"Hello?"

"Hello, Daron." I breathed heavily into the pokegear's receptor. "We've found something. Something BIG."

"Oh?" Daron stood up from his chair and started walking around his room. On his table, lit almost exclusively by a desk lamp, were papers scattered about. Maps, diagrams, napkins stained with rings of coffee. The scribblings of a madman. "What did you find?"

"Regice," I utter, sending shivers up my spine.

He stopped and stood still. "I see. Can you give me the coordinates that you found it at?"

"W-what do you intend to do?" Surely he wasn't thinking of going head to head with this pokemon, was he?

"I intend to make it help me unlock a certain ruin. Don't worry, it won't get a chance to run amuck and cause problems."

"What do you mean, 'make it help' you?! You do know what you're dealing with right?!"

"Oh yes," he said. His free hand wandered down to his waist, where hidden underneath his suit's jacket were suspended two purple topped pokeballs. He ran his hands over to spots where they created lumps, as if confirming that they were indeed still there. "I definitely know what I'm in for. Thanks for the good work, I'll be sure to have a bonus sent your way. Bye!"

He hung up. A smile twisted into form on his face, and he let out a boisterous laugh. He turned to his table laden with papers, and in one fell swoop wiped them all off. He walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a rolled up sheet. He unrolled the sheet over the wooden surface, right and center under the light. Curling at the edges, it was a floor plan.

"Snowpoint Temple, here I come!" He yelled into the air in excitement and threw his gloved hands in the air. He had finally gotten the preparations complete. He was set on the path the make his dreams come true.

The door to his room swung open, flooding the room with a proper level of light. Standing in the frame was a stoic adventurer, dark skinned from constant tanning, brown haired, and wearing hiking clothes. "Is there something the matter sir?!"

Daron almost jumped from the surprise intrusion, and the floorplan returned to its rolled up form. He regained his composition, clearing his throat. "No, Brandon, nothing is wrong. In fact, everything is right! Get ready to fly to route 105!"

-----

Flora and I sat down on the sand, eagerly awaiting the arrival of my boss. We kept an eye on the entrance of the cave where Regice stirred, but it never ventured out of its dwelling place.

"What's that?" asked Flora, pointing at the sky.

I squinted at the bright sky and spotted a large blue and red bird coming in for a landing. A Braviary? That's kind of rare for these parts. It went straight for us, startling us until we realized that it was carrying people.

The Braviary landed next to us, and its passengers got off. They were Daron and a man who I recognized as Brandon. Daron released the grip on his hat that he had kept to keep it from flying off, and then tipped it to us.

"Good day, isn't it. I presume that's the cave in question over there?"

I nodded my head.

"Alright then, let's go take care of business then."

Brandon retrieved the Braviary and the two of them walked off towards the cave. Daron pulled out a purple pokeball and started throwing it up and down in his hand.

Is he going to try to catch that thing?! He can't be serious.

Flora whispered in my ear. "I don't like the sound of this."

"Me either," I replied. "Those are not pokemon to mess with." I gritted my teeth as they entered the cave. No no no! This isn't okay! Someone is going to get hurt if we don't get away from here! I got up and broke into a run towards the entrance.

"Not again," Flora complained, chasing after me.

I skidded to a stop on the sand and looked in. "Get out of the--"

Brandon was casually leaning up against the cave wall. Daron was putting a pokeball in his jacket. The Regice was gone, but standing next to Daron was a Registeel, standing in perfect obedience. Daron looked back at me. "Hm? What's the problem, Elron?"

A few beads of sweat broke out on my forehead. What just happened in the 30 seconds that I gone? "I-it's nothing."

"Alright then. Return, Registeel. Turns out I didn't need to use you after all." He recalled the steel pokemon into another purple ball.

Wait, he has one of the Regi Trio?!

"You looked shocked," he said, "it's just a master ball. Nothing too special."

A master ball?! I'd heard of them before, but I had never laid eyes on even a picture of the elusive item. They were supposedly an item that could capture any pokemon without fail, and could only be obtained for an incredibly high price.

But something seemed off, even with the incredible power of the master ball in account. How did he get not just one, but many of them? Was he really that rich, or was he involved in some shady business?

There was also the issue of ethics that bothered me. Yes, pokeballs themselves had an aspect that was controversial, for they could capture creatures against their will, but none of those boasted the 100% success rate that the master ball does. Having a master ball means you can catch anything, no matter how powerful or exclusive it is, no matter how qualified of a trainer you are.

