Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 12, Chapter 3

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It had been a few days since the surfing competition, and Cyllage City was finally beginning to return to a sense of normalcy. Much of the rubble and destruction was cleared away and removed, and now the long and arduous process of rebuilding was being done in earnest. It would take months to fix the most heavily damaged buildings, to be sure, but at the very least things were going back to normal.

That meant that this was the last day before Grant would reopen his Gym for challenges. Louise and Saito had already made a reservation for a morning battle, with the hope that they could start heading to Geosenge Town that afternoon. Instead of taking this final day to cram in as much training as possible, however, the two trainers had elected to let their Pokémon relax and rest their tired bodies. Tiring them out without a chance to recover would only make things worse, and it was something all of the Pokémon greatly appreciated.

"Now, Derflinger, you're in charge while we're out," Saito said as he and Louise got themselves ready to depart. "You all have food and drink, and since room service is still complementary, feel free to call them up if you need anything."

"Will do," Derflinger replied, settling in the chair. "So, what are you two doing today? Aquarium? Movies? Or something else entirely?"

"Cyllage boasts a really good mountain biking course. Or at least, that's what the pamphlet said," Louise revealed, holding up the item in question. Sure enough, the mountain biking course was proudly displayed, showing a group of trainers happily riding around and seemingly having the time of their lives. It painted an appealing picture, and Derflinger could understand why the trainers he had been travelling with would be interested in it. At the same time, he narrowed his eye at Louise.

"What?" she asked, perking an eyebrow.

"Do you even know how to ride a bike?" Derflinger asked, when did an approximation of a smile. "Or even what riding a bike is?"

"I know what riding a bike is!" Louise protested, puffing out her cheeks and blushing in slight embarrassment.

"Just checking, is all," Derflinger cheekily replied, his eye showing his mirth. Louise frowned slightly, then huffed and turned away to face her Pokémon.

"You guys all good?" Louise asked. Brennaraki yipped in reply, followed by a soothe nod from Auspice, a cheerful chirp from Aile, and an enthusiastic nod from Esprit. Louise nodded back and smiled as she turned towards Saito, who just finished filling their Pokémon's food bowls.

"Ready when you are," Saito announced. Louise nodded, then the two trainer walked out of the hotel room and locked the door behind them. Derflinger stared at the door until he could no longer hear their footsteps, then turned toward the other Pokémon who had already begun to either eat their food or rest on the beds.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Derflinger asked, figuring he might as well be polite.

'Laze about," Maindo announced, leaning his head back against a pillow.

"That sounds nice," Aile added, plopping herself down next to the window.

"Sounds boring to me," Tanuki countered, blowing his tongue in emphasis. "What's on TV?"

"Hmm, let's see…" Derflinger said as he pressed the buttons on the remote with his sash. A multitude of channels came and went as they surfed for something to watch, only for Tanuki to perk up when they came across an intro showcasing silhouette men and women doing dramatic feats of heroism alongside their Pokémon partners.

"Ooh, Justice League! I love this show! And it's the premiere, too! What luck!" Tanuki announced, sitting upright and moving towards the edge of the bed to get a closer look. Derflinger looked at the program, then shrugged and settled into his chair.

"Looks interesting. Might as well give it a shot," Derflinger stated as he looked ahead on the schedule, then perked his eyebrow. "Looks like it's a marathon, too."

"Even better! Now we know what to do all day!"

"Are you seriously suggesting we watch cartoon all day?" Brennaraki scoffed with a roll of her eyes, but to her surprise Maindo, now sitting upright as well, shot her a look.

'Cartoons? No. Justice League? Yes. End of discussion,' Maindo insisted. The others were now intrigued, and before long settled in to see what the big deal was.


As Saito rode a rented mountain bike on the bike trail, a small smile graced his lips. It had been years since he had ridden a bike. His parents and their job took him all over the world, so he was able to ride many of the world's most famous bike trails including Kanto's Cycling Road, the Seaside Cycling Road in Hoenn, and even Sinnoh's Cycling Road, among others. Of course, those were merely elevated roads, where he, his parents, and others could ride as fast as they could, assuming there wasn't a battle going on that blocked traffic. He really hated the jerks who did that.

