Jaret King belongs to aggies2015

Viola Almach belongs to Ariesbird

Juliet Grey belongs to Dolcebrio

Seria Day belongs to Kittynip

Ryuu Sinclair belongs to Tendou Souji

Cody Frost belongs to Hodge Podge '97

Victoria Reed belongs to Lord Farquaad

The mood was somber, Dewott had noticed. He was especially aware of the substantial change in Virgil. The otter thought back to who he used to be, finding that that Virgil existed only in slight dregs. It was strange to him, but it was quite nice to not have Virgil breathing down his neck with stark criticism at every turn.

Dewott became aware of himself watching Seria. His paw went to the Tide Incense dangling at his neck. He had yet to use the thing, nor did he want to. Even so, he had found her reverent since then. Always was she trying to see the good in people and always was she genuine, even to the likes of Victoria and Cody.

His eyes caught wind of another then. He was the man with the strange eyes from earlier, though his collar obscured most of his face. Despite such, he took on something of a leadership role, coaching Seria in the ways of battle though she seemed to fall for the same technique even though it was always executed in a similar manner.

First, she would always be lulled into formal thinking.

Then Ryuu would make his move.

And then she'd be pounced upon by the Luxio or whatever Pokemon he decided to use.

"Hey, take a break would you?" Seria's ears quivered slightly at the voice and she turned into Virgil, who eyed her with a strange, guarded expression.

"What's with that face?" He shrugged a response.

"I would make a comment, but there's other things I need to worry about." He turned to Ryuu, disregarding the doltish look of shock Seria gave him. Again, he had passed up a chance to ridicule and beat her down as he had most notably did in Ecruteak, but like earlier he simply let her be. She watched as he held up his PokeGear mockingly to Ryuu, shaking it a little in front of him.

"So, we're all here," he started with a grin. "So spill it." Ryuu fixed him with a small grin of his own, still appearing strange to everyone but Seria.

"This," he said with a gesture to Kaito, who stood at his side sprightly and agile despite having an arm ran through just days earlier. "Is the reason for my eyes."

"Dogs?" Virgil asked stupidly and Viola responded with a sigh.

"Don't play dumb." Virgil shrugged with a grin.

"I was being serious." And then his expression fell back into contemplation. "But I really don't get it." Juliet watched quietly with avid observation at Ryuu's words. Somehow, she felt something reminiscent of a truth in whatever he referred to as "mastery".

"Juliet," Her perplexed features found the eyes and face of Jaret. She was still distantly aware of Virgil's and Viola's slight digression from the topic. It was odd to her that Viola would even allow a sliver of knowledge to go unexplored. She, on the other hand, found a strange comfort in Jaret's tense eyes. Something reflected understanding in them. "You look pensive."

"You look a mess." There was a tug of something. Laughter? Anger? No—what had shown in his eyes was understanding. He retained his grim countenance despite his slight grin just moments before.

"Do you think Ryuu could have access to that 'Perception Shifting' thing Marus was talking about?" Juliet shook her head.

"From what I can tell, it doesn't really seem all that voluntary and I do recall Viola saying something about it being granted by Ho-Oh exclusively."

"Well, we did get the news from Seria about those eyes of his." He said the words a little begrudgingly. "Ryuu has her convinced." Juliet frowned.

"And he pretty much has you the same way except you're breathing down his neck in murderous frustration." She sighed under her breath before continuing. "But I know what you're saying. Seria always does come to his defense whenever he's accused of something. Still, I think eye shifts like that are a little wild, especially when having them done surgically is a fortune."

"—You two would have the best idea, no?" That was Ryuu's voice and it pulled their attention from each other and onto him.

"Best…idea? Of what?" Juliet cursed at her initial stammering. Even now, she felt strange in his company.

"Of Mastery. What else?" Jaret went to speak but was cut off by Virgil, who spoke out with a tired yawn.

"What does Riolu have anything to do with your eyes?" Ryuu repeated bluntly.

"Mastery."

"What is this 'Mastery'? You still haven't explained." Viola shifted behind him and he was more than certain that she was preparing to interject with whatever "findings" she was able to pick out.

