Kiloude City. Full of lush trees and next to the ocean, it was a popular spot for competing trainers. Which made sense, considering it housed the Friend Safari, a spot full of Pokemon from around the world.

Separated into eighteen sections, each corresponding to a Pokemon type, it was especially popular with Type specialists like Allison and Dino.

Topher loved the place the second he stepped off the train. Unlike the hustle and bustle of Lumoise and Kiloude, it was quiet. In that aspect, it reminded Topher of Laverre.

"Oi! Kiloude City! Get ready to be dominated by Team Laverre!" Dino yelled.

Well, it was quiet.

Allison smacked him on the side of the head. "Idiot! Stop fooling around!"

Dino rubbed the back of his head. "Ow! You could have just asked me to stop."

"Would you have stopped?" Allison asked.

"No."

Topher sighed. "Anyway, Team Geosenge will be here tomorrow. We need to train before our battle."

"And what better way to train then the Friend Safari!" Dino said. "We can catch totally rare Pokemon!"

Topher gave him an amused look. "That's not a bad idea..." he said. "We need more Pokemon anyway..."

Allison grinned. "Aw yeah! This is gonna be awesome."

Topher looked at them both, and couldn't help but share their excitement. "Then let's go." he said.

They kept walking, stopping to pet Pokemon and buy food to eat as they walked.

Finally, they arrived at the entrance to the Safari. The sign in the window it said "closed".

"Of course it's closed." Topher said. "It's Sunday. I should have thought of that."

Allison frowned. "What do we do now?" she asked.

"Says here the Safari Center is open." Dino said, looking at the sign on the door. "We can visit that."

"What's the Safari Center?" Allison asked.

Topher pulled out a holo-pamphlet he had grabbed on the way there and opened it. He fast-forwarded through most of it until a hologram of a building appeared above it.

"The Friend Safari also includes the Safari Center, which acts as the city's Pokemon and houses sick and injured Pokemon from around the park." it said.

Topher closed it. "Sounds boring." Allison said. "What would we even do? Stare at sick Pokemon?"

Dino shrugged. "I agree. Plus, it'll be really sad. All those poor injured Pokemon..."

"We can get our Pokemon healed there." Topher said. "So we might as well go."

So they left the building and headed down the street to the Safari Center.

They entered. Inside, the building resembled a normal Pokemon Center, with booths for the trainers to sit while they waited for their Pokemon and a help desk. There was even a Nurse Joy behind the counter.

"Good morning!" she beamed. "Welcome to the Safari Center. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. Would you like us to heal your Pokémon?"

Topher, Allison, and Dino bowed. "Yes ma'am." they chorused. They handed her their trainer cards an pokeballs.

"Oh, What polite children!" she exclaimed. She handed their Pokemon to a fluffy pink pokemon with long ears. "Wigglytuff, take their Pokemon to the heal center."

Topher stiffled a laugh. Polite wasn't a word usually applied to them. They had just been taught to respect Nurse Joys by Senior Valerie.

Nurse Joy smiled at them. "Before you three go sit down, can I ask you a question?" They nodded. "Can you help me with an errand?"

Topher narrowed his eyes. "What kind of errand?"

Nurse Joy smiled again. "You're right to be wary of strangers, but I promise this is simple. A few days ago a trainer turned in a Pokemon in need of medical attention. But we can't figure out what's wrong with her. So I was going to send her to Professor Sycamore in Lumoise City, so he could examine her, but the Pokemon Teleporter is down. Can you take the train to Lumoise and deliver it?"

Dino nodded. "We have nothing better to do. " he said. "And it'll only take a few minutes. We'll go as soon as our pokemon are healed!"

They took the train to Lumoise, which placed them a few miles from Professor Sycamore's lab. They took a cab to get there.

To Topher the building looked more like a mansion. It was at least two stories bigger than Topher's house!

Allison knocked on the door determinedly.

It opened a few minutes later, and they were greeted by a man with messy dark blue hair and a lab coat.

"Salut!" He said. "You three must be the trainers Joy sent, Allison, Topher, and Dino."

"We are." Allison said. "And you're the famous Professor Sycamore?"

"Oui!" he exclaimed. "Please, come in!"

He ushered them inside and led them to the back room, which resembled a lab.

"Please bring out the Pokemon." Professor Sycamore said.

Topher nodded. He pulled out a pokeball and pressed the button.

Out of the ball came a flash of light that took shape into a blue Pokemon with leathery wings and fangs. It took off out of the room.

Dino lunged for it, but the Pokemon dodged the attempt effortlessly.

"I got it!" Allison yelled. She jumped and tried to grab it by the wing, but it flew higher, out of her reach.

The Pokemon flew towards the door, but Topher closed it and the Pokemon collided with the door with a smack. It fell to the ground.

