Candy

yah Idk how the heating-cooling really works but iirc it has to be flamethrower -> ice beam -> rock blast in that order, so I kept it like that I think heating it quickly and then cooling it quickly would make the material more brittle anyway

Welcome~ superb choice in starters fren Hope you enjoy the game and the forums. Here have a candy

you're definitely onto something there my fren I'm glad I can fall and pull y'all down with me let's get back up together too~ my Shelly > canon Shelly, prove me wrong Hehe the thing is, something that didn't add up in the original story is that Heather has a friggin salamence and couldn't free herself from a hut that Shelly's megayanma and Cal's magmortar could easily open. So I changed it so that the door is pretty much indestructible, except when too much stress is placed on it such as in the shape of heat-cooling + rock blast + salamence's something maybe draco meteor? Lol perhaps all three of them would've had to keep throwing snow to make it as effective as Elsa's blizzard xD

Yep I changed that part because Cal's starting anew speech was interesting the first playthrough but every playthrough after that I've just skipped the whole thing... which makes me think that if I were to write the speech word for word on this pretty-much-fanfiction, people would get bored of reading right then. So keeping in mind that my readers prolly know what Cal says, I abridged it to only contain stuff that is important in Shelly's custom character arc. I personally liked this episode because it gave proper closure to Shelly's conflict with Cal, which has been in the background since Season 1 and was revived the previous episode. Also Shelly's at 9/10 which is pretty much at the level of esteem and trust that homegirl Vanilla has for her cousin Candy (and had for her bestie Wolfie). Additionally this is the episode right before the peak of Shelly's character development, and it makes me happy that she's come such a long way since the first time Vanilla met her, and also making a more dramatic attitude change compared to her canon counterpart. Not to mention that I've been waiting to write the next episode since my Season 1 days, so I'm also angery and curious about this episode ending in a cliffhanger xD

