How could everything turn into something so disastrous that it made Tsuna's head spin?

Adelheid looked like she might actually kill him. "Aster, use—What are you doing?"

Tsuna squeaked when her Cloyster leapt towards him, but Bacchus snapped to attention and jumped out of his arms, baring his teeth in warning. His vine whips were already out and ready to fling Aster away, with Ace fluttering beside him as backup.

"Cloyster," Aster said, stopping a small feet away from them, his smirk still in place.

Bacchus hissed while Ace screeched. Tsuna frowned. "That's not true," he said. "They're great. What do you kno—"

Adelheid swiped her arm in the air. "It doesn't matter. Your Pidgey and Bulbasaur are at a disadvantage to my Cloyster. It wouldn't matter if they both come at us because they're weak anyways."

Tsuna clenched his hands into fists. "They're not weak!"

Enma tugged Adelheid's sleeve, looking small behind her taller body. "Adelheid, this is just a misu—"

Adelheid glared at him making him flinch. "No, I told you to tell me if they keep bothering you and you lied to me." Her words made Tsuna shiver. She reminded him of Hibari, but spoke more than a grunt. Tsuna didn't know which was worse. "I'm just gonna make sure he gets the message."

"I don't even go here!" Tsuna said. "This is just a big mis—"

Adelheid's glare turned frostier. "Quiet! Aster, use Ice Beam!"

A light blue ball formed on Aster's horn before a stream of water spurted towards Bacchus and Ace. Tsuna gasped. "Dodge, jump, fly out of the way, something!"

Ace was luckier. He soared up to avoid the Ice Beam, but Bacchus was slower. He yelped when the attack landed on his back legs, rendering them useless in a block of ice. Tsuna gasped. "Bacchus!"

His first instinct was to run towards the struggling Bulbasaur until Adelheid said, "You're not a Trainer." She sneered. "You can't even battle with your Pokémon."

Tsuna opened his mouth but couldn't form the words to refute Adelheid's comments. He was frustrated, he was angry—everything Adelheid said was true. He wasn't a Trainer, he wasn't good at Pokémon battles—heck, his Pokémon fought for him. What was he even doing on this journey?

He didn't know. He couldn't come up with anything.

"Forget it," Adelheid said. "You're not worth it. Don't bother my friend again or I won't spare you next time. Aster, return."

Those words hurt Tsuna more than he thought. Enma offered a weak smile in apology before following Adelheid into the fog.

Dante helped melt the ice around Bacchus' legs when Tsuna returned to camp. He wrapped Bacchus in an extra blanket Yamamoto had to keep him warm and let him doze off on his lap. Every time Bacchus shivered, it stabbed another shard of guilt in Tsuna's chest.

"Tell me where she is, Tenth!" Gokudera said, smacking his palm with his fist. "I'll beat her easy in a battle!"

Fairy, Dante, Ace, and Mira voiced their agreement, but that didn't sway Tsuna. He looked down at Bacchus' trembling form while giving the Bulbasaur tiny pats to soothe him. "Why did you leave home?"

Gokudera blinked. "Huh?"

"I mean, why are you on this journey? What's your endgame? You know, your dream."

"To be a Pokémon researcher!" Gokudera flushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I'd like to be. I wouldn't mind being Professor Bermuda's assistant either. His research is amazing and he's been studying Jirachi recently. Did you know it's said to only wakes up every 1,000 years?"

Tsuna didn't have the energy to do some poor math on that logistic, remembering the photo he had with the Mythical Pokémon when he was a kid.

Yamamoto grinned. "I want to join the Starmies when I get good enough!" The Starmies was one of the most popular baseball teams in the Kanto region. Their home stadium was back in Cerulean City.

Gokudera made a face. "Then why are you following us?"

Yamamoto shrugged. "Pops called this a break, whatever that means." He smiled. "So I'm just going with the flow for now." That didn't satisfy Gokudera in the slightest.

In the tree, Hibari continued sleeping as if nothing was going on. Fairy mimed some quick boxing punches and tittered in a haughty manner. Tsuna sighed. Figures Hibari just wanted to be the strongest Trainer in the world—literally and figuratively.

So where did that leave Tsuna?

He placed Bacchus to the side and stood up. "I'm gonna go for a walk." When Gokudera tried to follow him, Tsuna shook his head. "I kind of want to be alone." He waved his hands when Gokudera's shoulders slumped. "It's not like I hate your company or anything! I just need to deal with this by myself. I'll be back to make lunch, don't worry. And I won't go too far."

Tsuna was pretty grateful when Yamamoto distracted Gokudera with a random question about Jirachi, and snuck off. He didn't make it too far before Ace perched on his shoulder, his wings fluttering, and Dante, Mira, and Bacchus trailed behind his heel. Tsuna couldn't help but laugh a little when he noticed Mira holding a bucket of water holding Bastion above her head.

The mist wasn't as thick now, and Tsuna didn't have much trouble finding a clearing by a pond and making himself comfortable on a patch of grass. Bastion jumped inside the waters and swam around for a little while. Bacchus took his spot on Tsuna's lap, ignoring Dante's indignant squeal. Ace leaned against Tsuna's head, a comforting weight.

Tsuna blinked when Mira patted his arm. "Squirtle," she said.

"I don't know," Tsuna said. "I kind of just—I guess I don't really know what I'm doing."

"Squirtle, Squirtle."

"No! I didn't feel forced to take you. Never!" Tsuna began to sweat. His Pokémon were kind of oblivious to their own devotion, huh.

Mira smiled. "Squirt, Squirtle."

"I don't know. I mean, Giotto wanted to become a Trainer and now he's the Kanto Champion. Dad was a Ranger and Mom was a Coordinator." Tsuna looked down at Bacchus, who was dozing off but still awake. "I don't know what I really want." He tightened his arms around Bacchus. "And Bacchus got hurt because I didn't know what I was doing. I don't know how to battle. I don't even know if I want to become a Trainer. I don't know a lot of things. I'm just bringing you guys down." Mira smacked Tsuna's cheek, making him yelp. "That hur—"

"Squirtle, Squirtle."

"But—"

"Squirtle, Squirtle."

"I mean, yeah."

"Squirtle, Squirtle."

"Yes…"

"Squirtle, Squirtle."

"I don't want that to happen! I love you, guys. You grew on me."

Mira placed a hand on Tsuna's chest, ignoring Bacchus' grumbling. "Squirtle."

Tsuna smiled and patted her hand. "Okay, I'll try. We'll try together."

Dante pumped his fist in the air. "Char, Charmander!"

Tsuna sighed. "No, that doesn't mean you can start killing Pokémon now, you crazy lizard."

"Karp," Bastion said, lowering his head.

"…I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that."

A/N Mira's a smart turtle. She will show da wae.

I posted in "Two Halves of a Whole" about the update situation but basically, I've been busy with school. I can't promise that updates will be consistent, but none of my fics are abandoned. Please stop asking me for updates on other fics. I understand that I haven't been able to do that in a while, but unfortunately, I'm unable to write as frequently as I'd like and those kinds of reviews incite more anxiety than enthusiasm.

I also have a Discord group if you want to get more updates on what's happening or talk with other peeps! Link's in my profile.

Thank you for reading!

Have a lovely day~

Little Miss Bunny