They found Mistia sitting on a couch in the Glademon Center, looking exhausted. "I fought five matches before all of our Glademon fainted," she said. "I won two of them, though. So all's not lost. Of course, if my sisters were here and the ludus fully stocked, we'd have ripped through all ten without a hitch."

"You can use Zubatus," said Bracchus. "He's a poison flying type."

She shrugged. "It wouldn't make that big of a difference. Besides, more doctore will probably arrive on my doorstep before the last match. You and Ashus might as well just go on ahead."

"No," Ashus said. "I don't want to leave you, Mistia. It's not fair that your sisters get to leave the city, and you have to stay."

"I don't have a choice," she insisted. "They're married. They have other duties now. The ludus is my responsibility."

"Can't you just find someone to run it until one of your sisters comes back?" Ashus asked. "Like how Bracchus gave his ludus to his father?"

"My father and mother are senators," said Mistia. She took Ashus's hands. "Ashus, I'm touched, really, that you care so much about me. And I would rather follow you than stay here, I really would. But I don't have a choice."

"What if you marry me?" asked Ashus.

"Ashus, please!" she scoffed, letting go of his hands.

"You said your sisters are allowed to leave because they're married. If you marry me, that means you can travel with me, no matter what. Right?"

She sighed. "Mother and father would agree with that sentiment, yes," she said.

"So?" he asked. "Mistia Cerulus, will you marry me?"

"I," she said, looking at Ashus in panic, "I have to go check on my Glademon." She pushed herself off the couch and hurried to Joya's desk in a huff.

Ashus stared at her, numb. "So that's a no?" he whispered.

Bracchus put his arm around him. "You really meant that, didn't you?" he asked.

"I...I just thought...it makes sense, doesn't it?"

Bracchus thought. "Mistia's under a lot of pressure right now. Let's leave her alone for tonight, and we'll see how she's feeling in the morning."

"So you still think she'll say yes?" he asked hopefully.

Bracchus smiled. "You little romantic."

"Mom taught me that when you find a nice, smart, pretty girl, you're a fool not to marry her," Ashus said. "I don't wanna be a fool."

"How many women have you been with?" Bracchus asked. Ashus blushed. "Ohhh nooo," Bracchus groaned. "Just her?"

"I don't wanna be a fool," Ashus repeated.

Bracchus stood up and pulled on his arm. "You are a fool, Ashus Ketchumo. Come with me. I will show you there are plenty of fish in the Cerulean Sea."


"I don't wanna," said Ashus, staring up at the brothel sign.

"Look, Ashus," said Bracchus. "You want to marry a girl like Mistia? You gotta lose the lost puppy act. You don't go to the Indigo League before winning badges at some local luduses first."

"Huh?" asked Ashus.

"If marriage is the Indigo League Championships, then think of this brothel as a local ludus."

"So you're saying I need to screw seven girls before I marry Mistia?"

"Seven...give or take fifty, sure! I'm just trying to look out for you as a friend here. Make sure Mistia is really what you want."

"So you think she'll say yes?"

Bracchus sighed. "I don't know what she's going to say," said Bracchus, "but that woman is crazy about you, and she's going to follow you as far as she can."

Ashus's heart skipped a beat. "You really think so?"

"Mistia doesn't strike me as the charitable type," said Bracchus. "So if she's stuck with you this far, she's either in love with you, or you're ridiculously good in the sack."

"I am not," said Ashus with great certainty.

"Then follow me, my little Glademon, and let us commence with training." He pushed Ashus through the door.


Mistia was shedding off her dress and climbing into bed when a slave interrupted her. "Your sisters have returned, domina."

Mistia tensed as she heard three giggling women walking down the hall. She slowly put her dress back on and tried to think of the right words to express how she felt.

"Mistia!" Daisia exclaimed, bursting through the door and throwing her arms around Mistia.

"So good to see you again!" said Violeta, doing the same.

"How was your training trip?" asked Lilia, planting a kiss on Mistia's cheek.

"Did Goldeena get stronger?" Daisia asked.

"Did you meet any boys?" Violeta giggled.

"Not too long before Mom and Dad find a match for you, wittle sister!" Lilia squealed.

An evil thought buried itself in Mistia's head, and she grinned. "Well, actually, I've been waiting for you all to come back so I could tell you something."

"Oh, of course," said Daisia.

"You can tell us anything," said Violeta.

"We are here for you," said Lilia.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that," said Mistia. She put her hands on Daisia and Lilia's shoulders, drawing the trio into her. "I'm running away with Bracchus Petrus. The ludus is yours indefinitely. Bye!" She slipped out of the huddle and bolted down the hall.

"WHAAAAT?!"

"NONONONONO, MISTIA!"

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS US!"

Mistia turned on a dime. "I can't do this to you," she repeated. "I can't do this to you?! What about what you did to me? I came home to TEN trainers waiting to battle here."

