The boys entered Victory Road from the Pokémon League exit, heading east through the cave until they found Hanny at the easternmost wall where a new pathway awaited them.

"We didn't explore this tunnel before. Let's head in," she invited them. On the other side, they found a young girl wearing what appeared to be a Goth French Maid outfit. Her smooth black hair was slicked over the left side of her face, decorated with a white bow.

She said nothing at first, averting her eyes. Then, in a low soft voice, "I'm Marley. You are…?"

They introduced themselves.

"I want to get through this cave, can I come with you?"

They assented. Marley appeared indifferent.

"Pokémon shouldn't be hurt… I'll heal them."

She summoned a handsome Arcanine that Hanny about swooned over.

"Ohmygoshhe'ssobeautifulIlovehisfuritissosoft! Squee!"

The boys looked between the vibrant gold, orange and red of the flame dog and his pale, black and white Trainer. Opposites attract?

Hanny and Marley led the way, Hanny gibbering to Marley about Arcanine's shiny coat, white fangs and soft paw pads, while Marley said nothing, not even nodding. They soon encountered a Double Battle.

"Tori, go!" Hanny summoned Flygon to face their opponents.

"Arcanine, Helping Hand."

Arcanine gave Tori a High Five, or High Paw, in this case. Hanny blinked.

"That's it?"

"That's it," Marley replied in her flat monotone, not even making eye contact.

"Arcanine doesn't know any useful moves? Flamethrower, perhaps?"

"No."

"Your Arcanine sucks."

"That's your opinion."

"It's the most useless Arcanine that ever lived!"

"Your opinion is noted."

Despite the superfluous flame dog, the Trainers (or rather, Hanny) battled their way to Route 224 in short order. At the eastern exit, into which sunlight shone, Marley paused after healing Tori.

"You're so strong," Marley praised Hanny. "It makes me feel happy… I don't know why. This is a strange feeling… I might like battling with you… just a little; only a tiny bit."

"Have you tried antidepressants, Marley?"

"Yes, but those drugs only make me more depressed."

Route 224 was a narrow peninsula surrounded by reefs. The Trainers traversed grass fields broken by rocky cliffs and sandbars. It was small and cozy, a place where a Trainer might spend a quiet evening reading or splashing in the gentle waves. At least, that is what Marley thought of it.

"I come here often to be alone. There are Trainers here, but they leave me alone. They won't leave you alone, though; get ready for battle."

The girls fought Ace Trainers and Psychics, among others, until they arrived at the northeastern tip of the peninsula, crowned with a huge white rock. Its surface was unmarked and so polished that they saw their faces.

"That stone tablet… it has a strange feel to it. You see, I got this letter…" Marley explained, showing Hanny a letter filled with Professor Oak's handwriting. "He instructed me to come here, saying that I had been invited… I don't understand."

The boys climbed all over the rock, getting muddy footprints on its smooth face. Hanny stared off over the sea at the mainland. Marley touched the rock, but nothing happened.

"Hullo, children!"

Professor Oak approached the quartet. They all waved at him. No-one bothered to ask where he'd come from; he was, after all, the Authority, and went where he wished.

"Quo vadis, Oak?" Manny enquired.

"I will explain the myth of this rock: any Trainer may inscribe upon it what they are most thankful for."

"That's it?" Hanny prompted.

"That's it."

"It's not much of a myth. It sounds like Stone-Age graffiti."

"Try it, then!"

Marley went first, kneeling to pick up a smaller rock, using it to scratch a word onto the mirror rock. The other Trainers and Oak respectfully kept their distance while she wrote, then hazarded a glance at the rock when she stepped back: her writing had vanished! When Manny walked forward, Mint looked over his shoulder.

"Quit it!"

"I wanna see!"

"No!"

He pushed his left hand into Mint's face while writing with his right. The blonde boy flailed until Manny let go, but by then his writing had also disappeared.

"Fine then. I'm not showing you what I'm gonna write!"

"I don't even want to see!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

Mint scrawled something, then let Hanny go next. She scribbled a bit, then stepped back to gawk: the ocean north of them heaved upward as something very, very long, stretching to the horizon, lifted out of it. It appeared to be a very narrow, straight, flat path, still dripping with seawater, leading from the white rock to… where?

Marley stepped onto the new path. On her first step, flowers exploded into life! Blue, orange, yellow, red… every colour of the spectrum marched forth in a flowery parade to the horizon, their petals dancing on the seabreeze.

"Seabreak Path," Oak whispered. "I have been here before, long ago…"

The younger Trainers, however, were not listening to the old man. They had all mounted up: Manny and Hanny on Rapidash and Zeke, Mint on his bicycle and Marley on her Arcanine, zooming northward to new adventure, scattering petals onto the waves.

