Author's notes:

Hi everyone! I want to start the new year off in a positive way. I'm starting a new series that I think you will enjoy, especially if you like my previous work.

I want to invite everyone to comment and/or message me. I will respond to all of them, as long as I am an active writer here. Also, if you have some glaceon art you wouldn't mind letting me use, I don't have any cover art prepared for this story yet. Please message me if you can provide some.

This series is based off Umari's ATP story and takes place in his universe, with his permission. You can find it by searching for ATP in story name and I invite you to read his work and support him as well. I want to thank him. His story was the inspiration I needed to get back into writing and I'm very grateful for that and for his permissions.

I also want to thank my editor and proofreader, Cobaltbluesphere for taking the time and energy to improve these chapters and for being a great friend.

As with the original ATP story, there is no speech barrier.

Enjoy folks!

:End Author's notes

After hearing a message tone in the background of the music, Liam looked away from the game on his computer screen at the cellphone on his desk. An LED briefly lit up, indicating he did indeed have a message waiting for him. He took off his headset and placed it on the desk before grabbing the phone and leaning back in the desk chair, which made an audible squeak. He opened the messaging app and saw that the text was from his best friend, Erik.

Hey bud. Need to talk to u. U free tomorrow for lunch? It'll be on me

Liam did a quick mental check of his work schedule, remembered he had the next two days off, and sent his reply.

Hey. Ya Im free. Sure, where u wanna go?

How about that sushi place downtown

Liam paused and scowled a bit. Sushi wasn't exactly his favorite food. He could eat a few pieces, sure, but he didn't consider it to be a meal. He decided not to dismiss the idea outright but see if he could work around it.

Do they have other things there or just sushi? Not really my thing. Don't mind going if they've got like noodles or something too

They do. They've got a buffet table with fried rice and soups and I think they've got noodle dishes too. We can go somewhere else if u want tho

No that's cool. When do you wanna meet?

Noon work for u?

Yep see u then

Liam's chair squeaked again as he set the phone back down and sat back with his hands resting behind his head and his feet propped up on the computer sitting on the floor. He thought it was odd behavior from Erik. It wasn't often that they would go out to eat somewhere. They hung out every now and then but it was usually to drink a few beers, smoke a bowl, and play videogames or watch stupid youtube videos at Erik's place.

The two had been friends since high school, but the growing responsibilities that came with being a young adult had caused them to drift apart somewhat. . They came from families on opposite ends of the wealth spectrum, which was fairly common in their small city. You were either lucky enough to be very wealthy and work with your family who owned one of the few big businesses or you were poor and working for the rich. There were not many people who fell in the middle and the gap between the two had been growing worse every year.

Erik's family worked in the local hospital. With his family easily able to to pay for it, he had just finished university and was looking to enter the next stage of school, working towards becoming a doctor, himself. He was married and was looking at a great life ahead of him filled with comfort and luxury.

Liam was on the other end. He made enough working in the security department of the hospital to afford his own small apartment and a modest living, but not enough to finish school beyond community college. He had a girlfriend he met there, Clara, who was one of the few who could be considered middle-class. The two had been in a stable relationship for a few years now.

He figured this was probably Erik announcing that he'd be moving away. Liam had expected this for a while now, as this small town could only take someone so far. The loss of a good friend would hurt for a while, but such is life. He'd find a way to cope, maybe try to find a new friend to spend time with, and perhaps he'd be able to visit a couple times a year. With this in mind, he sighed and went back to his video game.

After finding a parking spot for his car, Liam got out and walked down the sidewalk toward the restaurant. Like the other buildings surrounding it, the sushi place was in an old brick building. It almost looked like it could have been modeled after 50's architecture, but perhaps it really was that old and had simply stood the test of time. The doors, windows, and all the signage were brand new though and very fancy.

Liam pushed the glass door open, to an audible chime, and was greeted by a smiling girl behind the podium. The inside was decorated in Sinnohan art and music. Several aquariums filled with small water-type pokémon native to that region could be seen in the restaurant, with one large one in the center as you walked in. It was held up on the back of a dewgong statue. The place looked expensive, like a place businessmen would take clients, and he felt slightly out of place. Maybe he should have dressed up more.

