Hidey ho, everyone! Look who finally finished a new chapter! That's right, me! This semester ended up kicking my butt, like really badly, so writing up more of this during that time was just not an option. But now I'm done, I'm free, and I'm ready to get this writing train back on track! Let's start off with this fun chapter that brings back one of Aiden's biggest rivals! Who's it gonna be?

LAST TIME: Aiden enters the Contest on Seafoam Island to try and fire Michelle up. It works perfectly, until Aiden ends up making the finals and having to face Michelle! In the end, Michelle ends up winning, thus earning her third ribbon.

Chapter 38: A Boatful of Trouble!

With Michelle having just won her third Contest ribbon on Seafoam Islands, the group had boarded a boat headed for Cinnabar Island, where Aiden would compete for his next gym badge.

"I can't wait until we get there! I've just got to win my sixth badge!"

Michelle smirked at her brother's obvious excitement. He was practically hanging over the edge of the boat, the sea breeze blowing around his raven locks.

"Careful, Aiden," Michelle gently warned. "You don't want to go overboard!"

"Too late for that," Brandon remarked, chuckling afterwards at his own joke.

"Gee, thanks guys," Aiden sardonically replied, hopping back down onto the deck. "I can't help it that I'm excited! A new badge will just mean I'm that much closer to entering the Indigo League!"

"True," Michelle drawled. "But you're still going to need two more badges after this one."

"Which you haven't even won yet," Brandon added.

"Guys, come on, have a little confidence in me!" Aiden practically pleaded. "I know you both think I'm just stubborn, headstrong, and over confident-"

"All completely, undeniably, one hundred percent accurate," Michelle interrupted, Brandon chuckling at her response.

"But I know what I'm doing," Aiden finished, his voice flatter than before. "Seriously! I've grown a lot since we left Cerulean, don't you think, Shelly?"

"I mean, I guess," Michelle responded in a lukewarm fashion. "To me, you're still just my annoying twin brother. But I guess maybe you think a bit more than you did before. You've got strategies and stuff now!"

"Gee, thanks," Aiden quipped.

"Don't mention it!" Michelle laughed.

"Well, well, look who it is! Bed head and his two ragtag companions!"

Aiden whipped around, his eyes narrowed and cheeks turning red. He would recognize that voice from anywhere, and the feeling of blood boiling that resulted from hearing it.

"Sam," Aiden seethed as the brunet boy walked towards him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way to Cinnabar Island, of course!" Sam chortled. "They've got a gym there, you know."

"No kidding," Aiden bit.

"Oh, is that why you're going too?" Sam gasped. "No way! I thought you would have given up on collecting gym badges by now!"

"For your information, I have five badges already!" Aiden yelled. "How do you like that, huh?"

"I guess that's impressive," Sam sighed. "For a kid like you, anyway!"

Pulling out his silver badge case, Sam flipped it open and revealed its red velvet interior to the trio standing across from him. Pinned inside were seven badges, with one vacant spot awaiting the eighth.

"No way…" Aiden muttered.

"As you can clearly see, I'm a lot closer to the Indigo League than you are," Sam bragged. "And once I win my eighth badge on Cinnabar Island, I'll be all set!"

Michelle, who was standing next to a growling Aiden, took a closer look inside of Sam's badge case. The latest badge Sam had obtained, based on its position in the case, was none other than the Cascade Badge handed out by her mother.

"You challenged my mom?" Michelle asked.

"Yep!" Sam confirmed. "I was visiting home for a couple of days, and at the end of it, I decided to hit up Cerulean City and challenge your mom! I almost skipped that gym, you know. Didn't want to deal with the fanfare. But I'm sure glad I went!"

"She gave you a good battle, huh?" Aiden asked proudly.

"Hardly!" Sam guffawed, causing both Aiden and Michelle to look offended. "She was practically lifeless! I haven't had such a boring battle in a long time. The only reason I'm glad I went was because the badge was so easy to get! I didn't even break a sweat."

"Hey, that's my mom you're talking about!" Aiden fumed.

