Me: *brandishes knife* Ah, I just love carving pumpkins!

Gardevoir: *grabs her pumpkin and shuffles farther away* Careful now. I don't feel like losing a limb anytime soon.

Me: Oh come on! I'm not that clumsy! *throws knife in air to catch it*

Gardevoir: AHH!

Me: *backs away in fear* Ah! *knife blade buries into pumpkin side*

Gardevoir: *glare* Are you really that much of an idiot?

Me: *smiles nervously* Eheh...

Gardevoir: *angry sigh* Disclaimer: Eon does in no way shape or form own Pokemon. We'd all be done for if it actually did fall into that clutz's hands.

Chapter Three: Blue

A screech of fire sent the whole world blazing, and all I could see anywhere was smoke. I stood there trembling, the dark ride to this mysterious place already enough to shake me. I wasn't home like I should have been. Mom would be getting worried soon.

My head whipped around, arms swishing through the smoke in an attempt to clear it. When all that did was fan it out more, I prepared my voice to shout for help. The first yell was about to escape when a figure appeared through the dark haze, and I clamped my mouth shut.

It was hard to make out any features, but the form was slowly moving closer, and as it finally came within five feet of me, I could see the horrifying silver mask it wore on its face.

And then I really did scream.

I shot up straight like a rocket, adrenaline powering every nerve in my body. I frightfully swung my head around and breathed in relief to find that I was back in the hotel room with Silver and Green, the redhead in the window seat and brunette on the floor as usual. I slowly settled back into the pillow and gave a shaky sigh, the scent of smoke still thick on my tongue.

This was the second time now that my old nightmares had come back. It'd been a long time since I'd had dreams about the Masked Man and Ho-Oh, and I thought that they'd gone away. It confused me as to why they were suddenly coming back—and, strangely, in sequential order.

Last night when I'd woken up to see Green staring at me, the first dream had come. It had been about when Ho-Oh had snatched me in its claws and flew away, only featuring the details of that dreadful time before my eyes had opened. Tonight, though, it'd moved on to the next part when I saw the Masked Man for the first time, the only presence of the Legendary Bird being its shriek of flames and breath of smoke.

I coughed a little at the thought and wet my lips a little. My dreams had always been quite vivid, but I didn't remember the aftereffects lasting this long—the smell of smoke was continuing to fill my nose.

Suddenly, I saw a haze beginning to mystify in the room and ran my fingers through it, feeling the palpable air. My eyes widened, and they flew to the door where I saw a bright orange light beneath it.

"Green! Silver!

My scream sent them jumping, and I did likewise, aiming for the door. As it swooshed open, I coughed violently at the rush of smoke that swept in and squinted my eyes to see what was going on.

The entire room was on fire, flames pouring over the walls and sparking dangerously on the furniture. Red was in a fighting stance in front of Yellow at her window seat, Poli out next to him keeping the flames back from her and Pika in front ready to attack the two guys who were opposite to him with a Magmar each.

The same two guys who worked for Melany.

The only reason all three of them hadn't already burned to death was the fact of Poli's water and that the two Magmar appeared to be controlling the flames with their hands.

"How are they doing that?" I yelled over the roar of the rolling fire.

Green who was behind my left shoulder by Silver shouted me an answer. "Gramps did some research about them a while ago. He found out that some of the most powerful Magmar have limited psychic power that can be used to control fire."

Pika let loose a Thunder straight for the two opposing Pokemon, but they just shrugged it off like it was an annoying fly. Red gawked at this new development, and Green's eyebrow rose.

"And can develop the ability Air Lens—which basically cancels out any and all Electric type moves."

Silver jerked me back swiftly as a piece of burning ceiling fell down where I was standing, and I yelped in surprise as we were showered with a million sparks. Our only exit suddenly blocked by burning wreckage and cutting off our view of Red, I told the boys to back up and brought out Blasty.

"Use Water Gun!" I told him hurriedly.

Due to him being high-leveled, the normally moderate move completely blasted through the debris, cooling it instantly and creating room for the three of us to rush out into the main area with him. Once there, we saw that the two Magmar had taken down Pika, and Red had returned him to his Pokeball. The heat was proving to be a problem for all of us, but the two men just smirked from behind their Pokemon.

"We warned you," the blonde one told us slyly.

"But as usual," the brunette sighed. "You have to be difficult."

