"So," I stared through the window at Diantha on a hospital bed, connected to a machines and an IV bag. "Any updates?"

Diantha's doctor nodded. "Diantha's in stable condition. Whatever the Cult managed to do to her, it isn't showing any signs of being damaging, aside from just weakening her. We're currently working on finding different ways to approach treating her, but none seem to be effective. We'll only be able to monitor her situation until she wakes up I'm afraid."

I nodded. "Alright, thanks."

As I made my way out of the hospital, I contacted Alex through our Holo Casters. "Just checked on Diantha. Nothing new since you came yesterday."

She nodded, the hologram of her flickering slightly. "Hopefully she'll get better. Oh, Sycamore requested you. He wants to see how Frogadier is doing."

"I'll be right there," I promised, shutting off the device and nearly ran into someone.

"Oh," I backed up. "Sor-"

The word got lost on its way out as I stared at the red-maned man towering over me. He still wore his suit, the red outlines on his black leather suit doing nothing but confirm my knowledge of him being the leader of Team Flare.

"Lysandre," I said, managing to control the tone of my voice. I had to hope he didn't know that we knew of his status. "Why are you here?"

"Ah," he looked at me. "Zeno, was it? I am only here to give my regards to Diantha."

He lifted his hand to show the white roses in his grasp. "These were always her favorite. It's appalling that the Cult decided to target her. Do not worry, child. I am providing enough funds and resources for her care as well as for helping the police find the Cult. This is what is important right now, don't you agree?"

He walked off towards Diantha's room, his purposeful stride almost mockingly in a way.

"Yeah," I said. "Important."

...

"You wanted me, Professor?" I asked, knocking on his office door.

He looked up from his paperwork. "Ah, yes, thank you for coming."

He stood and shook my hand. "Let me thank you again for helping out. As well as every trainer there. Without even one of you, I don't know if we would have had this successful of an outcome. Things could've been worse."

He looked back at the paperwork on his desk. "I'm been doing a lot, as well as some stuff that Diantha was supposed to do."

"Don't overwork yourself too much," I smiled. "But I do see rebuilding is coming along nicely."

"Yes," Sycamore smiled, going over to the window to look out at the streets of Lumiose. "So many people are still chipping in. Simply magnifique."

"You've been working hard this whole week as well," Sycamore said, turning back to me. "You and your friends. I've sent them off for a break, so do go join them."

"If you insist," I nodded and turned to leave, then, "Didn't you want to see Frogadier?"

"Goodness me," he ruffled his hair, grinning sheepishly. "I guess I forgot. Yes, that would be great. You've had him for over a month now. I want to check his health and determine if anything has changed."

After handing him Frogadier's pokeball, I bid the professor farewell and headed out of the Pokemon Lab. Checking my Holo Caster, I headed over to Cafe Cyclone over in Vert Plaza. As I entered the circular plaza, I took note that they had put in another stone monument in the center. The nearby buildings were still being repaired, but it seemed like the workers and Pokemon were all on break, relaxing on the grass outlining the plaza and having lunch.

With a jingle, I opened the door to the cafe. Cool air hit me, refreshing after being out in the hot sun. With it being in the middle of summer, the heat was reaching its peak.

"Zeno," Alex waved from the table she was sitting at, drinking coffee alone. She wore a white shirt instead of her beige one today, dried paint splatters of blue and green on it.

I sat across from her, and when a waiter hurried over, I ordered a coffee as well. "So, where's Robert."

She chuckled. "He wanted to get a head start on doing a job for the Professors. Juniper recommended Robert could help in analyzing the Pokemon that were infected, so Sycamore told him he could do it later. Robert was here literally for a minute, drank his tea, and set out."

"Sounds just like him," I laughed.

There was a minute of awkward silence, only interrupted when my drink arrived. After taking a sip, I decided to say something. "So, what did you do today?"

I nearly cringed at the such basic question, but Alex smiled. "I was running some errands for Sycamore this morning, then I was helping them repaint parts of the lab."

