Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Long ago, before the universe formed, there was an egg. The egg slept in the void. No one knew how long the egg had been there. In fact, there wasn’t yet anyone to know and the winds of time had not yet started to blow. So, the egg just slept peacefully.

Eventually it was time for the egg to hatch. This was the first time anything like this had ever happened. When the egg opened a great big place came out. This place was the first place to ever exist and inside that place was a being.

This being wandered and wandered until they realized they didn’t have a name. This was the very first thing ever to be thought. The person decided to create a name for itself. “I will be called Arceus, the Alpha” Arceus said. Thus, Arceus was the first being ever to be named.  

Arceus soon grew lonely and longed to find someone like it. Arceus remembered creating its name. The name made Arceus who it was. Arceus decide to give the others names. Perhaps that would make them who they were. Arceus began to speak, naming many beings: Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquayza, Dialga, Palkia Giratin, and so forth.

As Arceus spoke their names they came into being. Soon there were many beings like Arceus. Each one was different and each one desired different things. These being spread out across the great big place and spoke many names and created many different kinds of things. Arceus looked across the great big place and, seeing his friends’ creations, became happy and rested.

While Arceus rested all the others continued to create. They created the stars and the sky and earth and seas and even other living things like you and me. Unfortunately, not all of the beings agreed on what to do with their creations.

“We cannot leave the creatures alone on our world.” Yveltal said “They will grow larger and larger until there is no room. I will destroy them before there are too many.”

“No, we can’t destroy everyone! They are our precious creations and they have life like us.” The gentle Xerneas cried.

“Xerneas is right!” Zekrom said, “What is the point of making anything just to destroy it? Everything has worth.”

“Yveltal is right. If left alone there will be no more space, even for us.” Reshiram  said.

“I will make artifacts to purge the world and keep it clean.” Yveltal said, “I will create death and anger so that there never become too many.”

“Then I will create artifacts to heal and comfort those who you intend to wound!” said Xerneas, “My artifacts will create birth and kindness so they will have a reason to exist.”

“We will put these artifacts in humans as they are the most powerful of our creations.” Reshiram suggested.

“I will help.” Said Zekrom, “I believe that humans can protect what we have created.”

As the beings deliberated another listened on. This being understood that there was truth to both sides. He resolved to secretly create a fifth artifact to control the other four. This artifact would make sure that neither Xerneas nor Yveltal could become too powerful.

To this day these five artifacts exist somewhere in the world. Yveltal’s creating destruction, and Xerneas’s bringing new life. All the while Zygarde keeps careful watches over them.

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Sebastian closed the book and placed it on the bedside table.

“Is the story real?” asked Poe.

“Some people think it is.” Replied Sebastian. “There may be no way of knowing.”

Poe pulled the blankets up over the egg next to her. “Was Arceus in an egg just like this?” she asked.

“I think it was a different kind of egg.” Sebastian said.

“I’m going to carry this egg everywhere I go so that it hatches into the best Pokemon ever. That way I can grow up to be a Pokemon trainer just like you big brother!” Poe said rubbing sleep from her little eyes.

“I’m still in pokemon school! I have a long way to go!” Sebastian said. “Good night Poe.” 

Chapter Text

“Get in your pokeball Scraggy we’re going to be late for our first day bak from winter vacation!” Poe exclaimed. Scraggy stared up at her defiantly “scrag scrag scrag!” “yeah but we gotta goooo!!” Poe yelled stuffing scraggy into his pokeball and running out the door. Scraggy always did this. Hawlucha was always ready and waiting for Poe in the morning but Scraggy has a more rebellious personality.
Luckily for Poe it wasn’t that far to school and she made it just in time for the bell to ring. She threw open the door and noisily plopped into her seat between her good friends Penelo and Al. Penelo shook her head giving Poe a look that said how could you be late again? “Nice for you to join us Poe.” Professor Fran said tersely. “Yeah sorry…” Poe shrugged. She didn’t even know why she went to pokemon school in the first place. Her older brother went so she guessed she was just following in his footsteps. There wasn’t really a point in going to a specialty school for pokemon related jobs unless you planned to have one in the future. Poe didn’t know what she wanted to do. She kicked her feet absentmindedly under her desk as she thought. Poe never payed attention to Professor Fran’s class. Most of the things she taught seemed obvious anyway. Fire type pokemon live near volcanoes? Yeah where else would they live?
Suddenly Poe was interrupted from her thoughts by a note being slid onto her desk from the right. She unfolded the note to see Adelbert Steiner’s smooth handwriting. Odd, Al wasn’t known to pass notes in class. It must be something important. Poe looked down at the note. She barely had time to process what was written when Penelo reached for the note. Poe handed it to her and she scribbled something before handing it back. The rest of the class was spent passing notes.

Al: I think something big happened over winter break
Penelo: That’s right, everyone was acting odd this morning before school. Even the professors seemed tense.
Poe: odd like how? (╯✧▽✧)╯
Al: You would know if you showed up to school on time
Poe: (╮°-°)╮┳━━┳ ( ╯°□°)╯ ┻━━┻
Penelo: He’s right you know.
Poe: Come on guys you know it’s scraggy he’s been so hard to work with lately I don’t know what to do with him
Al: You could wake up earlier
Poe: ( ಥ ʖ̯ ಥ)
Penelo: We need to talk to Llyud about this at lunch and see if he noticed anything different.
Poe: Idk he’s so quiet… will he having anything to say about it?
Al: It’s worth a try. We should go back to paying attention in class though.
Poe: Hey if something happened at school wouldn’t you know something about it don’t you have practice over break???
Al: I didn’t notice anything over break
Poe: I’m actually not surprised (^.~)
Al: What does that mean?
Poe: --------------
Penelo: Stop flirting and give me the note. I just had an idea. What if this has something to do with those rumors of mysterious guys hanging around the pokemarts?

“FLIRTING?” Poe loudly whispered as the bell rang. Penelo smiled as she carefully placed her notebook into her backpack. “See you at lunch!” she said before skipping off to her next class. Scraggy acting strange, rumors of gangs at the pokemarts, something weird happening at school. Poe wondered how all these things could be connected. She guessed she’d have to wait until lunch to find anything else out.

Chapter Text

            The bell rang and Balthier’s students shuffled out of the classroom, tripping over each other in their hurry to get to lunch. Only one of his students, Llyud, lingered behind, his eyes darting to the window.

            “Can I help you with something?” Balthier asked.

            Llyud’s attention snapped back to his professor. After a moment of heavy silence—the boy looked troubled over something—he said, “No, sir,” and slipped out through the door without another word.

            Balthier watched him go, closing the copy of The Oratory of Mew in his hand and depositing it on his desk. When he was sure that the hall had truly been emptied of students, he nudged the door closed with his foot and looked over his shoulder toward the window. “Well, what have you got to say?”

            A pair of feet landed softly on the windowsill. The woman, as always, wore a long gray cloak that obscured her shape, and the way she stood, silhouetted against the midday light of the window, made it impossible to make out her face. The only distinguishing feature was the long spear that she always had hefted over her shoulder. “They’re back,” she said simply.

            Balthier sighed, walking slowly back to his desk and started straightening out the pile of essays his students had messily dropped there. “And?” he said.

            The woman gave no response.

            “You know I’m not a part of the order anymore,” Balthier said. “I have no part in any of this nonsense.”

            “I thought you a man of greater sense than that,” she said.

            Balthier looked away from her, at the ground. “What are you expecting me to do?”

            “We believe they’re searching for the crystalline soul.”

            Balthier nodded. Of course. “So they’re after one of my students, right?”

            “It’s within the realm of possibility.” The woman lifted her spear off her shoulder and its diamond edge reflected the light in streaks all across the room. “You know you can’t hide from them forever, Bunansa.” Balthier shuddered at the mention of his former name. “Watch for the sign of the Reshiram, and be ready,” she said, and then was gone.

            Balthier sat crookedly on his desk. So, he thought. Back again. And his students—the Reshiram—all of it. Be ready. Balthier shook his head. He was going to need more allies for this one.

Chapter Text

Poe passed the next few class periods in thought. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was going to happen. Sometimes Poe wished that she could just go back to Littleroot Town and live in peace. Although, Poe didn’t really fit in to the small sleepy town of Littleroot. Poe slouched in her seat and wondered if she fit in anywhere. Poe’s older brother moved to Castelia in Unova to work just before she started school in Rustboro city. When her brother was there it was easy to be excited about becoming a Pokemon trainer. Now that her brother was overseas, and she lived away from home she didn’t know if she could cut it as a trainer or if she even wanted to.

The bell rang and Poe messily shoved what few things she brought to class into her bag. Once again she forgot to take any notes. “I’ll just copy Penelo’s later” she thought to herself. The halls were bustling as usual on her way to the lunch room. As she walked she tried to pick up on any odd behavior or conversations but it all seemed mundane to her. Poe tried to stop by her locker for some pokeblocks but it was blocked off by a smooching couple as usual.

In the lunchroom Poe grabbed a carton of milk and a cup of flan before joining her friends. “Is that all you’re eating?” Penelo asked. Poe shrugged poking the flan with her spork, “I didn’t hear anything weird on the way over here.”

“We should talk about this outside where there are fewer people!” Al said looking around.

“Good idea!” Penelo exclaimed, “I’ll wait here for Llyud, you guys go ahead”

“It’s freezing out there!” Poe protested but her friends just shrugged.

Poe followed Al into the school courtyard sipping at her milk. She plopped down in the grass letting Hawlucha and Scraggy out of their pokeballs. The two pokemon skipped around the yard for a few minutes before returning to her side in anticipation of their lunchtime berries. She opened the small pouch in her backpack and let them select a few berries. Hawlucha took a berry in each hand and climbed onto the bench next to Al who gave him a pat on the head. “Hawlucha is like a tiny little you, so serious” Poe smiled.

“What is that supposed to mean!?” Al exclaimed.

Before Poe could answer Penelo arrived with Llyud in tow.

“What are you two talking about?” Penelo asked.

“N-nothing!” Al insisted.

The two newcomers sat down and took out their individual lunches. Scraggy made is way over to Llyud and tugged on his feathers, “scrag scraggy?” he said looking up at Llyud. Llyud reached into his pocket and produced two pokeballs giving one to scraggy. Scraggy squealed with delight as he opened the pokeball containing his friend, Llyud’s taillow. “I hope Taillow can help with Scraggy’s errant behavior.” Llyud said watching the two bounce around the courtyard.

“Llyud! Tell them what you saw!” Penelow said excitedly.

