Alex

  —

  "I still don't know about this… I mean, I just got Jangmo-o… Not that it's easy to find dragons, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to get another one while I can, but…" Jangmo-o was trotting alongside me, but he shook his head slightly. Dratini and Noibat had remained at the ranch, Dratini in the pond relaxing underwater, Noibat… probably getting into trouble right about now, actually. Or cuddling with someone. Hopefully quietly…

  I needed to name them…

  Erin just smiled at me.

  "Jangmo-o says he doesn't care! He'd welcome another teammate! As long as they are honorable… or at least not as bad as Hazard, which, fair enough!" He nodded happily at that even as she elbowed me lightly.

  "Alex, it's your call. I didn't talk to the Professor about this, I'm just going to ask! In fact, look at me." The three of us stopped walking down one of Pallet Towns 'main streets', not that they were 'main' anything. It was a pleasant little town, though.

  Erin turned to look at me, a normal look for once… I think the punishment was actually working… Hopefully it stuck! Forever! She had another week!

  "If Professor Oak has a draconic species that wants to leave his Ranch, and you would like to accept them onto your team?" She grinned at me. Without viciousness, somehow… still…

  "You will have to earn that right! So don't think about this as being given a Pokemon, or even having one choose you! It will be a test!" Leaf frowned at her, though.

  "And you know that how? You didn't mention this to him last night!" Her normal smile turned towards her sister.

  "Let's just say I know, okay?" She turned and continued her casual walk through Pallet.

  She was getting looks from the residents. Not bad looks, just looks, because despite her pigtails, bangs, and the outfit I had picked out for her, she was known, here at least. She hadn't spent much time here, but she had walked around Pallet Town a lot, recovering her stamina… Well, Leaf was more known, having grown up here… Also Hope, who was riding on Leafs shoulders as Leaf held the bare Egg in a harness. Actually, Hope was getting a lot of nice looks!

  The Egg was starting to rock around occasionally, so only a few more days at the most… Until she got another fae! Honestly, I had relaxed around the idea of fae, but a baby one? I was nervous! I trusted Stabby to never take from me because he promised me he wouldn't! Even if he had to commune with me for some emergency! Hope as well, even if she didn't need to promise me! A baby? Maybe… Maybe Leaf could get it to make a promise…

  "Actually, Alex, what species would you like next if you could choose from any species in the world, even non-dragons?" I gave Erin's question some serious thought as we walked.

  I really wanted to stick with just dragons and draconic species, but I knew most Dragon Masters had a non-draconic species or two unless you doubled up! Dragons were rare! Actually, Erin was doubled up, technically… Not that Leto would see a Gym battle before… Giovanni.

  "Maybe… Ignoring everything but how adorable they are, like the impossibility, I would love a female Indeedee of my own if they wanted to serve me! A little personal maid! Even a butler would be cool! They are so awesome!" Of course, Leaf's Indeedee chose that moment to pop out and give me a… warm smile? Huh?

  "Indeed!" She bowed to me once before falling into step behind Leaf, head held high. They all laughed, of course, and Leaf's voice was very amused.

  "You know she actually likes you now? For a while, actually! You're just fun to mess with!" I gave the maid a shocked expression and she smiled at me. She also slapped me once, very lightly even with the whole 'no pain' thing, and I couldn't help the laughter that burst forth.

  "Well, that's good! You are… intimidating, Indeedee!" She nodded her head at me.

  "Indeed!"

  I smiled as I went back to thinking.

  "Maybe… Pyroar are cool? Honestly? I like the look of Weavile, and they are hunters more than Egg thieves… Still wouldn't have gotten one even if I wasn't traveling with you and your headband, not to mention your jacket… Well, not that it's been worn in a while, or for a while…" She scow- pouted at me as Leaf laughed.

  "I might not hate species, but yeah… I'm actually kind of looking forward to running into a trainer with one? Just for the looks!" She got poked for being mean, but she just giggled.

  "Aurorus are stunning, but they're fossil Pokemon, so I would have to buy one, or I guess-" I broke off as a small wave of aura burst from Leto's Pokeball briefly. Erin smiled. Normally! Did it take hold or something?! Arceus, I beg you, make it take hold!

  "They are apparently delicious, she hunted them back in the Preserve. They were a fun, if mild challenge, too, the older adults at least…" Of course Leto had…

  "I guess the only other one I could think of off the top of my head that isn't a dragon or dragonic would be a Tyranitar? Well, a Larvitar that I raised, those things are wild!" Still badass, though!

