Juliana looked out the shop windows once the sandstorm calmed down somewhat and saw that people were already coming out of buildings. She thought to herself, "Wow, how do they just walk around like that without sand getting into their eyes?" She knew that the residents would be used to this, but it was still a surprise to her.

Once the storm calmed completely, she turned to Arven who was looking at the shop ingredients, "Hey Arven, the sandstorm has stopped!"

Arven nodded, "Awesome! Let's get going!" They went back outside alongside several other patrons, happy that the sun was back out. Juliana looked up at a palm tree swaying gently in the wind, the large leaves shining in the sunlight. She looked at the buildings, "Wow, Cascarrafa is just as beautiful as I remember! I always liked the appearance of this city!"

Arven looked around, "The blue theme is nice. I can understand why this place is popular."

"The idea to make the city blue came from the Gym Leader, Kofu. He did that to attract people, and it worked! At first, I thought he chose the color because he's a water-type specialist. But then somebody told me the real reason."

"Well, it worked. It's really crowded today!" Arven pointed out how many people walked by them, fittingly a lot of them were accompanied by water-type Pokémon. The couple stepped on the escalator leading down to the lower level. While it lowered, Juliana decided to leap into the air, her jumping combined with the lowering platform made her feel like she was floating for a moment. Arven noticed and was a little startled.

When she landed, she stumbled. Thankfully, Arven caught her, "Whoa there!"

Juliana giggled, "That was great! I felt like I was flying for a second!"

"You kinda scared me there, cutie! Don't go doing anything too crazy now!"

"Sorry Arven, I just had to see what would happen." Juliana grinned.

After stepping off the escalator, Arven asked, "So Juliana, what happened to that Talonflame you had before?"

"Oh, Talonflame? He was actually my mother's. She and I like to swap Pokémon occasionally. I gave her Tinkaton in exchange." Juliana impishly smiled.

Arven already knew how that must have gone, "Oh, I bet she had fun with her."

Juliana laughed, "Oh, she only had her for a short while before she was begging me to take her back! Tinkaton really drove her up the wall!"

Arven flinched, "Oh no… what happened?"

Still grinning, Juliana explained, "Well, at first she could keep up just fine with Tinkaton's energy. But after a while it just became too much. Tinkaton would also knock a lot of things over in the house, nothing broke but it would still scare my mom."

Arven shook his head with an awkward smile, Juliana defended Tinkaton, "She wouldn't knock things over on purpose, it was just carrying around that large hammer would cause things to tip and fall. But she would also use the hammer as a step stool to climb on the counters. She would do that to fill the sink up with detergent and warm water… heheh…"

Arven's eyes widened, "Oh… no…"

"My mother came in from outside and saw so many bubble suds overflowing from the sink onto the ground. Tinkaton was just playing with the bubbles getting them all over the place, she thought it was the coolest thing! When she saw my mom, she grabbed a bunch of bubbles in her hand and gave them to her like a present, my mom showed me the video. It was so cute! Here, let me show you!"

The couple went to a shady spot under a tree next to a wading pool and Juliana took out her rotom phone. She went to the message thread with her mother and clicked on the video. It started with a shot of the kitchen with Tinkaton innocently playing in the bubbles with the sink running.

"I left for five minutes, and this is what I came back to." Mother's patient voice could be heard behind the camera, she then giggled softly.

Tinkaton then looked over and saw mother, she made a happy yelp and grabbed a bunch of bubbles with two hands, hopped down using her hammer, and ran over to mother to present her the bubbles.

"No, no don't drag the bubbles all over the…!" She sighed, "Oh… okay, thank you!" She accepted the 'present'. Tinkaton made another happy noise before running back to the sink and putting bubbles on her head like a hat, which made mother laugh, but she walked over to turn the sink off anyway, "All right you stinker." Mother spoke, "Let's clean you up." The recording stopped.

Arven laughed out loud, "That is hilarious! Wow, I feel so bad for your mother but at the same time, that is just too funny!"

Juliana was also laughing, "You cannot leave Tinkaton alone, even for a second!"

"Did she try putting her back in her ball?" Arven inquired.

