Or… not, as it seemed Leader Mura was still recovering after his own bout with Team Aqua a few days before. Of course, they also realized a little belatedly that it would probably be best to wait until they had their Navs back before taking such a big step anyway.

Which meant Sera and Morgan had some time to kill.

"Huh," said Morgan. "Well, I guess it's a chance to get some more training in first."

"Yeah," agreed Sera. "... Orrrrr…"

"...Or?"

"Or you know what's right next to this particular Center?" Sera asked with a suspicion-inducing grin.

Morgan hadn't been paying much attention when they arrived, given all the chaos. "...Dare I ask what?" Rather than answer, Sera took her hand and dragged her outside to the entrance of- "...Oh."

"The Lavaridge hot spring is one of the most luxurious spots in all of Hoenn~! When we set out on this journey, I was kind of hoping there'd be time to visit when I got here, but now we've got nothing but time and can even go together, and-" Sera squealed with delight and gave a little spin.

As cute as that was, Morgan retained her flat expression as she just responded, "I uh… I don't have any sort of swimwear though."

"Hm? Aww, well I'm sure there are plenty of shops in town that'll sell that sort of thing." Sera giggled. "We can go shopping together again~"

Morgan winced slightly. "Yyyeah, about that. I've been starting to have second thoughts about this shirt. It's not even that bad and really comfortable, and it still just feels… a little too girly for my taste."

Sera blinked. "I think it's cute."

"Not the point. I'm saying given Hoenn's apparent attitude toward clothes, I can just... imagine how hard it's gonna be to find swimwear I'm comfortable wearing. Let alone comfortable having other people see me in, if this place is as popular as it sounds. And I just. I don't really want to deal with that right now, sorry."

"Oh…" answered Sera. "Okay, that's fair." Morgan could tell she was disappointed though, and tried to think of something else they could do Together instead, but before she could come up with anything Sera's eyes lit mischievously. "Or…"

Oh gods she was going to dread that word before the day was over wasn't she. "Or?"

"You're not the only person a little apprehensive about a public spring, you know." ...Okay? "And they know that. So if we're willing to pay more, we could get our own private area…" Oh, that might not be quite as bad. Wait what was with that look and why was Sera leaning in so close now? "...Where you might not even…" she went on, quieter, "need any sort of swimwear…"

"Oh?" What, did they allow street clothes in- "...O-oh…" Morgan's face heated bright red. "I-I uh…"

"No pressure," Sera said more brightly, resuming a slightly more casual distance. "But I figured since this might be the most guaranteed privacy we'll have for a while, it wouldn't hurt to put the offer on the table, mmmm~?"

This was all a little… unexpected. Certainly Morgan had grown fond of the girl, but did she reall- "O-okay," she heard herself stuttering. ...Gods dammit Morgan, hold up there. "Er- I mean, uh. I might not… mind a soak, like that. Not… necessarily saying I'd be interested in anything more."

Sera chuckled softly. "That's fine."

"...Also not necessarily saying I'm not."

She laughed a little harder. "Whatever happens is fine by me." She then took Morgan's hand again and gave it a light squeeze before leading her inside.


It turned out Raikou had really done a number on their Navs- which was to say, it took a while to figure out what it even broke. After a few days of testing and trial-and-error, the technicians charged with the job would eventually replace about half the components before the Navs happened to work again and still have no idea exactly what the problem had been, though "divine intervention" was certainly one option on the list, even as scientifically-minded as they were.

In the meantime, though, Morgan and Sera had quite a busy few days.

Since they missed their Route 114 captures, and it may be some time before they were able to travel out that way again, the League decided that just this once, they could search Eggslist for any Pokemon known to inhabit the route and purchase one instead of catching. If they did, it would count for that route's credit, while opting against it would leave it open… eventually.

Morgan found several Surskit were available, and couldn't resist getting one in honor of Maple. (In honor of. That was why. She wasn't 'replacing' her or anything, of course. Definitely not.) The new addition was named Linger.

Sera was tempted by a cute Swablu, raving a bit about how great Lisia's Altaria was on the contest stage, but ultimately decided she'd wait on the off chance she could eventually get a Zangoose, with none of those currently on the market.

They also finally remembered to deal with the Zubat they'd caught on accident back in the falls. Sera Wonder Traded hers, receiving a Mightyena, though she decided she was more likely to ask for Spitfire back eventually than to use this new one, given she was pretty sure Spitfire had only been one or two battles away from evolving herself. Still, it was nice that she'd be able to give her mom this new pet in her place if she did decide to do so. But for now, the new Pokemon just went into storage.

