AN: Howdy everyone, hope you're doing well.

P: Hi! We're back in this fic now!

K: They've been terrorising us in the other fics more, so they've left us alone.

T: Ki, you only help with Guardians and this. You don't help in Second Start.

K: Not in the AN's. I help Shadow making the actual story, remember?

SV: Ok guys, no need to fight. I'll bring up anything we need at the bottom, so we'll see you there.

P: They don't own Pokemon.

Chapter 25.

The slight race that had started as the group left Mount Moon dissolved as they approached Cerulean. In place of this, however, Misty's anxiety had returned tenfold. She was extremely jumpy, and had attempted multiple times to persuade them to skip over Cerulean and go to Vermillion instead. In fact, that was happening right now.

"But really, why bother going to Cerulean? We could just head for Vermillion and pick up the badge there, then get one of the others instead."

"Ok Misty, I give up." Mia sighed. "What the heck is the problem here? You've been progressively getting more and more jittery as we've gotten closer to Cerulean, and I really can't see why. Cerulean's a Water type city, mostly, so why the worry?" Misty sighed, wincing.

"It's because… I don't want to see my sisters again." She admitted reluctantly.

'Your sisters?' Crimson asked, confused.

"Yeah." Misty replied, after letting Mia translate. "The four of us are all gym leaders there." She kicked at the dirt. "I left a few months back to try and prove that I was a good trainer. The other three aren't at all, they care more about their water shows than the actual gym, and honestly I'm worried at what state it'll be in."

"Well, why didn't you say anything?" Ash asked. "We could have tried to replan if you'd have just said. Now we might as well head in, but you can stay away if you want to."

"No, I'll come too." She decided, after a moment. "I'll come. I want to see how the gym's doing, and maybe I'll be able to show I'm strong enough for them to notice me as a trainer."

"Alright." Mia smiled warmly. "Let's go." As the group set off again, with Misty being a little less worried than before, Ash turned his mind to his parent.

'You really didn't know?'

'Honestly.' She replied. 'Just because I'm Psychic doesn't make me know everything. And I don't tend to read minds as often as I could. Not anymore, anyway.'

'True.' Ash had been told, by some of the other legendaries when they'd visited and Mew had been with the children, that his mom had used to use Psychic abilities much more liberally, reading minds whenever she wanted to know anything. She'd stopped doing it about a hundred years before she'd found him when the Sinnoh trio of legends had fought, and none of the other legends had ever bothered to ask her why. He'd been curious himself, but didn't ask either. If she wanted to bring up why, she would, he supposed. 'What do you think will happen when we get to the gym?'

'Not a clue. It's exciting though.'

'Sure.' Ash sweatdropped. 'We'll go with that.'

The group of four got to the city much quicker now, since Misty wasn't trying to hold them back anymore. Most the city was pretty empty too, due to it being quite late, so they headed straight to the Pokemon Centre, resolving to challenge the gym in the morning. In order to spare Mia from having to try and translate every word to the rest of the group, Bolt and Crimson were having their entire conversation at a speed that meant Mia was able to claim that she couldn't decode it, since they were talking too fast. Currently, Bolt was telling a story from his old group, the pack of Pichu and Pikachu he'd lived in before he'd been caught by Professor Oak.

'... So some of the really young Pichu, like barely past being hatchlings, decided they would drive off the big, scary bird. They all charged into the area, only to see one of the Fearow bosses sitting there!' Bolt laughed. 'Man, they got lucky that he was a pretty mild one in comparison to the rest of that lot.' Crimson brushed away her latest batch of giggles.

'Dear me, that was silly of them.' She then looked at him, concerned. 'Are they ok?'

'I think so. This was about a year back, and I hadn't really seen much of them since, to be honest. Their Memma's were a bit of a pair, too. Bit mad, and never really had much of a logic centre in their brains.'

'Man, it sounds like it must have been fun living in a pack. We starters didn't ever have anything like that happen to us.'

'Really? I'd have thought there'd be a fair bit of excitement, even on a ranch.' Bolt blinked, while the trainers checked in for a set of rooms.

'A bit, to be fair. But most of the time, we were good friends. I stayed with the other 'mons that were my age, and we never really fought. We were all really good friends, so we never fought and tended to share everything.'

'Huh. Most of the others my age tended to argue a lot. I liked to stay out of it, but sometimes I got dragged in anyway.'