Juliana answered, "I did suggest that to her, I told her to put her back in her heal ball to calm her down if she gets too skittish. It would work… for a little bit. In the end, we both decided it would be better if Tinkaton stayed with me, since I travel around a lot, I'm able to burn her energy better."

"Heh, that's a good idea. I'm glad your mother didn't get frustrated with her."

"Me too, Arven. In my defense, she was the one to ask for Tinkaton. Because she thought she was so cute. I warned her about her energy…"

Arven smiled, "She didn't believe you?"

"No, she did. She just underestimated the energy… haha… Well, she does now."

The two shared a laugh at that.

Atop the Cascarrafa gym, the spirit of Liam kept an eye on the couple, "Heh… that Tinkaton is quite a match for you, dear daughter."

"Hey Liam." He turned to see Professor Sada approaching, "How are things going?"

Liam smiled at her, "Hey Professor! Things are going great! Those two youngsters are out and about again. Juliana just finished telling Arven about that Tinkaton that caused my wife a bit of a ruckus! Hahaha!"

"Haha! Is that so?" Sada laughed, "I am aware that Tinkaton can be quite an energetic and spunky Pokémon by nature. You must be very well prepared if you wish to own one."

Liam watched on in amusement, "You know, my daughter my not remember this… or maybe she does but doesn't want to say anything… but she would act just like that as a young child. That's probably why she's so good at handling Tinkaton."

"Ha! That's adorable!" Sada replied, "So Tinkaton really is her perfect match!"

Liam laughed, his mind going back to when Juliana was only five years old.

FLASHBACK

"Come on Juliana! Time for your bath!" Liam's voice carried down the hall.

"No bath!" Little Juliana responded, she bolted down the hall and into the living room, "No bath!" She fell to the ground and crawled behind the couch to hide.

Liam stepped into the room, "Juliana, I thought I told you no running in the house."

The room was quiet, mother entered the room and stood by her husband with an amused expression. Liam looked at her and winked, then announced, "Well, I guess I'll just have to finish those sandwiches by myself!"

Five seconds later, Juliana crawled out of her hiding spot and slowly approached her parents with a smile, "Okay, I'll take a bath." She admitted defeat.

Liam smiled and picked her up, then he patted her head which made her giggle.

END OF FLASHBACK

Juliana and Arven spoke and laughed as their respective water-types splashed about in the wading pool. Palafin let out a cheerful chirp and decided to use her tail to splash both humans, this made Arven's Cloyster snicker.

Juliana laughed, "Hey Palafin! I can get you back for that!" She rushed over to the edge of the pool and splashed back, both Pokémon reacted happily. Cloyster grinned and clamped his shell shut on the surface to create a bigger splash, drenching both trainers.

"Ha!" Arven wiped his face, "That's Cloyster for you! Always ready to make a splash!"

Juliana giggled, "And a big one at that!"

"We'd better get going, before another sandstorm kicks up." Arven mentioned.

"Yeah, you're right. Plus I'm absolutely craving another crepe from Porto Marinada!" She put an emphasis on 'craving'.

This made Arven chuckle, "Heh, at least you've got motivation! Come on, let's go!"

After recalling their Pokémon, they headed down the path where the boundaries of the city ended. Once they reached it, they stood side by side, looking out into the vast desert.

Arven remembered, "This desert is where we fought that Great Tusk, I'm still amazed at how monstrous that thing was."

Juliana agreed, "Mm-hmm, I could see that monster from so far away. It was so strong, I never would've beaten it without you Arven."

Arven smiled, "Right back 'atcha cutie, you know the whole reason Mabosstiff is doing so well is because of the effort you and I put in. Of course, you helping me was what really made it happen." He took her by the hand. Juliana nodded, "Happy to help!"

He winked, "I know you always are."

With that, the two walked into the Asado Desert. As expected, the temperature had increased dramatically. Juliana reached into her bag and took out a pink, floral patterned straw hat she had packed for this occasion, "Good thing I packed this with me!"

Arven kept his eyes on Juliana, "That looks so cute on you!"

