Chapter 12 - Prism of Truth

"Oh—Budew! I was so worried!"

Leah and I had trudged home with the rescued child around when the sun dipped below the mountains. But the time we'd reached the village, darkness had fallen. Roselia has been standing up on the hill with the tree, staring at the night sky. Waiting.

Now we stood before her as she embraced Budew, who modestly presented the honey to her. After thanking us profusely, she led her child back down to the village.

Leah and I stayed up on the hill, admiring the stars illuminating the sky, resting our tired souls. Some of the pain still lingered, and I knew my body would hate me in the morning if I didn't stretch really well. It hardly lingered on my mind, though, after the moment I'd shared with…

"Sage?" Leah broke the silence.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"I believe it."

I halfway-stopped looking at the stars. "…Believe what?"

"That you were a human."

Nothing about her voice indicated she was kidding. Even the jovial undertone she usually spoke with was replaced with stone cold sincerity. I turned my head in surprise—after everyone cast aside my claim the day before, I had assumed that nobody took me seriously, let alone her. This had only further been supported by the fact that I had gone to Nectar Meadows alone—

—Except the fact that I hadn't gone alone.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Because…" She was silent for a moment. She spoke as though she'd chosen her words with a careful precision I hadn't thought her capable of. "…I know exactly how you feel. I want to be a Pokemon who does the right thing even when they don't always want to."

Espurr's words from a few days ago echoed in my head:

"…The closest thing Leah has to a friend besides you is Kanghaskan at the Cafe, and that's only because she interacts with so many people…"

"…You two must've really come together to beat Gabite. I wouldn't like to think some silly words would totally isolate two people after that…"

Espurr had been right. Leah knew what it felt like to have nobody believe in her. It was a loneliness she had taken for granted, imbedding itself into the background of her everyday life.

And then there was me. Dropped in an unfamiliar world without purpose or direction. Nothing to my name but an impossible story. Of course nobody believed me.

Yes, Leah knew exactly how I felt. Even if her peers meant no harm to her, she experienced this mistreatment every day. Why else would she have resorted to helping Pancham and Shelmet with their sabotage in the forest a few days ago? She was desperate for unity. Desperate for community. She just found it in the wrong place, that was all.

We both had more in common than I realized.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's the human world like?" she said, snapping me out of my thoughts. A look of eager curiosity was displayed on her face, her head tilted to the side with expectancy.

"I, uh… I don't know," I stammered, disappointed I couldn't pique her curiosity. "I can't remember anything about it. It's hard to explain… like, I remember what food is and what family is and all that, but I can't recall any specifics, like the people I knew and what my life was like."

I returned my gaze to the stars and sighed. "The only thing I remember is the fact that I'm a human in the first place."

"So you can only remember the past week or so? That's all you've ever known?" Leah said. The same dumbfounded look on her face from when I'd told everyone about my past had returned.

"Look, I know it sounds…"

"No, I believe you," she quickly interrupted. "It's just… I mean… You must feel very…" She paused to search for the right word.

"Lost?" I supplied for her. "Confused?"

"…Alone?" she said, looking up at me.

I knew that shouldn't be accurate. I couldn't remember who I was before, so I couldn't really miss anyone. For all I know, I might not have even had anyone to miss. As sad and unlikely as it sounded, the possibility was wide open.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized she was right. She'd nailed it right on the head, actually. I felt truly alone in this world. I had friends like Espurr and Goomy and Deerling, but it had hardly been a week and I was already doubting if I could trust them. For all I knew, they probably felt no different after yesterday's dilemma. The isolation I'd felt while dashing through Nectar Meadow, all the way until I saw that abrupt ball of fire rain down on the Beedrill… it was only then that I'd realized I wasn't alone anymore.

"Alright!" Leah interrupted my thoughts once more.

"What's up?" I asked, a little taken back by her sudden outburst of enthusiasm.

"I want you… to be my friend!"

I stared at her.

"Nobody believes a word you have to say right now Sage!" she continued.

I continue to stare, growing more and more taken aback.

"But… I get it," she continued. "I know how it feels to be alone too. But if you have even one friend who truly believes in you, you'll be really happy… that's what I believe with all my heart!"

She cleared her throat. "…S-so as fellow social outliers, I-I thought it would be best if we started by believing in each other as friends."

She was fidgeting in place. It wasn't hard to figure out that it took a lot of willpower on her part to follow through with those words, simple as the request was. It made a bit of sense for her to worry; our little spat had been pretty nasty, and she hadn't helped her case with the incident in the woods the following day.

She sighed, and I cursed myself for making my hesitation so obvious.

"Look," she said. "Maybe you're still trying to figure out what you want to do with yourself. Maybe you're still mad about the river thing… I-I get that." Even in the dim moonlight, I could see the confidence waning off of her face by the second. "You don't have to take me too seriously here. I guess I just wanted—"

I held a silencing hand up.

I wouldn't be standing here if not for her. I'd take a quick dive in a stream any day over getting mauled to death.

I smiled at her. "You mean like partners?"

I blinked, and the life that had returned to her eyes made my heart skip a beat.

"Yeah, like… partners." She tried out the words, letting them balance on her tongue. "I… know it sounds really cheesy, but I think we could accomplish a lot together."

"Accomplish enough to make it to the Expedition Society?" I said, wiggling my eyebrows. I didn't know why I was smiling so big, or making such an offer for that matter, but the smile on her face convinced me I wasn't making a mistake.

She pretended to think for a moment, as if she had anything to consider. As if the look on her face hadn't given away her answer to begin with.

"Yeah… I'd like that."

"Then of course I'll be your partner. And your friend," I said. "I promise."

"You will? Yesss!" she exclaimed. After the events that had transpired only hours before, she still found it in herself to do an entire backflip to accentuate those words.

I stuck my vine out to her when she landed, and she looked at me funny. I facepalmed.

"My arms aren't long enough to shake on it, dummy. Remember when we first met?" I said.

"Oh! Well so-r-r-y," she huffed, every syllable exaggerated. "I don't shake paws with lowly grass-types every day." She grasped the vine and shook it firmly, much more genuinely than the earnest yank from the time she'd popped out of a bush the day we'd met.

