The flight—to Blackthorn, as she discovered early into it—was rather uneventful. The two trainers spent a grand majority of the trip in silence, with Otomé sulking and Jet brooding.

"You seem good, so I'll forgive you for trying to kill me!" She had announced once the Illex Forest had vanished from the horizon behind them.

"Save your breath," He had retorted in an unfriendly manner. "I didn't save you because I wanted to be good. Like hell I was going to let Team Rocket have their way."

She frowned. "So… You only saved me to spite them?"

"Exactly. Glad you understand."

For the remainder of the journey, the girl tried to deny to herself that she felt hurt. Why should she care what that idiot's reasons were? She had been rescued from a potentially disastrous situation and that's all that mattered. The boy'll probably finally leave her alone once they reached their destination, so why waste time feeling hurt?

Still. He could've at least been nicer in informing her of his reasons, the bastard.

The sun was already high in the morning sky when the Flygon finally began to descend in a fluttering manner, the city of dragons already largely in sight. The Trapinch Evolute took care to land on the very outskirts of the city, his master not particularly wanting to attract the attentions of the townspeople. Hoennian Pokémon were extraordinarily rare in Johto.

Without a word, the water trainer slid gracefully off the green dragon's flank, but stumbled slightly as she landed, with Omi, who had fallen asleep by now, still cradled in her arms. Her counterpart followed suit as she put a few feets' distance between her and the reptile, and the would-be murderer and would-be victim were suddenly facing one another again.

For a moment or so, the duo simply stared at one another, both their expressions unreadable. It was like they were attempting to gauge one another on some unknown aspect while trying not to let the other know they were doing so. But then out of no where, Otomé suddenly bowed, albeit stiffly.

"I thank you for rescuing me. If you need a place to stay, the Pokémon Center is just a bit south of the Gym, which itself is the largest and closest building to the Dragon's Den." As far as she knew, he had not slept once this past night, and would now be tired. Or at the very least, his dragon would be.

"Otomé… Have you no manners?" The Espeon in her arms chided weakly in a groggy voice. The girl was slightly surprised to be addressed by the feline, but was inwardly relieved that at least she was fit enough to speak.

"I'll pass," Jet replied dully, paying no heed to the psychic cat. Whether or not he heard her was debatable. "I'm better off on my own."

"Then why not stay with us?" The Eeveelution suddenly suggested. "It sounds hypocritical, but my late mistress's home in quite large and with just Otomé and I as its occupants, you'd pretty much be 'on your own'…"

The boy stared at the feline with a slight frown. And when it seemed as though he would not speak, he opened his mouth and stated. "… It talked."

"Really now?" Omi replied in a slightly impatient tone. "It might be due to the fact that I am a high-level Psychic-Type…"

"And it's already annoying," The dragon trainer concluded to no one, narrowing his dark eyes at the creature. "Look, her and I aren't friends. I didn't help her nor take her here because I cared. So why would I take up such an offer? I like it better out here anywhere." As if to emphasize this point, he crossed his arms and turned his back to them, fixing his glare ahead of him at nothing.

This action made the blue-haired girl want to scream. How rude! Stubborn boy! She was just trying to be nice but he simply throws it back in her face! Well fine! "Then I bid you farewell," She responded in a tightly controlled voice, trying to keep aggravation at such a harsh rejection from bleeding through into her voice. Smartly, she spun around on a heel and marched off, muttering darkly to herself once she was certain the duo were out of earshot.

"Arg! Idiot! So frustrating!" Otomé ranted as she stomped down familiar paths through the large city, her feet carrying her to her destination as though they possessed minds of their own. She could only remember the past six or seven years she had spent in Blackthorn, but that was still plenty of time to have her usual routes memorized by heart now.

"I'm surprised you're even wasting energy fuming about someone like him," Omi pointed out from the girl's embrace. "Who was he anyway?"

"He said that his name was Jet."

"Just 'Jet'?"

The teenager nodded. "Just that. No last name, but I don't think he's from Johto, 'cause he has strange Pokémon I've never seen before." Briefly, she wondered what other Pokémon he had in his possession. Above Illex Forest, he had boast that he owned 'four other dragons', in addition to his Salamence. 'Guess that's three others, 'cause that green dragon was probably one of the ones he was talking about,' She mused.

"I'd propose that he could very well be from Hoenn since he has a Flygon, but you have a Milotic and you're not," The lavender feline remarked with her own brand of a frown. "But it doesn't matter anymore. We probably won't see him again."

Though still huffy at Jet's rudeness, Otomé was certain she felt her anger abate slightly at Omi's words. She told herself that it was because never running across the dragon trainer ever again was a good thing.

"Yeah… First thing's first, I've got to go find Clair." The girl tried to suppress a groan.

With her curiosity perked by her charge's obvious unwillingness in wanting to locate the Rising Gymleader, the Espeon tilted her head as she looked up to the human. "Why's that?" Sighing, the water trainer explained.

