Samantha and the Golden Boy

…

- "Do you believe me now?"

"Manufacturing Twilights," I repeated. It didn't sit right on my tongue. "I thought they happened according to that list of dates, or whatever." I censored myself. "Is it really okay for you to be out here? It's cold. Come on upstairs."

"As much as I would appreciate going inside a girl's home, I fear your apartment might be more dangerous than my dwelling. Amber might be the safest of us all."

I didn't ask about Amber, and he didn't tell.

The violent wind shot through my clothes. It was a bucket of ice water to the face. "Well, what is it?" I folded my arms and rubbed them. "Why were you researching Hannelore?"

"I wasn't going to, at first." He shivered, then continued undeterred. "I was researching you."

I let his shrug go unanalyzed.

"Meanwhile, I had tried a new tactic for my prototype.

"The Celebi Balls house their own form of Twilights. They house an ecosystem capable of sustaining multireality contexts. Perhaps if I could reverse the prototype's sustainment system, I could turn the device into a kind of antennae, one that detects energy of its type.

"I expected Amber and Henry's locations, as well as yours and mine, to appear on my Goldenrod map.

"Finding the entire downtown district of Goldenrod City lit up in energy…that wasn't a part of it."

"What's this have to do with my sister?"

"I'm getting to that," Conner said. He removed his glasses and cleaned the lenses on his jacket sleeve. "Before the Twilight today, I decided to do some reconnaissance of my own. I'll drop the pretention that you are oblivious to Amber's political power; after knowing that the Johto Prime Minister had a stake in this town, I made the simple connection that our government was linked to the Twilight energy.

"The organization working with that energy would be somewhere downtown, but I had to search it out. It was child's play once I gave it thought. The Goldenrod branch of this government project would only have opened for the last few months. Just long enough for the Twilight incidents to begin.

"I found one office that opened within the last year. Imagine my surprise when Hannelore Hutchinson is one of the newer hires."

He stopped talking, in that way people do when they think the other person can make the logic gap on their own. That snooty, condescending, 'I bite my thumb at you, sir' way. If he wanted to play that game, I was fine with standing there all night.

Conner finally gave in and continued the story. "I decided to follow her to work."

"You what?!"

"As I expected, she works in a downtown office. This leads me to believe that your finding a Celebi Ball was no more an element of chance than it was mine or Amber's involvement."

I made an effort to keep my jaw from hanging open.

"The situation is surprising to me as well," Conner said.

"No, that other stuff makes no sense. I'm still hung up on how you stalked my sister." Then, a little too loud: "Where do you get off, thinking you can just follow people?"

"If such actions promote the survival of my family, then I will take those actions."

I had another attack at Conner's steadily-increasing creep factor, but the train left the thought station without me.

"Your family?" I asked.

"I think of you as family," Conner said. "Henry and Amber as well. I told you before: we were not given the luxury of choosing this company. We are in this together, like it or not, and I intend for us to get out of this situation in the same fashion. Fighting Unseen will not be our life story, Samantha. I guarantee it."

There was no way out, now. He brought it up, so one of us had to close it. And I figured, Conner had already used his word count for the day.

"I'm sorry," I started.

Conner's eyebrows shot up. "Whatever for? If you mean today, my plan was obviously flawed—"

"For how I acted," I clarified. "When you said you wanted to be friends. You wanted to get to know me."

Conner's lips parted, then sealed. Let the girl monologue.

"I…I don't have a lot of friends," I mumbled. "And you'll think this is stupid, but I thought maybe you liked me or something…"

"Samantha, no," he sang. He took a few tentative steps toward me, then put his hands on my shoulders. "I would never put you in that position." Then, laughing: "Asking you to my very private room, closing the steel door and then professing love for you…I believe that crosses a line."

I smiled, maybe a little too sincerely.

"If my intentions were misconstrued in any way," Conner said, "Then this is my full apology."

Wait a minute. "Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything wrong. I was a complete jerk to you—"

"You said you're not used to having friends," Conner interrupted. He added, looking through me: "Let's call that a familiar story."

