Oh, you're going already?

"Nexus, after Noivern. Get ready to change directions fast. Go for a Zen Headbutt."

The beast rose into the sky after Noivern. The dragon lunged at Nexus, trying for a Super Fang, but this time, Nexus suddenly dropped, delivering his attack to Noivern’s underside. She recoiled, then flew a loop to get behind Nexus. She let out a roar and a gout of flame. 

Nexus forced himself through the flame, and threw his fist into her face. His Meteor Mash knocked her back. Nexus flew after her, and while she recovered, grabbed her wing and dropped. Unable to free herself from Nexus’s steel grip, Noivern was pulled back down to the desert, slamming into the ground on her back. She struggled in his grip, and let out a pulse, but to no avail. Nexus hit her with Hammer Arm, and she was out.

Straightening one of his cuffs, Grimsley resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I haven’t been lucky enough to find anyone that’s captured my attention for very long. I’d rather not waste my time on anything uninteresting.” 

He briefly considered sidestepping and ignoring her but once she started chewing him out Grimsley sighed internally and prepared for a long talk. Her tirade against him was nothing new, and he listened through it with polite disinterest. 

"Glad I could leave such a strong impression on you. But other arrogant men? I thought I was special." 

Shrugging, he didn’t defend himself. Condescending? Probably. Supercilious? Sure. Pompous? Absolutely.  

Rising from his seat, Grimsley gave a small nod to Drasna. “Well. I can’t see this conversation going anywhere. So I’ll be taking my leave.”

"Sorry to intrude on your lunch like this. Perhaps out next meeting will be one with more.. purpose." 

He’d snapped the last part out. Drumming his fingers on the table, Grimsley briefly considered apologizing. But seeing as the other already thought he was part of a “boisterous crowd of youngsters,” he quickly dropped the idea.

"But I suppose watching out for others isn't everyone's cup of tea."

Drumming her fingers on the table for a moment, she spoke slowly as she answered Grimsley's next question.  "I disagree with at least two of those.  I don't snoop, I just observe.  I've never dug around to find information.  You'd be surprised what you could learn if you only paid attention."  Resting her hands in her lap, Drasna continued.  "And I don't judge as you suggested."

But why would a program even change based on that? It shouldn’t make a difference. But if they programmed it to have emotions, and act like an animal, at the very least, how is that different than the real thing for us stuck in here?

He cleared his throat. Maybe he wasn’t ready to believe that Pokemon in the game had emotions, but maybe it was time to start considering it. 

"Maybe you’re right Drasna. It can’t hurt me to care for my Pokemon more than I have been. I am not ready to call this training finished yet though. I want to be sure. IS that okay with you?"

The waitress passed by again, dropping off a plate of checkerboard cookies. He winked in thanks, but otherwise left the food untouched. 

"From what I’ve gathered from the summits, we take a kill count, bounce some ideas for breaking out and call it a day." Shrugging, Grimsley leaned back in his chair. "There are better ways to spend the day." 

"But as for the bright lights, I do like things that shine." 

"Oh, it's not just you dear.  I keep tabs on almost everyone in the E4.  It's not for any particular reason..."  Drasna trailed off.  She was skeptical when it came to most E4 members.  If someone had so much as a toe out of line she generally was the first to say something about it.  "Well, you can never be too careful.  This game has taken a toll on everyone."  To cover up a frown she took another solemn sip of tea.

"Besides, you're all so young.  Whoever thought it was a good idea to let such a boisterous crowd of youngsters control this game was crazy.  i think some of you need a watchful eye to keep you out of trouble."  Drasna let out a small laugh, although it sounded forced. 

But this is the first time Nexus has actually paid you any mind! This could be the biggest breakthrough I’ve had yet! Is it worth risking my life for? Can I trust Nexus to win? He can’t get in the air fast enough to knock out Noivern.

Stevens thoughts were racing. He had no time to reason it out. He either had to win this now, or call back Nexus. The choice was obvious: call back Nexus.

"Nexus, Meteor Mash that boulder at Noivern!" Steven commanded.

Nexus slammed two of his claws into the boulder, sending it flying into the air. The boulder didn’t move anywhere near fast enough to be hard to dodge. Noivern cut off its attack to swoop around the rock, but was greeted with a steel scowl. 

Nexus slammed into her with Zen Headbutt, knocking her away again, but this time he was ready. He flew after her, and grabbed her back and one of her wings, twisting it back before drawing back and delivering a Meteor Mash, sending her hurtling into the ground. 

