Arc IV- Development Finale: Unity (Divisions)

US- So here we are, final chapter. Golly gosh - for the literal vacation arc this sure took a lot of work ;)

Either way, we're here, with Trash to spare.

DV- It was an easy arc on our characters (ish), but not so much on us.

US- for context, this arc began in 2020 quarantine and ended in the dumpster fire which was 2021. What interesting times we live...

DV- Nevertheless, that's not terribly important. This concludes this arc and ends entirely on Ben.

US- as per usual, we'll have some closing comments on the arc at the end. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Disclaimer is not here right now. Please leave a message for the automated disclaimer announcer here.

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Ben POV

The day of the Remembrance Day Festival came around not long after. I'd decided that I'd tag along with Johan, at least early on, since he'd know where everything was. We were dressed relatively casually, but each of us had on an armband as was tradition.

His was black, red and gold in descending order. The flag of Germany. I wasn't sure if the reason he was missing the symbol in the middle was because it was too complicated for the machinery available or if it was a subtle dig against a country he hated. I hadn't asked.

As for me, it was more than a little comforting to see the stars & stripes again, even if it was on my arm as an indication of pre-Poke nationality.

Before now, being this brazen in an area with so many former citizens of Warsaw Pact countries would have been perhaps a little bit of a risk. But now things have changed. Or more specifically, since I'm a fellow transmigrant and also now own property here in Floaroma, I had officially moved into the 'us' category in any 'them vs. us' calculations.

And in the end, none of us would ever see Earth again. Where we started out didn't really matter anymore, revealing prior nationality at all was just a little way of reminding ourselves not to lose ourselves entirely, to not entirely go native.

As we reach the town square, I look around, surreptitiously taking a look at our representation.

The majority seems to be the gold hammer and sickle on red of the Soviet Union, but I also see others. The white and red horizontal bars of Poland. Red, white and green horizontal, Hungary. Blue, yellow, red vertical, Romania. Black, red, yellow horizontal, Germany.

I'm the only one wearing the stars & stripes.

That's… more painful to see than I thought it would be. Even when I find out I'm not alone, it turns out that I still am. It's an outcome that's not necessarily unexpected, but I had hoped that just maybe… . But no, not this time.

"You alright there Ben?" Johan asks me.

I give him a brittle smile. Chin up, eyes forward. If I alone represent the stars & stripes, then I have to represent it with all the dignity it deserves. And yet that's not a mantle I think I'll be able to hold well. Big shoes to fill, that. Atlas, I am not. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just been a long time since I had such a carefree moment."

"Hmm." He says, but drops it there.

All things considered, the festival itself seems pretty tame. Lots of little things, lots of street food, but nothing like the showy lights one might have expected back on Earth. Oh, sure there are lights and everything because it's dusk going into nightfall, but they're a tasteful monotone soft yellow as opposed to a garish display of the rainbow.

I don't have any particular things I want to do here, so for a while I'm just content to wander around in Johan's general area and see what's being offered.

"Johan!"

An older man, also wearing an armband with Germany's flag, makes his way over to Johan and they descend into a full conversation. Guess that's my queue to head off on my own, I'm not a little kid, I don't have to stay with him.

With a mental shrug, I head off in the direction of some food that smells pretty good, though it's not something I recognise. As I get closer, I can see what it is. Meat of some variety being cooked on skewers, along with vegetables.

The man doing the cooking has his back to me as I approach, so I can't see his armband until I'm there and looking at the small menu he hung on the cart.

He turns around, I see his eyes dart to my armband before he frowns, seemingly aging years in moments. Given that he already had to be in his eighties, this was as impressive as it was concerning. "Yes, can I help you?"

I look at his armband: green, white and red horizontal with an emblem in the middle that kind of resembles a raptor's talons.

It takes me a moment to think that one through and once I do and take into account his apparent age, I wince.

Iran.

Now there's a country that mine dropped the ball on, like many others. Nothing either of us can do about it now, though.

"One order of chelow kabab, please."

"Very well."

I pass him the requisite money and he gathers my order. I half expected him to spit in it, but he didn't, which was nice. Not sure if he's not that type of person or if he's just too old to consider engaging in a childish act, but I don't really care. Maybe, here at the end, those old wounds have stopped really mattering. Here, we're all equal in exile. He didn't and that's enough for me.

I take my food over to a bench on the side of the square to enjoy in peace. Not something I'd necessarily gone for back on Earth, with so many options available, but here it was a little piece of home, one way or another. It was delicious.

Naturally, such good things can never last forever.

I smell him before he actually sits down on the bench next to me, cigarette smoke making me crinkle my nose.

