Chapter 3 - The first mile

Cynthia and Markus had finally hit the first mile of their journey and all ready the air between them was awkward. Markus was used to travelling alone with only his pokémon as company meaning that having Cynthia with him was totally alien to him. He had no idea what to do. Cynthia seemed to be having the same trouble as she was biting her lip and looking deep in thought, the realisation that they would be travelling together for a long time weighing on her mind.

Eventually the tenseness of the situation got to them both.

"Hey, Markus?"

"Hey, Cynthia?" They both said at the same time.

"You go first," Markus said.

"No you," Cynthia said awkwardly, looking away.

"Um… alright… um, thank you… I mean, was just wondering where you come from I know you're from Sinnoh but…" Markus said flustered.

"Celestic town," Cynthia interrupted to calm him down, "I lived there with my parents and grandparents." Cynthia explained reminiscing her home, as much as she loved the place, the peace and seclusion the town provided had always made her incredibly tense. All kinds of horrors could have come out of the mist that rolled through the canyon but nothing ever did. Cynthia was glad she'd left that place when she had.

"Did you not have any siblings?" Markus asked. Surprised Cynthia stopped walking and looked down her eyes shaded by her hair. She remained silent.

Markus stopped and turned to face her "Cynthia?" He questioned.

"It's nothing, we should get moving." Cynthia said, a warning undertone laced her voice.

"Right." Markus said unsurely obviously he had said something wrong, he mentally chastised himself for being so insensitive and cursed that their first real attempt to get to know one another had failed. The awkwardness returned.

"What about you? Where are you from?" Cynthia asked all of a sudden, she knew hardly anything about Kalos, from what she had heard it was much, much further away from here than Sinnoh.

Markus was slightly taken aback but latched onto the opportunity as soon as he could. "I'm from Campriher town, well when I say that, the day I moved in was the day I received my first pokémon and set off on my journey so I never really called it home but it's where mum lives so I guess it's the place to head back too."

"So you don't have any siblings either?"

"Nope, I'm an only child."

"I see," Cynthia simply said, all of a sudden she noticed something odd in the corner of her eye Cynthia looked down to Markus's belt.

"You have two pokéballs on your belt." She realised.

"Oh so you noticed," Markus grinned, "Well since you got to bring Gabite I figured I should train a pokémon I caught in my previous adventure, thing is he joined me close to when I was going to compete in the pokémon league so I didn't have any time to train him, he learnt a lot from my other pokemon though which is good. I thought bringing him along would be fun." Markus explained,

"I see, what kind of pokémon is it, something from Kalos?" Cynthia questioned.

"You wanna see?" Markus asked. Cynthia swore she saw a flash in Markus' eye at that moment so nodded almost apprehensively. Markus grabbed the pokéball and threw it out, it let forth a light which soon became a small Ralts that didn't even come up to Markus' knee.

"A Ralts?" Cynthia questioned looking down on the small pokemon, these pokémon were rare in Sinnoh but she had still seen them around, their weak appearance had always put her off catching one.

"Don't you already have a Gardevoir?"

"Yes I do but this Ralts is male and I got this just after meeting him," Markus rummaged through his bag and produced a glistening stone. "I promised Ralts I would help make him stronger so I plan on evolving him into a Gallade with this dawn stone when the time comes. Of course Ralts, you will have to earn it." Markus said showing the turquoise stone to Ralts, Ralts nodded throwing an experimental punch which made him loose balance and fall over due to his overly-heavy head. "Maybe not yet little guy, don't worry we have plenty of time." Markus said picking the little pokémon as they both laughed. Cynthia watched the interaction between the two, although they had only recently met she could see that they could both rely on each other. It was something she had never actually noticed between trainer and pokémon.

"Oh yeh I should introduce you, this…" Markus said pulling out his other pokéball "is Snivy." Snivy flew out of Markus's pokéball and landed next to Ralts. "And Snivy this is Ralts, you're going to be partners from now on." The two pokémon turned to each other greeting each other. While the pair were getting to know one another Markus turned to Cynthia. "You know, you should introduce your pokémon too then everyone has met everyone." Markus suggested. Cynthia nodded it would be more efficient to get introductions out of the way now.

