Charcoal nodded at Mabel's words, settling down more into the grass and looked towards the sky with a small smile.
"I know they said there's a small chance I may evolve." He started, "But I hope to fly on my own one day." His tail flame flickered brightly when he mentioned about flying, "All I have to do it keep trying and get stronger!"

Gavin tilted his head slightly before he nodded.
"Hiking trousers would be better for me I think." He said with a smile towards Mindy, he didn't want to make her feel awkward for rambling, "So maybe we get the shirt from here and look at an outdoor clothing place for pants?" He smiled a bit more.

Fez froze when he heard the voice, looking to the source before he moved to push her back into the clothes, following afterwards.
"What are you doing here??" He asked, looking around, "Where's James?" He looked around again, "I evolved... Somehow." He started before he instinctively started to relax, the general Aura that Penelopy had always caused him to relax.
"G..Gavin is good. He's in human form now. The human is a friend, he's interested in her." Fez said with a smirk.

Niccia watched Bear and Soul as well, slightly surprised that Jycii didn't butt in with the whole descendant thing she would normally mention. It was her that mentioned it to the team back when Harry and herself joined the team, she looked back at Michael with a small smile.
"Are we keeping all of them outside of their Pokeballs?" She asked him, looking at a few of her own Pokemon, Charles looking at her expectantly before she gave him a nod, watching the Staraptor take to the sky with a spin.

Soul gave a chuckle, "I'll keep that in mind when I need to put the illusion back up." His brothers words echoed in his head as he said that before he looked to Jycii, who was watching him expectantly.
Soul stepped away from the group as Jycii followed him.
"You're worried?" Jycii asked, getting a nod from Soul, "It's okay. You'll be fine. There are plenty more Descendants around now."
"Yes but none as Old, or as high relation, than myself." Soul said, Jycii fluffed her wings.

Varina nodded, Just do good. Kim's words stayed in her head as she hopped along.
She looked around quietly, looking to Andy as he looked around, giving a small smile. She enjoyed this, even if it was one of her first days as a trainers Pokemon, everything was a lot better than being a Legendary guardian.

"Train those wings, little one," Mabel said, lazily opening an eye. "If the muscles in your wings get stronger, you may have the strenght to lift your body weight from the ground." She examined the wings on the Charmander. "Now I do wonder if you'd end up with four wings if you were to evolve into your final form, because that's when in your line a set of wings is formed."
It was a curious thought, but as she understood it wasn't even a certainty he would evolve. Only time could tell.

"Sure, yeah," Mindy said. She gestured to the clothing booths. "You try them on, I'll check to see if there are any outdoor shops nearby." She took her phone and started to type in keywords to see if this city had a shop like that, and if so where it would be. It wasn't long before her keywords got the result she needed and she examined to map to see how they could get there.

"James?" Penepoly asked and put a hand over her mouth as she gasped. "I guess I didn't wait for him again, he's probably looking for me now. I will look for him later." She peeked through the clothes to have a look at Gavin and Mindy. "So he's interested in her?" She giggled. "I thought this day would never come!"

"If they want to stay out, sure," Michael said. He didn't have that many Pokémon anyway, and Saruya was the biggest of them all. And Bear and Benny had no choice, his uncle had their Pokéballs with him.
Saruya joined them. "Are we going for a walk?" she asked.
"A walk and maybe a gym battle, if anyone wants to."
[i]"Yes!" Anthony said as he settled on Michael's shoulder. "I want to try!"
"Okay," Michael said and he looked at where Missy was. "Missy! Do you want to do a gym battle too?"

When they reached the hotel, Andy walked to the revolving door, but stopped before going through it. "Come here, Varina," he said. "It will be easier if I carry you. Kim, you go in already."
Kim nodded and got on her hind legs. With her paws she pushed on the door and walked as it moved, stepping into the lobby on the other side.

Charcoal looked at his wings and moved to stand up. He fanned out his wings before he closed his eyes, he felt his body flex with energy before he tried to flap his wings.
He managed to get himself a few centimetres off the ground before he dropped back down; "Ouch." He yelped before he sighed, looking to Mabel before his eyes shone, "Do you think I'll be able to evolve?"
Ixia looked up from her grass crowns to look at Charcoal, "At least you don't have everstone in your blood!" She started, "You are able to evolve! Well... if your mutations will allow it."