Juliana blushed, "Thank you… sometimes I'm worried how hats look on me…"

"No worries! You look great! I'm the furthest thing from a fashion expert, but pink is a good color for you!"

"Thanks Arven!"

She thought, "He thinks my hat is cute! Ah! That makes me so happy! I love you Arven!"

Arven nodded, before he glanced in the opposite direction. As he did that, his eye caught a sparkle barely noticeable in the sand. Curious, he guided Juliana toward it.

"What's up Arven?"

"There's something there…"

When they got to it, Arven reached to pick it up. He was surprised to unearth a small string of pearls.

"Oh wow, that's pretty!" Juliana observed.

"It is." Arven replied, then an idea emerged in his brain. He looked around, "Maybe there's more."

As they kept moving ahead to their destination, Arven kept his eyes peeled. After several more steps, his eye caught another sparkle in the ground. Once they got to it, they found that it was another small string of pearls.

"Wow, another one?! They're so pretty… we're really lucky to find more than one!" Juliana enthused.

Arven smiled and looked at both strings resting in his hand, "Just one more…"

They continued pressing on until they were able to catch green grass in their line of sight. Arven looked around a bit more intently, "No come on… just one more…"

Juliana leaned forward, "Whew! Once we get outta this desert we gotta sit for a bit! My legs are starting to get sore…"

"Hang in there cutie, don't lose steam on me now." Arven encouraged. He got closer to her and put an arm around her, walking directly beside her. He kept his eye on her, giving her a quick kiss on the head.

"Just… a little bit… farther…" Juliana panted as they got closer and closer to the end of the desert.

Once they finally stepped on the soft grass, Juliana felt the cool breeze against her sweating face. It felt like paradise to her. She fell to the ground, startling Arven, "Juliana!? Are you okay!?" He got down to check on her. Juliana sighed, feeling the soft grass against her skin.

"I love this grass…" She whispered.

Arven chuckled, "Come on cutie, you have to get up."

Juliana clung onto Arven as he hoisted her to her feet. He reached into his bag, took out a cold bottle of water and handed it to her. She took it and quickly gulped it down.

"Thanks Arven…" She whispered, "I think I'm getting just a bit stronger now, just a little!"

He continued to hold onto her as they made it to the fork in the road. That's when they decided to set up a picnic. Once they got everything set up, Juliana took a seat, feeling a little better.

"Wow, that was a lot of walking." She breathed out.

Arven nodded, "It was, right? My heart stopped when you fell like that. I was worried I might have pushed you a little too hard…"

"It's okay Arven, I was just feeling the grass again. Hehehe…"

"I'm so glad, don't scare me like that again, okay?" Arven looked at the two pearl strings he had collected, "Ah… I wish I had found one more…"

"You mean like this one?" Juliana replied, when Arven looked at her, he saw that she was holding one. His eyes widened, "You found one!"

"When you were picking up that second one, I found this one in front of me. Crazy, huh?"

Arven smiled, "I see… let me see that one Juliana."

She handed it to him, "What are you gonna do with them?"

"You'll see. But first, let's have sandwiches!"

Arven took out several ingredients and prepared a sandwich made of strawberries, pineapples, jam, and yogurt.

"I know how much you like sweet foods…" Arven winked, then rolled his sleeves up and huffed, "Yeeeaarrrt! Hiya! Huwatcha!"

In a flash, the super sweet sandwiches were complete.

"Sorry for the wait!" He kissed her head, "Enjoy the sandwich, okay?"

Juliana picked up the sandwich and took a bite, "It's amazing." She then noticed that there were four sandwiches total. Arven took one, wrapped it up and placed it in his backpack, "I'll give that one to Mabosstiff later."

Just as Juliana opened her mouth to speak, Koraidon appeared from a flash of light.

"Agaias?"

Arven chuckled, "Heh! I knew you'd come out of there! Don't worry you brute, I made one for you." To Juliana's surprise, Arven took the extra sandwich and handed it to Koraidon himself. Naturally, Koraidon swallowed it up happily.

Juliana watched with a smile, "Wow… Arven's really warmed up to Koraidon… that's so good, I'm happy to see that!"