I skittered on my tiptoes to stomp the fire at my feet, and Red scoffed in disgust. "Do you really expect us to just give her up?"

The brunette grinned evilly. "Actually, that would make things a lot simpler."

He made a move for Yellow. In turn, Red had Poli shoot a Hydro Pump at him, knocking the guy back to his partner and putting out some of the flames between them. However, that was only a little win when I looked at the raging inferno the room had become. If we didn't get out of here soon, I wasn't too sure what would happen to us.

The brunette got up angrily and commanded his Magmar to shoot a jet of fire at Red. Right as it came bursting from the Pokemon's mouth, Blasty shot out another Water Gun that quickly extinguished the flames in mid-air. Red coughed from all the smoke in the air and took this time to have Poli douse the distance between us, granting our trio passage. We reached his side in seconds as Blasty continued to ward off more of the fire and heat from both the room and two guys.

"Go wake up Black and White!" Red yelled with another cough, Poli creating another watered-down path through the flames. Silver instantly obliged, and Blasty widened his range to cover the boy as he sped into their room.

"How are they still sleeping?!" I asked incredulously with a slight rasp from the polluted air.

"We've got bigger problems than heavy sleepers right now, Blue!" Red retorted, his eyes travelling to the two guys who were growing more and more irritated by the minute.

"Just give us the girl, and you can leave here with your skin still white!" The blonde one shouted at us.

The only response he got was a shot of water to the face from Green's Golduck. Now armed with three type advantages, Red carefully scooped up Yellow's unconscious form. The Water types continued to defend against the Fire moves and made a cooled walkway for us to reach the front door. Red quickly ran for it with Yellow and Poli, and Silver appeared with Black and White whose eyes were bugging out at the wakeup call in front of them. They were soon trailing out of the room next, leaving Green and I to follow.

The spikey-haired brunette had just exited the room with his Pokemon when Blasty dodged a Flame Burst that zoomed behind my head and crashed into the hallway wall. He was waving at me to hurry up and join him, but I took a look at the two guys coming after us fast and adamantly shook my head.

"Get everyone out of here!" I coughed out violently, turning to see Blasty hit the enemy with another nasty Water Gun that knocked them back ten feet. "I'll take care of these guys first and catch up!"

"I'll help you!" He shouted through the doorway, about to take a step in my direction when I rushed forward and pushed him back into the main hallway.

"No! You have to go with the others!" I told him firmly, coughing from the smoke again. "You've got make sure there's not an ambush waiting and help them escape!"

"But you can't—" He started before I cut him off.

"I'll be fine!"

I gave another racking cough, and he remained in front of me. I hissed and gave him another shove outside. "I can handle it! NOW GO!"

He shot me another worried glance before nodding reluctantly and slowly jogging to the stairs with Golduck, his eyes never leaving me until they disappeared around the wall.

Giving a deep sigh that became another cough, I spun back around to assess the battle and saw that Blasty had taken a lot of damage, and the intense warmth and smoke wasn't doing him any good. The two guys, however, were completely untouchable in their little smoke-heat-and-fire-free dome created by their Pokemon.

"We'll get her someday," the blonde one growled angrily at me. "Even if it means taking you bothersome rebels down one by one!"

His Magmar suddenly let loose another Flame Burst that shot Blasty and I out into the hall. The guys entered the perfectly fine corridor right behind us, leaving the hotel room to burn itself out. Looking around frantically, I saw an elevator farther down the way and got up to run to it. I hadn't even taken a step before each of the Magmar shot a Flame Burst at Blasty and sent him crashing into me which sent us flying down the opposite way of where I wanted to go.

Slowly getting to my feet, I jumped when my fevered skin felt something cool and smooth through a small burnt hole in my shirt. Spinning around, I found that we were at the far end of the hall where a window was looking out at a tree-filled park. Seeing the five-story drop, I nervously turned back to the two advancing men and gulped.

They stopped five feet away from Blasty and me, crossing their arms as they came to a halt. My mind was starting to grow fuzzy from all the smoke I'd breathed in, but I forced it to stay clear. After a minute of silence, save for the faint crackling from the burning room, the brunette smirked and raised his hand in way of command, the sinister black pendent bracelet swinging slightly.

"You shouldn't have resisted us."

