Warnings: Troubling unchildlike behavior, fantastical slurs, plot, etc

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Probationary

Let us go back a bit. Just a little.

Amethyst Cave was not a forgiving place. It was not kind, it was mired in darkness and the dreaming dead. There used to be so much more to it, but it was simply lost. Surely someone would find it. Maybe one day.

Aya was not going to find it right now. She headed down the old steps. Someone else would have felt dread. They'd have wondered if this would work, if they could bring Melia back, if she'd really died after all. What would it mean?

Aya did not have any of that uncertainty.

Aya did not love easy. Aya did not trust easy. Melia was just a person who she had failed to protect. Even if she was still alive, that fact wouldn't be overwritten by her possible ghost. Her failure to do as she had been asked would still exist.

So she wasn't truly afraid of what might be the answer. She was however, terrified of what the answer meant. But that didn't mean she would stop. She was her mother's daughter. She did not stop. She did not falter.

Without the Team Xen grunts to fuss and pace and interrupt, her footsteps were loud in the dirt. Heavier too, like something was tugging her down to that spot. Like she was being guided there.

Aya, being twelve, dismissed it. There was no such thing as fate. There was no such thing as destiny, only the end days that awaited everyone. Still, she kept walking, passing the mine carts full of crystals and the remaining sparks of long dead electrowebs. Oh and a klink, but she'd caught one so that was enough.

"Why are you going, anyway?"

Suzuko, Su-chan, very clear right now. But in fairness that was probably because she was the most eloquent and despite her general lack of modern awareness, she was the one who liked knocking into Aya's skull. "You won't be able to bring her back if she's dead. Why do you have to know?"

Aya chewed on her lip and said, "It's the least I can do for Venam and Ren, even if it doesn't mean anything. Any closure I can find is good."

"But what if she's alive?"

"Then I cross that bridge when I come to it I guess."

Suzuko went quiet for a long while before chiding. "You shouldn't sacrifice yourself for people who barely know you."

Aya laughed and it clanged against the stones. "Do as I say not as I do, huh Su-chan."

Her friend didn't answer. She was probably tired.

That was fine.

As she descended, she heard the soft whining whirr of a hungry rock type. Aya, without hesitation, rummaged in her pockets and started looking. Sure enough, next to a revive, lay a lunatone, too hungry to levitate.

Its visible red eye barely blinked.

Aya held out the treat. "Hungry?"

They were, and apparently too hungry to not stop a pokeball smacking it mid-chew. Well, maybe the solrock could be friends with them.

She slipped the ball into her PC compartment and moved on. Her heart started to thud louder, betraying the calm of her thoughts, the passive rot in her brain. She reached into her bag again and this time drew out the staff from the biggest container in the bin. It came easily unlike most everything else in her bag, like that hammer, the tms, the card for that hotel with that snooty asshole who she wanted to roast off his eyebrows. But this thing, it flew to her hand like it was born there. It… It didn't seem right.

But her experience with magic objects was legitimately limited to the Clear Bell, the Rainbow Wing, and the GS Ball, so like, she wasn't an expert. She'd talk to her dad when she got out of here and reception didn't suck.

The staff warmed in her hand, soft and soothing the growing buzzing between Aya's ears. She held the staff out in front of her, gently sweeping it across the room in an arc, in case Melia had died in a specific spot and clung to it, or to catch any particles because she hadn't formed yet.

The stone did not glow even once.

Aya took a deep breath. Then she exhaled. Then she started laughing.

She laughed until she cried.

All of a sudden, she didn't want to be there anymore. She wanted to be home, under her futon, held by papa as he read gym scores, close to the sound of pokemon laughing, in her mother's arms, gently rocking her baby cousin to sleep, to let Uncle Scar float her in the air again like old times.. She did not want to be here where it stank and made her cells shudder with discontent.

Then, she wiped her eyes. "I guess we weren't friends after all."

Aya put the staff down in the ground. "Thanks for nothing bud."

It did not leave her hand when she made to stand up.

Aya tried to toss it away. It did not move. She stared at it.

"What the actual fuck?"

