Tourmaline Travels

[Azzie]

Taka's on the run from his old team and the woman who's corrupted everything he ever knew. Romi's looking for a Gym Badge, a Key, and answers. What happens when they end up as travel buddies through a large, confusing desert?
Hijinks, probably.

This is my 2020 Camp NaNoWriMo project, a sort of pseudo-novelisation of the Tourmaline Desert portion of Reborn. Except AU, because it's also a prequel to my other AU fanfic, which I will eventually stick in this thread once Tourmaline Travels is completed. (I wrote out of order, it wasn't a brilliant move on my part, but in my defense the other one was supposed to be a oneshot at first. Anyway.) I'm planning on posting a chapter per week until it's completed. Assume spoilers for everything up to and including Titania's Gym, and also be warned that I'm not holding back at all on the cheesiness. Cheesy is fun, read at your own risk.
Without further ado... 

Index:
Ch. 1 (Day 1)
Ch. 2 (Day 2)
Ch. 3 (Day 3)
Ch. 4 (Day 4)
Ch. 5 (Day 5)
Ch. 6 (Day 6)
Ch. 7 (Day 7)
Ch. 8-10 (Days 8-10)
Ch. 11 (Day 11)

Ch. 12 (Day 12)
Ch. 13 (Day 13)
Ch. 14 (Day 14)
Ch. 15 (Day 15)
Ch. 16 (Day 16)
Ch. 17 (Day 17)

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Azzie

[Azzie]

Spoiler

All of Taka's dialogue in the "prologue" section is straight from the game, and therefore belongs to Ame and not me!

Day 1
The train ride to Tourmaline Station was uneventful.
Romi was the only passenger, as the train station was not officially back in business yet; the only trips being made were to gather supplies and carry the construction workers to where they were needed. And now, on Adrienn's instruction, to give Romi a lift into the desert "on City business".
Romi had wondered about that part, at first; they didn't know why Adrienn hadn't simply told the engineers that they were after a badge. But they didn't bother questioning xem about it; the Fairy Leader was busy enough as it was. Instead they had simply stocked up on supplies- their bag was stuffed with sandwiches, berries and Pokemon medicine- and got on the train. Less than an hour later, the train slowed, and Romi felt themself tense- but nothing happened other than the engineer opening the door and checking to see if they were off yet.

It was hot . Reborn was almost always warm, anywhere that wasn't in the vicinity of Ametrine Mountain, but this was something else entirely. It reminded Romi slightly of Pyrous Mountain's thick, choking heat, although the desert air felt drier and didn't carry the volcano's scorched chemical smell. But the swirling sand in the air made it just as unpleasant to breathe, as they discovered after their first gasp left them coughing. 

 

By the time they had cleared their throat of sand, the train was gone and the gate had closed behind it. Romi wondered if they would clean the tracks every time the train passed through, once the trains were officially running. They looked around; the city wall was behind them, a mountain to the east, but little else that they could see.
They took only one step before they heard a voice, muffled but unmistakable. 

"I hoped you wouldn't come." 

They turned quickly, and sure enough, there he was. Taka Alcantara, child of Team Meteor's mastermind Solaris. And likely runaway, judging by his disheveled appearance. The anger and indignation that had been building since Romi heard his voice ebbed at the sight of him looking so miserable, replaced with a feeling of worry and something else that was too tender to go near. Romi recalled their anger- really, how dare he ambush them like this?- and brushed aside the grim edge to the comfort that settled over their shoulders as they glared at him.
 

"Romi, I'm- I'm so sorry. I have to stop you here. If I don't... they're probably already- or she's- watching us from somewhere. I don't have a choice anymore!" He rubbed his face. "As if I ever did." 

He was nearly in tears. The twinge of worry grew and flared, but Romi shoved it down with a vengeance. He was still trying to go back, to pretend. Romi's hand found first Faith's pokeball, then Betty's, and they clutched both in comfort for a moment before moving to release the latter onto the field to meet the Gliscor Taka had chosen. 
 

The battle was somewhat subdued. Neither Trainer displayed their usual level of skill, both unused to the terrain and weather, and both distracted. By the time it was ending Taka could only sigh.

"I can't win. Not against you." He recalled the defeated Klefki, who reached for his hand with one key before returning to his Pokeball, and looked out over the horizon. "...And not against them." 

Romi was still angry, but the battle had made it impossible to smother the concern they also felt. Returning Madison to her Pokeball, they simply followed his gaze. Nothing they could think of to say felt right- nothing expressed both their anger and the way it blended, somehow, into compassion. So they chose, as they often did, to simply say nothing at all. 

After a moment Taka looked over at them. "So I guess that's it. I- This'll probably be the last time you have to deal with me. Sorry, again..." He looked down and scuffed the sandy stone platform with his shoes. And then his despondent expression shifted to one that was almost thoughtful. He looked back to Romi. "I never had a choice, but you can. You've always been standing up to us. And you've always been winning. You're gonna keep doing that, aren't you?" 

 

Romi had not been expecting that. And they felt the pressure to say the right thing warring with their other instinct, which was to be entirely honest.
They had been fighting Team Meteor almost as long as they had been in Reborn, but so much of that time had been incidental. For a long time it had been other people driving the movement against Meteor, Romi only getting involved by the chance of being nearby when things broke out. It hadn't been until the mess in Beryl Ward that Romi had felt any personal drive to oppose Meteor beyond fear, of what they had done and what they were capable of doing. When they had seen what Meteor had done to the Tangrowth, and to Heather, the determination to protect others from them had finally taken root in Romi's heart. And as they fought, against Meteor and against Taka, that drive had only grown. But the fear had not gone; it had grown, too, and been mixed again with pain from all the things Team Meteor had taken.
And in this moment Romi felt all of that hit them in full force.
"I. Hope so." 
 

"Not what I expected to hear, honestly, but what else is new? I never thought anything could change, but here you are. You rocked the boat and I've fallen right out of it. And yet you're still not sure."

Romi flinched at his words. 

"So where does that leave me? When I go back a failure again, I won't get another chance. And you... you'll keep fighting anyway, whether you're sure or not," Taka realized. Again his face turned thoughtful. "...Romi, can I come with you?" 
 

Not for the first time that day was Romi surprised. Both by Taka's request and by the clarity of their decision. They were still angry- they needed that anger- but they didn't hesitate for a moment. They nodded.

"Wait, really?" There was nothing but disbelief in his eyes now. Romi nodded again. "Okay, so here's the plan. I've got absolutely no clue. So I'm just gonna follow you, okay? I'll try not to get in your way. If I can find somewhere safe to hide, I think I'll lay low there for a while. Maybe long enough that I'll get off that woman's radar. After that... who knows?" He shrugged. "I never thought I'd make it this far, I have no idea what comes next. But there's gotta be somewhere." 

"Yeah," Romi agreed. 

He seemed surprised. "I'll keep an eye out. And in the meantime, I kinda took a bunch of healing items from base before they sent me out here... so I can help you out whenever your Pokemon need healing. Like maybe now, before we head out?" He hopped off the platform and squatted before clicking a Pokeball, and Minior appeared. "Here you go, bud," he patted the Pokemon before spraying it with a Potion he pulled from his bag. Minior twirled gently before Taka recalled him.
Next came Gliscor, and once Taka had sprayed him he dove into the sand, rolling around in obvious glee, and with an amused sigh he let Gliscor keep playing while he treated first Klefki, then Komala and finally Chatot. Chatot hopped onto Taka's shoulder and made clicking sounds with his beak, watching Gliscor, and Romi chuckled.
The sound drew Gliscor and Chatot's attention, Gliscor stopping to see who had laughed and Chatot simply turning to look at them before turning back. 

"Hey guys, we're going with Romi for now, okay?" Taka asked the two. "Romi, here, take some heals for your team." 

"Gli." Gliscor rolled about in the sand some more, completely unconcerned. 
 

Romi accepted the offered Potions with a nod of thanks, and brought out first Faith, then Betty and Madison. Primarina, Roserade and Fearow watched the others as Romi sprayed them down with healing salve. Shimmer, who hadn't battled, came last, the Musharna blinking up at Romi as they petted her. Romi briefly made the introductions, although none were truly needed. These Pokemon had battled each other often enough.

"Awesome," Taka said. 

 

As Romi recalled each of their team and prepared to head off, they wondered again why they had accepted. They hadn't brought enough supplies for more than one person, they weren't even sure where the Gym was, and they were still angry. But there had only been one real choice. And once made, Romi was immediately sure it had been the right one.

