Finding a resting place was easy; getting up to that resting place is another story. After what felt like an eternity (really only thirty minutes) of walking, I discovered the house that was said to be here. What I also found was a large tree right next to it. For some reason it looked more appealing than staying in a man-made structure with the promise of company. Maybe because it reminded me of my old treehouse; the same one I had so much fun in before it got compromised. A night in there wouldn't hurt.

Unfortunately, every inch of my body still radiated soreness along with large hints indicating several cuts The fleshy vessel gave up on me and fell to the floor in little remorse. Well, it can't get any- plip, plip, plip-worse. Fate it seems, hated me a lot; reveling in the sick amusement it would call entertainment. Warm rain started falling down in an instant. The droplets were bigger, warmer and more frequent. Well, I was already aware that this place produced large amounts of precipitation. Now let's get up there!

"Alright Pelipper! I know you're still mad at me, but I reeeeally wanna get up there!"

"Guuah?" Said the water bird while gesturing her wing towards the house. I made a face and quickly shook my head. "No, I wanna go in the tree! I don't feel like talking to anyone right now,"

Pelipper stared at me like I was an idiot for saying that. A minute of continued staring made her decide to reach for my belt and push the button on the first ball. Instantly, Chirpie was sent out to tower over us. No sooner had he been aware of the new scenery did my water/flying-type catch his attention. She went up to the fire-fighter and explained the situation in their language. Occasionally during their conversation, Chripie would glance at me, the tree and then the house close by. Noticing how pathetic I looked lying on the ground, Chirpie curiously bent down and poked my calf. Almost instantly, pain greeted my nerves in the most excruciating way possible; and every scrunched up, tight expression told them both that. "Ow! Geez Chirpie! That hurt! What's the big idea?!"

He didn't answer me, but gave a commanding squawk to his counterpart. Pelipper waddled towards my belt again to put herself back into the spherical device. Chirpie however, seized me to throw my body over his shoulder. Of course, that caused more pain. "OW! I just said that-where are we going?"

At first, I thought he was gonna climb up the tree, but when he started to walk away from the thing, it dawned on me that we were headed towards the house. AUGH! That's not what I wanted! Struggling was an option, but its physical pain of after effects wasn't very appealing. In the end, Chirpie got his way of carrying me to the house.

...

Pain...so much pain. That's the kind of trial I endured these past three days in the house of the Berry Master. The moment my firebird and I came through his door, the fabled old man along with his wife eagerly welcomed us in. Chirpie (as best as he could) explained through his awkward charades that I was injured and needed somewhere to stay. Seeing as how they didn't have many visitors, they happily obliged. Although, the rest of that evening consisted of me screaming in agony while Chirpie massaged out the cramps.

Accomplishing that sort of task wasn't easy for a firebird with three, sharp talons on each hand. At first, he seemed to be at a loss whilst trying to solve our problem. Then, he looked down at his elbows. A light bulb went off and proceeded to rub the muscles of my flesh with them. It didn't mean however, that the pain wasn't there.

I fought against my pokemon, but he clearly had the advantage. Being a human juvenile didn't amount to much in comparison of a tall, adult fire/fighting-type. Plus I was sore all over, so actually going on the offensive was an option born to fail.

When he wasn't torturing my muscles, Chirpie made me sleep in the guest room we stayed in as he took out my things to keep track of what we had. Oh, you thought I was the only one who did that? You see, Chirpie began to get interested in organization. One day, he took my pack out of curiosity and dumped it on the ground. Everything came out in a messy pile. He had looked back at me, and then to the messy pile. Ever since then, he would occasionally organize everything that was in there and notice items things that I missed when I checked.

But I really hated being banished to the futon when I could be awake doing stuff. Well, I was allowed to go to the bathroom and eat. Truth be told, my body was a little glad for some R and R. Although, every time I tried to get up to do something physically demanding, Chirpie gave me this threatening glare to lay back down. Though I could argue, my protests went something like this:

"Okay Chirpie, I'm the trainer here! I can do whatever I want!'