Gavin nodded and moved towards the changing booth and pulled the curtain closed to change his top.
He took off his now stained shirt and looked at the mirrors on either side of the changing room; with his top off the tip of his tail was showing, the dark purple marking running up his tailbone. A twisted light purple line seemed to jutter down his spine and link up with the tailbone marking.

"Do you know how dangerous that is?!" Fez said to the Legendary as she mentioned she left her guardian behind, He shook his head as he tried to calm himself to answer her question. "I don't know if Mindy likes Gavin, but Gavin definitely likes Mindy." Fez said, a small smirk stretching over his mouth. "Tell me about it! I'm seeing how he acts around her and having to hold back on laughing."

Missy bounced around with Sparky again, this time Spike rejoined them and played around as well. When Missy heard her name called she bounced over to her trainer, Sparky following afterwards.
"Gym? That means Battling yeah!?" She asked with a sway of her tail, "I wanna battle! I wanna kick some tail!"
Sparky's eyes lit up as well, "Battling?" She asked, bouncing over to Niccia and bounced into her trainers arms.
Niccia grabbed Sparky quickly and grinned, moving to kiss her forehead gem. "Would you like to?" She asked, thinking over everything, "I'd love to let you battle this time!" Sparky's tail wagged happily when she was asked if she wanted to battle, letting out a happy bark.

Varina bounced up onto Andy's hands. She settled down slightly and looked around, taking in the sights of the outside world.

"I honestly don't know," Mabel said, looking at the Charmander. "I don't know enough about that to give any predictions. I hope you do if that is what you want."
She smiled at Ixia, who's enthusiasm was endearing.

Mindy waited for Gavin to try on the new clothes and kept herself busy on her phone. After looking at where the shop was, luckily it wasn't far away from here, she went to check the latest Trainer News, but there wasn't anything exciting happening right now. She glanced to the changing booth, thinking Gavin was an unusual man, but one she definitely wanted to get to know better. He was certainly a unique man, and she liked that.

Penalopy pouted when Fez berated her, but looked at Mindy when Fez talked more about her. "This is wonderful!" she exclaimed, "I'm so happy for Gavin!" she quickly put her hands over her mouth when she realised she spoke a little too hard. "I think it's best to find James. See you around," she whispered, trying to make up for the earlier exclamation, and disappeared between the clothes.

Michael then looked at his Arcanine.
"Only if the gym leader has three opponents," she said. "Otherwise I'm fine letting the young ones battle," with a sideway glance she looked at Missy. "Some of them have a lot of energy."
"That's settled then," Michael said, turning to Lytse and Marie. "Marie, you can sit on my shoulder, I'll let Mindy know where she can find us."
The Dunsparce nodded and started crawling towards Michael, with Lytse walking next to her.

With Varina in his arms, Andy pushed through the revolving door and stepped into the lobby. He noticed professor Elm and put Varina on the floor with Kim before walking to him.
"A new Pokémon?" Elm asked.
"Yes, I found her last night," Andy said, and brought the conversation to what they needed to discuss.
Kim looked at Varina. "It won't take long," she said. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up as a Guardian for Darkrai?"

Charcoal listened to Mabel's words, nodding before he closed his eyes and focused on the energy in his body.
"I would love to Evolve. If I evolve I can help Niccia more!" He said excitedly.
Ixia turned her attention back to making grass crowns.
Unbeknownst to the other Pokemon, a pair of eyes watched them all with narrowed eyes. The pokemon looked at the smaller pokemon and lowered itself, fluffing its wings as it got ready to launch itself forward.
The only problem would be the Dragonite, a fast creature known for their high protective nature. They clinked their toes against their perch quietly, waiting for a moment to strike.

Gavin tried on the new shirt, twisting himself to see it in both mirrors. He furrowed his brow slightly as he tried to think of how he liked it. He sighed before he tried on the other darker green shirt.
He smiled a bit more, He loved the darker shirt. "I like this..."

Fez frowned at Penalopy as she disappeared, moving to follow her but she was gone. He furrowed his brow, he had a feeling it wasn't the last he saw of her. He just hoped James was okay, the Mime. Jr wasn't the best at keeping up with his Legendary.
Fez hopped out of the clothes and walked back to Mindy quietly, looking up at her with a small smile.

Missy bounced around happily, excited to potentially battle. She wanted to show Michael what she could really do; she didn't even know what she could really do, but she would do anything to win for Michael.
Sparky looked to Missy and wriggled in Niccia's hands, Niccia placed her down before she started to return the rest of her crew.
Soul turned to glance to Niccia for a moment, stepping towards her before sitting beside her, getting trampled by both Sparky and Missy.