"Now that's a flag I haven't seen in a long time." His voice is gravelly, the voice of someone who unapologetically smokes a pack a day. "Glad to see it added to our number, monsieur."

I turn my head, looking at him. Middle-aged, maybe forties going on fifty? Hard to be sure with his short beard that covers a decent part of his face. And sure enough, around his arm was the French tricolour.

"So, little American, why do you find yourself sitting alone on such a day?'

My eyebrow twitched slightly. Just what I needed, an almost stereotypical arrogant Frenchman.

"Perhaps it is because you cannot see more of your countrymen and your flag?"

I purse my lips, considering just leaving outright. I have no interest in sitting here and being insulted.

"Perhaps it's because just when you thought you weren't alone, you find that you, in a way, still are?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Perhaps you are concerned that since you are the only one, you worry that the memory of your country dies with you?"

I grind my teeth a bit.

"Tell me then, what do we have in common. Besides the totally obvious."

I sneer. "What, you think you can just come over, insult me to my face and then give me a pop quiz. Get a grip."

"You've seen none of your countrymen. Tell me, have you seen any of mine?"

That draws me up short and I think about it for a moment. No, no I have not. Not really any from Western Europe. No more France, no Italy, no UK, no Spain, etc. Actually, the representation here seems mostly just Eastern European. That's kind of odd. I wonder why.

"No, I didn't. Should I have?" I say with more than a bit of snark.

He shakes his head, his face rueful. "Non. The correct answer is zero. Just as you are all of the United States here, I am all of France. I know what you were thinking because many years ago, I was in your shoes and had those thoughts myself."

"And?" I say hesitantly. What's his angle here? "So what? You clearly figured it out, so why are you doing this?"

He took another drag of his cigarette before answering. "Perhaps we NATO members need to stick together in the face of so many people from the Eastern Bloc. Perhaps because France is still the mother of the United States, even if your father Great Britian got custody in the divorce."

He smiles. "Or perhaps some of us like to help others, even if we don't necessarily gain anything from it. Looking for the angle in everyone and everything, hurts to see that kind of thing in the younger generations, means we failed to sufficiently improve the state of the world."

I shrug. "Don't take me as the standard. I'm an outlier."

"Perhaps." He allows.

"Is it your first year?" He asks after a minute.

I nod. "Yeah."

"First year is easier, in a way." He says. "The novelty hasn't quite worn off yet, you can still see things here and be amazed at how different they are. It is the second and third years that are the worst to get through. When all the novelty is gone and all that's left is the cold reality that everything from Earth is gone and this world is all that's left."

That… makes sense, I suppose. I hope not. I feel like all the novelty wore off for me when Giovanni put a gun against my body.

"Or perhaps not." He says, perhaps seeing my reaction. "We are already a small group and even those numbers are culled. Some of our number end up in places where they are killed before we find them."

"How would you know then?"

He shrugs. "Usually by taking genetic samples. All of us from Earth - we have very distinct genetics compared to the natives. We're pure human in a way even the most ardent humanocentric aren't. Look down the line of any native person and you'll find Poke blood if you go back far enough."

Wait, really? "That's… interesting. Wonder how that happened."

"I don't know, though I am also curious. It's unfortunately not my field of expertise."

"Fair enough. Something I might investigate if I end up having the time."

"Well, if you do, I wish you the very best of luck."

"Thank you."

After a moment of silence, he stands up. "It's been great, but I do have to go. The wife is calling, you see."

I give a wry smile. "I know how that is. It was great to meet you monsieur…"

"Bescond. Laurent Bescond."

"Ben Hagen."

"Excellent." He says as he writes something out on a piece of paper and then hands it over to me. Ah, a Pokegear number. "We should endeavour to keep in touch, Monsieur Hagen."

I give him one last nod as his arm is taken by a woman and he heads off, leaving me to my lonesome thoughts once more.

Hmm, now what? This has been surprisingly exhausting, albeit not at all bad. It was nice to be able to just be myself in a way that I couldn't with anyone: not my Pokegirls, not Katsumi and not even Joseph. I wasn't anyone special here. Not Giovanni's fake nephew. Not a Titan executive. Not a member of Rocket, even nominally. Not a criminal. Not an older friend whose advice is listened to. Not a Tamer. Not an alien. Just… another person. I could just go home, but eh, can't say I feel like it yet. Why waste this chance? I don't know how often an opportunity like this will come and I know that even when I've laid the alien card on the table to my girls, it still won't be the same.