It had been the closest thing Romi had ever seen to hope on Taka's face.

~~~~~
 

Tourmaline Desert was scorching hot, a fact with which both Taka and Romi were well acquainted by the end of the day. It had been a lot of trudging, fanning themselves off, and adjusting their clothes to keep sand out of their eyes, and more than once both of them had gotten a foot stuck in a patch of softer sand and nearly twisted an ankle. And through it all had been the unrelenting sun that beamed down oppressively.
At least their pace was comfortable, each finding the periodic pauses to deal with wild Pokemon enough of a rest that they could continue walking otherwise. 

By the end of the day, though, a new fact was making itself known to them. Tourmaline Desert was hot by day , but as the sun sank gently behind the mountains, the air cooled to warm, then comfortable, and then chilly. And the wild Pokemon that had been so abundant throughout the day retreated, though neither saw where they went, and Taka and Romi began to notice Flygon and Cacturne instead against the fiery horizon. Taka seemed comfortable enough, but Romi grew cold, and after one battle with a pair of Hippopotas they withdrew a sweater from their bag. 

"Hey, you okay?" Taka asked them. "It's cold out here at night. I mean, I’ve only been here since yesterday, but last night was pretty cold. You all good?" 

Romi nodded, pulling the sweater over their head.

"Okay, cool. By the way, do you have any food in there? I don't actually know what time it is, but I'm kind of hungry. Aren't you?" 

Romi paused, then opened their bag again. About a minute later, they brought out a pair of paper-wrapped sandwiches and handed one to Taka. "S'not much." 

"Hey, it's better than nothing," he replied happily, ripping off the wrapping and opening his own bag. "Here." He held out a bottle of Fresh Water, and grinned as Romi took it. 

"Thanks." They carefully unwrapped their own sandwich and sat down in the sand to eat it. Taka shrugged and did the same. 
 

The pair ate mostly in silence, each too hungry after the long day to devote any energy to conversation. Taka finished first, and sat quietly drinking his water while Romi finished their sandwich. When that was finished, Romi gathered up both sandwich wrappers and stuck them in their pockets, and the two carried on. 

The horizon dimmed, and stars appeared in the clear sky. The two continued walking, and the moon rose, a thin crescent of opal against the deepening blue. But it was not enough to see by, and eventually Romi stopped and turned to Taka, who was trailing slightly behind them. 

"Should we stop?" they asked. 

"Uh. Here?" Taka looked around and saw nothing but open sand. "There's... no cover, they could find us... Do any of your Pokemon know Flash? We could get somewhere safer." 

Romi thought about it, then shook their head. "What about this?" They pulled out their Pokegear, and aimed it toward the ground. A faint white glow poured out from the screen.

"Again, better than nothing," Taka shrugged, and they continued walking. 

 

After another hour, however, they were forced to admit defeat. The only thing they had found that wasn't sand or wild Pokemon was a boulder, roughly as tall as Romi and twice their height across. Taka immediately gravitated towards it.

"This'll work," he announced, inspecting the boulder and the area around it. "Not as good as the ruins, but it'll hide us a bit. Come check it out!" 

Romi did, shrugging. It looked like any other boulder to them. 

Taka slung his backpack onto the ground beside it and sat up against it, stretching his legs out. "Man, I didn't know how tired I was."

Romi was tired, too, though they didn't want to admit it. They stood against the cool stone, letting it support them as they reached into their bag and withdrew a Fire Stone.

“What’s that for?” Taka asked.

“It should keep us warm,” they replied. Fire Stone was set aside as Romi withdrew the paper wrappers from their pocket and arranged them in a small circle on the sand. They placed the Fire Stone within the circle, and looked back to Taka. “Stand back.”

He stepped back, still watching curiously, and Romi took a deep breath and blew on the stone.
The papers erupted into flames, and Romi stepped back as well.

“...Well, gotta admit I didn’t see that coming.” Taka said, staring at the small fire. “Where do they teach you that, anyway?”

“Camping,” Romi said, a hint of a smile on their face. “I bought a few for the trip.” 
 

“I mean, someone might see it, but… better than freezing to death, I guess.” He yawned.

"I'll take first watch," Romi said. 

"Wait- really? Uh. Okay, thanks. Wake me up when you get tired." He unwound his scarf once and tucked the end under his head like a pillow, then curled up against the boulder. "...Dang, this sand is hard ." 

Despite that, it was less than ten minutes before Romi heard a quiet snore, and looked down to see Taka sound asleep. 

They smiled for a moment. 
 

The night passed without any sign of either danger or comfort, for either of them. Taka jolted awake several times, sometimes with a yell, and every time he did so it startled Romi, who kept awake by tending the fire. The low flames kept them warm enough, and it seemed to discourage the lurking Pokemon from approaching, but it was not an easy task to keep it going. Romi, who had not been camping since early childhood, kept accidentally letting the fire die and having to relight it. And fanning the Fire Stone was itself tiring. When Romi caught themself nodding off for the second time they woke Taka, who despite waking up on his own several times was not an easy person to rouse. He slept through whispering, calling and nudging his foot, and did not wake until Romi carefully shook his shoulder.

He yawned. "Oh hey. Thanks, Romi." 

They were not sure exactly what time it was, or how long it took them to get to sleep. Later, Romi was fairly sure they had not so much fallen asleep as passed out. But their sleep was dreamless, and they did not especially notice the discomfort of the ground as they slept.
 

 

[Azzie]

Day 2

Romi woke up to a loud screech shortly before dawn, when the darkness was thinning and the stars looked slightly more faint against the sky. Romi sat up stiffly. Every muscle in their body hurt. 

Taka was standing against the boulder, looking into the distance. He looked alert, but thoughtful, and when he heard Romi's movement he looked down. "Morning." 

Another Pokemon cry rang out, one Romi recognized as a Marowak. Taka shrugged. "They've been going for a while now, surprised you slept as long as you did." 

"So'm I," Romi mumbled. "Guess we should head out before it gets too hot." They dragged themself to their feet and brushed the sand off their clothes. 

"Good idea," Taka agreed. "What time is it, anyway?" 

Romi checked their Pokegear. "5:30." 

"Okay." He grabbed his bag from atop the boulder- Romi hadn't noticed it up there before- and scooped sand onto the last coals that remained. Then he nuded the dim Fire Stone out of the sand with his shoe. "You still want that?" 

Romi picked it up and looked at it critically, then pocketed it. "Might as well." They swung their own bag, which felt twice as heavy as usual, onto their back. 

"Wait," Taka said. "Shouldn't we eat first? Most important meal of the day and all that?" He looked downright alarmed, and Romi fought back a laugh. Then their stomach let out a low, treasonous gurgle, and they conceded the point. 

They ate as they walked, Qualot sticks and bread cut off a loaf Romi brought out. After a rest it seemed to help more than the sandwiches had done, and even Romi began to feel a bit more energetic. It was nothing to how alert Taka seemed, however. 
After an hour of walking Romi could not help commenting. "Must've slept well." 

"Better than the night before," he agreed. "But also I was scouting around and I found this bag of Pop Rocks in the sand. They were kind of melted together, but still good." 

"...You ate them?" 

"Hey, the bag was sealed, and food's food. Sorry. Next time I'll leave you some." 
This time Romi did laugh, and Taka grinned. "But seriously, how did they even get out here?" 

The pair encountered another sandstorm just as it was beginning to be hot again, and they found it helped the heat a bit, though the tradeoff was that it was harder to breathe. It was worse than the one they'd encountered the previous day,  stinging their hands and faces until Taka thought to wrap his scarf around his nose and mouth. Neither dared speak as they walked, and so it was without words that they decided to forgo stopping for lunch. So they trudged on, through the sand and wind, occasionally getting surprised by a Pokemon hiding behind the sand's veil. Time seemed to lose all meaning.

Until suddenly, the sandstorm grew thinner, and they saw something unbelievable beyond it.

Taka saw it first, stopping and reaching out to get Romi's attention. When he saw them looking, he pointed slightly north, and Romi followed his gaze. They looked back and Taka nodded, and they adjusted their course. 

Green in the desert was not to be ignored. 

It was not long before it came into greater view, the sandstorm diminishing until it was no more than a calm breeze making ripples across the ground. A clump of green in the near distance, lush and bright against the dull tan and reddish sands. It looked like a small forest. 

They picked up speed.

The closer they got, the more unbelievable it looked. Not only were there trees, but grass growing, and colourful spots that looked like Berry bushes. And when they were almost upon it, they could see the reflections of water, shining on the underside of the palm trees. 
They both ran after that. 

"Is this real?" Taka asked when they were both standing at the edge. What they had come upon was a thin grove of trees and deep green bushes, surrounding a clear pond that reflected the sky. Tiny Finneon darted below the surface of the water, and bright berries dotted some of the bushes. Romi was staring with open wonder.

At Taka's words, Romi tentatively reached forward and touched the grass. It felt cool and solid and real, and it continued to do so when Romi plucked a blade and rubbed it between their fingers. 
Taka took that as a good sign, running up and rubbing the bark of a tree. 


Romi squatted at the shore, opening their bag and withdrawing the empty Fresh Water bottles they had used over the last two days. When they leaned forward to fill the first one, however, a spark of blue light flared at their waist, and with no more warning Faith appeared next to her Trainer. 

"Priii!" she cried, diving into the water and completely soaking Romi. When she resurfaced a few moments later, Romi and Taka were both laughing, the former watching her affectionately. She swam to their side and chirruped happily, and Romi ruffled her hair. 

"I guess she smelled the water," Romi told Taka. "Hey, Faith." 

"Hey," Taka greeted her. The Primarina waved a flipper in his direction before diving back into the water and swimming quickly off to investigate something that had caught her eye. 

"I guess this would be a good spot to let our teams out," Taka thought. "Uh. If you want." 

"Good idea," Romi said. They went a bit farther along the water's edge to give Taka more room, and clicked the three still-closed Pokeballs. Betty, Shimmer and Madison appeared. Madison squawked in confusion, and Betty looked around as if to locate the threat. Romi crouched down to reassure them, and quietly asked if they wanted a stretch and some food. Betty immediately ran off to explore, and Romi grinned as Madison and Shimmer discussed the matter before heading over together to investigate one of the berry bushes. 
They looked over at Taka, surrounded on all sides by his own Pokemon. He was laughing as Chatot sat on his head and Komala clung to one leg like a tree, while Klefki, Minior and Gliscor took off on their own to look around. 

Faith poked her head out of the water, saw the happy humans and Pokemon, and whistled.

Romi had their hands full keeping an eye on Betty. Faith couldn’t go far, and they knew Shimmer would keep Madison out of trouble. But Betty was excited, quick, and the little Roserade blended well into the leaves she was investigating. So Romi kept their eye on her as they collected water in their empty bottles, and when they had finished they called out to her to not go far. 
Madison, clearly misunderstanding the instruction's intended recipient, flew over to land in the water near her Trainer. Her beak was purple with berry juice, and she dipped it in the water before turning to preen herself. Betty, however, poked her head out from behind a tree, and ran over to Romi. 

“Raaa,” she trilled. “Rose!” And she took one of Romi’s hands in both of her own flower buds and attempted to pull them toward the tree. 

“What’s up?” they asked her, and with a glance to make sure Shimmer was still nearby- she was- they followed Betty. When it was clear Romi was coming, Betty let go and ran ahead. 
Romi understood why a moment later. On the other side of the tree, half-buried in the grass and earth, was the golden glint of a Light Shard.

“Good find,” they told Betty, picking her up. She cuddled into their arms and rested there as Romi brought her back to where the others were.

Shimmer was floating next to Taka’s Gliscor, who had ventured over and was having some kind of conversation with her. On the ground next to Shimmer was a decent-sized pile of berries. 
Taka came over at almost the same moment.

“Oh, that’s where- oh hey, good idea,” he said, noticing the berries. 
Shimmer hummed with pride, and Gliscor nodded, smiling. 

“I can’t believe this is all out here,” Taka shook his head. “How does it even keep growing, with all this desert around?” 

“Oasis,” Romi shrugged. “And Betty found a Light Shard over there.” 

“A wha?” Taka asked. 

Romi frowned. “Light Shard. Glowing gold thing?” 

“...Okay, sure, ” Taka said. “Anyway, I got my water refilled, but maybe I should get some of those berries too.” 
One of the berries floated up and hovered in front of Taka’s face. Shimmer turned to him and trilled a question. 
Taka and Romi both grinned, and Taka took the berry from the air. “Thanks.” 

“I can help too,” Romi offered. 

As it turned out, the other Pokemon were also happy to help, especially with food. Even Faith, who did not want to get out of the water, reached a few Pecha Berries that were hanging over the pond, and then supplemented them with some pretty rocks she found. Clearly proud of herself, she deposited them all on shore and then watched as the others hunted for Berries and twigs to use for a fire. 
The rest of them searching together managed to find about as many as Shimmer had; she seemed to have been plucking from every bush she saw. At last they put the full pile together and split it in half, and then simply rested.

The sun began to sink lower in the sky, and Romi began gathering their water bottles together. But when they looked back at Taka, he shook his head. 
“There’s lots of shelter here, might as well just stay until morning.” 


As the night fell around them, Romi pulled out their used Fire Stone and fashioned a little pile of twigs around it, like a tent. They took some of the stones Faith had brought and set them in a ring around the twigs. It looked like more of a campfire than the crumpled sandwich wrappers of the previous night had, and it hadn't even been lit yet. 

Taka was doing something off on his own, Romi wasn’t sure what, but they were not at all bothered by the chance to be alone with their Pokemon. Faith had pulled herself up on shore and was napping after her afternoon swim, and the others were hopping around nearby. It was a comfortable quiet, free of the awkwardness that sometimes filled the silences between Romi and Taka as they walked. 

As Romi blew on the Fire Stone, willing it to heat up and ignite the twigs, they heard some small hops behind them, and Madison’s neck stretched over their shoulder to see what they were doing.  “Fea?” 

“Careful, Madison, I’m trying to get this fire going.” They took another breath and watched as the stone glowed brighter under the air. 

Madison chirped, and Romi felt her head leave their shoulder. They fanned the air with their hands, trusting their Pokemon to get back safely.

Several things happened then. A sharp gust of wind blew from behind Romi, the fire stone glowed brightly, then stopped as it, the twigs, and the rocks went flying in the wind. The rocks rolled only a few feet, but the twigs were scattered, and the Fire Stone landed somewhere in the underbrush. 

“Roww!” Madison crowed proudly. 
Romi turned around and saw her, wing outstretched and looking at them hopefully. 

“Madison, you- oh,” Romi realized. “You were trying to help. Thank you. It was just a bit too strong,” 
The Fearow hung her head, and Romi ruffled the feathers on it. “It’s okay. You’re a good girl. I can fix it anyway.” Madison leaned into the petting, then hopped off and began collecting the twigs she had blown away. Romi quickly put the rocks back, then went to search for the Fire Stone. 
Eventually they found it, glowing dimly against some ferns, and brought it back to the small fire pit.

There was already a fire going. 

Taka sat next to it, Chatot on his shoulder. When he saw Romi he waved. “Oh, nice, you got some wood too?” 

“How-” Romi held up the Fire Stone. “How did it start?” 

“Chatot did it,” Taka said, leaning his head against the little Pokemon. “Guess I forgot the little guy knows Heat Wave.” Chatot puffed out his chest. 

“Oh.” Romi looked at the dim stone in their hand and pocketed it. “Good job.” 
Madison spat out her beak full of twigs and looked sadly up at Romi. They squatted beside her and kissed her head. “You did a good job too.” 

The fire was much stronger than the previous evening’s, and the food much better. They left Romi's rations untouched and instead grilled berries over the fire, for themselves and all of the Pokemon. Despite the small fire, everyone managed to gather around it, even Faith wiggling over to investigate when she smelled the cooking fruit. The Pokemon did not seem at all uncomfortable with each other, although Romi had a distinct and unpleasant feeling that Chatot didn’t like them. They couldn’t be sure, but it seemed that every time Romi looked his way, the little bird was staring at them. It could have been Faith, though; she was more subtle, but more than once Romi caught her making faces at Chatot. 

Romi quietly told her to cut it out.

It wasn’t long after he finished eating that Taka finally began feeling the weight of tiredness settle over his shoulders. The lack of sleep and the long trudge through a heavy sandstorm had taken their toll, and the
gentle weights of Komala in his lap and Chatot on his shoulder, both dozing, made him even sleepier. 
He looked over at his cohort. Romi was scratching something in the dirt with their finger, their Musharna- Shimmer, her name was- watching intently. Taka tried to make out what they were drawing, but he couldn’t without disturbing his Pokemon. Romi looked at Shimmer and said something quietly to her, and she made a low whistling sound, gesturing at the drawing with her snout. 

Since they had arrived at the oasis, Taka had mostly been concerned with gathering supplies and resting, but it had been difficult not to notice the change in Romi. They had always seemed- not exactly tense, but more focused. If Taka had no idea what he was doing, Romi was the opposite; they always seemed to know exactly what they were doing, and never really wavered from that, nor lingered for longer than was necessary. They were kind, certainly; the very fact that they kept showing up to heal what Team Meteor tried to destroy was proof enough of that, and he could see their concern for their Pokemon in the way they battled. But there had always been an intensity to them, and Taka could see absolutely no sign of that intensity now. Since they had arrived at this oasis, surrounded by their Pokemon, Romi seemed… relaxed. And watching them interact with their Pokemon, it made him smile. Reminded him a bit of himself.

Taka felt Komala shift in his lap, and he petted the little Pokemon between his ears. He understood how Romi felt. Being surrounded by his Pokemon was calming, and it helped take the edge off his fear of Team Meteor catching up with him. 
Actually…

“Hey, what do you think of letting our Pokemon stay out tonight?” 

Romi looked up from their drawing, and considered it. “What if wild ones attack?”

“Gliscor and Minior are nocturnal, they’d let us know,” Taka said. “Besides, most of ‘em are asleep already anyway. And I think they like being out with us.” He grinned at Komala in his lap. 

Romi glanced around them at their team cuddled up against them, then over to Taka with his own, and smiled. “Think they do.” 

“Great,” Taka said. “And if anyone comes, we’ll know about it. You’ll look out for us, right?” He reached behind him to where Gliscor sat, and rubbed his head. 
“Sco sco,” Gliscor said, tucking his head under Taka’s arm. 
“Thanks, buddy.” 
Minior floated in front of Taka and spun, glowing faintly yellow and making a sound like wind in a cavern. Taka held up a hand, and Minior gently flew into it. “High five.” 

Romi laughed, and Faith stuck her head on Romi’s lap at the sound. 

Arranging to sleep took longer than the night before, but it was much nicer, too. Each arranged leaves in a soft pile, some distance apart, along the water’s edge. Romi set four smaller piles next to theirs, and showed
Faith, Betty, Shimmer and Madison where they could cuddle in. Taka simply made his own pile larger, and set down his scarf for Chatot. 

With nobody staying awake, they doused the fire, Faith happy to sing water to it until it was nothing more than a patch of mud. Minior discarded his stone shell and hovered over Taka’s pile of leaves like a beacon, shining enough light for them all to see to get into the makeshift mattress. 
Taka reached up and patted him. “Night, Minior. Thanks again.” He flopped onto the leaf pile and then helped his other  Pokemon settle in next to him. Klefki and Komala cuddled against his side, and Chatot settled quickly on the scarf. Gliscor stood on his tail next to the leaf pile, looking alert and proud. 
“Thank you, too, Gliscor,” Taka said. “Night guys. Night, Romi!” 

The sight of Taka there, surrounded by his Pokemon and smiling up at Romi, made their heart skip a beat. They smiled back, reflexively, before turning away. 
“Night.” 

They held up their Pokegear and hurried to their own leaf pile. Faith heard them coming, and whistled a question. 
“I’m fine,” Romi told her. “Night, guys.” 


The leaf pile was much softer than the desert sand had been, but it was a long time before Romi got to sleep. Their mind was buzzing and their stomach was full of conflicting emotions, and in the end they fell asleep with two thoughts in the foreground. The first was about how the leaves were somehow more comfortable than the sofa at Agate Circus.

The second was, ‘I thought I was over this’.

[Evi Crystal]

It's written very well and wonderful

[Azzie]

(Warning for mention of suicide. Also, essentially all of Taka's dialogue from that part (regarding everything in Beryl Ward) is lifted straight from the game, so credit for that belongs to Ame and not me!)

Day 3
Romi awoke with a surprising amount of weight on their legs. When they opened their eyes,  Faith was sprawled out across their feet. Betty was nestled into the crook of their arm, and Madison had spread her wings out across all of them. Shimmer, seeming to enjoy the warmth, had curled up above Romi’s head.
The sun was well on its way up, although without moving and disturbing their sleeping Pokemon they couldn’t tell exactly what time it was. It was only a few moments before they decided they would have to anyway; the circulation in their legs had been cut off, and both of their feet were asleep.
They wiggled, but nobody woke. It wasn’t until they reached out and gently patted Madison's wing that the Fearow moved, and she woke up slowly, stretching her feathers out and nearly poking Romi in the eye with one.
“Morning, Madison,” Romi said groggily. The gentle commotion was enough to wake everyone else- except Betty, which didn’t surprise Romi. She had run around quite a bit the previous day, after all. But it was easy enough to gently slide their arm out from under her and greet the other three members of their team.

Romi stood up carefully and looked over to Taka’s campsite. They could see Klefki clearly, glinting in the morning sun, and what looked like Chatot hopping about. They approached, and held back a chuckle. Taka’s Pokemon were all awake, even Komala crawling up a nearby tree. Taka himself, however, was not. Gliscor waved drowsily to Romi when he saw them.

“It’s okay, you can sleep,” Romi told him. “Thank you.”

“Scor,” Gliscor murmured, already settling down on the leaf pile- next to Minior, who seemed to be asleep already.
Romi grinned and gathered up the last of their belongings. Chatot, they noticed, was watching them warily, but he didn’t seem as confrontational as the night before. Romi figured they’d take that as a good sign... unless it was just because Faith wasn’t staring back.
When they had finally gathered everything, and Betty had woken up and wandered over to see what her sisters were doing, Romi went back over to where Taka lay, still sound asleep. They took a step toward him- then stopped, and looked down at Chatot.

“Hi. Can you wake him up?”

Chatot considered this, and tilted his head toward Romi. “Tot?”

“Um. Please?”

Chatot bobbed his head. With a couple of hops, he was in front of Taka. “Chat. Wake up! Wake up!”

“Nnnghwizit” Taka muttered.

“Wake up!” Chatot repeated with a squawk.

Taka groaned and opened his eyes. As soon as he took in his surroundings and remembered where he was, he bolted into a sitting position. “What time is it?”

Romi pulled out their Pokegear. “About eight.”

“Yeah, we should move on,” Taka said. “Thanks, Chatot.” He gently patted Gliscor and Minior awake. “Time to eat, guys.”
The promise of food woke them quickly, and before long they were all chowing down on the Tamato Rolls Romi brought out and drinking from the cool pond.

When they had finished, Romi petted each of their Pokemon. “Gotta go now, so back in your balls for now, okay?” 

They all made sounds of assent, so Romi clicked each of their Pokeballs and returned them to their belt. They knew almost at once that Taka must have done the same, because it was quiet again, in a way it hadn’t been since they had arrived at the oasis.

“Man, I’m gonna miss this place,” Taka said. “But it’s too open. Not really a good place to stay hidden.” Romi nodded. “Well, here we go.”

They began walking, and when they were passing the Light Shard Betty had found, Romi pointed it out.

“There,” Romi said.

“...There what?” Taka asked. “Grass?”

“No, the Light Shard,” Romi grinned. “Like I said yesterday.”

Taka looked from them to the ground with a frown. “That wasn’t some weird joke?”

The grin slowly slid from Romi's features. “This isn’t?”
The two looked at each other, confusion in each face, as it slowly dawned on them that neither was trying to make a joke.

“You seriously don’t see it?” Romi asked. “Gold, glowing, about waist high?”

“Romi, all I see is that tree,” he said. “You’re kind of freaking me out. What’s a Light Shard?”

They were silent for a few moments. “...Never mind,” Romi shook their head. “Let’s go.”
They put their hands to the dusty golden star. A pleasant warmth ran through their body, and Romi felt the faint ache in their muscles ease. They also felt an immediate sense of confusion. The sun seemed to be shining more harshly on their skin the moment they touched the Shard, and when they looked up, the tree they had been standing beneath was gone.
The entire oasis was gone.

“...What just happened?” Taka asked. “You saw that too, right? The entire place just… gone?”

Romi nodded. It did not particularly surprise them.

“When you touched that… thing I can’t see. It was real though, right? It wasn’t just a mirage? If it was just a mirage, we couldn’t have…” He dropped his bag and brought out a bottle of water. "The water’s still here.”

Romi continued to stare, not entirely hearing him. Since coming to Reborn they had seen a lot of strange things, but an entire pond and several trees disappearing at once was perhaps the strangest yet. And it felt… bad. In a way they couldn’t explain, it 

