Gale hummed a low tune as she made her way across the grassy plains, enjoying the breeze and tranquility. Eyed a cloud shaped like a Totodile and held up a finger, tracing its shape.

That is until a loud explosion rocked the wind-swept Lavaridge Plains and completely threw her off-track, blurring green and orange forms clashing in the distance on a far off hill.

She squinted at the source of the disturbance and didn't know whether to frown or go watch. Baron and Aine. They're at it again. I don't really have anything better to do until… I guess I'll watch. Coming closer, she picked a spot on the ground and sat down.

A Gallade and a Combusken whirred back and forth, weaving through each others' attacks, receiving and returning them with parries, blocks, reversals, and multitudes of kicks and punches. They were moving incredibly quickly, as expected of fighters, engaged in a deadly dance of battle. Even from this distance you could hear the impacts of the blows both on flesh and ground. The mound they were fighting on had turned brown from the kicked up dirt, patches of uprooted grass strewn about.

It almost looked like a wild battle to the death with the ferocity of the combatants.

What they were actually doing was a fighter pokemons' insane workout regimen. Any normal person would consider it much too demanding for even regular pokemon, especially when they did it for hours on end; morning, afternoon, and a portion of the night—only ceasing the fighting to drink water and eat. They did it incessantly, training like this a couple times a week with sparse days to cool off and help their muscles recover.

Gale would have muttered something about men and testosterone but… Aine was a girl. A very energetic girl that loved to fight, at that.

This particular routine she'd seen a few times before. Apparently, this was an exercise that Riven had thought up in Forina. One that-according to his pokemon- he actually participated in when he was younger. As "training". An exercise routine that they did for nearly five months straight, not including climbing giant spires and running miles every day! That was unsettling in several different ways, and really made Gale wonder if the guy actually did need some professional help to kindly inform him that he wasn't, in fact, as durable as a pokemon was. And definitely didn't need it to tell him he was insane to a degree that could probably give a psychologist nightmares.

I'm one hundred percent certain he knows that, she mused. No one healthy climbs hundred foot tall spires for small green rocks. Even if it saves money.

Watching from a good distance away, she analyzed the fight, trying to think like a trainer would. Flannery had given her some advice after her very distressed self stumbled into her gym begging for advice.

The gym leader told her to raise them like a trainer would, even if it would be something she wasn't used to. They were battling pokemon, not domestic. They had to fight, they were just trained that way; there was no way to remove the taste and thrill of battle once it established itself. Transitioning from battle tested to domestic was a shocking change if it was sudden, compared to something like being too old to keep up anymore. Even pokemon realized that they were past their primes—that was an exception. Pokemon who suddenly became domesticated were restless and after a certain point of inactivity, began to show signs of depression. In the worst cases, they stopped feeling energetic and just… gave up, as it were. Stopped eating. Stopped drinking. Just wasted away like a person would.

I'm not going to let that happen.

So, Gale supervised the training sessions of Baron and Aine, in case one got a broken arm or leg, or a burn, or a deep gash and needed medical attention. And holy crap, were those injuries unbelievably common. Once, Baron came into her home gored by a Tauros and was bleeding profusely all over the floor, leaving a trail of red from where he had come from. He played it off like it was nothing until he hit the floor face first and fazed in and out of consciousness. The girl had to fly him over to Lavaridge to get him healed all while nearly pitching a fit, the dread of what Riven would do to her increasing when Nurse Joy told her the wound had gotten infected. He'd gotten out okay, but it had been like her heart was caught in an Ursaring trap. If this was what trainers had to deal with on a regular basis, then she was gaining a newfound respect for them. Raising pokemon wasn't easy; it took patience, intelligence, and lots of dedication to do so.

Luckily though, Haona and Boagrius didn't need so much supervision.

