"I think this looks like a good spot."

"Mmph."

Jamie sighed. "Bonnie?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you still mad?"

"No."

Jamie waited. There was a long pause, then a sigh. "Maybe a little."

Jamie tilted his face back to catch the sun. Three, two, one...

"I always miss evolutions!"

Chesnaught somehow managed to look sheepish, despite being a giant spiky paladin, and Jamie patted his side. "It was pretty cool."

That was a bit of an understatement. It had easily been one of the coolest things Jamie had ever seen. True, getting lost in Connecting Cave hadn't been fun, and neither had accidentally walking into an Axew hatching site guarded by several angry Haxorus been, but his Starter evolving to protect him from a horde of dragons?

Yeah. Pretty cool.

Bonnie had been delighted too, even if she had been half-sulking ever since.

"This always happens! I missed Frogadier, and Noivern, and Clemont didn't even tell me he was evolving Magneton, and now Chesnaught as well!" She looked up at Chesnaught. "Though you are awesome."

Chesnaught rumbled happily, and Bonnie's mouth twitched into a smile. "Yeah." She chewed on her lip for a moment, then let out an exasperated breath. "Okay, I get it."

"You finished?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah," she mumbled. "Sorry." She was silent for a moment, then brightened. "Oh hey, this spot looks great!"

"I thought so," Jamie murmured, but her enthusiasm was infectious and he couldn't help grinning too. And the scene, sparkling blue river running under an equally clear blue sky, didn't hurt. "One question though."

"Yeah?"

"Do you even know how to fish?"

"Nope," said Bonnie cheerfully. "But how hard can it be?"

Jamie watched her cast her fishing line into the water with rather more enthusiasm than skill, and sighed. "How did I know you were gonna say that?" He sat down on the sand and sent out his Pokémon. "Come on, everyone. We might as well take a break."

Nidorina bounded down to play near the water, closely followed by Scraggy. Fletchinder immediately took off with a delighted screech, and Jamie shaded his eyes to watch her dive down to skim along the waves. He wouldn't be using her this time; she deserved a rest after the battle with Korrina, and anyway, there was no way sending a Fire and Flying type out in a Rock type gym would go well. At least not unless you were Bonnie, who seemed to have decided to follow Ash Ketchum's lead in treating type disadvantage as only a minor setback.

Jamie shook his head. He'd do things his way and Bonnie would do them hers and they would both be fine. Chesnaught nudged him encouragingly, and his new Marill scrambled onto his lap. Jamie patted them both.

"You ready for this?"

Chesnaught flexed his muscles and nodded firmly. Marill looked less sure, but she squeaked an affirmative. Jamie patted her. "Just do your best," he said gently. "We'll be fine."

Marill nodded and settled down again, only to jump as an excited yell rang out.

"I got a bite!"

Of course she did. Jamie clutched Marill to his chest and pushed himself up. "What is it?"

Bonnie paused her battle with the rod to grin at him. "We'll find out in a second." She gritted her teeth and gave a mighty heave, and something arched up out of the water to land on the grass next to them.

Jamie looked at it, then at Bonnie.

"You know, when you wanted something that had a type advantage against Grant, I didn't think this was what you meant."

The Magikarp flopped on the ground, and Jamie sighed. Magikarp were perfectly good Pokémon, and their evolutions were better than good, but for a Gym battle they'd be having in the next couple of days it wasn't the most useful thing she could have caught. Dedenne glanced at him and shrugged.

Bonnie, though, tilted her head to one side, and stood watching the still flailing fish for a moment, then walked over to crouch next to the Magikarp. "Sorry about that," she said. "I know it was very rude of me, but I wanted to ask if you wanted to come with me?"

The Magikarp gave her an incredulous look and a particularly pathetic wiggle, and Bonnie smiled. "I know, but if you do we can both become a lot stronger. I promise you, whatever happens I won't give up on you."

The Magikarp stared at her for a long moment, then nodded and Bonnie's face broke into a brilliant smile. "That's great! Thank you." Oblivious to Jamie's stares she tapped it lightly with a Pokéball and it disappeared with a familiar flash of light. The 'ball rocked once, twice, and clicked shut.

Bonnie waited just long enough for the capture to register, then sent the Pokémon back out again into the sea. "I guess you'd prefer to stay in the water when possible." Magikarp nodded, and she waved the rest of her Pokémon over. "Everyone, meet Magikarp. She's going to be travelling with us from now on."

Dedenne immediately scrambled to the water's edge and squeaked a welcome, and Sableye waved from the shade of a large rock. Tyrantrum leaned down, and rumbled approval when Magikarp only twitched a little bit, and Squishy cracked open one eye. Fletchinder hovered overhead, and Jamie's other Pokémon wandered over to join in the introductions. Bonnie straightened up and grinned at Jamie, then paused.

"What?"

Jamie scratched his head about this. "Are you sure? I mean, I know Gyarados are really powerful, but she's going to take a long time to train. You won't be able to use her against Grant tomorrow."

Bonnie shrugged. "I know, but I'd gone to the trouble of fishing her up; it seemed rude not to ask." She grinned. "Besides, I've got a good feeling about this." Dedenne squeaked agreement, and she patted her first Pokémon. "See? We'll be fine."

Jamie looked at her, and at the crowd of Pokémon now paddling in the waves, and had to smile. "Yeah, you will." He paused, but couldn't help himself. "So what are you gonna do about Grant?"

Bonnie sat down on the sand next to him, her expression turning thoughtful. "Not sure," she said slowly. "If he uses Tyrunt or Tyrantrum then Dedenne can handle it, but something like Onix would be trickier." She looked over at her Pokémon. "Maybe Sableye would be all right." She sighed and glanced at Jamie. "I'll have to think about it. What about you?"