"Alright, Gabite and Tepig come out." The two pokéballs flew out of her hands opening to release the two pokémon. Tepig instantly ran over to Snivy and Ralts eager to introduce himself the others happily returned the gesture until a shadow fell over them, feeling a much stronger presence behind them the three turned nervously. Gabite stood tall and menacing against the sky, towering over the three shorter pokémon who shivered in fear at Cynthia's ace.

Gabite seemed to notice the smaller pokémon's apprehension and began to sniff the air before dashing off.

"Hey, Gabite what are you doing?" Cynthia yelled. Gabite quickly jumped and used dragon claw on a tree, lightly landing as pecha berries fell into his arms and he ran back to the pokémon, offering the gift to each of the smaller pokémon.

"Wow, your Gabite is pretty nice," Markus realised,

Cynthia nodded, "She's always been a softy really."

Very quickly the four pokémon were all friends chasing each other around Gabite who was content watching the little pokémon play. Cynthia seemed irked by how they were acting this was meant only to be an introduction, they shouldn't be fooling around like that, she remembered scolding her pokémon in the past for such behaviour, Markus noticed.

"Lesson number two:" he casually announced. "Pokémon are not machines they're living beings too they need to play every now and then, it's their way of getting to know each other. If you join them it is sure to allow your bonds with the pokémon to grow." Cynthia looked awkward not being able to decide what to do.

"Maybe not today huh? Besides we need to get to Accumula town before nightfall." Markus said. Cynthia took out her pokéballs ready to return her pokémon Markus held out his hand "Might as well keep them out for now, it'll be more fun that way." Markus said before bending down and offering his arm to Snivy who gladly ran up the length of his arm and sat on his shoulder. Ralts and Tepig were swept up by Gabite who sat them on his head, they seemed to enjoy the height.

"Well then, shall we go Cynth," Cynthia glared at him, "…ia" he finished afraid of the blondes wrath.

Cynthia walked in front of him signalling it was okay, Markus looked at Snivy and shrugged before quickly catching up.

(…)

The sun was still heading to earth as they reached Accumula town and Markus was already tired. The town seemed nice, it was a quaint and spacious town that rolled with the hills it was built upon. The relaxed atmosphere was more than pleasant. Markus, after returning his pokémon to their pokéballs, checked his map to find the closest Pokécentre and carefully tried to figure out the route. Pointing in one direction he called back to Cynthia. "The Pokécentre is this way, let's go I'm starving!"

"I guess I'll follow you then." Cynthia said worried, she had heard rumours from Bertha that this boy easily got lost.

It was half an hour later the boy admitted it, he was lost. They had found themselves in the middle of a nice looking park in the middle of the town. In defeat Markus sighed and collapsed onto a bench his feet aching from the hike.

"Is this going to happen often?" Cynthia asked mildly irritated. Markus smiled up at her stupidly and she sighed sitting next to the boy. "Well we made it to the first town, that's something at least." Cynthia announced feigning optimism.

Markus nodded happily, "We've finally started our new journey."

"That reminds me did you want to enter the pokémon league here?" Cynthia asked.

"Of course! It's the best opportunity I have to battle the strongest trainers in the region." He announced suddenly all pumped up.

"You seem very excited over it." Cynthia stated dully.

"Of course it's the best way to get me one step closer to my dream!"

"Your dream?" Cynthia asked surprised as she saw his eyes begin to sparkle.

"Yup, most people want to be a pokémon master but I have a more specific goal, I want to be one of the greatest battlers in history, being the champion is one way to do it but even the champions struggle against the members of the battle frontier. They're awesome, the best in the business." Cynthia thought back to the frontier in Sinnoh, it was similar to most other battle frontiers in that it had eight facilities in which you had to earn all eight frontier badges. It was supposedly almost impossible to beat, only a few trainers every generation had the power to defeat all eight and claim a seat as a frontier brain.

"You want to be a frontier brain?" she asked.

"Hopefully, one day." Markus said turning to Cynthia, "What about you? What do you want to do?"

"I want to be strong… strong enough so that…, it doesn't matter" Cynthia looked down her vice hitched in her mouth, she couldn't just tell some one she had just met, "Strong enough to be a champion," she lied. Markus grinned.

"That's awesome we're looking at similar dreams then that means we can help each other out. Achieving goals is a lot easier with your friends beside you... at least that's what I was told." Cynthia looked up in shock.