"…..."

"Stop giving me that look! I'm okay! See-ow!"

"….."

"Look, all I did was just move my arm. I probably just bent it too much. I can't just lay here! Who does that?!"

"….."

"ALRIGHT! I'll go back to bed!"

Though I declared doing so, my stubborn will tried every trick in the book to stay awake while lying down. My eyes were closed, but that didn't mean I had been asleep. Now to make sure Chirpie left and victory would be mine! Didn't he know how clever his trainer was? HAH! How silly of hi-

...Four Hours Later...

Heaviness still weighed down my eyelids, but the feeling of drool got me to rub them awake. UGH, I gave in and slept?! Curse these needy body functions! Chirpie's probably in the living room laughing it up because I can't hang! He won't be for long!

Driven by the frustration of paranoid humiliation, my limbs forced the body connected to it up and already marching out of the room. However, an entire scene contrived from a tortured imagination came to a screeching halt when I went into the living area. There was Chirpie, sitting at the wooden table with the old couple. He had a tomat berry in his talons as they talked. Also, everything looked less dusty and neater. HUH?! What were they doing to MY pokemon?! They better not be abusing him!

I jumped into view with an accusing finger. Accompanying the overly dramatic gesture had been a facial expression of majorly exaggerated proportions. "Oh, you're finally awake? And you look so much better! Come and sit down with us!" The old lady ushered me to sit down on a lively mauve zabuton next to Chirpie. Nice try! It's gonna take a lot more than that to be easily duped!

"Listen here you-AH!"

A short, abrupt tug from the back of my shirt on Chirpie's taloned appendage forced me to sit on my knees. My face suddenly altered into something that was similar to confusion. I was then shoved a pink pecha berry by the firebird and gestured to eat the thing. The fruit was the size of my fist with a light pink color. A look of suspicious curiousity crossed my face before slowly taking a bite of the pecha. Its unusually sweet, pulpy insides made a pleasant tingle resonate within me. Dam this was good...where has it been all my life?

The four of us entered a conversation that revolved around the last three days. There was a variety of different mini subjects inside our main topic, but it mostly revolved around Chirpie. Apparently when I was sleeping, he would go help the old couple with chores that were too difficult to do by themselves. He spent the first day helping hoe and cultivate the garden fore future plants. Being a natural born worker, it was no sweat to him. The second day, Chirpie lifted all the heavy furniture while they cleaned underneath it, organized all the bookshelves, cleaned out the attic and dusted. Throughout all the praises, he sorta hid his face with a taloned hand from the embarrassment of it. If he wasn't covered in feathers, I was sure he was blushing.

"He such a good boy! I'm no expert, but he's very mature, responsible bird! You've done a very good job of raising him!"

Really? It sure felt like the complete opposite sometimes. What with caving into his wants the majority of the time. Maybe it was the intense battles I put him through or (probably corny though), the power of friendship! Either way, I was a little proud of myself with the knowledge of his reliable tendencies. Our talk continued being merry; which prompted us to stay another night.

By the next day though, the decision to leave was inevitable for the sake of my dream. The Berry Master and his wife eagerly gave us a sack full of berries. I reserved a space in the garden, just in case we came back for another visit. Hopefully, we could after my journey was over.

.

On the road again, the two of us encountered many wild pokémon and trainers in a sea of grass that grew impossibly tall. Weirdly enough, everyone followed some strange ritual of moving in a direction that was opposite of a peer to engage in battle; I actually had a fun time doing it.

When we came out of the grassy thicket, a rest house had caught our sights. People in a profession like mine learn to appreciate generous Samaritans who run places like that, or kind folks like the Berry Master. Normally I would break into an ecstatic dash, but decided to stay by Chirpie's side. We were partners after all.

The rest house in particular was about the same size as the previous one I visited, but had more than one person running it. The main host had been a young man with his teenage sister and a wingull. Their bird in question was very polite to us; though it was gone by midafternoon to deliver a letter in Fortree City. And speaking of water birds, there was one I needed to reconcile with.