"Where does this lead to, Professor?" Manny shouted behind him.

Oak cupped his hands over his mouth to reply, "Paradise! The Flower Elysium!"

888

The Flower Elysium was, indeed, a flower paradise, even moreso than Floaroma Town. The luxuriant scent wafted around them, lulling their senses with chemical bliss. They climbed the small hill, half-drowsy with wondrous Nature's perfume. Upon the crest was a curious little thing. Its tiny, four-legged body was radiant white, its back covered in green fur, with two gorgeous pink flowers on either side of its cute button nose and beady eyes.

Marley recognised her. "Shaymin. We met before, when Team Rocket tried to capture you…"

The miniscule creature, no higher than Marley's shin, nuzzled said shin, cooing. Hanny fell to her knees amid the flowers, one trembling hand reaching for the little being.

"Can I touch…?"

"If Shaymin allows you, yes."

One finger stroked the green fur. Shaymin gave the tiniest purr. Hanny emitted a subsonic "SQUEE!" that caused Arcanine to flinch.

"In all my life I have never encountered a creature so sublime in its cuteness."

"Shaymin likes you."

"Well, that settles it. I'm gonna capture you, Shaymin!"

Marley blinked. "Shaymin is a Nature spirit. It cannot be captured."

"I beg to differ. Shaymin, if I prove my strength, will you let me capture you?"

Shaymin shook its head.

"You must present an offering," Marley explained, "for Nature does not bow to strength alone. As a farmer must plant seeds to reap a harvest, so too must you offer Shaymin a gift if you would demand its service."

"I see."

Hannah unslung her backpack to pull out a bamboo flute.

"This," she explained, "is a hotchiku; a Japanese end-blown flute. When Darkrai imprisoned me in my dreams as an old woman for ten years, I spent my first few days feeling sorry for myself. Even so, I had to find something to occupy my mind. In the nursing home there was a hotchiku player who was even older than I was, and he taught me to play. After seven years, he had taught me all the songs he knew, even the ones he himself had composed. He died, and I decided to make my own songs."

Hannah smiled a sad smile. The boys were rapt at attention, because Hannah never spoke about herself.

"I found the flute in my backpack some time after I woke up. I do not know how it moved from my dream to reality, but then again, what is reality, but what we make of it?"

Hannah raised the flute to her lips, her fingers moving into position from muscle memory – or was it dream memory? A rough, breathy timbre flowed from the flute, woven by Hannah's fingers into a raw, organic melody befitting the instrument. The music moved her audience through the sadness of loneliness, buoyed them on the happiness of finding a friend, cast them into the despair of losing that friend, then left them washed ashore with the small hope another friend would be found.

"This is my song," Hannah said, holding the flute carefully in her hands.

There was not a dry eye among her audience, not even Shaymin's.

Hannah knelt before the Nature god, placing the flute at his tiny feet. Shaymin focused on Hanny. His expression, though painted with tears, was stern, but her eyes were filled with determination. They locked gazes for a full minute before Shaymin nodded.

Marley wiped her eyes, then gave them room to fight. She struggled for words, but found them: "Thank you… you helped me see Shaymin again. This Pokémon conveys feelings of gratitude in a nice way, so I'll have to convey thanks in my own words, too."

She gave Hanny a slight smile that, for once, was not creepy.

"To you… Thank you."

She waved goodbye, mounted Arcanine, then was gone. Hannah picked up her flute. She stored it safely in her backpack before beginning the battle. Manny and Mint looked at her with wonder, seeing her as more than a girl for the first time.

"Zeke, let's go! Flame Wheel!"

As predicted, Shaymin was weak to Fire-type moves, but also possessed fortitude beyond your average Pokémon! He responded with Synthesis, absorbing sunlight to regenerate all injury suffered from the fiery assault.

"Flamethrower!"

Cringing from the flames, Shaymin then fired a Magical Leaf that smacked Zeke to the ground. Undaunted, the fire horse obeyed the command to use Flame Wheel, tackling the much, much smaller Grass-type. Shaymin used Synthesis again, healing all injury. Thus the battle went, Zeke using either Flame Wheel or Flamethrower until Shaymin had exhausted himself, unable to self-heal. He tried to use Leech Seed, but Zeke's fiery aura burnt it off before it could take root.

"Ultra Ball, go!"

Even on his last legs, Shaymin broke out of thirty-seven Ultra Balls until he surrendered inside the thirty-eighth, which wobbled to a halt, its button giving off that most satisfying flash of light and low triumphant musical note that indicated a successful capture.

Hannah ran to retrieve her trophy. "I shall name you Scooter!"

"Congratulations. Now what?" Mint asked.