'Really?'

'Yeah. There was this one time when-'

"Ok, you two, wrap this up now." Mia interrupted, causing the two starters to jump and both Mew to laugh. "We're going to sleep, and we'll do the gym tomorrow."

'No Game?'

"Nah, no point. Ash should check with Sarie if she's good to fight, and I'll use Arch and Dart."

"I'll just 'port somewhere and do it now." The young hybrid passed Bolt to Mia, then popped out of existence.

'Is he always this stupid?' Crimson facepalmed.

"Not really. He's just not thinking about safety right now. He's more focused on the battle tomorrow, so he wants to get that out of the way before anything else. He'll be back in a minute." Mia told them.

'To be honest, I'm surprised you're so happy with having two humans in the group.' Bolt admitted.

"I'm really not." Mia replied, wincing. "I know it's not right to let past experiences cloud my view of all humans, especially not when it all happened so long ago, but it still makes me worry. If I had it my way, it'd just be me and my child with no one else."

'Why? What happened?' Crimson asked, confused. Mia looked just as evasive as Misty had for a while, and looked very relieved when Ash popped back into the corridor.

"Sarie's good to go! She's a little worried about doing well, but I reminded her that she'll have backup if she ends up needing it." Mia giggled.

"Yes, well, at least she's fine. She is quite a timid Pokemon. Still, was it really necessary to dash off like that?"

"Probably not." He laughed nervously. "Still, I wanted to make sure now, rather than doing it tomorrow."

"I guess." She grinned. "I need some sleep. See you tomorrow?"

"Naturally." Both trainers split, leaving the two starters lingering in the hall for a moment.

'What was that about?' Bolt asked rhetorically.

'No idea.' Crimson answered anyway. 'I doubt we'll get anything out of them. Mia's a legendary, so she'll be harder to press the truth out of.'

'And Ash?'

'I have doubts that he'll know anything, or be willing to let it on if he does.' The Fire type yawned. 'Still, I'm going to sleep. I might see you in the morning, though it might be after the battle. Hell, I'll probably stay in my Pokeball for it. No water for me, thank you.'

'I'll tell you about it if you miss it.' Bolt promised.

'Thanks.' The two shared a warm smile, then headed off to their respective rooms.

The next morning, the group of five met up in the lobby. Crimson was staying in her Pokeball until the end of the battle, since she couldn't be anywhere the water that would be all over the arena. Misty looked quite nervous again as they left, though at least this time she explained why.

"It's not even that I'm that nervous about seeing my sisters." She told them as the five walked towards the gym. "I'm honestly more worried about seeing the state that the gym is in after I left it to them to handle."

"How long've you been gone, again?" Ash asked.

"About three months."

"I'm sure it can't be that bad." Mia assured her. "I mean, they can't be that incompetent, can they?"

They could.

When Misty had lead them to the gym, occasionally pointing out areas she'd liked visiting when she was younger, before she'd taken over the gym, they found three girls outside being confronted by a League official of some kind, who seemed extremely angry.

"Those're my sister's she's talking to." Misty informed them.

"I wonder what the problem is?" Brock asked, to no reply. Instead, they just walked over, catching the tail end of the sentence.

"...There is no possible way that the three of you could possibly run this gym yourselves. The three of you are utterly incompetent." She told them.

"Um, excuse me miss?" Misty tried.

"Yes? What is it?" The woman's voice turned kind as she regarded Misty.

"I was wondering what was going on? Is there a problem here?"

"Unfortunately, yes. These three behind me are completely incompetent at running this gym. Are you here for a challenge?"

"No, but my friends are. I'm Misty Waterflower, the youngest of the four sisters, and I'm also qualified as a gym leader here."

"Misty?" She glanced down at a clipboard. "Oh yes, I remember you. Did awfully well on the test."

"Yeah. I started travelling almost straight away, though, since I had a disagreement with my sisters. I thought they'd be good enough to run the gym in my absence."

"Well, I'm sorry to say that you were wrong. Still, since you're here, can I test you too? I need to know that at least one person can run this place effectively."

"Sure. Though, I have an idea." She motioned towards Ash and Mia, who stepped forwards slightly. "My two friends need a challenge anyway. So, if you don't mind, could we do that at the same time? Two Pokemon, and I'll take them both in a double battle."

"That is acceptable. Go on ahead, and I'll observe your challenge." The three nodded, heading inside to take their places on the floating arena, while the other five went up to the stands.