Aya paused. Maybe she was missing something. Reluctantly, she reached into her PC box and pulled out a ball. She tossed it and released Calia, her shuppet. The little ghost turned to her and stuck its tongue out.

"Finally interested in playing with your rejects, little monster?"

She thought of Teo shut up in her box and it stung, it stung so much. "Are you willing to work with me?"

The little sheet floated over her head, spinning around the room, watching the staff that was thrumming happily in her hand now. "It depe~nds~. What can you give me?"

Aya grimaced. "I'm not a good ghost trainer," she admitted, because it was true. All the love she had for them didn't mean she could hear or see the dreaming dead like her dad or her cousin or grandma or any of them. She'd only been able to train -

bathump -

Jericho because he was a fire type. And she didn't want to know what it would mean if she started to be good at it. "I can trade you to my cousin if you want."

Calia laughed. "No, no I don't need another trainer. You'll do nicely. You Johto brats are good at killing people, yes?"

Aya twitched. She breathed, counting to ten. Then she exhaled. "What is with Aevium being obsessed with murder, yes, I can."Most Johto children had, if only for the little shrines in their houses and to show loyalty to the legendary that sometimes came to their houses for tea and cookies.

"Good, good, that's a possibility." The little ghost smiled. "Please don't misunderstand, I don't need you to kill a set amount of people for funsies, little monster. I need you to stop my father, Isiah Harvard. He took my body and I don't care if it's dying, I want it back. It just might mean killing him."

Silence.

Then… "Okay, you have a deal. Now help me."

Realistically, she was the trainer. She could order the ghost and as long as she was marked as worthy a pokemon would have to obey. But that was human thinking. Ghosts did not apply to human thinking. Pokemon barely even considered human thinking. This person was all three, apparently. He would have to be treated as such.

And she didn't understand the importance of Isiah Harvard, except that his name was like her baby seal and she didn't like that at all.

Calia regarded her and then a smile split him wide. "Excellent! I love people like you! Perhaps, maybe, I would have hated you once, but no! You're perfect! Thank you little master!"

She did not budge. He laughed again and shut his eyes.

This would have been impossible before, when he'd first found himself missing fingers and toes. But now it was easy as not breathing. Isha reached out for the dead and met only air. Only oxygen and other molecules and stone and-

"There is a strange touch to the air." He finally said. "It's very faint, but little master, it reminds me quite a bit of you. Can you smell it?"

Aya sniffed. "No but… being here makes my stomach churn."

"Aaah… then it's probably the same thing. Something did die here though, but it's long gone now. It died a couple of times, based on this sensation."

"... I see. I was right."

Aya wanted to laugh again, but her head throbbed as everything caught up with her.

Melia is still alive.

"... I'll tell them when we're together," she finally said. "Let's go, Calia. We're going outside."

Calia - Isha? She was just gonna keep calling him Calia - giggled. "Whatever you say, little master!"

The staff warmed in her hands, then vanished into her bag. Good. She didn't want to look at it, not now, especially if she couldn't get rid of the damn thing.

"Well we're too late he's probably got the kinky handcuffs out."

Aelita sputtered at the very, very horrifying image that burst into her head. "What?" (What, she was a teenager? She looked things up on her rotom phone!)

Rua shrugged. "Uncle Ion carries his tools for his work with him on a regular basis because his practicality often wars with his desire to be left the fuck alone."

"He's nosy," Aya told her in translation. "And he's probably gone to arrest Keta."

"What?!" Arrest her dad? What? "But why?"

Aya pointed at the staff that was now refusing to stay in her bag and instead was makeshift harnessed into loops on her bag straps, and also seemed to be vibrating. "That is a mythical staff and it's attached to me. Mythical and legendary objects are no joke. You don't just give them to random twelve-year-olds for funsies. That he did is a sign he's clearly not mentally healthy enough to take the role seriously anymore and needs some rehab, let alone everything else you've implied he's got going on."

"Also that campsite is a health hazard," Rua piped up, slowing down to let Aya's short legs catch up. "And he's been on health hazards ever since that one guy smoked such strong Oddishweed the whole gym stank of it. It clearly isn't cleaned enough or anything and the boards and piping need replacing and the non perishable food shelves were so empty there were spinarak nests in it. We were better off in that river."

