houndour travel in packs and communicate through barks in order to surround their prey.

She pockets the device, watching as both it and Monferno begin to size each other up, the two Fire-Types clearly trying to figure out where they stand with one another. Thankfully, the two of them seem to get along, and then quickly stand by each other with no hostility whatsoever.

"I found it running around the city. It had been getting in trouble for stealing scraps." Duncan explains, kneeling down by Houndours side and rubbing its head, the Dark Pokemon leaning into his touch contently, "I kept thinking about all the stuff you taught me back at the Tag Battle Competition, and I just knew that I had to do something."

"That's really great, Duncan." Casey replies, gesturing to the happy Pokemon at his side, "Houndour seems to love you."

He chuckles, "I'd hope so, because she's got one mean Flamethrower at her disposal. Wouldn't want to get on her bad side, I'm telling ya."

Houndour licks Duncan's cheek affectionately before beginning to play around on the battlefield, Monferno rushing to join her. Casey and Duncan both take a seat to the side of the battlefield on bench, Duncan speaking first after they've spent a couple of minutes watching their Pokemon play together in a comfortable silence.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" He asks.

"I got my third and fourth Gym Badges. One from Veilstone City and one from Pastoria City." Casey explains, reaching into her bag and withdrawing her badge case to show him her newly acquired badges.

"That's awesome!" He praises, looking down at the metal prizes in awe before looking back to her, "How were the battles?"

Casey closes the badge case and places it back into her bag, turning back to him with her response moments later, "Challenging. But what's the point in battling if there's no challenge, right?"

"Right." He agrees, "So, where are you guys headed now?"

"Celestic Town, I guess. There's a Pokemon Contest happening there soon, so obviously we'll go so Dawn can compete." She explains, "What about you?"

"Well, my Uncle told me about this Pokemon Summer Academy thing an-."

"Professor Rowan's Pokemon Summer Academy?" She interrupts him, admittedly quite rudely, but she can't help it when she recognises what he's talking about.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" He asks, surprised.

"We know Professor Rowan, and he invited us to attend it. I think it's on the way to Celestic Town, so we're probably gonna stop off at it on the way."

Dawn mentioned the Summer Academy to her first, saying that Professor Rowan had extended an invite to the entire group when she was talking to him on the videophone at one of the Pokemon Centers she stopped at. Ash had found out before her and Brock, but that's only because he interrupted Dawn's conversation with the professor to tell him all about how Gligar evolved into Gliscor. They ran into Gary on their way to Hearthome City, and he gave Ash the item he needed to help Gligar evolve into Gliscor. The raven-haired boy has been rather excited about it ever since.

"That's great!" Duncan replies excitedly, "I mean, I was gonna go anyways, but it'll be nice to have some friends there from the get-go."

"You should travel there with us." Casey suggests, because it's the first thought that comes to her head and she instantly thinks that it's a good idea, "I'm sure the others will love to have you with us!"

"You think?"

"I know."

A moment passes, and then Duncan asks the next question, one that she was kinda hoping he wouldn't ask.

"So, have you caught any new Pokemon?"

She knows that she should've expected him to ask it, and of course she could just lie and say no, but she doesn't want to do that because he's her friend.

"Kinda." She admits, hesitantly, after a few moments, "Both Shellos and Dratini evolved, and when we stopped off at my home in Pastoria City, I decided to bring my Metang along with us."

"You have a Metang? That's so cool!"

"Yeah, not exactly." She says, forced laugh and all that makes his face go from excited to concerned. Sighing, she continues, "You see, Metang's super powerful and all, but it doesn't exactly like to listen to me. It's the reason we won the Pastoria Gym Badge, but that's only because it wouldn't return when I asked it to so none of my other Pokemon got the opportunity to battle."

"Seriously?" He asks, shocked.

She nods, "It just kept using move after move, and for the most part it was using moves that I hadn't even asked it to use. It doesn't respect me at all."

"Have you tried getting through to it?"

"For as long as I've known it." She says, her next sentence sorta just slipping out like 'word vomit', "The other day, I was particularly harsh to it, and I've felt guilty about it ever since."

He looks at her for a few moments after that, and Casey's worried that he may keep asking questions, and of course she doesn't want to just leave him in the dark now that she's told him part of the story, but at the same time she really doesn't want to talk about what happened at Mr Backlot's Mansion.

Thankfully, he doesn't ask.

"You can't change what you've done, Casey. You can only change what you're going to do, so there's no point in feeling guilty about the things that you can't do anything about." He tells her, sounding far too philosophical and wise for his age.