Taking out her ball, Pelipper was summoned on the spot. Chirpie stayed as a mere bystander to watch how our interaction went. With an oran berry in hand, I knelt down to her level and offered it along with an apology. "Pelipper…" I said while forcing my eyes to be still on her. "I'm sorry about not trusting you. I'm a pretty big idiot sometimes; and….I don't want you to feel awkward anymore between us. Can you….can you forgive me?"

My hand was a little shaky as Pelipper tilted her head to the side as she stared at me with a puzzled face. Why was she doing that? Slowly, her webbed, blue feet made her waddle towards me. I held out the peace offering in hopes she would take it, but the water bird ignored its delicious splendor to rest her body on my lap. A bunch of confusing thoughts came into my brain at this single action. Normally when I was mad at somebody, it would take an apology combined with food to ease my wrath. But Pelipper (who should be rightfully angry) simply nestled on me without a moment's thought. I quickly looked back at Chirpie as if he'd actually voice what was going on with her.

My tall fighting fowl almost looked like he was going to laugh and shook his head. From that simple action, it was immediately understood: Pelipper never had a grudge against me to begin with! The thought of it sounded ludicrous, but she got over her anger towards me after spraying water in my face. She has a better temper than I do.

For a little while, the both of us stayed in our positions as I petted her head full of feathers. My seabird cried out a relaxed sound in reaction to being pleased by the affections. Hm, my bracelet was kinda hitting her head while I was petting her. I need to put that thing away. It only took a minute to shove the thing in my bag and resuming my petting of my battle partner. Without noticing it, we fell asleep on the short-haired, brown rug close to the fireplace. As for Chirpie, he continued to stand watch until he too got sleepy.

...

Hmmmm…..I feel so warm. It made me wanna sleep forever. These comforters with the futon really knew how to mellow me out- WAIT. How did I make it to the futon? Did Chirpie carry me there when I passed out? And where did Pelipper go? She was with me til I unexpectedly passed out.

Ughhh….forget it, sleeping is more important….NO! Get the hell up! Willing my arms to cast aside the heavy blankets, the slightly cooler air forced me to sit up. To my relief, I was still in the rest house with no signs of trouble. But just as it seemed clear, my wary gaze suddenly picked up someone sitting by the fireplace. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be a weird thing since it's a rest stop and just about anybody comes through places like these. But in my case, this wasn't just an 'anybody'. Though this person's back faced me, his dark, wavy hair and expensive ultramarine shirt was easily recognizable. Good arceus! How did he find me?! I hoped that my head start would have kept me ahead; or at the very least have the side trip to Southern Island put him ahead! I have rotten luck for sure!

On the bright side, Professor Augustine Sycamore wasn't paying any particular attention to me. I could escape him now while I have the chance! Alright, stealth mode activated.

As quiet as my environment could allow me, my body slowly got up from the bedding. My breath slowed with inhaling and exhaling. Now in a crouch, creeping away was what had been in mind as a method of moving to escape. The guy was too tall to see me anyway- "May my darling little bird: Up already? And where could you possibly be going?"

Good arceus! He almost gave me a heart attack! How did he know I was trying to leave?! Did the man have eyes in the back of his head?! The professor's question practically jolted me out of my skin while creating a dumbfounded stupor. Alright, no big deal. Just make something up and get outta there!

"Uuuh…I'm just uh…gonna go fishing!"

"Fishing?! Right after rising from slumber? Quite an unusual thing to do; especially since you have not given your beloved professor a greeting after deserting him to her father's scrutiny,"

"*scoffs* You're still alive aren't you? Sides, I didn't want to talk to him, so I left! Are you gonna let me fish or what?"

Despite his habit of proper social mannerisms, Professor Sycamore continued to face his back towards me. His hands were busy with some unknown thing. I figured he thought in silence to make up excuses for me to stay, but his head turned to flash a pleasant smile. "Of course darling! Do whatever your heart desires! The world is your cloyster!" he replied in an innocent tone of voice.