He removed his hands, turned tail, and started for the sidewalk. He glanced back at me next, as if he had forgotten to say goodbye, or something similarly trivial.

"Look through your sister's files. You'll find information on Unit 00 and Unit 01."

"I can't do that," I said automatically. We're sisters, but we didn't share everything. "Family boundary."

Conner waited for a moment—probably wondering if he could suggest "researching" as a family tactic—and then he was gone.

I was only halfway through the lobby when I started considering how to find Hannelore's paperwork.

It's not like I lied to Conner. I never wanted to go through Hannelore's things, especially not after she tries so hard to stay involved in the deadly nightmare known as my life. Conner had some good points: like it or not, Hannelore is involved in the same thing I'm involved in. Heck, she might even be further involved than I am, being the day-to-day worker to my part-time-super-heroine. But if I had admitted my intentions, Conner would expect that of me, and if I was going to break a rule in my sister's home, it had better be on my watch, and nobody else's.

I felt sick to my stomach.

How could I explain this to Hannelore?

I had lied, cheated, and stolen my way through middle school and significant part of high school. It was how I survived the Boss, which if you ask me is like surviving hell by stealing from Satan.

Lying to Hannelore and going through her things…I couldn't even think of a quippy metaphor. It was wrong.

But if Hannelore knew something that could end the Twilights, wouldn't I be keeping her in danger by not finding out what she knew?

…What if I let this pass me by, and she became sensitive?

What if I put her in harm's way by respecting her boundaries?

No, I told myself. No. That's what the Boss and your teachers think. They think you're dumb enough to not know what's good for you, and that you don't have the right to be your own person. It's why they threw things and sent home parent forms after spending entire lectures screaming at you in front of the class. If you stoop to that level, you're no better than they are.

…But could I forgive myself if I was wrong?

"Why the long face?" Hannelore beamed when I stepped inside the apartment. "Cookies are done! I even stuffed them with coconut, just the way you like them."

I went straight to my room and shut the door.

…

"Sam?"

I pulled the comforter up over my head.

"Sam!"

I reached for a pillow and tried pulling it over my head. A touch of fuzz and sharp electric current told me I wasn't groping a pillow, though.

"Sam," Hannelore groaned. She knocked once, then opened the door. I saw her through my groggy eyelids. Work-Clothes Hannelore had on heels, a black dress, and one of those jackets with fancy shoulders. Red lipstick threatened to scar my retinas. "I'm leaving for work, but your phone's been ringing all morning."

"Scumbag phone," I drawled.

Hannelore started to close the door, then thought twice. "Did that boy say anything to you last night?" She asked with motherly concern.

Samantha A: Well, he did tell me you're working for a conspiracy group. Though with a name like the Company, I should have seen it coming.

Samantha B: "Conner? He just needed bus money last night. He was lost." Or some other lie. It's what I do. I lie.

"Conner? Oh, right, Henry's the one you like," Hannelore mused. "I was just wondering. He's been calling you for hours."

"Henry?"

"Yup." Then, catching me on my rocket flight from bedroom to living room: "You remember what I said about this, right?"

"Yes, Mom. Give him space, he doesn't know me, yadda yadda."

Hannelore smirked. "I meant no getting pregnant, but that works, too."

My cell phone vibrated on the middle sofa cushion. I dived into the couch like Scrooge McDuck into the money vault.

"Henry! Sorry, I didn't have my phone with me." And the award goes to Sam Hutchinson for removing the sleep from her voice in 0.4 seconds.

"I'm not bothering you, am I? I know it's early."

Not even a 'good morning' or a cheery text, or a message about fighting aliens tonight.

Something's up.

"No, it's fine. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, everything's…no, actually, it's not okay at all. I kind of spent the night at Amber's hostel." And the way he said it, you'd think he were admitting to first-degree murder. "I wanted to talk to you about something. You don't have anything going on right now, do you?"

Henry's so silly. He acts like I have a life.