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nt3HYcezYIg/VhfF0DTDNZI/AAAAAAAADEA/oHPy5n8Djqk/s172/tumblr_lp0mal7AcQ1qg3clto1_250.gifFrom Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 55http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nt3HYcezYIg/VhfF0DTDNZI/AAAAAAAADEA/oHPy5n8Djqk/s172/tumblr_lp0mal7AcQ1qg3clto1_250.gif The hidden passage was connected with a short wooden bridge to the snowy mountain on the back of the building. We walked cautiously not to slip on the snow, and continued onto the inclined path on the mountain. It didn’t take much guesswork to find the supposed house Heather was trapped in, for the path only led to one midsized cottage. Shelly ran over to the metallic door and slammed her fist a couple of times to catch Heather’s attention. The unexpectedly quiet sounds of Shelly’s knocking gave me the impression that the door was thick and sturdy, and trying to turn the doorknob confirmed that it was locked from both the inside and outside. “Heather, can you hear me? It’s me, Shelly. We’ve come to rescue you,” Shelly said with as loud a voice she could muster. However, no sound was heard from the other end. Shelly looked at me with furrowed brows. “I wonder if she can’t hear me, or if she’d reply even if she could.” That reminded me that Heather had fallen into some sort of trance and hadn’t spoken a word to any of us since the incident at Dr Connal’s orphanage. “We’ll have to find a way to open the door. Blasted! That jerk knew we didn’t have a key to open it, and agreed to let us know her location.” “And you probably need to hurry up before Team Meteor comes to pick him up,” a voice said from nowhere. We looked around us and saw no one, until the voice’s owner showed up flying on the back of a charizard. It was… Cal, but with a different hair color. “Hope you did use proper hair dye, unlike me,” I sneered, remembering how he had mocked my temporary pink hair. “I did. This is actually my real hair color, I just dyed it back,” he said as he got off his pokemon and returned him to his pokeball. I didn’t reply to that, but it made sense that he would have blue hair, given his older brother’s has that color. “What brings you to these snowy mountains, fire boy?” “I came to talk with Blake, but I overheard him radioing Team Meteor for an air unit, saying that he’d obtained the Ruby Ring from you. I figured we could team up to get that back, and also allow me to get revenge on him at the same time.” Shelly had been quiet, but once Cal was done explaining the situation, she ventured to offer a shy “hello”. The now blue-haired guy hesitated to meet her gaze, but he eventually forced himself to. “Shelly. It’s been a while.” “Y-yeah,” she said. A silence ensued, both staring at each other with stiff expressions, as though they wanted to say things, but were not being brave enough to actually voice them. “Shelly, I’ll try to see if I can smash open the door with my medicham. I think it’ll be best for you to get closure on the matter we touched on,” I said, briefly eyeing Cal so she knew what matter I was referring to. She seemed to comprehend me and nodded. While I instructed medicham-Aladdin to Hi Jump Kick the door repeatedly, Shelly started talking to Cal. I noticed that the boy relaxed his shoulders when she spoke. “Um… about what h-happened last time-” “Yes, I’m sorry for having snapped at you like that back then,” he cut her sentence and apologized. “I don’t hope to get forgiveness because my behavior was inexcusable. My life was a real mess. It’s still a mess, but if it serves of any comfort to you, I’m trying to clean it up.” Shelly shook her head. “Vanilla told me that both of us, um, misunderstood each other and s-so we should share the blame,” she said. “If you need my forgiveness, um, I give it to you, even if there isn’t anything m-much to forgive. I hope you’ll f-forgive me too. I’ll try to be better at understanding others.” “Vanilla did, huh?” Cal glanced my way. “Then let’s forgive each other and carry on. We can be better versions of ourselves. I, for one, refuse to keep living in response to what my brother does or doesn’t do.” “T-then we can be friends again?” “Of course,” Cal said, offering his right hand. Shelly took it with both of hers and shook it. When they were done reforming their friendship, Shelly turned to see me. Her whole face radiated a smile, one brighter than any she had ever expressed since we met. For the first time ever, she looked her age- like a child- and not like one who had been forced to mature at an accelerated speed. Cal looked at her and then at me with visible curiosity, but he refrained from commenting just yet. Medicham-Aladdin had failed to make an opening on the door, but he had made some indentations on it. The noise had apparently been loud enough for Heather to hear us too, since now we could hear soft knocking sounds coming from the other side. “I think we’ll have to use brute force,” I said. “Once, I freed myself from an enclosure by heating, cooling and then rock blasting the metal bars. Let’s see if we can replicate that.” “If it’s about heating things, count me in,” Cal said. “I have an a-armaldo that knows rock blast,” Shelly said. “That leaves ice,” I noted. “Easy.” Cal released magmortar, Shelly released armaldo and I released Elsa, my alolan ninetales. Her ability, snow warning, made snow fall on top of the mountain. “I guess we should be careful with avalanches later,” Cal shrugged and told magmortar to use flamethrower onto the door. While the metal was still steaming, Elsa used blizzard on it which caused the structure to make cracking sounds. Shelly’s armaldo finished the job by rock blasting, which made a large hole on what seemed like an indestructible door. “W-we did it,” Shelly celebrated. From within, a salamence came out followed by its owner. “It seems your friend was also giving us a hand with her dragon,” Cal commented to Shelly. “Shelly? Vanilla? What are you doing here?” Heather asked. Apparently her ability to speak had not been taken away from her after all. “That’s a stupid question. Obviously you chimed in to get me out of that storage building. Really, thank you.” Shelly jumped onto her embarrassed friend and hugged her tightly. “Don’t mention it. I’m just so glad you’re safe,” she said. “I was so worried when Blake said he’d locked you in.” “Ugh, don’t even mention that idiot,” Heather rolled her eyes. “He said there would be no rules here, and bam. I give food to the starving people and he locks me in. So much for ‘no rules’. I hope the other guy kept feeding them for me though.” “Other guy?” Cal asked, and I twitched. Shelly disengaged from the embrace and looked at me with concern in her expression. Without knowing what awkward atmosphere she was creating, Heather continued talking. “Yeah, a foreigner’s been helping me with the job. It’s not been too long since he flew in on a-” “Heather,” I cut her short, because I was starting to feel sick to my stomach. “Blake has your Ruby Ring, and he’s going to get picked up by Team Meteor if we don’t do something quickly.” “He has what? My mom’s ring?!” “Yeah, we have to stop him before he gets on the air unit,” Shelly added. “Duh. Sounds like it’s time for sweet justice.” “I couldn’t have said better,” Cal said. “And if Solaris shows up, leave him to me. I have a bone to pick after a certain incident at Pyrous mountain.” I nodded, but I internally thought that if Solaris showed up, I would take care of him personally. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Heather said. “Good. You and I will take the flying route. Let’s try to slow the air unit down, or shoot it down if we can.” Once that was decided, Cal and Heather jumped on their respective pokemon and took off for the skies. “That leaves us two,” I told Shelly. “Let’s follow Blake and get the cursed ring back.” We had trouble running on the snow, but we finally caught up to Blake a point a little lower than halfway to the top of the mountain. He was, of course, unhappy to see us, but stopped hiking to speak to us. “What do you want? I bet you released Heather from the hut, and have the TM for waterfall already,” he said. “Do you mean to cheat and rob me of the ring after a deal was agreed on? That’d be criminal behavior, don’t you agree? You might want to join Team Meteor.” “You’re mistaken,” I said. “We’ve struck a deal, but we’re still enemies. Even behaviors that are frowned upon are allowed in war.” Blake’s smirk widened. “Is that so? Then I’ll be extra careful,” he said as two Team Meteor grunts jumped out of nowhere to assist him. They blocked our way with their pokemon, while Blake continued to climb up the mountain. “Wait up, coward,” I called him, but he didn’t stop walking. “Even ignoring your requests is allowed in war, I suppose,” he said and laughed loudly. “Damn it,” I sighed. “Shelly, let’s get rid of this pair.” We fought and won. Unlike my experience teaming up with Aya, coordinating our pokemon’s actions went much more smoothly with Shelly. When I was taking the offensive, her pokemon used supportive moves to increase defense or deal the final blow to an opponent when it was about to faint. That was the same in the next few fights we had against the grunts that kept slowing us down. When my pokemon were tired and I switched to the defensive role, Shelly made her team to increase the offense. Her ability to easily adjust her role according to my lead made her an ideal battling partner. When we almost caught up to Blake once again, an unforeseen nuisance got in our way. It so happened that the current area was the open plane on the north of Ametrine mountain that Aladdin had told me to find him at. Precisely, he was sitting next to his blaziken on a rock largely devoid of snow. He was reading a book with a stern face, when the noise of Blake and our voices brought his attention to us, especially me. “Vanilla Eterna,” he called me. “I was beginning to think you’d never show up.” I wasn’t yet ready to face him again, but the fact of the matter was that I would probably never be ready. “You were very low on my priority list,” I reply with sarcasm. “But I guess I’ll have to deal with you now.” “Of course. Don’t expect me to let you go free twice.” I glared at him but then nodded. I had to make an executive decision. “Shelly,” I turned to face her. “I have to send this demon to Hell. Would you please chase Blake without me?” Shelly widened her eyes in fear, and her breathing became irregular. “B-but, I don’t know if I can do it… I d-don’t want to pull everyone’s leg and, um, disappoint Heather.” I placed both of my hands on her shoulders, and looked directly into her eyes which were located only a couple of inches lower than mine. Doing so automatically calmed her breathing a little. “Do you trust me?” I asked. “Yes, o-of course,” she replied. “If you trust me, then trust yourself because I trust you.” She nodded without taking her gaze off of me. I let go of her, and started walking towards Aladdin. I looked back at her once to make sure she was following Blake, and then I faced forward, where my own battlefield laid. VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS Guess what idiot spent time writing an entire chapter instead of studying for an exam? xD Anyhow, 25K views and counting. Frens I'm not the only procrastinator around these lands haha QUICK LINK TO NEXT EPISODE