Regardless, although riding steep mountain trails was a different challenge than riding a paved biking road, it was still proving to be an enjoyable experience. He had only been riding for a few hours or so, and he was beginning to feel a slight burn his legs, but Saito knew he'd be able to keep it up for a few more hours.

"Saito, wait up!" Louise called out from behind him. Still pedaling forward, Saito turned his head back to see Louise slowly riding towards him, her bike a little wobbly. She was panting harder than he was, which didn't surprise him. Even after a few months of hiking around Kalos, Louise's body wasn't as strong as he was.

What was surprising was that Louise actually did know how to ride a bike. Not when they first arrived, obviously. She fell off quite few times on the beginner level, but she was able to get the hang of it in hardly any time at all. Now they were on the intermediate course higher up on the mountain, and she showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. If Saito had to guess, Louise would only be stopped by physical exhaustion, and even then she might just power through it out of pure spite.

That wouldn't be healthy for either of them, however, and so Saito pulled his bike over to the side of the trail and got off, allowing Louise to catch up. Rather than stubbornly attempting to press on, Louise moved to the side as well. She leaned her bike against the mountainside then sat down, hanging her head as she tried to catch her breath.

"Here," Saito said, offering his friend a water bottle. Louise took it and began greedily drinking its contents, only stopping once the bottle was more than half empty. With a loud gasp, she moved the bottle away from her lips and recapped it.

"Thank you," Louise stated sincerely as she tried to hand the bottle back to Saito, only for him to shake his hand in rejection. She looked at him for a moment, then shrugged and put the bottle in her backpack. For a moment, she considered getting back on her bike and pressing on, but as she leaned her head against the moss-covered rocks, her body didn't want to move.

"Wanna rest for a bit?" Saito asked, reading his friend like a book. Wordlessly, she nodded, and Saito nodded back as he sat down next to her. A peaceful calm fell between them, only for Louise scrunch her nose as a foreign smell entered her nostrils.

"Uggh!" she gasped, moving from while clutching her nose.

"Oh, come on!" Saito protested. "I don't smell that bad."

"Something does!" Louise stated, inching away from Saito. A thoughtful look crossed her face, and slowly she angled her face towards her armpit and sniffed a few times before recoiling. "Oh Founder, it's me!"

Saito couldn't help but loudly chuckle as Louise rummaged through her bag before a gust of wind coming from his side brought with it the stench of his own body odor. Much like Louise, he recoiled in disgust, and soon joined her in finding something to mask the smell.

"Ooh, that's nasty," he groaned, finding the can and applying it to the best of his ability. As he applied it, he looked at Louise to find that she was spraying herself with lavender-scented deodorant. Saito was happy about that was what she was using. At one point, he was afraid she was going to use an actual bottle of perfume. Which, now that he thought about it, brought up a question.

"Hey, Louise?" Saito asked as he put away his deodorant.

"Yes?" Louise replied, still spraying herself.

"Quick question. Back when I was still in school, we learned that people in the Renaissance didn't really bathe but instead used perfume. Did your people do that, too?"

Louise stopped putting on the deodorant and gave him a cross look. Upon seeing how sincerely curious he was, she closed her eyes and sighed.

"Yes, and no," Louise answered, putting the deodorant away. "At least in the nobility. Before I came to Kalos, I bathed maybe twice a month. Otherwise we used perfume, but not because we were filthy. Even with water magic, bathing properly can be difficult. The villages, however, were a different story. At one time, public bathhouses were common, but a really bad plague swept Halkegenia a few centuries ago that spread quickly through those bathhouses. Many people, nobility and commoners, died, and the public bathhouses fell out of favor. They never quite recovered."

"I remember reading something about a similar thing that on Earth," Saito noted, bringing his fingers to his chin. "It's kind of funny how many parallels are between our two worlds."

"Yes, quite the coincidence. But, I imagine that given our worlds' similar levels of development, similarities are bound to occur," Louise pointed out, leaning her head back against the mossy rock and watching as the clouds rolled by overhead. They were mostly various species of birds, including Fletchlings, Pidgeys, Wingulls and their accompanying evolutions. Saito joined her in the birdwatching, as soon they heard the sound of voices coming up from lower down the mountain trail.

"Look at all the Pokémon, mom!" a little boy's voice called out excitedly.

"I see them!" the mother replied happily as her and her son's bike came into view.

