Chapter 15 – Unexpected Visitors

"Okay, now control it…control – AAH!"

Kara tried to back off too fast, and fell flat on her back for about the tenth time that day onto the training mat in a side room of the Hearthome Gym. Their group had reached Hearthome after a few days' journey from Floaroma back up through Eterna and then southeast underneath the Bike Route to Hearthome.

"Still giving you problems, huh?"

Amaya was leaning against the wall observing as Kara attempted to help her team prepare for their next Showcase. Truth be told, Amaya was present with Coral as a means of emergency protection; Kara's newest team member was rather volatile and had trouble using its power as a form of art.

"Yeah…"

Flashback: Route 206

"Okay, Milo", Amaya was dead serious. She'd pulled him off away from their camp as evening light faded to dusk. He knew what was coming, and he was obviously not thrilled about it.

"Amaya, can we just-"

"No we can't. Now shut up and listen. You need to ask Kara out. You need to do it soon."

"Why – what – come on", Milo's face skipped blushing and went straight to a violent shade of red, "seriously, 'Maya, can you just drop this? Let me handle this myself, alright?"

He put his head in his hands, and the Twinleaf Trainer planted hers firmly on her hips as she replied bullishly;

"Absolutely not. I tried to let you handle it, and you've done a sucky job, so I'm stepping in. Look, you like her – Milo", she cut him off as he opened his mouth to protest, "I swear, don't you dare try to deny it – you like her, and you're blind as a Zubat if you can't see that she likes you too."

"Okay, fine! What the heck do you want me to do, admit it? Yes, I like Kara! There, I said it! Happy?"

"Don't be stupid. I don't care if you admit it, it's a fact. I need you to do something about it."

"Oh, come on! I'm not some naïve, lovesick 12 year-old! I don't need a…a romance coach, or whatever it is you're doing here!"

Amaya crossed her arms, raised an eyebrow, and gave Milo a look that could be loosely interpreted as 'We both know that's crap'.

"What? Don't look at me like that, 'Maya."

"Ask her out before we hit Pastoria."

"Before Pastoria? That's like…a week! A week at most! I need time if I'm going to do this right!"

"Don't be a whiny baby. You've had two not-dates already; you spied on Marcus and you chased each other around that Festival in Floaroma. Do it before Pastoria or I'll do this again. With both of you at the same time, if I must."

"Why do you care, anyway?"

"Because if I have to watch you two make googly eyes at one another for another month before you say something, I'm going to go insane."

With that stinging retort, Amaya whirled on her heel and began marching back towards camp. Milo soon came crashing through the woods after her;

"Hey! Hey, that's a terrible reason!"

They were twenty yards from camp now, and Milo dropped his voice to a low hiss, "And I don't make googly eyes at anybody!"

His feisty friend turned one last time and jabbed her finger in his face, whispering one word;

"Pastoria."

"Hey, guys, look!"

Kara was waving from the other side of camp…stroking the nose of a wild Ponyta.

"AH! Hey, careful, that's wild! Kara", Milo sprinted towards the Fire Horse, trying to shoo it away from their (very flammable) tents and food, "get that thing away from our stuff!"

"Milo, don't be silly", chided the Performer, pouting slightly, "Pyro's not dangerous, he's completely under control."

"Pyro? Who's…Kara, did – did you catch that Ponyta while we were gone?"

Amaya raised an eyebrow, rather impressed, as Kara proudly hugged the Fire type and proclaimed,

"Yes. Yes, I did. And he's very sweet. I think he'll get along great with all of us."

Milo put a hand over his face briefly and tried to explain his hesitation as kindly as he could;

"I'm sure Pyro is a really great Ponyta, but training any Fire type can be really dangerous. Fire is one of the hardest elements to keep in check. Besides, you just caught Madame a few days ago."

"Hey, that's not fair! You got Blaze, like, a day after you started! He's a Fire type, too!"

"Yeah", Milo responded, "and he almost burned my jacket off immediately. He burned a hole in a carpet days after that! Fire is super hard to control. Besides, literally every other Pokémon you own has a direct type weakness to Fire."