For some reason, it felt too easy of a response. He knew how hard I tried to escape his presence." Uh….kay!" was my quick reply while getting upright and turning on eager heels to head for the door. All the excitement to get away nearly caused me to break into a run. Ecstatic hands took ahold of the brass doorknob and twisted it in revealing the hot, humid atmosphere.

"Do not be too long however or else Skitty will start to miss you,"

Huh?

Hearing his words, I suddenly looked down at my belt and felt up each object attached to it. With shock, my hand gaped at one missing ball, feeling the fabric instead of round, smooth matter. How did he-AAAUGH! Annoying! He was so annoying! It was more than likely that he took Skitty's ball away from me when secured my form in the futon.

Suddenly, an excited mewling sound came from behind. I swiftly whirled around to see my small, pink cat peeking her head out of hiding from his lap. Sycamore moved his own enough to where I could be clearly seen; flashing another innocent smile that clearly hid another message. My body was frozen in place, but that didn't mean a frown couldn't form from being outsmarted.

"What is the matter, Miss Maple? Are you not going to fish? Hurry up, do ? The day will not last forever!"

"Yeah, yeah! Keep your pants on! I'm going already!"

"Keep my pants on? Miss Maple…..is there some sort of naughty thing you are suggesting?"

SLAM!

Just outside the rest house flowed a huge, bubbling river. Earlier, I noticed a few fisherman catching fishing Pokémon from it, and had initially decided to try my skills there anyway. While not the greatest angler, I had some ability to wrangle in a couple. Good thing I got a good rod instead of that wooden, old one; that thing was thrown away the second its successor fell in my hands.

Sitting on the bank, I casted the line with a powerful motion of my arm and let it sail through the air until it landed on the water's surface. With its buoy floating daintily on the top, I now entered a period of waiting.

…...

Man I am so over this. Over an hour of fishing and I was already losing my attention span. During this time, I did manage to snag a few carahvana and one strange-looking pokemon. The thing had a brown body with spots decorating it. Its blue fins were torn and sad. I felt like the animal was mocking my earlier frustrations, so I put it back in the river. I'm sure that I'll fish out another one when my mood lightened up.

Once I got back to the rest house, I caught the sight of Professor Sycamore playing with Skitty. She had been tossed her ball of red thread and pawed at it before rolling it over back to him. They seemed to enjoy each other's company; which sorta annoyed me further. But this time, upon noticing me, Skitty ran up to nuzzle her head against my leg in request to be picked up. HUH?! She actually wanted attention from her beloved trainer?! HAH! It wasn't all hopeless yet! Suck it Sycamore, you're not the only one she likes anymore!

Speaking of him, the kalosian stood up and adjusted his messenger bag. "Are you finally done with your excursion? I must say that it took you much faster than I expected. Were you missing me already?" his purposely teasing voice suggested while leaning forward. An even wider smile spread across his princely features. Obviously my response was a contempting scoff closely followed by a rolling pair of eyes.

"Yeah, no. Not even close. I got bored and we need to get to Fortree City. Now are you ready or what?" Sycamore let out a cheerful laugh as he pulled back to walk past me and stride over by the door. "Darling pupil of mine, you offend me so! I was born ready!" he declared proudly; opening the door to treacherous thunder, lightning and nearly drowning rain. We both stared at the horrible weather that suddenly manifested. One of the most prominent features about taking this route to Fortree was the on and off down pouring rain.

Professor Sycamore stared at the unpleasantness with an oddly wide smile for a few more seconds before politely shutting the door to sit himself down by the fireplace again. It was pretty much clear how unwilling he looked now. Still, I couldn't resist voicing the issue. "Hey, what's the hold-up? Didn't you say you were born ready?" I accused while getting Skitty's ball and putting her back inside. Sycamore let out a nervous chuckle as he plotted an excuse.