Some sort of recognition lit up on her face, which she took to burying in her bag. From outside, I could barely make out her muffled voice. "To mark this occasion, I've got just the thing. You'll have to close your eyes though."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it, I promise you'll love it!"

"But—"

"I'm not pulling my face out until you do!"

"Alright, fine. My eyes are sealed shut."

I closed my eyes while I distinctly identified the sound of a large Fennekin head rummaging through the various contents of a treasure bag. Then I jumped in place at the sensation of something soft being wrapped around my neck.

"Easy," she whispered. "This'll just take a second." After she was done fastening something together at the back of my neck, I raised my eyelids.

I was wearing a scarf, that much was certain. It was so unnaturally soft and lightweight that I was fairly certain it wasn't just made of common material. It sported a myriad of green shades, striped and designed to look, in my opinion, quite fashionable. I reveled at how it complimented my own exterior coloration. What also amazed me about the scarf right away was the feeling it gave me as soon as I put it on. I felt instantly saturated, almost as if the universe was literally feeding me energy. It was faint, and also kind of weird, but it was undoubtedly pleasant. I looked at Leah's excited expression and noticed that she, too, wore a scarf identical to one she had given me.

"Soo, do you like it?" she asked with a wink and a pose, showing off the contrast of green on her yellow muzzle.

I ran my hands along the fabric. It was vintage material to say the least; even wearing it out and about like this felt wrong, for fear of getting it dirty or torn. "What is this material? It feels incredible!"

"I have no idea!" she laughed. "My old pops found me all wrapped up in these when I was a baby, so I've always held onto them."

So Leah's pops isn't her actual dad… I'd had a hunch he wasn't anyway, considering I never thought it would even be possible for a big and bulky water turtle to produce a fire-breathing fox. But you never know, right? This world has proven to be pretty weird already.

"Well, in any case, I love it. I'll take good care of it," I told her.

She laughed and shrugged. "As long as you don't lose it, you have nothing to worry about. I accidentally blasted them with fire once and they were completely unscathed. They're basically indestructible."

"How… mysterious," I mused, running my finger along the fabric once more.

"Yeah. Maybe we'll learn something about them one day," she said, sitting down to pick at something on the ground.

I sat down next to her under the assumption she was just stargazing, when I heard the unusual sound of teeth scraping against something. She'd scavenged up a little twig that had fallen out of the tree above for the purpose of…

I stared at her. She was nibbling on it.

"Uhh, Leah," I snorted, every fiber of my being attempting to stifle the wave of laughter waiting at the back of my throat. "Wh-what exactly are you trying to do?"

She stopped chewing and looked at me in confusion, the little stick hanging out of her mouth diagonally. At that sight I couldn't hold it in anymore; I burst into a hysterical fit, my back hitting the grass beneath.

"What!" she exclaimed, her face turning a flustered shade of red. "It—hey, it's tasty!"

I laughed for a few more seconds before half-heartedly collecting myself. "How can a stick be tasty?"

"I'm a Fennekin, you smartass!" She pursed her lips. "…Although, I guess you wouldn't know that my species enjoys chewing on twigs since you're still pretty new to this world."

I shrugged. I was still grinning stupidly large at the thought of Leah eating a tree. I could tell that, despite the embarrassment Leah expressed, that she actually enjoyed this—this being able to tease and be teased with someone.

This was comfortable. For both of us, so comfortable.

"…Ah, it's gotten pretty late," she remarked to no one in particular. The sky wasn't getting any brighter. "We really made use of our time today, huh?"

"We did." I pushed myself up, hesitating a bit from my injuries, and handed her the twig she'd dropped. "I just hope our respective adopted parents aren't mad."

"Oh shit! What if they found out we dipped out of class!" She began to pace around. "We're sooo screwed!"

Oh shit, indeed. I hadn't anticipated that.

I stared down at the village. A cozy yellow light shone through the windows of Nuzleaf's house, combining with that of Carracosta's to light up the entire area. I sighed; it might not turn out so cozy for either of us when we got back. "Not much we can do, I suppose."

"Yeah, I… guess you're right," she admitted. "We'd better head back now before they get too mad."

When I finally forced myself to walked in, Nuzleaf was rather indifferent to my late arrival.

What alarmed him were my injuries.

I'd not been ignorant of them, but I'd disregarded how I'd be perceived when I walked in looking like I'd been royally beaten up.

"Wha—what in tarnation happened to you, kiddo?" He nearly spilled the cup of juice he'd been drinking as he rushed to tend to me. "You look like you got trampled by a horde o' Tauros!"

I flinched at his attentive advances. "I'm fine, I'm fine… Leah and I just ran into some trouble exploring a dungeon, that's all."

My efforts to downplay my injuries seemed to work well enough. When he realized I wasn't on the death's doorstep, Nuzleaf simply shrugged and told me to be more careful. I was delighted to learn that he wasn't already aware that I had run out in the middle of class, which I feared would warrant some kind of punishment. Plus, this likely meant Leah would escape scolding as well, at least for tonight. That alone eased most of the worry that had gripped my chest.

Now, all she and I had to worry about was the school's reaction to what we did. I definitely had no regrets; going after Budew at that moment was the right thing to do, and it paid off. But would the school see it the same way? Or would they just see it as the village troublemaker and her partner-in-crime playing hookie?

It made me angry to even think about. I retired early to my room so Nuzleaf wouldn't ask me any questions about why I seemed bothered. Leah might end up taking even more undeserved ridicule for her actions, and there was hardly anything I could do about it.

She had more heart than any of them today…

I unwrapped my scarf and sat it on my bedside. I gave it a good long stare, reminiscing over what it symbolized.

I may not have known who I had once been or why I was here, but I had a friend, and at that moment, that's all that mattered to me.

The stress of the day had totally drained me, so it only took a few moments lying in my bed to fall into a deep slumber. I relished in the incoming sleep, and let it drown out my worries and my aches.

The next morning, I was captured with a stiffness unlike the one I'd grown used to waking up with.