The Absol preferred to hunt and work on her speed most of the time, while the grey, amorphous cloud of obnoxious energy tried utilizing his environments more efficiently in conjunction with his weather ball while roaring out things-that when translated- went something like; KNEEL BEFORE GOD, FEEL THE DIVINE POWER, BEGONE, MOVE ASIDE, and I AM LIGHTNING, THE RAIN TRANSFORMED! …Among other cries that consisted of verbal dynamite.

She was astounded the scenery hadn't been gnashed furiously into atomic dust yet.

Gale turned her attention back to the battle, breaking it down. It was a battle of control fought purely in hand to hand martial arts, with the goal of the exercise to focus on reflexes and technique while relying solely on combat ability instead of gimmicks. Baron couldn't use psychic attacks nor teleports; he was also restricted from mind reading due to it being, in Riven's words, "complete bullshit". Aine just couldn't use her long distance fire attacks.

The psychic fighter had an innate advantage in speed and strength from being a tertiary evolution, but Aine was a crafty fighter and seemed to poke holes in his style, capitalizing on them rather than blindly attacking. On the outside she was a fiery ball of energy and positivity, but in a fight she was a calculating and focused battler, something not many fire types were known for. Even Flannery admitted that it was odd, despite having seen her in action before. Most fire types preferred to overwhelm their opponents with blazing blitz attacks and barrages of flame. They weren't known for being very defensive.

The Gallade was in control of the mound for the most time, but only marginally so, as Aine drove him back often. She flipped high into the air after using Baron's cross handed block as a stepping stone, angling a clawed foot downwards, using the momentum of the maneuver to add extra strength to her kick, slamming downwards on the back of Baron's head. He ate dirt as the force of the kick pummeled the psychic face first into the ground, causing a small explosion of dust and dirt to fly upwards. Aine was about to grab him and throw him out when the psychic placed two hands on the ground, lifting himself up into a momentary handstand, then spinning in a clockwise motion, spinning his legs like top. He'd been trying to vary his style and found that imitating a Hitmontop's fighting style wasn't just effective and disorienting, but quite fun. Not to mention visually impressive.

The attack surprised Aine as one of his legs slammed against her ribcage and sent her flying ten feet away onto the ground below. When the kick hit, a loud jarring crack of bone could be heard. The Combusken writhed as the impact of the ground sent a spike of pain in the affected area, twitching.

Gale gasped and rummaged through her backpack for a hyper potion to heal the newly broken bone before it settled and needed the Center's attention. She ran over to where the downed Combusken lay but froze in her tracks as a brilliant white glow shone from the pokemon's form, engulfing the entirety of her body. It began to shift and change-

Then stopped.

Aine shook her head furiously as the white glow of evolution faded away, trying to pick herself up but crying out from the injury. Gale reached her, asking where the broken rib was. When Aine didn't respond, she prodded with a finger until a hiss of pain came out of the fire type, spraying the potion on the affected area as it began to heal and mend.

"You held it back again," Gale said soberly, applying more of the medicine while stroking Aine's feathers. They were warm to the touch. "Evolution isn't a bad thing, Aine. It's okay to evolve."

"I know…" Aine whispered, avoiding her eyes. "I just don't want to evolve yet. Don't worry about me! I'm fine. Really!" The Combusken gave her a happy beaked smile and got on her feet, hugging the human girl before returning to where Baron sat nonchalantly on the mound. "See?"

Gale sighed sadly, still crouched in place. She knew why the Combusken didn't feel like evolving right now, and it made her current thoughts about this entire situation even worse. Aine had a very loving personality, and she was extremely attached to her trainer. The way she always wondered if Gale had received any news from Riven had always left the flyer feeling more depressed than she'd ever felt before.

How many times did she have to say, "he'll come soon", before his pokemon gave up? There was nothing she could do except keep them fed and as happy as they could be. The happiness they felt was probably insignificantly small maybe, but she was trying. She really was.

