Psychic sends out a male Absol named Savior. "You know, it's illegal what you're doing."

Olympia smiles eerily. "It's not illegal. It's simply part of my gym. I can't control it." Psychic crosses her arms, unbelieving of Olympia's claims. I wonder what she's talking about.

"Sienna," Psychic says while looking back to me. "Do you see what Ms. Étoile is standing on? That spinning pinkish and circle?" I nod. "Do you know of the attack Gravity?" I nod once more... Does she mean that the glowing circle is the attack Gravity? Psychic nods as if confirming this. I wait for her to say more. She doesn't. Does she mean that one of her Pokémon were inhibited by Gravity? But none her Pokémon are Flying types.

As if reading my mind, Psychic answers me. "Yes, but Sandstorm has the ability Levitate." Oh. Wait, that is illegal. A gym leader isn't allowed to install features in their gym to give them an unfair advantage. In Kalos at least.

"Exactly," Psychic mumbles. Wait, was she responding to me? "Anyway. . ." She lifts up her light colored shirt slightly to show her belt. On the buckle is a Keystone. She presses it, causing Savior and the stone to shine a bright pink, purple, and white. When the bright lights fade, Mega Absol stands in place of the regular.

"Slowking," Olympia says, "use Yawn."

"Savior, close your eyes and cover your ears." Savior does as told and doesn't begin to yawn like her other Pokémon. Olympia raises an eyebrow at this.

"Didn't they ban strategies like this in Kalos," she states more than asks. Psychic smiles sweetly.

"I'm only making this a fair fight. Now, Savior, use Hone Claws." Savior's claws begin to glow white and he starts to scratch the battlefield. As he does, the sound gets progressively sharper, almost metallic.

"Use Earthquake, Slowking."

"Sucker Punch!" Just as Slowking prepares to stop, he appears to freeze in place. Savior runs up to him, paw glowing a purplish color, and side swipes the dual type. Slowking falls to the ground, Earthquake seemingly been stopped. Psychic used this to get advantage.

"Night Slash!" Savior's claws glow again, this time indigo, and he repeatedly slashes Slowking. With his increased attack power from not only Hone Claws, but also his Mega Evolution, Slowking is knocked out within seconds.

"Slowking is unable to battle," the referee declares. "Absol is the winner."

"Last Pokémon, Ms. Étoile," Psychic says cheerfully. "Who's it gonna be." Without a word, Olympia sends out a Malamar. Psychic frowns.

"Hypnosis," Olympia calls.

"Avoid it." Savior does so easily. "Now use. . . Stone Edge!" Savior digs his claws into the field and barks loudly. When he does, sharp rocks shoot up at Malamar's feet, injuring her.

"Malamar use Swagger." A crimson aura outlines Malamar and she smirks confidently. A similar aura comes over Savior but is darker and seems to not only confuse him, but also weaken him.

"Contrary," Psychic states. "Well isn't this just great... Savior, try another Stone Edge." Savior attempts to perform the move a second time, but ends up digging into his own paw due to confusion.

"Finish Malamar. Use Superpower!"

"Dodge it Savior!" Savior tries to dodge, but trips up due to his status. Malamar becomes surrounded in a light blue aura before hitting Savior full force with the super-effective attack.

"Absol is unable to battle. Malamar is the winner."

"Last Pokémon, Ms. Mewn," Olympia says in an imitation of Psychic.

"Yeah, yeah," Psychic mutters while sending Squishy out one last time. Even after taking a test, she's still breathing heavily. "Okay girl, you're my last chance. Think you can do it?" Squishy nods with a determined growl. "Alright Dragon Pulse." Squishy launches the attack faster than anyone expected and hits Malamar dead in the face.

"Use Hypnosis, Malamar."

"Guard yourself with Muddy Water!" Squishy summons the polluted wave just as the pulsating circles approach her. They meet the attack and disappear. "It's an attack, so it's not illegal," Psychic says with a smile. Olympia rolls her eyes. "End this with Superpower." Psychic and I share a reaction.

"How's she gonna-Oh crap! Contrary!" That means that instead of lowering Malamar's attack drastically after using Superpower, it was raised. Cerise looks down.

"I would've lost anyway," she says quietly. "No way any of my Pokémon would've been strong enough. No way I would've been smart enough to last this long." I'm sure one of you would've tried to comfort her, but she's right. She wouldn't have been.

The already weakened Goodra is slammed into the battlefield with unbelievable force. The ref raises his arm. "Goodra is- hold on." Squishy struggles to her feet. She isn't able to stand all the way up, but she is still somehow able to battle.

"Alright," Psychic cheers. "Pokémon-Amie for the win! Awesome job Squishy." Psychic doesn't call an attack but Olympia does.

"Use Superpower and ends this, Malamar!" The blue aura comes over Malamar one more and she rushes towards Squishy.

"Now," Psychic says, confusing everyone but Squishy. Said Dragon type jumps into the air inches before Malamar reaches her. While in the, a watery whirlpool develops over her tail, Aqua Tail, and she slams down hard on Malamar.

"Malamar is unable to battle. Goodra is the winner. Therefore the match goes to Christen." Christen? That must be Psychic's real name.

