'Welcome to Sugarleaf Town!'

Caitlyn grimaced. Someone had clearly spent way too much time on this sign. What was clearly once just a sheet of corrugated iron had been tacked onto two rickety looking posts, and then painted within an inch of its life. An unruly invasion of bright blues and greens swarmed the thing, with the occasional blotchy 'cloud' and spidery red writing.

All of the twelve people that lived here must've loved the place, Caitlyn frowned.

The journey in was a slow, stiff amble. After a night's rest and a much-needed shower, she woke herself up with a breakfast of 'Wepear' porridge, which had bizarre looking green lumps in it with a halfway bitter taste somewhere between a cherry and a bramble.

The pleasant surprise of breakfast quickly turned painful, where Caitlyn could feel her shin muscles over-tensing with every clumsy step. Aurelie still somehow had the energy to chase after a Starly that swooped from nowhere and stole the last of her toast.

Ultimately the thing got away though, and she gave up, sobbing like a puppy. She buried her head in Caitlyn's shoulder and was then miraculously fine with it, able to carry on with the rest of the journey as if nothing had happened. Something told Caitlyn that was all just a part of her devious plan.

Having a girlfriend was an interesting experience. It was like caring for a puppy that could also dish out bear hugs with no warning or reason. Never a dull moment, at least.

"So uh… what were we here for again?" Aurelie scratched at her mess of hair. "You wanted someone to look at a thing, huh?"

"Yup," Caitlyn shuffled through her Oddish tote. "Found a weird looking rock the other day and wanted an expert's opinion on what it was."

"Hm," Aurelie's lip rolled as she looked down at it. "You sure it's not just a rock?"

"I really hope not, otherwise we've wasted a trip."

"Aw, I wouldn't say that! We did lotsa stuff, and now my feet hurt but that's okay because the real prize was the stuff we killed along the way!"

A smile tugged at Caitlyn's lips, but it was a bit too weird for this time of the day.

After a quick heal up at the nearby pokecentre, the pair of them set about looking for this item teller's house. With the quaint stone paths leading everywhere and little water features and trees and stuff, Caitlyn had to rethink her original stance. Maybe a few more than twelve people lived here after all.

As expected, the pokemart assistant couldn't offer any help, but none of the locals they'd passed seemed to know anything either. Were these rumours of an item teller just that; rumours? She could concede that the trip here wasn't a complete waste – they'd gained a lot of experience, and all the fresh air seemed to be doing Bailey wonders, plus Aurelie was loving every moment of it – but she really didn't want to have to trudge back home without the information she'd set out for.

Where her village had little chalet things, the houses here seemed to take on more of a cottage aesthetic, complete with the thatched rooves and wobbly patterned walls. And of course, they all looked identical. The thought of knocking on doors until she got her answer really didn't appeal, but it looked like push was going to have to come to shove.

That was until the other building loomed.

Retracting her knuckles, Caitlyn frowned at the tarp-covered eyesore. Like someone had just captured an enormous ghost and decided to live within it, the place ironically stuck out like a sore thumb.

Something in her gut said that just beelining for the odd one out was probably a bad idea, but she had to start her search somewhere. And this building came with the bonus of not having a door. You couldn't knock on their door if they didn't have one.

Beckoning to Aurelie, who had already made friends with one of the locals, the pair of them approached the weird tent thing. Like the big top of a long-abandoned circus, the vast, off white tarp probably did a better job of scaring people away than attracting. To top things off, someone had erected a grubby sign outside of it with enormous, loopy writing she couldn't recognise. Thankfully, it also had 'Teller' written spikily underneath.

"Huh. Looks like this is the place after all." Caitlyn shrugged. "Ye'll come in with me, just in case they're an axe murderer, right?"

"W-well I can't say I'm fond of getting murdered, but hell yeah, safety in numbers!" Aurelie quivered.

Her heart suddenly jolting, Caitlyn tentatively peeled back one of the layers of tarp, opening up what could've passed for a doorway. The looming darkness within wasn't exactly inviting either, but this was what she came for, so it would be silly to shy away now.

Swallowing down her nerves, she wormed her way into the shabby structure.

Despite her initial thoughts, the tarp inevitably concealed a much grander structure. Like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, the inside looked far larger than it possibly could've from the outside. Diligently polished wooden columns stretching from floor to ceiling were intimidating enough on their own, but it was the myriad of mirrors that had her nerves spiking.