Baron and Boagrius didn't seem to mind, being more understanding, and Aine was optimistic and didn't see the negative too often. The one that worried her was Haona. She'd had her parent's taken away from her as a pup and now her new parent had been as well. At first she'd been like Aine, but after nearly half a year had passed, she started growing more distant, and going solo hunting for food more often than not. At times she paced around the plains at night, randomly firing off beams of ice, which remained into the morning. Whether it was of frustration or something else, she didn't know.

What she did know was that the female Absol was extremely attached to the black stone that hung around her neck—a gift from her trainer, apparently. The little stone had fallen once in one of her hunting trips, and she spent two days and nights searching for it. Of all his pokemon, that Absol missed him the most, even if she wouldn't admit it.

Before the two fighting pokemon resumed their training, Gale set down the bag and gestured Baron over. He teleported next to her, red eyes curious.

"Yes, Gale?" His gaze flicked around a bit, wondering if he was going to get reprimanded. "I didn't hit her too hard did I?"

Gale shook her head, thoughts telling him she wasn't going to scold him. "I'm not sure what too hard is to you fighters. If you kicked me like that, you'd probably kill me. I'm surprised Aine only fractured a rib."

"You take care of us," Baron seemed to frown. "I wouldn't ever hit you."

"I know, but it was just an observation. You fighters play rough, not everyone can keep up." She bopped him on the head crest affectionately.

Baron dipped his head sheepishly, smiling back at her.

"I'm going to leave the potions here, okay?" Gale said, pointing to the bag. "You remember how I showed you to use them? Do not eat them! That's not how this works! Nurse Joy nearly chewed me up for that last time!"

The psychic pokemon snorted mischievously at that. It seemed he started taking after his trainer in laughing at his own misfortunes and self-induced mishaps. "I know how they work now. I won't eat it this time. If anything happens, I'll use one to heal our wounds, you don't have to watch us then." He pointed at the sky in the distance. "But, uh… maybe you should go check on Boag, there are some clouds gathering over there. He's probably terrorizing some Ponyta. The foals scare easily."

Gale turned around to see a small herd of the flaming equine pokemon distressing as a rain cloud unloaded on them, frantically scurrying out of the way before their flames dampened. She could hear the scenery destroying boasts of the Castform from here. Shook her head in half amusement as Baron snickered quietly. "They'll be fine, I think, he's just messing with them. Are you sure you're going to be fine here?"

"Oh, don't worry," he said. Smiled knowingly, crossing his arms. "Besides, you have guests."

"Huh? I do?" Gale blinked. "But I never have guests. We're in the middle of nowhere." Suddenly the worst came to mind and she was fully expecting questionable looking men with fierce dispositions to converge on her house and try to kill her. Dammit that paranoia of his really was contagious.

This time the Gallade bopped her on the head. "They're not hostile, or I would have warned you a long time ago," he stated, holding back a chuckle at the girl's thinking. "I'm sure they're eager to see you."

Guests… What guests? Gale thought, making her way back to her residence. She whistled loudly at the giant bird flying in the sky, waving a hand to show her position. Emile landed beside her, shaking himself off. Hopping on, she told him to take her back home, since the walk back was fairly long. Flying was easier regardless.

Flying above the house, she faintly spotted two figures standing beside two dog like pokemon, one white and the other yellow and blue-probably Haona and Grumpy- and ordered Emile to land. Getting closer, she could make out a blonde girl and blue haired boy, patiently waiting for her to come down.

Dismounting, Gale was caught by surprise as they both waved. "Seab, Amy? What are you doing here?"

"We were in town, so we were wondering how you were doing," Amy said, giving her a tight hug. "Nurse Joy told us you came back. I didn't think you'd still be traveling with Riv, but I can't say I expected to see his pokemon here. His Absol's grown so big now that I look at her. She's still so beautiful too."

"Speaking of him, is Riven here, by any chance?" Seab asked, ruffling Haona's fur. She leaned into the gesture, enjoying the attention.

Gale looked at the Absol and frowned. "That's a bit… complicated. You want to come inside? Sorry if things are a mess but I don't usually get visits. I don't have any meals prepared either, I was hoping to do that later."

