A/N: Hi again! Thanks for your continued support! :)


I pulled my fluffy komala pattern PJs over my head before turning to face the mirror. As I leaned into the reflective glass, I searched my face for traces of my emotional outburst. I dapped the tiniest smudge of concealer under my eyes to obscure the redness feeling irritated that even though was 10pm I still had to fuss over my warpaint.

What should we do about them? Chika whispered feeling paranoid about the thinness of the walls. She sat on the edge of my bed which was dressed in lilac sheets letting her tiny feet dangle off the edge.

"Is there anything we need to do?" I asked while rubbing in the face paint.

Eir! Nova was digging like crazy about your parents' research! Chika harshly whispered. He even KNEW their field of research! That's top-secret stuff. He's bad news.

"Ok," I breathed. "So let's say we did just accidently take some organised-crime-lunatic-spies into our house. What do you want to do about it?"

Tell them we have work at 6am, go straight to bed, leave really early tomorrow morning, and hope they're gone by the time we get back, she sharply replied.

I took a step back from the mirror, proud of the mask I constructed. As I put my tools away, I took a moment to appreciate the derpy feebas on the front. It made me laugh a little every time. "Staying in this hypothetical, what if Mom and Dad are in trouble? Shouldn't we try to, like, find out who their boss is or something if someone's onto them?"

We should tell Mr. Looker instead. If we try to dig, wouldn't that make it obvious that there's something we're hiding? And what if they catch you out again? Then the ones revealing stuff would be us, Chika said slowly.

"Ugh, Chika," I said as my hands reached up to rub my eyes. "This is insane. Just take a step back. We're being paranoid. They literally just came into the coffeeshop, had no where else to stay, Nova asked one little question about Mom and Dad's research, and we're here feeling like we've got spies in our living room and that we need to go to the International Police."

You know why they went to Kanto. They knew trouble was coming and needed to stay ahead. What if it's catching up with them? Chika insisted.

I fell silent. No retort or brave declaration or steel resolve came. Just sadness. A heavy sadness concealer could barely mask. My sanity was so fragile, so delicate. Like a taunt water balloon, the tiniest prick threatened to make me burst. "I wish they never started…" I whispered. We sat in heavy silence. "I wonder if they would've stopped if that stuff killed me back then. Would it have died with me?"


When it's late and I can't sleep, my mind drifts to that day. One evening, in our old house in Aquacorde Town, the door to the forbidden lab was left ajar. Being dumb and only eight, I tiptoed in, desperately curious about what was interesting enough to keep Mom and Dad occupied for such long hours. Stands of purple fur a couple shades darker than Mom's espeon dusted the floor like sprinkles, and I distinctly remember wondering if they were just trying to make Eon darker. Tall metallic tables that plateaued above my head taunted me with the mysteries they held at their summit. I had come this far already, so I clumsily scrambled up.

At the top there was no grand view. Just a rigid ratata with scarlet eyes left open, unblinking, and dull. Two thin glass vials stood propped in a clawed wooden holder just behind him. Mom wore a lab coat, like the doctors on TV and the nurses in the Pokemon Centre. When I got sick, the nurses would make me better with medicine to eat or put on my cuts. They always helped me, and Mom dressed like a doctor so maybe she was one. I wanted to be like that, a healer.

I looked at both the vials. I assumed they were the medicine. They looked the same, so I just picked the one on the left. I fumbled with the cork jammed into the neck, and once it popped off, I remember the surge of pride and excitement I felt. I was so excited to help the rattata. Maybe he'll be my pokemon partner! And then we'll be best friends! Like Mom and Eon or Dad and Chatter!

As I edged closer to the sick pokemon, I started to feel dizzy. The smell that came out of the vial was harshly potent, like that stingy stuff the school nurse sprayed on my hands when I fell off my scooter. But it didn't fade into the air like that spray did. It lingered, like it was trapped behind my eyes. I started coughing, trying to get it out, but it started to burn my nose, and each cough felt like it tore the skin off my throat, but I couldn't stop.

