Here's the chapter for today! I hope you enjoy it and have enjoyable holidays. People are flooding the stores and it's probably only going to get crazier the closer it gets. Hopefully I can finish my presents by Christmas Eve because the one time I went to the store that day... it was a miracle that I could get around with a full sized cart.

Warnings: Panic attack. Encounter with abuser.

Disclaimer: Pokemon still isn't mine... still a no. Autumn is mine though.

Note: I'm going to be really busy from this point on for the week so you may not get the chapters until Monday next week. Hoping to post tomorrow, but it may not happen. We'll see.

-Autumn's P.O.V.-

I was really looking forward to class today. I was going to make Riolu out of clay! "Come on! Let's go before we're late!" I tried to rush the Professor and Ash.

Professor Kukui chuckled, "I guess you're excited about today's lesson."

I nodded, already ready to go, "I haven't used clay for months! I can't wait to use it again!"

Professor Kukui just held up two lunch boxes, "Don't forget your lunch."

Ash quickly put it in his backpack, "Okay, I'm ready to go!" Rowlet quickly dove into his backpack with Nebby joining.

Once they were both in, I moved them just a tiny bit, "There, now it should be more comfortable, but I should probably make you a bigger backpack so they're not squished in there."

Ash just smiled as Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder, "It looks like they're having fun. Be nice to each other," Then he turned to Lycanroc and Litten, "Lycanroc? Litten? Make sure you watch the house!"

"Shall we hit the trail?" Professor Kukui asked, putting his hat on.

"Yeah!" Ash beamed and ran out the door, "Let's make it a great day!"

"Rotom!" I called into the house, "We're going!"

"I'm coming!" Rotom quickly flew out of the house and I closed the door behind me.

When we got there, Ash got distracted by a sweet smell because he skipped breakfast and we had to drag him to class, "Has everybody brought their own clay?" Professor Kukui asked, starting class.

"Yes, sir!" We all answered.

Then Mallow realized, "Oh no! I forgot!"

"Would you like to share mine?" Kiawe asked.

Mallow smiled, "Huh. Thanks, Kiawe! All that?" She pointed at the pile of clay.

Kiawe just smiled, "Clay mountain!"

"Now class," Professor Kukui took our attention once more, "Today you're going to sculpt your Pokemon Partner. Closely observing it while you work might lead you to discover something new.

"Right!" It looked like I wasn't the only one excited about today's lesson.

"Alright, Riolu, get comfortable," I smiled and started working the clay, "I'm going to sculpt you!"

"Alright!" Riolu sat down and got into a meditative position, completely relaxed.

I smiled and started to craft her, "This will be perfect Riolu," I was completely invested in sculpting Riolu as best as I could, "I'm glad I brought extra clay," I mumbled as I finished with her ears, "I don't think I would be able to do it all without it."

When Mallow screamed, I looked up. Lana started to explain, but disappeared and reappeared with Kiawe doing the same thing a moment later, "What just happened to me?" Kiawe asked, "I almost fell into a volcano!"

"Volcano?" Ash asked.

"See that?" Mallow noticed, "Nebby disappeared with Kiawe, too."

"That was Teleport!" Rotom chimed in.

"What's Teleport?" Ash asked.

"Teleport allows the user to instantly travel from one location to another," Roxy explained.

"Awesome!" Ash was awe-struck, "I didn't know you could do that, Kiawe!"

"Kiawe's not the one who did that," I told him, "I think it was Nebby."

"Nebby did that?" Ash started looking around for Nebby.

"So, where did Nebby go, anyway?" Sophocles asked.

Mallow was the first to notice, "Right there!" We all looked to where she was pointing and I was gone a moment later.

This didn't really look familiar, "Where did you take us Nebby?" I asked, but Nebby had fallen asleep. I sighed, but smiled, "Don't worry. I'll make sure we get back."

Nebby just cuddled further in my arms as I started walking in a random direction. It was less than a minute later when I heard someone else say, "It's so nice to meet you again."

