I stepped onto the pavement of Castelia City, the hustle and bustle of the early morning not surprising me as much as it did on my first visit. The warm summer air swirled around, stirring up the scent of the sea that wafted in from the piers, and I breathed it in deep, inhaling and exhaling loudly. Cyan walked up from behind me, doing the same, and I chuckled softly, and somewhat sadly.

"Well, buddy... today's our last morning here," I said, and he looked at me, slightly tilting his head in confusion. "Rose decided to leave ahead of us, so we've got a few hours to ourselves before we need to catch our boat to Sinnoh."

He continued to give me a confused look, and I shot one right back at him. He seemed to get the message, and he stepped forward and held his arms out, running around in a circle and waving his arms around, almost like he was trying to be a bird. Bird. Flying. Ohhhhh. I reached back to scratch my head as his acting sunk in.

"Why aren't we flying on Reshiram back home?" I asked, and he nodded happily, obviously proud that I could understand his little charade. "Well, that would work a bit better, but we're in the middle of the big city, and it would take a few days to get to a place where we could let him out without scaring any locals. Besides, I thought you liked water."

He let out a 'Dewott!' and held his arms up, bouncing on the tips of his toes, and I smiled, picking him up and setting him on top of my shoulders. "So, what do you want to do for the next hour?"

The otter looked down at me, peering at my face as I looked back up at him, and after a brief moment he shrugged, arms spread open as if trying to say that he didn't care. I laughed, ruffling his head, and he pawed at my hand to try and get it off of him.

"Well, if you don't know what you want to do, then I'll choose for us. I say we just head to the center park and relax," I stated matter-of-factly, and with that we set off down the street. My shoes made a scrunching noise under the concrete, but I almost couldn't tell due to the amount of other people - citizens, workers, and tourists alike - all walking to and fro around the city. Now that I took the time to have a good look at the city, I noticed things that I hadn't before. Men and women, both smartly dressed in somewhat-formal clothing, seemed to stream into and out of buildings. A mother was exiting the Pokemon Center, a toddler following close behind her while riding on top of a Stoutland. A young man wearing a blue jacket and a red cap walked around with a girl in a pink cap, a Vanillite floating along behind them. As our gaze drifted over them, specifically over their Vanillite, my brain clicked, and I smiled.

"Hey, Cyan..." I began, and I looked up at him again. He wasn't paying attention to me (or, if he was, I wasn't getting all of it), but I continued anyway. "...what would you say to getting some ice cream?"

His head perked up immediately, and he began to chatter excitedly, a stream of nonsensical babble leaving his mouth as his eyes grew big with anticipation. I winced slightly as I felt him grab fistfuls of my hair, but still laughed at his antics as I took the turn onto Mode Street to head to the Castelia ice cream stand, which I prayed wouldn't be very crowded.

Thankfully, my prayers were answered, and not only was the ice cream stand not crowded, but to my somewhat-utter shock, neither was Mode Street. Excluding a small line at the stand and a few people going into the buildings nearby, the place was deserted, and the only things that could be heard were muffled white noise from the main street, and a few people on the opposite end of the sidewalk, gossiping. I ambled over to the end of the line and waited, whistling to myself as I felt Cyan bouncing on my shoulders. The line was quick, to our delight, and soon we were in front of the vendor, who gave us a cheerful grin.

"Well, buddy? What do you want?" Cyan clambered down my arm and hung there, looking at the various flavors they had out on display today, and I leaned forward to look with him. I saw a few that made me get a little hungry - mint chip, in particular, showed up just to taunt me - but Cyan eventually pointed to an ice cream tub in the top corner, and I looked to see the label 'Chesto" on the glass. I cringed.

"Chesto? Chesto berry-flavored ice cream?" I gave him an incredulous look, which he shrugged off as he nodded amiably. I screwed up my face, but sighed and turned to the vendor, who had already scooped some of the dark blue ice cream into a small cone. As he held it out, I hastily opened my wallet and grabbed a small wad of cash, and we made the trade. The vendor slipped the bills into a cash register while I managed to pry Cyan off of my arm, and I handed him the ice cream cone, which he took with a happy cry. I thanked the man, who gave us a wave as Cyan and I wandered into the central park.

It was a little more crowded than Mode Street, but still mostly empty, with an old man feeing the Pidove that roosted near the vending machines, and the trio of breakdancers that always seemed to make their front seats of the fountain their stage. I sat down on one of the benches, stuffing my hands into my jacket pockets, and Cyan hopped up next to me, gleefully licking away at his ice cream cone. The gurgle of the fountain and the chirps of the Pidove could have been enough to lull me into taking a nap, but I let my mind wander in an effort to try and stay away.

"Cyan... what do you think you're gonna do in the future?" I asked him, and he looked at me. I really have no idea where the question came from; maybe it was because it was our last hour in Unova for the time being, or maybe I was just being reflective on the whole thing. Either way, Cyan turned his gaze up to the clouds, and he scratched his chin in thought while humming softly to himself.

"I mean, I know that you and Erin are already an item, but... well, what next? Are you two gonna have an egg or something?" He whipped his head towards me, a surprised blush on his face, and I laughed. "Don't be so embarrassed. Two of my other Pokemon had an egg while I was still taking the Gym challenge in a region. It's not like it's a subject that hasn't popped up before; I was bound to ask you about it eventually."

