A couple of days after Floatzel was submitted into the hospital, Floatzel has been doing some light cognitive activities, and was just cleared for the Pokémon equivalent of step 3 of the process. Ash has been spending all this time training, and Dawn worried about this. There were times she saw him grieving about how it was somehow his fault, he would turn stoic if she asked. He also stopped training with her. Now he's been training all by himself and was pushing his Pokémon to hone their moves and abilities even better. Torterra spamming Razor Leaf to try and always land critical hits against rocks, Staravia trying to use Aerial Ace with less drag resistance and a more aerodynamic way, Bibarel trying to be more accurate with Water Gun on a moving target, Luxray trying to use Charge for longer periods of time as a shield and Duskull using Shadow Sneak at a faster speed against Staravia. The young researcher didn't know what to do. Needing to take a break, she went to the department store, though she had to travel quickly for it was raining right now. Yet even now Ash trains in it, now that she remembers. He just recovered from hypothermia the previous week, for crying out loud!

"I wonder if there are some new clothes I can buy? We should be getting prepared for colder times." Heading to the clothing section, she spotted someone she hadn't expected... well, at the moment anyway, while passing the sporting goods. It was Maylene, looking at some... those grip strengthening things. She didn't know what they were called. Dawn entered the store to greet the gym leader. "Maylene?" She turned to the researcher and looked happy to see her.

"Dawn! How are you and Ash doing?" She asked excitedly.

"Uh, I'm doing fine, though I'm not sure about Ash. But what about you? Last I saw you, you ran away really sad." Maylene went from happy to embarrassed there.

"Yeeeaaah. I needed to let everything out. I talked to almost all of the gym leaders about what happened. Especially Candice. But she and the leaders with more gym experience than me told me that this also happened to them at least once. Roark even says he has the highest count of hurting the challenger too much with either his Cranidos and Rampardos. But that never stopped him or the others. They just simply did what they could do. So that's what I'm doing. You said Ash wasn't doing well?"

"That's good to here, and... I think he's been ignoring his feelings. At least when I'm around. He's been training for hours on end the past couple of days, trying to perfect their moves." The gym leader nodded her head with her eyes closed.

"Ah, I understand this perfectly. Whenever I was depressed, I'd train myself too to excessive amounts. But I've always had family and friends to help me get through." Dawn then gasped at this. "What? What's wrong?"

"Ash had a very lonely childhood. His father ran off, his mother was partially neglectful, and he only had Barry as an actual friend. He's had no one to help him emotionally. He's been doing once we started traveling together, but it's like he's reverted back to what he was before; cold and distant, but now he's not even trying to be good and polite about it." This worried Maylene.

"I see. Can you lead me to him?"

Ash was taking a break from his extra hard training, resting under Torterra's tree as he was having a light nap while the rest of his Pokémon were resting in their Pokeballs. He didn't want to be alone so that's why Torterra was still out. The rain was soothing to him, but it wasn't clearing away the storm that was wracking his emotions.

("50 hours has passed now since Floatzel was submitted. I wonder-no. You can't be focusing on him now. He's recovering, so you need to put your energy on getting your Pokémon stronger. This can't happen again. I won't let it happen again.") While he was thinking, the sounds of footsteps attracted his attention. He saw Dawn, considering about sending her away or not, but then saw Maylene. It was slightly off putting to see her in her gym clothes, considering that it was raining and cold. Her bubblegum pink hair which was normally styled was now straight down barely reaching her shoulders. "Hey Maylene. Shouldn't you be wearing other things then that?" He asked in a barely interested tone.

"This is nothing. I walk to Snowpoint City like this all the time." Both the travelers were stumped hearing that. "But enough about me. I know what you're doing."

"Do you now?"

"Yeah. Using training to block out your feelings. I did so too, but my grandfather taught me that is not the way to dealing with things."

"I'm simply waiting for Floatzel. That's all that matters." He defended with a scoff.

"What about Dawn here? Doesn't she matter?" The gym leader questioned. For the first time in two days, he responded with a strong emotion. And that was anger.

"What are you talking about? Of course she matters!"

"Then why haven't you been paying attention to her? I can understand needing alone time but you need to let other people help you too. Have you called your mother or father yet?" Maylene didn't want to let him know she knew his secret.

"...No." He replied with hesitance.