"It is just that….you see darling…why do we not just wait it out? After all, we cannot risk getting wet,

growing ill and die! That would be an ironic yet tragic fate! I cannot even button up my shirt all the way

to keep myself wa-"

"I'm leavin',"

"Hold on dear! It could be disastrous! Not to mention bandits that may lie in wait for cute, vulnerable girls like yourself!"

With ease, my hand opened the door to reveal the unmerciful nature behind it. I stuck out a foot while staring at him. Heavy, warm rain drenched the sturdy material that made my shoe. The leg attached to it also proceeded to get wet.

But before I could torment him further, Sycamore was already holding my arms back to pull me away from the door. Naturally, I struggled to have my limbs free. "Come now darling! Please be reasonable!"

"You're the one who's being weird! What kind of Pokémon professor doesn't like nature?!"

"The same kind who refuses to let their cute students to-OOF!"

The professor and I resumed our journey towards Foretree City with heavy grey clouds hanging above our heads. While the heavy rain stopped, we knew that it wouldn't take long to resume again. During that previous time, Sycamore managed to convince me to stay inside til the rain stopped through bribery. His plot manifested after he pulled me back hard enough to knock the wind out of him. At first, he found himself at a loss while holding me in place, but suddenly, an enlightened smile spread across his features.

"You know darling, it would be a terrible loss if you leave so soon," I heard his voice say as I grew uncomfortably stiff in attempting to be free.

"What do I care for?! There's literally nothing here that I want!"

"Is that so?" he asked in a sultry voice while one of his arms released my left shoulder. Sounds of things rummaging around could be heard. "What about…this?"

Suddenly, a rectangular shape was teasingly waved in front of my eyes. They widened in recognizing the object: Chocolate. Well the wrapper said ' Chocolat le Kalos', but candy was still candy. My hands reached out to grab the confection; and they utterly failed as Professor Sycamore quickly pulled it out of reach. Furious about the tormenting temptation, I turned around and tried again to steal the thing fromhimagain. In comparisons to our height however, Professor Sycamore was waaaaaay too tall forme.

Accompanied with fits, my hands kept greedily reaching for the snack. "Oh, you want it? Did you not say that there is nothing you desire in this place? If that is the case, then you will not have a problem watching me eat it,"

The kalosian's soft lips parted as he removed its fancy wrapping; having the intentions to eat the chocolate right in front of me for the sake of challenging my defiance. "ALRIGHT! Just give me the dam candy bar, asshole! I'll stay!" Mostof the occupants in the rest house heard the commotion, but did their best to act deaf. Being the sadistic egotist that he was, Sycamore lowered his arm just enough so I could snatch my ill-earned prize and escape to a lonely corner. Bitterly, I consumed it with the taste of chocolate and defeat in my mouth.

With us currently on the road after that debacle, we braved the absurdly tall grass, pokémon rangers, ninjas and Mightyena's muddy fur threatening to brush against us whenever she came close. It happened when the dark-type found a mud puddle and decided it would be a good idea to roll around and play in it.

Since I wore an outfit specifically designed for the outside, it wasn't much of a bother. My traveling companion on the other hand did everything in his power to avoid, side-step, dodge or scoot away from the danger having his expensive clothes ruined. Good arceus! Sycamore's dedication for neatness and cleanliness was insane; almost borderline OCD!

Very funny for sure, but their amusing movements came to an end when a person suddenly jumped into view. The action almost gave me a heart attack and succeeded in provoking swears while bumping back into the professor. Both him and Mightyena were also surprised, but not as animated as I'd been. To top it off, the surprise turned out to be very unsavory.

"Uh, hi! You uh….you don't wanna go this way!"

"Really? How come?"

"Well there's this gas leak, and its everywhere! Definitely not safe!" Explained the OBVIOUSLY LYING TEAM MAGMA LOSER; who had every fiber of his being sweat in nervousness. Not only did he scare me half to death, but this dork was guilty by default due to his affiliation with the evil organization. I already knew what to do with nobodies like him.