He turned back to his ice cream, which was now mostly gone, and he bit into the cone hesitantly, obviously still a little thrown by the somewhat personal topic. I wilted. "I'm sorry... I'm being a bit too blunt about this, aren't I?"

He nodded, very slowly. His shyness was a little endearing, almost melting my heart like he did when I first met him, peeking out from behind Professor Juniper's legs, and I reached over to scratch him behind the ear. He began to purr softly, leaning into my hand, and I smiled, plucking him from his perch on the bench and wrapping him up in my jacket. He squeaked slightly, fidgeting a little before settling in, and he polished off his ice cream cone before nuzzling into my chest.

"Well, don't worry too much about it, buddy," I said. "I don't think I'm going to be doing any traveling for a while. You've got plenty of time to think about what you're gonna do next with your life." Soon enough, the ambiance of the park had worked its magic, and Cyan was soon deep into a nap, snoring quietly into my shirt. I gingerly tugged him loose, and he flopped into my arms. I noticed him sucking on one of his paws in his sleep, and I felt my grin widen, a slight nostalgic feeling washing over me.

"Sleep, Cyan... you've earned it," I whispered to him as I stood up, brushed a few stray strands of hair out of my face, and left the park.

Of course, it was never that easy (or was easy the right way to put it?), and I found a pair of people standing at the pier, waiting for me. I had been expecting a simple, quiet getaway, but that notion was definitely proven wrong as the girl, beret slightly off-kilter, flung her arms into the air at the sight of us.

"Bill!" Bianca yelled, waving me over, and I put my finger to my lips and 'shhhh'-d, hoping she wouldn't wake Cyan up. "Rose called us a little while ago, saying you were heading out today. Cheren and I came to see you off!"

She grabbed the boy by his blue-jacketed arm and dragged him over, and two Pokemon followed - a Serperior and an Emboar. My eyes widened at the sight of them, as they quickly slithered and stomped over, respectively.

"No way... this... is this James? And Dusty?" I turned my head to their trainers, who nodded, and I reached up to the large green serpent. James lowered his head to allow me to pat him, and as I did so he flicked his tongue in and out once. I wasn't sure whether that was a sign of approval or disappointment, so I stopped stroking him and moved to Dusty, who only blasted a large black cloud at me before breaking into a snorting laugh. I coughed as the soot engulfed me, and as it dissipated I glared at the boar, who only snorted harder. I turned my gaze to Bianca, who only stifled a laugh, and then there was silence, wind whipping at my jacket. Cheren stepped forward.

"So..." He started. "What are you going to do now?"

I reached back to scratch my head, and I looked up to the sky. "I really don't know... I'll probably just stay in Sinnoh and watch over the Pokemon at my house. I might go traveling again, or if there's news of a new league starting I might take it... but... well, I dunno. How about you two? What have you decided to do?"

Cheren looked at Bianca, who blankly stared back, and he sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I've decided... well, I'm going to travel somewhere, soon. Alder's tutoring me, and my Pokemon and I are training daily in Victory Road, but I want to take another league challenge soon."

My eyebrow went up. "Did you already fight the Unova Elite Four?"

"Yes, although I lost to Alder. He's incredibly strong. It's hard for me to understand why he's so modest about it."

"Mmm." I looked at Bianca, who was fiddling with her handbag. "What about you, Bianca?"

"Hang on a second..." She dug into her purse and pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil, and began to scribble on it. Cheren peeked over her shoulder while I checked my Pokegear. We had about ten minutes till the boat was leaving. What was she doing?

"Sorry! I'm done now. What were you asking?"

"Uh... what are you going to do now?"

"Oh!" She abruptly shoved the pad of paper in my face, revealing it to be covered in notes and writings about various things, mostly Pokemon. "I've decided that I'm going to help Professor Juniper! I want to see every Pokemon everywhere!"

I backed up a little to give myself a little more free space, and took the paper, scanning over her research. Most of it was general notes about Pokemon habits, like the Tepig's tendency to snort soot if it caught cold, or the areas where wild Pidove nested. To be brutally honest, most of it was stuff that even a casual observer could figure out given enough time, but I decided not to mention that - best to leave on a high note. I handed her the notes back.

"It's a good start. I think you'll do great as a researcher, Bianca." She smiled, and then there was an awkward silence. Checking my Pokegear again, the ten minutes had dropped to five, and I made to push past Bianca and Cheren to get onto the boat. Halfway up the stairway leading to the deck I stopped and looked down at the pair, who waved at me. Cheren's voice cut through the day clearly.

"Will you ever come back to Unova?" He had asked, and I rubbed at my chin. That was a good question. I had already taken the league challenge, and I had explored almost every city. There was the Battle Subway which I had yet to try, and there were no doubt dozens and dozens more Pokemon I had yet to see. Besides, what about the completely wild areas beyond Unova? If I was feeling particularly daring (which I wasn't, and probably never would be) I could try exploring there. Bianca and Cheren looked at me with expectant eyes, and I gave them a warm smile.

"Maybe." I answered, and I sniffed a little, something in the air tickling my nose. "Maybe."