How could it be? A whole bevy of references they wouldn't understand, a global situation so different from what it is here that it'd be almost incomprehensible for anyone who hasn't lived in both. And yet... is that the fate of us outlanders? To have a foot in both worlds means to truly belong to neither and while that's not entirely true of us, we're certainly trying our best. But every once in a while is probably fine. Keep ourselves grounded to reality, but also don't let us forget where we came from. Besides, if I bailed out now, I'd miss the fireworks. Hopefully that's a good showing.

But now what?

On the one hand, I could just dick around for a while, see what's available, see the sights a little. But that's also never really been my thing. Maybe I should just go home and let the girls out, not worry about things. The town isn't that large and I'm sure we'd be able to see the fireworks from the house, but at the same time that almost feels like a defeat, to just slink home quietly in the night with nary a word.

Do I dare bring out any of my girls? Afterall, that would mean becoming someone else again. Ben Hagen, lonely American, would have to go away and Ben Hagen, nephew of Giovanni and Titan executive, would have to come back out. It's not a mask I hate wearing, as it's given me many benefits, but it's a heavy one that I'm not sure I want to wear right at this moment. Too heavy, in many ways, if I consider everything together. Besides that, bringing out one of my girls will require lying through the skin of my teeth right now almost by definition. Liar, liar. But I also don't want to be alone right now.

My thoughts first go to Katsumi. And yet… light of my life she might be, but right now might not be the best time to have to run damage control with her. I think the hormones have been getting to her and while not dealing with her is cowardly, given the strength difference between us, discretion is the better part of valour. That and running away.

Reaching down to my belt, I grab one of my Pokeballs and let the woman inside out. I'm going to be sleeping on the couch when Katsumi hears about this, but there are worse things. And of course if it really bothers me I can just put her in her ball and call it a day.

"Just me, huh?" Lorraine says. "Been a while since that happened."

"I know. I've been busy. I'm sorry."

She snorts. "I don't imagine you particularly are, but I've also seen how you and Katsumi are when you think Klara and I aren't paying attention, so I know where your attention is."

"Still…"

"The bigger concern is Klara. She doesn't quite get it yet. I mean, I always knew that it was unlikely you'd favour me, given that I basically forced my way onto you, but it still hurts to see Katsumi get all the favours. Though if this is any indication, I wonder what happened between the two of you?"

I shrug. "I don't think anything in particular happened. I just… Katsumi is a lot and I don't want to deal with a lot right this moment." More specifically, I didn't want to have to try and navigate that conversation minefield with her. Not ever, if I truly had my way, but such thoughts just aren't realistic at this point. I can't avoid it forever at this point.

"I get it, I get it. So, any plans or are we just hanging out for a while?"

"Fireworks in a little bit. Wasn't sure what to do until then, Katsumi would probably drag me from shop to shop and I figured it was time for the two of us to spend some time just the two of us."

"Well, alright then. Shall we just wander around until we find something that looks interesting?"

"Sure." I say as I strap her Pokeball back onto my belt and grab the roller rings on my wheelchair. "Might as well."

"So." Lorraine says as we walk further into town. "What's with the armbands that everyone, including you, are wearing? New fashion statement or something?"

Ah. Um. Crap. "It's, um, a statement. Not quite of fashion, but one of where we all came from, the flags of our respective homes. It's more complicated than that, kinda sorta, but that's part of what I'll talk about later with you three when we're back in Olivine."

"Aww and here I was hoping that you'd just tell me and give me a leg up over Katsumi. I did so enjoy those early days where I sometimes knew more than her." She teases.

"Those early days, huh? Feels almost like a lifetime ago now. Things were… simpler then."

"They often are." Lorraine comments, though her tone is a little acidic. "And then things move along and get complicated."

"Such is the way of the world."

"It is." Lorraine states. "Don't let yourself be blinded by it though."

"And what are your thoughts, Lorraine? It's been a long while since I asked you specifically, but what do you think of what's going on and our plan?"

She mulls that over for a moment. "I think that I'm not sure. If it was up to me, I'd say that we should abandon Johto entirely in favour of living in Sinnoh full-time, as Johto has brought no end of trouble to us."

There's an idea, I suppose. Just say fuck it all, cut our losses and permanently relocate across an ocean. And as far as ideas go, it's not actually a bad one, overall. Besides, not like I'd actually miss that much if we grabbed anything we had left in Johto and came back here, never looking back. What would I really be leaving behind anyway, besides I guess Joseph? All my girls will be with me and most of the people I know beyond passing or as employees are here. And besides it's not like Joseph wouldn't be able to call or visit if he really wanted to.

Which just leaves Rocket. Rocket, the source of all my troubles, one way or another. Lord knows that I've already lost enough to that damned organisation. Pride, dignity, morality. I'm reminded of my losses, every time I instinctively try to get up from a chair, only to stumble.