"Maybe you should. Everyone who's in trouble should call their parents. It's not wrong to have others support you in times like this."

"My mom is likely busy and Dawn has her own things to do. There's no need for me to burden her." He brushed the advice off, not wanting to be shown pity when his partner yelled at him,

"You're wrong!" Ash looked at the young researcher, his eyes widened a bit from her outburst. "If it was Prinplup that was injured, or Lopunny, or Spike, then I would seek the comfort you always give me. Without you, I'd either be doing this Pokedex journey alone or still in Sandgem Town. And with Team Galactic out there, I wouldn't feel safe. With you, I feel safe. I feel happier than otherwise. I feel like I can complete this Pokedex challenge Prof. Rowan gave me. We're supposed to be partners. And shouldn't we be there for each other? The ups and downs?" Her speech was stirring up the emotions that he's bottled up.

("Dawn really thinks of me that highly? Have I possibly been taking her company for granted?") The conflicted trainer set his hand down on Torterra's back, whom has been listening the whole time.

"Torterra." He said and nodded, showing that he approved. All things considered now, he was acting like a prick. Nodding to himself, he slid off of his grass starter and held up a Pokeball.

"Thanks buddy. Return." Once that was done, he turned to Maylene.

"Thank you as well. Sorry for not asking, but how are you doing?"

"Better. Dawn will tell you the rest, but I'm still going to be Veilstone's gym leader." Ash smiled.

"That's great. I'll see you later."

"Happy to be of service. Bye." And with that, the gym leader ran to the dojo gym, leaving the trainer and researcher alone.

"I'm sorry Dawn. For ignoring you." He apologized, looking ashamed that he treated her poorly. Dawn walked up to him and stared right into his eyes.

"I forgive you Ash. You're worrying too much. We're still partners. I'll always be there for you, just as I know you'll always be there for me. You were there during the contest, and you were there for Spike even though I was mad at you. We're never really all that apart most of the time." Dawn then chuckled with a small smile. "Lucas is my biggest childhood friend, but I actually consider you my best friend. It feels... right." Ash lowered his head, his lips quivering. Seeing this, her light smile turned into a frown. "What's wrong?" Then before she could react, Ash hugged her tightly, tears streaming down his face mixing with the rain water on his face.

"Barry's been my best friend for all these years, but it's like you understand me on a more personal level, because I don't know if he would've helped me as easily as you have now. I'm so glad to know you." Dawn wasn't sure if he was basically saying that she was his new best friend or not, but the fact he opened up to her again gave her a sense of pride and joy that she was this close to a lonely person. She hugged him back, feeling hot tears form in her eyes.

"Me too."

On the eighth day, Floatzel was finally checked out of the Pokémon Center. He would still need to recover for a couple of days before being ready to battle, but he was now able to be trained again as long as it wasn't very hard, which Ash could accept. Pastoria City was quite a distance away. Just as Ash and Dawn were about to leave the city, they heard a girl's voice call to them.

"Hey, hold on a minute!" They turned to see Maylene sprinting until she caught up to them.

"Maylene? Here to send us off?" Ash chuckled, but did appear to be confused.

"Sort of. I just wanted to give you something. Hold out your hand."

"Uh... okay." Ash said before holding out his hand. The gym leader dropped into his hand the Cobble Badge, which looked like four orange squares resembling bricks with aluminum being the cement. "Maylene, I can't accept this. I didn't beat you officially."

"Ash, I want you to have this. It's not an apology for what happened, it's me acknowledging that you're an exceptional trainer. True, you haven't beaten me, but even in the past two and a half months I've been a gym leader, you're the most remarkable trainer I've seen. Not only do you really care for your Pokémon, your determination is astounding. You trained a week with me with no complaint, for your goal is one you're certain you'll reach your goal. Training and caring for your Pokémon is usually enough for most people, but you have more drive than my grandfather's martial arts students. And that part were his words. That's why I think you're worthy of this badge, even though you haven't officially beaten me. And besides, you almost did. Lucario was on the cusp of fainting. So you certainly are strong enough to battle against Crasher Wake." Hearing such praise from a gym leader, Ash had no choice but to smile.

"Well, if you think that highly of me, it would be rude to turn down such a gift." The trainer said as he took the badge. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Well, I won't hold you up any longer. I hope we see each other again. Same to you Dawn. Bye." And with that, she dashed off back to her gym.