  Erin chuckled at that.

  "Yeah, I think they were one of only two pseudo-Legendaries that weren't dragon typed, the other being Metagross? Yeah, the others were dragons…" We both gave her confused looks.

  "So in the games, stats were a thing. Like Health, Attack, Defense… Each region had a powerful species with two Evolutions, the same total stats if you added them up, grew slowly, and they were referred to as pseudo-Legendaries… Wanna hear them?" We nodded, obviously! I mean, I kind of figured I knew all of them if they were dragons…

  "So, going in order, it was obviously Dragonite, the only dragon in the first game, then Tyranitar, Salamence and Metagross for Hoenn, Garchomp, Hydreigon, Goodra, Kommo-o, Dragapult, and Baxcalibur… Also Hisuian Goodra?" We gave her strange looks, because Erin was strange! She blushed and looked away.

  "In one game Arceus sent you back in time to old Sinnoh, I forget how far back, but far enough you still made Pokeballs with acorns and stuff, but people in Hisui didn't use them and the majority were terrified of Pokemon for the most part… There were different forms and typings… Hisuian Sneasel and its unique Evolution Sneasler were actually really cool, and they were Fighting/Poison instead… Goodra, though? Supposedly due to the iron-stained water they lived in, they developed a Steel typing and shell they could retreat into or use as a heavy weapon as Sliggoo… I wonder if you could do that here… I might have to talk to the Professor while you do… whatever he has you do." I gave her a look.

  "What do you mean, has me do, Erin?" She shrugged and smiled. Normally, once again! Somehow!

  "We're going to find out, aren't we Alex!"

  —

  —

  "I do have a young dragon that would probably be more than willing to join your team…" Professor Oak turned his eyes towards me and I couldn't help but freeze as his gaze seemed to examine me, and I frowned a little at the look. He smiled.

  "Well, you passed that test!" What?! "So tell me, Alex, do you want a fourth Pokemon?" I grimaced at his words.

  "I mean, I do, and I would prefer they be dragons or draconic, for obvious reasons, and I know it's better to get one sooner rather than later… I don't know, it just feels… lazy, almost? Like I wouldn't earn it?" He burst into laughter even as Erin began to giggle.

  "Oh, trust me Alex, you will earn it if they want to go with you… Very much so, in fact…" Now I grew worried.

  I really should have been!

  —

  —

  "I was expecting an actual test or something, maybe try and scare me or get me to subdue a Pokemon!" Erin laughed at me from the side.

  "Well, that's your fault for assuming! Now clean this barn! Well, this section of this barn, it is huge!" She chuckled as she headed back inside to talk to Professor Oak about her Goomy idea… It really was huge, one of ten barns on the Professor's Ranch, easily twice as big as the one on the… Greenwood Ranch?

  It wasn't a nice huge, clean, furnished, floored rec room like theirs, either! This was mud! And poop! Lots of poop! Lots of literal Tauros-shit!

  "Alex, I'm sorry for the Professor… this is kind of mean for him, honestly. I don't know why he lets Ash keep a small herd of Tauros here! He… wow, he is a horrible trainer! He uses one of them, sometimes! Rarely! Rarely visits his dozens of Pokemon, or even calls them!" Leaf was getting frustrated now, but I was too focused on the mountain of shit I had to scoop!

  Why, when there were Pokemon that could easily do this in a few minutes?

  As a test, of course! A test of what? Willpower? Strength? Endurance? My willingness to work for a new partner? My ability to ignore my sanity eroding as the smell intensified as I shoveled it out?

  I wasn't sure, but it better be worth it! I haven't even seen a Pokemon that wasn't a Tauros yet! I eat Tauros! And apparently Arceus' Champion just left a whole herd here?!

  This was going to be a long day…

  —

  —

  It was a long day, even though I only cleaned that barn for three hours… It was long enough that I didn't complain when Charizard took one sniff of me as I walked out, lifted me up, and tossed me into a nearby pond either…

  I was very irritated as I trudged back to the central Lab. Irritated, damp, and my arms burned.

  The looks of amusement on Professor Oak, Erin, Leaf, Hope, Dexter, Indeedee, Jangmo-o, and Stabby's faces were very irritating.

  I didn't lose my temper though, and simply spoke up. Nice and evenly.