This time it wasn't my sore muscles I had to worry about. The area above my eye where I had been bitten was swollen, and a nasty bruise had formed on my hip where I had been hit by that first poison jab. The little wounds I had received all over my body had scabbed over, but some of the pain remained. I reminded myself to get them checked out by Audino after school.

I shakily got up and grabbed my scarf, putting it on and letting the relaxing essence it gave off rejuvenate me a bit. After taking a few moments to stretch my limbs and get my blood running, I walked into the other room where Nuzleaf was waiting.

"Howdy Sage!" he called. "I meant to ask you last night where you picked up that spiffy scarf."

"Leah gave it to me. She's got a matching one. You like it?"

"Well, that was mighty nice of her." He smiled and patted the area under his neck. "I reckon I'll look into getting one for myself."

"You should," I said with a nod. "Although, I have no idea what it's made of. It seems like some kind of ultra-fine thread."

I waved goodbye to Nuzleaf and exited the house. I didn't even get two feet out the door before I was greeted with an all-too-familiar bundle of orange and yellow fur, popping out of a bush at me.

"Surprise!" the ball of fur yelled as I narrowly dodged being pounced on.

"Easy there Leah!" I protested. "I'm still a mess from yesterday, remember?"

"Oh, right, sorry…" she murmured. "My side hurts from where I got hit, but I guess I wasn't really thinking about it."

I winced upon seeing where the Beedrill had dealt a critical hit to her exposed flank. Although the poison was out of her system thanks to the pecha berries and medicine, the impact had left her with a tiny impaction that looked gruesome despite having scabbed over by now. It was accentuated by a circular blue bruise—the kind that was obviously painful. It definitely looked worse than any of my own individual wounds. An unavoidable wave of guilt hit me; I was more or less the reason that happened.

"That looks… painful."

"Its no biggie. It's just nagging me a bit, that's all," she responded dismissively. "Let's just head to class now and worry about our condition later."

I nodded and followed her into the plaza,

There we would observe just about the strangest scene imaginable play out before us. A tall yellow Pokemon—electric type, I assumed—had face planted in the dirt and was struggling to gather his things.

"Hey, you alright mister?" Leah said, by his side in an instant. "Are you hurt?"

"Absolutely wonderful! No worries, happens all the time. I have the worst sense of direction, unfortunately." Once the clumsy Pokemon got his head on straight, he briefly evaluated the two of us. "Do you children live in this quaint village?"

Satisfied he was okay, Leah stepped back and tilted her head towards me, rubbing my shoulder with the fur of her ear. "Yeah! I'm Leah, and this is my partner Sage."

He returned the smile. "Well, Nice to meet you Leah and Sage! How precious you two are!" He dusted himself off and picked up another one of his dropped items. "I believe introductions of my own are in order. My name is Ampharos, known throughout the land as—"

The clumsy Pokemon struck a flamboyant pose, causing Leah and I to jump back in surprise.

"—The Dashing Wanderer!"

I blinked. If Leah and I become famous explorers, I hope we don't get nicknames as ridiculous as 'The Dashing…whatever'.

"…It's nice to meet you, sir," I said.

"Likewise, my dear boy!" he said. "But I must be off now. I have errands that I must fulfill, quotas that I must meet. I enjoyed meeting you two!" With that, he stumbled away, once or twice knocking into the nearest stationary object in his path.

"That's weird," Leah said, tilting her head. "We don't get hardly any traffic around here. Pops says we used to 'back in his day', whatever that meant. But that was so long ago that Revelation Mountain wasn't yet sealed away from the public, according to his ramblings."

"Maybe that guy was a traveler?" I offered. "He called himself a 'dashing wanderer' after all. Do you think he's the type to be associated with the Expedition Society?"

My partner rubbed her chin and considered the thought. "Well, from my limited research I know there's an Ampharos who used to be, but there's no way that clumsy fool was him. Plus, if he was a part of the Society, he'd have a rescue badge. That guy didn't ha—oh! What's that on the ground?"

Leah pointed toward a shiny blue spherical object sitting in the dirt a few yards away. "He forgot to pick it up, it looks like."

At no point during that encounter did the waning minutes of the morning not escape my thoughts. The longer we took here, the later we'd be in arriving to class. We were already cutting it short as it was.

"We can give it back to him after class," I told her. "We'd better not be late after what happened yesterday."

"Oh…" Leah mumbled. "We totally ditched class, didn't we?"

"Yeah…" I mumbled back. I began to walk towards the school, ready to accept my fate, but Leah promptly stopped me.

"I have an idea." She grinned, barely missing a beat. "How about we just not go to school at all! That way, we can't get punished!"

I stared at her. She stared back. This continued for a few long seconds.

"…No go, huh?" She sighed, crestfallen. "Yeah, I honestly didn't think so either."

I shook my head. "Trust me, I don't want to go. I'm pissed at the rest of the class for leaving us out to dry like they did, and I'm already unimpressed with the likes of Watchog and Farfetch'd. But the only thing we can do is deal with it. If they can't see that saving Budew was the right course of action at that time, then… well, they don't matter then!"

"Yeah, I… I agree." She hung her head and stomped the dirt in frustration. "But ugh! This is gonna suck!"

"But it won't have to suck alone," I added with a little smile in her direction.

"That's true," she replied, returning the grin wholeheartedly. "Let's go."

We walked the length of the school path, jogging a bit to make up for the lost time spent conversing with the strange traveler minutes before. Even at a moderately hurried pace, however, it was hard not to appreciate the emerald treetops at both of our flanks bleeding into the sapphire shade of the sky above. Only a handful of clouds blew into the valley airspace and made themselves visible, and a comforting wind coursed past the two of us and nudged us forward. It was such a perfect day following the climax of yesterday—too perfect to be stressing about something as asinine as 'obedience'.

But alas, we would be forced to face our challenges as they came, and the first came in the form of Leah tackling me behind one of the large rocks by the entrance of the school in order to escape being immediately seen. At the front gate was our esteemed vice principal, no doubt waiting for us to arrive so he could verbally tear into us. I expected nothing less.

"Yeah, we're screwed," Leah whispered. "He's not even gonna wait until class starts. He's just waiting to chew us out at the front gate."