Meanwhile, Morgan opted to keep her Zubat, citing that Archie's Golbat had been surprisingly impressive, and seemed like the sort of thing that might be handy to have. Said Zubat was named Nox.

After the hot springs, much of the remainder of the first day and most of the second was spent casually training some of their less-utilized Pokemon. Nothing major. Practicing moves, aiming for targets. They had a few very controlled "sparring" matches pitting some of their weaker Pokemon against much stronger opponents giving the latter orders to stay primarily defensive. Pokemon like Tank and Mithril helped their weaker Pokemon learn to handle bulky opponents, while Flash and Cerberus made excellent moving targets to help with speed and accuracy training.

It drove Flash crazy that Cerberus was a little inherently faster than him now, though it drove Cerberus crazy that Flash's Speed Boost could still get him temporarily faster even in his smaller and weaker form. More than once, the two wound up in a spat and had to be separated.

Throughout these training sessions, Morgan and especially Sera often found themselves distracted by flirting, stealing kisses whenever no other humans seemed to be around, and so-forth. More than once, the Pokemon had to stop training because their trainers were too busy giggling or making out to give orders.


On the third day, they received word that Mt. Chimney had been thoroughly searched and deemed safe and clear, so they headed out to Jagged Pass for a hike, a capture chance, and more training.

Morgan quickly caught a Spoink who she named Lustre. She'd filled only five slots in her party that morning precisely to be able to keep and train the new Pokemon, and was quite pleased with the cute little pig.

A few minutes later, Sera managed to trip over a Spoink as well. Quite literally. And once she was able to collect herself after the initial fall, she realized that the Spoink had been knocked over, and was struggling to get up. "Ohmygods are you-"

It clearly was not okay, and she scrambled to set it upright, pulling it down as much as she could against the ground before releasing it to give it the best start she could in getting bouncing again. The Spoink was disoriented, and shaken, but… well, as grateful as one could expect from someone who was saved by the very person who put them in danger in the first place.

"I'm so sorry," Sera murmured. "I promise I'll watch where I'm going more, and you try to do the same, all right?" The Spoink reluctantly agreed, then bounced away.

"... Annnd there goes your potential capture, huh," commented Morgan.

"... Oh. Well shit." Morgan couldn't help but laugh.

Watching each other battle wild Pokemon and the other trainers who were coming back to the mountain trail was sometimes entertaining, but not very efficient, so they soon agreed to split up- and, to make it more interesting, to see who could make it to the top and back first.

Morgan's day proved incredibly productive. Nox the Zubat evolved into a Golbat, and Linger the Surskit into a Masquerain. Her Skitty and Furfrou, both as adorable and fun to use as she hoped, also both got in a lot of good battles.

The Furfrou, which she'd named Victoria, seemed to have no idea her fur was completely unkempt and carried herself with all the pride of a show dog. It almost made Morgan halfway interested in contests, just to see how Victoria would do. Hell, she might temporarily trade her to Sera some time just to find out without having to do it herself.

Meanwhile, Skitty, who she'd not settled on a name for yet, was easily one of the cutest Pokemon she'd encountered, but clearly used that to her advantage. On more than one occasion, an opposing trainer had been distracted by "awwww" only to have Skitty pounce unexpectedly. In that way, she supposed Skitty reminded her a bit of Sera. ..Heh. That seemed a little too overt to use as a name, but she might keep that in mind when eventually picking one.

Sera's successes were less apparent, but she did feel like everyone got a lot of good experience from the day… and one particularly bad one.

One trainer who challenged her had a Hariyama. No big deal, of course. Wings would readily take out the Fighting-type. The terrifying Swellow employed his deadly Aerial Ace…

And the Hariyama did not faint.

It was hurt. Severely! It didn't look like it could take much more. But it remained conscious and fighting.

Sera was a little worried at first when the Hariyama's Force Palm hit and Wings did not immediately retaliate. Had it done more damage than expected? No, her Nav didn't give the reading for a critical hit. So…?

Eventually, Wings launched another attack to secure the win, but after the battle, she approached him. "Hey. You okay?"

It didn't… How did it persist?

"Hm?"

With my advantage it should not have endured that attack. This can't… This cannot be. This is unacceptable.