It was an inquiry instead, and by Juliet no less.

"Didn't Victoria say something about it back in Charicific Valley?" This time, Viola responded.

"In fact, she claimed that if we wanted to know more about it, then we'd have to search out Ryuu, even though she ended up interfering with her plans to personally deal with him alone." Virgil shrugged and with that simple action, Viola knew his attention was slipping.

"I'm not following." He said flatly.

"Virgil! You were the one who wanted to know!" Virgil placed his hands behind his head and eyed Seria with a casual grin. Why was he being so genuine to her now? It was more than likely sarcasm on his part.

"Yeah, but honestly, I think Ryuu's full of it." Ryuu raised a brow.

"Just hear me out." Virgil threw a glance his way. "You must not be very great at placing the pieces together Virgil."

"I never was Ryuu. I never was." The remark prompted another small snippet of laughter from Ryuu.

"Well, then, if you don't believe me, then why did I reappear in Ecruteak once I left?" Virgil blinked.

"How should I know? Maybe you wanted to take more of your weird pictures of people or the scenery or—"

"I had known—to a certain degree anyway—that the incidents at the Bell Tower would happen. He gauged Virgil's reaction, whose brow quivered in thought; his face faded into solemnity.

"How?" Avia—presumably made a sound and everyone looked to her who was standing in her usual place behind Ryuu with a blank face still. "If 'Mastery' is the real deal, then shouldn't more trainers know about this?" Eyes fell onto Ryuu.

"Trainers and Pokemon share a bond that much is true. When these bonds of trust become strong enough, an untapped inner power is revealed." Ryuu paused as if to recollect his thoughts before continuing. "It is a strange phenomenon however. Trainers who focus on bonding with their Pokemon should have access to Mastery, but the sheer amount of trust and strength needed is near unfathomable. The mastered technique often becomes so powerful that it can completely bypass its own type match-ups." Juliet's eyes shown with recognition at those words.

"What does this have to do with your eyes?" There was a slight intonation of impatience in Virgil's words.

"When Mastery is achieved, it is possible that a Pokemon may pass on a certain effect to the trainer. It is an ability at random and can be either detrimental or helpful to the trainer. Most of the time, there may be no real ability at all" Virgil rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You look like you got the short end of the stick."

"I've already implied that I can see certain events although it's never at will and considering that with the visions comes an obscene pain, I'd rather keep away from it." His voice lowered a bit, suggesting that a "vision" and the pain had happened only recently. "I saw Viola battling Marus in this fashion and I saw that she only had a Grovyle with her. So I turned on my heels and came back to the city and why I had all of you flock to one area." Virgil fell onto his bottom, visibly boggled. None of it seemed possible, or even realistic.

"You've got to be kidding. There's no way that this is an actual thing with Pokemon."

"There's many things that we don't understand about Pokemon." Virgil noted that Ryuu's voice had dropped even further, vaguely dejected and collected. "There are something's that we as humans should never know." There was another sound from Avia, who floated before him, turning her back to everyone except Ryuu. The Pokemon's blank face was written into a scowl. Ryuu kept his eyes away.

"It all seems unlikely…" The sound of Virgil's voice sent Avia back to her place behind Ryuu, revealing an even more intense expression. "Why haven't you told us why you're involved?" Ryuu stiffened visibly, a nervous shift of his body becoming apparent. Seria watched incredulously. He was actually nervous?

"You've heard Viola speak something of Mastery, haven't you?"

"Cut the crap about 'mastery'! Why are you following us?" Silence filled the air and Virgil felt the eyes shift to him now, especially Jaret's. Virgil genuinely wanted to know at this point, even when he stated himself that history was irrelevant, even when he knew it could be linked back to him in some way.

"I'll… get to that." Virgil nodded skeptically and glanced over his shoulder. He was grateful however, that he was not the only skeptic one. Viola's face was riddled with the same skepticism, though in subtle pieces while Jaret and Juliet seemed wholly convinced.

"So you discovered this whole thing because it's one of your focuses?" Ryuu nodded.

"Even then, it was entirely by accident."

"Show me."