"Do you think we could convince one to come home with us?" he innocently asked, causing Saito and Louise smile softly at how sincere he sounded.

"Sure, maybe once we finish this trail," the mother replied in a tone that, to the two older trainers, told them she didn't believe that would actually happen. Her son, however, believed her wholeheartedly, and with renewed vigor he pedaled faster up the mountain.

"Come on, I wanna see them up close!" he announced. "That way we can become friends!"

The mother laughed, and soon she and her son disappeared from view. Their voices became fainter and fainter, and eventually couldn't hear them at all. Saito and Louise looked in their general direction fondly, then Louise couldn't help but frown and look between her knees. Saito noticed her sudden shift in disposition, and he comfortingly placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, voice filled with concern. Louise looked up at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, wiping away at her eyes. "Sorry, just…seeing those two made me homesick, that's all."

"Don't worry, I understand," Saito sincerely replied. His words proved enough to lift Louise's spirits enough to where she smiled softly back at him, then she returned to her birdwatching. Saito did as well, and as the two trainers watched the Pokémon fly above, Louise's thoughts drifted back to when she first arrived at Kalos.

"You know, that boy got me thinking," she admitted, her eyes never leaving the sky. Saito glanced at her for a moment, then returned to the birdwatching.

"About what?" he asked.

"Friendship with Pokémon," Louise answered. "At one time, I thought that the relationship between trainers and their Pokémon was akin to that of a mage and their familiar. A master and a servant, but after spending the past couple of months as a trainer, I know realize that's not correct. It's a partnership between friends, one that makes both parties stronger."

"That's what I think, too," Saito agreed. Louise smiled, still watching the sky as a new Pokémon floated above the forest canopy. It was a purple balloon—like Pokémon with thin, stringing arms hanging off the bottom. With her eyes still focused on it, she pulled out her Pokédex and aimed it at the Pokémon.

"Drifloon, the Balloon Pokémon. A Ghost/Flying-type, Drifloons are created from the lost souls of departed Pokémon gathering together in search for companionship."

"Hmm," Louise hummed to herself as the Drifloon seemed to regard her for a moment with an almost curious expression. Louise smiled at it and waved, and after a moment the Drifloon seemed to happily wave back as it floated along with the wind.

"You wanna catch it?" Saito asked, but after a moment Louise shook her head.

"I already have a Flying-type. If not, I would," she admitted, then felt her eyes droop. "You know what? I think…I'm just gonna…"

She never finished her sentence as fatigue hit her all at once and she blissfully fell asleep. Saito chuckled at how fast she turned, and then he stood up and stretched out his limbs. Leaving his bike leaning against the rocks, Saito walked towards the outer edge of the bike trail and looked down the mountain. They were fairly high up, but still well below the tree line. Only the most advanced trails went that high up, and there was no way they would even attempt going up those. He pulled out his map and ran his finger across the trail they were on, and after taking a quick look around, he was able to find their approximate location. It looked like they were roughly three-quarters of the way up the intermediate trail, and soon they'd reach the top and have the choice of moving onto the advanced course or turn around. Most likely turn around, as by then the sun would have started its descent.

Folding the map back into his backpack, Saito turned around to rejoin Louise. For a moment, he considered closing his eyes and resting as well, but instead he looked at the now empty space where Louise's body once rested. With wide eyes, Saito shot his head around to try and find where she went, then he noticed a large shadow moving across the ground. Slowly, he turned his head up and gasped as he saw the still asleep Louise being carried by the same Drifloon they noticed earlier up the mountain. The small Pokémon was clearly struggling, barely holding Louise aloft by looping its 'hands' underneath her shoulders and carrying her limp body away. Frankly, it was a miracle she hadn't woken up yet.

"Oh…shit…" Saito cursed as the Drifloon ascended higher and higher. For a moment, he wondered why the Balloon Pokémon was taking his friend, then he remembered a bit of trivia regarding Drifloons. Among other things, they were infamous for their attempts at kidnapping children in an effort to find someone to play with. With Louise's smaller stature, it must've thought she was a child.

Without saying a word, Saito grabbed hold of his bike and hopped on, racing up the mountain trail as fast as he could while making sure to keep his eye on the Drifloon and Louise. Not just for her sake, but for the Pokémon's as well. If there was one thing he had learned about Louise, it was that she did not take too kindly about being compared to a child. For whatever reason, it set her off like nothing else, and he didn't want to think what Louise would do if she found out she was likely kidnapped by a Drifloon because it thought she was a kid and it wanted to play.


