He'd been ready to just relax and rest while Kay was gone, to just get some peace and quiet. Laying on the couch, Aeron had his eyes closed and hands folded on his stomach, he was ready to drift away to nap. Houndour was curled up on the floor beside the couch, letting out little noises as he slept soundly.

But sleep wasn't what was to come for Aeron as a shadow fell over him. Making a grimace, he cracked open an eye and peered up. Pippa was staring up at him with a worried look, notebook in hand. "What do you want?" he asked, his voice gruff and irritable.

She flinched and began scrawling on the paper, a few moments passed and she turned it to show him her writing. 'When will Kay be back?'

Of course it would be that question. Aeron rolled his eyes at her, "In a few hours, idiot. It takes about an hour to get to the city from here, an hour to get back, and then an hour to do shopping. So at the very least he'll be gone for three hours."

Pippa ducked her head, embarrassed and ashamed, and began writing on the notebook again.

"You don't need to bother writing if you don't need to," Aeron snapped, rolling over on the couch and closing his eyes "I can read sign language, and I can read lips too if you know how to mouth the words." Waiting for her to write her words took to long, it was so much quicker and easier to just speak with hands or mouth.

He slowly cracked back open an eye to look at her. Pippa appeared surprised at his words and was searching for what to say. Then, with a little stumble, spoke, 'You…. can?' she said, signing the words just as well as she mouthed them.

Aeron shrugged, "Yeah I can. I know, big surprise, whoopedoo." He said, turning his back to her once more. His mother had made him learn how to read sign language when he was a kid, to 'open the doors of communication' or some crap like that. He learned how to read lips on his own, so he could know what people said even if he couldn't hear them. It came in handy when watching TV at midnight as a kid when he had to keep it mute so his mom didn't catch him.

That seemed to be enough for Pippa, or maybe she had more she wanted to say but knew better than to bother Aeron anymore because she slowly retreated out of the living room to find something else to do.

Eventually Aeron started to drift off to sleep, lulled by the soft clicks of the clock on the wall and the gentle snoring of Houndour on the floor. He drifted off into a dreamless sleep, surrounded by black as he rested.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he woke up, maybe a few minutes, maybe an hour? It didn't matter, he was grouchy as he slowly opened his eyes to the banging on the front door.

Aeron let out a loud groan as more knocking resounded from the door. As much as he wanted to ignore it, he knew he couldn't, whoever was there could be someone important. Maybe Kay got skewered by some Beedrill after wandering into its territory. Hmph, one could only hope as much. Nonetheless, he pushed himself off the couch and got off, giving his Houndour a warning look; last thing he wanted was his little friend thinking this meant the couch was his and stealing Aerons spot.

"I'll be right back," he said carefully, and received a bark in return.

Watching Houndour carefully, Aeron slowly made his way to the front door. There was no peephole so he could see who it was and decide beforehand if he wanted to deal with them or not. For a moment Aeron let himself wonder whether he should just up and ignore them and proceed with his meal, but, no, it could be someone important. Not likely, but it could be.

He pulled the door open and proceeded to lean against the doorframe as he gave the two on the other side an unimpressed once over. Two men both dressed in a black suit and tie and they were wearing sunglasses as though it'd make them look cooler. Sorry, fellas, you still looked completely stupid. One of them, the shorter of the two, had red hair slicked back and a skinny frame while his black haired companion looked more like he was suited for being a thug than… whatever the Hell these two were, with his massive large frame and ugly face.

"Whatever you want, make it quick," Aeron said stiffly as he crossed his arms over his chest. There was a small noise made and he let his eyes fall down to the side where Frogadier had snuck in, crouched at his side as though watching to see if things got bad here or if Aeron needed someone for intimidation.

There was a small cough as the red haired man cleared his throat, "Excuse our intrusion, sir. I'm Matthew Evanovich, and this is my partner Jared Price," the mammoth beside him grunted in response. Not a verbal one it seemed.

"And I'm Arceus' prophet," Aeron said. Matthew Evanovich gave him a startled and rather confused expression and the trainer kept his own face blank. "It's a lie and unimportant, just like knowing your names are. I asked what you wanted, not who you were."

At that, Matthew smiled, though it was clearly forced and strained as he held his hands together, "Yes, about that… you see, we're investigators and we're currently looking for someone whom we hope you may have seen," he reached over to Jared who handed him a file, where had he gotten that from? Aeron must have missed it. The man reached in and drew out a photo which he handed over to the trainer, "She's a minor, which is why we're searching high and low for her. A sixteen, but only by two weeks, and comes from Aquacorde Town, so we think she may have come through the forest here when she ran away from home a few days ago. Her name is Philippa Thayer."

Aeron raised a brow and looked at the photo he'd been handed. It was a somewhat cute girl sitting on a stool behind a one of those dark shaded backgrounds. Her long blonde hair was in a braid and she had a pale complexion; clearly the work of some makeup done expertly. Her hands were folded neatly on her lap as she wore a pretty white and blue dress that gave her a bit of an Alice in Wonderland feeling, and she had to have been fourteen by the looks of it, probably an old photo then. The girl was smiling softly at the camera, but that smile didn't make it to her eyes.