I slowly turned around to see him, "I'm not afraid of you," I whispered, but he didn't hear it.

He just smiled, "I was wondering when you would come meet me."

He walked forward and I moved back, "I didn't do it on purpose."

I finally hit a tree and couldn't really move back, "You did," He smirked, "I see that you've changed your hair," He frowned, "You shouldn't have."

I slowly slid to the ground, "I-I don't belong to you," That sounded like I knew it wasn't true, but it was!

He laughed, "You do," He held out his hand, "Now, give me that Pokemon."

"Never," I nearly showed the shock on my face from how strong that sounded.

Of course, he didn't like that very well, "You will regret not obeying," He raised his hand.

I closed them and curled around Nebby even more, protecting him, "Please don't!" I cried out just as Nebby woke up, giggled, and used Teleport once more.

"Autumn!" Ash ran over to me as I quickly looked around, "We were wondering when you would get back. Where'd you go?"

I opened my mouth, but just couldn't talk, 'I don't know where I went, but I did see… him again.'

Ash and Professor Kukui were the only ones to understand that, 'I'm sorry,' Ash answered.

Riolu crashed into me and moved Nebby onto Ash's lap to claim mine as her own, "What happened?" Kiawe asked, joining us on the ground as everyone else made sure to give us a bit of room, but they were obviously worried and wanted to know what had happened.

Ash looked at me and I nodded, looking at Riolu right after, "Nebby teleported Autumn to see her father," Everyone gasped, "He didn't do anything, right?"

'He almost did,' I answered, 'But Nebby woke up just in time,' I slowly stood up with Riolu still in my arms, 'Professor? Is it alright if I go home?'

'Of course,' Professor Kukui answered, 'But if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask,' I nodded, "Kiawe, could you take Autumn home on Charizard?"

"Of course," Kiawe answered immediately.

Ash didn't like the idea as much, "I can take her home. I promise I won't get distracted by anything!"

Professor Kukui put a hand on his shoulder, "But you'd have to take Nebby with you. I think Autumn needs a bit of time away."

That was definitely true, but I also didn't want to see Nebby cry and Nebby was definitely on the verge from seeing me, "Ok," Ash slumped, "But if you need something, just ask."

"We will," Kiawe assured them.

We took one step towards the door of the classroom and Nebby used his supersonic crying powers. Acting quickly, I took Nebby into my arms and calmed him down, "Wow, Autumn's a natural!" Mallow noted.

Riolu became my voice, "Be good for Ash, alright?" She asked Nebby, "Autumn just needs some time alone."

"Did I do something wrong?" Nebby asked.

"No!" Riolu answered as I shook my head, "You didn't know, but now you do. Learn from your mistakes, don't dwell on them."

Nebby smiled, "Alright! I won't teleport Autumn anymore unless I have to!"

That got me to smile a bit as I passed Nebby back to Ash, "Thanks Autumn," Ash smiled.

I nodded and then left with Kiawe. He called out Charizard who nuzzled against me and I happily scratched his head, "Are you ready to go?" Kiawe asked, already on Charizard.

I quickly got on behind him and nodded, then wrapped my arms around him a moment later as we lifted off. I never wanted it to end. I felt… free. From everything going on in the world and in my life. I leaned my head on his shoulder to feel the wind better. Kiawe must have realized it because we took a much longer time than we should have to get back to Professor Kukui's house, 'Thank you,' I signed, even though he wouldn't be able to understand what I was trying to tell him.

Then he surprised me, "Autumn, would you mind teaching me sign language?" He asked as he followed me inside after putting Charizard back in his ball, "I want to be able to understand you in situations like this.

I nodded and I tried to teach him, but he kept on getting the hand positions just slightly wrong. When Ash and Professor Kukui finally arrived home, I was laughing, "No, like this," I moved his fingers until they were in the right position.

"That looks a lot like what I was doing," Kiawe pointed out.

"It was, but just a little off."

"Is Kiawe learning sign language?" Ash asked excitedly as he joined us on the couch.

Kiawe frowned, "It's a lot harder than I thought it would be."