Varina looked to Kim as she questioned, she fumbled to find the words to answer the question.
"I...I was kind of... Always Darkrai's Guardian." She started, "Most of us are assigned as either an Egg or very young, Arceus just pulls us into existence and gives us to the Legendary. A lot of us don't really know much outside of being a Guardian unless our Legendary wanders. Soul is extremely lucky because he wasn't raised with Niccia, as he's actually older than Niccia. He used to be the Older Mew's Guardian as well." She continued, breathing in to continue talking, "So I don't really have much experience with talking to other Pokemon... Darkrai had other henchmen but I never communicated with him, I was just his shield when he was in danger..."

Mabel lay on the grass with her eyes closed, her breathing slowed down a bit as she relaxed, her body rising and falling with every breath she took. It almost seemed as if she was asleep, even though she wasn't.

Mindy noticed Fez and greeted him with a smile. "Hello Fez," she said. "Gavin is trying on some clothes. I'm sure we don't have to wait long."
She looked at the booth she had seen him enter, wondering what he would choose. It was nice to hang out with him, even though she had just recently met him.
"I can't imagine sitting here with Michael," she told Fez. "We're friends, we talked. We never had the desire to go shopping together." She let out a soft giggle. "But then again, Michael did have his own spare clothes."

With the Dunsparce on his shoulder, Michael send a text message to Mindy before he turned to look at Niccia first, and the collected Pokémon after that. "Ready?" he asked.
"Yeah!" Bear shouted, raising his fist in the air. Even though he wouldn't be battling, he was glad to be on the road again.

"I see," Kim said, but didn't say any more about it because Andy joined them.
"Okay ladies," he said. "I wished Elm a safe journey and now we're off to the library." He picked up Varina again so he could walk with her through the revolving door. Kim followed him, going through the door after him.
"Varina," Andy said, looking at the Spiritomb. "Do you want to hop or shall I carry you for a while longer?"

Charcoal lifted his head to the sky and felt the warmth flood over him, His tail swayed as he smiled. He enjoyed the moment of silence, away from his trainer and away from the other Pokemon.
Ixia was slowly falling asleep on the roof top, she had put down the grass crown she was threading and settled down on her belly to fall asleep.
The hidden Pokemon watched quietly, their eyes narrowing as they focused on the three. The Charmander was definitely different, the others might like him... But the Pikachu would be a good meal for him; plump, soft, didn't look too strong- The only problem would be the electric...
And well, the Dragonite. The Pokemon sneered before it took to a closer branch without a sound, the light tricking through the shadows against it's ebony-blue feathers.

Fez waved as he smiled back, looking to the Booth when Mindy did and moved to sit beside her quietly. He listened to what she said, watching her as she spoke, blinking before nodding at her words.
"Gavin doesn't think ahead sometimes!" Fez said with a laugh, forgetting the female couldn't understand him.
Gavin stepped out of the booth with the Dark green shirt on, blinking as he held his hands out. "Does... this look good?" He asked with a tilt of his head, "I... I like the look of it."

Niccia had finished returning all of her other Pokemon, keeping only Soul and Sparky out.
"Lea!" She called out to Gavin's Pokemon, who still rested under the tree. She lifted her head before she walked over to Niccia with a bit of a stretch.
"Are we off?" She asked with a head tilt, stretching a bit more. "Very well."
Sparky and Missy ran around in circles, darting in between Soul and Bear, bouncing around happily.

Varina looked up towards Andy as he spoke, giving Kim a small smile in response before she hopped closer to Andy. She rather enjoyed being carried by Andy.
She looked at Kim again before she looked around where they were.

Mabel relaxed in the sun, being perfectly happy to just lie there and bathe in the sun. Aside from the wind there were barely any sounds, the city was too far down for its noises to reach the rooftop. It was still early in the day of course, the sun was far from its peak, but she didn't need the midday sun for sunbathing. Although she figured Charcoal would like that. She lazily opened one eye to look at the little ones and closed it again.

Mindy took her phone when she realized she had gotten a text message and nodded to herself before putting it away again. When Gavin stepped from the booth she looked at him. "If you like it that's all you need," Mindy said as she got up. "But it looks good on you. You should definitely buy it." It did look good on him, this colour suited him. She looked down to Fez. "Right?"