Elizabeth Collete wiped the sweat off her brow as she and her Pokémon continued to train in the mountains. It wasn't something she was used to. Previously, any training that her Pokémon underwent was done through specially hired trainers to do it for her. As Machamp could show, it was a resounding success, but it had one major flaw that she could no longer deny. By not training her Pokémon herself, Elizabeth had no idea how to actually battle. Worse, her team, outside of the newest additions, didn't respect her enough to follow her orders. Her 'battle' against Saito, if it could be called that and not a one-sided slaughter, proved her lack of skill beyond a shadow of a doubt. Her strategy was to move fast and hit hard with no added complexity or thought, whereas Saito used the environment and her own team's lack of discipline against her. Even Machamp and his vast power was used against him through clever use of moves, meaning that what was once her only advantage became her biggest liability. It was humiliating, and after that she vowed to never let herself be put in that position ever again.

Which was why she had been spending the past few days training in the mountains. There wasn't anyone around, and any Pokémon that came her way proved to be good practice, so it was an ideal spot. Her team had taken to the training with various levels of enthusiasm. Machamp had already reached the peak of his potential, so he was focusing on helping the others make headway in their own training. He helped Spettro catch thrown rocks with String Shot, assisted Zorua with blending into the shadows to strike, and helped Eevee build up her endurance by having her run laps around their training ground. All the while, Elizabeth carefully studied their moves and shouted commands to shift things up, keep the training from becoming stale, all the while she dealt with perhaps the most unexpected development during this entire process.

"I know you're there," Elizabeth called out to the rocks near her. For the past several days, a wild Pokémon had been following her around after she helped it out of a minor rockslide. The rocks themselves had collapsed because of her training, so it was more out of a sense of guilt than a desire to catch it. Once she finished digging it out and saw that it was a Larvitar, the desire to catch it returned in force, but she forced herself not to consider it. Her control over her team was strenuous enough as it was, and there was no need to add onto it. Still, the fact that it refused to leave her alone was wearing her down bit by bit.

As before, not a sound came out from reply, and Elizabeth shrugged before going back to her training, only to stop when she noticed something peculiar out of the corner of her eye.

"What in the world…?" she said to herself as she saw a Drifloon carrying a sleeping girl that looked oddly like Louise up the mountain. She was being carried by her shoulders, her feet dangling underneath. Behind them was a boy that looked like Saito riding furiously up the mountain, trying and failing to keep up, and soon the group disappeared from view. Elizabeth and her Pokémon stared at the last place they saw them, then the Pokémon turned to face her for guidance.

"…Yeah, we're not touching that," she announced. Her Pokémon nodded in relieved agreement, and continued with their training.


As Louise slowly drifted awake, she felt rather odd. Weightless, even, as if she was floating. Why she felt that way, she couldn't tell, and so she slowly blinked her eyes open. Her blurry vision focused, and soon she noticed that her feet her hanging below her.

"Huh…?" Louise mumbled, not quite understanding what was going on. Then a faint squeezing sensation tightened around her armpits, and she tilted her head up to see that she was being carried by the Drifloon they had noticed earlier.

Everything snapped into place at that moment. Louise realized that she was carried through the air by a Balloon Pokémon at least a dozen feet in the air. Her eyes narrowed to the size of pinpricks, then she began to scream and flail. This startled the Pokémon, who looked down at her with its beady back eyes as it slowly descended towards the ground.

"Let! Me! Go!" Louise screamed at the top of her lungs. The Drifloon refused to do so, knowing that Louise was still too high up. Had it released her now, she could be seriously hurt. In the back of Louise's mind, she recognized this, but the rest was running wild with panic and righteous anger. Once she was a few feet from the ground, Louise was dropped. She landed hard against the ground, her body cushioned by the soft mountain grass, and as she turned herself around and propped herself up on her knees, she stared face to face with the Drifloon. With her elbows propping her up, she searched for her bag only to find that it wasn't on her person. That was a problem, especially with how her wand was currently in it preventing her from blowing the Drifloon away. She glared at it for a few more silent moment, then stood up with her fists clenched and her arms raised.