"Who needs this many mirrs?" She groaned. Seeing herself from about every possible angle had her noticing just how much she'd changed since entering this world. While she wasn't exactly bulky in the first place, she was now positively gaunt. The scarce food and plentiful exercise were probably to blame for that though. More muscle tone was nice, she supposed, but the dark bags under her eyes were a harsh reality check.

"Ugh…" She pinched at the bridge of her nose. There was nowhere she could turn to avoid her reflection either, with mirrors popping up in every damned corner of this tent, and-

"Everything okay, KitKat?" Aurelie poked her head in. "Whoooa, look at all the mirrors! So many!"

Caitlyn snorted. "Aye, bit of a strange thing te collect, doncha-"

"-you want help?"

High-pitched yelps left both of the young women, who threw limbs everywhere in their panic. Everywhere Caitlyn turned, she could only see either Aurelie's wide-eyed shock or her own, thanks to all the mirrors littering the place. Wherever the voice came from, she couldn't see them anywhere.

"A-a'right, stop!" She grabbed Aurelie by the shoulders, slowing the panic to a halt. Aurelie huffed and heaved, her face ashen.

"Screamin' won't get us anywhere," Caitlyn let loose a massive sigh. "Uhh… hi there! Morning! I uh, dunno where you are, but someone told us there was an item teller here? Is that yerself?"

There was no response.

Caitlyn felt a bead of sweat trickle down her back. What was this, a haunted house or something? Maybe that was why it was ghost-shaped, she managed a chuckle.

Something shuffled to her left, followed by a vague ring of melody, and fear surged once again as a small, dark figure appeared in the corner of several of the mirrors.

"Oh, Jesus!" She spun about, ready to throw a punch at the figure. Finally able to put a face to the voice though, she restrained herself.

"W-w-what're ye doing, hidin' in darkness like this?" She cried. "You're… the wee item teller, right?"

The dark figure's head tilted slightly, as if they were concentrating.

And silence penetrated. Feeling more awkward than ever, surrounded by endless reflections of herself, doubt inevitably forced its way in.

Could this stranger even help her? Hiding in a dark tent in a strange town and acting oddly didn't exactly soothe the senses.

The figure made a small, grunting noise, and clapped their hands. A blindingly bright light burst from somewhere, bouncing off of the mirrors and illuminating the entire tent like an inverted disco ball.

Caitlyn winced and covered her eyes, piecing the purplish blurs together to finally recognise… an ordinary girl?

"Yes, I can help." Her voice slurred. A thick, strident accent did little to solve the mystery, but the petite build and long, glossy black hair gave her something to work with. Squat down on what looked like a cushion, her slender fingers were slowly polishing the next of an electric guitar. With what looked like an old sock in one hand, she was dabbing its vinyl finish with the utmost care.

Yet she just glared sullenly up at the both of them as the source of the light wriggled out from somewhere. Popping up like a whack-a-mole, a little clown-like Pokémon emerged from the mirrors and shuffled slowly towards the girl.

"Give here. I tell you." She dumped the sock into a jar at her side and held her hand out. Her Mime Jr. glowed gently at her side.

"Err… right." Caitlyn said. Retrieving the stone from her tote bag she handed it over, quickly withdrawing again. Both of them just stood there awkwardly as this girl examined the weird stone from several different angles.

Aurelie glanced at her, then went back to staring at her feet. It was a fair point. Exactly what were they supposed to do now? Just stand there while some girl looked at the stone Bailey had found her?

Why she hadn't just sold it, she didn't know. It would've saved all this bother.

"So uhh… what're we doing?" Aurelie finally broke the ice with a nudge.

"Waiting."

"But it's taking ages."

"What'll ye suggest? Comin' back later?"

"Maybe? Like, we can go get a coffee or something? How long's this sorta thing take?"

"A couple minutes… probably?"

"You talk very fast!"

The pair finally stopped bickering, only for Caitlyn to find the girl glowering up at her.

Caitlyn brought her hands to her mouth. "Oh Jaysus, sorry there. Were ye wanting something?"

The girl narrowed her eyes, staring intensely. Caitlyn found herself taking half a step back. Was there something on her face? Did this girl just… not like people?

The shambles she was living in definitely suggested so. But if she didn't like people, why would she advertise her 'profession'?

A means to an end, maybe. Either way, the pair of them just continued to stare at each other.