"I know, but…" I glanced up at the sky. The sun was well into the sky now. "Augh, we're about to be late for class… and that'd just make it worse."

She huffed in discontent, but didn't argue. But just as we were about to walk out, a familiar voice made itself comfortable in my head.

"Sage, wait."

I froze.

"Just hold on a moment."

I stopped Leah from walking out, and we watched for a few seconds. Out of nowhere, Watchog started… dancing. Well, not quite dancing, but… skipping around with a look of glee on his face. It was ridiculous, and very difficult not to giggle at.

"Oh! I… I think that's Espurr helping us!" I whispered.

"What—what's wrong with him?" Leah wondered aloud, the breaks of a giggle evident in her voice as she tried to hold it in for the sake of remaining unnoticed.

Espurr's voice echoed in my head again.

"Okay, now go through the gate while he's distracted."

"Let's go!" I motioned.

We dashed through the gate as quickly as we could, with a clueless Watchog never noticing a thing. We scrambled over to our seats right as the bell rang, snapping him out of his little dance.

He walked up to the front and nasally cleared his throat. "Aaalrighty class, I know we're missing a few members, but—"

He stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting in the front row were the two kids he had been waiting at the front gate for, sitting neatly in their chairs and staring expectantly at him. Seeing his reaction was so amusing that it was difficult for me not to break the immaculate posture I'd put on just for him.

"What—! What?! How did you… how…"

"How did we what, vice principal?" Leah said innocently.

"…Never mind it," he mumbled irritably, clearing his throat again. "But before we begin class, I daresay I have a few words to share with you two delinquents!" His voice had risen an octave and boomed through the schoolyard.

Here comes the scolding…

He wasted no time leaping into his clearly rehearsed tongue-lashing. "You two problem children are so problematically problematic that your problems are driving me insane! I swear if y—"

"—Hold on, vice principal," a voice called over the classroom, ending the rant as quickly as it began. Wielding the voice was principal Simipour, standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the staff buildings.

"Ms. Roselia came by and told me all about what happened yesterday," he informed us, causing Leah and I to sigh in relief—now, we'd at least have a case to make. "She described how the pair of you rescued her lost child, even at the cost of your own well-being. You did so while also risking getting into trouble with the school for skipping your classes. For that, I commend you for being brave young Pokemon."

He cleared his throat, and continued. "While it is not okay to skip class unannounced, you two have displayed bravery and righteousness that I believe justify your actions."

Leah's eyes sparkled. "So you mean…?"

"Yes, I mean!" Simipour decreed. "You will receive no punishment. It seems you've already exhausted yourselves for the sake of that child to begin with, so it would be absurd to stress you further after all that you've been through, risking your lives for the greater good. Now, you all have a wonderful day kids!" With that, he walked back up the stairs and into his office.

Watchog was absolutely aghast, grumbling something under his breath about 'not getting paid enough'. After a few moments, the vice principal collected himself and half-heartedly turned his attention to the class. "I… suppose we should begin first period." he said, grabbing a story book we'd already read like four times this year.

The day rolled by quickly. A couple of times Deerling and Goomy tried whispering to me during the lesson, but I ignored them. Did they think I had just forgotten about yesterday? Our usual third period that consisted of a field exercise was replaced today with recess time. Leah and I, starting to feel weary from exerting ourselves all day yesterday, elected to sit at our desks and rest our heads.

"Hey Sage!" I heard Goomy call.

Uh oh.

I continued to ignored them, even as Deerling called to me as a follow-up. But it would hardly help; next thing Leah and I knew, we were surrounded by the whole class.

"Not now guys…" Leah mumbled, putting her head down on her desk. "This really isn't the time…"

"Hey, listen…" Deerling gently spoke. "We just wanted to congratulate you two for what you did yesterday…"

Congratulate.

Oh no, I wasn't having it.

I met her eyes and glared at her with all of the anger I could muster into a single look, and snapped. "Are you serious?"

Their approach was so naive; that was clearly not the response any of them had expected. Deerling recoiled, visibly hurt by the cold-blooded answer, while Espurr frowned and merely stared at the ground. Goomy's mouth was slightly hanging open, before he too locked his eyes onto the grass. Even Pancham and Shelmet looked shocked.

I half-expected Leah to try and reconcile me with my classmates, as she hadn't seemed like the type to advocate conflict unless it involved directly defending herself. Instead, however, I noticed she displayed a cold demeanor, similar to mine in animosity but different in that, for once, she didn't seem interested in talking to anyone at all. It occurred to me that she likely had an argument with the class about my exit before running after me on her own.

Espurr spoke up, raising her gaze and meeting mine. "Look, Sage. I get it. You've a right to be mad. We didn't mean—"

"Stop." I broke eye contact as quickly as it was established to stare back down at my desk. "…Look, I appreciate you getting us through the gate this morning, but that hardly covers for leaving me out to dry. I had the initiative to save a child in peril, and—and where were you?"

My voice rose a decibel with each breath. I was caught in the vast gray ocean between disinterested monotone and an outright explosion now, not even caring that I might get in trouble for instigating a conflict.

I took another look at Espurr, and a fiery realization dawned within me and compounded my rage further. "And you!" I shoved a vine in Espurr's face, singling her out. "You knew Budew was there, and you didn't do a thing! Where was your psychic power when we were getting mobbed by poisonous insects? Or your verbal support when I was begging the rest of the class for assistance?"

I stood up suddenly, making sure the worst of my wounds were visible to emphasize my point. Though some of them, like the swollen cut above my eye, already spoke for themselves anyway.

Espurr went silent. She hung her head in shameful submission, unwilling to match the intensity in my gaze.

"She—" I continued with my rant, jabbing my arm in Leah's direction. "—can be counted on, which is something none of you seem to understand. All of you treat her like garbage, and yet she's the only one here who… who cares! She actually has enough sense not to listen to that blockhead over there!"

This time I was gesturing at Pancham. I expected him—I wanted him to get angry at my comment and want to fight. I was so fired up at the nerve of these Pokemon that I would've welcomed the challenge in total disregard to my lingering injuries… but, to my bewilderment, he hung his head in shame as well.