Ash nodded and did the signs as he talked, "It took me months to learn, but I've got it down perfectly now!"

He was a bit off with it, "Actually," I moved one of his fingers, "Now, it's perfect."

Professor Kukui held in his laughter as best as he could, but Kiawe wasn't, "I guess it's harder than either of us thought."

Professor Kukui finally reeled in his laughter, "I think Kiawe should be getting home. It's pretty late."

That's when we realized the time, "It's nearly dark out!" I yelped in shock.

Kiawe quickly stood up, "My parents are probably wondering where I am right now."

"See you tomorrow Kiawe!" Ash waved as he left.

"See you," Kiawe waved back, then left.

"So, why are you only back now?" I asked, "Didn't school end hours ago?"

"You'll never believe what happened today!" Ash proceeded to tell me excitedly what had happened as Professor Kukui cooked a quick dinner.

The next day, I was ready to show the world my next song, but I needed something first, "Why do you need a camera?" Sophocles asked me as we walked to the mall.

"I wanna make a music video, but I don't have one and I don't know much about cameras so I asked you to come help me," I explained once more.

No one knew that I wasn't going to do Wake Up, but I was planning on doing a new song, "Ok," Sophocles nodded as we entered the store, "You'll need a video camera then," And he proceeded to pick out the best one.

I also left with a new laptop and case so I could edit the video, "Thank you so much Sophocles," I told him once again, "You're a lifesaver."

Sophocles beamed, "Any time Autumn. Are you still coming over to help with my Z-Move research?"

I nodded, "Yep! Tomorrow, right after school," I waved as he went up to his house, "See you tomorrow!"

"How are you planning on creating and finishing a music video today?" Riolu asked as I walked towards the 'house', "You haven't even recorded the song."

"I was thinking that we could record the song today and video it later. Maybe this weekend? After our visit to Aether Paradise."

"If you're going to want to record an entire song, we'd better hurry," Oricorio pointed out, "It's starting to get late."

I practiced the rest of the day and changed a few things, "Don't go high there," Riolu pointed out as I was practicing, "It sounds weird."

"What if you held that note out for longer?" Oricorio suggested, "That may help the dynamics."

We had just finished recording the final one when it was time to go home, "This sounds perfect," I told my Pokemon as we walked up the steps and entered the house, "Although we may need a bit more fine tuning before it's done."

"We always do," Riolu answered and I realized all who were there.

I took my red head phones off and hung them around my neck, "Hi. I didn't realize you were going to be here tonight Professor Burnet."

She smiled, "I was giving Nebby his first check up and was invited to stay. After the delicious meal I had last time, I couldn't say no."

"I thought Nebbys first check up was this Friday."

"Lusamine wanted it moved up," Ash answered, "And I didn't see the harm in it."

"I would have liked to know," I put my books away and clipped Roxy to Rotom, "I would have made sure to be here!"

"But you looked so happy about your idea, I didn't want you to forget it!"

"I wrote it all down," I reminded him, "I wouldn't forget about it."

"How about we eat now?" Professor Kukui interrupted as he and Professor Burnet looked at us with smiles on their faces.

"Alright!" Ash was at the table a moment later, "I'm starving."

I quickly joined them and did my best to get closer to Professor Burnet with very little luck. We finished the night with Detective Laki like usual, "Don't say anything Autumn!" Rotom warned with Roxy.

"We want to be surprised at who the culprit is!" Roxy finished.

I just looked at them, "What if there's more than one?" I didn't look up from my notebook, designing a wedding dress if Professor Kukui ever asked the question to Professor Burnet.

There was more than one, just like I figured and everyone was shocked at the outcome, "How did you know who did it before they showed it?" Professor Burnet asked me in shock.

"Autumn always knows who it is before they show it," Ash answered, actually awake, "She can figure out anything!"

"It's not hard," I shrugged, concentrating more on my design, "I figured it out half way through the episode."

I didn't see their shocked faces and instead, figured I should put my headphones away and turn them off. Roxy was still wirelessly connected to them.