He barely flicked his wrist, and the Magmar in front of him proceeded to use a powerful Flame Burst that headed straight for me. Blasty sprang in its path to take the hit, but the force of the move thrust us both backwards into the window that shattered around us and gave way for our unbalanced forms to fall.

As my feet tipped over the pendulum of gravity at the window sill, I tried grabbing onto anything sturdy, but my hands only scratched a little on the broken glass, and I began the long plummet to the ground far below with Blasty. My voice was too hoarse to scream so I could only do it mentally as the air streamed over me and the treetops rushed up fast.

At the last second possible, Blasty was able to get beneath me and support my form before using Hydro Cannon with his back cannons in an attempt to cushion our fall. However, it was unable to do much for us in the end as it was a little too late, and we collided painfully with the park's thin forest.

Branches snapped all around us, and leaves were forcefully torn from their stems as we crashed from the very top of the tall oak trees right down to the very bottom. When we finally slammed into the grassy ground, both of us were paralyzed from the fall and couldn't move. I tried to lift my head up, but my body refused to do even that much.

There wasn't much time to worry about what was happening to me before the effects of the fire and smoke inhalation caught up way too fast, and I got a last glimpse at Blasty's motionless form, my eyes slamming shut as if in final condemnation.

Two men stood staring out a broken glass window, glimpsing in satisfaction at the two still figures that littered the ground below. The Magmar behind them tugged on their shirts and turned them around as a pixie-cut girl stood fuming at the opposite end of the hall with a rage that could rival that of the flaming room next to them.

"What did you do?!" She yelled furiously.

"We tried to capture the girl like you told us to," the brunette explained.

"But you didn't have to set the room ON FIRE!" The girl screamed with an angry wave of her arms.

"It was supposed to be a distraction," the blonde mumbled.

Her eye twitched, and she advanced slowly with trembling fists. "I'll show you a distraction…"

A loud pop from the still burning room caused all three of them to jump in surprise, and the girl face-palmed. "Stay here."

They watched curiously as she briskly walked into the room and slammed the door behind her. There was a high-pitched whirring noise that lasted for a few minutes before she reopened the door and beckoned them in.

The two of them did so nervously, stepping over a fallen piece of charred wood in the front hallway. Their jaws went slack, though, when they entered the main room. The entire fire had been put out, smoke coming off of nearly everything, but there wasn't a single drop of water. Of course, there was that of the trainers who had fought against them but nothing more.

They turned to her shocked. "How did you—"

"Not important right now," she interrupted them rapidly with a shake of her head. "Do you have any idea what you could have just done? You could've killed her!"

The brunette shuffled anxiously. "We didn't mean to—"

"You never, and I mean NEVER carry out a plan that could endanger the mission!" She hissed, flicking a piece of fallen ash off her black-sleeved shoulder. "And especially one that you can't clean up after! I'm surprised the cops haven't already arrived yet!"

"No, but I have."

The three people turned at the low voice to see another boy standing near the front hall, his gold and silver yin yang barely visible in the smoldering light.

"What…in Arceus's great name…did you do, Melany?!" He screamed through clenched teeth.

Said girl sighed angrily and strode over to him. "Remind me to never let the lowers come up with a plan themselves ever again."

"Where are they?!" He demanded. His eyes seemed to grow both harder and wider as he said, "Did you kill them?!"

"My Lugia, no, Amber!" Melany shouted at him. She slapped her hand to her forehead and huffed. "Gah! I would never let that happen to them!"

Amber paused suddenly and stared at her. "You said them." His eyebrow rose. "Why them? I thought it was just her?"

She shook her head, ignoring his question and muttering to herself. "This isn't going according to plan at all! If only we had made it back to base with her…I could've gotten a hold of them while the powder wore off…"

Amber gawked at the white-blonde girl. "What are you talking about? Melany!"

She brought her eyes to his, and he could see in shock the hidden war waging in them. Her face softened slightly, and she looked nervously at her two henchmen who were watching them intently. Deciding to ignore them, she leaned in close to his ear. He waited silently for her voice, but before she could say anything, sirens sounded in the distance, and flashing lights began approaching fast. Pulling back quickly, she looked at him with slightly anguished eyes which he screamed mentally at.

What's going on?! This girl is Melany! She doesn't feel remorse for anything! She's a cold-hearted criminal!

Amber couldn't help the small thread of doubt that weaved its way into his mind though as she looked to the window and closed her eyes, breathing out slowly.