"Our husbands surprised us with a vacation," said Daisia.

"We went to Hoenn!" squealed Violeta.

"BRACCHUS PETRUS?!" Lilia screamed.

"Great," said Mistia. "I'm glad you got to see Hoenn. Thanks for letting me know. Now, it's my turn. Bracchus is taking me to see Kanto. You know, my home country, that I've barely seen besides here."

"Mistia, we want you to see Kanto," said Daisia.

"And we want you to have fun, but...," said Violeta.

"BRACCHUS PETRUS?!" Lilia screamed.

Mistia shrugged, turned around and walked out the door with a smile on her face. She hadn't lied. Not exactly. It's a little sister's job to get under her sisters' skins, right? She put on her cloak and traveled to the place where she would surely find Bracchus: the closest brothel. She didn't bother speaking with the Madam at the entrance and started searching through the rooms. She found Bracchus mid-fuck in a large room. He looked up from the breasts of his companion and said, "Hi, ugh, Mistia."

"Mistia?!" exclaimed the familiar voice of Ashus, who was in the next bed with a whore, although not in so compromising a position. Mistia's eyes widened, and her stomach gave a lurch. Ashus hopped out of bed and picked his tunic up off the floor. "Mistia, thank gods you're here!"

"Stop!" Mistia ordered, putting up her hand. "I don't do threesomes, Ashus."

"Huh?" Ashus asked. "No, Mistia!"

"Save it, Ashus," said Mistia. "Is this what you do after proposing to someone?"

"Mistia, please!"

"No, thank you, Ashus. Leave with Bracchus. I will not be joining you. Give my regards to Pikachus." She turned to Bracchus. "You're all the fucking same!" she exclaimed, slapping Bracchus across the face.

"Ow! Mistia, wait!" Bracchus exclaimed, but Mistia slammed the door behind her.

Ashus turned to Bracchus. "Come to the brothel, he said! It'll be fun, he said!" SMACK! "Great advice, some friend you are!" He rushed out the door.

Bracchus sighed and looked down at his companion. "Mi'lady?"

"Go after them," she said lazily. "Just don't forget to pay."

"Never, mi'lady," said Bracchus, leaving the bed.


Mistia made it to the first floor lobby before she allowed herself to cry, but once she did, she immediately regretted it, because she couldn't stop. She sat down on a stained chair beside the front door.

"Mistia," said Ashus. "Mistia, you've got it all wrong."

"Leave me, Ashus," said Mistia. "Haven't you done enough damage already?"

"Will you just listen to me?"

"I almost gave up everything I believed in for you," said Mistia. "I was willing to turn my back on my family and...and...bind myself to someone far beneath my station for this ridiculous notion I've gotten into my head."

"Okay, okay, okay, stop," said Ashus. "I get it now. I was nothing but a diversion for you."

"No," Mistia moaned. "I mean, yes. In the beginning. That's how it started. Ashus, when I was a little girl all I wanted was to leave these city walls and become a doctore when I grew up. But everything changed when my parents became senators. It was then up to me and my sisters to maintain the family ludus while our parents were doing their duty to Kanto. So we did our duty to the family, and we stayed in Cerulean, and we become wicked good lanistas. But that longing to escape never left me. So I told my sisters I was going to take some of the weaker Glademon on a training trip. That's when I met you. I met a lot of people before I met you, you know. A lot of men. I wanted to know what it was like, to just do whatever you wanted and take whatever you wanted. All my life I'd been bound to this abstract notion of duty, you know? Duty to the family, duty to the country, duty as a woman of high birth...I wanted to just...fuck it all, you know? And then I met you, and you, by gods, you had done it. You just got up one day and left. And I was ashamed that I hadn't had the guts to do the same thing you'd done. I'm still...ashamed. All I ever really wanted was freedom. That's what you represented to me, Ashus. Freedom. Things like love and marriage, things that bind you to people and places, had no place in this new lifestyle of freedom. But I thought maybe...maybe you were worth that compromise." She shook her head. "But I was wrong, and I'm glad that I'm wrong, because now I can with a clear conscience give up on that dream."

"Mistia, I've never slept with any prostitutes, and I don't want to leave Cerulean if it means leaving you," Ashus said.

"Ashus, why are you lying to me about this?"

"I'm not lying! I didn't touch that girl I was with! I hate this place! Bracchus just dragged me here to try to teach me how to be a man or some bullshit," said Ashus. "I haven't even been here the whole time. Look, I bought a dagger and a new Glademon."

Mistia was speechless. Then, she started laughing.

Bracchus and the two prostitutes appeared at the foot of the stairs. "It's true, ma'am," said Ashus's prostitute. "He only babbled to me about his Glademon the entire time we were in bed. It was quite nice, actually."

"Ashus Ketchumo," said Mistia.

