It was a beautiful morning. Pidgey were singing outside, the sun was shining, and the residents of Littleroot Town were just beginning to stir. Except for one certain raven haired girl in twintails.

She had already been awake for nearly 6 hours. Nico Yazawa was turning 17 today, and while most 17 year olds would be with their families and friends celebrating their birthday, Nico was in fact getting ready to leave them all today.

The reason? Nico was finally going to become a Pokémon trainer! She had been looking forward to this day since she was 10, waiting until she could follow in her father's footsteps and travel the world!

As such, she had not been able to sleep the previous night, resulting in…

Nico faceplanted into her morning cereal.

"Are you okay, onee-san?" Kokoro asked her older sister.

"I'm fine, Kokoro. Just a little tired." Nico mumbled from her position.

Nico's mother checked the clock. "Nico, shouldn't you be heading over to Professor Nishikino's lab about now?"

The red eyed girl jumped up. "Oh no, I'm going to be late!"

Nico, in fact, wasn't late, because Littleroot Town was really small. Like really small. Nico made it to the lab at the designated time with plenty of time to spare. Eventually, she started to get bored, leading her to read some of the books on the wall, all of which were about Pokémon and their scientific characteristics.

Unfortunately, the lack of sleep she had, combined with how difficult the book was to read, resulted in Nico falling asleep in one of the chairs.

Which was exactly how Nishikino Maki, the daughter of Professor Nishinkino, and Nico's rival since birth, found her. A quick poke to the cheek made the red haired girl realize that Nico wasn't waking up anytime soon.

"Idiot..." Maki sighed, taking a seat next to Nico. She reached over to take the book out of Nico's hands and place it back on the bookshelf, before realizing something else. Nico had changed from her usual pink cardigan into something completely different. She had on a black blouse with devil wings attached to the back, as well as a miniskirt with a red plaid pattern that was held up by a black belt. Attached to the skirt was a long black tail. Red and black thigh high socks, together with red ribbons which usually tied up her hair completed the look.

Well, Pokémon trainers usually had something to distinguish themselves from others, and Nico appeared to have found her niche to fill. Honestly, Maki thought, blushing slightly, it looked pretty cute. Not that the musician would ever tell her that.

Nico started, waking herself up and startling Maki. "Maki-chan! I just had the weirdest dream! I dreamt that two starter Pokémon were taken by a boy (Maki wrinkled her nose. Ew. Boys.) and a girl, and your mom took the last one for no reason!"

Maki sighed in exasperation. "Nico, I'm pretty sure my mom didn't give Pokémon away to random strangers."

"But- whoa, Maki-chan, what are you wearing?" Nico stopped mid sentence to take in Maki's new appearance, while Maki just looked at the ground and blushed. A long red coat that ended at her knees covered a dark burgundy shirt and a short skirt that ended about mid-thigh, paired with long white gloves that almost reached her elbows made her look like the princess that Nico usually compared her to in her mind. But what really added to the look was the tiara headband that was nestled in Maki's red hair.

"Wow, Maki-chan looks so pretty!" Nico would often hide her gayness by pretending to tease Maki about certain things, and this was one such time. She hugged Maki around the waist and nestled deeply into her neck, while Maki tried to bat her off and hide her blush at the same time.

A cough was heard from the doorway of the labratory. The two separated, faces burning. Professor Nishikino simply ignored the two and gestured the to follow her.

When they reached the back of her lab, where she kept all her equipment, Professor Nishikino turned around. "So. The two of you want to become Pokémon trainers."

She proceeded to give a very long and boring lecture on the responsibilities and dangers of being a Pokémon trainer, which Nico and Maki ignored in favor of catching glances of each other in their new outfits.

"Nico!" Said girl jumped in surprise. "This will be your Pokémon!" A Pokéball was thrown onto the floor, and a weasel-like creature popped out. "Take good care of Weavile, and the two of you will get along very well."

"And Maki." The red haired girl nodded firmly. "Scizor will be your Pokémon!" A red armored Pokémon uncrossed its arms and gave a sharp nod towards Maki.

"Now, both of your journey's have begun! Go forth, and take the Otonokizawa region by storm!"

All the hype was lost upon Nico once she reached Oldale Town. She had been walking for no more than an hour, but she was exhausted. Maki and her had agreed to split up so they could experience travelling on their own, but now Nico was regretting the ability to have a conversation with anybody. Her Weavile, who she had opted to keep out of the Pokéball at all times, tapped her on the shoulder from its position on her head, then pointed at the Pokémon Center in the distance. Nico grinned, high fived the Sharp Claw Pokémon, and headed there as quickly as her tired legs would let her.

The raven haired girl sighed in satisfaction as the air conditioning caressed her skin. She plopped down in exhaustion next to a grey haired girl in a long white dress with a white hat, who was feeding her Altaria some Pokéblocks. Weavile jumped clear off her head and landed on Nico's lap, then leaned against the girl's stomach tiredly.

"Hello. Are you new to travelling?" Nico turned towards the voice. It was the grey haired girl. "Don't worry, it gets much easier over time!" Her Altaria chirped in agreement.

"Ah... thanks."

"If you want, you can have some water." The grey haired girl offered Nico a water bottle, which was quickly snatched from her hand, with the contents being gulped down Nico's throat. She did remember to leave some for Weavile though.

"Thank you so much!" Nico bowed her head in thanks, to which the grey haired girl simply smiled sweetly, waving off the thanks.

"It's nothing! I'm Kotori, by the way. It's nice to meet you..."

"Nico. It's nice to meet you too." Nico grinned at the other girl, who offered her some Pokéblocks as well.

Nico took a closer look at the girl who had suddenly appeared while she was talking to some brown-haired researcher about Shroomish. She was wearing a yellow shirt that almost all of her waist exposed, paired with a blue short skirt, underneath which she wore blue shorts. A blue bandana with some type of symbol adorned her head. She had with her a Scrafty that was folding its arms to look intimidating.

She rushed towards the researcher, who jumped behind Nico in fright. "You, Devon Researcher, hand over those papers, nya!"

Chartreuse eyes narrowed at the researcher. "And your number!"

The researcher looked frightfully at Nico. "You're a Pokémon Trainer, aren't you?! You've got to help me!"

"What, are you going to protect her? Nobody messes with Team Aqua and gets away with it, nya! Scrafty, go!"

The Scrafty jumped forward menacingly, and Weavile mirrored it to protect Nico. The two Pokémon circled each other, until the orange haired girl gave a command. "Scrafty, use Feint Attack!"

Scrafty ran forward, and Weavile prepared for impact, but suddenly, Scrafty disappeared. He reappeared suddenly behind Weavile, aiming a kick at Weavile's head. Nico flinched as the attack connected.

"Revenge, Weavile!" As Weavile flew back from the kick, a dark mist surrounded its body, suddenly bursting out and hitting Scrafty with full power.

"Scrafty!" The orange haired girl shouted. Knowing that Revenge, a Fighting type move, was strong against her Scrafty, she made the decision to retreat.

"Grr... You've got some nerve battling Team Aqua, nya! Come on and battle me again!" The girl's head drooped, countering her words. "Rin wishes she could say that but she's out of Pokémon..."

"I'll let you go today! Come on, Scrafty!" After using a Potion on Scrafty, the Hoodlum Pokémon growled at Nico and Weavile, before leaving with the girl (presumably named Rin).

"Phew, that was close! Thanks to you, he didn't rob me of these important papers! I know, I'll give you a Great Ball as thanks!"

"Th-that's not necessary..."

The researcher ignored Nico's protests, and gave her the improved Pokéball anyway. Weavile simply shrugged and got on Nico's shoulders to lick its wounds.

"Weavile, use Revenge!"

As Weavile recovered from the enemy Nosepass' Tackle, dark mist gathered around its body, continuing to gather until it suddenly exploded out from Weavile's body, knocking out the foe and securing Nico's victory over the first Gym Leader of the Hoenn region. While Roxanne had been slightly difficult to defeat due to Weavile's weakness to Rock-type moves, Revenge, which all of the scholar's Pokémon were weak to, had secured an easy win for Nico.