“Oh yes. There was someone outside Professor Balthier’s window. It seems she was trying not to be seen.” Llyud said looking into his sandwich. “I tried to stay behind and listen, but I couldn’t make out anything.”

“Woah! This could be just the excitement I need!” Poe said.

“What do you mean exciting?” Al complained “If there’s some kind of corruption going on with the teachers that would be terrible!”

Poe pouted, “That’s what I mean about you being so serious.”

“We need to make a plan to check out the rumors at the pokemart after school!” Penelo said.

“I can’t today, I have practice.” Al protested

“What about after that?” Penelo asked.

“What are you going to do when we’re on field study and you don’t have a curfew anymore? It’s just six months away…” Poe teased.

“We can just go without you and report back tomorrow” Llyud said “You can see if you notice anything at practice.”

“Good idea Llyud!” Penelo said “Then it’s decided!” Penelo rose to her feet dusting herself off as the bell rang. The others collected their pokemon and made their way to their next class period. “You can stay in my backpack as long as you’re quiet.” Poe whispered to Scraggy. She smiled at the prospect of an exciting mystery to solve. 

Chapter Text

Poe wandered out to the practice field next to the school for her next class: battle lab. The football team was already out here, jogging around the perimeter. Poe caught sight of Al, who waved politely at her. Poe responded with a scowl as she tried to warm up her cold hands. It was way too cold to have to be out here for class. Why couldn’t they move battle lab indoors for the winter?

Poe felt Scraggy shift around in her backpack. “Hush!” she scolded. The rest of her classmates were already assembled on the field. But where was their professor? The only other person there was some tall lady that Poe had never seen before, wearing all dark gray and an imposing expression on her face.

         “Nice of you to join us,” the lady said, standing with her arms folded. Poe blushed, embarrassed for being late again. “I think that makes all of you. My name is Professor Soot.”

         “Where’s Cecil?” Rydia, another girl in the class, said.

         “Professor Harvey is away tending to an important matter. I’ll be your teacher for the rest of the year.”

         A boy in the class harrumphed. “No way Cecil would skip out on us this late in the year!”

         Professor Soot turned her gaze upon the boy. “And you are . . . ?”

         “Kain Highwind.”

         “Mister Highwind, I’ll expect you not to sass me in front of your peers in the future. Save yourself the embarrassment.” Professor Soot smirked.

         Scraggy poked his nose out of Poe’s backpack. “Scraggy!” he huffed.

         “I told you to be quiet!” she whispered, shoving him back inside and zipping it closed.

         “I expect my curriculum will be a little more difficult than you’re used to,” said Professor Soot. “Each of you will participate in two Pokemon battles each class period. You will be graded on your ingenuity and adaptability.”

         Scraggy started acting up again inside her backpack. In an act of desperation, Poe slung it off her shoulders and hugged the whole bag to her chest.

         “In addition, you will be expected to engage one of my Pokemon in battle once a term—”

         “Scrag, scrag, scraggy!”

“Stop it!” she whispered. “You’re going to get me in trouble!” Poe suddenly realized that she had no idea what Professor Soot had just said. “Huh?” she said, giving Scraggy the opportunity to leap out of her backpack onto the field. The students gasped as Scraggy scurried over to their teacher, holding his protective skin aloft and muttering angrily.

“I see some of you are eager to get started,” Soot said, throwing her head back and laughing. “Very well! We’ll start easy.” She pulled out a pokeball from behind her back and yelled, “Go, Spearow!”

Chapter Text

Poe clenched her fists. “Could this day get any worse?” she muttered to herself. “Scraggy be careful! You’re at a disadvantage!”

Scraggy hoisted is loose skin up to his neck and glared up at Spearow. “scraggy scragg scrag scragg” He yelled.

“You know what to do, Spearow.” Soot said. Spearow flapped her wings vigorously and rose just out of reach of scraggy. Without hesitating scraggy began running in circles kicking up clouds of dust.

“Scraggy!! That won’t work on Spearow for more than one reason!” Poe yelled, “We have to work together or you could get seriously hurt!” Scraggy ignored Poe’s orders and proceeded to crouch down in preparation to attack. Spearow continued flapping about Scraggy’s head just out of reach. Scraggy narrowed his eyes and looked up at Spearow. As they locked eyes Spearow leered down at him. Scraggy seemed taken aback by Spearow’s look and momentarily lowered his protective skin. Spearow did not hesitate to take the break in defense as an opportunity to attack. Plunging from the sky Spearow’s beak landed squarely between Scraggy’s eyes. Scraggy growled and smashed his head into Spearow’s wing before teetering to the ground.

“SCRAGGY!” Poe yelled, the hot tears of humiliation welling up in her eyes. She reached into her bag and pulled out Scraggy’s pokeball holding it in front of her. “Scraggy come back!” To her relief the small pokemon relaxed and allowed itself to retreat back into the ball. “Go Hawlucha!” Poe said throwing the ball high into the air. Hawlucha leapt from the ball striking a heroic pose as he landed on the field. “Hawlucha be careful, I think Spearow is more experience than you but she can’t fly as high so we’ll use that to our advantage!” Poe explained clenching her fists so as not to cry.

By this point Spearow had resumed her place above the field, however, Scraggy’s attack had left her right wing slower. She let out a loud squawk and dove towards Hawlucha. Hawlucha nimbly side stepped the attack letting Spearow plummet into the ground. “Hawlucha use Encore!” Poe said. Hawlucha clapped his hands tauntingly. “Now just keep dodging her attacks and use cross chop!” Poe said. Hawlucha nodded and stepped away from Spearow’s next peck. “How is this possible?” Poe muttered to herself. “She hasn’t issued a single command to her pokemon. They must be perfectly in sync.” Hawlucha landed his third blow on Spearow who was now staggering around. “Ok Hawlucha! She’s going to return to her regular attack pattern. Use wing attack.”

Spearow struggled up onto her feet and turned around. She was met with one of Hawlucha’s wings directly to her face. “Ha-Cha” He chirped snidely as Spearow fell back to the ground.

“Very well done.” Professor Soot smirked withdrawing Spearow back into her pokeball. “See that you don’t cause a scene in my class again.”

Poe breathed a sigh of relief as she rubbed the tears from her eyes. “Come on Hawlucha.” She said softly as she held out his pokeball. Hawlucha happily returned to his ball which Poe then placed in her backpack. She couldn’t wait for this day to be over but at least she had won. She would have to stop by the pokemon center before her and her friend’s nighttime activities. 

Chapter Text

 The three friends shuffled down the sidewalk as the sun was setting. Penelo tugged her scarf closer around her neck, already feeling the January chill creep into her skin. “Now remember,” she said, “we all three have to stick together, and no funny business, Poe!”

         “Come on!” Poe said. “I’m great at sneaking around.”

         “Nonetheless,” said Penelo. “We have to be careful. We don’t know what we’re going to find here.”

         “Well, obviously,” said Llyud. He put on a tough show, but Penelo could see his wings shivering as he walked. She wondered if they should have waited for Al after all; no one would mess with the 6’2 linebacker. Though Llyud could look pretty scary too sometimes, so maybe they would be ok.

         They walked up to the pokemart, looking for anything unusual. Nothing stood out immediately until they heard some voices coming from around the corner by the bike racks.

         “Well, apparently the guy’s been tight with the boss for a while.”

         “Yeah, and I heard he’s willing to fund the transportation as well.”

         “Just how deep are this guy’s pockets?”

         Llyud nodded towards the voices, signaling for the two girls to follow him. Penelo tried to appear as casual as possible as they turned the corner. There were a few guys hanging out back here, leaning against the building or sprawled on the grass. They all looked pretty rough. One of them seemed to be pretty scarred up—and did that guy have fangs? That other one has a tail! What a weird group of kids. A couple of them looked over as the trio rounded the corner.

         The kid with the tail, who was sitting on the ground, flashed a smile. “What are you ladies up to this time of night?”

         Llyud rolled his eyes.

         “Making the rounds,” said Poe, smoothly. She walked up to them. “I don’t recognize any of you from around school.”

         “Yeah, I’d have for sure remembered a pretty face like yours,” said the tail kid.

         The guy with the fangs smirked. “Back at it again, huh? Dagger must’ve kicked you to the curb after all.”

         “Hey!” Tail kid jumped to his feet, running at the other kid to try and get him in a head lock. “Shut your mouth, Marcus!”

         While those two were scuffling, the scarred kid pushed off from leaning against the wall. “Let me guess,” he said. He walked closer to Poe, looking her up and down. “Pokemon trainers.”

         Poe shifted from foot to foot.

         “Yeah, that’s right,” said Penelo, walking up to be at Poe’s shoulder. “What about you? What do you guys do?”

         “Well,” he chuckled a little, looking back at his buddies. One of the other guys had started trying to get tail kid off of fang guy’s back. “Mostly try to keep those three out of trouble. They’re like little brothers to me.”

         “Cool,” said Poe.

         “The name’s Blank,” said the kid, holding out his hand.

         “Poe,” she said, shaking his hand.

         Penelo narrowed her eyes at him. What were these guys talking about earlier? Something about a guy with deep pockets? “You from around here?” she asked.

         “Not really,” said Blank. “I’m here trying to get some work experience.”

         “Oh, do you work for a company around here?” asked Poe.

         “How about we continue this conversation over something to eat?”

         “Uhhhh,” Poe mumbled.

         “We’ve actually got to be going,” Penelo interjected, grabbing her friend by the elbow. “Poe here still hasn’t finished her homework that’s due tomorrow.”

         “Hey!” Poe exclaimed at Penelo.

         “Oh, well, maybe I’ll see you guys around another time.”

         “Yeah, sure,” Penelo said quickly, dragging Poe back to the front of the pokemart. “Nice to meet you, bye!”

         Llyud stood for a moment before waving casually and following his two friends back to campus.

Chapter Text

Al stood in front of his locker absentmindedly running his thumb over the picture taped to the door. He remembered the day it was taken. Llyud, Himself, Penelo, and Poe had been assigned to a group for first year pokemon lab. The photo was taken after they had all caught their first pokemon together. It was early in the year, maybe the third week of school, and the awkwardness of new friendships was evident in the picture. They had grown so close thanks to that lab group, but Al couldn’t help but feel that they had drifted somewhat lately.

“Steiner! I need you on the field” came the impatient voice of his coach.

“Yes Sir!” Al replied snapping out of his stupor. He pulled his jersey on and followed after coach Wallace. It wasn’t like him to space out like this. He wondered if whatever was getting to the other students was getting to him too.

