"Are you sure you don't want me to ride with you? You might need help getting off the—"

"I'm sure."

Ian stopped, frowning slightly. Alyssa wasn't even meeting his eyes; her gaze was downcast, her hands clenched firmly around the handles of her crutches, Ziggy dangling from her shoulder. Her suitcase sat on the ground beside her. She was still wearing her Ranger uniform even though she was off-duty, and though it was pristine as usual, she looked strange in it—slumped over her crutches, forlorn expression.

"Alyssa…are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

Last boarding call for Flight 202 to Jubilife City, said a voice over the intercom. Alyssa sighed and started forward on her crutches; Ziggy screeched in pain and she stopped, shifting to cradle him in one arm. She tried to pull her wheeled suitcase behind her, but one of her crutches fell, and for a moment she looked so lost that Ian almost wanted to cry.

"Alyssa," he said, bending to scoop up her crutch. "If we hurry and cancel your ticket, we can buy both of us a ticket for the next flight to Jubilife and—"

"I'll be fine, Ian," she said crossly, snatching her crutch from him and tucking it underneath her arm. "Once I get to Sinnoh I'll be home free."

He opened his mouth to tell her that this wasn't entirely true—after all, once she got off at Jubilife, she had to take a bus to Hearthome, and there were a myriad of problems that could go along with that—but she had suddenly turned angry, and he didn't want to anger her more. He wanted their parting to be on good terms.

"Okay," he replied. "I'm sorry. Can…can I at least help you with your bag for now?"

"I guess so," she grumbled. He took the handle and walked beside her as she hobbled along. She wasn't taking her "indefinite leave" very well—when she had told him about it, it had been in a hollow voice as she stared at the floor, one hand idly stroking the fur on Ziggy's head. Since then she hadn't quite been the same. She had been short with her parents and insisted that they not come to the airport to see her off; in fact, she hadn't wanted anyone to see her off, but Chairperson Erma had ordered that she allow one person to do so, and Alyssa had chosen Ian.

As they stood in a line in disgruntled silence, Ian rocked back and forth on his heels. He wanted to say something to make her feel better, but so far that plan had not been working for him; Alyssa did not want to be cheered up. She stood there now, glaring so hard at the floor that it seemed it could burst into flames, and Ian felt sorry for her.

"Okay, I can take it from here," Alyssa said, reaching for her suitcase before she headed for the tarmac. Ian caught her hand briefly.

"Alyssa," he said quietly.

"Let go," she mumbled.

"Alyssa—I'll miss you."

Her lips squeezed into a thin line as her head lowered so that her bangs obscured her eyes. A moment of silence passed between them. He continued to watch her, examining her hair, her face, her bent shoulders, her hunched back.

"I'll miss you too."

And then she snatched her suitcase away from him, somehow managing to hold its handle, the crutches, and Ziggy all at the same time as she crutched away. Ian watched her furiously deal with all these things until an airport attendant stopped her and asked if he could help; she jammed the suitcase into his hand and continued on.

Ian wrung his hands. "I hope she'll be all right, Prinny," he whispered to Prinplup.


Alyssa's carry-on bag was her only luggage, so she didn't have to deal with the Jubilife City Airport's baggage claim; she bypassed it and headed for the city outside. The sun was bright, the city was lively, and Alyssa had cash in her pocket and time to spare before the bus to Hearthome arrived, but rather than spend her time taking a quick tour of the city, Alyssa crutched her way over to the nearby bus stop and sat down on the empty bench. She would while away the next few hours there.

Having crutches meant she had to deal with one more bulky thing than other passengers, and she had gotten more than one annoyed look on the plane as she limped her way up and down the aisle to and from the bathroom. The man sitting next to her had thrown Ziggy such a self-righteous look that Alyssa herself had growled at him, which made him switch seats with a rather large woman across the way. She'd had to spend the rest of the time listening to the woman chuckle at the in-flight movie.