"That explains the shirt," I nodded.

"Yep," Alex said. "So, aside from checking up on Diantha, you do anything else?"

"I met Ash and Serena on my way over to the hospital," I thought back to when we had talked near a different cafe. "He wanted to challenge me to another battle later."

Alex placed both hands on her cup. "They make a cute couple, don't they?"

"Huh," I started. "Ash and Serena? Yeah, I guess so. I guess Serena knew Ash back in Kanto before. Though I don't think they're dating yet."

Alex pursed her lips. "Zeno, back in Alola, when you... you know. I couldn't stop thinking about you. I was devastated. And when you came back, I was so happy, I guess..."

She sighed. "Maybe we rushed things."

"So," I set down my coffee. "You're officially dumping me then?"

She let out a small laugh. "I guess that's one way to put it."

"Well," she stared into the dark liquid in her cup. "I guess what I'm saying is that we should just be friends. Take things slower. Maybe then..."

She looked up at me. "You're not mad, are you?"

"No," I shook my head, smiling. "Honestly, I think I've been feeling the same way. Lately, it feels like we hardly get time to just relax and talk like this. Plus, so many other things to deal with..."

Alex reached over and grasped my hand. "So, friends then?"

"Always," I affirmed. "And Alex, again, I'm sorry for leaving for six months without contact. I was too selfish, believing I could change my father."

"Don't worry," Alex squeezed my hand. "I did the same."

"You never talk about your family," I said. "Why did you leave again?"

She hesitated, then said, "When I got back, I think they had gotten better. They were drinking less and had better behavior. I even got to see some of my old friends again..."

"Alex," I checked to see if anyone was listening, and lowered my voice. "You mentioned they'd killed before, back when we were on Alola. That they tried to kill you, twice."

She shrugged. "It isn't actually as bad as it sounds. I'll admit, some of my actions were part of it."

She looked uncomfortable, so I did what she had done earlier and squeezed her hand. "Alex, I want you to know you can talk to me about this. I trusted you and everyone else about my past, what I've done. I'm here whenever you want to talk, alright?"

She nodded and took another sip of her coffee, making a face at it. "Ugh, it got cold."

"Heh," I tried my coffee. Lukewarm. "Maybe it's time we got back to work."

She waved her hand. "Most of the city's been repaired, thanks to everyone who helped out. Let's go find Robert."

"Where are they keeping all the Pokemon that were infected?" I asked as we both stood and pushed our chairs in. "They aren't at the lab, are they?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Clemont offered up the use of his battling arena in Lumiose Tower."

"Gotcha," I rested my hand on the door, then looked back at her. "Wait, Clemont's battling arena?"

Alex smirked. "Apparently he's the Lumiose Gym Leader. Who would have thought, huh?"

"Yeah," I shook my messy hair. "If the battling arena is full, I guess we can't do our gym battle yet."

"Yeah," Alex confirmed as we stepped out into the summer heat. The workers were already getting off their lunch break, the sound of machines working and the grunts of Machamps in the air.

"Well," I held up my hand to block the sun's rays. "Let's head over to the Lab first. I want to see if Sycamore's done with Frogadier. Then we should head over to the Tower."

"Alright," Alex said as we set off. "So, have you talked to your family lately?"

I nodded. "Ah, right. I didn't tell you. I phoned them yesterday with my Holo Caster. Since they don't have one, I can only use voice, no holograms. It was nice of Sycamore to each give a trainer one that helped out in the battle."

"Anyway," I said. "I've been updating them about what's been going on. Of course they've seen the news, so they already expected that I was involved somehow."

"It is you," Alex pointed out, poking me in the side.

"No," I held up a finger. "It's us. It can't just be me. We're always the ones who get into trouble. I'm not the only one who has the bad luck."

