The day went by as planned, though I dialed down the training so we wouldn’t be exhausted for tonight, and I added a flight with Sahara on Route 16 just to test the new gear. It went swimmingly, but the flight didn’t last long because Sahara was eager to get back to training. After yesterday’s gravity field, she became very interested in training in a full force Gravity field. I was fine with it, but limited it for today because we had to fly to route 14 tonight and I didn’t want the team to be too tired.

  Thoron was also eager to keep practicing his new moves, and to try them out against someone outside of our team, so I promised him that we’d take a swing at the Battle Chateau before we left Kalos.

  Soon it was time to pack up and head for the Dendemille Theater. There were extra Gogoat taxis out today to accommodate for the influx of people here to watch the show, so I took one over.

  The theater building was absolutely massive, and extra fancy with gold stuff and marbled floors all over.

  Despite us getting there an hour early, there were a ton of people hanging out in the lobby. I’d never been to any big events like this before so I wasn’t too sure what to do or where to go, and there weren't any obvious signs telling people where to go either. So I had to go ask one of the front desk people, who were kinda busy with phone calls and answering other people’s questions.

  “Um, excuse me, do you know where–” I was cut off as the lady I asked pointed to the left, and she replied, “Down that hall, first door on your left.”

  “Uh, thanks.” I backed away and followed her directions down a hallway that lead to the backstage waiting area where thirty to forty girls, their Pokemon, security, and some theater staff were hanging out and doing their own thing.

  “uhh, this doesn't look like the seating section.” Winnie observed.

  I pursed my lips, “Yeah, I think we might’ve been mistaken for performers.”

  “Ooo, the backstage area, let’s check it out!” Banette whispered from my shadow.

  “i dunno, it doesn’t look very interesting.” Winnie commented.

  I also didn’t wanna get kicked out for going where I wasn’t supposed to be, but before I could leave, Rotom flew out of my bag and into the waiting room to scan all the new Pokemon/shinies that he’d never recorded before. So I did my best to act like I was supposed to be there and speed walked over to Rotom to grab the phone ghost.

  It dodged my first few attempts, but I gave the phone ghost my best, ‘you better behave or else’ look I could as I growled, “Dude, not cool.” So with a sassy sigh, Rotom rolled its eyes and returned to my pocket.

  “Woah! Look at that Carbink!” Banette exclaimed, poking her head out of my shadow and pointing at this shiny Carbink that looked like it was made out of expertly polished obsidian and blue diamonds.

  “I think the gold bird is cooler.” Haunter said, pointing out a lustrous looking shiny Altaria that was perched precariously on its trainer’s head.

  “Yeah, they’re pretty cool.” I replied, Thoron will look ten times cooler when he evolves. Shiny Braviary, both Hisuan and Unovan are underrated.

  “that slurpuff is giving off a chocolate smell instead of the berry smell they usually give off.” Winnie said, licking his lips. “you guys think it tastes different from a normal slurpuff?”

  I flicked his head, “No, and leave it.”

  “i was just asking,” Winnie said defensively.

  On my way back towards the exit and I overheard some girls trying to predict their preliminary results from earlier that day. Preliminaries, from would I could gather, was a competition before the showcase where coordinators would do a performance or something in front of a panel of judges. Those who passed would get a monetary reward and get to perform in the Showcase in the evening, where they would have a chance at earning a Princess Key.

  Being the nosy mf I am, I slowed down a bit to eavesdrop on a heated conversation between two coordinators, one girl was telling her friend that she was pretty sure she wasn’t gonna get in. Showcases hosted by Monsieur Pierre or Madame Louise were notoriously hard to get into. The other girl was quick to come to Pierre’s defense, “At least Pierre will be nice about giving advice. Louise will tell you to your face every small thing that’s wrong with your face and why you suck.”

  Then the first girl defended Louise, “Louise is honest, she’s not gonna sugarcoat things for you, and she tells you exactly how to improve.”

  “She doesn’t need to make people cry to do that.” Then they got too far away for me to hear any more of their conversation, so I took that as a cue to leave and find where the actual seating area was.

  After getting back to the lobby, we looked around a bit and found the ticket check where I got three glow casters (1 for each seat I bought). Once we got to our seats, I handed the extra glow casters to Winnie and Lampent. A bunch of the smaller ghosts crowded onto the extra spaces in our seats to watch. Haunter, Banette, and Mismagius had to settle with watching from a shadow a bit further up so they wouldn’t block people’s views.