"Yeah, where do you get off?!" Michelle demanded.

"Look, I'm just telling you what I observed," Sam scoffed. "Maybe she was just tired! Either way, it wasn't a good battle. It happens."

"Jerk," Aiden muttered, his hands tightening into fists.

"By the way, Aiden, what was with that whole Contest debacle?"

The already perturbed boy turned his head towards Sam, who was still smirking in totally irritable fashion.

"What do you mean?" Aiden asked statically.

"Oh, don't play dumb!" Sam affronted. "You entered that Contest on Seafoam Island!"

"So what if I did?" Aiden huffed.

"That's why I thought maybe you'd given up on earning gym badges," Sam teased. "That sends a terrible message, you know! It makes you look like a lazy trainer! Dividing your attention between two different types of battling? How stupid can you get?"

"I wasn't!" Aiden barked.

"To be honest, I'll be surprised if you even make it to the Indigo League," Sam continued. "Your Contest battles weren't even that good! Getting to the finals was pure luck. And once you got there, you were beaten by your own sister! And on national TV, too! Now that's embarrassing."

Aiden opened his mouth to argue back, but unfortunately for him, Michelle was quicker.

"Aiden is not a lazy trainer!" Michelle shouted. "The only reason he entered the Contest was to try and make me feel better! I hadn't been confident about my last few Contests, and he felt bad. So he entered the Contest to try and get a rise out of me. And it worked! He's just a good brother is all! Don't call him lazy! If anything, he's sweet, and caring! And I've never really used those words about him out loud before…but I mean it! And you have no right to pick him on like that!"

Sam bit his lower lip as he glanced over at Aiden. The raven haired boy's entire face was red now, his brown eyes blazing with obvious anger.

"Wow, Aiden," Sam marveled in mock amazement. "I didn't know you needed your little sister to stand up for you!"

"I'm not his little sister!" Michelle blared. "I'm twelve minutes younger!"

"Michelle, shut up!" Aiden seethed.

Brandon bit back a groan at Aiden's hasty reaction, while Michelle just looked utterly shocked.

"Excuse me?" Michelle demanded, folding her arms across her chest.

"I don't need you defending me!" Aiden cried. "I can take care of Sam on my own!"

"I was just speaking up," Michelle growled. "You were helping me! I'm not going to let someone as stupid as Sam talk bad about you!"

"Stupid?" Sam spat, looking rather offended.

"You're making me look like a little kid!" Aiden barked. "I don't need any help! Especially from someone like you!"

Michelle lost her edge for a split second, looking instead like she would burst into tears. That expression evaporated quickly, however; replaced once again with one of sheer anger. Without another word, Michelle turned on a heel and stomped down the deck, away from Aiden and the two other boys. Aiden, in turn, stormed away in the opposite direction.

"Wow," Sam whistled. "That sure was something!"

"Ugh, they've actually been getting along," Brandon grumbled. "Then you had to show up and ruin it."

"Hey!" Sam bit.

"Whatever," Brandon sighed. "Since you're the one who ruined my peace and quiet, you're going to help me patch those two up."

"No thanks," Sam quickly replied. "I came over here to rile Aiden up. That's all. And I just so happened to get Michelle flustered at the same time! Mission accomplished, my job is done."

"Oh no, your job has just begun," Brandon seethed.

"I already told you, I'm not helping those two make up," Sam huffed.

"Oh, you're going to," Brandon hissed. "You don't have a choice."

"Oh yeah?" Sam guffawed. "And what are you going to do to me if I don't do what you say, huh?"

Rolling his eyes, Brandon grabbed Sam by the shoulders and forced the boy to turn around so his back was facing him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sam barked.

Without answering, Brandon opened up Sam's backpack and pulled out the boy's badge case, holding it high above his head.

"Hey!" Sam yelled.

"You're not going to get these back until you help me with Aiden and Michelle," Brandon informed the boy.

"That's a joke, right?" Sam deadpanned.