"M-" I gasped between hacks. "MOM!" I screamed before my chest heaved again. "D-DAD!" Tears streamed down my cheeks in rivets, and my sobs came out as violent coughs. I put my hands to my face to stop myself from breathing more medicine in, but I felt lightheaded when I saw the red splatters my coughs sprayed across my hands. Fear surged through my body as darkness tunnelled my vision.

"EIR!" The horror in Mom's shriek fuelled my terror, and although I tried to cry out, I couldn't. "Oh, Acreus, SHIT!"

As I hit the table, the last thing I saw was the rattata's patchy purple flank. It wasn't rising.

Days later, I opened my eyes again. The first thing I thought about was the rattata. Even though I didn't understand earlier, somehow now, I just knew. I wondered briefly if I was dead too, if I would even know.

Thank ARCEUS! The child is alive! a strange yet familiar voice said.

I turned my head slightly to see Eon bounding over to my bedside. The espeon's soft violet fur that was usually so lush looked matted. She was normally so stoic, but she was beaming. Her contradictions confused me. My eyes flickered around my bedroom for the source of the voice, but there was no one else.

"Hey, Eon," I said softly without really looking at her.

Eon rubbed her soft muzzle against my shoulder to comfort me. She pulled back and called out, "Eeesp, espeee!" Marie, come here!

My eyes widened, and I turned my head slightly to look at her properly. "Oh, that voice. That was you from before. Wow, did Chatter teach you to talk?"

Eon pulled back immediately. Her face froze in shock. It was so unsettling. I wished it froze earlier when she was beaming instead of getting stuck like this. Eir! Did you- Can you- Do you know what I'm saying?

I weakly smiled and reached out to pat her on the head. "Yeah! You must be working hard at your lessons."

"Oh, Eir!" my mother sobbed as she came in the door. She rushed to my bedside pressing a sodden tissue to her face. She slowly sank to her knees and carefully took my hand in hers. "I-I'm so sorry."

I blinked, both confused by her apology and my grogginess. "For what?"

Before she could answer, my father appeared in the doorway with Chatter the chatot perched on his shoulder. He was tense and silent although I could see his eyes were red and raw. "Oh Eir… For the love of Arceus," he whispered.

Eon tore away from my bed and raced towards my father. Chatter! Tell them she can understand me! Eon said with breathless excitement looking up at the pokemon on Dad's shoulder.

"What!" Chatter squawked.

Dad's head turned sharply to face his pokemon, his eyes on high alert. "What is it, Chatter?"

I felt a flash of irritation that Eon thought I was too weak to speak for myself. I pulled my hand away from Mom's support as I squirmed upwards until I was sitting. "I can talk myself," I said stubbornly although I was fighting the urge to cough. "Eon's speech lessons are going really well, and I can understand her perfectly."

My parents' eyes widened, and fresh confusion brewed in my mind. I shouldn't have had to tell them Eon's lessons were going well.

"H-honey," my mother said, reaching for my hand again like I was going to float away. She gripped it even tighter as she spoke. She stared at me with such urgent intensity that I shrank away. "You're able to understand Eon?"

"Y-yeah," I stammered. Panic flared in me as the sense that I was dreaming or hallucinating suddenly came over me.

"Chatter," Mom snapped as she whipped her gaze at the bewildered chatot. "Come here," she could hardly keep the sharp excitement out of her voice.

Chatter leapt off Dad's shoulder and fluttered over to land gracefully beside me. Eon bounded to my side, and my father uncertainly staggered over.

"Now, Eon, I want you to say something to Eir. Eir, tell us what she said. Chatter, let us know if she's right." Mom's words fell out of her mouth in a reckless flood.

A deep thumping began pounding deep inside my head, and I pulled my knees close to my chest as I tried to tug my hand away. "M-Mom?"

"Shh," she reached out to swiftly pat my head, her grip on my tiny hand solidifying into steel. It hurt but I didn't resist, almost liking the manic attention. "It's ok, just do as I said."

I hesitated but nodded.

