How do you live when you know you're going to die?

Of course, everyone knows that they will die one day. It's one of the few inevitabilities of life. Unless you happen to be a robot or ghost already, you will die. Even robots and ghosts will eventually run out of power or will to continue, and then even they may meet their end.

But when the – quite literal – deadline becomes clearer, people begin to act in different ways. There's a reason bucket lists exist. People get a little weird when they know they're going to die soon. Sometimes they decide that they want to do all of the things they never had the opportunity to seek out before. Others become resigned to their fate, losing the will to live in their final days. This tends to make that end come just a little bit faster. Yet others become energized to make sure they leave the world in a better state than they entered it, and in their last days, weeks, or months they can do incredible things. They don't fear the consequences to themselves anymore.

Usually when one finds out that their death is near, they have already lived at least most of a life. Maybe not a full one, or a very good one, but a life. Usually.

A child, though…

A child who learns that they have a shortened life tends to be strange. They develop in ways that aren't typical. They might reject reality. Or mature at unhealthy rates. The end result is almost always poorly adjusted. Rarely, they can become someone truly amazing.

But… there usually isn't an end result.


It took Finn a little bit to realize he was awake.

Dreamless sleep gave way to numb existence. Finn opened his eyes and stared at the dark ceiling of his room. Indefinite seconds passed before he mustered the energy to push the covers away and swing his legs over the side of his bed. He took a deep breath, centering himself before he stood up. His path took him to the small private bathroom attached to his room first, to wash up and remove the taste of death from his mouth.

Only when he felt like he was alive again did he step out into the champion suite's living area to greet his pokémon.

Athena was at the computer again, reading a webpage covered in text. He didn't know or care what she spent her time looking at. She was able to take care of herself.

Crai and Belle were sitting on the couch, talking quietly with each other. The fact that they were talking to one another made Finn feel a warmth in his chest. If all went well, they would be able to help each other. Gardevoir were known for their ability to help trauma patients, and Belle's sense of self would help Crai stabilize.

Bastion was watching television again, sitting in his aquarium. He was doing fine.

Jitters and Nyx were still in the garden, probably enjoying their time together. They had gotten close, and Finn wasn't going to do anything that might hurt their relationship.

Finn took a minute to put his thoughts in order before he continued. He walked over to Athena, who turned to look at him as he approached.

"Hey," He said quietly. "What's up?"

"Just… learning," Athena answered. "I was curious about Toreta's history, since most of the books your mother has don't really cover it. What's the deal with… where was it? Harmesville? It's mentioned a few times but there's never any elaboration."

"No clue. Everyone just up and left one day. A bunch of strange pokémon moved in shortly afterwards. It was converted into a safari zone several years back. From what I can remember, none of the people who once lived there could be located for questioning." Finn shrugged. "It's just… weird all around. I think the league made an arrangement with some of the pokémon that live there now, which is why it's a safari zone now. No pokémon battles allowed in the area."

"Huh." Athena scrolled down the page a bit. "What kind of pokémon are they?"

"Dunno." Finn shrugged again. "It's not exactly public knowledge."

"Hmm." Athena hummed to herself. She closed the website and looked at Finn again. "So what's the plan for today?"

"I think we need to do some prep for the league. We have battle strategy down, and I think the whole team is strong enough to at least match the elite four. We even have a few tricks that aren't league standard, like your double shadow sneak and Jitters' weird web patterns. I want to iron out a couple more tricks, but we can work on that while we head to Victory Road." Finn scratched his chin as he gave it some thought. "So I think we'll go shopping for items. I've got some in mind, but I'm not certain yet. Gonna need everyone to give input."

"Sounds good." Athena bobbed. "And… the other thing?"

"…" Finn didn't answer for a bit, then sighed. "Afterwards. I'll tell the other three."

"Good. You shouldn't wait too long to tell them." Athena bobbed again. "I'll gather everyone up while you get ready to go."

"Thanks Athena." Finn ran his fingers through his hair. "I'll be quick."

Finn rushed back to his room, grabbing a change of clothes from his bag as he went. He was ready quickly, and he snagged a protein bar as he made his way back across the main living area. He opened it and took a bite, furrowing his brow at the bland taste before he shrugged and continued eating. It was a quick breakfast, and he had already slept most of the morning away. The bar was just to tide him over until he got something more substantial later.

As soon as he finished the travel meal, he dropped the wrapper in the trash and turned his attention to his team. They were waiting for him, and he wouldn't let them down.

"Alright, so. So far we've been able to get away with ignoring a very important part of battle strategy due to our use of unorthodox tactics and team training. But if we want to stand a chance against the elite four, we need to worry about item usage," Finn announced. "So today, we're going to the Oplens Supermart to pick out held items to use in battle."