She says that like he's really young. He's only about a year younger than her.

"Thanks, Duncan." She says, gratefully. "When did you become the advice giving one in this friendship?" She adds, cracking a joke to try and lighten the mood thats suddenly dropped a fair bit.

"Don't worry, Casey. That's still your role." He replies lightheartedly, taking a brief glance down at the black Poketch on his wrist, his face paling slightly, "Hey, if you wanna see Ash and Dawn perform, you might be a little late."

"Why?"

"Because, if my Uncle was right about the timings for the Collection, they're announcing the winner right about now." He says, looking up from his Poketch with a nervous expression on his face.

"What?!" Casey shouts, springing up from the bench and looking around frantically, "We need to get to the venue right now!"

"But it's on the other side of the city!" Duncan says, jumping up from the bench himself.

She knows that Duncan's just being logical. She's aware of where the venue is, and she knows that he's telling the truth about its proximity (or lack thereof), but she's adamant upon getting there in time to at least see the awards be given out.

She pauses for a moment, trying to figure out how she's gonna get there in time, and once she has it she's practically rolling with the punches. Reaching into her pocket, she withdraws two Pokeballs, aiming the first at Monferno.

"Monferno, return!" She calls, the Playful Pokemon retracting back into his capsule much to the confusion of Houndour, and then she's tossing the second up into the air, "Dragonair, lets go!"

The Dragon Pokemon bursts out her capsule, first making eye contact with Duncan and looking both confused and glad to see him. Casey steps to her side, moving so she's situated on Dragonair's back, and the Dragon Pokemon twigs onto what's going on relatively quickly.

"What are you doing?" Duncan asks, perplexed.

"We won't get there in time on foot, so we're gonna have to fly."

The stunned expression that strikes his face is beyond hilarious. Even Casey can see that despite her panic.

"Fly?"

She nods, fully serious, "Yeah. You've got Pidgeot with you, right?"

"Yeah, b-but it's...it's not safe."

She sighs, face softening when she sees how frightful he is, "You trust Pidgeot, don't you?"

"Of course."

"Then it's safe. As long as you trust your Pokemon, it's safe." She explains softly, turning to Dragonair with a smile, "Isn't that right, Dragonair?"

Dragonair responds with an enthusiastic smile that only makes Casey's smile grow.

It gets even bigger when Pidgeot appears at her side, Duncan awkwardly mounting it after having return Houndour to her Pokeball. Once he's got his bearings, he sets them off, "Alright, Pidgeot. To the Hearthome Collection!"

"Pid-goo!" Pidgeot cries as they launch into the air, Duncan's panicked shouts being drowned out by the Pokemon's cawing.

"Follow them, Dragonair."

Casey holds on tight as Dragonair flies them up high into the sky. She's done this before, so it's not as daunting for as it is for Duncan, who looks as if he's holding onto Pidgeot for dear life.

"Are you okay?" She asks, shouting over the wind.

He nods, keeping his eyes fixed on the space ahead of him. He probably thinks that if he turns around, he might disorientate himself and fall down, so she doesn't blame him for not properly answering her.

They're flying for a few minutes before it comes into sight. Casey figures that they'll dismount outside the front and try to get in through the front door, but Duncan has a different approach, instead opting to fly in from the top. Dragonair seems skeptical about his approach, but Casey just tells her to keep following him. He heads right inside, landing next to his stunned uncle, and Casey follows suit, jumping off of Dragonair's back once they're safely on the ground.

"Hey, Uncle Enta." Duncan says, smiling sheepishly when he notices the slightly incredulous look he's giving him.

"Duncan! What are you doing, my boy?" Enta asks, surprised by his arrival. His eyes go over to Casey, "Oh, hello, Casey. It's nice to see you again."

"Hi, sir." Casey mumbles, because she can't deny that she's feeling awkward, especially considering that the entire crowd from the Collection is watching their exchange from the stands.

"We kinda lost track of time and Casey wanted to see who won." Duncan says.

"Did we miss it?" She asks, looking around properly for the first time since landing in the stadium. The first thing that stands out to her is Ash's (and Pikachu's) outfit which is...interesting to say the least. Her eyes then filter over to Brock, who is standing at Paris' side, infatuated as per usual. She notices a middle-aged woman at Paris' other side, and Casey can't lie that the stern expression on her face is quite unnerving.

Finally, she notices Dawn and Buneary, who are both stood in gorgeous matching dresses, and the former's wearing a beautiful crown upon her head.

Casey puts two and two together.

"Damnit! We missed it!"