"Yeah! Squishy you did amazing!" Psychic hugs her Pokémon, becoming covered in a thin layer of goo in the process. She returns her Pokémon and focuses on Olympia. "Gimme the badges Ms. Étoile! I beat you fair and square." Wordessly, almost angrily, Olympia walks over Psychic and hands her two badges of the same name. The woman turns to me.

"Sienna Glaçon. I want you to leave at once. You as well Ms. Mewn." She walks away abruptly without another word. Psychic shrugs it off and walls over to Cerise and I. She hands Cerise her own badge.

"Good luck Cerise," Psychic says. "Maybe I'll see you at the Pokémon League." Cerise nods. Psychic continues to talk. "I promise everything will be okay. Just try to smile. Smile through it and that expression will transfer to your emotions." I don't believe that's entirely true. You can smile and be depressed or unhappy. Nonetheless, Cerise nods once more.

"Thank you Psychic. I'll see you again okay."

"Of course! Bye Cerise. Bye Sienna." She runs off in the opposite direction of the exit, I think purposely.

"Come on, Sienna," Cerise says. "Let's go." She doesn't sound too eager and I understand why. When we leave this gym, we'll have to get ready to leave for Couriway. Which means we'll have to attend Malicai's funeral. Won't this be fun!

It's the day of the funeral. Well morning, it's about eight o'clock maybe eight twenty by now. The funeral starts at nine so I'm helping Cerise with her hair. I don't really want to, but today's not a good day for her. We're both already dressed: Cerise in a powder green and black dress and me in a black dress shirt and skirt. According to what I heard, the colors of the funeral, which I didn't know had colors, are black, gray, and pale green.

I met a lot of people yesterday when we got into town, including Russet and Jasper's younger sister. She's actually in the room right now playing with Averie. Her name is Carmine Calcédoine and she's five years old as she told me eagerly when we first met. Her hair is a rusty red color like her oldest brother and her eyes are dark and smoky like both. She has Russet's personality, the carefree and friendly aspect. I hope she isn't petty like her brother. That would be a real shame.

"Carmine," Cerise begins. "I think you need to go to your parents to get ready." Carmine, who was hiding under the bed, popped out along with Averie.

"Okay," she says with a yawn. "Bye bye Averie." She crawls from under the bed just as there's a knock on the door. We call for them to come in and see that it's Russet. He looks to be ready. His usually spiky hair was now slicked back and orderly. He was dressed in a gray shirt worn under a vest the same shade of green as Cerise's dress.

"Ru-ru," Carmine exclaims. Strange, I remember that little blonde fairy tale girl calling him that too.

"Come on Carmine, you need to get ready." He looks at Cerise and I before quickly turning away. You know, he really isn't subtle with his crush on me, especially as of late. Carmine runs out the door making Russet have to follow after her. Cerise and I both shake our heads.

"Finished," I announce after a few minutes. It took me a good twenty minutes, but I'm finally finished with Cerise's hair. I just put it into a bun but considering the fact that I've only ever done that twice before, it probably should've taken longer.

"Thanks Sienna," Cerise says quietly. Today is going to be really hard for her. I say that as if the last week hasn't been difficult. It's been difficult for me too. What if they find my DNA on Malachi? What then? I'm screwed, that's what. It'll be very hard to be found innocent due to insanity since I hid the body. Maybe I could plead self defense. That seems to get everyone out of trouble.

To say that I'm uncomfortable would be an understatement. I'm glad I chose to let my hair cover must of my face. I may be a good actor, but I'm not good enough to cry for someone who almost killed me.

It's the repass now and I'm sitting away from the group, Averie is playing with the younger kids, accompanied by Jasper and Peridot surprisingly. What are they up to? Shouldn't they be with their families? I ask them this.

"Why would I wanna be with them," Jasper grumbles. "They don't like me anyway." He is the black Mareep of the family, literally. His parents and siblings all have rust colored hair while his is pitch black.

"Why," I ask him. He doesn't look like he wants to respond. I don't really care if he does.

"Cuz apparently I destroyed the family." He does some type of sarcastic laugh. "I didn't even wanna be in it." Please don't tell me we're about to have a heart to heart moment. Russet once, well many times, called Jasper a bastard. Did he mean that literally? Luckily Jasper changes the subject. "Perry, are you going home?"

The blonde shakes his head. "Nu-uh. I'm staying. I don't wanna go home and be all sad. Besides, I wanna stay with you!" Jasper smiles slightly and blushes before frowning again.

"Won't they try to make you go home anyway," he asks.

"Why would they do that," I ask.

"Cuz their afraid something's gonna happen to me too." I almost laugh at that. Are they really that paranoid? "They don't want to lose me like Malachi. He was supposed to inherit the family business, you know. Now I have to."

"The family business," Jasper and I ask simultaneously.

"Yeah. That's why the funeral was here and not in Santalune. My family runs a tourism company in Couriway and in Olivine City in Johto. My dad's the president or whatever. Malachiwas supposed to inherit the business even though he didn't want to. Now I have to." Peridot sounds pretty sad at that. Didn't he say he wanted to be a coordinator or a breeder or something. I guess he won't be able to do that. I can understand how he feels. My family wanted me to be a gym leader. Not that I was having for that though.

It was quiet between us for a long while before Peridot spoke again. "Why do you think they killed him. Malachi, I mean." Because he attempted to kill them. He deserved to die. Because that's what happened. He was angry and wanted to take his anger out on me. That's what happened. That's what had to happen. That's what did happen.

Right?