Eon's almond shaped violet eyes turned to me, willing me to understand. Professor Sycamore studies mega evolution.

"Professor Sycamore studies mega evolution," I whispered feeling self-conscious.

"By ARCEUS!" Chatter screeched as he battered the air with his wings. "She's right!"

Mom stood up suddenly and let go of my hand in a flash. It sank down to my side as I watched her pace the room in an explosive frenzy of scientific gibberish and muttering. Dad took a step closer, trying to calm her, but he looked happier and more energetic than I'd ever seen him.

The commotion they whipped themselves into amplified my headache. I laid back down, sinking into the softness of the sheets, sinking back into sleep. "Eon, you aren't taking lessons, are you?"

No, she whispered softly to soothe my unease. My eyes flickered to the doorway to catch a small shadow that stood in its frame. Tom was staring at me with massive watery blue eyes clutching a ragged pancham plushie close to his chest. I offered him a tired smile, but his posture stiffened, and he walked away.


"Oh, good," I said as I walked into the kitchen. "Glad you found the bowls." Chika hopped nervously behind me, but my exhaustion had morphed into apathy making me brazen.

Nova sat at the table in front of a lone clutter free patch slurping magmortor pot noodles. I recoiled as the scent of the chili threatened to singe my nose hairs even from here. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes were watering, and a half empty glass bottle of milk stood close to him on standby. Scrafty sat on the floor beside him tearing through a bag of pokeblocks with an urgency so savage that I wondered if he was genuinely fearful of an impending famine.

Mara lounged on the couch, her feet shamelessly up on the coffee table. It was dirty anyway, but my eyebrow still twitched in irritation. Reflexively, I hoped she didn't notice that it bothered me, and for once I questioned why that was always my reflex, but I shoved it aside feeling sick of existentials. Bizan sat next to the half-wilted plant by the window overlooking the narrow alleyway. He looked pensive and harmless which was so distant from my first impression that it disturbed me.

"Did you get anything to eat?" I asked Mara.

"Why do you keep asking me stupid questions?" she sighed without even looking at me. She kept her eyes trained on her pokemon, but I could see her eyeliner was smudged like a toddler's clumsy watercolours.

"Whatever," I sighed feeling defeated and too exhausted to press. "You guys cool with sleeping on the couches?"

Nova gave me a thumbs up from behind his bottle of moo-moo-milk which his was finishing off.

"Cool," I replied. "I have work in the morning, so I'm heading to bed. I'll be gone early, but yeah, just let yourselves out whenever you head off tomorrow. I'll just go get the blankets from the closet for you, and let's call it a day."


I closed the chipped red door with surgical precision to avoid making noise. I exhaled with relief as Chika and I turned away. I made for the stairs as I scooped up Chika in my arms.

When I emerged into the alleyway which was bathing in the blue light of the rising sun, I felt unburdened and unwatched. With the city still sleepy and silent, there were no toes to step on, no one to piss off by existing, and no one to fake smile at. In solitude I took refuge from my facade.

But of course, I wasn't really alone. I knelt down to let Chika hop out of my arms and onto the uneven cobblestone. I never was. I never forgot the who I was either because I never lied to her. Even if I tried, she always called my bluff. A rush of affection for my partner warmed me to my toes. I was so lucky.

"Well, now what?" I asked.

I'm hungry, Chika said as she stretched her tiny yellow wings.

"Oh yeah," I said, "we skipped dinner last night, didn't we?" I checked my Holo Caster which read 5:40am. I had an alarm set for 6am, but I woke up long before it. "We closed up last night, so I've got a key for Heart if you want to go there?"

Ok! Chika flapped her wings in excitement.

We made our way through the city which was so familiar that I didn't even need to think about it. I let myself be guided by muscle memory so I could take in the unfamiliar face my city wore at dawn. The soft white light of the shiny black streetlamps which defied the nightly darkness looked so feeble against the light of the rising sun. I watched them flicker off, their services no longer needed, to recharge their batteries.