Well, she couldn't deny that… "Still. Arresting him?"

Aya shrugged. "It's the only way he can push for any reform. If Keta just resigned, your league would just put in a successor and there would be no requirement for any changes to be made before the new person started, only a request. Now because he's probably getting arrested, the League's gotta be contacted and the gym held over by him before a transfer can even start going on. Because he was arrested, it's grounds for the gym being closed."

"Also means that guy can contest the transfer before he gets pulled into the nearest prison. Which is… where?"

Aelita tried to remember. "Probably Goldenleaf, but that's because they personally mete out justice. There's no more cops there, but there aren't many police anywhere. So it might be East Gearan." Her stomach churned. "Or Grand Dream City, but no one really gets sent there."

"The more I hear about Goldenleaf, the more I consider setting it on fire," Aya said in a perfectly amicable voice. Rua rolled his eyes.

"Aya, you'll set anything on fire given half the chance."

"Not true." Aya's protest was met with a raised eyebrow. "I wouldn't set you on fire."

Rua chortled. "Well I'm anyone, not anything."

"Would you set me on fire?" Aelita couldn't help but ask while simultaneously wondering how she could.

Aya looked her up and down and shook her head. "No. I like you."

"Sweet." She was not blushing. She was not blushing because of sheer friendship. No she was not.

Right. Focus.

"Can we stop Mr. Mettle from doing… that?" Aelita asked.

Rua let out a laugh. "No, but his supervisor can remind him that they don't have jurisdiction here and he needs to stop butting into things. But she might be busy with her baby so who knows if she'll answer…" He was already pressing buttons on a blue roto-phone. "Ah, you answered! Sorry to bother you, I'm sure you haven't slept but can you talk to Uncle Ion before he ruins this entire village in the name of reform? Thanks!"

Aelita grimaced as he hung up the phone. "It can't be that simple."

Rua shrugged. "We still need to try it. Uncle gets tunnel visions when he's worried." Aya looked towards the water as he said that and nearly smacked into a fence. He laughed and took her hand. "Let me lead the way, silly."

Aya gave him a look of absolute displeasure but didn't let go anyway.

Aelita looked away and pretended it didn't hurt to watch.

Keta should feel something, staring at this man. He should feel anything, right now. He imagined Taelia would feel something. He imagined Taelia would be up in a rage, her hair flashing a beautiful (deadly, broken, feral, ariados color) red as she stormed in front of Ion, pointing and gesturing and demanding an explanation. He would have to pick up their daughter and hush her tears because it was just not what his wife was good at, especially like this, and-

Oh. Right. She was dead now. They were both dead now.

And he couldn't feel much of anything.

He'd sacrificed so much. This would probably be better. To be rotting in a cell while his home melted, all his hard work turned to soot and ash and he'd get to blame himself.

He closed his eyes and exhaled. Even that felt like a bit much to him. "Is that so?"

"Due to circumstances, I cannot promise you an attorney," the man continued, and he truly looked young, just past the cusp of when that day would have occurred for Keta. No more than seventeen. He sounded much older. "Being that one of your crimes is violating the Contract of Man and Beast, laid in Tohjo, her home, so there may be a decree that you won't get an official trial."

Keta couldn't help it. He snorted. "You still believe in that pile of spellwork?"

The man met his eyes. "My niece does and you violated it anyway."

"A mythical object can pass to a mythical person," Keta replied. He wasn't angry, was he? It was just too cold for anger, in this spring weather. No, he just felt off, that was all. "It would not have passed to her if she couldn't reach it in the first place."

The fact that the red stone had answered her hands meant the thing belonged to her and the Soul Stone no longer needed to be protected by him. His time serving the Rota had passed. The man didn't have to like it, but that was the reality of the situation, so he simply had to accept it. It wasn't a violation of that old musty myth, if he didn't follow it in the first place.

This was that girl's fate.