"Friend?" Cynthia said, "But we've only just met, does that really mean we're…"

"Well yeh, sure it is… I mean if you want us to be friends? I kinda figured that if we're going on a journey together that makes us friends." Markus said awkwardly. Cynthia looked at Markus with an almost shocked expression… she didn't actually know how to react to this. Without warning, she felt her eyes begin to water.

"Oh, gosh what? Don't cry urm… ah." Markus flustered having no idea what to do except to curse the fact that he had no idea what to do.

Cynthia panicked wiping her eyes quickly, she refused to cry again, especially in front of the person who beat her. "It's nothing," She said abruptly, "It's just I don't often make any friends." Cynthia looked at her knees hiding herself behind her hair, "Human ones at least."

"Well, I guess we're friends if you want us to be." Markus said looking at her. Cynthia looked up and met his eyes, she felt a strange jolt of excitement at the moment their eyes locked. With a dignified but undoubtedly happy smile she gave a nod causing Markus to smile widely too.

With a sniff Cynthia looked away again. "Ugh, I've become so soft lately." She complained. Markus laughed at the trainer, she had looked so brutal a few days ago, but he agreed she was getting a bit soft, but was that necessarily a bad thing.

"You know when I said we were lost." Markus announced. Cynthia nodded warily. "Well funnily enough, I found the pokécentre." Markus pointed to a large building on the side of a large hotel its signature P symbol telling the pair all they needed to know. "C'mon, Dinner awaits and I'm starving!" Markus announced as he dragged Cynthia to her feet and towards the Pokécentre. Cynthia was more than happy to follow her new friend.

(…)

After a dinner that was cooked especially by Nurse Joy, Cynthia, Markus and all their pokémon decided to retire. Cynthia had gone up first as Markus wanted to call Professor Juniper to tell him they had arrived safely. Unfortunately there was not much to the exchange other than more of Juniper's odd inquiries. When Markus was finally released he took the card key for the room he was staying in and decided to head to bed. It had been a long and interesting day, from Undella town to Accumula it certainly felt like a long time had passed.

The boy quickly found his room and swiped the key card unlocking the door. He pushed it open then lazily closed it behind him. As he entered the room he was met by an incredibly unfamiliar sight. In his tired state it took him a while to comprehend the towel clad beauty in front of him. Slowly Markus eyes moved up her body before meeting her beet red face and terrifyingly furious eyes that instantly brought Markus out of his tired daze. Before Markus could protest Cynthia, with an unwomanly yell, threw a punch directly colliding with Markus' face and knocking him out completely.

Markus woke up with a splitting headache and a ring of pain around one eye, instinctively he brought his hand to his head feeling the dreadful lump surrounding his now blackened eye. Markus sat up and looked around to see Cynthia standing with her back to him wearing her black silk night shirt and pants. Her hair was no longer pinned up by her clips but was tied in a long ponytail now that it was finished drying. As if she knew he was awake she turned her head menacingly, a single eye striking him like a thunderbolt.

"Let me get one thing straight, it seems we are stuck together, I tried to get you a second room but Nurse Joy said she was struggling with rooms and it is likely every other pokécentre from here to the pokémon league will be as well so I will grudgingly sleep in the same room as you, but know that there will be some rules set in place." Cynthia said menacingly, Markus nodded whilst recoiling in fear of the woman. "One, I will always head up half an hour before you, you will not enter the room during this period also you will always knock before entering the room unless I am already asleep. Second, you yourself will not get undressed in here whilst I am also in the room, no one wants to see your dwarf biceps."

"Hey!" Markus said offended they may be a work in progress but he was proud of them so far. Cynthia gave him another glare shutting him up instantly.

"Finally, any snoring, shuffling or talking in your sleep will not be tolerated under any circumstances."

"What, I can't help that!" Markus complained.

"You'll do it or do I need to remind you what's at stake, black eye. Fortunately all the beds in pokécentres are single or bunk so the final rule is that I will always get the…"

"I call top bunk!" Markus yelled throwing his bag up there and jumping up himself clearing the gap like it was nothing. Cynthia sighed, top bunk wasn't that important to her in fairness and besides she did feel just a bit guilty for giving the boy a black eye… Just a bit.

"Fine," she conceded, "do we have an agreement?"

Markus thought for a second. "Fine, your rules are fair even if the punishment is not." He announced.