"I was back in Olivine two days ago when I got a call from her, telling me I had two days to get back here or else she'd feed me to the dragons. Today's the third day and you know how strict Clair is…"

In a way that was half knowingly and half out of pity, the Sun Pokémon nodded after being filled in on the teenager's plight. "But you know there's nothing you can do but find her and then grit you teeth while she lashes out at you for being late."

"I know, I know," Otomé admitted glumly. She had slightly hoped that the Espeon would've said something different, something more encouraging.

"But if you knew that you have two days to get from one end of Johto to the other, why on Aruseus' green earth did you go the long way, through Illex Forest?" If the girl had been serious about escaping the Rising Gymleader's wrath, why didn't she go through Ecruteak City and Mahogany Town, instead?

Keeping her eyes fixed ahead—partly to make sure she didn't run into anyone on the sidewalk she traveled upon—the girl sighed. "If I could've taken the shorter way, I would've. But I didn't even make it to Mount Mortar before Nightmare showed up." She felt Omi's fur bristle slightly at the name.

"So he still continued to harass you, did he?"

She nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. So I backtracked to Ecruteak again and tried to take the long way around. But he still followed me!"

"The blonde was always dedicated to his pursuits," The Eeveelution remarked dryly.

"He even found me in the Illex Forest, but Jet helped us escape…" Sighing again, the water trainer now instinctively came to a halt in just outside the fenced-in yard of a large, powdery blue house with white trim. It was three stories tall and significantly wide, situated towards the sparsely populated section of Blackthorn near the entrance to the Ice Path. But the grass of the yard was wild and spotted with weeds, the enclosing fencing looking as though it had seen better days, which it probably had.

With Otomé not only now the sole caretaker of the home, but also gone most of the time as she wandered through Johto, her childhood home could more or less be considered abandoned. She was just grateful that no one seemed to want to break into it while she was away, for which she couldn't thank Suicune enough.

Too lazy to fiddle around with the lock, the teenager simply hopped over the fence instead—it barely came up to her waist anyway—and wearily strolled up the overgrown pathway leading to the raised porch and the front door.

Jet was unmoving from his brooding position until he was certain that that stupid girl and her annoying Espeon were well away from him. Turning back around to confirm this, he was relieved to see that only his Flygon remained. Good! Good riddance! But he didn't like that look his beast was giving him.

"What?" He half-growled. To anyone else, the dragon looked emotionless, like it was only staring at its master to pass the time while it waited to be issued a new set of orders. But the boy could tell… He had been around his reptiles long enough to know their otherwise minute expressions.

"Don't look at me like that. You know it's true. And you only liked her because she said you were cute. You pansy."

Snorting, the Flygon wagged his head from side to side in an annoyed manner before crouching down and curling up on the slightly rocky ground like a cat, resting his head on the other side of him so his streamlined body hid his master from view.

"Oh, don't give me that, you overgrown lizard!" Jet hissed before petulantly taking a seat on the ground beside his Flygon, with his back to the creature and his arms still crossed. Dumb dragon. Otomé's idiocy must've rubbed off on him, blasted girl!

But the boy mentally reprimanded himself for allowing the water trainer into his thoughts. She was gone for good and he'd never see her again, so it would be in his best interests to forget about her and hope she wouldn't rat him out to the authorities for almost trying to kill her.

'I doubt she would,' He assured himself confidently, but was unable to support the claim with actual proof. She looked pretty miffed when she had taken her leave, so who's to say she hadn't gone straight to the police to extract a fitting revenge on him? Dumb girl, so unreliable!

After a moment or two, Jet realized that his attempt to push the blue-haired teenager from his mind only brought about even more thoughts of her, and in response, growled. Oh well. No use fighting it. He'd forget about her soon enough. Hopefully.

Time was slow in passing. Or perhaps it just seemed that way due to his horrible sense of it? Regardless, all the silver-haired boy knew was that it had been awhile before he decided to speak again.

"What should we do tomorrow?" He mused to himself, though aloud in case his Flygon had any suggestions. After a few moments of silence that made it obviously that the green creature would not respond, he continued. "Well, leaving, first thing. But then what? Back to that forest?" Illex or whatever it was called. But hanging around in the branches, waiting for unsuspecting victims was boring.

Frowning at his inability to come up with a schedule for the next day, the teenager instead immersed himself in pushing around some small rocks with one of his feet, the dust from the mountain dirt only making his worn sneakers look even worse. Quickly losing interest however, he suddenly stood and nudged his Flygon with the same foot.

"C'mon. Get up, you lug. Let's go look around the city."

Raising his head from its resting position to give his master a suspicious look, the Trapinch Evolute crooned in a concerned tone.

"Relax. We'll be fine," The boy dismissed carelessly. "Nobody knows who I am here. It's not like back home."

With skepticism, the Flygon accepted this answer.

It was good to see that Otomé had gotten over her sulking by now. After returning home, she then had grudgingly gone out to seek Clair and Omi had been proud of the girl when she silently took the verbal slap the Gymleader gave her after finally locating the woman. Though, the cat had to admit that maybe Clair had been just a tad too harsh on the poor girl.