Wow~ that sounds like a game I'd love to play can't do a help for development, but here's some moral support: Also I love the steampunk style on the main characters!

Revived (AGAIN) after an ultra-long hiatus of literally over a year. guess I'll be juggling between this and From Everland to Reborn. Hecc where will I fit time for everything lol Chapter 24 Brenda looked around as she followed the Audino. This Pokémon Center was different to the others in that there were three Nurse Joys and many more Audinos, all wearing ribbons of different colors. The lobby was also about five times the size of the usual PC, and in addition to the common guest rooms, it had silver and gold rooms for wealthier guests. “Do you think this is Bianca's doing?” Brenda wondered aloud. “I'm guessing, since she was the one who invited us here,” Cheren answered. “But I have no idea where she could’ve gotten money to reserve a ballroom here, out of all places.” Brenda looked at Cheren with wide eyes, but was silent for once. The Audino opened the doors to a cozy, small room, which had enough space for two large round tables. In fact, the term ‘ballroom’ was a misnomer since, as far as Brenda could observe, there was no space for an actual dance. However, the ornate walls and the carpet with its red, blue and golden designs made the place look elegant despite its size. Upon entering, Bianca and five others shouted happy birthday. Three of the five were prior classmates of Brenda’s, while the other two were Burgh and Lenora. Brenda was beyond surprised to see the two gym leaders here. “Welcome to your birthday party, Brenda,” Bianca smiled with her whole face. “I tried to invite as many of our past classmates as I could, but many of them were out of town. I invited gym leader Burgh today after confirming you were acquainted.” She turned to Burgh and apologized about the last minute notice, but he waved his hand. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t have plans, and I’m always happy to spend time in good company.” “What about you, Lenora?” Brenda blurted out. “I was on my way to find you, but it just so happened that you were going to be here. Bianca was kind enough to accomodate my last minute intrusion.” “Today’s the day of last minute changes, huh?” Burgh commented, and all in the room laughed. As all of them sat down for dinner, Brenda’s Xtranceiver rang. With a little display of confusion, Brenda managed not to drop the call and answered it. “Ah, Professor Juniper! How are you,” Brenda greeted, and Bianca and Cheren, who were sitting on both sides of her, peeked over at the screen. “Happy birthday Brenda. I hope the journey has been treating you well.” “Yes, absolutely. Out of all days, today has been the. best. day. ever!” “How are you getting along with your Riolu? I hope he hasn’t given you much trouble,” Professor Juniper said with a little concern in her voice. Brenda made Ren sit on her lap and hugged him to show how close they’d gotten since they first met. Ren pushed her face away with his paw and complained with unintelligible language, but at the very least allowed his trainer to keep holding him. “See, we’re a team now. Super-bRENda-team,” Brenda smiled but her cheeks were almost sore from smiling and laughing all day long. “I’m glad to hear it. Take care, all of you,” Professor Juniper said, and she went off the screen to exchange places with another woman. “Happy birthday dear,” Brenda’s mother waved her hand. “I hope you haven’t broken anyone’s jaw yet. Remember, we can’t go around paying everyone’s hospital bills.” “Mom! Wow you didn’t forget my birthday this year either. Isn’t that like, fifteen years in a row?” Brenda teased in response to her mother’s teasing, and everyone in the room laughed at their banter. “This was the first year I actually had to remind myself. In the past, I’d always had a certain someone singing a birthday song to herself from her bedroom right at midnight.” Cheren and Bianca grinned to each other, because this was not an exaggeration in any sense. On some years she even left her window open, so her neighbors were subjected to a few minutes of melodic noise. “It might surprise you, but I was so tired from the trip last night, I forgot to follow my own tradition,” Brenda said. “So you can get tired sometimes,” Cheren commented, and incited more laughter from the crowd. “Anyway, I hope you enjoy your birthday party,” her mother said. “It was actually your father’s-” “My father!?” Brenda shouted, cutting her mother off, and jumped from her seat. Her face was beaming in excitement. “It can’t be? How is he? Has he come home? Is he the Unova champion now?” Her mind had already taken off to the imaginary land where she would meet her father again, ask him all her questions and talk all day long about his adventures, the trajectory till he became champion. More than anything, she wanted to give him a super large hug. She had greatly missed him for six whole years. “Calm down, Brenda. I can tell you’re in lala land already,” her mother chuckled. “Your father hasn’t come home, and I don’t know much about where he is or what he’s been up to. He sent me the money and an anonymous message saying that there was reason to host a party for your birthday this year, but he didn’t touch on what the reason was.” “An anonymous message? What gave him away?” “He sent his handwritten letter via a swablu. I could recognize his oddly right-leaning writing anytime, and his choice of delivery pokemon is also very much like him.” “We must send him a message back,” Brenda suggested. “I must tell him I want to see him. I hope he has a little time off between his Champion duties to come visit.” “You're jumping to conclusions again. Also, his letter unfortunately didn’t have the return address written, so we still don’t know where he is. At least I’m happy to hear from him, and I hope you are too.” Brenda clapped her hands. “Happy? I’m incredibly happy. So happy, I couldn’t describe my current state as happy,” she said. Her mother smiled at her. Her beloved child's overwhelming reaction