But…

Giovanni is still out there, more free than ever. I've gotta assume that he's got material on me, probably every illegal thing I've ever done, or at least most of it, more than enough to get me a life sentence. He's never actually used it against me, he may have lost it in his rush to escape being caught, but I really don't want to test it. There's also Pryce to consider, given that he's in on it too and I don't know how in cahoots he and Giovanni are. Both of them wield far more power than I do right now. For the moment, I have to play their game and act like I'm still on their side.

Of course, I'm not really on anyone else's side either, but whatever. There's also that Venasaur to consider and I really don't have any plan there besides train up Klara as soon as I'm able. No matter how tired I am of the game, the pieces move nevertheless in a zero-sum game where you either win or die. I've had a sinking feeling for a while now that the only way I'll truly ever get to be free at this point is with me seated on a throne of skulls.

"If I felt that the overall situation permitted it." I finally say back to her, "I would not be opposed to such a plan and if the situation permits it in the future, we can come back to it."

"Of course." Lorraine says with a hint of bitterness. "Right now, circumstances only allow us to follow Katsumi's plans. How lucky and convenient for her."

"It's not exactly her plan either, Lorraine."

She raises an eyebrow at me. "No? Perhaps technically not, but you two are so intertwined in your own world that any plan of yours is hers and any plan of hers is yours. I'm not sure what exactly she's hoping for."

"Lorraine."

"Yes? Am I not allowed to air my grievances with my Alpha to my Tamer?"

"I… " Damn it that's a good point. That is something that I'd like them to be comfortable with. Having multiple perspectives is more help than hindrance in like… ninety percent of cases. And those last ten percent tend to be the time-sensitive ones where listening to them all reduces the time available to escape. "You are. While I can't say I love the idea of you talking to me about her behind her back, it's probably for the best. You two… Well, we all know there's a reason I tend to refrain from having you both out at the same time."

"I'd say that I'm sorry, but…" Lorraine says, trailing off at the end. "Well, I am. For the sake of you having to mediate it and for Klara having to see her elders act in such a petty fashion. Katsumi, though, she's just so. So, ugh. Snobby, I guess? Like she's always looking down her nose at us. Ever since she finally got a positive test, she's been even worse. Gah, some days I just want to punch that smug grin right off her face."

"That bad, huh?" Hmmm.

Lorraine nods. "Katsumi gets everything and she knows it. She got to be your first, making her Alpha by default. She gets to be the legal wife, she gets to the Hand, she gets the first child. She gets your love."

"You know that I love you too, Lorraine."

She gives me a side-eye. "Maybe, but not in the same way you love Katsumi."

"I… . I know. And I'm sorry for it." I wish the situation was different, but if wishes were fishes… Katsumi gets priority treatment from me, I know, but if Lorraine is being this expressive about it. Have I been so bad as to pass into the realm of neglect? I hope not, but… "I can't love anyone else like her, not while she's still in the picture."

"Can't or won't?"

I give a sigh. "Can't."

"I see."

I don't have any good response to that, so silence fills the air for a few moments before she asks another question.

"If I'd been first, would I have gotten it?"

I consider that for a moment. It'd be easy to just say yes, to affirm that my decision was solely based on who was there first. And that was probably at least a factor, but it certainly wasn't the totality of it. Lorraine was much more of a good friend with occasional benefits than anything else to me and I'm not sure if I could ever actually give her the emotional intimacy of a spouse. In the end, we'll probably never know either way. "Truth be told, I don't know. No use thinking about 'what ifs.'"

"No, I suppose not." She concedes. "Though at least don't be hypocritical about it."

"I'll try." I say with a weak smile.

"You know." Lorraine says after a moment's pause. "I've considered taking the Alpha spot from Katsumi before. Not like it'd be hard, type advantage greatly favours me and I'm a more experienced combatant."

"I recall you mentioning that before."

She nods. "Yeah. But the reality is that for all of Katsumi's character flaws, she is legitimately the best choice of leadership out of us. Leaders need not always be loved. Of course, now it's moot point with her status as Hand, but before that even then. Honestly, I'd trust a plan of hers over yours."

"Oi!" Not that I'm truly offended, but it's the principle of the thing.

Lorraine shrugs. "Your plans almost always end with multiple question marks followed by the extremely vague final step of 'profit.' Her plans are actual plans with steps and directions, even if they're less as far-reaching as your plans."