Once the Rising Gymleader had finish berating the water trainer, she then informed her of the reason behind the abrupt summons.

"As you should know, the Dragon Festival is in three days," Clair began loftily. "But unfortunately, this year's singer suddenly pulled out for some dumb reason."

"What was her reason?" The teenager inquired, her interest bleeding through the mask of brooding gloom she had been trying to maintain.

"Her boyfriend had proposed to her," She replied frankly.

The girl had been at a loss of how to respond to that, slightly unbelieving that Clair could be so callous, but at the same time knowing that the older woman knew nothing but how to be callous. And loud.

"So… Then… Why me?" The female dragon trainer didn't need to explain to her what her role in the scheme of things would be; the girl had already figured it out.

"Do you know how hard it is to get a good, professional singer at such short notice? Your mother always bragged about how nice of a voice you had, so I decided to see if she was really telling the truth or not."

Once Otomé had been completely filled in of her new job, she was dismissed and as expected, stalked out of the large Gym and headed straight for home with only a manila folder full of songs to compensate for her troubles. Upon returning to the blue house, she then immediately locked herself in her room on the third floor to brood and sulk and didn't emerge until a few hours later, in the middle of the afternoon. And only once she had cleared her mind did the girl finally realize that she had no idea how to read the sheet music she had been given.

"Just my luck," The teenager muttered to herself as she hurried down one of the many sidewalks that lined the downtown area. "Why couldn't she have just given me CDs or something?" Just because she could sing decently didn't mean she also knew how to read all those strange music notes!

Preoccupied with cursing Clair for giving her something she couldn't understand, Otomé stopped paying attention to where she was going on the less-than-crowded sidewalk and was only snapped from her seething thoughts when she felt herself walk directly into something soft and warm traveling in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Watch where you're goin'!"

By now, the girl was well acquainted with the voice that barked at her and was hard pressed to resist disdainfully groaning when she glanced upwards to confirm her suspicions. She had run into the silver-haired boy. Literally.

Taking a few steps back, she stared up at him with a frown and half-closed eyes. "Why in Suicune's name are youstill here? Don't you have someone else to bother?"

"'Bother'?! I could say the same thing!" Jet was not happy. He figured that it would've been worthwhile to take a look around the mountain city. After all, it was dedicated to the type of Pokémon he trained. But foolishly, he had not expected it to be full of so many people. And then to add insult to injury, running into that stupid girl again? The Gods must really not like him!

"Plus, it's a free country. I can do whatever the hell I want!" He added.

Rolling her eyes—they were a bright cyan, he noticed now—she then crossed her arms and threw back, "Oh, go jump off a cliff! There are plenty just south of the city, in case you didn't know."

"I'd rather go jump off a cliff than run into you again!"

Unable to think of a comeback to such an insult, the Blackthorn native had to settle for glaring daggers at the boy before pushing past him in a huffy manner and once again stomping off. But lacking the wisdom to know when to let go, Jet turned and followed the girl, continuing to let her know just how he felt.

"As if I wanted to come across you again anyway. You should be thankful I even took you here and not pushed you off the back of Flygon while we were flying!"

Clenching her teeth, she tried to resist retorting, but failed spectacularly. "And you should be lucky I haven't turned you into the police yet!" Unbeknownst to her as she had her back to him, this subtle threat froze the dragon trainer in his tracks.

"… You wouldn't dare…" He hissed to her retreating back.

"Oh, don't put it past me!" The girl challenged angrily. But as she glanced over her shoulder, he had already caught back up with her and in a single, swift dive, grabbed one of her wrists and yanked her around to face him, his grip tighter than it had been back in the Illex Forest, and more painful as he took care to dig his nails into her soft flesh.

"Let's get one thing straight," Jet snarled in a deadly soft voice as he returned her previous glare. "You may have been able to protect yourself against Team Rocket and that blonde, but there's nothing in this world that can protect you from me!"

The people that flowed around them paid little attention to the scene. Not only was it none of their business, but spats between lovers, especially ones as young as they, were common. And surely the boy would not be idiotic enough to try and harm his girlfriend in broad daylight…

However, the people trying to travel downtown were quickly annoyed when, with a flash of red light from his belt, another golden dragon was suddenly looming behind the silver-haired teenager, its girth taking up most of the space on the sidewalk.

"Don't," It warned as it reached out a paw to gently grip its master's shoulder. "Not here… You shouldn't. No good will come of it."

But Jet ignored his dragon's advisement in favor of stalking darkly forward and disappearing into a narrow, shadowed alleyway between two buildings, all the while dragging the struggling water trainer with him.

Rolling its chocolate brown eyes, the Dragonite followed and dutifully stood in front of the meager entrance, blocking it, and the two trainers, from sight.

A/N: Just a little disclaimer. Otomé and Jet aren't dating. But the people downtown, who don't know them one bit, assumed that they were. Everyone seems to do that…