"Err… what's going on?" Aurelie broke the awkward silence again. Immediately the girl's glare snapped onto her instead. Aurelie squeaked in response.

"Not exactly sure…" Caitlyn mumbled, and the glare shot right back to her. Why was she watching them like that? It wasn't exactly great customer service.

"S-so, er," she knelt down to address her properly. "Can I ask yer name?"

"Yer name?"

The girl frowned again, parroting her words slowly. She was visibly hit with realisation, and her eyes travelled down to the stone in her hands.

"Bo-Ra Seong," she muttered. "You can call me Bo."

"Bo?" Caitlyn felt some of the awkwardness melt away. "I'm Caitlyn, and this's Arly. Happy te meet-"

"It is an Everstone." Bo said, and suddenly the tent was plunged into icy stiffness again.

"…huh. Makes sense." Caitlyn nodded. The only notable thing about the stone was its perfect oval shape, so it couldn't have been any of those evolution stones or whatever. And better yet, it wasn't just an ordinary rock.

"Grand. How much do I owe ye?" She said.

Now she knew what it was, selling it was a no brainer. A financial breather sounded amazing right now, and she wouldn't have to rely on Aurelie for everything, but of course she was going to have to pay for the services she'd gone out of her way to find.

Her answer was side-tracked, however, by a loud noise flaring right past the tent.

Bringing with it a surge of heat and impossibly bright light, it was like someone had rattled a bunch of marbles through a metal tube.

"Oh, jeez…!" Aurelie covered her ears. "What on earth is going on out there?!"

Caitlyn could only spy snatches of light from between the folds of the tarp, but whatever it was, it was producing enough electricity to render everything else dark. Yet Bo remained strangely unbothered by all of this, just sitting there with Caitlyn's everstone in her hand.

Aurelie peered out of the tent and visibly recoiled. "Uh, KitKat? You might wanna see this."

Caitlyn groaned. "Can't ye just tell me?"

"Would you believe me if I said there was a Zapdos?"

"You're kidding me."

"Nope! And it looks mad, too!"

"Ugh… and we're gonna have te fight it?"

"Probably?"

Caitlyn pressed her knuckles to her forehead. Why now of all times?

An enormous flare of electricity shocked past the tent and a scream came from somewhere. It seemed like life was determined to keep on kicking her down.

And of course, Aurelie was rushing headfirst into things, grabbing Cleo's pokeball and literally charging from the tent.

A salvo of capsules spilled open as other trainers were obviously getting in on the action.

"R-right," she spun around to address Bo. "I've te go help, okay? But thanks fer all your help!"

She snatched her everstone away again and dashed for the mouth of the tent, only for Bo to catch up to her in the split second.

"Wait!"

Bo tugged at her arm before she could leave the tent.

"I-if it's about payment or somethin', I'll get back to you on-"

"-wait!"

"I just said I'd-" Caitlyn turned back to address her properly, only to find that Bo had practically wrapped herself around her arm, quivering violently.

"What… the?"

Despite being obviously terrified, she was making sure to keep looking up at her.

What was her damage, Caitlyn wondered. She made half an attempt to tug herself away, but Bo had her rooted to the spot. Was the problem her? The payment? The outside? The battling? There was too much going on!

"Look, I get it!" Caitlyn wrenched her arm away and turned to face her properly. "You want money? I'll be back soon! But that Zapdos is gonna burn the whole village down unless we go fight it!"

Bo remained where she was. Sniffling, wordless, practically motionless.

"Ungh…!" Caitlyn groaned. "Look, whatever your problem is, can it wait?"

A bolt of lightning seared past them both, and Caitlyn felt a fresh layer of sweat run down her back from the heat of it. Bo made a weird, whimpering noise and rushed back into the depths of her tent.

"What the?" Caitlyn frowned. Whatever her issue was, it was going to have to wait until later. She swallowed down her nerves and retrieved Bailey's pokeball from the tote.

Her little Minccino was far from useful against a Zapdos, but at least then she'd have something to contribute to this warzone rather than just standing there.

Bailey burst from its capsule and looked to its trainer before immediately sneezing.

"Oh Jesus…" She smiled nervously. "A-a'right Bailey, are ye ready to fight?"

"Min-min?" Bailey yawned up at her. It was better than nothing, Caitlyn supposed. With her little Minccino toddling after her she paced through the mostly abandoned streets, following the path of destruction and noise. She followed a huge scar of torn earth and pavement through the splintered remains of a house, only to have to jump out of the way as Cleo was shoved backwards towards her.