By the time Nexus returned to the ground, Steven already had a Full Restore out and was spraying him down. He placed his hand on Nexus’s side to steady himself, and realized he had been shaking. It had been a long time he had been that close to whiting out. 

"Although I suppose the real question is whether or not he learned his lesson.  I'm going to be honest, he's quite possibly the toughest Pokémon I've ever attempted to help train."  She gave Steven a sly look.  "You know Nexus may have gotten his hardheadedness from you.  You believe me now don't you?  The bond between trainer and Pokémon?  I'm aware you were just amusing me before."

In no mood for food, he nonetheless entered a cafe. Might as well kill some time while he was here. 

His entrance was punctuated by a sharp bell, and a few heads turned towards his direction. A few girls seated close to the door seemed to recognize him, and began to whisper excitedly among themselves.

Passing by the gossiping girls, Grimsley offered them a sly smile as he passed by. No harm in offering empty promises. 

He’d made his way to the counter and was about to order when one of the patrons addressed him directly. 

"Grimsley, is that you?"

Turning to see who’d called him, the first thing he noticed were unnecessarily large claws decorating the woman’s accessories. Coupled with a good natured smile, Grimsley had the slightest suspicion that she was Drasna, one of the oldest, and possibly most formidable member of the Elite Four. 

Blindly stabbing at an item on the menu, he made his way over to the other Elite’s table. 

"Fancy meeting you here. Unova’s a bit out of your way." 

Pulling up a chair, he took a seat across from Drasna.

"I hope you don't find this to be rude, but I find it a little odd to see you out and about like this."  Drasna cocked her head to the side.  "You rarely come to our E4 and Champion meetings, and we don't hold them that often.  When you do come you seem rather...aloof."  She ripped open a packet of sugar and absentmindedly stirred it into her tea.  "Nimbasa City with the bright lights and busy streets."  Tapping the spoon against the tea cup she placed it on the saucer.  "It doesn't seem like your 'scene'."  She put air quotes around the last word.

Shutting the book in his hand and listening to the soft puff of air escaping between the crisp pages, Grimsley set aside the latest addition to Shauntal’s growing collection of self authored literature.  The characters seemed to vaguely resemble gym leaders from around the different regions. But it had to be coincidence. Either way, between the dim lighting in the room and the oddly descriptive scenes of copulation in the book, he needed frequent breaks to be able to skim through enough of the story to convince Shauntal that he had indeed actually read the book.

Picking up a few of the other pieces that she’d sent him, Grimsley stepped on the glowing green panel located a few feet from the couch he’d been lounging on for most of the day. No trainers had trickled in, so now seemed a good a time as any to finally return Shauntal’s work.

The outside light was blinding at first, and he had to shield himself with his hand before his eyes adjusted.

 He opted out of hand delivering the books, settling for leaving them on the stairs that lead up to Shauntal’s room. That way he’d also be able to avoid the particularly racy content of the last few stories. Not that he minded the content. He just had an odd suspicion that the title character was more or less based of him. A problem for another day.

It was nearly lunch, and Drasna wanted to check out one of the small cafés that surrounded the main attractions.  After seating herself and ordering a light lunch she drifted off momentarily, planning out the training regimen for the next Pokémon contest she would be attending.  The bell on the cafés door rung, and the sound snatched her attention.  A rather gloomy looking young man slunk into the café.  Some girls nearby chittered, giggling and elbowing each other.

He looked vaguely familiar.  Something about his pants...they were awful pants really.  Almost as if he were trying to emulate the look like a Greninja, but not fully committing to it.  But really the colors reminded her of roulette boards at casinos.  Ah!  Of course, how could I forget.  Who else would wear such conflicting colors.

"Nexus, Noivern! Icarus, protect! Block thunderbolt! Dozer, Metal Burst! Lyse, use Confuse Ray on Altaria. Cuttles, Metal Claw!"

Every command was clipped. Every word was out of his mouth as soon as he could think it.

Nexus took the Air Slash and blasted through it to attack Noivern. Icarus took the brunt of the attack, then flew forward to deliver a Steel Wing. Dozer had most of his health depleted by Druddigon, making Metal Burst powerful enough to take him out. Dozer was in no condition to continue battling after that hit. 

Cuttles’ attack knocked Altaria off of Drasna’s arm. The two fossil pokemon took up positions on either side of the dragon. Now Steven had a little more time to think things through. 

Dozer and Druddigon are both out. Nexus can hold his own for a while agains Noivern. Lyse and Cuttles are the ones who’ll need the most instruction here. But the point of this is to get Nexus to listen. He hasn’t caught Noivern yet. Let’s change targets.