"Come on," she murmured to the three other guys in the room. "Let's get out of here."

Amber glanced out the window at the lights as she paced into the hallway, following after her along with the other two. Once outside, he shut the door and walked over to where she and her guys were bringing out their Flying types and jumping out the broken window, disappearing into the night.

He caught Melany's eyes for a moment, but she turned their deep blue irises away and latched onto her Venomoth. He watched her hover off and shook his head, releasing Baga outside the window where he beat his wings to stay aloft.

Amber got on his back and flew away from the hotel just as the first round of police cars and fire trucks arrived on the scene. As the noises started to fade behind him, he realized something. He really didn't know anything about his pixie-blonde co-worker.

His eyes found her form ahead in the dark, and they narrowed slightly.

Just who was Melany?

The darkness started slowly drifting away as my mind sluggishly came to, and the very first thing I did was give out a small groan.

Let me tell you something.

Never fall five stories into a thick-branched forest.

Your head WILL hurt in the morning.

My eyes popped open and stared at the bright blue sky as I realized that it was in fact morning, and I was actually alive. When I lifted my head, another shot of pain blazed through my insides, and I made contact with the ground again. I bit my lip a moment and froze when something shifted barely beside me.

Painfully whipping my head around at the noise, my eyes widened when I saw a little girl sitting there, maybe seven or eight years old with dark hair and eyes that watched me carefully as I stiffly got up into a sitting position.

We both stared at each other for a few minutes, the silence hanging in the air until I couldn't take it anymore. "Who are you?"

The little girl tilted her head. "Who are you?"

I chuckled a little, the small loss of oxygen leaving me breathless for a moment. "No, I asked you. You've got to answer first."

She chuckled a bit, too, and appeared to lose her breath a second. "No, I asked you. You've got to answer first."

My eyebrows scrunched, and I let out a sigh. "Okay…my name's Blue."

The girl scrunched her eyebrows and breathed out. "Okay…my name's Blue."

I frowned a little and crossed my arms. "No. I'm Blue."

She did the same. "No. I'm Blue."

I stared the strange girl down harshly and was surprised when she did the same right back at me. After a minute, I closed my eyes and started laughing lightly, amused at the thought that she believed she could beat me in a stubborn contest. I mean, if this girl really thought that, she needed to go see Crystal. Even I couldn't compete with those pig-headed pigtails.

I stopped laughing when she started doing it to and looked at me with wide eyes. "Are you really Blue?"

I huffed with a smile. "Oh? So we've deciding to cut the mimicking, eh copycat?"

She gasped suddenly and squished her little cheeks with her hands. "The famous Blue knows who I am?!" My mouth dropped open a little in surprise—I swear, I'd just come with that nickname on the spot—and she narrowed her eyes and placed her fingers back in her lap. "That is, if you really are her."

My scoff came out offended just like it was supposed to. "What do you mean if? I am the Blue. One and only!"

The little girl put her chin on her fists and smirked. "We'll have to see about that. I know everything about Blue—she's my idol. No one knows her better than I do!"

I puffed my cheeks and turned my whole body toward her, wincing at the strain in my muscles. "Try me."

"Okay." She narrowed her eyes again. "What's Blue's last name?"

"Ao." The answer was as easy as blinking to me.

"Her birthday?"

"June 1st."

"Blood type?"

"B."

She smiled slyly. "Love interest?"

I didn't even pause. "Green." My eyes widened, and my jaw went slack. "Wait, what?!"

The little girl burst into a loud fit of giggles while I did my best to tone down the red that was showing up on my face. "What kind of a question is that?! If I had to pick anybody, it'd be someone more like Red who actually dares to show some emotion to the world! Why would I ever say Green?!"

She smiled widely, showing her small pearl-white teeth. "Because you love him."

My face morphed into shock. "I do not!"

The resistance only made her smile more and start laughing again. "Lulu loves Green!"

"I do not!" By now I was trying to stand up, but as soon as I got to a knee, I gritted my teeth and keeled over. My skin was taut from the minor burns, and I could feel the wind through multiple tiny holes in my singed shirt. The little girl softly pushed me back on the ground.

"Lulu's hurt," she squeaked out worriedly, glancing at the slight burns on my arms.

"Eh, it's not that bad. Just a little sting," I smiled at her. My lips quickly turned into a grimace as she frowned and gently prodded one of the burns.

