Eventually, the song ended. The man stood up, cracked his back, and packed away his instrument. Stretching, Ralts herself rose from her treetop perch, and watched as the man slowly walked down the street. His music had turned a more upbeat note near the end, she noted. Silently, she waved him goodbye and turned to her original destination.

A comparatively short time later, she arrived at the Petalburg gym. It was situated at the center of a large plaza surrounded by a large hedge wall, with several flat concrete fields circling the structure. The building itself was several stories high, and sported a bright, cheery GYM sign across the surface. Unfortunately, her path of trees ended a distance before the fields. She sighed. There would be no getting close to this building. Shame, it had looked rather important...

A commotion on the field caught her attention. A couple of young humans had entered the area, different from the ones in the alley or the two who had tried to capture her. They were about 50 yards away, and one of them appeared to be jostling the other onto a field. This warranted further investigation, she decided, and descended from the tree into the hedges. Shifting through the twigs, she arrived at the closest point to the ruckus. They had arrived in the center of an arena next to the hedge, which was marked by a drawing of concentric circles.

"-know the rules, Billy, a pokemon trainer has to accept any challenge he receives!" said one of them. He was a tallish boy, with styled blond hair and a well tailored blue suit.

"And I already said, I'm not a trainer, Winston!" Cried the other (Billy?). He was a foot shorter than Winston, had brown hair, and wore a blue and yellow shirt with black shorts and a blue cap.

"Oh?" challenged Winston, who smirked. "You caught a pokemon, that means you are a pokemon trainer. If you weren't you wouldn't be allowed to buy a pokeball, and they only sell those to people who show a pokedex!"

Billy flushed. "I- but- I'm not going to go around fighting people, I just wanted a pet!"

"Then you should have just gone out and grabbed one." Winston shrugged.

"You're the one who said I had to get a pokeball to get a pokemon!"

"Did I?" Winston put a finger on his chin in mock contemplation. "I do believe I only said that Trainers used pokeballs to catch pokemon, and that it was one of the easier methods to acquire one. You're the one that went out and registered."

"You lied to me!" He said, pointing a finger accusingly.

"No, I'm quite sure everything I said was true." He tapped his foot. "Now, are you going to blame me for every poor decision you've made, or are we going to battle?"

Winston, Ralts decided, was a jerk. She didn't fully understand what exactly was going on, but obviously he had tricked Billy into something he didn't want to do. Silently, she rooted for the short boy. 'Kick his butt, Billy!'

The child grit his teeth. "Fine!" he shouted, pulling out his pokeball. "But I'll win this thing, and then you have to pay!"

Enlarging his own, Winston chuckled. "As if. Go, Thomas!" he called, throwing the ball up into the air. With a loud pop and Whzxzxzxzxzxzx, a red blob shot out of the pokeball and to the arena floor, which resolved itself into the form of a Zigzagoon.

"Zig!" it yipped, running in a circle, before turning to face Billy. "Zig-zig!"

"Ah..." Billy stepped back, hesitating.

"Hm? Are you intimidated? After such bravado a moment ago..." Winston shook his head.

Billy looked infuriated at this. "I'm not scared!" Taking out his own pokeball, he tossed it into the air. Releasing it's own beam of bright light, a Seedot emerged from containment. The stage was set.

"Seed?" Seedot said, looking around in confusion.

Winston was smirking again. "A Seedot? Really? They're useless!"

"I'll show you useless!" He pointed at the enemy Zigzagoon, snarling. "Seedot, Tackle!"

Seedot didn't move. A second passed.

"Dot?" It said, looking at Billy uncertainly.

Winston held stifled a chuckle with his hand. "Having a bit of trouble there?"

"Shut up you! What are you doing?" asked Billy, looking back at his pet. "Tackle the Zigzagoon!"

"Dot..." Looking vaguely uncertain, Seedot turned back to the racoon Pokemon. Starting forward, it picked up speed, it's stubby feet plodding the ground at a sluggish rate. "SeeeeeeEEEEE-" it cried, and flung itself full force at the Zigzagoon, slightly nudging him before falling face first onto the pavement.

"Zig." The Zigzagoon nudged the seed, unimpressed.

'What is he doing?' Ralts winced. 'Seedots can't fight head on!'

Winston had burst into full on laughter, clutching his sides as the ridiculous display unfolded. Billy, for his part, looked dumfounded.

