Questions. Grayson had so many questions about what he'd seen back in the caves. Images of Seth's movements, or at least what he'd been able to see, which was barely any of it, raced through his mind faster than he could process. On top of that, Shauna, one of the girls in the group, was currently being tended to by one of the nurses in the center.

Grayson glanced over at Seth, who was sitting in the chair on the opposite end of the table from him. On the long couch, sat his friends, one of whom, also had his attention. The doors to the center opened up to reveal Grayson's uncle along with Charlotte from the lab.

"Oh thank goodness!" she exclaimed, darting to her son to wrap him in her arms.

"Mom... you can loosen your grip, I'm not dead," Grayson said, embarrassed by his mother's sudden clinging.

"But you could have been! I heard they had firearms. And that they shot a young girl. That could have been you!" she cried.

Grayson sighed and consoled his mother by embracing her in return. Just as quickly as she'd hugged him, she let go and turned to the others.

"I can't thank you all enough for saving my brother and my son. I really don't know how I can repay you," Charlotte added, wiping her eyes and regaining her composure.

"Honestly, it ended up being us who needed rescuing," Serena admitted.

"Yeah, Seth took them on by himself! it was awesome!" Tierno added.

Why does this feel so familiar? Seth thought to himself, an image of Allie's mother giving him a tight hug flashing into his mind shortly after the thought occurred.

It wasn't too long before those thoughts were manifested and he found himself pulled into another tight hug.

This seems to be turning into a trend...

"I had a feeling there was something different about you. Thank you so much young man," Charlotte beamed, placing a kiss on his cheek before straightening up. "By the way, your Tyrunt has been revived. He's also quite hungry too... our workers are doing their best to appease his appetite."

At this, Seth smiled. "That sounds great. I'll head on over there as soon as--"

"Hey you guys!" Shauna's bubbly voice called out as she was escorted into the lobby.

"Shauna!" the three on the couch exclaimed before running over to hug her, Serena getting there first to embrace her best friend.

"Ouch! easy girl, my arm's still in a lot of pain," Shauna winced, half laughing at the scene she just caused.

"Shut up woman, let me hug you dammit!" Serena fired back.

Shauna rolled her eyes and looked around at her friends. Spotting Seth standing up, she smiled at him and gave him a nod as a silent thank you. Seth returned the gesture with a smile of his own and then jerked his head toward Trevor. Shauna winked back at Seth in understanding and then proceeded to lean over and catch Trevor completely off guard with a kiss on the cheek, causing his face to turn Darmanitan red.

Seth chuckled to himself and shook his head. Turning, he met the gaze of Grayson who smiled faintly at him and extended his hand.

"I didn't get to say this earlier, but thanks. Had it not been for you guys, I very well may have been six feet under right now," Grayson stated with gratitude in his voice.

Seth shook his hand and turned his head to see Charlotte approach Grayson.

"By the way, Grayson, Allie is at the lab. She wants to see you if you're free," Charlotte informed him.

"Is that a fact? alright, I'll be right over then," Grayson replied, turning back to Seth with an apologetic expression.

"In the meantime, I shall return to the lab. Seth, please meet me in the revival area of the lab to obtain your new friend. I'll see you shortly," Charlotte added before making an exit.

"Sorry to cut our conversation short, but you know--"

"No need to explain," Seth interjected with a faint smile. "We're in the same competition after all..."

"Yeah... I remember. I was there the day you rescued her. It was pretty awesome. By far the most exciting thing to happen that day," Grayson laughed.

"I'm glad my stunt amused you. I didn't get so much as a token of gratitude, from her anyway..." Seth half laughed.

"It's the princess. What can you do?" Grayson shrugged.

Seth canted his head and crossed his arms. "Something tells me you and I will get along just fine. Glad to know I'm not the only one who sees the princess for who she actually is..."

"I know right? but while that may be true, she's not as bad as she seems, once you talk to her that is," Grayson supplied.

Seth raised a brow.

"I guess that's not the case with you huh?" Grayson added. "Anyway, why don't you come with me to the lab? you can get your Tyrunt and I can talk to Allie."