"Fair enough," Alex laughed as we hit the main street on South Boulevard. The city had gotten busier since I had come this way earlier. During the week of major construction, people were only able to get around by walking or on Gogoats, but now taxis were back up and running. I saw an electronic sign advertising a movie that had featured Diantha as the lead role up on top of a building, then it changed to an ad about Holo Casters, with Lysandre holding on.

I stopped. "I can't believe I forgot!"

"What?" Alex asked, stopping as well.

People were walking on either side of us, some in business suits or people just out to enjoy the day in the city. Looking around, I pulled Alex into a nearby alley. I pulled out my Holo Caster and made sure to shut it off all the way.

"Okay, seriously," Alex pulled her hand away once the coolness of the alley had settled in on us. "What?"

I held up a hand to silence her and took off my backpack. Ruffling through it, I pulled out a pen and paper. Tucking the Holo Caster away into my pocket, I pressed the paper up against the alley wall next to us and wrote something.

"No talking."

Alex raised an eyebrow at me, then shrugged. I nodded and wrote something else.

Alex mouthed the word silently. "I'm pretty sure Lysandre's onto us."

Alex froze, eyes wide, then tugged the pen out of my hand and wrote, "How do you know?"

"Back at the hospital," I wrote after taking the pen back. "I bumped into him and he mentioned how it was terrible that Diantha was targeted. He then said something like how Diantha's care and finding the cult was what we all should be focusing on. It sounded like he telling me to back off from the affairs of others."

"But how?" Alex had grabbed her own pen when I had been writing. "Could we have been followed? Bugged somehow?"

"I have a theory," I wrote. "The Holo Caster. They were made by Lysandre's Lab. What if he can listen to them at all times, turned on or off. Or read anything on them."

Alex visibly paled, then scribbled, "How should we handle this then?"

I flipped the paper over. "We'll need to talk to Robert and Clemont about this. They might be able to do something about the Holo Casters and see what Lysandre can do with them. If they can't, we'll have to get rid of them. In the meantime, we can't talk about this, at least when there's Holo Casters around or other people."

Alex nodded and put her pen away. I crumpled the paper up and stuffed it into my bag, telling myself that I would have Arcanine burn it later. We made our way out of the alley and across the street, not too far from the Lab now. We walked in silence, which would be suspicious if Lysandre or Team Flare could listen to us even with the device turned off, but if we tried to talk now, the conversation was bound to be awkward. Luckily we got the excuse to talk again when we ran into Sycamore talking to one of his scientists in the main hall of the building.

"Ah, there you are," Sycamore said once he noticed us and strode over. "The results are in. He seems to be doing good, but I can see signs of his body slowing down. I'm afraid he only has around two weeks at this point."

He handed me back my pokeball, resting his hand on my shoulder, my stomach sinking at the news. "Look, Zeno. He'll be able to fight for a bit longer, but he's not going to get any stronger. I'm sorry, but he's going to pass on."

"I know," I said softly.

Sycamore smiled sadly. "He looked to be very happy when I was doing his check-up. You're doing a fantastic job as a trainer. I'm not sure he would have lived this long without your continued support and you being a friend."

He patted me on the shoulder and left, saying he had more work to do. I looked down at the pokeball in my hand, realizing my hand was shaking slightly.

"Zeno," Alex grasped my other hand. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I tried to regain my composure and spoke again with more confidence in my voice. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Maybe you should let him out?" Alex suggested.

I shook my head. "He's probably tired after Sycamore's examinations. I'll let him rest for a bit."

I stalked towards the door, Alex staying behind for a second before jogging to catch up. She stayed quiet as we made our way towards Lumiose Tower, leaving me alone with my conflicted thoughts. I knew what Sycamore had said to be true, but that couldn't be it. It just couldn't. Just over a week ago, Frogadier had battled in our gym battle in Coumarine City. He had gotten so much stronger. And during this week rebuilding, whenever I had free time I would have all my Pokemon practice with one another behind a Pokemon Center. He seemed fine, stronger than ever.

