The girls, one eager to tell her stories and the other to listen to them, hopefully waited for a response from Russo, but he seemed to have spaced out again. Weird, Paiyu said to herself, how do you even explain something like that? ((No need to rush, Spookoden! I know you’re busy with hosting a contest, so take your time.))

The trainer suddenly remembered something her friend had said last night: after both of them were awoken by the green girl’s nightmare, Eli had asked Paiyu if she was experiencing any bad dreams as well.
She was.
“Psst, Eli...” Paiyu leaned down to whisper to her friend, “you asked me something last night, and for some reason it’s come back to my mind now. You asked me... if I had a nightmare too. Well, I did, but it was very late and I would probably have kept you up trying to explain... but I guess I can tell you now. Here goes...”

“It’s a very strange nightmare: it has been reccurring for three nights straight, since the first night in Almia - and yet I don’t understand the significance of it. It always happens in this empty town that I don’t remember anything about in my waking memory, but know I’ve been to some time in my life. It seems like a nice place at first - I always wake up on a soft, sun-warmed carpet of grass and, around me, I see cozy-looking homes and even a Pokémart - but soon I realize it’s not what it seems. Everything is silent, deserted - not a person or Pokémon for miles. And then - there is - the tower...”

”It doesn’t seem like something built in the modern day. It’s made of stone, and there’s literally no lighting inside, save for this one patch of sunlight I always end up in. I try to light it up with my phone’s flashlight, but it flickers out almost instantly... then this - this thing attacks me. I never get to see what it is, but I know that it’s heavy, has sharp claws or teeth, and these eyes - they scare me, but also make me feel sorry for the thing. I don’t know how to explain, but even when I know this situation is just a dream, and try to lucid-dream myself out of it, it never works. Maybe talking about it would help... You don’t really have to mind this, Eli, I’m just saying.”

While she stood proudly next to her friend, Eli heard the young trainer clarify the pun she made earlier, calling her 'the most precious person in the world.' As a Peridot, she never thought of her appearance as beauty magazine-worthy. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Many people in Alola called her names like 'freak,' 'tiny green monster,' 'weird ugly green creature thing,' or on worse occasions, an animal. Nobody ever really called her cute or precious, so to Eli, this simple phrase meant the whole world to her. Heck, it made her so static that she ended up crying tears of joy. "You..." She squeaked while staring at her friend with her glimmering green eyes. "Y-you really think I'm... Precious?" With a nod from the young trainer, the green girl immediately gave a tight yet comfortable embrace to her friend. "Thank you," she cried with tears of joy. "Thank you so much for the compliment! That definitely means the whole world to me, especially since I never get called anything related to being cute back in Alola." After hugging her friend, she quickly wiped away her tears and stared up at the two trainers.

Paiyu sent out Juniper, who was finally a Decidueye, and explained to the trainer that she was going to tell of her super long backstories of each Pokemon she had, if the ranger had time to listen to all of them. Although Eli suddenly felt the shrinking feeling after staring up at the now-ridiculously-tall Juniper, she did her best to get the feeling away and wipe away all the sweat she produced from her tiny body. The small green professor eventually got rid of all the secretions and looked up at her new ranger friend with a smile. "Yeah," she added with her high pitched voice. "She's got super long backstories for all her Pokemon, but if you're willing to buckle up and listen to all of them, they're quite the treat!" A split second later, Eli's Mimikyu, who seemed quite silent for a while, chimed in with a cute "Kyu Kyu!" noise to show that it's excited to hear all of Paiyu's stories for each of her Pokemon. They both gazed up at Russo, waiting patiently for a response to come out of him.

((Okay, I guess that makes sense, seeing that it would be a little too early for her to head off to Alola in the first place. Also, if Tsunami seemed to be okay with the Alima arc, maybe he'll be okay with this one too, but I bet it would mean we'd have to go back to Soras after a while through roleplaying or maybe even another time skip. He hasn't been on here for around a month, so unless he comes back out of nowhere to confirm this notion, I'd say it's possible for us to go to Alola while he fits himself into the plot somehow like he did with our trip with Alima. By the way, if we did ever pull off a time skip, Eli would probably be in her casual clothing (blue shirt with a Mimikyu on it and pink shorts) due to the fact she can change her clothes now, so...))

As Eli continued crying about missing her old life as a human, Paiyu asked if the green girl's two forms were one and the same while gazing at her with a shocked look on her face. From crying so much, all the tiny gem girl could do was stare up at Paiyu with her tear-blurred vision and squeak out a sorrowfully high-pitched reply of "Y-y-yes!" before cowering her face near the young trainer's feet. She became emotionally devastated to the point where she questioned if she really was acting like her old self, or just a husk that stored only her sad feelings that kept banging at her head. After a while, Paiyu told her green friend that life wouldn't have been the same if she met Eli's human form, and that they wouldn't have been able to go to Alima because of it. She even mentioned that her friend brought so many awesome memories, feelings, and experiences that changed her life for the better, and in a way, brightened up the rest of her days. While listening to this comforting sentence, Eli realized that without her friend, Paiyu still would've been sad about Arashi just like how she was about her Peridot transformation. What's worse, her friend could've died from the Serperior attack without her help and would have never been able to see Alima because her human form was stuck working at the Aether Foundation all the way in Alola. The more she thought about it, Eli was like a second guardian to Paiyu, always protecting her when she was in danger and being the one friend that could make her laugh. A rush of happy feelings started to invade Eli's mind as she sat herself upright and wiped away her tears with her oversized labcoat sleeve. "That's..." She replied with tears of joy coming from her sparkling green eyes. "That's the most beautiful speech that anyone has said to me! I-I never really thought of it that way, since I would've still met you over in Alola as a human, but I guess you're right. If I was still content with being at the Aether Foundation, I never would have left it in the first place!"

While she got herself up, she laughed at her little statement about never leaving her workplace, but Paiyu's last sentence still gave her a twinge of wrong, even though it was just a pun of what she was. She remembered her friend's other similar sentence of being called 'fully human' after she lost Roncho, but for this one, she was called 'a gem in every sense of the word.' After balancing herself on the ice, she chuckled a little at the pun before hanging her head down from the reminder, only showing her smile while her golden bangs covered the rest of her face. "But like you said from your 'pun,'" she coldly squeaked. "I'm not a human anymore, but just a gem in every sense of the word. That's the thing that's been bothering me, the fact that I'm reminded that I'm this gem 'monster' forever. Every night, I can feel my old tall legs, arms, and even my fingers; it's like they're all still there... But they're not. They're all gone, and now, all I see is the green pigmentation of my skin that haunts me of bad memories to this day. *Short pause* Listen, I know you mean well with the pun, but I'm more than just some gem. I'm a tall human trapped inside a tiny body who feels lost, confused, and even traumatized by this Peridot transformation that I went through, but..." Suddenly, Eli lifts her head up just a little bit to reveal an eye fueled by her blazing spirit that isn't covered by her hair. "Even in times like this, I pull myself together and keep going, because I've got people and Pokemon friends like you who want to see the real me that lies within, the one that wants to be the very best that no one ever was. I'm not going to give up on myself just yet, and I will strive to get the more hopeful energetic me back, but just know that I'm going to have days that may seem great, but will still suck because of the reminders of my past predicament, and I need your help whenever those days come. But for now on, I will remain strong, fight harder, and keep the happy spirit that still dwells within this small body going for all my life, because in a way, I am destined to be your guardian!"

When she said her last line, a new burst of dopamine-like energy fills her entire tiny body and fires up her spirit enough to stand properly and raise her labcoat-sleeve covered fists in the air in pride. Eli had never felt this feeling in ages, but she remembered having this joyful spirit-booster when she was human. Was it her eternal happiness? Another Peridot instinct that tricked her mind? Some type of anime magic? Who cares. She felt too pumped to even know what it was. After wiping away all her tears, Eli glanced up at Paiyu and cheerfully squeaked, "So, what are we waiting for, Paiyu? Let's go celebrate this darn awesome holiday after you show off your Pokemon to Russo!" ((RIP, we still have to finish the Crimbus arc. Though, I've been thinking we should pull a time skip after this by two months just to keep things consistent date-wise. What do you guys think of the idea?))

Still sniffling in sorrow from all the memories of being human, Eli stared up at Paiyu with her tear-blurred vision. Her friend asked if these were her friends, but then corrected herself to say 'co-workers,' most likely from seeing Melvin in the picture. "No," she moped. "You were right the first time. *sniffle* Everyone there was my friend, including the soon-to-be cloddy Melvin himself. I know it may not seem like it at first, *sniffle* but he was one of my best buddies before he revealed himself to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. We goofed off at the Aether labs with each other, played with the Pokemon together, and even did some Mario Kart together. *sniffle* But now, he sees me as nothing more than a little green monster who locked him up in jail. *sniffle* If only the real Melvin could come back and change his ways so that we could not fight anymore and play Nintendo 64 games like we used to..."

Before Eli could go back to yet another crying spree, the young trainer glanced at the photo even more and gave her a shocked yet confused look, almost like something about the picture seemed familiar to her. From what the green girl could assume, her friend realized the similarities between Eli's human and Peridot forms, and wanted clarification if this was true or not. From this realization, the green girl welled up with even more tears. "Alright," she squeaked sadly, pointing at the rPhone in the young trainer's hands. "It may shock you a little, but... *sniffle* That's me! That's what I looked like when I was human! Before the lab accident, before the pain, before the instincts, before all suffering I had to endure in a tiny body like this... That was the real me. The one who was so tall, so bold, so carefree, so... *sob*" Unfortunately, she couldn't think of any other words to describe her old self due to her extreme levels of sadness and collapsed herself down on the snowy grounds again, huddling near Paiyu's feet as she resumed her crying session. While holding onto her friend's leg, Eli asked the question her friend ignored once again, "I ask you this again, Paiyu, if you saw me as that girl in the photo, the one I once was, the one I strive to be again... Would you prefer to hang out with her instead of the monstrous being I've become, or was my choice of being a Peridot forever actually worth it? Please answer me! I don't even know who I am anymore because of it!" The poor tiny green professor hung onto her best friend's leg even tighter, staring at her friend with tear-filled eyes, desperately wanting an answer about her predicament and what she could do about it.

After giggling along with her friend about the pun she made, Eli decided to watch the two trainers chat it out for a bit. She couldn't really make out much since she was too short to hear every bit of the hidden conversation, but a few minutes later, she decided to screw around on her rPhone for a little. She played a few games and looked at some memes, but eventually she found an app she hadn't looked at for a while. It was the camera app, and though the green girl felt skeptical about looking at her old photos, she decided to take a glance anyways. I mean, she thought to herself. It wouldn't hurt to take one simple peek, right? But once she tapped it, the tiny professor knew she made a huge mistake. The rPhone's camera glanced in a downwards position, showing the bottom of Eli's oversized labcoat and the green tiny toes that peeked out from it. Cringing in disgust from the reminder of what she became, the green girl immediately tapped on a little square that lead to her photo collection. From there lied a bunch of saved memes and a couple old 'selfies' she took from when she was still a human at the Aether Foundation. The one that caught her eye was a photo she took of her human self, Melvin, Lusamine, and Luis doing goofy poses. In the photo, her old self had long, golden blond hair with a hat that resembled Nihlego. Her eyes were a stunning hazel-like green, and her skin was peachy-tan. She was even pulling off a peace sign while winking to the camera, towering over the other Aether members except for Melvin, who was around two inches taller than her. Eli stared at this picture for a while, eye-ing every detail as she thought back to those good old times. Back then, Lusamine respected the Aether girl's persistence, loyalty, and even kindness towards people and Pokemon. She was even liked by Faba, who was a bit bitter at first, eventually started to warm up to her kind attitude. The green girl even remembered when she was friends with Melvin and Luis, goofing off and playing on her TV's Nintendo 64 before ending the day with a cuddle-filled nap together. All these memories were so bright, so vivid to her, but now they were gone. The friends she made were now enemies, all because they didn't take kindly to her Peridot form. While she glanced at the picture, sitting in a ball-like position, Eli pulled up her non-dominant labcoat sleeve to stare at her tiny green left hand. She compared her old self's hands in the picture to the lime-green pigmented gremlin hand she now possessed. From all the lessons she learned, the green girl thought this little comparison wouldn't bother her, but unfortunately, it did. No matter what compliments she received, the mindset still stuck with her: She could never be as beautiful or tall as her human form ever again. Eli tried to resist the urge to cry, but her tiny body shivered from the sadness she built up from the photo and caused her to tear up from all the memories she could never get back. "You know, despite all the praise I've received from you guys," she squeaked sadly, trying to get the two trainers' attention. "I... I just can't ever forget that I'm stuck in this tiny body for life. You see, t-t-this was what I looked like when I was human. *Holds her rPhone up with the picture* I... I-I remember being so pretty... So well-liked by the Aether Foundation, but now, *erk* t-they hate me for becoming this monster that I turned into. Every day, despite the compliments, I feel so small. I become so unnoticeable that even when I shout, it fades into an inaudible high-pitched squeak that people just ignore like I'm some sort of Lillipup yammering for attention. Even just looking at my tiny hands makes me feel like I'm shrinking. In a way, it makes me feel like my mere existence is... Tiny. *Closes fist* I-I know you guys are the only ones to acknowledge my presence, but the shrinking feeling is still stuck with me as I stay a Peridot for longer and longer. Sometimes... It makes me think back to when I was a human, being so tall and headstrong that I felt like I mattered to everyone, but now... *Feels pain in her head and tries to ease it by grasping her head with both of her hands* Nyrugh! Why can't I stop feeling this way!? T-the past memories of my human life are hurting my head! *Turns to her side, still in a ball-like sitting position* Stop it! Please! All I want to do is to feel joy from this form! Not constant pain from remembering my past life! *Sobs while also making helpless squeaking noises and salivating green from her mouth* W-why didn't I choose to be human again? That would've been a much easier route to follow..." She continued to sob in regret as she handed her rPhone with the photo to Paiyu and weakly crumbled herself onto the cold snowy grounds of the sidewalk. "J-just take a good look at this photo and then back at me." She moaned with her high pitched voice, still shivering in sadness from all her regret. "You'd probably want to hang out with the tall majestic woman I once was rather than the tiny green monster I turned myself into, would you...?"