While Juliana continued eating her sandwich, she noticed Arven whispering something to Koraidon. To which the legendary responded by nodding eagerly. Arven then sat down at the picnic table while Koraidon walked behind Juliana.

After she finished her sandwich, she felt her hat be swiped off from her head. She instinctively put a hand up to grab it before turning around to see Koraidon holding it in its mouth with a playful expression.

"Koraidon, you silly rascal! Give that back!" Juliana leapt to the ground make a grab for it, but Koraidon hopped away. Juliana stood up, "Okay, buddy. Give that back." Koraidon still refused, clearly not wanting to give up without a fight.

"Come on, I know you're excited that Arven's warmed back up to you but come on."

Koraidon used its eyes to peer at Arven, it saw him giving it the thumbs up signal with one hand, and was hiding his other hand behind his back. Koraidon nodded happily and put the hat back onto Juliana's head before running back to Arven.

Juliana adjusted the hat before walking back to the picnic table, "Oh, what has gotten into you buddy?" she whispered.

"Hey Juliana." Arven called her. She looked at him and saw his tender gaze meeting her.

"Hm? Yes, Arven?"

He walked up to her, "Close your eyes."

She did as requested, feeling her heart beating faster, "What's he doing? What's going on? I'm nervous…"

She felt something being put around her neck and clasped securely behind her, "Arven?"

"It's okay, you can open your eyes now."

She opened her eyes, she used her rotom phone camera to see she now had a pearl choker on her neck, she gasped lightly and slowly put her hand up to delicately touch it.

"Arven… it's beautiful!" She whispered, dazzled.

He chuckled, "I'm glad you like it." He whispered.

She lightly tugged on it, "Wow, you made this well."

"I found out recently that I'm good at making things." Arven explained, "I've decided to put that to use."

She leapt into his arms, hugging him tightly. He returned the embrace and whispered to her, "Think of us when you look at this, okay?"

Juliana nodded, continuing to hold onto her beloved. She could feel his heartbeat, it was in sync with hers. She could feel her face warming up, basking in the love.

"I love you Arven!" She whispered.

In return, he held her closer, "I love you too."

Koraidon watched them with a smile from the distance, allowing them to have their moment. Mabosstiff had snuck out of his Pokeball and was watching alongside Koraidon. The two exchanged a proud glance, then continued to watch their trainers.

Juliana used a hand to carefully touch the pearl choker again, knowing that this would be a regular part of her wardrobe now.

Meanwhile…

"Oh, come on! Are you serious!?"

The loud shout of Ortega caught the attention of everyone around them in Penny's homeroom. Penny face-palmed, "Ortega, could you stop yelling? You're gonna get us kicked out if you keep doing that."

"Can you blame me!? That's some way too good luck you've got there Atticus! It's so NOT FAIR!"

Atticus held out the cards he had in hand proudly, "Skill, my good master, it's called skill."

Ortega retorted, "I'm calling bull on that! It's all luck! Pure luck!"

Giacomo chuckled, "I'm so glad we've gotten to do this. It's been a long while since we've done this!"

Penny replied, "Well if we want to keep doing this, we might have to change our location. With how competitive this gets…"

Ortega then smirked, "Well, it's a good thing I've got an ace up my sleeve! Behold this!" He slammed a card on the table."

Penny almost flew backward, "What the heck!? Where did that come from?"

Ortega sneered, "As Atticus said, it's called skill."

Atticus snorted, "Wasn't thou the one singing the tune that it was all pure luck? Thou has't changed thy tune rapidly…"

Ortega stuttered, "That… that was different!"

Atticus gained a sparkle in his eye, "That's much too unfortunate… feast thine eyes on this!" He slammed a card on the table.

Ortega's eyes widened seeing it, "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" while Atticus hid a grin under his hood.

Penny sighed heavily, "I guess there's no stopping this now…"

Giacomo patted her back with an unaffected grin, "It'll be okay Penny, it'll all be okay."

Author's Note: Haha... please do not ask what they were playing at the end. I have absolutely no idea. Just something I made up...

Hope you all enjoyed this, I might be taking a break because I need to kick start some motivation.

So with that, please excuse me!

See you all next time!