  While we were waiting, I got Rotom out and searched up who Pierre and Louise were cause I didn’t recognize either name.

  Monsieur Pierre was a retired coordinator, blond hair, blue eyes, and a sharp goatee. Bro could totally be a model if he wasn’t already. He was extremely famous, especially in his home region of Kalos, and a few years ago he was considered the only coordinator who could rival Wallace. Unfortunately he got into an accident, and the resulting injuries made him decide to retire. Nowadays he worked to organize and host Pokemon Showcases alongside a bunch of other retired famous coordinators. The only reason I even recognized him was because of the outfit, it was pretty iconic.

  Madame Louise was the reigning Kalos queen for a decade, as well as the protege of the lady who spearheaded women’s rights in Kalos using Pokemon Showcases. She retired after being defeated by her own protege, Palermo, and became a judge and host for showcases today. Despite having completely white hair and being in her eighties, she still had a stunningly beautiful and intimidating femme fatal vibe that she possessed in her youth, just in a more classy way due to her preference for more old fashioned dress styles. It was also kinda cute seeing how this tough looking lady always made sure to wear jewelry and clothes matched the eyes and coat colors of her Liepard (which was also usually decked out in fancy shit).

  There were a few other hosts for Pokemon Showcases, but these two were the most well known and beloved, and luckily for us today’s show would be hosted by Pierre.

  While the audience slowly filled up, the holograms displayed a big digital clock in the air.

  A few musicians and their Pokemon did a few performances to entertain people while we were waiting for the show to start. There was a guy with a mini orchestra of Kricketune, a lady who played the piano while her Primarina sang, and a teen girl who conducted a choir of Chatot.

  The light darkened five minutes before the show started, and a bunch of giant holo projection screens opened up with reminders on theater etiquette. Stay off phones, no flash photography because it can distract performers and it’s dangerous, in case of an emergency, this is where the exits are, etc.

  Then it switched to showing people how to use glow casters to vote for our favorite contestant for each round, which required pressing the name on the glow caster’s handle screen of whomever we were voting for.

  Then the screens displayed the message, Thank you for listening, and enjoy the show! The lights all went dark except for the hologram clock, before the stagelights flashed on, and the floor crackled with blue electricity that jumped like fish leaping out of water.

  A voice boomed, “Bonjour Pokemon Lovers, and welcome! Get ready for a competition magnifique! The Dendemille Pokemon Showcase is here to dazzle and delight you all, as we present our rookie class division!”

  I glanced over to see Lampent trying its best to keep its candles low despite its excitement. If the lamp ghost had a mouth, it would be grinning like crazy.

  There was a flash as the electricity gathered into the center of the stage and swirled into the form of a masked man in a marine blue and black top hat and tailcoat, wearing an almost comically large gold key on a necklace. A Klefki flew out from behind him and placed itself on his staff as the man took off his mask and made it disappear with a flick of his hand.

  “I’m your dream guide Monsieur Pierre!” Pierre bowed with a flair, and the audience cheered. Winnie and I had to cover our ears to protect them from the fangirls screaming.

  With another flair, Pierre opened his arms wide as he announced, “And I invite you all at home, as well as here in the audience to witness a competition par excellence! Our gifted performers and their Pokemon are sure to fill each and every one of your hearts with magnificence, awe, and delight!”

  “Klefkiii!” Klefki unhooked a fancy blue-green jeweled key with a windmill theme from its key rack and handed it to the host, “Merci Klefki. Pierre then presented the key to the audience, letting the stage lights make the gems on it sparkle. “The winner of this Showcase will receive a coveted Princess key and become one step closer to becoming Kalos Queen!”

  The crowd went wild with people cheering and whistling, but quieted down when Pierre held a hand up. “Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight’s exciting theme performance is…” Drums rolled and the host did a dramatic pause before pointing at the holo screen above him. A few icons of scissors, bows, and a star appeared. “Pokemon Styling!”

  Monsieur Pierre moved to the side as a large hole opened up in the center of the stage, “And without further ado, here are our first performers!”

  A platform rose up from the hole with the first three performers and their Pokemon: a brunette girl in a long flowing red dress with an Espeon at her side, a girl with poofy green hair in a poofy pink dessert themed outfit with the shiny Slurpuff we saw earlier, and a blonde girl in a green and orange farm themed outfit with a very round Wooloo.