Roxanne congratulated Nico on her win, gave her the Stone Badge and TM39, explained both of them, then bid farewell to the twin-tailed girl.

It was when she was walking out of the Rustboro Gym, Stone Badge in hand and Weavile on her shoulder, that Nico felt a sudden swell of pride within herself. She had done it! She had defeated one of the eight Gym leaders of Hoenn! She was on her way to be the Pokémon Champion!

"Oh, hello!"

Nico put off her silent celebration when she heard a familiar high-pitched voice.

"Oh, you must have just beat Roxanne! Congratulations!" Kotori smiled cheerfully at Nico, and Altaria trilled happily in support of Nico.

"Well, of course I did! I'm soon-to-be Pokémon Champion Nico, after all! Nico Nico Nii!" As Nico performed her signature pose, an orange-haired girl with a Scrafty ran past Kotori and Nico both, screaming "TEAM AQUA REPRESENT!".

"Wait!" The brown haired researcher from before ran after the Team Aqua grunt. Nico got another look at her clothing. She was wearing a long green cloak, along with a dark brown, knee length skirt and a cream colored shirt. Her brown hair was adorned with a flowery tiara, and a Bellossom was standing at her feet.

Kotori watched the scene in distress. "I'll go see if she needs help!"

Nico nodded firmly. "I'll follow right after I go to the Pokémon Center!"

Nico ran up to the two girls, panting in exhaustion. "Rustboro City... is bigger... than I imagined!"

Kotori explained the situation to Nico. "So we just need to go and get those goods back!"

Kotori looked to Altaria, who simply lowered her back, allowing Kotori to climb on top. "We'll see if we can find him from the sky! You should go check the Rusturf Tunnel!"

"Alright!" The raven haired girl turned to the researcher (whose name, Kotori had discovered, was Hanayo). "Don't worry, Pokémon Trainer Nico Nico Nii will get your goods back!"

"You should take these Repel, so the wild Pokémon don't bother you when you're looking for that grunt." Kotori handed the spray bottles over to Nico, before telling Altaria to take off.

Nico took off running into Route 116, spraying the Repel on herself as she went. Weavile jumped off her shoulder to Cut through any trees in her way, enabling Nico to go through the Route without having to pause once. She slowed down once she got to the tunnel entrance, catching her breath next to a blue haired fisher who seemed to be in distress and steeling herself for anything she may find in the tunnel.

She definitely didn't steel herself for all this fog, though. Where was all this stuff coming from? She could feel her Repel wear off, and could see the wild Whismur starting to take interest in her. She reapplied the Repel and the small Whisper Pokémon backed off.

Off in the distance, she could see the orange haired grunt with a Wingull. Nico gritted her teeth and approached the grunt, Weavile hissing on her shoulder.

"Give that stuff back!"

The grunt huffed in irritation. "Rin made a perfect getaway, nya! Hostage Pokémon and everything! But this tunnel doesn't lead anywhere, nya! Still... Rin won't give these goods over for free! You have to battle me for them!"

Nico grinned. "What, didn't get beat bad enough last time?"

The grunt let out an (impressive) evil laugh. "Nyahaha! You won't win this time!"

Nico won. Revenge was just that strong of a move.

"This isn't right, nya..." Rin was slumped on the floor, head hanging in such a pathetic way that Nico almost felt sorry for the catlike girl. She sniffed heavily. "The boss promised me this would be such an easy job to pull... If you want, those goods back, you can have them!"

Rin tossed the goods to Nico, who caught them easily. The grunt then ran off towards the entrance of the cave, disappearing into the fog. Nico let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She looked to the Wingull.

"Now, what am I going to do with you..."

"Peeko! You're safe!" From out of the fog came the blue haired fisher that Nico had stopped to catch her breath by earlier. The Wingull let out a happy cry, flying joyfully over to its master.

The fisher caught the seagull-like bird in her hands, then hugged it tightly as the Wingull nuzzled into the fisher's neck. Nico got a very elegant feel from the fisher, which you couldn't say about most sea loving people. A long, dark blue cloak covereded the length of her whole body, as well as her arms. She was also wearing a light blue shirt that covered her torso, and a long blue skirt that reached her ankles. A blue tiara adorned her long blue hair.

Nico smiled softly. This was what she had always dreamed about. Going out around the world and helping people alongside her Pokémon. She nudged Weavile gently with her chin. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait!" The blue haired girl stopped Nico. "Peeko owes her life to you! At least let me thank you! My name is Sonoda Umi. Come by my cottage near the Petalburg Woods later."

Nico exited the tunnel, with the Devon items in hand, making her way back to the orange haired researcher.

Hanayo jumped onto Nico, startling Weavile out of its normal spot on her shoulder. "Oh, thank you so much! Here, have another Great Ball!"

Nico wasn't given time to deny the gift, as Kotori flew down from the sky. "Good work, Nico! I knew you could do it!"

The researcher seemed to remember something. "You two should come with me!"

Nico walked out of the Devon building alone, as Kotori had decided to stay within the building a little longer. She had been asked to deliver the goods to the Shipyard in Slateport. She had received the PokéNav in return for performing this task, which she believed would be very useful throughout her travels. It had also been programmed to have a Match Call feature, which essentially made the PokéNav double as a cell phone.

Still, there was one problem. Slateport could only be accessed if she used a boat. But... she didn't have a boat.

"Weavile!" Nico looked over to her Pokémon. The Sharp Claw Pokémon gestured back in the direction of the Petalburg Woods. "Hm? Oh, the girl from before! She looked like she knew what she was doing on the water!"

Weavile got a berry in thanks, and the twin tailed girl made her way South towards the Petalburg Woods.

"Nico?!" Said girl could recognize that voice anywhere.

"Maki-chan!"

The two were in the Pokémon Center having finally finished recounting their stories to each other and registering each other in their Match Calls.

"Wow, who knew you could actually beat Roxanne..."

Nico seemed offended. "Of course I could beat her! Nico Nico Nii can beat people from aaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllll over Hoenn~"

Maki raised an eyebrow. "Even me?"

The raven haired girl smirked. "Especially you, Maki-chan."

Scizor's owner took the challenge. "Let's test that then!"

The rivals stood opposite each other. Weavile sharpened its claws, and Scizor took on a fighting stance.

Maki made the first move. "Scizor, Bullet Punch!"

The Pincer Pokémon flew forward, wings flapping in a frenzy, before throwing forward a tough punch. Weavile was given no time to dodge, taking the hit full force, flying backward.

Nico grimaced in concern for her Pokémon. Weavile was weak to Steel-type moves, which is exactly what Bullet Punch was. "Weavile!"

A dark mist that Nico was now very familiar with surrounded Weavile, exploding and damaging Scizor strongly. Such a tactic would only work once. If Weavile was hit by another Bullet Punch, it would be knocked out. Similarly, Scizor would be knocked out if it took one more hit.

"One more time, Scizor!" Maki smiled slightly at Nico in apology.

"Weavile, Quick Attack!" Taking the armored Pokémon by surprise, Weavile darted forward and kicked Scizor in the head, making the red haired princess' Pokémon faint.

"Scizor!" Maki ran forward, helping her Pokémon off the ground and putting its arm around her shoulder. Nico blinked in surprise. Maki never got close to anybody. Even herself, and Nico liked to think they were best friends. It just went to show how strong a Pokémon and Trainer bond was. Speaking of which...

The black haired Trainer met her Weavile on its way over to her, high fiving it happily. She sprayed a potion on him to ensure that it would be okay, then approached Maki, Weaville resting on her shoulder. She extended a hand to her opponent, who smiled softly before taking the offer and shaking it.

"I'm gonna go to the Pokémon Center. Do you want to come with me?"

She did. Nico wanted to go with Maki really badly. Ever since the adventure had begun, Nico had missed having Maki around her. A week ago, they had barely ever spent time away from each other. Ever. Now, Nico had gone a few days without her best friend, and she could see, from the hopeful glint in Maki's eyes, that it was having an effect on the younger girl as well.

But, she had a job to do and a fisherwoman to see. "Sorry, but... I have somewhere I need to go soon."

It killed Nico to see the hope in Maki's eyes vanish. Maki nodded her head, however, and grinned at Nico. "More people to save from the big bad guys?"