Not like within half an hour, I could be showered, dressed, and on the train toward South Entrance, with Pika riding shoulder-side.

"Quit complaining," I snapped when Pika yawned at me. "You've got morning breath too, pal. Save that weapon for the Unseen."

Henry had said for me to walk along the Goldenrod City gates, following the boutiques and cafes for a few blocks until I came to the end.

"The end of…what?" I asked before leaving.

"Don't laugh? It's my quiet place," he admitted. "But trust me, you'll know it when you see it."

And believe me, I did.

Now, minor segue. I don't think I really had a quiet place back in Saffron.

Sure, I could ride the monorail as much as I wanted, but that cost money, which meant dipping into the Cheetos fund. And I suppose all of Saffron was technically my quiet place, when you consider how often I just up and walked out of school.

When I said the faculty stopped caring, I really meant it.

I had the entire city, the monorail, and even my closet, but nothing was as gorgeous as the edge of Goldenrod City. The street became a dirt road, and soon even that was gone, and Pika and I stood in a sloping grass plain. Ilex Forest flourished off in the distance. The morning sky, clear of clouds or smog or stars, was a teal blanket over the world. Further down the plain sloped, dropping off into patches of short and tall grass that were virtually untouched by humans.

Henry sat right where the slope plateaued, before descending at a harsh angle again. I stumbled down the grass plains to meet him, Pika waddling alongside. He hadn't seen me yet; his gaze remained trained on the horizon, where the green of the earth and the teal of the sky became one. Henry's white beanie cap lay on the grass, with Hammo's Celebi ball resting on the hat and shining bright.

"Hey," I said.

Henry snapped out of his inner monologue. He brushed hair out of his eyes and smiled my way. "You found it," he said. Then, spreading his arms out: "What do you think?"

"It's beautiful," I said. "How did you find this place?"

"Dad brought me out this way once to pick up a shipment," Henry said. "He said we were in a hurry, but it wasn't. Not really; he didn't want to leave the assistant managers alone long enough to manage themselves. He's got this theory where the world burns down without his micromanagement.

"Come on, sit down," he interrupted his story. "I mean, unless you like blasting your calves, standing there like that."

Thankfully, I managed to not stumble toward a grassy demise. I carefully waddled over to Henry and sat down beside him. Pika elected to stay on the slope, flopping himself down and enjoying the opportunity to nap.

"If he keeps sleeping like that, I'll cut him off the ketchup tap," I said jokingly.

"Don't call Pika lazy. He does fight supervillains."

"Good point." I smiled. "Come on, back to storytime. You said you dad didn't want to stop…"

"…Yeah, he didn't. But lucky me, the guy we're meeting decides to bungle his paperwork. My dad just goes off. And I'm there for a good twenty minutes, just chewing the scenery. This spot caught my eye, so that night after work, I came back. It's been the quiet place for a few months now."

"Huh." I nodded. "Not bad." Then, to keep the conversation from flatlining: "Your dad doesn't sound like the happiest guy in the world."

"Nah, not really," Henry agreed. "He needs to get some hobbies. I think if he just put himself into something that wasn't the store—

"Ah, God. I'm doing it again. Sorry." Then: "I'm supposed to be asking about you."

"Why me? I'm boring."

"True, but a red-ribboned friend tells me you've got more to you than you let on."

I pulled my elbows toward my chest. "What did Amber tell you?" Note that I asked her to say nothing.

"Nothing, actually. She just said you're a good listener."

"Oh," I said, sounding genuinely surprised. Then: "Did you need me to listen? Want me to lend you an ear?" I feigned a smile.

"Nah, it's just…Okay, bear with me, Sam. I have this theory that people who are good listeners have been through some serious stuff."

"How so?"

"Well, it's like that saying people have? The kindest people have experienced the meanest, and the happiest people were once the saddest."

"I've never heard that before," I said. It was the truth. Kanto sayings tend to rhyme, for starters.

Henry shrugged. "I'm an awful listener. It's why Amber can barely stand me."

"I can think of two things wrong with that statement."

