"Which pokemon are you looking to shop for?" The clerk asks, and Kai holds Delia up to the counter.
Delia rummages around in her bag, before handing the lady behind the counter a small wrapped gift.
"A Delibird! Why, thank you sweetheart!" She smiles, opening it up carefully, to reveal... a perfectly frozen ice cream sundae.
"Oh wow!" She giggles, taking a spoonful, as she hands us a booklet, outlining the options available for Delia.
"Ice Beam... Blizzard... Aerial Ace... Holy! There are so many!" Kai gasps, and I laugh.
"I'll buy your first three, but your on your own after that!" He laughs, and I smile.
"Okay... Ice Beam for sure... Blizzard... and..." He pauses, having circled the two, and he searches for a third.
Matthew comes up behind us, ruffling Kai's hair.
"Hail is a good choice, if your unsure. It makes it so the opposing pokemon takes damage, and all of Delia's ice attacks are super charged, AND Blizzard is guaranteed to hit." He says, before getting pulled away by Prim again.
"Then... there! Hail, Blizzard, and Ice Beam it is!" He circles the last move, handing the booklet back to the clerk, who is just finishing her sundae.
"Sounds good! Give me a couple seconds!" She heads into the back, and is back in no time, handing three disks to Kai.
"Okay, that'll be... 4500Poke." She says, and I hand her the bills.
"Keep the change, thank you!" I smile at her, as we head out.
Rayna is relaxing with her pokemon on a nearby picnic table, but sits up as we approach.
"Hey! How'd it go?" She asks, and Kai shows her the light blue disks.
"All ice type moves? Well, you sure know how to play to your pokemon's type advantages!" She smiles, handing the disks back, and we head out.
"Now remember, If you plan on using Blizzard at all, make sure to set up Hail a few turns before. Never be afraid to set it up to early!" I explain, and Kai nods.
He points at the opposing Mienfoo, and Delia lifts into the air.
"Delia, set up a Hail, followed by Ice Beam!" He orders, and Delia flies, literally, into action.
She opens her bag wide, and from it, summons a huge storm, which brews around Mienfoo and her, covering a small radius, but forcing them to stay within. As Mienfoo shields it's eyes from the onslaught of sharp icicles slicing into it, Delia launches a devastating beam of pure ice energy at the pokemon, knocking it back into a nearby tree, unconscious.
"Yeah!" Kai laughs as Delia flies back, hugging him.
"Good work, you two! Now, my turn!" I send Cleo out, pointing at a nearby Emolga.
"Shadow Claw!" Cleo flies at the electric flying squirrel pokemon, slamming a energized claw of darkness into its wing, and sending it crashing to the ground, instantly unconscious.
Cleo turns around, obviously disappointed at the lack of battle.
"I'm sorry, Cleo. We will work on finding new places to train." I hug her close, and she purrs in response, licking my cheek.
"We are going to Victory Road tomorrow, if your interested?" Prim says from behind me, and I turn around.
"Victory Road? I thought you had to have all eight badges to go through there?" Kai asks, but Prim shakes her head.
"Plasma recruits can go in and train if they want, but only in the first cave." She explains, and I nod, but Rayna waves from behind Prim.
"And what about us? Can we train to?" She asks, and Prim nods.
"Any teams recruits are allowed. You should totally come with!" Prim suggests, and Rayna laughs, but nods, as do Matthew and Nareen.
"Delia, Hail!" Kai jumps right into another battle with a wild pokemon, as I go and sit in the shade with Rayna and Nareen.
"You guys nervous?" Nar asks, and we both nod. "Good, I thought I was the only one."
"Tomorrow is going to be hard." Rayna points out, and we all nod again.
"I've heard there are ghost types in Unova's Victory Road..." Nareen whispers. Nareen is terrified of ghost types.
"We will all have each other, there's no need to worry." Rayna hugs her, and she nods.
"Isn't this funny, guys?" I point out, laughing, and they both look at me with confused expressions.
"Four months ago, we were sitting around Rayna's fireplace, back in Kanto, dreaming of this, of being REGIONS away from home, but together." Everyone goes silent...
...then bursts into laughter.
Matthew had come over, and heard the whole thing, and hes pulling his shirt back on as he giggles away.
"That is funny. But hey! We did it!" He hugs Nareen, who is still laughing.