He wasn't going to deny the wasted funds. Caring for the way station was for a younger man, a man with more energy and drive, to walk through that hellish place week after week and not consider letting himself fall into the pits below. But still, arresting him? In this League? This Mettle was truly a man of extremes. But then -

"A Slug," he said, interrupting the man's continued speech. "That's what you are, isn't it? A distant Unovan Slug, bastardized from Sinnoh. You play with steel toys, don't you?" Keta watched the man twitch. It brought him no pleasure (he thought). "You have ties to Joy of all things, don't they make you uncomfortable? Your Joy made my head hurt, stinking of earth and fae and fire."

"She's not my Joy, what in the actual fuck is the matter with you?" The man's voice had gone so quiet, professionalism gone, fury kindling in his face for some reason. It made no sense to him, but then not much of this did. This emotional waffle.

"You took too long to ask that question." The door creaked. Mmn. Interesting. "Well then, aren't you going to walk me out of here?"

Mettle paused. Even his name gave him away, did he think he was hiding? "You won't resist?"

"I don't have anything to resist you over. Unless of course you don't have someone to hold my place until the League has someone else. Aelita's team is too sloppy to do it, she's too young to take the test anyway. My gym is too soon in most people's journeys for it to be left empty. The second badge of eighteen? No that won't do." He sighed. "You won't be able to hold me anywhere."

"Sensei?"

Aelita's voice. It warmed and hurt all at the same time. The heat burned, and it stank of Ho-oh soot now.

He sighed. "I request an allowance of a grace period before you begin the procedure. I will remain in my house, take challengers and continue my work in the village until a replacement is started. I only have one badge in my possession and I would need to set them to order so there isn't a waiting period."

"That sounds like what you do, anyway," Mettle said. There was something ugly in his tone .

"Would you like to forge them," Keta said, not unkindly. He moved his head to the side as a fist came dangerously close to his nose. "Oh it does offend you, my apologies. I think you have lost all right to arrest me."

The Joy's hands wrapped gently around the Slug's clenched fist. "Uncle," she said, firm and soft. It was so much like Taelia, why why why. "Don't. Your claim will be less valid. He's not resisting."

"I'd listen to her," Keta said quietly. "I'm perfectly willing to go through with it regardless, but we must follow protocol, correct, little Joy?"

Muscles bunched in little Mettle's arm and he was not prepared for the young one on Aelita's other side to launch himself forward. But the Joy caught them too, one hand on each temperamental fool's arm.

She looked slowly up at Keta, crimson eyes burning bright.

Ah, Taelia would have loved her. She would have been the daughter needed.

"Hey," she said softly. "Mister Keta. I really want to punch you in the face. So let's have a wager. You win, I leave, no badge, nothing, until you get replaced."

"That would set you back months," protested the blue one. Smelled like dragon scales. A hatchling?

Aya met Keta's eyes, and few did that anymore. "I win, you'll owe me a single favor and we have a fight for the badge."

Keta did not have many people who looked him in the eye for him and not someone else. "Interesting."

And it was. It frightened him that it interested him. He did not have the emotions to feel that. And yet. "Very well. Now?"

She was scuffed up from journeying, her hair was curled tightly in tangles, her eyes were worn. She had small bags under her eyes. Still, she'd eaten and probably slept. She was in no worse condition than he.

She smiled, the smile of a Joy who was ready to fight, the sharpest of her teeth shining in the gloom. Though, those monsters often were. "After you."

Perhaps it was because the moon was out, but the small dirt battlefield was almost empty. At the sight of their sensei, Aelita watched everyone else practically vanish. It stung.

It was probably for the best though. Eldest sat on the steps, sipping tea with an ease that made Aelita want to scream. But she sat next to her anyway, because she looked small and alone in comparison to the empty battlefield. On one side, Aya stretched, lightly hopping from one foot to the other. On the other, Keta merely looked at his watch and took it off, then at the shining sky. Rua sat beside Aelita, one eye on his uncle pace the path, who had an expression that could only be described as churlish.

"Is what she's doing bad?" Aelita couldn't help but ask.

"Uncle just doesn't like the risk of the water," Rua replied, though this wasn't really an explanation either. His fingers were clenched into the grooves of the bag. "I don't either, but this is kinda dangerous. I'm surprised he agreed to it. It's not going to change his arrest at this point."