Coach Wallace gave a few minutes of instruction before turning the team loose to warm up. Al began his routine laps making sure to carefully observe his teammates for anything unusual. He fell in step with one of the other players, a freshman named Tidus. Tidus greeted him excitedly. “It’s great to be back from winter break!” he said. “Although,” he lowered his voice, “Have you noticed like a weird vibe at school?”

“You’ve noticed it too?” Al asked, somewhat surprised.

“Yeah! Everyone is just a little off or something. It’s like everyone is stiffer and more formal. Like my friend broke up with his girlfriend out of nowhere. They had a huge fight but when I asked he couldn’t even remember what started it.” Titus grinned before adding, “I just hope my girl doesn’t dump me before the valentines dance. Are you taking someone?”

Al was startled by this question. He hadn’t really thought about it. “I don’t think so. I haven’t really thought about it.” he said sheepishly.

“Hey man don’t worry about it!” Titus said, “I’m sure a handsome guy like you will have no problem finding a date!”

“Ah! I don’t know about that…” Al’s voice trailed off as he noticed Poe arriving to the adjacent field. He waved politely and was met with a particularly cranky facial expression.

“What about her?” Titus teased giving Al a friendly punch to the shoulder.

“What? No no! We’re just close friends is all! She’s like a… like a sister or something!” He insisted. “I’ll probably just go with my friends as a group.”

“Woah woah! Forget about that! She’s squaring up against the teacher!” Titus exclaimed. The two of them slowed to a stop in view of the other class. “I’ve never seen that prof before… she’s using a much stronger pokemon with a type advantage! What did your girlfriend do?”

“She’s not my… never mind. She was probably late to class again or said something rude to the teacher.”

“Oh Steiner! I wouldn’t have guessed you were into bad girls!” Titus grinned.

“I’m not!!”

“Hey looks like we’re back on the field!” Titus interrupted. The two jogged back to the rest of the team to await the practice instructions.

Al wondered what that was about. He didn’t think about Poe like that did he? She was far too rebellious. He was worried about her lately though. She didn’t spend much time with them over break despite living on her own and she wasn’t eating much at lunch even before the break. He decided he would talk to Penelo about it later since she knew Poe the best.

The rest of class and evening practice went by uneventfully. Al wondered if he should talk to Coach Wallace about the strange aura around the school. Unfortunately, the coach slipped out while he was in the showers. He decided to talk to him next time.

As Al arrived home he was greeted at the door by his father. “You’re late.” His father said looking down his nose at Al.

“Practice ran late.” Al said defensively.

“Call me next time before you come home.”

“Yes sir.” Al said retreating to his room. He sat down on his bed and produced from his bookshelf a shoebox full of mementos. One by one he took the items out: a friendship bracelet made by penelo, a paper pikachu folded by poe, a rude drawing of himself on notebook paper captioned I’m Adlebert and I’m sooo perfect made by Poe, several shells collected by Llyud, numerous photos and notes from his friends, a bell from one of Penelo’s dance costumes, one of Llyud’s feathers. Llyud had changed the most lately. He hadn’t realized it before but as he looked through the photos he could clearly see the difference. It was almost as if Llyud had been drained of all personality. He used to smile and laugh often but now he was quiet and stoic.

Al wondered what his friends were doing at the pokemart. He would have to talk to them about it tomorrow at lunch. 

Chapter Text

Thump-thump.

Thump-thump.

The man let his book fall closed, watching the shadows change on the floor as trees outside rustled in the wind. He wasn’t looking forward to having to report back in the morning. Aside from a few dead-ends and old wives’ tales, he had no leads. Maybe if he went back to Rustboro, he could—

Suddenly everything was sounds and colors and words, jumbling together in one great cacophony.

He jerked upright. A dream? Had he drifted to sleep? No—the wind had changed. He stumbled to the window, throwing it open and leaning out on the sill. It was still dark out, and cold. He could feel it calling to him out there somewhere, pulsating and radiating its— her —vibrancy. So it was a girl. With each wave of energy, like a heartbeat, the sound in his mind stilled.

He pulled a pokeball from his pocket and threw it up and down a couple of times before releasing the Drowzee inside. The corner of his mouth curled upward. It was time to put his plan into action.

Chapter Text

         Balthier set his mug of coffee down on the table, eying the other professors in the teacher’s lounge. He needed to keep his eyes peeled for any indication that his colleagues might be involved in the plot she had warned him about. Fran and Valentine were the only ones in here at the moment, except for Quina, who, as expected, was whistling loudly as they bent over the stove, frying up their lunch of who knows what. Quina, at least, was harmless, and of course there was Fran. Valentine could be a bit of a wild card, but Balthier trusted him.

         “Why the face?” Quina said suddenly, looking at Balthier.

         “What face?” he said incredulously.

         Quina stuck a spatula out towards him. “The lines. You angry?”

         Balthier cracked a grin. “Not at all, I—”

         “You not eat! Only coffee?” Quina tsked. “Need better food. Coffee here terrible. No food means no happiness.”

         Balthier shrugged and sat down in front of the two other professors.

         “The Qu is right,” said Fran. “About you, I mean.”

         “It’s nothing.” Balthier waved it off. “Just a little tired. You ever try to read two hundred pages of sophomore level thematic analysis in one evening?” He took a swig of his coffee. Quina was right; it was terrible.

“Yes,” Fran said, no nonsense. She smiled a little though after she spoke, eyes boring into Balthier’s. Of course, she could tell that something more was bothering him.

“Well,” he said. “Maybe I’m just anticipating more trouble coming from this particular bunch of students.” Balthier tried to gage their reactions—nothing changed in Valentine’s expression, but Fran seemed to catch on to something. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Coach Barrett Wallace barreling through the door the same way he did through everything.

“Hey, Vince!” he said, clapping Valentine on the shoulder. “Just the man I was looking for.” He nodded cordially to the others as he sat down backwards on a chair.

“Hello, Barrett,” Fran said.

Valentine flashed a smile in Wallace’s direction. “I see you’re ready once again to be destroyed in a game of Tetra Master.”

“Well actually,” Wallace lowered his voice. “I was wondering if you knew anything about Cecil.”

Valentine leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “He got transferred, supposedly.”

“I heard about that.” Balthier grunted thoughtfully.

Wallace leaned in towards Valentine. “You mean you didn’t hear anything from him personally? I thought for sure if he didn’t mention anything to me, he’d have said something to you.”

Fran leaned in and put her elbows on the table. “Barrett, what are you saying?”

“I, uh.” Wallace shook his head. “I don’t want to jump to any conclusions.”

Balthier felt the hair on his neck stand up. He reached across the table and touched Fran’s elbow. “Did you feel that?” he asked. She was shivering.

Before she could respond, someone else made their way into the teacher’s lounge. It was the new professor—the one who had replaced Cecil Harvey as the battle lab instructor.

The four watched as Soot made straight for their table. “Afternoon, folks,” she said, slamming down a steaming cup of instant noodles and a carton of Tampico. She started tearing open the wrapping on some plastic silverware and finally looked at them.

Wallace leaned away from Valentine in a hurry. It took another second for Balthier to withdraw his hand from Fran’s arm. They all looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

“Gosh,” Soot said, stabbing her fork into the noodles. “The sexual tension in here is incredible.”

Balthier rolled his eyes.

“Ah!” Quina yelled from the stove. “Is same thing I always say.”

Soot lifted her Tampico to Quina in a kind of salute before upending it into her mouth.

“Nice to see you as always, Artemis,” said Valentine. That’s right—as the battle theory teacher, he must have already spent some time with the new professor.

Soot nodded. “Hi, Vincent. While I’ve got you, I’d actually love to see your curriculum for the semester so I make the most of what the kids are learning.”

“Of course. I’ll send it to you once I get back to my office.”

“Thanks.” Soot turned back to her noodles. She made a show of playing casual, but Balthier could tell by the way her eyes scrutinized the other teachers at the table that she was looking for something. Like he was.

Balthier rested an elbow on the table. “So, Artemis, was it? Pleasure to meet you.”

“Please, call me Soot.”

Balthier frowned. Fran raised her eyebrows.

Soot laughed. “Come on, I’m messing with you.”

Valentine laughed into a closed fist.

“So,” Soot continued. “Is Balthier your first name or your last name?”

Well. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Balthier said, then winked at the rest of the table to deflect the attention from the question.

         “Ha,” Soot said and waggled her fork at him. “Very good. A man after my own heart.”

         Balthier would have responded with something clever if Quina hadn’t chosen that moment to push between them and slap a plate of some kind of weird stir fry in front of him.

         “Balthier, eat. You too grumpy. Going to get wrinkles.”

         This time it was Fran’s turn to laugh.

Chapter Text

“Hey Al, where’s Poe?” Penelo called as her friend rounded the corner to the cafeteria. 

“She said she was stopping by her locker. Where’s Llyud?” 

Penelo’s face fell, “He wasn’t in class. I was worried because it’s not like him to miss school, so I called his home.” The worry was evident in her voice. “His aunt said he collapsed suddenly last night.” 

“What! He collapsed? Why?” 

“Nobody knows but apparently he has a high fever. His aunt said he was in still in bed.” 

Al frowned, “I should have done something sooner.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I’ve noticed something was off about him for a long time. Haven’t you noticed? He’s getting more and more distant.”  

“Llyud has always been quiet…” 

“Yeah! but something’s different!” Al yelled clenching his fists. 

Penelo placed her hand on his shoulder. “Is something else wrong?” She asked gently, “You seem stressed.” 

Al seemed to deflate suddenly. “No I… I don’t know what got into me. Sorry.” He looked around, “Poe still isn’t here. I wonder if she’s still at her locker.” 

Penelo frowned. She couldn’t deny that she sensed something strange among her friends as well. Was it all connected? “Let’s go outside. Maybe she thought we’d be there.” She smiled. The two walked out to the courtyard where they did not find their missing friend. Penelo looked around, “Guess it’s just us today!” she said cheerfully. She pulled her lunch out of her backpack and plopped down in the grass. “The new professor is kind of weird.” She said. 

Al sighed and sat down across from her. “Yeah I saw her battling Poe yesterday.” 

“Did she win?” Penelo asked

“Poe did. It was close though. She said Scraggy started acting up as soon as he saw the Professor.” 

“She seemed pretty strict.” Penelo peeled the crusts off the second half of her sandwich. “Oh yeah, Poe was so cool yesterday! You should have seen her. She just walked right up to these guys and started talking to them. She even kinda hit on one of them. They seemed pretty sketchy.” 