"Question." Bastion raised one tentacle.

"Yes?"

"Why do we need items?" Bastion asked. "None of the gym leaders so far had any."

"Well, that's not entirely true. Trinity used some, although I'm pretty sure they weren't league permitted. Those auto-revives certainly aren't." Finn shook his head. "And we've used items before in gym battles. Remember Jitters' ring target?"

"Oh, right." Bastion turned to look at Jitters, who was proudly holding up the ring target in his pedipalps. "I almost forgot about that."

"I don't think the ring target will be much use against the elite four though. None of their type specialties are immune to any of our preferred tactics," Athena commented.

"Correct. Which is why we're going shopping." Finn grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Come on guys. Let's go pick items appropriate to our strategy."

Finn started off, only to be interrupted as Crai cleared his throat. "Uh, I don't think we'll all fit in the elevator."

"Then I will let you all out once we get to the supermart," Finn amended, taking a few pokéballs from his belt. "I'll keep Athena with me, for safety's sake. Lumin should be watching, but the more backup I have, the safer I'll be."

"Yeah that sounds good." Crai nodded, right before he recalled himself. The rest of the team, save Athena, followed suit.

Finn set their pokéballs back on his belt, then set out.

O-O-O

"One supreme super 'dog, comin' right up!"

The bun went flying into the air, colliding with the sausage as it came back down. It landed in a paper dish, which was rapidly spun as toppings were applied liberally. Ketchup, mustard, relish, and onions were piled on top of the hot dog. With a flourish, it was presented to the girl standing in front of the hot dog stand. She accepted it with a giggle, using her other hand to present her credit card. It was swiped quickly across the scanner then returned to its owner.

"You have a good day, miss!"

The girl nodded and headed off, her lillipup following close at her heels.

It wasn't much, running a hot dog stand in oplens, but for Mark it was the life. He got to see interesting people passing by, hear all kinds of stories from all over Toreta, and all the while he could show off his manual dexterity while prepping the toppings for customers. The income wasn't amazing, but it didn't really need to be. It was enough, and he enjoyed it.

Mark hummed to himself as he knelt down to take quick inventory of his hot dog stand. It was still early, so he had enough supplies to last until lunch, when there would be a huge rush of people, and then he would return afterwards to be ready for rush hour at five. Still, it never hurt to double-check when there was downtime.

After rush hour he'd be able to close down for the day, then go head over to the café. He was sure that the cute guy who worked the counter at that time was into him, and there was no way Mark would miss an opportunity to drop by and buy a pastry. Maybe he'd be able to work up the courage to ask him on a date one of these days…

Someone on the other side of the hotdog stand cleared their throat, shocking Mark out of his daydreams. He stood quickly, putting on his professional smile.

That smile quickly crystallized as he realized who was on the other side.

Mark couldn't tell how old the man standing opposite him was. In fact, he might not even have been an adult. The man looked like he had crawled out from the jaws of death, leaving something essential behind. He was a little shorter than Mark, and Mark wan't exactly tall, but that face had lines that only appeared after decades of worry and pain. Gaunt features further muddled any guesses at the man's age. Those eyes were sunken, with bags that denoted poor sleep and dark irises. There was something about those eyes that made Mark think of the dark type pokémon he occasionally saw, and moreso of the dark types that the Oplens gym leader used in his rare public matches. Like they had seen things not meant for mere mortals. There were streaks of gray in the short-cut black hair this man sported, making it even harder to guess at his age.

But Mark was even further unnerved by the thing floating over the gaunt specter's shoulder. Made of shining gold and steel was a pokémon of nightmares. An aegislash. A species notorious for their lethality. Known for their razor sharp blades and life-sapping powers. Even your average Joe knew to avoid those things like your life depended on it. And it usually did. The thing's eye was glaring at Mark, a vortex that trapped his soul and pulled it ever inwards to the void at the center. It took all the will he could muster to tear his eyes away from it.

Mark swallowed nervously.

"Can I get a regular hot dog?" The gaunt man asked, looking at the menu for a few moments. He glanced back over his shoulder as the ghost behind him made a metallic sound. "Actually, wait. I think I'd rather have the supreme super 'dog."

"Um." That snapped Mark out of his daze. "Yeah. One supreme super 'dog, coming up."

He went to work quickly, not even bothering with his fancy tricks. His hands were shaking, and he didn't want to risk angering this supernatural individual. Ketchup, mustard, relish, onions added as fast as he could. When the hot dog was done, he offered it to the man on the other side of the cart.