"Alright, if you want to play, let's play!" she shouted, fully prepared to fight for her life. The Drifloon perked up at her announcement, rising slightly in the air as it prepared to move. Yet, instead of it coming for her or charging up an attack, like Louise feared, instead it flew away towards a small nook in the rocks nearby.

"Eh?" she muttered, not quite sure of what to make as the Drifloon reached its stringy arms into the rocks and pulled out a colorful ball. It bounced it against the rock a few times to test it, then it turned around and tossed it to her. Not expecting the action, Louise felt the ball hit her chest and bounce off, where it rolled harmlessly back down the mountain. The Drifloon, instead going after her, flew after the ball with its arms outstretched, quickly grabbing it and floating back towards Louise. It held the toy out towards her, an expectant look on its face as Louise slowly grabbed the ball and held up to her face. Her mind slowly analyzed the situation, her attention shifting between the ball and the Drifloon.

"You…want to actually play?" she quietly asked. When the Drifloon enthusiastically nodded, everything seemed to pop into place. The Drifloon wasn't kidnapping her to eat her, like part of her feared. It wanted someone to play with. She looked around, trying to find where any other Pokémon were, but she found none. Louise was beginning to believe that the Drifloon might've been completely alone. Part of her felt sympathy, but the rest was much more exacerbated.

"No," she announced, dropping the ball. The Drifloon looked at it for a moment, then flew away back towards the nook and pulled out another toy, this time a rope. It tossed one end to Louise, who this time caught it. Seemingly pleased with itself, the Drifloon lightly tugged on the rope a few times, showing Louise that it wanted to play at game of tug-of-war, but again Louise felt no desire to play along with her kidnapper.

"I said no," she said more forcibly this time. The Drifloon seemed a little surprised, then it waved its hand back and forth as though it was telling her to give it one more chance and it flew back towards the nook. When it reached its arms into the rocks, it pulled out a small yellow tennis ball and a racket. It brought both to Louise, holding them out and beckoning her to take them, but Louise had enough and knocking them out of the Pokémon's hands.

"I don't want to play with you!" she shouted angrily, sending the Drifloon aback. It looked at her for a moment, then tears began to well from the corner of its beady eyes and it sulked, turned around, and slowly picked up the dropped toys to put them away.

Louise watched it go, a frown plastered across her face at first that slowly shifted as she saw the sad Pokémon continue to put the toys away. Despite herself, a pang of guilt shot through her heart like an arrow as she saw just how depressed the Pokémon was. When it was finished, it parked itself over the nook and looked down the mountain, its back turned to the strawberry blonde. It was horribly depressing to watch, and so she closed her eyes, shook her head, and sighed before turning around. Yet, despite wanting to leave and walk back down the mountain, where she could see the bike trail leading away, she found that she couldn't. Slowly, she turned her head back towards the depressed Drifloon, and finally sighed once again as she turned around and walked towards it.

"Can't believe I'm doing this…" she muttered to herself, walking up to the Drifloon and sitting down on the grass next to it. The Drifloon was surprised at Louise's reappearance, quickly glancing back down to her as she looked out across the mountain.

"Tell me," she began, "are you alone out here? You look like you are," Louise asked. The Drifloon was looking at her now, then turned away and nodded. Louise nodded back, not surprised at the answer, then asked, "Is that why you grabbed me?"

A moment passed, then the Drifloon nodded again. Pursing her lips, Louise nodded and said, "Seems lonely up here, so I can understand you feeling desperate for friends. But you can't just take someone to play with against their will. When you did that to me, Drifloon, I was terrified. What if you had done that to a little kid who was with their parents? How would they feel about you making off with their child?"

The Drifloon's eyes widened at Louise's scolding. It hadn't thought of that, and guilt bubbled up from its stomach, but the noble wasn't done.

"Not to mention its dangerous for you, too. I didn't have my team with me, and neither did Saito, but if we did and they saw you trying to take me away, they would've seriously hurt you. Does that make sense?"

The Drifloon, slightly paler than before, nodded. Louise nodded back and stood up, wondering what to do next. It was then that Louise remembered the young boy and his mother who passed them on the mountain, and an idea came to mind that brought a smile to her face. She began to walk away, with the Drifloon staying behind and watching her go before she stopped to turn around and wave the Drifloon towards her.