Eventually, the ranger kid had finally introduced himself to Eli. His name was Russo, and he explained to the green girl that he had a package to deliver to his dad, who just happens to work at the Aether Foundation like Eli before the Peridot predicament. Wait a second, She thought to herself. This kid's dad works at the Aether Foundation!? Maybe he could be my only hope to get back into the Aether Foundation! Sure, I may have been rejected once, but maybe something fishy is going on back there. Heck, I remember that Lusamine was a nice boss who wouldn't reject anyone who loved Pokemon, so what exactly changed her attitude for the worst? I have to know these things right away! Before she could get a response out, the ranger kid told the green girl that he was actually 19 years old instead of the age she was assuming he was. Oh, She resumed her thoughts. He's nineteen years old. Dang! But he looks so young, though, so what gives!? Eh, I can't really tell from down here, anyways. Being this small really sucks when you can't tell how old someone is! Eli gave a silent growl for a few seconds from such an embarrassing mistake. After a while of listening to Russo's introductory rant, she decided to tell the ranger guy about her thoughts on his father. "Well," The small professor squeaked back. "I didn't really know that, actually! But anyways, despite being a former Aether Foundation member myself, I never really bumped into your father at all while I was working at that place as a human. Maybe he works in a different part of the facility, who knows, but as far as I'm concerned, your explanation of him doesn't seem to ring any bells." She paused for a few seconds to think about what she could do to get this guy's father to convince Lusamine to let her back in. Sure, she had no idea who this dude was, but maybe he could be her only hope. The green girl tried searching in one of her oversized labcoat pockets to find something that could get her message across to the Aether man. Then, she felt something so familiar, but she never did anything with it for months. It was her notebook, and since Russo was delivering something there, maybe he could send something extra as well. "Hold on a second," she told the ranger guy. "I'm going to write a quick note to your father before I introduce you to my friends." As she flipped through the notebook to find an empty page, she grabbed a red-capped pen from her pen pocket and began scribbling out her letter with her right hand.

"To Russo's Father (Whoever you are),

I know we haven't met yet in this facility, but my name's Professor Eli Wolftree, though you can just call me Eli. I was a former member of the Aether Foundation before I got turned into a Peridot thanks to some stupid lab accident involving a potion. You've probably heard stories and rumors of me saying I'm 'evil' or a 'green hideous monster,' but in reality, they're all wrong. I'm actually a nice girl who just happened to be in an unfortunate circumstance, and I want you to help me out. Listen, if you're not under any influence of UB:01 juice or whatever, I want you to try and convince Lusamine to let me back into the Aether Foundation. Yeah, it's a preposterous way of coming back to this place, but please! You're my only hope! If you want more proof that I'm a nice person and not just some cloddy monster, just ask your son, Russo.

Sincerely,
Professor Eli Wolftree."

After finishing up her letter, Eli tore it out of her notebook and placed the former note-writing book in one of her oversized labcoat pockets. "Here," she squeaked as she glanced up at Russo with the note in her hand. "I want you to give this note your father as well. I know you've already got a lot to carry, but it's super urgent and it might even save the place from it's madness." The ranger dude snatched the note out of Eli's tiny hand and put it somewhere safe to give to his father. She also placed her red-capped pen in the middle of the purple and blue pens she carried in her pen pocket. Now it was time for Eli to introduce her friends. "Well, now that you've introduced yourself, I'd like to introduce you to my friends! *Glances at Paiyu* This is Paiyu. She is probably the only friend that made me realize that being a Peridot is not so bad and even likes me for who I am. Once you get to know her, she's quite a hoot! *Glances at Jack* And this is Jack! He's an ace trainer who's got loads of legendaries and mythical Pokemon. Sometimes I have no idea how he got them in the first place, since only one of each species exists in this world, like Diancie or Celebi!" After introducing her friends to Russo, the green girl glanced at him to see what his response would be to all of this.

It took a decently long time for Paiyu to respond to Eli's question, and the green girl became a little fed up with waiting. Dang, she thought to herself with an annoyed growl. What's taking her so long to respond anyways? It almost looks like she's lost in her thoughts. Just when she was about to say something, a mysterious male teenager who appeared to be 17 years-old walked up to her. He seemed way taller than Eli's Peridot form, and maybe even a pinch taller than her human form. He even had a capture styler in his pocket just like Roncho did when she first met him. Eli glanced up at the strange ranger with a bit of sweat on her face and introduced herself, albeit feeling a little intimidated from his tallness. "Uh, hi there!" She waved mareep-ishly at him before he could get out his question. "The name's Professor Eli Wolftree, though, you can just call me Eli. What's your name and how come you decided to talk to me, anyways?" Even though this ranger kid forgot to introduce himself, he still continued on with his question and asked Eli what tragic thing happened to her that made her turn into a Peridot. "Oh, you're wondering why I look this, don't you?" She squeaked. "Well, it's a long story, but if you want the short version of it, I was once a tall girl who used to work at the Aether Foundation, but due to a tragic 'lab accident' of sorts, I got transformed into this humanoid Peridot creature that I'm permanently stuck as for life." The green girl gave of a cute yet saddened sigh, but continued her response like nothing happened. "So, anyways, I would like to ask what your name is, since we first met and all, and I want to get to know you more as well. Oh, and while we're at it, maybe I can introduce you to my friends, too! Nyeh heh..."

"I don't know," Eli shrugged with a smile. "That's why I'm asking you!" The green girl gave out a little laugh as she was walking along the snowy sidewalks of Carina City. She left tiny footprints in the snow that were somewhat covered by the oversized labcoat that trailed from behind her. Mesmerized by all the massive buildings around her, she had no idea which one they could start at. But then all of a sudden, something caught her eye. A familiar building that she had seen countless times, but never had the chance to go into. It was an Aether Base that had a blue glowing line of light on the roof of it's building. An Aether Base? She thought to herself. I've seen a few placed in natural habitats for Pokemon observation, but what's this one doing in the middle of an urban setting? But the more she thought of it, some Pokemon do prefer living on the city streets like Grimer or Magnemite. While staring at it, Eli realized that with a little bit of effort, she could possibly get hired again and finally live a life where she could be accepted as a Peridot. After all, the incident happened two years ago, so why wouldn't she give herself a second chance? When the trio had passed the building, Eli glanced up at the young trainer to let her know what she wanted to do. "Hey Paiyu," she cutely told the young trainer with her high-pitched squeaky Peridot voice. "This might take a quick couple of seconds, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm going into that Aether Base over there and see if I can have the chance to reapply for the Aether Foundation so that I can work there once again. Wish me luck!" But before she could run off to the glowing white and blue base, she noticed on the young trainer's Poke-belt that one of her Pokeballs had a poorly scratched off Aether Foundation sticker on it, which happened to be the Moon Ball that Paiyu's Ninetales, Yuki, was stored in. Remembering what that sticker was for, Eli realized that it was an assigned Pokemon that was supposed to be released out into the wild, but she knew that the young trainer loved her Ninetales so much that she wouldn't give it up on the spot. In response to the detail on that Moon Ball, she turned back to Paiyu and added with a thumbs-up, "Oh, and by the way, I promise I won't tell them about Yuki. She is your Pokemon friend after all, and if she loves you that much to be with you forever, that's totally fine by me! I mean, I may be a former Aether employee, but at least I have enough heart to know what true friendship is." She then ran across the snow to the Aether base, nearly slipping a few times on the ice until finally stabilizing herself back onto her tiny feet. This was it. She would finally get accepted by the Aether Foundation once more and not give a care for what she looks like. This was her time to shine!

Eli carefully climbed herself up the trailer's steel yet icy stairs to open the door to her new yet familiar life. What awaited her was a futuristic white and blue room that seemed rather small but also bigger on the inside. It was decorated with white tables and chairs, with some of the walls having strange cabinets with fossils inside of them. The ever-so-familiar Aether Foundation logo was plastered all over the walls, almost like how Exeggcute-Man would plaster his face all over his creations in Sonic the Sandslash. Even though she had never been in an Aether base for all her years of being at the Aether Foundation, the green girl felt nostalgic from all the reminders of her former job around her. Eventually, she came across an application desk just left of the main entrance. She ran all the way up to it, but unfortunately, she was too short to reach the counter, and all that stuck out from it was part of her yellow, messed-up, fluffy hair. Out of the nowhere, an Aether Foundation employee noticed the green girl's hair and thought it was a yellow monster. "Holy crap!" He exclaimed with fear. "I must be hallucinating again! The yellow furry monster has come to kill me!" With an embarrassed growl, Eli responded coldly to this dumb comment with, "I'm not a furry monster, you clod. The person you seek is down here." The Aether dude looked down from the counter to find that a strange green little girl was struggling to make her presence known. It didn't take long for him to find out that this monstrous creature was wearing an old Aether labcoat that seemed too big for her, and from her name-tag knew that she was Eli, the former worker who turned into a little green beast and ran away in shame before she could get fired. "Oh," The Aether worker groaned. "It's you. You're that green monster I've heard so much about in stories from my co-workers. I thought you were just some myth, but I guess it's true. Please don't eat me or tear me to shreds!" Eli gave a stare of disbelief. "What?" She stared in confusion at the employee. "No! Listen, despite what your co-workers said, I'm not going to eat you or anything. I actually mean no harm! All I want is to re-apply for the Aether Foundation and set things right! Just look past this appearance and you'll see that I'm no monster, but just a poor unfortunate human who ended up in such a crappy predicament that it ruined her life." She gave off a cute yet saddened stare to the tall employee, whimpering as hard as she could to make herself appear more cute. "D'oh, alright." The Aether man gave in with a groan. "I'll go call Lusamine and see if she'll let you back in." Eli smiled with glee, jumping ecstatically in the air while squealing, "Yay! Thank you so much!" Before he called the president of the company, however, the employee took a drink of a strange clear substance that didn't seem to behave like water, but behaved more like UB:01 juice. For some reason, the tiny professor didn't notice this detail in his drink, as she was way up on cloud nine to even care. The phone gave off a few beeps, and a secret call was initiated.

Lusamine: Hello, who is this?
Aether Employee #1,197: Oh hello, President Lusamine. It's me, Winston. You know, the dude running the Aether Base over in the Soras Region? *Takes a chug of UB:01 Juice*
Lusamine: Ah, yes! Have you got anyone to join our ranks over there, Winston?
Winston: No, but I have found that green monster whom you might know as "Eli."
Lusamine: Oh yeah... Her. *Takes a sip from her glass of UB:01 juice* That ugly creature knows too much about our plans and has even jailed my favorite member, Melvin! Just don't hire her and put her out of the way. She's not as beautiful as Nihlego, anyways.
Winston: On it, boss. I'll let her know right away. *hangs up*

The phone call had finally ended, and Eli still kept that gleeful smile on her face, not knowing she was about to be swiftly denied by the president herself, who has kept a grudge on the green girl since the two years she had been absent. "Hey 'Winston,'" she squeaked gleefuly at the now-named employee. "Did I get accepted back in? Am I going to have yet another awesome interview once again!?" The Aether worker turned to her and gave her a cold stare. "No," he replied. "Not even close. She says you're too much of a tiny green beast to join our ranks. Heck, she thinks you belong in the woods, like the horrible unappealing animal you turned yourself into. Now go, you weird Peridot creature. Get!" The expression on Eli's face went from happy to depressed in a matter of seconds. She couldn't believe that she was being treated like an animal like in her nightmare. She tilted her head down in shame as her fluffy yellow bangs wilted downwards. "Okay," she whimpered. "I'll get out of your sight, if that's what you want." She walked away slowly, trying to hold back the tears until she got to see Paiyu again.

What came out from the trailer was a depressed version of Eli, feeling saddened that she didn't get the chance to redeem herself and work at the Aether Foundation once more. When Paiyu asked if the green girl had got the job or at least an interview, she couldn't hold back the tears and coldly squeaked as she looked down at the ground, "No. Not a chance. I didn't even get an interview, either. I knew I shouldn't have went in that trailer in the first place." Before Paiyu could even respond with a comforting response, Eli forcefully looked up at the young trainer with rage-filled tears in her eyes and spat out glowing green saliva as she squeaked agitatedly, "Can't you see!? They don't want me anymore! All they see me as now is a useless tiny green monster who belongs in the woods! I mean, do you see all of this green saliva foaming out of my mouth!? My own freaking body can't decide whether or not I deserve to be human anymore! If they really want me to live out in the forest like how a true freak like me would, so gosh dang be it!" Hastily, Eli ran away from the duo with tears in her eyes. She couldn't even bear the feeling that she was slowly losing her humanity, all because some cloddy Aether employee gave her the boot. Mimikyu, who was perched on it's trainer's shoulder, turned around and beckoned the duo to follow her, as there was still hope for her to change her attitude and become happy again. The poor green girl slipped a bunch of times on the icy sidewalks, but she didn't care how injured she was. All she cared about was getting to her destination, her new home: The woods. More green saliva foamed from her mouth as she ran faster and faster, with a torrent of tears flowing from her eyes that signified her gradual loss of humanity. Once she got out of the city and into the forest, Eli flopped herself in front of a few trees while Mimikyu jumped off her shoulder, sobbing like that one moment she tripped on a stick and lost all hope. "Oh, what gives!?" She moaned while foaming out glowing green saliva. "I can already feel my humanity slipping away from my mind, and there's nothing I can do about it! *sniffle* Goodbye, Mimikyu. *sniffle* Goodbye, Jack. *sniffle* Goodbye, Paiyu! *sniffle* It was nice knowing you guys while my humanity was still here. But now... I... I... Nyrugh! I can't hold on much longer! *sob* No! It's already happening! Somebody! Please help me! I... I've become a monster!" She began sulking her heart out and repeatedly cried out, "A monster!" before succumbing to the inner Peridot creature that laid dormant inside of her. Suddenly, the color of her eyes went from green to crimson red. Nothing much changed physicality-wise, but Eli was no more. All that remained of her mind was just darkness and true Peridot instincts. Her mouth foamed more green saliva more than ever before and seethed in a continuous loop of rage. The now-primitive Eli got up from the snow and decided to go looking for some Pokemon to fight with her tiny bare hands. She looked down to find her Mimikyu, which she saw now as nothing more than a wild Pokemon. "Mmmm, more power!" she said with primal rage as she produced more glowing green saliva from her mouth. Mimikyu cowered in fear from the mind-wiped version of it's former trainer, but before the green girl turned monster could get a scratch out of it's prey, an unlikely shadowy Pokemon had slipped into Eli's mind and put her to sleep, almost like she was hit with a tranquilizer dart. While she slept, she made the same soothing high-pitched purring noises when she still had her personality, which means there's still hope for her to come back. Mimikyu felt relieved, but watched on to see if the shadow Pokemon will succeed in it's plans to make Eli whole again.