The roads were gradually filling up with people and pokemon alike that ducked out of their houses or their nests to take direction and seize the day. A stout gogoat with a burly trainer caught my eye because they looked so similar to each other. Their synergy as partners was undeniable. The broad and powerful man was strapping a harness onto his pokemon to get ready for another day in the Gogoat Ride City Tour company. The Tour company was so iconic to Lumiose, and I silently thanked the man and gogoat for working together to make our city better.

Eventually I found myself at the Heart Café. It was 6:20am, and while the café didn't open until 8:00, I knew someone would be here within an hour to prepare for the daily grind. I wasn't on this morning, but I had stuffed my apron into my backpack just in case.

As soon as I walked in, the weight of exhaustion crashed onto my shoulders. Coffee could fix it, or at least keep it at bay. I hoped. I went around the back to the fuse box and turned on all the lights and the stereo letting the fairy lights and quaint music soothe me.

I flicked on the coffee machine feeling more awake just watching it roar to life. My stomach roared too, and Chika gave a chirpy laugh.

"Haha! I guess it's time to eat," I smiled. We didn't really serve much food outside pastries and cakes for customers, but we kept cereal, berries, and pokemon food in the back for us workers. Honestly, Joshua was a really thoughtful boss.

I brewed myself a strong black coffee, fixed a bowl of weetbix with sliced oran berries, and poured cold soymilk into both. I wasn't a fan of moo-moo-milk. I set out Chika some pokeblocks with berries and added some cash to the register to pay for it. I brought my food over to one of the tables with couches and took a seat among the cushions.

I dug my notebook out of my bag and picked up my pen to write. My cereal grew soggy and my coffee cold as I stared at the page. Normally I danced along a beautiful white canvas leaving ideas, observations, or doodles in my wake, but this morning, my pen wouldn't move. I snapped the book closed and just ate in mental silence instead.

"You done?" I asked Chika.

Yup! she pushed her empty bowl away.

I took all our dishes to the sink in the back and washed them letting the hot water flow over my hands fighting to stay focused. I was disappointed that the coffee hadn't really woken me up. My alertness felt artificial and I lacked the clarity and intelligence that comes with sleep.

"I think I'll lie down for a sec," I said to Chika as I came out, but she was already curled up in the corner of the couch. I walked over to join her. The second I lay down and closed my eyes, my mind shut off, and I was asleep.


"Hey," a gentle yet gruff voice whispered. "Hey, Eir. Wake up."

Consciousness flooded back, and I sat up instantly feeling the heaviness of sleep slide right off my shoulders. "What time is it?" I said sharply.

"Arceus Eir, chill," the boy in front of me said sheepishly. "It's alright. It's just 8:00am now." He was tall with a strong build he developed from his bouldering adventures that he never shut up about. His unruly brown hair curled slightly at the ends making him look friendly and relaxed, and his face was kind with gentle green eyes. The bridge of his nose was peppered with freckles, and he was smiling.

"Oh, Oscar," I mumbled. "Sorry you, ah, found me like this. But thanks for letting me sleep."

"No worries!" he smiled. "I mean, I love the Heart, but to be sleeping here? You must've been exhausted. Did you spend the night?"

"No," I said quickly which sort of made it seem like I did. "I have people staying at my place," I looked away knowing I was about to lie, "and I had to give one of them my bed, so I slept on the couch at home. My couch isn't really comfortable, so I was up early and came here."

"Cool!" Oscar smiled. "Is that your parents back from Kanto?"

"Not them, but some friends from Sinnoh who came here to see the Friendship Festival tonight. All the hotels and stuff are full, so yeah they're with me." I looked back at him with a smile hoping he wouldn't prod.

"Well I'm glad you got some rest," Oscar said. "I need to unlock the door now and get to work, but you can stay here if you want."

"Thanks," I replied. "I think I will actually stay a while. I'm not on the roster today, but if things get chaotic, I'll help you out as thanks for letting me sleep. But I'll head off by 11, if that's ok?"

Oscar flipped the sign on the door so the side that said 'Closed' faced us leaving 'Open' proudly pressed against the window. "Sounds good. Cheers, Eir!"