brought to the woman much satisfaction. She then allowed Professor Juniper to come back to their field of view, and the call was dropped after Brenda thanked them for calling and they exchanged farewells. “I’m glad that you heard from your father, Brenda,” Bianca said. “It’s been what, six years? I wonder what kind of incredible adventures he could have been in, that he was prevented from communicating until now?” Bianca’s expression was dreamy, clearly influenced by Brenda’s enthusiasm. “I wouldn’t know, but bet on it that when I meet him again, I won’t let him rest until I’ve heard all of his stories.” Pokemon that worked in this particular Pokemon Center entered the ballroom and made the party even more enjoyable. A strings trio of kriketune provided lovely background music, and ambipom waiters set up a buffet-style supper- a wise choice considering Brenda and Ren’s unearthly appetite. In practice, both repeated about three times, as though they thought they could stock up food on their stomachs for future days of hunger. At the end, both were left with visible inflamed bumps on their bellies. “I guess now is a good time for opening presents,” Bianca said. She then tapped on Brenda’s shoulder, since the girl had fallen into food-induced coma. The mention of presents, though, made her sit back up right with her eyes wide open and her mind sharp as a knife. That was only moments before worry overcame her, realizing that she wasn’t holding Bianca’s present bag. Cheren deduced her thoughts after he saw her tap her pockets, look under the table, and then struggle as she tried to stand up with wobbly legs to excuse herself. “Brenda, you don’t happen to be looking for this, do you?” he asked, raising the bag he had rescued from being left on the train seat. His friend’s face relaxed instantaneously. “Ahaha, of course I knew you’d be holding it,” she said, as she sat back down on her seat. “I already opened yours, Bianca, but I’ll just take it out so everyone can see.” She showed the new shirt to everyone, and the three ex-classmates praised Bianca’s choice of present. They then handed their presents to birthday girl so she would open them. They contained a new belt, a care pack of pokeballs and potions, and a keychain. “Sorry that I don’t have a gift for you, Brenda,” Burgh apologized. “Oh no, don’t be,” she replied. “I’m glad you could come. Hope it’s been enjoyable for you too.” Burgh assured her that he was passing a great time with them. Cued to speak next, Lenora shifted a little on her seat. “I do have a sort of present for you, though it’s far from being just mine, if you will,” she explained. She held out a black orb to Brenda, who took it with much care. She inspected the orb. It definitely looked like it was made of stone, like a well-polished sculpture of a perfect sphere. Despite what it looked like, she internally wondered why she felt as though she was holding an egg instead of a rock. “Why, thank you Lenora,” Brenda said. Though she was puzzled by the odd choice of a gift, she guessed it was perhaps a normal choice for Lenora who ran a museum and was friends with artist Burgh. A compromise between geology and art, she reasoned. “That orb has been monitored for years since its discovery in the ruins under the Desert Resort,” Lenora said. “We suspect it might be one of the two stones mentioned in an ancient legend that narrates the unification of the Unova region. Yes, the dark stone, which holds the essence of the legendary dragon, Zekrom.” Brenda raised both eyebrows high, marking a couple of creases on her forehead. She could hardly believe she was holding such an important artifact in her hands, and that Lenora was giving it to her of all people. She wanted to ask why, but she couldn’t think of a sensible way to raise the question. Luckily, Lenora answered the question without her asking. “A week or so ago, when you entered the Nacrene museum, Brenda, we detected some slight waves of energy emanating from the stone,” she said. “They may seem insignificant, but it was a change from the complete silence we recorded all the previous years. It served to confirm that this wasn’t just a regular stone, unlike what our critics suggested, but that there is more to it. My hope is that if this is, indeed, the dark stone from the legend, it will awaken to its true form if it spends time with the one it shares affinity with.” “A-and you’re implying I’m one of the two… the t-two…” Brenda stuttered, but couldn’t bring herself to finish her sentence despite being considered a narcissist by her acquaintances. “Heroes,” Lenora did her the favor. “I can’t say for sure, but we can only work with the few clues we have, you see?” Brenda nodded energetically. “I will do my best to awaken the dragon,” she said. “I’ll wash it, polish it, hug it, sleep next to it…” “Let me stop you there,” Cheren interrupted. “I think just being close enough that it can sense your presence should be enough for Zekrom,” Lenora chuckled. “Though I do appreciate your spirit.” “Y-yes! I will do as you say,” Brenda saluted while holding the stone close to her. She then turned to Ren, and showed him the black orb. The small pokemon inspected the stone by sight and smell, but only furrowed his eyebrows as though he was not impressed in the least. Ignoring his facial expression, Brenda took his paw and placed it on the stone. “Don’t you think it’s the smoothest thing you’ve ever touched?” she grinned. “If I’m actually one of the two heroes of present times, then we’ll go down in history. The kids in pokeschool will learn about how awesome we were in their otherwise boring classes!” “Great, we surely needed to inflame this girl’s ego even more,” Cheren shook his head, but a smile was plastered on his lips. “A record-setting size of an ego sounds befitting of a historical figure,” Brenda followed Cheren’s joke and winked, which incited a good laughter from everyone. The evening thus passed with much conversation and laughter, filling Brenda’s heart with bliss, almost to the same proportions that her stomach was filled with food.