"Wow, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she has a crush on you." Dawn giggled while teasing him. Ash scoffed as he rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Please. Maylene is nice but she's a gym leader. I can't like like someone who's stuck in one place. Not until I become champion. Anyway, let's go." The two then finally left Veilstone City. To make up for the two weeks spent in Veilstone, they rode on their bike, which turned out to be collapsible so that they didn't have to lug it around everywhere and risk having it stolen, and was able to both move from Veilstone to Pastoria in a matter of five days, which they had previously estimated to be two weeks, forgetting that they had the bike since the café. By the time they made it to Pastoria, it was around 4:20 PM, just before sunset, which by that point of time made traveling at night for long stretches perceivably unavoidable. At least that made finding nocturnal Pokémon easier. Dawn on the way caught a sudowoodo, a girafarig, a houndour, a stunky, a wingull, an eastern shellos, a chatot and a remoraid. Ash caught a rhyhorn, though it wasn't part of his final six dream team.

"I can't believe we caught so many Pokémon in between a city!" Dawn cheered as she scrolled through her Pokedex. "So many new entries!"

"Yeah. And now that the Pokémon are actually starting to become strong, I can now start catching things myself." Ash agreed. Officially entering the city, they found that it had a very marsh like look to it, although this surprised neither of them. The houses looked reinforced to protect against the extra amounts of wetness the area is known for and the ground below their feet feels soft and squishy. Entering the Pokémon Center, they were pleased to find Barry sitting in one of the waiting chairs.

"Hi Barry!" Dawn called to him. He looked in their direction and became ecstatic in an instant.

"Ash, Dawn! About time you got here!" The orange clad blonde cheered as he ran to them and gave both of them big hug, which both returned while laughing. "How are you two doing?"

"We caught nine Pokémon on the way over here! That was awesome." The researcher told him, looking thrilled.

"I'm also doing better. Dawn and Maylene helped. Floatzel is doing good for the most part. Still somewhat sensitive to a lot of stimulus and turns out that he's permanently deaf on the right side but otherwise, he's just slightly below how he performed normally. Regardless of performance though, he's a valuable member of my team and we've gone through too much for me to quit on him."

"Well that's wonderful! Say, is it possible that we could battle? You just got here and I don't want to face you when you're exhausted." Barry asked his best friend, being considerate.

"Sure. Just give me 10 minutes to get them back up to proper battling condition, and you got it." Ash chuckled, slinging off his bag.

"Great! Meet you outside!" Barry shouted before running out. A few seconds passed before he came back, running to the front desk. "Are my Pokémon healed yet?"

"Just in time. I hope you have a great battle." The nurse told him as she gave him his Pokeballs.

"Thanks!" He said before running off again. Ash chuckled,

"He could slow down a bit, but I hope he never changes." Dawn smiled from his improved, more emotionally open personality, remembering how he acted during the start.

The sun has set, but the sky was still glowing orange with the glowing shades of blue and slight purple mixing in. Ash and Barry were facing off each other once more, on an outdoor battlefield with an audience surrounding them. Dawn was sitting with Spike in her arms, trilling his name in excitement. A random citizen was acting as referee.

"This battle is between Ash and Barry! Via the rules established by the trainers, there will be no substitutions allowed unless a Pokémon is knocked out, and only four Pokémon will be used! Let the battle begin!"

"Staraptor, I choose you!"

"Thorn, get ready!" The two Pokémon appeared, with Ash's bird having finally fully evolved. His chest was now white with a black zigzag, and the crest on top of his head was now fully red. He spread his wings out crying out his name.

"Staraptor!"

"Whoa Ash, wait! Can I switch?! I don't want to have Thorn be beaten that quickly!" Barry pleaded.

"I just said that-" The referee started to lecture, but Ash held his hand up to quiet him.

"Let him switch. Barry and I know each other well. He should get the chance to start off fairly.

"Thanks Ash! Thorn, your turn will come soon!" Barry stated as withdrew his grass type. "Stara, get ready!" And with that, their respective bird Pokémon were on the field. "Now let's see who has the stronger staraptor!"

"I couldn't agree more."