The gaunt man reached into his pocket and extracted what looked like a pokédex, waving it at the scanner. There was a mechanical beep, and as soon as the transaction was complete the pokédex went back into the pocket. The hot dog was taken.

"Thanks."

And the gaunt man was walking away, the ghost sword lingering for just a moment before it followed him. As creepy as that man was, the pokémon with him was terrifying. Mark breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the brief encounter was over.

A feeling of dread washed over him, reminding him of his brief walks through Oplens at night. It made him want to run home.

It passed quickly. Following the specter and his monstrous companion.

Mark was left wondering if maybe he should have pursued his dream of writing poetry in college.

O-O-O

Finn had to admit, it was a good hot dog. The guy making it had seemed a bit unnerved by Finn's presence, but that seemed to be about typical. It didn't affect the taste of the meal though, unless fear tasted like pickle relish or ketchup.

"I'm glad you suggested I get the supreme, honestly," Finn said once he finished the hot dog. "Much better than just a hot dog."

"I told you that you needed something more," Athena said from behind his shoulder.

"Well, you were right." Finn dropped the condiment-stained napkins in a nearby trashcan, stepping into the supermart. "Alright, let's get shopping."

Finn set off towards the elevator, talking to Athena as he went. "You know, the supermart used to be based in Bluebell, but they moved their main location here because of all the traffic. Every successful trainer wants to climb Victory Road at some point, so they have to come to Oplens to do that. The supermart sells a much larger variety of battle items than any other store in Toreta, so it's basically the league's largest source of income. Moving it to a place of high traffic was a no brainer."

"That makes sense," Athena commented. "So do you have anything in mind for what we're getting?"

"I have some ideas." Finn entered the elevator and pressed the button for the second floor. "At least one or two for each member of the team. I'll make sure to check in with everyone before we make any final decisions. There's also a chance that they won't have what we want. If they don't, I have a backup."

"Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it," Athena said.

"I… needed something to take my mind off of everything." Finn shrugged. The elevator dinged, and he stepped out. "Besides, we do need to strategize more to win against the elite four."

"Fair enough." Athena floated out next to Finn, looking around. The second floor was stocked with dozens of rows of items. Some were locked behind cases, others were gathered in large bins. But all of the league-regulated battle items had one thing in common: they were hideously expensive.

Fortunately, Daniel would be paying for it, and he had more money than any one person could ever hope to use.

It was possible to get ahold of most of the items in stock by other, far cheaper means. Lots of them could be found out in the world – elemental gems and sand items could be found in Vernac's mines or local market for basically free, for example. But the supermart was the only place in Toreta where you could find such a wide variety of battle items in one place.

Before anything else, Finn picked up a shopping basket. Now ready to shop, he set to work. Finn scanned the aisles for a few minutes, then set off to one back corner. Athena followed close behind, scanning the store's inventory as they passed.

"Ah-ha!" Finn reached out and picked up what looked like some kind of contract. He flipped it over, revealing the complex technology on the back of the item. "A weakness policy. I think you'll like this one."

"What is it?" Athena asked, floating closer to look at the weakness policy.

"A piece of surprisingly complex technology that reacts when the pokémon holding it is hit with a super effective move. It releases an incredible amount of energy into the holder, giving them absurdly empowered offensive power." Finn turned the item over in his hands. "It then goes dormant for about ten minutes, a much longer period than any normal pokémon battle. These things are pretty hard to come by, actually. I was a little worried they wouldn't have one."

"Hmm…" Athena backed up. "That's pretty good. Even Belle has a hard time hurting me while I'm in my defensive stance, so we should have no trouble activating it and then counterattacking."

"Exactly." Finn nodded, setting the weakness policy in his basket. "Now then, let's get to picking out items for the rest of the team."

O-O-O

"So these," Finn said, picking up one of the crystals. "Are flying gems. Each gem can be used one time to empower a flying type move. You slot a gem into the necklace-," And Finn tapped one of the silvery chains. "- And then give it to a pokemon. If you combine it with acrobatics, you can get some absurd damage out of a single move.

"This-," Finn tapped on the glass of a nearby case. "Is a life orb. Very rare, very expensive, and limited to only trusted trainers with eight badges. It empowers every move you use without being expended, but drains your life energy to power itself. It makes you a powerful combatant, but not a very durable one.

"With that in mind…" Finn turned to look at Nyx. "Which would you prefer?"

Nyx looked between the small bin of gems and the glass case with a purple orb inside. She scratched at her chin.

"Um." Nyx hesitated. "If it's okay, I'd rather have the gem."