"I'm a- Wha?" Eli had woke from her bed and- Wait. Her bed!? The last time she had a personal bed was when she worked at the Aether Foundation! She yawned and got herself up, looking around at her surroundings that seemed so familiar to her. The computer, the desk, the shelf filled with potions... She was back at the Aether Foundation again! Not only that, but she felt taller, and her voice was back to normal, too. The situation seemed obvious: She was finally human again. Now hold up! She thought to herself. There's got to be some catch! Maybe this is just some dream, but it feels too real to be a dream! She walked around a bit, feeling a little wobbly from getting used to her normal taller human self, but nothing seemed to happen to her physically or mentally. "Ha ha, yes!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. "Do you hear that, world!? I'm not a Peridot anymore, and I'm finally human again! Woo!" She did a goofy little dance before a familiar foe, Melvin, had arrived in her room. He looked a little groggy from the rude awakening that Eli had caused. "A Peridot?" He responded to the gleeful shout. "What the heck are you talking about? You were always a human, Eli. It must be a weird realistic dream that you woke up from." His attitude seemed more friendly than usual, but the now-human Aether girl was suspicious. How could Melvin be so friendly when clearly he had a malicious tone before? "Hmm," she pondered. "That might be true, but why are you so friendly to me, Melvin!? I know your schemes! You gave me that UB:01 Juice and-" "Dude, chill. I never gave you any juice from a Nihlego." Melvin interrupted. "You must be a little loopy in the head today. Now, come. We've got some work to do." As Melvin left her room, Eli looked confused. Were her adventures with Paiyu really all a dream? There was no time to think about this as Eli got herself to work. As she walked down the hallways, a short Aether woman that was more human than Peridot asked the Aether girl to reach something for her. This was her chance to nostalgically pull off one of her Godzilla jokes on her co-worker. "Why yes," she replied with a smile. "Godz-Eli will help you out!" Instead of a Nyeh heh, she gave out a "Tee hee!" instead. She stumbled herself over to the tall shelf and reached her hand out to grasp the object. "Rawr! Nothing can stop Godz-Eli when it comes to helping people! Not even Gamera can take a hit at me!" The two both giggled at the co-worker replied with a thanks and moved on with her day. When Eli finally got herself to where she was supposed to work at, which was the Type:Null testing chamber, one of them seemed to blur through as Crimson the Silvally, but is trapped behind the electric bars. Oh, I knew it! She grumbled silently to herself. I knew this was just some fluffing dream! Maybe the only was she could go back to the real world was to release the Pokemon that gave her motivation in the first place. She grabbed a key from a nearby counter top and comforted the dream-like Type:Null. "Don't worry, Crimson." She soothed her partner Pokemon as her voice slowly got higher and squeakier. "I'll get you out of here. It's me, Eli! Remember?" The Silvally had recognized her partner from the familiar scent, remembering her as the Peridot he knew in love. Once he was released, he jumped right onto Eli, who instantly felt herself shrink down, down, down, to Peridot size and immediately was transformed into a Peridot. The dream atmosphere slowly turned into one of a shadowy realm, but this wasn't Mewtwo's realm, but a mysterious legendary that crept in the darkness. It revealed itself to be half the size of Eli's Peridot form, and had a cute shadowy scarf surrounding it's neck. It had eyes that were once flaming and had strips of shadows attached to it's feet. Marshadow. She thought coldly to herself. After petting her dream Crimson a couple of times, she gave the legendary Pokemon a cold stare and began her rant. "You," she angrily squeaked. "You were behind all this, weren't you!? It's all your fault! You were sent here by Mewtwo and turned me into a Peridot for craps and giggles, right!? You were watching! Waiting! ...Monitoring my every move, saying, 'Oh, no matter what, even when things are great, they still suck!' So listen, Marshadow! You... Why are you here?? Why are you here!? *Marshadow snickers in the background* You're mocking me! Marshadow's fluffing mocking me! You're watching me all like, 'That Eli clod... She's beautiful.' Nyrugh! Why would a Marshadow say something like that to me!? It makes no sense!" But after giving off an internal scream, she calms herself and continues her rant. "You know, Marshadow, I bet you want me to look at the positive. I know why you're here, now. I see what you're doing. You came to tell me, 'I'm the one who turned you into a Peridot and gave all of your humanity back, and you must thank me face-to-face.' *Marshadow nods* Well, thank you, Marshadow! Thank you! You're really taught me what it means to take my wonderful Peridot life for granted!" Although the gratitude felt sarcastic, Marshadow knew that the sarcasm was fake and patted the now curled-up Eli on the back. She turned her head to the legendary and nodded, "Thanks, Marshadow. Tell Mewtwo I said hi." and then was sent back to reality.

Eli woke herself up, finding herself curled up on the snowy grounds like how a cat would sleep. From getting her humanity back, the color of both her eyes became green again. She perked her head up to find that Paiyu and Jack found her and comforted her this entire time. She then looked at her Mimikyu, who waved at her gleefully that it was he who brought these two here in the first place. The tiny green professor gave a calm smile to the trio and said, "Thanks for comforting me, guys. I'm sorry for running off like that. I... I just didn't use my brain and realize that I should cherish being a Peridot, that's all. If not for my transformation, I wouldn't have met you guys in the first place. I guess I do feel worthy in this world after all." After giving her friends a big hug, she got herself and dusted off her oversized labcoat while wiping away her frozen tears and any saliva that still remained. She looked up at the two and squeaked, "Let's go into the city and find something to do, shall we?" and walked into the city's entrance to find something to do. Once they were at the city's central square, Eli asked the duo, "So... What do you want to do, now?"

"Yeah," Eli replied to her friend with her high-pitched squeaky voice. "That sounds nice. I haven't really explored Carina City yet, so I guess it'll be a nice experience for me to relive those childhood moments of walking around in a city like this." In a flash, she scooted herself off the bed and ran to the bathroom to get herself ready, with Mimikyu following it's trainer from behind. Once she got to the bathroom, the green girl stared up at the mirror which only showed a small section of her dorito-shaped hair because she was shorter than where it was placed. Due to this inconvenience, Eli gave off a cranky growl and parkoured her tiny body onto the bathroom sink to get a better view of what she looked like. As she got a quick glance of herself, she started to fix up her frizzed-up hair as soon as possible. "Man," She grumbled silently to herself. "Out of all the things I hate doing as a Peridot, this is definitely one of them. Sure, climbing up counter-tops and sinks like this can be good exercise, but it just feels too ridiculous and embarrassing for me." She continued to fix her hair until it seemed just about right. Once she finished that up, Eli gave herself a few quick sprays of vanilla perfume to prevent herself from smelling awful throughout the entire day. After getting herself ready, she immediately ran to Jack's new room and climbed onto his bed to awaken the sleeping trainer. "Rise and shine, Jack." She squeaked excitedly, shaking the trainer with a few harmless pushes to his back. "We're going to explore Carina City today!" Eventually, Jack got up as Eli shoved herself right off the bed. Now that everyone was ready, the trio walked down the steps, to await the snowy atmosphere around them.

A chilly breeze smacked her in the face as the green girl opened the door. Tiny snowflakes were still hitting the ground little by little as the grass below was covered in white. In a way, the snow below looked cloud-like, almost like they were transported to heaven by Arceus himself. A childlike giddiness started to build inside Eli. She's never felt this feeling in ages, but with all the snowflakes flying around, who couldn't resist the early Christmas spirit that snow would bring? "Snow!" She squealed in delight. "Oh my stars! I fluffing love snow!" She immediately dived herself into the cold grounds, covering herself in it while not giving a care for how messy her labcoat would end up. Weirdly enough, she was immune to the cold's effects due to her being a gem, but still shivered from the cold feeling itself. Mimikyu decided to join in the fun as well, playfully throwing snowballs at everyone out of goofy levels of mischief. The two played in the snow for a while, showing the true joy-filled bond between a trainer and it's Pokemon before Eli ran off to the Xerneas statue and hopped right onto it. Meanwhile, the disguise Pokemon attempted to make a tiny snowman of it's trainer, gathering little clumps of snow with it's shadowy hands and building up as it goes. The tiny green scientist pretended the statue was a real Xerneas, imagining her human-self riding on the 9 foot tall deer Pokemon and shouted, "Hi ho, Silver! Away!" Unfortunately, the fantasy didn't last that long as she got a glimpse of her tiny green hands that peeked out from her oversized labcoat sleeves. This also made her think back to that nightmare she had last night, remembering how big her old humanized hands once were before fully getting turned into a Peridot. Eli then gazed up at the tall fence surrounding the house and sighed, wishing that she could be her human self for just one day, but she had already chosen her fate. There was nothing she could do about her 'Gemorphosis' but to accept it. She got herself off the decorated statue and ran up to her friends while dusting herself off from all the snow that covered her labcoat. "Well," she told her friends as she glanced up at them with a smile. "It seems I'm done with childishly playing in the snow for now. Let's go explore the city, shall we?" The two trainers nodded in agreement and they all went out to explore the now winter wonderland known as Carina City.

The atmosphere in the city was quite cheery. Thanksgiving had already ended as people and Pokemon were greeting their loved ones with holiday greetings such as "Merry Christmas!" or "Happy Hanukkah!" Snow covered the streets and grounds, but cars were still able to get around just fine. Lots of Pokemon were even getting into the Christmas spirit, with some trainers owning Pokemon with scarves and other winter-wear. Ice-types like Snorunt, Jinx, and Froslass plagued the streets, cheerfully wondering around with grace on the icy grounds. Some Pokemon were holding buckets to benefit the Salvation Army for the holidays like Alakazam and Mr. Mime. Even the electronic billboards that were on the buildings already had Christmas advertisements up on them. With so many locations to go to, Eli didn't know which shop to go to first. As the trio was walking around the city, the adorable green professor stared up at Paiyu and asked, "Hey Paiyu, since there's so many shops around here, which one do you want to go to first, since you know your way around here?"

The weather slowly got colder as Eli was waiting at the door. While waiting for her two best friends, she decided to look around and admire the Christmas decorations that plagued the young trainer's house. Unlike most of the houses in the city, this one didn't go all out and fully decorate the place. All that was used were the bright goldenrod lights that hung upon the roof and a cute little Xerneas statue that had a glowing red nose. Because of how small it was, Eli could probably sit on it properly with a little patience. She thought about sitting on the statue for fun, but realized her little legs were still aching from all that walking, so it was best for her to wait. Eventually, the tiny green professor's two friends ran up to the door as Paiyu knocked on it for her mom to immediately open afterwards. A warm, friendly greeting came from Paiyu's mom as Eli cutely squeaked "Hi!" back, but slowly felt skepticism from the presence of Jack, for whom she didn't recognize. The tiny scientist was about to explain who Jack was, but Paiyu had her covered with a brief introduction of him. A few minutes later, everybody got themselves settled in the living room as Eli dashed her way towards her recently-claimed bean bag chair and flopped right onto it, snuggling in all it's warmth and comfortableness. A few seconds later, the green girl glanced at a nearby window to find that it started snowing. Yeah, it was weird for her to see snow in November, but from all the nonsense she's been through as a Peridot, she definitely needed that joyful Christmas spirit, even if it just came from a simple snowfall.

Soon after, everybody else settled themselves on the couch as Paiyu's mom asked them how Alima was. "Oh boy," Eli ecstatically explained. "Where do I begin with how awesome this trip was!? The sands and waters of Nabiki Beach were so darn clear that you could practically see Magikarp in there! The hotel room at the Ranger Base in Vientown was so amazing that you could stay in there for hours! Best of all, I got to meet my childhood idol who's work inspired me for many years to come, Professor Hastings! *blushes* So in a way-" Before she could ramble on any further, the green girl got cut off by Paiyu's explanation of how great their day was, but awkwardly excluded the bad or dangerous parts like the time Eli stank up from getting submerged in water and the epic fights with Melvin and Khan. An awkward silence filled the room, and although Eli was going to make a joke about this to break the sudden quietness, she held her breath out of respectfulness for the young trainer's parents. Eventually, it became time for Paiyu to head straight to bed, and the green girl immediately followed in her footsteps, with her oversized labcoat dragging from behind. Jack also trailed from behind, but before he could pick out a room to sleep in, Eli pointed in the direction of her old vacant room and squeaked to him with her high-pitched voice, "Hey Jack, if you need anywhere to sleep tonight, that room over there's always available. I'm going to sleep with Paiyu tonight if that's okay with you." He nodded in agreement and the green girl rushed herself towards her friend's room. She climbed up onto Paiyu's bed, still having feelings of embarrassment for being unable to belly flop onto beds like she used to do as a tall, empowered human. She snuggled herself beneath the covers as Mimikyu jumped off it's trainer's shoulder to sleep as well. A few minutes later, Paiyu got herself ready for bed and after bidding goodnight to her green friend, she fell asleep on the soft, fluffy mattress. Eli did the same, but she yawned cutely before lulling herself to sleep from her desire to do so. She breathed in and out cute little soft noises as she slept, even though she didn't have to to it as a gem. The adorable little green girl eventually fell asleep, hoping for a good dream to balance out her previous nightmare.