"Good, in that case, I'll give you a few minutes to get changed." At that Markus smirked. "Already am." Cynthia looked up and realised it was true somehow he had managed to get changed in a matter of seconds without her even realising. She gave him an irritated glare before she huffed and ducked down to enter her own bunk.

"Sleep well Cynth." Cynthia coughed obviously. "…ia." Markus said switching the light off.

After a moments silence Cynthia replied "You too."

Markus was already asleep and snoring however. Cynthia lay staring at the underneath Markus' bed. She smiled a rare smile of contentment, it had been a long day, long but surprisingly entertaining. Perhaps this adventure wasn't going to be awful. With this she closed her eyes and let sleep overcome her.

(…)

The morning broke through the window rudely disturbing the two trainers' sleep. With a stretch Markus sat up in his bed, he had slept like a log and was now pumped and filled with energy. With similar speed to last night he got changed into his travelling gear. He pulled his old tattered scarf out of his bag, the scarf was plain beige and hung loosely around the boy's neck with its ends running down his back. The boy took a deep breath into the scarf, the smell always reminded him of Kalos, the cities, the forests and mountains. It was the scent of the open road, this scarf had been with him since the very beginning and long before even that. Finally replacing his pyjama bottoms with a pair of cargo shorts he was ready to go. As quietly as possible he snuck down the ladder careful not to awaken the sleeping demon underneath him. When he reached the ground he gave her a quick glance, she lay sprawled unceremoniously across her bed, half of her limbs poked out randomly from her duvets which only covered a small portion of her actual body. Markus could only smile as he witnessed the young beauty drooled over her pillow. He was oh so tempted to take photo but decided against it, there would be plenty of opportunity later. So much for sophistication, she's just as bad as me. Markus thought before leaving the room to wash his face and brush his teeth.

Not long after, Markus was sitting in the pokécentre munching happily on a slice of toast watching his two pokémon eat their own pokémon food. Cynthia walked into the room and gracefully moved into Markus' booth. Despite being back to her usual pristine self, Markus couldn't help but feel she had yet to truly wake up. "I saved you and your pokémon some food." He said, pushing his plate which still had two slices of toast left and gesturing to the two food bowls for the pokémon.

"Thanks," Cynthia said tiredly putting them both on the floor and releasing her pokémon, "Eat up, Gabite, Tepig." She ordered without emotion. Gabite nodded and began eating, Tepig looked up at her expecting a bit more of a good morning. Realising he wasn't going to get one without asking he jumped up onto Cynthia's lap causing her to yelp. Tepig stood on his hind legs resting his front legs on her torso and with gusto shouted good morning to her the only way he knew how. By releasing a good bout of soot to her face. Judging by Cynthia's face the pin had been pulled, Markus leapt to stop the grenade from exploding.

"Whoa Cynthia, calm down, Tepig is only saying good morning." He interjected before anything went wrong. Tepig nodded heartily looking up at his trainer hopefully. Cynthia looked down at the little pokémon her cold expression faded in defeat. Silently she placed a gentle hand on the fire pig's head and began to scratch behind its ears.

"Good Morning Tepig, sorry I almost snapped." With that she lifted Tepig off her lap and onto the table picking up his bowl of food with it. Tepig smiled widely and began chowing down. Cynthia turned and nodded at Gabite, they seemed to have a mutual understanding so a simple nod was really all that was required.

Markus smiled and leaned back in his seat looking outside. It wasn't the best weather but it was unlikely to rain he decided. His eyes began to survey the park. There seemed to be oddly dressed people about, they were wearing oddly feudal costumes with some kind of sigil on the front. A shield with a P in the centre. The group seemed to be putting up banners and creating some kind of a stage, slowly people were beginning to gather. Maybe it was some kind of festival. Interested Markus decided to investigate.

"Hey, Cynthia I'm just going outside for a second there seems to be something going on. I'll be back soon." Cynthia nodded also noticing what was going on,

"Give me a second I'll go with you." Cynthia said with a frown whilst finishing her toast. Markus lifted Snivy onto his shoulder and scooped Ralts up into his arms before getting up, Cynthia quickly finished her meal returning Gabite and Tepig and followed him outside.

(…)

The two trainers approached the small crowd, they all seemed fairly agitated it wasn't long before the two trainers realised why. Stood at a small lectern was a man with electric green hair, he was middle aged but his face looked far more aged. He wore a cape that was decorated with two large eye motifs, one side of the cape was mainly black whilst the other was mainly bronze. An odd red monocle sat over his left eye. The man looked powerful and commanding as he addressed the amassing crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Ghetsis. I am here to represent Team Plasma and tell you all about pokémon liberation."