Nico laughed to cover her sadness over leaving Maki alone to heal up her Scizor. "Something like that! But don't worry! Everybody's favorite Trainer Yazawa Nico is never far~ Nico Nico Nii!"

They parted after the catchphrase, and Nico tried to forget how much she missed speaking with the red haired girl the way they were used to.

Nico rested on the side of Umi's ferry. If she had known she would get this seasick over taking the boat, she would have just taken Kotori's over of being flown to Dewford. Instead, Nico had decided to take the scenic route on the fisherwoman's boat, and now she was paying for it dearly with her health.

Kotori gasped over something Umi showed her on the boat, while Umi tried to play it off coolly (the blush on her face betrayed her). Nico took a break from cursing her vomiting to marvel over how gay those two were.

The ashen haired traveler came over to pat Nico on the back lightly. "Umi-chan, do you have any more seasick pills?"

Said girl shook her head. "All of them are already used."

"Eheh... well, I'm sure we'll be at Dewford soon!"

Umi decided not to announce that Dewford was still an hour or so away.

Nico crawled onto the beach in Slateport. "Sweet... and sweet... ('Holiday?' Kotori asked in the background) unmoving ground."

The blue haired fisherwoman walked off the boat with a fishing rod in her hand and Peeko perched on her shoulder. "When you want, to leave, just come talk to me, okay? We'll be waiting right here."

Kotori gave her a few Repels ("Just in case!"), then waved Nico off as she entered the town, Altaria trilling happily behind her.

Getting to Dewford, while difficult, had been largely beneficial to Nico. She had been able to spread her "Nico Nico Nii~" around the Dewford Hall, where she knew it would eventually take over Hoenn as a trend. But more importantly, she had beaten Brawly, receiving the Knuckle Badge and putting her one step closer to her dream of being the Pokémon Champion.

Walking into Slateport, the raven haired girl immediately spotted and headed over to the Slateport Market, mostly just to browse through what the people had to sell. She tried not to think of Maki when she saw the fresh tomatoes for sale, but ended up buying one anyway, just to reminisce about the red haired girl.

Nico headed into the Oceanic Museum, where people she asked had told her Capt. Stern would be. Sure enough, she found the man she was supposed to deliver the Devon Goods to on the second floor. However, as she tried to give the goods to the Captain, somebody she was very familiar with at this point showed up.

"Not so fast, nya! I'll be taking those parts!"

Weavile simply jumped from Nico's shoulder and growled at the Scrafty. Both Rin and her Pokémon paled and backed off. Suddenly, someone came up the stairs.

"Rin-chan, why are you being slowed down by this girl here? Do you need some encouragement?" The newcomer smirked and held out her hands, groping the air. Rin covered her chest with both arms, seemingly terrified of the busty girl.

"A-ah! Boss!"

Nico examined the newcomer. A long, dark blue cloak with sleeves reaching her wrists covered a purple dress that reached to the middle of her calves. Underneath the dress seemed to be a black skirt which extended a small bit past the dress. Her long hair was tied into two ponytails, and a Team Aqua bandana was tied on top of her head. Floating beside her were a Solrock and Lunatone.

"We are Team Aqua, and we love the sea. And I am their leader, Toujou Nozomi! Please refrain from interfering with us in the future. Unless... you belong with Team Magma? In that case, give Elichi a kiss for me, would you?" Nozomi winked, then looked closer at Nico's clothes. "No... you don't seem dressed for the part, and Elichi is nothing if not strict about uniform. Oh, well... Still, we won't forget this! Come, Rin-chan!"

After giving the parts to Captain Stern, Nico checked her PokéNav and discovered that the next Gym leader was north. On her way to Mauville City, she was forced to take the low road, because the cycling road was for bikers only. And on the low road she found...

"Oh, hello, Nico." Professor Nishikino approached the young girl. "I hope you're doing okay."

"U-um... yeah, I'm fine, hehe." Nico rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"I know you probably miss Maki-chan..." Nico went bright red. "... but really, after the two of you reunite once you guys are done with your adventures, it'll be sweeter than it ever was before."

Weavile even seemed embarrassed by Maki's mother giving Nico relationship advice. "Oh, uh... well- thanks."

And further north?

"Nico-chan!"

Maki looked up from Weavile, who was digging through the ground to try and find hidden treasure, to see none other than the girl who Nico had spent so long thinking about. "Maki-chan!"

The two hugged tightly, before Maki broke the hug and held Nico at an arm's width, looking deep into her eyes. "Wherever you go from now on... I'm coming with you!"

Both girls walked into Mauville City with their Pokémon trailing behind them. No matter how many times Nico warned Maki that she was now wanted by one of the strongest gangs in Hoenn, Maki had insisted on coming with her. If anything, the danger steeled the redhead's resolve.

"After all, I can't really trust you to take care of yourself against people as strong as them, right?"

Nico immediately pulled Maki by the arm, eagerly heading to the Mauville Game Corner. "N-Nico-chan, why are we going-"

"Because it's the only Game Corner in Hoenn, Maki-chan! And as long as we're here, we might as well see it, right?"

Nico marveled at all the slot machines and the roulette tables. Maki tried to seem indifferent, but her eyes darting around gave her away. Nico paid for some tokens for both of them, despite Maki's protests, and settled down at one of the slot machines, determined to win enough tokens to get a prize for Maki.

One hour later...

She had underestimated how hard it was to win, apparently. Maki had to drag Nico out of the Game Corner to get Nico out of her gambling addiction. Nico did, however, win some Blackglasses for her Weavile to wear.

They decided to stay the night in the Pokémon Center, and as they stayed up all night exchanging stories, Maki asked Nico how she had managed to get to Slateport without a boat. Nico, who had actually forgotten to tell Umi that she wouldn't be needing her boat anymore, called the fisher on her Match Call, and found out that Kotori had already dragged Umi along on her travels.

Defeating Wattson, while it had taken some time, had been relatively easy, and the extra Gym Badge in both Maki's and Nico's pockets made them feel better about the pace they were going through the Gyms at.

After heading north (and being stopped from taking the Cable Car by a girl with a red hood), the two girls reached Fallarbor Town. However, with nowhere else to go, they decided to keep going and head through Route 114.

A few hours later, they reached Meteor Falls and decided to enter, if for no other reason than because they had nowhere else to go. Inside, however they came upon a familiar researcher being held up by yet another member of a gang, in fact it was the same girl who stopped Nico and Maki from getting on the Cable Car.

This girl, however, was not from Team Aqua. She wore a red shirt that exposed most of her's waist, with a symbol of a volcano on it, as well as red shorts. A long red cloak that reached her mid thigh was worn on top of the ensemble, and attached to the cloak was a hood that was worn over the girl's orange hair, which was tied up in a side ponytail. A Plusle and Minun were each on one of her shoulders.

"Thanks for the meteorite! Hehe..." The evil laugh that came from her lips ended in an abrupt shriek when she heard a yell.

"Hold it right there, Team Magma!"

Nozomi and Rin came running in. The girl let out another evil laugh (albeit more nervously than the first one). "We already have the meteorite, and we're off to Mt. Chimney now!"

She ran off, leaving the same way Nico and Maki came in. Nozomi approached the pair. "Ah, I remember you from Slateport. Nicocchi, you should keep watch for Team Magma. Especially their boss..."

Rin cleared her throat. "Shouldn't we be chasing Team Magma, Nozoboss?"

"Hm? Oh, right! Let's go!" Team Aqua took off in chase of their rivals, but Rin stopped for a second to turn to the researcher, giving her a wink and a piece of paper. Hanayo opened the paper to see a phone number written out, as well as a "Call me! ;P".

"Are you alright, miss?" Maki approached the brown haired girl, who was currently being soothed by her Bellossom.

"Ah, yes... I'm fine."

"Her name is Hanayo. I thought you were a Devon researcher." Nico walked up to the girl to give her a water bottle.

"I am, but I sometimes do work for other sciences. Team Magma offered to help me with my work, but then they just took my meteorite and ran off!" Hanayo seemed to tear up once more at the thought of being betrayed by the evil team, and Bellossom began to sing a soothing song for her.