"More than a sting," she said smartly.

I pursed my lips. "Okay, so maybe it does hurt a bit more than that." Then I remembered that I hadn't fallen alone and frantically looked around for Blasty. "Have you seen a Blastoise anywhere?"

The little girl nodded and picked up a Pokeball from out of my field of vision. Peering through the clear sphere, I saw Blasty lying down asleep, the minor burns he'd also had completely erased from his skin and shell.

My mouth hung open a little as I said, "H-how did…"

She smiled and reached for a small bag at her side, revealing it to be chocked full of potions and berries of all sorts. "I had some Burn Heals so I made him feel all better and found his Pokeball to return him!" She frowned as her eyes found my injuries again. "I would've used some on Lulu, but I don't have any more."

"That's okay," I told her a little uncertainly. "They're supposed to be used on Pokemon anyway."

The dark-haired girl shook her head. "I use them all the time." She grinned mischievously. "They help keep me from getting in trouble with Mummy when I get hurt outdoors."

I chuckled and glanced around, not seeing anyone else in the area. "Where is your mother?"

She lost her smile and looked down. "I ran away from home."

I eyed her curiously. "Now why would you do that?"

She shuffled her hands across the ground uncomfortably and took a Pokeball from her bag which I could see contained a Chansey. "I found Chan-chan's Pokeball in the woods one day and made friends. When I took her home, Mummy said that she was a missing Pokemon from the Pokemon Center that belonged to Nurse Joy and that I had to return her." She hugged the Pokeball tight, and I could see the Chansey snuggle close to her from inside. "But I love Chan-chan! I don't want to say good-bye!"

"But you shouldn't have run off by yourself," I told her sternly. "Your mother must be worried about you!"

"I don't care!" She yelled defiantly. "I'm not going back until Mummy stops trying to take Chan-chan away!"

Her black eyes were growing shiny, and my heart stopped at the sight of them. It was just so sad. Deciding to come back to it again a little later, I tried sitting up again. "So you never did tell me your name."

She scrunched her eyebrows. "But you already know it."

I tilted my head. "…Copycat? That's your name?"

She smiled brightly. "My real name is C.C., but that's what everyone normally calls me."

I smirked. "Because you mimic them?"

She nodded shyly.

I giggled at her and finally managed to lean back against a tree. "So what does C.C. stand for?"

"Charlotte Christina." She stuck her tongue out and placed Chan-chan's Pokeball on the ground. "But I don't like it! Copycat's much more fun!"

I smiled at her and winced as my back rubbed against the bark. Copycat noticed my discomfort and searched her bag again, coming up negative for anything useful just like last time. Sensing my pain, she set her little face, checked the contents of her sack, and stood up.

"Where are you going?" I called out as I saw her start to walk away.

She turned back and smiled. "Don't worry! I'm going to get some medicine to make Lulu feel better!" The little girl then went back to her skipping and pranced out of sight.

Leaning my head back against the tree, I caught sight of Blasty's Pokeball and brought it up to my face. I took a look at his peaceful slumber and smiled.

"At least you're back to normal," I murmured. "I'm all burnt and bruised. Heh, I don't even know how the others…"

My eyes went wide, and I quickly replaced Blasty's Pokeball with my Pokegear. When I clicked the power on, I found that there were quite a few messages and mixed calls all from Red, Green, and Silver. However, when I hit the send button to get a hold of them, there was a crackling noise, and the screen read error. Hissing in frustration, I tried again several more times but to no avail.

So let's recap a bit, shall we?

I was now unable to move around on my own, stuck in the park in the middle of Saffron City, and couldn't even get ahold of my friends to find out where they were. And my only means of help was an eight year-old girl who refused to go home.

I sighed.

No biggie.

I checked my Pokegear again and found that it was close to eleven in the morning. Letting out a pained breath that turned into a cough, I choked out the rest of the smoke from my lungs and laid back down.

"A nap couldn't hurt…" I murmured to myself, my eyes already slamming shut once more. I must have been really tired out from the fire and my injuries because my mind blacked out in exactly .2 seconds. But it seemed to take exactly that long for it to pop back on as something nudged my arm, and I snatched it painfully on reflex.

"Lulu?"

I glanced up to see Copycat looking at me worriedly, her little cheeks flushed from running and her bag a bit bulkier.