"Oh. Yeah, Hariyama are really bulky. A lot more defensively-oriented than most Fighting-types," Sera told him. "Or maybe not defense as much as… endurance? But-"

At this point it became clear Wings was talking to himself more than having a conversation with her. I was supposed to be the chosen one. I am the instrument of destruction and change. I- I was meant to be… Was the prophecy wrong? Have I been living a lie?

Sera chuckled awkwardly despite the fact he didn't seem to be listening. "Do you mean because I named you Death On Wings, because that wasn't really…"

My efforts must be redoubled. I have grown complacent. Weak. I must prove myself to the Great One. I must… I must…

… "O… kay, I think it's time for a little rest now. I'm sure you'll be fine once the shock wears off." He still did not respond, and she recalled him only mostly-believing her own words.

Meanwhile, Morgan was making great time. She couldn't believe she'd gotten so much done and still looked like she'd make it down first. A little ways behind her, she could make out with Sera- ahem, she could visually make out Sera- in a battle with a wild Pokemon. Ahead, she could see another trainer headed up the mountain, as well as a little more winding trail to one side. If she veered now, she could probably skirt around and avoid battling with the trainer, but she couldn't tell just how far out of her way the other path would take her, and if she ended up in a battle there too, Sera would almost certainly get ahead. Whereas with the straight shot, as long as she was able to make quick work of her opponent… Well, what could one more-

Gods dammit Lustre died. This was worse than Maple. She'd had the Spoink for hours. Not even overnight.

Morgan barely beat Sera to the bottom, winning the race for which there'd been no stakes but bragging rights, and she didn't feel like bragging.

Fortunately, their evening was more pleasant. Both were fairly sore after the steep hike, and Sera suggested another trip to the springs would be the perfect way to unwind and forget the troubles of the day. Maybe even go for spa treatment this time. Morgan couldn't deny that a massage sounded heavenly, and found herself wondering if they served Pokemon here like they did in Mauville, though she didn't bother asking.

When they got there, however…

"Oh, goodness! It's really you!" an elderly woman exclaimed. "You're Morgan-… Forgive me, dear. Is it 'Fayl' or 'Fa-yel'?"

Morgan stared, dumbstruck. "... You are officially my favorite fan in all of Hoenn."

Sera laughed. "The second one," she said for Morgan.

Turning to another old woman maybe fifteen yards away, she shouted, "I told you, Mavis! I told you them media clowns had to be saying it wrong!"

Mavis made a few displeased sounds and muttered something about "You'll get your money, Hazel" and "you old Crobat".

Hazel turned back to Morgan. "Oh, I'm so honored to meet you, though. I knew there was something special about you right away, but the way you battled against those-" She made a few frustrated sounds and gestures that could only be meant to indicate the Teams.

"Uh, thanks," said Morgan.

"My, but I have enjoyed watching your journey. One of the most exciting I've seen. 'Course, having such an entitled little rival doesn't-" Sera cleared her throat. "..Oh!" Hazel chuckled nervously. "Sorry dear. For what it's worth, you've grown on me a bit. Just not so fond of the idea of someone of your position challenging people who had to work for it."

Sera cringed slightly. "N-no, I do get it…" After another moment, she put back on a smile and added, "I'm really glad you're such a fan of Morgan, though! I couldn't have asked for a better rival."

Morgan suddenly found herself thinking how hilarious it would be to grab Sera's ass right now. Just as sneakily and nonchalantly as possible. Not even acknowledge it after. She could imagine her cute little squeak as she jumped, and the looks they'd get. ...Which, while hilarious in her head, were also exactly the reason she ended up keeping her hands to herself.

...Annnd she'd spaced out while fantasizing there. "I- Sorry, I was… Wha'd you say?"

"I asked if you'd be willing to accept a gift from me," Hazel said. She then produced a sky blue egg maybe eight inches from top to bottom. "I just know you'd be a perfect trainer for this little one."

"..Uuhhh, I'm actually not very good with kids. ...Sera? I've gotten more Pokemon lately than you, do you-"

But Sera laughed. "Aw c'mon. Baby Pokemon aren't much more dependent than grown ones, and she's offering it to you as a fan."

Morgan still wasn't sure. "Can… we even do that? Take stuff from…?"