"That's all right," Seab declined politely. "It took a while to come out here, so I'm a bit hungry. Amy probably is too. Haona said she was going to go hunting right now, you mind if I come with? I want to see her in action."

"Ask her, not me," Gale smiled. The Absol accepted with a momentary flash of her horn, still enjoying getting her head scratched. "And you, Amy?"

"I'll let them have their fun," she said.

The two girls entered the small house, sitting down at the small wooden table. Gale dug into the fridge and served them some oran juice.

Amy looked around the home, getting very cosy vibes from it. She pictured a nice hearth and a cup of warm chocolate on cold nights, huddled up near the fire. Very, very peaceful. As expected from a single house out in the plains, nothing much happened out here. "Nice place here. How does Emile fit? He's a big bird."

"He didn't used to," Gale laughed, remembering all the times he would get stuck trying to get through the front door. "But after I got a pokeball for him I can finally fit him inside, even if he does knock over everything with his wings. I have less trouble with Kyne since he's smaller but picking up after feathers is a little annoying."

"Kind of reminds me of Jak and his wool. It grows way too fast but at least it fetches a decent price here in Hoenn. Having a secondary source of income is awesome," Amy said, raising a fist. "Don't see what you can do with feathers from a bird though."

"They make good arrow feathers for hunters and rangers. Although hunting is a bit frowned upon on the routes and Hoenn in general," Gale said. "They sell if you know the right people though. How do you think I've been able to feed those bottomless pits they call fighting pokemon? Riven was also interested in them for arrows too. Said to store some for him, Pidgeot feathers are very aerodynamic apparently."

Amy looked at her with slight concern. "You look a little bummed at the mention of his name. I mean his pokemon are here so I figured he must be out or something but his Absol also looked… Gale? Where is he?"

"I don't know," Gale admitted sadly. "I haven't known for months."

Amy processed that for a moment, green eyes growing wide, then angry.

"He left his pokmon with you and disappeared? That fucking scoundrel!" She growled like a dog, about to storm out to find Seab and conduct a manhunt. "Argh, men! I'll kill him if I find him. Just when I was beginning to accept he was a good-"

"It's not quite like that!" Gale assured, calming the blonde girl down before she unleashed the four riders of the Apocalypse… or worse, a woman's fury. "Really, it's not. He didn't leave voluntarily."

"You mean someone forced him to? He can beat the snot out of a bunch of guys by himself. How does that work?"

"They called the police on him. And we were pretty much stuck on an island. Fighting would have made things infinitely worse."

"Oh," Amy said, her vigor deflating like a blimp. "Was it because of Petalburg?"

"I'm not even sure. Actually, he wasn't even sure. All I know was that he got a mysterious call in LaRousse, shoved his pokemon into my arms and then got arrested. He didn't even do anything out of the ordinary either. We were by the park just enjoying ourselves when it happened out of the blue."

Amy stared at her for a few seconds, considering that. "He really needs to eat more lucky charms… No, I don't even think a pot of gold would improve his luck… Wait, you went to LaRousse?"

"Mmm," Gale hummed, drinking some juice.

"How was it?" Amy asked, green eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Oh man, the city is something. So much technology everywhere, it was like stepping into the future. Hoenn is usually more down to earth so seeing that was breathtaking," Gale remembered. "And the battle tower there was amazing also, you really should go some day. The view from the cable trains over the sea was stunning too. Didn't you go to Ever Grande, though? LaRousse is impressive, but brochures always make Ever Grande to be gorgeous. How were the waterfalls?"

Amy seemed to light up like the sun. "They're fantastic! Everything is so beautiful there, from the waterfalls to the gardens. And all the wildlife is amazing too! Never gets too hot or cold there. Of course the only downside is the people," she huffed irritably. "Otherwise it'd be perfect."

"The people? Why's that?"