"Sorry," I apologized as she kneeled down. "I fell asleep."

She nodded and started rummaging through her pack. "I guess I was gone a while."

I leaned against the tree behind me again and stretched my legs out in front of me. "Nah, it's only been a few minutes."

She stopped searching and looked at me funny. "No it hasn't."

I huffed with a small smile. "Yeah, it has. I just fell asleep like two seconds ago."

She closed her dark eyes and shrugged before going back to her bag's contents. "Didn't seem like that to me."

I watched her for a moment and pulled my Pokegear back out, my eyebrow arching when I saw that it was actually now half past one. "Guess that's because it actually hasn't."

The little girl giggled and brought her hand back out with a bundle of blue berries. She beckoned me to open my mouth and handed me one. "Here! Something to make Lulu feel better!"

I observed it curiously. "Isn't this a…?"

"Rawst Berry!" She cheered. Her face went sheepish as she said, "I tried selling some of my other stuff to get more Burn Heals, but I didn't have enough so I got these instead! They're supposed to work the same way!"

I smiled sadly at her. "You didn't have to spend all your money on me."

She shook her head sternly and grinned. "I don't mind! After all, it's for Lulu!"

I chuckled at her and popped the berry in my mouth. "So how exactly did I get a fan?"

She giggled as the juices from the berry entered my system and began to put me at ease. "My uncle Todd likes to take pictures of Pokemon." When I motioned for her to go on, she sighed a little. "He was the one who documented that big event in Hoenn."

I tilted my head. "You mean the Battle Frontier? That photographer was your uncle?"

She nodded. "Professor Oak let him go take pictures at this Pokemon island so he's not here right now, but he stopped by after he got back from Hoenn. He told me all about what happened, and he showed me the tournament all the Dex Holders did. And you were my favorite right from the beginning!"

I blushed and waved a hand, remembering not even a month ago when Emerald saved me and the others from petrification. The tournament had been a few days after my birthday—which I had missed due to being a figure of stone—and I was quite surprised when Green's grandfather called for a reunion so soon after we got back home. I discovered the motive behind it though when we met Diamond, Pearl, and Platinun; and Ruby introduced us to the Unova kids.

I paused a moment when I realized that I was feeling well enough to actually flick my hand. I touched my wrist and twisted it around in glee, checking on my other burns to see that although they were still causing me some pain, it wasn't as bad as before.

"The Rawst Berries are working!" I said cheerfully.

"Yay!" Copycat exclaimed in a similar tone. "Have another one!"

I took the offered berry and munched on it, gradually working my way through the pile until they were all gone. The heavy dose of natural remedy made me a bit sleepy so for the second time today, I laid down to rest up, and Copycat brought out Chan-chan to play while I let my injuries heal. My eyes were drooping on me, but I still got a glimpse of the little girl's laughter before my mind drifted in oblivion.

Sometime later, a bit after four according to my Pokegear, I groggily sat up to find Copycat staring off into the distance, her face slightly turned up in sorrow. Recognizing that look, I silently moved a hand out to touch her arm, but when I bent my elbow, one of the burns cracked, and I winced. The action attracted the girl's attention, and she anxiously searched her bag for anymore berries.

"I don't think they're going to do much more," I said doubtfully, examining my rigid wounds and noticing how multiple berries had been as effective as the first. Nervous as to how she would react, I decided to retouch the whole home subject carefully. "Um, where do you live?"

"On the north side of town," she told me absentmindedly, still looking through her bag. "Mummy runs a homemade remedy shop so that's why I have so many different healing items."

My ears perked up at that. "Maybe we should go there then."

She frowned at me and put her pack down. "I don't want to go home, Lulu!"

"I understand that," I tried to calm her down. "But you can't just keep avoiding the issue like this."

"But what if Chan-chan still has to go away?! I don't want Chan-chan to go away!"

I huffed softly. "Talk to your mom about it. I'm sure you guys can work things out. Isn't it better to face your problems rather than running away from them?"

I breathed in sharply as my own words struck a chord in me, and I stared at the sky for a minute. After a while of stillness, I sighed, a silent decision made in my head. Maybe it was about time I followed my own advice.

I looked at her and smiled. "Besides, I need something stronger than Rawst Berries to get better."

It took a while, but finally the girl nodded reluctantly. Glancing at the Pokeball in her bag, her bottom lip quivered.