At this he paused dramatically letting the crowd contemplate, the whispered murmurs sounded confused at this new ideal and many found themselves already eager to learn more. Markus began to feel a sinking feeling as the man continued.

"I am sure most of you believe that we humans and pokémon are partners that have come together because we want and need each other. However… Is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans only assume that is the truth?" The crowd lay entranced by his speech, the seeds of doubt being planted. Cynthia noticed Markus clench his fist tightly. She wondered where this was going.

"This is fact. Pokémon are subject to the selfish command of trainers… They are ordered around when they are our 'partners' at work… and they are forced to perform in so called spectaculars known as contests. Is this among their will? Can any of you say with confidence there is no truth in what I am saying?" Cynthia watched as Markus' face contorted and with confidence he began to walk forward, he had a lot to say to whoever this man claimed to be, pokémon are not our pets, not our servants, they are our partners and more importantly friends. As he was about to speak up he felt a hand grab his clenched fist. Cynthia stood there looking dead into his eyes. Silently she shook her head, the last statement was meant as a challenge, if Markus took it, it would not end well on his part.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, pokémon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential, living beings from whom we humans have much to learn, so tell me, what is our responsibility to these wonderful beings we call pokémon?" The crowd remained silent watching the man as his words commanded them.

"I will tell you what we must do… We must liberate the Pokémon! Then and only then will humans and pokémon be our equals." He roared, the crowd followed the speaker as he burned his words into their minds. "Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and pokémon… The relationship between you and your pokémon… And to consider the correct way in which to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention." With that Ghetsis stepped down from the lectern and walked towards a large black car along with a select few of members Team Plasma. Cynthia could feel Markus' hand shaking, listening as the crowd ate away at the man's lies. Cynthia's heart felt heavy, she knew that she was one of the trainers he had described, selfish, arrogant, the type who ordered her pokémon around as if they were toys to be played with and broken. As the crowd departed Snivy and Ralts attempted to sooth their trainer's anger as it began to surface. With a sigh the boy relaxed realising there was nothing he could do, with his free hand he caressed Ralt's head, allowing the emotion pokémon to send soothing waves of aura through his body. He turned to Cynthia who was still holding his hand. He noticed she was looking to the floor.

"I'm exactly what he described aren't I." She stated rather than asked.

"Maybe…" Markus answered honestly, "But I cannot believe that what he is saying is the truth, I have been through far too much to be able to agree with him. Me and my pokémon we are the greatest of friends and no stupid speech is going to convince me otherwise. Don't worry Cynthia you are already improving, you just need to keep working at it." Markus comforted. Cynthia released his hand and nodded. Both were completely oblivious to the young man approaching them.

"Your pokémon, just now, what was it saying?" The young man said as he approached the pair.

"Urm… What?" Markus asked totally confused.

"Oh… I see you can't hear them either." He said sadly. Markus and Cynthia looked at the boy, he appeared to be the same age as them with electric green hair to rival Ghetsis'. He wore a white jacket and an odd blue pendent as well as a black and white baseball cap. A small golden cube sat on his left hip the light it reflected from the sun momentarily catching Markus' eye.

"I apologise, I should introduce myself, my name is N. I'm currently travelling around the Unova region, you must be trainers no?"

"Well yes we are trainers, I'm Markus this is my companion Cynthia, and these are my pokémon Ralts and Snivy." Cynthia remained silent trying to get a read on the boy in front of them. There was something strange about him that disconcerted her.

"Urm if you don't mind could I please have a battle with your pokémon they are really quite interesting." N asked politely.

Markus instantly perked up, "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place. If you don't mind my Ralt's isn't quite ready to battle yet so do you mind battling my Snivy?"

"Not at all." The N smiled angelically.

"Alright then, you ready Snivy?" Markus asked. In response Snivy ran down the length of Markus' body and got into battle position. "Well Snivy, this will be our first battle together, let's do our best." Snivy nodded confidently. Markus looked at the small grass snake, it seemed far more confident than it had yesterday, maybe it felt less nervous when battling.

