I'll admit it, I was shocked by the woman's words, though they did explain why I hadn't seen Florence since the previous night. I didn't like the girl much, sure, but I didn't want to think that anyone I knew could be – missing? dead? I had no idea what the woman even meant by her words.

To my great surprise, however, neither one of the two trainers seemed phased at all.

"Not again," Michael droned, brushing his black bangs out of his eyes. "My apologies, Maybelle, but we have traveled out there to rescue your wayward daughter dozens of times in the past. She has survived all of her excursions before; why worry now?"

Richard elbowed his upper arm, making Michael yelp in protest. "Do let me apologize for this worthless excuse of a Trainer's lack of manners, Maybelle. Unfortunately, I must agree with his conclusion. Florence is quite capable of taking care of herself. You need not panic."

"Manners? What do you know of manners, you giant oaf?"

"Better an oaf than a flimsy excuse for a fighter!"

The two continued flinging insults at each other, effectively ignoring the woman wringing her hands next to them. I gathered from the resigned looks on the villagers' faces and the muttering and giggling that spread through the crowd that this was no unusual occurrence; it seemed as though I had managed to land myself in the middle of some kind of power struggle. Such was my luck.

Florence's mother – Maybelle, they had said? – still looked upset, and I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to be able to get Drowzee back for a while anyway, so I decided to go over and figure out exactly what Florence was getting up to. After all, she was one of the only two people I could claim to know in that place (I didn't want to know Michael, he had been a complete jerk).

Maybelle didn't even wait for me to open my mouth; she just skittered forward and grasped my hand in her two tiny palms. "You are a Trainer," she babbled, her brown-black eyes darting around my face anxiously, "so you must help her. Please, she is my only child!"

I squirmed, feeling way awkward. "Um," I mumbled, "of course I'd help, I just don't think she needs it. I mean, she seemed fine yest-"

"No, no," she interrupted, shaking her head vigorously, which made several tendrils of hair escape from the messy bun she had pulled it back in. "You do not understand; she has not snuck off again, for I saw her leaving. I asked where she was going, implored her to stay, but she did not listen! That is not like my daughter, Trainer Monroe."

I wanted to argue that it seemed perfectly normal for Florence to ignore anything she didn't want to hear, but I did remember how she had seemed softer around her mother the day before. I frowned, trying to think of a nice reason that would make the situation better, maybe a comforting word or two.

"I would go after her myself," the woman whispered, her voice trembling, "but, but – I cannot leave these grounds, not even for her. I am too great a coward." She sniffed, casting her eyes down, and I tried desperately to find an interesting-looking heap of sand that I could stare at so I wouldn't have to look at her. I had thought people only behaved that way in books or movies, really. "You wouldn't leave her alone out there, if she was in trouble, would you, Trainer?"

"Of course not!"

The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. I wanted to warp them, somehow, to say that of course I didn't want to but I had a lot of troubles of my own to deal with just then, so why couldn't she just explain this to the two nice trainers over that way while I escaped, thanks and goodbye. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way.

"Oh, thank you!" she cried, smiling up at me in a teary way that immediately made me feel like a selfish jerk for not wanting to help. The more analytical part of my brain wondered how she could make me react so quickly. "I did see the direction she ran off in – south, towards the forests. She only left recently, so your majū should be able to track her with ease."

"Right." I glanced back at the water, where Drowzee was now clinging to the Tentacruel's head and squealing as the water Pokemon flapped its tentacles around, generating medium-sized waves that turned the water rough and choppy. "Ease. Sure."

"Drowzee are not exceedingly good trackers," Michael drawled. We both turned back towards the two trainers, who had apparently stopped arguing at some point in time. Michael had his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised, while Richard was standing with his hands on his hips.

The second trainer snorted, a his mouth inching into a smile. "Are you suggesting-"

"Well, I do want to observe the boy more closely," Michael snapped. "Besides, I have not surveyed the southern forests in quite some time. It would be a useful experience."

"If you hurt the boy, Trainer Michael, I swear to Arceus-"

"Oh, do not become melodramatic." Michael turned towards the woman and nodded. "It's settled. Trainer Monroe and I will find your daughter."

I had been busy looking back and forth between the two, wondering when they had decided to stop hating each other, so it took me about five seconds to figure out what had happened. By then the entire village had sprung into action, calling out to each other for traveling supplies and the like as they bustled their way away from the shore. I was almost swept away with them before I managed to shout that I still needed my Drowzee, thanks.

Time seemed to move too quickly for me to keep up with it as Richard got my starter back on the shore, as one of the village women measured my limbs and thrust a scratchy outfit at me (exclaiming at the 'fine sewing' of my jacket as she did so), as Michael pulled me along to examine food, emergency bandages, and flint, as people who had shunned me the night before suddenly clustered all around, giving Drowzee a bit of space but otherwise treating me like one of them.

In the midst of the chaos, I checked my pockets for my own supplies and found that my notebook was missing. Thinking back, I realized that Florence had had it last and started to form hazy conclusions.

"D'ya think Florence might've seen something in my notes that made her suspicious?" I whispered to Drowzee as soon as I could, unable to approach anyone else for advice. He waved his trunk ambiguously in reply, which I took to mean 'maybe, but what else do you want me to say about it?'.

Then, far too quickly, Michael had said his goodbyes, Richard had slapped my back a few times with a gruff 'good luck', and I was back on the road with the addition of an extremely useful bag of supplies and an entirely different person than I'd had with me before.

Michael didn't say anything, at first, just pointing out the appropriate path and leading the way. Drowzee and I followed close behind, silent as well. Michael turned out to be a much slower walker than Florence, to my great relief, so neither I nor my Pokemon got exhausted right away.

… of course, you can only walk in silence for so long before it becomes mind-numbingly boring. About an hour into the hike I gave up on acting professional and started teaching Drowzee how to play I Spy. He caught on quickly enough and was able to make his guesses known by pointing, his choices clear by pantomime. Occasionally he'd just stare at me blankly when it was my turn to guess and I'd said something unusual, at which point I'd have to go into definitions and explanations.

Michael tolerated this for around ten minutes before abruptly stopping in the middle of the path and turning around to glare at us.

"You-" he started, almost growling; then he sighed and started again, more calmly. "Why, Trainer Monroe, are you playing children's games with your partner?"

I looked at Drowzee, and he looked back at me. "... 'cause I'm a child?" I ventured, scratching my ear.

"Clearly. However, you're a Trainer primarily, and Trainers must be mature, responsible, and useful," Michael proclaimed, tucking in his chin and staring down at me. "How is playing this guessing game supposed to help others?"

"I'm useful!" I protested, annoyed; when he didn't respond, I frowned. "Seriously! I mean, I... I can make all sorts of stuff. Practical stuff."

"Such as?"

I opened my mouth, about to brag about how I could (theoretically) make a working poke ball from scratch, but stopped myself when I realized that that wasn't the best example, given the situation. "Well... I could make us a compass, if I had a magnet."

Michael raised his eyebrows, smirking.

"I could!" I snapped, ignoring the fact that he hadn't said anything, and stomped past him, ducking my head. "And I am mature and responsible, especially for my age, so if you'd just give me half a chance-"

I stopped mid-stomp, balancing precariously on one foot while staring at the ground directly under the other. A Kakuna was lying there, its beady black eyes staring up at me. I wavered, trying to stay balanced, and ended up falling backwards in a heap. I could distinctly hear Drowzee snickering somewhere behind me. Michael, on the other hand, walked up and stared down at the wild Pokemon, vague and disinterested.

"My, my. It would seem that we've entered the Forest of Ilex."