"Not sure," Jamie admitted. "I'd like to give Marill a go, and then probably Scraggy, or Chesnaught if things are going badly. I guess it'll depend on what he uses."

He'd heard that Grant had revived an Amaura as well, in which case Scraggy would be the better option, but he'd also heard rumours of a Barbaracle and a Rhydon. Jamie shrugged and rested back on his elbows. That was the fun of being a trainer. He was as prepared as he could be, and all that remained was the challenge.

His attention was brought back to the present when Bonnie snapped her fingers.

"Connecting Cave."

Jamie eyed her warily. "Gonna need a bit more to go on than that."

Bonnie's eyes were gleaming in a way that signified either a really good, or really insane idea. "It's really close by here," she explained. "There are bound to be some Ground and Fighting types in there."

"I know there are," said Jamie blankly. "We just saw them."

"And they'd be perfect for battling Grant!"

Jamie pushed himself off his elbows to fix her with his best incredulous look. "And you couldn't have thought of this when we were in there an hour ago?"

Bonnie blushed. "No. Sorry?"

Jamie sighed. "Well, you do need something, and one of those would be good," he said. He squinted back the way they had come. "It didn't take us long to get here," he said. "If we go now we might be able to find something good today."

Bonnie beamed and bounced back to her feet. "Sounds good to me." She turned to the crowd of Pokémon playing in the shallows. "We're going to back to Connecting Cave everyone." Amid the general flurry of Pokémon being returned to Pokéballs she crouched next to Magikarp and scratched the wet scales. "We'll start training tonight, okay?"

The fish nodded, and Bonnie returned her and set the 'ball on her belt with a smile before returning Tyrantrum and Sableye. Dedenne and Squishy scrambled onto her head and into her bag respectively, and she looked round at Jamie with a smile.

"Ready?"

Jamie had to smile back. His own Pokémon vanished back into their 'balls, and he grabbed his bag. "Ready."

Bonnie beamed and started back up the path. Jamie kept pace with her easily. "Any idea what you want to catch?"

"Nope," said Bonnie brightly. "But we'll work it out." She cocked her head to one side. "I wonder if one of those Axew would like to come."

Jamie tripped on thin air, until he caught the gleam in her eye. "Very funny. 'Sides, you've got two dragons already."

"You can never have too many dragons," Bonnie protested. Dedenne gave a slightly dismissive squeak from her shoulder, and Bonnie gave him a fond scratch. Jamie shook his head.

"You could just use Squishy, you know."

"Well, yeah, but where would be the fun in that?" asked Bonnie. Her smile faded slightly as she looked down at her bag, where Squishy lay snoozing. "And it doesn't really feel right, y'know?"

"Not really," said Jamie honestly. He'd never expected to see a Legendary Pokémon, let alone travel with one.

Bonnie clasped her hands behind her head and tilted her face up to the sun. "I guess, it's because Squishy isn't a normal Pokémon," she said. "They came with me 'cause they trust me. I don't wanna make them fight for things that aren't that important."

Jamie thought that over as they walked. "I think I get it," he said finally. "But you said you were going to use them against your brother."

"Yeah, 'cause Clemont knows all about Squishy, and they both want to," said Bonnie. "But using Squishy against Grant would be a bit, y'know…"

"Overkill?" Jamie suggested, with a small smile.

Bonnie grinned. "Yeah, that." She shrugged. "If Squishy wants to battle then it's fine, or if we're in trouble, but I want to get my badges the normal way."

Jamie choked on thin air. "You think you've been getting your badges the normal way?" he spluttered.

Bonnie blinked at him. "Yeah? I haven't done anything as cool as Ash did."

"Yet," Jamie couldn't help adding, but he couldn't stop smiling. Ash Ketchum being her standard for normality explained a lot. Bonnie still looked bemused, but she grinned back.

"Well, I've still got seven badges to get." Her expression turned contemplative. "I wonder what other Pokémon we'll end up meeting before the League."

"Xerneas and Yveltal?" Jamie suggested, with a smirk, but Bonnie just shrugged.

"Yeah, they are pretty cool."

Jamie froze in place. Bonnie didn't notice, and her voice drifted back as she kept walking. "Yveltal was kind of scary, but I don't think they were really bad. It was just as well Diancie was there though."

Her voice trailed off as she finally realised she was alone. She glanced back with a frown. "Jamie? You okay?"

Jamie could only stare. Bonnie walked back, her frown deepening, and he finally managed to find his voice. "What?"

Bonnie blinked, then her expression turned sheepish. "Oh, yeah. Sorry." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess it sounds a bit like boasting when I say that."

"That's not what I was thinking," said Jamie faintly. He shook his head. "Travelling with me must be pretty boring after all that."

"Of course it's not!"

Jamie blinked, taken aback by the intensity of her response, but Bonnie didn't give him a chance to say anything.

"Travelling with Pokémon can never be boring! Kalos is awesome, and there are so many new people to meet, and then there's you!"

"Me?"

Bonnie planted her hands on her hips. "You," she repeated. "You're funny and a great trainer, and you're my friend." She took a breath, but the glint didn't leave her eyes. "Yeah, travelling with Ash and Serena and my brother was amazing, but so is this. Okay?"

Jamie swallowed, but he had never been able to argue with Bonnie and he didn't think he could start now and he just nodded. Bonnie smiled. "That's that then. Now, come on. I want to catch a new Pokémon!"

"You caught a new Pokémon half an hour ago," Jamie pointed out.

"So?"

Jamie laughed. He couldn't help it. He might never fully understand Bonnie, but he wouldn't change this journey for anything.