Eli woke up in a grey, foggy world that looked similar to the one in the Mystery Dungeon world, but weirdly enough, she wasn't a Pokemon or even a Peridot in this dream. She was a human again, but was naive enough to not know she was in a dream. Nothing seemed too weird so far, but when she took her first couple steps, her skin slowly turned green little by little. She found out that with every single step she took in this world, she would slowly turn into her Peridot-self, but progression of this transformation would stop every time she stood still. Thankfully, she had enough awareness to stop moving and prevent herself from fully becoming a Peridot, but still not enough to realize she was in a dream. Okay, she calmed herself. Maybe if I just stand here for a while and ignore any distractions, I won't slowly transform into a Peridot anymore! Yeah! That should work! Many temptations would try to coax her to move, but none of them had tricked her yet. That is, until an ice cream truck with catchy tunes blaring out appeared in her dream, making her forget about the trans-modification rules in the first place. "Ice cream!" She shouted, with her squeaky Peridot voice taking over her bold female voice. Once she got her vanilla-flavored ice cream from the truck, Eli realized her 'gemorphosis' got even worse. Her blond hair was now triangle-like and the entirety of her skin was green except for the 5% of tan that was still left on her hands. She was basically a taller version of her Peridot-self, but her skin wasn't fully green and she didn't grow a pointy tooth yet. After finishing up her dream ice cream, she started to sweat in fear, trying not to let anything distract her. "Snap out of it, Eli." She asserted herself. "You can do this! All you have to do is stand still! Why is that so hard?" Suddenly, a cackling laugh came out of nowhere, with a dream Paiyu shouting "Help!" Three silhouettes, one that looked like Melvin and the other two who looked similar to the friendly yet mega bosses of the Aether Foundation, were all controlled by the UB:01 juice. "Ha," the dream Melvin laughed. "Now that I've got your friend and your bosses with me, what are you going to do now, Peridot? You're not a human anymore, so you don't deserve to be called 'Eli' anymore!" Sure, she wasn't afraid of Melvin anymore, but in this nightmare, these words hit her heart real hard. She couldn't believe that Melvin treated her like a monster, a freak, and even worse, an animal. Eli didn't want her humanity to be stripped away, but she would have to do it to save her friend. She stared at her somewhat-humanized hands one last time, clenching them as tears welled up in her eyes. A beastly attitude started to build up in her, building thoughts of revenge as she was about to run towards Melvin in rage, even though this alone would turn her into a Peridot fully in this dream. "I won't let you do this to my friend!" She cried out with her now high-pitched voice. She ran at full force towards the shadowy figures, but as she did so, a tooth on the left side of her mouth got sharper, her arms shortened and her hands got smaller. Not only that, but she felt herself shrink down, getting smaller and smaller with every footstep until she was 4'5". The Peridot transformation was now complete. She lunged herself at Melvin, yowling out with rage, "And just to let you know~"

"-I'm not a Peridot!" Eli let out a quiet shout as she practically leaped out of Paiyu's bed with a nervous drop of sweat on her face. Thankfully, this shout wasn't that loud because she was somewhat small and only Paiyu could hear it. The green girl found that the digital clock next to her friend's bed said 3:00am, but Paiyu was rudely awakened from the shout. "Oh, sorry about that, Paiyu." She apologized as she scratched the back of her dorito-shaped hair. "I just had an awful nightmare, that's all. You can go back to sleep if you want, unless you had a horrifying nightmare as well." But weirdly enough, something was different about her Peridot form: The texture she felt on her legs and feet wasn't sock-like anymore. Now normally, Eli would have forest-like legging socks that were melded to her body under her oversized labcoat, but as she lifted the covers on her end with her currently-revealed tiny green hand, what poked out of the bottom of her oversized labcoat were tiny green bare feet that looked strangely human-like. Not only that, but she could also button and unbutton her oversized labcoat again, meaning that she could finally take it off and wear something different after all these years. The green girl became shocked. Well, she thought to herself. I guess Mewtwo did this to me overnight. Maybe because now that I'm a Peridot forever, I become more human-like the more that I'm stuck in this tiny body. I'm really hoping that I don't get the ability to eat or go to the bathroom, though. I'd probably be better off without those traits in the long run. As her best buddy drifted off to sleep, Eli decided to look at the nearby window on her side of the bed and watch the snow fall as the moon lit up the night sky. It was a nice, relaxing feeling for her to see the snowflakes fall one by one onto the ground, even though it was in an urban setting. Mimikyu woke itself up, but it wasn't because it had a nightmare, but because it sensed it's trainer having a relaxing time watching the snow and wanted to join in too. It tickled it's tiny green trainer's face to get her attention, and thankfully, she was more subdued this time rather than the rage or tear-filled responses it got at the hotel. "Hey Mimkyu," she calmly squeaked at the costume Pokemon. "You wanna watch the snow with me?" A cuddly "Kyu!" noise came from the former Pikachu-mimicking Pokemon and sat next to it's trainer as she lid on her side. The snow fell peacefully as the night went on, and never did they bother to sleep once to miss a moment of it.

Morning came around, and snow was still falling on the ground. It didn't make the trio snowed-in, but there was still a decent amount out there to make a snowman with. It was 8:00am, and Eli continued to watch the snow fall with her Pokemon partner, Mimikyu. She was thinking of waking up Paiyu, but what was left to do? They already went to Alima, and she had no idea when her family was planning to go back to Alola, so what could they possibly do? Play in the snow? Explore the city? What!? She decided to ask Paiyu because even though she was sleeping, Eli needed something to do. She tossed herself to Paiyu's side of the bed and sat on her knees, asking her, "Hey Paiyu! Wake up! Do you have anything you want to do today, or do you just want to go back to sleep?"

Not much happened on the short travel to the Carina City entrance, but as they were walking through the dozens of trees in the forest, Eli spent her time pondering about the flower she placed in her long, fluffy, golden hair. From what she knew, that hot pink plumeria wasn't just an ordinary flower, but a rare one that was indigenous to the Alola region, meaning it couldn't be found anywhere else; not even the Soras region. How could a flower like that possibly grow in a region like this? Eli thought to herself. Before she could think of why this was the case, however, her mind drifted off to ponder about her home in the Alola region. Yeah, she had some bad memories from the times she had to get used to being a Peridot, but there were also good memories as well. From when she looked for shells and Pokemon on the beach as a child to helping out members of the Aether Foundation before her predicament, these moments were all too vague yet so heartwarming to think back on. She wanted to remember the good times she had back at her home region, but a dark cloud of nasty memories kept blocking her from ever remembering them again, almost like the minuscule amount of UB:01 juice that was placed into her potion vandalized her ability to ever be happy again. Now that Paiyu and a boatload of other friends came into her life, she could finally feel like her old self again, and free her mind from the corrupting Ultra Beast juice that secretly made her life even more worse from being a Peridot. In a way, the flower was a reminder for her to remember the happy times in Alola and not the bad ones. Eventually, the gang had finally made way to the Carina City entrance and immediately walked right through it.

As usual, the city was hustling and bustling with loads of people and dazzling urban lights that lit up the sky. Everything seemed normal for such a place, but when the gang walked by the heart of Carina City, they noticed a colorful festive Christmas tree being placed in the center of the city. Even a few buildings already had Christmas lights being strung up and wrapped around them. Although it seemed weird to hang these kinds of decorations in November, Eli smiled ecstatically at the sight of these wondrous items. Oh my stars! She thought with excitement. I'm finally going to celebrate my first Crimbus in an actual house and not in the woods for once! When the green girl was a child, her parents always called Christmas, "Crimbus" because it was their cute personal name for the holiday and made it all their own. "Crimbus!!" she gleefully squealed at the decorations. "Oh boy, I can't wait for that to come around!" Half an hour later, they finally got themselves to Paiyu's temporary house. As usual, Eli felt the same old tired feeling in her legs for walking around the city for this long. Unlike her tall human self that survived walking around several miles across her home of Hauol'i City, her little legs as a Peridot would feel three times the pain she used to get. The tiny green professor felt relieved to get to the door, huffing and puffing in exhaustion even though gems didn't need to breathe. She knew that what lied behind the door was the bean bag of her dreams and wanted to snuggle in it for hours. And so, Eli waited for Paiyu to open the door so she could say hi to the young trainer's parents and flop herself on the comfortable foam-filled chair at last.

Just as Eli was about to head towards the direction of Carina City, Jack suggested that the gang should ride on Lugia to get there. "No, you silly clod!" Eli jokingly replied. "Even though your suggestion seems plausible if we were farther from our destination, Lugia wouldn't drop us in the middle of nowhere with no context! He actually landed us nearby the city's entrance!" Eli's friends didn't believe her at first, but the tiny green professor ran up to where she could get a good glance of the minuscule yet visible light of the city's welcoming zone. She squinted her eyes and put her oversized labcoat sleeve-covered hand above her head to get a good viewpoint of what she was talking about. "You see," she explained while pointing to the entrance. "If you just take a good look at this area of trees over here, you'll see a light that reveals the city's welcoming entrance. That way, we could just walk over there instead of having to waste flying fuel on a poor Pokemon like Lugia, am I right?" The pink and white legendary bird nodded in agreement to Eli's statement. It just wanted to go back into it's Pokeball to rest after that exhausting triple battle it had to go through. Soon, everyone agreed on the idea, and with Lugia being returned to it's Pokeball, the gang headed off to their next exciting destination.

"Hmm..." Eli pondered, gazing up at her friend as she sat next to Paiyu in a ball-like shape. "Maybe you're right. Juniper does seem to have some unique type coverage, and if you chose another Pokemon besides her, we would've been screwed. I should go thank her now." Before she got herself up, Eli spotted a strange pink Alolan flower that reminded her of home. That's weird, she questioned to herself. How come there's a single Alolan flower here that's supposed to only grow in Alola? She shrugged, not caring about where this flower came from and picked it off from the ground to place it in her hair. Suddenly, the gem on her forehead started to glow for an unnoticeable second, signifying the flower was now a part of her form without the need of poofing herself. How strange is that? She thought, knowing the flower was now a part of who she was. After a while, it was now time for her to get up. As she stood herself up, tiny green professor was about to run towards the minty owl Pokemon, but Paiyu decided to call her Dartrix over with it's favorite berry, a Yache berry. Alternatively, she decided to walk up to the shiny Pokemon and give it a few gratuitous pats on the head, since it was almost half of Eli's height. When Juniper seemed ready to have it's berry, the green girl walked up to it and thanked it for helping out in battle. "Hey Juniper," she squeaked cutely with a smile. "Thanks for helping me and Jack out during that triple battle. If it wasn't for you, we probably would've lost. You're the best!"

She reached out her tiny green hand that was surrounded by her drooping oversized labcoat sleeve and was about to pet it's head, but a mysterious white light surrounded the minty owl Pokemon. This made Eli jolt back in shock, with a quick drop of nervous sweat rolling down her face, but the fear quickly faded in a millisecond as she realized what was going on with Juniper. "Oh my stars!" she squealed with a big smile on her face. "Juniper's going to become a shiny Decidueye! This is amazing!!" She backed away slowly from Juniper, getting a good distance to watch this miraculous transformation unfold before her very eyes. The strange evolving light made Juniper bigger, surpassing Eli's height of 4'5" and then stopped at 5'03". It gained much bigger wings and morphed it's silhouette from a taller version of Dartrix to an owl that looked similar to Robin Hood. When Eli watched the owl Pokemon get taller and taller, a weird queasy feeling hit her that made her feel smaller and smaller, like she was shrinking to the size of a bug, but actually wasn't. The light eventually went away and revealed Juniper's new minty Decidueye form. The green girl glanced up at the blade quill Pokemon in awe, feeling mesmerized by it's majestic appearance and foreboding gaze in it's eyes. Sure, she felt a whole lot smaller now that Juniper was taller than her, but that didn't stop her from seeing stars. She slowly crumbled herself onto the ground until she sat on her knees, still staring at the tall minty owl Pokemon that stood above. "Juniper..." She muttered to Juniper in praise. "You... You evolved into the most beautiful Decidueye I've ever seen. You've been truly blessed by Arceus. I... I'm not worthy of such a majestic height and sheer beauty like yours." Eli rolled up one of her labcoat sleeves to reveal a tiny green hand and placed it onto Juniper's right leg. She looked down at the ground as she felt the shiny Decidueye's soft fluffy feathers. While doing this, a stream of tears dropped from her right eye onto the ground from not only happiness, but with great sadness as well, knowing she's now much smaller than the Dartrix she remembered and wasn't as pretty as it's Robin Hood-like appearance.

But that feeling was whisked away as the tiny professor was picked up by Juniper's big fluffy wings and rocked her like how a baby would be rocked to sleep. Because of this sudden infant-like treatment, she blushed in embarrassment and growled out, "Juniper, I'm alright! Please stop rocking me like I'm some sort of infant. It's embarrassing!" But from the softness of it's wings, however, this made Eli feel strangely comfortable. But come to think of it, she pondered to herself. The softness of Juniper's wings makes me feel... oddly relaxed, like I'm lying in a bed or something. Is this how it feels to be small and cute enough to get carried by a 5-foot Pokemon? A few seconds later, Eli was dropped on the ground from a short enough distance from the ground to not fall face first, but this time, she didn't stumble across the ground like she normally did. Huh, She thought. I guess I've fully conformed to this new Peridot body after all. It feels weirdly normal, almost like I've been like this for my entire life, yet I still miss my tall human self. Why do I still feel this way? But there was no time to ponder about her Peridot form, as she heard Jack ask Paiyu what to do next. The young trainer suggested to finally head back to her temporary home in the city and meet her parents. Looking at the big yellow day star in the sky, Eli noticed it was slowly becoming a sunset, meaning the triple battle must've took up a good chunk of their time. Her female trainer friend then glanced at her, wanting to know her opinion about going home. "Yeah," she replied with her cute high-pitched voice. "That seems about right. It's getting late, anyways, and your parents are probably worried sick about you. Let's head back to the city!"