Cleo dug in its paws, scratching to a halt on the dusty ground. A flourish of electricity shimmered across its body and it countered immediately with a charge forward, leaping up and snatching at the Zapdos with a biting attack of some description. Cleo's jaws snapped loudly, but ultimately hit air. Zapdos dodged timely, only for a Jynx's frozen fist to smack it in the back of the head, and then a Noctowl loosed a blast of wavy light to knock it sideways.

All of these high-level Pokémon could handle this, that wasn't a question. But why was poor Bo so low level compared to them?

It just didn't make sense, Caitlyn frowned. But either way, it wasn't the time to be worrying about someone else. Bailey just swerved out of the way as Zapdos' razor sharp beak jabbed at it.

"Good work, Bailey!" She cried. "Right, now uh… Swift?"

Bailey sniffled in response and launched a half a dozen star shaped rays at the Zapdos. A mere flap of Zapdos' wings was enough to cancel them out, but once again diverting its attention allowed someone else – this time a Leavanny of all things – to slash at it with its sharp leaf scythe things.

"About time you showed up, KitKat!" Aurelie called out. "You sure your little guy's up for this?"

"Only one way to find out!" Caitlyn called back. The Jynx threw another Ice Punch in Zapdos' direction, but its attack was halted in mid-air as an enormous surge of electricity began flaring around Zapdos. Lightning crackled about its centre as the brightness hit blinding levels, but then, as quickly as it all started, the flare of electricity just faded away. Was that an attack?

"Huh…" Caitlyn thought. "Bailey, d'ye think you could use Encore?"

"Chi…?" Bailey brought a tiny paw to its chin. After an obvious moment of thought, it began clapping paws together rhythmically. The Zapdos visibly flinched in response to it, recoiling away from the pecking attack it was about to unleash on Leavanny, whose trainer visibly relaxed at the sight. Its momentary recoil let Cleo sink its teeth into one wing, and then let Noctowl batter it from the other side with what looked like an Uproar, bending the very air around it at it floated outwards. Weighed down by the entire Luxray hanging off of its wing, it nevertheless tried again with the charge of electricity, pushing everything away. But while the lightning flared and arced, Cleo was completely unaffected by it all.

The electricity dissipated and Zapdos could lift Cleo no longer. Its talons scratched at the ground and its wings drooped, with Cleo's fangs still well and truly buried in the plumage.

Leavanny didn't waste a moment, jabbing its sharp leaves into the bird's chest, and a sharp Ice Punch smacked it in the side of the head, courtesy of Jynx. Cleo only clamped down harder with its biting attack while Noctowl just repeated its Uproar.

Zapdos was exhausted and pinned. What could it possibly do to Bailey now? Even if it could attack, it was only going to use that Charge thing, which didn't damage… as far as she could remember. This was her moment. Bailey could do it!

"C-c'mon Bailey, give it a go! Doubleslap!" Caitlyn nudged her Minccino forward, who slowly crept towards the hulking electric bird. It squawked in pain, but a muffled growl from Cleo kept it at bay. It flapped its free wing a couple of times, but Levanny wouldn't budge either.

Bailey rose an arm, sniffled a couple of times, and slapped Zapdos across the face. Once, twice, three, four times it slapped back and forth, with the Zapdos' complaints weakening on each hit. It warbled weakly, and Leavanny slashed outwards, loosing blood and blue crystals into the sky. All manner of shiny items spilled outwards as the Zapdos slowly evaporated into the ether.

Cleo stumbled forwards from the change in weight, still clutching at a mouthful of yellow feathers, while Bailey bounced its paws at its side, looking around in confusion. The Leavanny made a disgusted look at its blood-stained claws before it disappeared back into its pokeball, along with the respective Noctowl and Jynx.

"…whew!" Aurelie wiped her brow. "So uh, good work everyone! Another one down!"

She knelt down and teased the feathers from Cleo's mouth. "Wonder what these're for…"

A middle-aged man rushed over and shook both of her hands. "Thanks so much for your help! We would've been in trouble if you two hadn't shown up!"

"O-oh, it's no problem, honestly!" Aurelie grinned. "We were just… in the neighbourhood, I guess? Right KitKat?"

She glanced over to Caitlyn, who was just staring off into the distance with her Minccino about her hip.