"I feel like I should get some popcorn and watch this play out", commented Amaya as she surreptitiously moved her things farther from Kara's new Fire Horse.

"If I'm going to be a great Performer, I have to be able to handle things like type differences within my team. I have to be diverse. Besides, Pyro is so adorable, and he literally just walked up and wanted to be my friend! I can handle training a Fire type!"

Milo opened his mouth to offer yet another counterpoint, but something in Kara's stubborn glare made him stop.

"Well", Amaya stepped back in, "I for one am overjoyed to have Pyro join our merry group."

Milo shot her one last glare before sighing and putting hot dogs on their campfire for dinner.

End Flashback

Kara pushed herself up off the mat yet again. She'd assumed that she could comfortably fill out her team of 6 Pokémon with no real issues, but already Milo's warnings were looking more and more valid as Pyro couldn't seem to control his fire attacks. It was times like these that she wished she had Milo's ability to actually communicate fully with Pokémon. Still, she refused to admit defeat.

"Okay, Pyro. Umm, that was closer, I guess, but I really need you to keep that Fire Spin contained, like we've been doing. You had it earlier…"

The Fire Horse whinnied in frustration. Evidently he was as frustrated as his Trainer. He wanted to succeed for her sake, but controlling his firepower was not in his nature.

"How goes it?" Marcus walked in to check on the youngsters. He had kindly offered up his Gym's guest rooms and practice space as a stopover for the trio on their way to Pastoria, and a refuge from the public eye. After all, he reasoned, they'd surely get plenty of that once they reached Sinnoh's Jewel of the South.

"Same as last time", answered Amaya bluntly. Kara shot her a look and stuck out her tongue before drawing herself up haughtily and announcing to nobody in particular,

"I've decided it's time to take a break."

Meanwhile, Northeast of Hearthome, in Veilstone…

Damion Parr

"Crap", he told himself. He picked up a small, broken piece of something and chucked it angrily out into the harbor. He was walking down the shady docks on the North edge of Veilstone City.

"Crap!"

He'd just lost to Maylene – again – and he was finding to his chagrin that being the best graduate of the year from the VPC wasn't enough.

Any other year, he'd have made every headline by now. He'd have swept every possible Rookie Challenge event and all of Sinnoh would know his name for having earned two badges. He'd be well clear of his humiliating background. But not this year. No, this year everyone was going gaga over that stuck-up prick, Milo, and Damion could hardly get a word in edgeways. It was unfair! He deserved to be known! He deserved to be respected! What had freaking Milo done to earn his reputation? Nothing! He'd been dealt a perfect hand and was reaping the rewards, nothing more!

"CRAP!"

Damion chunked another rock, watching it splash down into the murky water of the Veilstone Harbor. His Prinplup perked up at the noise, and he looked at it exhaustedly. After a couple seconds, it began entertaining itself as usual. He'd really thought that after all he'd yelled at it, the Water starter might have developed some kind of bad attitude to match his own. Instead, it merely complied with his instructions and was otherwise off in its own happy world, all but ignoring him outside of training and battle.

"Crap", his voice dropped again. He no longer had even the energy to be mad. He was just…tired. Done.

"Aww", started a sarcastically sympathetic voice, "is the poor young Trainer feeling bad about losing his little battle…?"

He was only mildly surprised, but looked up to see who was intruding on his alone time.

"Oh", he was not impressed by the newcomer, "it's you again. Look, what do you want? I'm not in a people mood."

"Oh, but we are in a people mood, my dear Damion."

Annie slipped easily off the top of an empty storage container and sidled up to the young man, swishing her hips as she walked in a consciously alluring manner. She casually laid an arm around his shoulder and leaned against the depressed Trainer.

After a moment's hesitation, Damion tried to push away from the luscious Team Rocket Hunter, but was stopped by another person on his other side. Oakley had come up while he was preoccupied trying not to stare at Annie, and draped herself teasingly on his other side. The beautiful pair of Rockets would not be denied. They held him firmly in place as Annie kept talking smoothly,

"It's been a while since we've met up, Damion, and we'd come to miss you so much. Haven't you been thinking about us?"

