This chapter was supposed to be Juliana vs. Brassius, but then we decided to have fun with our last main story, and reference the first time I caught Oricorio in the game.

Juliana rearranged her team before returning to Artazon by taxi. Florian decided to come along to train with her, and maybe provide another montage.

As they were flying, Juliana looked out the window and imagined taking Koraidon and jumping from this height. When she asked Florian, however, he immediately rejected the idea.

"Jumping from cliffs is doable, apparently," he explained, "but I don't think Koraidon can fly."

"It was a thought," she defended herself. "Right now I'm thinking about celebrating my birthday by tying balloons to Koraidon and seeing how many it would take to make him fly."

"You are a dangerous person."

"I know."

The taxi dropped them off right at the edge of Artazon, where the creature Florian had nicknamed "Clawsette" likely still lurked. Juliana chose to train for her upcoming battle in the grassy area.

Florian, too, found a goal in the grassy area around Artazon.

"Oricorio," he said, looking at one of the beautiful red birds. "A Pokémon with four forms to choose from. And this form is my favorite."

Juliana looked it over. "It looks like Edelgard from Fire Emblem."

Florian blinked in surprise. Then he looked for himself. "I see it now," he said quietly.

His Rotom popped from his pocket to scan it. "It's female," she announced. "You can name her Edelgard if you catch her."

"Then that's what I'll do." He pulled out a ball. "Prepare to be mine, Edelgard! Ralts, let's go!"

The Oricorio was startled too badly to attack, which meant that Ralts got in a Confusion attack before the bird could fight back. She was fast, though, and once she was back to her usual battle capabilities things went south quickly.

And since Lloyd was the only Pokémon he had to take Ralts's place, it meant that Oricorio had a type advantage.

"Do you want me to catch her and give her to you as a gift?" Juliana asked. "You can catch me a Tandemaus, we can trade."

"It's the principle," Florian snapped back as he rushed his Pokémon to the nearby center. "I'll catch her myself!"

And he ran back to the bird as soon as he got his Pokémon back.

This time, he picked up a Quick Ball that he'd found on his way over and got low to the ground. Oricorio stood, seemingly unaware, as he stalked her like a hunter.

He released the Quick Ball. Oricorio pulled in a nearby Squawkabilly, letting it get hit by the ball instead.

"Well," said Florian, thoroughly impressed with how she seemed to have heard him coming. "At least I caught a bird."

The Quick Ball broke in half, freeing the Squawkabilly. Juliana's laughter drowned out the "COME ON!" from her friend.

Juliana had wandered away to train, and had then gotten distracted by a churro stand. As she was munching her snack, she watched as her friend slowly lost his mind.

"What attempt number is this?" she asked, and he groaned in response.

"Six," he answered. "I don't know how I managed to catch Ralts."

"Kirlia now," Juliana said, as if it was helping. The sun had gone down and she'd been used against a few Murkrow, getting her to evolve and join Lloyd in being actually useful. She still wasn't useful enough to help him catch Oricorio, who was now sitting up in a tree, staring down at them with cold black eyes.

Juliana looked down at her churro. "Hey, Florian? Do you want a churro?"

"Of course I want a churro! They're delicious! How's it gonna get me the bird?"

"I just wanted to know if you wanted a churro! But hey, keep acting like that and you'll be getting a bird all right..."

Koraidon nudged her for a churro bit. Juliana, not understanding, pushed him aside.

"Yeah, fine, I'll make you a sandwich. Just let me finish my churro."

Koraidon looked momentarily annoyed. The churro smelled good. And Professor Sada had gotten one for him, a long time ago. Was this human oblivious, or just stupid?

But he did prefer sandwiches, so he sat and watched her make one. As she was spreading jam on the bread, she suddenly froze, looking over at her friend with a grin.

"Hey, Florian! Why not try bribery?"

"Bribery?"

