Today's fun pokefact, Gastly is 4' 3". Four feet. Three inches. WHAT. GASTLY IS NOT THAT SIZE IN THE ANIME. GASTLY WOULD PROBABLY BE BIGGER THAN ASH. WHAT IS THIS.

The author would like to apologize to anyone who lives outside the U.S. for the fact that we do not use the metric system. It would be 1.3 meters.

"Use hypnosis, Aria!" I call out. Aria flew towards the Snivy before she disappears and the reappears behind the Snivy and opens her mouth to let out rings that cause the Snivy to fall over in sleep.

"Oh no, Mimi, get up! I know you can do it! Please!" Bianca calls out to her Snivy.

"Alright... The only attacking move we know is lick, so... Just keep licking it? God, that sounds wrong...," I say as Violet nods behind me. Aria looks at me with a smirk and follows out my command, by furiously licking the Snivy... Oh god, when does she get another attacking move? All she knows is hypnosis, perish song, and lick.

"Get up, Mimi! Come on!" Bianca yells desperately.

"Insert motivational phrase here!" I yell as a replacement.

"Come on, Mimi! You can do it!" Bianca cries as Aria is... furiously licking Bianca's Snivy.

"Are we done yet...?" I ask Aria. Aria looks at me and then looks at the Snivy before nodding. With a closer inspection, Bianca's Snivy was actually obviously knocked out.

"Oh no, I lost, oh well. Mimi, return," Bianca says sadly as she returns Mimi to her pokeball.

"Next time, Bianca, you might want to use moves that do damage first and not leer," I suggest. Bianca nods and runs back inside the Pokemon Center we were standing right in front of.

"Alishia, can I battle you next?" Cheren asks.

"Yes, but not right now. I would prefer that we fight again when Aria knows a move besides lick," I respond, Aria flying away from my field of vision.

"Yes... Good point. Oh, Hilda! Bianca and the Professor are in the Pokemon Center!" Cheren calls out to Hilda who is on the other side of the plaza. She nods and walks over to said center.

I walk and go sit on a nearby rail, Violet doing the same. I look at her for a few seconds before I ask, "What will you do now since I won't be seeing you much?"

"Huh? Oh, well, I guess I'll be going to school. Maybe do a contest occasionally since I'll be in Sinnoh, after all , I have nothing to lose. I'll definitely call you, though! So don't forget me!" Violet replies happily.

"Alright then! I just hope that I get that gym badge-"

"You will!" Violet interrupts.

"Okay, okay, I will, I got it!"

"You two, come check this out!" Cheren calls out to me and Violet, Hilda standing next to him. I look at Violet and she gestures at the group of people aligned in a row on the plaza. We both get up and walk to stand next to the two of them as a man with a cloak three times the size of his body and green hair steps forward.

Ghetsis I believe.

"My name is Ghetsis. I am here representing Team Plasma. Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about Pokemon liberation," he says, leaving a pause to let what he just said sink into the crowd. The crowd looked at each other in confusion as Ghetsis walked to his left.

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokemon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However...," he gave a slight pause, "Is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans... only assume that this is the truth?"

"Pokemon are subject to the selfish commands of Trainers... They get pushed around when they are our, "partners" at work... Can anyone say with confidence that there is not truth in what I'm saying?" Ghetsis says, the crowd again murmuring amongst themselves. You can easily say things with confidence even if you don't believe it. That is the job of a politician.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, Pokemon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called Pokemon?" Ghetsis stops again for dramatic effect.

"That's right! We must liberate the Pokemon! Then, and only then, will humans and Pokemon truly be equals. Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and Pokemon... and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention," he says before the team leaves in formation to protect Ghetsis.

The entire crowd starts to converse with itself about the speech that was just given. Even Hilda and Cheren had the same look on their face as everyone else. I'll admit Ghetsis is without a doubt a good speech giver, but he really lacks charisma.

"Maybe I should release my Lillipup...," I overhear a woman say as she walks away.

An uninformed populace gets what they deserve.

"Your Pokemon. Just now, it was saying..." A buy with a hat and green hair says to Hilda, I believe.

"Pokemon talking? That's an odd thing to say... What do you mean?" Hilda asks.

"Yes, they're talking. Oh, then you can't hear it, either... My name is N."

"My name is Hilda, that's Cheren and those two are Violet and Alishia. Cheren and I were asked to complete the Pokedex and we just left on our journey. Cheren actually wants to be Champion, though," Hilda responds. That was... a lot of unnecessary information told to a random stranger.

"The Pokedex, eh? Sp... You're going to confine many, many Pokemon in Pokeballs for that, then. I'm a Trainer, too, but I can't help wondering... Are Pokemon really happy that way?"