"Ah ha ha... hoo. That was the best thing I've seen all day." Winston smirked as he regained his composure. "Now then, let me show you how it's done." He waved his hand lazily in the direction of his still toppled enemy. "Thomas, tackle."

Thomas yipped. He bounced back two steps, jumped in a circle, rushed forward into the struggling Seedot and rammed his head straight into it's side. The Seedot was launched backwards, tumbling across the ground before skidding to a stop on Billy's side of the arena.

"Seed..." it said, dazed.

"Seedot! Are you okay?" Billy sported an expression of worry.

"Dot... dot." it replied, twisting around and climbing to it's feet. "Dot, Seedot."

"Uh." Billy glanced at Winston, then focused on Thomas. "Right. Can you still fight?"

"Seed!" A fire had appeared in the Seedots eyes. It appeared the fight was personal, now.

"Heh. I've yet to see any fight in the first place." Winston closed his eyes and made a shrugging motion with one hand, resting the other on his hip. "In my opinion, you should just surrender now and save yourself the pain."

"We'll show you!" Billy shouted. "Alright Seedot, use Solar Beam!" He pointed at Zigzagoon, impending triumph splayed on his face.

For a second time, nothing happened. Seedot stared at his master. "Seed?" it said, somehow managing to convey exasperation. Billy's face fell.

Winston had palmed his face. "How can anyone be this terrible?" He murmured to nobody in particular.

"You can't...?" Billy asked, then continued, "Uh. Frenzy plant!" Seedot continued to stare.

"Petal Dance! Leaf Blade!" Winston was burying his face deeper into his hands.

"Giga Drain!? Razor Leaf? Vine Whip?" Zigzagoon yawned, and scratched at his ear.

"Come, on!" He pleaded. "Bullet Seed, Absorb, Stun Spore? You must know how to do one of them!"

"Seed!" it replied, confused and worried. "Dot, Seedot Seed-seed!"

Ralts herself was getting irritated by the boys lack of knowledge. 'I don't think I've ever seen a Seedot use anything he's said, whatever they are, and that Seedot looks months old at best! Why isn't he using Seedots' natural abilities?' She slumped. 'He must not know. The Seedot doesn't seem capable of using them on it's own, either.'

She peered back at the helpless pokemon, and at his opponent. She didn't want this taller boy to win. But what could she do? It was his battle, and she couldn't give the Seed pokemon orders. Or, she realized, maybe she could? It wasn't like mental contact was new; it was their races primary mode of communication after all! But all she had ever used it for in regards to other species was to force a sense of disorientation on the opponent to stun or confuse it enough to escape or capture the recipient.

"Right then," Winston said, simultaneously interrupting Billy's ineffective calling of abilities and the Ralts's train of thought. "I think it's time we finished this. Maybe then, you can go learn how to not be a terrible trainer!"

"Eh?" Billy looked up at his nemesis. "Wait, no!"

"Yes!" Winston opposed, and flung out his arm. "Go, Thomas! Bury that seed in the ground!"

Thomas yipped, and rushed forward.

"Seedot!" Billy cried, reaching out as if he could protect it himself. "Do something!"

"Seedot!" Seedot responded, turning back to his approaching doom and eyes wide with fear.

And Ralts knew she had to act. She reached out and connected, and, in something that was less than words, spoke-

'What comes around, goes around.'

- and Seedot understood, and cowered no longer. Coming to fully face his opponent, he stood his ground and prepared himself.

Zigzagoon rammed into Seedot with the force of a hammer, slamming the pokemon into the ground. "Goooooon!" it crowed, boasting of its prowess.

"Seedot! Are you... okay?" Billy blinked at the strange sight before him.

"Seed... Seed..." Seedot replied, and began emanating a soft red glow where it lay, motionless.

"Now then, Thomas!" Winston called, not seeming to notice the light. "Finish it off, crack open its shell!"

"Zagoon!" Jumped to the other side of the glowing Seedot and bit down on the stem poking from the head of the pokemon. "Zig!" It cried, lifting the Seed pokemon off the pavement, and hurling it back down on its other side. "Zag!" Lifted once more, he brought him down with a crack.

Over and over again, Zigzagoon hurled Seedot against the pavement, but with each iteration of this assault, Seedot’s red aura grew brighter and brighter. "Seed... Seed..."