"Yes, well…"

She gives me a pat on the back. "I'm not trying to complain too much or anything. Not like I'm any better. Most of the after-action reports for my plans start with 'it seemed like a good idea at the time.' Actually, that's part of the reason I didn't want the spot. An Alpha has to be the one making the plans in the absence of a plan from their Tamer. If I was Alpha, but still letting Katsumi do the planning, well, who'd really be Alpha then? No, better to just let her keep the title. Well, that and your buddy Joseph being a prime example of why forcing yourself into the Alpha slot can be problematic."

"That's true enough, I suppose." God knows that Joseph and Keiko got along like a literal house on fire. It'd almost be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. Both of them need so much therapy.

"So." Lorraine says. "Mind giving me a hint? Maybe some names to go with these flags?"

Names, eh? That's innocent enough I suppose. I'd rather tell her them than have to invent another elaborate lie. And given how I've obviously been neglecting her, probably literally the least I could do right now.

"I suppose I could arrange that."

I start to point out the flags as we encounter them, starting with mine.

United States of America.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Germany.

Poland.

Hungary.

Romania.

Bulgaria.

Yugoslavia.

Turkey.

Iran.

India.

People's Republic of China.

Japan.

Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

"Hmm." She says after a moment after we see that last one. "And if Joseph was here as well, what would his be?"

I hesitate for a moment before answering. "United Kingdom."

"Aha. I knew it."

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Knew what?"

"That there was something like that going on. Let's face it, Ben. You and Joseph are so far apart personality wise that there's no way you two should have become friends as fast as you did, shared trauma or not. Some kind of prior history, even if it doesn't seem to be direct, was pretty much necessary."

Shit. Well, she's paying more attention to things than I thought. Not sure if that's good or bad, really. "That… seems like a bit of a reach, no?"

"Are we really gonna play this game?" She asks me with a disappointed frown. I wonder if I'm really that transparent a person. I was fairly certain that I am not, but if I am to her, then who else might I be too? That's not a thought that I enjoy or will help me sleep easier at night. Or have I just gotten sloppy over my time with my girls? I can't say.

"No, you're right. Let's not."

"You know, I've never heard of any of those places. A few I could understand. I'm hardly that well read. But all of them?" She suddenly says, "I know that no one has been able to make a complete map of the world in decades, but that still doesn't line up. So either you're lying, there's details you're leaving out or details you're twisting."

She isn't wrong on any point. I just wish that things weren't so complicated, weren't what they are.

"It's complicated."

"That's not a 'no,' you know?"

"It's not a yes, either. I don't even know how to explain it myself without sounding like a madman."

"Oh please." Lorraine says while rolling her eyes. "It can't possibly be that bad."

"Bad? No. Just weird and unbelievable." And here I am, actually considering telling her. It'd be easy, oh so easy. And yet… I had wanted to tell them all together, to deal with all the reactions at once, but perhaps it's better this way? People, Pokegirls, all so unpredictable at times. There's no way that doesn't involve some risk.

"You keep saying that. I don't think that latter term means what you think it does. Not like you came out of the Distortion World or something."

I snicker at her unintentional quoting before doing my best to suppress a wince when she shoots a little closer to the truth than I'd like right now.

Unfortunately, Pokegirls have better senses than us baseline humans. And today has not been my finest hour. There comes a point where you just have to admit the jig is up and I had a feeling this was this point. I didn't even want to really try hiding it at this point anyway. Certainly not enough to try spin-doctoring right now.

She gives me a blank stare. "Are you fucking kidding me."

"I've said nothing here. Any conclusions you've drawn are your own."

"I'm not stupid, Ben."

"I almost wish you were, just in this specific instance."

"And that would accomplish, what? We've not known each other for that long, in the grand scheme of things, but you talk. A lot. Even more on the occasions you drink more than a bit and when you're not with Joseph or Mikhail, it tends to be me. It's one of the few things where I actually have a leg up on Katsumi."

"I knew that was a mistake." Lorraine's been more observant than she lets on and I've been a bit more chatty than I'd have liked to be. A wonderful combination. Frankly, my loose lips should have ruined things a long time ago. Well, at least Lorraine has a vested interest in me. It could have been worse, far worse. Could have let some things spill that I really didn't want to Joseph, who for all that I like him, isn't totally trustworthy. How could he be, with no connection like I have with my own girls, or the assurance I still hold over Mikhail, even if not overtly?

She considers my statement for a moment before responding. "Was it though?"

I give her a slightly incredulous expression and she takes it as a prompt to continue. "Not too toot my own horn or anything, but between Katsumi, Klara and myself, I'm the most laid back and honestly probably the most mature. Klara's been with us too little time, the implications would either scare her away or fly right over her head. I don't know everything you've told Katsumi, but I can't imagine she'll take this well, if perhaps only because you didn't tell her. Worst case scenario, I'm more than capable of protecting you from both of them."