He ignored me. "Sam, you listen to people. I didn't tell you I was all down and stuff because it wasn't your problem, and it still isn't."

Hannelore: 1, Sam: 0.

"But I didn't push you away because Amber turned me against you, or something stupid like that. I have this thing, where I don't like venting to people, because that kind of gives them ammunition."

"I know exactly what you mean," I said.

Henry snapped his fingers. "And that's exactly what I meant when I figured you had some dramatic backstory."

We traded grins, and suddenly there was this unspoken game of Sad Angsty Teenager Chicken, where one of us would have to start saying dramatic monologue-y stuff first. Thankfully, Henry took the bait.

"So, if I tell you a secret, promise it'll stay a secret?"

I nodded. "As long as it's not premeditated murder, or anything."

"Sorry, Sam. I'm not that interesting."

He leaned against the slope and stared into the blue sky, and I was no longer there.

"I can't believe I'm saying this…" He bit his lip. "I think I'm glad that everything is happening."

"Everything," I repeated. "You don't mean the—"

"The Unseen, the Twilight and all of that? I do, Sam. I'm actually happy it happened.

"See, you're already doing better than Amber. She would have my head on a pike by now."

"I'm not going to attack you or anything," I said slowly. "But I don't understand…The Unseen have killed people. They destroyed an entire parallel reality context, or whatever you call it. If we screw up once, our world is over. What part of that was a good thing?"

"That's it, Sam. There was literally one good thing to come of it."

…Sam C, how dare you co-opt my body and have my cheeks flush. Sure, he dragged us out here to a quiet, pretty corner of the city, and sure, he's being all quiet and honest and showing that he trusts you, but that doesn't mean—

"I made a friend."

…Okay, maybe it's time to panic?

Heart, stop beating that fast, you'll give us all cardiac arrest.

Not you too, lungs. You can't lock up, I need you guys to live—

"I got to meet Hammo," he said. And like that, my body returned to normal function. What did I tell you? There's an alternate ending where Henry likes me, and this one isn't it.

"Amber told you about my dad, right? He hates Pokemon Trainers with a passion. It's like, palpable rage. I could probably bring you some Dad Rage in a Tupperware container.

"Like…Okay. My aunt is a Trainer, right? But she and dad had a falling out back when I was a kid. It was something stupid and small, but my dad has a thing where he thinks apologizing is a kind of weakness…?

"Anyway. My dad ran the family shop, but my aunt, she went to New Bark Town and tried her luck at being a Trainer. 'You'll never make it!' my dad said. He's always so dramatic. You know he once said the other managers are 'assassins' attempting to 'oust him from power'?

"Sheesh, I have a lot of tangents," Henry laughed.

"It just shows you're full of ideas," I said. "Keep going. What happened to your aunt? From the way this story's going, she probably turned out all right."

Henry laughed uncontrollably for the next ten seconds. He grabbed at his stomach and kicked his legs in the air, and I wasn't entire sure it was all for show.

"Sam, my aunt is Sinnoh Champion Cynthia."

"You're kidding."

"I tell awful jokes and smile too much, but I don't kid." Then: "Okay, so I kid sometimes. But that's the truth. She's my Aunt Cindy."

I was about to ask how he was related to someone so wealthy and powerful, then remembered Henry's dad owned the second-most popular, second-most largest store in on the continent.

Henry and Amber, my rich kid friends.

"Dad hates her with a passion, and Johto's League gets at least a third of its challengers from Sinnoh."

"So he gets his sister rubbed in his face all the time," I said. "Except I probably could have said that better."

"Probably," Henry mused. "I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. Young Henry, age seven. Dad stomped that out real quick."

"You wanted to be a Trainer," I said.

"It just…I don't know. I'm tired of this city, Sam. Everyone acts like Goldenrod City is the center of Johto, and how Kanto and Johto are the center of the universe, and hell, maybe that's true. But I don't want to spend my entire life here. That's stupid. There's so much to do. Kalos only just opened cross-national trading with us. How am I supposed to just stay in this city when there are kids like us, in places like this, all over the world?