Topher bent over and picked it up. "It's fine, besides a slight bruise on it's head that's already healing. And the fact that it can't talk."

"It can't what?" Allison exclaimed.

"This Zubat can't talk." Professor Sycamore said, taking the unconscious Pokemon from Topher. "How did you know?"

Topher shrugged. "It wasn't talking or making sounds, like most Pokemon do when they're scared. It also didn't use any attacks, and most of a young Zubat's attacks are sound based."

"Very good." Sycamore said. Topher shrugged again. "Now, let's take a look at Zubat." Sycamore' started to look in Zubat's mouth, then at it's throat. He then looked at x-rays that Topher didn't remember him taking (Nurse Joy probably sent them over).

Finally, he turned to Topher and his friends. "There doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with her. So maybe her disability is trauma based."

"What do you mean?" Allison asked.

"He means that Zubat suffered some sort of abuse or something similar, and her inability to talk is psychological." Topher said.

Sycamore nodded. "Exactly! Good job, mes amie. Now this presents a problem. How do we help Zubat if she can't tell us about what happened to her?"

"We have to try something!" Dino said. "That poor baby..."

"We can teach it new moves, to replace it's old ones." Topher said. "That way it has less of a handicap."

"Great idea!" Sycamore exclaimed.

"You're on a roll today, Topher." Allison said with a grin. "But we can't teach moves in here, and we can't take Zubat outside or it'll run away. What do we do?"

"There's an indoor arena in the backyard, in the greenhouse." Sycamore said. "Follow me."

He led them out the back door to the backyard, still carrying Zubat. They entered a wide greenhouse full of plants and Pokemon.

Sycamore led them to a battlefield. He laid Zubat down and pulled out a pray bottle. He sprayed Zubat with the Full Restore and she woke slowly.

"No one move." Dino muttered. "We don't want to scare her."

But the second Zubat awoke she shot into the sky and jetted away from them.

"We have to catch her!" Dino cried, but Topher put a hand on his shoulder.

"No." he said

"Huh?" Dino looked at him.

"It won't help." Topher said. "Sometimes people just need to be left alone."

"But we can talk to her-"

"Which won't help any if Zubat isn't ready to talk." Topher said. "Just leave her be."

Sycamore frowned. "I believe he's right. We can't help her if she doesn't want to help herself."

Topher clenched his fists. "It's not that." He insisted. "Talking is hard. She probably wants to, but it's too difficult."

Allison looked at him. "Topher... Are you okay?"

Topher shook his head. "I'm fine." he said quietly. He felt cold and exposed, like they could see right through him to the secrets inside.

But that was ridiculous. No one, not even his friends, knew his secret.

After about an hour of waiting, they decided to look for Zubat. Topher predicted that she would be somewhere dark, since that most resembled her natural habitat.

They found her in the shed, cowering in the corner.

"Now can I talk to her?" Dino asked Topher. He didn't sound malicious ; just trusting.

"No." Sycamore said. "Topher should."

Topher looked at him in shock. "But I-"

"Please." Sycamore said. "I think that you might have a shot at helping her."

Topher looked at him again. He was smiling.

Topher approached Zubat, who tried to curl up.

"I-it's okay." Topher said, then winced. How many times had someone told him that it was okay, when and he had been annoyed? This is why he let Dino and Allison talk for him. They were better at it.

Topher sat down next to Zubat and tried to appear non-threatening. But Zubat still shook.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Topher said. "I just want to see if you want to talk."

Zubat shut her eyes in fear.

Topher stood up. "Okay." he said. He got up and returned Zubat to her pokeball, then approached Sycamore and his friends.

"You didn't do anything!" Dino said.

Topher closed his eyes. "And I'm not going to. Not until Zubat wants to talk about it. I'm not going to push her. That would be counter-productive."

Sycamore nodded. "Yes. That's very smart of you Topher. That's why I want you to do something for me."

"What is it, Professor?" Allison asked.

"I know a very talented Pokemon researcher who specializes in Pokemon therapy." he said. "He lives in Cyprus City. Could you take her there?"

"Of course." Dino said determinedly.

"Thank you." Sycamore said. "I would teleport her, but I'm not sure how someone as fragile as Zubat would react to the teleporter. It doesn't hurt, but some Pokemon find it unpleasant and I wouldn't want to set off Zubat."

Topher nodded. He understood what he was saying, but something seemed off. Topher suspected Professor Sycamore had an ulterior motive.

"Well! Now that that's settled, why don't I treat you three to dinner?" Sycamore said. "Lumoise has some of the finest restraunts in Kalos!"

"we'd love to, but we have training to do." Allison said. "Maybe next time?"

"Very well." Sycamore said. "I'll hold you to that."

They left then, and headed on the train back to Kiloude to prepare for their battle.

A/N: What is Topher hiding? What happened to Zubat? And will they win their battle? Find out next week!