I grinned even wider at the girl and started standing up sorely using the tree for support. "Everything will be fine. I promise."

She looked at me with her big dark eyes and smiled a little. "Okay. I trust Lulu."

I gave a small laugh and placed Blasty's Pokeball in my shoulder bag. Packing everything she had out, she came to my side and did the best she could to help me walk. It was a bit difficult at first because I hadn't moved in over twelve hours, but eventually the stiffness faded, and I was able to stop leaning on her so much. The smoke seemed to have cleared itself from my system as I only coughed a few times while we maneuvered our way through the streets of Saffron.

An hour later, she turned us onto a lane full of suburban homes and stopped us after a few houses at one in a bright yellow color. She set me against the porch railing and hesitantly approached the door. She looked back at me, and only when I gave her a wave of encouragement did she ring the doorbell to see if her mom was home at the moment. The door was open in a flash, revealing a woman in her thirties with long dark hair and eyes that matched Copycat's. I could tell in an instant that it was her mother as the lady let out a cry and embraced the little girl.

"Where have you been?!" She shouted frantically. "I've been worried sick!"

Copycat looked like she was about to cry and buried her head in the woman's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Mummy! I didn't want Chan-chan to go away!"

The woman shushed her until her tears went away and stroked her hair. "That's okay. We'll talk about that later. I'm just glad you're home."

They were about through the doorway when Copycat ran out again and pulled her mother along. "Wait! I've brought someone home!"

"Honey," she said firmly. "We don't have room for one of your friends to stay over right now…"

Her voice cut off as she saw me there leaning on the wooden railing and smiling.

"Um…hi," I said uncertainly.

"Mummy!" The little girl yelled excitedly. "This is Blue! Remember? Uncle Todd?!"

The mother's hand went to her mouth, and she rushed up to me, staring at my burns. "My Mew! What happened to you?" She flicked the question away and carefully took my arm. "Never mind that! Let's get you inside! I've got something that can help!" I slowly walked towards the door with her and glanced at the woman curiously as she smiled to herself and looked at me. "You have no idea how well this works out."

My eyes grew wary. "How so?"

My question was soon answered as we walked past the door and was met with a mob of stares, my knees almost melting in relief when I found that I knew each one of them.

"Blue!" White dashed for me like a Ninjask on caffeine, crushing me in a hug before realizing I was hurt. "Oh! I'm sorry!"

"It's okay," I wheezed out, smiling at her until I was assaulted by everyone else.

Black did likewise as White, but Green and Silver were a bit gentler about it. Red waited until Copycat's mom had placed me on one of two sofas—the other of which was occupied by a still sleeping Yellow—in the large living room to take his turn.

"Are you okay?" He questioned worriedly.

"She will be once I give her some medicine," the dark-haired woman told us. She ran into another room and quickly came back with a Burn Heal. "You're not supposed to use these on people, but I need those burns to heal fast before they get infected. You'll just get a little drowsy, dear."

I nodded, and she sprayed the potion on the wounds all over me. Almost instantly, I felt tired all over again. I chuckled mentally. I've been sleeping a lot today. My eyes fluttered shut, and I could sense everyone moving around me. I froze for a moment when someone's fingers grazed over my treated injuries and forced my eyes back open. They met with forest green ones that seemed to laugh in relief yet yell in frustration at the same time.

"You can handle it, huh?"

I was just able to roll my eyes at the stoic brunette until they closed again, and exhaustion overwhelmed me. I might've imagined it, but I thought I felt someone softly combing the ends of my hair, the soothing motions making me smile before I blacked out.

Me: *cuts design in pumpkin while grumbling* For your information I heard that in the disclaimer. *mutters* I'm not a clutz.

Gardevoir: *smirks* I know.

Me: *glares and finishes design* There! All done!

Gardevoir: *does the same and critique's mine* ...well...let's just say it looked better before you hacked and slashed at it.

Me: *growls* I'll hack and slash at you!

Gardevoir: *widens eyes and runs away* Ah! You don't want to hurt me! You're a nice person!

Me: It's Halloween month! Nobody's themself!

Gardevoir: *sweatdrop and raises fist* Curse you creator of that stupid holiday!

Me: *runs faster* Come back here! *smiles at readers* She's right. I'm not normally like this, but hey! Nobody disses my pumpkin! Hehe! Review and return!