"Icarus, Steel Wing on Noivern. Nexus, I need you to take on Altaria. Cuttles, Ancient Power on Dragalge, Lyse, confuse him too!"

Nexus was barreling towards Altaria, who was busy fluffing herself up with Cotton Guard again.  Noivern turned her attention to the Lileep and Anorith, both of whom were drunkingly moving across the battle field to help Nexus.  She put them out of their misery with another dose of Dragon Pulse.  Nexus, who apparently realized the gravity of the situation, listened to Steven for once and crashed into Altaria with Zen Headbutt.

Altaria croaked weakly and hit the Metagross with a weak Moonblast, dealing only a small amount of damage.  Nexus spent no time on ending her with another round of Zen Headbutt.  Drasna and Steven were both down to their last, and most powerful, Pokémon.  Noivern eyed Nexus cautiously and glanced at her trainer.  Nexus appeared to be readying himself to take to the air like in previous battled but hesitated.

He looked towards Steven before stamping his large feet into the ground and blasting Noivern with Meteor Mash.  Noivern held on and dived towards Nexus to half his HP with Super Fang before hitting him with Dragon Pulse on her way back up.  Both of the Pokémon were on their last leg; Nexus took a step back and looked back at his trainer for direction, a desperate look in his eyes when he realized Drasna wasn't going to back down.

Steven landed in the clearing they had begun their training the day before. There were no scars from their battles. Only sand, wind and rocks. Taking shelter from the sun in the shade of a boulder, he scanned the area. No signs of Drasna. No signs of anyone. Only him and the howl of the wind. 

Five minutes trudged away into the wind, then ten, then fifteen. 

Still no Drasna… No reason to stand around doing nothing.

Figuring she had kept Steven waiting long enough she released Noivern and and hopped on her back.  The pair soared across the seemingly endless desert before making the descent as Stevens silhouette appeared in the distance.  It appeared he had let all his Pokémon out already.  Drasna opened up her menu to pull out the PokéBalls for the other three members of her team.  Clicking open all three at the same time, the Pokémon dropped to the ground near Steven's Skarmory and Lileep.

Noivern swooped down, letting Drasna drop a few feet to the ground.  She straightened out her skirt and held out her arm for Altaria to perch upon.

"It appears I'm a bit late.  I suppose I should get this show on the road then."  Without another word she simply extended her free arm and pointed towards Steven's Pokémon.  Her four Pokémon immediately cross crossed paths and began their attack.

Steven sighed. He was impatient to get his pokemon under control, but he could not deny that if they went at it too hard, they would both burn out. In the meantime, he could spend his time in Kalos working on building connections for the Devon Corporation. It would at least make up for some of the time he was otherwise losing.

Steven stopped himself. It would be rude of him to leave Drasna, but he wasn’t sure if she meant to go her own way now either. He did enjoy her company, but he couldn’t afford to pass up the opportunities that being in Kalos provided.

That one.

He continued looking them over before returning his eyes to the blue stone again and reading its label. Metagrossite. He knew Dozer could mega evolve, but he didn’t see a similar stone in the selection. He gave himself a few mote moments to appreciate the mega stones before telling the player he had made his selection. He unlocked the case, a pulled out the metagrossite, dropping it into a small velvet pouch before handing it to Steven.

He brought it out to the main counter, and made his purchase. Before collecting Drasna to leave. 

The shop they were headed to wasn’t anything that spectacular from the outside either. A sign read Stone Emporium, the display in the window only showing off a couple of evolution stones, and some worthless quartz-like crystals. In truth, Steven thought the store looked uninteresting from the outside. 

Inside, however, was a different matter. Shelves were lined with items, some full sized, some in cases that could be carried. There was a row of geodes of various sizes, one of different kinds of opal and bismuth. impossible chunks of rubies, sapphires and emeralds. One shelf held boxes with pictures of stalagmites and stalactites, a few boulders. You could buy a cave and carry it in your pocket.

Steven had to struggle to keep his composure and not run to the displays. There were so many things here he could add to his collection! He could have his own personal stalactites in his home!. 

Not now! You’re here on business Steven! Souvenirs can wait until later.

"I don't see the harm in picking up one or two superfluous souvenirs.  After all, what's the point in coming to the stone capital region without grabbing a few sparkling gems?"  Drasna didn't have much of a reason to purchase stones herself, but occasionally she perused their collection when she had spare time.