  "The barn is clean… for a day." Then I frowned. "It has to be the whole protagonist thing, right? Why else would you let someone keep a private herd of Tauros that just… exist?!" They all laughed, even as Professor Oak was shaking his head.

  "I mean, no, I was not happy when he transferred them all here! In the anime Pokeballs apparently just… somehow teleported to me when you went past six, but luckily we don't have that insanity here… I almost stopped him, of course… I should have…" Erin laughed at his exasperated face.

  "Don't worry about it, Professor… Tauros are rank four Pokemon and Normal typed, so their children make great starters for kids here and in Viridian every year, right?" He distractedly nodded, looked down at some papers for a moment, then up at me in confusion.

  "Yes, did you need something else, Alex?" His face was so confused… For a moment, then he laughed as my face grew red.

  "Sorry, sorry! Let an old man have his fun… Now, I do have a willing dragon here that could use an active trainer-" I already knew that, but I still smiled even as he continued with a frown.

  "-and they are… not rebellious, but they are already a second Evolution. One of my sponsored trainers caught the species unevolved in a… certain region, and didn't realize that the Evolution he was aiming for was impossible with that particular example of the species. Neither were all that happy with the situation when he realized it later, in a different region. They Evolved here just the other day, in fact. They aren't a wild species like you're used to, and not violent, but I still would have been hesitant to send them off with you with only three Badges. With Erin, Leto, and even Hazard as a cautionary tale? You'll be fine if you accept." Erin's smile was huge, so I knew she at least liked the species.

  "Well? I would like to hear the species, Professor. Please?" He grinned at me. Far too widely, and Erin's smile was… normal, just large? Still?!

  "Ever heard of a Dipplin?"

  —

  —

  Stolen story; please report.

  "Erin, this Pokemon is making me hungry!" She laughed at me. Laughed! I was serious! I held them easily in my hand because they were tiny, but they were tempting! They smelled so good!

  They were also sticky! With syrup! Because the entire Pokemon lived in a syrupy apple! Well, they lived in the apple! Because there were two 'wyrms' that lived in it! One let its adorable eyes and head poke out the top, while the other seemed only to like its tail to emerge from the rear of the apple!

  "Well, I know you wont eat him!" I looked at her in confusion.

  "Him? There's two, are they both boys?" She smirked at me, non viciously even! Somehow!

  "Well, yes, they are both boys, and all future wyrms will also be boys, but eventually the one with its head sticking out, with the horn, will become the 'commander' of its final Evolution… Also, he would prefer it if you just talked to him. The tail works with him, obviously, and they are separate creatures… He knows he will be the commander later, though, and he demands it now… He's also a cute little guy!" His tiny head whipped around and he hissed at her… very lightly. Dipplin were generally pretty amiable, apparently.

  Leaf was giggling as she cooed at the second Evolution dragon, no matter its current size. Then again, Hazard…

  "He is cute! I wonder what his reaction will be when he sees Leto! I think he could fit in her nostril!" He froze for a second in my hand before both wyrms retreated, leaving only the 'commanders' eyes and antenna-horn sticking out.

  I frowned at Leaf.

  "That wasn't very nice! I mean, he'll have to get used to her, sure, but you could have let him remain blissfully ignorant for another couple minutes until we get back! I can see her Pokeball rattling! I know she wants to torment him!" My newest Pokemon was trembling now, and I couldn't help but smirk a little.

  I was mildly irritated with Leaf, but at the same time, I might as well establish my dominance soon, especially since the two wyrms would turn into seven later on… Seven that would rarely cooperate fully with one another, but be devastatingly powerful on the occasions they did, or at least the five heads they would have… He was going to be a handful, I could already tell… Erin wouldn't tell me how he Evolved, either. Not yet at least, because she wanted to give me the chance to figure it out on my own… I could have looked it up online, I guess, but that would be cheating…

  —

  —

  "Alex, dear, I think you may want to leave him outside? Please? He smells absolutely wonderful, but I can see the insects hitting the windows in search of him." Erin and Leaf began giggling at their mothers words, of course, and I blushed and stood up from their couch. My newest dragon looked up at me with his tiny head and grinned at me, snapping his little jaws together.

  "Yeah, they are easy to care for, since aside from eating the inside of their apple, their food comes to them!" Erin stopped giggling long enough to tell me that. Barely.

