Ding-ding-dingle-ding!

Once more the soothing, warming caress of the healing fields passed over and through my body, easing away the aches, pains and assorted kinks from my body as the soft, digital voice told me to just relax. If I ever changed back to a human I’d certainly miss this, I thought, as I lounged in my own private hotspring. I’d miss the right to solitude when desired, the option to just skip rainy, cold or otherwise just plain blah days — unless I wanted not to — and I’d miss my private world that somebody else had to carry around for me. I wouldn’t miss the bows around my tail and neck though. Much.

Yes, I could have escaped them at any time, but I didn’t really want a fight that badly, not after the fight in the tunnel. I will add that I was tricked, as Worst Child made them out to be bandages at first, but then she’d started talking about ideas for a contest performance with them, and the jig was up. Still, spending the previous day relaxing after that previous day's exertions had been worth a few bows in my tail.

Now though as I finally exited my pokeball after an hour or so of subjective time lounging around in comfort, post some strenuous training against the local punks, I’d much rather have been listening to Becca prattle on about sparkling entrances and water seals than what faced us. Instead, I was watching Officer Jenny take down statements from our three stooges whilst Devon employees fielded yet more questions and examined the junk recovered from the cave. I nervously hung around Chompy as she kept a watchful eye on the goings-on through lidded eyes, her bladed tail-tip twitching occasionally.

"Sit down," she murmured. "You make the place look untidy. You could just go back inside your ball."

"Maybe I should. I could just skip all this but... but what happens if they figure out... how can you just lie there?" I grumbled, nervously turning around and around on one of the large, red padded seats in the now rather packed pokecenter.

"It’sss easy," she hissed. "I’m warm, dry and most of all, well-fed."

"That makes it worse!" I complained, putting my head on my paws.

"Oh calm down, they clearly have no more idea of what’s going on than we do."

"I’ll have you know," rumbled the Jenny’s arcanine as he padded over, ears twitching as he decided to eavesdrop, "that my mistress is developing a working theory as we speak. She’ll have it sorted out in no time, then you miscreants can go to jail where you belong!"

"Oh yeah?" I asked, trying to hide the quaver from my voice. "Go on then, tell us what you've got, copper. I’d like to see you try, we’ve met that Zyrna woman twice and I still don’t know what she wants."

"A likely story," growled the arcanine. "Where were you on the night of the—"

Tully flew down from above, kicking at the hound with his claws and batting with a wing. "Piss off narc, we don’t have to say anything to you. Besides, not much you can actually tell your pet pignite."

"Pignite? You take that back!"

"Make me, copper!"

"I can arrest you!"

"No you can’t, I’m a Pokémon! You’re a Pokémon! And for what? I know my rights — I don’t have any, neither do you!"

"I’ll arrest you for disturbing the peace!"

"Oh disturb this peace!" Tully made a very rude gesture with both his wings, which made the arcanine growl and bear his teeth. He was pulled off by his Jenny before he could do anything, which had the swellow showing the arcanine his feathery rear end and jeering louder. "Yeah that’s right, you little purrugly! You better run! I’ll watch you and your little pignite go wee wee wee all the way home!"

"[Stop it, Ferrous! What’s gotten into you?]" chastised Officer Jenny as Ferrous barked and yapped at the swellow, too incensed to even speak. He calmed down for a moment, and Jenny relaxed her grip, patting him on the head.

"Wha-chow!" said Tully, miming cracking a whip at Ferrous, whose eyes bulged in anger.

"I’ll bite your beak off!" roared the arcanine. Ferrous made to lunge at Tully, but was stopped hard by the surprisingly powerful police officer as she grabbed her partner’s collar and yanked him back once more and chastised him before dragging him off and clipping his leash to a ring set in the wall.

"[I’m so sorry, he’s a bit highly strung today, we’ve been having some wild Pokémon issues lately.]"

"[Oh that’s no problem,]" chuckled Becca, "[it looks like you’ve got him under control.]"

"[I shouldn’t have to, but thank you for understanding.]"