  Each girl had a large gold key attached to their outfits, that each had a different colored gem embedded into them.

  A holo projection appeared above each box, showing the names of each contestant and the Pokemon they picked for the dress up event.

  “Using our Pokemon styling theme,” Pierre said, “performers will see who can best style their Pokemon at the height of fashion, and all within ten minutes!” The dress up icons above Pierre turned into giant hourglass.

  Three stained glass, gazebo-looking structures behind the girls were lit up by the stage lights.

  “However, only one of our three performers will advance to the next stage.” Pierre swung around and pointed at the performers, “Are you all ready?” The gazebo doors slowly opened.

  Each trainer and their Pokemon nodded.

  “Then it’s time to style away S’il vous plait!” Pierre responded, and each team stepped into their respective boxes. The doors swung shut, and the holo hourglass flipped to start the timer.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Once the cheering for the performers died down, Pierre gave a short speech on Pokemon styling, “Pokemon Styling! A performer's sense of style, combined with the chemistry between a performer and their Pokemon, is put to the test! You are witnessing a veritable performance fantastique! These performances extraordinaire as our competitors work with their Pokemon are truly works of art in themselves!”

  He went on for a bit before the hourglass chimed and turned from light blue to yellow, “There is only a minute left, it’s time for the finishing touches! In the blink of an eye, you will witness their work, unveiled and out on our runway!”

  There was a dim hum of machinery moving, and I could barely make out the unlit parts of the front of the stage move and shift into a fashion runway.

  The timer turned red and chimed once more before exploding into a bunch of sparkles.

  “Times up!” Monsieur Pierre announced, “And now let’s view their artistry!”

  He pointed his staff to the gazebo on the left, “I call on Odile and Espeon to proceed to the runway!”

  Klefki jumped off the host’s staff and flew over to Odile’s gazebo. The fairy type booped the door, and the door shimmered with a sparkling keyhole effect before swinging open.

  There was a pink and purple halo around Odile and Espeon as they strode out. Espeon had a crimson jacket thing with a red veil cape, all outlined with gold. There were also a bunch of red and gold patterns decorating the psychic type’s body and face that matched its trainer.

  The audience cheered as they made their way down the walkway, Espeon’s eyes glowed, and bright green leaves swirled around the two, contrasting well with the red that the two were wearing. They did a pose at the end of the walkway before turning and making their way back down the runway.

  “Next up is performer Ruth and Slurpuff!” Pierre pointed at the middle Gazebo, and Klefki did the sparkling key thing again.

  Ruth and Slurpuff hopped out. The meringue Pokemon was dressed up as a cute chocolate and strawberry cake. The two held hands and skipped to the end of the stage where they both did a spin, and a sparkling pink breeze swirled around the two before blowing through the auditorium, bringing with it a mouth watering, warm, smell of brownies, with a slight hint of refreshing strawberry.

  The audience ooo-ed at the display.

  I wonder how well Pokemon who scent exuding based abilities can control the scent. Does being a shiny naturally make it exude a different scent, or does each individual Slurpuff have their own unique scent?

  Winnie leaned over to me and whispered, “that thing is definitely chocolate flavored. i’ll bet three pokepuffs on it.”

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head as he licked his nose like a dog.

  “Finally, we have performer Natalie and Wooloo!” Pierre announced as Ruth and Slurpuff began walking back.

  Wooloo bounced out of the Gazebo, it had its wool cut and dyed to mimic a Mudsdale, and it had an adorable little straw hat precariously placed on its head. Natalie had to keep Wooloo from playfully running around as they walked down the runway, and during their pose, Wooloo began eating its own hat, forcing Natalie to try to wrestle it away from the sheep Pokemon, which got a laugh and round of applause from the audience as they walked back and took their place among the other girls.

  Pierre then directed everyone to vote and how to vote in case they forgot. I decided to go for farm girl cause her Wooloo’s antics reminded me of Kaiju. Winnie predictably voted for Slurpuff, and Lampent voted for the Espeon team.

  It was pretty fun seeing all the lights from the glow casters take off and fly over to fill up the keyhole shaped holograms floating above each team. The results were pretty close between the three, but farm girl ended up winning, and Wooloo jumped up into her arms when they won. I really wanted to pet the lil sheep, it looked SO freakin soft and fluffy.