He knew what they wanted. He'd been warding them off since his semifinal appearance in the Hearthome Rookie tournament, but they kept finding him.

"Look, I told you, I'm not interested, got it? Can't you just leave me alone? Go bother someone worth bothering."

"Oh, but Damion", Oakley answered, placing her free hand on the young man's chest consolingly, "We think you're worth every possible effort. We find you so fascinating. Won't you at least hear us out? We could help you become great."

Damion growled to himself. He would give anything to be famous, to be well-known and admired, but something about the sickly sweet Rockets gave him a gut feeling that said this wasn't the way to go about it. He, like everyone else, had heard more than enough about Team Rocket to know what their true motives were, and the kind of things they were capable of.

"I'll make my own greatness, thanks. I'm not joining you."

"Ah, the idealism of the young", Annie's silvery chuckle was devoid of any real humor, "remember what that was like, Oakley?"

"Of course, Annie", her partner smirked, still staring at Damion as if he were a particularly juicy steak, "so full of unfulfilled promises. Empty hopes and dead-end dreams as far as the eye could see. All bark and no bite."

With some difficulty (the two women were unexpectedly strong), Damion forced himself free and glared at them;

"Enough! It's bad enough you've been stalking me since Hearthome, now you want to get me to join you by crapping on everything I want to be? Your recruitment strategy sucks!"

He turned to run away, but Annie called after him;

"At least Team Rocket would be more of a home than you've ever had!"

Damion froze in place. They couldn't know. There was no way. How could they possibly…? As if to answer his mental question, Annie's Espeon padded silently out from behind a corner, staring unblinkingly at him.

"Honestly, Damion", Annie knew she had him, she had only to tighten the screws, "how much longer will you call a trashy apartment, a drunk dad, and a brother who can't stay out of juvie a home? What ridiculous kind of dream can ever come from that? Come with us."

"Stay…", his voice was trembling, "stay out of my HEAD!"

His Prinplup finally noticed that something was wrong with its Trainer and waddled over to investigate the Espeon, wondering whether it was friend or foe.

"A-attack it, Prinplup! Please! Get it out of my mind!"

Prinplup cocked its head and then shrugged and launched a Bubblebeam at the Psychic type. Espeon was more than fast enough to dodge, but its concentration on Damion was broken. Annie frowned, and asked forcefully;

"What do you have that's worth resisting us over anyway? To hell with your stupid ambitions of making it on your own; you aren't even the best Rookie, let alone anything special as a Trainer in general. I'm offering you a clean slate, an easy road straight to the top. You couldn't ask for a better deal!"

"Shut up!" Damion yelled back, "Don't think I'm like you! I'm nothing like you criminals!"

Oakley laughed cruelly, "Really? Is that why you hired us to poach a Riolu egg for you? Is that why you scream at your Pokémon every time you train and fight? Please, Damion, you're no better than us. Give up and join up; quit wasting all our time."

"P-Prinplup, return", murmured the thoroughly unnerved Damion. What most disturbed him was the solid reason behind Oakley's words. He had done those things. But…

That's…different, he told himself, I can't exactly articulate how, but I know I'm not like them.

"I HATE YOU! LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" He screamed, and sprinted off down the dark, narrow corridors between the grungy storage containers of Veilstone's Northtown Harbor.

He ran until he'd spent the energy born of fear and rage at the Rockets. Then he stopped breathing heavily, and leaned against yet another unrecognizably rusty container, close to the edge of the Docks District. Sullenly, he released Prinplup.

"…Thanks", he muttered to the Penguin Pokémon, "That Bubblebeam still sucked…but at least you got that freaking witch out of my head."

Prinplup looked at his Trainer in surprise. He'd come to expect a barrage of insults every time he was released, but gratitude was a new one on him.

"What?" Damion growled at the smile on his starter's face, "Don't think I'm going soft, you watery dolt. We're back at it tomorrow. You'll work as much as it takes to get us through that damn Lucario and get at least one more badge. Someone has to be strong enough to carry this team. Come on."