"What...?" Billy uttered, transfixed by the strange light.

"Eh? Winston said, finally becoming aware of the disturbance. "Is that? Wait, what!?" Winston's eyes widened dramatically as he stepped back. "How... When did you-? Thomas!" he screamed as the Zigzagoon continued to pummel at the shimmering Seedot, "Stop, retreat, get back here!"

Thomas's head snapped to his trainer after he slammed his opponent down for the last time. "Zag?" he said, dropping the stem.

"Run, dodge! It's going to-" Winston was cut off.

"SEEDOT." The seedot bellowed from the floor. It stood up ponderously, like an awakening giant. The Zigzagoon yipped in surprise, turning to stare at its opponent.

Billy grinned victoriously, confused but understanding that something awesome was happening. "Seedot! Go get him!" he commanded. And Seedot obeyed, the entirety of his crimson aura collapsed and coalesced into a raging white sphere.

"Seeeeeee-!" He shouted, staring straight at his opponent.

"Thomas!"

Thomas turned to run, but he was far, far too late.

"-DOOOOOOOOOOT!"

A raging torrent of energy cascaded out of the sphere, crashing straight into Thomas's face with the force of a raging Tauros. With a pained cry, Zigzagoon was launched away, skipping across the pavement a fourth of the way across the grounds, where he fell to the earth, tumbled twice and skidded to a halt. Thomas struggled to stand, but faltered and collapsed, motionless.

"Thomas!" Winston cried, rushing over to his fallen friend. Falling at his side, he quickly checked him over before sighing in relief. "Just unconscious..." he muttered. He brought out his pokeball and with another laser returned Thomas to his device. "Don't worry buddy, I'll get you to a center soon."

"Yeah!" Billy cheered, as he ran to hug his Seedot. "We did it! We won! Oh I thought we were done for but then you glowed like Fwhoom and then you blasted a laser like Peoooow and that was awesome!" He laughed as he spun in place, hugging his pokemon tightly.

"See-Seedot..." Seedot replied, dizzy and exhausted but happy.

Ralts giggled to herself as she watched the childish display. Yes, she decided, interfering had been totally worth it.

"Ha!" Billy shouted, pointing at the returning Winston, "I won! That means you gotta pay up!"

"That win was a load of tosh and you know it." Winston scowled. "You didn't even do anything."

"Doesn't matter, I still won!"

Winston sighed. "Yes, very well. What do you want?"

"You!" Billy declared, "are going to pay for my lunch!"

Winston raised an eyebrow. "It's five-thirty. Lunch was over three hours ago."

"Linner!" Billy immediately restated, grinning madly.

Winston stared at him. "What in the world is Linner?"

"It's like brunch, but with dinner and lunch."

"I don't think that’s a word."

"Well is is now!" He folded his arms. "I just made it one!"

Winston facepalmed. "You are just unbelievable."

Billy, who had started walking out of the area, called back "Unbelievably awesome!"

"Seed!"

Winston groaned and followed them. Ralts watched them go with a silly grin on her face. This place, she decided, was so much more interesting than the forest. Next time she came, she'd have to...

'Next time?' She asked herself. Well, yes. The urge surprised her. When she had first set out, she had only wanted to satisfy her unusual curiosity. But now, she thought, I can see just how much I've been missing. She didn't think she could stand not ever tasting that sweet concoction ice cream again, nor could she forget the soft melody the man on the bench had played.

The fight just now, the latter half had set her ablaze with excitement. That singular rush when the Seed pokemon unleashed its full power was unlike most things she had ever experienced. And the moon! They were going to walk on the moon! How had they been able to fly so far as to break the sky? It was so far away, and yet...

'Humans had left the forests behind.' She thought, staring at the shadowed moon, which was looming at the horizon. 'They left it behind and reached for the stars. Maybe...’

She paused and looked at the sky, which was transitioning into darker shades of red.

'Oh,' she realized. 'The moon is coming up.'

A moment of silence.

'Crap!' Panicking, she untangled herself from the leaves and turned to run. 'It's late! It's really really late!' Fretting, she shot along the hedge and shimmied back up the tree. 'It's going to be twilight before I make it back at minimum! Oh Gramps is going to tear me a new one...' Dread in her heart, she shot along the rooftops and towards the place she called home.