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Nina smiled from ear to ear. "I promise, I'll take good care of him!" she replied, taking the Ultra Ball that contained Beacon and handling it very carefully, as if one false move could cause it to shatter. She affixed the ball to her belt; it was nice to see a new addition to her team, even if it was only temporary. "And I promise," she continued, "that I'll update you regularly. I'll let you know how his training is going, and how he's doing, and all of that good stuff. And Sabrina's gonna be helping me train him too, so you've got twice as much help!"

Sabrina nodded. "Mm-hmm. I'm not going to promise you any particular results, however. I'm not going to say that I'll have him completely tapped into his potential; the only thing that I will promise you is that I will try my best to make him a better Pokemon. I think I'll try the same training regimen with Beacon as I've done with Oracle."

"Uh, is that possible? I mean, Oracle is kind of... I don't know. A Psychic-type Pokemon, with abilities that differ from Beacon. Plus, Oracle is an ungodly genius."

"What, so you're saying that Beacon is dumb?"

"Don't put words in my mouth. I'm just saying that Oracle comprehends things differently than Beacon would."

"Mm, I'm still picking up on the fact that you're calling him dumb."

"Shut your face."

"Shut your face."

"a**."

"Jerk."

"b***h."

"Ignoramus."

"Zombie."

"Nutcase."

Anna rolled her eyes and chuckled as the girls continued trading insults. It was oddly comforting to see that again. "I promise you, Mike," she said, "that I'll keep an eye on Beacon and help him, too. He's in good hands."

As he fell Eraku felt alot of things going through his head. Moments of his life flashing before his eyes. The day he first rode of his dad's Fearow, the day his parents gave him the egg that had Hurricane in it. They told that if he took real good care of it he could have what was inside. And then he remembered the day his parents went out and never came back. All these vision flashing through his mind and with that last one he jerked awake suddenly and saw the ground rapidly approaching. He winced as he knew this had to be it when suddenly he felt a great tug on his back and was hovering only a few dozen feet above a nearby building. He looked up to see that the pidegot had caught him in the nick of time. With a sigh of relief he signaled to go down.

Nina and Sabrina stopped insulting one another; "Sorry, Mike. We have a tendency to get a bit carried away sometimes. " She paused as Mike commented on Beacon's intelligence. "And, well... I guess you're right. He certainly does leave something to be desired when it comes to his smarts. Maybe Sabrina's and my IQ will rub off on him from being around us so much! Hahahaha... ha." She laughed weakly at her comment, knowing full well that it probably wouldn't happen.

She, Sabrina, and Anna followed Mike into the arena; upon entering, Nina noticed a PC in the room. "Ah, can you guys hang on just a sec?" she asked, before making her way over to the computer. She input her login information, and unclipped Aphrodite's ball from her belt. I'm sorry, girl, she thought, but I just... don't know what to do with you. I'll figure something out. She placed the ball against the computer screen, and watched as it was absorbed into the machine; Aphrodite was now stored in her PC box. After logging out, Nina walked back to the group, noticing that Mike had let Camerae out of his ball; she smiled as she looked at the little Omanyte.

"Sorry about that," she commented; "I had to deposit Aphrodite into my box. Unfortunately, I just don't have a use for her at the moment. I've been trying to think of what she could potentially be used for, but I just keep drawing blanks. It's really disheartening for me to come to the realization that I just don't need her."

"Would you consider giving her to someone?" Sabrina inquired.

"I would, yes. I could ask around, maybe see if a friend would want her. And if all else fails, I could just give her to an adoption agency or something." Nina appeared to continue pondering her options for a moment or two. "I'll figure something out." The girl sat down next to Mike and Camerae, accompanied by Anna soon thereafter; Sabrina, on the other hand, looked at her full belt of Pokeballs and contemplated on which Pokemon she wanted to release.

Clearly, releasing Anastasia is out of the question, she thought. A smile then found its way to her lips; I've got it. Unclipping a Pokeball, she released what was inside. A relatively small, quadrupedal Pokemon appeared; it was sitting down. It had a rather rounded face, with a small, red gem on its forehead, very large ears, and one very long whisker on both sides of its face. A very slender body was accompanied by a tail that forked into two near the end.