'Sarie and Arch?' Ash asked his battle partner silently.

'I'd say so.' Mia nodded minutely. 'They're good friends, so they'll work well together, and they haven't had much to do recently. Plus, we can't use Crimson or Bolt, because water, and using the Bugs would feel too much like cheating, given her phobia.'

'Right. Also, your telepathy is more undetectable than mine, so do me a favour and send a message to Misty? She looks sick.'

'Right. Hold on.' Across the watery field, Misty was starting to panic.

What if I fail? I need to show my sisters that I'm not weak, but if I lose then it'll just prove their point. And it might end up with the League closing the gym or replacing us because we can't battle very well. Mia's small message, her telepathy being practically indistinguishable from Misty's thoughts, stopped her worried rant.

'Don't panic. If you do, you'll just lose faster. Anyway, it's just a battle. There's no added pressure. Just do your best, then you'll be fine.' She took a steadying breath.

"Alright. Staryu, Starmie, let's go!"

"Sarie, battle time!"

"Arch, you're up!"

'Right!' The larger of the Flying types cawed confidently.

'I'll do my best not to let you down.' Sarie was much more timid than her partner, but still held herself confidently, if shyly. Then she blinked, confused. 'Why're we fighting Misty?'

'Don't worry, but basically a battle to show the League this gym doesn't completely suck.' Bolt told her quickly.

'Right.'

"Starmie, Bubblebeam! Staryu, Swift!" Misty decided to start things off.

"Arch, block what you can with Whirlwind!"

"Sarie, Vacuum Wave!" A wall of air burst out as the large bird landed on one of the floating platforms and used Whirlwind, pushing the platform to the wall, but also stopping the majority of the bubbles and stars from hitting him or his teammate. Meanwhile, Sarie swung her blades quickly, sending two sharp waves towards each of the star Pokemon on the other side of the field. Starmie managed to react quickly enough to stop the attack it was firing and drop into the water to hide, but Staryu wasn't as lucky and got hit by the other, which knocked it into the pool as well.

'Well shoot.' Arch said, taking a tentative look over the edge. 'How're we dealing with this then, Mia?'

"Arch, Gust on the water!" Mia responded quickly, glancing rapidly around under the water.

"Sarie, take a second to do an Agility or two. I'll give a warning if they get near." Ash told his Pokemon, already searching the rougher waters for the duo.

'Alright.' She did as instructed, carefully keeping her balance on the rocking float.

"Guys, use Rapid Spin to get them!" Misty told them.

"Ash, can Sarie fly?" Mia asked, slightly distracted by her own search.

"I think so."

'It's more hovering.' She admitted, nodding as they glanced at her.

"Right. Arch, other side of the field and up the Gust. Sarie, when I say so, jump and hover into Quick Attack." Each Pokemon took a second to parse the instructions, then nodded an affirmative. The waters slowly got worse, but a minute flash of something in the water told both of the Mew exactly what they needed. "Now!" Sarie jumped off of her platform and caught a weaker part at the edge of the Gust, using it to keep in the air for a little while longer. As she did so, the platform was sent flying sidewards, and Starmie jumped up in a Rapid Spin. Seeing what the trainer had meant, Sarie used the edge of the winds to get a grip for Quick Attack, which knocked the Starmie back into the pool much faster than it had come up. Arch carefully picked up his teammate, leaving the winds for the moment, and deposited her on a platform before she fell.

'Thank you.' She smiled.

'No problem.' He replied, taking off again to return to the air. 'I don't think that'll keep working, though. What's next?'

"Sarie, jump to the next float and use Vacuum Wave!" Ash suddenly barked, causing the timid bug to squeak before jumping, firing a Vacuum Wave straight below her. A startled sound told her that she'd hit something, but which of the two she couldn't tell. She hoped it was the Staryu, since she knew that Starmie resisted Fighting type attacks, but without one of the trainers looking around in that sight they had, she wouldn't know.

'Think our trainers are using that sight thingy to find them?' She asked as she landed.

'Nah, that'd be cheating. Besides, Crimson mentioned that Mia just kinda knew what was going on during that battle in the smoke, so maybe she's just good.' Arch reasoned.