henlo fren and fellow spanish speaker~ hope you enjoy this large community with smol hearts, wait I mean smol community with large hearts

I also think seismitoad is pretty great, glad you chose it and also noice choice of water type starter! as for who to replace, I also think lumineon since you have seaking which is a slightly better version of lumineon anyway.

Call me a masochist but I like Ame-level puzzles xD once I figure out wtf I'm doing, they're cool but others like that magic square one... can't figure wtf I'm doing = this ain't it chief

when I was a kid, I hated victory road because it was usually dark caves and I'd be going around and around finding the way because I was a dumb kid xD but given Ame's reputation of being an insane puzzle lady, I might then be considered a dumb adult xD

ngl Heather's safety wasn't much in her mind when she made the decision to give the ring. It was more Shelly's peer pressure xD She didn't want to give the ring because she had a feeling Charlotte's theory on giving the negotiation piece away was correct... but perhaps she thought trusting a theory may not be strong motivation enough to risk Heather dying from hypothermia (which would break Shelly).

Can't be fun without a sweet jester, can it?

also, you can change natures in Reborn by paying 3 heart scales to the psychiatrist in 7th Street

Yeah Pikachu wouldn't have an issue with that, but she considers him more like a friend / moral support than a fighting pokemon. So she'll likely only use her own pokemon if she wants to make a command. In Vanilla's mind she has a distinction between teammates (the people she led back in Everland, and her pokemon team) and friends (Wolfie, Shelly, Pikachu).

This thread, before being a cheesy story about an edgy teen, it's a themed play through and I'm only allowed to use the 12 mons I (with y'all's voting help) chose in the beginning. Vanilla thought it'd add to her challenge, and also thought developing a bond with a set number of mons would make her team stronger than say, if she trained 100 mons. As you said, even Pikachu isn't technically her pokemon, hence why she doesn't control his actions (when he fights, he fights on his own accord, not because Vanilla ordered him to).

Nots a problem since she not looking to catch pokemon anyway xD also juicy frenship points with Shelly

I was highkey forced to do it because if you choose not to give the ring, Blake takes the ring from you like he was taking candy away from a child. So I asked, "which is more improbable: Vanilla getting the ring robbed by Blake, or Vanilla giving him the ring because of Shelly's nagging?" And I replied, "Vanilla would break Blake's nose before he could try to steal the ring from her, so that ain't happening bruh." Hence why I made Shelly extra-adamant about giving him the ring xD