He stared at the photo for a good few seconds before tossing it back at Matthew lazily and closing his eyes. "Sorry, never seen the chibefore in my life," he told them.

Matthew stumbled to catch the picture before it hit the ground and was quick to try and straighten himself as he slipped the photo into the breast pocket of his suits pocket. "Right, are you sure you haven't? She may not look exactly like she did in the photo, but it shouldn't be too much of a difference between the picture and her right now."

"If I said I didn't see her, then I can promise you I didn't see her," Aeron cracked an eye open, staring at them with a darker expression. His patience was wearing thin. "You sure you didn't just miss her? If you keep to the trainers path you'll be in and out of the forest within an hour or two. If she ran away she's probably already hitched a ride to Lumiose City, Hell, she's likely trying to find a way to a new region. That's what I'd do if I ran away, I hear Kanto is pretty nice."

With that he didn't offer another word to the weird men in suits. He kept his body relaxed and his expression void as he stared at them, as though challenging them to press the issue more, because they could try but he wasn't going to budge.

Matthew matched his gaze with a hard one of his own and they stared at each other for what felt like years, waiting for the other to crack before he backed off with an apologetic smile and dip of the head. "Right, right, of course," he said pleasantly and drew something else out from his jackets pocket, "If you do see anything or find any lead of her by chance, please do not hesitate to call." He handed Aeron a business car and started to walk away from the house.

Waiting a few moments, Aeron closed the door and looked down at the card. It had a name and number as well as an agency to call. It didn't interest him at all. Still, he'd have to tell Kay about this.

Looking up into the house, he heard a small squeak and rolled his eyes, "You can come out of hiding, they're gone," he ordered.

Soon enough, soft footsteps sounded as Pippa slipped out from her hiding spot around the corner in the kitchen. She looked down at her feet, hands behind her back as she fidgeted nervously, fearfully. She was mouthing things, but Aeron couldn't catch them with her head the way it was.

"If you're going to talk to me, look at me so I know what you're saying," he really didn't have patience for the whole "shy girl" act right now. He took the card in his hands as he started walking, tearing it up and tossing it into a trash bin as he passed her, "and you can stop twisting your panties about, I'm not ratting you out."

With that, the girl looked at him with wide, surprised eyes, as though she hadn't expected it. It pissed him off.

"If I was going to throw you to the wolves, I would have told them you were in the house, moron," he snapped as he reached the fridge in the kitchen and pulled out one of the beers in it. Good thing Kay was gone, he would have gotten an earful of underage drinking and drinking Kay's beer of all thing otherwise. There were a few Poke Puffs being chilled in the fridge and whistled, soon enough his Pokemon were in the kitchen and he gave them some of the treats.

As they enjoyed their sugary treats, Aeron twisted the top off as he took a seat at the table and turned his attention back to Pippa, "Besides, the girl in the photo was a total cutie, no way in Heaven or Hell that girl and you were the same person, so it's not like I lied." Pippa turned red, from embarrassment or shame he did not know, and fumbled about for the right words as she looked at him, and Aeron just sipped the beer patiently, finding her panic amusing.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Pippa stared at him right in the eyes, a sort of determination in her eyes that he'd never seen before on her. ' Thank you ', she mouthed.

He almost choked on his beer but managed to keep it cool as he looked away, "Yeah, whatever," he grumbled with a disinterested wave of the hand, "Just go, go bother someone else or find something to do."

Try as he might, he couldn't ignore how happy she looked. There was a shimmer of trust she had in her expression as she left the kitchen. Trust in him, Aeron of all people. Good grief, Arceus save her, she was making a horrible choice of putting trust in him.

Rolling his eyes to himself Aeron could hear her rummaging about the house farther down, taking his advice to do something elsewhere to heart, and he continued to lazily sip his beer.

His Pokemon partners had finished their treats and were just lazing about the kitchen floor now. His Houndour sniffed curiously at Frogadier who just patted his head in a move to get the dog-pokemons face away from him. Croagunk was just laying on the floor, napping by the looks of it with a little trail of drool forming on the floor. It was kind of a cute sight, if he was being honest.

Seriously, his Pokemon were just adorable, way better than the nasty and annoying people he had to deal with every day. If he could, Aeron would rather just be a Pokemon and live among them.

The front door swung open and was shoved back as Aeron was halfway through his second bottle. Croagunk was startled awake and looked up wide eyes, the other two had paused in their engagement as they watched Kay walk into the kitchen, carrying several shopping bags which he dropped onto the table.

"There we go," the blonde said dusting his hands off, Aeron gave a grunt of greeting and the older man walked over and tore the beer from his hands, "Not for you," he said putting it on the other end of the table.

Shrugging, Aeron leaned back in his seat, "How'd the trip go?" he asked as Kay got to work putting away all the groceries. He opened a cupboard and began organizing and stacking half a dozen cans into it, pushing the newer ones towards the back. Aeron could see some boxes of cereal, vegetables and some fruit in some of the other bags, along with cans and bags of pokemon food. Kay gave a hum and a quiet 'it was okay' and Aeron slowly reached for the bottle of beer. "We had some strange visitors today." he grabbed the bottle.