"I sense a 'but' coming."

Lorraine gives a small nod. "But truth be told, this is big. 'Throws off my whole perception of the universe' big. I look far calmer than I actually am. I think… I think I need some time away from you, on my own, to contemplate what to make of this."

Well, better than any other alternative outcome I might have been expecting. At least I'm not about to get decked in the face.

"I understand." I don't like it, but I do understand. And in this case, probably best to let her blow off steam however she wants. "Any idea when you'll be back?"

She shrugs. "An hour or two? Thinking I might just go a kilo or two offshore and smash some Feral faces in for a bit. Ben, I understand why you chose to keep it to yourself. Without all the clues I've had, it'd seem ridiculous. But we've been through a lot together, even if it hasn't been overly long. Ridiculous or not, I wish you trusted us more."

I wish I could. The ability to overtly trust was one of the first things that Rocket - no, Giovanni - took from me. It's not something I'm sure I'll ever get back, but one day… one day he'll get what he deserves. But for now, this was done. In a certain regard, it was a weight off my chest. The cards are on the table, they'll fall where they may. I had other secrets, but this one was at least one-third taken care of. Cutting away at my web of lies that I've felt forced to spin for some time now.

She turned away, heading away in the direction of the ocean. I watched her walk away for a few moments before turning back. She's a strong woman, both physically and mentally, I trust that she'll be alright at least.

Welp, now what?

I suppose I could just wander around till the fireworks, they're not that far away. But that didn't feel right. Disrespectful, in a certain regard. Like I hadn't just dropped a bomb on her big enough that she felt the need to physically vent when she's normally the most level-headed of us all. Maybe hit the bar and get a drink? … No, that's one of the root causes of this anyway, best not to exacerbate the issue. Ugh, there's why I rarely attended these kinds of things back on Earth, never sure what exactly there is to do or what I should be doing.

Tracking down either Johan or Laurent and seeing if they have a few spare moments for me is the best plan I have and boy is that a sad state of affairs. Perhaps it would be best to just head home and call it an early night, fireworks or no?

Hmm. Why not both?

With that in mind, I make my way towards my new house, intentionally taking the route that will take me through the main hub of activity, in no particular hurry. It's nice, to see all the lights out, to see the effort people have gone through to bring a little bit of home here. Almost makes me wish that Joseph had come with me, instead of heading off to Cianwood. Almost. Then again, would the lack of any other union jacks have made him as morose as the lack of any other instances of the stars and stripes has made me?

Who knows?

I should probably talk to him again at some point in the near future, but not tonight. It's not a good night for that, as it goes. Joseph is… really more of a casual acquaintance, a friend that I like to hang out and chat with from time to time, but not the right kind of friend to talk about all of this with. Maybe that will change in the future, mayhaps not.

For lack of anything better to do, I pop into the general store as I pass by it, taking a look at what's on sale. Might as well, eh? Setting up a new place isn't easy, or cheap, especially when I'm not bringing stuff over. There's a few things I need that they'll have.

Halfway through my acquisition of some new kitchen utensils, the acrid smell of smoke reaches me.

"We meet again, Monsieur Hagen."

"So we do, Monsieur Bescond. What a coincidence to find you here at the same time."

He smirks at me. "No coincidence, non. I saw you meandering your way through the outskirts of the square looking like you'd been forced to eat a whole lemon raw and decided to investigate."

"How… thoughtful of you."

"It is, isn't it?" He says playfully, before he takes a much more somber tone. "It is not wise to leave young men alone to stew in their problems, both real and perceived. It rarely ends well."

I almost ask if he's speaking from experience before realising what a gauche thing to ask that would be and hold my tongue. No, if he is, it's not my place to inquire on such a potentially deeply personal topic. If he tells me, he tells me.

"If you say so. So, what, you came over to check up on me?"

"Something like that, oui." He says as he kneels down and picks up a few packs of cigarettes. "You smoke?"

I shake my head. "No."

"Not unexpected, given how your country sees it. You should consider it, if this is your usual state I will find you in. Yes, it will shorten your life and I will admit that, but rather live happily for less time than ancient and miserable, hmm?"

"I'll take that under consideration." I say hesitantly. There's a reasonable point in there, even if the method is something kind of… eh.

He stands back up with his packs in hand before looking over me with a critical eye and then reaching down to grab another pack of a different brand entirely and a small lighter.

"Give it a try. First pack and lighter is my treat."

...Joy. On one hand, refusing a gift is rude. On the other, well, yeah. "I suppose I can do that much."

Probably won't enjoy them and then I can peacefully bow out of any further endeavours with vices. I hope.