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 54 Behold, the most filler-ish episode in the history of filler-ish episodes, maybe ever! Enjoy a jelly-filled doughnut episode on me Once I was stable again, I went to the Pokemon Center to get Shelly. However, I didn’t find her there. She had left right after arriving according to Nurse Joy, so I went out looking for her, judging she shouldn’t have left the proximity of the Center. As expected, I found her nearby, talking to a boy on the skating rink. She parted ways with him before I could reach her. “Um, I hope you’re feeling better,” she said. “I am, don’t worry.” “Before I forget,” she said, taking out a piece of paper. “I found this and t-thought you might want it.” She handed the paper to me. I took it and read the writing, which said “Battle Pass: Gravity” in golden bold letters. “This is for battling one of the Agate clowns, if I remember correctly.” “I think they’re, um, performers.” “Same thing,” I shrugged, casually remembering their banters and innuendos. “What were you talking about with the boy?” “Ah, yes, um, so I was thinking about Heather and putting the p-pieces together. Cain told us that Heather had been taken into the care of, um, Blake, and the w-woman earlier told us that the other, um, Guardian Angel had a strict caretaker. Right now, the boy confirmed to me that the caretaker’s name is Blake!” “So my conjecture was right,” I wondered aloud. “And do you know where we can find Blake?” “He didn’t tell me because he feared, um, we might tell him about Heather being the Guardian Angel. I don’t know why, but I get the impression that, um, Blake wouldn’t want Heather helping the Ametrine citizens. Even though the boy told me he is an ex-Gym leader.” “Is that so? Sounds like a jerk,” I said, and saying that aloud instantly sparked the image of an individual in my mind. “It might’ve been that man… the one with blue hair and a smug attitude.” Shelly batted her eyes, but soon after her face lightened up. “Yes... yes, it’s him! I’m really dumb for not putting two and two earlier. No wonder he reminded me of Cal… uh, s-someone I know.” I remembered Cal, for even though time had passed without a sign of him, he had been protagonist in one of the most impactful scenes since I’d come to the Reborn region. “I know Cal,” I said. “And now that you mention it, Blake shares similar features with him.” “Y-you know him? You know Cal?” “Yes, and in fact he vaguely alluded to the acquaintance with you and how it ended.” “O-oh.” Shelly didn't look very happy to know that Cal had told me about her. However, there was one thing I wanted to confirm. It was something I had supposed to be true when I met Cal at the top of Pyrous Mountain. “It was him I reminded you of, back then when we had just met, wasn’t it?” Shelly looked downward and her long bangs hid her eyes, but I could still discern a slight nodding motion. “Um… Cal and I used to be f-friends,” she said. “But I said stupid things, and, um, angered him. I just forgot t-that not everyone sees the world like I do, and so not everyone will, um, admire their older sibling like I do.” “If we always saw things through the eyes of everyone, it might save us unnecessary disputes, but it would be quite taxing on the human brain. Don’t chastise yourself, since he’s equally at fault. If he saw things how you see them, he wouldn’t have gotten angry about your supposedly insensitive comment.” “I’m just scared, just scared of angering people. That’s why, um, you reminded me of Cal. That is, b-because you always seemed to be... please don’t get mad at me... in a foul mood. You both had that aura… how should I describe it... as if you’d lost sight of your way, and were just, um, ambulating through life.” Shelly was trembling with nervousness, so much so that when I stretched a hand in her direction, she winced thinking that I might punch or slap her. I only placed my hand on her shoulder in an effort to calm her down. “You aren’t wrong,” I admitted. “Ambulating through life sounds fitting, actually. Ever since I left Everland, ever since I lost my compass, my guide, I’ve only done what I had to do to take my mind off of some traumatic events. In fact, my aim to become stronger and overthrow Everland’s Queen may be nothing more than an attempt to wash my conscience of what really can’t be amended.” “I don’t want to remind you of, um, traumatic things you don’t want to remember,” Shelly whispered. “It’s alright. Aladdin already opened that Pandora’s box for you. After that incident and my other slip ups, I don’t think much imagination is needed to conclude that many died under my command, in large part thanks to Aladdin but also because of my lack of foresight. Many people important to me,” I said. “And I could tell you the A through Z of the drama right now, but I’m seeing Blake going into a building right now. I think that’s a more pressing matter.” I pointed at the blue-haired man walking with exaggerated movement of his upper body. He proceeded, by coincidence, into the building that Aladdin had exited from earlier that day. I waved to Shelly without a word and ran over to the building. We asked the lady at the front desk about the floor Blake lived in, lying that we had business with him, and she told us that he lived in the penthouse. When we got there, we found Blake already sitting on the floor playing video games. We entered his apartment, and he didn’t even as much as glance our way. I made way for Shelly to pass, since I figured she should be the one to confront Blake after she went the extra mile to find the whereabouts of her friend. She hesitated for a moment, but then walked up to Blake with uneven steps. “Um, ugh, Blake? You’re Blake, right? Um, we know y-you’re looking after Heather,” she said. “C-can you tell us where she is?” A couple of seconds of silence ensued, and then Blake replied with a lazy “uh-huh”. That was it. Shelly waited a few more seconds, but seeing as Blake was not talking, insisted upon the matter. “So, then, um, could you, uh, please tell me now?” “Yeah.” I waited a few more seconds until I stepped in. I walked to the TV and switched it off. “Hey, what’s that for? And what the fuck are you doing in my apartment?” “You left the door open. All we had to do was take the elevator.” “And you came in just because you could, huh? Sounds like criminal behavior.” “Don’t want to hear that from someone who’s abusing a little girl,” I shrugged. “Now, tell us where Heather is, before I snap.” “Wow