  There were four more rounds of the styling performance after this, and despite having to wait ten minutes per round, Pierre was able to keep everyone entertained via talking about performers, fashion, and some audience interaction. Frankly most of the subjects he talked about weren’t particularly interesting to me, but the host was really good at making them interesting enough to keep my attention. He would’ve made a great college professor.

  To summarize the results:

  Round two’s winners were Vivianne and her blue fire Rapidash. The performer was in this renegade princess themed outfit that worked well with her shiny Rapidash’s full horse armor costume. How they were able to make something that looked like a full on professional cosplay outfit in only ten minutes, I wouldn’t know, but I was thoroughly impressed just by that. The added effect of her riding Rapidash out of the Gazebo at a full gallop while enveloped in a dazzling blue fire and swinging a spear got everyone absolutely hyped.

  They did one of those horse rearing on its hind legs poses as pillars of blue and orange fire exploded from the ground and swirled around the two. That got everyone cheering for them.

  Round three went to this icey looking girl called Aurelia, who used ribbons to extend her shiny Sylveon’s ribbons, making them SUPER long. Each ribbon then had this iridescent veil that shimmered in the stagelights and billowed around like an aurora borealis that matched Aurelia’s dress. A pink mist from misty terrain billowed out from Sylveon, which combined with the aurora display, gave them a real mystical vibe that the crowd loved.

  Round four went to a ninja girl called Kaede and her Golisopod, who was in this dope samurai outfit. Kaede did a replacement ninjutsu thing and turned into a wooden log as Golisopod sent a flurry of sword attacks at her, turning the log into this really cool ninja and samurai figurine.

  Lastly was the crowd favorite, a rockstar punk girl called Nova and her shiny Obstagoon who got some graffiti looking body spraypaint, a black studded jacket, some shades, and somehow a full on working electric guitar. I would’ve been more confused about where they got the guitar if Vivianne didn’t produce a whole ass spear during round two.

  How did they become the crowd favorite? Well, instead of coming out of the gazebo door like normal people they decided to use Snarl and Pin Missile to fucking explode the entire gazebo and use the flying colored glass shards as RGB lasers like the one you’d see in concerts as they jumped out from the top and landed in a pose on the ground while Nova sang the arrival of ‘The Supernova and her Stars’ while Obstagoon ripped a chord on the electrical guitar and rainbow glass shards rained down on them. I was surprised that she didn’t seem to get cut at all by any of them.

  The crowd loved their utter audacity and stage presence, and I had to admit, Nova had a killer singing voice.

  Pierre didn’t seem a bit fazed by their antics, and Klefki used Protect to shield himself and the other two teams on the stage from the rain of glass. I got a feeling that Nova was put in the last round because the organizers kinda predicted that she’d do something crazy.

  “And that’s all for the styling performance,” Pierre announced once the final round’s contestants were lowered back into the waiting room, “our freestyle performance will be after the break!”

  The theater lights dimmed, and the lights above the seats brightened so it would be easier for people to get up and got to the bathroom or get food. A bunch of theater employees and Pokemon came onto the stage to clean up all the glass shards before the stage reset itself from its runway form.

  Lampent was practically shaking in excitement as we waited for the next event to begin, and having seen how creative the performers in each round were, I was pretty excited too. The types of stuff the girls did for the styling round kinda broke my expectations from what I saw in the anime.

  Once the break was over, Pierre appeared once more and announced to the eager crowd, “It’s time for our exciting freestyle performance, in which performer and Pokemon unite as one!”

  He paused to let the crowd get ramped up before he continued, “This is a one-of-a-kind stage, a combination of performance and skill! Each performer may use up to six Pokemon! And of course, the judge will be you! Our audience!”

  “Allons-y!” Pierre shouted, snapping his fingers and disappearing in a flash of electricity. A keyhole shaped door in the back wall leading up to the stage swung open and the first performer walked out. It was Natalie with a Stoutland and a shiny Dubwool at her sides.

  Their performance consisted of Natalie using a lasso, showing off her teamwork with Stoutland as they tried to capture Dubwool, while the sheep Pokemon showed off its cunning as it evaded them in smart but somewhat ridiculous ways.