"Well, I guess that's it. Pack your bags you two!"

"What do you mean?" asked Flora.

"We're going to Sinnoh! To Snowpoint Temple! I want Elron to come with me, and naturally you're welcome as well, Flora."

My stomach did a backflip. Sinnoh? For a job? "Why do you want me?"

"Same reason I hired you in the first place: your situational awareness, experience in lab work, and quick thinking. We'll be exploring the ruins, so your skills are indispensable! Plus, you've grown into quite the trainer, and we'll need that as well. Of course, if you don't want to come, I won't make you."

"We'll go," said Flora.

I looked at her. "Are you sure? Sounds kind of dangerous." I was uneasy about this entire set of events, and didn't want to act rashly.

"Yep. I've always wanted to travel to another region, and if we do this we'll even be paid to do it! It's bound to be fun!"

I mulled it over in my head for a minute. Well I guess everything we do is sort of risky anyways, and we could always use a little bit more cash... I could really use some right now... And I guess we have pretty powerful pokemon on our side, including apparently Regice and Registeel, so we should be pretty safe. Really, I just couldn't say no to Flora, but I had to justify it in my head first. Perhaps to her the master ball brought a sense of security that we would be safe from even the legendaries that we had feared most. My sense of unease about what had just transpired had yet to fade, but I pulled forth the little adventurous spirit I had in me. "Alright, count us in."

"Great to hear! Meet at Lilycove city in three days, ready to go!"

-----

"Haha, I don't believe it! I'm proud of you son!" Drake the dragon tamer took a big bite out of the piece of meat on his plate and almost seemed to inhale the food, hardly taking any time to chew. "I guess you got some of my adventure genes after all!"

"And you too Flora," exclaimed her dad. "You've come so far in such a short amount of time! You two really have become rather magnificent trainers!"

"Well," Flora humbly declined, "it's only because Elron helps me."

She's not wrong... "Hey, that reminds me. Want to challenge the eighth gym before going off to Sinnoh? We have the time."

She stopped her fork from entering her mouth and put it down. "Well well well, Mr. Slow-And-Steady has finally decided that we are ready?"

Well given recent events I decided to change the plans a little... "Yeah, I think we're ready. Even if we do lose, we can just challenge it again when we get back and see how far we've come!"

"Alright then," Flora said with a smile, "let's do it!"

In that case... "Oh, that reminds me. I need to do an errand." I wiped off my mouth with a napkin and stood up.

"Can't it wait?" asked my mom.

"This one, nope. It's a little urgent."

"Oh alright."

"Wait one second, I'll come with you," said Flora.

"No, it's just a little errand. It won't take long. Why don't you fill our parents in on what we've been up to while I'm gone?"

She reluctantly agreed, but then quickly got into her energetic retellings of what had happened to us since we last showed up at home. I called upon Bagel as my ride and set off to Rustboro City.

-----

The next day we arrived in front of the Sootopolis City gym. I was incredibly nervous.

My knees were shaking.

I felt faint.

The blood in my veins corsed through me as my heart beat faster and faster.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to challenge him first, Elron?"

"Of course. It's not like I won't get a shot at him. I assume you're using Limbo as your main player this time?"

"Yeah. I have a strategy to use him and everything."

"That's good."

She smiled, then faced the gym doors and stepped forward.

I grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "Hey Flora."

She looked back at me. "What is it? You look a little pale."

I let go of her and she turned to properly face me. "Oh, it's nothing. Anyways... We've been through a lot together until now. I mean, I've gone from having nothing at all and you've gone from four badges. And here we are now, standing at the eighth, the final gym."

"We could've been here faster if you didn't force us to spend so much time training and detouring."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Anyways..." I took a huge sigh. "I know it might be a little soon... But..."

My hands trembled and clammed up. I had such a sinking feeling that I felt like I was in free fall. My body was saying "stop," but there was no way I could do that. I swallowed and pressed on.

I reached into the bag behind me and pulled out a seashell, a shoal shell to be more specific. I kneeled down on my left knee and held out the shell, opening it up as I did. Inside I revealed a silver ring laiden with a sparkling facet cut sapphire, resting on a bed of soft shoal salt, which functioned as a fine powdered cushion to rest the ring on.

"Flora, will you marry me?"