I wasn't expecting to see her this soon. First my friends nearly get themselves killed and now I have to deal with the spawn of Darkrai herself? If it weren't for their obvious similarities, I would be hard pressed to believe that the queen and Allie were mother and daughter...

"Sure, why not? something tells me that this Tyrunt is going to be a handful so I may as well go and have a look," Seth shrugged.

"Awesome. Looks like mom already left. We'll probably see her back at the lab..."

"Thrilling..." Seth muttered, bracing himself for an unpleasant encounter.

"Something troubling you m'lord?" Cerise inquired, hovering in front of him as Seth followed Grayson out the doors of the center to the lab.

"Right... I haven't explained this to you yet. It's a rather long story, but you'll understand everything once we reach the lab..."

"Ah, I suppose I'll wait until then," Cerise replied, whipping around and reattaching herself to Seth's back.

"That is remarkable!" Grayson exclaimed, "how does that even work?"

"Simple really, she has the ability to choose not to devour my soul upon contact. Considering I'm not a threat to her, and I'm her trainer, she doesn't need to use that defense mechanism anymore," Seth explained.

"I never knew that. I've always been told to be wary of that sash. The way you put it makes it appear as a common misconception," said Grayson as the two approached the fossil lab.

The double doors opened as they approached, and waiting on the other side was the pompous princess herself. Expecting to see her in a frilly dress, Seth was met with the unexpected sight of her in the appropriate attire for journeying. Sporting a pair of hiking boots with designer buckles, and form-fitting capris along with a short sleeve black top, Allie pulled off the adventurer look quite well. Her hair was done up in a rather noticeably attractive ponytail.

Had he not known who she was, Seth might have mistaken her for someone else.

"It's been quite some time, Grayson. So good of you to--" Allie paused, pink clashing with sapphire as her eyes met Seth's. "Excuse me... but what are you doing here, Seth?"

"Oh, we're using my name now? I don't know whether to be happy or confused," Seth replied flatly, getting a frown from Allie.

"For your information, pauper, it was at the request of my mother that I address you by name, though speaking it isn't something that brings me much pleasure," Allie replied sharply.

"The feeling's mutual then, because I'd rather be anywhere else except here at the moment," Seth replied with a shrug. "Speaking of, I have a new Pokémon to collect..."

Allie gave him a wry grin and crossed her arms. "Well now, it appears we agree on something. Now, do run along. Grayson and I have much to discuss," Allie smirked, making a shooing gesture with her hand to which Seth simply rolled his eyes.

Paying her no mind, Seth ventured to where the revival chambers were located within the laboratory in order to retrieve his new comrade. Soon, the voices of Grayson and the princess were no longer heard as he reached the revival area of the lab. Upon opening the doors, Seth was met with the sight of an entire habitat created for all sorts of fossil Pokémon.

"Welcome back, Seth. You're just in time," Charlotte greeted him. "You'll be happy to know we managed to calm him down for the time being. He was rather feisty, but we managed," she added, gesturing to the now calm looking Tyrunt who was happily eating away at the multitude of treats he was given.

"That's... an excessive amount of poké puffs," said Seth with a raised brow as the little dino-dragon chowed down on the supply, snarling at any other Pokémon that dared disturb him.

"It's what needed to be done. Most revived fossils pack a heavy appetite, considering the last time they ate before their demise was probably thousands of years ago," Charlotte chuckled.

"I can understand that. If I woke up after that long, I'd be hungry too," Seth mused. "If it's okay to do so, I think I'll go meet him."

"Of course. Just be careful, he seems to like to nip a lot," Charlotte forewarned.

Taking her words into consideration, Seth proceeded with caution towards the rock dragon, all the while taking out his pokédex to scan him in the process. As he put the device away, he immediately leapt backwards right as Tyrunt sank his teeth into the air, just missing Seth's leg by a hair.

Glancing down, he realized that he had stepped on a poképuff, causing Tyrunt to become agitated. His gaze shifted over to the disgruntled dino-dragon who went back to eating.

"This... may take a while..."