"That sounds pretty serious and-"BAM!

With no mercy, I drove my fist right into the Magma grunt's face while distracting him with the beginnings of a conversation. I wasn't too good with those anyway. He instantly fell back on the soaked ground with a wet thud. Alright! One-hit K.O.! Now to see if he's got anything good on him.

Calling Mightyena over with a whistle, the two of us began to ransack our unconscious foe. But just as I started digging around the spacious pockets for his wallet, a pair of hands seized my waist and lifted me to my feet. Obviously, it was my overly pampered, strangely speaking and handsome professor who had little problem interrupting my plans. Mightyena had looked up at us in confusion; her head however was still poised by the grunt's foot from readying herself to pull off his shoe.

"Hey! Lemme go! I'm just trying to take his wallet!"

"Not a chance, darling. Have you not learned from your previous encounter with these dreadful barbarians?"

"When were you at Southern Islan-I mean, they weren't so tough at Mt. Chimney!"

"As you say now, dear, but what about the next time? Dangerous thugs aren't simple forces to be

reckoned with. Especially for naive, hot-headed little girls. Now let us move on from this place. I fear the rain will be upon us soon,"

Fuck, he was so infuriating beyond all reason. There was a certainty that he wouldn't let me do anything involving Team Magma. Well, dad sure as hell didn't want me to get in it with them too, but he wasn't here so it was sorta less of an issue with him. But how could I give this guy the slip? Unless I could be right in the middle of a battle with them, he would try to excuse me while dragging my fitful body away. Hmmm. As my brain reached for ideas, I let my eyes wander until they rested on Mightyena. Hey! That might work.

"Gosh professor, I guess your right! We'll just hafta go ahead before the rain sets in!"

"Agreed Miss Maple! We must make haste then!"

Deeming my reply satisfying, Professor Sycamore let me go before lending put his arm. But instead of latching onto it like he wanted, I barrel-rolled right over to the still unconscious opponent. In a quick pull, my hands took off the guy's shoe and waved it in front of Mightyena. "You want the shoe, girl?! Do ya?! GO GET IT!" I shouted and threw the object at Sycamore. Unfortunately for him, his reactive instincts made him catch it.

" Miss Maple! What is the meaning of-BON ARCEUS!"

Before he could have time to finish his sentence, Mightyena automatically jumped after her prize; inevitably leaping on him in the process. Bullseye! Now to find out what Team Magma's up to!

With Sycamore distracted in his now dirtied appearance and trying to fend off the energetic wolf pokémon, I dashed off ahead. Behind me though, I could hear shouts of anguish and swearing in strange, foreign words. Man, I'm sure he's not going to be happy with me afterwards. At least he'll have some company.

Having that in mind, I tackled more abnormally tall grass trails and large, muddy puddles until my eyes suddenly caught something out of the ordinary in a setting of nature. Nestled against a large wall of rock by a waterfall had been a large-looking facility. By it, was a long bridge made a wood that stretched to the other side. Hm, did that bridge lead to Foretree? Maybe, but what about this place? What could be here to warrant such secrecy? Whatever was there, it certainly needed Team Maple (minus Mightyena) to investigate!

Am I ready for it?! Obviously not! Was I going in anyway? Hah! Who wouldn't?! Sides, it would be a dam shame to miss out on all those wallets.

In a quick flash, eager hands opened the large, glass door by its metal handles. Boy, these were some heavy doors. No matter though, they did little to deter my efforts. Once it was wide enough, I slipped inside to find myself fifteen feet across from a reception desk…..what?

I kid you not; right now, my vision clearly saw a large, marble reception desk with a computer and everything. Next to it, was a stand of pamphlets and a waiting couch by the wall. What kind of place in the middle of nature would need stuff like this? Grabbing one of the colorful tri-folds from its place on the rack, my question had soon been answered.