  I took him to a corner of the fence and placed him on top. He smirked down at me, then snapped an insect right out of the air. Insectivore dragon… Odd, sure, but so was Alolan Exeggutor… Both Grass/Dragons, too… How did the tail wyrm get food? Did he just… pull it in for the tail wyrm? Or only he ate the apple's insides? I… I really hope so…

  I left him there and retreated inside… to the sink, to wash my sticky hand! He could apparently keep his apple unsticky, or enough I didn't remove a layer of skin as the syrup bonded to me, but it was still sticky! I frowned at the giggles from all of them.

  "I'm going to have to buy disposable gloves or something…"

  The giggles only grew!

  —

  —

  The next morning we got up early and enjoyed the sunrise with Ms. Greenwood. Ms. Greenwood, Midir, the adorably terrifying Meowstic couple, Alfred, Maddy, and of course the rescues. The murder of Murkrow and flock of Zubat were actually kind of quiet, but still loud compared to the over twenty Koffing and two Weezing that hovered in the air… Who were also lightly blowing around in the breeze as large fans kept their fumes from growing overwhelming… it wasn't bad, but not good, either. They were all used to it though, obviously.

  My little apple dragon was still on the corner of the fence, and he was covered in trapped insects. He was also full, so he was saving those for a snack later… He would not be joining the cuddle pile… He would probably need to be left in a tree or his Pokeball overnight, actually, because Cerberus liked his smell… too much…

  He had loved meeting my team, happy to be in a team full of dragons. He had not appreciated Leaf's team with Hope and Hazard, though. Her Noibat and Indeedee, though, were just fine. Especially Indeedee, not that I was surprised.

  Erin's team?

  I don't think he had forgiven me yet for Journeying with her. Leto had given him a nod, and he had returned it… until I made him stop returning it. Hecate got a light frown, but the rest of Erin's team wasn't too bad in his eyes, even Stabby somehow… Except Cerberus, of course, and nobody blamed him for that. Probably not even Cerberus' nice head.

  "Erin, dear… why are these two so enthusiastic about your… outfit?" Me and Leaf both giggled as Erin's face grew red. Erin didn't respond, so she looked over at us. Leaf spoke up, humor in her voice. Her quiet voice, it was still pre-dawn.

  "Well, when she was growing up she had her first crush on a certain Gym Leader who used to wear that exact outfit in the anime! Well, aside from her sleeves, because she won't leave those blades off…" No, no she would not.

  Ms. Greenwood didn't burst into laughter, but that's because she was trying not to wake anyone up early. She still had a giggle fit!

  Erin was pouting again, and I smirked at the sight. We were all keeping quiet about her pouts now, though. It would be hilarious if they stuck around, and the quickest way to get her to stop them somehow was to tell her they were funny. Again…

  "It's not fair! I had a little crush on Misty when I was eight or so, sure! I didn't have a crush on her stupid outfit! Suspenders with jean shorts? This shirt? This outfit is just weird when you look at it all together! Although more than a few things were weird in the anime. You'd have professionals that were kids, or at least not adults… Then you'd have regular kids acting like kids… Then you had Ash. That's enough. Just Ash. Mister 'I'll have my Pikachu use electricity to beat Brock's Onix! I'll just break the sprinklers and electrocute them!" We all softly laughed at that, even as Leaf looked confused.

  "I thought you liked Ash?" Erin giggled a little.

  "I mean, I'm not sure how much is him! If he's basically the puppet of a production company back in my old world? Of Arceus, somehow? No, I feel bad for him. If it's all him and my world just sort of pulled the information from here? Then he is a menace of the highest degree. Lance would agree that he is worse than me if his decisions are truly his own!" She giggled a little more, then frowned.

  "If it's him who leaves his dozens of Pokemon here and rarely calls? That didn't release the herd of Tauros he comically caught by accident? If it's him who constantly lets Team Rocket-" She cut herself off with a disturbed frown. We all had one, and her mom broke the silence first.

  "He lets Team Rocket what?" Erin's face turned toward her slowly, and I could see her wrestling with herself.

  "So… most long-running children's shows have long-running villains, right? Team Rocket was that for Pokemon with Giovanni, technically, but you rarely saw him… There's a trio, two humans and a talking Meowth, that follow him trying to capture his Pikachu every episode…" We were all giving her dumbfounded looks.