Well… whatever! If he actually felt bad about it, then he could wallow in his own shame. Whatever got my point across worked for me.

Deerling looked as exasperated as the others, but she tried as well as she could to speak softly and steadily. "No, Sage, we just didn't want anyone to get hurt. You have to understand that, it wasn't the right…"

I took advantage of her pausing and scowled. "Wasn't the right what? Moment to act? Are you really that—"

A memory popped into my head: of Deerling, and of Leah and I, standing outside the forest. Goomy has been left behind, and Deerling snapped at Leah, calling her…

"—useless?"

Deerling flattened her ears and said nothing more.

"Look, I'm sorry!" Pancham suddenly shouted. We all stared at him with raised eyebrows, and his haphazard attempt at a calm expression had no effect in hiding his anxiety. Apologies were clearly not his specialty. "…Okay?" he continued after a moment of awkward silence. "I-It's my bad. You did well saving Budew like you did, a-and… we should've believed you."

If the exchange hadn't gotten me so riled up, part of me might've been touched by that. Pancham was not one who normally would admit his faults straightaway, especially after I called him out specifically and gave the whole class the cold shoulder.

But not Leah.

"Yeah?" the Fennekin snarled as her head snapped up from its resting position. "Well you didn't believe him. So shut up!"

There was definitely no love lost between those two, and even I stood shocked at the abrupt (but certainly not random) outburst from Leah. Pancham simply responded by putting on his signature irritated expression he often applied to any interaction with the Fennekin. "Hey, I wasn't talking t—" he started to counter, before stopping himself short. "…You know what? I'm just gonna forget it." He stormed off to his seat and said nothing more.

"You do that," she sneered after him.

The rest of the class solemnly returned to their own seats as the recess time ended. Once the boiling blood in my veins simmered down and lethargy settled in its place, feelings of shame immediately began to arise about the new tension in the air. I knew I probably shouldn't have been as harsh as I was, especially to Espurr, who had just wanted to find a better solution to yesterday's predicament. It was just the fact that Leah was put in danger and sustained injury for my sake that really put me on edge. The class had chosen Pancham over me, and they needed to understand that one cannot just bounce back into somebody's trust bubble right after doing that without a bit of personal redemption. I still hardly even knew most of these people, after all.

But perhaps I was just being too dramatic?

…Oh, whatever. Things would return to normal soon anyway. Probably. Hopefully.

When school ended, Leah and I got a checkup with nurse Audino. She administered the both of us an oran berry mixture and instructed us to drink plenty of fluids like you would expect a doctor to. She procured a sitrus-pecha solution that she prescribed specifically for me, claiming it would stabilize my immune system. When I asked why it was only for me, she pointed at a chart on the wall that displayed type advantages and disadvantages, and I put two and two together. As far as our physical conditions went, she concluded that we were strong enough to continue coming to school and doing our normal activities. Fortunately, all of our injuries were minor and wouldn't last long as long as we didn't reopen them engaging in stunts like exploring dangerous dungeons nearby. She said that as long as we didn't strain ourselves for the next couple of days, we'd be fine.

That was fine by me. I'd had enough of mystery dungeons for a good while. Leah didn't seem like one to tread lightly underneath any circumstances, however, so it wasn't only a matter of time until we would end up in another. At least today our minds were elsewhere as the focus of our attention would soon shift to the crystal ball from before.

"What is that thing?" I asked the Fennekin while walking back to the village, as if she knew the answer.

To my surprise, she did. "I'm pretty sure I've seen one of these in Kecleon's storage before…"

"Is it a wonder orb?" I asked.

"No, I'm pretty sure this is something else. It's too refined to be an item used in a dungeon. I think it's more like some kind of machine."

"50 Poké it's just a wonder orb."

"You're on, Smugleaf," she answered, shaking the vine I extended to her.

"Smugleaf?" I grimaced. "What—what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It's your new nickname," she replied, wearing a cheeky grin. "You make this funny face whenever you try to act all smug, like just now."

I made sure the look I gave her projected every ounce of my disdain. "Please don't start calling me that."

"No promises," she chaffed, sticking her tongue out playfully. "This is what you get for making fun of my twi-i-igs."

…Fair play.

"That's fair enough," I finally answered after a few moments of defeated silence. "Anyway, what were you doing in the Kecleon's storage?"

The Fennekin gave me a confused look, so I elaborated. "…You said you saw one of those crystals in their shop?"

Recollection dawned on her face as we walked. "Oh! I used to work with them last summer. I had a lot of free time and not much to do other than go adventuring alone, so I helped them out with gathering items." She tilted her head accusingly. "What, did you think I was in there stealing or something?"

Oops. That had been precisely what I'd assumed. She had seemed like the kind of individual who took enjoyment from pulling those kinds of pranks on people. What was an adventure with this Fennekin without high stakes?

"Well, it's just… I mean, kinda?"

"Come on, I'm not a thief!" she retorted.

"Hippopotas would tend to disagree," I teased. "Remember my first day?"

She rolled her eyes. "Vat iz ridiculous," she said while mocking his accent. "I didn't even know it vas his."

We didn't stop laughing until we reached the plaza.

When we did, there was hardly anyone out and about at this midday time, most of them are likely out working in the fields around the village or out scavenging for resources in local dungeons. The village was small enough to where even a crowded day in the plaza still left plenty of space to have a relatively private conversation, even though the area wasn't all that large to begin with. The Kecleon shop was right next to the path leading to the school, so we were upon our destination as soon as we reached the clearing.

Leah approached and presented the item to the green Kecleon, who inspected it with some degree of recognition.

"Haven't seen one of these in a little while…" he mumbled to himself. He turned to us and placed the orb on the table, before motioning towards the back of the little hut that where their inventory was stored. "Let me call my brother over. He deals with special wares."

The purple Kecleon, previously preoccupied with something in the back, heard his name and walked over. He was carrying some sort of green disc.

I squinted at the item in his hands. "Hey, what is that thing?"