"Arch, up then drop with Quick Attack!" The bird startled upwards, dodging Staryu's Rapid Spin by an inch, then dove to knock the other down. Unfortunately, this put him right into the path of a Hydro Pump, courtesy of the jumping Starmie, which clipped his left wing as he rose away from the water, before going on to knock Sarie off her platform all together.

'Sarie!' He shouted.

"Don't! Quick Attack before it's gone!" Turning and flipping his wing to clear some of the water from the feathers, he shot towards Starmie, hitting it on the topmost point before it was fully submerged.

"Sarie, calm down and Pursuit!" A thud echoed, before the gasping bug returned to the surface.

'That thing was evil!' She declared, as Arch pushed a float over for her to stand on. 'Tried to keep me from getting up here.'

'Right.' Arch's face was set, even while he created a gentle breeze to dry her off slightly so she could use her wings again. 'If you can manage a Pursuit again, get the Starmie. It's weak to it. I'm hunting that Staryu down.'

"Arch!" Mia shouted frantically, and the bird twisted to see a Psywave from Staryu coming for him. For a second, he went to dodge, but decided to hold his ground. Sarie was worse off than him, so he might as well take the hit. Instead, he started another Gust, moving the float backwards while hitting Staryu back. It slipped down the side to the arena, and wobbled for a moment before falling over, fainted.

"Staryu, return." Misty winced. "Starmie, Swift!" Both Pokemon winced, then started dodging the stars. Sarie noticed a white glow around Starmie, and her eyes narrowed.

'Oh no you don't.' Jumping from their current platform to a nearby one, she hopped rapidly across several of them, drawing on the speed she'd gained from her earlier Agility to get close in as fast as she could. A black outline flashed into being on her blades, and she slashed at the Water and Psychic type from behind as it attempted to Recover away the damage they'd already dealt.

"Was that Pursuit?" Ash asked Mia, glancing towards her as Sarie retreated.

"Most likely." She replied, watching the water for any signs on the now half recovered Starmie. "It was fast enough for it. Keep an eye on Arch too, ok? I'll watch for Starmie."

"Sounds like a plan." For about a minute, nothing really happened. The water stayed mostly calm, save from minute ripples from the floats dotted around and Arch's flying pattern.

"Starmie, hard left and Hydro Pump!"

"Arch, upwards now!" Both trainers gave the command in the same instant, and the bird rose rapidly as instructed. Unfortunately for them all, this was exactly what Misty had predicted, and Arch rose directly into the path of the Hydro Pump at the jumps peak, sending him diving into the water.

"Sarie, go!" Ash quickly improvised, ordering his Pokemon to head for Starmie as soon as she could, in order to avoid letting it drop back into the water to take advantage of the downed bird.

"Arch, calm down!" Mia moved back to her own Pokemon, trying to work around the fact that the bird was now stuck in the water, due to the inability to fly from his waterlogged feathers. "Try and use your wings to swim!" The statement had all present looking at Mia like she'd grown a second head.

"What." Ash said, confused.

"You heard me, 'cousin'." She replied, a little sharply. "But seriously, it can't be that much more difficult than flying." 'It actually isn't.' She broadcast telepathically to their Pokemon and Ash. 'I've tried. Just remember that you weigh a little more in the water because of your feathers, but you push the water the same way as air.'

'Good to know.' Ash returned. "Sarie, how's things?" The Scyther had landed on another platform, and was watching carefully for any sign of Starmie attempting to take advantage of the situation.

'Fine. I'm good to keep fighting.' She told them. Suddenly, she slashed forwards, sending a Vacuum Wave splashing into the water. A slightly muffled yelp followed, and Starmie backed off of an attack run.

"Good shot. I missed that one." Mia admitted. A slightly drenched bird popped up from the water, and Arch slowly pushed himself over to the nearest float, trying not to push it away.

'Are you ok?' Sarie asked him, hovering over the water close by.

'I'll be fine. Not going to be able to fly for a bit, unfortunately. I'm completely grounded.' He replied, raising a wing and frowning in distaste. 'I might not be much use now, though.'

'That's alright. I'll try and cover you while you try and get your feathers back into shape.' To punctuate her statement, she jinked left and swept her arm again, hitting Starmie with another Vacuum Wave before dodging around the hastily-fired Psywave with a slightly messy Quick Attack, which betrayed her tiredness.

'Alright.' Staring at the unusual confidence his friend was displaying, he shook himself and got to work on trying to clean up his left wing. Sarie twisted, watching over the water for any sign of the starfish and trusting the two trainers to do the same.