"Oh?" Kay asked sifting through some of the boxed foods and opening another cupboard.

Taking a sip, Aeron nodded, "Yeah, a couple of stuffy suits. Were asking some questions, wanting to know if I'd seen some gal from Aquacorde Town, showed a picture of her," he said as he looked up at the ceiling and then glanced at Kay from the corner of his eyes. "Told them I'd never seen her before and they left. Were looking for Pippa, so it's your call what to do about her."

At that, Kay stopped and turned to look at him, he snatched the bottle of beer from Aeron once more and tossed it into a trash before leaning against the counter, "Are you sure they were looking for Pippa?"

"The girl in the photo, unless she has a twin she doesn't know about, it's got to be her."

He hummed and brought a hand to cover his mouth as he thought, "I guess that means her going missing didn't go unnoticed or uncared," he said, more to himself as he mulled over this, "How did Pippa react?"

Aeron shook his head, "Like a scared little rabbit, what else would you expect?"

Kay moved from his spot at the counter and stepped out of the kitchen, just a little, and looked both ways as though looking for something. For someone, Aeron corrected, he was looking to see if Pippa was nearby. Probably didn't want her hearing what they were going to say next.

When he was satisfied, he came to the table and took a seat across from Aeron. His hand came down to pet Houndour as he began talking once more.

"It's obvious that there is a reason she ran away from home," he began slowly. The trainer rolled his eyes with a sarcastic 'no shit Sherlock', which went ignored by the head of the house, "I don't want to jump to conclusions on why she ran away, but I think it would be better for her if she didn't return there. Which means we need to think of what to do now."

"Why not just take her over to the police? I'm sure an officer would just love to play the good samaritan and help a weak disabled girl, they can't wait to be hailed a hero for things like this," Aeron pointed out as Frogadier climbed onto his lap. He helped the small frog get comfortable as he watched Kay with a lazy expression.

He had his thinking face back on, mulling over ideas and possibilities, soon Kay looked up at him, his eyes narrowing in that expression that said he had an idea, that he had an idea that Aeron was not going to like, "I would let her stay here, but I think it might be dangerous letting her stay in one location for so long. Especially since Aquacorde is so close by. All it would take is for her to be outside and the wrong person to come visit for her to be exposed."

"Well, that's kind of a risk for everything, unless you're thinking of sending her off to another region," Aeron pointed out, "and before you suggest it; I'm not smuggling her to Alola."

There was a nod from Kay as he accepted that denial. He kept thinking and then, "What badge are you going for next?"

Aeron raised a thin brow, looking down at his pokemon companion and then back at Kay as though trying to understand what he was getting at. "I was planning on battling for a Voltage Badge in Lumiose City next," he answered slowly, suspiciously, "Why do you ask?"

"You should go to Cyllage next instead."

With that, he was cocking his head to the side, trying to understand what Kay was getting at. But there was a look in his eyes as he said that and soon enough it dawned on Aeron. He stood up quick, causing Frogadier to tumble out of his lap, "Absolutely not! I'm not playing babysitter for some chick!"

Kay didn't seem perturbed by the outburst and remained calmly seated, watching Aeron with mild interest. "Why not? She wouldn't be too much of a hindrance, she might even be a help to you on your journey."

"Help? Help ?" Aeron spluttered, "She'll slow me down! Plus I'll have to take time to keep her safe and, just, ugh! Find someone else to take her all over the region!"

But the blonde shook his head and rested his cheek on a hand, "Just imagine, Aeron," he said slowly, "How would Miss. Danann react if she heard you were taking time out of your schedule, out of your life to keep a young girl who'd run away from home safe from people searching for her? Don't you think that would make her proud of you?"

Oh. Oh no he didn't.

Kay did not just bring his mother into this, there was no way in Heaven or Hell that Kay was playing that card!

Aeron stared at him, murder in his eyes as he took hold of his chair, gripping it so tightly that his knuckles turned white, trying to find his words, any sort of word that could describe just how he felt right now. But he never got the chance because Kay was speaking again and quickly.

"Isn't this the sort of thing that she would commend you for? She'd be so proud of you for this, so happy that you've made progress in improving yourself," Kay said and now, oh Arceus, now he had a smug smirk on his face as though he'd already put Aeron in check, "and you'll be lying to yourself if you say that Miss. Danann wouldn't love to meet her. She'd be so proud and happy, and all you have to do is keep Pippa close to you as you go on your journey."

He was grinding his teeth, feeling his rage and hate building up as he stared at Kay's stupid, smug face. His hands shook, wanting nothing more than to grab him and strangle him, but knowing he couldn't, but Arceus did he want to.

Taking a slow, shuddering breath, Aeron closed his eyes, "I hate you, I hate you so much."

Authors Note

As Always, thanks to AlexVaz01 for Beta Reading this prior to posting. Also, if you like, please give a follow/favorite or leave a comment to lemme know what you thought, or if you have any pointers on how to improve this, feel free to let me know.