"Don't wear yourselves out," Michael said with a laugh. "Don't forget we're going to see if we can do a battle." He saw how Bear tried to grab them, so far he seemed to enjoy the game he had invented for himself, but Michael decided to keep an eye on him. If he couldn't catch them and get frustrated, that wouldn't be good. He noticed Benny fly around with Anthony, keeping an eye on the Primeape too.
"Do you have a map of this city?" he asked Niccia. "I don't know where the gym is."

Andy carried Varina out of the hotel and then walked to the library with the keystone in his arm. Kim walked with him on all fours, looking around at the city around them. She made sure to stay close to Andy.
"It's just a few blocks away," Andy told his Pokémon. "I checked the city plan in the hotel. Have you ever been in a library, Varina?"

Ixia snoozed in the sun quietly, her breathing shallow and silent. Charcoal stayed silent as the two female Pokemon snoozed in the sun.
Now was the time to strike, as soon as Mabel closed her eyes again the hidden Pokemon struck. He fanned his wings out fully before he dived down, he tried to remain as silent as he could before he moved out his talons and grabbed a hold of Ixia as he flew past.
The Umbrechu was woken up violently, letting out a yell as she was stolen from her friends. Charcoal almost leaped to his feet as he watched Ixia get taken away. "No!" He called out, circling for a moment before he swallowed his fear and stepped back, "BRING ME BACK MY FRIEND." He said before he ran towards the edge of the building, leaping off it and tried to move his wings as fast as possible in order to fly.

Gavin gave a small smile, "I quite like it." He said, Fez nodded happily.
"You look amazing!" Fez said happily, bouncing up and down. Gavin gave a small smile before he paused, "Do... I have to take it off to pay for it?" He asked with a small frown.

Missy paused when Michael mentioned about tiring out, "I never tire!" She said before she bounced around more, Sparky moving to tackle her over and the two pups started to play with each other again.
Niccia gave a giggle at the pups before she looked towards Michael again. "Hm." She said, "I don't think I do, but there's a map in the Pokecenter?" She said with a tilt of her head.

Varina looked to Andy as he mentioned about a Library. She looked down before she looked back up with a shake of her head. "I've never been to one." She said with a tilt of her head, "What is it?"

Mabel opened her eyes with the first yell of the Umbrechu. She stood up, opening her wings and keeping her eyes on the abductor, he was getting away, but she could easily overtake him. With a few wingbeats she lifted into the sky and flew forward, first diving to Charcoal to catch him if it was needed, as she noticed the attempt to fly, but she kept her eyes on the other Pokémon readied herself to quickly overtake him and save Ixia.

"Most people do take it off, but you don't have to if you'd rather keep it on," Mindy said. "Just let them scan the price tag if you do."
While it was more common to take the clothes off and put your old clothes back on, if it really had been a while since he washed his clothes, she could see why he'd want to keep the new shirt on. Plus, it did look good on him. "You can pay over there," she added, pointing to the counter.

"I'm certain the marked the gym on that map," Michael said as he started walking to the entrance of the Pokémon Center. "That is the one place most trainers will go to."
The dunsparce on his shoulder agreed by nodding.
"You can speak to him," Lytse said. "He can understand us."
"Really?" Marie asked.
"Yes, really," Michael said before his Cyndaquil could answer.

Andy saw Varina shake her head. He wasn't sure what she had said after that, but because she had shaken her head he decided to explain. "A library is a place where they have a lot of books and people can freely enter it to read them. They usually have a collection of magazines and newspapers too, some have an archive as well. And they have computers hooked up to the internet. It's a great place to do some research. Although for Pokémon it's probably not very interesting because they can't read and that's all you really can do in a library. I did teach Merlin to read, he's pretty good at putting the right picture with the right word, he knows a lot of words already. And I taught the others to recognise certain words as well."
As he talked he walked to the library with his Furret next to him, who nodded sometimes.
"I can read 'Hotel'," Kim said, "he thought it would be useful because he often stays in one."

The Hounchkrow that had stolen Ixia glanced back and down as he watched the Charmander drop. He gave a smile before he looked down at Ixia, who was stunned slightly before she was coming back to reality and charged an electric attack. The Birdpokemon rolled his eyes and tossed Ixia up into the air for a moment before catching her again, shaking her to shop the potential attack.
"Calm down food." He said sternly, "If you try and attack me again, I will drop you."