hurt them to see the oasis gone. And what about the Finneon? They found themself worrying about them, too.

“Sad,” Taka said finally. “But probably good, really. No chance of her finding the campsite now, anyway. At least we got some food.”
But Taka was staring where it had been, too, and Romi wondered if it bothered him, too. The thought that it might made Romi feel worse, until they caught themself thinking it and briskly shut it out of their head.

“Yeah,” Romi muttered. “We should go.”


The day was fortunately free of sandstorms, but that did mean that the sun beat down intensely on both of their heads as they walked. Taka once again questioned his sanity in wearing a thick scarf into the desert, but he left it where it was. After the spook he’d gotten that morning, he was happy for whatever comfort he could find, and the scarf was a comfort, even if it was also making him about ten degrees hotter.
The scarf was not the only thing that made him wonder about his sanity. Something had happened that morning, back at the oasis, and he had no idea what. He’d tried a few times to bring it up with Romi, but every time he had, they had shrugged and changed the subject. He could tell it had spooked them, too, though. They’d thought he was joking, about not seeing the thing. And he couldn’t console himself by saying Romi was the one seeing things, because that oasis had certainly disappeared as soon as they’d touched… whatever it was. 

He wasn’t sure how long they’d been walking for when Romi stopped and frowned at something on the ground. They bent over and picked it up- and Taka laughed.
A package of Cotton Candy.
“More?” Romi asked.

“I think there’s someone throwing them off Beryl Bridge. That’s gotta be it, right?”

“But look. It doesn’t even look melted. How?” Romi raised an eyebrow at the clear plastic of the wrapping. “What do they put in this stuff?”

“Well, it revives fainted Pokemon,” Taka grinned. “So probably not just sugar?”

“I guess,” Romi took a last look at it, then slipped it into their bag.


Taka was quiet after that, uncharacteristically so. Romi wondered about it. At first they were content to simply let him be with his thoughts, but when an entire half hour had passed without him saying a word, they decided to ask.

“I was just thinking about that guy. You remember that guy that was with me and ZEL when we fought in Beryl? Back then, people were saying you killed him.”

Romi froze, but Taka didn’t seem to notice. “He wasn’t the friendliest guy. He never seemed to stick around that much, and he argued with Sirius all the time. But still… you wouldn’t do something like that, right?”

He looked, and Romi closed their eyes. “I… didn’t. But in a way it was my fault,” they said.

They opened their mouth to say more, but in the next moment the ground rumbled, and a pair of Dugtrio sprang up, one on either side of the pair.
They were easily dealt with- Betty and Klefki quickly sent them tunneling away. Taka found he wanted- needed- to hear more, to understand what had happened. But Romi’s concentration, or maybe their courage, seemed to have been used up. Taka watched them as they walked, and they seemed to be deep in thought- but they didn’t look happy. It was the first time the idea had occurred to him, that their quiet could be from nervousness, or something other than simple choice.

“So what’s your secret,” he asked finally. “Is it why you don’t say much?”

Romi looked surprised for a moment, then shook their head. “Just don’t always have much to say.” There was a pause, then they continued. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know him. Corey, I mean. But… he was a Meteor. Hurting people. So I didn’t think. It didn’t matter. Not until after.”

“What happened?”

“He was found out,” Romi told him. “Heather was there. He blamed me. Then we fought, in the Gym. He flooded the gym with poison gas, and I told the police where he was. And then he… jumped.”

Taka frowned, but he found himself relieved by the answer. “But you didn’t kill him.”

“Maybe not. But I didn’t think, either.”

Taka shrugged. “It sucks. But sometimes thinking’s hard, y'know?”

Romi nodded. It was.


The rest of the day passed uneventfully, for the most part. The heat had tired them both out, so the setting of the sun was a great relief. They could find no shelter- not even a boulder this time- so when it grew too dark to see they stopped and made camp where they were.
Taka pulled some twigs out of his bag, and grinned. “Glad these stayed too, at least.”
He let Chatot out, and the little bird Pokemon chirped in disappointment when he saw there was no battle awaiting him.
“Sorry, bud,” Taka said. “But can you help with the fire again? There’s a seed in it for you.”
Looking considerably happier, Chatot opened his beak and the pile of twigs erupted into flames.
“Good boy,” Taka grinned. “Here you go.”
Chatot took the Miracle Seed and nibbled at it intently, not reacting when the rest of Taka’s Pokemon joined him outside of their balls.

Romi followed suit. Faith, when she saw that there was no battle to be had and no water to rest in, gave Romi a wounded look and climbed onto their lap. Romi laughed, and Shimmer nudged Faith with her snout.

The sand was just as hard as it had been before, but Romi had brought some of the palm leaves, which had miraculously not been crushed by their bag. Faith jumped to one immediately and began cleaning the sand out of her fur.
Romi fell asleep almost instantly, Taka noticed, and this time they hadn’t even bothered trying to make their Pokemon a place separate from them. Shimmer made a soft humming sound in her sleep, not unlike a purr, and Taka wondered if the Musharna's presence was why Romi was sleeping so well.
Refreshed from their stint in their Pokeballs, Minior and Gliscor played while the others settled in for sleep. The rapidly moving light from Minior was a bit disorienting, but Taka figured it might help keep the other wild Pokemon away. And he'd certainly slept through worse.

“Night, guys,” Taka murmured, taking one more look at the stars before closing his eyes.

[Azzie]

(Please note that Taka's dialogue around the tree was taken directly from the game, although in a slightly different context. So all credit for that goes to Ame and not me!)
Day 4
They were woken by pelting sand before the sun had even fully risen over the mountains. The first thing Romi was aware of was something cold pushing against their arm, and when they opened their eyes they felt sand sting them. They sat up and rubbed the sand out of their eyes, and kept them closed as they reached for whatever the cold something was. 

“Kii!” came the alarmed response, and as Romi felt the small shape of Klefki they hastily opened their hand and their eyes. 

“Sorry,” Romi told the little Pokemon. Klefki smiled and held out one of his little keys, and guessing what he was after, Romi  shook it with their fingers. 

“Kii,” Klefki chirped. He made some cheerful-sounding jingling noises as he shook hands as best he could.

It was only then that Romi realized their own Pokemon were gone from their side. They shielded their eyes with their hand and looked around, sighing in relief when they saw all four of them over where the fire had been, through the blur of the sand. 

They stood up, and then remembered Klefki. “You want a lift?” 

“Klef,” he replied, and hopped onto the hand they held out. 

Romi carried him over to where their other Pokemon were gathered near Taka and his team. Faith whistled happily when she saw them, and Taka turned and grinned. 
“He woke you up, huh? Thought we should probably take off before this gets worse.” Taka gestured to the whirling sand. “Faith’s already chased off a Krookodile that wandered too close.” 

Romi laughed, and carefully handed Klefki back to Taka. “Good girl, Faith.” 

Klefki hopped into Taka’s hands happily, and Faith rushed to tuck her nose under Romi’s arm. “Priii,” she complained. 

“Yeah, let’s get going,” Romi agreed. 

They walked along in silence again, the sandstorm discouraging conversation. But Romi found it easier to breathe, and to see, by holding their head a certain way. It was a relief, and Taka too seemed to be having an easier time of it, with his scarf over his nose and mouth. The wind died down eventually, and with it, the sand. 
Around two o’clock by Romi’s Pokegear, they found a single tree growing out of the desert.
 It was not a tall tree, not like the palms that surrounded the oases, but short and sturdy, with lush, leafy branches sticking out in all directions. The deep green leaves were thick and shiny, and contrasted starkly with the large clusters of soft pink blossoms that were scattered throughout the foliage.

“It’s weird,” Taka said, staring at the tree, “but everywhere I go looks amazing to me. Even the sandstorms. But I mean, check this out. I’ve never even seen trees like this.”

“Me either." Romi ran their hand over a leaf, and then squatted down by its base. There were fallen petals in the sand, half-buried, and Romi scooped up a handful and sifted the sand out. The petals felt dry and papery in their hand. 

"Hey, good idea," Taka said, squatting next to them. He plucked a few of the fallen blooms from the sand and shook them out. "Souvenirs." 

Romi smiled. "It's nice." They carefully placed their petals in their Pokegear case, pressing them behind the device.

“It is,” Taka agreed as he watched. “...Maybe this is what living for yourself is about.”
He put his own petals gently in an empty Potion bottle, and packed it back in his bag before they moved on.

They made camp that night between a pair of boulders, which they welcomed, if only for the possibility that it might shield them from sandstorms if any picked up in the night or in the morning. It even hid the fire from view, from some angles, which seemed to relieve Taka's anxiety a bit. They slept soundly, and when they woke it was to clear skies once more.

[Azzie]

Day 5
They travelled on, crossing a stretch of dunes that tried Taka’s climbing skills. He complained about sand getting in his shoes, and Romi got their leg stuck in a soft spot that took them ten minutes to dig it out of, refusing help all the while.

At the top of the largest dune in the area, Taka put out his arm to stop Romi from going any further. "Look!" 
Romi followed his point. Down in a low part beneath the dune, an Excadrill and a Marowak were fighting a Hippowdon and what looked like a bright, emerald-hued Krookodile. The sun glinted on Excadrill's hands and head, but the shiny Krookodile seemed to capture the light in its own way as well. The two Trainers stared at the battle.

"Haven't seen a wild shiny in- well, ever," Taka said quietly. 

"Want to catch it?" Romi asked. 

"...Yeah," he grinned. "Come on!" 

They made their way down the dune, each slipping occasionally from their haste. The skirmish moved in and out of view as the Pokemon dove in and out of the sand, but the glinting of the sun on Excadrill's blades and Krookodile's bright hide made it easier to follow. 

By the time they reached the area, however, the Pokemon had gone. 

The pair searched for a while, and managed to find the Hippowdon sleeping its injuries off, but after nearly an hour were forced to conclude that the Krookodile had gone. 

"It's fine," Taka shrugged. "Guess that's what I get, thinking something was going my way." 

"Taka," Romi frowned. There was gentleness in their voice, a gentleness Taka hadn't heard directed toward any human- or, he should say, almost never. He remembered, twice before, hearing it. It made him stop. 

"No, really, it's okay. And it's not like I'm not grateful to you for dragging me along. That's not what I'm saying. Just my usual lousy luck, y'know?" He laughed halfheartedly.

"You don't have to be grateful." They shook their head.

Again, Taka was surprised. "Don't see why not, but whatever. Let's keep going, maybe we can get away from these dunes by tonight." 

"We're helping each other," Romi shrugged.  

They did indeed manage to get free of the dunes by the time night fell, and by the time it grew too dark to see they had made it to another rocky pile. Romi began to drowse quickly, and Taka suggested they get an early rest. 

"I'll handle the fire," he assured them. "Don't worry about it." 

Reluctantly Romi allowed themself to drift off, and Taka sat with Chatot on the lowest of the rocks to wait until the fire died down. 

Missing the shiny Krookodile had been disappointing, definitely. But it hadn't really bothered him for very long. He was used to disappointment, yes, but more than that he loved his team, and honestly, Gliscor was probably stronger than that Krookodile anyway. The disappointment had faded a bit behind the wonder of seeing a Shiny Pokemon in the first place.

But Romi- they'd seemed sad. Or worried, maybe. They'd even gotten closer to that Hippowdon than Taka had thought exactly wise, hoping to find the Krookodile nearby. That itself wasn't too surprising. Romi did reckless things all the time, things like breaking into Meteor bases and diving down waterfalls after relative strangers. Or standing up to his father. 
But it was different, being on the receiving end. And hearing that disappointment in their voice over something bad that had happened to him. 

It was sort of like they cared. Like they were friends. 

He found himself smiling at the thought.

[Azzie]

(Please note that a lot of dialogue from this part is taken straight from the game! Essentially all credit for Taka's dialogue up to 'Around sunset' goes to Ame and not me, minus his reaction to Romi's shrinekeeper comment. I hope you enjoy!)

Day 6
"Do you hate my father?" Taka asked as they walked the next day.

Romi stayed silent, considering the question. They knew, this time, what the right thing to say was. But it was not the truth, and they found were not interested in lying. "He's hurt a lot of people," they said finally. "I don't know how to forgive that."

Taka nodded, looking more tired than disappointed. "I know he's not a shining beacon of morals. But at least he's always followed his own ideals. That's something I could never do. Well, not until now, at least."

Romi was unable to silence the little voice in their mind that reminded them that Solaris' ideals had led to more than one innocent person and Pokemon being killed. They chose not to voice this thought, however, and stayed quiet, sensing that Taka had more to say.

"Now... what even are my ideals? I've never really had a chance to figure it out. I thought I was just supposed to do what I was told and deal with it. And then I just couldn't," he shrugged. "I kept thinking about getting out of there. And then I hated myself for wanting to. It's such a mess."

"What about now?" Romi asked quietly.

"Now? I want to make it out of this desert alive. And... I keep thinking about getting that woman out of there. She's... corrupted Team Meteor. Both our means and our ends. Did you know Team Meteor wasn't always like this? Before she showed up, we just looked after the Citadel."

Romi nodded. They could see it.

"Dad said his parents were more like shrinekeepers than anything."

Unbidden, the thought of Taka and his father- and then Sirius, Lin and Terra- in Kantonian shrinekeeper garb popped into Romi's head. They had to bite their tongue to hold back a laugh, but something must have shown on their face, because Taka frowned.
"What is it?"

Romi could do nothing but tell the truth. "Just... picturing all of you dressed as shrinekeepers," they admitted, laughter pushing through their voice. "With the little brooms and everything."
Taka laughed, and Romi stopped trying to hold back their chuckle.

"I mean, we've got a lot of weird clothes in storage, who knows? But if there were brooms, those are long gone. And I can't see Terra ever wearing anything like that."

"No," Romi agreed.

"Man, she's crazy. Everyone talks about her like she's this technical genius, but whenever she comes around we end up having to repair a ton of stuff. But Lin always insists she stays anyway."

"I don't know much about her," Romi said. "I think she's trapped in her computer now. Somehow."

Taka nodded. "Heard something about that. You went in after her, though, didn't you? What was that even like?"

"...Strange. Unnerving. There were some books..." They still weren't sure what to make of those. "Does Terra really have a Mewtwo?"

"Excuse me, a what?"

"No, then," Romi sighed in relief. "There were Porygon living in there, though."

"Now that I can believe," Taka nodded. "You catch any?" Romi shook their head. They'd been too much on guard, and too confused about the copy of the Citae within Terra's simulation, to even think about it.

"Just as well. Who knows what she's done to them in there?"

After the incident with the Krookodile, Romi decided not to mention that all of them had been shiny, and simply shrugged.

Around sunset, Romi caught a glimpse of trees on the horizon, and it stopped both of them in their tracks. They looked at each other, looked back at the distant forest, and broke into a grin.
Of course, it was far enough away that they could not run the entire distance. By the time they could clearly see that it was, in fact, an oasis, both had been forced to slow down. 

"We didn't turn around, right? That's not the same place... reappeared or something?" Taka puffed.

"I don't think so," Romi shook their head. "But we can check."

They walked the rest of the way, stopping only twice to battle some nocturnal Pokemon that were waking up and felt like a spar. The second time, Shimmer and Komala noticed the oasis, and once recalled to his Pokeball after the battle Komala immediately manifest once more. Shimmer refused to go back in in the first place, pointing with her snout and humming with excitement. She hovered slowly ahead of them, and Komala surprised everyone present by calling out to her and, when she approached him, hopping onto her back. For the rest of the walk to the oasis, Shimmer and Komala led, Komala looking happily around and Shimmer seemingly content to have a passenger. 

They reached their destination quickly after that. With a trill Komala hopped off the Musharna's back and climbed deftly up a tree, still somehow managing to carry his favourite log with him. Shimmer whistled goodbye and then wandered off on her own to explore. 

The oasis felt blessedly familiar, but there were differences. The pond was curved differently, and there was a tiny island- more of a sandbar really- in almost the exact centre. And while the first oasis had been dotted with lush Pecha and Rindo Berries, the bushes here were smaller and packed densely with the smaller red Leppas.  Still, Romi thought it best to double check. "I'll check my Pokegear." 
It was then that they learned that the battery of their Pokegear had finally gone out.

They prodded at it as they released the rest of their Pokemon, and it was a sign of how happy the Pokemon all were to be back among plants and shade that not one stopped to investigate what their Trainer was doing. 

"Did you have a map on there or something?" Taka asked after his own Pokemon were let out and Chatot nestled comfortably on his shoulder.

Romi shook their head. "Pictures." 

"Of the other one? Hey, good idea." 

"Not exactly," Romi shook their head, looking around for something. When they found a twig, they began drawing in the dirt, and Taka was reminded of when he had first seen them do so. 

"We came this way," Romi said, drawing a square and a line leading away from it. "And the oasis was here, and..." They continued drawing. "I had more, But we've been going east, I think. I don't think this could be the same one." 

"Oh hey. Glad one of us is keeping track of where we're going, at least." Taka hovered over the sketch. "Where was that tree, then, on this?" 

"I think about here? Somewhere on this line, anyway," Romi poked a dot in the dirt. "It was- wait. Have we really been out here a week?" 

Taka thought back. "Maybe. Sounds about right." 

Romi frowned. "...Hm." They opened their bag and rustled around in it for a few moments. "Good thing for these berries, or we'd be out of food by now." 

"...I mean, we could always see if someone would throw us some more candy off Beryl Bridge," Taka suggested, and his deadpan expression made Romi laugh. 

"Eating candy gets old quickly," Romi shook their head.

Taka stared. "Are you talking from experience there?" 

"Not mine," Romi said quietly, and grinned. "Cain tried it for a few days." 

This time it was Taka's turn to laugh. "What happened?" 

"Ciel made him stop. There was plenty of food, he just thought it would be fun."

"Strange kid." Taka smiled. "...Brave, though. Starting over on his own like that. I guess we've all done that now, though, huh?" 

Romi thought, then nodded. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes before they heard a loud whistle. Frowning, Romi looked over the pond- and grinned. 
Faith was perched on the sandbar, nose in the air, and when she saw them looking she sent large spheres of water up into the air. Each time she blew a larger one, she whistled. And when the first one popped, sending water splashing down on top of her, she cheered and clapped. After the second bubble popped she turned to make sure they were still watching. When they clapped, Faith squealed happily and sent another bubble drifting into the air.

"She do this often?" Taka asked, not taking his eyes off the performance. 

"She loves to show off," Romi smiled. "Especially in the water." 

Faith sent another bubble into the sky, then formed a bright rose-coloured ball that glowed faintly in the sunset. When the ball connected with the bubble it burst in a shower of water and light. 
Romi clapped loudly and Taka cheered for her, and they could hear the sound of other Pokemon- distinctively Madison, Klefki, and Betty- reacting as well. Even Chatot seemed impressed. 

"Good one," he squawked.

Faith was delighted. She clapped and dove off the sandbar, swimming quickly toward her Trainer on the shore. 

Chatot realized in time what was going to happen; Taka did not, and Romi simply embraced it. Chatot flew off Taka's shoulder with alarm less than a second before Faith surfed to the shore and tackled Romi in a very wet hug. 
They laughed and returned their Pokemon's embrace. 

Taka, caught in the wave of water that brought the Primarina to shore, stood with his arms out in shock for a moment, sopping wet- and then laughed, as Faith chattered in excitement and Romi answered, happily reiterating what a good show it had been. 

Chatot, taking refuge on a tree branch nearby, laughed too- though Taka noticed the little Pokemon was looking directly at him. 

"Laugh it up, buddy, it's hot out here and that was nice," he said. 

"Sorry," Romi said, still smiling. "Faith, careful, okay?" 

Faith turned to Taka, suddenly looking worried. "Rii?" 

"It's okay," Taka said, grinning at her. "You did good." 

She perked up at that, butting her head against his hand happily. Then she gave another whistle and dove back into the water, splashing them much less than her wave had done. 

Taka removed his scarf and wrung the water out of it, but he still seemed more amused than upset, so Romi let him be and went to check on their other Pokemon. 

They found Betty playing with a fallen palm leaf, and Madison nearby hopping after a smaller leaf that was being blown along by the wind. Romi gave them each a pet, and continued along looking for Shimmer. It was not particularly hard to find her; pink and purple were not colours known for their camouflaging ability, and Romi found her drinking from the pond a little way from the rest. When she saw Romi's reflection, she took one last drink and looked up at them. 

"It's okay, just checking," Romi told her with a pat. 
She hummed, licked Romi's hand with her tiny tongue, and went back to drinking. 

As Romi walked back they picked up what berries they could find, holding them in their sweater and depositing them in a pile when they reached where Taka- and the rest of Romi's Pokemon- were sitting. Taka looked much dryer, and was fixing up a firepit when Romi arrived. 

"Got some more food," Romi said, by way of greeting. 

"Awesome," Taka turned to see, and his eyes lit up at the idea of food. "I'll finish here, then come help." 

"It's okay," Romi waved. They opened their bag and retrieved their sweater, tying knots in the drawstring and sleeves until it looked more like a sack than a sweater. Betty tugged on one of the knotted sleeves curiously. 
"Gonna get some berries," Romi told her. "Want to come?" 

Betty thought about it for a few moments before plopping down next to the pile of Leppa Berries and grabbing one to munch on. Romi smiled. 

"Okay. Save some for us." They carried the makeshift bag off. 

The first time they crouched to pluck more berries, they found they had some unexpected help. Gliscor and Madison, following unheard behind Romi, helped pick some of the bigger ones off the bush, and shortly afterwards, Minior floated past and cried out when he found some more Aspear Berries hidden on another. The four of them worked that way until Shimmer found them on her way back, and joined Minior in scouting ahead. 
When the bag was filled, Romi announced to their companions that they had probably taken every berry in the area, and it was time to return. 
Shimmer trilled, and Romi felt a tug as she pulled on the sweater full of berries with her psychic power. Cautiously, they released their grip, and Shimmer yawned as she lifted the bag  slightly higher into the air and turned back toward the camp. 

"Thank you," Romi said, receiving a hum in response. Madison sidled up closer so Romi could pet her, and Gliscor rather surprised them by doing the same on Romi's other side, tucking his head under their hand. Minior floated ahead of Shimmer, starry tips luminous in the gathering dusk. When they arrived back at camp like that, Taka laughed. 

"Guess you didn't need me after all." 

"Pretty sure we got every berry in this oasis," Romi grinned. "Thanks, you guys." 

Minior's yellow tips flashed, and he flew over to investigate the fire that Taka and Chatot had set.

The two Trainers cut Berries for everyone, and ate them with the last bit of semi-stale bread Romi had in their bag. It was not the nicest meal ever conceived, but it was filling enough, and there were plenty of berries left over- even some Pechas from the first oasis they'd found.

When the sun had fully set, Faith at last emerged from the water and ate, sprawling comfortably on the grass. 


It was a quiet evening, everyone tired from the journey, and after food Taka and Romi mostly focused on finding leaves to lay on. Betty helpfully brought over the one she had been playing with, and before too long everyone was prepared to sleep. 
Romi found Chatot sitting next to their camping pile, looking up at them. 

"Hi," Romi said. "Need something?" 

Chatot hopped closer, and stuck his head out toward them. Surprised, Romi held out a hand.
And the little bird pushed up against it. 

Romi was more than a little surprised. It had been days since they had last caught Faith and Chatot making faces at each other, but even since then the Pokemon had mostly kept to himself, never paying Romi much attention at all. And they'd certainly thought he would avoid them after Faith had nearly drenched him, and had drenched his Trainer.

Then again, they did remember Chatot laughing at that.
 
Romi petted the little Pokemon's head a couple times before he hopped out of the way, but before he left he looked at them, and there was something very like kindness in his eyes. Romi felt their heart grow warm. 

"Night," Romi called out, loudly enough for Taka and his Pokemon to hear them. 

"Night, Romi," Taka called back. "...Night, everyone." 

Shimmer whistled back, and it wasn't long before everyone fell into a gentle sleep. 

Their rest did not remain gentle, however. In the middle of the night, Taka woke up with a jolt from a dream he could not quite remember, and immediately felt a heavy gust of wind. As he woke up further, he realized that a wind storm had picked up and was tossing dirt and sticks everywhere. The first thing he did was return Klefki and Chatot, who were struggling not to be blown away themselves by the wind. Romi woke soon after, and while their Pokemon were okay, they had been woken by a stick hitting their face, and thus were not in the best of moods. 

The two did the best they could to protect their little campsite against the wind, but the storm was unpredictable, the wind coming from no one single direction. Neither was sure what time they got back to sleep, but it was interrupted afterwards every so often by particularly great gusts. 

 