"Quick Attack!" Both yelled at the same time. Both flying types blitzed faster than they could keep track, occasionally a shockwave may appear in the air from the psychical impacts. "Aerial Ace!" Moving out of hyper speeds, the flying types were in a head on collision course as white streaks trailed around and behind them. With incredible strength, they smashed right into each other, grunting as they pushed against each other with all they had. But eventually, Staraptor was able to push on through, shoving Stara out of the way with a pained cry. Barry growled in frustration that his respective bird was going to be beaten again. "Close Combat!" Flying high into the air, both of them were spinning around doing aileron rolls, keeping their chests facing each before moving backwards in a loop before they engaged in a smackdown of beaks, wings and clawed feet. Due to no longer maintaining flight properly, the Predator Pokémon fell through the sky like rocks, falling faster and faster as they fought with extreme ferocity until they crashed into the ground, creating a dust cover from the impact. Everyone was waiting in anticipation as the obstructing dust came down, revealing a standing bird, a foot on the loser's face while it was knocked out. The winner was clearly bruised and scratched.

"Oh man. Who's the winner. I can't tell who it is." A crowd member asked. After a few seconds of tension, the standing Predator Pokémon flew to Ash.

"Alright buddy, you did it!" Ash congratulated as he hugged his winded, but still fighting able Pokémon.

"Stara is unable to battle! The winner is Staraptor!"

"Way to go Ash." Dawn whispered to herself while Spike cheered for his imprinted father.

"Stara, return." Barry said as he withdrew his bird. "It's not your fault. You did good." After putting her away, he called to his rival, "Your Staraptor is almost always one step ahead in strength, isn't he?!"

"It's especially thanks to Maylene. I think that if it weren't for her, Stara may have lasted longer. Maybe even beaten Staraptor if she was lucky enough."

"Then we'll just train twice as hard to make up for it then! Tails, get ready!" Barry boasted as he released his Sea Weasel. "Use Agility!" Obeying his command, his Floatzel started blitzing around the tired bird, easily outpacing him.

"Try to catch it with Aerial Ace!" Ash instructed. Despite his injuries, Staraptor took to the skies and tried to tag the water type, but for once, he couldn't catch up as he just passed through an afterimage.

"Finish him with swift!" From all angles, golden stars started raining down from above, aimed right for the stuck flying type as he was bombarded by the unavoidable attack. He shrieked in pain as he was forced downward into the ground, and when it stopped, Staraptor was defeated.

"Staraptor is unable to battle! The winner is Tails!"

"Yeah, take that Ash!" Barry rubbed it in his rival's face, whom only rolled his eyes in amusement.

"Wonder if Tails could win this with his speed?"

"Thank you Staraptor. You've proven yourself once more." Ash said to his fallen bird as he took out a Dusk Ball. "Duskull, I choose you!" Ash yelled as he revealed his ghost type.

"A ghost type? Very interesting Ash, but Tails knows Crunch, which is what we'll use right now!" Barry said in the form of an order, and the vastly quicker Pokémon lunged at the spooky Pokémon with its jaws ready to snap down on its target. However, with a snap of Ash's fingers, Duskull was able to make one blue flame in front of him before Tails passed right through it and chomped down on it, causing the Pokémon to moan in pain. Tails even threw him away into the ground and chuckled. However, retribution was swift as for just an instant, Tails burst in flames, screaming in pain. "No way! He got burned?!"

"That's Will-O-Wisp for you." Ash shrugged with a smug grin. "Now use Confuse Ray!" It's eye glowing red, a purple beam made its way to Tails, doing something. The result was that the floatzel became disoriented and was unable to stand still.

"That's not faaaiiiiirr!" Barry whined, frustrated to see his Pokémon heavily inflicted despite not even being hit by a single attack. "Fine then! Tails, use Crunch again!" Trying to follow through, he tried to attack, but with the faster movement speed making his visual perception even worse, he tripped mid-attack and careened right into a tree at high speed.

"Quick, use Astonish!" Creating two shockwaves from his eyes, they flew right into the downed Sea Weasel, right before the burn effect took hold and hurt Tails even more.

"Use Crunch again!" Refocusing, Tails leapt and actually made contact this time, inflicting more damage to the wailing Requiem Pokémon.

"Astonish, again!" Pushing back the water type with shockwaves, Tails growled before the burn hurt him again. This continued for some time on repeat, either Tails making a hit or more consistently not then being both attacked and burnt.

