Margaret grinned a bit.

"I can only imagine the moveset I could teach one," she said. "Shockwave, Thunderbolt, Icy Wind... Even Aerial Ace and Will o' Wisp. I know I have some of those TMs somewhere."

Aleron couldn't help but laugh a little. "That sounds pretty awesome. I'd like to see that. So we'll have to stop somewhere so you can get one."

Margaret grinned.

"I want a Medicham and a Starmie, too," she said. "Medicham doesn't have the normal psychic weakness to dark-types, and Starmie is a water-type, which means I can finally counter fire-types."

Aleron snorted. "I like my fire-types," she said with a grin. "They're fun."

"Fire-types give me problems," Margaret replied. "I don't have anyone to counter them. The best I have is someone who isn't weak against them. With a Starmie, I can actually take them out." She grinned. "A Starmie who knows Hydro Cannon would be amazing. Hydro Cannon, Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, and Grass Knot. An absolutely amazing set of off-type moves."

Aleron laughed. "Yes, you seem to excell at that. Give a pokemon a couple off-type moves and some special things and you're happy as a clam."

"Off-type moves throw people off balance," Margaret said. "I mean, who really expects a Noctowl to use Twister? It's a dragon-type move. Or Metang, he knows Ice Punch, Fire Punch, and Thunderpunch. It knocks people off-balance because they're not expecting it."

"I know. It is so fun to throw people off like that. But not many trainers would think to do it. Which gives me full rights to tease you about it."

Margaret grinned.

"There was this one trainer I was up against, and I think he honestly expected me to only have the 'pretty' kind of pokemon, and he had this absolutely scandalized look when Metang used Thunderpunch to take out his Wartortle."

Aleron snorted with laughter. "Yeah, that sounds about right. No one expects it. And people especially don't expect you to be any good if you're pretty." She grinned.

"People think I have an Espeon because she's pretty and graceful," Margaret agreed. "They don't actually think about the fact that she wouldn't be an Espeon if I hadn't trained her. And it's been a while since Metang was a Beldum, so I think he may evolve into a Metagross soon." She grinned. "Metagross are badass."

Aleron laughed at that. "Oh yeah. Pull that one on people and they'll freak out." She grinned widely. "That's something I want to see."

"You might, soon," Margaret replied. She checked her gear for the time. "It's still fairly early in the day, yet," she said. "How about we go check out the Ruins of Alph? After that, maybe I could go find the Gym and see about winning another badge."

"I'm thinking the ruins," Aleron said, stretching. "Walking around for a while sounds good. It'll help settle our nerves."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Margaret said. She stood up and stretched. "A trip to the Ruins sounds good."

Aleron chuckled and nodded, getting up and releasing Vulpix again. "Alright, let's get going then."

Margaret released Espeon and followed Aleron. Thankfully, the walk was quiet, and the woods didn't seem quite as cowed into silence as they were the day before, so it was easier to relax.

The normal flux of pokemon chirped, flew, and buzzed around them, and Aleron relaxed bit by bit. Vulpix even went and chased a few other pokemon playfully.

Margaret's Espeon was draped across her shoulders, enjoying the free ride. Margaret didn't have the heart to move her, since she seemed so relaxed.

Aleron took her time walking, since they still had plenty of daylight left. She turned at a fork in the path, going to the Ruins.

Margaret followed Aleron into the Ruins, looking around in wonder. Something about the Ruins made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and she felt oddly excited. She didn't know what it was, but something about the atmosphere of the Ruins almost seemed to welcome them.

Aleron looked around, curious. She'd never been there before, and while she wasn't as excited as Margaret she certainly was looking forward to looking around.

Margaret tugged on Aleron's sleeve.

"Let's go see the main building, first," she said. Most of the buildings looked like they were sectioned off, and blocked, but there were a few buildings that looked open to visitors.

Aleron nodded and followed her over to the main building, humming to herself as she did. She let Margaret decide where to go, since she could see that Margaret was very excited.

Margaret had no idea why she was so excited. It was like there was a faint buzzing in the back of her mind, telling her where to go. Her Espeon seemed unusually alert, as well, and kept looking around.

Margaret went into the main building of the Ruins and looked around with a soft gasp. Her Espeon started looking around and focusing on seemingly nothing. Margaret went closer to one of the walls to look at the pictures.

"Look, some of these look like letters," she said, leaning in to get a better look. "I bet if we were able to move them around, we could spell things."