"Sienna," Ramos begins. "I know for a sure fact yer aunt didn't just let yeh out like this."

"Well she didn't stop me." That's not a lie.

"I'm sure she tried." I shook my head 'no'. I'm still not lying. She didn't try.

Ramos sighs. "Yeh know, sprout, yeh weren't even suppose to be sent to yer aunt. Yeh were suppose to stay in Lumiose, but yer aunt insisted she could take care of yeh."

"And she did." Not. "But she thought it would be a good idea to let me go on a journey like a normal kid." Still not a lie. She did say it before. I pet Averie behind her ear. "There's nothing wrong with me Ramos."

"I know, sprout," he says sincerely. "I've never thought there was anything wrong with yeh. But yeh know I have to tell-"

"No you don't," I say quickly, my grip becoming tighter on Averie. "You don't need to tell him."

He frowns. "Sienna, he won't be too happy to know yeh're out and about. I know the two of yeh have had a rough history. I don't know all the details, or even half of them, but I'm sure deep down he cares for yeh."

"I'm inclined to believe otherwise."

"Whether yeh believe it or not, it's true. At least from what I see. He just wants to protect yeh." I scoff inwardly at that. Ramos has a worried look. I suppose I should at least attempt to make him not worry.

"Ramos, remember that we're on a journey. Since Cerise does gym battles we have no choice but to go to Snowbelle. I promise you I'll talk to him."

He raises an eyebrow. "Promise?"

I nod. "Swear it. Just please don't tell him. Who knows how he might take it "

"Alright, sprout," Ramos says, finally smiling. "I promise not to tell. Just be a good girl, yeh hear. Don't worry; there's nobody against yeh. We're all here to protect yeh." I smile and nod.

"Yes sir. Well I guess I should be leaving soon." Gijit runs over to me and nuzzles my hand. "Don't worry bout, I'll see you again really soon. I promise." Whether I can keep it or not, well... we'll just have to wait and see. I bend down to hug the grass type.

"Good night, Ramos," I call as I stand back up and walk towards the slide.

"Good night, sprout. Be careful."

"Yes sir," I say. And then I'm sliding down the winding plane. It isn't as fun as I remember, thought that may be because my mind is preoccupied. As a young girl I always went down this path carefree.

I make it to the bottom. There are a couple of trainers there, I guess for a battle. One is accompanied by a Litleo, an untrained one at that. I laugh. Good luck defeating Ramos.

We set off the next morning. I would've have loved to stay in town for a while but Cerise is limited on time.

Walking across the Lumiose Badlands is a very difficult task. The wind blows hard and makes the lake orange-red dirt whip wildly, which in turn makes it horribly difficult to see. I put Averie in my backpack to offer her at least some protection from the elements.

The five of us are making slow progress across the desert-like landscape until someone screams.

"Who was that," Russet yells above the howling wind, followed by the sound of him spitting out what is most likely dirt and clay.

"ME," Cerise's voice screams. She doesn't seemed at all bothered by the excess dirt in the air. "Something just scratched me!" I turn to the sound of her voice. I can make out two figures, her and what looks like a small Pokémon.

"What's that," Russet calls. He is answered by a robotic voice.

"Gible, the Land Shark Pokémon. It nests in small, horizontal holes in cave walls. It pounces to catch prey that stray too close."

"Oh," Russet says. What was that voice? A Pokédex maybe? That makes the most sense. I never knew she had one. She hasn't used it before.

"Are you gonna catch it," Russet's voice continues

"Yeah," Cerise confirms. Her hand reaches to her pocket and she holds up a Pokéball. "Okay, Viz, come on- Hey where'd it go?" Sure enough, there was no longer a Pokémon in front of her. Cerise sighed. "Aww, I really wanted to catch it..."

"Maybe it used Dig," Russet offered. "Never mind that; let's just make it to the city." Just as we start walking, a figure pops out of the ground in front of us, the Gible. It smirks at Cerise before firing a swirling storm of sand at Cerise, most likely Sand Tomb.

Cerise tumbles backwards before pulling herself back up. "You wanna go," she yells. "Alright then! DEMON CHILD, I CHOOSE YOU!" She throws up a Pokéball and a small for legged figure pops out. Ribbons whip wildly around its body. Oh, that means it's her Sylveon, Fyn. I wonder why she called her 'demon child'?

The Sylveon cries as it is pelted with clay from the desert. She looks back at her trainer and seemingly yells at her. Cerise sighs.

"I know it's not the best environment out here," Cerise begins, "But could you please battle?" Fyn glares at her but still turns to the battle.

"Thanks, Fyn! Now, use Quick Attack!" There is a quick flash of silver light around Fyn before she zips off towards the Gible, a platunum streak trails her. Just as Fyn is about to make contact, the Gible disappears. Fyn stops where the Gible once stood and calls out to her trainer. Cerise is about to respond when the ground shakes and Fyn is propelled into the air.

"Just like I thought. It used Dig," Russet says. I'm pretty close to him, so trying to hear what he says isn't an issue, though that might also be contributed to the fact that the wind is dying down.

"It must be pretty high leveled," Russet continues. "At least to be around here."

"Well now I want it more," Cerise yells. "Fyn, Quick Attack again!" Fyn moves forward tentatively, obviously not trusting her trainer's choice of moves. She carries out Quick Attack twice more but again, the Gible dodges with Dig. By now the wind has died down profusely. I can see now that it it a male Gible.