"Left!" Sarie swept over, assuming Ash meant that it was coming from the left, dropping backwards to dodge any possible attack while moving. She ended up in front of it, and the gem blinked before throwing out a Psywave. She squeaked, fluttering backwards as quickly as she could before she could be hit, then fired out another Vacuum Wave set in quick succession in an attempt to break the Psychic type attack. "Sarie, Quick Attack around!" She blinked, flickering left to try and dodge around the edge of the attack. "Pursuit!" The Dark typed energy tore through the Psychic attack and smashed her into Starmie. The purple starfish crashed back into the water, then floated back up, unconscious. Everyone was quiet for a moment, that whole encounter having taken a little less than ten seconds.

"Starmie, return." Misty smiled brightly at the pair of them. "That was ridiculous! How did you manage that?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure." Ash admitted, as Sarie fluttered back to the platform with Arch, who flapped his wings slightly to push them over to the side.

'Are you alright Sarie?' He asked her.

'Yeah, I'm fine.' She blushed, suddenly going back to her shy self. 'What about you? You still look pretty drenched.'

'I'll be fine. It's nothing a bit of a flame won't fix.' Both Pokemon hopped off the float, while the two trainers moved back onto safer ground.

"Crimson?" Mia asked, releasing her starter.

'Yes?' She replied, backing away from the dripping bird and giggling. 'What happened to you, Arch?'

'Evil starfish knocked me into the water.' He grumbled. 'Do you mind…?'

'Not at all.' She spun a small Ember on her tail, making its flame brighter, and held it nearer to her teammate.

"Are you alright, Sarie?"

'Perfectly. I'll take a rest, if you don't mind.'

"Right. Return, then." Misty walked over to the both of them.

"Well done, both of you. That was some extremely well coordinated teamwork between you. Whether or not my showing was good enough, you've still earned the Cascade Badge."

"That's not fair!" The pink haired girl stated. "If she wasn't good enough, then that badge means nothing, so she can't give it out!"

"Actually, she can." The League official stepped forwards. "Even if that show wasn't enough to persuade me that this gym should remain open, due to the fact that I haven't yet passed my decision, it will still count as an official League badge even if the gym closes after this battle."

"What did you think, ma'am?" Misty asked her, nervous.

"Well, if the gym is to be left in your sister's care, then it's going to need to be closed." She informed them. "These three have no sense of responsibility beyond their water shows, and cannot be trusted to even care for the Pokemon correctly, let alone run a gym with them." Misty hung her head at the finality of the statement. "However, if you were to return to run the gym, I firmly believe that this gym would be able to continue." All four of the Waterflower girls blinked, and the official smiled. "You're very skilled, much more so than you were when you did the test. I'd say that even the few months of travelling has been very helpful for you, and I'd love to see how good you might get. So, my proposal is this. I will organise for the League to send down a replacement gym leader for the rest of this year to allow you to continue travelling with your friends for the rest of that time. I'll make sure the replacement has their own team, and they will make sure that the rest of the Pokemon here get back into shape. While you travel, I expect you to try and build another team of your own, which would likely be for higher level badge challenges."

"But, like, what about our water shows?" The blue haired one questioned.

"They won't be continuing here, that's for sure." The official said sharply. "This is a Pokemon League gym, not a showhouse. You'll need to find some other place to do them." All three of the sisters looked about ready to explode in anger, but nodded their heads resignedly and walked off. That issue dealt with, she looked back at Misty. "It will take about a week for the leader to get here. Would you mind hanging around until then to take care of any potential challengers?" As one, the entire rest of the group looked at Mia, who had taken out a notepad and was flipping between pages.

"We can spare a week." She told them, without looking up. "I tried to make sure that the schedule had enough extra time at the end to account for any possible delays I might have. I rejigged it a little when Ash and Misty joined, but it's pretty much the same. We might need to spend a little longer up and about at some point, but it'll be pretty smooth sailing either way."

"Well, I guess that's settled. We'll hang around for the week to wait for the replacement to get here, and I'll try and get some of the Pokemon started on getting back into shape while we wait."

"Good. I wish you luck with those three." She smiled, and started walking back in the direction of Mount Moon.

"Well that went better than I could have hoped." Brock smiled.

"Yeah. Now we've just got to undo all of the damage my sisters did over their time running the place." Misty sighed.