Ziggy snuffled a little in her lap. Alyssa stroked his head and murmured to him softly. She felt tired, inside and out. Not just tired—what was it her dad would say? Weary. She felt weary. She leaned her head against the back of the bench and closed her eyes.

A sound made her open them again; she was surrounded by people, all jostling and talking. The sun had crept a little to the west. A bus was pulling into the station, so Alyssa pulled her ticket out of the front pocket of her bag to check the number of the bus she needed—817. She squinted at the side of the bus as it pulled in. 817.

As the bus doors opened, a battle seemed to ensue between those unloading and those boarding; each crowd wanted to get to its respective destination before the other. The throng bunched in around her, making it difficult for her to stand up. She had to wait several seconds before there was enough room for her to maneuver her crutches without banging someone's leg. When she finally did manage to get to her feet, she felt rushed and fumbled with Ziggy and her suitcase, knocking her suitcase over at least three times before she finally began heading toward the bus; at this point, she was the last to board. Now she faced the steps. The bus driver stared at her as she tried to lean on one crutch, hold Ziggy, and lift her suitcase all at the same time. She dropped the crutch that wasn't supporting her just as her bag landed on the first step. Frustrated, she bent, teetering somewhat dangerously, and grabbed at it. She couldn't reach. "Come on," she said, feeling a lump rise in her throat.

"I've got it," said a calm, smooth voice. She glanced up at a man about in his thirties; he wore a ball cap over blonde hair. Blonde stubble lined the jaw of his long, thin face, and blue eyes met hers briefly as he bent to pick up her crutch. He already had her suitcase in his grasp, and he placed it behind him as he reached for her hand, which she gave to him. He helped her up the steps, gave her the other crutch, and scooped her suitcase up again as he led her down the small bus aisle and toward an empty plastic seat. People stared as she passed by, so she kept her head down, limping after the man in silence.

He put her suitcase into the metal rack above the seat. "Inside or outside?" he asked politely. "Just a warning—I'm not getting off until Sunyshore."

She didn't care; she slid in before him, leaning her crutches against the seat and turning her face toward the window as hot tears of frustration slid down her cheeks. He sat down beside her, and the bus started to move.

The man let her cry silently for a few moments until finally, he said simply, "Don't cry." When she glanced at him, his gaze was leveled toward the front of the bus. He wore a dark blue sweatshirt and faded blue jeans. He sat erect, back straight, hands in his sweatshirt pocket.

"Thank you," she told him. "For…helping me."

He nodded. "Any decent human being would have done the same." His face hardened.

This made Alyssa feel a bit tense, so she didn't say anything for a while longer. After a while, he asked, "So, you're a Ranger?"

"Yeah."

"Almia, from the looks of it. And a Top Ranger, to judge by your Styler. You're very young to be a Top Ranger."

"Yeah…well…that's why I'm on indefinite leave."

He glanced at her cast. "I see."

"I didn't screw up," she snapped. "That's not why my leg is broken."

He nodded.

Alyssa felt bad; he had been nothing but nice to her, and here she was biting his head off. She should at least try to be nicer. "My team's mission went wrong," she said. "I went back into a fire to pull a teammate out. Something fell across my leg and broke it."

"Very noble."

"Yeah, well, I'm on indefinite leave because of it."

"Do you regret saving your teammate?"

Alyssa blinked. It was a weird thing to ask, especially of a total stranger—it was rather personal. But who was this guy, anyway? She would probably never see him again. "Yes and no," she said. "No because…well…no matter the injuries I sustained, I saved a life. I did my duty as a Top Ranger, as a person." She paused.

"And why yes?"

Alyssa indicated Ziggy in her lap. "I endangered my partner's life. I don't think his side will ever be the same."

"And your leg?"

"What about it?"

"Will it ever be the same?"

She shrugged. "Probably not. I mean, the bone will heal, but from what they said, the skin will always be weird-looking." She stopped talking, her story finished, before realizing that she hadn't asked anything about the man beside her. "So, why are you going to Sunyshore?"