The triple battle still raged on. After the massive prank Eli's Lugia pulled off, it was Jack's turn, and he commanded his Incineroar to use Outrage on Khan's Salamence. As the cat fighter Pokemon was using it's move, Eli noticed that this move was obviously super effective, and knew for certain this move could defeat Salamence in one hit. This is awesome! She thought with a smile on her face. If this move knocks out Salamence, we'll be able to win this fight and I would win my first triple battle! Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, because somehow the flying dragon Pokemon was still standing as if it had the ability, Sturdy, but it didn't. A shocked look came upon Eli's face from this strange feat. What the heck!? She gasped with a drop of sweat rolling down her face. How could that Salamence still be standing after a powerful move like Outrage? But there was no time to ponder any further, as it suddenly became Paiyu's turn. Knowing what her green friend told her, Paiyu told Juniper to use a final devastating Leaf-Blade on Mega Manectric, and with three major hits with it's leaf-like blades, it went down in a flash with swirls in it's eyes. The electric Pokemon has finally fainted. Because of this, Eli jumped for joy, punching the air with her fists that were covered in oversized labcoat sleeves. Each jump felt surprisingly lighter due to her being a small-sized Peridot, which meant she weighed less than her original human form. "Aw yeah!" She squeaked with glee. "We finally defeated Manectric, who's now unable to battle! Woo!" After the mini-celebration, she glanced over at Salamence and continued her thoughts with an enlightened tone. "And now, all we have to do is defeat Salamence." Because she went first, it was now Eli's job to finish off Salamence, but something made her feel reluctant. She didn't want to get all glory for the fight since this was Jack's rival, but at the same time, she wanted to because she always got the short end of the stick after being transformed into a Peridot. She felt forgotten; Outcast-ed and unloved. Nobody ever paid attention to her because they would never bother to look down at her or they would tune out her annoying voice. This was her chance to shine; to truly matter in this big wide universe, even though winning a battle is such a small feat. In the end, Eli made her final decision and decided to take out Salamence herself, because even though this was Jack's fight, he was the one to call upon a friend like her.

And so, Eli pointed at Salamence, with her labcoat sleeve drooping from the end of her hand to squeak out her final command to Lugia. "Okay, Lugia," she told the legendary with burning passion in her eyes. "Now's our chance to defeat this guy! Use Extrasensory!" Before the pink and white legendary could attack, however, Mimikyu gained inspiration from Lugia's move and decided to hop onto Lugia from it's trainer's shoulder. Eli was confused yet shocked from Mimikyu's act of justice. The battle seemed too dangerous for the little guy, and the green girl didn't want the walking costume Pokemon to get hurt. "Mimikyu!" She yelped out. "What are you doing!? It's too dangerous for you to enter a Pokemon battle, yet alone a triple one!" But then, she realized her Mimikyu had Rough Play, which was a fairy type move, and could do loads of damage to Salamence. Plus, Extrasensory would've killed the dragon Pokemon nonetheless, so doing a combo move for fun would be a great experience for the costume Pokemon. "Oh, wait," She grumbled while scratching her head with a dumbstruck expression. "Nevermind. You can join the fight." From this response, Mimikyu made a bunch of cute "Kyu" noises in rejoice before implanting itself onto Lugia's back. Eli breathed in and out, ready to shout out the secret combo move. "Okay Lugia and Mimikyu," She squeaked to the duo in pride. "Use your Rough Yet Playful Extrasensory Combo Move Times 1 to the Extreme!" The two Pokemon heard it's tiny trainer's orders loud and clear as Lugia's eyes turned blue, ready to use it's signature psychic move as usual. The strange aura made Salamence float up in the air near Lugia, and for the smackdown, Mimikyu used it's shadowy hands to slap the dragon Pokemon with a rough yet fairy-like intent as Lugia added the extra throwdown to instantly make Salamence faint. Mimikyu hopped back onto the white legendary sea bird and they turned to their trainer with cheerful attitudes.

Eli couldn't believe her eyes. She hasn't seen a double combo move done so flawlessly in real life, and only saw them on TV and through Alima tutorial books written by Ace Rangers. The tiny scientist thought she wouldn't be able to perform such a feat like this in her life, but somehow through her Pokemon's unbreakable bond, they cared so much for their trainer to pull it off. When Mimikyu hopped off of Lugia to give it's trainer a hug, Eli hugged it right back with joyful tears in her eyes. "Mimikyu," she cried out with happiness. "I'm so proud of you! You pulled off an impossible move feat with Lugia that only seemed possible through TV or with Ace Rangers! You two are definitely getting extra twinkies when we get back to the city!" Mimikyu gave off a bunch of cute noises as it blushed and hugged it's trainer tighter. Lugia, however, purred and blushed at it's trainer, but gave th green girl a tiny playful headbutt, but not enough to knock her over. Eli then glanced up at Jack and rushed over to him to give him a big hug. "We did it!" Eli shouted in her high-pitched voice with cheer. "We finally defeated your rival just like we did with Melvin! I'll leave you two be to do whatever it is you need to do. I'll be back!" After talking to Jack, she glanced up at Paiyu, running right up to the young trainer and gave her best friend a gigantic hug. "All right, Paiyu!" She squeaked cutely as she snuggled close to the young trainer. "We did it! We won our first triple battle! If it wasn't for you, we probably wouldn't have won and Lugia would've fainted, which could've possibly made me cry. Thank you, Paiyu, from the bottom of my heart!" For the time being, Eli sat near Paiyu and watched Jack and Khan to see what they would do next.

Even though Eli felt like all hope was lost for her legendary friend, Paiyu reassured her that they can and will win the fight. The green girl cried tears of joy, knowing that Paiyu's got her back. "Wow," she sniffled. "Thanks, Paiyu! I knew I could count on you." She ran up to the young trainer and gave her a quick hug before running back to her battle spot. Before Eli commanded her Lugia to use recover, Jack's Incineroar instantly fainted Khan's Lucario with a powerful Cross Chop. "Aw yeah!" Eli jumped for joy with a big smile on her face. "We're on fire right now! There's only one more Pokemon to defeat, and that's Manectric!" Khan couldn't believe his eyes. He never would've thought he would actually lose to Jack and his gang of misfits. As a response to his near-defeat, he threw a hissy fit, questioning why this was happening to him. And so, it was Paiyu's turn once again, and told Juniper to use Leaf Blade on Manectric. As she watched the minty owl Pokemon using one of it's signature moves, Eli blushed with happiness knowing the battle was in their favor. The grassy move did a nifty amount of damage, but it was not enough to make it faint. On an HP checker, Manectric's health would be fully yellow closer to the green side of the bar. Now that it was her turn, Eli quickly told Lugia to use recover for turn. Khan, of course, was not happy with how the battle was going. Little did Eli know that Jack's rival was going to send out an extra Pokemon, which turned out to be Salamence. 

What!? She thought with a grumpy look on her face. That's no fair! He's using four Pokemon in a triple battle! I could've switched Lugia out with Golem if that's the case! He's a cheater! Because of such a heinous act, Eli glanced up at Khan from afar and scolded him with a sneer. "Boo!" She squeaked at him with a grumpy tone on her face. "You're such a cloddy cheater! You're using four Pokemon in a triple battle! That's like saying you want to fight one on one with battling tops and then suddenly throwing out another one to throw your opponent off!" Eli turned to the left and crossed her arms with disappointment. She turned her head towards Khan and gave him a menacing stare, eyes narrowed. "Your cheating disgusts me." She growled. Because of this, Eli became impatient and wanted to go first to him a piece of his mind. To do this, she had to let Jack know what she was about to do, since he normally went first against Khan. "Hey Jack," She warned her friend. "I'm going to go first if you don't mind, because now I see why you hate this guy so much. He's a gosh dang cheating clod, and I'm going to give him a lesson in fair-play." Now that Eli gave Jack the spiel on what she thought, it was time for her to go first. In a flash, she told Lugia what move to use on Manectric. "Lugia," She commanded the legendary with her cute high-pitched voice. "Use your Extrasensory move on that Manectric and give him the payback he deserves" The pink and white sea bird Pokemon her it's tiny green trainer's order's loud and clear, giving the Manectric a menacing stare on what it was about to do with it.

Lugia's eyes started turning blue as it thought of what hilarious revenge prank to pull on the mega Pokemon. Suddenly, Mega Manectric's bolt-like mane was slowly being manipulated by Lugia's psychic aura to look like a hot dog. The mysterious blue energy then floated the electric dog Pokemon up in the air for everyone to see it's ridiculous new fur outfit, including Khan himself. From this hilarious display, Eli began to hysterically laugh at the costume, which resulted in her to fall over and roll on the ground with laughter. "Stop it," she giggled. "Stop it! This is too hilarious! If I laugh any harder, I might shatter! Plus, I'm most definitely going to take a picture of this and put it on Planet Pidgey. This needs to be pidgied!" She quickly got out her rPhone and took a few pictures of the embarrassed-looking mega Pokemon hastily before stashing it away in her oversized labcoat pocket for later. "Okay," Eli commanded, settling down her laughter as she did so. "You can throw him on the ground now. I'm done taking pictures." So Lugia did as followed and with it's Extrasensory powers, threw the Manectric on the ground. This resulted in a decent amount of damage, leaving it with only a little bit of HP left. However, this throwdown also reverted Mega Manectric's costume back to it's bolt-like shape. "Aw yeah!" Eli jumped for joy. "Great job, Lugia! Also, that was such a groovy prank you just pulled off, there! I'm so proud of you!" The pink and white legendary blushed at Eli's comment, giving a quiet purr before it braced itself for yet another painful thunder attack. The green girl stared at the Mega Pokemon and discovered that it looked weak enough for Paiyu's Dartrix to finally faint. "Hey Paiyu," she whispered to the young trainer as Jack went for his turn. "Now's our chance to obliterate this Manectric together! Choose your moves wisely!" And so, she patiently waited and kept her senses heightened for what would happen next.

The battle seemed to be going well at first, but all of a sudden, Eli noticed a strange mega stone strapped to Manectric, which started to glow once Khan shouted, "Manectric! Mega evolve!!" A sweat of fear rolled down Eli's face. Oh crud! She thought with fear. I knew I should have used Golem instead! Who knows how much pain Lugia will be in from it's next attack! From the mega stone, Manectric's appearance changed drastically. It's body was shaped like a lightning bolt, almost like it was wearing a Halloween costume. It looked slightly annoyed, not because of the stupid look, but from the amount of electricity it's body has to handle. Eli gave a little bit of a giggle from Mega Manectric's stupid bolt-like outfit, but settled herself down knowing her Lugia was going to get screwed.

As a matter of fact, she was right. While the others didn't take as much damage, the pink and white legendary yowled in pain from it being weak to electric type moves. The shocking amount of damage Lugia took didn't make it faint at all, but just like Incineroar did, it had a quarter of it's HP left. This also gave Eli an aftermath of empathetic damage, since she was overly attached to her Pokemon like they were her friends. "LUGIA!!" She squeaked tearfully at the top of her lungs. The poor legendary was barely hanging on, but still awaited orders from it's trainer. In response this massive blow, Eli became saddened at the sight of her Pokemon friend almost dying. Yeah, she knew Lugia would just faint and she could give it a Revival Herb, but she still called it 'dying' just because they were still her friends. She clenched her tiny fists in rage, ready for some type of revenge tactic with raging tears in her eyes. "Everybody," She angrily muttered to her friends. "We have to team up and destroy that Mega Manectric. It's the only way Lugia won't be killed off by that thing. In a way, it could also help out your Incineroar, who also seems badly damaged. Now let's get to it and beat Khan once and for all!" And so, once it became Eli's turn, she decided to stall it out and heal up Lugia until he seemed ready to take revenge on Mega Manectric, though Khan didn't know what she was about to pull off. "Lugia!" She shouted to the pink and white legendary. "Quick! Use Recover!" Even though it seemed weakened, the shiny Lugia gave it's trainer a smile and knew she was onto something. It threw a bunch of refreshing sparkles all around it's body, which gave it an okay amount of health. On a health checker, it's HP would've gone from yellow to green, though it's HP wouldn't be entirely full, however.

Despite Eli's somewhat-intimidatingly epic entrance, Khan wasn't fazed at all and used his Lucario to hit Jack's Inciniroar with a painful Bone Rush. So much for intimidation. She thought with a disappointed sigh. But there was no time to mope as the epic battle continued right before her very eyes. It was Paiyu's turn, and she told Juniper to attack the Hitmonchan with it's Aerial Ace. The resulting hit was painful to the Hitmonchan, who was struggling to keep it's balance after the attack. Hmm, Eli analyzed the situation in front of her. I bet if I took down this Hitmonchan, we could take out one annoying fighter Pokemon with two stones! Then, it was all down to Eli, the one who could make or break this fight. Sure, everyone had their role in this fight, but she didn't want to suck the situation up even further. After giving Paiyu an encouraging cheer of, "Aw, yeah! That was awesome!", the green girl was ready for the attack. "Alright, Lugia," she squeaked a command at the legendary, pointing her labcoat sleeve-covered finger at the Hitmonchan as she said her sentence. "Hit 'em with your Extrasensory attack!" The pink and white legendary understood the small scientist's order loud and clear as it's eyes glowed blue at the Hitmonchan below it. It gave off a menacing stare, focusing it's psychic energy onto the fighting Pokemon. Suddenly, the boxing Pokemon was flown up into the air with a strange psychic energy surrounding it and got smacked down onto the ground. From two whole super effective moves killing it at once, the Hitmonchan had swirls in it's eyes, signifying this Pokemon had fainted. "Aw yeah!" Eli jumped up with a fist in the air, showing a sheer amount of excitement. "We did it, guys! That Hitmonchan is unable to battle! One down, two more to go!" But there was no time to celebrate, as Khan's two Pokemon looked ready to beat the crap out of the opposing team. The green girl looked sharp, keeping a good watch to see which one of Khan's Pokemon would attack whom.

"Hmm," Eli pondered. "If your memory's that clod- erm, excuse me, cloudy, then I should try to invent some kind of super safe memory machine to find out the origin of your fox-cat transformation, if you are willing to participate in it's experimentation." A few seconds later, the small green Peridot professor pulled out her handy dandy notebook from one of her oversized labcoat pockets to write down the idea on a list of other possible inventions she could create. "There," she exclaimed with her squeaky voice. "Now it's on my unofficial 'List of Inventions that Could Be a Reality, But Aren't Because I Can't Control My Dumb Stupid Peridot Instincts That Can Easily Screw Up a Project in 5 Seconds.' No joke! These instincts are so bad that just one simple uncontrollable squeak can ruin a project forever." She then stuffed the notebook back into her oversized labcoat pocket and glanced at the fox-cat girl. "Hey Grey," Eli squeaked. "If you've got nothing better to do, please feel free to join my best friend, Paiyu, on this epic adventure of ours! Trust me, there will always be room for more friends like you."