"Yo, KitKat! Anyone home?"

"Hunh?" She murmured. Wide-eyed, she looked back to see several faces staring at her. "S-sorry there, I was just lost in thought. What's er… with the wee girl in the tent there? D'ye know?"

"There's someone in there?" The middle-aged man scratched at his chin. "Wow, that's news to me. Been past it heaps of times and never heard a peep."

"Hmm…" Caitlyn turned back to the tent. A chalky eyesore against the otherwise uniform rows of cottages, there was definitely something going on there.

The five of them shared out Zapdos' drops, with Caitlyn pocketing what looked like an Electirizer and Aurelie insisting on the feather. The pair found their way to the pokemart, where Caitlyn could finally sell off her unneeded things for five whole thousand.

Aurelie point-blank refused to take a penny from her, so 830 of it went on various snacks that she could feed back if needed. And then it was just the matter of the tent that remained.

The sign outside held no clues. Exactly how much did a 'telling' cost? She promised she'd pay after all.

"Err… Bo?" Caitlyn peered back into the tent, finding only darkness once again. "Y'about?"

As expected, no response. The inside was no less ominous than before, surrounding her with endless reflections of herself.

"Ugh…" She groaned. Was she going to have to go through all of this again? It took enough to get one answer out of her last time. An idea thatched together in her mind, and she clapped her hands.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then a bright light burst from one corner as the same Mime Jr. crawled out from behind a few of the mirrors.

"Mimi…?" It jabbered at her.

Caitlyn knelt down in front of the thing and plastered on a smile. "H-hey there, wee man. Is yer trainer about?"

The little clown thing tilted its head to one side in obvious confusion. The little bauble on its head flashed twice and it turned around, toddling back towards the corner it came from. Caitlyn frowned and followed after to find Bo huddled behind one of the bigger mirrors.

"…Bo?" She decided against reaching out for her. The poor kid was spooked enough. "Are ye a'right? I'm back now if ye want-"

Bo didn't even react to her talking. How shell-shocked was she?

The Mime Jr.'s bauble flashed twice again though, provoking a grunt from the teen. Bo raised a hand and wafted it lazily in Mime Jr.'s direction, but it only flashed its bauble again.

The little clown Pokémon persisted, so Bo raised a head to pay it attention, only to finally notice someone looking down at her from above. She let out a strangled gasp and squirmed away, hiding farther still amongst the mirrors.

"Oh c'mon… I didn't come back here to chase after ye!" Caitlyn groaned. "Look, just lemme pay ye for the Item Telling… thing and I'll get out of yer hair. Deal?"

Again no reaction.

Caitlyn felt the sigh build up and leave her. Why was doing the right thing becoming such a task? She could just leave town right now if she wanted, all the richer for it.

But no, like an idiot she was sticking around. Catholic values, she supposed.

"…fine, whatever." She eventually relented. "Look, here's 500. I'm puttin' it in front of yer big mirr here. If that's not enough, I'll be in town tomorrow. Come find me."

One of the mirrors rattled as she left the tent. Not her problem anymore, she sighed.

"All done?" Aurelie smiled.

"Sorta," Caitlyn shrugged. "Couldn't get a word out of her so I just left her a 500 and got out of there. If it's not enough she'll have te let me know."

"Makes sense to me." Aurelie said. "I mean, I would've just left. 500's a lotta money after all."

"I couldn't just not pay her, she did me a favour." Caitlyn groaned. "And why would ye leave her in the lurch but also refuse to let me pay ye back for yer help? Make up yer mind!"

"Well you get girlfriend's discount." Aurelie poked out her tongue. "And I'm sure she's lovely but that place has like a horror movie vibe so I'm happy to keep my distance!"

"Fair enough." Caitlyn said. "Either way, it's a bit late to head back now, huh? Wanna spend the night?"

"You read my mind, KitKat." Aurelie pulled her into a hug. Caitlyn found herself smiling despite it all and shoved back playfully. As always, Aurelie knew exactly what to do.

Concerns in the back of her mind for the night, the pair of them searched out a hotel for the night.

Author's Note:

Evening guys. Another update for you all. It's a bit off kilter, so to speak, but hey, that's the plot moved forward a little more.

This character introduces Bo, who was initially intended to be a main character but I couldn't find space for her. I'm not sure if she'll stay through the next draft but until then she's here and she's fun.

As always, feel free to leave feedback if you've got it. Over and out. :)