Heedless of his Trainer's return to his usual grumpy demeanor, Prinplup walked merrily along beside Damion, who was slouched angrily forward, hands stuffed firmly in the pockets of his now-worn leather jacket.

"Eh…I don't know why you're so damn cheerful all the time", Damion remarked to his Water type almost without thinking, "Got your own little world, huh? I guess that's the difference between you and me. You choose to live in your own world; I just got forced out of everyone else's."

Prinplup made no response. He understood his Trainer better than he was given credit for. The boy had made mistakes, but the Penguin Pokémon stuck with him loyally. The rest of Damion's team found their Trainer almost impossible to work with, but the young man and his starter were, at last, beginning to grow on one another.

Milo

He muttered angrily to himself as he picked through the underbrush. They'd left Hearthome that morning and had decided to take their time getting through Route 212, which was known for being long and arduous if one was unprepared.

He was frustrated because Amaya had pulled him aside again just before they left, to remind him of his 'deadline' on asking Kara out. He'd been rather grumpy all day, mostly due to nerves, but he just about had a plan.

Currently, it was evening, just north of where the route turned east, and he'd been unceremoniously sent out looking for firewood by the two girls, while they set up the tents.

"That's so dumb", he grumbled, "like, 'Oh, Milo, we couldn't possibly get firewood ourselves', yeah right. Whatever."

He released Drake, just to keep him company on his lonely quest for firewood, and grinned as his Gabite flexed his wings and cracked his neck.

Ahh, that feels good. 'Sup, Milo? Firewood duty?

"Yup", answered the Trainer nonchalantly, "snice the girls couldn't be bothered to do it."

The Dragon snorted, spearing a good-sized branch with a claw as he responded, Eh, their loss. We get an evening walk in the woods and they don't.

"Hmm. Hadn't thought of that", Milo gave his Pokémon an appreciative bump on the shoulder, "thanks, pal."

Sure, add it to my never-ending list of wise sayings.

Milo chuckled. He always enjoyed talking to Drake. He'd come to appreciate each of his team members' personality, but he was finding that Drake's most closely mirrored his own. In battle, the Big Jaw Pokémon was the most level-headed, wily opponent to be found, the last one to be intimidated. With his evolution, he was rapidly catching up to Blaze and Azura in terms of raw power and ability, and was rock-solid reliable in any situation.

Like his Trainer, Drake had a propensity to be a bit of a wise-cracker, so they got along perfectly well. Talking to Drake made Milo feel comfortable, and the Gabite never failed to cheer him up. Still, Drake was a lot more intense than Milo once he got really invested in a battle. Milo knew a good bit about keeping laser focused in tough spots, but Drake took it to a whole different level. He could be casual enough in a battle with no consequences, but as soon as he sensed a truly worthy challenge, he would give literally every inch of effort, would hold absolutely zero back to ensure complete victory. It was useful when Milo needed to ramp up the intensity; Drake could really tighten the screws and force pressure mistakes out of anybody.

Currently, however, the Dragon was perfectly content to whimsically spear bits of wood off the ground. Or so Milo thought.

Don't do anything, don't react, but we're being followed. More specifically, you're being followed.

Milo stiffened, but quickly forced himself to relax as if nothing had changed.

Me specifically? What's that about? Who and where?

Small Pokémon, wild, about ten meters behind and to your right. What's the plan?

A small Pokémon probably was just curious more than anything else…but Milo knew better than to take any risks out in the open, especially this far from any city with the evening light beginning to fade as the shadows around them subtly started to grow.

No ambush, instructed the Trainer, I'll turn around and call it out gently. You stay put unless something goes wrong. It'll probably run away anyway.

Slowly, very slowly, Milo turned around in place.

"…Hello?"

His ears pricked as he heard a small scuttle. His eyes snapped to the source, and he caught a glimpse of a small something disappearing clumsily behind one of the many trees around them.

"Hey, little thing…You behind the tree…I know you're following me, want to come out? I won't hurt you."