"Do I look like I'm joking?!" Brandon hissed, pointing at his face. "Because I'm not. And let me tell you, it's going to be a real pain in the neck to have to go back to all seven of these gym leaders and re-challenging them for badges. Especially against Misty after those two go and tell her what you just said."

"Fine," Sam grumbled, crossing his arms against his chest. "I'll help you reconcile those two whiny kids. But only to get my badges back!"

"Just as I'd expect," Brandon sighed, slipping the case into his own backpack.

"So how do you expect us to get those two to forgive one another?" Sam demanded. "I've got plenty of experience with them. When they get that mad at one another, they stay hot headed for a pretty long time."

"Well, I've had just as much experience as you," Brandon reasoned. "The only difference is that they actually like me."

"Can't argue with that," Sam conceded.

"I know how to approach it, but it's gonna take a lot of work," Brandon warned.

"I don't care how much work it takes," Sam replied. "I'm always up for a challenge! And I seriously need my badges back…"

"Then here's the plan," Brandon began, catching Sam's attention. "I'm going to go after Aiden, and you'll work on Michelle."

"Nice, giving me the lady," Sam purred.

"I'm not giving her to you because I think you've got a shot with her," Brandon groaned, rolling her eyes. "Hardly. I know Michelle would never go for a creep like you. The only reason I'm having you take care of Michelle is because I know you'll just tick Aiden off even more. Putting you two together is like locking a Seviper and a Zangoose in a room together and throwing away the key."

"A fight to the death?" Sam mused. "Well, between me and Aiden, I think we all know who would come out the winner…"

"No one cares! That's not our focus right now!" Brandon snapped. "Pay attention. We're going to get off of this ship and split up. I will find Aiden, and you'll find Michelle. Once you find her, you've got to calm her down before you convince her to make up with Aiden."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Sam drawled.

"Find something that she likes," Brandon advised. "You know, something that will distract her and make her less angry."

"And that would be…?"

"Look, I don't have time to give you a step-by-step guide to the psyche of Michelle Ketchum," Brandon grumbled as the boat's horn sounded. "The boat is about to dock. Obviously, Aiden and Michelle are still on here somewhere, but they've probably found a way to avoid each other like the plague. And once we step foot on Cinnabar, the search zone will be an awful lot bigger. We should probably split up now and start looking."

"I'm still pretty lost on this whole thing, but whatever," Sam sighed. "As long as I get my badges back, I could care less."

"Then you'd better not fail," Brandon seethed, turning his back to the other boy.

"Please. 'Sam Oak' and 'failing' don't even belong in the same breath!" Sam fussed, indignantly turning his head. "I'm a winner, and I've always been a winner! No one is going to get the better of me, including little Aidy-Boy! Especially him! Hear me?"

Sam never got a response, though. Once he opened his eyes and faced forward again, his entire face turned red as he realized that Brandon had already left.

"Jeez…tough crowd."

XXX

While Sam had been rambling to himself, something about being a winner, Brandon had raced off in the opposite direction, keeping both eyes open for Aiden. The younger boy was rather distinct, with his messy raven hair that stuck out in every single direction as though he had just scrubbed himself with a latex balloon. The deck of the boat hadn't even gotten very crowded yet, even with the docking in progress. He assumed that everyone was inside packing up or getting in some last refreshments. That also meant that soon enough, the deck would be crowded, and finding Aiden would become even harder.

Fortunately, after just a few minutes of searching, Brandon happened to stumble upon the grouchy younger trainer. He was standing by the ship's railing, looking out at the island with a scowl on his face. It was clear that he was still unhappy, but Brandon was just feeling lucky to have found him. Having been best friends with Aiden since they were just babies, Brandon knew all of the tricks to get Aiden to work with him.

"Perfect," Brandon murmured, hurrying towards the boy.

And then, the rush happened.

As if everyone had just been waiting for that one moment, floods and floods of people filled the deck, effectively locking Brandon into one place. Everyone was chattering excitedly, and waiting rather impatiently to get off of the boat and onto the island. Brandon, however, just wanted to get to Aiden. Groaning, he jumped up once, and then again, in order to locate the younger male. By then, however, he just couldn't find Aiden in the crowd.