(Bonus:)

[Azzie]

(Please note that Taka's warning about "another base" is taken right from the game, All credit for that goes to Ame and not me!)

Day 7
By the time morning came, the sky was still cloudy, and both Taka and Romi were sore, tired and slightly grouchy. Taka was concerned, as well, about the stick that had woken Romi, which now that daylight had come he could see had left a long gouge across their cheek and the side of their nose. 

"It's fine," Romi mumbled. "It just startled me." 

"Well, wash it, at least," Taka told them. So Romi did, refilling their water bottles while they were at it. Taka did the same, and they prepared to head out. But after they had both returned their remaining Pokemon and Taka started walking, Romi spoke up.

“I’ve got an idea,” they said.

“Yeah?” Taka asked.  

“Come with me.”

Romi led Taka around the perimeter of the pond, eyes scanning the underbrush. It didn’t take long; the pond was small, after all, and the Shard was not especially well hidden. Romi saw it, at last, surrounded by tiny blue flowers and sparkling under the rising sunlight. 
It looked beautiful, and Romi hesitated. It was a shame to disturb it. But- it had been a long night. They were tired, and Taka looked exhausted too. Romi stepped toward it and gestured for Taka to follow.

“It’s amazing,” Taka said. “The sunrise…” 

“There’s a Light Shard,” Romi told him. “There, in the flowers.” 

His eyes darted instantly toward them. “Romi, what’s a Light Shard?” 

“I don’t know,” Romi said quietly. “It’s a gold… spike of some kind. When you touch it, it heals you, and your team. Then vanishes. They’re all over Reborn. You’ve really never seen one?” 

“Yeah, no,” Taka shook his head. “I think I’d remember that.” 

Romi closed their eyes. “Okay.” They pointed again. “Can you put your hand there?” 

Taka obliged, and waved his hand around. "Like this?"

In spite of themself, Romi grinned. “Your arm is right through it,” they told him. 

Taka withdrew his arm and looked at it. “Weird. Sorry, but... I just feel the air here, nothing weird. You said it’s supposed to heal you?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Well, you should go for it,” Taka suggested. “Better one of us tired than both, right?” Remembering, he looked back at the trees. “That’s what made it disappear before, right? All right, it’s been fun.” 

“Yeah,” Romi murmured. “Thanks.” They looked back, too, and found themself sad, once again, to be leaving it. The wind had not been entirely pleasant, but the rest of it... had been. 

“Ready?” Taka asked, 

“Okay,” Romi said. 
They stepped forward and lay their hand on the Shard. There was a bright golden flash, and when it faded, there was nothing but sand as far as the eye could see, and Taka and Romi standing there trying to blink the spots out of their eyes. 

“Man, I am not going to get used to that,” Taka shook his head. “It’s- hey, Romi, your face!” 

Romi frowned and rubbed their hand over their face. “What?” 

“The scratch is gone.” He laughed. “It actually worked. There's actually some weird thing in these places that I can't see but... seems to help you out just fine.” 

Romi, despite their swirling thoughts, could not help but smile too. “You think I was lying?”

“No,” Taka said honestly. “But I mean... come on, you have to admit it's weird.” 

Romi shrugged. "Maybe." 

"Fair enough," Taka laughed. "I guess 'weird' is a bit subjective anyway, when it comes to Reborn. Come on, let's get moving before it's too hot." 

"Okay," Romi agreed. 
They glanced back and smiled. Taka had been right. The sunrise was no longer reflected in water or shining in shafts through the trees, but it still looked beautiful.

 

At some point that morning, the hazy air in the distance began to look somewhat different. The one blessing of the windstorm was that it had taken some of the heat off the air, and as a result the distance looked a bit clearer- and darker- than either of them had seen before. Cautiously they kept on, and by afternoon they could see the distant, towering peaks of mountains.

"So you said you were looking for a Gym?" Taka asked. "Is it in the mountains?"

Romi shook their head. "I don't know. Northeast was all I was told."

"It's Stabby's Gym, right? Mountain might make sense."

Romi frowned, remembering for the first time in a while why Taka had been sent here in the first place, and shrugged. "Right. Figure Team Meteor has better things to do than keep tabs on me, though."

Taka laughed. "Romi, you have to admit you've wrecked most of their bases by now. Not that you were wrong. But there are posters warning about you. They kind of want to keep track."

"I guess," Romi said absently. Then they looked at Taka and grinned. "Posters? Really?" 

"I have no idea who makes them," he laughed. "But they're like wanted posters. The grunts are supposed to just stall for time if you show up. But I think some of them would just take off." 

Romi shook their head, and looked at their feet. "That would explain a few things."
For a moment Taka had the urge to reach out to them, to put his hand on their arm. It was such a strange thought that he made a face. Where had that come from? He shook his head. Probably just that Romi didn't usually look so... lost in thought, he supposed, but there was sadness there, too.
He thought maybe he understood why.

"You, uh, okay?" he asked. 

"Fine," Romi said. "Just thinking." 

"Oh. Um, for what it's worth, I'm sorry about Devon. I only heard about it secondhand but... it sounded pretty awful." 

"Yeah." Romi looked consideringly at him. "...Thanks." 

For the rest of the day the mountains did not seem to get any nearer, and near dusk a sandstorm picked up that almost blocked them entirely from sight. But not completely, and by the time the pair decided to settle for the night the sand had mostly died down again. 
After Chatot lit the fire, Taka looked at Romi, playing with Betty in the sand, and felt conflicted. He didn't want to bring it up, especially while things were so calm. But for a reason he didn't really understand, it felt important. 

"Hey, Romi?" 

"Hm?" 

"There's... another base besides Labradorra, that you haven't been to yet. They'll probably try to lure you there, and... I think this is probably a stupid thing to say, but... don't go. It won't end well if you do. And I don't mean for Team Meteor."  There was no trace of laughter in his voice now, just sadness and resignation. 

Romi was quiet for a few moments, and Taka wondered if they had even heard him. But eventually they spoke. 
"Why?" 

"I don't really want to get into it," Taka said. "Just. If they try and lure you, don't go." 

"How would I know if they are?" Romi asked. "If I don't know where it is?" 

Taka half-smiled. "Romi, please. You'd be on your way there in a second if I told you, and... like I said, it wouldn't end well." 

Romi sighed. "Okay."

They settled in to sleep, Taka quickly, Romi a bit more slowly. But even they did not take long, and soon the only sounds at the campsite were snores and the occasional chatter of Gliscor and Minior as they kept watch.

[Azzie]

(Please note that Taka's dialogue about Bennett, and asking about Luna, are taken straight from the game! Credit as always to the lovely Ame!)

Days 8, 9, 10 because they're all small
They awoke to a bright sunrise and the discovery that Betty was missing. 

Romi felt worry well up in them; Betty had been on their chest when they went to sleep, and aside from her, none of their other Pokemon had shifted at all in the night. Minior and Gliscor had been on guard as usual, but neither had seen Betty leave or anything else come near. They helped look, however, and Romi's worry was just beginning to spiral into true fear when Madison screeched and pointed with her beak. Romi looked where she was pointing- and there was Betty, waddling peacefully across the sand holding something shiny.

Romi ran to her. Betty looked up happily and stretched out her floral hands, offering Romi what she had found. "Rose!" 
The object dropped into Romi's palm, a surprisingly heavy round medallion with a star pattern on it. It was dirty and looked quite old, but bits of it shone like new copper. 

"What happened?" Taka asked. "She okay?" 

"I think so," Romi said. "Betty, what happened?" 

Betty gestured wildly, squealing as she did some sort of dance Romi couldn't understand. Then she reached for the medallion again and skipped in place before once more offering it to her trainer.

"...You know what she's saying?" Taka asked, skepticism written across his features.

"General idea," Romi said. "I think she just found it. Betty, if you want to take a walk, wake me up, I was worried. You need to stay close at night, okay?" They held out the medallion, and Betty took it quietly.

"Ro," Betty whistled, looking down. 

"It's okay," Romi told her, and picked the little Roserade up. Betty leaned her head against Romi's cheek. 

Taka stared. "You know how much sugar there is in those Cotton Candies? I think watching that was the equivalent of about three of those." 

"Not my fault," Romi smiled.

They ate quickly and then prepared to take off walking, Betty still clutching her medallion even when it was time to go into her Pokeball. It didn’t seem to be doing any harm, and Romi figured Shimmer would’ve noticed if there was something off about it, so they let her hold onto it. 

As the day went on, the distant mountains grew clearer and clearer, towering yellowish stone against the sky. Romi found two more packages of candy in the sand, and Taka found a third; they held onto them and wondered again just where it all came from. They camped that night in the shadow of a strange square boulder, atop which Faith perched and entertained everyone by pretending to be a statue. Gliscor joined in, and before long the statue act was cast aside as the two Pokemon began playing and chasing each other.

They all fell asleep easily and woke up, once again, to a sandstorm. 

“Not gonna lie, I won’t miss all this sand when we get out of here,” Taka said, after a battle against a wild Hippowdon intensified the storm even more. 

“No,” Romi agreed. 

Gliscor, dealing the finishing blow against the Pokemon, looked indignant, and Taka laughed. “I’m glad you like it, at least.” 

By that night, they were fully in the shadow of the mountains. 

“Hey, uh, Romi? You don’t… want to climb that mountain, do you?” Taka looked warily at them as he waited for their answer. 

Romi shook their head. “Adrienn said it’s in the desert. Not up a mountain. Might be at the base, though.” They grinned at Taka's sigh of relief.

“I’ve never actually met this Adrienn, but I gotta say, I’m grateful for that bit of info.” 

“I am, too,” Romi said. “Didn’t you meet xem?” 

“Nah,” Taka said. “I didn’t even hear about all that ‘til later. I think Elias just kind of found xem there. Although that reminds me, I think someone in Meteor really has it out for you. More than usual, I mean. Mostly kept to himself, but as soon as El brought him on he was just always talking about how he was going to teach you a lesson. It was kind of weird, honestly.” 

Romi thought for a moment. “Bennett?” 

“Think so. What did you do to him, anyway? I mean, it’s none of my business, haha, but I just always wondered.” 

Romi shook their head. “I was at Luna’s Gym, and he wanted to talk to her. I... honestly just wanted my badge. He made me battle him first, and he lost, and when Luna didn’t want to talk to him he blamed me.” 

“Luna?” Taka asked. “...Man, it’s been a while. Is she… doing okay?” 

“I think so," Romi said. “I haven’t seen her since we battled.” 

“That’s good, if she is,” Taka said. “Hey, if you ever see her, tell her… never mind.” 

“What?” Romi asked.

“She was one of my only friends growing up. And then she ran away...I kind of think it’s my fault she’s become as delusional as she is. If I hadn’t been born, she wouldn’t have had to be in that position.” 

Romi gave him a skeptical look. “It’s your fault you were born?” 

“Still.” 

“No,” Romi said. Their serious expression made Taka half-laugh. 

“Okay, sure,” he said. “But I hope she’s doing okay. She was kind of like the little sister I never had, y’know?” 

“So do I,” Romi agreed. 

Taka gave them a wondering look. It was not the first time Romi had tried to defend him from himself. But it was the first time Taka had wondered, even for a minute, if they might be right. He still felt responsible, in a way, for Luna. But it was weird how... possible it seemed, that he might be wrong about himself.
Had coming out here really changed his perspective so much?

When they were ready to sleep, Taka once again noticed Chatot hop over to say good night to Romi. This time, he followed the little Pokemon.

"Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for earlier," he told them. "It... felt good to talk about it." 

Romi nodded, petting Chatot's head absently. "You can talk, out here." 

"Heh, I guess I can. This is the first time in... I don't even remember. Years, maybe? Anyway, thanks. Again. Oh, hey," he added, scratching Faith's nose when she reached her paw up for attention. 

"Marii," Faith trilled. 

Chatot gave Romi an affectionate chirp and flew to his Trainer, clearly wanting his attention. Taka grinned and patted both of the Pokemon. 
"So yeah. Night, Romi. Come on, bud, let's go rest," he told Chatot. 

"Night, Taka," Romi said quietly, their voice still enough to be heard across the short distance between them. Faith whistled a goodbye and flopped over to drape herself across Romi's lap. Romi hugged her, laughing into her fur at her antics, and that was enough to bring their other three Pokemon around, hoping for their own good night hugs. 

[Azzie]

Day 11
The next morning, without really discussing it, Taka and Romi decided to follow the line of the mountains to the north. It seemed a likely way to find the Gym, and for most of the morning the mountains shielded them from the harshest of the sun's rays. The wind was calmer, too, and without sandstorms or baking heat their walk was quite comfortable. They even stopped, around noontime, to watch a trio of young Sandile playing, staying quiet until they had left to avoid drawing their attention. 
 

They moved on, stopping again only to fend off more territorial wild Pokemon and when Romi, after walking for an hour with a rock in their shoe, finally stopped to remove it. 

A sandstorm kicked up from the west shortly after dusk fell, around the same time as the mountains veered eastward in a sharp curve. They settled just inside the dip, beside a small dune that protected them from the worst of the sandstorm. It did not take long, even with the sand, to fall asleep, and the last thing either of them saw before slumber fell on them was Gliscor playing happily in the dune as if it were water.

 

Spoiler

This is the tiniest update ever, I know. I promise I have a good reason, though. Originally I wanted to package this part in with the next, which is the first half of a sort of two-parter (and even by itself longer than any chapter I've posted so far).  Unfortunately the editing process on that one has been giving me a fair bit of trouble, so I decided on impulse tonight to post this by itself. I hope you enjoy, and I also hope editing goes smoother from here on so I can get the next chapter up soon!

 

[Azzie]

(Please note that a whole bunch of Taka's dialogue here is taken straight from the game. I can't pinpoint the exact places, because there are a lot of little ones, but all credit for that goes to the lovely Ame!)
Day 12
The sun rose, and the party woke to find that the storm had died down in the night, and that Gliscor had nodded off at some point. Minior flashed in amusement when he saw the two trainers grinning at his dozing teammate.
 

They climbed to the top of the dune to reorient themselves, each wishing- though Taka was the only one to voice it- that they had followed closer to the mountains so that the eastern ridge would again protect them from the hot sun. But it was driven from their minds when Romi pointed across the desert field to the opposite side of the mountain curve, where the ridge continued going in roughly the same direction they had been following since yesterday. 

The air was hazy, but it was clear to see- a great cave mouth.
 

Romi grinned as they pointed it out, and Taka felt himself mirror the expression.
"You think that's your Gym?" he asked. 
 

"Don't know," Romi said. "But let's check it out." 
They began making their way down the dune, and Taka followed behind, wondering what exactly waited for them across the sandy plain. 

The sun was harsh, pouring down on the desert and baking the sand and anyone unfortunate enough to be walking across it. But the two travellers did not feel it as harshly as usual, drawn onward by their own curiosity and wonder. They got into only three skirmishes with wild Pokemon as they traveled, and though they had never really had trouble with them before, today it seemed even easier. Or perhaps the Pokemon in this area were simply not quite as feisty as in the more open, exposed areas of the desert. Either way, the journey was almost pleasant, and each caught the other looking forward more than once with a smile on their face. 
 

At last they stood before the entrance, a gaping hole in the sand that led into the largest dune they had yet seen, near but not against the foot of the mountain. It was quiet for a moment, as the two stared into the dim-looking cave.
Then Romi stepped inside. 

Taka eyed the unstable-looking arch of sand above the opening, but Romi's entry hadn't caused any sort of reaction, so quickly-  carefully- he followed after them. 

Romi had to stop again, once they were inside. It was the strangest thing they had ever seen. The cavern was massive, far larger than it had looked from outside. A wide shaft of sunlight lit the sand in front of the opening, and beyond that, Romi could see a number of grassy patches, and even some short, leafy trees scattered throughout the cavern. The walls and ceiling were dotted with large flowers that glowed in hues of pink, gold and red, the ceiling grainy and domed and arching up from the entrance.
When they looked back, Taka was staring upwards in similar bewilderment. 

"A cavern in the sand, huh?" he said. "I'm not sure how this place doesn't cave in on itself, but then again, I could say the same about- wait, Romi, do you see one of those Light Shard things around?" He looked around furtively.

Romi scanned the cavern, but there was no telltale glow to signal a Light Shard, and they shook their head. 

"Okay, if you see one, don't touch it." He looked up at the ceiling again. 

"I won't," they told him. "I'll tell you if I see one." 

"Okay, well," he said, "seems good. I guess we'll be less likely to be found in here. Doesn't look much like a Gym, though." 

Romi shook their head. "It's pretty." 

"It kind of is," Taka agreed. "I've never seen a tree underground before. Or flowers that glow." He went toward the nearest of the trees, but was stopped when the sand ahead of him shuddered, and a Gigalith tunneled out in front of him. 

Romi hurried to catch up, and they battled the great Compressed Pokemon, watching afterwards as it fled through a shallow pit in the sand neither had seen before. It had been strong, much stronger than any of the other Pokemon they had faced that day, and Shimmer actually fainted before Faith and Minior took it down and the Gigalith took off into the sand.

Romi and Taka explored the cave, both filled with curiosity. The flowers, they discovered, were not flowers at all, but bioluminescent mushrooms with strange spiky growths emanating from their bases. Between them, they bathed the cavern in a faintly orange light, enough for Romi and Taka to see the many shallow pits in the sand, where the sand flowed like air at the slightest disturbance. 

They did not need to search for very long before they realized that there was very little else to find. None of the trees or bushes bore fruit, and the only thing either of them found was, inexplicably, a package of Red-Hots. 

"I'm starting to think these things grow out of the sand," Taka deadpanned.

Romi grinned. "This one's out of the way enough." 

"It's weird," Taka agreed. "Never seen grass like this. So what do you think this place is, anyway?" 

Romi considered. "Duranthill?" 

Taka looked up at the sandy ceiling. "Good an explanation as any. Let's just hope there's no weird Bug Pokemon queen in here waiting to make us her servants." 

Romi looked at him in confusion, and he shrugged. "Read it in a book once." 

"I've never heard of a Durant queen, or-" Romi stopped speaking, and when Taka looked back, Romi looked about half as tall as normal. 
Then he realized. They were buried up to their waist in a sand pit, and were silently, intently trying to dig their way out. 

"Uh. Romi? Here, I'll help," he said, crouching down to help dig. Panic was setting in, in contrast with Romi's suddenly calm face, and he scraped away at the sand as Romi slowly sank deeper and deeper into the pit. 

"I'm trying," they said quietly, shoveling sand as quickly as possible, and Taka realized they were just as afraid as he was.

"Okay, it'll be fine- wait, Gliscor," he remembered. "Gliscor, go!" He released the Pokemon, and before he had finished materializing Taka told him, "Buddy, help me get Romi outta here!" He grabbed Romi by the arm, no longer trying to scrape sand away, and pulled upwards. Gliscor screeched in alarm, and grabbed the back of Romi's shirt with both claws. 
Before he could take to the air, however, Taka felt the sand around him grow looser, and he held tighter to Romi and pulled upward once more. And in a single quick motion, they were pulled completely beneath the sand, and Taka was pulled with them. 

Terror gripped Taka as his face was buried in sand- and then, an instant later, he and Romi fell through air and landed roughly on a hard surface. 


"You okay?" Romi asked. 

When Taka was reasonably sure the wind had come back into his lungs, he opened his eyes. Romi's face, dimly lit but very near his own, was looking at him with concern, and he realized he was still holding onto their shoulder. 
He let go quickly. 

"I think so," he said. "What th-" 
 

"Glii!" 

Taka's Pokemon swooped down from above, looking frantic. Taka could see a fragment of Romi's shirt still in one claw as the Gliscor landed in front of him, clicking and buzzing anxiously. Taka reached up to pat him, realizing with relief that he could still move his arms. 
"I'm okay, buddy. Romi?" He turned and found Romi clambering into a sitting position. Their white hair was completely full of sand, but they seemed otherwise unhurt, and Taka let out a sigh of relief as Gliscor turned to fuss over them, too. 

"I'm okay," Romi said. 

The room they had fallen into was another cavern, much like the one above but somehow even larger. There were several more of the strange, glowing mushrooms scattered about, casting the same soft light around them. When Taka looked up, he could see loose pockmarks in the ceiling, a few of which were showering sand gently down in a fine dust. 

Romi, beside him, looked completely bewildered. 

"Well, we're never getting out of here now," Taka said. "Dibs on the left side of the cave." 

Gliscor began chattering anxiously again, and Romi shook their head. "There are stairs." They pointed, and sure enough, a wide stone staircase stretched upward from the farthest end of the cavern. 

"I was kidding," Taka said. Both Gliscor and Romi looked at him skeptically, and he sighed. "Okay, so I didn't see it, but that's a relief. Want to check it out?" Now that the fear was fading, he found his curiosity flowing back. There was something strange about this place. He thought he could understand, now, why Romi had looked so excited to come here before. 
 

Romi thought for a moment, then smiled. "Yeah." They pulled themself to their feet, and went to offer Taka a hand, but Gliscor had already picked up his Trainer and set him on his feet. 

"Thanks, both of you," they said. 

"Eh," Taka shrugged. Gliscor pushed his head against Romi's hand, and offered them the piece of shirt he'd accidentally ripped. 

Romi laughed. "Thanks, Gliscor. Let's check out the staircase." 

"I doubt there'd be stairs in a Duranthill," Romi commented as they walked. 
 

"Yeah," Taka agreed. He hadn't said much since they landed, and he was looking at the stairs curiously. 

"You okay?" Romi asked again. 

"Yeah, I think this place is just- something seems weird." Taka shook his head. "I'm probably just scrambled up from the landing. Don't worry about it."  

Romi frowned, but said nothing as they continued across the sand toward the stairs, Gliscor ahead of them flying happily around the open cave. His presence, at least, seemed to deter the resident Pokemon from coming to investigate them.
When he reached the stairs, he flew back, chattering at the two Trainers to hurry up. Taka chuckled and swatted at his Pokemon, and Romi felt themself smile. He was all right enough to play with Gliscor, at least. 

The stairs were dark and wide, with more than enough room for the three of them to go up side by side. They were carved from the same grainy stone as the cavern walls, and sloped upward through a shallow tunnel of rock. Gliscor's ears swept the top of it, and he complained before landing and scampering up on his claws.

At the top, they all had to stop and stare. The cavern ended a short distance in, and instead, a massive brick wall reached from the ground almost to the ceiling. There was a gap between two stretches of wall, a crumbling statue of some kind on either side, and what looked like another set of stairs.

As he stood there, the hazy confusion that had been fluttering at the edges of Taka's thoughts since he had fallen through the sandpit surged. And he realized why this place seemed so strange.
"I think I know this place." 

He stepped forward, staring at everything. He walked up to the closest statue, and ran his hand over it.  "Romi, come look!" 
They hurried over, and Taka gestured to the statue. "I was here before. It wasn't broken then... how long ago was it?" 
 

"Glii?" Gliscor asked, nudging Taka's hand with his head. Taka scratched the Pokemon's ears. 

"I think it was before we met, bud," he said. 

Romi had gone over to the other statue, which had also crumbled, and stooped to blow the dust off. Taka came over and looked. 

"There's an engraving... I don't think I can read it, but I definitely recognize it. Why?"  He walked over to the gap between the walls, and placed his hand on what he could see now was not a staircase at all, but a steep stone ramp. 
It wasn't right. 

"There should be stairs here," he told Romi and Gliscor. "I guess they've flattened out to keep others out again.... Again?" He frowned. "Romi, can we look around some more? There should definitely be a way to get through here." 

"Yeah," Romi nodded. 

They looked around the inside of the room again, but could find nothing, and were forced to conclude that the answer must lie somewhere else in the cavern. As they walked back down the stairs, Romi spoke quietly. 

"What is this place?" 

Taka shook his head. "I... don't know. I don't even know when I was here. I've got all these weird memories in my head that I can't figure out." 

When Romi didn't say anything, Taka continued. "Like these stairs, I definitely remember them, and up there... there's something there, Ro, but I can't remember." He looked around the room as the staircase gave way to the room they had landed in.

At first, apart from the staircase, there did not seem to be any way in or out of the cavern. There were several more sandpits, but neither Taka nor Romi wanted to subject themselves to that particular experience again- or fall deeper underground- unless it was necessary. It almost seemed as though it would be, until Romi happened to look over and see Gliscor, perched on a rock wall that neither of them had noticed did not reach all the way to the ceiling. 
 

"Should we check up there?" Romi asked, pointing. 

Taka looked over. "Oh, hey. Worth a shot," he nodded. "Gliscor, anything up there?" 
 

"Sco! Sco!" Gliscor hopped, gesturing.

"Let's check it out," Taka said. 

They looked for a while for a way up, eventually finding a rock that they could climb up on. From there, they carefully made their way up, Gliscor helping by looping his tail around their waists and helping to pull them up to the top of the ledge.