"Here comes dad, of course. 'Go to college, study abroad.' I've got the grades for Olivine State, and there's no problem paying for it."

I had heard of Olivine State. It was on one of the sweaters Lucy wore. You know that when sad-sack teenagers are wearing your sweater, you're pretty renowned.

"But sure, let's go with that. Let's say I go to Olivine State for four years. Heck, shoot for the stars. I do Olivine State, study abroad in Unova, and intern for the Sinnoh Elite Four."

"Milk those connections?"

"Gotta milk those connections," Henry agreed. "But then I'm like, bloody clerical staff for the Elite Four. With an apartment, a car note, and groceries…It's just lame. It's lame, Sam.

"I always figured I had no way out, that my life narrative was more or less set in stone, too."

"But then you met Hammo," I offered.

"But then I met Hammo. I'm a Pokemon Trainer now, Sam. If I didn't have to stay here and fight Unseen..." Then: "New Bark Town only requires ninth grade, and they give three Pokedexes on some funky quarter system. I already have Hammo, so Violet City and Azalea Town would be easy wins. And by the time I get to Whitney, I'd have two badges and some more friends.

"I'd come through here, and dad would get one moment—just one, when I'm buying items—to tell me how hard I'd fail. Then Hammo and I would wreck Whitney, move on…and hey, the world is infinite.

"The world is infinite," he repeated.

These weren't stories Henry told just anybody. He told Amber about his dad, and he told his dad he wanted to be a Trainer, but that's as far as things usually went.

These were Henry's dreams. His daydreams when work or school just bored him to tears, and they were they dreams he saw at night behind closed eyelids. This was the stuff of diary notes and journal entries.

Conner had called us a family, and I think I was starting to understand. Conner's parents refused to even acknowledge him. Amber was waging a war with her political parents and dealing with very-political, very-real consequences. Henry lived with a parent who was the antithesis of everything he wanted out of the world, and to Henry's parents, he was probably a disappointment at best and a mistake at worst.

But a family shares experiences, right?

Hannelore and I have the Boss, and that makes us family.

"I know it's just a god-awful thought to have, Sam," Henry went on, oblivious to my opinion. "You're right. The Unseen are terrible things, and the world shouldn't have to pay for my selfish desires, but that's my drama. My dad's not a terrible person, not even close. I'm the antagonist of my story."

Amber, Conner, Henry and I have more than the Unseen. We have our broken families, our busted hopes and our beaten desires. To everyone else, we're the last people on earth you'd want to deal with, much less have protecting you from the end of the world.

Henry said with a wistful smile: "What do you make of that, Team Listener?"

Henry, a bright boy who dreams of something more, is complaining about wanting to see the world from behind his oppressive, but nevertheless affluent family. And maybe that's true.

But to us, he was our fearless leader. He was the boy I was in love with.

I told the truth. "You're being hard on yourself. It's the truth, you never would have met Hammo otherwise. It's fair to say."

"No, it's not. You're just sugar-coating it." I hoped he wasn't becoming angry with me. "Lay it on me, Sam. Tell me I'm an awful person. Dad says I'm an awful person for wanting to be a Trainer, and if you say I'm an awful world-saver-guy, then that just completes the whole circle, doesn't it?

And when I stayed quiet, he grabbed my hands. "Tell it like it is."

To his dad, he was an ingrate. To us, he was a golden boy.

What I meant to say: Nobody's perfect. It's fine to have goals that go against what other people want, because everyone is like that in some way. The world knows I get by off of daddy drama and Cheetos, and as Hannelore will tell you, those are not easy to manage in a girl my height. But he was doing his best as a team leader for us right now, and that's all we needed.

What I said: "I love you, Henry."

The one time I wished for a Dome to fall around us, for Conner to call with an ominous message, or for Pika to do something hilarious and adorable…none of it could save me from myself.

Henry shrugged at first. "Thanks, Sam. I'm glad you don't think I'm a monster," he added a chuckle.