Before Grey went up to pet the disguise Pokemon, she told Eli that this was the first time she had ever seen or met a Mimikyu before. "Oh," Eli replied. "Okay then. If that's the case, this will be a great experience for you!" The fox cat creature reached her hand out to pet Eli's Mimikyu, gently stroking it back and forth to make sure it's costume didn't break. In response, it purred happily at the fact another person besides Eli is actually giving it love and attention. As she was petting the disguise Pokemon, however, Grey asked the green girl why Mimikyus had to wear a costume all the time, wondering if it's because they're sensitive about something. From that comment, Eli started to blush in teal, because she had the same problem as Mimikyu did. She looked down at her partner Pokemon, making sure it was naively blissful before she could explain why, since this was quite personal to her as well. She took a deep breath and explained to the fox cat why this was the case. "Well," she squeaked. "In case you're wondering, Mimikyus are skilled in the arts and crafts department like we are, and they look for any materials, organic or not, to make their costumes with. But *sigh* the reason why Mimikyus wear these costumes is because underneath, they are so ugly that they could simply kill a person, or any living organism, just by merely glancing at it. It's the only way a Mimikyu can socialize in this society, and it feels sad and lonely because of it." Eli paused for a bit, taking a deep breath as Mimikyu sensed it's trainer's incoming sadness, but continued on anyways. "You see, I'm the only one who can glance underneath it's costume because I got turned into a gem creature, and now that I'm half rock myself, I don't die when glancing at it's true form. But the thing is, me and Mimikyu bonded because we had the same issue: being outcast and unloved all because we look different." All of a sudden, Eli tried to move Mimikyu to her left hand while she took her right hand and made it into a fist by her side as a stream of tears started to flow from her right eye. "I mean, I cannot help the fact that I look like this little ugly green monster! I try to stay happy and cheerful all the time like my old human self did, but for some reason, I just can't! I always reset myself back to square one, just because I'm some gem monster, even though I know in my heart, I'm not! Why is it that all the words in the world that are said to me only fix the problem by a small margin before it starts all over again!? I must... Stay... Happy... For... My friends..."

Feelings of anger and frustration start to build up in her mind as she grasps her right fist tighter and tighter. "Nyrough," She squeaked in rage. "This isn't like me! Why can't I just be the happy person I want to be for once!?" Eli suddenly did something she never thought she'd do: She turned herself around and punched her small green self in the face. From it's trainer's sudden breakdown, Eli's Mimikyu hopped from it's trainer's left hand, landing safely on the ground next to her. Doing this cracked the left end of her gem by only a teensy bit, but it's quite unoticable to the naked eye. Somehow, she noticed the miniscule piece of her gemstone fly right in front of her face as tears continued to well up in her eyes. "W-what have I done to myself?" She mumbled, her fists and head hanging down dejectedly. "I... I guess I can't get rid of these monstrous feelings no matter how hard I try." She had heard stories of gem creatures with cracked gemstones suddenly glitching their bodies out from the mistake, but as she was expecting this to happen to her, nothing seemed to change. Her body was still the same, even though most gem humanoids would glitch up instantaneously. The more she thought about it, Eli was actually more human than gem, and that maybe Mewtwo and Marshadow blessed her tiny body with more humanity than she thought. From this realization, the green girl began to smile and wipe her tears away, even after the physical abuse she pulled off on herself. Thanks, Mewtwo and Marshadow. She thought with pride. What will I ever do without you guys? From there, Eli glanced at Grey and squeaked to her like nothing happened, "Now that you know a little bit more about me and what Mimikyus are, I was wondering what you are like as well? How come you're a fox cat, anyways?"

The strange fox-cat creature eventually responded to Eli, revealing herself as Grey. She explained to the green girl that she knew her not because she worked at the Aether Foundation with her, but because it turns out Eli's work was well-known despite getting turned into a Peridot. The small professor became shocked. How could this many people know and respect her work, despite infamously getting turned into a little green freak of nature? "Nya ha," She laughed as she scratched the back of her dorito-shaped hair, blushing green at the cheeks. "Who knew I'd become so well-known that I'd get recognized by any Jo-Schmo off the street!" A few seconds later, Grey introduced her partner Pokemon, Pignite, to Eli. It seemed pretty happy to meet her, jumping up and down to show it's excitement as it shouted "Pig-nite~!" Since it was a little shorter than the two trainers, Eli went up to pat it on it's fluffy velvet-like head with her currently-revealed right tiny green hand. "Aww," she giggled. "Who's a cute lil' Pignite? You are! You are!"

After befriending the fire pig Pokemon and covering her right hand with her oversized labcoat sleeve, Eli turned to Grey so that she could introduce her Pokemon. "If you haven't noticed this lil' guy on my shoulder, he's my partner Pokemon, Mimikyu. The reason why he looks more like me and not like a Pikachu is because he loves me and my appearance that much to make a costume out of it." The gem girl held out both her tiny labcoat sleeve-covered hands to let her Mimikyu crawl off her shoulder so that Grey could get a better view of it. As it traveled up Eli's arms, she giggled a bit at the response of it's little feet tickling her. Once Mimikyu went onto her tiny hands, the disguise Pokemon cried out, "Kyu~!" in sheer happiness, waiting patiently for Grey to pet it. "Come on," Eli squeaked. "Don't be shy! Mimikyu is super friendly and loves to be petted! Also, his favorite spot is the head part of his costume, but just be careful not to break it."

After a while of waiting for a response from Paiyu, Eli's little legs started aching from standing around for too long. Ugh, she grumbled. Why is it so tough to stand for long periods of time like this? I didn't get that much pain when I was my tall human self! Because of this inconvenience, Eli curled herself up into a ball and occasionally gazed up at the young trainer while looking to the side to see if her Mimikyu was making progress. Eventually, the strange fox-cat creature had finally arrived to where the green girl was sitting, and Mimikyu hopped onto it's trainer's shoulder, purring proudly from it's accomplishment. Noticing the strange being that stared down at her, Eli got herself up, dusting off the snow that covered her labcoat. The two oddballs stared at each-other, eye-to-eye at the same height of 4'5". The tiny professor couldn't believe her eyes. She finally found someone who was the same height as her, and better yet, didn't look human at all. Did this person get turned into something inhuman just this recently? Why didn't this person have a labcoat on if she could've worked at the Aether Foundation? Who cares. She finally found someone to relate to and share her struggles without a doubt in the world, just like what she could do with Paiyu. Green saliva started to foam from Eli's mouth not out of feral-ness, but from sheer happiness instead. She even made a few uncontrollable excited-sounding squeaking noises, but covered her mouth before she could make any more, blushing in shame from her tiny body's strange Peridot instincts. "I'm sorry," she said to the newcomer, muffling her words under the small green hands she covered her mouth with. "It's a Peridot thing. I can't control whether I make these high-pitched squeaking noises or not!" She even wiped the glowing lime-colored saliva that was secreted from her mouth using her labcoat sleeves. "Or even this green saliva, either. Ech." She continued from her last sentence with a grumpy tone in her voice. Before the tiny scientist could introduce herself, the fox-cat girl, whom the green girl assumed was female because of her voice, immediately recognized Eli like she was an Alakazam reading her mind as Pignite chimed in from behind. Looking dumbstruck from this sudden comment, Eli tried to reply normally to the fox-cat, but tilted her head in confusion at her last phrase, squeaking, "Why yes, you are indeed correct! I am Professor Eli Wolftree! Expert on Pokemon ranger-ing and friendship! I don't mean to be rude and all, but... Do I know you?"

As she was waiting for a response from her friend, Eli looked around the snow filled city in boredom, but she spotted something quite odd walking through the streets: A strange fox-cat girl with a purple hoodie traveling around with her Pignite. Normally, she'd ignore something as odd as this due to not being human anymore as well, but when she narrowed her eyes at it, the Pignite was slightly shorter than it's trainer, not drastically like it would be. From this little observation of hers, she hypothesized this trainer was the exact same height as her. No, she thought to herself, sweat pouring down her face. That can't be possible! I thought I was the only short odd-looking being of the bunch! She wanted to go talk to the animal-like trainer herself, but she was still waiting on Paiyu for a response. Because of this, Eli whispered to her partner, Mimikyu, about allowing the fox car trainer to follow it to it's destination, which was where the three trainers were. The silent watcher hopped right off Eli's shoulder to find the stange-looking trainer and allow her to follow it as Eli occasionally glanced to the side to monitor her partner's progress.

Even after Paiyu asked the ranger dude about seeing her Pokemon, Russo still stared off into space, like he was thinking about something that was on his mind. Eli, on the other hand, grew quite impatient after 5 minutes of waiting. Ugh, she growled to herself. When will this guy ever respond? Is he really that deep into his mind about something? At least come out of your head every once in a while to respond to a freaking question! ((Like Paiyu says, just take your time with your response. It's just that Eli has a different mindset than me when it comes to enduring patience. That's all.))

The green girl kept tapping her hidden tiny right foot into the snow, over and over, waiting for even a slight peep to come out of him. All of a sudden, Paiyu leaned over the green girl and told her she had something on her mind as well. For a moment, Eli felt intimidated by this sudden lean-in, but quickly recovered after wiping away all her sweat. The young trainer wanted to explain to the gem girl about her nightmare she had last night, in which she never told her about until just now. "Why go on ahead," Eli laughed. "I'm all head-holes! ((Peridot-speak for 'ears'))" And so, the young trainer told the story about her nightmare...

The nightmare became a re-occurring one during their first visit to Alima, and she had no idea why. Thinking back to that moment, Eli remembered they were in a ranger base, both crying about a possibly-dead pal named Arashi, and maybe that's what gave her the nightmare in the first place. But there was no time to assume, as Paiyu kept explaining more about the mysterious bad dream. She remembered waking up in an unknown, yet familiar location, where a few houses and a Pokemart resided. No people or Pokemon were seen in this dream, but what really made this location stand out from the rest was the strange, foreboding tower that was primitively built out of stone. Inside was nothing but darkness, and when Paiyu tried to use her phone flashlight, it ended up failing on her. All of a sudden, a strange creature, which she described having sharp teeth and heavy body mass, leaped onto her, ending the dream off with menacing yet also sorry eyes.

The young trainer told Eli not to mind about the dream, but this description sounded familiar to the green girl, almost like she heard it in a childhood story she heard back when she was human. Even though she admitted she wasn't a geological expert, she was only bad at memorizing distances and the entirety of the Sinnoh region, and not anything else. She thought of familiar locations that had towers such as Goldenrod City from Johto or even Castelia City over in Kalos, but this was an old stone tower, not anything made with modern materials like quartz. She pondered and pondered, but then it hit her. "Hey Paiyu," she squeaked. "I think I might know what location you're talking about. That iconic spooky stone tower and the creature lurking inside could only mean... It's a re-occurring dream about Lavender Town! *Thunder crack* Have you ever heard of the story about the Ghost of Marowak? Well, even if you have, I'm gonna tell you anyways." The green girl cleared up her voice a little and continued in the most ominous tone she could muster, albeit a little bit of an un-intimidating one due to her high pitched voice. "Once upon a time, there lived a Cubone and a Marowak who lived happily together. The Marowak always protected the young Cubone, just like any mother would to their child. But one day, the evil Team Rocket came along and were planning to capture both Marowak and Cubone, but Marowak told it's child to run away to safety as it took the pain of a Team Rocket member's electrocuting sticks. Many years later, that same Marowak became a ghost and haunted the Lavender Town tower to this day, kicking out anyone who dared to enter it, moaning the words, 'Go away! Leave this place!' And now, the only way to rest it's spirit is if it's child reunited with it's mother once more. The end." After explaining the story, she gave off a jokingly evil laugh and then continued with, "Man, I remembered my mom always read that story to me as a human child, and it is still one heck of a chilling tale! With that aside, if you got that dream over in Alima while you were talking about Arashi, maybe that Marowak symbolizes you. You miss Arashi so much that you feel frustrated about it, catching another Quilava to compensate and wishing for her to come back somehow, and that finding her is the only way for your 'soul' of a nightmare can be rested. But taking that nightmare into account, maybe... *breathes in* Maybe that nightmare also relates to me, but in a different way. *Takes a glance at her tiny green hand* As a Peridot, I've felt a little frustrated myself that I couldn't find a cure to this form, and the final nail in the coffin was the decision I made with Mewtwo to stay like this forever. I freaked out, lashed at friends about my problem, and I even almost lost my humanity after running head-forth into the woods a while ago. I had no purpose in my life, and even with the multitude of friends I now have, I still felt like that Marowak. But then you came along. You were the one who helped me out. You were the one who stayed with me, even during those moments where I thought I gave up on life, but most importantly... You were the Cubone I was looking for all my life. The one I could bond with, the one I could protect! You... You gave me purpose and made me feel... Human again." A stream of tears fell from Eli's right eye as she gave her a tight embracing hug. She felt like she was going to cry out happy tears, but she realized that she wasn't going to cry anymore and stopped herself from doing so. Instead, she gave of a hopeful smile and giggled happily as she held onto her friend's leg. "I'm glad you're my friend, Paiyu," Eli squeaked joyfully. "I don't know what I'd do without you or your Pokemon friends!" The green girl stopped hugging her friend and decided to bring up her final thoughts on the dream. "So, Paiyu," she asked. "What do you think about my explanation on your dream? Does it clear a few things up for you?"

((I think that a time skip might be inconvenient, because, flashing forward by two months, Paiyu would be long back in Alola. Maybe after a little more time in Soras we can do this, but I don't know if DrownedPound would be OK with an Alola arc.))

"By gem, I don't mean the creature you think you are. You are a precious person to me and the world." Paiyu reassured her friend, who had thought her pun had meant something she didn't intend to. But now the green girl rose, eyes shining with a newfound sense of positivity as she declared that from now on, she will keep moving through life, making the most out of good days and through bad ones, and, most importantly, become the guardian of the person who had helped her through her plight: Paiyu. She ended with the affirmation to keep celebrating the Crimbus, and the rest of her life.