The hostess quickly welcomed him, "Hi, are you here by yourself?"

"No, I'm here with a friend."

He looked around and quickly found Erik, dressed in a button down shirt and dress pants, at a table near the back, who also spotted Liam and got up, hurrying over to meet him.

"Hey Liam! Good to see you, bud. I've already paid for us." He turned to the hostess. "Ma'am, this is the friend I was waiting for."

The hostess smiled and welcomed them again, telling them to enjoy themselves and let her know if they needed any help and then returned to her other duties. The two walked back to the table Erik had saved, past a few other well-dressed customers. Neither Erik nor the hostess had mentioned his clothes, so he decided to ignore it and move on.

As they walked back, Liam noticed the gardevoir who was seated at their table. Her name was Chelsea and she had grown up with Erik. The gardevoir had always been especially sweet and a bit shy towards him. He sometimes wondered if she had something similar to a crush on him, but never bothered to pursue it or even confirm it. She was cute, he had to admit. She had a graceful air about her with a flowing, almost regal dress-like body, befitting her delicate, almost waifish appearance. She always looked gentle enough that he thought she might not even have it in her to harm a fly. She helped Erik out as an assistant when needed. He likened her to something similar to a personal maid or sister-nanny, or a family pet.

"I'm not a pet, Liam," she exclaimed with a mock glare.

Liam flashed a clever grin and retorted, "Of course not, you're more intelligent than he is! I was thinking more along the lines that he's your pet. Good to see your psychic abilities are as sharp as ever, by the way."

Chelsea's glare turned to a smile and the three shared a laugh before the two humans joined her, sitting down at the table.

"Sorry, Chelsea. I just don't have that much experience with pokémon. I didn't mean to be insulting or anything."

This was true. Outside of the most common of grass inhabiting species and a few choice pokémon owned by the rich, who usually kept them as pets to be displayed, you were not likely to run into pokémon or trainers in his town.

"No, I'm just playing," she said. "I didn't take it that seriously. I do hope you get to meet a few interesting pokémon at some point though. I think it would be worthwhile for you. Who knows, you might even find a companion in one of us, if you were to try." She smiled at him and then changed the subject, "Shall we get our food now?"

Erik looked at Liam, who nodded slightly in agreement.

"Sure, let's go," he replied, and the three of them stood up and made their way over to the buffet tables. Liam skimmed over the sashimi tables, stopping briefly to pick up the two types of sushi he knew he liked, before moving on to the hot food table.

"So I'm guessing this is where you tell me you found a graduate school you like and that you're finally moving away." He turned to Erik with a grin. "This the going away celebration?"

Erik, who was still loading his plate up , kept his eyes on the table when he answered, "Well, it's true that I have found a school and it's true that I'll probably have to move away and that is something I was going to tell you but," he looked up at Liam with a mischievous smirk, "You really think I'd send off with this? No, I've got one last thing planned before that happens, but that's for later. There's some stuff I think we've got to take care of first. Let's have a bite to eat, for starters, and enjoy ourselves!"

He gave Liam a friendly slap on the back. "I love this food, dude. I'd be happy to eat this every day. What about you?"

"What, Sinnohan food? I mean, yeah, I could do it, sure. There are a few different types of cold rolls I enjoy and I actually really like a lot of the hot food."

"Yeah, dude and can you imagine how good this stuff is when it's fresh out of the sea there?"

They continued chatting as they made their way around the buffet, Erik piling on multiple plates of different cold and hot foods, Chelsea adding a very modest serving of a few different types of cold rolls, and Liam sticking with what he knew and grabbing the foods he knew he liked.

The small group headed back to their table and started their meal. They chatted about inconsequential topics as they ate, the pleasant company and lively conversation setting Liam's mind at ease. It was easy to forget the reason that Erik had called him out here and just enjoy talking with his friends.

As the meal was wrapping up and the group's plates were just about empty, Erik looked up at Chelsea and nodded at her.

"I think it's about time for some drinks. Saké okay with you, Liam? I think that'd be the traditional thing to do at a sushi shop."

"Sure, that sounds good. Been years since I've had any," he replied.

