Before anyone knew it, another few years had passed and it was the day of the twins' 10th birthday. Evie was asleep in her own room with Charmander sleeping on top of her. Eric was asleep as well in his own room across the hall with his partner, a Riolu he met at school. Charmander began to slowly open his eyes and noticed Evie was still sleeping. Charmander smiled and pecked her lips playfully. The gentle touch caused Evie to stir and slowly open her eyes.

"Good morning!" he happily greeted.

"Morning." She smiled tiredly.

"Happy birthday!" he cheered. Evie gasped as her eyes widen in realization.

"It's my birthday?!"

"Yeah!" he nodded. Evie smiled and hugged him.

"Thanks, little buddy." She giggled. She got up from bed and got dressed before heading downstairs with Charmander following her closely. They went down to the kitchen where she found her parents up and working. Blaziken was making a big birthday breakfast as Danica set the table. Blaziken was the first to notice her arrival.

"Good morning sweetheart. Happy birthday." He smiled.

"Morning! Thanks, Dad!" she grinned.

"Your special birthday breakfast is ready to go." He said, bringing a plate of delicious pancakes over to the table.

"Wow! Thanks again Dad!" she exclaimed. She quickly sat at the table and began eating as Danica sat beside her and Charmander hopped onto Evie's lap. Evie smiled and handed him a pancake to munch on as she continued to eat the rest. Within a few minutes, Eric came running downstairs and joined them at the table.

"Happy birthday bud." Danica smiled.

"Thanks, Mom!" he replied. Blaziken smiled and brought over a plate of waffles for his son who dug in immediately. Danica soon noticed something and looked around curiously.

"Eric honey where's Riolu?" she asked. Eric smiled a little as Riolu suddenly popped his head out from behind Eric, having ridden Eric through a piggyback ride down the stairs.

"I see." Danica chuckled. Eric helped Riolu into his lap and gave him one of the waffles before both of them dove into the delicious food. Blaziken and Danica smiled at their kids, absolutely beaming with pride at who they had become.

"You two excited for your journeys?" Blaziken asked.

"I sure am!" Eric nodded.

"Me too!" Evie agreed.

"Do you two know where you're headed?" Danica questioned.

"Or if you two will travel together?" Blaziken added.

"I'm gonna explore Sinnoh." Eric announced.

"Oh?" Danica wondered.

"Yeah! Thanks to Dad's training, I've gotten great control over my strength! But I want to have amazing battle strength too! And I've read that there's a really powerful champion in Sinnoh! And Riolu and I want to battle the best of the best and become the new champion!" he further explained.

"Awesome!" Riolu agreed.

"That's a great goal bud." Blaziken nodded.

"Definitely. I know you'll make a great trainer." Danica smiled. Eric grinned and scratched the back of his head as Riolu snickered a little.

"What about you Evie?" Blaziken asked, turning to his daughter. "Are you going with him?" Evie looked down at Charmander for a moment, before taking a deep breath.

"I've thought about it, but I don't think so. I think I actually want to go to Unova." She declared.

"Unova huh?" Blaziken asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I'm not quite sure what I want to do as a trainer but, I think that going there will help me find it."

"Sounds familiar." Danica smiled.

"It does?" Evie questioned, tilting her head curiously.

"It sure does." Blaziken agreed. "When your Mom first left on her journey, she had no idea what she wanted to do."

"It wasn't until we met your Uncle Sterling that I found my true calling." Danica finished.

"Well, that makes me feel at least a little better about my situation." Evie smiled softly.

"You never know who you'll meet out on the road. And your destiny can be whatever you want it to be." Blaziken reminded her.

"Going to Unova wouldn't have anything to do with your friend Wade would it?" Danica asked with a smirk, referring to Danica's friendship with the transfer student at her school.

"Huh?!" Evie gasped, blushing profusely. Charmander looked up at her, noticing her blush right away. "N-No! Of course not!" Her protests caused Eric to burst into a fit of laughter as Charmander frowned a bit at the idea. "H-He's just a friend..."

"Whatever you say, honey." Danica chuckled. With that, everyone finished their breakfast then the twins headed upstairs to make the final preparations for their journeys. Eric finished packing for his journey and put his backpack on his back. He glanced across the hall to see Evie zip up her messenger-style bag and sling it over her shoulder. He smiled a little to himself and head downstairs with Riolu trotting along beside him. Evie turned to Charmander but found him still looking at her sadly, still a bit upset from their earlier conversation. But Evie smiled at him anyway.

"You coming?" she asked him. Charmander finally perked up a little and nodded. He hopped onto her shoulder and they laughed together. She headed downstairs and met Eric at the front door. Knowing their parents were in the other room cleaning up from breakfast, both smiled a little at each other and lowered their voices to talk privately.

"I'm...really going to miss you..." Eric admitted.

"Me too..." Evie agreed. "I know we butt heads plenty…but still it's always been the two of us."

"I know…but it still will be. Just with a bit more distance than a hallway." He replied, chuckling a little at his own bad joke. Evie smiled softly and the two stood side by side quietly. Neither one was much for mushy words, but they had always known how strong their bond was. They had never really been apart for longer than a day or two, so the idea of going weeks or perhaps even months apart was suddenly very daunting. They had always had something of a twin sense, but it was even stronger. Evie was the one to finally break the silence by hugging him. Eric hugged her back and the two lowered their voices further to a soft whisper.

"Take care of yourself ok...?" she asked.

"I will...as long as you do the same..." he replied.

"I will." She agreed. The two kids were so caught up in their goodbye, they didn't hear Blaziken and Danica walk into the foyer.

"Nice to see you two getting along for a change." Blaziken suddenly spoke up. A small smirk crossed his face as the twins quickly separated, trying to act like they weren't just hugging each other. Danica couldn't help but giggle as they tried to deny it.

"D-Don't know what you mean." Eric insisted.

"Like we'd ever do that." Evie added.

"Right." Blaziken chuckled. Danica laughed for a moment longer before regaining her composure and wrapping both her kids into a hug. Evie and Eric hugged her back and Blaziken scooped them all in one big hug.

"We love you two so much." Danica informed them.

"We love you too." Evie replied.

"Both of you stay safe out there ok? Remember, you can always come home whenever you want." Blaziken reminded them.

"Thanks. We will." Eric assured him. The family stayed in the embrace for a few moments longer, until Blaziken finally let them go and opened the door. Flashing their parents one more smile each, Evie and Eric headed out to catch their rides. The proud parents watched their kids fade away along the horizon, Blaziken placing a gentle hand on Danica's shoulder.

"There they go...off on journeys of their own." Danica sighed, both proud and disappointed to see them go.

"Yeah..." Blaziken nodded. "What do you think? Did we did a good job with them?"

"We sure did." Danica smiled. "We found our path, and now they'll find their own."

"I love you." Blaziken said, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"I love you too."

The End