Mabel caught Charcoal about half way down, he growled and wriggled slightly, "Stupid tiny wings!" He yelled at himself, he felt anger bubble inside him, "I won't be able to ever save Ixia if I can't fly!" His wings twitched as his scales shone slightly in the sun. "Why would they give me wings if I can't fly..." He sounded defeated, his tail swayed slightly.

Gavin moved around and grabbed the price tag from the back and pulled i off, moving towards the counter to pay for it. He smiled to the cashier and rummaged around his bag for the money. He pulled out the amount needed and handed it over with a small smile.
Fez stayed with Mandy as Gavin went and paid for his shirt. He looked up to the female trainer with a small tilt of his head. He was looking her over, she seemed like a good person, and she seemed like someone who could be trusted with Gavin's secret.

"Yeah he can understand you~" Niccia said to Marie, smiling before she nodded towards Michael and followed afterwards. She looked down at the puppy Pokemon before she realized she had forgotten one other Pokemon, she blinked and her face went red. She pulled out the hidden Pokeball on her bag, looking at it in her wrist before she placed it away again. "I'll let you out soon Ly. You may be helpful in the Gym..." She said out loud, Sparky gave some barks in response to Niccia's words.

Varina listened intently as he explained everything. She nodded at his words.
"I don't know if I can read human, but I can read the Legends Writing." She said to Kim with a proud smile, "Each Guardian can, or well, they should be able to."

"Don't worry about that now," Mabel said as she sped up, keeping her eyes on the Honchcrow. "Ready an attack, you have to aim to hit the Honchcrow and we will catch Ixia when she falls." She focussed on flying and watching where the Honchcrow went, getting Ixia back was all that mattered. The upside was that she was still far from her top speed.

Mindy watched Gavin pay for the shirt, after this she'd take him to the outdoor shop for decent pants. She hadn't expected this would happen during her travel, take a man out for shopping, but she didn't mind. In fact, she liked being here. And that while shopping for clothes wasn't her favourite activity.
When it looked like Gavin had paid, she walked to him. "If you're ready, I looked up where the other shop is."

Michael entered the Pokémon Center and spotted the map almost immediately. He walked over to examine it and nodded when he saw where they had to be. "Okay, the gym is north from here, we have to cross the train track and then the first to the right."
That would be easy enough to fight.
"You have a good opportunity here, Marie," Michael said to the Dunsparce on his shoulder as he left the Center again. "You can observe the gym leader. I'm sure Mindy will use you in the battle and knowing their tactic will be an advantage."
"I will observe closely," the Dunsparce said.

"That's great," Kim said. " I didn't even know the legends had their own writing, I'm certain I never saw it," She paused as she seemed to remember something. "I have seen strange markings Andy was trying to decode once, but I don't know if that was the language of an old civilisation or the legends writing."

Charcoal nodded at Mabel's words, breathing in to ready a small flamethrower. The Hounchkrow caught a glimpse of them before he let out a loud caw, moving to dive down into the tree tops.
Charcoal's eyes only narrowed angrily, the flame he was holding grew stronger, his body also heated up and his scales started to glisten before a whine sheen flooded over his body. Charcoal was evolving, his need to protect Ixia was overpowering and he needed to get back at this Hounchkrow.
After the loud caw echoed around, several pairs of eyes looked out of the shadows as the Murkrow population suddenly hopped into the sunlight as they watched the two non-avians.

Gavin glanced back to Mindy as she walked over. He smiled happily, "yeah of course!" He said before he looked down to Fez. "What do you think buddy?"
"Come on! I'm getting bored!" Fez complained with a small smile. He wasn't really bored, he just wanted to see Gavin interact with Mindy more.

Niccia followed after Michael with a small smile, "So, what Typing is the gym?" She asked with a tilt of her head, realizing she hadn't mentioned it yet.
Sparky bounced around Bear and jumped up to pap her paws gently against the Primapes fists, laughing as she did so. "Hah! Yah! Hywaah!"
Soul watched the Absol quietly before he turned his attention to Niccia before looking back into the forest. His Brother was around here, why was he here...?

"If we come across something, I'll be sure to show you!" Varina said to Kim with a small smile, settling down a little bit more in Andy's grasp. She enjoyed this. She liked being safe like this, travelling for the same of travelling, not just travelling because Darkrai told her to.

"Are you sure the book is here ma'am?" The Delibird looked to the tall woman, she nodded once.
"Yes Mitch." She started smoothly, "I have word that the book we're looking for is here." She paced down the shelves of the Library quietly.