"And you knock it off too, Tully," I added, a wicked grin splitting my muzzle, stretching and flicking my tail dismissively at the scowling, growling arcanine. "He’s only doing... well, trying to do his job. It’s not his fault he’s so very bad at it," I said, staring straight at Ferrous and smirking. He started frothing at the mouth and insulting my parentage, impotently yanking on his leash.

"[Lux! Are you teasing this nice lady’s Pokémon?]" came a very admonishing voice. I ducked my head as Ed snatched me up from the seat, looking away from the police Pokémon.

"Thanks a bunch, got me in trouble," I grumbled at Tully over Ed’s shoulder, not meeting my trainer’s harsh gaze.

"No problem, li’l sis, it’s what I’m here for," snarked the swellow. He took off and started teasing Ferrous some more as the Jennies left the pokecenter, along with the Devon employees. The latter group had been interviewing that Sly fellow in another room entirely, having been cleared by the police. I watched them all go, only half-listening to the lecture I was getting from my trainer. Some things never changed.

"And then you know what Nurse Joy says?" said Ed, trying hard to keep a straight face as he leaned forwards across the glass-topped table outside the poke-cafe.

"I have no idea," said Sly, a smile on his face as he leaned back in the cafe’s seat, sipping a cool drink.

"She takes one look at all the injuries our Pokémon had and says ‘wow, what happened? It looks like you got in a free-for-all’!" guffawed Ed, slapping his hand on the table top, making the drinks rattle where they stood. Becca swiped her own up, wiping the small spill down with a napkin.

"And this yutz just goes ‘yup’. You should’ve seen her face!" laughed Becca, wiping a tear from her eye and sighing. "Aaaahhhh, I guess you had to have been there." She took a long draught from her own drink, then smacked her lips appreciatively. The Pokémon next to them on the floor in their own area shared a few looks, eating and drinking as they chatted away at each other in poke-speak.

Sly chuckled, shaking his head. "I didn’t have so much of an interesting time with Devon’s people, sadly," said Sly. "They tried to take my phone, but I persuaded them that wasn’t going to happen."

"What? Why?"

"I do use it as a data backup store, I guess they thought there might be something interesting on it. Even if there was, it doesn’t give them a right to my phone."

"Hell no it doesn’t! I don’t have a phone, but if I did they’d have no right to it. They just asked us about the junk we saw, verified that our stories matched and just let us go, said they’d be in touch if they need more info, same as before."

"Yeah? Speaking of phones then kid, someone on their team must have turned in their homework late as I have a present for you. Here. You too, Becca."

Sly brought out two compact, heavy boxes, one in red and white, the other black and red. Sliding them over to the two trainers, he smirked as their jaws flopped open in surprise.

"Phones?" gasped Becca, eyes widening as she opened up her box. The lid was held shut with a simple — but oh so satisfying — magnetic lock, and the sleek device inside was pristine and unmarred by fingerprints. The plastic peeled off in that oh-so-satisfying way that denoted a real fresh-from-the-factory piece of kit. It was Devon-made, of course.

"Yup. They had three; replacements for the ones you two weren’t carrying and the one that I wasn’t going to give up anyway. They also threw in some rugged cases." Sly brought out two more cases from his backpack, and dropped them in the middle of the table for the two trainers to make their own pick from. "These are full trainer models, so you get a bunch of extra features including the national and global dex apps. I refused mine, of course. Unfortunately they wouldn't spring for rotoms, but you can have everything."

Ed’s brow furrowed as he peered at his black-and-gold model phone. "No strings attached?"

"Nope, not that they didn’t try it on. You two don’t have pokedexes, do you?"

Ed shook his head, but Becca reached into her bag, bringing out a clunky yet functional electronic P.D.A. style device.

"I have this one," said Becca. "It’s an older model, a Dexter Five, though I did set up a capture profile for Ed."

"Most trainers I meet pull those things out at any opportunity," chuckled Sly. "A Dexter Five? I haven’t seen one of those models in a while. It's almost as old as my phone. Don't make 'em like they used to."