"I can't force foresight or clairvoyance on call. Even if a Pokemon gives you an ability, it's still something the trainer needs to work with, just like anything else." A grimace came over his features then and he dropped back into a fighting stance. "But a trainer can learn more than one." Virgil felt his eyes widen as he watched Ryuu's hands pulse with something similar to Aura before the color dispersed into the air.

"An aura user? Are you seriously one of those?" Ryuu shook his head and he stood straight. The blue appeared again and dispersed all the same, which might've been a suggestion that it was "deactivating" in a sense.

"No. Those people are all gone, and I'm surprised you know so much about history." Virgil scoffed. "That was more or less of a fighting type thing, something that I did receive from Kaito. Think of it as some form of… martial art." People looked to the small Pokemon, who only stared back at them with a grin that contrasted to his trainer's grim presence.

"Then how do you have foresight? What did you master with that Psychic Pokemon that gave you such an edge?"

"Well...in truth, she hasn't mastered anything. The bond that formed between her and I was strong enough to where a mastered techniques wasn't required." Virgil wrinkled his nose at that.

"People like you get all the luck..." Ryuu shrugged at that, hoping Virgil would leave it at that.

"If someone receives these abilities, are they dictated by the technique mastered?" It was Viola and Virgil caught the slight ring in her voice, something that suggested interest.

"She believes it too?"

"A Pokemon can master all the attacks they know, but the ability depends on the attack mastered first, and that's if the Pokemon is able to transfer the ability." Virgil stalled then. He was running out of questions for him. He seemingly had an answer for everything.

"Then…why didn't you use this against Marus?" Ryuu paused in thought but it seemed as though he knew an answer to that as well that would shut him up and leave him thinking.

"There was…something different about Marus. While I could've done so, there was something that suggested it wouldn't have really made a difference. I still don't really have an idea of what that was."

"Any drawbacks?" Viola interjected.

"When a technique is first mastered, it takes a massive toll on the trainer. It just about wipes the trainer out when used for the first time." Juliet nearly let out a squeak.

"Tux…" That was why she had been so drained and at Victoria's mercy. That was why Tux did away with Sandslash with an attack shouldn't even have had an effect. She looked to Viola, who she often looked to for confirmation, even though she hadn't been there to witness her skirmish with Victoria.

Viola was staring at Seria, and for the first few moments she didn't understand why but recalled the time they had first gotten here. Viola had decided to tell them everything that she knew or speculated and that included Seria supposedly punching a hole through Marus. She had found that to be a little much, but then again, with Marus breaking through Virgil's chest, anything was possible.

Viola nodded to Seria in understanding. The girl didn't own a single fire type but she had seen Entei, something Viola didn't know until Juliet and Ryuu decided to talk. Seria's smoldering punch atop the Bell Tower made sense now and even gave clarity to what Marus meant by "powered by emotion". But how did Marus know all of this? He had been just as surprised when Pioggia had stitched Ryuu together. Perhaps he only so in-tune to ordinary Pokemon? Juliet spoke up.

"Is there any way to move past that?"

"Done the same way as anything else: Practice."

"And not be killed," snickered Virgil.

"I think that may be the only time your snide commenting might actually be right," said Jaret under his breath. He hadn't said a word the entire conversation. Even now, he was wary of Ryuu, something that was without a doubt getting out of hand. Virgil glanced wordlessly in his direction. Was Jaret really even still there? Had his ambition swallowed him?

"Juliet," The girl unwound her finger from her hair. "You've experienced mastery, haven't you?"

"What makes you say..." Her voice fell short as Ryuu tapped just below his eye and for the first time, Juliet saw them. The color swirled and spiraled together in a mix of purple and red mix reminiscent of a certain magenta. "He really does put the 'creep' in creepy…" Viola sighed.

"So you brought us here to teach us about this concept?" Ryuu nodded in confirmation.

"To the best of my ability anyway."

"What about the tiny one over there?" Virgil remarked with a gesture.

"She'll rest."

"What!?"

"What do you think I've been doing this whole time while you were on your way here?" Virgil grumbled.