Then it slowly sank in.

I didn't say I like him, I said I love him. He saw it all over my round, chubby-cheeked, blond-bang-covered, glasses-covered, pimple-covered face.

"You lovee me," he said again.

I found it in me to nod once, twice, third time's the charm.

"Sam, I…I can't. Not right now."

"…Oh."

"Not, 'oh!' Sam, you're a wonderful girl. Really."

Just stick a fork in me, then. I'm done. My goose is cooked. Took a risk, and fell flat on my face.

"I'm not dating anybody right now," he went on, though he really didn't have to. "We're battling the apocalypse, and I'm trying to find out how to leave this place. School starts in a week!" He laughed sadistically. "Having a girlfriend just isn't in the cards for me."

He let my hands fall.

"Okay?" He asked.

I nodded.

At which point I stood up, brushed the grass off my thighs, and walked away. Henry didn't chase me this time, either.

…

I still don't know why I did it.

I wonder, is that what criminals ask themselves in the middle of a crime gone perfectly right? At the height of their conniving brilliance, when they're in the safe and putting the wads of cash into those burlap sacks with dollar signs on them, do they suddenly feel remorse? Do they wonder: everything was going so well and I had my head above water and I had no reason to betray any of that, so why did I do it?

Why did I do it?

Sitting at our table, eating from the bag of chocolate chips and reading over the files I found on Hannelore's desk, I still found I couldn't answer it right. Come back to me tomorrow, I'm currently misdialed or no longer in service.

I figured I needed to put the regret out of mind and just focus.

Hannelore had been right: most of what she worked on was just bland order-sheets and inane filing. Something about filling out spreadsheets before a deadline, wherein she had to turn in a spreadsheet concerning those other spreadsheets…God, is this what I have to look forward to?

Wait, here we go.

A bright-green folder with the label: 'Pertaining to Unit 00 and Unit 01'.

Now, full disclosure. I had every intention of being caught. For some backwards reason, it made sense that if I sat at the table and went through the files in the open, then when I got caught, it would look better than having been in my room in the dark. Hell, being caught would look better than simply trying to put the papers back and not doing a good enough job. Given my extensive history as a lying viper of a daughter, that would just be embarrassing.

I opened the folder. Chocolate smeared onto the cover.

The pages were in a size 0.4 font size, if I ever saw one. Tables, charts, pie graphs…

Wait up.

The fifty-something-th page of file was just a map of Goldenrod City. It matched the image Conner had given me of the project his computer ran, where he found all of that Twilight energy under downtown. Sure, it was a bit eerie that Hannelore—and by extension, Hannelore's Company—would have the same map, but how hard was it to run that particular experiment if our resident boy-genius-mad-scientist could do it?

…Now, the map next to it with my apartment building circled on it, that was a problem.

I tried making sense of the charts along the side and bottom of the page, but they made no sense. Too many digits and symbols. I flipped to the other maps, and lo and behold, three circled locations and only one which I recognized: Conner's home, by the Village.

Meaning the other one had to be Henry's home, followed by Amber's hostel.

I flipped back to my house and the Goldenrod City general map. All four pages had one criteria, and that's when the world went mad.

'Unit 01 Containment Energy'.

I dialed for Conner so fast, it would make your head spin. Pika stared at me from the sofa.

"I'm not crazy, Pika-pal," I assured him. Ring once, ring twice, ring for the world…

"Hello, this is Conner—"

"Conner, it's Sam. I think I know where Celebi—"

"—I'm indisposed at the moment. Please record a message, and I will return your efforts with my own." Beep.

"Conner, it's Sam," I started again. "I think I know where Celebi is, but this is bad. I went through some files and it's…Well, you have to see it to believe it. Come to my place ASAP." Then, for emphasis: "ASAP!"

Yes, I did hear the door open.

No, I didn't make any kind of effort to fix the scene.

Hannelore dropped her briefcase and jacket on the floor and stared, wide-eyed.