Sera blinked. "Yeah? I mean of course. That's part of the reason you want to try to be a crowd-pleaser. Keeping your ratings high keeps your sponsor happy, but if you can earn enough favor with the right people it can net you some serious help on your journey, too. I'm a little surprised you haven't gotten any gifts so far. ...Though, I suppose that might be my fault.." It wasn't a confession, really; more of a musing, almost a question.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I asked fans not to send me anything unless they thought I really needed it. You know, to make sure it was really challenging?" Mavis rolled her eyes and muttered something about 'privilege', but Sera went on. "So I guess it's possible people have been holding back for you, too, to try to keep it 'fair' or whatever."

"Or they just don't like me," Morgan mumbled.

"..Orrrr, they think you're doing great and don't need it," added Sera.

"I guess. When did you say that, anyway?"

"I..? During my kickoff interview. Don't you remember? You were right there."

"... I'm gonna be honest. I so did not even slightly care about that whole event at the time," said Morgan with a slightly guilty laugh.

Sera rolled her eyes affectionately. "Right, of course. But hey! You've got an offer now. I say take it! We'll just have to report it when we get back to the Center, but it's a free Pokemon."

"Huh." Morgan thought it over a little more, but eventually decided, "All right. Well, thank you very much."

As Hazel handed over the egg, she said, "Just keep giving it your best out there."


On their fourth morning waking up in Lavaridge, Morgan and Sera finally got their Navs back, as well as news that Mura's granddaughter, Flannery, would be taking over his gym indefinitely, and possibly permanently.

"Aww," said Sera. "I was looking forward to facing him, too."

Meanwhile, Morgan shrugged. "A badge is a badge."

"Yeah… I guess."

Morgan decided she was actually still really tired, and while she'd have liked to see Sera battle in theory, her more practical side said double-teaming the Gym Trainers probably wasn't as climactic for viewers, so she just asked Sera not to leave town until they both had their badges. Sera agreed, suggesting that would be an amazing time for their next rival battle as a means of deciding who got to leave first. Morgan agreed, then went back to bed while Sera went to challenge the Lavaridge gym.

Of course, Tank would readily handle-

What? Who let this small child in here? He was hiding under the water when Sera entered the room, and he had only a Koffing so Sera absolutely could not believe he was a legitimate gym trainer, but okay… She guessed she still couldn't run from a fight…

And was glad she didn't! Unlike some Koffing trainers, this one actually let his Pokemon make it through the battle. But Flash was able to take it down pretty easily, and as the Koffing fell, the Combusken began to glow.

Soon, a figure even taller than Cerberus stood before her, flames blazing brightly around his wrists, so much radiant energy pouring from him that it was evaporating the water and creating a thin veil of steam. As her fire starter turned around to flash her a smirk, Sera found the voice of a particular cartoon playing in her head: Oh no he's hot…

She was(… mostly) joking, of course. It wasn't like she'd never seen a Blaziken before, and she wasn't one of those trainers. Although the deeper crimson red, stark white accents, and the way the moisture in the air combined with his natural glistening feathers to be extra reflective of the light from his fire, resulting in a super extra Shiny appearance, was certainly a very aesthetically pleasing sight. As a Torchic his coloration had been impossible to miss, but as a Combusken it was a little underwhelming. Now, though, she found herself more proud than ever of her crown jewel of a Pokemon.

As they moved on, Sera also faced a girl with only a Meditite, and another kid with a Koffing? Seriously, who the hell was in charge of hiring these gym trainers? Had Flannery just offered any given local free use of the gym's hot springs if they'd battle on her behalf? Sera was starting to suspect as much. That cheap-

"Ohmygods," she found herself saying the moment Flannery came into sight. The girl could not have been much over five feet tall and looked even younger than Sera. "You are adorable."

Flannery's face flushed. "What? Uh- I mean… WELCOME!" she suddenly shouted, expression fierce. Almost immediately she fumbled again. "Er, wait, I mean… PUNY TRAINER! You've done well to make it this far!"

Sera was starry-eyed. "Ohhhhh my gooooods, can I just-? You are precious."

"AM NOT," Flannery protested. "I- You'd better not underestimate me just because I"m new! Now shut up and fight me!"

Though truth be told, in Sera's mind those words were actually "fite me".

And Tank finally got his chance to shine, readily taking down all her Pokemon. When it was over, he… looked back at her with a smile. Still a Marshtomp. ...Sera waited a moment. Still a Marshtomp. ...Oh. She'd been… she really thought… okay.