He was quiet for a moment. "It's home," he replied. "I was taking a vacation. My work was getting a little…stale. I needed to leave for a bit. Now I'm going back."

"Does that happen often?" Alyssa asked for lack of a better question.

"Sadly, yes. I always seem to need something to restore my zest."

"And you still keep your job? Wow. You must be indispensible."

He smiled slightly. "I suppose so. And you? Where are you going?"

"Hearthome City," she replied. "My friend and I are getting an apartment there. She's a Coordinator—a really good one. She's moving from Hoenn."

"A Coordinator? Did she get very far?"

"She got to the Master Rank," Alyssa said proudly.

"Did she win?"

"Well…yes. But she gave the ribbon back."

The man turned his gaze to her. "Your friend is Cassandra Étoile."

Alyssa's face burned. She hadn't wanted any names to get caught up in this. "Yeah."

"You seem embarrassed. Are you ashamed that she gave up the ribbon?"

"No! Of course not! She had to! It's just—I didn't mean to say her name. She's trying to lay low, you know…"

"She had to? Curious."

Alyssa said nothing.

"I don't mean to ask you why. You can remain silent about it without fear."

"I wasn't going to tell you even if you asked," she replied. "There was no fear."

"Of course. I had forgotten you were a Ranger."

She couldn't tell if he was mocking her or not, so she played it safe and stayed quiet. After a while, she asked him, "Where did you go on your vacation from work?"

"Here and there," he replied. "A lot of places, really. At first I was in Hearthome, coincidentally, but then I went to Jubilife, where I flew to Johto to spend a few days. Interesting place, Johto. Blackthorn and Ecruteak in particular."

"Hm. I've been to Johto, but I was mostly in Cherrygrove and Goldenrod."

"Cherrygrove?"

"I had a friend there."

He nodded.

Alyssa turned to the window. The man continued to sit straight up beside her the entire ride to Hearthome, which took an hour and a half. When the bus pulled into the station, he stood and collected her suitcase, blocking the path of those attempting to get off the back of the bus. Someone complained, but he silenced them with a piercing look; when Alyssa had gathered her crutches and Ziggy, he allowed her to go ahead of him, and he followed after her with her bag.

The man helped her off the bus the same way he had helped her on. "Do you need any more assistance?" he asked her, setting her suitcase down.

"No. Cassandra will be here soon." She offered her hand for him to shake. "Thank you. I'm Alyssa, by the way."

The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile as he took her hand and pumped it once, firmly. "Volkner. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you. And thanks for all your help."

He touched the brim of his cap, turned, and went back onto the bus.

"Alyssa!"

Cassandra seemed to materialize out of the crowd, rushing forward so that Alyssa turned and lost sight of Volkner. Her face radiated her excitement; Alyssa reached forward and pulled her into as tight a hug as she could manage, where after Cassandra grabbed Alyssa's suitcase and began chatting to her brightly, talking about some woman named Sheryl and about how they had to hurry to meet her at noon. "It's eleven-thirty, you know," she said brightly. "I missed you so much! You know, Belle is supposed to join us, I just got an email saying she'd be here in a few days—"

"Belle is coming?" Alyssa asked, shocked.

"Yeah. You didn't get the email?"

"No!"

"Well, she's coming, she's going to get a job, and we'll all live together! At least until she decides to start traveling again."

"That's awesome!" Alyssa's heart lifted.

"So how was your flight?"

"Awful…and the bus ride started out that way too, but this guy helped me out. He knew who you were—you're so famous, it's weird."

"I know, right?" Cassandra nodded solemnly. "That Sheryl woman at the café recognized me and then decided she'd help me. I mean, if I was just a normal person, would she have done all this?"

"I'm sure she would have."

"Well, let's get you set up at the PokéCenter—we'll be staying there until we can find an apartment—and then you can go with me to the café to meet Sheryl."