“What do you mean she hit on him?” Al asked. 

“I dunno she was just kinda smooth that’s all.” Penelo said. The two ate silently for the remainder of lunch. Penelo couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was bothering Al. She decided she would stop by Llyud’s house on the way home. 

The bell rang and Penelo bid Al farewell. She made her way to the science lab and was delighted to find Poe sitting at the lab table they shared. “Where were you?” She asked, “Al was really worried.” 

Poe groaned, “He always worries about me.” She tossed an empty pokeball between her hands, “I live on my own. I can take care of myself.” 

Penelo sat down at the table next to Poe, “He worries about all of us. Hey! Llyud isn’t feeling well. Do you want to go with me to visit him after school?” 

“Yeah sure!” 

“Great! We can bring him something to eat.” Penelo smiled. 

Chapter Text

Penelo and Poe waited on the porch for Llyud’s aunt to answer the door. Penelo was holding a plate of dumplings with some tin foil over top. Her Chansey was also here, waddling a little from side to side and holding an egg in her arms. Poe seemed . . . kind of distracted, and was staring at her phone. Penelo was still curious about where Poe had gone for lunch but had had no luck teasing the answer out of her. This was all too weird—Llyud getting sick, Poe acting off, something bothering Al—Penelo felt like she was the only stable one in the group right now. Like it was all up to her to help everybody.

         Llyud’s aunt finally opened the door. She was a pretty lady, but she looked tired and overworked. “Hi, Mrs. Lemurés,” said Penelo. “We were hoping to come visit Llyud. Would that be alright?”

         The woman smiled, rubbing her hands on her apron. “Go ahead and come inside, girls. I’ll see if he’s up to having visitors.”

         As Penelo and Poe shuffled inside, Chansey approached Mrs. Lemurés with a determined look and held the egg up to her. “Chansey!”

         “Oh my,” Mrs. Lemurés said. “What’s this?”

         “That’s one of Chansey’s eggs,” said Penelo. “They have special nutritious properties and can help people recover quickly. Chansey insisted on giving one to Llyud to eat.”

         “How considerate! Thank you, Chansey,” she said, taking the large egg from her.

         “Chansey!”

         The girls stood in the entryway while Llyud’s aunt went in to talk to him. Poe said suddenly, “Do you think it’s really serious? Is he gonna be ok?”

         “Yeah, of course,” responded Penelo, though she wasn’t sure herself. “He’s probably got the flu or something. I’m sure he’ll be back to school in no time, especially with Chansey’s egg.”

         “Chansey!” the Pokémon interjected.

         “See? Even Chansey agrees,” said Penelo. Even as she spoke, though, she got the feeling that more was going on here, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

         Mrs. Lemurés poked her head in. “You can come in, girls. Llyud is in the living room.”

         Penelo stifled a gasp as they went in. Llyud was curled up on the couch, his wings covering him up protectively. He was really pale and his eyes looked kind of glazed over. He hardly acknowledged the girls as they came in and sat down on the loveseat across from him.

         “Hi, Llyud,” said Poe. “We brought you something to eat. Pork dumplings, your favorite, right?”

         Penelo set the plate down on the coffee table and pushed it over to him. Llyud eyed it but said nothing. “It’ll help you keep up your strength,” she said. “And Chansey brought you one of her eggs as well. She’s been really worried about you.”

At the mention of her name, the Pokémon walked up to Llyud and put her arm on his forehead to test his temperature. “Chansey,” she said thoughtfully, then pulled the blanket that was piled up on the couch over his shoulders. She then removed the tin foil from the plate, grabbed one of the dumplings, and held it up to his mouth.

Llyud finally cracked a smile. “Thanks,” he said weakly as he took the dumpling and began to nibble on it. Probably to avoid hurting Chansey’s feelings, Penelo thought. The sounds of Mrs. Lemurés frying up the egg drifted over from the kitchen. Hopefully the smell would wet Llyud’s appetite.

“So did you go to the doctor yet?” Poe asked.

“My aunt called the doctor and told her my symptoms,” answered Llyud. “She said based on what my aunt told her that I just needed to stay home and get some rest.”

“Oh, that’s good,” said Poe. “You missed your battle lab class, right? I’ve got to tell you about the new teacher, she’s insane.”

Penelo zoned out as Poe and Llyud chatted. She couldn’t shake the feeling of something being wrong here. She thought more about what Al said at lunch, about Llyud getting more and more distant for a long time. What could that be about?

Al needed to be here. Penelo was surprised at how strongly the thought came into her mind. But it was true, she was sure Al would be able to at least cheer Llyud up a little. Penelo pulled out her phone and texted him.

Hey, me and Poe are at Llyud’s house to check up on him. You wanna come over too?

Al texted back within a couple of minutes.

I don’t think I’m feeling up to it right now.

Penelo huffed. Any other day, she would have let it go, but she really felt like he needed to come over.

Llyud’s feeling pretty lousy. I really think he’d appreciate it if you stopped by.

I’m sure you and Poe are doing a great job!

Come on. Can you get out of practice?

Several minutes passed before Al responded.

Yeah I think so. Let me just ask my dad.

Penelo grinned. Her attention finally turned back to the conversation with Poe and Llyud, who were now talking about Professor Balthier’s assignment to read from the Oratory of Mew. Poe was enthusiastically telling him about legendary Pokémon and divine artifacts and medieval kings and wizards and what not. Llyud, while he appeared to be listening, was not responding a lot, even when his aunt brought him Chansey’s egg sunny side up on a plate. He reluctantly forked a few bites into his mouth before declaring he was full and pushing it away on the coffee table.

It wasn’t long before they heard another knock at the door. Al walked in kind of timidly (which was weird—Al was a lot of things but never timid) and stood awkwardly next to the couch. “Hey, how are you doing?”

When Penelo looked back to Llyud, his eyes were opened wider and he was even sitting up on the couch. When did that happen? Maybe Chansey’s egg was already taking effect. “I’m ok,” he said. “Been better.”

Poe shifted on the loveseat next to her. She had pulled out her phone again and was even giggling a little. Huh. There were still a lot of weird things happening with her friends, but at least Penelo had managed to get them all together. She was sure that would eventually help with everything. 

Chapter Text

“Scraggy scraaaaaaaaaaag”

Scraggy’s words seemed to travel a great distance before Poe could understand them. “mmmmh” she mumbled pulling the blankets higher over her head.

“SCRAGGY!” Scraggy yelled diving from the nightstand into Poe’s gut.

Poe sat up abruptly and lifted Scraggy into the air. “Come on dude, I haven’t gotten any good sleep in ages.” She placed Scraggy on the floor and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “I guess you both need breakfast.”

She picked her phone up off the dresser and checked her messages as she plodded her way to the bathroom. Penelo brought up the Valentines dance in the group chat. It seemed like they were all planning on going together like they did last year. Poe rolled her eyes as she considered another night of standing around awkwardly with Al’s two left feet while Penelo and Llyud danced gracefully. It wasn’t fair that Penelo was a dancer and Llyud could literally fly.

She set the phone down on the counter and looked at herself in the mirror. She studied the bags under her eyes. Why wasn’t she sleeping well lately? As she was brushing her teeth a notification sounded on her phone. It was a text from Blank. Poe grinned as she opened it.

The text read you owe me lunch. Attached was a picture of a blanket spread across the grass overlooking the bay on the west side of town.

Poe smiled. Hour and a half ;)

She looked back at herself in the mirror. “Gotta do something about this disaster.” she said referring to her appearance. She rushed into the kitchen giddy with excitement. She pulled the bag of pokemon food out from the cabinet and filled Scraggy and Hawlucha’s bowls. “Good news guys! I have a date!” she grinned.

She pulled a large thermos and a pot down from above the stove. “Let’s see. Do I have milk?” she said, throwing open the fridge. She poured the remainder of her milk into the pot and put it on the stove to warm. Poe scrambled through her pantry and produced three chocolate bars and a cinnamon stick. She tossed the cinnamon stick into the milk and gave it a stir. “Where’s my cutting board?” she said opening cupboards frantically.

“Scraggy!” Scraggy said, hefting the cutting board over his head.

“Thanks Scraggy!” Poe said as she chopped the chocolate bars. She dumped the chocolate pieces into the milk and stirred the mixture around. “Hawlucha, can you stir this please?” she asked.

“Ha-cha!” Hawlucha responded enthusiastically leaping onto the counter. He took the spoon from her and bent over the pot like some sort of small feathered wizard.

“Make sure it doesn’t burn” Poe said, patting Hawlucha on the head.

Poe dashed back to the bathroom and turned on the shower. She looked in the mirror once again and decided she really did need to wash her hair. She took an unusually quick shower devoid of her usual pondering. “I guess I’ll have to wear my hair down.” She said shaking the water from her periwinkle curls. She twisted her hair into her towel and dug through her box of assorted earrings. She picked an assortment of five for her left ear and two for her right.

She threw open her closet and stared at the assortment of black and purple clothing. She eventually decided on a tiny black and white houndstooth dress and a knee length lilac overcoat. “How do I look?” she asked as she relieved Hawlucha from the hot chocolate pot. She poured the chocolate into the thermos.

“Scraggy scragg” Scraggy announced holding up her makeup bag.

“Oh you think so?” Poe asked, checking the time, “Yeah I guess I’ve got time.” She pulled out her makeup and applied a subtle look to her eyes. She went with a black glossy lip to tie the look together. “I’m ready!” she said slipping on her black converse.

“Scraggy..” Scraggy said, tugging on the hem of her coat.

Poe thought for a moment, “Sure you can come with me. What about you Hawlucha?” Hawlucha held out his claw and shook his head no. “Ok, take care of the place while I’m gone” Poe smiled as she lifted scraggy onto her shoulders.

---

Poe arrived on the headlands southwest of town. The area overlooked the bay to the north and the beach to the south. To the northeast the DEVON corporation building stood up from the skyline against the distant peak of Mt. Chimney. Blank waved at her from his place on the grass.

She skipped over to the blanket and placed the brown bag containing takeout in front of Blank. “I would have made something but today is my day for shopping.” she apologized. “I made hot chocolate though!” she said, producing the thermos.

Scraggy jumped down from his place on her shoulders and scurried around in the grass. “Scraggy, the hoodlum pokemon.” Blank said.

“Actually, Scrafty is the hoodlum pokemon,” Poe said “scraggy is the shed skin pokemon.”

“What made you want to be a pokemon trainer?” Blank asked as he distributed the containers of food.