I gripped a fist. "This can't be what's going to happen. I'm seeing him get better with every passing battle. When he evolved, he'd gotten so much better. Maybe... maybe if he evolves again he can be cured."

With a rising sense of hope, I promised myself that in every battle to come, I would let Frogadier participate. If I could get him to evolve, I had to hope that would fix him.

When Alex and I finally arrived at Lumiose Tower, I felt better. Walking inside, we followed the signs and found ourselves in the Gym Arena where probably every Pokemon that had attacked the city were being healed and examined for lingering affects. The legendary birds definitely weren't here, as they had flown off into the skies of Kalos as soon as they awoke. We looked around and found Robert in a lab coat, tending to a Gogoat. As we walked over, we saw him draw a blood sample, thank the Grass type, and stand.

"Hey," he grinned at us. "Finally made it over here?"

"Yep," Alex responded. "How are all the Pokemon?"

"Doing great actually," Robert sounded happy. "Nothing too serious with any of them and we did manage to get samples of whatever they were injected with. I'm off to check to see if this blood contains any as well. The more we have, the better chance we can find a cure to stop the Pokemon without hurting them to do so."

We had followed him to where a makeshift lab had been set up and began typing away at a computer. He inserted the tube of blood into a machine and the screen began flashing. Alex and I both watched Robert work as he tuned out the rest of the world. He seemed to be in his element.

Looking around again, I saw Clemont across the room, working on what looked like a robot, Bonnie up in the stands playing with her Dedenne.

Striding over, with Alex just behind me, I said, "Hey, Clemont!"

...

"So," Robert swallowed a bit of sandwich, us three having gone to a nearby cafe so Robert could take a break. "You're saying Lysandre knows?"

I nodded, still on edge despite us all having given Clemont our Holo Casters for inspection. He had said he would also relay the information of the Holo Casters and about Lysandre being a part of Team Flare to Ash and Serena when he saw them.

"Well dang," Robert leaned back in his chair. "This seriously isn't good. Who knows how much Team Flare knows about us now."

"Hopefully less than we fear," Alex wore a grimace.

"Well, nothing we can really do about it," Robert shrugged. "By the way, the gym should reopen in two days."

"So more time to kill," I sighed. "What're we going to do tomorrow?"

"I actually have a suggestion," Robert grinned. "But we'll need to contact Looker first."

Folding my hands, I asked, "Why?"

Robert's grin turned sly. "I think I've figured out where that Ditto came from."

...

The big-bellied Team Flare scientist tapped away at the controls, checking the vitals.

"Well," the cultist asked, his hood concealing his face. "Is she ready?"

"Not quite," Xerosic replied. "But I assure you, our alliance will result fruit. This girl will definitely become the best sacrifice, given some time of course."

The cultist nodded. "She'd better. We're having to focus our attention away from public chaos for a while. If she doesn't turn out to be a better sacrificial pawn than the Hero Born of Darkness..."

"Don't worry," Xerosic grinned at the girl floating in the incubation tank. "She'll be the one."

He frowned. "But you should worry about Zeno. From what we know, it would be better to kill him before he meddles any further."

"Indeed," the Cultist said. "But that will depend on the All-Powerful One. If she wishes him to watch her rise once more, we will do as she says. Chaos will one day be reborn and the world will crumble beneath her."

Okay, I know I said a gym battle was supposed to happen, but as I started writing, it went a different way than expected. Of course, I'm totally fine with that. The gym battle won't happen next chapter either, but that just means we get to see the Dittos once more. So, I hope you all enjoyed this laid-back chapter. Our heroes finally got some down time from journeying and dealing with criminal organizations, cults, and a gothic rival, but I guess Robert's version of that is working. To each their own I guess. Anyway, until next time, which will probably be in a couple days at most. Thanks to the coronavirus, I have school off this whole week, plus Spring Break. So that's just over two weeks with no school and plenty of time to write. I'm going to go all out with LDOC and TMR2 stuff, so prepare yourselves. Toodles