  It wasn’t anything super flashy, but it was funny seeing Dubwool use Cotton Guard and then Bounce to rocket itself ridiculously high into the air to avoid being pincered by Natalie and Stoutland. It was even more hilarious when Dubwool used Cotton Guard multiple times midair to turn itself into a massive ball of wool and began bulldozing around the stage with Agility. But its wooly defense was its downfall as Stoutland used a really impressive Rock Tomb to create a curved wall that the herding dog and Natalie were able to push Dubwool into. It was interesting seeing Stoutland use Helping Hand to boost Nataltie’s physical strength so she could lift a boulder to fully trap Dubwool in the Rock Tomb, I never really considered the fact that it could be used to buff a human’s strength.

  Next up was Vivianne, I was pretty excited to see what she had in store as a Drampa stormed on stage and began using Stomping Tantrum. It had its feathers and wings styled to look wild and tangled, and the feathers on its head were draped forward to make it look menacing. A huge gust of wind blew out of the keyhole door that the dragon came out of, and storm clouds gathered above the stage.

  Then a Corviknight flew out of the keyhole doorway with Vivianne in a knight outfit that matched the colors of a shiny Corviknight. Drampa instantly shot a Dragon Breath at them, and Corviknight dissipated it with Steel Wing in a way that scattered the dragon type energy all around them, creating this cool flame effect.

  Their performance was obviously a fight between a knight and a dragon, and the fight choreography was pretty insane. Corviknight was performing some acrobatic tricks that I didn’t think was possible for such a heavyset bird Pokemon, and Vivianne was performing similarly insane acrobatic tricks, leaping down to slice through a Dragon Pulse with her spear before being caught by Corviknight and then swinging back onto the bird’s back, all in knight armor.

  It was incredibly flashy, and displayed a huge amount of trust and skill between all three performers, and it got huge response from the audience. A lot of people (including me) stood up to clap for them at the end of the performance.

  The third performance was Aurelia with her shiny Ninetales and shiny Aurorus showcasing their control over fire and ice, creating massive and intricate displays of art that shifted from one thing to the next.

  The fact that they were able to prevent the two type energies from colliding and reacting as the three danced around each other was pretty impressive. They ended their performance in the center of the stage in a stunning flower bud made of multiple layers of fire and ice. Ninetales pumped up the heat and made the bud explode and bloom into a very realistic looking flower that scattered sparkling bits of fire sealed in ice all around.

  People loved that last part, and the three bowed deeply to the applause afterwards.

  Kaede’s freestyle performance was probably my favorite aside from Vivianne’s. It included her doing a fast paced choreographed fight using her Katana against her Greninja. It was only when the katana began using moves like Night Slash and Fury Cutter that I realized that the sword she was holding was in fact, a Honedge.

  Greninja would throw a flurry of different sized and shaped Water Shurikens at Kaede, which she was then slice into pieces that would then explode, scattering the water into the air in arcs. They then progressed into her fighting Greninja’s Double Team clones and doing a ton of acrobatics around the stage as she dueled Greninja.

  It ended with Greninja throwing Water Shurikens frozen with Ice Beam, that Kaede and Honedge sliced into bits with a powerful Solar Blade, creating a temporary image of a fierce looking samurai helmet in the air.

  Lastly, but certainly not least, were Nova and Toxtricity. The electric type set up the stage with Electric Terrain before setting off an explosion of music and electricity with Boomburst and Discharge. Nova then began singing as Toxtricity played matching music using Overdrive, creating flashes and explosions of electricity, accented by vibrant purple poison type energy from Poison Jab as the two rocked out to the music.

  Once that was done, Pierre came back on stage with the five performers and one of their Pokemon. He once again announced that it was time to vote to decide tonights winner, and the new owner of this, he showed the audience the golden windmill key, Princess key.

  I ended up voting for Vivianne’s team. Winnie voted to Kaede because he really liked the tactics that Greninja used in their duel. Lampent voted for Aurelia because her performance was the type of stuff he envisioned doing one day.

  The tension built up and the audience quieted down as we all waited for the results as the keyholes filled up. The anticipation was clear on each of the performer’s faces as they watched their gauges fill up.

  “And the winner is, Vivianne!” Monsieur Pierre announced, pointing at the girl with a his free hand with a flourish, the audience cheered as he presented the princess key to her.

  Vivianne squealed and jumped before hugging her Rapidash’s neck, the fiery horse snorted and nuzzled the coordinator in return. Then the two turned to the audience and Vivianne waved and they bowed.

  Natalie and Stoutland went over to congratulate and shake hands with the winner, and Nova and Toxtricity followed suit. It was a great display of sportsmanship. Kaede and Greninja stayed in their spot. The ninja gave the other girls a nod and thumbs up, but was stoic otherwise.