Sabrina's smile only grew larger. "Nina, Anna, Mike, Camerae. This is a Pokemon that I acquired while I was presumed dead, but was acting as an understudy of Maorde's. She was just a baby when I got her, but I have trained her well from adolescence into adulthood; I would like you all to meet my Espeon, Felicia."

Felicia stood up, looking quizzically from Nina to Mike, and then to their corresponding Pokemon. After deeming them all to be friendly, she approached the group, heading in Mike and Camerae's direction first. She sniffed the smaller Pokemon's shell, before backing up and lying on her stomach, playfully pawing at the Omanyte.

Mazarin jumped slightly when Junko slammed her fist on the table. Out of fright, he squeezed his smoothie so hard that it splattered out of the cup and onto his face. He shivered a bit, and Banette took care of the clean up. He unzipped his mouth and engulfed his trainer's head. Despite Mazarin's constant screams, until all the blueberry smoothie was cleaned up, Banette wouldn't move. Free from his Pokemon, Mazarin's eyes were wide with fear. There were horrors I can't even fathom within him... he thought. "Don't do that again," he said to his Pokemon.

"What's the big deal?" Mazarin asked her, "Y'know, about Ecruteak?" He was probably in for a massive s**t storm, but he was ready for it.

-*-

Giovanni listened to Macabre's explanation of what he had accomplished at the Sprout Tower. "You have access to my base in Mahogany Town," he said simply, "Beneath the shop, of course. You know the one. Take her there, along with your Grunts. Don't bother with the helicopter, Mahogany is close enough. Be subtle about it, if you would. I've garnered enough attention here."

Giovanni climbed up the ladder with relative ease, and put his pipe back in his teeth. "Let's get going. Proton! Leo!" He barked, motioning for them to follow him. "Enjoy your company, Macabre," he paused and looked back down the hole, "The ladder is yours, by the way." With that, he walked with the three men out of the Tower and towards their copter. Petrel ran over to help Proton with the Relic, taking it onto their helicopter. "Leo," Giovanni began. He knew that he had some sort of feeling for Mai and he couldn't have that, no no no. "I want you to begin the search for the third relic in Hoenn. If you would kindly," he pointed at the copter that Macabre had arrived on. "Take that one, along with some grunts."

"Let's go," With everyone on board, Giovanni waved so long to Leo. "Good luck!" he laughed as the copter took off into the sky.

Junko was too busy staring intently at the television to notice Mazarin and Banette's antics. She snapped out of her semi-trance when the boy questioned her about Ecruteak. The girl quickly swung her head around to face him and she shot daggers from her eyes. "Ecruteak is my home town!" she informed him in a yell. Junko whipped her hand to knock off some of the smoothie that covered her glove and she thought for a moment. The pigtailed hair girl then grabbed her partner by his skull face and dashed towards the exit of the center. "I'm going to find out what they're doing there!" she called out as she ran, almost knocking a few girls over.



Jomei approached the blue slug looking Pokemon cautiously. He could only assume that it was a Water Type from its color, but then you can never be too sure about Pokemon. He crouched down next to it and they stared into each other's eyes for a bit of time. "So, uh your name is Reginold huh? ...Weird name. Um, what are you exactly?" he asked the thing almost as if he truly expected an answer. The Pokemon made a sound that Jomei could only describe as the sound you would hear if you put your hand into a huge bowl full of real eyeballs. His whole body twitched at the noise the new Pokemon emitted and he almost felt a bit nauseous as he imagined himself swirling his fingers around in a container full of optical organs. He covered his mouth with one hand and tried to push the thought from his mind. "Ugh, whatever. I'm sure someone at the Pokemon Center will know what you are." he said, returning the creature to its Great Ball. Jomei turned around to face Pizza who was still cowering at a distance. "It's back in its ball now, so you can stop crying like a baby." he told the Pokemon with a laugh. "Let's go, Junko's already gunna be pissed."