"Then we'll get six flying gems and the gem necklace." Finn collected the jewels and their matching necklace. "We'll try one out just so you know how it works, then we should have one for each member of the elite four and one for the champion."

"But what about the ice type elite four? And the electric one?" Nyx asked.

"Ice doesn't resist flying, and if I remember correctly then Tyson has an abomasnow, which is grass type. Nik on the other hand, has a vikavolt from Alola. It's been their ace for years, and acrobatics would hit that thing hard. It also levitates, so while you'll be a crushing the rest of Nik's team with earthquakes, it would be immune." Finn gave Nyx a grin. "Trust me, you're going to obliterate at least one pokémon on every team we face at the league."

O-O-O

"Alright buddy, I've got two pretty different plans in mind for you."

Jitters churred happily, rubbing his head against Finn's leg.

"First option: wide lens." Finn took a headpiece from the shelf, its adjustable band currently set to the largest size. There was a lens attached to it that went over one eye, or in Jitters' case over three of his six eyes. "It'll make it even easier for you to hit with thunder, to the point where there's practically no chance that your enemies could dodge. This would be least useful against Nik, but to be honest our best chances against Nik are to use sticky web and struggle bug to mess with their pokémon."

Finn set the wide lens on the ground, then moved to the next option.

"The other option is a magnet." Finn picked up what was probably the cheapest item for sale in the store. "It'll boost electric type moves, all of them, by a small amount. Since you already have better precision than practically anyone we might face, this could be a better option. This choice will be actually useless against Nik, but against anyone else you'll do even more damage when you hit."

The magnet was set on the ground next to the wide lens.

"Ultimately it's up to you. Power or consistency," Finn said.

Jitters considered the two items on the ground, considering them both. After a little bit, he stepped forwards and picked up the wide lens with his pedipalps. He chittered at Finn, holding the lens up as high as he could.

"Consistency it is." Finn knelt down and picked up the magnet, returning it to its spot. He scratched the top of Jitters' head. "Nothing's going to be able to dodge you."

O-O-O

"Flame orbs are highly restricted for a good reason. They act purely to hurt whoever's holding it. That doesn't make them useless though. Quite the opposite," Finn explained. "A lot of pokémon have abilities or moves that let them handle a flame orb safely, or use it as a weapon. Fling is a popular move for this, since you can burn the opponent without fire type moves. Trick is another good one, since you also take their held item in the process. But for you, its best use would be to hold on to it. At least long enough for it to burn you."

"Hmm." Belle rubbed her chin as she looked at the glass case. The orb inside was made of a translucent material, tougher than glass and far more heat resistant. Contained within the orb was a flickering flame, hot enough to burn flesh through the heat-resistant sphere. The energy that allowed a flame orb or a toxic orb to operate indefinitely was beyond science, but that didn't stop people from using them in pokémon battles anyways.

"It's going to hurt, though. That's the only way to activate your ability. I really don't want to force anything on you, but this looks like the best option from a purely numerical standpoint." Finn hesitated. "It's your choice though, and we do have other options. Like an assualt vest, to make you more resistant to energy-based attacks, or-,"

"I'll go with this," Belle said.

"Are you sure?" Finn asked. "I'll be sure to treat your burns after every battle, but they are going to hurt a lot while you have them."

"I'm sure." Belle nodded. "I'm used to pain. It doesn't have as much impact. I'd rather have some pain and a shorter fight than no pain and a longer fight."

"Alright." Finn nodded. He took a card from the flame orb's display case, to be turned in at the front desk when he made his purchase. Allowing shoppers to just pick up a supernatural artifact that could seriously hurt them was bad for business, after all.

O-O-O

"A choice between healing more and retaliating, huh?"

Bastion was looking at the two objects that Finn had pointed out. One a durable plastic jar with a vile sludge inside. The other a yellow miner's helmet embedded with jagged rocks.

"Black sludge has regenerative properties when applied to the skin of a poison type, but is toxic to anything else. The rocky helmet, on the other hand, will hurt anything that tries to attack you with a close-range physical move," Finn said. "We can get enough black sludge for ten battles, at roughly the same price as the helmet."

"Helmet's only good against enemies who actually walk up and hit me, right?" Bastion asked.

"Correct." Finn nodded.

"Yeah, I have baneful bunker for that. Gimme the sludge," Bastion answered.

"Black sludge it is." Finn took a card from the display.

"Plus, the yellow kind of clashes with my style," Bastion added.

That got a muffled snicker from Nyx, and Bastion looked immensely proud of himself as a result.

"Sure, let's go with that." Finn shook his head, smiling.

O-O-O

"You saved the best for last?" Crai asked with a cheeky grin.