"Welcome to….Hoenn's Regional Weather Institute,"

I'd be lying if I said I knew what a weather institute was; my hobbies and profession didn't really delve into the world of science. The only general guess that came to mind about this place had been…well, a place that studies the weather. But geez, what a weird area; my view of any profession involving science didn't include an entrance looking like this.

Anyway, I managed to get past that strangeness to look around for anything amiss. Going further into this place revealed a more typical setting of what I perceived as a lab. Four groups of four desks with four computers sitting on top of their clean, dully shining surfaces. Whoever decided to have bright green office chairs as the choices for seating needed to be fired from decorating. Properly tying a room together (even if it's a lab) isn't rocket science. Against the light grey walls and atop of checkerboard tiles of dark and metallic grey were big cabinets. On top of them were smushed boxes while a few other cabinets had small plants. The majority of some walls had been covered with strange maps I couldn't make sense of.

Okay, where was everybody at? I didn't see any signs of struggle or terror committed, so there has to be at least ONE person running this place. The lights were on and the doors are unlocked! Maybe I missed something after hearing the grunt's warning about staying away. Could he have been right, and I was in danger of killing myself? Well fuck.

But just as doubt came to my thoughts, a sound of glass breaking reverberated to my ears. Ah-hah! So there was trouble afoot after all. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Those criminals will be mauled, maimed and mugged in the name of justice after I'm through with them! Figuring out with direction the sound came from, I proceeded with caution until I came to a staircase leading to another floor. Getting closer revealed sounds of more commotion; Team Magma being the cause as usual. The sweet anticipation of battling, beating and boasting gave me more than enough energy to climb the stairs and roll right into the second level.

"Alright, nobody move! This is a rescue!"

As I greatly suspected, there were indeed Team Magma grunts and hostages occupying the room. It wasn't as large as the first floor, but still pretty big. There were the same kind of desks, computers atrocious chairs, walls and flooring. However, there was another strange machine sitting all by itself; spouting out paper with many zigzagging lines drawn all over it. Not only that, but a different setting was placed on the other side of the room.

It looked like an office with large, burgundy couches and a glass table on the right side, with the left having a large teak desk and a laptop sitting on it. However, the biggest surprise had to do with the person who was rifling through the office desk drawers. While it wasn't Courtney or that mysterious girl who picked her teeth with me, it was someone who was just as dangerous. The person heard my voice and rose up from their awkward crouching position.

"HUH?! You again?! What are you doing here?!"

"I should be asking you that! To run into a stressful child like you is bad enough! I don't have time to screw around!"

Tabitha of all people. Although I preferred to go without seeing his intimidating side, he was by far leaps and bounds better than his female counterpart. Not to mention, he lost to adorably-eyed Wally. If you manage to have someone like that beat you, quit being a trainer. To be fair though, Wally had a more variety of types of pokémon.

The young adult put the items he now possessed in the hands of one of his grunts. Wait a minute….were those maps? What kind of loser steals maps?! Maybe if they were treasure maps, I would understand, but we're in a weather institute place! What is wrong with these people?!

" Too bad Magma dork! Prepared to be stressed AND annoyed! Team Maple's gonna wreck you hard! Go Dust-"

Suddenly, a boot was thrown over my head and landed in the arms of a quickly reactive grunt. Unfortunately for him, a large, wolf-like dog came right after it; throwing her whole body weight forward and landing on the victim. HAH-HAAAAH! Mightyena was back…..GOOD ARCEUS! Mightyena was back! That means-

" Oh! Excuse my presence, but I could not help but hear the sound of a young maiden's voice crying in need!"

Not fighting the inevitability, my head turned with new, anxious fear. Wouldn't you guess; it was the self-proclaimed rescuer himself. He stood there confidently with a charming smile and muddied clothes. Crap, I was hoping to at least expecting him to come after I claimed victory and forced them out. At least there's plenty of people around for him to keep his 'charismatic saint' persona. Although, my pride still creeped up from the man calling me a 'maiden who cried for help'.

"Shut up! I wasn't crying for help!"

"Really? Then what was all that terrified shouting? Surely it must have been coming from the pained cries of that sweet voice of yours!"