“I don’t know…” Poe was silent for a moment, “I guess my brother.”

“You don’t sound too sure.” He said.

Poe looked out across the ocean, “Yeah…” she said softly.

Blank picked up her phone and opened the pokedex app. He scrolled down to Scrafty’s entry. “While mostly known for having the temperament of an aggressive ruffian, this Pokémon takes very good care of its family, friends, and territory.” he read. He looked down at Scraggy who was now laying belly up in the sun. “You’re going to grow up to be like me.” He grinned.

“Scraggy scrag!” Scraggy agreed.

Blank put Poe’s phone back down and looked at her. “Seriously though,” he said, “In my group, Tantalus, we don’t live other people’s dreams. We just do what we want and stick together like a big family.”

“That sounds like the life.” Poe said sipping at the hot coco.

“Hey you should come to our bonfire in a couple weeks.” Blank said leaning back against the blanket. “I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

“Maybe I will!” Poe smiled. 

Chapter Text

Al trudged through his front door, stretching his shoulder out to try to ease some of the pain there. He had just come from a particularly difficult day at practice, with the exception of stopping by Llyud’s house on the way home. After a few days, he seemed to be doing okay, better than when Al had first seen him. He hadn’t seen much of his other friends lately—Poe especially seemed to be busy whenever he ran into her. Al swallowed his uneasy feeling about it as he wiped mud off his shoes on the doormat.
“Adelbert.” His father stood at the entrance to the kitchen.
“Hi, dad,” said Al.
“Get yourself cleaned up. We’re having guests for dinner tonight.”
“Oh, uh, ok.” Al hung his backpack up on the coatrack in the foyer. “Who’s coming over?”
“I’ve hired some new interns in the Producer department,” he said. “Make sure you present yourself well.”
“Ok.” Al leaped up the stairs two at a time, trying to ignore his exhaustion and sore muscles. His dad didn’t invite people over very often. If he was having a new batch of interns over, recently hired at the very prestigious Devon Corporation, it was probably to wave them around in front of Al’s face—look at these successful young entrepreneurs, you should try to be more like them, make better use of your time—blah blah blah. A long, hot shower would be nice, but his dad would be cross if he was late. Al settled for a quick rinse-off and got dressed in a simple button-down and slacks.
He made it back downstairs just in time to see three guys, who really didn’t look that much older than him, saunter through the front door. Al’s mom beckoned them in, a practiced smile on her face.
“Wonderful to see you all,” said his dad, walking over to shake their hands. “This is my wife, Marie, and my son, Adelbert.”
One of the guys approached Al, extending his hand. As if his red hair wasn’t enough, the guy was wearing matching maroon slacks and a vest. His white shirt was rolled up to the elbows. He also had a lot of scars on his face and arms and Al wondered where on earth he could have gotten those.
“The name’s Blank,” he said. “Thanks for having us.” The way he smirked when he talked made Al want to punch him in the nose. The other two guys introduced themselves as Zidane and Marcus. They were weird looking for sure (tail), but at least they didn’t seem as cocky as Blank.
Everyone settled down at the kitchen table while Al’s mom finished preparing dinner. Al stared dumbly at his hands while his dad talked to the new interns.
“So! I’ve been looking forward to getting to know you young men better.” His dad flashed a toothy grin. You’re full of crap, you know that? Al thought. “You’ve just moved in from out of town, correct? Where are you all from?”
Marcus spoke first. “Well, we all met at school in Mauville not too long ago, but I’m from Mossdeep City.”
“Oh, you’re quite a ways from home, aren’t you?” said Al’s dad.
“Yeah, you could say that.” Marcus shrugged. “I like visiting new places though. Rustboro seems like a really nice city.”
“I’m from Slateport City,” said Blank.
“Ah, very good. And what about you, Zidane?”
Zidane leaned back in his chair. “Well, I’m kind of from all over. Never settled in one place for very long.”
“I see. Well, let’s hope you find Rustboro a good place to stay for a long time!” His dad laughed inauthentically as his mom brought over plates of meatloaf and salad. Al hoped they would finish and leave quickly, but that wasn’t likely. He just had so many more important things to be doing right now than watch his dad and a few punk kids schmooze up to each other. At least the meatloaf was good.
It wasn’t until somebody said his name that Al realized he had been zoning out.
“So, Adelbert.” It was Marcus. “What are you into?”
“Uh, I go to Pokémon trainer school here in town. And I’m on the football team,” he replied dully.
“Ooh, so the kid’s a hotshot,” said Zidane with an impish grin.
Al felt heat rise to his face. A hotshot?! And how dare this scrawny juvenile call him a kid? They guy couldn’t be older than sixteen. “No, it’s—"
“Hey, that’s awesome,” interrupted Marcus. “Tough guy like you—what are you, quarterback?”
“I’m a linebacker.”
“Nice!” Zidane again. Al tried to think of something he could do to get himself out of this dinner.
“What kind of Pokémon do you train?” This time it was Blank. He was leaning casually, disrespectfully, actually, in his chair, with his arms folded.
“Oh, well, I only have two Pokémon so far. They’re both steel type.”
“Adelbert, dear, why don’t you fetch one of them to let these gentlemen see?” Al’s mom said.
“Yes, son, show them all the hard work you’ve been putting in.”
Al grumbled inwardly as he got up to get Aron’s pokeball out of his backpack. He hated being shown off in some stupid show-and-tell as if he were a little kid. Nevertheless, Al would let them all have their fun so that he could shut himself in his room later and study the stars in peace.
Aron sprung from his pokeball and landed on the kitchen floor with a thunk. “Don’t let him get a hold of any silverware,” Al said. “He’ll eat it.”
Blank crouched down to get a better look at the Pokémon. “Well look at this rusty little guy!”
“Rusty?!” Al exclaimed.
“Hey pal,” said Blank, “don’t get your panties in a twist.”
Al couldn’t even think of what to say to that.
“Come on Blank, give him a break,” said Zidane. “You’ve got a really nice Aron here, kid. My girlfriend’s a Pokémon trainer, so unlike these idiots, I actually know something about this stuff.”
“I thought Dagger dumped you,” said Marcus with a chuckle.
“No she didn’t!” Zidane elbowed Marcus in the gut.
“My girlfriend’s a Pokémon trainer too, dumbass,” said Blank, which earned him a toe to the rib from Marcus.
Despite all the reckless violence, all three of these punks were laughing. Who the heck were these people, and how did they convince Al’s dad to hire them?!
“Well, thanks for having us over, Mr. Steiner,” said Marcus after he caught his breath. “We’d better be going though, before it gets too late.”
“Yeah, we really appreciate it,” said Zidane.
Al’s dad responded with something he didn’t care about listening to as he let Aron back into his pokeball.
On their way back to the door, Blank clapped Al on the back. “Nice to meetcha, Rusty! See you around.”
Al decided to head upstairs before making any rash decisions.

Chapter Text

Llyud opened the door to his room. The doorknob felt heavy and foreign in his hand. Experiences like this had been happening to him with increasing frequency. He wondered how long he had been this way. He turned the doorknob a few more times trying to think through the bowl of cold oatmeal that was his mind.
“Sweetie…are you ok?” His aunt’s voice had a dream like quality.
“Oh” he said, letting go of his door, “Yeah.”
“How was school?”
Llyud tried to remember anything that happened at school. Everything seemed distant and hazy. “It was good.”
His aunt smiled. “That’s good to hear.” she said. “I made Chansey egg drop soup. Come get some soon while it’s still hot.”
“Yes, I will.” Llyud said as he picked a pair of pajama pants up off his bed. He made his way to the bathroom and climbed into the shower. He let the frigid water rush over his back. It did nothing to dispel the fog from his mind. He rested his head against the cool shower wall and tried to focus on the changing temperature of the water. Nothing felt real. How long had this been happening?
He looked down at his hands. He had started having nightmares about a year ago. At first they were vague. The smell of smoke. A gray sky full of drifting ash. He clenched his fist. Over time the dreams got worse. A woman’s scream. The iron tasted of blood. A tear rolled down his cheek. Or was it the hot shower water? Lately they were clearer. He relaxed his hand. Images of his dreams flickered through his mind. The same dream over and over again. A pitch-black night. Fires in the distance. Great clouds of black smoke swirled above, obscuring the moon and stars. He squinted into the darkness, searching for any sign of movement in the flickering light of the fires. The sky throbbed red. He looked down at his hands. Blood. His own or…? The scene beyond his hand came into focus. The bathroom tiles. No. Something else. People. No. Bodies. His eyes widened.
“Llyud.” A voice called from across the night. “Llyud.” A woman’s voice. “Llyud.” Poe’s voice. No. His aunt’s voice.
He shook his head. He was standing in front of the mirror in his bathroom. He looked down at his hands. His fingers were wrinkly. How long had he been in the shower?
“Llyud.” His aunt called from the other side of the door. “Your friend is here to see you. The soup is still warm.”
Llyud pulled his pants on and made his way to the kitchen. Penelo stood up from her seat at the table to greet him. She put her arm around him in a friendly hug. As she did so his mind was wiped clear of the parade of disorienting thoughts and images. “I brought you tea.” She smiled.
He smiled back. “Thanks.”
“Are you ok?” she asked quietly.
He took a deep breath. “Actually,” he said, “I’m not.”

Chapter Text

Professor Soot watched as her students practiced battling their Pokémon with each other.

Her Murkrow watched as well, preening her feathers. She had grown uneasy.

They were a promising group of students. Rash at times, to be sure, but clever. It was clear that they had learned well from Vincent Valentine and Cecil Harvey. Some of them, of course, griped endlessly about the difficulty of Soot’s class. They would appreciate it eventually.

Soot didn’t speak much this particular class period, opting instead to observe each pair carefully as they battled, only giving them a little direction when they required it. When three-o-clock inevitably rolled around and the kids made a break for home, she stopped one student to speak with him privately.

“Yes, ma’am?” Kain Highwind scratched the back of his head nervously.

“That was good work with your Gible,” said Soot.

“Uh, thank you ma’am.”

“Do you like dragon types? I’m rather fond of them myself.”

Kain glanced at a group of kids on the far side of the practice field, presumably his friends waiting for him to finish up. “Yeah, I do," he said boredly.

“Wherever did you manage to catch a rare Pokémon like that?”

“Um, I caught it when I was visiting my uncle.”

“Ah,” said Soot, stepping a little closer so that she started to loom over the boy. “I bet your family works a lot with dragon types too, right?”

Kain’s face went white.

