Blair found Geist exactly where Opal's map had told her he'd be: right at the entrance of Desolate Gate, his new druddigon Vega by his side and Antares on his shoulder. A sawk several feet before him had just fallen to one knee the moment Toto stopped, and as Blair dismounted and started forward, her stoutland growled low. Geist's shoulders shot up at the sound, and he looked over his shoulder for a brief second, then swept his hand to the side. Antares leapt off his shoulder and spun in the air, raining fire down onto the sawk as he went. By the time Antares landed on his master's shoulder once more, the sawk had collapsed, burned and defeated.

"I know why you're here," Geist said. "I'm not going back, but I recommend that you do."

"Why?" Blair asked.

Geist sighed and lowered his head. "This is my problem, not yours. Door needs to finish the League on her own terms, you need to support her, and I need to face Team Matrix on my own."

Blair didn't leave, but she didn't know what to say, either. She thought of herself as smart—she's certainly figured out a lot more on her own than Door has—but that didn't help the fact that she was in the dark … even more so than Door. In fact, by the time she had gotten to Door and Geist on the Tubeline Bridge, there was an army of robots meandering back where they came from, Door had a broken wrist, both Oppenheimer and Geist were fleeing the scene, and Iris Drago was telling everyone that Belle was for some reason not the bad guy in all of this. It was like walking in on a party that had just finished, and somebody had just put a broom in her hands and told her to clean up.

She wasn't angry. That was the thing about Blair. She didn't get angry. Not really. Every time she thought she might, she took a deep breath, she let it out slowly, and she told herself over and over again that if the stories she liked to read taught her anything at all, it was that there was a logical reason why anyone did anything.

So it stood to reason that there was a logical meaning behind what Geist was doing now. She just had to find it.

"Why?" she asked again.

Geist started and made a sound like a word got caught in his throat for a second. "Whuh—why?! Blair. I'm only telling you this one more time. Go back to Opelucid."

He turned around at that point and lifted a hand to his temple. Blair imagined that he was scanning the horizon for another pokémon to fight, but she couldn't know what he was doing for sure. Maybe he was waiting for her to leave.

Well. Too bad, so sad for him. Blair pulled two poké balls from her pockets, and in the next moment, Wilbur and Alice were by her side. Alice swept forward, dream mist swirling around her as she rounded on Geist and his pokémon. Antares and Vega growled. The dragon leaned forward, claws flexing at her sides, and the monkey rose onto his hind paws, readying for a leap. Wilbur stomped forward to place himself between them and Blair. He cracked his knuckles and grunted. Geist, through all of this, shook his head with a sigh.

"I don't want to fight you, you know," he said.

"Door needs you," Blair said. "Even if you don't think you owe me an explanation, you owe her one."

"I know I'm inconveniencing her by doing this, but just tell her she'll have a chance to complete the Unova League without a Companion," Geist said. "Just like Hilda King."

Blair crossed her arms. "Wow. You know, now that you mention it, you two are perfect together. You're both completely oblivious to things that are painfully obvious to everyone else."

That got Geist to turn around. He looked at her with a mixture of anger, shock, and uncertainty, and for that brief second, Blair found herself surprised by this. She still wasn't sure what to make of the whole story about Geist actually being the robotic shell for the supposedly dead scientist she had been researching for the past several months, but she was open to the idea. Largely because it made sense, didn't it? Could any ordinary Companion tell her off the way he did, much less make that kind of face?

So forgive her if she smirked a little. She didn't mean to. It was just so rare for her to get one—that is, to win a debate. To win a battle of the minds. To win, well, anything. Besides, the whole idea was exciting, wasn't it? The Singularity itself, right in front of her! She had so many questions.

But no. No, those had to wait. She had a job to do, and she wasn't going to fail this time. She might not have been able to stick with training or with trainer's school or with a myriad of different other things, but this? For Door? This she could do.

"That's right," she said. "I didn't say you owed Door an explanation because you're her Companion. I said you owe her one because you're her friend. She's a mess now, you know that?"

Geist's face shifted. It looked a little hurt now, a little helpless. Blair felt her heart melt at it, and she wanted to forgive Geist and tell him that it was fine, that they would wait for him, but no. She had to keep going.

"Her arm's healing," she said, "but she looks depressed again. It's worse than the way she looked when you were in for those massive repairs. I get the feeling she thinks you've abandoned her."

"I didn't!" Geist protested. Then, after a moment's thought, he stood straighter. "I don't want to leave any of you and especially Door alone. Believe me. But until I figure out what I am and how to stop Team Matrix, I can't go back, and I certainly can't ask any of you to accompany me."

"So you're just going to make the decision to go on your own without even trying to ask us?" Blair asked.

"In a word … yes."

He turned back around to face Alice and the wilderness beyond her. With a heavy sigh, he lifted his hand. Vega and Antares growled again, once more readying themselves to fight.

"Tell your pokémon to stand down. I don't want to hurt them," he said.

"Too bad," Blair said.

"Blair," Geist warned.

"No!" Blair dug her fingers into the sleeves of her coat. Then, with a huff, she narrowed her eyes at Geist's back. "Opal?"

At once, her Companion was by her side. "Yes, Miss Blair?"

"I'm authorizing you to add a secondary account. Go back to the Main Square Pokémon Center in Opelucid City. You know our room number. Wait there for Door, add her as a user, and follow her instructions until she wins her last gym badge. Then escort her up to the Pokémon League. Geist and I will meet her there."

Geist looked over his shoulder. "I beg your pardon?"

"Got all that?" Blair asked.

"Of course, Miss Blair."

"Good. Now go."

Blair could hear Opal's boots crunching through the grass, but the rest of her focus was straight ahead. Geist turned towards her again, this time far angrier than he had been a moment ago. There was fire in his expression and no doubt venom forming on his tongue.

Good. She needed him to be mad at her for what she was about to do next. She drew out her final poké ball and aimed it at him.

"Geist," she said. "I challenge you to a pokémon battle. If you win, I'll leave you alone. If I win, you're taking me to the Pokémon League."

He regarded her with a lifted chin and narrowed eyes. "I suppose you're deciding for me whether or not I accept."

"No," Blair said with a smile. Then, she tossed her poké ball into the air. "But I am telling you I'm not holding back, and it's going to hurt if I hit you."

With a flash of silver light, Blair's final pokémon, her simisage Tarzan, dropped onto the field. He stood beside Wilbur, and the two of them regarded Geist and his pokémon with determination. Geist stared back, an eyebrow arched, until his expression shifted into a grin.

"Very well then," he said. "Vega! Antares! Let's go!"