Cassandra was very patient with Alyssa. She didn't show the slightest signs of annoyance at Alyssa's slow pace, and she even carried Ziggy as they walked to the café, stroking him gently between the ears as she told Alyssa about her visit to Karen's house. Soon after Alyssa proclaimed that she wanted to meet Karen and her family, they stopped outside a small café called Winnie's.

"I guess we should go in," Cassandra said uncertainly. "I have to ask for her." She peered in the window. "It looks crowded…"

"I can manage," Alyssa told her. "Don't worry."

Cassandra nodded and opened the door; a bell jingled merrily above them. The place was so crowded that it was hard to see the décor, and Alyssa crutched blindly after Cassandra, who made her way to a small counter and asked above the din if she could see Sheryl.

The cashier gave Cassandra a searching look and said, "Sheryl is very busy right now."

"She told me to come in and ask for her at noon."

With a quality about her that seemed to suggest that she thought Cassandra was ridiculous, the cashier turned and slipped through a set of swinging double doors into the kitchen. She returned within a few minutes, Sheryl trailing behind, putting her dark red hair up in a bun.

"There you are, sweetie! Come outside with me—it's less crowded. I'm taking my break," she told the cashier.

"It's lunch rush!"

"I'm taking my break."

Alyssa made her way back through the crowd and out the door, where Sheryl led them to a table already occupied by two women; Sheryl kindly pulled a chair out for Alyssa and took her crutches, leaning them against the arm of her chair, before she sat down.

"Who's your friend?" Sheryl asked of Cassandra.

"This is Alyssa Thompson—she's a Top Ranger in Almia."

"Injured in the line of duty, I suppose? You Rangers are always hurting yourselves somehow."

"Uh, yes ma'am," Alyssa replied uncertainly.

"Thought so." Sheryl tapped her fingers against the table. "Be thinking about what you want to eat, and I'll call a waitress over when you're ready."

"Okay," Cassandra and Alyssa said simultaneously.

Sheryl grinned. "You two must be good friends. Anyway, this is Ina Richardson, the lady I told you about who works at the Poffin House." She indicated the woman beside her.

"It's lovely to meet you," Ina said, extending a hand toward Cassandra for her to shake. "You, too," she added, shaking Alyssa's as well. She smiled and brushed some dark blue hair out of her eyes. "When Sheryl told me that the Cassandra Étoile needed a job, I thought she was joking—Sheryl's such a kidder—but now I see it with my own eyes! Oh—and this is my friend Maria Hudgens. She's moving out of her apartment into a smaller one, and she's been looking for someone to rent it to."

Both Alyssa's and Cassandra's eyes darted to the blonde woman sitting beside Ina, who smiled kindly and shook both of their hands. "It's nice to meet you both," she said. "My Starly have flown the coop, so to speak, and now I don't need nearly as much room as I did before."

"Her kids moved out to become Trainers," Sheryl clarified.

"Yes. The apartment building is called Skybridge Estates, and don't ask me why, because I haven't even heard of a skybridge. It's got three bedrooms, a living room-dining room combination, a bathroom and a half, and a kitchenette. I was going to put the rent at a thousand a month, but for you I've decided to lower it to seven hundred."

Alyssa felt her chest clench. Seven hundred a month? Her indefinite-leave paycheck was only twelve hundred a month. That would only leave them with five hundred left over to take care of bills, groceries, and whatever else they might need.

"Now, you'd be starting at ten dollars an hour," Ina chimed in. "That'd be roughly a thousand a month. Now, mixed in with whatever paycheck your friend's getting—Top Rangers always get paid vacations—you should be just fine."

Alyssa relaxed a little.

"Didn't you say there was another friend coming?" Sheryl asked.

"She's not getting here for another day or so," Cassandra replied.

Ina smiled. "Well, I can give her a job, too. Granted, it might pay a little less than yours since she'll get less hours—sorry, those are just the positions available right now—but she'll be getting a good amount a month, too."