The trainer then turned to Russo. "You could have said earlier, but that's okay! My Pokemon must be excited to see you too!" she took out the first ball in her belt and threw it into the air. The Nest Ball opened in midair, releasing a stream of white light that materialized into a shiny Decidueye. "Deh!" the Pokemon cried out as she eyed the stranger, then looked back at her trainer, who gave a reassuring nod. "This is Juniper," Paiyu introduced, "she was my starter. If you want, I can tell you all the stories behind my Pokemon and how I met them - it will be long, so that's why I'm asking if you have the time. If you don't want to, that's okay."

"That girl... was you? One and the same?" Paiyu was still somewhat surprised even after her green friend explained the similarity between herself and the woman in the photo as she clutched the trainer's legs and cried. "B-but... if I had met that you, I would have had a very, very different impression of you, Eli! We probably wouldn't have even gone on our great adventure to Almia. And so many revelations, both about you and me, would never have come to light. Really, you have to see all the amazing things you had brought into my life, things that the other you probably would not have. You're not a 'little green monster', Eli; you are - no pun intended - a gem in every sense of the word!"

Just then another voice piped up; it was Russo's, agreeing to not only see her Pokemon, but show her his too. Paiyu had almost forgotten that he was even there, since he had not said a thing for so long. "Just a second!" the trainer called in his direction, then turned back to Eli to see what she had to say.

Eli hands Russo a note from what seems like something for Aether Foundation. She then asks for her the send the message to her father, who works at Aether. "Oh, um, I guess.. why not?"

"And Paiyu, I would like to see your Pokemon! Don't be shy! I could show mine if you want to!"

Eager to show the newcomer her Pokemon, Paiyu waited excitedly for his response. However, even after what seemed like a very, very long time, there was only an awkward silence that even the sound of Kricketots could not evoke. "I'll take that as a 'no,' then..." the trainer said reluctantly as she placed all six Pokeballs back onto her belt. She noticed that Eli had her rPhone out, and seemed to be looking at some photos. Paiyu knew that her friend had a stash of humorous memes stored in her camera roll, but the green girl was not laughing; instead, she seemed to be on the verge of crying, as though she was swamped by bad memories. "Hey, no need to cry -" Paiyu began, but was cut off by the shaky voice of the peridot girl, sobbing about her former life as a normal human, and how her life now would never be as good, even with the new friends she had made. Eli handed the trainer her phone before collapsing on the snowy ground.

Paiyu now carefully inspected the picture on the phone. It depicted four people, one of which she recognized as the President of the Aether Foundation: Lusamine, a person she had looked up to for years. "These are... your friends, I'm guessing?" the girl glanced in Eli's direction, before noticing a strangely familiar face in the photo. It was her friend's old enemy, Melvin. "I meant coworkers, sorry."

But the other two were people that Paiyu had never seen before. Judging by their attire, they appeared to be regular employees of the Foundation. The man didn't seem to be special - Paiyu remembered the joke of there being "people with many different faces at Aether," - but the woman had something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Paiyu had seen that face before - somewhere that she couldn't recall. Was it the golden hair? The eyes that shimmered green like gems - emeralds, maybe? No - they were more like...

The trainer lifted her gaze away from the picture and down on her friend.

Paiyu managed to pick a few things up from the newcomer's introduction; the nineteen-year-old was named Russo, and his father had a job at the Aether Foundation. Could he be as friendly to Eli as his son was, and help the green girl recover her career? A new surge of hope welled up in Paiyu's heart as she watched her friend write a note for Russo to deliver to his dad. After giving the note to the boy, Eli introduced the trainer to him, mentioning that she was "quite a hoot." "Hehe! I see what you did there!" the girl chuckled at her friend's pun before turning to the newcomer. "Hi! Eli might say that I'm the only one who helped her through, but you gotta give my Pokemon some credit too! They were my best friends before I met her. Would you like to see them?" Paiyu asked.

Still unable to decide which shop to check out, Paiyu scanned her surroundings to find one that caught her eye. However, Eli piped up, telling the trainer to wait as she had to go to the Aether base she just found, hoping to reapply for the job she had unfairly lost. "Good luck, Eli!" Paiyu called after her green friend. Oddly, the peridot girl replied saying that she wouldn't tell the employees she would meet about Yuki, Paiyu's Ninetales. Did she read my mind when I was having the flashback? The trainer seemed confused at first, but noticed that the Moon Ball on her belt was facing the wrong way, displaying the remnants of a sticker of the Aether Foundation logo.

The girl milled around the square as she waited for her friend. She began to think about the prospects of Eli's reacceptance into Aether: if she got in, could they move back to Alola together, and could the green girl finally feel the joy of living with a loving family again? (Never mind that the family in question isn't her real one!) And even if people discriminated against the peridot girl, she still had friends both human and Pokemon all around; it was them against the world. Paiyu cast a hopeful glance at the shimmering white-and-blue Aether building.

However, all of her beautiful thoughts were shattered when the door opened, for out came a despondent Eli, head hanging down dejectedly. Paiyu didn't even need to ask her friend what had happened to know why. Before she could say anything, however, the peridot girl began to rant that nobody would want her because she was nothing but a beast undeserving of existing among human beings. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're nothing like that!" Paiyu tried to comfort her friend, but even she was intimidated by the now half-feral Eli, eyes flaming with fury and foaming green at the mouth. The green girl turned tail and ran away, across the street and out of sight. "Come back! We still care about you!" the trainer called after her, but to no avail. She then turned to Jack. "We should find her... follow me." and then began to sprint in the direction she saw her friend go.

The duo arrived in the woods beyond the city, an endless expanse of dark tree trunks rising out of the snowy ground. "Eli! Are you okay? Where are you?" Paiyu called out repeatedly, but all that answered her were the distant cries of forest Pokemon. Yuki the Ninetales looked around too, twitching her ears to listen for promising signs of the green girl. They wandered about the trees, but still found no trace of their friend.
All the while questions popped into Paiyu's mind: the Aether Foundation was an organization rooted in compassion, meant to embrace people of all backgrounds as long as they loved Pokemon; why, then, did they reject Eli? Melvin was already out of the game, but could the entire Foundation still be under his sway? And how exactly?

It was now midday, but Jack, Paiyu, and Yuki's search for their friend was getting nowhere. Paiyu sat down on a rock to rest from all the aimless wandering, but knew that they had to keep on looking, and find Eli before anyone or anything else got to her first. A soft shuffling caught the trainer's attention, and she turned around to see an unmistakable Mimikyu, but its costume-head was hanging limply. "Aww... come here, little guy. Who broke your costume?" she reached out to the little Pokemon, who hopped up and down, squeaking "Kyu! Kyu!" as if trying to tell the girl something urgent. She then realized that there was a more important question at hand, the answer to which the Ghost-Fairy type would definitely know. "Where is Eli?" the Pokemon pointed a shadowy hand, and began shuffling in that direction, and the trainers followed its small steps.

They entered a small clearing. Eli was curled up on the snowy ground, as if in a deep sleep, exuding a strange, dark aura. Paiyu kneeled down to give her comatose friend a hug in hopes that she would respond and awake, while Yuki stalked about, occasionally nudging the green girl. Soon enough, the peridot girl's eyes flickered open, and she got up, dusted herself off, and embraced both Paiyu and Jack in a warm group hug as she apologized for running away. They silently strolled back into the city, back to the central square with its great Christmas tree. Paiyu took her time to eye every beautiful detail on the tree, from the glass orbs and candles near the bottom, to the strings of tinsel and fairy lights wound all around, to the radiant crystal shape adorning the very top; it looked something between a star and the ring of the Alpha. The girl was so mesmerized by these decorations that she did not notice the boy who had approached the group and begun talking to Eli. When her green friend mentioned to introduce Paiyu and Jack to this newcomer, the trainer turned attentively and gave a friendly wave.

"You want me to introduce myself? Oh, um... My name is Russo. Agh, so sorry for not saying that earlier. Quite rude of me. Anyways, I'm kind of my dad's messenger, because he's a scientist and he does stuff, I don't know what he does, neither would I care. Anyhoo, I was going to deliver a message for my father for works at Aether Foundation when I saw you. Oh, and, I'm 19 by the way, not sure if you knew that." Russo replied to Eli.

"So, who are your friends here, Eli?"

(( Ok ok I'll post, I kinda forgot about this XD))

Russo walks down the rather snowy streets of Carina City, delivering a message he had acquired from his father. His father Akimo works at Aether Foundation (surprise!), and has often used Russo as his personal messenger. Russo doesn't know what they actually DO at Aether Foundation, nor would he care about what they do.

Russo is passing by the central square, when he saw an odd figure. She was very, very small and green. What in the world is that?! Russo thought to himself. The green figure was with two other friends, or something. He was about to walk by and just pretend the weird figure didn't even exist until Russo had a thought. A very interesting thought, actually. He had that prodding feeling to talk the green figure, and Russo didn't know why. He finally urged himself to do it.

Russo walked up the green figure and said "H-hey, um, I just had a question. I don't intend to be rude, but what... happened to you?"

"OK then, let's go!" Paiyu grabbed her Pokeball belt, bag, and winter coat and dashed downstairs. "Hey, Mom, I'm going out for a walk around the city. Just letting you know." she told her mother as she made herself breakfast. Then she waited for Eli and Jack to come downstairs as well. After a few minutes, they did, and the trio opened the door to explore the snowy white world outside.

Paiyu had only seen snow once in her life before: that was the time when she climbed Mount Lanakila to complete her island challenge... and to do something else, too. She remembered her hand curled around a Moon Ball, reluctant to open it. She had grown attached to the Pokemon inside the ball: a little Vulpix entrusted to her by the Aether Foundation. They had found the Ice-type lying wounded on the roadside, and the sympathetic trainer volunteered to care for the poor creature. She remembered the Aether employee's instructions clearly: once the Fox Pokemon makes a full recovery, it must be returned to its natural habitat.

At first, the catatonic Ice-type had to be kept in the Aether base. A few days later it woke up, and Paiyu could take it with her. Along her journey across Alola, Paiyu found herself growing more and more attached to the Vulpix as it gradually regained health, eventually on its feet and battling alongside her other Pokemon. It had become not only a crucial member of her team, but also a friend to the trainer.

But when Paiyu finally reached the summit of the icy mountain, and finished her island challenge once and for all, the Aether lady's words flashed back into her mind. She took out the Moon Ball, wondering whether or not she should obey the instructions given to her, and lose a friend by doing so. A tear slid down her face as she pressed the button. A blue beam of light shot out and materialized into the Vulpix, which looked up inquisitively at her trainer, with a soft cry of "Vul...pix?"
"I'm sorry," About to break into sobs, Paiyu bent down to pet the Pokemon, scratching her behind the ears. "Now go. Go home..." she pointed toward a snowy hill off the footpath. "Pix, pix?" the Fox Pokemon nudged her leg. "Go!" the trainer turned away, unable to bear to look at her Pokemon anymore. She took an ice-white Pokebean, the Vulpix's favorite, and threw it over her shoulder. It landed in the snow on the distant hill, and the Pokemon went chasing after it. Paiyu then hastily summoned a Charizard and flew away, a torrent of tears rushing forth from her eyes. She felt horrible for betraying the little Vulpix, abandoning it in an unfamiliar environment, the home it had never dwelt in. They say home is where the heart is, and for the Vulpix, it was with her. The trainer immediately commanded her Fire-Flying mount to turn back, circling down on to the footpath on the mountain peak. A look around did not reveal where her beloved Pokemon had gone off to, and calling her name had no effect either; perhaps she had already been eaten by Weaviles. An immense surge of rage welled up in Paiyu, furious at herself for sending her friend on a path of no return. She removed the now-empty Moon Ball from her belt and tossed it forcefully on the frozen ground before curling up and bursting into tears in the driving snow.

Something lightly bumped Paiyu's head. Through eyes blurred with tears, she could not make out who or what was doing that. Another bump, and the Moon Ball she had cast on the ground in rage rolled past her, intact. She looked up to see a pale blue shape with glowing eyes, that seemed to fade in and out of the blizzard all around, looming above her. The trainer didn't need her Pokedex to identify this creature. It was an Alolan Ninetales - the guardian deity of the mountain, some believed. Had it come to avenge its fallen child? The glow faded, and now the Fox Pokemon's eyes were like deep pools of the purest water, shimmering like the bright blue crystal it held in its mouth - an Ice Stone - that it then dropped into the trainer's hand. Paiyu noticed that the pattern of white cracks not unlike a snowflake, typical of Ice Stones, was gone, meaning that its evolutionary energy was already consumed. "Why are you giving me this? It's useless..." the girl asked the Ice-Fairy type. It padded behind her, returning with the Moon Ball. Paiyu didn't know what to say, but she began to suspect something. "Could you really be..?" She gazed deeply into those eyes, those pools of liquid aurora... the very same ones she looked into during the last moments with her Vulpix.
Tears streamed down the girl's face as she embraced her beloved Ninetales, crying out, "I'm sorry! What was I thinking?! How could I have done this to you?! ..." over and over again.

Back in the real world, a single tear rolled down Paiyu's cheek as she watched the snow gently drift down from the grey-blue sky. Her sad memory was interrupted by a snowball that hit her arm. The trainer looked down to see Eli's Mimikyu seemingly chuckling beside a pile of snowballs, and laughed a little herself. A little farther away, she noticed her green friend riding the Xerneas statue like a carousel Rapidash. She wanted to join in as well, but remembered that she was not as small and light as Eli. Having nothing really to do, Paiyu removed a Pokeball from her belt - a Moon Ball - and released the Pokemon inside. "Nine-taaales!" Yuki seemed equally amazed by the snowy surroundings and immediately took to creating beautiful Aurora Veils, enveloping the surrounding area in a soft rainbow glow. Seeing the Ice-Fairy type in her element caused another tear to trickle down the girl's face, even though she smiled.

After a few minutes Eli dismounted the Xerneas statue and ran up to Paiyu and Jack, asking if they wanted to explore the other parts of the city. They eagerly agreed, and began making their way to the city center, with Pokemon in tow.