It was immediately clear what Gliscor meant. At the far corner of the higher area they were now on, a pale wooden ladder stretched up into a small round hole in the stone ceiling. 

"Sorry, bud, I don't think you'll fit through there," Taka said. 

"Scor, Gliscor," the Pokemon pouted. 

"Thank you," Romi said again. They held out a hand and Gliscor happily rubbed against it, Taka grinning at the sight. He joined in the petting, and Gliscor chirped. 

"Ready?" 

"Scor," Gliscor nodded. Taka pressed the button on the Pokeball, and Gliscor disappeared in a beam of pale blue light. 

Taka climbed up first, Romi following behind a moment later. 
At the top of the ladder, Taka froze again. "I think this is the right way. I've been here." He scanned the room, and turned to Romi with a wry grin. "...I have no idea where to go from here, though, haha." 
There were no more ladders, simply a number of sandy pits and some rocks scattered throughout the room. 

They carefully made their way around, examining the boulders and the flowers sprouting up through the stone. The petals did not glow, but had a sweet smell to them, and the pair lingered for a few minutes just enjoying the small beauties. Eventually, however, they were forced to conclude that there were no ladders or stairs to be found here, nor any walls they could climb. 
Which left only one option. 

They stood, awkwardly, looking around the room. 
"Falling through was one thing," Taka said, "but diving down one of those things on purpose? I don't know about you, but that wasn't high on my list of things I wanted to repeat." 

Romi shook their head. "Are you sure this is the right way?" 

Taka laughed. "I have no idea why, but... yeah. I don't know why I'm not doubting myself more. I always have before. But I know this cave, somehow." He turned to Romi, looking a bit hesitant. "You up for it?" 

"Which one?" 

"I have no idea," Taka said. "Maybe... let's just pick one?" 

Twenty seconds later, Taka and Romi found themselves back at the exit. 

"How does that even... work?" Taka asked. The landing had been easier, although he wasn't sure if that was because of the distance or because they had been prepared.

Romi was frowning, trying to work it out. "It shouldn't," they murmured. "Well, let's try again." They headed for the hole they had initially fallen down and turned back to Taka.  

Taka grinned. "Okay, let's go." 

The drop was indeed higher, but Taka discovered it was still far easier to make the landing when you were prepared. By the time he got down, Romi was standing and looked none the worse for wear. This time, when
they offered him a hand, he took it. 

It was a bit trickier getting up the ledge without Gliscor's help, and they had to work together to climb and scramble up. But they managed, and after climbing the ladder again, they took another chance with a different sand pit. 

This time, when they landed, there was a ladder.

The ladder was made of dull metal and nestled into a grassy dip in the stone, and when they looked up, they could see that the hole it led into was different from the previous one. It was about the same size, but it was squared off tidily. And it looked longer, darker, than the first passage had been. 

"This it?" Romi asked. 

In response, Taka simply started climbing. 

He began to feel a bit claustrophobic the longer he climbed. There was a light at the top, he could see, but it was a very long, narrow passage, and the air tasted stale and dusty. All he could do was keep his eyes on the light at the top and remind himself that it was growing closer. 
When at last he was high enough that he could poke his head out of the hole, he was hit with another wave of recognition. He clambered out and looked down, waiting for Romi to finish the climb. They were only a few steps behind him, and he could see the relief on their face when they saw how close they were. 

“Check it out,” he said. 

They stood on a plateau of sandstone bricks framed by low parapets. A few of the bricks were cracked, and in one place it looked like a few of the rocks from the cave wall had fallen down and made a pile, but apart from that the plateau was remarkably clean. And in one corner, looking out into the cavern, stood a finely-crafted statue of Arceus. 

“There should be a button here, or a switch, or something,” Taka said, gesturing to the statue. “Help me look?” 
Romi did, the two of them feeling around the base of the statue until Taka found, and pressed, the button. 

The statue’s eyes lit immediately, gleaming brightly white and startling both of them. When Romi looked below, however, the ramp between the walls did not seem to have changed. 

“That’s all? I guess we have to hit the other one, too.” Taka said. “There’s no way Madison could get us over there, huh?” 

Romi peered up at the ceiling. “I think it’s too low.” 

“That’s what I thought,” Taka nodded. “I guess it’s back to the ladders, then.” 

Romi grinned. “Sorry about that.” 

It took, if possible, even more trial and error to find the pathway to the other statue. The landings grew easier with each successive sand pit, but they never stopped being jarring. A few times, the cave's wild Pokemon came out to challenge them, and each time, they were surprisingly strong. Eventually, after what felt like hours of exploring, they finally found the ladders leading up to the second statue. 

“Go ahead, Ro, you take this one,” Taka suggested once they had climbed. “It was under his left foreleg on the other one.” 

Romi crouched down and pressed the button, this time on the right side of the statue. Once more, Arceus’ eyes began to glow, but this time a mighty grinding sound erupted from below them. 

“That’s it!” Taka said. “I vaguely remember doing this before… with my father. Mostly I remember that sound.” 

So they climbed down the ladder once more, and through another two impossible sand pits made their way back to the entrance of the cave. 

"We should be able to get up there now," Taka said. "...But we should probably eat first." 

They had only a short snack break, both eager to carry on. Romi seemed to have been seized again with curiosity, and while it wasn't quite the same as Taka's own restless desire to know, it lightened it a bit. He found he was really enjoying himself, even despite the frequent trips through the sand. 

"You think our bags would break the fall, if we threw them down the pits?" Taka asked. 

"Maybe, but it would also break our bags," Romi said, raising an eyebrow. "And they're full of Potions." 

"And our food," Taka conceded. "Okay, fine, let's do this again." 

He slid down first, Romi following a moment later. Despite it being less than a day, they really had gotten good at making those landings. Romi managed to land on their feet, although they fell a second later and set both of them laughing. They ran up the stairs, side by side, and only stopped again when they reached the massive gate. 
Even from a distance, they could see the slope had turned to stairs.

"Ready?" Romi asked quietly. 
Taka nodded. 

They walked up slowly. Taka found the sight of the new staircase gave him a strange, solemn feeling, which mixed strangely with the urgency of remembering and the good mood he had otherwise been feeling for most of the day. Romi was silent as they climbed, and Taka had no idea what they were thinking. But he found he was glad they were there nonetheless. 

At the top of the stairs, a short stretch of ground curved behind the eastern wall. Grass sprung up in patches from the dusty earth, and a fat little cactus grew in one corner. But a few telltale signs of humanity lay scattered about: worn, broken tiles embedded in the dirt, a tall, wide pot half buried by the sand, and another statue- this one mostly intact, resembling a Rhydon.

Taka approached the statue, brushing sand away from the engravings on the lower part of it, but a moment later sagged back. "I can't make out any of it. What's the point?" 
Romi spared a quick peek at it, but it wasn't in any language they knew, and Taka was already peering in through the entryway that was carved into the back wall. 

The room beyond was dark, and Taka hesitated. Romi came forward, and when Taka didn't say anything against it, they stepped forward again into the opening.

For an instant it was dark. Then, the room flickered into view as torches- Romi could see at least a dozen- flashed to life. 

It seemed to be a hall of some kind. Pillars lined the walls, and between the pillars, several life-sized sculptures of Garchomp stood. The sound of Romi's footsteps echoed loudly off the stone, and when they stopped, another set came up from behind them. 

"I remember now," Taka said. "When I was young, my father brought me here once. It was before he really got started forming Team Meteor. We explored these ruins looking for... something. To be honest, it's one of the very few positive memories I actually have of him." 
He half-smiled. "But I feel kind of uneasy about this room. I can't remember why, but I feel like we should be careful." 

Romi nodded. 

They walked forward quietly together, taking in the strangely pristine room and the way the torchlight cast the Garchomp statues in shadowed relief. The flames made the shadows almost seem to move, and the eeriness of it made Taka walk a little more quickly. Romi kept pace with him, and he wondered if this place could possibly make them as nervous as it was making him. He wished he could remember why.
 

And then the air filled with a chilling roar.

"Hey, Romi?" Taka said, the sound and the sudden memory clashing in his head and sending him into a panic.  "I just remembered why. Run!" 

The statues were moving. Stone ground against stone as the Garchomp statues stepped forward, turning their heads to look directly at Taka and Romi.

Taka, despite his advice, found his legs frozen in place. He wasn’t sure why. His father's Garchomp wasn't a bad Pokemon, and if it leaned a bit on the vicious side that was only because his father had trained it to be so strong. But the sight of so many statues bearing its likeness, stalking slowly toward them, lit up a powerful fear within him. He felt like a child.

And then the ice in his legs broke, and he found he could move them again. The fear was blinding still, but he found he could at least move to follow behind Romi. It helped, to focus on them. Romi had defeated his father’s Garchomp, had defeated countless dangers with the odds stacked against them. They had been safe out here so far, travelling together. Romi was strong. 
And he was stronger now, too. 

He caught up to Romi just as one of the statues did. It roared, sending another rush of fear through Taka, but Romi simply stepped back and released Faith.

She looked back to Romi for a split second, alarm in her eyes, and in that instant the statue struck, a wave of stone erupting from the ground and hitting her in her side. 
She let out a cry, and launched a bright ball of pink mist at her assailant. It hit the statue straight in the stomach. 
With a final roar, the statue sank backwards and then froze, back in its original pose. 

"Thank you," Romi told Faith, returning her to her Pokeball.”I’m sorry.” Giving Taka a small nod, they continued running.
Taka ran, too, the spell of terror having been broken somewhat. He kept close behind Romi, dodging past the statues following from behind. Another caught up to Romi, this time not even getting to attack before Faith's Moonblast immobilized it. 

This time Taka, too, called out encouragement before Romi returned the Pokemon to her ball. 

Around two more corners, Taka saw the door, and thankfully the two of them easily made it before the rest of the statues caught up. 

The door opened into a new cavern, and Taka and Romi stood a fair distance from the door they'd come through, catching their breath. Romi kept shooting glances back toward it. 

"I don't think they'll follow us out here," Taka puffed. "Okay, heart attack over? Yeah? Years shaved off of life? Yeah. I can't believe I forgot about that." 

"It's okay," Romi said. 
 

"He told me at the time it was some kind of trial left for us by our family. I can't help but think that was absolutely not necessary." The nervousness bubbled over, and Taka laughed. 

It must have been catching, because a moment later Romi joined in. "Faith took care of them." 

"Oh, right," Taka said. "How did you know those statues would battle like Pokemon?” 

“I didn’t,” Romi shook their head. “I thought maybe she could freeze it long enough for us to get away. But it looked like it used Stone Edge, and then I guess her instincts kicked in.”

"Here, give her this." Taka handed Romi a spray bottle full of healing salve. 
 

"Thanks," Romi said. "I don't think she was hurt badly, but this will help." 

"No, she looked okay." Taka agreed. "But I'm still not exactly sure what's out here, and it can't hurt to be prepared." 
 

Romi nodded, and released Faith once again. 

"Here," they told her, spraying her over with the potion. "Thanks again." 

"Mar!" Faith said happily, basking in the spray and then nosing their Trainer's cheek. "Pri pri." 
She saw Taka and waved her tail. 

"Yeah, thanks," he said. "Sorry I... didn't warn you." 

"Rima," Faith whistled. and squirted him with a tiny spray of water. 

"I-" Taka began before laughing again. "What was that?"

"Priii," Faith trilled. She clapped and barked with laughter, and Romi grinned. 

"Faith, no squirting people." 
With an expression of pure impish delight, Faith aimed a second spray of water at Romi, licked their cheek, and disappeared in a flash of light back to her Pokeball.

The cave they stood in was massive, the largest they'd yet seen, and it was clear there had once been people here. More tiles were scattered about, half-buried in the sand, and thin stone pillars and bits of broken arches stretched up from the sandy ground. There were even staircases, the railings carved expertly and still mostly intact, but the stairs leading nowhere. 

Romi could see why Taka's memory was coming back now. It was all crumbling and scattered, but the architecture in the cavern was unmistakably the same as it had been in the Citae, back when Romi had been there. 

"I wonder what happened to this place," Taka said, nudging a clay pot with his foot. "I mean... I don't remember anyone else here when my father and I came, but there must be some reason why all this is here, right? Oh hey," he paused, "look." 

Romi did. Another Arceus statue stood between two pillars, elevated slightly on a pedestal of tightly packed earth. 
A short distance away, off to the side, a Light Shard sparkled. 

"Another one," Taka mused, looking only at the statue. "And yeah, seems like there's a button here, too. Go ahead." 
 

Romi shook their head and held up a hand. "There's a Light Shard here."

"All the way- what even are those things?" Taka asked. "Is it on the statue?" 

Romi was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. They had thought about it before, but it had seemed largely unimportant. But now, seeing it mere feet away from this statue, the similarities were undeniable. 
But they didn't know what it meant, or what it meant that Taka could not see it- and that made them wonder, if Solaris had been here, had he noticed it?
 
Unbidden, they remembered when they had rescued Victoria from beneath the Grand Staircase. Solaris had passed through the same corridor they had, and so had Victoria, but neither remarked on the change once Romi had touched the Shard. At the time, Romi had assumed it was such a common sight nobody bothered to acknowledge it, but seeing it here...
They felt their stomach turn, and a chill came over them. 

"Ro? You okay?" Taka asked. 

"It's over there," Romi pointed, and shook their head. "Where's the button?" 

"Right there," Taka showed them, frowning.

Romi closed their eyes and pressed it. 

"Whew. Y'know, I was high-key worried I was condemning us to death by having you press this place's self-destruct button. But... yeah, it looks like there are some sand pits where there weren't before. You can probably take that shard, I think I would've heard about it if my ancestors had powered anything with magic glowing stars. Oh, I remember!" Romi looked quickly at him, but Taka didn't notice. "This is where my father met his Garchomp!" 

Romi felt the chill settle off to the side a little, and they pushed it out of their mind while Taka continued. 

"Well, it was just a Gible at the time. And- oh..." Taka trailed off. "I had forgotten, but... he tried to get one for me, too. But I didn't want it. I don't remember why. When we left, he said I ruined the whole trip by not catching one." 

He sighed. "So much for a positive memory. I forgot about that completely. Maybe I should've just gone with it, even though I didn't want to. I was a kid, I probably didn't have much of a reason." 
He turned to Romi, standing there and watching him silently. There was that look again, the look he'd seen a few times but which always surprised him. Concern. It broke through the bitter sadness that had begun, once again, to settle around him from this memory. 

"...Then again, maybe refusing to take the Pokemon left for me by my bloodline was just proof that one day I'd leave them and come here with you." He smiled, though it was a sad sort of smile. "So I still don't want it. But... if you wanted to look for a Pokemon like that, I'd support you." 
 

Romi's eyes widened, and they shook their head. But Taka grinned. "C'mon, you have to admit they're pretty cute. It might not come out through normal means, though... I think I remember something about leaving an offering and coming back later. I'm not sure where, though..." 

Romi turned and looked at the sand pits. 

Taka followed their gaze, and shrugged. "I was afraid of that. Well, it's probably our only way out anyway." 

Romi carefully scanned the cavern again. "Which one?" 

"I've got no clue," Taka said. "I guess we just... pick one. What do you think?" 

Romi shrugged. "Here?" They pointed at the nearest pit, and when Taka shrugged they both headed toward it. 

"Wait, aren't you gonna get that Light Shard?" he asked, remembering. "I'm pretty sure it should be okay." 

"My team is fine," Romi said, looking back at it one more time. "Let's go." And they stepped into the sand. 
 

The landing was soft this time, the fall one of the shortest they'd yet experienced. Romi managed to stay on their feet, and quickly stepped out of the way before Taka came down a moment later. 

He too made the landing, though he wobbled for a moment. Romi grinned, and Taka looked pleased. Then his eyes moved to something beyond Romi.
"Oh, hey, check behind you," he said. "I think that's it." 
 

Romi turned quickly, but there was no Pokemon in sight, simply an old-looking basin of brown stone.

"If we're talking about an offering, these basins are probably where it was left." He looked around the cavern, filled with similar effects to the area above. "There seem to be a lot of them... I wonder if many more people came here in the past. My father said our family used to be much larger and more influential. Falling into decline is just the way of the world." He shook his head. "Anyway, if you have anything Pokemon might like, try
putting it in there." 

Romi thought for a moment, then opened their bag. They pulled out a Pecha Berry, then replaced it and pulled out a small bag. 

"PokeSnax!" Taka said. "Man, Chatot loves those things. Good idea." 

Romi poured the entire bag into the basin, and took one piece out. They offered it to Taka, and he laughed as he accepted it.

"He's so spoiled. Okay, that should be enough. Hopefully something will come around for it." 

They walked through the cavern quietly, looking at the various objects that had been scattered around. At one point, Taka strayed over to examine another broken statue, and read it aloud. 

"This says something about a 'tradition of honor'... no wonder my father always said so many boring things." 

Romi let out a laugh, and when Taka grinned they admitted, "That does sound like him." 

"Pretty sure these are much older than my father, but... it's true." 

After wandering for a while longer, Taka yawned, and realized something. 
"Hey, Romi? Do you know what time it is?" 

They shook their head.

"I remember something about 'coming back later'... but I've got no idea how much later. Maybe we should get some rest." 

"...Yeah," Romi agreed. They hadn't realized how tired they were.

They walked a little farther, before Romi saw a dip in the rocky walls where grass and a single tree were growing. 

"Dibs on the left side," Taka yawned, sitting down quickly on the grass and releasing his Pokemon. "Hey, guys, long time no see." 

"Gli! Gliscor!" The Fang Scorpion Pokemon nosed at Taka, and looked around. He took in the sheer size of the cavern with a happy cry, and went to take off before Taka put a hand on him. 

"No, buddy, you need to stay close. Romi's looking for something out there and you might scare it away."
Gliscor's wings sagged, but he did as he was told, walking over to Romi to check on them too.

Romi was setting up camp on the right side of the patch of grass, only a few metres away. Shimmer was investigating the bush, and floated calmly over to her Trainer once she realized it did not contain any berries. Madison happily flew up into the tree, and Betty and Faith cuddled quickly against their Trainer's sides and fell asleep. 

"Thanks for earlier," Romi told Gliscor. "Here." They tossed him a Berry, which he took happily and ran back over to show Taka his prize. 

"You're spoiling them," Taka grinned. Chatot was hopping all around him looking for the PokeSnax he could smell, and Romi smiled. 

They meant to stay awake, to talk more, but the warmth of Faith and Betty- and, shortly, Shimmer too- calmed them, and before they knew it they had slipped down onto the ground and fallen fast asleep. 
When Taka noticed, he smiled. "Night, Ro." 

Then he frowned. When had he started calling them that? 

[Azzie]

(Same disclaimer as last time! Many little bits of Taka's dialogue is taken straight from the game, and all credit for those goes to Ame and not me!)
Day 13

The worst part about sleeping underground was, there was no way to tell if it was morning or not. 

 

Romi woke up a few times, but the light never changed- it was the same faint warm glow that permeated most of this cave. Each time, they felt wide awake, but they were fairly sure that was the adrenaline, and they could see everyone else save for Gliscor and Minior were still sound asleep. So each time they forced themself to close their eyes again and focus on their Pokemon's breath until the motion lulled them back to sleep. 

The fourth time they woke, Madison had left her tree and was preening herself, so Romi slipped carefully away from the others and stood up. 

Madison saw them do so, and tilted her head to one side. Romi held a finger to their lips, and stepped over to pet her. The Pokemon must have understood, forgoing her usual loud greeting to instead stretch her neck out longer so Romi could more easily rub it. It made Romi smile, and they spent some time simply enjoying each other's company. Minior watched them, and he and Gliscor chattered quietly to themselves, but elected to let Romi and Madison have their quiet cuddle.

 

After a while, Madison went back to preening. The timing was well enough; Romi felt their restlessness building, and a headache along with it. So they withdrew a bottle of water from their bag, and sipped on it while they prepared breakfast. 

All that was left of Romi's initial packed food were a few dried fruit sticks and a disgusting smushed-up sandwich at the bottom of their bag. There were still plenty of fresh berries, and Romi again wondered what kept them from going rotten when they were stored in Trainers' bags. The bag certainly hadn't done anything for the sandwich. 

But the Berries were nutritious, and Romi had developed a taste for them. They munched on an Aspear Berry while slicing more of the fruits up for everyone else. 

The smell attracted Gliscor's attention, and he swooped over with a hungry cry. After that, it was more or less open season, with all the other Pokemon waking up and Taka being roused when Komala climbed across his stomach to join his fellows in crowding around Romi for food. 

"Morning," Romi said. "I'd hurry if I were you." 

"Fea!" Madison crowed in agreement, a Pecha Berry speared on her upper beak. 

Taka got up and made his way over. Chatot landed again on his shoulder, still munching, and when Romi handed Taka some chopped berry mix Chatot stuck his head into the plastic dish and stole a piece. 

"Morning to you, too," Taka said, ruffling Chatot's feathers. "Thanks, Romi." 

They ate quickly, most of the Pokemon having finished by the time Taka even properly got started. Taka hadn't realized how hungry he was before he had fallen asleep, and fairly devoured his breakfast, sighing with relief when he'd finished. 

"You go check on the basin yet?" he asked. Romi shook their head. 

"Well, I have no clue how long it's been, but it's probably long enough by now. Let's check it out." 

They returned their Pokemon, and were on their way quickly. 

 

Taka stopped after a few minutes, and held out an arm. "Look," he whispered. 

Romi looked. A small bluish tail was sticking out of the basin Romi had filled before, the Gible's face hidden as it ate. 

Romi's face broke into a smile. It was adorable.

 

It was still a fair distance away, and neither of them wanted to alarm the Pokemon while it was eating. So they crept forward. 

When they were about twenty feet away, the Gible finished its snack and sat up to smell the air. Taka and Romi froze. The Pokemon did not notice them at first, leaning over the front edge of the basin to look at something on the ground. But it must have known something was there. When Romi took a single step forward a few seconds later, Gible jumped in alarm and skittered out of the basin, quickly disappearing beneath the sand. 

 

"It ran off already?" Taka asked, staring after it. "That one must be pretty skittish, huh... well, you have any more snacks? It knows there was food here, it might come back." 

 

Romi nodded, and withdrew another bag of PokeSnax from their bag. They didn't bother to be silent anymore as they sprinted to the basin and poured the treats inside. Taka scanned the surrounding area, and when Romi had poured the bag into the basin, he gestured for them to follow him. 

He led them past the basin, past the nearby sandpit, into the shadow of a large boulder, and crouched down behind it. 

"It'll be more likely to come out if we're not wandering around, I think." 

Romi joined him behind the boulder. The ground was hard, but it did offer plenty of cover, and they could clearly see the basin they had just refilled with food. There was little room, and though they both fit in the shadow, it was a snug fit. Romi kept their gaze trained on the basin.

 

They sat there in silence. Neither was sure how long it was, but Romi noticed their backside beginning to get sore before a burst of movement broke the stillness, and the Gible ran for the basin. 

From their closer vantage point, Romi could see the notched fin that indicated a male- and a very happy one, judging by his little hop before diving again into the bowl full of snacks. 

They waited until he was busy eating, and then turned to Taka, who nodded. 

Romi bolted forward. This time, the Gible didn't even finish eating before he took off. He glanced backwards for a moment and then dove into the sand, grumbling as he did. 

 

"I'd say something like, let's split up and corner it between us, but as long as it can go underground I don't think it'd make a difference," Taka said. "Maybe there's another way." 

 

"I don't think he wants to be caught," Romi shook their head. "It's okay." 

 

"No, wait," Taka said. "I don't think you should give up yet. It's probably part of the test."  

 

Romi frowned. "Hm. What do you think?" 

 

Taka peeked into the basin. "I think... he'll come back to finish this. And we should have a plan." 

 

Still looking unsure, Romi reached into their bag and pulled out a package of Pop Rocks. They opened it, and the candy came out as a single clump, hopelessly melted together. They did their best to break it apart before giving up and setting it in the basin with the rest of the PokeSnax. 

 

"Bribery?" Taka asked. 

 

"We're chasing him around, he at least deserves a treat." 

 

Taka shrugged and smiled. "Spoiling him before you even catch him, huh? Sounds like you. Uh, let's give him some space and make a plan."

 