His face lit up suddenly. "This, my dear boy, is a technical machine! TMs teach you a certain move that you can use anytime afterward." He glanced at some writing engraved into the disk. "This TM seems to be for the attack leaf storm. Would you be interested in purchasing it for… let's say, six-thousand Poké?"

I thought about it. I didn't currently have the money anyway, but even still, it sounded enticing. I'd learned about attacks like leaf storm in school; Farfetch'd had explained them as very strong, but weaker after each blow.

"Doesn't leaf storm half your special attack temporarily when you use it?" I said. "…Thanks, but I'll pass this time. Not that I have much anyway."

A dry, feminine cough from Leah gathered everyone's attention. She whipped out the crystal ball.

"Oh, my!" the purple Kecleon gasped upon seeing it. "Where did you get that?"

"Remember that tall yellow guy?" Leah asked the shopkeepers. They nodded, and the Fennekin placed the ball on the counter where they could pick it up observe it closer. "He dropped it earlier. Didn't you guys used to sell these on rare occasions?"

"This magnificent device is a Connection Orb," he said as he examined its features just as his brother had. "This isn't a ware that anyone can just buy. It's a wonder of technology that allows you to digitally record the nature of your connections with other Pokemon. By connecting with Pokemon, you can link with their connections as well, and it forms a giant network. It's essentially a supercomputer."

"That's quite a mouthful," I said, most of it going right over my head.

"What's a super com-pew-ter?" Leah went slowly to get the pronunciation right. Clearly most of it went over her head as well.

"Oh, I wouldn't know much about the specifics of that. We're just local merchants dabble mostly with local produce," the purple gecko answered. "I do recall that organizations on the Water Continent—namely the Expedition Society—store their information with computers. It's the kind of stuff that Serene Village folk still aren't too familiar with."

"So we should probably find Ampharos and give this back to him, then?" Leah said.

"Indeed," Kecleon agreed with a nod. "He'll most definitely want it back. This orb is nowhere in the neighborhood of cheap."

We both nodded and walked away. "Thanks for your help!" I called with a parting wave.

Leah turned to me with a silly grin on her face. I looked at her funny, and she held out a paw. "Alright. Pay up, Smugleaf."

"What…? You were serious about that?"

Her smile grew to the edges of her face and adopted an outrageous shade of innocence. "Yep!"

"Fine, alright," I sighed. I had no plans to spend much of my money anyway.

I slapped 50 Poké into Leah's outstretched paw over-dramatically, making her giggle. Then we walked over to the gate discussing places we might find Ampharos, when we conveniently ran into Carracosta.

"Hey pops!" she called as he passed by.

"Hmm? What are you up to, child?"

"Sir, we were wondering if you happened to see a tall yellow Pokemon with a red orb on his forehead." I said.

He cleared his throat and rubbed his chin. "Well," he grunted. "Now that I think about it, I saw someone a lot like that headed toward Poliwrath River. He looked like he'd had his fair share of chesto brandy, stumbling around like a fool."

"Great!" Leah cheered. "Thanks pops!"

Carracosta stared at her for a few seconds before his eyes widened. "Child, you're not actually thinking of going there, are you?"

"Uh, well…" Leah tried to answer.

"Poliwrath River is no place for children!" the turtle boomed. "Especially not for a fire-type who hurt herself clumsily falling on a rock yesterday. I forbid you to go to such a place under any circumstances! Understand?"

Fallen on a rock…?

Oh. Leah must've had to lie to her pops about her wound from Nectar Meadow. By the sound of it, she'd at least been convincing enough.

A defeated Leah sighed at the forbiddance, evidently out of options. "Yes, pops. I understand."

Carracosta just nodded and began to walk away. He stopped after a few steps and turned around.

"I mean it, child."

"I got it, pops. You don't need to worry about us."

That seemed to satisfy him, and he made his exit.

He was barely even out of the plaza when Leah turned to me and said something preposterous.

"So, are you ready to go?"

My mouth hung open, and I echoed what her Pops had just said. "…You're not actually thinking about going there, are you?"

"Of course I am!" she answered with no small amount of enthusiasm. "It'll be fun! No one in our class has been there."

"Leah, Audino said that if we wanted to recover, we'd have to chill out with the dungeon exploring for a few days. Plus, by the sound of it, there's going to a lot of water-types…"

Oh, what did it matter? I could already tell she wasn't going to listen.

"That's why I have you! Onward, Smugleaf!" she beamed. She snatched my arm in one of her paws and used her other three to bound out the gate with me in tow.

I knocked away another Barboach with my vines as we waded further through the wet dungeon.

"Poliwrath River" was a poor name for the whole place—really it was just a swampland with an expanse of forest off to one peripheral horizon and foothills sprawled across the other. Leah stayed behind me assisting my offense from a distance where she was safer from water-type attacks. Regardless, she still had some close calls when she decided to be reckless, which happened more often than I'd have liked to admit.

It was a rocky start getting our chemistry in sync, given that this was our first true adventure as a… team, a duo, a partnership… whatever we were.

Sure, we had already tackled Gabite's cave together, but we never had the foresight to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses then. Now, we had to find a way to make it work as we went. It became apparent to me that Leah had no intention of posing as a role-player even in a place as toxic to her biology as this. By no means was she a weak Pokemon, but her poor judgement of the type disadvantage was occasionally enough to lead to her being overpowered by the constant opposition. She used up three precious reviver seeds before she finally got the memo and let me handle the front lines.

The swamp itself didn't stretch too deep before it hit a solid river, which I assumed was the actual Poliwrath River the dungeon was named for. Leah and I were about to head over to the riverbank to search when a trio of bulky, bipedal, and blue figures emerged from of a deep puddle in front of us. Their bellies were white with a black spiral pattern giving it detail. They raised their fists and stood in a boxing stance.

"Who are you?" the one in the middle barked at us.

"Woah, relax," I chimed in, putting my hands up in surrender. "We're just here looking for a tall yellow Pokemon. Have you seen anyone like that?"

"I am not knowing what you are speaking of," the left Poliwrath bellowed. "But that is no matter. You are in our domain, and we do not take kindly to trespassers!"