"It's a city full of trainers who've completed the gym circuit, and the permanent residents there are either all officials, trainers, or ex-rangers." She snorted. "Go figure."

Gale winced. "Intense much?"

"You don't know the half of it, the douche levels of some people can break the scale," Amy muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. "They were honestly surprised when they saw our pokemon. Apparently tertiary and final evolutions are as common as grass there. When they found out we had less than all eight badges, we both got the look of disapproval. Then people stopped challenging us. Which is good I guess, that way I didn't have to decline so many battles. Getting judged didn't feel good at all though."

"It is a champion's city," Gale mused. "Did they take you there for questioning after what happened?"

"Yeah," Amy shrugged. "Went about how you expect. We hardly knew anything apart from recalling how close we were to getting turned to dragon food, but hey, the scenery was amazing! And we got hotel rooms hah! I even got to relax in a medicinal bath. I'd say it was worth it."

Gale laughed along with her, smiling at the other girl's energy. The kind of upbeat energy and feelings she hadn't been feeling herself all that much lately. Maybe this is what Riven felt like all the time. God it was glum.

"I see Grumpy made it out well," she started. "Electric types overloading themselves like that… it's kind of scary."

"Yeah, well, that Manectric is pretty stubborn. Medics got to him just at the right time, a few minutes later and he would have fried his electrical system completely; he'd either spark out of control and explode from the inside out, or he'd be unable to channel electricity at all. Both are certain death for them. Seab's glad he's okay, and even though that pokemon is a pain at the best of times, I'd miss him too. It's a love/hate relationship with that oversized electric dog."

"Ah." Gale gave Amy a sidelong look, with a hint of mischief in it. "Hey, I noticed that Seab's grown a bit, by the way. He looks a lot more built than when I last saw him. He used to be so scrawny. Filling out nicely I admit."

"He trains quite a bit," Amy explained. "It shows." She blankly brought up a pleasant memory near the Ever Grande Falls…

"Amy, you still on Earth?" Gale asked teasingly, nudging her with an elbow.

"Sorry," The blonde apologized. "I was remembering something delicious."

"Mmhmmm," Gale chuckled to herself. "Are you two a thing yet? You've been traveling together for a while now, right?"

"A thing?" Amy thought about that. Maybe I should mess with her. "Hmmm, I don't think so." She waited until Gale was about to take a drink. "Ripping his clothes off and ambushing him when he's naked doesn't count, right?"

Gale choked and spit out a large portion of the juice, managing to save face by spitting it into the cup, then wiped her mouth with her sleeve disdainfully. "Y-you did that on purpose."

The blonde gave her an evil grin, cackling treacherously. "You should see your face! It's like someone slapped you with an Octillery!" She continued laughing, kicking her feet as Gale regained her composure.

"I honestly thought you weren't joking," the brunette muttered, a tinge of red on her face. "I could see you strong-arming him into something like that. You don't like him then?"

"I never said that," Amy said vaguely, laughter dying down. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be traveling with him. I like him, but we're just traveling partners. I'd say something about you and Riv, but it'd be a little crude based on the situation. I'm not my mom, she's way too crass when it comes to things like this."

Gale sighed in relief. "Thanks."

The two girls talked about what had happened since the Festival, with Gale withholding some of the more sensitive information regarding the azure sphere and Will, preferring instead to reminisce and update each other on what they'd been doing in the interim. It wasn't because she didn't trust the girl, she did, but Steven had told them all to keep it a secret—the less people who knew, the less attention they'd attract. An hour into the conversation and someone knocked heavily on the door.

Gale stood up, wondering if it was Seab and Haona, but her hunts usually took longer than an hour since the herds of Tauros were a bit farther into the plains than normal.

The knocking resumed and a voice came from the outside. "Package for Ms. Serna! Hello? Are you there? Package for Ms. Serna!"

Package? She blinked stupidly. Why is everything happening today? Opening the door with bewilderment, a man dressed in a blue Hoenn Regional Post uniform held a moderately sized package in both hands, uncomfortably sweating in the sun. His mail delivery truck sat behind him, a bizarre sight against the backdrop of the rolling grass behind it.