"Ugh, great timing," Brandon groaned. "I don't think this could get any worse."

"Passengers are now free to disembark the cruise ship! Thank you for riding with us! Hope to see you again, and enjoy your stay here on Cinnabar Island!"

The crowd started to move and push against one another, bumping Brandon around until he was pressed up against the inner wall of the ship, totally unable to move.

"Spoke too soon…" Brandon groaned, gently knocking his forehead against the wall.

XXX

Sam, on the other hand, had taken a different approach than Brandon.

Because he was really only in it to get his badges back, and not because he particularly cared about the state of Aiden and Michelle's relationship, Sam had taken his sweet time in tracking down Michelle. After being ditched by Brandon in the middle of his rant, Sam had stopped inside for a quick snack while the rest of the passengers dispersed. Once the ship had been basically cleared out, Sam himself disembarked and began to look around the dock.

"Let's see…" Sam hummed to himself. "If Michelle is anything like her mom, from the things Dad has told me, anyway, I should be able to find her somewhere around here…"

It took less than a minute, and hardly any moving, for Sam to locate Michelle. Luckily for him, she was standing just a few feet away, looking over the edge of the dock with Pichu holding onto her shoulder.

"Ah, there you are."

Michelle stood up straight and immediately glared at the boy who stood several feet away, smirking at her.

"What do you want, Sam?" She bit.

"Ouch!" Sam teasingly wailed. "That was harsh, Shelly!"

Michelle's eyes began to burn at the use of her nickname. "Don't ever call me that again. I'll break your neck."

"My dad was right!" Sam gasped. "You are like your mom!"

"What are you doing here?" Michelle demanded, finally turning away from the dock railing to face Sam.

"Pi!" Pichu growled, sounding even more threatening than her trainer.

"I was looking for you," Sam replied honestly. "Fortunately for me, you made it easy. What, with that charming predictability of yours and all of that fire on your head."

Michelle raised an eyebrow and subconsciously pressed a hand against the top of her head. "What do you mean my predictability?"

"Finding you by the water," Sam elaborated. "My dad has told me that your mom and water are like magnets, and that you took totally after her. So, I figured if I stayed close to the dock, I'd find you."

"Great, so now you're a stalker in addition to being a creep," Michelle grumbled.

"Look, I didn't come here to annoy you," Sam sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, you've already gotten your fill of that today, haven't you?" Michelle hummed.

"Would you quit ragging on me for five minutes?" Sam huffed. "I'm trying to get through to you here!"

"And just why would you want to get through to me?" Michelle demanded. "No offense, Sam, but you're not exactly the warm and fuzzy type. You've only ever chased after me because you think I'm cute, not because you want to get to know me."

"That may be true…" Sam drawled, earning a sold eye roll from the girl standing across from him. "But I'm trying something new this time! Look…I know that big fight you and Aiden had on the boat was…pretty much all my fault."

Michelle's body went rigid at the mentioning of the conflict, which Sam noticed right away. "B-but I'm here to fix that!"

Michelle glared at Sam, her eyes all but throwing poison darts straight through his chest. "How could you possibly fix a fight that was between me and Aiden?"

"With my skills, of course!" Sam crowed.

"And there you go again," Michelle sighed, storming away from the boy.

"Wait, Michelle!" Sam cried, running after the girl. "Wait up! Come on!"

"Why should I?" Michelle barked, glancing over her shoulder for just a split second.

"Come on, let's just talk," Sam pleaded, catching up to Michelle's side.

"Why should I talk to you?" Michelle bit.

Sam shifted his eyes from side to side as he thought back to the advice Brandon had given him on the ship.

"Find something that she likes. You know, something that will distract her and make her less angry."

"Because if you do, I'll buy you ice cream," Sam grumbled.

Much to his chagrin, Michelle's eyebrows raised in interest. "Ice cream?"

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "I heard about a really good ice cream shop here on the island. I thought maybe we could head over there, get a little something to eat, and talk things out."