Maki and Nico, after mutually agreeing to help Hanayo get her meteorite back, headed back to the Cable Car they had seen on Route 112.

Nico threw herself onto the seat in the Cable Car, Weavile climbing onto her lap. "Man, being a hero is sort of tiring, huh, Maki-chan?"

Said girl also sat down, albeit in a much more dignified way, and Scizor mirrored her. "Well, if it was easy to be a hero, there would be more of them out in the world, wouldn't there?" She looked out the window at the setting sun. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Nico followed her gaze. Or, more accurately, that was her original plan. But once the raven haired girl saw Maki's face, she found that she couldn't look away from such a beautiful sight. The orange light from the sunset illuminated her face in such a way that made her seem even more radiant than usual.

"Not as beautiful as you." Nico immediately cringed. Damn, that was bad.

Maki blushed deeply. "N-Nico-chan!" She cleared her throat. "M-maybe... now's not the best time for that."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying... some other time."

"If we get another chance after tonight... then... yes." Maki's blush deepened as she berated herself for saying such embarrassing words.

Nico caught something in Maki's words that sounded off. She chose to pursue that topic and drop the current one, scared Maki would pass out from having too much blood sent to her face. "Maki-chan... Are you scared about doing this?"

The redhead's blush died down as she thought the question over. "Well... a little. We are going against two of the strongest gangs in the world, after all."

Nico smiled softly at her, then moved to sit next to her, wrapping her arms around the larger girl. "If you want, you could leave."

Maki shook her head firmly. "Never. I won't leave you alone to fight both gangs. Besides, I'm a hero too, you know." She tried to smirk in confidence, but the fear was evident.

Red eyes teared up once Nico realized that Maki and her would never be apart again. The thought alone gave her the strength and confidence to stand and declare, "You don't need to be scared, Maki-chan! The Great Nico Nico Nii will make sure nothing happens to you! No matter how many grunts they throw at us, Weavile and I will take care of you! (Scizor!) And Scizor, too! See? You have nothing to be worried about! Besides, if you're a hero, you have to act like it!"

The violet eyed girl took in the scene with astonishment, before smiling brightly. "You're right. This is no way for a hero to act!"

"Yosh! Maki-chan! Let's take down all of Team Magma and Team Aqua together!"

They arrived at the top of the mountain quickly but not quicker than the sunset. The fighting would take place during nighttime, adding to the tense atmosphere. Nico performed a perfect forward roll out of the Cable Car building's window, shattering it thoroughly. She looked both ways, eyes narrowed, as Weavile mirrored her perfectly the whole time.

Maki walked through the Cable Car's door. "What are you doing?"

Nico pouted and dusted herself off. "We're fighting against two gangs, Maki-chan! At least pretend to be excited."

"Nico-chan!" She turned around, spotting Kotori and Umi running towards them. Umi also had a new Pokémon with her, a majestic Milotic that fit her personality perfectly.

"Hanayo-chan called me to help you, and I brought Umi-chan along. But... she didn't tell us you already had help."

Nico introduced Maki to her two other friends quickly. (Maki was secretly relieved to have extra backup.) "Come on, let's go!"

The four of them ran as quickly as possible to the top of the volcano. On their way up they encountered Nozomi, who was busy fighting off members of Team Magma.

"Lunatone, Psychic! Solrock, Fire Spin!" Lunatone and Solrock both let off a slight glow, before the enemy Poochyena were thrown back by an invisible force and surrounded by whirling fire at the same time. Nozomi turned to the four travelers.

"You should go up there and see what Team Magma is up to!"

Another group of Team Magma grunts appeared, blocking their path.

Nozomi stepped in front of the group. "As much as I would love to see Elichi, I'll hold them here. Be sure to give Elichi a kiss for me~"

"Not so fast!" More grunts appeared on their way up.

"Yes so fast!" Rin ran by the group, giving them a thumbs up and telling them to keep going.

Along their way up, Kotori and Umi split up from the other two to keep another group of grunts from interfering. As the top of the mountain was in sight, the orange haired grun from before appeared, her Plusle and Minun's cheeks giving off faint bolts of electricity.

"Go, Nico-chan!"

Nico turned to Maki, who was preparing Scizor for a fight. "Eh?!"

"You want to be a hero, don't you? This is your chance! I'll be fine!"

"Oh, Maki-chan..." Nico's eyes sparkled as she looked upon her crush, dazzling in her self-sacrifice. The redhead pulled at Nico's cheek. "Stop looking at me like that! You don't have time for it!"

Not one to waste so many people's sacrifice, Nico sprinted up the mountain, ducking under a leaping Minun and running to the top.

At the top of the mountain, the raven haired girl found a blonde haired girl working furiously on a machine above the volcano's mouth. She was wearing a long red coat that turned black past her hips, with the Team Magma logo on the collar, as well as blue jean shorts that stopped mid-thigh. The girl was also wearing a black tank top, and her hair was tied into a single ponytail. An Emboar was standing beside her, arms crossed, staring into the volcano.

"Soon, the meteorite's power will make Mt. Chimney's volcanic activity intensify greatly." She sighed in satisfaction, then turned around and spotted Nico. "Hm? Who are you? Wait..."

"Nozomi said something about a girl who was bothering Team Aqua. So, have you come to stop Team Magma? Well?"

Nico couldn't answer, mostly because this girl was scary. But she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Nozomi told us to give you a kiss from her."

The girl instantly went red, putting her hands on her cheeks to try and hide their rapidly increasing color. "Mou, that Nozomi... I told her to keep it a secret."

She shook her head. "Whatever! I'll teach you not to mess with Team Magma! Emboar, Heat Crash!"

The Mega Fire Pig Pokémon cloaked its body in fire while leaping forth to slam its body onto Weavile. Weavile was far too quick for such an attack, moving out of the way easily. "Icy Wind!"

Weavile blew a sparkling beam of snow from its mouth, hitting Emboar full force. Emboar, however, seemed completely unaffected by the Ice-type move. Nico could almost hear Maki nagging at her for forgetting that Fire-types are strong against Ice moves. Now that she thought about it, Emboar should be strong against all of Weavile's moves, and Weavile should be weak against all of Emboar's moves. She grimaced. Maybe she should have let Maki go on instead of her.

"Hammer Arm!"

Weavile ducked beneath the glowing arm that was sent its way. "Weavile, Fury Swipes!"

The Sharp Claw Pokémon attacked Emboar repeatedly with its glowing claws, making the pig-like Pokémon let out a roar of irritation. Nico grinned. That seemed to make an impact.

"Flamethrower, Emboar!"

There was nothing slow about the stream of fire that spewed from Emboar's mouth. It was so sudden that Weavile had no chance to dodge, and took the attack head-on.

"Weavile!" Nico hurriedly took out a Super Potion, spraying it on Weavile as it struggled to rise from the attack.

"I'm sorry, but you should have known this might happen if you fought against Team Magma." The girl seemed genuinely apologetic, but she did not seem to be afraid to give the final order for her Emboar to attack.

"Emboar, Heat Charge!"

This was it. There was no way Weavile would be able to dodge the attack in time. Nico cringed, not wanting to watch the Pokémon she had gotten attached to get flattened in front of her.

A sudden flying shape took Weavile straight out of the charging Pokémon's path.

"Water Pulse!/Razor Wind!/Round!"

A ball of water, multiple blades of white energy, and green and blue circles flew towards the Emboar at full speed. Unable to move from the onslaught of attacks, Emboar fainted. Peeko delivered Weavile right into Nico's arms.

Team Magma's leader growled, before recalling Emboar into its Pokéball. "Enough. I will back off this time. Even without the meteorite, if we obtain that orb..."

The girl, who Nico recalled Nozomi saying, was named Eli, retreated down the mountain, taking all of her grunts with her. Nozomi and Rin approached the four girls.

"Thanks to your help, we thwarted Team Magma's destructive plan! Maybe that will teach Elicchi not to be the dominant one in the relationship~" Nozomi smirked mischievously. "But... whose side are you on? I suppose it doesn't matter that much, but we'll keep watching Team Magma. Until next time, Nicocchi~"

Back in Fallarbor Town the next day, Kotori and Umi parted ways from Nico and Maki. The duo presented the meteorite they had taken out of Team Magma's machine back to Hanayo, who thanked them so much, Bellossom had to sing her to sleep to get her to stop.

