The Starmie responded instantly, shooting a blast of water straight at me which I jumped out of the way of, straight into a second blast of water. I was pushed painfully to the ground, my side aching from where I had slammed into the platform. As I got up, I felt it rock slightly from beneath my feet.

I responded by slamming straight into the Starmie. It got up straight away, and I noticed it was slightly disoriented. I hid a grin at this, maybe this won't be as hard as I thought it might be.

The water type Pokemon started spinning in the air, turning on its side and speeding straight towards me. Just before it hit me though, I was able to jump in the air and land on top of it, just like that Pidgey all those days ago, causing the Starmie to crash to the ground. It got up again, somewhat slowly this time, giving me the impression that I had disoriented it again. I decided against trying to hit him again, as to give it the chance to respond. He could be faking it anyway, as to give me false hope. I watched him continuously, letting in, but not letting myself be distracted, by the shouts of encouragement from Jon, Ruby and Gold, although Gold's were rather quiet; he didn't appear to be strong enough to shout, which felt odd coming from Gold. The water type shot multiple small and golden stars at me, which I casually jumped out of the way of.

However, just as I jumped, the stars changed course to where I had landed, striking me straight in the chest, causing me to nearly lose my balance. "Come on Dusk, you can do it!" Ruby called from the sidelines. I smiled, acknowledging her words of support.

Pushing myself forward, I slammed into it before it was able to shoot more stars. It crashed to the ground, just seemingly able to stand up again.

"Use swift again!" The Gym Leader called from the sidelines. The Starmie followed her orders by shooting more stars at me, which I tried to avoid by using Quick Attack this time, but it failed again and I was struck in my side. I stayed on my feet though; his attack didn't seem to be as strong as before. That may hopefully be because he's exhausted and can't fight for much longer. I could take advantage of that.

I feinted an attack, causing him to jump. I heard a small sigh of relief from wherever the hell his mouth was, indicating that he didn't want to keep fighting for much longer. Gee, Gold must have done a surprising amount of damage to him.

I dashed forward before the water type had the chance to retaliate. Slamming into it again, it was knocked to the edge of the platform, causing it to rock slightly, before it pushed itself into the water. Oh great. Now, if it was smart, it would rest in the water so that I wouldn't be able to attack it as all my attacks were physical. Not only that, but I wouldn't be able to tell where in the water it was, and it could attack me from behind at any moment.

I closed my eyes, using my other senses to find where the Starmie was hidden. In the blackness, I felt the platform rise very slightly from my left side, and I very faintly heard the sound of the water hit slap the solid ground. It was moving to behind where I was, slow enough so that it could barely be heard, and fast enough so that I wouldn't have much time to respond. Finally, I felt the movements stop right behind me. Everyone was silent.

I instinctively spun around, pushing myself into a Quick Attack just as I saw the water burst, and the Starmie burst from it. The Starmie didn't have time to respond before I slammed into it, sending it flying before it hit the ground with a sense of finality right next to where Ruby was standing.

Applause rang out through the hall from Jon, Gold and Ruby as I stumbled over to where they were, jumping over the water between the platform and the rest of the room. I made my way over next to Jon and pushed myself to the floor and closed my eyes. The battle had sure made me weary, despite the minimum amount of hits I had sustained. As I lied there, I felt the warm sun pound against me.

"Congrats," Gold said, as Jon walked away towards the Gym Leader.

"Thanks," I responded.

"You were really good out there," Ruby praised.

"I was just doing the best I could," I replied.

I opened my eyes and looked over where Jon was. The Gym Leader was handing him something small, presumedly the badge. It felt great to have a second one now. Two down, six to go!

It wasn't long before we said our goodbye's to the Pokemon at the Gym were on our way again. Between leaving the Gym and arriving at the Pokemon Center, Jon seemed to be studying the badge, which was the shape of a drop of rain. After Gold and I were healed using their strange machinery, we continued on our way until we got to a large hill. The sun was falling behind the mountains in the distance, creating a gorgeous sunset as Jon unpacked the stuff that we would be needing for the night. Among the mountains, a single one towered over the rest, which I instantly recognized as Mt. Moon.

I wonder where Dawn was right now. Chances are that she would be somewhere near where we had slept last night, near where I had gotten lost. If it wasn't for Mercury, I probably never would have gotten back. It makes me wonder whether or not I would see him again.

"Hey Dusk," Gold said, walking over next to me and completely collapsing on the ground.

"Ah...hey," I replied.

"Great day, huh?" He said.

"Yeah," I responded.

"You know, I could have easily beaten that Starmie if Jon hadn't gotten in the way."

"Of course you could have," I replied sarcastically.

