"You're just a burden! I don't want to travel with you anymore. Can't you see? I can't get stronger with you around!"

"NO!"

Mairin sat bolt upright in bed, breathing hard. Her room was dim, the only light entering through the tiniest crack in the window. Everything was calm, quiet - except for her own heart.
"Just a dream," she told herself. "A stupid nightmare. Nothing to be bothered about."

Mairin blinked as the room was suddenly flooded with light. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she made out a tiny green-and-brown pokemon running towards her. He clambered on to her bed, the quills on top of his small head twitching with worry. "Pin?"

"Ah, Chespie, I'm fine," Mairin said, but the Chespin didn't look convinced. She reached out and scratched her partner's quills. "Let's go out."

The crescent moon shone down on the lawn, making the green grass glow like emeralds. The stars glimmered on the still, clear water in the pond. Mairin let her tense shoulders relax in the tranquility - until she spotted him.

Alain.

He sat silently by the water, his back to her, his head lifted up towards the night sky. He was in his night clothes, save for the scarf which he almost always wore except while he was sleeping.

As the redhead approached, though, he turned towards her. For a moment Mairin caught the moon shining in his blue eyes before the glow was obscured by the shadow of his hair.

"You're just a burden! I don't want to travel with you anymore. Can't you see? I can't get stronger with you around!"

"What are you doing here? You should be sleeping."

Mairin blinked at him, Chespie peering around her legs. "Couldn't sleep," she replied.

Alain looked at her before indicating the grass next to him. Mairin moved forward and sat down beside him, huddling close to his body for warmth. Chespie squeezed himself between them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Alain asked gently.

He's not going to leave me. Right?

"No," she mumbled.

"Sure? I won't judge, you know. I'm here to listen if you want to talk."

Mairin shook her head. She didn't want to think about her dream, and she didn't want to remind Alain of the... the incident.

"I want to go on a journey."

Mairin wasn't quite sure when she blurted out the thought which had been moving around her head ever since the dream. She had been contemplating the idea for quite a while - the idea of getting stronger so that she wouldn't have to rely on Alain's protection. She didn't want to be a burden on him. She knew that Alain never thought of her as a burden, of course, but whenever Alain risked his life for her (which was quite often), she felt like one.

Alain stared at her in silence for a while, his face expressionless. When he opened his mouth, though, his reply wasn't what Mairin had expected. "Do you want me to go with you?"

Mairin pondered the question. Travelling with her best friend, someone like a big brother and a mentor, like old times (minus the life-threatening situations and the battles and Mega Evolution Energy and Chespie being in a coma)...

"I'd like that," she said softly. And she meant it.

The corners of Alain's mouth turned up, and the moon smiled.

~ The next day ~

"Stay in touch, won't you?" Professor Sycamore asked.
"Of course, Professor," Alain replied as Mairin pranced around the lab, Chespie and Bebe dancing behind her. Alain betrayed no emotion, but Professor Sycamore could see that he had grasped the significance of the phrase.

Good. I wouldn't want something like the Crisis to happen again.

"Goodbye!" he called one last time as his two assistants disppeared around the corner. The lab was going to be quiet as a Maushold without Mairin, but he was glad for her, and for Alain, too.