They walked for a bit, eventually stopping a fair distance along the cave wall. They could still see the basin, but they were far enough out that the Gible probably wouldn't worry about them.

"I wish I could remember how my father did it," Taka said. "I was pretty young. I think I just wanted to look around. Whatever he did, I wasn't paying much attention." 

 

"How long ago?" Romi asked. 

 

Taka shrugged. "Ten, twelve years, maybe? I can't believe I blocked all this out before. I think I was about nine or ten." He looked over at the basin. "I still don't regret not catching one, but now I wish I'd paid a little more attention." 

 

"Sneaking didn't work, and running didn't work," Romi noted. "I wonder... should we just wait for him with the food?" 

 

"Maybe, but... I don't think that's it. I feel like my father would've scolded me more if we needed to stay in one place. He mostly let me do what I wanted, until..." He frowned. "I forget. We went somewhere, and... surprised it somehow." 

 

Romi frowned. "How do you... wait," they said. "If you have to surprise them, what about... from above?" They looked up at the various places where sand trickled from the ceiling. 

 

"...Maybe," Taka considered. "That might be it. But how do we get back up there, is there a ladder or something? Let's look." 

 

The two walked carefully around the cavern, taking their time to look into any small spaces or hidden alcoves where a ladder might be. But when they eventually found themselves back where they had camped the previous night, they were forced to conclude that there were no ladders or stairs of any kind. 

 

Romi looked thoughtfully at the nearest sand pit. 

 

"...Well, we've got no other leads," Taka shrugged. "Might as well." 

The two stepped forward and into the sinking sand, and shut their eyes tight as they began to sink again. 

 

When they opened their eyes again, they were once again just inside the entrance to the cave system. Sunlight streamed in and made them both blink again. 

 

"Okay, I know that's not right, location-wise," Taka said. "...But then again, knowing that this place was for my family, that makes a bit more sense. Let's go."

Romi nodded. It did not entirely surprise them, either.

The pair went back to the same sand pit they had fallen down twice before, and Romi laughed quietly at how much easier it had become. Taka grinned. “You know I thought we were going to die yesterday?”

“Yeah,” Romi agreed. “...So did I.”

“And here we are, diving through them like pros now. Still won’t be upset when we don’t have to anymore, though.”

Romi laughed again. “No.”

They headed up the stairs again, and then the second set, looking up at the white glow from the statues above before once again coming to the Garchomp hall’s entrance.
They both hesitated.

“Maybe they won’t activate a second time?” Taka suggested. But when they went inside, the torches flickered on again, and they could both tell he was wrong.

“...Do we really have to do this again?” he asked.

Romi glanced at the statues, then at Taka and the unease on his face, and made a decision.

“Come on,” they said. And before Taka knew what was happening, Romi had grabbed his wrist and started running.
It made them easier to follow, at least. The statues began moving again, all except the two that Romi had defeated before, but the two Trainers had a head start. They reached the end of the hall before any of the statues got near them.

“You okay?” Romi asked, puffing for breath as they stepped into the cavern beyond.

“...Yeah,” Taka said. “Thanks, Romi.”

“Sure,” Romi smiled. 

 

They walked in the vague direction of the statue they had found the previous day. It did not take long to find, even at their slowed pace. Taka paused when he saw it. 

 

“Okay, so, it’s… this one? I think?” He gestured to the shallow sand pit nearest the statue. 

Romi nodded. The image had been frozen into their brain, the view of the statue and the Light Shard as they’d fallen down the sand pit. They were going to have to talk to Taka about that. 

They were not looking forward to it. 

 

“I’ll wait here for a minute so I don’t scare him,” Taka said. “Good luck, Ro.” 

 

Romi smiled. “Thanks.” 

They stepped into the sinking sand and closed their eyes. A moment later, they felt themself land, and a loud yelp of alarm came from in front of them. 

They opened their eyes. The Gible was sitting in the basin, holding the sticky, Pokesnax-covered ball of Pop Rocks in one claw, and looking up at Romi. 

 

“It’s okay,” Romi began, but the Gible had had enough. 

 

“Gib gib gib!” He leapt forward, still looking more startled than angry, and Romi sent out Betty to meet him. 

 

“Careful, Betty, we want to make friends,” Romi said. “Hey, little guy.” Betty chirped and waved to the little Gible. 

He lunged forward to bite her, and caught her leg before she could properly evade. She yelped as he latched on- and then looked up at Romi in confusion. He was holding on valiantly, but his jaws were not strong enough to do Betty much damage at all. She kicked her leg and the surprised Gible let go. 

Romi tossed an Ultra Ball. 

It shook once, and then the Gible broke free. It looked at the broken halves of the Ball in confusion, and tried to bite one. When his mouth met the cold metal he spat it out, and turned back to Betty with a growl. 

“Rose,” she said, holding out her medallion to show the little Gible. He peered at it, tilted his head, and then opened his mouth to bite.

Betty jumped back, snatching her treasure out of harm’s way, and held out her other hand. A seed erupted from it and smacked the Gible in the face, and while he was roaring in indignation a second seed flew into his mouth, throwing him backwards. 

Betty looked at the Gible, then at her medallion, and let out a worried hum. She chattered up to Romi, who was watching the Gible but looked down at her when they heard her. 

 

“It’s okay, you were scared,” they reassured her. “And he’s okay.” 

It was true. The Gible rolled up off his back and growled again at Betty. This time, Romi squatted down. “Hey. We’re not here to hurt you.” Betty nodded, and made a chirp that sounded apologetic even to Romi. 

The Gible glared at them and, keeping an eye trained on them, again grabbed his ball of candy and chomped on it. 

Betty looked at it curiously. 

 

“Sorry it’s stuck,” Romi explained. “It was in the sun.” 

The Gible finished his snack, licking his lips, and glanced back to the basin. His expression looked uncertain.

“Do you want to come with us?” Romi asked. “Travel with us, battle if you want. There’s food, and… I think you’d like everyone.” 

“Raa,” Betty whistled, nodding. 

“And you’d get to see more,” Romi added. “Reborn is… beautiful.”

The Gible watched them carefully. He looked back again to the basin, where he had found his food, and then back to Romi and Betty. Romi held out a hand toward the Gabite, the other petting Betty’s head, and smiled at him.

The little Gible gave a nervous grumble, but took a step toward the outstretched hand. Then another. And another, until his nose was nearly touching Romi’s hand. 

“Gib?” 

“Oh,” Romi said. “Here.” They reached into their bag and brought out a fat green Lum Berry, and held it out to the Gible. He sniffed briefly, then chomped down on the Berry. Romi let go hastily, and the Pokemon gulped the rest of his snack down. He glanced up at Romi again, still hesitant, and then stepped forward once more. He touched his nose to their hand and looked up at them properly. 

His eyes were still nervous, but this time, they were curious, too. 

 

“Gi,” he said, and gave a tiny nod. 

 

Romi’s face broke into a bigger smile, and they reached once more into their bag. This time, a Timer Ball was withdrawn, and Romi let the Gible sniff it before booping it against his nose. 

It shook twice, then a third time, and finally settled to stillness. 

 

“Rose!” Betty squealed. Romi scooped her up and gave her a little hug. 

“Thank you,” Romi said. “You did great.” 

A flash of light emerged from the Timer Ball and the little Gible materialized, chattering frantically and poking at the ball with one claw. 

“Oh, it’s okay,” Romi began. “It’s just-” They were cut off as the Pokemon hit the button on the outside of the ball and was quickly recalled into it. A moment passed before he materialized again, and this time his chattering sounded more surprised. He pawed at the ball again. 

It rolled a short distance away, and he chased it, pouncing on it. Again, he was enveloped in light, and disappeared into the ball. This time, he waited a few seconds before emerging again and continuing to play with the ball. 

Betty giggled, and another voice joined her laughter as Taka walked up from behind where Romi sat. 

The Gible looked up with alarm, and dove for the ball. Once he had retreated inside, he stayed put. 

 

Taka looked guiltily at the still Timer Ball. “Sorry.” 

 

“Raa!” Betty trilled, running over to greet him. Romi grinned up at him, too. 

 

“Hey, did you help?” he asked the little Roserade. 

 

“Ra,” Betty chirped, nodding. 

 

“That’s great.” He ruffled her head, and looked up at Romi. “You caught him, huh?” 

 

Romi picked up the resting Timer Ball, and nodded. 

 

“You know, I’m kind of glad.” He offered Romi a hand, and when they took it, helped them to stand. 

 

“Yeah?” Romi looked down at Betty. “Ready?” She chirped her assent, so Romi clicked her Pokeball and she withdrew inside it. 

 

“Yeah. I don’t care about tradition or family or anything like that, but it would be sad if this place and that Pokemon were forgotten all together.” He looked around at the empty basins and the half-fallen pillars, and at last to Romi, who had just finished affixing Betty’s Pokeball to their bag and was now inspecting the Timer Ball carefully. 

 

At his words, they looked up, and smiled. “Yeah.” 

 

Taka felt himself smile too. “So consider this a gift from me. I give you my history, so I don’t have to walk in its shadow anymore.” He found it strangely freeing, to say it out loud. 

 

Romi looked again at the ball in their hands, and around at the cavern, and then nodded. “…Thank you. For this.” 

 

“Thank you,” he said. “So, you have a name picked out?” 

 

“No idea.” 

 

Taka laughed. “I’m sure you’ll think of something. In the meantime… we should probably keep going. My father would probably look here, so… mind some company for a while longer?” 

 

Romi smiled and nodded. “Yeah.” 

They sank through one final sand pit, and were deposited once again in front of the entrance to the cave. Already the light coming in from outside was dimming, and they could see the sky growing darker with dusk. Romi’s brows knit together and Taka whistled. 

“Guess the little guy took longer to catch than we thought,” he said. 

 

“Maybe we started late?” Romi suggested. 

 

Taka shrugged. “That’s true, time sort of… slipped away in there. It was so weird, not seeing the sun.” He stepped through the entrance and smiled into the last of the day’s sunshine. Romi followed him out. 

 

“Yeah. It’s nice.” They looked back at the gaping opening of the cave, and felt an unexpected pang. “…Thanks again.” 

 

“You too,” Taka said. “I don’t think I ever would’ve come back here if it weren’t for you. I’m glad we did.” 

 

“Me too,” Romi said. They smiled, a warm expression lighting up their face for a moment before they turned away. 

 

“Romi?” Taka asked. “Everything okay?” 

 

When Romi turned back, their expression was carefully neutral. “Fine,” they said. “We should get going, though. Before dark.” 

 

“O-oh, okay,” Taka said. “Yeah, we probably should.” 

 

Without another word Romi turned and began walking toward the mountain, north of the cave entrance. Taka followed in silence. He had no idea what had happened to quash Romi’s good mood, but something had. And he found it hurt, somehow. To see them so happy like that, it had been nice. He hoped he hadn’t somehow been the cause of it ending. 

 

There were sand dunes up against the mountain, looking in the sunset like golden waves that lapped and froze against the beige stone. As the dusk gathered around them, Romi pointed out a place where two such dunes stood side by side, leaving a small hollow against the mountain. Taka nodded, and the pair made their way over. 

Taka lounged against the stone and munched on a Pecha Berry while Romi set their bag down and withdrew some water from it. 

“You okay?” Romi asked, when Taka did not release any of his Pokemon. 

 

“I’m fine, I just thought… the little guy might do better with a slower introduction. I think I spooked him earlier.” 

 

The corners of Romi’s mouth twitched into a smile, and they nodded. “Good idea.” They unclipped the Timer Ball from their bag and sat carefully in the sand. “Hey, guys?” 

Shimmer floated over with a curious hum, and Faith and Betty looked over from whatever conversation they’d been having. Madison walked over and sat in front of Romi with a squawk of inquiry. 

“We have a new member of the team. But I think he’s shy. So don’t scare him, okay?” 

This drew all of their interest. Faith, Shimmer and Madison sat on the ground, and Betty shifted over to be closer to Romi. “Raa, Roserade!” she chirped, gesturing to the others. 

Romi clicked the button on the Timer Ball, and Gible appeared in a flash. 

For a moment, he looked curious. Then he saw the four Pokemon and two humans watching him, and with a tiny roar of alarm he looked for somewhere to hide. An instant later, he was peeking out from behind Romi and Taka’s bags. 

 

“Maybe it was too much,” Romi said. “I’m sorry… here.” They recalled Gible, who seemed relieved enough to retreat into the ball, and began bringing out food.

 

“When we’ve eaten, I’ll try again,” they explained. 

 

So Taka too let out his team, and the two Trainers and their Pokemon had their first proper dinner since entering the cave. As soon as he was released, Gliscor again scampered over to check on Romi. They laughed, assuring the Pokemon they were fine, and both Gliscor and Taka were relieved. The coolness that had come over Romi seemed to have dissipated, for the most part, and they happily munched on Berries with their Pokemon and laughed again when Taka pretended to steal Chatot’s berry in retaliation for the bird’s theft that morning. With that no longer an issue, Taka found he was quite as happy as he had been back in the cave, and without so many of the complicated memories to distract him. They were there, beneath the surface, but he found he could cope with them and enjoy the atmosphere. 

 

When Romi finished eating, they sat and spoke quietly to their four Pokemon for a couple minutes. When they stood again, they approached Taka. 

“I’m going to take a walk and let him out,” they told him. “Maybe he needs to get used to me. Can you… keep an eye on them?” They gestured to their team. 

 

“Oh, sure,” he said. “Uh, I hope it goes okay.” 

 

“Thanks,” Romi smiled. “I won’t go far.” 

 

They took their bag and the little Gible’s Pokeball and walked around the leftmost sand dune. The moon was nearly half full, and the light it cast was plenty to make up for the sunlight that had almost completely fled from the desert. When they’d gone far enough that they could no longer hear the sound of the campsite, they squatted, and released Gible. 

Nervously he looked around, but when all he saw was Romi and the open sand, he relaxed slightly. 

“I brought dinner,” Romi told him. “Here.” They withdrew the same berries the rest of them had eaten, setting them on the ground. Gible brightened, sniffing the Berries before diving for the Pecha Berry and nibbling at it. 

 

“My name’s Romi,” they said while he ate. “I guess I should’ve said that before. Is that good?” They gestured to the berries.

Gible tilted his head slightly as he ate, still keeping his eyes on them. “Gib.” He finished the Pecha Berry and grabbed another. 

“Good. I’m sorry about scaring you back there. I guess it was kind of overwhelming, with everyone right there?” 

“…Gii,” Gible looked down, grumbling softly.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Romi said again. “I should’ve realized you’re kind of shy. I’ll try and do better.” 

This time, the Gible sat, munching the rest of his berry, and looked up at Romi. They grinned. The Berry was nearly as big as he was, gripped between his paws.

“I just thought… we could get to know each other. One on one. Until you feel better. Is that okay?” 

“Gib!” He finished the last of his Berry in a single gulp, and did not move to take another. Instead, he sat quietly, still looking up at Romi. There was still caution in his eyes, but there was an openness there too. Romi took that as a good sign, and sat quietly for a few moments. Gible moved an inch or two closer, and tilted his head. Romi smiled again.

“I was hoping you’d come with us, but you didn’t seem to want to, and Taka said it was a test… Was it a test, little guy?” The Gible tilted his head again and nosed at another Berry, but did not eat it. 

“Gible.” 

“Or maybe you were just trying to get more food before you let us get close,” Romi suggested, the idea dawning on them. Gible looked confused for a single second before looking up innocently. Romi felt a laugh bubble up from their stomach. The little Pokemon jumped slightly at the sound, but stayed where he was. 

“Sorry,” Romi said quietly. “Well, either way, thanks for coming. There’s not… much new to see, yet. But we’ll leave the desert eventually, and I can show you around, if you want.” 

“Gib!” Gible said eagerly. Romi smiled. 

“Maybe we can go to Aventurine. If you like hiding, there’s lots of grass and trees there. Or Tanzan Mountain, maybe. Big caves. If they’re safe.” 

Gible forgot to be afraid, and scampered close to Romi. “Gii! Gible!” There was so much excitement in his expression that Romi broke into a grin. 

“It might be a while, but we’ll go there.” 

 

They yawned. Gible opened his mouth, exposing all his jagged teeth, and looked up expectantly. Romi realized he was trying to copy them, and smiled again. “Should head back. No idea what time it is. Do you want to walk? I promise, no one will hurt you.” They held out a hand, once again, and this time Gible gently butted his head against it. It was a brief moment of contact, but when it had passed Romi saw a shine of friendliness in the Pokemon’s eyes. 

 

They walked a while together, Gible skittering along. But when they came within view of the flickering fire, Gible let out a nervous sound, looked up at Romi, and retreated into his Pokeball.
Romi gave it a pat, and walked the rest of the way.

 

"How'd it go?" Taka asked. 

 

"Well," Romi said. "He's shy. But I think we made progress." 

 

Taka smiled. "Good. I'm sure you'll get along fine." 

 

"Were they okay?" Romi asked, gesturing to their Pokemon, still playing happily with Taka's. 

 

"After you left, Chatot went over and got them all playing," Taka said. "Think he was bored, but it kept them all busy." 

 

Romi smiled. "They're so good." 

 

"Yeah," Taka agreed. He yawned, and Romi caught it. They both laughed.

 

"Guess we should rest," Taka said. 

 

"Probably," Romi agreed. "...Night, Taka." 

 

"Night," he waved. "C'mon, guys, bedtime." 

Klefki took off toward his Trainer, and the others soon followed, Gliscor scooping Komala off the ground and carrying him over to Taka. Chatot and Madison chattered to each other as they parted ways, and Romi smiled to see it.

 

"Night," Romi told them, lowering themself to the ground and getting comfortable in the sand. Shimmer curled up at the top of their head, Faith again sprawled across their legs, Betty snuggled against their side and Madison tucked her head under her wing next to them. Romi placed Gible’s Pokeball next to their head, closed their eyes and waited, sleepiness washing over them in waves.

 

As the snores of their Pokemon grew steady and silence fell around them, however, Romi felt their tiredness slip into the background. Thoughts floated to the surface, one after another. 

 

When they had arrived, and agreed to let Taka come with them, Romi had told themself that whatever flicker of feeling they might have had before was gone now. So much had happened- they had pushed him away, and that was that. And quickly they understood that it hadn't gone, but it would. If Romi didn't let themself think about it, if they didn't look at him more than was necessary, it would be fine. 

The trouble was, it did not seem to matter what they did. Taka was there, all the time, being sad and kind and funny and thoughtful and sometimes even happy, and Romi was happy. The colours of his humour leaked into Romi's mood and lifted them up. But they had still told themself they had it under control. 

They could not tell themself that anymore. 

The way they had been inside that cave- how Taka had been faced with the ghosts of his past, and how he had been strong and confident and determined- they were so proud of him . And even through those complicated feelings, he had been kind- had tried to save their life again, talked to them, included them. He had trusted Romi and trusted himself, and Romi could not remember feeling quite so happy since the day they had stepped onto the train to Reborn City. 

And like that train, they now felt their feelings racing out of control. It was terrifying. And by now, Romi knew they couldn’t stop it, or pretend to themself that it wasn’t happening.
 

They could only hold onto a thin, desperate hope that it wouldn't blow up in their face. 

[Azzie]

 

Day 14
Taka woke up early the next morning, He wasn’t sure exactly what woke him, although his racing heart made him suspect he’d been dreaming about Meteor again. He dug his hands into the sand below him and felt its reassuring solidity, the coolness of the grains against his skin.  It was calming. 
The sky above was still a watery deep blue, and Taka tried to settle back into sleep. But he found he could not. If he had been dreaming about Meteor, he didn’t want to fall back into that dream. So he listened to the sounds of morning, distant squabbles of Pokemon and Romi’s rather loud snoring, and laughed quietly at the latter. After a half hour or so he gently shifted out from beneath Komala and Klefki and stood up.

“Gli!” 

Taka looked around for the source of the sound, but saw neither Gliscor nor Minior until he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. Turning, he found Gliscor happily resting on his tail, a sandy hole behind him. 
“Morning,” he said. “Tired? You can rest, I’m up. Where’d Minior go?” 

Gliscor pointed up toward the top of the sand dune nearest Taka. Minior, in his stone shell, was sliding down quickly, spinning as he did and making a crooked furrow through the sand. When he reached the bottom, he flew quickly over to join them. 

“Haha. You two been having fun?” he asked. Minior beeped in agreement, and Gliscor nodded happily. Taka grinned. “Okay, but get some rest for a bit. We’ll probably head out soon.” 
Gliscor drooped, but when he opened his mouth to protest a yawn slipped out, and Minior flashed his tips in silent laughter. 

“Morning! Morning!” Chatot landed on Taka’s shoulder, leaning his head against his Trainer’s. 

“Sco sco,” Gliscor waved, yawning again and flapping over with Minior to rest against their dune. 

“Night,” Taka called quietly to them. He leaned his head against Chatot’s, and smiled. “Morning. Sleep okay?” 
Chatot chirped. 
“Good,” Taka said. 
He turned back to where Romi and their Pokemon were settled, just a few feet away. He was surprised Gliscor and Minior hadn’t woken any of them with their antics- but then, they hadn’t woken him, either. Romi was sound asleep, Faith sprawled across their ankles and Betty clinging to their arm. Shimmer was curled around the top of their head, Madison had flopped out with her head across Faith’s tail, and Taka could see the little Timer Ball containing Gible in the sand next to them. 

“Tot,” Chatot said softly. 

“Yeah,” Taka agreed, ruffling the feathers on the little bird’s head. 

He went over to his bag and pulled out some Leppa Berries, removing the stems and tossing them into the blackened patch of ash and twigs that had been a fire the previous night. 
“Hey, Chatot, can you get the fire started again?” 
Chatot flew over and breathed a wave of heat onto the pile. Unfortunately, there was not enough in the stems to burn for more than an instant before they died down to shriveling blackness, and then ash. Taka shrugged. 
“Thanks anyway.” He handed the Pokemon one of the berries, and Chatot munched happily on it as Taka continued removing stems and setting the berries aside. 

A short time later, Shimmer drifted over, Komala once again riding on her back. She hummed appealingly, and Komala reached for his Trainer- or the food, Taka wasn’t sure which. Given that Shimmer was also turning her wide pink eyes toward Taka, he was fairly sure it was treats they wanted. He smiled faintly and held out a handful, which Shimmer lifted and brought to Komala to munch on. The last one she took for herself, with a high bell sound that may have been laughter. 
Klefki came next, and then Madison, with an excited squawk that woke Romi, Faith and Betty immediately. Realizing it was food that had woken them, Faith and Betty scampered quickly over to Taka, Faith licking Romi’s cheek quickly before she did.

Romi looked blearily over at the crowd of Pokemon centered on Taka, and laughed quietly. They picked up the Pokeball in the sand beside them, and Taka was sure they said something to it before they stood up and came over to join the others. 

“Morning,” they said. 

“Hey, Ro, sleep okay?” Taka asked, handing them some Leppas. “Here.” 

“Yeah, thanks. You?” 

“Pretty well,” Taka said. For a moment he remembered waking up with his heart racing, but shook his head to clear it. “Think I had a weird dream.” 

“What was it?” Romi asked as they took a bite. “These are good.” 

Taka shrugged. “Not sure. Something about Meteor, probably. I’ve had a few of those. But I don’t remember this one, so that’s a relief, at least.” 

“I don’t think I’ve dreamed much lately,” Romi said. “Not since we’ve been out here.” They frowned. It was strange, they hadn’t noticed until now. 

Taka looked from Romi to Shimmer and raised an eyebrow. “Uh, Ro, don’t Musharna eat dreams?” 

“Mrr,” Shimmer trilled, nodding. Romi’s face shifted into a smile. 

“Oh, right. Thanks,  Shimmer,” they said. She whistled happily and stole another berry for Komala to eat. 
 

“Well, if you want more dreams about running scared, you’re welcome to them,” Taka said. “Speaking of scared, are you gonna try to feed that Pokemon?” 

Romi shook their head. “He ate a lot last night, I think he’ll be okay in there until we stop. Unless you want to come eat?” they asked the Timer Ball. 

It shook in their hand, and Romi could feel it tingle before eventually settling down again. “Guess not. That’s okay.” 

They finished eating and cleaned up their campsite, Romi covering the fire patch with sand and Taka gently waking up Minior and Gliscor before returning them to their Pokeballs with everyone else. When only the two Trainers were left, they gathered their bags and headed off again along the mountain line. 

Taka and Romi had only been underground for slightly less than two days, but it was long enough that they had begun to forget just how hot it was, walking in the desert. The sun beating down on their heads felt especially harsh, and their periodic stops to battle wild Pokemon usually ended in them resting for a few minutes afterward, to have some water and give some to their Pokemon. 

“Hey, Romi?” Taka asked, after one such pause. 

“Mm?”

“If you’re ever out here again, word of advice. Don’t wear a scarf.” 

Romi half-grinned. “Put it in your bag.” 

“I should,” Taka said. “But it’s been good for keeping the sand out of my face. Even though... I actually haven’t felt so much as a breeze today, have you?” 

Romi shook their head. “Hope we find another oasis soon.” 

“Oh, yeah,” Taka said. “Let’s hope there weren’t only those two out there. We’re going to need to get more food and water at some point.” 

“Unless the Gym’s close,” Romi agreed. “…Or anywhere cooler.” 

Eventually the sun began to sink once more, and the relief from the heat made them both considerably more cheerful. As a bonus, the frequent resting throughout the day meant they both had energy to keep walking even as the moon rose. Eventually, however, Romi’s stomach complained loudly, and through his laughter Taka suggested they stop for the night. Romi, grinning sheepishly, agreed. 