Hanny got a mischievous look on her face. "Now we go to Eterna City, see Gardenia and prove those silly old people wrong. Scooter would never curse them!"

888

"What do you mean, Scooter cursed you?"

"That's what we told you last time!" the Underground Man wheezed.

The old folks of Eterna were gathered at the entrance of Gardenia's Gym. The Leader was there, her face drained of all colour as she stared at Shaymin cradled in Hanny's arms.

"This is ridiculous. I don't believe you."

"It's true."

"Gah! Who thought that?" Hannah demanded, for she had not heard those words with her ears, but in her mind. Everyone else had 'heard' the voice in their head, too.

"I did."

"Oh, it's you, Scooter."

"These children disrespected Nature. Have you children learned to respect Nature?"

Performing his monkey dance, Mint said, "You shoulda seen their Underground bases! Filled to bursting with plants 'n flowers. Hey, just look around you! Trees, flowers and stuff everywhere in this city. Oh, and its forest is huge! Gardenia couldn't have done this all by herself!"

"You speak the truth; I see it in your minds. Eterna sings with life!"

"Please reverse the curse, Scooter. It's not nice."

"Very well, Hannah. Manny, please let me borrow Dialga."

"Yes sir, Mr. Scooter!"

The Time Dragon flared to its full splendid height from Manny's Ultra Ball, eliciting cries of fear and wonder from the old folks. Dialga had to crane his neck to see Shaymin, who was the size of one of his eyes.

"Hello, Nature god."

"Greetings, Time god. Let us reward these children for their long years in service to my cause."

Dialga sucked in air until his steely chest swelled, roaring for all of Time to hear. In the rippling waves of Time, they watched the houses around them rapidly transforming from tall, colourful structures to flat, black-and-white squares of an era long past. Indeed, the very earth and sky lost all colour, taking on the same flat monotone appearance as everything else, even the humans! Leaves, grass and flowers moved by Shaymin's magic swirled around Gardenia and the old folks. Colour and depth returned to the world when the air cleared and all was silent. A crowd of children surrounding the Underground Man and one bent old woman remained.

"Was that display necessary?" Hanny asked, unplugging her fingers from her ears.

"No. We do it for dramatic effect."

"Who are these kids? And that lady?" Mint wondered.

"If you would take a moment to notice, they are still wearing the same clothes."

The children were wearing oversized trousers, shirts, skirts and blouses. They jumped for joy, screaming with delight.

"Young! Young again!" a little girl shrieked. The others joined her:

"No more arthritis!"

"No more Parkinson's!"

"No more tapioca pudding!"

"Cyrus must have sent them!"

"Unbelievable," the Underground Man uttered, his ancient eyes blinking back tears.

"So that is Gardenia," Manny surmised, staring at the old crone. "She was this age back then?"

"Yes. Eternal youth was the price she paid to curse these children."

"Is there any way to help her?" one of the little girls asked Shaymin, tugging at one of his little feet. Shaymin frowned.

"Help her? After she doomed you to eternal old age?"

"Oh gosh, when she did that, she was just throwing a tantrum, is all, and besides, we're fine now. It's not fair for her to be old, after being young for so long."

Gardenia began to cry, her old woman's tears tracing the wrinkles on her cheeks.

Shaymin's frown softened into a beatific smile. "Every time the evils of this world make me bitter and sad, it is the gratitude and forgiving nature of children – both Pokémon and human – that remind me life is worth living."

Dialga did not help this time. Leaves, grass and flowers swirled around Gardenia alone. The light of the Sun beamed out of the old woman, who shrank smaller and smaller within the magical vortex. When the wind hushed, a wee little Budew waddled on its stubby legs out of the green cloak and tattered orange pants that once belonged to its human form.

"Redemption has come to this Gym today. Legends speak of humans and Pokémon switching roles, one species sometimes masquerading as the other. What you all witness here is the truth: your species are inextricably linked, as the Moon follows the Sun, and Night follows Day."

"Budew!" Gardenia squeaked, before jumping three feet in the air and skittering into the forest. The remaining humans were shocked beyond words.

"She'll be all right, then?" Manny blurted at last.

"Yes. She will evolve into whatever she wishes. She will age, no longer cursed with endless life."

"Man, it'll be funny if she evolves into a Roserade," Mint snickered, earning him a punch to the shoulder from Hanny.

Scooter yawned. It was the cutest, tiniest yawn in history. "I am weary," he admitted.

"You've grown weak, old man," Dialga taunted.

"You're no spring Combusken yourself!"

The smaller children scampered off the play in the Underground while the Underground Man rushed home to update his Facebook of the fantastic happenings he had seen today. Manny returned Dialga to his portable form and followed Hanny, Scooter and Mint to Eterna's Pokémon Centre for a well-deserved rest.