"Come on, there's someone I think who'll love to meet you," she said. The Drifloon stared at her incredulously, then perked up and rose slightly higher in the air as it raced towards her. Louise couldn't help but smile, and it was at that moment Saito, still riding his rented mountain bike, raced into the scene.

"Louise, I'm here!" he announced, racing straight towards her and the Drifloon with a righteous look on his face, then his bike's front tire hit a rock that was jetting just out of the ground. The bike stopped, yet his momentum carried him forward through the air. Before he could hit the ground, the Drifloon put itself in front of him and caught his flailing body, then gently placed him on the ground and wiped the dust off the top of his helmet affectionately.

"Uh….thank you?" Saito said, not quite sure what to make of what was going on. Louise, meanwhile, stared at him flatly before chuckling.

"My hero," she sarcastically announced, then began walking back down the mountain. "Don't worry, Saito. We figured everything out. Drifloon was just lonely and wanted someone to play with."

"Alright… Wait, not alright! Louise, are you hurt?" Saito asked, voice filled with concern, but when Louise shook her head he sighed in relief. He then glared at the Drifloon, who suddenly adopted an apologetic expression before Louise placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Everything's fine, really," she insisted. Saito looked at her an the Drifloon for a moment, then nodded in acceptance.

"Okay…" he said, then turned to Louise. "Now what?"

Louise looked at Saito as the Drifloon poked its head from behind Saito's shoulder, and a smile came to face.


"Look, mom! I made a friend!" the young boy shouted as the Drifloon playfully chased him around the parking lot. Louise and Saito watched from the sidelines as the two new friends played, a sense of satisfaction coursing through Louise's veins while Saito was slightly confused.

"Have to admit, didn't think you'd do this," he admitted, and Louise waved him off with a haughty look on her face.

"Oh, Saito. It's as I said before. Pokémon are meant to be friends, and as a noble I am obligated to help those in need," she declared, bringing her hand to her chest. Saito couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm just glad everything turned out alright," he admitted. Then, with their backpacks strapped on and their rented bikes returned, Saito and Louise turned around and began walking back to the hotel as the sun began to set underneath the horizon. They'd be going to bed early that night, for tomorrow would be the day they finally did what they originally set out to do.

Tomorrow, they'd be facing Grant, and with any luck, they'd succeed.

[~][~]

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the latest chapter of Outsiders! From Darwin Candidate, Grendel4823, and Yuri Vampire, whom without their help I wouldn't be able to bring this to you all, we hope you enjoy the story and are staying safe and healthy.

Cyllage has now recovered and our two protagonists are about to face off against Grant. Episode 13 will entirely be about their battle against Grant as well as the pre-battle challenge, so look forward to that.

Now, onto the Q&A:

DragonLark: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far.

PredatorCinder4324: What Flare intends to do with Louise's DNA will be revealed in due time.

Jordanus Concilium: Thank you. When we set out to write this story, getting Louise right was one of our biggest goals. Writing for her is proving to be an absolute joy, so I'm happy that people are receptive to our interpretation of her character. You are right, Louise training and bonding with Pokemon is having a tremendous impact on her as a character for positive growth, and she's turning into a better person because of it. The tone is also deliberate due to a desire to have a bit more realism in our anime-inspired world. Is it darker? Yes, but it still has the overall lighthearted adventurous tone Pokemon is known for.

Dustin Tome: Tabitha and Kirche going to the Pokemon World is certainly very interesting, but as you said, that's for the future. Right now, the focus is on Louise and Saito's journey.

Sakura Lisel: Don't worry. Louise has enough time to get through all the badges for the Pokemon League. Let's leave it at that.

keybladelight: The relationship between Saito and Louise, as in FoZ canon, is very important for this story. So expect to see that be development more and more as time goes on. As for other regions, no. Although others from other regions may show up, the focus will remain on Louise and Saito in Kalos.

Sazq: Yep, Louise has definitely grown as a result of this journey. It's inevitable in any Pokemon journey for character growth to occur, which is what we want to show. As for the story progression, we are about 1/4 of the way done, although the 'rate' so to speak will increase substantially really soon. When it comes to Louise and Saito returning to Halkegenia, that is certainly on the cards, however we'll cross that bridge when we get there once the Pokemon League is completed.

That's it for this update. See you all next time, and stay safe!