Mabel followed the Honchkrow as it dove into the treetops and followed him to the same trees. She noticed the light between her hands, but didn't give it much attention. Not losing sight of their target was her top priority. "Ixia!" she shouted in the hopes the Umbrechu would hear her.
When the Murkrow population emerged her wings started to glow as she readied a wing-attack. "Whenever you're ready," she said.

Mindy made her way to the entrance of the store and waited outside for a moment so Gavin could catch up with her, before she went in the direction of the other store. "At least it's good weather, isn't it?" she said. "I bet Mabel is having a great time bathing in the sun, she loves doing that."
She noticed a Mime Jr. standing on the street and she glanced around to see if the owner was around. A Pokémon like this was rarely alone.

"Normal," Michael said. "None of my Pokémon have a real advantage over it, but they don't have a disadvantage either, so I suppose it will go well." He glanced down to his Poochyena. "As long as that one will be as energetic there as she is here."
"I was bitten!" Bear exclaimed. "I am defeated!" He sank to his knees. "Goodbye cruel world."
"I don't know who can be more melodramatic, you or Andy," Benny commented as he flew over him.
"Oh, come on, Andy could never do that one better than me!" Bear said as he jumped back up.

"Look, there it is," Andy said as he pointed to a building on the other side of the road. From the outside it didn't look like a special building, but that didn't matter. He had no idea what his Furret and Spiritomb had been discussing, but that didn't matter. They got along well together and that was all that mattered.
He crossed the street and held the door open for Kim before entering it himself. "Let's see where they keep their archive of newspapers here," he said as he looked around. "Or a computer where they have a digital one."

Ixia's ears twitched and she looked around, she let out a loud "Chu!" in response to Mabel calling out her name, the Hounchkrow tightened his grip on her momentarily- Making sure the sound was cut off quickly from the Rodent.
"Shut it." He snapped, "They won't find you-"
"Drop me." Charcoal said through the light, he felt stronger and his voice was slightly different. "Fend off the damned krows, I'm sure they'll be easy..."

Fez had followed Mindy out before Gavin could catch up, he listened to Mindy speak about Mabel before he looked down towards the Mime Jr. "James!" He called out before he ran off towards him.
Gavin stepped outside as soon as Fez ran off and he flinched, "Fez where are you-" He followed where he was running with his eyeline and saw the Mime Jr. and froze up slightly. Oh no He thought, he looked around slowly, Where was she?

"I have unlimited energy!" Missy said to Michael with a Poke of her tongue before she stretched a little bit.
Niccia gave a small nod, "Normal." She thought quietly, "I don't think any of us have a Fighting or Ghost type." She crossed her arms as she thought, looking ta the Pokeball in her hand with a small smile. "I may have someone who will help though."
Sparky bounced around Bear as he fell over, giggling and barking at him before he sprung back up. She bounced into the air and landed on three legs and one of them stretched out.
"Don't die!" She barked with drooped ears and her tail between her legs. "Please don't die."

Varina looked around the Library as they entered, it was an interesting place to be... All of these books and all of the knowledge...
Varina's senses suddenly spiked. A legendary was here? She looked around quickly, growing restless in Andy's grip. She wasn't sure who it was... But it was someone.
Mitch paused, looking around as he lifted his wing to touch his Legendary's side. "Ma'am..." He started quietly.
"A guardian. Yes." The woman spoke quietly.

"No problem," Mabel said and she released Charcoal. Before charging into the Murkrows she did check on Charcoal to make sure he wasn't falling. They would get Ixia back, there was no doubt about it. With a few powerful wingbeats she flew through the group of Mukrow. They turned to her, but that was okay, because that meant they wouldn't bother Charcoal. Plus, she was larger and stronger, she could take a few of their light attacks.

"Oh, h-hey Fez," James said, followed by a glance to Gavin. "Hi Gavin. Nice to see you two."
"You know him?" Mindy asked Fez, after which she looked at Gavin as she wouldn't be able to understand Fez anyway and surely if Fez knew this Pokémon that Gavin would as well.
Penalopy sat on top of one of the streetlights and looked at the gathered people and Pokémon below her. Gavin honestly seemed relaxed around that human girl, it was a delight to see that. She wondered if she'd go down to them or wait a bit longer.

When Niccia mentioned the fighting type Michael looked at Bear, who didn't seem to notice that. He was certain his uncle wouldn't mind if he'd use his Pokémon in a battle, but at the same time he didn't feel confident he could control the Primeape. His uncle knew exactly what to say or do when Bear's anger took over, but he didn't know the Primeape that well.