I look up, and the midday sun is shining brightly in a blue sky without clouds, and I smile.
This is where I am needed, where I was meant to be...
We finish dinner quickly, Kai wanting to head to the beach with Delia, and me ready for bed.
I head up to my room, and find a small note on the bed.
"Love you guys tonnes, promise to come back for the race! Have fun! Love, Mom & Dad."
I smile, placing the note on my bedside table, and sigh, slopping onto the bed, happy to have it all to myself again.
I hop in the shower, letting my pokemon out to roam, when my bedroom door opens.
"One sec!" I call, but he comes right into the bathroom, leaning against the sink.
"How's it going?" He asks, pushing a strand of green hair out of his face.
"Good. Ready for some more intense training tomorrow." I laugh, and he smiles.
"I heard about that, congrats on over powering Route 22." He laughs, and I smile.
"Thanks, but my pokemon arent to happy about it." I point out, and he nods.
"They wouldnt be, its no longer a challenge for them. But Victory Road is vicious, the pokemon near untameable. Please be careful."
"I will. You look good today!" I say, gesturing to his outfit, a tight pair of black jeans, teal shirt, with a white cardigan draping almost to his feet, where I notice a pair of blue high-tops.
"Thanks babe, you too." He winks, and I laugh, gesturing for him to join me.
The shower itself is a giant stand-up shower, with tonnes and tonnes of room for me, all of my pokemon, and N, if we ever needed to fit that many people in it.
He strips quickly, hopping into the hot water, and I kiss him.
I brush his hair out of his face as I gently push him against the back wall of the shower, grinding my body onto his as he moans in pleasure.
He runs his hand down my chest, not stopping till I growl into him, and he laughs.
He flips me around, so I'm against the wall, and runs a hand through my hair as he kisses me deeply, moaning slightly.
"God I missed you..." I whisper, and he nods.
"I know the feeling..." He growls, kissing my chest as he lowers himself to his knees...
"You sure you dont want me to spend the night?" He asks, laughing as he ties his wet hair back, and I nod.
"I'll be fine, I have Kai and Delia. But thank you." I kiss him again, shivers flowing through me, and he laughs.
He takes the slide out, just as Matthew walks in with Kai and his chair.
"We will find an easier way for you to get up here, I promise." Kai laughs as I hug Delia and Matt.
"Thanks man, see you bright and early tomorrow!" I wave as he heads out.
"Thank you for today." Kai says suddenly as I sit down.
"What?" I stutter, taken aback, and he laughs.
"Thank you for today, the training really helped, and Delia loves those moves you bought for her." He explains, and I nod.
"Its not a problem bro, I'm just happy to see you training! It warms my heart to see you with Delia." I smile as she kisses him goodnight, before tucking into her bag.
"Shes... perfect. I needed a friend, now that your gone, and she is perfect." He says quietly, kissing her forehead, and placing her bag beside a sleeping Cleo.
"Good. Now, we'd better get to bed! I have to be up early for Victory Road. Any plans for tomorrow?" I ask, and his eyes light up.
"Yeah! Jessie wants to talk to me about joining Team Rocket!" He says, and my eyes go wide.
"That amazing! What would you be doing?" I ask, and he smiles wider.
"Information collection on the various pokemon of Kanto!" He says without skipping a beat.
"A Dex-er? They are going to make you a PokeDex-er? THAT SO COOL!" I jump up, hugging him close, and tears well up in my eyes.
"Hey, no crying! It's going to be fun! And, they said I could, MAYBE, transfer to Johto!" He laughs, clapping in excitment, and i hug him again.
"Kai thats... thats just... phenomenal. I'm so excited for you! It's going to go great, I can feel it!" He nods, waving as he wheels himself into his makeshift bedroom in the closet.
"Night!"
"Night!"
I hop into bed, but lights outside the balcony catch my eye, and I head out quickly to catch them.
I open the balcony doors, and step outside, to see something that takes my breath away.
Floating in the sky, like millions of falling stars, are thousands of Illumise and Volbeat, all dancing as they glow, singing a somber melody.
I gasp as a pair floats right over top of me, singing along with the rest as they float.
I sit on the balcony chair, pulling a blanket up to my chest, and quickly fall asleep to the beautiful tones of their melodic voices...