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"Yeah, one sec," Eunmi sighed. She dialed her xtransceiver and let it ring to contact Sal.

[Ask her if she got breakfast already!] D-Vee said.

In the time that it had taken for the girls to go to the pokemon center, Salieri had already begun her training. She stood with her arms folded as she watched Wukong and Liuye spar. Neither of them were using regular attacks. They were just practicing their hand to hand combat skills. Her xtrasnceiver began to vibrate. Where she was, she wouldn’t be able to hear it.

Sal looked down at it, and then back to her pokemon, holding up a finger to signal that she’d be right back. The Battle Girl began to swim up from the bottom of Route 3’s lake, and once she reached the surface she took off her aquatic breathing device and turned on her xtransceiver. The device was conveniently waterproof.

“Hey, where are you guys? I can’t talk for too long, I’m kind of supervising something right now.” The good thing about training underwater was that her pokemon’s speed and power would increase from battling against the water pressure. The bad thing was that she had to supervise them to make sure their breathing devices didn’t accidentally come off during training. The longer she stayed at the surface, the more anxious she got to return to the bottom of the lakebed.

“Again, Zero. This time, don’t be afraid to make it feel real.”

N stood with his arms folded and his eyes closed in the abandoned trainyard. Even if they were open, he wouldn’t be able to see the invisible Zero. But he knew that she had gotten the order, because in the next second his senses were overloaded. The green haired trainer fell down into a fetal position, clutching his sides while laughing uncontrollably. It felt as though he was being tickled by feathers all over his body, even though nothing was touching him. Tears streamed down his eyes as he struggled through the laughter to raise his hand for it to stop.

And suddenly, it ended. N stood up, brushing himself off and regaining his composure. “That was good. It felt much more realistic this time around.” His expression changed back to observant stoicism.

But his instincts told him that he wasn’t alone.

“Did you follow me here?” he asked casually as he turned around to see Henrietta a short distance away.

N looked Henrietta once over. The girl was just as timid as ever, it seemed. Based on her examination of the area and behavior, N concluded that she was looking for someone else. Was it connected to him in some way? If not, she wasn't a threat to his identity. But he didn't know if Plasma troops were still stationed in town. Any one of them could possibly drop evidence that would lead right back to him. With this in mind, he decided to remain cautious.

"Why did you enter that tournament in a disguise?" he asked her suddenly, still looking right at her. It wasn't just something he was curious about. It was also a question that could through her off guard if Henrietta really was here to confront him about something Team Plasma related.

Henrietta's connection to Darumi was exactly why N didn't want her coming here. With Darumi being one of his current traveling partners, his presence would enable Henrietta to put the pieces together. Fortunately, Darumi wasn't here. Where is he, anyway?

"So what Team Plasma sees as liberation, you see as theft...I'm sorry, I do hope that you meet your pokemon again one day. You seem to care about it a lot. Although I wonder if your resolve will be enough to defeat theirs."

N looked over at the area where he and Wayne had battled yesterday. "I'm willing to test your resolve, if you'd like to have a battle with me."

"I'm at the bridge on Route 3. My pokemon are doing underwater sparring," she told Eunmi with a grin. On Eunmi's screen, Wukong's body floated up from the lake in the background behind Salieri, facing down. Electrical sparks from Liuye's Thunder Wave were dancing on the Monferno's body.

"Yeah, it's tough but I think they can handle themselves. They're pretty tough, yanno."

"Underwater? Wow, cool!" Eunmi said, grinning. "Alright, I'll meet you over there."

The teenager made for the Pokemon Center exit, now that Henrietta was out of sight. As she did, not watching where she was going, she crashed straight into someone, knocked backwards and off her feet.

"Oww!" she murmured, leaning upright. D-Vee, being more careful than the girl, stood back and looked up at the person who bumped into her - he had also fallen on his a**.

"What the heck?!" the boy said, adjusting his glasses to his face. Eunmi blinked and looked up, recognizing the voice.

"Cheren?" she said in surprise. Beside him, on her feet, was a girl in a green hat.

"Emi!" she said happily with a wave. The boy, Cheren, however, did not look as amused. He scrambled up, dusting off his pants.

"Still causing trouble?" he grimaced, catching the green-hat girl's hand as she extended it to help the korean girl up. Eunmi rose to her feet, her expression dropping slightly by the boy's attitude.

"I didn't intend to knock you down," Eunmi replied as she dusted herself off, smiling politely at the girl. "Hi, Bel, nice to see you too."

"I heard from your mom you started Pokemon training, but I didn't think you'd actually do it," Bel chimed up. She peered down at D-Vee. "Still just you and D-Vee? Any others?"

"Who cares?" Cheren said. "She probably just lied to her mom so she could go on a shopping spree in Castelia." He pulled Bel back as he started to walk away. Bel stumbled, looking down at him.

"That's ridiculous, Cheren!" she said, pulling her hand away. "Right, Emi?"

Eunmi scratched the back of her head and looked down at D-Vee. She had sort of lied to her mom. Not for a shopping spree, no, but she also hadn't really wanted to be a trainer either.

"See?" Cheren said. "She hasn't changed-"

"Wrong," Eunmi said, a smirk on her face, hand on her hip, a poke ball drawn. "I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!"

"Wh-what?" Cheren said as he took a staggered step back.

Eunmi screwed up her senior year, and Cheren's judgements of her were based on how their long-standing friendship had crumbled to bits because of her actions. She probably hurt Bel, too, but the blonde girl was more forgiving, it seemed.

"Scared?" Eunmi asked, tossing the Poke Ball up and down. "I thought you were really into Pokemon, last I checked."

"And last I checked, you didn't even know what the rules to a match were," Cheren said, drawing a poke ball.

"I've changed," she said.

"Too often," Cheren frowned.

"Try to keep up," Eunmi said, tossing the poke ball forward. With a flash of light, Dali appeared. Cheren paused, smirked, and placed is poke ball back on his hip. He moved his hand to another one and tossed it forward. A green Pokemon appeared - a Snivy.

"Looks like you still don't know much," he said. "I've got the type advantage."

"You can take your type advantage and shove it," Eunmi said. "Dali, Fury Cutter!"

Hero? Henrietta wasn't a hero. She shook her head. "I-i'm not, I-i just want to help Darumi," she said. She looked to the ground near N's feet. "I-i'm not heroic at all."