"Goodness! you were assaulted in the caves? Thomas and I were in there just the other day. To think if we had gone back in today..." Allie trailed off, her brows anchoring into a frown.

"My uncle had just dug up several carts of fossils to take back here when those guys attacked us. My team got slaughtered," Grayson replied through gritted teeth.

"Thank goodness you made it out of there alive," Allie sighed in relief.

"I have Seth and his friends to thank for that. Had they not arrived then I might not be here right now," Grayson laughed nervously.

Of course this would have a connection to him. First he saves my life and now to remind me of the thanks I owe, he goes and saves Grayson.

"You alright princess?" Grayson asked, arching a brow at her frustrated expression.

"No, not at all. Grayson, would you mind waiting here a moment? I need to go and see Seth for a few minutes. Then we can talk about our meeting coming up."

"Sure thing, take your time," Grayson responded with a wave.

Allie smiled and waved in return before briskly heading to the revival room to see Seth. As she entered, she found Seth on the floor with Tyrunt now happily eating from his hand. She smiled at the sheer adorableness of the sight. It would have made her giddy with delight, and nearly did if it were not for the fact that she had to interact with Seth. Taking a deep breath, she willed herself to move in his direction, the sound of her boots reaching Seth's ears.

"I thought you were talking with Grayson. Or did you get bored after you finished?" Seth spoke up, catching Allie by surprise.

"H-How did you--"

"You have a very distinct way of walking. The rhythm you create is unique and therefore easy to pick up on even in those boots of yours," Seth added, rising to stand and turn to face her, only to see a blushing yet agitated princess. "Something wrong?"

Allie glared.

"As a matter of fact, yes. It's bad enough that I'm indebted to you for saving me, which I am grateful for by the way, but now you add another to that list to tout your heroism from the party?" Allie fumed, stalking up to him and placing her hands on her hips.

"Touting my heroism? since when was it ever wrong to help someone in need? surely you aren't suggesting that I should have stayed out of that mess," Seth replied sharply.

"No, but it looks to me that you saw fit to befriend someone from the competition as a way to boost your image, and earn my affections am I right?" Allie bit back.

"Think what you will, but you can rest assured that I did not do that for you. While we're on it, I'm not even in this competition for you. So don't go getting a big head over it," Seth shot back.

"So mother wasn't lying after all. I'm actually relieved you said that Seth. I think I'll be able to carry on a little easier now that you've cleared that up," Allie smirked.

"Glad I could help. If it turns out that I win, you can marry whichever lucky loser you choose," Seth shrugged.

"If you win? ha! maybe I should call you the jester instead because that was a pretty funny joke," Allie laughed.

"I'm glad you found that funny. Now, unless you have something else to say, my friends are waiting for me," replied Seth as he beckoned Tyrunt to follow.

The little dragon obediently followed his new trainer to the door.

"Wha--hold on a second Seth! I wasn't finished yet," Allie blurted out, giving pause to Seth's stride.

Turning around, he found himself face to face with her again, only a little closer this time. "Yes?" Seth answered with a raised brow.

Clearing her throat, Allie breathed deeply before speaking again.

"I just... what I'm trying to say is," she paused, averting her eyes before proceeding. "Thank you... there, I said it, so don't ever say I didn't express my gratitude!" Allie exclaimed, locking eyes with Seth for a brief moment before pushing past him to the door.

"You're welcome, princess," Seth replied simply, stopping Allie before she exited the room.

Her face was slightly red after hearing how calmly he spoke to her. For once, instead of sounding flustered or annoyed, it sounded gentle and soft. Pleasing to the ears. Shaking the thought from her mind, she pressed forward without looking back to avoid further embarrassment.

As the doors closed, Seth looked down at Tyrunt with a smile.

"Glad that's over. Now we can go introduce you to everyone," Seth grinned.

"Was that the woman you mentioned before? I'd say she's rather snobby for a princess, but I'd be lying if I said there weren't some who were that way either," Cerise mused.

"She's very entitled. At any rate, I'll explain more later. For now, let's go find everyone else..."