They went back to the top of the mountain in the Cable Car (which happened to remind Nico of the conversation the two had in here), then descended to the other side of it. They reached Lavaridge Town just in time for the sun to set.

Nico cracked her back as they entered the small town. "Ahhh... man, I'm tired."

"You're in luck, Nico-chan." Maki grinned at her friend and pointed at the hot springs, making Nico's eyes light up in excitement.

Half an hour later, both girls and their Pokémon sunk into the water, sighing in satisfaction.

"So..."

"So..."

Nico and Maki seemed to be at an equal loss for words. Nico cleared her throat. "So about what you said in the Cable Car yesterday..."

Maki blushed and sunk lower into the hot spring, remembering her embarrassment. "What of it?"

"Well... you said that then wasn't the the time for... what, exactly?"

"For cheap flattery."

Nico looked offended. "Well, excuse-" She had made the mistake of glancing at Maki. One look at the hesitance in her eyes made it clear to Nico that Maki had only meant those words to try and get out of an awkward situation.

"...You meant that it wasn't the time for confronting our feelings then... didn't you?"

Maki only sunk lower into the water, before giving a brief nod.

The raven haired girl sighed in exasperation. "Maki-chan, don't you think that then was the best time to confront them? We were both scared that something might happen-"

"We were both scared?" Maki rose from the water so that her eyes were level with Nico's. It definitely made her glaring much scarier. "I was scared. I was terrified something might happen to us. To you. And I could never confront my feelings when I was so weak."

"So it was a pride thing?" Nico almost laughed.

"N-No! It was a personal strength thing!"

"Maki-chan, you wanna know something?"

The redhead sunk back into the water. "What?"

"I could never see you as weak. Remember back when we were little and we would scrape our knees? I would cry for hours, and you would just get up and get a band-aid. You're one of the strongest people I know."

Maki had only sunk lower and lower into the water in embarrassment over the course of Nico's words. A flurry of bubbles told Nico that Maki had said something while her mouth was underwater. "What was that, Maki-chan?"

"I said thank you."

Nico grinned. So she had decided not to reject her words. "You're welcome. And you wanna know something else?"

A soft grunt told Nico that Maki was listening. "Both of us were scared yesterday. You think I told you to go because I thought you were too scared to handle it? It was because I was too scared to handle it. I kept thinking, 'What will I do if Maki-chan get's hurt?'. If Kotori and Umi hadn't shown up, I probably would've told you to go home and tell my family-"

The raven haired girl hadn't predicted the sudden tears that rushed into her eyes at the thought of her family. God, when was the last time she had thought of her family. Clearly, it hadn't been in a while. Thinking about it now, Nico realized how selfish she had been. She had wanted to complete her dream of being a Pokémon hero, but she hadn't thought of what would happen to her family if something happened to her.

"Nico-chan?"

Maki had moved next to the girl, close enough that they were brushing their bare shoulders together now.

"Ah... nothing."

"I didn't know... that you were as scared as I was."

Maki moved closer. Nico could almost smell her at this point. (She smelled like sweet summer days, probably because they had spent most of their summers together.) "I feel... better now. Knowing that I wasn't weak."

Nico let out a weak chuckle, the sting of thinking of her family still lingering on her mind. "How do you know it wasn't just both of us being weak?"

"Because you're stronger than anybody I could ever think of."

And suddenly Maki pressed her lips to Nico's and all Nico could think of was how nice and soft Maki's lips were and how nice she smelled and how Maki's arms wrapped around her shoulders and how utterly amazing it was to have her crush be the one to kiss her and how-

How she couldn't breathe.

Nico ended the kiss by pulling back suddenly, spluttering for air. Maki was in no better position, gasping deeply. Once they regained their breath, the two girls met eyes and started giggling. Note to selves: breathe the next time you kiss her.

The two of them had a long and emotional talk that night, where it got so deep and long that Weavile and Scizor gave up trying to sleep and had left the room to sleep somewhere else. But ultimately, the two had fallen asleep in each others arms, content in the fact that their love was reciprocated and they were now both not single (read: Nico had ended up asking Maki out because she felt like Maki had done all the work so far).

Thankfully, they were able to wake up the next morning feeling perfectly great.

Great enough to challenge the Lavaridge Town Gym Leader, Flannery.

Getting to the Gym Leader was easy enough. Nico had opted to let her girlfriend take on the young Gym Leader first. Once Maki had received the Heat Badge, it was Nico's and Weavile's turn. Maki wished her luck with a quick kiss on the cheek (making the redhead burn in embarrassment, fitting for the Gym they were in).

Upon entering battle, Weavile easily dispatched Flannery's Numel, Camerupt and Slugma using its various Dark-type moves. However, once her Torkoal came into play, Weavile froze up, taking a Body Slam head on.

"Weavile!" Nico quickly used a Super Potion on her Pokémon. "What's wrong?"

Flannery paused in her orders to allow Nico some time to recover. Weavile let out a quick "Weavile!" to communicate with Nico.

The raven haired girl clenched her teeth. Weavile was traumatized by the Flamethrower from the night they had fought Team Magma. It had only just realized the danger behind the fire. "I know its scary, Weavile, but still... we have to fight through it! If we wanna be the best in the world, we just have to fight like it!"

The Pokémon nodded, seeming to be convinced. "Okay! Now, use Screech!"

Weavile let out a loud sound, and Torkoal's defenses seemed to lower.

"Overheat, Torkoal!" Torkoal opened it's mouth, which began glowing white. A white beam of flames with red-orange fire spiraling around it shot towards Weavile quickly. It seemed like the Pokémon was freezing once more. The blast hit the spot Weavile was standing in head-on. Maki winced in concern for her girlfriend's Pokémon. Nico just smirked.

"Now!" Suddenly, Weavile appeared behind Torkoal, landing a kick onto the back of its head. "Feint Attack!"

The attack made Torkoal faint, meaning Nico had defeated Flannery and received the Heat Badge.

Nico and Maki looked up to the large building that some Team Aqua grunts had told them to stay away from. The couple silently agreed to ignore their warning and enter the building anyway. Once inside, it was obvious why they wanted the pair to stay out of the building. Team Aqua appeared to be up to something mischievous, as per usual.

The duo fought their way up to the leader of this particular group of Team Aqua grunts, who just so happened to be somewhat of a friend to Nico and Maki at this point. She was talking to yet another familiar face, a brown haired researcher who simply tried to keep up with the rapid pace of Rin's words. Nico cleared her throat.

The Team Aqua grunt turned around, sighing in exasperation when she saw who it was. "Oh, man! Nozoboss told me this was going to be an easy mission, nya! I should really stop listening when she says things like that..."

Nico simply gestured for her to leave. "Come on, Rin, you know how this is going to go."

"Nyahaha! I've gotten a lot stronger since we last fought! Scrafty, High Jump Kick!"

The orange Pokémon obliged. With its knee glowing red-orange, the Hoodlum Pokémon leaped into the air and striked at Weavile with its knee. Weavile simply ducked under the attack, causing Scrafty to fall on its knee and hurt itself in the crash. A quick Metal Claw to the back knocked it out.

Rin's eyebrow twitched. "Nyahaha..." The evil laugh was much less convincing the second time. "Y-you think you have me?! W-Well, just wait until-"

"We have a situation here!" A Team Aqua grunt suddenly came running up to Rin, making her sigh inwardly in relief. "Team Magma just passed by! They're headed to Mt. Pyre!"

"Well, we'll just have to go to Mt. Pyre too, nya! Just you wait Team Magnya!"

All the grunts in the building ran off, leaving Hanayo to sigh in relief at being saved once more. "Th-thank you both! If only I could be stronger, I wouldn't have to keep relying on you two to save me..."

Nico shook her head. "You just have to fake it till you make it! Say it with me! 'You won't mess with me this time, Team Aqua! Nico Nico Nii~'"

"Y-You won't mess with m-me this time, T-Team Aqua..."