Michelle sighed and allowed her shoulders to slump. The last thing she wanted to do was have a chat with Sam, especially about her and Aiden's fight. But the thought of having some ice cream was very enticing, especially when she was in this bad of a mood.

"And you're buying the ice cream?" Michelle prodded, making sure her terms were clear.

"Yeah," Sam grumbled. "I'm buying the ice cream."

"Alright then," Michelle backed down, a watered down smile finally appearing on her face. "Let's go get some ice cream!"

XXX

Once Brandon had finally been able to get off the ship, he was not in the best shape of his life.

Having been knocked around by so many people, the aspiring breeder was a bit shaky on his legs, and a little bit dizzy. He had never seen such a mob before, and that included accompanying his mother on several of her early morning shopping trips!

"What a nightmare…" Brandon groaned to himself, bending over to huff and puff for a few seconds. "How am I supposed to find Aiden now?"

"Win! Gull!"

Letting out a curious hum, Brandon looked up towards the sky, where a flock of Wingull were just flying overhead. Watching them go by, Brandon smirked as an idea popped into his head.

"Of course!" He chuckled. "Why didn't I think of it before?"

Reaching to his belt, Brandon removed one of his poke balls and tossed it up in the air, yelling, "Fearow! Help me out!"

The beak Pokémon emerged directly above Brandon's head, squawking to confirm that he was ready to help Brandon out with whatever he needed.

"I have to find Aiden," Brandon explained to his Pokémon. "But it's going to be hard to find him on the island on my own. So do you think you could help me search from the air?"

Fearow crowed again, nodding his head.

"Great!" Brandon cheered. "Let's go!"

Fearow flew off ahead, with Brandon following closely behind. With his sharp eyes, Fearow was able to easily scan the ground below. And with such precise vision, it didn't take the flying type too long to locate Aiden.

"Row!" Fearow squawked, stopping in one place and frantically flapping his wings.

"Huh? You found Aiden?" Brandon questioned. Looking around, Brandon was a little surprised to realize that Fearow had led him to a fairground, full of people, rides, and various merchandise stands.

Fearow nodded and pointed directly down with his beak. Turning his head in that same direction, Brandon quickly caught sight of Aiden and grinned from ear to ear, pleased to have finally found his disgruntled friend.

"Thanks, Fearow! You're the best!" Brandon cheered before returning the flying type to his poke ball. With Fearow back in place, Brandon ran over to Aiden, who just so happened to be stuffing his face with kabobs at a nearby food stand. "Uh…hey, Aiden."

The raven haired boy whipped around, his brown eyes narrowed and his cheeks puffed out from all of the food in his mouth.

"Are you…anger eating?" Brandon murmured.

Aiden managed to swallow his gigantic mouthful of food and let out a small huff once he was able to move his mouth again. "Maybe."

"Well…if it makes you feel better," Brandon sighed.

"I never said it makes me feel better," Aiden scoffed. "It' just helps."

"Hey, whatever floats your boat," Brandon assured the younger male. "But, since we're both here right now, I thought that maybe we should talk about what went down on the ship."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Aiden replied quickly before turning around to get more food.

"Yes you do," Brandon affronted. "That big fight between you and Michelle that Sam stirred up."

"Oh, that," Aiden rushed out. "Yeah, that was no big deal."

"But it was," Brandon prodded. "You and Michelle have been getting along so well the past few days, especially after what you did for her at the Contest! And then, out of nowhere, you guys get into a massive fight all because of Sam Oak."

"Well, maybe it's because Sam is stupid," Aiden grumbled, still refusing to turn around as he shoved more food into his mouth.

"Look, let's forget Sam was ever there," Brandon tried. "Because if Sam wasn't there, you and Michelle wouldn't have gotten into that fight! You'd still be getting along just fine!"

"Yeah, but he was there, and now we're not getting along," Aiden sighed. "And I don't really want to talk about it anymore."