The two Trainers didn’t bother to try and cook anything this time, simply setting a small fire and lounging around while munching on Berries wth their Pokemon. 
Once they had finished, Romi squatted next to Betty and said something quietly to her. She nodded and hugged Romi’s arm, and Romi kissed her head before clicking a button on their waist, and Betty was recalled to her Pokeball. 
Romi looked up, and saw Taka watching them curiously. He quickly looked away and pretended not to be watching, but Romi caught the motion, and smiled. A moment later they caught themself, and their face became smoothly neutral again. They kept it that way, even as they called Taka and waved him over.

“What’s up?” he asked. “You going to talk with the Gible again?” 

“Yes,” Romi said. “Would you come along?” 

Taka shrugged. “Sure thing, but why? Pretty sure I freaked him out before.” 
 
“Yeah. But- he needs to get used to everyone. And- at least he’s met you. He might be more comfortable.” 
 

“I guess. Bringing Betty too?” Taka asked, forgetting to pretend he hadn’t been watching. 

“They seemed to be getting along,” Romi said. “I’ll bring her out if it goes okay. Or if she just gets excited and comes out,” they added, smiling faintly. 

Taka grinned. “Sounds good. Hey, guys, we’ll be right back, okay? Don’t go far.”  

There were sounds of assent from both teams of Pokemon, so the two Trainers began walking along the mountain’s edge. When they had rounded a corner, Romi glanced around them and then sat on a small stone. 

“This the spot?” Taka asked. 
 

Romi shrugged. “Here we go.” They clicked the Timer Ball, and in a greenish beam of light, the little Gible appeared before them. 

He looked up at Romi, then turned to Taka, and looked back and forth between them quickly. He growled in confusion.

“It’s okay,” Romi said. “Taka’s a friend. I wanted you two to meet.” 

Taka felt a soft rush of happiness at the designation, and smiled. “Hey, little guy.” 

Gible backed up until their tail was poking into Romi’s ankle, and Romi gently set their hand on his head. He looked up at them, then over at Taka again, and Romi felt the Pokemon’s trembling subside somewhat. 

“This is Taka,” Romi explained. “We’re travelling together.” 

Taka crouched down and held out a hand. Gible hesitantly stepped forward, growling softly, and Taka grew tense. But when the little Gible reached his hand, he simply gave a mighty sniff, and sat down. 

“Uh… Oh, you hungry?” Taka asked. 

“Gib!” Gible hopped. Romi laughed softly and withdrew a PokeSnax treat from their pocket, passing it to Taka. He offered it to Gible, and the Pokemon dove forward for the treat. Taka let go and snatched his hand back. 

“Careful,” he said automatically. And to his surprise, Gible tilted his head and nosed Taka’s hand gently, almost in apology. 
Romi tossed Taka another treat, and this time Gible took it more slowly, grasping the edge in his large jaws so Taka had room to let go before he yanked it backwards and gulped it down. 

“Smart little guy,” Taka said, looking pleased. “You have a name yet?” 

“Have an idea,” Romi said. “But I wanted him to get used to me first. And everyone.” 

“What’s the idea?” 

“Nino,” Romi said. 

“Huh. I can see it,” Taka nodded. “What do you think, Nino?” 

“Gib?” the Pokemon asked. “Mrr.” He turned and scampered over to Romi, and held his mouth open. Laughing, they dropped another treat into it.

“...Do you like it, though?” Romi asked. “Is it okay? If we call you Nino?” 

He nosed Romi’s leg and sat, looking up at them. “Gib!” 

“Nino?” 

“Giii.” He opened his eyes and tilted his head happily. “Gib!” 

“Nino it is,” Romi said. They smiled at Taka, excitement written across their features, and he felt himself mirror it. 

“Hey, Nino.” 

Romi released Betty then, and the Roserade began chirping excitedly as she patted Nino on the head and sat next to him. Nino watched her, cautiously at first but then with open interest. The two carried on an unintelligible conversation, which ended when an excited Nino gave Betty a friendly lick and discovered that poison-types taste disgusting. 
Taka laughed and handed both Pokemon Berries, and Nino ate his while shooting wounded looks at Betty, who had seen the look on Nino’s face and burst into giggles. 
Romi smiled. It looked like Nino would fit in okay. 

When they readied themselves to return to the campsite, Nino gently nosed at his Pokeball, and looked at Romi with a plea in his eyes. Romi petted his head gently.

“It’s okay. Little at a time, right? Oh, here.” Nino and Betty watched as Romi reached into their bag and brought out an Exp. Share. They both investigated it, Nino quickly stepping back before hesitantly sniffing at the strange metal contraption. Betty poked it. 

“Here.” Romi held it out to Nino. “Hold onto it.” He shrank back again, looking over at Taka with apprehension. Taka smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way. 
“It won’t hurt you,” Romi murmured. “If you take it, it’ll help you get stronger without battling. Until you want to.” 
Betty quickly hopped back, shaking her head, and raised her flower buds like fists. Taka laughed, and though they were trying to be quiet Romi could not help but chuckle too. 
Nino pondered, tilting his head, and then set a paw on the metal. When nothing happened, he set the other paw on it, and carefully lifted the machine from Romi’s hand. He sniffed at it again, latched on more tightly, and made a friendly sound to Romi. Then, in a burst of greenish light, he was gone, back into the Timer Ball at Romi’s belt. 

“That went better,” Taka said, looking surprised. “He’s warming up.” 

“Rose!” Betty squealed, running over and hugging Taka’s pant leg. Romi laughed. 

“Thank you both,” they said. 

“I didn’t do anything, but sure,” Taka shrugged, petting Betty’s head. 

“You did,” Romi said. “I think he’s getting used to you already. He’s warming up.” They held out their arms as Betty hopped over to them, and scooped her up onto their lap when she reached them. “You helped too.” 

The Roserade chirped happily, and Taka grinned. “You guys, seriously.”

Romi smiled, that same bright expression they had worn after coming out of the sandy cave, and it made Taka feel even more at ease. “I’m glad you caught him,” he said. 

“Yeah,” Romi said. “So am I.” 

Betty insisted on being carried back to camp, so Romi set her on their shoulders and let her ride spoinkback. She had to lean to see past Romi’s head, but she seemed so happy and smug as she rode that Taka kept breaking into laughter when he looked over. 
When they arrived back at camp that way, Betty hopped off their Trainer’s shoulders, and Romi was immediately surrounded by a half-dozen more who wanted rides. So they and Taka spent the next half hour entertaining the Pokemon, until Komala tried to beg Romi for a third turn and Taka nearly tripped over Faith and they decided enough was enough, and it was time to sleep. 

As they made a dint in the sand with their feet, Romi looked over to Taka and paused. “Were you serious about the dream thing this morning? Wanting them gone?” 

“Huh? I mean, yeah, it’d be nice,” Taka shrugged. “But it’s fine. It’s not constant or anything.” 

Shimmer floated forward. “Shar?” 

“I don’t think she’d mind more snacks,” Romi said, looking away. “If you want.” 

Shimmer nodded her head, which was most of her body, and nosed Taka’s arm reassuringly.
He patted her. 

“Seriously? Yeah. Yeah, sure, thanks!” He sighed. “...Honestly, I was kinda worried about having it again, haha. That’s pretty great, thanks, guys.” The Musharna gave Taka a tiny lick on the hand. 

“Nightmares suck,” Romi shrugged. 

“Yeah,” Taka agreed. He felt a pang of worry- hadn’t they said something that morning, about being grateful they weren’t dreaming? He hadn’t thought about it at the time, but… Romi must have been having nightmares too. He frowned. But if they hadn’t been bothering them since they started out into the desert… Taka didn’t want to be the one to bring it up.
“So… I guess you’ll just… eat my dreams as I sleep?” he asked Shimmer. “...Ro, it doesn’t hurt, does it?” 

Romi grinned. “I didn’t even know she was doing it. It’s fine.” 

Shimmer let out a hum of indignation, and Taka grinned too. “Sorry, sorry. I trust you.” 

“Mrr,” Shimmer said. 

Romi continued trying to make the sand more comfortable, so Taka began marking out his own place. He was a bit nearer than usual, hoping to make it easier for Shimmer to eat his dreams as well as Romi’s. Gliscor noticed Taka working on his camping spot and came over to help, and before long both he and Romi were settling in for the night. Shimmer cuddled up between the two, and between Komala cuddling against her on Taka’s side and Faith on Romi’s side, there was something of a bridge connecting the two Trainers. Minior laughed at the sight, and Taka joined in briefly before nodding off. He hadn’t realized just how tired he was. 

Romi lay awake for some time, holding Nino’s ball in one hand and stroking Madison’s head with the other, but they too eventually nodded off. 

[Azzie]

(Please note the bit about Taka asking to be buried in the sand and left behind was taken straight from the game! Credit as always to the lovely Ame!)

Day 15
“Wake up! Romi wake up!” 

Romi jolted awake. Chatot peered down into their eyes from his perch on their chest, tilting his head as they took a silent, deep breath. A smile twitched at the corners of their mouth, and Chatot let out a warbling laugh. And then Romi heard another smattering of sounds, familiar ones, and Chatot hopped onto their leg as they sat up. 
Faith, Madison, Komala and Shimmer were all sitting a few feet away, watching Chatot wake Romi up. And every one of them was laughing. Faith’s barks were loudest of all, but even Komala’s tiny yips were easy to make out. It was impossible for Romi not to laugh along. 

“Good morning to you all, too,” they said wryly. 

“Chat,” Chatot whistled, looking pleased with himself. “Morning.”

“Oh hey, you’re up,” Taka said from Romi’s other side. “Haha, looks like you have an audience.” 

“You put them up to it,” Romi accused him with a smile. 

“Only Faith!” Taka protested. “She just wanted to get you up. The rest was Chatot’s idea.” 

Romi looked skeptically at Faith, and in response the Primarina licked their face. Romi grinned and ruffled her hair. “Okay, I’m up.” 

They all ate quickly. Madison dug into Romi’s bag and somehow managed to find another bag of PokeSnax, and so Romi passed those out to their Pokemon along with the Berries. They peeked in their bag afterwards, and frowned at Taka. 
“Running low on Berries.” 

“I’m getting there too,” Taka admitted. “I was hoping we’d find another oasis by now, or something.” 

Romi scanned the sky. “If we can’t find one, Madison and I can probably follow the mountain back and stock up. If we keep out of the sandstorms.” Madison squawked curiously. 

“That’s… is there a reason you took a train out here instead of just flying to the Gym?” Taka asked, realization dawning on him. “Not that I’m not grateful, just… why?” 

“Don’t know where it is,” Romi shook their head. “And Adrienn said the storms get bad. Xe was right. We can’t fly through that. But if I follow the mountain south, we can probably make it back to get food.” 

Taka shrugged. “Fair enough, I guess. If you do go, just bury me in the sand and come back for me later.” 

“You aren’t a Gible,” Romi rolled their eyes. “I have enough to get us through a couple more days. Let’s see if we can get somewhere before that.” 

“I was going for a Trapinch, but okay.” 

As it turned out, they were both quite glad Romi had not taken off by the time the afternoon rolled around. A dense sandstorm hit the mountainside, the worst they had yet encountered. It was more dusty than sandy, and while it meant they could breathe well enough, it drastically reduced visibility. Before long they could barely keep sight of each other, let alone the mountain, and when Taka offered Romi his hand they took it without thinking. After that the two Trainers stopped worrying about losing track of each other, and simply focused on trying to get through the storm. 

The weather did not impede the wild Pokemon, who- as always- seemed especially eager for a battle while the sand was flying through the air. Taka and Romi for the most part tried to evade them, although a few times they encountered Dugtrio who were particularly vicious about not letting them leave without a battle. Those were the only times they separated; after each battle the pair would find each other and continue on together. 

Eventually the wind subsided a bit, and with it, the clouds of dust it was throwing began to thin out. It was still sandy and unpleasant to walk through or breathe, but at least they could see more than a foot in front of them.They stopped trying to avoid battles. And as they walked, their view became clearer and clearer, until finally Taka stopped. 

“Hey,” he said, pointing. Romi followed his gaze. A single tree stood against the horizon, far off in the distance. It was a palm, not unlike others they had passed, but it was the first tree either of them had seen since leaving the cave. 
Romi shrugged, so the two altered their course slightly to head toward the tree. 
They walked for a few more hours, and the wind died down completely, but the tree they had been heading towards still looked far off. 

It was not entirely a surprise, at least not to Romi. “Been a long day with that storm,” they said. “I’m tired, at least. Are you?” 

“I mean, yeah,” Taka admitted. “I guess we should stop for the night, I just… wanted to see if there was food, honestly. But we’re not making much progress.” 

“Yeah,” Romi said. “We can keep going, but maybe resting wouldn’t hurt.” 

“Honestly, when you mentioned resting I realized how tired I was,” Taka said, dropping his bag. “Tree’ll still be there tomorrow.” 

Romi crouched on the ground, dropping their own bag and opening it to dig out some food. Taka released his Pokemon, and once Romi had brought out a small pile of Qualot Berries they released their own as well. Taka added some Leppa Berries to the mix, and together the two Trainers and their teams ate without even setting a fire. 
When they’d finished eating, Romi told Taka they were going to talk to Nino again, and wandered off a bit. By the time they came back, there was a fire crackling and both Trainers’ Pokemon were lounging around it. Taka was sitting half-asleep next to Faith, Chatot on his shoulder. 

“How was Nino?” he asked, yawning when he saw Romi. 

“Seems good,” Romi said. “Excited about that Exp Share, so I guess it’s working. What about you, did you feel it much?” they asked Faith. 
The Primarina shrugged, yawned, and leaned her head against Romi’s shoulder. They stroked her hair. 

“That’s good, at least.” 

Chatot yawned, and Romi caught it. Taka laughed. “Yeah, I guess we might as well all settle in.” 

“Feaa,” Madison agreed, walking over and flopping down beside Taka. This time it was Romi’s turn to laugh. They got up and began preparing to sleep, and before long both Trainers were nodding off, surrounded by their Pokemon. 

Romi woke to a snarling sound. 
It was long and low, and Romi couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from. They could, however,  see Minior shining brightly, trying to jab Taka with its starry points, and at last he too stirred and sat up. 
“Wuzgono- Minior?” Taka rubbed his eyes. “What’s going on?” 

“You hear that?” Romi asked. The growl kept sounding, and it seemed near. Taka frowned. 

“It’s Gliscor,” he said. “Is there someone here?” Minior flashed and spun, and Taka shook his head to Romi in translation. “Something, then?” Minior let out a windy cry. 
There was a thud. Romi felt the Pokemon surrounding them stir and wake as vibrations shook the ground, strong at first but growing fainter. As if enormous footsteps were fleeing.

“Kii?” Klefki warbled sleepily. 

A sound somewhere between a snort and a whine, and Gliscor swooped over to land in front of Taka. He looked quite proud of himself. 

Taka yawned. “Scared it away? Good job, buddy. Think we should move?” 

Gliscor shook his head and patted Taka gently on the head with his tail. Chatot clucked softly and Romi laughed. 

“Okay. Thanks for looking out for us, guys.” 

Minior hummed, and Gliscor licked his Trainer’s cheek before waving to Romi in a sort of salute. They waved back. “Night, everyone.” 

“Night, Ro,” Taka said. “Night again, everyone.” 
 

[Azzie]

Day 16

They resumed their journey toward the tree the next morning, and for a while it seemed as though little had changed from the day before. The weather remained clear, but the tree they sought did not seem to get any closer. 
Until, after a couple of hours, it was suddenly not the only tree they saw. 
A second tall, spiky shape appeared, even farther away than the first. Taka and Romi turned to each other at the same moment to point it out, and they both grinned. 
They kept walking, and a few more trees appeared on the horizon. As they drew closer, and the trees became a cluster of green in the distance, Taka’s smile grew wider and wider. Romi stayed quiet, until at last there could be no more doubt: an oasis lay ahead. 
Then they too broke into a grin, and picked up speed. Taka was quick to follow suit.
 

“Good thing you didn’t head out on your own for food,” he said. 

“Especially after that storm,” Romi agreed.

“Faith’ll be happy.” 

“Oh, yeah, keep back if you don’t want to get soaked,” Romi laughed. “I’m not going to stop her.” 

“Honestly, I’m not sure you could anyway.” 

“Maybe not.” 

They reached the edge of the oasis around noon, and the first thing Romi did was let Faith out of her Pokeball. She whooped in delight and threw herself into the pool, splashing Romi and making Taka laugh through his mouthful of Liechi Berry. It was contagious, and Romi sank to the ground, laughing as they clicked the buttons on their Pokeballs to release Madison, Betty and Shimmer. Taka released his own Pokemon, still watching Faith with amusement.
The familiar atmosphere set Romi at ease. They munched on a Berry as well, and Faith swam up and watched as Romi refilled their water bottles. They were nearly all empty. It took nearly half an hour to refill them all, and all the while they breathed with quiet relief that they had not run out. 
Looking around, Shimmer and Betty were gathering Berries, apparently on their own initiative, and Chatot and Madison were playing noisily in the underbrush. Taka was walking around picking up twigs and sticks, and from what Romi could see Klefki was trying to help, slashing at low plants with his keys. Romi ruffled Faith’s hair, passed her a Berry, and went to help collect more food. 
 

They gathered as they walked, once more turning their sweater into a satchel for the little fruits. There were fat, ripe Liechi Berries, whose leaves looked useful for tying things, and low bushes dotted with hearty Sitrus Berries. Romi grabbed every one they could find and put them together in the sweater. By the time they reached the pile their Pokemon had been making, the sweater was nearly half filled and heavy with fruit.

“Mrr,” Shimmer hummed, tugging on it with her psychic power when she saw Romi. When they held on, Shimmer effortlessly picked Romi up as well. 
 

“Now you’re showing off,” Romi laughed. “Okay, okay.” They relinquished their grip, and Shimmer set them gently on the ground with a small giggle. They patted her head, and Betty’s too when she ran over. 

The three worked together to pick berries until Romi’s sweater was full, and then Shimmer at last set it down next to the pile she and Betty had made. By then, Chatot and Madison had wandered over, and were munching happily. 
Romi picked up one of the leaves from Chatot’s Liechi. The little bird ignored them completely, intent on his lunch, so Romi took the other leaf as well. They felt pliable and strong in their hands. 

“Hey, Betty?” 

“Rade?” Betty asked.

“Where’s your medal?” 

With a little hop, Betty ran over to a tree nearby and bent down. The shiny bit of copper glinted in her buds as she ran back to show her Trainer. 

“Hmm.” Romi held out their hand, and Betty placed the medallion in it, watching them curiously. They held up the Liechi leaves, looking for a place to thread one through. There were ornamental designs carved into the trinket, but no holes. So Romi instead began wrapping the leaf around it, crisscrossing it and looping it around the second leaf before tying it securely. They hoped the leaf would dry that way. 
The second leaf they held at either end, showing Betty as her medallion hung from it, tied with the first leaf. Betty squealed, hopping and sticking out her head so Romi could tie it loosely around her neck.

They did so, and when they had finished, the wrapped medallion hung nicely on Betty’s stomach. 
She trilled with delight and ran toward the pool, Romi smiling after her until they felt Chatot’s weight on their foot, and squatted down to pet him. 

“Hi Romi,” Chatot said. 

“Hello, Chatot,” Romi nodded. “Good Berry?” 
The little bird bobbed his head up and down, and Romi laughed softly. Chatot clicked his beak in disapproval. 
“Sorry,” Romi said. Chatot gave a dignified whistle and leaned closer to be petted more. 

Multiple sets of footsteps crunched behind Romi, and they turned to see Betty scurrying back, Taka and Klefki following behind her. Taka was laughing, Klefki jingling softly beside him. When Chatot saw them, he nipped Romi affectionately on the finger and flew up to his Trainer’s shoulder. 

“Hey, buddy,” he said, gently fluffing the feathers atop Chatot’s head. “Hey, guys. Wondered what everyone was doing over here.” 

“Just getting Berries,” Romi said, gesturing to their pile. 

“Oh, nice,” Taka said. “Wow.” 

Madison crowed and puffed out her chest feathers proudly. Shimmer levitated a Berry over and bounced it off Taka’s head until he took it, laughing, and squatted down to give it to Klefki. Shimmer seemed satisfied at that, 

“Well, I’ve got the fire ready, but maybe I should just bring the sticks over here. It’s a nice spot.” 

“Where did you set up?” Romi asked. 

“A bit closer to the water,” he said. “Faith was… helping.”

Romi laughed. “Wouldn’t be bad to go check it out, I think Faith would feel better if we were closer.” 

He led Romi- and Madison, who hopped after them- back to where they’d first entered, where two palm trees stood side by side almost like a gateway up against the grass of the oasis. Komala had climbed up the taller of the two, and appeared to be dozing. Gliscor and Minior were huddled together where the grass met deeper foliage, sound asleep, and Taka had set his fire-pile up near the water’s edge. As he had said, a few of the sticks in the pile looked soggy and wet. 
Romi smiled. He hadn’t wanted to hurt Faith’s feelings, either. 

“Looks nice,” they said. 

“You think? Those two just kind of dozed off, I just worked near them.” He jerked his head toward Gliscor and Minior. Gliscor shifted slightly in his sleep, and Taka grinned. 

Romi nodded, smiling too. “It’s perfect.” They looked down at Madison, who had followed them over. “What do you think?” 

Madison squawked and rubbed her head against Romi’s hand. 

They moved the Berries, Shimmer carrying most of them on her own, and Romi tucked the discarded leaves from the already-eaten Berries into their bag. When they had deposited the food safely on the grass, Romi waded into the pond, and Taka stretched out in the cool shade of the palm trees. After a while, Romi left the pond and began sorting through their bag.

As the sun sank lower in the sky and the shadows of the palms deepened and stretched, Faith climbed up on the shore, and Gliscor slowly awoke, poking Minior with his tail when his teammate failed to stir. Minior jolted up with an alarmed hum, and Madison, who was watching, squawked with laughter. 

Eventually, dusk settled over the oasis, and Chatot hopped over and set the sticks Taka had gathered alight. When Taka noticed, he yawned. 

"Guess we should eat something," he said, reaching into his bag. From it, he withdrew a weathered-looking clay pot, and set it on the ground. "Here. Romi, pass me a couple of those Sitrus?" 

Romi did. "From the cave?" They gestured to the pot, and Taka nodded. 

"Yeah. I picked it up while you were trying to catch Nino. I figured we could try cooking some Berries in it or something, but I haven't been able to wash it before now." 

“Good idea.” 

He sliced the Sitrus Berries up and dropped them in the pot, adding a Liechi Berry and pouring in a bit of water before setting the pot among the flames. Faith stuck her nose high in the air and sniffed, squealing with delight at the aroma. 
Before long, the smell grew strong enough that everyone else, Pokemon and human alike, could smell it too. It was a warm, fruity scent, and it was somewhat familiar to Romi. 

“This is like at the circus,” they realized, face lighting up. “Hot Berry tarts!” 
Shimmer was at their side quickly, nosing Romi’s hand with her snout. Romi laughed. “No, it just smells like them. There aren’t any here.” 

“Let’s hope this is a good substitute,” Taka said. “Here.”

He pulled the pot off the fire and fanned it, then stirred. When he withdrew the stick, it held a bit of reddish berry mush, which quickly slipped off and fell back into the pot. 

“Maybe I should’ve brought a spoon,” Romi said, not quite managing to keep their amusement out of their voiice.

“There’s not much need for cutlery in the desert usually,” Taka said fairly. “This’ll have to do.” 
He tilted the jug and scraped out a bit of the mixture onto a leaf. When he tasted it, he shrugged. 
“Bit sour, but not bad.” 

He doled out several more portions, Romi gathering extra leaves when he ran out. They agreed with his assessment, although they thought he might have been exaggerating with the sourness. It simply wasn’t as sweet as it smelled. 
They all ate in relative contentment. Minior loved the berry mixture, and most of the noise in the clearing was caused by his excited warbling and, after a while, his attempts to make more by repeatedly divebombing a Sitrus Berry that had rolled away from the pile. He and Chatot nibbled at it a bit, but the sand made it unappealing, and enough of the mush got on Minior’s stone shell that he shook himself free of it and pleaded with Faith until she hosed it off for him. 

Their Trainers and teammates watched, the same fond expression on both humans’ faces. 

“It’s weird,” Taka commented. “I’ve known Minior for about a year, but he’s never really… played like this. I guess it was hard to let everyone out in the bases, but… still. He’s really come out of his shell.”  

“How did…” Romi trailed off. “Taka.” 

They looked over to see him staring right back, a mischievous grin on his face. “Uh huh?” 

“You didn’t.” 

“I think I did,” he said, still grinning. 

“Taka!” They rubbed their face, laughter cracking through their voice. 

He watched, grin shifting to a softer smile. “Seriously, though, this is good for him. Honestly, I think it’s good for all of us. It’s nice.” 

“It is.” 

“I remember you said you used to go camping, how long ago was that? Uh. If you want to talk about it.” 

“It’s okay,” Romi shrugged. “Mostly when I was little. My parents used to take research trips, and I went sometimes. They taught me a few things, how to light fires, how to recognize Ursaring nests. Not Nuzleaf traps, though,” they laughed softly. 

“I figured.” 

Romi rolled their eyes at that. “It was a lot quieter, though. They were studying Pokemon habitats, so we always had to make sure we didn’t scare them away.” 

“Oh, huh. I don’t know anything about that stuff, but it sounds pretty cool,” Taka said. 

“Wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t my thing. I kept trying to make friends with the Pokemon they were trying to study.” Romi grinned. “I think most kids would.” 

Taka chuckled and shook his head. “Did it ever work out?” 

“Once,” Romi said. “A bunch of Swellow in Sinnoh. They ended up swarming our tent, I think people had been feeding them.” 
Madison stretched her neck over Romi’s shoulder and Chatot hopped onto their lap. Romi grinned and petted them both. “You two already ate.” 

“Fea,” Madison squawked, resting her head on Taka’s shoulder instead. He laughed, and gave her a pat. 

“I think birds are just like that about food, yeah. Oh, hey, speaking of, did you want to save some of that for Nino?” He waved his hand toward the pot. 