"There's no point in arresting the man," the Eldest said in her stoutest, most stubborn voice. "He needs help, is all."

"And he's not willingly taking it," Ion finally joined them, flopping down without a hint of grace. "The entire point of League arrests is that they are either jailed or put into the help they need, or they're assisted with financial or physical or whatever they need. The arrest is the step so the rest of the League isn't responsible for them continuing to wreck things, though it's supposed to be a last resort."

"And that it isn't now is a sign of extremes, young man."

Aelita winced as Ion looked at the Eldest, who merely stared back. "I'm just doing my job."

"Is that what you tell them all?"

There was a light thud as Aya deposited her bag and hoodie on another side of the field. She lifted her hands up slowly, watching Keta with cool eyes and a firm mouth.

"Rounds end when one or both are under the water," she said simply, voice carrying over the strange, ethereal quiet. "And best two of three."

"Acceptable." He glanced towards them, his eyes on Eldest. "Would you count down?"

Eldest nodded and Aelita felt her eyes being drawn away, like they were being watched.

"Three… two… one… Begin."

It took a handful of seconds. Between Eldest's call and a quiet gust of wind, Keta went flying off of the platform and hit the water with a splash. His head had barely missed at tree at the other edge of the field. His body dropped under like a stone. Aya rolled with the blow she'd landed, feet scuffed and hands bruised. She rose to her feet as bubbles began to disperse.

"D-Sensei!" Aelita shouted, beginning to stand until Rua pulled her down by her elbow. "What… what even was that?"

No one answered, just focused on the water as Keta pulled himself back up in the water with a few coughing hacks and wheezes. Hair sticking to his face, he lifted himself back on the battlefield. Aya had already taken her place quietly on the other side.

"Take me seriously," she finally told him. "I don't want to kill you on accident."

"And yet you hit me in the stomach on purpose hard enough to kill a lesser man." Despite his coughing, Keta's voice did not sound frightened. Only empty. "You mock me, Joy."

Rua tensed beside her and Ion grabbed his leg. "Don't."

"He's being rude."

"He's going to be. Don't interrupt them."

Rua grumbled about hypocrisy under his breath.

Aelita looked between them and the battle as Keta worked to dry himself. "What's he saying? She is a Joy right?"

Ion and Rua both winced. Eldest spoke for them. "It's rather like calling you or me girl, or something derogatory as such. Or not using our names. It is in poor taste to identify someone and out them as such without their express approval. This is because those like Joy and these two are descended from those who contracted with pokemon in the past, or in some cases mated with them centuries ago and it stuck. And being a Joy is why she is perfectly fine hurting him. Joy are some of the best healers in existence. They know the earth and the fae and the psychic arts better than any ordinary person. As such, the idea of a little pain or what she did to Keta causing harm is rather a triviality." The Eldest rolled her cane in her hands. "And in truth, it isn't an incorrect expectation. In his prime, Keta would have obliterated her. With ease."

Ion glowered at her. "They aren't heartless."

"Most aren't," the Eldest agreed without blinking. "Most are simply just ruthless with their ambition. She is not. She expected him to dodge. She does not appear to be good with people who are hurting inside."

"It's not her responsibility to be."

Slowly, Keta rose up and lifted his hands into fists. "Very well then," he said with a sigh. And then he moved.

Short, quick steps moved him across the battlefield at once, fists like bullets as Aya raised her arms and blocked. He coiled around her, blocking her attempts to move from one side or the other. Her face was kept safe but he rose his knee and kicked her into the air. She dropped like a stone, only to catch herself on her hands.

"What the heck?" Aelita had never seen him do… oh. Wait. Gale strike. Right.

Aya moved to right herself but he swept her arms out from under her and kicked her into got to her feet and lunged. He caught her fist and attempted to pin it back but she kicked him firmly in a kneecap and broke free. As she turned around, his lower palm connected with her chin. She spat blood and skidded backwards. Keta pressed forward, and for a moment, Aelita swore she saw a spark of blue at the tips of his fingers.