"Samantha," she started. "Please tell me this isn't what I think it is."

"It is," I said. "But there's a reason for it."

"You went through my things," she said slowly.

"Yes, Hannelore, I did, but I had to. The people you work for are making a weapon—"

"You went through my things."

"Hannelore—"

She slammed the door, then: "You WENT through my THINGS."

"I need to—"

"Not right now, Sam. Just…I…Shut up."

Woah.

"I've…I've tried to get you to talk to me," Hannelore started, arms shaking that adrenaline-fueled shake. "I've been okay with you coming home whenever-the-hell you feel like. I didn't care that you brought in a random Pokemon from nowhere, because we're sisters. It's what we do for each other.

"But then you go through my papers, which I know for a fact were in my room. You went in my room! It was closed! Closed, Sam! You don't have permission to go inside!"

This was the never-before-seen Class-Six Hannelore explosion. I wanted to deal with it, but I knew I didn't have the time. "I'm sorry, I—"

"Do you know who would do this? Dad would do something like go through someone's things, for no reason, and for someone who hates him so much, you sure tend to act just like him—"

I went to Hannelore and tried to hold her, but she shoved me. Like, seriously. My sweet-as-molasses sister shoved me.

And then she went silent.

"Hanna-B?" I pleaded.

"Sam," she said in her 'mom' voice. "I have nothing to say to you right now."

I let out a relieved breath. "Good."

Boy, did that come as a shock. She craned her head like something out of a horror movie. "Excuse me?"

"Hannelore, I know I broke your only house rule, and believe me, I know it's something the Boss would do and I know how that's just one big cluster of problems, but there are bigger things going on right now than me and you. I'm ninety-five percent sure your company is evil."

"Evil."

I nodded, feverishly.

"Samantha, I don't have time for this." She started for her room, passing a very scared-looking Pika along the way.

"Hannelore, please. Unit 01 isn't an experiment, it's Celebi."

She stopped in the hallway, her hand on the knob.

"The people at your job have Celebi, and the reason our apartment is in those files is because I have a Pokeball with Celebi's energy."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your company isn't doing experiments on some faceless Unit 01 thing to create an Everstone, they're torturing Celebi to create crosses in reality that they can use against Hoenn! You're creating the next weapon of mass destruction, Hannelore!"

"Shut up!"

"No!"

Cue my phone vibrating in my hand.

"I'm not going to shut up because this is my home too, and it's my responsibility to protect you, just like it's your responsibility to protect me! You're my family." I added: "And you are in danger."

"Samantha, my boss is downstairs," Hannelore sighed. "I'm getting changed, and I'm going out. We'll talk about this later tonight, but you're not to leave this apartment. Am I clear?"

"Listen to me!"

"Am I clear?!"

I couldn't push Hannelore any further than shouting at me like a full-fledged parental figure. Hell, I didn't want to find out how much farther she could go. I let her go behind her bedroom door, and when the lock clicked, I answered the phone.

I glanced at the caller-ID first. "Conner, now's really not the time—"

"This wasn't supposed to happen. There's a Twilight right now, but it wasn't in my records—"

"Find Henry or Amber. I've got my own problems right now."

"Sam, it's at your apartment building. Get out of there! I heard your voice message, I think the Company might be trying to—"

…And then the line went dead.

I let my body go limp. My arms fell to my side, my phone slid out of my hand and onto the floor with a gentle thud. The issue at hand had rapidly shifted from examining Hannelore's documents (succeeded) to de-escalating a fight resulting from the previous issue (failed), and now it was clarifying that Unseen would be coming right outside my house.

Step one, try not to panic.

Easy. Just go to your bedroom, pull open the blind, and look out the window.

Is the sky suddenly puke-green? Can you not see the rest of the city beyond a handful of blocks in any direction?

If so, proceed to step two: put your clothes on, sit beside Pika, and cradle your useless cell phone.

One thing at a time. Right now, I had to deal with my sister.

Hannelore opened the door, and when she started for the living room, I ran to her and took her by the arm. And when she dug her heels in, I dragged her until she started walking.