He and Drake watched the tree like a pair of Staraptor, and at last a small, green head poked out, preceded by a little red horn.

"…Ralts?"

Milo relaxed visibly; Ralts weren't exactly common in the wild, but not unheard of. They were almost totally harmless, as their Psychic powers were relatively underdeveloped.

"Oh. Hey there, little fella. You had me worried for a bit. Run along now, shoo!"

He took a step towards the little Feeling Pokémon, expecting it to flee into the woods. Instead, to his curiosity, it took a step forwards to stare up into his eyes, as if in a trance.

Drake? Little help? Why isn't it running?

What, you can't tell?

You mean you can? Care to share?

The Gabite snickered to himself, Ralts tend to project their emotions to other Pokémon. This one is nervous, but it really wants to be around you for some reason.

"Me?" Milo was surprised enough to speak aloud, "What the heck does a wild Ralts want with me?"

Catch it and find out?

Milo shook his head in aggravation, "Nah, I don't really feel like it. I've got nothing against this thing, but it needs to stop following me."

Let me handle this.

With that, Drake stepped up to it, and began to growl softly. The little half-Fairy whimpered softly, looked quickly between Milo and Drake, and then backed off in a hurry, fading into the trees.

"Thanks, pal. I bet we've got enough firewood here. Let's head back and let Blaze work his magic."

Trainer and partner tromped back the way they'd come, both bearing reasonable bundles of wood. They found, upon their return, that the girls had gotten their own fire going.

"…What is that?"

Amaya looked up impassively, "It's a campfire, what else?"

"Why was I out gathering wood for half an hour if you were just going to get one going without me?"

"You took too long."

Milo took a breath, trying (and failing) to calm himself down.

"Geez, 'Maya. First you act all 'oh, you have to get firewood because we can't' and now I do all that work and you already have a fire? Do you not get how that's frustrating?"

"Chill, Milo. It's a fire. If you're going to whine about that, I'll let you do the cooking."

"Bah, you cook your own food."

In a huff, Milo returned his team and marched back off on his own. He needed a walk to cool his head. Only Amaya could wind him up like this. She was a great, loyal friend, but she could be absolutely infuriating at times.

He heard footsteps as he left, but he didn't bother looking back until a hand caught his shoulder and Kara's voice came from behind;

"Milo, wait! It's okay, she didn't mean anyth-"

"I know, Kara, I'm fine. I just need a walk. I'll be back soon."

"Oh. Umm, can I come?"

Milo turned to look at her and asked rather obliviously, "Why would you want to come?"

Kara stared intently at the ground and brushed her hair over one ear as she mumbled, "Well, uh, because…I like walks with y – I mean, I like walks too?"

Milo looked at his new friend for a couple seconds, confused, and then shrugged and said, "If you want, I guess."

The pair walked in silence. Milo was still steaming about Amaya's inconsiderate behavior, and Kara couldn't figure out what to say first. Soon, Milo stopped short, and Kara waited patiently for him to say something. Instead, he frowned and walked back towards a tree five meters behind them.

"Milo? What's up?"

"I heard something", replied the Jubilife Trainer shortly, "I think it's a Ralts that's been following me."

Suddenly there was a scuffle, and the aforementioned Ralts jumped out and dashed behind Kara, clinging to her leg as if desperate.

"Hey there, little thing", Milo greeted it with an exasperated tone.

"Still tailing me, huh? Kara, why is it hiding behind you?"

"Oh, this little cutie!"

Kara smiled, and leaned down to pet the wild Psychic type, "She came by our camp earlier. I gave her a snack and we were friends. I figured she just left to go back to wherever she lives, but I guess she…"

Kara stopped talking quite abruptly, and her cheeks flushed. She knew as well as anyone else in Sinnoh that members of the Ralts line were famous for imprinting and echoing the emotions of the humans they became attached to. Milo picked up on her hesitation, and finished her thought;

"You think she imprinted on you? Well, that's…umm…"

Now both young people were furiously nervous and awkward. Milo's heart rate shot up. A Ralts that was echoing Kara's emotions was oddly entranced by him. The implication was painfully clear. He heard a click and looked up to see Kara, red-faced and shaky, toss a Pokéball at the Feeling Pokémon.