"Louder!"

"You won't mess with me this t-time, Team Aqua!"

"Once more, with Team Magma this time!"

"You won't mess with me this time, Team Magma!"

"Don't forget the 'Nico Nico Nii~'!"

"You won't mess with me this time, Team Magma! Nico Nico Nii~"

The raven haired girl put her hands on her hips and nodded firmly. Her girlfriend had left at the first sight of her signature catchphrase, preferring to check on the other researchers.

The Gym Leader of Fortree City, Winona, had been a breeze (pun intended) for the power couple. After spending the night in one of the tree houses in Fortree City (where Nico had accidentally angered an invisible Kecleon by sneezing on it), Nico and Maki headed off to Lilycove City, where they found that they couldn't progress unless they got Team Aqua (who were clearly up to something bad) to move out of the way.

Weavile used Surf (don't ask) to get the duo to Mt. Pyre, where they figured Team Aqua would be. Sure enough, at the top of the mountain, they found Team Aqua up to no good, which was sort of a common sight at this point.

After growling at Rin, who simply backed off with arms upraised, Nico walked up to Nozomi. "What's going on here?!"

"Hm? Oh, hello, Nicocchi. Elichi made it here before we did, but we still got what we wanted." The violet haired girl giggled to herself. "Elichi has always been faster than me~ (Nico got the impression that an innuendo she didn't want to investigate was hidden in there) The Red Orb that was here now belongs to us."

She walked up to the duo, Lunatone and Solrock levitating behind her. Nico and Maki braced themselves for a fight. "Now, we can bring our ultimate objective to fruition... Rin-chan! We're pulling out!" The orange haired girl saluted in the background.

"Oh, and congratulations on your relationship! I hope you both the best~"

"Wait-"

"Lunatone, Hypnosis!"

Nico, who had held out a hand to stop the Team Aqua boss, suddenly fell to the ground, asleep.

"Nico-chan!" Maki rushed to her girlfriend's side. Despite knowing that she had only fallen asleep, it was still worrying to see her so helpless. Maki looked up to find Team Aqua gone, leaving no trace that they had ever been here.

"Oh no..." Maki turned to see an old lady approaching her. "Not only the Red Orb, but the Blue Orb... Those must never be separated... What do those girls want with them? Well, in any case, the blonde girl who came here left this behind in her hurry to leave. Maybe you'll find a use for it."

The redhead took the medal-like object that had Team Magma's emblem on it. She picked Nico up bridal style, handing her to Scizor carry in the same way. "We'll make sure to get those orbs back to you, miss."

Once Nico woke up, she found Maki at the foot of her bed, reading a magazine, her cloak and tiara hung on the back of the room's door. After taking a few moments to inwardly pat herself on the back for asking out such a beauty, she let the redhead know she was awake.

"What, no good morning kiss for Everyone's Favorite Trainer~?" Maki looked up from her magazine and rolled her eyes.

Obliging, the girl gave Nico a quick kiss on the cheek. "How do you feel?"

Nico sat up, stretching her back. Scizor handed her a water bottle, which she gulped down greedily. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she replied. "Fine. Where did Nozomi go?"

Maki shook her head. "Don't know. She left before I could follow her. I did some asking around, though, and I figured out that Eli and Team Magma are back at their base, which from what I gathered, is at Mt. Chimney."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Nico leaped out of bed. Or, she tried to. The second her feet touch the ground, she crumpled.

Her girlfriend facepalmed, walking over to help the girl up. "You've been asleep for 2 days, Nico. That's what we're waiting for."

"2 days?! Nozomi and Eli could have done anything! Why didn't you wake me up?"

"We tried." The door to their room opened. Nico looked up from her position on the floor. Umi and Kotori walked through. "That was a powerful Hypnosis. Nothing we tried went through."

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to help the two of you. You guys are strong, but you you might need help to challenge Team Magma."

Umi threw a protein bar at Nico. "We'll leave as soon as you can move again."

Nico kicked open the boulder that was hiding Team Magma's hideout. Weavile vaulted off her shoulder and landed inside the base with a mighty cry.

Maki clocked Nico on the back of her head. "The boulder was already moving, idiot. Come on, let's go."

Storming the Team Magma base was rather easy with four people on the team. However, as they got deeper and deeper into the hideout, Team Magma grunts kept appearing, resulting in the team splitting off into parts once more.

Nico gritted her teeth as Honoka stopped them. "You've gone far enough!"

"Nico-chan, go!"

"Are you crazy?! I can't beat Eli! Weavile would've been smashed last time if you guys hadn't shown up." Weavile shuddered as it remembered its close fate the last time they had fought Team Magma.

"I believe in you! You've gotten stronger since then! Go, Nico-chan! You're the hero around here!" Maki kissed Nico full on the mouth before shoving her past Honoka and ordering Scizor to attack Plusle and Minun.

The raven haired girl cursed the situation before running deeper into the volcano. At the end of the path, she found Eli looking into what appeared to be a statue of a massive Pokémon in a pool of magma in front of her.

"Groudon. Nothing could awaken you from you slumber. Until now." She brought out the Blue Orb from Mt. Pyre. "This Blue Orb is what you wanted, wasn't it? Let its shine awaken you and show me the true extent of your power!"

The Blue Orb began shining, and its blue light began to fill the cave. Nico and Weavile had to shield their eyes from how bright it was. The room began shaking. Slowly, the statue's outer layer of stone began to chip away, and it began walking towards Eli and Nico, intensifying the earthquakes. Suddenly, it gave a tremendous roar, leaping through the ceiling of the cave.

"Groudon! What's wrong? Where have you gone?!" As Eli looked around to see where the legendary Pokémon had gone, Emboar noticed Nico, nudging Eli and gesturing to the raven haired girl. The blonde's eyes narrowed.

"Was it you? Did you do something to make Groudon leave?!" Eli growled in anger. "Emboar!"

Emboar leaped at Weavile while its body was cloaked in fire. Weavile easily dodged the attack. "Weavile, Strength!"

Weavile's body became surrounded by a white aura, and it picked up Emboar, who roared in protest, throwing it across the cave, where it smashed into a wall.

"Tch! Emboar, Flare Blitz!"

Emboar's body became cloaked in red flames. It launched itself at Weavile, who again dodged, but much more narrowly this time. "Use Fury Swipes!"

Weavile's glowing claws swiped at the pig-like Pokémon several times. Eli smirked.

"Didn't you learn your lesson from last time? Flamethrower!"

The flames that spewed from Emboar's mouth hit Weavile straight on. Nico laughed.

"Joke's on you! I did learn me lesson! Feint Attack!" Eli's eyes widened in shock.

Weavile suddenly appeared directly in fron of Emboar, kicking it straight in the face. "Now, Weavile! Finish it off with Surf!"

"Why does your Dark Pokémon know Surf?!"

"Blame the Pokémon game makers! Prepare to get styled on!"

Weavile created a massive wave, riding on it with its arms outstretched in the stereotypical surfer fashion. Its Blackglasses from Mauville's Game Center only added to the cool look.

The wave crashed into Emboar at full power, knocking it out, and continuing on through the cave, pushing Eli against the wall behind her.

Eli growled, recalling Emboar into its Pokéball. "You've gotten stronger... No matter. What is important is where Groudon went. There must be some reason it fled. With Groudon gone, we don't need this volcano anymore. I'm going to go look for Groudon, so this is where we part!"

With Team Magma on the retreat, Nico's friends were free to run up to her. Maki hugged her tightly, quickly pecking her on the lips before embracing her again. Weavile hopped on her shoulder, and the two imps high fived cheerfully.

"What was that earthquake earlier, Nico-chan?"

The raven haired girl quickly relayed all that had occurred since she had arrived at Eli's location.

"Groundon, hm...?" Umi tried to think of where she had heard the name of that Pokémon before.

"Well, we'll just have to leave it alone for now." Kotori affectionately patted Altaria's head, feeding it a Pokéblock for its hard work in fighting Team Magma. "Right now, we should just be happy all of us got out of that unscathed."

Nico seemed to remember something. "Hey... what happened to Nozomi?"

All members of the party had forgotten about the Team Aqua leader.