"I know, I know, I'm a fool," said Ashus.

Mistia took his hands. "No, Ashus. I'm a fool."


Mistia and Ashus walked hand-in-hand out of the brothel, Pikachus trailing behind them. After she showed him the city, they went down to the beach.

"I...I thought you were just a silly, naive boy. But you're more than that," she said.

He cocked his head. "Like what?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Mistia. "But whatever you are, I don't know what I did to deserve you."

He took her in his arms. "The gods brought us together. It is not for us to know why, but to thank them."

She giggled softly. "I must confess I never believed much in the gods. I know they exist, or they existed, at one point in time. But they were only legendary Glademon of the past, no longer part of our world."

"Mistia," Ashus gasped at her impiety.

"But now I'm not so sure about that anymore either. You make me believe in something greater. I see it, and I feel it, when I'm with you."

"Mistia," said Ashus, "I know you don't want to get married, and that's okay."

"I do," said Mistia, and then seeing him blush, she said, "I mean, I might, but not like this. Not because we think it's what we have to do. If we get married, I want it to be because it's what we really, really want to do."

"Right," said Ashus. "But what I was going to say is that...I do love you, Mistia."

"I love you too," she said, and she leaned in for a kiss.

"THERE THEY ARE!" cried a girl.

"Oh, fuck, no," Mistia muttered.

THWACK! A sandal came down upon Ashus's head.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM OUR SISTER YOU CREEP!" Another sandal THWACKed Ashus on the head.

"WAIT!" Mistia cried.

"PIKA PIKA!"

"Don't worry, sis, we'll take it from here," said Daisia, kicking Ashus in the chest and holding him down. "AND AS FOR YOU...erm...who are you?"

Ashus coughed. "My name is Ashus Ketchumo," he said. "Nice to meet you?"

"Ohhhhhmygods, I am soooooooo sorry!" Daisia gasped.

"We thought you were someone else," said Violeta.

"Dang, he's cute, Mistia," said Lilia. "Definitely an upgrade from Bracchus."

"You thought I was Bracchus?" asked Ashus, and then he noticed the similarity in their facial features and laughed. "OHHHH, you must be Mistia's sisters!"

Daisia helped him up. "I'm Daisia. This is Violeta and Lilia. We are really, really sorry."

"It's okay," said Ashus. "I totally understand."

"So...I have questions," said Violeta.

"Ashus is my boyfriend," Mistia explained. "Bracchus just follows us. I was mad earlier, so I said I was with Bracchus to make you mad. I'm sorry, Ashus."

"Do our parents know about this?" asked Lilia.

"No," said Mistia. "And you can't tell them. They'd freak."

"Oh, of course," said Daisia. "Your secret is safe with us."

"REALLY?" exclaimed Mistia.

"Oh, sure," said Violeta. "He's a cutie. This all makes sense now."

"Hold on, hold on, hold on," said Lilia. "Did you say Bracchus Petrus?"

"Yeah, he's with us," said Ashus. "He's at the-"

"-brothel," the girls all said together and laughed.

"Damn, what did we ever see in him anyways?" Daisia asked.

"Abs," said Violeta.

"So, he's dared to show his face back in town, huh?" said Lilia.

"Are you girls thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Daisia.

"I'm all in," said Violeta. "Let's get him."


Bracchus was spooning the same prostitute he'd been with earlier.

"You know," she said, "your time expired a while ago, erm..."

"But I love you," he whispered.

"If you really love me, you'll get out of this bed so I can make more money," she snapped.

Someone knocked on the door. "Bracchus Petrus?" asked the Madam.

"That's me," said Bracchus.

"Bracchus, I have three girls here who are just dying to meet you," said the Madam.

Bracchus let go of the prostitute fast. "What's this? What are you waiting for? Send them in!" he exclaimed.

Daisia, Violeta, and Lilia giggled behind the door.

"Ohhhhh, Bracchus Petrus!" cooed Daisia.

"Isn't he the hottest lanista Kanto's ever seen?" Violeta teased.

"Mmmmhmmm, and I heard he has the biggest cock!" Lilia added.

Bracchus swung open the door. "Never fear, ladies, Bra-AHHHHH hi...! The Cerulus sisters. What a...pleasant...surprise!"


In the lobby, Ashus, Mistia, and Pikachus heard clamors and shrieks from above. Bracchus, naked, ran down the stairs. "HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME!" he cried, running past them and out the door. Like Furies, the elder Cerulus sisters followed, holding their sandals over their heads.

"Your sisters are scary," said Ashus. He opened the news scroll. "Oh, look at that, a new royal baby."

"Boy or girl?" asked Mistia.

"A boy," said Ashus.

"ASHUS! MISTIA! PIKACHUS!" Bracchus yelled in the distance.

"Did you hear something?" asked Mistia.

"Nah," said Ashus.

"Pikachus."