Bear looked at Sparky with a grin. "I won't die," he stated, hitting his chest with one of his fists. "I'm too awesome to die!"

Andy, still carrying the keystone around, looked at the Spiritomb. "Varina? Is something wrong?" While he didn't know her very long, she had been calm so far, so this restlessness was unusual behaviour. He wasn't sure yet how he could determine what was wrong, but he'd figure it out. And he had Kim with him to help him.
Kim looked at Varina, her ears twitched as she tried to hear what could cause Varina to be restless, and she sniffed around to find any scents that could explain it.

Charcoal allowed himself to plummet down where the Honchkrow flew. The shape of his figure changed just before he disappeared into the trees. The light suddenly shattered away from him as he disappeared into the darkness, his body had changed; his scale colour had deepened to a deeper shade of red, his body larger and his wings stronger.
"GIVE ME BACK MY FRIEND." He yelled before he slammed into the Hounchkrow, causing them to let go of Ixia and drop down to the ground.
Charcoal moved and grabbed Ixia quietly, the Umbrechu looking up towards her friend with widened eyes. "You evolved!" Ixia squeaked before Charcoal flapped his wings to get above the treeline again.
The Murkrow all dove down towards Mabel, letting out a loud caw as they moved to dive towards her.

Fez looked back to Mindy and gave a nod to her question before he looked around, "You okay? Where is Penalopy?" He asked with a tilt of his head, looking back briefly at Gavin.
Gavin gave a nod in response to Mindy's question, "He's...." He hesitated, taking a moment to choose his next words carefully, "He's a friends Pokemon. He's usually not seen without her." He looked around with a narrowed look.

Niccia gave a small smile to Michael, "We'll do fine~" She said with wink before she looked towards the city again. "Shall we go?" She asked with a tilt of her head.
Sparky bounced around before moving to sneak up on Missy, who's attention was on Michael again.
Missy's tail swayed slowly before she tumbled over as Sparky tackled her.
"Hey!" She barked before the two Puppy Pokemon started to playfight.

Varina looked to Andy before she motioned to be put down for a moment, her senses tingled, she looked to Kim quietly.
"There's a Legendary here." She spoke quietly, "I can't make out who it is..."
There was nothing out of the ordinary to Kim and Andy, the Library didn't seem to be too full. One closer inspection, the ground where the woman had walked was slightly cold, where she had touched had a small veil of ice on it.

Mabel eyes the incoming Murkrow and her tail got a blue glow around it. She waited until they were close enough and then rolled and turned to hit as many Murkrow as she could with her Dragon Tail. From the corner of her eyes she saw Charcoal flying with Ixia. That was a relief.
With a few wingbeats she flew up faster than the Murkrow could follow her and she flew to Charcoal to pick him from the sky and return to the rooftop.

"Where she prefers to be, somewhere high," James replied, looking at the streetlights. "I can't follow her up there, but she is closeby."
Penalopy waved to her guardian when she saw he was looking at him, seeming perfectly happy sitting there.

Mindy looked around too, not that she knew who this friend was or what she looked like, but it was a reaction of sorts. She briefly wondered how beautiful this friend of Gavin would be. There were several people about, but no-one seemed to care about the Mime Jr. And Gavin didn't seem to react to anyone either, so the friend probably wasn't here. "We should wait until your friend comes back," she said. "I think he's a rather rare Pokémon, I would feel bad if someone would take him."

"That's kind of you, miss," James said, even though he knew Humans couldn't understand them.

Michael nodded and followed the road to the gym. "How many official gym battles have you done?" he asked as they walked. "I haven't done any, the one gym leader I faced back home was unofficial, just a friendly spar to see how strong Lytse was."
"It was against ground types" Lytse sighed. "But the gym leader took it easy on us, he didn't use any ground moves against me because I needed to practice my moves. His Diglett was a pain though, always hiding in the sand."
Michael laughed when Lytse recalled that. "Yes. Then he got tired of it and filled the arena with smoke. I've never seen him use smokescreen that long."

Upon the request Andy put Varina down and he looked at the Spiritomb. Something had his new Pokémon worried and he wished he could figure out what it was. The others had been a part of his team for years, decades, he knew what could upset them. But Varina, he definitely needed more time to get to know her.
Kim decided to smell the ground to see if she could find anything. When her nose touched a cold spot she recoiled.
"Something wrong, princess?" Andy asked and walked over to see what had happened. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but when Kim touched a spot on the ground with her paw, he did the same thing. "That's odd, that seems to be a bit colder than the rest of the floor." He rose to his feet again and watched Kim, who looked at him in return.
"Varina," Andy said as he turned to his Spiritomb, "are you ready to go further?"