  Aurelia stayed in her spot with a smile and glared at the other girls before storming off stage, with her concerned Sylveon following close behind her.

  Pierre thanked everyone for coming, and he, the performers, and their Pokemon all bowed. Then the show was over.

  Thanks to the flood of people leaving, it took more than half an hour to get out of the place. Most of the available ride Pokemon were already busy transporting people, so I just walked. The entrance to route 16 wasn’t super far from the theater anyways.

  The ghosts came out to join the walk once we were free of the crowd and in a quieter area.

  “That was awesome!” Lampent spinned around happily, “All of them were so good I had a ton of trouble deciding which one to vote for.”

  “Hmm, that Vivianne girl was my favorite from the start.” Mismagius said, “I don’t know why people liked the Nova so much.”

  “What?!” Haunter exclaimed, “The Supernova was my favorite!”

  Banette floated over to join Winnie and I as the other three kept talking about the showcase, “Did you notice that one of Pierre’s arms was mechanical?”

  “Uhh, no I did not.” I turned to give Banette a suspicious look, “How the did you notice that?”

  “The wiki article about him made me curious about what made him retire from coordinating, cause he moved around pretty normally.” Banette replied, moving her limbs around to accentuate the point, “So I went to take a closer look during the break.”

  That raised my concern, “Wait wat? What do you mean you took a closer look during the break?”

  The ghost puppet scoffed and waved me away, “Relax Az, I went behind stage and ended up chatting with Klefki. Pierre came by with some snacks, and I saw him with his gloves off. He’s got this fake hand and arm that still moves like a normal arm. I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

  I raised an eyebrow, “Okay, well firstly you probably shouldn’t be snooping backstage. And secondly, you’ve never seen a prosthetic before?”

  How advanced are prosthetics in the Pokemon world? And how common is it for people to have them here?

  “Nope.” Banette shrugged, “Also, I’m a ghost, not a human, so I can go wherever the fuck I want. Besides, Pierre was chill, he gave me some Pokepuffs. They were pretty good. ” The puppet ghost grinned and gave me a double thumbs up, “Ten out of ten, would snoop again.”

  Winnie’s head whipped around and he looked at Banette with wide eyes, “pokepuffs?! and you didn’t tell me?!”

  “There were only so many, and you eat too many sweets anyway.” Banette replied, then she flew over and poked Winnie in the stomach, “Is that a bit of belly fat I see?”

  Winnie pushed the puppet ghost away, “i’m quite fit, thank you very much.”

  The illusion fox then quickly changed the subject, "anyways, the ninja performance was interesting, even if it was a mock battle, i’m pretty confident those two would be tough opponents in a battle” He looked at me, “aaaand, i think i might have a new disguise i can use.”

  I nodded, “Yeah. Performance Pokemon have to put an extra emphasis on control and grace while using powerful moves in order to keep their appeal during a contest. Contest battles are actually based on whichever Pokemon can keep up appearances the best during a battle.”

  “Sounds harder than a normal battle.” Banette commented.

  “In many ways it is.” I agreed, “I’d confidently say that trainers who are able to do both contests and battles are automatically pretty high tier. One of Hoenn’s gym leaders, Wallace is a great example of a trainer who uses the best aspects of both worlds. That guy is champion level in terms of strength.”

  Haunter floated forward to join us, “You mean the guy that Justine has a body pillow of?”

  I paused and stared at Haunter for a second cause that came completely out of the blue, “What?” I shook my head, “Wait, how do you even know that?”

  “Golurk told me.” Haunter replied, then he began to list them out, “She’s got one for–”

  I quickly put a hand up to stop him, “I do not need to know any of this.”

  Since we were almost at Route 16 and could see the big sign pointing to it, I changed the subject, “Why don’t we focus on getting you your evolution?”

  Haunter grinned super wide and pumped a fist and shouted, “YEAH! Finally! I’ll be able to have legs!”

  “Is that why you wanna evolve? Legs?” I asked teasingly.

  Haunter shrugged, “Partially, I mean, it’s just nice to have legs in general.” He waved his floating hands around, “I’d kinda miss having these hands though. Who would’ve known how useful it is to have disembodied hands.”

  Winnie and the ghosts retreated to my shadow as I let Sahara out and began getting our flying gear equipped. A few minutes later, we were ready for takeoff.