"You and Michelle can't stay mad at one another forever," Brandon groaned. "I haven't seen you two have a fight like that in a really long time. Nothing like it during our journey, anyway. And now your parents aren't here to settle it! You and Michelle need to straighten it out on your own. But if you two are really going to be your stubborn old selves, then it looks like I'm just going to have to step in and act like your parent."

"Our parent?" Aiden scoffed. "Come on, Brando. You're only a few months older than us. You can't act like our dad or something!"

"Maybe not, but I am your best friend, and I've known you for way too long," Brandon tried. "That fight with Michelle was bad, and even you know it."

"But she started it!" Aiden cried.

"No, Sam started it," Brandon pointed out. "Without him there, you and Michelle would still be getting along just fine. Besides, Michelle was just trying to defend you. She was upset by the things Sam was saying! I was a little surprised, to be honest. I've never seen her jump so quick to protect you! It was an act of love, Aiden. She wasn't trying to demean you or anything like that. You just took it the wrong way because you're so headstrong."

Aiden opened his mouth to fight back, but almost immediately, he closed it again. Brandon's expression had changed into one that was rather stern, and Aiden knew that was especially for him.

"I know you're right," Aiden grumbled, tugging at his hat so the bill just covered his eyes. "I'm just not good at admitting that I'm wrong."

"Isn't that the truth," Brandon muttered, earning a sheepish smile from Aiden. "At least you're learning! I think we should find Michelle and patch things up between you two."

"It's gonna be a lot harder for me to admit that to Michelle, you know," Aiden informed him.

"Oh, I know," Brandon chuckled. "But trust me, she'll appreciate hearing it. You'll survive."

"If you say so," Aiden muttered, allowing his shoulders to slump.

XXX

"So…are we actually gonna talk, or are you just gonna keep stuffing your face with ice cream?"

Michelle looked up from her bowl and glowered at the boy sitting across from her. "Never interrupt a girl and her ice cream."

"Hey, you said if I took you to get ice cream, you'd talk!" Sam argued.

"And I will," Michelle promised, eating another spoonful of her frozen treat. "I just need some more time to savor this."

"You've been savoring it for fifteen minutes," Sam groaned, throwing his head back. "It's like watching a Slugma race!"

"Fine, let's chat," Michelle sighed, putting her spoon down. "What is it that you want to talk about?"

"Aiden seriously entered a Contest just to fire you up?" Sam queried.

"Yep," Michelle confirmed.

"But…why?"

"Because he was worried about me," Michelle muttered, looking down sheepishly at the floor. "I was so upset about all of my loses that I wasn't even acting like myself. And I guess he didn't like seeing that. He wanted the old Michelle back."

"I think you two are a lot closer than you let on," Sam hummed.

Michelle pulled up and furrowed her brow. "What makes you say that?"

"You two like to pretend you're always at each other's throats," Sam elucidated. "You know, the typical brother-sister relationship. But I think you two do care a lot about one another. You just don't want to show it! Especially Aiden."

"Really?" Michelle drawled. "And why do you think that is?"

"Ah, he probably knows I'll tease him for it," Sam admitted. "Most guys will. Guys are dumb. But I love us anyway."

"Of course you do," Michelle crooned sarcastically. "Your ego is the size of your great grandfather's ranch."

Sam pursed his lips and nodded. "Hard to argue with that."

"You are right, though, by some grace of Arceus," Michelle muttered, looking back down at her half empty ice cream bowl. "Aiden and I are actually very close. We have been ever since we were little. Sure, we fight sometimes, but all siblings do. That doesn't mean we don't care about one another. We care a whole lot! But we don't show it off. I think Brandon definitely sees more of our arguments than our good moments. But even our parents would admit that Aiden and I get along pretty well for siblings. Especially twins."

"Yeah, I've always wondered if you two were able to read each other's minds," Sam mused, earning an unimpressed look from Michelle. "What? Can't twins do that?"

"No," Michelle trilled. "You're just dumb."