"Calm down, we're just—"

"No more talking from you!" the middle Poliwrath interrupted. "I am Poliwrath, and this is my swamp!"

The Poliwrath to his right raised his hand and tapped on his shoulder. "Actually," he said. "I am Poliwrath, not you."

"No," the Poliwrath on the far left interjected. "I am actually Poliwrath!"

Leah and I just stared at them. Clearly, to me at least, even the bosses of some of these local dungeons weren't exactly geniuses.

Good for us, I guess.

"It doesn't matter!" the one in the middle finally declared above their bickering. They all turned to us and balled up their fists and he cried, "We are the Poliwrath brothers, and we will defend our river!"

"Should we turn back?" I whispered behind me.

"No!" Leah sharply whispered back. "We've got to find Ampharos!"

"I'm sure he's fine, he's an electric type and—oh forget it." I trailed off and got in a battle stance. I was fortunate to do so at the time I did, allowing me to barely dodge a preemptive water pulse tossed my way.

I stumbled to the side, but quickly recovered, rushing forward and baiting one of the Poliwrath to strike at me. As soon as he attacked, I jab-stepped and bounced backward. His fist came down in a chop that struck the marsh inches in front of my retreating figure. I took advantage of his momentary immobilization by wrapping his extended arm up with one of my vines.

Leah covered my flank by nailing an approaching Poliwrath with a psybeam while I whipped the daylights out of the one I had constricted. He desperately tried to close the distance between us, but I would always hop back when he did, whipping him with one vine and keeping my hold on his primary arm with the other. He surprised me with a mud slap as I jumped back to avoid one of his punches, and it knocked me back into a puddle of more mud, getting it all over my face.

I cursed, expecting my vision to be blurred by a drop in accuracy, but I oddly felt no such effect. In fact, I almost felt as if I could see… better.

Hadn't something like this happened yesterday?

I wouldn't have much time to ponder it as I scrambled out of the puddle a fraction of a second before his next punch hit where I was sitting. I immediately spun off of my heels and used my pivoting momentum to throw my tail into him. It slammed into his temple, and he was out cold.

I turned around to face Leah. The good news was that she had knocked one of the water and fighting types out with her super-effective psybeam. The bad news was that the one remaining Poliwrath had just finished cannoning her with a water pulse. I tossed a blast seed at his back, catching him off guard and sending him careening into the river a dozen feet away. I blinked and stared at the remaining couple of blast seeds I had. These things were awesome!

"Ngh—!" I heard her grunt in pain, snapping me out of my introspection. Leah had collapsed into a puddle in the turf. Her fur was muddied and soaked.

"Leah! Are you okay?" I rushed to her side, my heart sinking. I nearly collapsed beside her in relief when I discovered her wound from yesterday hadn't reopened.

"Sage? …Is that you? Why are there three of you?" She looked at me with unfocused eyes, leaning on me for support. I held on to her and kept her steady to avoid losing her balance and falling face first into the mud.

"Easy there, don't get all clumsy like that Ampharos fellow…" I tried to stabilize her, but to no avail. Her sense of location had abandoned her.

"Pops, is it bedtime yet?" she slurred. I sighed. That water pulse must've put her in a state of confusion. I sat her down in a relatively dry patch of grass and splashed some water on her face a few times before she came to her senses.

"Ugh… Sage… did we win?"

"Yeah," I sighed in relief. "You, uh, just got a little confused, that's all."

"Oh, alr—look out!"

I spun around and found myself face to face with one of the Poliwrath, who had made his advance unnoticed until too late. Judging by the hateful glare on his face, he clearly wasn't happy about being blasted into the river.

Just as quickly as I noticed his presence, however, a yellow ball of energy from behind him sent him right back into the tributary. Behind the surprise electro ball attack stood the same Ampharos that had been tripping over himself hours before in the plaza.

"Why, if it isn't the kids from the village!" the perplexed electric type said.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed. I placed my hands on the back of my head in reflection of what was almost a nasty hit. "That was close!"

"It is my utmost pleasure." He smiled. No sooner had his smile appeared before being replaced by a shade of curiosity. "But what are you two doing in a place like this?"

"We were looking for you, Ampharos. You dropped your connection orb in the village," Leah said as she grabbed the item out of her bag to give back to him.

"My! How could I be so careless!" he exclaimed. "Thank you my dear!" He took the orb from her and polished it a bit by rubbing it against the orb on his forehead. "Let us remove ourselves from this swamp and talk in a safer area, agreed?"

Leah and I nodded, and we made our way back to the village.

We arrived by sunset, although the mountains on the horizon made it come quicker for Serene Village than it would for places with a level horizon line. The three of us walked up the hill with the big tree on it, overlooking the plaza and taking in the view coated by the colors of the evening. Even though I'd seen it several times now, the view still took my breath away.

"Ah, this is much better," Ampharos blissfully sighed in the cool evening air. "Now, I understand you returned my connection orb to me. For that, I thank you, and I apologize for imposing such a burden on you two kids. It was remiss of me."

"Don't worry about it," I reassured him. "We've been through worse than that." It was no lie, Nectar Meadow had been a far worse experience than that little confrontation by the river.

"Ampharos, I'm a little curious…" Leah mused. "Do you happen to work for the Expedition Society? You know, in Lively Town?"

The lighthouse Pokemon paused for a moment, his forehead bulb reflecting the dying rays of the falling sun.

"No," he finally answered, visibly to her disappointment. "I do not work for the Society."

Leah looked a little downcast, but her ears perked up upon hearing Ampharos's next question. "Are you interested in joining the Expedition Society by any chance?"

"It's my dream!" Leah blurted, her eyes sparkling with passion as she spoke about her goals. "I—I want to take part in helping create a globe of the whole world. And I want to explore new places along the way and help Pokemon in need!"

Ampharos chuckled at the burst of enthusiasm. "That's a truly splendid dream!"

"Yeah, but…" Leah trailed off.

"What's the matter?"

"The Society has only ever hired adults. And even if it wasn't like that, I don't think I have the experience to keep up."

"Now, now," Ampharos comforted her. "Through hard work, you're sure to exceed these limits you so hastily put on yourself… Besides, you don't seem that young."