"Make her a sandwich!" She tossed some strawberries on the bread, and was oblivious to the excited dragon as she cut it in half and rushed to hand half of it to her friend.

Oricorio swooped in to snatch the sandwich half before the exchange could be made.

"My theory!" Juliana whined.

"My bird!" Florian complained.

"My sandwich!" Koraidon shouted.

Oricorio just ate from her position up in the tree.

Morning came, and with it came the end of Florian's patience.

"I've tried battling," he said. "I've tried bribery. I've tried sneak attacks, aerial attacks, fear tactics, ignoring her, and painting a cave on a cliff that she flew into somehow!"

"I think that last one was a hallucination brought on by lack of sleep," Juliana told him. Oricorio was sleeping up in her tree, and as Florian had learned, he couldn't aim his Pokeball properly with all of the branches in the way.

She'd done a lot of training herself. She'd considered catching a male Murkrow and naming him Hubert, but figured that it would be pouring salt in Florian's wounds.

When Nemona showed up, no one was surprised.

"Juliana! Where were you? I was waiting at the Gym, but you never showed up! The Gym Leader said you were probably dead!"

"What does he know?"

"He heard about a giant Pokémon lurking around the area. He said he didn't think it was real, so I trusted him."

"Oh, I took care of that," Florian said with a shrug.

Juliana shot him an irritated glance. "You mean I took care of it," she corrected. "With Arven's help."

Nemona leaned back in surprise. "You mean Arven fought a giant Pokémon?"

"I did," Juliana insisted. "He just sent out a Shellder and got one or two attacks in. Webby and I did most of the work."

"But I promised him I'd take on the next Titan," Florian reminded her. "Which is why I need to catch more Pokémon! And that stupid Oricorio is my target!" He pointed at the spots of red visible in the tree, which were now moving as Oricorio shook herself awake. "I can change her into different types. She'll be so useful once she learns Revelation Dance! I'm going to CATCH! THAT! BIRD!"

The bird in question immediately pooped on his school hat. Disgusted, Florian removed it and tossed it aside.

"Maybe you should look for a different Oricorio," Nemona suggested, but Juliana shook her head.

"It's the principle, apparently." She shrugged. "Want to battle to kill time?"

Nemona looked at Florian in concern as he began to strap branches to himself, trying to pass himself off as a tree. "Sure," she said after a moment.

Nemona won that round. So did Oricorio.

As the sun set Tuesday evening, Florian fell to the ground in defeat. The girls had gone to train more, leaving him with only a few Pokeballs left.

"Oricorio," he said weakly. "I've tried everything. I'll give you more food if you'll just come with me." She stared at him, tilting her head and making a quiet chirping sound. He held out a ball, a plain red and white one. "Will you please, please be my Pokémon?"

She looked at the boy. She looked at the ball. Then she hit the button, disappearing inside.

It shook once, twice, three times. Then it was still.

"That's it?" he said. He heard footsteps, but didn't look up to make sure it was his friends. "All I had to do was ask her?"

"Maybe that wasn't it," said Juliana, though she knew that she wasn't exactly getting good grades in Mr. Salvatore's class. She'd mispronounced "danke" and it had gotten worse from there. "Maybe she was impressed with your determination and figured it worked with her own."

"Maybe she's just a jerk," Nemona added.

Florian looked at the ball in his hand. "Maybe," he agreed. "I guess the name's fitting for more than just looks, huh?" He broke into a smile. "Lloyd, Kirlia, Edelgard! Come on out - I'm buying you all churros!"

TEAMS

Juliana: Webby (Quaxwell, female) Lechonk (male) Tarountula (male) Fletchinder (female) Tinkatink (female) Hoppip (male)

Juliana's reserves: Fidough (female) Pawmi (male) Igglybuff (female) Minecraft (Nacli, male) Spoink (female) Azurill (female) Staravia (female)

Florian: Lloyd (Floragato, male) Ralts (female) Edelgard (Baile style Orocorio, female)