In actuality, Aiden and Michelle were actually close enough that they were somehow able to sense one another's feelings, especially in cases where one was either anxious or upset. Michelle knew that was probably why Aiden had been so motivated to help her out of her slump. He could probably sense just how deep the hurt was. Sure, Brandon, their parents, and everyone else had been able to see it, but they couldn't feel it. Not the way Michelle knew Aiden could. And that's why Michelle had gotten so defensive on the boat: because by Sam insulting Aiden's move to encourage her, he had essentially insulted their bond as brother and sister.

But Michelle wasn't about to let the bratty Oak boy know that.

"Hey guys! I had a feeling we'd find you here."

Sam and Michelle both turned their heads, surprised to see Brandon and Aiden strolling into the ice cream shop.

"But…how?" Sam stammered, his eyes confusedly flickering back and forth.

"Easy," Brandon replied with a chuckle. "Michelle loves ice cream! If you're ever going to bribe her, do it with ice cream. She'll never turn you down."

"Can't argue with that," Michelle admitted, smirking as she leaned back in her chair. Once she was settled, however, Michelle looked over towards Brandon and realized that Aiden was standing behind the older boy, nervously scuffing the toe of his sneaker against the floor. The redhead scowled quietly and looked away, trying to put up as frustrated a façade as possible.

Brandon, however, was not about to let that happen. He was going to end the feud between Aiden and Michelle once for all. He just needed to give Aiden a bit of a push to do it.

"Aiden," Brandon prodded, looking over at the younger boy. "Isn't there something you wanted to say to Michelle?"

At this, Aiden's entire face turned bright red. "Uh…y-yeah." Looking up with a very sheepish, though apologetic, look on his face, Aiden stammered, "I…I'm sorry for snapping at you on the boat, Michelle. You were just happy about what I did for you, and I jumped ahead of myself and got upset. I'm sorry."

"Well…I'm sorry too," Michelle admitted, earning a look of surprise from her brother. "I should have let you speak up for yourself, instead of jumping in like that. I was just so upset that I didn't think. So I'm sorry too."

The two exchanged smiled that signified all they needed to hear from one another was an apology, and to know that they were now perfectly okay with each other.

"Of course," Brandon murmured. "They can't stay mad at each other forever! They're brother and sister; they love each other too much!"

"Alright, Brandon. I kept my end of the bargain."

"Huh?"

Brandon turned his head forward again and found Sam to be standing only a few feet away from him.

"I helped you to get these two to stop fighting," Sam elucidated, pointing between Aiden and Michelle. "Now give me my badges back!"

"Badges back?" Michelle repeated, glancing up at Brandon.

"Oh yeah!" Brandon chuckled, reaching into his backpack and pulling out the silver case that belonged to Sam. "Here you go. Thanks, bud!"

Sam rolled his eyes and snatched the badge case back from Brandon, quickly stuffing it into his own backpack before anyone else could take it away.

"Brandon, you took Sam's badges hostage?" Aiden asked, laughing at the very idea. "That's awesome! I knew you were my best friend for a reason!"

"Whatever!" Sam growled. "At least I got them back. And I still have more badges than you!"

"So? Who cares!" Aiden scoffed. "I'll catch up soon enough. Starting with the Cinnabar gym! Before you know it, we're going to have another battle, and you're going to see just how good of a trainer I am!"

"Yeah?" Sam remarked sarcastically. "The day!"

"I mean it!" Aiden bit. "You'll see! Just wait."

"I wouldn't doubt my brother, Sam," Michelle warned. "He really is pretty good. And when that's coming from me, you know it has to be true."

Aiden glanced over at his twin, who smirked in response.

"Keep dreaming," Sam guffawed, walking towards the exit. "Maybe someday, you'll wake up."

Aiden, though still smiling, rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Not a chance, Samson Garrick-Kay-"

"DO NOT SAY IT!" Sam stormed, earning raucous, identical laughter from both Aiden and Michelle.

And so, Aiden and Michelle finally made up. Hooray! And we got to see Sam again, who is a total pain in the butt, just like his father! Up next, we learn of the Cinnabar gym leader! Spoiler alert: it's not Blaine ;)