"Well, when can we move into the apartment?" Alyssa asked.

"As soon as you like," Maria said. "I moved out a little over a month ago. I've still got some furniture there, but I don't need it, so I suppose you can keep it if you want."

A waitress came over, frowning confusedly at Sheryl, and took a pencil from behind her ear. "Um…can I take your order?"

As everyone, including Sheryl, ordered their food, Alyssa couldn't help but share the waitress's confusion. How could Sheryl just take a break in the middle of lunch rush to share a meal with a random group of women? She ordered a sandwich and waited until the waitress left to ask, "So, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but how is it you can take a break in the middle of lunch rush? I mean, won't you get fired?"

Maria, Ina, and Sheryl exchanged glances before all three burst into laughter. "Oh, honey," Sheryl said, wiping a tear from her eye. "I own this café." She pointed to the sign that said Winnie's. "Winifred is my middle name."

Cassandra's mouth pressed into a thin line. Alyssa glanced at her; this was a sure sign that something was bothering Cassandra. Although Alyssa would never tell her, she looked a lot like Joanna when she did that.

"I'm really grateful for all your help," Cassandra said suddenly. "It's very nice of you—all three of you. But the only reason this happened was because I'm famous. Would you have done this for a regular person? And how do you even know I'm a good person? For all you know, I could have some secret persona that I hide from the cameras."

Ina leaned forward. "The truth is, sweetie, most people wouldn't do all this for anybody. You might have told your story to a different waitress here and she would've just given you a sympathetic look and brought you some coffee. But us? We're different."

"Considerate," Maria chimed in.

"Empathetic," Sheryl added.

Ina nodded. "And we know you're a good person. It's hard to fool Sheryl."

"And hon," Sheryl said as Ina leaned back in her chair, "you gave away that ribbon. No ordinary person would have done that. No bad person would have given it away for any reason."

Alyssa pushed the arm of Cassandra's chair. "Don't question good things," she said.

"Don't look a gift Rapidash in the mouth," Maria agreed, and the three women giggled.

After lunch, Alyssa and Cassandra said good-bye to Sheryl and Ina, who both had to get back to work, and went with Maria to see the apartment. Maria flagged a buggy drawn by a Rapidash, which she paid for with a wad of bills, insisting that Cassandra and Alyssa had enough expenses to worry about.

Skybridge Apartments was a rather tall building made of red brick. The parking lot was small; Maria handed the buggy driver a few more bills as she asked him to wait outside. "It's on the fifth floor, but there's an elevator, so you shouldn't worry," she told Alyssa, holding open the door for them. Inside was rather nice as well; the carpet of the lobby was a soft blue, and a tall, green plant stood on each side of the door. Maria led them across the lobby to the elevator.

The carpet in the hallway was the same type as the one in the lobby, but other than that, it was very plain; the walls were white with blue crown molding, and the doors were made of a light-colored wood. Maria led them around the corner to apartment 5-7 and pulled the key out of her pocket. "And here we go," she said, opening the door with a flourish.

It wasn't huge by any means, but it would serve the three girls nicely; the living room area blended into the dining room area, where a small round table stood surrounded by four chairs. An old-looking beige couch sat in the living room facing an empty entertainment center. The kitchen was small, but it had a counter, a stove, cabinets, and even a refrigerator, so they would get by just fine with it.

"The bedrooms are this way," Maria told them, and Alyssa hitched her crutches up under her armpits and followed her toward a short hallway. "These two doors were the kids' bedrooms, this one is the bathroom, and the master bedroom has a half-bathroom in it."

"Is the master bedroom bigger than the other two?" Cassandra asked as Maria opened all the doors, revealing two medium-sized rooms and a small bathroom.