Pizza wasn't crying. He was just, y'know, keeping watch of things... He scowled at the back of his trainer's head as the boy continued on toward Goldenrod. The Fire Type dashed after him and climbed skillfully up the boy's leg, then up his arm and on to his shoulder. Now was a good time for another nap. The Cyndaquil yawned and closed his eyes while riding comfortably back to the city.

"Are you sure you have everything, Jett?" Jett's mother, Alice, asked for the fifth time. Jett swiftly swept through his backpack, checking items, and nodded once. "Well, are you going to go to Littleroot to get a Pokedex?"

"No," the boy replied thoughtfully, zipping up his backpack. "I'd rather wait a while. I want to reach the woods before it gets dark..." There was a glance cast out the window, checking to see the sun still hanging high in the sky. No problem about time there.

"If River faints, I want you to get to a Pokemon Center right away--"

"Yes, of course," Jett said with an air of disinterest. He was rather anxious to get out and start his own adventure now. "I'll call you when I get to Rustboro. Tell Dad I said bye. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." The teenager smiled at the sight of his mother's worried glance, and he gave her a swift hug. "Bye!"

Jett was out the door immediately, tossing his Pokeball into the air. It burst open, revealing River, who landed gently. She offered Jett a small smile, which was returned in kind. She knew he was as anxious as her, but he wasn't willing to show it.

River only wished that her friend was just as scared as she was.

Kasiya had been staring out the window, her mind completely blank save for the occasional realization that she was already leaving Sinnoh. She felt a little sad that she hadn't gotten a chance to explore it more, but chances were good that it would still be there when all this was over. She looked over at Blaine as he asked them to tell him about themselves, and she was surprised to find that she wasn't sure what to say. She listened to both Sasha and Mitsu quietly before looking over at Keegan. She wasn't even sure if he was paying attention at all, so she took that as a hint that it was her turn. She cleared her throat and wrung her hands together a bit in her lap, still not sure why she felt so nervous. "Uh, well, my name is Kasiya DeLuca and I'm from Vermilion City. I'm a Pokemon trainer too, and I'm also trying to collect badges from my home region. I currently have six," she said, her gaze turning towards the Cinnabar Gym Leader, and she wondered if he'd understand what she was getting at. If not, she figured he'd get the idea when she finally did get around to challenging him, and she continued on, feeling a little more comfortable now that she had found her voice. "My first Pokemon was an Eevee that hatched from an egg that was given to me by my dad, Lt Surge." She stopped there, figuring she'd said enough, and she looked over at Keegan and nudged him sharply with her elbow to jolt him out of the stupor he was in. "Your turn," she whispered with a slight giggle.

=-=-=-=-=

Leo remained silent as Proton made sure the relic was bound tightly in the rope, grabbing his jacket and throwing it back on before heading over to help the other admin lift it up and out of the hole. Very few words, if not none at all, were exchanged between Leo and Proton as they carefully brought the relic up the ladder, their unspoken cooperation working well for the both of them. It wasn't that Leo didn't like Proton, it was just that he wasn't much for smalltalk. He'd been trained to work silently and swiftly, and this was something he excelled at and was one of the primary reasons he held the position he had now.

He'd been staring off into the distance when he heard Giovanni call his name, and he quickly turned to face his boss. He nodded silently as he received his orders, though he didn't care for the tone of voice and expressions being used. While he knew it was a very important task that had been set down before him, he couldn't help but feel that Giovanni wanted him as far away from Viridian and their main base as possible. "Yes sir," he answered, watching the orange-clad man step into his own helicopter, though he remained rooted to the spot until the aircraft was out of sight. He knew that Giovanni didn't approve of his feelings for Mai and this was probably the reason for him being sent off to Hoenn as Mai rarely had business in that region, even if she were to return from Sinnoh. He signaled to his squad members to follow him as he boarded the helicopter. "Rustboro City," he barked at the pilot once they were all seated. He hadn't wanted to go back to Hoenn any time soon, but he would not disobey a direct order from Giovanni.