  "Yeah, I know, it makes no sense… I'm just thinking that I don't know what I'll do if I run into them somehow…" Now we were all shocked. She was quiet as she continued.

  "I kill Team Rocket, and I'll never feel bad for it, but those three? They weren't… good people, but they weren't evil… They released their first main Pokemon, Arbok and Weezing, to let them lead groups of their species while they fought off the poacher who was after them with tears in their eyes for their friends… They also did steal Pokemon, they just never got away with it, because once again, children's show…"

  "They helped Ash on more occasions than I can begin to remember, saved his life more than once! Pretty sure they saved the world at least once in the movies, too… They loved their Pokemon, even Jessie and her 'I am the bitchiest we can make a kids show character' persona… I don't know, really. They are the only members of Team Rocket I would show mercy to, but that's if they are the same people… Professor Oak is, more or less…" We all sat there, stunned.

  Good Team Rocket? They had tearfully released their Pokemon and stopped a poacher?! Helped Ash?! Saved his life?! Saved the world?!

  "I need to ask Looker, honestly… Hopefully they are scum and it's easy, but… James was so kind… Jessie was a bitch, but she was kind, too… Meowth? Well… He was kind, too! Standoffish, and he acted like he wasn't, but he was kind on so many occasions… They were part of an Evil Team, but they were the bumbling, good-hearted idiots you loved to see, and to watch get 'blasted off' every week… I wonder if they somehow do that here…" Ms. Greenwood shook herself before responding.

  "Dear, I wouldn't worry about that for now. If they follow poor Ash around, then the soonest they may show up is the end of the Conference, right? Didn't he usually return home after each one?" She nodded absently as she continued to think.

  "Yeah, he comes home, dumps the Pokemon he supposedly spent months bonding with at Professor Oak's Ranch and takes his Pikachu with him to the next region almost every time… I almost get it, truly! Experience a new region with mostly its own species? Sure, it sounds cool… If he ever called them! He occasionally pulled some out for conferences, like his Tauros! He never even trained it, just chose one at random and sent it out into a tournament! His 'beginners luck' strategy he used with his Kingler and Muk in the Indigo Conference! I mean… supposedly they all loved him and loved to see him, somehow… which makes it worse! His whole thing was being the trainer with strong bonds to his Pokemon, at least after his horrible, borderline abusive start with Pikachu! Hell, Lance does that, too! Although, Lance is different from his anime appearances, at least visually…" I gave her a long look.

  "Ignoring your little Ash rant, what about Lance?" She blushed a little, then laughed.

  "Well, Lance is a good guy, right? He was in the anime, too. You only saw him a few times, but his whole thing was that he was friends with his Pokemon. In Generations he helped calm down a red Gyarados in the Lake of Rage and caught it to help, to be its friend… Not sure if it counted as shiny because Team Rocket did some weird thing where it just kept its old scale color… Looking up the Red Gyarados is what led me to his wiki page, actually… That, and he was a bit of a 'dragons are superior' kind of guy in the games, but they were in the first game… all three from the same line… I don't exactly think they're superior, but they are cool I guess…" She dropped her head down.

  "Glad he's almost moms age, though. They usually depicted him as early twenties, maybe twenty five in Generations, remember last night?" Her head rose with a wide smile. A wide, normal smile!

  "I don't think mom would have gone for him if he was that young! I think she likes his rugged, chiseled good looks!" Oh, eww! Ms. Greenwood was so red as she glared at Erin… That wasn't all embarrassment, though!

  "Eww, you two! That's nasty!"

  Erin just laughed at the perfectly valid disgust on mine and Leaf's faces!

  I was glad when we left for Fuchsia an hour later! They were both too embarrassing sometimes! Not that Ms. Greenwood wasn't awesome, she was, but still…

  —

  —

  The run to Fuchsia was almost relaxing? Leto wasn't sprinting, just running, but she was using Rock Polish as we ran across the Route Seventeen bridge. She could sprint on this large strip of raised land that ran parallel to the bridge itself, but I guess this was the equivalent of a nice jog for her.

  "So, what's Fuchsia known for here in reality?" I gave Erin a look at her question.

  "I don't know, Erin, what's it known for in unreality?" She smir- smiled at me. Close call, Erin. Dexter is watching!

  "It was known for being irritating to get to, Koga, and the Safari Zone." The what?

  "Safari Zone?" She laughed.