"No," Maria replied. She opened the last door; she was right. The only difference between this bedroom and the other two was the half-open door to the bathroom. "Now, there are beds and mattresses in the bedrooms, but they need covers. I can have the electricity and water turned on tomorrow, and I can pay for the first month, but after that you're on your own. You'll probably have to spend the night at the PokéCenter tonight, but you can still buy some stuff for it today. Do you like it?"

Alyssa and Cassandra glanced at each other.

"We like it," they responded in unison.

Maria grinned. "Fantastic. Do you need me to show you around the shops?"

"Yes," Cassandra said. "Please."

"Follow me, then!"

The buggy took them to several different places, all of which sold things Alyssa and Cassandra would need for the apartment—sheets, blankets, pots and pans, silverware—and even took them by the Poffin House so that Cassandra could see where she would be working. With one last stop by the apartment to drop off the things they had bought, they went back to the PokéCenter. Night was falling around them as Cassandra helped Alyssa out of the buggy, Ziggy yawning widely.

"You've got my number?" Maria asked of Cassandra.

"Got it," she replied.

"Good. Call me around noon tomorrow, and I'll tell you whether it's okay for you to move in."

"Awesome. Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome. It was nice meeting you both."

Cassandra linked her arm with Alyssa's and walked with her into the slightly crowded PokéCenter. "Aren't you excited?" she asked. "We're all going to live together! Me and Belle are going to get jobs! We'll all be together!"

"Exciting," Alyssa echoed, the gears in her head turning. Now that the activity had gone down and she was limping arm-in-arm with Cassandra to the private room in the PokéCenter, reality was starting to come back to her. Yes, they were all going to be living together, but Belle and Cassandra were going to get jobs. What would Alyssa do while they were gone? What could she do? She couldn't go exploring the city without a wheelchair—the skin on her leg would start to ache after a while. Plus, she needed to keep a constant eye on Ziggy to see when he needed his bandages changed.

So it was with a heavy heart and full mind that Alyssa went to the PokéCenter. Feigning extreme tiredness, she bathed herself carefully, as her doctor had instructed, and slipped straight into one of the beds.


In the middle of the night, Cassandra woke groggily, smacking her lips and squinting. A sound had woken her—she thought she had heard faint sobs coming from somewhere. She drifted immediately back to sleep and did not remember the incident when she rose in the morning.


To: dingdongbelle

From: thompson_alyssa

Subject: WHAT?


So Cassandra JUST told me that you were going to come live with us! OMGWTFBBQ? I had no idea! THIS IS SO EXCITING! WE'LL ALL BE TOGETHER!

Get your ass up here as soon as you can!

Love much,

Alyssa


HI EVERYBODY! So, I'm currently working on Chapter 53 while I'm furiously playing my BRAND-NEW AWESOME POKEMON BLACK! I started with Snivy!

So, thank you to all the kind people who are making me rapidly approach 200 reviews!:

The Finesseful X (Wow, thank you so much for your kind praise! ^_^ I work really hard on all these characters.)

Ralyena Starrling (Thanks so much! XD You said "groovy". That makes me smile.)

OrcShamanKing (Well hello again, newly-named OrcShamanKing. As always, your praise is much appreciated. I'm glad you like Karen's parents and Sheryl - and no, I don't think she breathes when she talks. Maybe she was a swimmer or something XD)

EternalPKK (Well thank you! That battle took a lot out of me; I'm not good at battle scenes.)

Mo12341234 (Your ramblings made me smile! Thank you; I'm glad you like my characters! ^_^)

DarkLadyPegasus (The funny thing about the length of the story is that I originally planned for it to only have 50 chapters, and that, for me, would have been super-long. Now it's looking much longer, and I'm trying to move it along as much as I can, but it's getting difficult. :/ But thank you for reading it, long as it is! XD)

EmblemDuelist (Seems like everyone is going to miss Karen. But don't worry; I'm sure the girls' adventures will live up to your expectations!)

I think I've said this before (about 20 chapters ago D=), but we're nearing the end here. It may take a while, but we're speeding up on the climax of the story. Chapter 53 is coming soon!