“You know, I heard that there’s actually a team in this region specializing in dragon type Pokémon, among other things.”

“Oh,” said Kain, gulping. “I didn’t know that.”          

“Of course you didn’t,” Soot said. “Did you know that my expertise, besides battle craft, is actually in Kalosian artifacts and crystallography?”

“No, ma’am.” Kain’s voice was barely above a whisper.

Soot chuckled. “No, I wouldn’t think so.”

Kain crossed his arms, recovering a little of his nerve. “Look, Professor, I don’t know what—”

“I’m giving you an opportunity to cut it out before things get too serious,” she said, her voice turning stern.

“Cut what out?” The kid was terrible at lying.

“If you keep on with it, I’ll have to take more drastic measures . Please don’t make me do that.”

Kain adjusted his backpack on his shoulders with a frown and left without saying anything.

Soot turned to Murkrow and nodded her head in the direction of the departing young Highwind. The Pokémon bristled and took flight. She knew what to do.

Chapter Text

Barret returned to his office after a particularly lackluster practice. He dropped his clipboard onto his desk and grabbed a towel to wipe his face. Despite becoming more rigorous with his drills his students seemed to be getting slower and weaker. Even the big guys got knocked around fairly easily. He loosened the straps on his prosthetic arm. He grabbed the lanyard from his door and headed towards the locker room to lock up for the night.

The lights in the locker room were still on. He shook his head. “These kids…” he mumbled, “I’ll make them do burpees until they die if they leave this light on one more time.” He rounded the corner and to his surprise one of his athletes was still standing at his locker. “Steiner! If you keep frowning like that your face’ll get stuck!”

Steiner frowned. “Sorry coach. I guess I got distracted. I’ll turn the lights off on my way out.” Steiner said, pulling his shirt on.

Adelbert Steiner, the only student who didn’t seem to be getting soft on him. Barret clapped the young man on the back. “Something on your mind son?” he asked.

Steiner winced at the force of Barret’s hand. “N-no Sir.” he said hesitantly.

Barret glanced at the open door of Steiner’s locker. It was obvious the kid had a big heart. Barret hazarded a guess. “Is it something with your old man again?” he asked. Steiner didn’t answer. Barret frowned. He wasn’t good at this sort of thing.  “Tell you what!” he said “Wait here and I’ll make a call.”

The coach returned to his office and dialed the Steiner residence. “Hello, Mr Steiner?”

“Yes Sir this is Barret Wallace, Adlebert’s coach.”

“I was wondering if I could keep him after school for a while?”

“No Sir, he isn’t in any kind of trouble. I just want to have a talk with him about his future.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Thank you Sir. I’ll have him home before dinner.”

Barret slammed the receiver down. Man, that guy was a prick. Everything he said stunk of corporate ladder self-entitled business bullshit. He wondered how he managed to get such a fine son.

“Steiner, get in here!” Barret yelled out to the locker room, “And shut the light off!”

“Yes Sir?” Steiner asked, stepping into Barret’s office.

“Sit down and tell me what’s goin on. I bought you a few hours at home.” Barret reached into the minifridge behind his desk and slammed an ice-cold Tampico down in front of Steiner. There was a long awkward pause.

“It’s hard to explain.” Steiner ventured after a minute.

“Family?” Barret asked

“No more than usual.”

“School?”

“No”

“Field study?”

“No.”

“Oh I got it. It’s a girl isn’t it?”

Steiner’s face reddened, “N-No no. Nothing like that.” he protested. “It’s just… something’s been weird with my friends lately. Not just my friends –“

“So you’ve noticed it too.” Barret said leaning back in his chair. “The whole team is getting weaker. You’re the only one that doesn’t seem to be affected.”

Steiner furrowed his brow. “I hadn’t noticed that. What do you think it could be?”

“I’m not sure but something tells me some of these Professor types know more than they let on.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like that new lady, Soot, or whatever her name is. What’s she doing here? Where’s Cecil? I think somethings up.”

“One of my friends collapsed the other day. He can barely even stand.”

Barret looked down at Steiner. There was no use in this kid carrying so much weight on his shoulders. “Listen kid, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I don’t like it. Why don’t I give you a ride home and you tell me what you know so far? Then I’ll do a little snoopin and tell you what I find out.”

Steiner nodded. He seemed somewhat relieved. Barret grabbed his keys and headed with Steiner to the parking lot.

“Now about this girlfriend…” Barret laughed.  

“Coach!” 

Chapter Text

Ruby liked to think of herself as the big sister of the Tantalus Troupe. The boys were all rough and tumble, constantly trudgin’ back home in a mess to rival the ’04 derby. If it weren’t for Ruby, she was sure the team wouldda been worse off than a pig at the county fair.     

         Right now, those boys were saunterin’ into headquarters, hootin’ and hollerin’ and makin’ a big ol’ ruckus. That is, Zidane and Marcus were saunterin’ in. Cinna, the twins, and that new pretty girl Dagger were already here, chattin’ up a storm with the boss. “Hey fellas, where’s Blank?” Ruby asked them.

         “Beats me,” said Zidane. “He went out to see his girlfriend this afternoon. He said he’d be back in time.” He shrugged.

         “Why, Blank’s got a girl now?” Ruby said. “I swear, if one more o’ you goes out and gets themselves tied down and distracted, I’ll confiscate all of your allowances.”

         “Hey, come on!” said Cinna. “That’s not fair.”

         Ruby turned to him with her hands on her hips. “Well, why don’tcha you pitch in and help me reign these rascals in once in a while, huh?”

         “I thought Blank was supposed to be looking after you two,” said Dagger. Ruby could hear that little hint of a smile in the girl’s voice, but she guessed Zidane couldn’t by the way he started poutin’.

         “Well, you know how a guy gets when he’s smitten with a pretty girl,” he said, leanin’ towards Dagger, who turned away in a way that would’ve been coy if it’d been anybody else.

         The boss stood up from his stool and stretched his shoulders. “Well, that boy better get here soon, or else I’ll pummel him.”

         Good timin’, thought Ruby as Blank walked in, havin’ the nerve to act all casual.

         “You’re late,” said the boss.

         “There’s a first for everything,” said Blank. “How many times has Zidane bailed out because of a girl?”

         “What can I say,” said Zidane, loungin’ in an armchair. “I’m a ladies’ man.”

         “Yeah, you wish,” chuckled Marcus.

         Dagger made a show of foldin’ her arms and lookin’ like she disapproved. Crazy kids. If there was anybody Ruby thought’d be good for Zidane, it’d be her.

         “Hey, enough time wasting!” said the boss. “Let’s get started.”

         Everybody who wasn’t already sittin’ ‘round the table pulled up a chair or a stool.

         “First up, you three,” said the boss, pointin’ to Blank, Zidane, and Marcus. “Report.”

         “We’ve got the department director wrapped around our finger,” said Blank. “The guy even invited us to his house for dinner.”

         “Piece of cake,” said Zidane, leanin’ back in his chair.

         “We’re hoping he’ll let us help him in the development lab or work in the information systems,” said Marcus.

         “Good work,” said the boss. “Your next job’ll be to figure out who’s the closest guy to the fossil tech—the one we’ll need to watch out for when we go in.”

         “I reckon that’s where I’ll come in, right?” said Ruby. She leaned her elbows onto the table demurely. “All I gotta do is put on my pearls and bat my eyes and he’ll be sweatin’ like a whore in confessional.”

         “What if it’s a woman?” asked Cinna.

         “Why, you think I couldn’t handle myself a little filly?”

         Cinna’s eyes widened and he looked awkwardly away at the middle distance.

         “Cinna, I need you to start looking into the kind of security systems they’ve got at this place. See if you can pinpoint the kind of weaknesses they’ll have.”

         “Yes, boss,” he said quickly.

         “Good. I just heard from the big guy,” said the boss. “He wants this done and buried by May at the latest.”

         “May?” said Blank. His shoulders slumped.

         “Are you alright there, darlin?” asked Ruby.

         “I’m fine,” he said.

         “Oh,” said Zidane quietly. “It’s about Poe, isn’t it?”

         Blank shook his head. “Nah, it’s . . . it’s nothing.”

         Poor little bronco, thought Ruby. Don’t know what he was expectin’, gettin’ to stay in the same place for a while? No way, what with our profession and all.

         “Now, I don’t know what’s going on here,” said the boss, “and I don’t particularly care. I want all of you boys keeping your eyes peeled around town. The more we know from the offset, the better we’ll be.”

         They all answered with a chorus of, “yes, boss!”

Chapter Text

Poe pushed open the door to the courtyard and cheerfully approached her friends. She plopped down in the grass next to Penelo. “You guys look glum.” she said with a laugh. No one else laughed. 

“Nice of you to join us for lunch.” Al said. 

“Ouch man, that stings a little.” Poe said. 

“He just means we missed you.” Penelo offered. “Anyway,” she continued, “there’s something important we need to talk about. Oh yeah…” Penelo reached into her backpack and pulled out a thick binder covered in stickers and a pen. This was a sort of scrap book journal where Penelo kept information about important moments the friends shared together. 

“I haven’t seen that in a while.” Poe said. 

“Yes,” said Penelo, “I thought it was time we have a proper official meeting of the Junior Pokemon Rangers Club.” 

Poe laughed. She had forgotten about that nickname. They came up with it at the beginning of their freshman year. It was conceived after a particularly passionate lesson about pokemon career options. They all spent a few weeks being enamored with the idea of being pokemon rangers. Although their goals changed, the nickname stuck. Penelo’s sunny attitude always brightened everyone’s mood. 

“Our first order of business is the Valentines dance. I’ll be keeping the minutes of this meeting.” Penelo said in her best impression of a serious business voice. This elicited chuckles even from the boys. “Seriously though,” she said, back to her normal voice, “we’re all going together again this year right?” 

“Actually,” Poe said sheepishly, “I already have a date… Sorry Al.” 

“Why sorry me?” Al asked. “It’s not like we were on a date or anything last year.” 

Poe wrinkled her nose at him. She wondered why he was being so standoffish with her. He barely even looked at her in first period that morning. She searched her mind for something that could have upset him, but she came up with nothing. 

“Poe! You have a date? That’s great!” Penelo beamed. She scribbled notes down in the friendship binder. “When will we get to meet this guy? Is he the reason you haven’t been joining us for lunch? Does he go to school here as well?” 

“I’ll introduce you guys to him at the dance.” Poe grinned. “But surely that’s not a serious enough reason to convene an official meeting. So what’s this about?” she asked half joking. 