"Ms. Serna?" He asked, lifting his hat. "You Gale Serna?"

"Ummmm, yes?" She confirmed, wary. "I'm sorry, but I thought the post office doesn't operate past Lavaridge. It might be addressed to the wrong person."

The mailman nodded, setting the heavy package down with a sigh. "Not possible ma'am. Someone paid me two G's to get this to you, no way in hell am I going to pass that up. They specifically mentioned Gale Serna, girl who lives out in the plains. Haven't seen another house for miles out here, so it has to be you."

Gale glared at the package, scrutinizing how suspicious it looked. "What if it's a bomb or filled with some kind of disease?"

"Well," the man began, "if it was a bomb and it was pressure sensitive, I'd be pieces right now. And I'm not quite sure why someone would send a package filled with deadly microbes to a single girl out in the middle of nowhere. Just ain't probable."

"Okay then. Who's it from then?" She asked, noting the lack of a package slip.

"Dunno!" The mailman laughed heartily.

And great. The mailman didn't know who it was from, which was worrisome in more ways than one. No, worrisome wasn't the correct term. Absolutely frightening. What if it was some kind of serial killer that preyed on women? Living alone on the plains made her an easy target is there ever was one, it started making her paranoid.

"I see you noticed it doesn't have a packaging slip," he said, flipping the box around. "That's because it's a foreign package."

"It's foreign?" She repeated, astonished.

"Yup," he said, whistling. "Someone went through a lot of trouble to get this to you."

"Why's that?"

"Lots of reasons. One of them is because it's a hassle to get a package through examinations and x rays in the first place. Customs sucks. Two is because it costs a shit ton to mail a package from another region with the proportions and weight this one has. And three, no one delivers jack shit in your area missy. My guess is whoever sent this to you smuggled it over, probably to avoid the bitch that is interregional shipping, and to conceal whatever it is they wanted to send you." He deduced astutely, shaking the box. Gale got anxiety just watching him do it, lest it explode. "Sounds like a lot of blocky parts in here. They had to have known some guys that'd smuggle it in. Got friends in high places, huh?"

Gale swallowed. "Umm…"

"These methods are used by weapon smugglers, pokemon poachers, terrorists, organ traffickers and drugs traffickers, people with questionable sexual preferences… You know, all that underbelly stuff." He trailed off, every passing thing that came out of his mouth managing to make her feel even worse about this particular delivery.

"I… uh… umm…" she squeaked out.

"But don't worry, little lady! Nurse Joy told me that the letter that gave her the instructions to contact us seemed written in a friendly manner. So I doubt you'll blow up any time soon! But I guess it's still possible, you never know for sure with these things."

Gale felt like throwing the box into the sea at this point, along with her trust in the mail delivery system. "You said Nurse Joy? Nurse Joy paid you?" Now that, she found hard to believe. The Nurses didn't just do that. Maybe help some trainers out occasionally, but they seldom went out of their way to contact trainers. The Joy in Lavaridge did know her personally but…

"Ah, yeah. Paid me the two grand to deliver it here since you live out in the middle of nowhere. The instructions that came with the package told the Nurse to do it. Also told her it wasn't anything dangerous and not to worry."

Gale scowled at him, tapping her foot. "Then why did you nearly give me a heart attack instead of telling me in the first place?"

The mailman grinned widely. "When your job is drivin' like a madman to deliver letters, you need to cherish all the fun you can get. Getting chased by Mightyenas in peoples' front yards for a living needs to get offset by something. Plus, it's amusin' teasin' the young'uns. But if I do say so myself, and pardon if it's a little weird soundin', but I don't think I blame your admirer one bit. I'd do the same, if it was to a girl as beautiful as you."

She donned an uneasy smile at that, going rigid as he handed her the box.