"Sam! What in the world is wrong with you?"

"I'll explain later, but right now, I need to get us out in the open. It's not safe here. Pika, come on."

Pika jumped to my feet and followed me as I powered to the elevator. I didn't know if the building had stairs, and to be honest, I'd rather die fast and in a small metal box than after running up stairs in a narrow corridor.

Hannelore was frighteningly silent. I slammed the call button and thank God, the elevator opened.

We rode down in silence. I watched the light above the door as it counted down the floors. 3…2…

"You might see some weird stuff," I started. "Whatever happens, I need you to trust me."

"Weird stuff," Hannelore groaned. "Oh, my god, Samantha. You are insane."

…1…Ding. Door open.

The lobby, as expected, was dead empty.

As not expected...Actually, no, as I-probably-should-have-expected: Hannelore's boss, Mr. McCall. A class act all the way: black suit, slicked hair, shaved face and pointed eyes, like an especially conniving fox.

"Ah, Hannelore!" Mr. McCall smiled. "And…Samantha, was it? Are you joining us for dinner?"

"Not right now," I cut off Hannelore and went into the lobby. "Your company is doing some crazy stuff, Mr. McCall, and I think they're onto me. It's not safe for any of us to be in the building right now. My friends are coming to help, so don't worry. If we just go outside—"

"The doors locked behind me," Mr. McCall said casually. "I didn't think anything of it when I came in…" Then, to Hannelore: "Is something the matter?"

I held a hand up at my sister. God, if I didn't get her killed right now, I was so getting thrown out.

…Deal with that when it comes, Sam. You might have just burnt your last bridge, but deal with that when it comes.

"I can't have us be inside right now," I tried to explain. I remembered what happened inside the Trainer School. "There might be some chaos very soon, and this whole structure might come down on our heads." Then: "Screw it. I'll just kick the door in—"

"That seems awfully unnecessary," Mr. McCall sang. "Especially since the Unseen won't come near us. It would only damage this property, which I am rather fond of."

…Oh, no.

"'Unseen'?" Hannelore asked the two of us. "That's not a…what are you two talking about? Sam, leave my boss alone, please?"

"Your boss is trying to cause another World War," I spat. I stared him right in the eye. "You're holding Celebi captive and creating Twilights here as dummy runs, so then you can use them on Hoenn. Tell me I'm wrong! Go ahead, I'm listening."

"You don't have to," Hannelore apologized to Mr. McCall. "My sister is…I honestly don't know. She's never like this."

Mr. McCall put a hand in his pocket and waved the other confidently. "Not at all, Hannelore. This is perfectly find and as a matter of fact, she's quite right."

Hannelore put her head in her hands. "Not you too, David. What is going on?"

I heard that name before.

"David," I repeated. Then, when it clicked: "David McCall…You're joking. Amber—"

"Hannelore, dear, it seems our baby sisters have met," David McCall said slyly. The couth in his voice drained like blood from a wound. "Samantha, I assure you Amber will not be coming tonight. Even if your friend Conner discovered the location of this Twilight, none of your friends will be able to enter the Dome from the outside. I thought you children were aware that the Dome was impenetrable."

"So I'm flying solo. Fine by me," I said.

"I would think not, actually," David boasted. "Here's how this will go. You will go back upstairs and give me your Celebi Ball. The unused one, because you might be able to fool your sister but do not insult the Company's intelligence. Then, you'll come with me to the lab and await further orders."

"I don't think so." It was a good night to find my Hero Voice. "Hannelore, stay behind me."

"Whatever," Hannelore laughed. And in her defense, this was all pretty ridiculous. "David, we're going to be late for dinner."

"A wild Samantha wants to fight," David replied. "I'll make this quick." He reached into his back pocket. The purple Pokeball—a Silph. Co-produced Master Ball—rested quietly in David's palm.

I glanced back at Hannelore. "Do you believe me now?"

As I'm uploading this, I'm working on the third-to-last chapter. It's been a fun run.