Penelo paused and looked at Llyud. 

Llyud took a deep breath. “I guess it’s my turn.” he said, looking back and forth between them.

Penelo turned to a new page. She placed her hand gently on Llyud’s shoulder for support. “Don’t worry, we’ll be here for you.” 

Llyud shifted around in the grass and sat quietly for a moment.  “So basically,” he started, “I’ve been having terrible nightmares lately. Well not just lately. It’s been going on since last year.” 

Al nodded. “I’ve noticed something was different. I should have just asked you about it.” 

Llyud shrugged. “I probably wouldn’t have told you about it anyway. I thought I could take care of it by myself, but it’s just been getting worse. Now I have these moments where I feel like I’m not in my own body. It’s hard to explain. It’s all corresponding with me getting sick and passing out. Sometimes I can’t remember things I’ve just done or how I got places.” His voice faltered.

“Llyud, that sounds terrible!” Poe said. She threw her arms around her friend and patted his back as he sniffled. “I wish we could have helped you sooner. What exactly is happening in these nightmares?” 

“It’s hard to tell. It’s like I’m standing in a big field and all around me is destruction and like, bodies. Then there’s fire and smoke. I don’t really know why but it seems like it’s… my fault?” he drew his knees close to him and pulled his wings in tight. “Sometimes I hear a woman’s voice. Sometimes it seems like I hear your voice Poe.” 

Poe was taken aback. What would she be doing in Llyud’s nightmares? 

“How long did you say this has been happening?” Al asked. 

“I don’t know.” Llyud said. “Maybe since this time last year? Or wait.. it was closer to final exams when the first one happened.” 

“Final exams?” Poe asked. “Hang on… was it at the same time as that crazy thing happened with the sophomores’ tests?” 

“Oh yeah! I remember something about that.” Penelo said, looking up from the notes she was furiously scribbling. “Didn’t like, everyone in an entire class completely fail their exams?” 

“That’s right! Maybe I’ll ask Coach to look into it.” Al said. “He mentioned that the team is getting weaker. I hadn’t noticed, but… I don’t seem to be affected. That’s what Coach said anyway.” 

“That’s another thing.” Llyud said, rubbing a few tears from his eyes. “It seems like the worse I get the worse everyone else gets too. Maybe I’m just imagining it but,” he hesitated, “I think it has something to do with me.” 

The bell rang and the four stood up and hugged it out. Poe made her way to her next class which was home ec. with Queena. She… he? was an interesting character. Luckily Poe was pretty good at cooking so it would be a good time to think about what she had just learned. 

Home ec. passed uneventfully except for an incident with Queena’s bloomers. She made her way out onto the field for battle lab. She waved at Al on the adjacent field but he pretended not to see. What a weird guy. 

There were an odd number of people in the class, so it was Poe’s turn to sit out. She made herself comfortable in the grass near the bleachers and watched the other students battle. That Kain guy was pretty good. She wondered where he picked up his strategy. Poe leaned her back against one of the supports for the bleachers and idly scrolled through her pokedex while texting Blank. 

How was your super important meeting yesterday? :P 

It went as well as super important meetings usually go. Ready for the bonfire? 

Can’t wait ;) 

“Poe” a voice came suddenly into her ears. She sat up straight and looked around. She didn’t think it was Professor Soot’s voice. In fact, the professor was lecturing one of the students on proper usage of held items. Just as she was about to go back to her pokedex the voice came again. “Poe,” it said, “do you know who you are Poe?” 

She shook her head, looking around again for who could be calling her. The voice didn’t sound familiar and, now that she thought about it, it didn’t really seem like a voice at all. It was more like the feeling of a voice. Was it just in her head? 

“What a weird day.” she said to herself as she stretched her legs out across the grass. 

Chapter Text

Poe sat on the handlebars of Blank’s bike as he sped down the road toward the shore.

         “Do you wanna do some jumps?” Blank joked.

         “No!” Poe laughed, tightening her grip on the bike.

         “What about some donuts?” As a show, Blank turned sharply to the right before straightening out again.

         “If you make me fall off of this bike, I swear—”

         Blank let out a bellowing laugh, then leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.

         Poe felt a blush creep up to her face. “Are you just trying to butter me up?”

         “Duh,” he said, and they both laughed again.

         Before long they arrived at the rocky beach where a few other people were already building up a bonfire.

         “Hey Poe,” called Marcus. “Nice to see you again!”

         “Hi, Marcus.” Poe waved.

         “Well, this must be that little dame that’s started all this fuss,” a lady said, walking towards them. She had pretty, long silver hair tied up in a blue ribbon. “Hello, darlin’, I’m Ruby.”

         “Nice to meet you,” said Poe.

         “Why don’t you mosey on over here with us girls so your fella can help stoke that fire,” said Ruby, tugging Poe by the elbow.

         “Okay.”

         Everyone here seemed really nice. Ruby and Dagger shared the snacks they brought with Poe and told her embarrassing stories about Blank—you should have seen him during his punk phase. The guy wore nothing but like, fifteen belts. At the same time.

         The other guys were fun too. Cinna had brought some stuff to make smores. Zidane was a great storyteller. After a little while, the guy they called “the boss” showed up, along with a couple of weird looking guys—twins, Poe realized—carting in boxes of drinks. Soon everybody was pulling out bottles and cans, only some of which Poe recognized. Blank and Zidane made their way over to where the girls were sitting.

         “I hope you boys aren’t plannin’ to steal away these two little sugar cubes o’ mine,” Ruby said, putting her arms around Poe and Dagger’s shoulders. “We’ve been havin’ such a grand time tellin’ all your secrets to each other.”

         “Well in that case,” said Zidane, taking a seat next to Dagger. “Did you know that Ruby was supposed to be the lead actress in All My Vulpixes but she got fired after the pilot episode for hitting on one of the producers?”

         “Why, you little monkey!” Ruby said without any real venom.

         Blank was busy unloading a few bottles of beer from the box in his arms. Zidane took one for himself and offered one to Dagger, who shook her head. “Someone has to stay sober tonight to keep all of you from falling into the fire.”

         “That was one time!” shouted Cinna from across the beach.

         “One time is too many times!” she shouted back.

         Zidane chuckled, making to put back the bottle.

         “I’ll take one,” said Poe.

         “Oh, are you sure?” asked Zidane. “Don’t feel like you have to.”

         “No, I want to.” Poe took the beer from Zidane’s hand.

         “Here,” said Blank, handing her a bottle opener. He smiled.

         “Thanks,” she said, shivering a little. The sun was setting and it was getting chilly despite the fire. She suddenly felt an arm around her shoulder. Blank rubbed his palm against her arm, trying to warm her up.  She leaned into the hug and sipped on her beer. It was disgusting. 

“Sugar, if you find that swill doesn’t agree with you I’ll getcha somethin’ nicer.” Ruby winked. 

Poe smiled and finished her beer. “Something like what?” 

“Don’t take anything from her.” Zidane laughed. “It’ll probably be poisoned.” 

“If I was gonna poison anyone it’d be you.” Ruby said. She handed Poe a can of lemonade.  “Watch out, that's got a kick sweetheart. 

Poe took a sip of the lemonade. She had to admit it was much better than the beer. Poe felt a bit out of her depth as she had never been to this kind of thing before. Her friends weren't the type. She found herself picturing Al giving her a long lecture about responsibility and the dangers of alcohol. She let out a huff and took a long drink of her lemonade.

“Something wrong?” Blank asked as he wound the loose curl next to her cheek around his finger. 

“It’s just this guy I’m friends with.” Poe said. “He’s always telling me what to do. It’s the worst! Like, bro, I’m not a kid. I can make my own decisions. Plus I dunno what I did to him but he’s been like so weird to me lately. I’m glad you’re not weird.” Poe giggled, looking up at Blank. 

“You need to slow down on that booze if you think Blank’s normal.” Zidane laughed. He downed the rest of his beer and reached for another one. Dagger seemed to have fallen asleep with her head in his lap. 

“Look who’s talking tail boy!” Blank countered. 

At this point the fire was doing a much better job of pushing back the cool night air. Pretty soon the other guys finished what they were doing and joined the conversation.  Between all of them there were so many fantastical stories. Poe got the idea that they traveled a lot. She wondered what made them come to Rustboro. 

“What about you sugar?” Ruby’s voice interrupted her thoughts, “Give us yer best embarrassing story.” 

“Give me another drink first!” Poe laughed. “Ok this is a long one.” She took the drink Ruby offered and began her tale. “So when I got this piercing,” she tugged at one of the earrings on her left ear, “the guy that did it told me that cartilage piercings get infected easily. So he told me there was a special way to make sure it healed correctly. He told me to take figy berries and grind them up with a bit of vinegar and wash my ear with that.” 

“Oh damn!” Zidane said wincing at the thought of it. “Did you actually do it?” 

Poe laughed, “Yeah well I didn’t think about how spicy they are or how much vinegar burns so I ground up like three figy berries and I didn’t even take the seeds out or anything. My life flashed before my eyes as soon as the paste touched my ear. It felt like someone harpooned my brain.” 

“Cheers to Poe’s harpooned brain!” Blank said, lifting the bottle in his hand. 

“Cheers!” the others agreed, tossing back their drinks. 

As the night pressed on Poe lost track of how many lemonades she had. She laughed and carried on for a while, but she soon found herself staring into the flickering bonfire. She grew drowsy watching the flames dance. She thought about what Llyud said about the fires in his dreams. She felt bad for not knowing what was going on in her friends’ worlds. She hadn’t even noticed Llyud was struggling and she couldn’t think of anything that would have upset Al. She hadn’t really even spent that much time with Penelo lately. She felt her eyes grow watery. It felt like her friends had something going on that she wasn’t a part of. Ever since her brother moved away she didn’t really feel like a part of anything. That was until she found Penelo, Al, and Llyud. Now she felt like an outsider there too. 

Blank stood up abruptly and ruffled her hair. “I’ll be right back. Nature calls.” he said before stumbling into the darkness. 

Poe looked around. Cinna, Marcus, and the boss were engaged in a heated discussion about who had the better singing voice. Zidane and Dagger had walked down the beach earlier. Ruby was draped gracefully across one of the wider logs. Poe decided she would take a walk to clear her head. She stood up and the ground seemed to spin out from under her making her feel sick to her stomach. She picked up another beer and turned  away from the fire. 

“Where you gettin’ off too sugar?” Ruby called out sleepily. 

“Nowhere.” Poe slurred, “Just walking around.” 