"Wait, Kara…!"

But the deed was done. The ball did its job flawlessly, and Kara picked it up, dusted herself off briskly and tried to keep walking as if nothing had happened.

"Come on, Milo, weren't we walking?"

"Kara…what did you just do? You realize you've literally caught three Pokémon in the last week?"

"Umm, yeah…so what?"

Milo smacked his face and tried to explain. This was doing nothing to decrease his feeling of frustration from earlier.

"Kara, usually you do some training with new team members before catching more. You get to know them. You've barely done anything with Madame since you got her in Eterna Forest, and you've had exactly one training session with Pyro. Don't you think you're moving too quickly here?"

"I…I know that" Kara's voice was small, and her gaze was down. Milo immediately regretted voicing his criticisms, "I know I'm not very good at managing my team. I really hope that doesn't make me a bad Performer. Still, there's nothing I can do about it now, it's already done. Can we just…move on?"

"What do you…yeah. I guess we just move on, now. If you want help training your new Pokémon, you know I'll gladly give you a hand."

He really did mean what he said, but his voice still sounded skeptical and a bit disapproving. Feeling powerless against his own moody emotions, he kicked out at a branch on the path. Kara was still walking next to him, but was a few steps removed, her hands clasped nervously in front of her.

Great, just great, thought Milo, now I've made her sad, and I'm still supposed to ask her out before Pastoria or Amaya's going to do something completely ridiculous. Geez, Milo, you idiot!

WHAM!

Milo was sent flying backwards by whatever had just smashed into his chest.

"AHAHAHAAA!"

The eerie laugh resounded maniacally from everywhere and from nowhere, all around them. Milo's conscious brain shut off as pure instinct took over, adrenaline shooting through his veins like a white-hot fire.

"EVERYONE OUT, NOW!"

Milo jumped to his feet and stood in front of Kara, hands outstretched like a human shield, as five flashes shot out of his belt. His reaction came not a moment too soon, as two Haunter and a Dusknoir showed themselves in ambush formation around the small party. Directly in front of Milo appeared a face that immediately made his face blanche.

"Oh crap", he whispered, forcing himself to acknowledge it, "that's one of the Primal…"

"Ah, the child who thinks himself a force to be reckoned with", rasped the familiar voice, "I will snuff you like a candle, you insolent whelp. Destroy them all!"

"Shield", Milo screamed frantically at his team, "then counter!"

The ghosts spared no time launching their assault. Two Confuse Rays and a Shadow Punch came flying in. Milo's heart swelled in momentary pride as Aurora leaped fiercely in front of the Dusknoir and set a Protect to take the brunt of the attack off her teammates. Still, despite her immunity to the move's type, the Gripper Pokémon's impact on her shield sent the brave Eevee flying.

Azura dashed off to make sure her adopted younger sister wasn't gravely injured, and Ferra leapt in after the Shadow Punch to land a Crunch on the briefly vulnerable Dusknoir.

Meanwhile, Blaze and Drake had deftly sidestepped the Confuse Rays from the two Haunter. Drake responded with a Mud Shot to his opponent's face, while Blaze used a clever Double Team to lead his adversary away from the fighting, to minimize the risk of collateral damage before he unleashed his fiery arsenal.

Even Milo himself was hard-pressed from the instant the battle begun. He kept himself firmly planted between the advancing Primal and the completely petrified Kara. The mysterious ghostly human launched more and more of the man-made Shadow Ball attacks that had caught Milo off guard in the first place, but Milo was able to counter with Dark Aura Spheres while also doing what little he could to help Ferra.

The marvelous Riolu was doing everything she could, but was hopelessly outgunned against the massive and ruthless Dusknoir. Seeing that his team was not faring well, Milo gritted his teeth and yelled over his shoulder,

"Kara, RUN! Get back to camp, take Amaya, and RUN!"