scary! Skinny girl in a pink dress,” Blake raised both of his hands up in an exaggerated fashion. “What are you going to do to me? Turn me into cotton candy?” “Don’t try me.” I was inches from losing it and starting the fight, especially since I was starting to see Aladdin’s odious face superimposed onto Blake’s. However, Shelly took the lead of the conversation in order to steer it away from violence. “No please. Let's just t-talk. Yes, talking is good.” Blake stood up from the cushion and stretched his upper body. “Fine. Look, there’s no need to mince words here. We already know what sides we’re each on, so let me make you a deal,” he said. “Get me the Ruby Ring, and I’ll tell you where Heather is.” “The Ruby Ring? Why, you’re one of Team Meteor, aren’t you?” I exclaimed. Suddenly, it all made sense as to why he didn’t want Heather giving out food to the Ametrine people. Team Meteor had blocked their trade route so they would starve, and this guy must have been tasked to see that their objective was crystalized. “Surprise surprise,” Blake shrugged with the same frivolous tone. “So what do you say, deal?” “Hell no,” I replied, remembering Charlotte’s recommendation of not giving into the enemy’s terms. “Eh, but Vanilla. We have to f-find Heather, and he’s the only one who can t-tell us.” “She’s right, you know,” Blake added. “But ya know what. I’ll throw in an extra prize for you. Here.” He took out a disk from his pocket, and raised it high for both of us to see it clearly. “This is the TM for Waterfall. As you can imagine, you can climb and descend waterfalls with it. You were looking for this, isn’t that right?” “I don’t know, was I?” I asked with absolute honesty. “Um, Vanilla. R-remember, um, that waterfall… The girl with the red hair, um, and a steel arm.” Indeed, suddenly Titania’s poker face flashed on the back of my mind. The whole ordeal with Aya getting captured, looking for Heather and Agate’s sleeping signal up here in Ametrine, and then crossing paths with Aladdin had all made me forget that Titania had likely been stuck down the waterfall for days. “Way to go, kid. Say what now? Deal or no deal?” “Still a no deal from me,” I replied. “Please don’t say that. Please, Vanilla,” Shelly begged me, and I felt a tiny stinging feeling in my chest. “Shelly, Team Meteor has been after the Ruby Ring, which really is Heather’s. I’ve only been guarding it because a certain annoying dragon woman thought it’d keep her sisters safe if I did. It worked in my favor as well, so I’ve been doing just that. If I give this brat the ring, he won’t have any reason to tell us where Heather is... and they might kill Aya.” The last bit of my speech surprised even myself. To think that I was now basing my decisions on the life or death of someone outside my Defiance team! However, it should have been obvious all along. I may have started this fight against Team Meteor when Florinia proposed it to me as an efficient way to train up a team of Pokemon as my new team of the Defiance, but somewhere down the path my goals intertwined with that of the Gym leaders who wanted to protect their region from the terrorists. I wondered if Florinia had tricked me, knowing from the very beginning that I would eventually have no choice than to care for the people I was fighting with. If that was the case, I knew not whether to fear Team Meteor’s leaders or Florinia the most. Thankfully, it had been quite a while since I saw her last, and I didn’t look forward to falling for her manipulation anytime soon. “Oh, and by the way, I got Heather locked up in a small hut without heating, if that helps change your mind,” Blake said, bringing me back to the moment. “How could you do that! You’re awful for making Heather, um, suffer like that,” Shelly cried. “Please Vanilla. I don’t want Heather to d-die… the cold up here is h-harsh. Please.” With Shelly in tears begging as if it were her own life that depended on it, I just could not keep my cool. I was ashamed of my weakness, but I also considered that we could still take the ring back sometime later. Even though it gave me no pleasure to remember, it was also somewhat of a consolation that wherever he was, Radomus was keeping the Amethyst Pendant, and he was on our side, as far as I knew. Aya’s life would perhaps still be spared as long as the pendant did not fall into Team Meteor’s hands. “Deal. Give me Waterfall and tell me where you have Heather, I’ll give you the ring,” I sighed. “You have it here right now?” I took the ring out of my bag and showed it to him. “I see. I’d been told that the fire bitch had it, but guess their report was wrong,” Blake shrugged, and then added as an afterthought, “Ah, that was probably vague. I meant the fire bitch that isn’t related to me.” “Don’t call C-Cal or Charlotte like that,” Shelly said, in as angry a tone she could produce. “Whatever. Here, have the TM. Give me the ring.” We exchanged items simultaneously, and I blocked the way to the exit so he wouldn’t dare escape on us until he told us Heather’s whereabouts. “Heather’s down a secret path,” he said, pressing one of the buttons on his game controller, which automatically slid a shelf sideways to reveal the way. “That’s all folks. Now get out of my way.” I allowed him to pass, and he pressed the elevator’s button. “One more thing,” I said, remembering Agate’s sleeping signal a little too late. “Where’s the origin of the sleep signal? We know it’s in Ametrine.” “My job here’s done, and if you really want to know, I frankly don’t know or care about any of that,” he said. “I take orders from Team Meteor, I execute them. I don’t care what others are ordered to do or what the group's ultimate goals are. They’re all a bunch of nutjobs anyway.” The elevator came, and Blake disappeared from out sight. I knew asking him about the signal would accomplish nothing, but it was worth a shot given how lazy he was. “Well, I guess you got what you wanted,” I told Shelly. “Let’s set your friend free.” VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS I hope it was at least a yummy doughnut! Also, linking those events (Florinia convincing Vanilla to fight Team Meteor, Cal talking about Shelly on Pyrous Mountain) almost brought me to tears. It's been so long since I started this story, and it makes me happy to see how far we've come story-wise and character-development-wise. Thanks to all who reads this because although I'd write the story because I care for it, it also gives me strength to keep it up QUICK LINK TO NEXT EPISODE