N walked away from them creating a small battlefield for them to work with. "Hmm, your Snivy seems quite eager, it seems to really want to battle alongside you? How strange. I guess I should introduce my pokémon, Purrloin, come down, and let us find out what his pokémon have to say." A purple cat pokémon jumped out of a nearby tree and approached N sitting by his side, Markus noticed the Purrloin's left eye was a milky white with a deep scar above and below the eye. Markus frowned sadly, this pokémon had known pain but he could tell that it hadn't been caused by N.

"Never seen that one before," Markus said pulling out his pokédex.

Purrloin – the cat pokémon, this pokémon is very popular among women as a house pet but it has a tendency to steal small objects from them hoarding them away in hidden corners

"Okay Ralts," Markus said putting his pokémon down, "I want you to watch closely see if you can learn anything from the battle," Ralts nodded confidently and turned to watch Snivy.

"Are you ready?" N asked.

"I was born ready, Snivy, let's go use tackle!"

Snivy began to weave through the grass swiftly approaching its target, "Purrloin dodge and use scratch," just as Snivy got close enough Purrloin jumped into the air with incredible grace and descended on the grass type, it's claws glowing. The attack made contact and Snivy rolled before recovering. "Don't worry Snivy, let's try a vine whip." Snivy yelled as two thin vines sprouted from its back they soared towards the Purrloin with a speed too fast for it to dodge. The attack hit, striking the Purrloin and throwing him back. "Nice one Snivy!" Markus encouraged causing Snivy to celebrate happily.

"Purrloin, scratch again!"

"Snivy dodge." Snivy quickly rolled out of the way of the scratch but a second attempt flung round hitting his mark. Snivy seemed to be holding up well but Markus didn't want to cause more damage to his new pokémon than necessary. Before N could issue another attack Markus shouted. "Snivy use the grass as camouflage!" Snivy nodded and began to swiftly swim through the grass, "That's it Snivy, let them lose track of you." Markus called losing sight of his pokémon himself. Markus grinned, Snivy was fast. He knew this would work.

"Purrloin be careful we don't know where she's going to appear from."

Suddenly Markus saw a rustle in the grass close to Purrloin, this was it. "Now! Snivy jump and perform an aerial tackle on Purrloin!" In an instant Snivy followed its trainers command propelling itself into the air in order to dive onto Purrloin. Purrloin didn't know what hit him. The small snake landed on the cat then kicked off him doing a fair amount of damage.

"Purrloin use bite." N yelled this was his last resort. Purrloin's fangs glowed sinking into Snivy who yelled.

"You can do it, Snivy use vine whip!" Snivy managed to escape from the jaws of the cat, landing behind it heavily out of breath. With a yell it unleashed it vines and struck Purrloin with all of his might. Purrloin flew back to N in defeat.

Cynthia brought her hand up to her chin as she looked at Snivy, the pokémon was out of breath and very tired yet she had continued battling and fought hard. Cynthia thought it was a very similar situation to how her pokémon battled, in fact it was the same. Didn't Markus over push his pokemon like she had before. Despite Snivy being hurt she continued to fight and was not withdrawn, she had been pushed beyond her normal limits. How is that right when my exact same methods are wrong? She soon had her answer.

"Alright, well done Snivy," Markus said running over to hug his pokémon Snivy jumped into his arms happy at his victory before quickly taking his place on Markus's shoulder. The smile on both Markus' and Snivy's faces told her there was a difference, there was something about the way they battled. Some kind of trust they had… what was it? Before she could think on it more she was interrupted by N.

N bent down and stroked his friend, "Thank you, you were brilliant go and see Nurse Joy okay." The Purrloin nodded before heading to the pokémon centre on its own.

N turned his back on Markus and Cynthia, "How very interesting, I never expected to hear a pokémon say such things."

Markus looked at him confused again. This guy couldn't possibly understand pokémon speech could he?

"Markus, thank you for this, it has given me a great deal to think about but it has not changed my opinion. As long as pokémon remain confined in pokéballs they can never become perfect beings… That is why I have to change this world for the pokémon… Because they are my friends… I do hope we will meet again in the future." N said as he walked away from the two trainers. Leaving them silent as they watched him leave.

"Well, in fairness, that's not the strangest thing I have come across." Markus announced. "C'mon Snivy let's get you to a pokémon centre." Snivy nodded and the group set off towards the centre. Cynthia watched with a thoughtful frown as the two trainers parted ways.