Usually, Carina City was not as beautiful during the day, but Paiyu still marveled at the changes winter had brought to the city: otherwise-rare Ice types abounded in the streets, and many other Pokemon wore little knitted hats and scarves made by their trainers, something seldom seen in tropical Alola. The trio entered the shopping district, and Eli asked which one they should go to first. "Hmm... there's just so many, I can't choose! Where would you like to go?"

Now upstairs, Paiyu suddenly realized that there was no room for Jack to spend the night in; the guest room was already occupied by Eli. Would he have to sleep on the couch, then? Did he even bring his overnight stuff with him? As the trainer's mind went off on tangents, she heard her green friend offer her own room to Jack, and that she would sleep in Paiyu's room. She turned around to give the gem girl a nod of approval.

They entered the room, and Eli crawled into the bed straight away, with her little Mimikyu hopping on as well, while Paiyu went into the bathroom on one side to change and brush her teeth. When she came out she flopped on the bed as well, saying goodnight to her friend as she picked up the Flareon plush that had fallen off the edge. She turned the lights off, and both girls gradually entered a blissful slumber. Paiyu could hear a soft purring coming from Eli's side of the bed, but she wasn't sure if it was the green girl or her Disguise Pokemon who was making the sound. Either way, it was a comforting sound to fall asleep to.

The soothing purrs faded into the sound of a calm breeze. Paiyu did not have to open her eyes to know where she was now: that mysterious dreamscape of a place hidden somewhere deep in her memory, that she could not remember the name of. Knowing what had happened the previous times, the trainer simply decided to lie on the grass and dream it away; she had to think of something to distract herself out of the nightmare. As she tried to think about a wondrous flight over the sea with a Latios, she could almost feel an invisible force trying to lift her off the ground and into the tower's entrance. In a split second she had been teleported to the tiny patch of light in the entrance of the tower, with her fantasy completely gone like it had never been in the first place. Now there would only be that mysterious monster to finish her off...

A yell shook Paiyu out of her nightmare and back into the real world. She looked around and saw that Eli had almost fallen off the bed. "Oh no! Are you OK?" the trainer asked with concern. The green girl apologized and said that she had experienced a nightmare... and asked if her friend also did. Paiyu wanted to say something, but felt like it was too long of a story to share in the deep night. "I'll tell you tomorrow," she mumbled as she shifted under the covers once again.
She didn't dream about anything for the rest of the night.

A chilly morning arrived, so Paiyu wrapped the blanket around her tighter. She heard a thump beside her, and then the squeaks of an ever-so-cheerful Eli, asking her what they would do today. "Well, we could go around town, or maybe into the snowy forest... it must look very beautiful that way, and I don't think there would be any Serperiors. Sound good?"

Paiyu knocked on the door, which was then opened by... her mom? Jack just mentally guessed, but then she greeted them and asked them who he was. She sounded... suspicious. Jack knew, because he was trained in sensing feelings in speech, but he didn't point that out. He was about to introduce himself, but Paiyu cut it short. Then the trio went inside. They all settled themselves in on the comfortable chairs, except for Eli, who ran straight for the beanbag like a little kid to ice cream. Paiyu asked the group how their Almia trip was. Eli and Paiyu kept saying random parts, back and forth, but they both left out the battles with Melvin and Khan. Jack thought they left something embarrassing out, but he had no idea. Then it was time for bed. Eli told Jack that he could sleep in a room off to the right. Jack nodded, because this was actually lucky for him. That's because he had a secret Pokemon that nobody else knew about. It was a Naganadel. His first Ultra Beast he had ever met. He decided to let him play around in the snow. He wasn't very loud, so he could do whatever he wanted. When everybody was asleep, he snuck outside and threw a Beast Ball, whispering, "Go! Naganadel!" The ball opened, and a purple Pokemon with a bit of pink came out. He played in the snow for about 30 minutes, when Jack got extremely tired. He whispered, "Return, Naganadel!" and went to bed.

The trio knew that they were getting closer to the city as the trees slowly began to give way to bushes, then grass, and finally paved sidewalks. Paiyu noticed that the city gate was decorated with colorful strings of fairy lights she hadn't noticed before. A look around revealed more of these little lights adorning many buildings and trees, which gave the whole city a magical vibe. But the wonder Paiyu felt when seeing these was nothing compared to when the friends strolled past the central square, now dominated by a towering Christmas tree. People on ladders, as well as flying Pokemon, busied themselves with wrapping shimmering strands of tinsel around the tree, and hanging shiny glass baubles on the boughs. It was truly beautiful to behold. The trainer wanted to stay longer to admire the spectacle, but knew that she had to continue homeward and let her friends rest after a long day.

After a while, the trio finally reached Paiyu's house, which had also been decorated in the holiday spirit: a strand of soft yellow lights adorned the roof, and a small statue resembling a Xerneas stood in the front yard. Paiyu stepped up to knock on the door; it was promptly opened by her mom. "Hello, girls!" she greeted them kindly, but noticed that there was a third youngster whom she did not recognize. "Sweetie, who is this?" she asked her daughter, with a little hint of suspicion in her voice that wasn't there when she was introduced to Eli. "Mom, this is Jack." Paiyu laughed a little, "I think I've told you about him once."
"I remember you saying that you met a Jack in the forest a while ago... is this the same one?"
"Yeah. It's a long story... we should go inside before it gets too cold and dark."
They all entered the house, with Paiyu shutting the door behind them, went into the living room, and sat down on the couch. The room was warm and cozy thanks to the blazing fireplace. "So, what did you two - sorry, three - do in Almia?" Paiyu's mom asked. "It was the best trip ever!" her daughter replied with glee, and began recounting their experience in the ranger region, starting with Nabiki Beach (she didn't choose to bring up her passing out from the brimstone stink, though), then the luxurious Ranger Base... she paused, wondering if she should mention the brief meeting with Mewtwo, and many other important but intense events like the battles against Melvin and Khan; Mom was not really one for these kinds of situations, and would probably ground Paiyu for getting into such danger.

The trainer suddenly noticed that, although the room was occupied by four, it seemed strangely empty. There was a hearthrug in front of the fireplace, but no Lycanroc dozing upon it. Maybe this observation could adequately change the subject. "Hey Mom... where are Dad and Petra?" Paiyu finally asked. "Oh. He went out on a Pokemon-watching trip in the woods, and took Petra with him. They'll be back by tomorrow." her mother replied with a thoughtful expression. She seemed a little worried about them, since it was getting late after all. She then told Paiyu that she should get some rest, and the girl obeyed, trudging upstairs.

While the group traveled to Carina City, Jack noticed the petal of a hot pink plumeria in Eli's hair. If she got it in Alola, he would be fine with it. But he sensed it came from somewhere else. He was about to ask, when they finally reached Carina City. Paiyu told everyone to follow her, so they did, because she obviously knew where her own house was. Eventually they reached the house. When they did, Jack said, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Everyone had agreed to Paiyu's plan to return to her home in Carina City, but how exactly would they get there? It seemed like the trio was in the middle of nowhere, as all they could see were trees, trees, and more trees. Jack suggested that they would fly to the city on Lugia, but Eli pointed out that there was no need to, as the Diving Pokemon had landed them very close to the entrance. They walked for a bit in the direction the green girl indicated, and soon enough, Paiyu could make out colorful lights flickering through the leaves. Eli sent her Lugia back into its Pokeball, and her friend did the same with Juniper; then they entered the city gates. "Follow me! I know the way home." Paiyu called to her friends, and began to walk in the direction of their destination. All around, the city lights shone like bright stars under the darkening sky.

"All right! Let's go!" said Jack. He almost called out his Zapdos when he remembered neither him nor Zapdos knew the way. But Eli's Lugia did. "We should ride on your Lugia, Eli, because you've been there already," he said.

Even though that monstrous Manectric had been knocked out already, the battle was far from over: Khan's Salamence was still on the field, but a hit from essentially any attack (not Ground ones though!) would easily bring it down. Eli squeaked out a command to her Lugia to deal the final blow with Extrasensory. "You can do this, Eli!" Paiyu cheered for her green friend as the Legendary began concentrating its psychic energy.
But what happened next caught the trainer by surprise.

The little Mimikyu perched on Eli's shoulder leapt off, landing on the Lugia's back. Paiyu had almost forgotten that the Disguise Pokemon was there in the first place, a silent watcher in the battle. The peridot girl cried out for the little Ghost-Fairy type to return to safety, but stopped short, as if inspiration had flashed into her mind. Eli then confidently commanded both of her Pokemon to use... "Rough Yet Playful Extrasensory Combo" ?! Whatever that was, it was certainly not to be underestimated. The trainer watched as a shining aura surrounded the opposing Salamence, too weak to fly, and levitate it high into the air. Mimikyu bounced onto the Dragon Pokemon and began slapping it back and forth, back and forth, jumping back just before Lugia let it drop. The Salamence crashed to the ground, and Khan screeched with rage as he returned his defeated Pokemon to its ball. Meanwhile, Eli was congratulating her Pokemon, then rushed toward a rejoicing Jack to give him a victory hug. The peridot girl then practically jumped toward Paiyu and gave her a great hug too, squealing ecstatically about how she couldn't have won the battle without Paiyu's help. "You're welcome! But actually, the one you should thank is Juniper. Without her Leaf Blades, the battle could have turned out... very different." the girl replied, then began looking around and calling for her Dartrix, "Juniper! Juniper! You've done great today, so here's your favorite, a Yache berry!" The Blade Quill Pokemon flew toward them, chirping with excitement, but stopped short in midair, as if she was struck by a Thunderbolt. "Juniper..?" Paiyu was slightly worried about her Pokemon, but what happened next dispelled her concern completely. A flash of light erupted from all around the Dartrix, surrounding her in a pure white energy with streaks flying about. Squinting through the near-blinding light, Paiyu could see her Pokemon's shape change into one much taller than she was. Another blast of light, and standing in front of the girls was a tall owl Pokemon, wearing a deep blue hooded cloak of leaves - a Decidueye. Paiyu stood up and slowly approached her newly evolved Pokemon, who seemed confused about her new form. "Congratulations... you've evolved!" the girl exclaimed, then leapt forward to hug her faithful starter. She felt the Arrow Quill Pokemon's wings wrap around her as well, but let go and backed out as she heard Jack asking them what to do next. "Well, we could go to my place... you haven't met my parents yet, right Jack?" Paiyu suggested. She looked at Jack, then at Eli, to see what both of them thought of that idea.

"UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!" groaned Khan as his Salamence fell to the ground without the help of Manectric. "NOW I HAVE TO GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE POKEMON CENTER BECAUSE I HAVE NO POTIONS! Well, I definitely underestimated your team, Jack. Well done." Jack thought this was very suspicious. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... thanks?" he said, confused. Why was Khan doing something nice for him? "We should go now," he said to the others, "now that Khan's defeated. So, where to?"

((Whoever answers this question, next post is the 200th! Woo-hoo!))

Before Paiyu executed her attack, Jack commanded his Incineroar to take down the opposing Lucario with a Cross Chop. The Fire-Dark type rushed forward with arms crossed, roaring as he struck the Aura Pokemon with a super-effective attack that sent it reeling. The collapsed Fighting-Steel type was enveloped in a red stream of light as Khan, seething with anger, returned it to its Pokeball. Then Paiyu attacked next ((previous post of mine)) Even though Juniper's attack hit the Manectric hard, it wasn't enough to bring its HP below the midpoint. Paiyu still congratulated her faithful Dartrix, though, for bringing them one step closer to victory against Khan. However, her hope was blown away by the Salamence that emerged from a hidden Pokeball Khan possessed.
Eli piped up, declaring that Khan was a cheat for summoning a fourth Pokemon in a triple battle. Although Paiyu was not very familiar with the rules of a Triple Battle, she knew that the green girl had enough with their opponent and needed some sort of payback, especially for what Khan had done to the poor Lugia. The peridot girl went over to Jack and whispered something to him, but it was hard to make out what she was talking about. A new strategy? Revenge? Or something else entirely? After that, she squeaked out a command to her Lugia to use Extrasensory, though with an odd, almost mischievious tone.
The Diving Pokemon's eyes glowed blue as it began concentrating its power. Paiyu covered her ears for the massive psychic blast to come blow away Khan's whole team, but, strangely, that did not happen. Instead, the enemy Mega Manectric was enveloped in the blue energy, floating it up, up into the air as the transfixed trainer watched on. The energy seemed to be doing something to the Discharge Pokemon's lightning-bolt mane, too: smoothing the spikes down into a rounded shape... a sausage shape. Paiyu choked back a wheeze of laughter as she watched her green friend snap pictures of the intimidating-turned-hilarious Electric type, then command her Legendary to throw it back down. The Manectric yelped as it crashed to the ground, suffering quite a bit of damage. Eli congratulated her Legendary friend for pulling such an amazing prank for revenge, then turned to Paiyu to notify her that the Manectric was almost down, and that Paiyu could deal the finishing blow. "Yes! We can do this!" the trainer replied, exhilarated at what was yet to come.
It was Jack's turn again. He commanded his Incineroar to use Outrage. Snarling furiously, with eyes glowing red, the Heel Pokemon bolted toward Khan's Salamence and struck it down. The Dragon Pokemon, could barely get up after the attack, Dang! That Salamence must be on 1 HP or something now, Paiyu thought. The boy then signaled to her to begin her attack. She already knew that she was going to take down the Manectric once and for all. Juniper the Dartrix turned her head back to listen for her trainer's order, then took off at once after the girl spoke it, loud and clear. The Blade Quill Pokemon, wings surrounded with turquoise energy, swooped down to slice the Electric type with her honed leaf-quills, once, twice, three times, then landed back in front of her trainer, who cheered as the Manectric fell.

"Come on, Incineroar! USE OUTRAGE ON SALAMENCE!!!!!" Jack said as Incineroar's eyes turned dark blue and the Pokemon charged towards Salamence, dealing a ton of damage. This left Salamence with 13 HP. "Salllllll," groaned Salamence as he struggled to fly. "Alright, Paiyu! Go ahead!" said Jack.