  "Yeah, it was more or less the plains, it was the only place to find Kangaskhan, Chansey, Scyther, Dratini… others too, I just didn't care about them… Other than a now-defunct gambling corner… Some other games had something similar as well, to have an easy way to gate-keep a rare species behind certain badge numbers, or to bring species from other regions in." She frowned.

  "If they did that here? Well, it wouldn't work very well, because most Pokemon don't generally obey walls that well… Plus, even if people eat Pokemon, Pokemon still have rights, technically, and ripping a population out and moving them across regions is a bit much… Even if the laws are designed so that they effectively don't have rights without a trainer… Which makes sense, I guess. There's trainers with Pidgeot, and they are tasty, but they're not going to say 'nobody can farm Pidgey anymore because his Pidgeot can beat you in chess'..." I laughed a little at the sheer absurdity of that.

  "Yeah, that sounds like a horrible idea! Other regions' species, too? That sounds neat, but we already have to deal with flying species migrating sometimes!" Leaf looked over at her in confusion.

  "That was it? Just that?" Erin closed her eyes for a second in thought.

  "I guess it's also known for… ooooh…" She was happy, and that made us nervous.

  "It was known as the home city of ninjas in Kanto, like Koga and his daughter, the current Gym Leader, and I think part of their challenge was dealing with ninjas who would attack you? Maybe? I think there was a Ninja School… Either way, I hope so! That sounds fun! Assassin vs Ninja! Stealth killer versus stealth killer-spy! In the games they just had invisible walls you'd have to deal with, which were annoying more than anything…" I met Leafs eyes, and the look there was the same.

  From what I had heard, she was almost right, but she was looking forward to being attacked by ninjas?!

  "Erin, did you ever get your head checked out? Maybe call Looker and see if Alakazam is available?" She turned to me, and once again, it was just a normal smile! Was she just being vicious internally? Wait, Hecate got onto her for cursing! In her own head! Which was even funnier!

  "Alex, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be at least kind of insane the rest of my life here. I'm just kind of… rolling with it these days…" She sighed deeply.

  "I mean, aura-tinted mind? Permanent. The aura itself? Permanent, even if I can reign it in these days… My age? I… honestly think of myself as a kid these days, even before the punishment, and I've… accepted it recently. Even if I feel like I'm doing something wrong for whatever reason. Like I'm… weak for not fighting it? Not that I want to spend years uncomfortable with myself, not again… So I'm a teenager again, and I accept it, even if it may be driving me slightly more insane…"

  "My cursing? Well, now I can't even curse in my head! I mean, I get it, and I know Hecate isn't lying to me about them being loud, and being louder the stronger she gets. I kind of figured something similar would happen with the Hatenna line, and I was prepared for it, so I'm not actually upset about that… Now I'm being trained out of my looks? Well…" She frowned a little.

  "I don't want to be a mean person, and I want to be better than I am, so I guess it's not… horrible… I… I don't hate this situation, I guess? I kind of badly failed the first time I had the chance to be a good person… I'm accepting what I can't change, and trying to change those things that I can… It's just that, as usual, I either don't have a choice, or it's a choice between bad and worse…" She trailed off and I shared a very different look with Leaf this time.

  Well, shit. I hadn't really put all that together. She was basically being forced to be a different person than she used to be. Something she wanted! She also wanted it to be her choice… Like so many other things in her life…

  Leaf bumped her with her shoulder, giving her a wide smile when Erin looked over.

  "Well, it's not the worst thing, right? You might be being forced to be someone different, but you want to be someone different, you have family and friends who love you, and you get to do it in the world you dreamed of, right? In fact, wasn't it a kids series, not to mention games? You've actually accepted that you're a kid again this time, right? Maybe this is you 'advancing', sis! We're just snipping off that 'evil' end of your little 'morality scale', of an adult's scale, one less curse and mean look at a time! Once it's shorter, younger, maybe it will just float up!" Erin snorted at that and smiled happily, eyes slightly wet. She also returned the shoulder bump.

  Hard.

  Leaf's angry screams as Leto began to sprint before she could get back up were hilarious!

  —

  —

  We were almost to Fuchsia when Dexter flew up in front of us, a huge grin on his face.

  "Erin, the Rangers have a little something they could use our help with… Well, Leto's help, actually! It sounds absolutely hilarious, too!"

  There it is! I'm almost relieved to see a vicious grin!

  Almost!

  I'd still rather she just not… Hers are scary…