Mabel hit most of the Murkrow, the Bird Pokemon that were hit all tumbling downwards. All the others that weren't hit seemed intimidated and dove into the trees after their stunned companions.
Charcoal flapped his wings to bring himself up to where Mabel was. He seemed strained or exhausted. "Ixia is safe and sound..." He said, breathing heavily. The Umbrechu moved to wave at Mabel with a small shaken smile.
"That was Terrifying. Can we please never do that again?" She said with a small, weak laugh.

Fez looked around before he looked up, noticing Penalopy before he blinked, glancing back to Gavin with his eyes and notioned secretly to where the Legendary was.
Gavin didn't get the memo on being sneaky and looked straight upwards towards Penalopy and gave a gasp.
Fez gave a small facepalm at his trainers idiocy. "Why do I follow you again..." He grumbled before he looked at Mindy, he hoped she hadn't noticed but Gavin made it too obvious that he saw something.

Niccia blinked as Michael asked the question, "I think..." She started as she paused again, "One...? Ixia, Sparky and I challenged the Water Gym. She wasn't the happiest about the type match up." She said with a laugh, "Not that those two are in anyway good at battling."
Sparky froze as she heard her name, stepping away from Missy, who was chewing on the Joltsodour's tail, and walked towards Niccia again.
"That was a fun battle!" She said before she looked towards Michael, "I got drenched in water!" She grinned.

Varina hopped over to the cold part of the floor, she looked at it as her eyes narrowed slowly. There weren't many Ice based Legendaries... But which one would be here near humans? Regice stayed well away from humans, the last he heard of Kyreum they were stored away somewhere safe from Darkrai...
"Articuno." She whispered out loud, "It's Articuno."
She looked to Andy as he asked if she wanted to continue, she didn't hesitate to jumped over the patch of cold floor and hopped along. Articuno was reasonable if she wasn't corrupted, and Varina really hoped she wasn't.

Frosiien glanced back as she heard voices. She looked to Mitch with a raise of an eyebrow.
"Which Guardian darling? Can you sense anything?" She asked gently, keeping her voice low. The Area she stood had slowly started to chill and ice formed on the floor around her.
"I am... Unsure ma'am." He started, looking at the ice around her before he moved to pull pieces off the ground and into his pack. "You need to calm ma'am, you're not in any danger."

Mabel took Charcoal and Ixia in her arms and gently flew back to the rooftop. "I agree, Ixia, let's not do that again," she said. "I'm sure that Honchkrow won't return, but I'll have a look at the rooftop garden just to make sure." she definitely didn't want this to happen again either.
"How did it feel to fly?" She asked Charcoal. The exhaustion was unsurprising, when she had just evolved she hadn't had the stamine to fly long distances either.

When Mindy heard the gasp she looked at Gavin and then at what he was looking at. Her jaw dropped. "Is... is that... Meloetta?" she asked.
Penalopy waved to the human girl who gaped at her and jumped to the next streetlight. She continued jumping until she found an alley and went in there.
The moment she started jumping James jogged after her. "Wait, Penalopy!"
"Let's see where the Meloetta is going!" Mindy said as she ran to where the Meloetta went, looking ahead at the alley the Legendary Pokémon had disappeared into.

"I would honestly hate that," Lytse said, shuddering at the thought of being drenched in water.
"I like water," Marie commented from Michael's shoulder. "Especially when it's warm outside."
"I don't like to get my fur wet," Bear stated.
Michael listened to all the Pokémon sharing their thoughts about getting drenched. They wouldn't have to fear that in this gym, just like fighting most normal moves were physical.

"Articuno?" Kim repeated. "We met her once! We were in the mountain and there was a blizzard. Andy collapsed, but I was with him and when I called for help she came. She called Jynx to get Andy in their cave. The next day when we were getting ready to leave she came by to say goodbye too." She walked along as talked, next to the hopping Varina.
Andy didn't know what his Pokémon was talking about, but it was nice to see Kim talked to Varina. He went through an aisle with books on either side and on the other side he turned left, where he walked between the aisles to see where the computers were. He stopped when he noticed a Delibird and its female trainer.