Gible raises a stubby arm in in the air. The sharp claws on the end glow bright blue: Dragon Claw. It rushes towards Fyn, but like the smart Pokémon she is, she stays put. Cerise on the others doesn't realize the type advantage.

"Fyn, don't just stand there! Dodge it!" Off to my side, I hear Russet groan and Jasper laugh as he tells Peridot what is going on. I can even feel Averie snicker.

Fyn shakes her head just as the Gible makes contact. Unsurprisingly, Dragon type attack does nothing against the Fairy type Pokémon. The Gible does something of a face palm, I guess realizing his error. Cerise however still looks confused. Then she gets it.

"Oh yeah! Fairy types are immune to Dragon type moves. Well then, Fyn Quick Attack." Fyn doesn't move. I don't blame her. I can think of about five attacks that would be better.

I assume fed up with her ignorance, the Fairy type Pokémon turns and growls at her trainer.

"Well sor-ry," Cerise says. "It's not my fault you're missing..." At that, Fyn jumps towards Cerise and tackles the blonde to the ground. From the looks of it, it seems that Fyn is attacking Cerise. Cerise's screams confirm this.

"OUCH! AH! STOP YOU DEVIL'S SPAWN! GO BACK TO HELL!" This goes on for a good five minutes before Cerise managed to return Fyn to her Pokéball. I guess that's why she called Fyn 'demon child.' It is a rather aggressive Sylveon. Today I think it has good reason, though.

Cerise gets up from the ground, covered and scratches and bruises I might add, and looks at the Gible. The dragon type stares back with a smirk before using Dig and disappearing. This time, however, it doesn't come back.

"Dammit," Cerise grumbles. "I'm coming back for him. You better believe I am."

"Yeah well, you do that," Russet mumbles. He obviously wasn't too happy with Cerise's performance. "Can we just hurry up to Lumiose. I think we're all in need of a change of clothes." That's true. Because of the wind, out clothes were covered in as fine layer of reddish-orange clay.

"Hmph, fine." Cerise follows the rest of us as we continue our trek, which is a great deal easier without all of the wind and dirt. But, what I want to know is why Cerise wants two very 'demonic' Pokémon on her team. She can barely manage the one she has. Oh well, that's not my problem I suppose. I have my very well behaved Eevee and that's really all that matters.

"Alright," Russet announces. We are gathered in the lobby area of the Pokémon Center, all in a new set of dirt-free clothing. "Split up!"

"Split up," I ask. Averie cocks her head. I had to give her a short bath. Some of the rusty dirt had gotten in her fur despite my efforts.

"Oh yeah," he says. "We all decided that we'd explore Lumiose City a bit before Cerise's next gym battle. Since we couldn't agree on where to go, we going to spilt up. I'm going to the Battle Institution."

"I'm going back to the Route 13," Cerise says. "I have to catch that Gible. Jazz, what about you?"

The dark haired boy shrugs his shoulders. His hair is starting to grow long enough to cover the success in his head. "I dunno. Wherever Peridot is." He turns to said boy.

"I kind of wanted to go to the art museum," he says shyly. "Boring yeah, but I want to go look at some of the paintings."

"If you want to go the museum, then that's where we'll go," Jasper confirms with a rare smile, the semblance of he and Russet very prominent.

"What about you Sienna," Cerise asks me.

"Hmm, maybe I'll go to Hotel Richissime." I've always wanted to go there. I heard they let you check out the rooms without having to pay and even offer part-time jobs.

"Sounds cool," she says. "Well, see y'all later." She jogs out of the center. The rest of us follow suit.

The walk to the hotel was a short one. Once I enter, my ears are filled with the sounds of violins and flutes playing softly. The carpet I stand on is a deep teal color. Circles of the same color are aligned in an orderly fashion across the white tiles to either side. The furniture looks...expensive to say the absolute least. Creamy white and deep rich purple with solid gold accents. I do not belong here, dressed in but a T-shirt and jeans, but I'm here anyway.

I walk up the dark teal carpet top the front desk where the blonde haired concierge is.

"Hello, welcome to Hotel Richissime. How may I be of service?" She sounds sincere enough. Most people at the front desk are very fake.

"Is it okay if I check out some of the vacant rooms?"

She smiles. "That's fine. Just his on one second." She looks down a list of papers before pressing what looks to be a pager button. "There will be someone down here shortly to escort you. Sadly, the only vacant rooms we have are on the fourth floor so there won't be much to see."

"That's fine," I say with a smile. I pet Averie as we wait and she wags her overly fluffy tail. A maid comes down a short while later.

"Hello there," she with false kindness. It's very easy to tell. "Are you who I will be escorting." I nod. "Okay, follow me. We walk over to the lone elevator in the hotel and take it to up the fourth floor.

"You can look around any of the unoccupied rooms on this floor," the maid says to me. "Take all the time you need."

"Thank you," I say. I begin to walk but Averie jumps out of my arms and gestures to the opposite direction. "What is it Averie," I ask her. She paws at the door of the room in front of her. Well, it's unoccupied. I guess I should check bit out. Averie seems really bent on doing so.

I twist the knob and step inside. There's a girl looking at me. She is sitting on the bed. Her hair is long, wispy, and black as a nightmare. Her almond shaped eyes the same shade of brown as my own. She is very beautiful with her fairy type-like feautures and tan. She has on a black and gray dress along with some riding boots. There's a smile on her face, a bright and somewhat wild one. I give her a soft one in return as my lips form two words.

"Hello Akia."