"I don't know, maybe getting a head-start with your girlie girl over there?" Seria flushed in embarrassment, even though it was nowhere near the case. Ryuu, on the other hand, didn't even chuckle. He didn't even seem to react and only subtly acknowledged the taunt laconically as he walked by.

"It's platonic."

Jaret watched. His body shook with disbelief. Virgil's Ampharos fell back defeated with only a single move on Ryuu's part. He had offered to provide an example, but he never would've thought that he'd use another trainer's Pokemon for the task. Unfortunately, Virgil had been a little too eager to see "mastery" in action, probably from remnants of his skepticism. Hence, Ampharos was lying prostrate and unconscious.

"It was only a single Force Palm. Just a single Force Palm. How did something so weak become so strong?" Virgil vocalized his thoughts.

"How did—" He caught himself. He would ask how was he able to do such a thing and Ryuu would respond flatly with "mastery". Virgil still didn't quite understand. The only thing he really knew was that he was a punching bag of some sort. Of course, he would've been lying to himself if he suggested that was all he really saw. He had seen Force Palm done multiple times. Sometimes, some form of energy would burst from the hands. Other times, the Pokemon would strike once, dropping their opponent where they stood.

Ryuu's had been different. Kaito stuck out and he hadn't hit Ampharos in the slightest, though Ampahros reacted as if he had been hit all the same. Then Ampharos had been felled into where he lay now. To say the concept was unreal would be an understatement and a gross one at that.

"He's...unreal…" It was definite evidence of what Ryuu referred to as "mastery". He saw Virgil give off a casual shrug before casting Ampharos in a beam of red light. He had said he was going to stretch his muscles again but he had remained lenient. Maybe that was why he had lost every encounter so far…

Juliet tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey," She made a motion to follow her and Jaret hesitantly obliged, tossing a look over his shoulder. He found only Seria staring in his direction, face lined together as if she were going to inquire on his objective. She frowned as well but turned away nonetheless. He figured that she may have thought that he was on his way out due to Ryuu's unintentional overshadowing. She, however, was not too far off in her assumption. Jaret followed after Juliet.

Jaret sat down in one of the booths. Even from where he sat, he could still see them through the window. Ryuu would makes gestures here and there, constantly speaking and leaving the other three with questions.

"Jaret," He made no indication that he was listening. "How much of that mastery speel do you even believe?"

"All of it," he replied shortly. "It's dumb if we try to deny it." He still hadn't even flicked a passing glance in her direction. "What my question is, is how on earth does someone like Victoria know about this? How was she able to gain the bond Ryuu keeps talking about with even one of her Pokemon?" He trailed. "Her Kingdra…" Victoria's Kingdra was begrudgingly but undoubtedly intimidating, unreal. Something of a legend even. Hydro Pump was only light when she launched it, glittering faintly against the sunlight and followed Arcanine wherever the Pokemon went.

His fist slammed against the table then. Juliet didn't jump though she knew others in the center did such.

"I'll do it…" Anger tightened his voice. "I'll achieve mastery, and everything else that follows!" Juliet's brows tightened a bit at that. "I'll get it and I'll catch up to Ryuu and the Elite Four!" He remembered Arcanine's sudden burst of flames and how they overwhelmed that dragon for a split-moment and even in his moment of mastery, Victoria goaded him.

"Jaret, you didn't—"

"I have things to do."

"So you can run off and get yourself hurt? Break another limb? It won't really give you any good luck if that's what you're looking for." She saw his face contort with an effort. No doubt he had repressed some comment. He turned his back to her and walked out as quickly as he had followed her in. Juliet stood there with a sigh—that is, until one of the trainers commented, mistakenly misinterpreting the situation.

"Boyfriend troubles are never great. I hope you fix things with that one. He's a seemingly dark soul." Juliet faked a smile and gave a nod, despite her inward cringing.

"Thank you." She apologized to the Joys as well as the trainers within the Lake Lucid center and soon followed after Jaret.

"You didn't have to make such a scene!" Jaret's brow twitched as he tuned into her voice. "You didn't even let me finish!" He turned to her then.

"Then hurry up so you can go hang all over Virgil." Her eyes widened in disbelief and it wasn't too different from Viola's reaction to when he inadvertently cut into Virgil back in the Valley.