"It’s not so necessary these days, they’ve got a good handle on what lives in the area, so now it’s just estimating population changes that’s important. I’ve set it to quiet capture for encounters. The alerts from it got very old, very quick."

"I didn’t get my own one because I caught my own starter," grumbled Ed. "They said I wasn’t eligible for that part of the grant because of it, although they did say they’d sponsor the data connection for one when I got my own. I was going to get one when I could afford a basic model from winnings, but... well, now I don’t have to!" The boy enthusiastically powered up the phone and delved through menus, selecting various options until after a number of tones and setting up of biometrics and then updates, it started syncing his personal Pokémon teams as well as encounter lists from Becca’s device. "I hope you don’t mind, it’ll still register any Pokémon you encounter for me as well?"

"Nah, we’re travelling pals, it’s good to have a backup. I’ll turn it off when you want."

"Thanks Becca!" Ed was silent for a moment before mumbling to himself as he delved deeper yet into the phone. "Oh cool, it’s on the poke-network! It’s got access to my personal boxes..." Sly chuckled as the younger boy disappeared off into his own world accessible only through the five-and-a-bit inch screen in his hands.

"So, plans for this afternoon? Other than fiddling with your phones until midnight?" Sly chuckled, as even Becca started setting her own up.

"I’ve got to get my contest pass renewed," said Becca, somewhat distantly. "And... I was wondering if I can borrow your Pokémon sometimes for the contests?" She looked up, questioningly. Eventually Ed worked out he was being addressed, blushing as he blinked his way back to reality, and took another sip of his drink before nodding at the other trainer.

"I... sure? Just ask them. You might have some trouble with Lux," added Ed, chuckling. "I think she’s still unhappy about the squirt bottle, and I'm not sure she's all that fond of the bows."

"Oh, she’ll perk up once she hears about all the outfits I’ve got planned, everybody likes to look pretty!"

"I prefer the rugged look," said Ed, striking a pose. Becca and Sly shared a look, at which Ed pouted.

"You do you, kid!" exclaimed Sly with another laugh.

"I’m still not a kid, you know! I’m ten, old man!" They all laughed at that.

"You know," said Becca after a few moments, "I could resurrect the routine Chompy and I practised a few times for my first ribbon attempt. You want to see it?"

"Yeah, I do! You’ve done many contests before?" Ed asked.

"Uh-uh, not many, I... I didn’t really..." Becca paused, contemplating her phone silently before looking up again. "You hear about how most trainers give up, right? I didn’t exactly give up, but I didn’t take things seriously. I think I needed... I needed you guys, Sly, Ed. I needed somebody to travel with, to compete against, to be there with me."

Ed smiled. "I’m glad you’re with me. This would be way too much alone. Team Rocket? That weird woman and Team Magma? Way too much. And then all this training and those badges... let’s go all the way, you and me! You can come too, I guess." Ed turned to Sly and stuck his tongue out.

"Gee, thanks," said the photographer. "I’ll stick with you guys for a while yet. I kind of want to see if we ever find out what’s up with whatever-her-face was... what did they say her name was? Zyrna? Yeah, that was it."

Ed and Becca shared a look as Sly watched their faces, before Becca spoke up. "They never told us her name, they did say she was the same one causing trouble in Rustboro though. Zyrna? That’s a weird name."

"I think she might be a... have you ever heard of the draconids?" Sly asked. Ed and Becca both slowly shook their heads.

"Not really, we learned about them in school, but I don't know much more than the basics," said Becca. Ed nodded.

"They're a native tribe that lives here in Hoenn, but I've never met one."

Sly nodded slowly, then continued. "Zyrna’s probably a draconid. Most of us have heard about them before, just not often. They keep to themselves. Maybe we should try to find something at the local library in case we run into her again."

"Good idea," replied Ed. "Hey, what did they say about that scientist guy, Eric Dooley? Anything?"