“I was thinking,” Romi nodded. “I’m not sure if he’ll go for it, He seems to like the crunchier Berries. I’ll see, though. This’ll be his first time seeing a pond.” 

Taka frowned. “Yeah, I guess. I wonder, there’s gotta be some kind of water source down there, for all those plants and Pokemon. Must be pretty deep underground, or we would’ve seen it. But I wonder if he has.” 

"Hm." 
Romi’s memory had been jostled at the mention of the cave, and the image of the Light Shard sitting mere feet away from the statue of Arceus came vividly into their mind once again.  They promised themself they would bring it up to Taka sometime. They weren’t entirely sure why, beyond a strong underlying feeling that he deserved to know if there was a connection, but they didn’t relish the thought. They still weren’t sure what to make of it themself. Still, there did not seem to be any real reason not to bring it up, and so with a deep breath, they spoke.

"Taka, do you remember when we were at that statue, and I saw the Light Shard?" 

His expression shifted, and Romi couldn’t quite make it out. “Yeah.” 

“Seeing it so close to the statue, I realized just how much it looks like Arceus’ rings,” Romi said quickly. “Like a piece of them. It could’ve been a piece of that statue, except the statue wasn’t broken and the Light Shard was glowing. They all look like that, I just hadn’t really had anything to compare before.” 

“...Okay?” Taka frowned. “What are you saying?” 

“...I don’t know,” Romi shrugged, putting their arm around Madison. The Fearow started, but leaned into the affection once she realized. “Just. They’re there. And it’s probably not a coincidence, because I never saw anything like that before coming to Reborn.” 

Taka took a deep breath, and then another. “It sounds… Romi, are you sure? Because you know I’m no devout follower of Arceus or anything, but I don’t remember my father or Elias ever saying anything like that. And… they would've. My father would have, anyway. He'd say it's just one more way I'm a disappointment." 

"It's not." Romi slumped forward a bit. "I don't think he sees them, either. He walked right by one once. It was the first time I met him." 

"Wait, really?"

"Under the Grand Stairway," Romi said. "I just really thought they were such a common sight around here that he didn't bother. But now….he probably just didn't see. No idea about Elias, though." 

"If Elias saw something that looked like Arceus, he would've told you about it," Taka said, smirking a bit. "So that's… has anyone else seen them?" 

"I only remember one," Romi said. "Guy in Obsidia Slums. Told me what it was when I went through for the first time. Other than that, I'm not sure." 

And then, to Romi's surprise, Taka started laughing. 
"Sorry," he said through his laughter, "it's just… imagining Elias finding this out. It's kind of sad, really, but…" 

Romi relaxed slightly. "I never thought of that." 

"He'd make some kind of a speech," Taka said. "And we'd never hear the end of it. He'd want them all converted into shrines. My father would… probably just double down on getting people to leave, really, come to think of it." His laughter died out, and Klefki snuggled against his hand. 

"I really don't know what they are," Romi said quietly, sincerity in their voice. "They look like Arceus' rings, but they also look a bit like Unown. Don't those create illusions? For all we know, that's what made them." 

"Ro, I've seen what happens when you touch those things. I don't think it could heal you if it was an illusion." 

Romi shrugged. "Maybe. I'm just saying we don't know. I don't even really have an idea." 

"...Me either," Taka admitted. "But is it weird I'm glad it's not just me? That can't see the things, I mean. I don't really care about tradition or anything, but still… I'm glad it's not because there's something wrong with me, or something." 

"Not weird."

Taka smiled softly. "...Thanks. And, uh, thanks for telling me about it. I remember you were acting kind of weird back there, in the cave. I guess it probably freaked you out too." 

"A bit."

"So, uh… why didn’t you say something?” Taka asked. 

Romi shrugged. “Didn’t feel like the right time. Things were confusing enough in there.” 

“I guess,” Taka said. “...You could’ve, though. If it was bothering you." 

"After that, we started looking for Nino, and it slipped my mind," Romi said. "It just caught me off guard. It would've been worse for you." 

Taka actually grinned. "Romi, I've been dealing with weird Arceus stuff my entire life. Finding out your magic glowing stars might have some connection to it… shouldn't have even surprised me, really, but here we are. Anyway, it doesn't matter. You've been listening to me this whole time, if something's freaking you out you don't have to keep it quiet." 

Romi had been keeping their eyes on Madison's head in their lap as Taka spoke, and they kept them there still as their face grew warm. "...Thanks. So you're okay?" 

"What's one more weird happening?" Taka shrugged. "Maybe after everything, we can look into it. Find out what those things are. But for now, I'm really not worrying about it."

Romi closed their eyes. "Then I’ll try not to, either.” 

The dusk had settled softly into night as they talked, and so had most of their Pokemon. Faith had made her way over to lay next between Taka and Romi, and Betty had snuggled up next to the Primarina’s paws. Shimmer was hum-snoring a short way away. Klefki had cuddled up just above Taka’s head. The only one out of sight was Komala- Gliscor and Minior were chasing each other some distance away, Minior’s bright glow a tell- and both Trainers had seen Komala hanging around the same high palm tree since they arrived at the oasis. 
It was a peaceful quiet, and apart from the distant sounds of Gliscor and Minior, there was very little sound.
Until Romi felt a buzz at their side, and a moment later, Nino sprang out of his Pokeball. 

He sniffed the ground next to Romi’s leg, and then looked up. Romi. Madison and Taka were watching him silently, even the Fearow seeming to understand that Nino was easily startled. The Gible peered at the three of them curiously, tilted his head, and then sniffed the air.
 

“Gib!” 

Still careful to be quiet, the two Trainers turned to watch as Nino scampered over to the pot, looked inside, and stuck his face in. 
Madison tilted her head in confusion as Romi shook with silent laughter. It was not a very large pot, and though Nino could stick his nose and mouth inside, the jet-fins on the side of his head prevented him from getting very far in. His little feet kicked in the air and his forelimbs scratched at the pot, until gravity caught up with him and sent both Gible and pot toppling over. 
He stood up indignantly and pawed at the pot again. When that didn’t work, he sat down and fixed Romi with a piteous look. 

“Gii?” 

“Excuse me,” Romi said quietly to Madison, face still pink from laughing. Madison hopped off Romi’s lap, stepped carefully over Faith and Betty, and flopped onto Taka’s knees. Taka began petting her, and she trilled quietly. 

“Here,” Romi said. They took the same stick Taka had used and scraped out what was left of the Berry goo onto a leaf. Nino sniffed at it briefly, and then with one bite devoured the leaf and everything on it. All that remained was a tiny smudge of pink, on the tip of his nose, and even that was gone a moment later when he licked his lips. 

“Gible,”: he said, looking happily at Romi. 

“You’re welcome,” they said, grinning. “If you’re still hungry, there’s some Berries over there.” 

Nino looked over, considered, and yawned. Instead, he waddled over to Taka, who was watching him with a smile while petting both of the Pokemon on his lap. 

"Hey," Taka said. "Was it good?" 

Nino nodded. "Bi gib!" 

"Nice," Taka said. He held out a hand.
Nino sniffed it briefly and then butted it gently with his nose. Taka grinned, and looked over at Romi to make sure they were watching. The surprised smile on his face made Romi smile even more than they had been.

"Thanks, little guy," he said. 

Nino made a happy sound and waddled back over to Romi before yawning again. This time, Romi caught it, and when they yawned Taka did too. 

"I guess everyone's tired," Romi said, glancing around. 

“Guess so,” Taka agreed, gesturing toward Gliscor and Minior. “I should probably say goodnight to those two before sleeping, though. And maybe check on Komala. Pretty sure he’s already asleep, though.”. 

“I can check on them,” Romi offered. “You look… comfortable.” 

Taka looked down at the sleeping bird Pokemon on his lap, shook his head, and grinned. “You guys are so spoiled. Okay, Romi, thanks.” 

Romi smiled, too. “Okay, Nino, let’s go say good night to everyone.” 
With only a little hesitation, Nino followed them. 

Komala was exactly where he’d been the last time Romi saw him, clinging to the tallest palm tree. Nino peered up along with Romi, and when Romi glanced down, the little Gible was staring at the tree with something like awe. They wondered if it was the first time he’d seen one. 

“Night, Komala,” Romi said softly, after a few moments. They looked up again to see if Komala heard, but if he did, he gave no sign. So they looked down at Nino. 
“You ready?” 
Nino gave the tree one last look, then nodded. 

They gave the campsite a wide berth as they headed toward where Gliscor and Minior played. Nino, Romi was interested to see, did not seem to mind the dark, despite his cavern’s constant illumination. He scampered ahead, checking out the different plants and bushes while he waited for Romi to catch up. They didn’t hurry, partially out of tiredness and partially out of a lingering worry that sudden movements might startle their newly-courageous friend. 

Gliscor heard them coming. Minior was chasing him in circles around a little copse of palm trees, and abruptly Gliscor stopped flapping. 

“Gliscor?” His ears swiveled rapidly, and a moment later he dove toward where Nino sat, waiting for Romi to catch up.

Nino’s legs shook as he growled a warning, but Gliscor swooped over him and stopped a few feet away, greeting Romi happily. Minior floated over to join them, and cautiously Nino padded his way over as well. 

“Hey, guys,” Romi smiled, patting Minior and scratching Gliscor’s head when he ducked low enough for them to reach,

“Mimimimi!” 

“Sco sco!” 

Romi laughed. “Having fun? Hey, Nino. It’s okay, Minior and Gliscor are friends.” 
Nino sat next to his Trainer, and the two other Pokemon turned their attention to him. 

“G-gib?” 

Gliscor waved a claw, and Minior swooped down to get a better look. He gave a sound that Romi recognized as a greeting, and Nino seemed to calm slightly.

“Taka wanted me to tell you guys goodnight,” Romi said. “I think it’s late. You can still play, though.” 

“Glili,” Gliscor said, turning to Minior. Minior hummed. 

“Night,” Romi told them. 
But when they and Nino turned to head back toward the campsite, Minior’s glow followed, and Gliscor swooped overhead. Nino kept close to Romi, not entirely sure yet what to make of the two accompanying them, but he was otherwise calm, and it was a pleasant walk back to the campsite and the fire’s glow. 

Gliscor landed a few feet from Taka, who had dozed off as he waited for Romi to return, and let out a soft rumble of amusement. It was contagious, and Romi laughed quietly as well. 

“Okay. Night, guys.” They lowered themself into the sand, only a few inches from Betty and Faith. The sand was soft, and Romi felt a wave of tiredness wash over them. 

“Night, Nino,” they yawned. “You can stay out here or go back in, it’s up to you.” 

Nino glanced at the rest of the Pokemon, all sound asleep, and at Minior and Gliscor, and yawned. Cautiously, he nestled into the sand a couple feet away from Romi, and closed his eyes. 
The sight, along with everything else that had happened that night, made Romi’s heart glow with warmth as they drifted off to sleep. 

[Evi Crystal]

This chapter was pretty cute and adorable with the camping and Romi's interactions with Taka

 

Also I like how you make the Tourmaline Desert from "torturous never ending pain" to an adventurous trip with teammates shenanigans and exploring." It's pretty neat

[Azzie]

(Please note that the bit about Taka wanting to bury himself in the sand and do nothing is courtesy of our lovely Ame and not me!)

Day 17
Faith woke Romi the next morning, her cold, wet nose against their cheek. They opened their eyes and the first thing they saw was her, looming over them. The instant she saw Romi wake up she let out a happy bark, and shifted backward to let them sit up. 
Taka was still sound asleep, but most of his Pokemon- all except Gliscor and Minior- had gathered together with Romi’s around something on the ground. They all seemed puzzled. 
Romi barely had time to register this before something bumped their leg from beneath the sand, and they rolled quickly and silently out of the way. A small whine sounded, and Faith let out a little bark of laughter as Romi looked back where they had been a moment earlier. 
Nino shook the sand off his head and shot Romi a wounded look. 

“Sorry,” Romi said. “Here.” They held out a hand and Nino ran to it, butting his head against it. 

“Gib,” he whined. 

The sound attracted the other Pokemon’s attention, and they looked around. Chatot happened to see Romi and Nino, and with a little crow he hopped over toward them. The others quickly followed, and with a grunt of alarm Nino hopped onto Romi’s lap and sat there, looking up at them.

“Hey, it’s okay,” they said. To the other Pokemon, who had hurried over to them, they said, “Everyone, this is Nino. He’s a bit shy.” 

Nino grumbled nervously, but the presence of his Trainer seemed to calm him a bit; he shivered only slightly as Klefki chirped a greeting and Shimmer sniffed him, and when Faith patted his head with her paw he actually looked happy.
Romi’s face lit up with pride at their new friend’s courage, and as Nino relaxed a bit Romi was able to say good morning to the other Pokemon, some of whom were trying to get their attention too. 

“Chatot, what the heck!” 

Romi turned and laughed softly. Taka was sitting up, and based on the look on Chatot’s face, he had just woken him up. 

“Morning,” they said. 

“Morning,” Taka repeated. “Hey, Chatot, did Romi put you up to this?” 

Chatot clucked with laughter, and Romi shook their head. “That was all him. Everyone else just realized Nino’s out and about.” 

Nino waved a paw at Taka, and he grinned. 

“Hey, buddy. Good for you.” 

The little crowd dispersed then, most of them wandering over to greet Taka, and Nino hopped off Romi’s lap and went to grab a Berry from the pile. After a brief detour to let Taka pet her, Betty went along with Nino, and before long Pokemon and Trainers alike were munching and relaxing. 

Taka suggested taking off before the sun rose too high, and Romi agreed readily, so they let their Pokemon play while they packed up the Berries into their bags and collected some more leaves for later fires. Faith dove into the pool for one last swim, and Madison and Chatot raced around the trees.

“Hey, Ro, when we were talking about Light Shards last night, did you happen to see where the one for this place is? Assuming there’s one here?” Taka asked. 

Romi shook their head. “I sort of looked, but I didn’t see it. It must be farther along.” 

They finished packing, and with a few gentle words each recalled their Pokemon to their Balls. Taka scattered the remnants of the fire pit with his shoe, and then they were off, walking slowly around the pond as Romi looked carefully for any signs.

Finally, after half an hour of walking, Romi spotted it- a golden glow in the water that didn’t quite match the sunlight’s reflection. They stepped closer, and sure enough, a golden shard gleamed about two feet below the water’s surface. 

Taka watched Romi peer into the water, the tips of their shoes just barely avoiding getting wet, and made a face. “Is it actually in there?” 

“Right there,” Romi pointed uselessly. “…Hey, Taka, come over here?” 

He obliged, standing next to Romi and looking where they were looking, but he still couldn’t see anything. “Sorry, Ro, all I see is dirt. And water.” 

“No, it’s just- here.” They waded into the pond, not stopping until the water was nearly waist high. “I want to try something.” 

Taka didn’t miss the implication, and he shook his head. “Romi, I’m not exactly a water kind of guy. I’m pretty sure I’d sink like a rock if I tried to swim.” 

“You don’t have to swim. I just… what would happen if we both touched it, at the same time? It’s right by my foot, it isn’t deep here.” Romi glanced down, then back over at Taka. “You don’t have to, I just… wonder.” 

Taka removed his shoes, wondering why Romi hadn’t thought to do the same, and shook his head. “Remember I touched it before and it didn’t do anything,” he said as he waded in. The water was cool, and he bent down to douse his scarf before walking out to Romi. 

“Good idea,” Romi smiled, nodding at the scarf. “I just wondered if we both touched it at the same time, what would happen. Maybe nothing. Or maybe… not.” 

“I’m kinda curious too,” Taka admitted. “Where exactly is it, again?” 

“There,” Romi pointed again, right in front of their shoe. “On three?” 

“Sure,” Taka said. “One…” 

“Two…”

“Three!” 

They both leaned forward. Taka watched Romi’s hand and aimed for the same place. 

It happened quickly. Their fingers brushed together under the water, and then Taka felt something warm and pleasant jolt from beneath his hand and spread through his body. And it may have been a trick of the sunlight, but he could have sworn he saw gold behind his eyes, for a split second.

And then the lake was gone, and the gold was gone, and the only proof that it had been there was his and Romi’s soaking wet clothes and a gentle feeling of health settling through him. 

Romi was watching his face carefully. “What happened?” 

Taka stared. “Romi… is that what it’s like, every time?” He looked down at his hand again, wonderingly. 

Romi’s eyes widened. “You felt it?” 

“I felt something,” Taka said. “It was… warm. And happy. And I saw something golden, for a second. I think it worked, Ro.” 

Romi’s face broke into a smile. “That’s great. I wondered if maybe it would change anything, but…” 

“I honestly didn’t think anything would happen,” Taka admitted. “But… Ro, that was incredible. My hand’s still kind of tingling. And I’m just… happy. I’m not sure whether that’s the Shard or just being glad I could actually feel it, though, haha.” 

The smile of pure wonder on Taka’s face was beautiful. Romi was struck by it. They felt their own face grow bright with the sheer happiness of it. 
“I’m so glad,” they said. 

“Me too,” Taka grinned. “I can’t…” He trailed off. “Romi, do you see that?” 
 

Romi turned to follow his gaze. 
A single palm tree, not far off from where they stood- near enough that it must have been part of the oasis. 
And it was still there. 

“That’s weird,” he said. “Do you think it was both of us touching the Shard that did that?” 

Romi frowned. “Why would it just leave one tree?” 

“I guess,” Taka said. “Maybe it was already here? When the oasis sprung up, I mean? So it wasn’t connected to the Light Shard in the first place.”

Romi looked thoughtful. “It does look pretty big.” 

“It kind of does. Hey, let’s go check it out before the sun dries us off too much.” 

They took off quickly at first, but both quickly discovered that the added weight of drenched pants- and, in Romi’s case, shoes- made a difference in running, and slowed down. As they got closer to the tree, it was clear that they’d been right about it being ‘pretty big’. It stretched up, and by the time they reached its base the tree towered over them. 

“This has to’ve been the tallest one,” Taka said, staring up at it. “…I think it’s the one Komala was in.” 

“I think you’re right,” Romi agreed. “I wonder how old it is.” 

“Gotta be pretty old, if it’s this big.” Taka leaned against the trunk, looking up at the leaves and fruits far above his head. “It’s a nice one.” 

“Nino liked it,” Romi said. “I don’t know if he ever really saw a tree before, living in- Taka, move!”

Taka frowned. “What’s up?” 

Romi pointed above his head. “Look.” 
 

Taka looked up. The tree- tree?- was bending, arching its trunk as the top stretched closer and closer to the two. Taka scrambled away from the trunk and toward Romi, but the tree simply stretched out further, until the leaves were drooping down and the three fruits- which they could see now had faces- were on eye level.
It was smiling at them. 

“Um. Hi?” Taka said. 

“Hi,” Romi echoed. 

“Cuu!” The sound the Exeggutor made was somewhere between a rumble and a roar, with a faint whistle to its voice, and its tone sounded curious. 

“I’m sorry we took away your oasis,” Romi said. 

“Yeah, and I’m sorry Komala was sleeping on you yesterday,” Taka added, realizing. “He just really likes to climb, but-” 

Exeggutor’s face lit up with excitement, and it let out another cry. The ground began to tremble, and Taka stepped back again as the tremor grew to a shake, and then a quake. Sand began to fly around the Pokemon as the quake went on, and both Taka and Romi had to brace themselves to avoid falling over. After a short time, however, the shaking died down, and as the sand settled once more they could see that the Exeggutor had completely unearthed itself. 

“…Huh,” Taka said. “Well, I can’t really blame you. I, too, would love to bury myself half-underground and do nothing for hours on end.” 

“You practically have,” Romi deadpanned. Taka looked down and laughed. The sand Exeggutor had displaced was sticking to every inch of Taka’s clothes that had gotten wet. 
He wasn’t the only one. 

“I guess we’re all in the sand club,” he shrugged, still grinning, and when Romi noticed how covered they also were, they were set off laughing too. 
Exeggutor joined in, its laughter coming in heavy waves that nearly shook the ground on their own. 

Romi grinned. “You’re awfully friendly.” 

“Torr,” Exeggutor said. Now that he was uncovered from the sand, they could see his tail whipping back and forth behind him, and as if to prove Romi’s point the Exeggutor stuck his faces between the two Trainers and smiled.

“Pretty cute,” Taka agreed. “…Hey. Romi, you’re probably gonna tell me I didn’t think this through, but… what if we brought him with us?” Exeggutor’s tail wagged faster. 

“I mean, he gets along with Komala, and we did kind of just steal his home.” Taka gestured around to where the oasis had been, and turned to Exeggutor. “Would you want to come?” 

“Torr! Tor!” The great Pokemon shifted from foot to foot in excitement, pounding the sand each time, and he nudged Taka with his faces. Romi smiled softly.
 

“Sounds like he’s already adopted you,” they said. 

“Haha. All right, big guy, here.” Taka pulled out a Great Ball, and tossed it against the Pokemon’s trunk. Exeggutor was drawn inside, and the ball wobbled once after hitting the sand before it settled closed. 

“…Wow,” Taka said, after a few moments. 

“Hm?” 

“I honestly didn’t expect it to be that easy,” he said, staring at the ball on the sand. “It was kind of an impulse, but… I sort of felt bad for him.” 

“He probably counted on that,” Romi grinned. “He definitely seemed happy to have some company, and did you see that dance when you asked if he wanted to come?” 

“Yeah,” Taka smiled. “It was pretty cute.” 

“It was.” 

Taka stooped down to pick up the Pokeball, clipped it to his belt, and shrugged. “Well, guess it’s time to get going again.” 

They set off once more, following the direction of the sunrise and veering north. The coolness from the water on their clothes was a welcome relief for as long as it lasted- which was sadly not very long, in the scorching sun. After a couple of hours, Romi stopped walking abruptly and turned to Taka.

“We got off course somehow.” 

Taka turned to the mountains and frowned. “I thought they should’ve been closer. I guess… that sandstorm the other day, maybe? Or was it yesterday? I’ve completely lost track of time out here.” 

“I’m not sure,” Romi shrugged. “It kind of blends together. But you’re right, I think it must’ve been the sandstorm.” 

“Hopefully we didn’t pass the Gym.” 

Romi’s eyes widened for a moment before they shook their head. “Once we get closer, past the dunes, it’ll be easier to see if there’s anything back that way.” 

Taka nodded. “Shouldn’t take too long to get back.” 

Without any further discussion, they stopped heading north and simply focused on walking due east, dodging around some of the larger sand hills and scaling the smaller ones. Shortly before dusk, a wind picked up, and with it, a cloud of sand; fortunately the shadow of the mountain was near enough now that the two Trainers could still use it to guide their way. After a few hours, the wind faded, and Taka and Romi used the last traces of daylight to make camp next to a massive boulder half-covered by sand, near enough to the mountain that only a few low dunes lay between them. 

This time, when Romi released their Pokemon, Nino was among them. The others seemed to have learned their lesson from the morning; Faith nosed Nino gently and Shimmer whistled in greeting, but they all gave the little Gible space, and in turn Nino seemed relaxed and happy. 

Taka released his team next- all but one. “Okay, guys, I made a new friend this morning. He’s kind of big. But I think you’ll all get along okay.” 
He addressed Romi’s Pokemon, too, and they looked to Romi with curiosity. Their Trainer simply smiled. 

Taka activated the Great Ball. The beam of light shot upwards like a flare, and with a yawn, Exeggutor appeared. 

“Torr?” 

“Ko!” 
Komala had already begun to doze off, nestling up against Gliscor’s tail, but at Exeggutor’s cry his eyes opened. And with clear excitement, the little Pokemon scampered over to sit by the giant’s feet. 

Exeggutor made a sound- Taka couldn’t interpret it from so far up- and turned his body slightly, Komala sitting patiently as he did. He shifted until the tiny head on his tail was near enough to Komala to see him properly. 
The moment it did, it began to wag. 

Exeggutor shifted from one foot to the other in excitement, and Taka stepped out of the way as the great creature bent its neck to bring its heads closer. 
Komala reached up, and when Exeggutor’s heads were near enough to properly see the little Pokemon, all of them were smiling broadly. 
He made a sound like a yawn and a rumble as Komala actually hopped, not quite reaching the bigger Pokemon. Taka looked from one to the other before picking Komala up and holding him at eye level with Exeggutor. 
Exeggutor rubbed his nearest face against Komala’s fuzzy cheek, and Komala purred. 

“So, uh. I guess you know each other?” 

“Ko! Ko!” Komala wriggled out of Taka’s grasp and climbed onto his head, and began chattering to Exeggutor. The bigger Pokemon made soft sounds in response, and Taka simply stood there. 

“Romi, you seeing this?” 

Romi, who had been grinning since Komala sat next to Exeggutor, walked over to stand near Taka. “Must’ve met last night.” 

“So Komala knew,” Taka mused. “That makes it easier, I guess. Maybe that’s why he liked us.” 

Exeggutor hummed, and lowered his faces slightly so that the nearest one could lick Taka’s cheek. 
Romi burst out laughing. 

“What-” Taka started, shock and alarm written across his features. A brief pause, and he relaxed, grinning. “Heh. Well, welcome to the team, big guy. Apparently you’re among friends.” 

“Cu cu,” Exeggutor said happily. 

They built their fire quickly, and spent the rest of the evening munching on Berries and watching Nino and Exeggutor- Eggs, Taka had taken to calling him- get used to the rest of their Pokemon. It was a surprisingly smooth integration; even apart from Komala, the others were relaxed around the giant, and by the time they settled in for the night Taka began to wonder if he and Romi had been the only ones not to know Exeggutor was there.

He turned to ask Romi, but they were sound asleep already. Their hand was loose on the sand- for a change, no Pokemon had ducked under it or on it- and Taka remembered the morning, how they had both touched the Light Shard at the same instant. How Romi had tried, repeatedly, to let him feel its warmth, and how it had worked this time. 
 

The memory brought back the sense of wellbeing and happiness, and in his drowsy state he realized that it had been there in the background of his mind all day. As he fell asleep, he made a mental note to ask Romi in the morning why they hadn’t told him Light Shards kept working over time.