Aya smacked into the ground moments later with a groan and Keta casually rolled her off of the field into the water with a foot.

This time, Aelita and Ion had to grab Rua's arms. He squirmed for a solid five seconds until a hand rose up from the water and Aya forced herself up with a painful hacking sound.

"I've never seen him like this before," Aelita murmured once Rua settled.

Eldest hummed, unperturbed. "He's never had a reason to be like this in front of you before."

"In front of me?" Aelita turned her head and realized-

Keta was looking. At her. Intensely. Like he'd never seen her properly until now.

"I think he's just realized something," continued the eldest, a grin on her face. Well, she certainly seemed fine with the fight now.

She turned her head just as Aya's dripping wet fist connected with Keta's jaw. The man stumbled and righted himself to block the next punch and Aya leaped forward again. Rather than striking him, she used his shoulders to roll over him and jab her heel into his back. He coughed and pulled himself forward, jerking his elbo back and he only missed because she ducked. He turned and met her next kick with crossed arms. As she caught herself, he grabbed her by both arms and began to bodily carry her across the field, struggling with every step.

She swung her forehead and hit him in the mouth. His hands spasmed and she tackled him. He stumbled and fell. Keta grabbed her by the hem of her shirt. She punched him, got free and leaped back. Aelita watched the bruise on her face seem to shrivel away and gaped. "What- that's cheating!"

"He's decking her with aura infused fists," Mr. Mettle said with the dryness of a desert. "Any advantage in a real fight. And they're not hitting each other very hard."

They kept trading blows across the field until Aya was again at the edge, close to the water.

Then, for the second time, she moved. Her punch sent Keta skidding backwards with a cough, even as he kicked her to catch himself. She winced and he launched himself forward. His face was twisting with an expression Aelita could not name.

Then she saw Aya smile and turn.

Her elbow jammed into Keta's throat, missing his nose by half a foot. But it was enough. He tripped back and she whirled, punching him to tip over the edge on her side of the field.

Keta fell again.

Aya let out a cough. Seconds, maybe minutes, passed. Aelita's heart swelled in her chest. Then Aya dove into the water after him, pulling him up and wincing in pain the entire time.

She threw him up and the man coughed in pain.

"You lose," she rasped, clutching at her arm as spidery threads of something red and raw began unfurling on her skin. "You don't get to die just because you lose." She spat some water. "You don't get to put your death on my hands because you want to fucking die." She was visibly shaking, fists tightly clenched. "I'm getting your badge in a week. Until then, you teach me how to use that fucking staff."

Something in Aelita broke at that.

A/N: It has... been a while since a longer author's you want more lore elaborations, such as Joy, what Ion is called, the family connections, etc, so long as it's not spoilery, I'm definitely willing to answer them. I will mention if your question is spoilers though.

One thing I will talk about in advance here is Keta. Keta in game just fights you after you get the soul stone and you can't bring Melia back. And then he sees the light from your battle. Yeah, uh, no. I couldn't reasonably justify that as being... ok? You get a shiny rock that holds souls in it and that's just casually there? Not into that fam. And also Lucario, Sevii Islands, mentions of Rota... Yes Kenneth is a descendant of the people who lived in the tiny kingdom of Rota from Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. This is not Sir Aaron's staff, but it's very similar. It was easier than trying to work out how he got the stone before V13 comes out. I probably will not correct it if it gets jossed.

Anyway, Keta's behavior. Keta is not in a good place. He's in a very bad place. He would probably not get better just because of a pokemon battle, not even a protagonist pokemon battle. And he also would not be a great person. How he treats and acts around Aelita, for good reason or bad is important. He's not just going to heal in this arc, no matter his ultimate fate. I couldn't justify that. But things... things will happen.

At any rate, we will soon have a team update! Because soon we will have a gym fight. Much faster this time. I at least want this fic wrapped up before V13. Yes I am splitting this story if only to spare myself a lot of... agony. I don't want any fics to exceed 100 chapters that aren't super short or smth. Even then. Speaking of 100,we've breached 100k words! WOOP.

Please continue to support me and this project and reach out to the dev team of Pokemon Rejuvenation! Thank you!