"Well, if they weren't they could always kill the trainer," I say nonchalantly. N looks at me for a moment with a strange look. Well, they could, okay? But they don't.

"Your Pokemon... She just-"

"Said something incredibly rude or offense? Yeah, sounds like her . Where is she anyway? Aria, are you possessing flowerpots again!?" I call out to Aria. Just as I thought, a flowerpot came flying towards us, a little kid running after it.

"Aria, give back the flower pot!" I yell. The flowerpot flew to the ten-year-old chasing it before Aria came out of it and the flower pot dropped into the hands of the child. Sadly, this happens a lot. I mean a lot. It's always flower pots too.

"What was that...?" Cheren asks.

"Aria being Aria," I answer.

"Hilda and... Alishia was it? I would like to hear your Pokemon's voices," N says as he takes out two Pokeballs. Wait, I thought he just had a Purrloin? Never mind, I give up caring at this point. Wait, he's not even going to wait for our responses? Okay...

"What he mean?" Hilda leans over and asks me.

"He wants to battle us."

"Okay, I can do that," Hilda says with a smile as she takes out her Pokeball. I bet it has a Tepig inside it.

"Yeah, Aria, you know the drill," I say as Hilda and N throw out their Pokemon. Hilda, like I thought, throws out a Tepig while N throws out a Purrloin and Zorua. The Tepig gives a cute little snort while fire came out of his nose. N's Purloin just sat there and looked like your typical cat, while the Zorua looked at Aria with a cutely mischievous look.

Did I mention I find Zoruas really cute?

I mean, I'm trying really hard right now not to jump on it and hug it.

"It's suooo couteeeeeee," I slur out in a whisper.

"Alishia," Violet says to remind I was about to have to command Aria to furiously lick the Zorua.

"But I want to hug it... Besides, there's that one time a Slurpuff and their trainer was passing through and you-"

"I was eight, it doesn't count!"

"Purrloin! Use growl on the Tepig! Zorua, use pursuit!"

"Tifa, counter with ember!" Hilda yells.

"Wait, what? We're starting? Okay?! Uh, da, uhba, you know, the, the... THING! YES! Aria! USE THING!" I yell with confusion. Aria laughs and fades out as the cute little Zorua runs towards her, only to reappear behind it to use hypnosis. The Zorua looks around in confusion before it falls over and Aria flies over to start licking it... Yeah...

N looks over and judging by the look on his face, he could tell it was a lost cause to try to help his Zorua, and instead focused on his fight with Hilda, which I wasn't really paying attention to. Why would I when I can see Aria licking the Zorua while the Zorua is sleep attacking, and by that I mean it's cutely trying to hit Aria by moving its paws. It's so cuteeeeeee.

"Um... Are we done yet?" I ask Aria. She looks at me before she makes a shrugging motion with the gas surrounding her. She then flies away from the Zorua who probably was out of it and goes towards the Purrloin.

"Tifa, use ember one last time- oh, okay," Hilda says, about to give a command before Aria flies up behind the Purrloin and licks it, causing the Purrloin to pass out.

With a sigh, N returns his Pokemon to his Pokeballs before he stares at us for a few moments and says, "As long as Pokemon are confined in Pokeballs, Pokemon will never be perfect beings. I have to change the world for Pokemon because they're my friends."

He then walks away leaving the rest of us terribly confused. I frankly don't have the heart to yell at him for being a hypocrite at this point, even if he is being one. He battled us, with Pokemon that were in Pokeballs, and when we lost, he didn't even go to the Pokemon Center to heal his Pokemon, he just walked away acting all cool and shit.

"That was an odd guy, but I'm not going to worry about it. Trainers and Pokemon help each other out! Listen, I'm going on ahead. I want to battle the gym leader in the next town- Striaton City. Aim to battle Gym Leader after Gym Leader. The best way for a trainer to become stronger is to challenge the Gym Leaders in each area," Cheren says before he walks off.

"Hilda, what are you going to do?" Violet asks her. Oh right, Violet and Hilda are friends! I forgot! Then again, I never tried to be aware of it in the first place.

"Oh, well, I guess I'll be challenging the gym with Tifa," she pauses as Tifa runs over to her and Hilda picks her up, "After all, I was told to complete the Pokedex, and challenging the gym is a great way to do it!"

"Oo- can we come with you! Alishia wants to challenge the gym so it might help if we tag along!" Violet begs. What? I didn't agree with this? Don't I get any input?

"Yeah, sure!"

Okay, I guess I don't get to choose.

Smoke obscures all that I can see

Happy birthday to my friend whose birthday happened to line up with this update.