"Crunch, once more!" Barry pleaded.

"Dodge it!" Ash ordered. Despite his slow speed, Duskull was able to move out of the way due to the water type haven taken up so much damage. "Finish this with Astonish!" With one final attack, the floatzel was pushed into the ground before he was burnt one last time, before fainting.

"Tails is unable to battle! The winner is Duskull!" The referee announced.

"Good job Duskull!" Ash praised, but was surprised when the ghost type started glowing white. His body started to grow more roundish and grew feet. Hands appeared out of nowhere along with the skull disappearing, leaving only a single eye. When the white glow went away, there was a larger grey ghost with white growths from his shoulders and top of the head respectively.

"Dusclops." He said.

"Wow, Duskull evolved!" Dawn gasped with joy. Spike didn't seem to share the sentiment as he was scared from the pressure it seemed to impose and withdrew into himself until Dusclops was gone.

"Well done, Dusclops!" Ash cheered for his newly evolved Pokémon. After returning Tails into his Pokeball, Barry proclaimed,

"Your Pokémon may have evolved, but I know it's weak by now! Infernape, get ready with Flame Wheel!" From the sphere came out a red and white monkey before it started spinning forward while producing fire around him. Rearing back both its floating hands, they became outlined with grey energy, before throwing them, creating two ranged punches that shot straight through the air, colliding with the flaming wheel, stopping it in its tracks.

"Whoa, he's countering with Shadow Punch!" Dawn gasped again.

"Finally an attack that packs a punch." Ash commented. Some of the audience laughed, including Barry.

"HAHAHA, that's pretty good Ash! No wait! Keep going Infernape!" He snapped, shaking off his distraction. Despite being stopped, the punches didn't last forever as they faded, no longer giving resistance against Infernape as he continued with his attack, rolling right into the Beckon Pokémon. He fell onto his back, unconscious.

"Dusclops is unable to battle! The winner is Infernape!"

"Dusclops, return." Ash said as he got his ghost type off the field. "You did excellent, Dusclops. Congrats on evolving. Floatzel, I choose you!" Throwing a Net Ball, he released his own Sea Weasel. "You don't want to hold back on him. He may not be at optimal condition, but that doesn't mean he's useless in a fight."

"I wasn't planning on holding back anyway! Mach Punch!" Faster than even Ash could try to counter, Infernape got up into the shocked water type's face and smashed his fist into Floatzel's face, sending him flying off the battle field and into a tree, seriously damaging the bark.

("His Infernape is really fast. He's likely faster than my physical commands if we don't yell them out.") "Floatzel, are you okay?!" Ash called out to his Pokémon. With a shake of his head, Floatzel stood up with a growl and ran back to the field. "Tough as always." Ash complimented with a smile." Now, use Aqua Jet!" Surrounding himself with water, Floatzel shot forward like a rocket at the Flame Pokémon.

"Counter with Mach Punch!" Lunging forward with all his might, the two clashed with enormous amounts of force, creating a shockwave that blew wind across the battlefield, forcing everyone around to resist against it. Dawn hugged spike close to her chest to make sure he wasn't too frightened, as he still remained in his egg.

"Continue with Crunch!" Ash ordered. Like before, Floatzel used his water to move past the fist and bit down hard on the fire type's shoulder, causing him to wince. But in that moment, the fire on the top of his head exploded in power and he howled in rage as he grabbed the Sea Weasel, and threw him into the air.

"Alright! Mach Punch!" Barry shouted. With a mighty jump, the Blazing Blaze Pokémon soared high above the ascending water type and delivered a powerful punch to Floatzel's back, causing him to yelp in pain. He plummeted to the ground like a comet, smashing into the ground, with Infernape landing a good distance away, panting and struggling to stand. Floatzel was able to get back onto his feet, though it was clear that he was being pushed to the limit as well.

"You okay, Floatzel?" Turning his head to the right, he gave a pained grin. "Okay. Finish this with Aqua Jet!"

"Burn out with Flame Wheel!" Both Pokémon covered themselves in their respective element and barreled toward each other at high speeds, and when they collided, they were at a stalemate until the building energy between them caused an explosion. When it eventually settled, both Pokémon were knocked unconscious.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle due to a draw!" The referee declared. The audience applauded from such a sight.