"Tch! Are we going to have to fight her so soon after taking out Eli?" All of them were exhausted. Not a single Pokémon or Trainer had any energy left in their body. Nico dropped to the ground. It seemed impossible to be able to stand up against both Teams at the same time.

"...We have no choice. Whatever Nozomi wants to do has to be stopped."

Nico looked up at her girlfriend. The determined spark in her eyes surprised Nico.

"We're the only ones who can stop her now. Team Magma's too busy looking for Groudon, and there's no way we can ask anybody else to fight Team Aqua. I understand that you're all tired. I... I'm tired too. But..."

Maki looked each of them in the eyes. "...We have to fight Team Aqua. Because-"

She raised a fist into the air. "-We are heroes!"

"...Embarrassing..."

Nico rolled her eyes. "For the last time, Maki-chan, we all thought it was really cool."

Team Nico was on Umi's boat, heading straight for Team Aqua's base. All the girls were sitting down and attempting to gain as much energy back as they could before they reached the hideout.

"But... 'We are heroes?'" Maki shuddered. "I can't believe I said that."

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" It certainly had. The speech had caused all of the Trainers and Pokémon to feel energized again, and the group set out for Team Aqua's hideout immediately.

Upon entering the cave in the ocean outside of Lilycove City, Nico and Weavile leaped cleanly off the bow (front) of Umi's boat, landing gracefully on the ground in the cave leading to Nozomi's secret base.

"This really isn't an action movie, Nico-chan."

Two Team Aqua grunts were blocking the entrance to the base. After speaking with them one-by-one, Nico figured out that Nozomi had gone to Slateport City to steal a submarine.

Umi's boat made it to the port town in record time.

Running to the Shipyard as quickly as possible, Team Nico found Capt. Stern talking to an interviewer, who promptly finished the interview and left with her cameraman. Stern was telling them about a Pokémon they had found at the bottom of Route 128's ocean portion, which they believed was the habitat of a Pokémon long thought to be extinct. Suddenly, a voice came from inside the Harbor.

"Nyahaha! We'll be taking your submarine now, Capt. Stern!"

"Your objections are meaningless! Just watch and learn what Team Aqua has planned!"

Rushing into the harbor, Team Nico found Nozomi and Rin in front of Stern's submarine. "Oh, Nicocchi! How tenacious of you to track us here! Unfortunately, nobody can stop us now! Unless... you were to find our hideout in Lilycove City."

Rin and Nozomi jumped into the submarine, which promptly zoomed off. "Quick, back to the Peeko!"

Once Team Nico hopped on board Umi's boat, the fisherwoman told everybody to take a seat. She turned the key in the ignition. Nothing happened.

"...Umi-chan?"

"I... think I ran out of fuel."

After getting motor oil from the Shipyard in Slateport, Team Nico reentered the hideout of Team Aqua, and Nico performed her entrance once more.

Fighting their way through the base was as simple as fighting through Team Magma's base. This time, however, they all reached the end, encountering Rin, who was guarding the submarine.

"Nyahaha! You'll never get past me!"

Nico gestured for her to stand aside. Rin obliged.

However, before Team Nico could stop the submarine, it left the port, leaving Team Nico to try and figure out where Nozomi was going. Luckily, Nico remembered that Stern had said something about Route 128 containing an ancient Pokémon.

Once they arrived at the Route, however, they figured out that the only way to get to where Nozomi had gone was to use the move Dive, which Umi's Milotic could learn, if they had the HM for it. But even if they did have the HM, Dive couldn't be used outside of battle without the Mind Badge, which belonged to the Mossdeep Gym Leaders, Tate and Liza.

The twins were easily stomped straight into the ground by Weavile's Dark type moves in no more than a half hour. With the Mind Badge in hand, all that was left was the HM for Dive.

With no other option, Team Nico was forced to scour Mossdeep City in an attempt to find the Hidden Machine. In her searching, though, Nico stumbled upon a large number of Team Magma grunts, led by none other than Eli herself. Calling up her friends, Nico tailed the gang to their destination, the Mossdeep Space Center.

Once Team Nico arrived, the Trainers fought all the Team Magma grunts on the ground floor, allowing them access to the second floor of the Space Center, where they encountered a large group of grunts, who they easily fought off.

They encountered Honoka and Eli, who was talking to a very familiar researcher, telling her about Team Magma's plans. "Without Groudon, Mt. Chimney is useless. We intend to use the fuel to make the volcano erupt!"

"That literally makes no sense," Nico whispered to Maki, who nodded in agreement.

"Wh-what?! I-I can't let you do that! You won't mess with me this time, Team Magma!" Nico shed a silent tear of pride.

"Yeah! Let's get 'em, Hanayo!"

Eli growled. "You really need to stop interfering. Emboar, Sunny Day!"

The Pokémon became shrouded in white light, before it raised its arms to the sky. Sharp light began streaming from the windows.

"Weavile, use Surf!"

A stylish wave appeared once more, hitting Emboar head-on. However, the reduced power from Sunny Day ensured that Emboar was relatively unscathed.

"What the- WE ARE INSIDE A BUILDING! WITH COMPUTERS ALL AROUND US! HOW DOES THAT WORK?!"

"Plusle, Minun, both of you, Thunder!" Both Cheering Pokémon's body became shrouded in electricity, before it shot out at Weavile. The attack was easily dodged by the impish Pokémon, both due to its low accuracy and the even lower accuracy from Sunny Day.

"Bellossom, Solar Beam!"

The Flower Pokémon gathered sunlight into the flowers on its head instantly due to the weather condition. A massive beam of white energy shot out at the enemy Pokémon, knocking them all out easily.

Eli sunk to the floor in defeat. "We failed to make the volcano erupt... We failed to control Groudon after we had awoken it... Is our effort to expand the land mass misguided? If we... Team Magma are wrong... then might Nozomi's and Team Aqua's goal to expand the sea be equally misguided?"

The blonde was helped to her feet by Honoka. "...We'll give up on the fuel. We have more important things we must examine."

Team Magma promptly left the Space Center.

Nico high fived Hanayo cheerfully. Maki twirled a bit of her hair on a finger worriedly. "That's all well and good, but we still don't have a means to get to the bottom of Route 128."

Hanayo perked up when she heard this. "Do you need the HM for Dive? Well... you've all done so much for me... Take this!" She took a HM out of her pocket, handing it over to a stunned Nico.

Once they dived underneath the water, Team Nico (with the sudden addition of Hanayo) found the submarine Team Aqua had stolen from Stern. Nico and Weavile rocketed out of the water at full speed, twirling gracefully into the air before they landed coolly on the ground in front of a cave opening surrounded by mountains.

With no time to waste, Team Nico rushed in, got split up, Nico and Maki made out before separating, etc. You know the drill.

Nico approached the end of the cave cautiously, expecting to find Nozomi anywhere. What she didn't (and should have, really) expect was another massive statue of an ancient Pokémon.

"Hold it right there, unless you want a 'washi washi' attack~" Nozomi appeared from the pathway behind Nico, her Meteorite Pokémon levitating behind her. "Behold! See how beautiful the sleeping form of the ancient Pokémon Kyogre is? It may not be as beautiful as Elichi, but it's a fairly solid second."

"We've waited so long for this day to come. It surprises me that you've managed to chase me this far, Nicocchi, but for the realization of my dream... I'm afraid you must disappear now! Lunatone, Solrock, use Stone Edge, now!"

Both Pokémon surrounded themselves with multiple blue rings, which turned white and formed into chunks of rock. Finally, their eyes both glowed bright red, and the stones shot at Weavile.

Weavile danced gracefully in between each rock, eventually ending up unscathed. "Weavile, Night Slash on Lunatone!"

Nico's Pokémon's claws turned dark purple and it leaped at Lunatone, slashing deeply into it, landing a critical hit and knocking Lunatone out.

"Solrock, use Flamethrower!"

A stream of fire came darting forth from the top rock on its head, seeming to hit Weavile straight on. Nozomi wasn't fooled, however. "Reflect, now!"

Feint Attack bounced off the orange reflective wall that surrounded Solrock. Nico grinned. "That won't protect you from everything! Weavile, Dark Pulse!"