"Debatable about five ways, but sure. Let's go with that." Finn shook his head, finding a smile come to his own face. "As with everyone else, I'm going to give you two choices. First-," Finn pointed to the life orb case for the third time. "Life orb. I'm pretty sure you already know what it does. Increased power, but it hurts every time you use it. The other option-," Finn picked up a lump of yellowish clay. "Is light clay. It makes it so that reflect and light screen last longer, even when you're not present. I don't know how it works, I'm assuming there's some psychic power going on here."

"Yeah, no contest here. We're going with the clay," Crai said. "You know, I was a little bit worried you'd wind up finding a mega stone or something."

"Yeah, no way." Finn snorted. "For starters, I figured you'd hate that."

"You figured correctly." Crai nodded.

"Oh, and it'd take several weeks for a mega stone order to go through." Finn waved dismissively. "But that's not as important, honestly. I'm not going to force anyone into something they don't want."

"Thanks." Crai smiled. "I appreciate it."

"It's the least I could do. I'm not the one who's going to be fighting." Finn shrugged. He checked his basket. "I think… that's everything. One held item – or type of held item – for each member of the team. Picked out by the team members themselves." Finn browsed through his basket for a moment, then looked up at his pokémon. "Let's go check out."

They took the stairs – there was no way that everyone could fit inside the elevator. The lady behind the counter at the front of the building seemed shocked at the sheer size of Finn's group, probably because he hadn't come in with them. Finn placed his basket on the counter and put his pokédex next to it. The cashier nervously took the pokédex, her eyes widening in surprise as she saw that Finn had eight badges. She wordlessly processed his order, then went into the back room to retrieve the restricted items.

The cashier returned with a metal harness holding a crimson orb in the center and a glass tub of black sludge. She set them on the counter wordlessly, waiting for Finn to take them. He obliged, depositing the newly purchased items into his bag one at a time. Finn thanked her, then led his team outside.

The walk back to the hotel took them into a park, where Finn came to a stop. Athena mentally nudged him, and Finn sighed. It was time.

Finn sat down on a bench, his pokémon gathering around. He got confused looks from Nyx, Jitters, and Bastion, but Crai had a look of understanding on his face.

"I… need to tell you something," Finn began.

O-O-O

Mark was just getting packed up for the evening when he saw the ghoulish man again.

Like before, the gaunt figure was accompanied by a ghost sword. But it wasn't just the ghost type this time. Bunched up around him was an entourage of pokémon. A machamp, a gardevoir, a galvantula, some kind of giant bug pokémon, and a spiky blue dome floating on a psychic platform all clustered close to the unnerving man. A full trainer's team.

From this far away he could see the man's face. It looked like he'd been crying.

A pang of pity hit Mark. It didn't matter how someone looked, whatever was hurting this guy, he didn't deserve it. Well, probably. But Mark wasn't going to judge a guy he didn't know.

As the trainer and his pokémon left, Mark went back to packing up. He had gone through almost all of the condiments and food for today, some of it given freely to wandering pokémon. He was just about to pack up the remaining bits when something cold slithered its way into his awareness.

"Give me the one with the pickles."

Mark's hands moved without his permission, taking the ingredients from their containers. There was something on the other side of the cart from him. Something wet and slimy and alien. He couldn't see it, his eyes unable to focus on the shape in front of him. He made the hot dog with stiff motions, his body working on its own from muscle memory. The air around him felt like a dark alley, the hair on the back of his neck standing up as his heart rate increased. He finished the hot dog and extended it to the thing in front of him.

"Appreciated, human. This should suffice."

There was a heavy clunk as a chunk of gold was placed on top of his cart, a writhing shape sliding away. Lights flashed in the air, and the slimy presence wriggled out of his mind. Mark was left with a gold nugget, one less hot dog, and a sense of dwindling disgust.

Forget a career in poetry, Mark needed to get the hell out of this city. Maybe pick up a pokémon. Something to help with these ghosts and psychics and other creepy supernatural nonsense.

Maybe he should ask out that guy at the café, too…


A/N:

Prepping for the league, world building, and other fun things like telling your friends that you're dying.

I also wanted to give an outsider's perspective on Finn. He's far from a normal person, both in appearance and... everything else. Plus, writing from the perspective of a one-off character helps to build the world a bit more.

The explanations Finn gives for each of the items he picks out for his team are my own thought processes for why they're good choices. There are numerically better choices, but they don't really make sense with the story. Leftovers, for example, makes no sense within a realistic context. And there's almost no reason why anyone would choose a life orb over other available options. The only other option that hurts the pokémon is the flame orb, and with guts that increases power even more than the life orb does. Belle, as stated, is used to pain.