Erik looked back to the gardevoir and asked, "Great. Chelsea, do you mind grabbing them?"

"Not at all. I'll go get ahold of the bartender then. I'll need your ID though, Erik."

"Thanks Chelsea, that's nice of you," Liam said gratefully.

After picking up the license that Erik had slid across the table, she smiled at Liam and left towards the front of the restaurant. He noticed her expression was strange - her smile had a hint of sadness to it - guilt maybe, or pity.

As Liam was processing this, he heard Erik speak up.

"Man, alright, ok, here comes the part I wasn't looking forward to." Erik let out a long sigh as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone. The buttons made audible taps as he searched for something on it. "Alright bud, I don't want to have to say this and I'm really sorry, but I think it's for the best that you know." He put the phone down in his lap and looked at his friend before beginning to explain. "The other evening, I was invited to the bar to join some of the other med students from university to celebrate finals. I had to stop at home first - Mom needed some help, so I ended up being pretty late. When I came in, I noticed your girl, Clara, was with the group but… she was kissing one of the guys there." His face scrunched up as he continued. "I hung back after I saw that, stayed at the bar. Watched for a while to make sure. It got pretty heated and...I'm sorry dude...I watched him take her to the bathrooms."

He brought his phone back up and showed his friend the pictures he had taken from the bar. They showed exactly what he had described. Liam's girlfriend sitting on another man's lap, kissing the guy passionately. Various alcoholic drinks scattered across the table. Several clearly drunk people looked on, either cheering, laughing, or smiling, all unaware of the implications and consequences of the act. As he scrolled across the screen with his finger, another image of her, from behind, holding his hand as they headed toward the bar's restroom area together.

Liam's heart sunk in an instant, as the one promising thing he had worked for disintegrated in his soul. The idea of her and their relationship crumbled away, replaced with little more than an empty void. She'd been stringing him along the whole time. His eyes darted from side to side as his thoughts raced. His head sunk down.

"I'm sorry, bud. I left immediately after that. Maybe I should have told you right away, but I didn't know how I should have gone about it. I didn't know if I should have called you or what.I'm sorry," Erik repeated.

"No...it's alright," he managed to gather himself enough to answer, suppressing his urge to cry.

"Has she said anything recently? Has she done anything?" Erik asked tentatively.

"No," Liam responded, followed by a long pause. Clearly choked up, he clarified. "She hasn't been around as much lately, but I didn't read anything into it. I guess I should have known." His emotional state continued to deteriorate as more and more memories ran through his thoughts and as his brain tried to rationalize the situation. At this point there were tears in his eyes.

He continued, "She had been talking about how we needed to do something with our lives, that we weren't getting anywhere. She said I should have continued school...that she should have too. I mean, sure, I probably should have, but I just didn't have the money to continue, man. There was nothing I could do about it."

"I know, buddy," Erik consoled him.

"I had nothing to work with. I was doing the best I could with nothing to build from. Now she's gonna turn her back on me?"

"Look, Liam, call her tomorrow. Don't do anything tonight, nothing good will come of it while you're in this state. We'll get this sorted out. Everything will be fine, bud. I'm here for you."

Liam smiled defeatedly as he looked up at his best friend. "Thanks, man. Thanks for letting me know, it's just… This fucking sucks though. She was all I really had here."

"I know. Let's just have a few drinks for now. I'll get someone to drive us home in your car so you won't have to get it in the morning."

"She knows about this, doesn't she?"

"Who, Chelsea? Vaguely, yeah, but you know she's a psychic pokémon. It's not much use trying to hide things from her."

"What about your car though? How are you going to get it? Won't she have to come back for that?"

"We took a cab. We'll take one back."

Liam thought for a moment before a small smile crossed his face. "You're too clever for your own good, you know. Can I at least pay for your cab ride?"

"It wasn't me it was Chelsea's idea," Erik replied with a small laugh, "And no, you can't."

As if on cue, the gardevoir returned with a glass server, filled with saké, and several matching glass cups on a tray. She sat the tray down, passed out the small cups, and filled each one of them.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, Liam," she said solemnly, never looking up from pouring.