"I…I…you need-"

"GO NOW!"

As he focused all his energy on repelling the Primal's offensive, he felt Kara leave, or so he thought.

All of a sudden, several things happened, almost at once.

Kara, who had intended to obey Milo's desperate order, hesitated. Several steps away from him, she turned back, her eyes wide in horror as she watched Milo being overwhelmed.

In the same instant, Dusknoir let loose a devastating Shadow Punch that sent Ferra flying like a rag doll in the wind. Its ethereal master, still barraging Milo with attacks of his own, hissed at his servant,

"Attack, my glorious Dusknoir! Show your might!"

Dusknoir opened wide with its stomach, preparing the most potent Ghost-type attack it could possibly muster. Milo braced himself, and time seemed to stop as the monster fired its attack, which could only be described as a Shadow Ball on steroids.

For one instant, Milo breathed a sigh of relief as the attack was aimed well wide of him. Then a bloodcurdling scream came from off to his right and he knew. The attack was aimed for Kara, who was rooted to the spot in unthinkable terror.

In the next microsecond, his actions driven by pure adrenaline, Milo turned and galvanized his body into motion. He took one step towards the path of the attack, watching as it hurtled towards the helpless Performer.

Another step. The hyper-Shadow Ball was flying ever closer to Kara at an uncomfortable pace…

One more step. Tunnel vision kicked in, and Milo could see only his goal. He knew what he had to do.

With no time to generate any kind of defense or counter, he jumped. Milo flung himself, fully horizontal, into the path of the blast.

"NOOO!"

He felt the blast vaguely. He could feel himself flying through the air, until his back hit something unyielding. A rock? A tree? He couldn't see very well…he couldn't see at all…There was some kind of commotion going on nearby. What was that about? Was there a fight?

"Milo", said a muffled voice close to his face, "Milo, please, please wake up, you have to! Milo! Milo, I love you, please wake up!"

Somebody loved him? How nice… Was that Kara? It sounded like her…how convenient…

"Kara…" he mumbled.

"Yes, I'm here, Milo, stay with me, just stay awake, okay? Please, Milo, just stay awake. We'll get you to a hospital in Pastoria, I promise you'll make it, just please, please stay with me, Milo!"

"No", he was very concerned, "no Pastoria. Have to ask out Kara first. 'Maya made me. Have a plan…"

He tried to finish his thought, but it was getting hard to think. His entire brain felt like a thought on the tip of his tongue, just out of reach…

Finally, he couldn't resist any longer. He let himself slip fully into darkness.

Author's Notes:

To those who reviewed after last chapter, THANK YOU THANK YOU! You know who you are, and I read over each of your suggestions carefully and repeatedly. Many of your comments and criticisms have been addressed in this very chapter. I encourage all who read to review so that I know how to improve the story!

This Chapter: After reading the advice of my kind readers, I have attempted to give Damion a bit more development, and a reason not to hate him. We also have more of my best attempt at balanced, non-cheesy romantic development, and of course more battling. Some people told me the Pokémon characters are coming in too fast and aren't fleshed out, and this chapter doesn't help that. I'm sorry! That's just how my plot plan worked out! For reference, if you're confused, here are our three heroes' teams as they stand currently:

Milo: Azura (Umbreon), Blaze (Monferno), Ferra (Riolu), Aurora (Eevee), Drake (Gabite)

Amaya: Coral (Milotic), Terrus (Grotle), Granite (Onix), Leon (Luxio), Spirielle (Gastly)

Kara: Verdante (Leafeon), Zexon (Scizor), Frosty (Froslass), Madame (Beautifly), Pyro (Ponyta), unnamed Ralts

General Notes: There are many twists and turns approaching, so if you would like to offer advice or support, then by all means follow, favorite, review, or just nod approvingly and move on with your day. I'll know. It'd be great to get your help in drawing more people to this story! I don't own Pokémon, just my characters. On the real, I super appreciate you reading this, my humble thanks. Ciao, good people! Remember, as Albus Dumbledore once said, 'Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak'!