11am came and went. I was pulled into the trenches at Heart from about 9:30am to 11am since we were busier than usual after making the legendary Hot List. I was able to duck out on time though since Joshua came in at that point and could take over.

I wandered onward with Chika close to my side. I felt the pressure of my Holo Caster against my leg from inside my pocket. I had been contemplating calling my parents all day, and finally decided to bite the bullet.

I found a wooden bench on the side of the Hibernal Avenue across from one of the Pokemon Centres. Sliding my backpack off my shoulders, I took a seat. Hibernal Avenue was one of the busiest streets in all of Lumiose, and today was no exception. The chaos and bustle that murmured and roared before me passed too quickly to truly take anything in. I knew I'd still be able to hear my parents on the phone if I focused but nestled in the chaos with so much else to distract me, I felt safe enough to call them.

Shakily, I dialled the number, pulling Chika close. My heart was hammering as I thought of when I last physically saw them. I had blatantly refused to follow them to Kanto in a freakishly out of character end-of-my-rope act of selfishness. My loathing for a lifetime of lab tests, EKGs, and needles combined with the tantalising hope of a normal life my acceptance to Lumiose University promised fuelled that fierce defiance. It shattered our relationship, and in the months that followed, it shattered me before I had the courage to pick myself up and try to live the life I want. I was still trying.

We almost never talked anymore. I was terrified.

When the phone rang out, I was almost sick with relief. But I still needed answers. Gathering my wits, I dared myself to try again.

It rang out.

A third call.

It rang out again.

"Shit, Chika," I groaned. I felt achingly relieved but also fraught with fear. Although we almost never spoke, when I called, they would answer. Our conversations were short, tense, and full of unspeakable rage, but at least they picked up the phone. Whether it was out of some semblance of parental care or concern for their only successful experiment, I never knew. "Either they're screwed or they managed to mutate someone else and replace me."

Maybe they're just busy? Chika nestled in close trying to make up for an obvious lie with a hug.

I patted her fuzzy orange head in gratitude. "I'll ask Tom."

Calling Tom was nerve-wracking as hell too, especially after last night, but it was nothing compared to the anxiety calling our patents gave me. I dialled with relative ease, but when he picked up, my heart skipped a beat in angst.

"What?" Tom said sounding groggy and mildly pissed off. He had turned off the video chat feature, so it was just a voice call.

"Hey, Tom, have you heard from Mom or Dad lately?" I asked while running my fingers through Chika's fuzzy feathers.

"If they haven't contacted their little miracle prodigy, why would they contact me?" Tom's reply was instant, more defeated than snarky, but still definitely snarky.

I stayed silent for a few seconds feeling the tip of his verbal spear slowly sink into my flesh. "Seriously, Tom? Are you still pissed about yesterday?"

"Whatever, Eir. We know it's true," he replied. I could practically hear him roll his eyes.

"Their work was their favourite. Neither of us," I shot back defensively. "I just… ended up being their work." I was met with a long silence, and I glanced at the phone to make sure he hadn't hung up. "I'm sorry about yesterday," I said, but Arceus, I was sorry for so much more.

"Like I care," he said. "Why are you worrying about them?"

I hesitated because, honestly, I didn't really know. Selfishly, part of me thought if they were in trouble, it would be because of their research which also meant I was in danger. But that wasn't just it. There was something else too.

"I don't know," I said. "Just haven't heard from them in ages. And family is family, you know?"

"Seems more like Frankenmon pining after its creator to me," Tom's voice was sharp and cut deep. Deep as hell.

"Can we drop this?" I asked, but even if we did, it would never go away. "So, what were you going to tell me about yesterday?"

"Goro and I will be battling the Festival's Tournament later today," he sneered a little knowing it would make me jealous.

"Wow," I said, refusing to take the bait. "That's great!" I said but it sounded hollower than the alertness my coffee tried to replace sleep with. "I'll be there tonight with Natalia. I'll come watch."

"Whatever, mutant," he said coolly. "Well I'm going to go train. Later."

He hung up.