"Just that he’s missing, presumed dead, after going too deep into that cave we were in, maybe to escape the trouble with Zyrna. It’s a known nesting site for whismur, so it’s not worth the body count or the trouble with the conservation league to look for any remains due to the exploud that guard the nests and eggs. He’d been under covert investigation for corporate espionage, originally they thought it was just run-of-the-mill IP theft, either directly for competitors like Silph or more likely for some underground group like Team Rocket, now Team Magma and Zyrna. Now they're not so sure exactly what his game was, but the outcome is the same."

Becca and Ed exchanged glances again, before Becca spoke up. "They shared a lot more information with you than they did with us."

"I did kind of offer all of our help, since we’re on a journey across Hoenn, and they were anxious to get a look at whatever they thought I had on my phone so they were pretty chatty." Sly shrugged, then grinned roguishly, "I’m also told I just have one of those faces."

"What, good for radio?" quipped Ed.

"Cute. Seriously though, I don’t think we should deliberately try to get ourselves mixed up with Team Magma, but if we happen to run into them or this Zyrna character, it would do us good to be prepared."

"What do you think they want?" asked Ed.

"Magma? They've been quiet for a while," mused Sly.

"Wasn’t Magma involved in some big ancient Pokémon disaster a few years ago?" pondered Becca. "They woke up Groudon? And got into some fight with Aqua, who woke up Kyogre? Then there was that trainer from... was it Kanto? Johto? And their friends, who summoned Rayquaza? I thought that broke both of those two groups."

"That’s right. The draconids got involved back then too, which makes Zyrna's actions stranger if she's on the other side this time. It did shut them both down for a while," said Sly, "but they’ve both been active again recently, Magma more overtly. Their plans have obviously changed though. If they’ve got a rogue draconid mixed up with them then Arceus only knows that they’re planning." At the two trainers’ surprised looks, Sly grinned again. "You learn a lot travelling the way I do, and when you’ve got to rely on others to get you around safely, you learn to keep an eye and ear out. I’m a pretty good judge of character."

There was the poof of a flashy yet small explosion as the seal on the pokeball Becca had thrown went off. It artfully hid the flash of light from her Pokémon appearing, before more thick, hazy smoke billowed out over the stage as Chompy let loose with a huge smokescreen. Slowly, to a building tempo, Becca started to dance, thumping her feet and clapping her hands in a rhythm that was punctuated by more billows of smoky haze and the snap of Chompy’s fangs and the whip-crack swoosh of her bladed tail as, between renewing said haze, she lunged and dove between her trainer in an apparent attempt to capture and devour her. The haze began to clear as the two spun and twirled together back towards the center of the stage before Chompy leaped into the air and there was an explosion of haze that once more hide the gigantic snake from view. The crowd gasped athe apparent ferocity, and there was silence as just Chompy’s head appeared above the dispersing cloud, with Becca nowhere to be seen as just the snake was left, coiled up in the center of the steage. There was another whoosh of haze, and when it cleared, there stood Becca, breathing heavily, sweaty, but triumphant.

The crowd went wild.

"Becca that was amazing!" shouted Ed, his eyes wide with awe. "I thought you said you’d not done this many times before? What in Giratina’s name was that? It was... I’d expect to see something like that on the television!"

Becca’s cheeks flushed with heat. "Oh, come on, it’s not that good!"

"It was," objected Sly. "If you’ve been hiding that kind of talent under a bushel then I don’t know why. If all you need is us to tell you how good you are, then this time around I can say your journey will be very different."

"What he said! You have got to teach me how you did that! Please? Pretty please? I didn’t know if I was gonna really do contests before, they sounded kinda... girly... but that was amazing! The lights, the crowd, the music... the way you fought! Amazing!"

"You said that before," giggled Becca, blushing again.

"I meant it!"

Becca looked between Sly, who had a frank and impressed expression on his face, and Ed who was pleading for advice from her, his eyes shining. "Well... okay then, alright. I guess I can give you some tips." With a renewed enthusiasm, almost a hunger, she caressed the First Place contest ribbon in her hands and held it to her chest.