After paying for our respective purchases, we move out of the main drive, with him taking a seat on a park bench and me next to it. He hands me the pack and lighter while taking out his own.

With a slight grimace, I crack open the pack and remove one of the thin cancer sticks. Next to me, he's already lighting one of his. I've never done this before myself, but I've seen it done enough to know what to do.

A spark of flame flickers at the end of the tube and I inhale a breath of smoke...and immediately double over in my wheelchair, coughing.

Laurent snickers at me. "An actual first timer, huh? Not as easy as it looks."

"Yeah." I say between coughs. "Just as unpleasant as I thought it'd be."

"It's the nicotine, not the smoke. I'd even find pure smoke unpleasant, myself. Nor are these as well-made as those back from Earth, given our limited industrial capacity here and how most of it is militarily geared. We've done our best, but it was never going to be as good as we remember."

"I can imagine."

He sits back, puffing out another cloud of smoke. "Bittersweet I think is the proper English word. To have some of the comforts of home back, but never actually Earth. How much is actual failure on our part in quality and how much is nostalgia? A question best left to the philosophers amongst us."

That is an interesting question, isn't it?

With a bit of trepidation, I take another puff on the cigarette in my hand, slower and a smaller amount this time. It's still kind of unpleasant, but also not.

"So, got away from the wife for a bit?" I say after a moment, not really caring how blatant a subject change it is.

"Oui. Not that it was hard. She's getting caught up with the other women in the book club. Gossiping, I imagine. If I'm lucky, I won't have to hear much of it."

"Are you often lucky in that regard?"

"Oh, sometimes more than others. And what about yourself? I've noticed you have three girls, but I've yet to actually see you with one. Makes a man wonder."

"It's complicated." I say after a moment of thinking. It's not really a good answer, or much of one at all, but I'm not explaining my life story to someone I met today.

"Life often is." Laurent says. "But certain things are less complicated than others."

"True enough."

Really, put in that context, it all seems so banal doesn't it? Really, my problems are not actually that complicated. They're really smaller issues that have snowballed because I procrastinated them, kind of just hoping they would go away. That's gone swimmingly. Not.

"I best be going." Laurent says after finishing another cigarette and grinding it into the dirt under his heel before picking it back up and throwing it in a nearby trash can. "Before the wife comes by and gets any funny ideas about adopting you."

I can't help but laugh at that.

He stands and clasps me on the shoulder before walking away back in the direction of the crowd. "Don't be a stranger, Ben Hagen."

Once again alone, I release the brakes on my wheelchair and start the slow roll to the new house, generally doing my best to avoid and ignore people. Once I'm a few blocks from the main square, the noise has toned down considerably to more of a background white noise where I can't really make out anything distinct anymore.

One of the nice things about this world, I will admit, is the lack of much light pollution. The night sky is much clearer and more distinct than it was back home. The stars are of course totally different and none of the Earth constellations exist here, but it is a little nice to look up at the stars and wonder.

A few more blocks and I let myself into the new place. We haven't had much chance to decorate so it feels dark and empty still, but that won't last forever. I'm in the kitchen putting away the new tools when the door opens again and Lorraine walks back in, sundress over her swimsuit and her hair wrapped up in a towel.

"You're back early." I comment.

She grimaces. "Ran across a rather territorial Milotic. Wasn't worth the risk at that point."

"Reasonable. So, how are you feeling?"

"In general or about you specifically?"

I shrug. Best just to get this over with. I'd spent long enough, too long, dancing around the issue. No real reasons to keep that act up right now. "Honestly, whatever you feel comfortable telling me."

Lorraine muses on that for a moment before responding. "I'm still conflicted. I know in my head that any dimensional travelling you did must have been before we met, so you've always been you since we met. In my heart though, it's… confusing. I don't know how to feel about this. Like, you're not native to this dimension. Are you actually human or do you just physically resemble one?"

"More human than all the natives, apparently." I mumble under my breath. I have some theories on how that might work and why.

"I don't foresee this being an issue going forward, for me at least." She says, "It's just so much to process."

"Alright. Well, I'll be around if you need me for anything."

She nods as she heads off to the living room, grabbing a book on the way. At the same time, I feel the buzz of my Pokegear. I grumble a bit about who in their right mind is calling at this hour as I fish it out of my pocket.

Joseph.

Of course it is. Why does that not surprise me? I don't really want to talk to him right now, don't want to deal with his chipper hipness at the moment and if I'm extra lucky, it'd include a side dish of another diatribe about going to Whitney and getting what amounts to witness protection. Like something so simple would actually stop Giovanni if I turned on him so blatantly. I'm sick of everyone telling me what to do, best interests at heart or not. Besides, I've got enough issues right now without having to even consider any of his.