"It's from telling you shut the-"

"Go camerupt!"

Distracted by Sycamore's presence, I didn't notice Tabitha pull out his ball and send out his giant lava camel. Well, maybe having a large animal in a room that's not as spacious as the first floor probably wasn't the best idea for him, but then again, most of Team Magma didn't have any common sense. And since Mightyena is already out, she may as well go into battle. "Alright Mightyena, let's do this!" I shouted. Being well within earshot, she instantly complied and jumped right in camerupt's view. The fire/ground-type wasn't too happy with this match-up as expected. But it lowered it's great head to try to bite my pokémon. Mightyena was fortunately faster than her opponent and moved out of the way. Although the easy solution would be to use strong, crowd-controlling attacks to make up for the lack of speed, using them in a place like this would be a very stupid idea.

Aside from the disadvantaged pokémon, another thing going against Tabitha was Mightyena knowing a fighting-type move. Camerupt wasn't a rock- type, but could still be inflicted with a ton of damage because its part ground."Mightyena! Use your rock smashing technique!" I commanded with intent to finish it off as soon as possible. My large wolf dog jumped back so she could gain some distance. If you think that her previous form could pack a punch, just wait until you see how she's improved. She charged forward, leaving scratches on the floor in the process. Of course, camerupt wasn't gonna just stand there like a fool, so it started moving forward while bracing itself for the collision. This was one of the few times I was glad to be facing a large, hulking animal like-"Koffing, tackle that Mightyena!"

Wha-BAM!

The played out scenario in my head suddenly ran vastly different from what just happened: A koffing coming completely out of nowhere to bash my pokémon from the side. The dark-type was just as surprised as I was when taking the blind-sided assault. It knocked her against one of the desks; effectively destroying an expensive computer and other pieces of office equipment. Looking back to where Tabitha was, a female grunt stood by his side.

"HEY! You can't make it a double battle in the middle of a fight! That's cheatin'!"

"I'm on a tight schedule, so cry me a river and beat it if you can't take the heat!"

Tch, serves me right for complaining about battle rules to a bunch of thugs. I'm just gonna bend some myself then. As Mightyena was now dealing with one of the MANY koffings Team Magma had, I took out Pelipper's ball. Camerupt is both fire and ground; hopelessly weak against water. Hehehe, this fight will be easy.

With my best foot in front, I took a step for-"UAGH-OOF! What the?!"

I took a step alright, but it was on a floor now blanketed in ice. Obviously, it ruined my balance and caused me to slip and fall. Alright, who's the idiot who did this?! They will pay through the nose and other vital body parts!

Looking around as I struggled getting up however, I realized that everyone else in the room was just as confused. Mightyena had pads on her feet with sharp claws, so moving around wasn't too difficult. The fire camel's heat had already melted the iced floor underneath it. Everyone else (aside from koffing) were the ones who had trouble moving around. So again I ask: Who's the moron who dares mess with May Maple's battle?!

Suddenly, a figure skated into the room; making it colder than the humidity would have allowed. Stopping in the middle of the confrontation was a literal two-and-a-half foot ice sculpture. Actually to say it has been a sculpture would be a bit of a stretch. It looked more like a large chunk of ice with stubby legs, arms and fingers. Four more thick spears of ice stuck out from its back while it turned to survey its surroundings. The only prominent feature about this….'pokémon', was located where a face would normally be. Several glowing gold dots were embedded in the ice in the shape of a cross. Whatever this thing is, there was enough certainty to believe that this strange creature was certainly out of its element.

"Alright! Don't let any of these thugs escape! Its time to dish out our own brand of justice!"

That voice! I'd recognize how cheesy it sounded anywhere!

Sure enough, suddenly coming right in after the strange Pokémon on a pair of ice skates, was the young teenager himself; just as nerdy as ever.

"Prepare yourselves, Team Magma: You're about to be brought down by the Birch Squad!"

…..the what?

*Continued in chapter 28*