"Come on, come on, come on!" Bear said when he spotted the gym, rushing towards it. "I will kick that Miltank's butt!"
He jogged to the entrance and when he noticed no-one had followed him he started doing some warming-up exercises. "Slowpokes!" he called back to them.
Andy laughed when he saw Bear jog to the gym. "Excited and impatient as ever," he said. "The day he doesn't act like that is the day I will be worried about him."
He turned to Frosiien as she seemed impressed by the gym. "I would love to show you the gyms of the Rorie Islands one day," he said. "The gym leaders did their best to make them something special. My best friend is the gym leader of the ground gym there."
"Less talking, more getting your butts over here to fight!" Bear called to them.
Michael blinked at the unexpected question. "Uhm..." he began, knowing he should know that. They were friends after all. "I know she liked to do puzzles back home and read the detective novels of Marjory, an old woman with her faithful Growlithe who solve mysteries all over the regions. She loves astronomy, but she also likes astrology. Jirachi and Cresselia are her favourite legendary Pokémom." He glanced at Gavin. "Or were," he added, "but she had a plush of both of them in her room, and one of Clefairy too, and she wrote a thesis once about Pokémon from the stars and the moon when we attended Rhando Academy. I recall my uncle gave it a good grade. She also has a soft spot for fire-type Pokémon, loves apple pie with cinnamon, and she always has a rebus-puzzlebook with her to keep her busy when she made camp somewhere. When it's full she always buys a new one."
Was there more to tell? He thought he had covered most of the things she liked.
"Oh, and her favourite colour is burgundy, I think. And one of her dreams is to find one of Cresselia's feathers."
He paused as he thought about what they had learned about Cresselia in the Academy, that she was the counterpart of Darkrai. If there was one legendary Pokémon he wanted to meet, it was her. Every time he thought about Darkrai he felt uneasy and he searched in his pocket for the pendant with the crescent moon he had gotten from Giratina, who had been unexpected kind.
Mabel flew at a calm pace through the sky, going north. She wouldn't go far, just somewhere with a lot of open space around her. She landed on the rooftop she had taken the small Pokémon to before. She smiled when she thought about Charcoal who had evolved. Such a cutie. And Ixia too.
"Probably," Mindy said as she scanned the signs of the shops around them. "Let's go that way and see what we come across. There are usually shops with Pokémon treats and accessories in big cities. I tried to give Marie a collar, but she detests having something around her neck." She laughed. "Mabel likes jewellery when she does a contest, but not to wear every day."
She looked at the people around them before looking back at Niccia. "I have a few friends on Rhando, but none of them wanted to come on this journey with me. Michael also didn't feel like travelling when I left, I guess he needed a little more time to get ready for that. I'm glad I met you guys."