After another couple ringtones, I press one of the buttons on the side, sending him directly to voicemail. I'll deal with him later, preferably once I have more of my shit sorted out. Well, so much as it can be. Some are really more damage control than actual fixes.

Sound rumbled and the night sky lit up in colour. Blue, green, red, yellow.

But for now?

One path ends.

And another begins, for better or worse.

XXXXXXXXXX

US- welp, 65,000 words later and here we are - the end of arc 4. Man, we really can't do short arcs, can we? Even so, thanks for sticking it out with us, despite the mini hiatus in the middle. Now it's word vomit time - where we actually discuss what the hell we were actually doing this arc.

So yeah - it was very much set up as a 'cool down' vacation arc. It was a time for both protagonists to have some down time after arc 2 and arc 3 were filled with so much shonen nonsense - and on that, we succeeded. This has been a nice chance to shuffle a few character arcs forwards, add some lore and place a few new nuggets for later.

DV- We were actually trying to do a small arc, we swear. It just never works out for us. But it's fine, not like we didn't manage to get some cool & important stuff into this arc. Things don't have to be all doom and gloom all the time and this also gave a good chance to slot the world into the new normal after the big shakeup that ended Arc 3. And really, how characters react to the 'what comes next' after-phase of shock is really as critical as the shock itself, in a slightly different way.

US- onto the Joseph side of arc 4… yeah, he needed to get his shit together. He was broken down in arc 2, tried to pull himself together in arc 3 but kept getting distracted by the Main Plot and Sidequests, and only now got the chance to really finish the process (Yeah, he really needed that beach vacation, huh?). He was also lacking direction aside from 'lets just do gyms and try not to die'. So does he have that now? Yes and no. He has a few ideas what he wants to do, but at least now he's actually focusing more on that stuff. He's gone past 'recover and survive' - now he's at 'start doing shit to hopefully make things better'.

Other things to note? Mia. Mia. Mia. The OC nobody asked for but that people hopefully like? The moment she was reintroduced in Arc 3 this was always going to be the endgame. With every member of the 'harem' we've attempted to do something a bit more fresh and original, while still paralleling some obvious tropes here and there. I've talked about Keiko and Sophie to death before, but Mia? Well, she is meant to tackle a remarkably obvious question with hindsight: in a Pokegirls world with polygamy, how the hell do relationships between Tamers and those not their Pokegirls work? How do the Pokegirls feel about being stuck in harem scenarios? If polygamy is more normalised, does it extend beyond just Tamers and Pokegirls? And what happens when you don't necessarily fit into the Bizarro World society mold of 'one man, several Pokegirls'?

This… was a question I thought it would be fun to look at.

Aside from that, the only other thing to really point out specifically is the metaphorical and literal distance between Joseph and Ben… and just how the duo do when largely apart (now that the dynamic duo's plot threads have been temporarily untangled).

DV- Right then, onto what was going on with Ben's side. The largest result from Arc 3 for him is that suddenly, he's gained a lot of narrative agency. He's always had some and mostly dictated his own side quests, but in general, this is the first time he gets to write his own main plot since the beginning of the story, as up till now, that was dictated by Giovanni.

So a lot of the arc on his part, though in more of an undertone, has been focused on that, especially not wanting to lose it again. He was lacking direction like Joseph, but the reasons that he was lacking direction means they handle it in very different ways. Is Ben's way better or worse than Joseph depends on how you tilt your head at it and is also very situational. It certainly means that his actions are a bit more haphazard and not conjoined in the same way Joseph's are. Such is intentional. Joseph goes and has someone guide him because he'd been lost in too much going on, whereas Ben is reveling in not having that overarching hand of order on him.

And then there's Floaroma. We never intended for Ben and Joseph to be special snowflake SI's in this world. In that regard, it's part of addressing a larger question in the same way that Mia does on Joseph's end for harem fiction, but for SI fanfictions in general. Namely why when the method of transportation is unclear, the SI is the only one there. And in this case, they're not. Not that this is the end of that particular thread, however…

US- yeah, there are still plenty of mysteries left to tackle. But that… is for arc 5 and beyond.

Which will most definitely be another happy arc, where we definitely don't return to the main plot and continue inflicting terrible misfortune on our core cast members.

No clue when that's coming out. We have a shit tonne of planning we need to do for it. But there will be an interlude of some kind before then.

DV- At some point. The usual gig, give more context to the world by giving y'all some povs outside Ben and Joseph. Should be a good time and can hopefully tide things over while we continue to get our ducks in a row for Arc 5, which will be totally happy fun times, we promise.