The key difference now was that he was wholly aware of the words that he had just said. The lines that formed slightly in her face gave her away.

"If you're going to yell at me, make it quick." Juliet glared, giving rise to a derisive grunt. "I told you that I've got things to do."

"I'm not going to waste any more time on you and I'm not going to spare you too many words either. You're better friends with both Virgil and Viola and maybe they'll have a better effect on you than I could ever hope for. Thing is, I think I'm the only one in the same boat as you. You know, the whole mastery thing?" The two held the other's eyes for a few long moments; Juliet looked away from slight boredom and perhaps intimidation. "I don't even think Virgil was this uptight."

"Virgil can be a bit of vagabond at times," Jaret fidgeted with the top button of his shirt, making sure that the collar was down and turned his back to her. "I don't expect him to have a strong sense of responsibility…" And he began walking to somewhere, anywhere that wasn't there.

"That's a lie." Her words stopped him. "Did anything Virgil say to you get through that thick skull of yours? You're so focused on Ryuu that everything else is pretty much thrown out the window!" Jaret remembered the words Ryuu spoke at the Bell Tower and how he had thrown them aside, striking Ryuu in frustration because he knew he was right.

"...Why you're pushing your friends away?"

He was pushing his friends away because he was so driven to prove that he was every bit as good as Ryuu as well as being so driven to fight him because he was so strong. Even though the gap between them was infuriating, Jaret found the prospect of both Victoria and Ryuu to be...enlivening.

Then there was the memory of Virgil. He did feel responsible. Not just for their lives but for multiple others that he didn't even know, that he may have had the chance to know but didn't, all because he felt Marus and dangerous the boy was.

But then again, he had said it himself. Did people really even exist until you knew them personally? Only months before, Virgil was nothing more than a skilled opponent that stood out from the rest to him. Now, he was a friend. How different would things have been if one of them or any of them had died before meeting the other?

"You don't get it," Juliet's austere anger softened for a moment and fell completely when she realized that Jaret's voice was actually shaking. "I was listening, and it gives me all the more reason to do what I need to. Virgil spent the whole of his life keeping away from people and treating them wrongly because he knew something was different about him. He knew about…Marus." He said the words guiltily to himself.

" 'If you tell me what you're feeling, then I'll tell you what surrounds me and Marus…' "

"What does that mean?"

"I thought he was joking when he said those words. I could've sworn I called his bluff then. I thought he was just lying to get what he needed out of me…So when he actually confirmed it, saying that he knew Marus had been there the entire time and was as low as he was, I sort of lost it…"

He chuckled bitterly.

"With people as strong as Ryuu and Victoria out there, I need to be on par if not better. I need to make them work for victory over me..."

"Maybe you should talk to Viola. Maybe she'll have a better idea of how to help you." Jaret shook his head.

"Talking to her would only make me realize how weak I am. Of how much stronger I need to be in order to protect her or Virgil. To protect Seria or you should you need it." He felt like a broken record. He had said the words earlier to her, Viola and Seria in Ecruteak. Memories had recently become a personal hell for him. and had always repeated them to himself as almost as some form of reminder of why he wanted to become so strong. Power without purpose only set of the grounds for someone to be consumed by it.

"Then don't close us off."

"I try my best not to." Juliet found that she had no more words for him then and she watched as he trudged on, letting him sink from view. He stopped on the edge of her sight however and impressively, his frustration was held in check; his voice was eerily cool and calm. "I apologize for all of this. You're a good friend and I'm glad that we met you when we did. Despite the whole trouble in Violet City, I'm glad you're here with us." The words made Juliet smile. "And by the way, you should hurry up and claim Virgil. You two make a nice couple." Juliet's face reddened. How glad she was that he was facing the other way was something he'd or anyone else would never understand.

"It's not like that!" But he had already disappeared from view. But she laughed to herself. "But do we really...?"

A/N: I do apologize for the slightly longer wait for this next chapter. If you haven't already been to my profile to check the recent news section, I've become a victim of the notorious "laptop damage" that normally stops writers here on the site. For more information, go check out my profile. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you guys next time.