Gold jumped to his feet. "You know, I easily could have if Jon had just given me a chance! Really!"

I sighed. "Of course."

"I TOTALLY COULD! GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE AND I WILL HIT HIM SO HARD HE'LL DIE!" He yelled, punching at the air. There was a terrible cracking noise and he fell over, whimpering and clutching his paw. I laughed.

"It's not funny!" He said, putting on a fake angry voice.

"Who said it was?" I replied.

"You did!" He retorted, looking happy as if he had just won a long debate.

"Actually, I just laughed, I didn't actually say anything."

"Hey guys, I think we better rest now!" Jon called to us and Ruby, who seemed to have been studying the contents of Jon's bag.

"Whatever," Gold said to me in a whisper as we made our way over to at the end of Jon's sleeping bag. To be honest, I wished that Jon could buy a us all a separate sleeping bag to lie on, as it was rather difficult all fitting on it, and Jon regularly rolled over, which made it that much more challenging to get to sleep. I could sleep in my Pokeball, but I find it strange in there, in the simulated environment.

"Goodnight guys," was the last thing I remembered saying before I fell into a deep sleep.

The light was fading. The dark clouds in the sky were spreading quickly, leaving the land deserted. Seven balls of light were placed randomly throughout the land, and two of them were swallowed by the darkness. From the shadows, a Pokemon appeared, running towards the lights. However, another Pokemon appeared from the sky, and blocked the first Pokemon's path. Despite its efforts, the first Pokemon got past, and made its way to all the balls of light. Upon touching them, they flew into the sky and were swallowed by the darkness.

As the last one flew into the shadows, the darkness completely consumed the light before all of it gathered in a single spot in the sky, creating a sphere of shadow. The sphere exploded, and from it came Evil. Evil destroyed the land, every single living creature that had not yet been swallowed by the shadows. The Pokemon stood by its side, watching with glee as everything was destroyed. The second Pokemon was the only thing left fighting against them.

I awoke with a start. What a weird dream. It wasn't just that it was weird; it was that it felt so real.

Opening my eyes, they darted across my line of sight to see what had awoken me. Finally I found it; it was Jon, who had gotten out of his sleeping bag. He must have done it very carefully though, neither Gold nor Ruby seemed to have been woken up by him. He took out the water bottle from his bag, and after having a small drink went over to the side of a small cliff watching over the lights of the city. After a moment of consideration, I got up slowly and went over next to him.

"Wha-? Oh, hey Dusk."

Looking up at him, I noticed for the slightest moment what looked like a tear in his eye, but it was wiped away quickly. "Sorry Dusk," he said casually, stroking my back. "I just miss everyone."

He wasn't alone, apart from seeing Dawn earlier today (or was it yesterday?), I haven't met anyone from my enclosure at all! I haven't seen my parents for months and months either.

"I guess that these past few days, I've just been trying to suppress the memories of my home. I've been trying to focus on the future, rather than the past. But, I guess that the only way for me to become the greatest trainer in the world is to learn from the past, and not try to just forget about it," he said, smiling slightly.

"It's just that once I start thinking about my friends and family again, I feel this overwhelming sadness that I can't control, like I'll never see them again. It took seeing Robyn again, and you seeing that Eevee again to realize that I had just as much to lose from leaving Pallet Town as I had to gain from starting this adventure. I feel so alone now." For a brief moment, I thought I saw another tear reflecting the few stars above the city in his eye, but it was wiped away quickly.

"But you're not alone," I said, aware that he couldn't understand me. "You have us!" I pointed my head at Gold and Ruby to get my point across.

"I have you guys, don't I?" He said in not much more than a whisper as he looked over the city. "You're right; I guess I'm not alone. But still, while you guys are awesome, I've only known you three for a few days. I'm not trying to offend you, so don't take it personally, but you guys aren't really my mum, or my sister." I knew what he meant; I doubt that we could ever replace his family. "Looking back, I sort of wish that I had never left my home."

"But, I suppose that we never would have met if I hadn't taken that step forward. If I had never tried, I would never be where I am today! Even though it has only been a few days, I've already learnt so much, and I've made some new friends too!"

We sat there in silence for a few moments, before Jon started talking again. "I guess that I may only be able to become the greatest trainer if I learn from my past and apply it to my future. Dusk, let's make a promise, that together we will become the greatest trainer and strongest Pokemon in the world! That we will help each other until we reach our goal!"

"Okay!" I said cheerfully.

"Excellent!" He responded. "I know that it will be tough, but together Ruby, Gold, you, me, and any other Pokemon that join us will become famous!" He finished.

"I'm looking forward to it," I replied.

"And now I guess we better get to sleep," Jon said, much more cheerfully than before.