I think it gets it on the next turn like in X and Y. don't quote me on this but I have vague memories of being outsped when I didn't know mega evolution well

It would seem that your environment is just full of nasty people. I also had trust issues when I lived in Japan due to people having reason to make my life miserable (I was the target of their entertainment after all). But leaving there, I slowly began to trust again. Perhaps not blindly like I used to, but still an improvement. As for the sweet girl turning out to be a backstabber, I'm really sorry. I know second hand how that must've felt. Unfortunately it's something we can't foresee, but I wouldn't go as far as to say that you don't deserve to love and be loved. There's no such thing, to begin with. If love happens, no one will say "oh I don't love you anymore because you told me you don't deserve love". Love is but natural instinct to procreate, because evolution requires that humans reproduce. People dramatize love for whatever reason, but it's actually quite simple: you find your match, and if it isn't truly your match, you look for another. The other solution is to steer away from relationships all together like I've done, but I don't think it's something anyone can do. I wouldn't be able to do it if it weren't due to my inability to fall in love (long story short, I live in the limbo of what-ifs, dreaming of a future that could never be).

Dunno if you can see the same thumbnail for the VS Team Magma video but

Wow that sux she doesn't have a good doctor. It's a shame that these kinda doctors give physicians a bad rep. And the good ones tend to charge exorbitant amounts so gotta have good insurance. I hope your sister has good luck finding a job. I'd offer advice but I've never looked for a job since i went to grad school just to avoid it xD