"You did well Floatzel. Your recovery was splendid." Ash complimented his water type as he returned him.

"Great job, Infernape the fact you made it a draw helped." Barry praised as he retreated his starter. With one last Pokemon for this battle, they yelled,

"Luxray, I choose you!" "Thorn, get ready!"

"Use Charge!" Ash ordered. Electircity started cackling around Luxray's body, his hair standing on end.

"Use Stun Spore!" Spraying the air with yellow dust from its rose hands, Luxray coughed from the polluted air, and thus he fell forward, becoming paralyzed from the spores.

"No!" Ash cried out.

"Yes! Now use Magical Leaf!" From his hands, rainbow glowing leaves flew out and made contact with the lion like Pokémon, dealing some damage.

"Luxray, use Charge again!" Despite the paralysis, he once again charged up with electrical energy, becoming even more powerful.

"Magical Leaf again!" Thorn again bombarded the lion with rainbow glowing leaves, but they did even less damage this time.

"Spark!" Running forward with his electrified body, he managed to ram into the grass type, dealing major damage. He cried out of agony as he fell onto his back, but was not knocked out.

"Quick, recover with Giga Drain!" His hands glowed bright green before shooting off beams of light that started draining Luxray's energy, but wasn't successful of taking a whole lot, based from his barely affected gaze.

"Finish it with Bite." Baring his teeth, he clamped down on Thorn, causing the Thorn Pokémon to cry out in sheer pain before fainting, losing the battle.

"Thorn is unable to battle! Luxray is the winner, and so is Ash!" The referee declared, creating applause from everybody.

"Way to go Ash!" Dawn congratulated.

"Togepi!" The Spike Ball Pokémon trilled in joy, waving his arms and feet.

"I lost again?! Awww!" Barry complained as he returned his Pokémon solemnly. "Thanks Roselia. You did your best."

"I'm actually impressed Barry." He looked up to see his rival in front of him. "Despite Maylene's training, you actually put me on the ropes. If it weren't for Maylene's training regiments, you may have actually won. You're definitely strong." Ash complimented Barry as he offered a hand.

"Heh, dang it Ash, you're cramping my style here." Barry cracked with a smile as he jokingly turned away, before coming right back and slapping his hand into Ash's to make a wild handshake. "Thanks."

"Togi. Togepiii!" Spike called out as he ran to Ash, hugging his leg while Dawn slung her arms over both their shoulders.

"That was awesome, you two! I don't think I've seen such a close match up with you two!"

"Thanks Dawn! That means a lot!" Barry laughed.

"Yeah. That was the most fun battle we had yet." Ash agreed.

"Come on, let's go have lunch together. I don't think we even had lunch in between all three of us, I can't wait!" The girl was going on from how excited she was.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I've been having relationship issues and you know those can get pretty distracting. Anyway, this was a real great chapter to write. I know at least one of you might see this as Ash winning as usual against Barry, but I've had a unique idea about what to do back since their third battle, so no complaining just yet. How was the whole recovery thing for Floatzel? Done good, or rushed, or neutral? Let me know. I also have decided to do all future Pokémon generations as stories. Yes to Ash B&W, yes to Ash XYZ, yes to Ash Ultra, and yes to Ash... (Still working on a title for the Galar games), since I've figured out all the final six teams I need for Ash and whatever partner he has at the time. There will be a side story when I do Black and White 2 because I'll be using Nate as the protagonist than Ash because like Hilbert/Hilda he would disappear but that's a story for another day. I won't be doing Alpha and Omega because if you remember what I said in chapter one about why I'm not doing Hoenn, then Mega Evolution will just make it even easier and broken, even if the remakes are more challenging then original Ruby and Sapphire. Also, I'm going to be taking a two week break from writing to get my life into a more manageable situation where things aren't so hectic. To sign off, here's Rotom with his current Pokedex entry.

Thank you, Festivewillow69. Sorry about not saying anything for awhile. That time with Floatzel was quite something. Here is #356: Dusclops, the Beckon Pokemon; Its body is hollow. It is said that those who look into its body are sucked into the void. If that's the case then how come either nobody avoids them like the plauge, or they don't suck people in as soon as they're in line of sight? Does it only do so when it opens it's mouth? It should be those who look inside its mouth are sucked in since that's more accurate.