"Welp, I gotta run! Good luck with your package, pretty girl! If it 'splodes I'll come running back and say some choice words at your funeral! Right now I just want to get outta this fuckin' sun." Hopping on his truck, he fired up the engine and raced back south. Even he didn't want to hold onto the thing for a long time, seeing as how quick he fled the scene.

Gale held onto the package with a vicegrip, frozen in place, not daring to move a single muscle. After a straight minute had passed and she hadn't turned into chunky bits of human yet, she slowly brought it into the house, holding it like she really was carrying a bomb.

"Mail?" Amy raised a blonde brow, eyeing the strange package with scrutiny. "It's not a bomb, is it? Because if so, I'm one hundred percent gone."

"I don't think so?" Gale said, walking very slowly toward the table. The crack in her voice betrayed her.

"But you're not sure?" Amy asked skeptically, keeping her distance.

"No, I'm not sure! I don't even know who it's from!" Gale panicked. "The mailman said it was an admirer. It even had written instructions for delivery!"

"That's not creepy at all," Amy said sarcastically, inching closer, but still keeping her distance from the box. "Did you piss anyone off or pick up a creepy stalker, by any chance?"

"God I hope not."

The two girls stared at it apprehensively and watched it from behind a wall. When nothing happened, they swallowed their fears and walked over to the box with a pair of scissors. It had been sealed extremely tightly, weather sealed, to be exact—whoever sent this didn't want the insides to get damaged.

Gale cut into it, opening the flaps to reveal a few pages of paper on top of a cardboard covering underneath.

"What is it?" Amy inquired, poking her head behind Gale's shoulder like a curious Pikachu.

"A letter," Gale stammered, in not quite so pleasant surprise, but surprise nonetheless. After all, serial killers wrote letters quite often. But this one was off. For one, the handwriting was absolutely beautiful. It reminded her of the business letters people two hundred or three hundred years back used to write, which often determined how successful someone could be in securing deals. The beauty of the writing nearly brought a tear to her eye.

It wasn't until she read it that it felt like someone had slugged her in the throat and sucked out the air in her lungs.

Hey, Gale.

It's me. You didn't forget about me, did you? (I hope you didn't, I'd be a little bummed) You probably did, not that I'd blame you... I know-I know it's been a while and I'm sorry for that. If you're reading this and Nurse Joy came through(I'll have to kiss that woman when I see her next), then excuse the sloppy writing. I made like seven drafts of this after plenty of frustration, so cut me some slack and don't make fun of me for it. I know I don't look like the type of person that'd write like this but hey, surprise, surprise.

She shook her head in disbelief. What sloppy writing? It's flawless! It was true that she didn't expect someone so glum and intimidating to write like a poet though, where'd he learn to do that? Sliding that in the back of her mind, she eagerly went back to the letter, tracing the inked letters with her eyes.

But I digress. Sorry I couldn't contact you sooner and made you worry. I didn't have any way to contact you and things were a little dangerous for me. I, uh, hope you're doing well. Hope they haven't been misbehaving too much. Haona is a bit of a pushy little shit and Boagrius gives people headaches(trust me, I know) but don't be too hard on them. I'm sure they're fine with you but don't stress yourself out too much, getting called old because your hair is turning white is no fun, believe me. If you're angry, just make them all run like thirty miles or so, but I guess we'll have to see what horror stories they tell me about their time there, huh?

Gale smiled widely, continuing to read.

As for where I am, I can't really tell you that in case someone finds this and I end up in deeper shit than I already am. But I can leave some clues. One of which I left in the box.

She almost attacked the inside of it before reading the next line. And as expected, the smartass in him made itself known.

Hubris! Blasphemy! I can feel you opening it, you crazy girl. Stop tearing it apart. It's a surprise. Hold your Rapidashes. Finish the letter, damn you.