“Well don’t you go wanderin’ off too far and gettin yerself into trouble or Blank’ll have my hide.” 

“Ok.” Poe said, stumbling towards the woods. 

"Poe."

"Hey, is someone there?" she said. She listened to the crackling of the fire and the sound of the ocean, which seemed to somehow grow quieter with the passing seconds. "Hm, drink," she mumbled as an explanation to herself. There was someone calling to her though, right? They seemed kind of far away. Poe took a step into the mess of trees, immediately tripping on a stick or something and crashing to her knees. It took her another minute to get back on her feet. Oh no, mud, she thought, walking forward a few steps to wipe her palms on the trunk of a smooth tree. The sound she heard earlier was now more like bees buzzing,  or like a heartbeat? Something in between maybe. Where was that sound coming from? She kept walking.

Chapter Text

Al shifted in his sleep. He suddenly became aware that he was not, in fact, asleep. He moved his legs around trying to get rid of what he thought was a tangle in his sheets. It wouldn’t budge. He reached for his phone. The screen flashed on illuminating a pair of wide glassy eyes only a few inches from his face. Startled, he sat up and flicked on the flashlight. 

“Sssssssscraggy.” the pokemon growled quietly. 

Al looked down to his feet. What he thought was a knot in his covers turned out to be Hawlucha standing with his arms crossed. What were Poe’s pokemon doing in his room? Maybe he was dreaming after all. 

Scraggy put both of his hands on Al’s chest and leaned in close to his face. “Scraaaaaaggy.” he quietly said once again. 

“How did you get in here!?” Al whispered, lifting Scraggy off of himself. Hawlucha extended an arm towards the open window. They must have jimmied the lock from the outside. “Why?” Al said in a hushed voice. 

“Scraggy! Scraggy scrag scrag!” Scraggy said in an agitated tone. He waved his arms around frantically and pointed to the open window. 

“Ha-cha.” Hawlucha said, grabbing Al’s arm with his little claws and beckoning him towards the window. 

“What is going on?” Al asked. He was becoming flustered. “Where’s Poe? Why aren’t you with her?” 

Scraggy made a dramatic show of clutching his throat and falling to the ground. He then pointed back at the window. 

“What!? Is she DEAD??” 

Hawlucha pinched his beak and shook his head. “Ha-cha.” he said, insistently tugging at Al’s arm. 

Al picked up his phone and attempted to call Poe. She didn’t answer. He noted that it was 2:34 in the morning. He slipped out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and his jacket. “Ok guys, be quiet because my dad will kill us all if he sees me sneak out.” Al scooped his own pokemon up into their pokeballs and crept down the stairs. He was hyper aware of every creak and bump in the house. He had never tried to get out quietly before. 

He turned the doorknob slowly, praying the hinges wouldn’t squeak. Scraggy and Hawlucha scampered past his feet into the cold night air. He shut the door quietly and pulled his keys out of his pocket. No wait. If he started the car his dad would surely wake up. He opted for his bike instead. 

Scraggy climbed onto his back and Hawlucha flew in front leading the way. At the end of the street Hawlucha turned in the opposite direction of Poe’s apartment. Al suddenly became much more worried than he had previously been. He peddled faster after Hawlucha. Soon they came to the outskirts of town and the road disappeared into Petalburg Woods. He propped his bicycle against a fence post and continued on foot. The tall trees blocked any trace of light from the night sky and Al thought he heard pokemon moving around in the dark. He drew his jacket closer around him. 

If Hawlucha hadn’t suddenly dropped from the sky he would have missed Poe huddled against the trunk of a large tree. 

“Poe!” Al dropped to his knees in front of her. Her characteristic space buns were disheveled and she was covered in mud. “What happened to you?” He asked, shaking her gently. 

She looked up at him through teary eyes. “Oh it’s you... I think I’m lost.” she mumbled. 

“I think you’re drunk!” He exclaimed. She reeked of campfire and alcohol. “Why are you crying? Did someone hurt you?” His blood boiled at the thought of someone leaving Poe in the woods by herself when she was obviously in a compromised state. 

She sniffled and shook her head. “I just feel so… useless.” she cried. She hid her head in her arms and cried softly. 

Al didn’t know what to do. 

He took his jacket off and draped it over her shoulders. “Come on,” he said, “you’ll feel better once you’re home.” 

“Why do you hate me?” Poe wined. 

“What? I don’t…” 

“Then why are you maaaad?” 

“I’m not mad. I just want to get you home.” 

“You always are tellin’ me... what to do. Poe… need to eat better blah blah get sleep oh don’t pass notes… late to class.” she hiccuped through her tears, “you think I’m a failure… cause… I am.” 

“I…” Al searched for something to say but he was at a loss. He opted instead to help Poe to her feet. He led her by the arm for a few shakey steps before realizing that this plan was not going to work. At this point she was babbling incoherently and sobbing. He turned to face her becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation. “You shouldn’t have been drinking.” He said. 

Poe stumbled forward and tripped. Al caught her by the elbows. “I’m not perfect like you,” she sobbed, burying her face in his chest. 

Al stood frozen, his arms stiff at his sides, as Poe grabbed fistfuls of his shirt. He could not recall any moment in his entire life where he knew what to do less than he did right now. 

“I’m not smart like Llyud or like… loving like Penelo or strong like you…” Poe was still carrying on, but Al was barely processing anything she was saying. “I just want to go home.” 

Finally. Al thought, something I can help with. “Come on, I’ll take you home.” He said, gingerly prying Poe’s fingers off of his shirt. “I guess you can’t really walk. Climb on my back.” 

He lifted Poe onto his back. She weighed like, nothing. He had never really noticed how small she was before. She was still sniffling and babbling about something, but it didn’t take her long to fall asleep. 

Hawlucha and Scraggy ended up pushing Al’s bike to Poe’s apartment. By this point it was almost 4:00 am. Al let the sleepy Poe slide down from his back and steadied her on her front porch. “Do you have your keys?” he asked. 

Poe fumbled around in her purse and produced the keys. “Here.” she thrust them towards him and rubbed her eyes. 

Al managed to figure out which key was for her apartment and let the small party in. Poe stumbled to her couch and flopped down. Al flicked the light on and finally got a good look at Poe’s state. She was a mess. It looked like she had a pretty nasty fall. She was covered in mud and had a pretty nasty gash on her knee. 

“Hey, you need to get cleaned up.” Al said, pulling her back off the couch. “Go bathe.” 

“Yer telling me what to do again.” Poe grumbled. Nevertheless, she fumbled her way into the bathroom.

As soon as he heard the shower running Al collapsed onto the couch. He felt like he had aged forty years in the past two hours. He thought about how distressed Poe looked under the tree. Who would leave a defenseless girl alone in the woods? He clenched his fists and stared at the ground. After gaining some amount of composure he poured poe a glass of water and let his pokemon out of their pokeballs. “Stay here and watch Poe tonight.” he said, lifting Aron into her bed. Honedge floated to the windowsill. His eye darted back and forth across the alley behind Poe’s house. 

Poe came out of the bathroom fidgeting with a bandaid. “My knee has a cut.” she observed. 

Al took the bandaid from her in exchange for the glass of water. “Drink this.” He opened the bandaid and gingerly applied it to Poe’s knee. 

“I’m going to bed.” she announced. She handed the half empty glass of water back to Al and climbed into bed. “Sorry for whatever I did to make you mad.” she mumbled sleepily. 

Al made sure she got into bed safely. “For the last time I’m not mad at you.” he said. He turned the light off and locked the door on the way out. He was going to have to come up with a pretty creative lie to explain why he was getting home at 5:00 am.

Chapter Text

Pounding.

         So much pounding.

         Cut it out, will you?

         It took a full minute of semi-conscious thought for Poe to realize that what was pounding was her head.

         Ouch.

         She pried her eyes open. They felt puffy. Also, there was a terrible taste in her mouth. She rolled over onto her side and saw a glass of water on the night table. She propped herself up on her elbow and reached for it before pausing a moment to let her stomach settle. Then she noticed the round, blue eyes of an Aron staring up at her from the floor.

         “Huh?” she said. Movement caught her eye. Another pokemon. A Honedge. That was weird.

         It took another full minute for her to realize that there was also pounding at the door.

         With the help of the pokemon and some considerable effort, she finally made her way to her front door. It didn’t occur to her to look through the peephole before answering.

         “Poe!” It was Blank. He grabbed onto her shoulders. “Dammit, Poe, I was so worried about you! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Then I saw Hawlucha from the window, and I—where the hell did you go?!”

         “Huh?” she said again, rubbing her eyes. “What do you mean?”

         “Gosh, you’re so hungover,” Blank said, making his way into the apartment and closing the door behind him.

         “I uh,” Poe started. “Oh yeah! The bonfire!”

         “Yes, the bonfire.” He hung his head, which put Aron directly in his line of sight. “What the hell is this?” he asked.

         Poe looked down—a little too quickly, it turned out, because her stomach started doing somersaults. “You know, that’s a good question,” she replied. “I mean, that’s an Aron—”

         “Yeah, I know what kind of pokemon that is,” said Blank.

         “Well this must be my friend Al’s Aron, but I don’t know what he’s doing here.”

         “Your friend Al?”

         “Yeah, one of my best friends. We all got put on the same team freshman year.” She waved her hand around as she made her way to the couch to keep from puking. “What were you talking about a second ago?”

         Blank crouched in front of her. “Do you remember anything about last night?”

         “Yeah,” she said, like it was obvious. “We uh, rode your bike down to the beach. And I met Ruby, and Dagger, and everyone. And we . . . told some stories I guess . . .”

         “That’s it?”

         Poe thought for a moment. She rolled up the pant of her pajamas to her knee to show him the bandaid. “I kinda remember this.”

         Blank sighed, putting his hand over her wounded knee and rubbing it affectionately. “And you’re ok, though, right?”

         “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? I mean, my head hurts a lot and I’m kind of dizzy, but that’s just normal, right?”

         He chuckled, but it seemed kind of sad. “Yeah, that’s normal. Just make sure to drink a lot of water and take it easy today.” He looked over his shoulder at Aron, who was still looking at him with the same wide-eyed stare.

         “I wonder how he ended up here. Honedge too,” Poe said, leaning over onto one of the couch’s throw pillows.

         “Maybe they got out of their pokeballs and got lost or something and followed you home,” Blank said, grabbing a nearby blanket to tuck around Poe’s shoulders. “I’d be happy to take them back to your friend if you tell me where to take them.”

         Poe smiled. “That’d be nice.”