Her dad really liked Shelly, and she told him she'd be going to tackle the Gyms as her field test. She left out the part about the greenery dying, as he would've never let her go on that journey because it would likely be dangerous. He wished her luck and she went back to the lab. Olly joined her a few minutes later.

"Are you ready to go?" Dawn asked.

Olly nodded.

"Did your dad say yes?"

"Uh...yeah. He did. Let's go. The sooner we head out, the better."

Olly walked in front of her, but he looked pretty down. She decided to ask him on the train. The train actually let people take their Pokemon out their Pokeballs, so Dawn let Shelly out on the table between her and Olly.

To lift the mood, she asked, "Why don't you let your Pokemon out? I bet they'll like the ride."

"Are you sure? I have a full party..."

"What does that mean?"

"You have a limit of six Pokemon you can carry on you at once, called a party. Because, well, it's like a party of Pokemon."

"That's cute!"

"Right? But, I'm worried about room. It may be a big cubby, but not infinite. And one of my Pokemon is pretty big..."

"I'm sure it's fine. Just...don't bring them all out if you're worried about space."

He brought out two Pokemon. One was a purple, ball-like Pokemon with spikes lining its body, and a pair of orange eyes that stared intensely at her. The other one was an Aggron. It held a bit of a yellow tint to its shell. Its eyes were yellow, and he always held a smile.

"This is Tape and Hole Punch. Don't ask about the names...please..."

"What's with their names?"

Olly sighed. "Tape's doesn't really seem obvious, but it's because he kept rolling around and getting stuck everywhere, like tape does. Hole Punch is named Hole Punch because well...he has holes in his shell, as you might have noticed, and he tried to punch me in the face when I first got him."

Dawn tried not to laugh. "Those are reasonable names."

"But Hole Punch is pretty laid-back, he just gets super protective of my Leavanny...Tape however, he's reckless. Crashing into walls, getting stuck in random places...He'd probably be fully-evolved by now, but I'm scared to use him in battle because of his recklessness."

Dawn faced Tape. "Is this true? Are you reckless?"

"Pfah! Outta my face, lady! I go where I wanna go, capiche?" He surprised her with his gangster-style accent.

"Oh! That was...something."

"Think you can groove with us, lady?" Asked Hole Punch. "You don't seem very groovy. But you do seem to be pretty great pals with Olly, so I think I can let you slide."

"'Groovy...?'"

Tape rolled under the table, and out of the room. Olly stood up suddenly.

"Oh no, there he goes again! I'll go find him, you can just stay here. Hole Punch can keep you company." He rushed after him. "Tape! Get back here!"

She looked around, then noticed he left the rest of his Pokeballs on the table by Shelly. She grabbed the one nearest to her and looked at the back. There was a symbol scratched onto the red of the Pokeball, which looked like Olly's face. The lines were pointed, and the symbol was pretty low-quality.

"Huh? Why do that?"

Her finger accidentally pressed the button down, and the Pokeball grew in her hand, so she dropped it on the table. Out came a Dublade, the cloth on the hilt being green instead of the pink it should be.

"Where am I?" He turned around. "Intruder. Where did you hide Olly?"

She flinched away from him. "Woah! I didn't do anything to him! He's out finding Tape!"

"Ah, I see. So he's run off again. When shall he learn to control himself?"

The Dublade's hilts had scratches and a small chip missing from the right blade's case.

"I shall retrieve him for Olly. Pardon me, mistress."

"No, you can't go doin' that," Hole Punch said. "Olly'd be ticked. You aren't supposed to come out until...wait, I shouldn't mention that. This lady can find them for you. You need to go back in your ball, Sciss."

"I warned you many times not to call me that. And I am that boy's guardian, so I must help him. Pardon me, mistress."

"I'll find him for you." She grabbed Tape's Pokeball. "And Hole Punch knows you better than I do, so you should probably listen to him."

The Dublade went silent for a minute. "Fine, I consent. But if Olly is injured in any way on your watch," his eyes slanted downwards, "then you will know what it feels like to have your life taken by my kind."

"O-okay! I-I'll go find them now. Bye!" She backed out the room. "Now, where'd he go?"

She stopped at one of the empty rooms, and entered. Olly was on his hands and knees, holding out a small treat, and politely asking Tape to come from under the table.

"Tape, please...I got your favorite Pokepuff here...Just come back please. Father would kill me if you never came back." He sounded on the verge of tears.

"Are you okay?"

"He keeps trying to run off. He doesn't like me at all. But my father gave me all of these Pokemon, so I would never be able to forgive myself if I lost one of them."

"Can I talk to him? Maybe there's a reason he doesn't like you."

Olly handed her the purple Pokepuff and moved away from the table. "You can try, but I wouldn't expect much from him."

"Hey Tape, what's wrong?"

"I don' like Sciss, or teh otha Pokemons. Tey all like teh boy, but I want ta go back home."

"Home? Were you a wild Pokemon?"

"I still am! Ya can take teh Pokemon outta the wild, but ya can't take the wild outta teh Pokemon! But everytime I try ta go back home, tey always capture me and lock me up."

"Do you not like the Pokeball?"

"It's not tat. It's teh Pokemon Control Group. Tey keep grabbin' me an' lockin' me up! Olly had ta save me before a lotta times already. I just wanna go back to teh wild, where I belong."

"Pokemon Control Group? What do they do?"

"Tey've been trappin' Pokemons left and right! Tey are teh ones tat need lockin' up in my opinion! Tey did somefing awful ta Sciss too, but he doesn't want us talkin' about it."

"Awful? To a Pokemon? No wonder you don't like them. But if you stay with Olly, you won't be captured by them again. Doesn't that sound nice? Plus, Olly seems like he takes good care of you." She gave him a gentle smile. "Without you, Olly probably would've been hurt. Your shell looks pretty tough. Like a shield."

"Shield? Sciss'll be a shield when he finally evolves. If he even can anymore."

She held up the Pokepuff. "Want to come out now?"

He rolled out from under the table and snatched the treat from her. He rolled over to Olly.

"You actually got him to listen?! Maybe I was too mean to you at first. I'm sorry. Now you've done so much for me, and the only thing I'm doing is taking you to the Grass Gym."

"Apparently there's a Pokemon Control Group that's been capturing Pokemon. Tape said he's been captured a few times. He said he kept running off because he wants to go back to the wild."

"So that's why he kept running off every time I let him out of his Pokeball. Your gift really is helpful, Dawn." He gently stroked Tape's head. "Want to go back with me, Tape? Do you?"

"Yeah, I'll go back. No need ta repeat it."