But once she accepted that, she realized Flannery looked ready to cry. "I- I… I tried and I… It just…"

"AWW! Oh sweetie no, you did great! This was definitely just as good as any gym battle I've had, honest."

"R-really?"

Sera nodded. "Just because I'm really good doesn't mean you're not, too! Your job is to challenge us, not to beat everyone all the time. You're gonna do great, I just know it~"

Flannery seemed to feel a lot better for that. She presented Sera with her badge and TM, and Sera headed back to the Center just in time to catch Morgan heading out.

She flashed Morgan her new badge, and told her, "Best of luck~"

"Nice," Morgan congratulated. They stopped as they passed, and Morgan considered their Navs back in action. ...Fuck it. Fans were supposed to love having something to gossip about, right? So she leaned in and quickly stole a kiss from Sera. "For luck," she justified.

Sera blushed wide-eyed for a moment, but then found herself grinning. "Sure you don't want a little more~?"

Morgan considered it, but decided to play coy in kind. "Naaah, that's probably plenty."

Sera put on a pouty face. "Teeease."

By the time Morgan made it to the Gym, all the Pokemon had been rejuvenated or swapped out, but she made it through with little problem.

Until Flannery.

Manowar had been vital up to that point, but he was getting worn out, and Numel's Earth Power was almost more than he could take. So Morgan switched to Mithril, desperately hoping xir defensive prowess would be enough to make up for xir type disadvantage.

Against Numel, it was.

Against Torkoal, it wasn't.

As Overheat engulfed the Metang, xir eyes faded to black, and xe clanged to the ground.

Morgan's brain momentarily shut off as processing the event became too much to handle. How- If- What had she- Could she have done things differently?

Flannery cringed. "Oh, geez... Sorry about that. You got a Revive at least?"

Right. "Y-yeah, I do…" Morgan was now so… so, so glad. So very glad she hadn't revived Maple or Lustre. All right… But first she had to finish this battle. This Torkoal was powerful, but slow, and already whittled down a little… Maybe if she could hit hard enough fast enough…?

So she sent in Cerberus. "Double Chop!" she called.

The Sceptile swooped in, delivering a powerful blow that left the Torkoal clinging to consciousness, and another that was severely overkill. Morgan's Nav made a beep to alert her of a critical hit, just as Flannery called out in horror.

"Oh, shit. Uh…" Not intending to sound as mocking as she probably did, she echoed, "You got a Revive, at least…?"

"...Take your badge and go," Flannery answered, throwing the badge and diskette her way.

"Oh. Uh, yeah I'll just… Sorry."


Just outside the Center, on the opposite side from the hot springs, Morgan noticed Sera setting up some targets. Sera noticed her in kind, and called, "Heeey! How'd it go?"

"I uh… I won, but… I've gotta revive Mithril now, so… Rain check on the rival battle?"

"AW! Oh no. I'm so sorry, and yes of course." She thought on it a bit more, then added, "It's still pretty early, so they might be finished by this afternoon or evening, but it'll be pretty late to leave town by then. So we can try to have our battle either at sunset or dawn, and leave out tomorrow morning."

Morgan nodded. "Sounds good to me." Looking around, and welcoming the subject change, she asked, "So what are you doing here?"

"Ah. I'm pretty sure Tank is super close to evolving-" she gestured to the Marshtomp- "so I figured a quick training session might be enough to push him over the edge before we battled."

"Makes sense," said Morgan. "I guess I'm gonna go drop Mithril off, but I might come back out later if you're here a while."

"All right. I hope you get to feeling better," said Sera. Just as Morgan started to turn away though, a thought hit her. "Oh shit. ...Permission to make a slightly insensitive comment since you're on your way to revive xir and xe should be fine soon?"

"... All right, I probably deserve it. Shoot."

With a guilty grin, Sera snarked, "Turns out you should have kissed me more after all~"

Morgan laughed despite herself. "Okay, I definitely deserved that. You little shit." Sera stuck out her tongue, and Morgan rolled her eyes. "But yeah, I'm gonna go. Good luck with the training."

"Thanks~" Sera turned her attention back to the targets. "All right, Tank. Let's see how quickly you can hit all of these with Mud Bombs."

"Marshtomp!" Tank let loose a singular well-aimed Mud Bomb to hit the first target. "... ... ... Swampert?"

… Sera facepalmed. "Just couldn't do it at the gym, could you," she laughed. "Hey Morgan, wait up!"