"Don't panic." Mia laughed, returning Crimson and Arch. "With the four of us to spread the load, I'm sure we can at least start to fix everything up. The replacement leader will need to take over when they get here, and getting the Pokemon back into shape might take longer than the year we've got. Maybe after we finish up the League here in Kanto, we'll hang around and make sure everything goes ok with the Pokemon."

"Thanks guys." Misty replied. "It's good to know I've got help."

"And as long as we're travelling together, you always will." Ash promised, stepping over and letting Bolt jump across. Brock went over too, but Mia lingered back for a few moments, frowning.

Perhaps, perhaps… She thought, being careful not to project herself telepathically, even more so than usual. Perhaps indeed… Shaking herself, she joined the group chat, eagerly adding her own ideas to the talk.

In the distance, two figures stood close to each other. The indent of rock and the lateness of the hour made exact features impossible to see, but even then a few distinct curls of red hair caught the fading light.

"Come on, come on…" She whispered distractedly, as though she had meant to be silent. "It's close… but where?" The second figure chuckled quietly, muttering something that was almost certainly supposed to be heard by nothing but the wind, but the girl heard it anyway. "I know I must be patient, but can you blame me? They aren't back yet, there's been no sign and if I try to get information I'm ignored. If no one will help, I'll hunt them myself, with you to help me like you always have." She growled as she stepped back into the alcove, a sound that was far more animalistic than should ever be possible for a human. "We'll hunt them down together. And if anything happened to them there'll be hell to pay." Shadow's closed around them both as her partner stepped forwards and took her arm, a slight flicker of blue dancing around. A gust of wind blew past as the sun finally set, kicking up some dust and sand which obscured the alcove for the briefest of moments. When it settled and the moon rose, giving barely enough light to see by, the deepened shadows had faded, the two figures along with it.

AN: K: What is with you and adding mysterious characters with vague dialogue?

SV: I'm not sure. I think it's because I like solving mysteries when I read, so I like making them too.

P: It's not as fun when you write it though.

SV: Yeah, but it's just as good reading what people think is going on.

T: But Shadow, this fic already has one with the shadow monster; did it really need a second?

SV: *Deadpan* Trixie. You have read the plans for my fics. Both the ones I post, and the ones that I write as fun and might upload when these start finishing. You have seen some of the stuff we have planned for these current three.

T: Point taken, maybe some of this is needed.

P: Alright, I'm reading the plans. I'm curious about this and don't want to wait for you to finish.

K: Sure. It's always funny to see your reactions.

SV: Before we leave, I got a review literally minutes before writing this AN for the upload, so I'll answer the points brought up now for your peace of mind. So, Foreman88, these are the answers for the points. The Pokemon calling Ash and Mia 'boss' is a joke. Neither of the Mew like that, since they prefer to be thought of as just normal Pokemon/people, and not as leaders. The teams know this, and do it to annoy them slightly, but it's all in good fun among the group. With Mia being caught off guard by Meowth, there's a couple of things. First off, he would have tripped her perimeter field, which would set the alarm bells, except that she overestimated. I mentioned that she was a bit on edge, so she put the shield up to large to warn them. Meowth was already inside. Second, she was distracted, both trying to avoid dropping straight back to basic instinct and go hunting, and with trying to keep tabs on everyone at once. Even with several billion years under her belt, she's spent enough time out of danger that she's a little out of practise. Even if we look at the eight years she had Ash, she only had to keep an eye on him and her surroundings, which anyone can do. Add three powerless humans and three Pokemon, which she could see as children anyway, and I think it's safe to say she got a bit distracted. But you are right in what you say, and she certainly isn't careless by habit, no legendary Pokemon is. It's simply a case of too much time in a mostly low stress environment clouding her judgement slightly when too much happened at once. It isn't the first time in recent years, as we'll see later, and it won't be the last. Hopefully this answer cleared up some things for you.

Now that that's out of the way, a few farewell points. The poll for the Alolan replacement will be ending with the next chapter, so get votes in for that if you want a say. Speculation on the shadow creature and this chapter's end events, both with Mia's vague statements and the two people on the mountain, is appreciated and gladly read, since we love seeing what you can think of our plans. Feel free to leave any ideas in the reviews or via PM, and we'll answer in as vague method possible to keep you guessing but hopefully answer anything that might be brought up. Leave a review, and we'll see you all another day! Bye!