A beam of dark circles came spiraling out of Weavile's outstretched claws, hitting Solrock directly and knocking it out.

With the battle over, Nozomi laughed gracefully. "I commend you, Nicocchi! You are truly gifted. However, I'm afraid you won't be able to stop me now."

She took out the Red Orb from her bag. "With this, I can make Kyogre-" The orb suddenly began shining by itself.

Both Nozomi and Nico turned to the sleeping Pokémon as red light began to fill the cave. Another earthquake shook the cave as the stone began to melt away from Kyogre, who began swimming towards the stunned Trainers. With a mighty roar, it dove beneath the pool of water it had been in.

"What?! I didn't do anything, though!" Nozomi protested. "The Red Orb... why... Where did Kyogre go?!"

Her Match Call began ringing. She answered. Rin's voice came through loud and clear. "Heavy rain, hm? Well, that was our goal, after all. Awaking Kyogre was meant to help realize Team Aqua's vision of expanding the sea."

Rin's panicked voice intensified. "Harder than we'd imagined?! You're in danger?! Oh no... Keep your position and monitor the situation."

Suddenly, Eli came storming in, fuming. Honoka trailed behind her, running to keep up with her boss. "Nozomi!"

The purple haired girl giggled nervously. "Oh Elichi~ So forward~"

"Now's not the time for that! What have you done!? You've awoken Kyogre, and now, what will happen to the world if this rain keeps up forever?!" The blonde was in no mood for Nozomi's flirting.

"Elichi, didn't you try and awaken Groudon?" Eli had the decency to blush. "This Red Orb should allow me to control Kyogre..."

"That doesn't matter now! Come out and see if what you've done is what you desired." She spotted Nico in the background. "Nico! You come too!"

All nine girls stood out of the diving point, shielding their eyes from the pouring rain.

"What... what is this wretched scene..." Nozomi looked around in disbelief. "I... I only wanted..."

"Do you understand now, Nozomi?" Eli's voice was no less strict than it had been in the cave, but she was no longer full of fury. "Do you see how disastrous our dreams turned out to be?"

The pouring rain suddenly stopped, making the girls uncover their eyes and look upwards. In its place came blinding, burning sunlight, forcing the girls to shield themselves once more.

"We have to stop this..." Eli's voice went soft. She approached Nozomi and took her hand gently. "...together."

The blonde turned to the others. "I know I have no right to be critical of Nozomi... but the way things are now, we humans can't do anything. However, we also can't sit by and watch helplessly. The responsibility to fix this belongs to Nozomi and me."

She shook her head. "This is unbelievable. The power of those ancient Pokémon has completely upset the balance of nature. Come on!"

Team Magma and Team Aqua took off together.

Hanayo approached Nico. "As a researcher... this shouldn't be possible. But a huge rain cloud is spreading from over Sootopolis City. If we want answers, that's where we'll have to go."

"This is fucking CRAZY!" Nico screamed over the roars of Groudon and Kyogre. On Team Nico's way back to Sootopolis City, the girls had encountered a sight that would go down in history. The two ancient Pokémon, Groudon and Kyogre, were fighting each other with all their might in front of the mystical city.

Hanayo was the first to speak. "Ignore them for now! We have to get to Sootopolis!"

Umi gritted her teeth and obliged. Expertly controlling her vessel around the massive waves that stemmed from the ancient Pokémons' fight, the fisherwoman finally made it to the city in question.

The brown haired researcher instantly grabbed Nico's arm and pulled her into the city. "There's someone you need to see!"

Pulling the raven haired girl through the stony city was made difficult by the tremors in the earth caused by the thundering roars from the Pokémon. Eventually, the two ended up in front of a cave entrance leading to the underground portion of Sootopolis.

"Inside here, you'll find someone named Tsubasa. I think you have what's needed to help him."

Descending through the cave was slightly unnerving, as dust kept falling from the ceiling with each cry of the fighting juggernauts. Still, the cave was beautiful, each wall encrusted with gleaming gems, curtained from view by a thick layer of fog.

The brown haired girl who was staring into the crater in the middle of the cave turned around at the sound of Nico's approaching footsteps. "Ah, so you are Nico, yes? My friends and I enjoy the fan mail you've sent us for some time."

Nico turned red. She had forgotten, in her haste to save the world, exactly what the name Tsubasa meant to her. To the raven haired girl, Kira Tsubasa was the best Trainer in the world. The only female Pokémon Champion, who was no older than Nico herself, had been the recipient of letters from Nico since she had still been Sootopolis' Gym Leader.

"But enough of that. Groudon and Kyogre, the two Pokémon wreaking havoc here, are considered to be super-ancient Pokémon. But there should be one more somewhere... Somewhere, there is a third, named Rayquaza. In the past, It was Rayquaza that calmed the two fighters. But... where could it be?"

"...The Sky Pillar?"

Tsubasa brightened up immediately. "That's it! It must be there! Come on, Nico, we don't have anytime to waste!"

Nico climbed the last set of stairs at the top of the Sky Pillar. Resting in front of her was a large green serpent-like Pokémon, the Sky High Pokémon Rayquaza.

The second she approached the majestic creature, its eyes snapped open, making Nico jump back in fright, shrieking. It raised its head and gave a mighty cry, forcing the Trainer to cover her ears. It took off into the sky quickly, heading in the direction of Sootopolis City.

Once she returned to the mystic place, she found Tsubasa and all her friends, including both gang bosses, watching the two fighting Pokémon. Suddenly, the storm clouds covering the battle parted, and a green light shined through. Rayquaza descended from the heavens, its serpentine body soaring downwards to the fight. Coming to a stop in between the two super-ancient Pokémon, it coiled its body into its usual position and let out a tremendous roar. The two combatants ceased their fighting and began to slowly sink back into the ocean.

With its task done, Rayquaza soared off into the sky once more to return to its slumber on top of the Sky Pillar.

It took only a few seconds before the thunderous cheering began.

With the threat of the end of the world averted, the nine girls who had been at the forefront of the crisis had no choice but to throw a massive party in Sootopolis City. A feast of food was laid out for the heroes, and there was even a table of Pokéblocks for all the Pokémon.

Nozomi and Eli got caught trying to have sex in the bathroom, Rin finally got Hanayo's number, and Nico and Maki just sat at the back of the party and made out half the time (much to Umi's charin).

The light and happy atmosphere was maintained well into the evening. Only when Honoka had passed out in the Pokémon Center, where the party was held, did Maki turn to Nico and ask the question that was at the forefront of her mind. "Nico-chan... what about the Pokémon League?"

The raven haired girl patted Weavile's head as it slept peacefully on her lap, Blackglasses askew. "What about it?"

"Will you challenge them?" Maki's voice and face remained impassive while she asked the question.

"Hm..." Nico leaned back, putting her feet onto the tabletop and closing her eyes with a deep sigh of satisfaction. "Nah."

Maki could only reduce her celebration to a sigh of relief. "Wasn't that always your dream, though?"

"Not really." Nico looked around the party. Nozomi and Eli cuddled quietly in a corner, and Rin and Hanayo laid on their backs, the orange haired girl listening happily as Hanayo went on and on about the stars. Kotori caught her eye and gave her a big grin, winking as she stroked Peeko, who had grown to adore the ashen haired girl after she spent so much time with Umi.

"My dream was really to help people with my Pokémon. And well..." She chuckled in amusement. "Don't you think saving the world counts as helping people? I think I'm done travelling for now. If you want-" She cut herself off.

Maki blinked in confusion, sitting upright in her seat and turning to Nico to look her in the eyes. "If I want...?"

"...We could... settle down somewhere together?"

The redhead's eyes softened. She kissed Nico on the cheek softly, then nuzzled into her neck comfortably. "I know just the place."

"No, Maki, we are not living in Slateport just so you can buy tomatoes at the market every morning!"

"For the last time, that's not the reason I wan't to stay here!"

Weavile simply took off his Blackglasses and winked at nobody in particular.

DAMN THAT WAS LONG. Dedicated to digital-skyline on tumblr for the Love Live! Valentine's/White Day Secret Exchange! It was really fun to write this! I really enjoyed it! Yayy!