Anyway, I'm not dead, obviously. Have come close though, but I'm sure you already figured that. This is me. After LaRousse, I got caught up with some unsavory sorts and have a very loose nonaggression work contract with them at the moment, so I'm doing all right for the time being. I can even buy smoothies. I'll take any silver lining I can get. Don't worry about me too much. Make sure to tell Baron that, he worries about everything. Gets a little annoying sometimes. Scratch that, tell all of them that. You included.

How's Will doing these days anyway? If you've been in contact with him at least. Hope he didn't lose my knife. I will throw him off a cliff, you know. If you happen to see Will and his sister again, can you tell them I'm doing fine? I mean, I've only almost died like six times anyways. I'd say that's a good track record for me. Might squeeze in one more attempt before you get this, have a quota to fill, after all.

She snickered.

Well, this letter is nearing its end. I can't say for sure when I'm coming back, but I will come back. I haven't given up on them. I just need some time. How much time I'll need I'm not sure of either. There are some things I need to take care of, things I wouldn't like them to be present for. Everything is much more complicated than I originally thought, and damn it- I don't know. I don't know what to do with myself at all.

So much for responsibility, huh?

But enough of my rambling, I'm sure you're eager to see what's inside. I can feel your curiosity just writing this. Just like a bloody Skitty. So go on, open the box.

"What's inside?" Amy asked her. "You've been smiling to yourself since you started reading that. I take it you've never received a love letter before or something?"

"No, it's not that," Gale said, unusually giddy. "The letter says to open the box."

"Oh? Presents? Well then, what are you waiting for? Open it! Just hope it's not a finger or something..."

Both girls tore off the cardboard covering with unrestrained excitement, their expressions falling into silent shock as they uncovered stacks upon stacks of cash, numbering in the hundred thousand, possibly even more. They stared gob-smacked at the amount of money in the box, picking up banded stacks of bills.

"That's… a lot of money," Amy stuttered, feeling her heart rate pick up significantly. A large stack of money was always something absolutely wondrous to behold, and even a full wallet made a trainer very happy. This though… was closer to what she'd seen in the movies or her own dreams when she was flat broke. How the hell did Riven, a scruffy guy with little to no social aptitude, manage to get his hands on so much money? Without his team? What had he been up to, robbing banks?

Gale sputtered like a fish. She shot back to the letter and frowned when she fully pictured Riven writing the next sentence while laughing maniacally in a sparsely lit cave with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Hue. Okay, I probably should have mentioned that some sort of strong drink short of rubbing alcohol would have helped fight the shock. Sorry. Ah-hah. Yes, that's a lot of money in there and you should probably pick your jaw off the floor, but rest assured it's yours. And... mostly legal. To cover expenses, of course. Aine and Baron have sinkholes for appetites. You haven't gotten to the best part though! Dig deeper.

She did, removing more stacks of money until both girls reached the end of the box, and secured snuggly in the center of the box, a small pokeball lay motionless. Gale picked it up with a shaky hand, pushing a button as it maximized into her palm. She wondered what kind of pokemon could be inside for a moment, then threw it out. The pokeball opened in a flash of white light, the figure of a pokemon materializing on a chair.

As the light faded, a foot tall red and gray robin with innocent black eyes emerged, the black feathers on its tail displaying a prominent white V. It appeared unkempt and ruffled considerably, chirping out its name as it took in the surroundings.

"Fletch…ling?" The bird cried, tilting its head.

Gale gasped as her throat seemed to snag. Her hands brought up the slip of paper as her eyes began to water.

Her name is Vizi. She's annoying and pushy, and took like thirty pokeball attempts to catch, but she's pretty friendly. Also eats like a bottomless pit. Take care of her, she's yours. And thank you for everything you've done. I'll see you soon, crazy girl.

Amy could only watch as the brunette cooed at the little bird, tears streaming down her face. For just a moment, it seemed that the sun had become brighter that day. Picking up the tear stained paper, she smiled.

"Riven, you sly dog."

Nice break from insanity, yes? By the way, expect longer upload times. College and work starts up next week. Enjoy the chapter and thank you for reading.