"Maybe…" Leah said, only a fraction of her pessimism dissolved by the tall Pokemon's reassurance. "But still, I don't think I can wait the year or two necessary in order to be old enough to pass as an adult. I'm just too driven to get things done now, know what I mean?"

Something clicked in Ampharos's eyes.

"I definitely grasp what you're getting at," he told her, smiling wide. "I don't know what to say about that rule concerning children. I wonder who could've surmised such a preposterous restriction?" He shook his head. "Anyhow, you say you want to help them now, correct? I think I might have just the thing."

Ampharos rummaged through his large bag and pulled out something that looked like your average toolkit. He raised it above his head dramatically before setting it on the ground in front of us.

"This," he began, pointing at the box. "Is a Junior Expedition Society kit! Complete with Society badges and Society gadgets… for junior members of course."

"Junior members?" I repeated.

"Indeed. Junior members are like actual Society members, except they're junior members instead."

This explanation, or overall lack of one, left me even more confused than before. It didn't matter to Leah, however, who was visibly sold at the words "actual Society members".

I guessed what he meant was that this stuff would technically make us explorers, just not with the same load of responsibility that the Society would normally distribute. Right? Yeah, that sounded right, probably. I was indeed a bit confused about it, but I couldn't find anything to complain about yet. I certainly wasn't about to decline right off the bat.

"Woah!" Leah gasped as she admired the goodies in the toolbox. "Sage, this means we can basically become members right now!"

I smiled at her enthusiasm. I'd honestly have been lying if I said I wasn't a bit excited myself. This revelation would mean that most of our common exploring now would actually carry some initiative. Having real-world goals added to a recreational hobby was bound to be beneficial, right?

"It comes with a connection orb as well," Ampharos said, handing a brand-new one to us. "In order to actually use it, you'll need to insert it into that groove in the Society gadget."

The gadget was a hexagonally shaped plate with a groove at the top obviously intended to fit the connection orb. I took the orb from Ampharos's outstretched hand and inserted it snugly into the opening. Pixels on the gadget's face buzzed to life as Leah and I were now staring at a menu controlled with a touch screen.

"This is some technology I've never seen before!" Leah squealed. "Is it true that the Expedition Society stores their information digitally?"

"Why, you'll just have to ask them one day!" Ampharos replied, patting her on the head. I began playing around with the gadget, exploring some of the settings and eventually coming across the 'map' feature. Ampharos took notice and explained it to me.

"That, right there, is a map of this area of the Water Continent," he explained. "To expand your map to that of the Nexus Atlas in Lively Town, you'll need to visit the Expedition Society and link your gadget up with the database at their headquarters."

I nodded, taking it all in. Leah's ears perked up at Ampharos's mention of Lively Town, and she began bouncing with excitement.

"One day that's where we're gonna go!" she declared. "Right Sage?"

I continued to observe her enthusiasm, and remembered the promise I had given her on this hill days before. I told her I'd help her accomplish her dream, even though at the time I had no reason to. It was terribly naive of me to commit to something like that only days into entering this world, especially when I didn't know if I could trust anyone. But in hindsight, I was convinced I hadn't made a mistake. My gambit with Leah was fresh and a bit rough around the edges thus far, but it seemed that if I were to stay in this world, sticking with her for the long term was by far the best-presented course of action. So, that's exactly what I communicated to her.

"Right!" I answered, returning some of the optimism and broadening her grin. "I'm looking forward to it."

"I'm glad to see you two so peppy!" Ampharos chuckled. "I'm glad to have met such bright youths!"

"Likewise," I replied, shaking his hand firmly with a vine. "But, I have a question actually…"

"What are you needing to know?"

I cleared my throat. "A couple of times while exploring dungeons, I've gotten into confrontations with Pokemon that have used attacks to try and hinder my fighting ability. Instead of the intended effect, however, I experienced the weird outcome of actually having my abilities boosted instead. Like the effect was reversed on itself."

Leah tilted her head in confusion. Ampharos rubbed his chin, contemplating my description. "Perhaps you can give an example of this phenomenon?" he suggested.

"I got hit by a string shot attack while dueling with a hostile Beedrill," I explained. "The sticky string is supposed to slow you down, right?"

Ampharos nodded. "Naturally, yes. That is the intended effect."

"Well, my speed went up, not down. And today, one of those Poliwrath got mud in my face to blind me, but it only ended up improving my vision rather than an accuracy drop. Is this some kind of natural paradox or something?"

Ampharos hummed before going silent for a few moments. Leah and I watched him process my claim until he finally surmised an answer. "I believe I might have some idea of what's going on, but I couldn't really tell you much, I'm afraid. I'd suggest visiting the library in Lively Town, assuming you two plan on following through with your words of an eventual trip. It can provide plenty of information you can use to learn about these kinds of phenomenon."

"But I've never experienced anything like that, though," Leah pitched in. "So it can't be something that happens to everyone."

"Some Pokemon's genetics are not confined only to their initial values," Ampharos said. "…Not that I am a scholar of any kind. My word is not much better than yours, hah!"

I nodded, and scratched my chin. Perhaps Lively Town was a plausible destination for me in the near future? If there was any documentation of my transition into a Pokemon, it would probably be in a library, right?

"Wait," Leah began, snapping me and Ampharos out of our respective thoughts and ending the brief silence that had fallen on our group. She looked up at Ampharos. "If you don't work for the Society… how did you get your hands on this expensive equipment?"

"Ah," Ampharos chimed, raising his hand in the air. "I understand your suspicion. It is true that I do not work for the Society. However, I never said I wasn't associated with the Society."

Before we could press the issue further about this mysterious Pokemon, he engaged in giving us a brief lesson on how to use the gadget and the badges that we were given. Ampharos suggested we enter a "team name", since we were technically going to be recognized as a Water Continent rescue and exploration team. He explained that all teams had a title that they were known by, making global identification easier.

"It should be something significant about us," Leah insisted. "Something binding us together that we can relate to."

"Uhh…" I stammered, unable to pick up any mental traction. Leah scratched her forehead and twitched her nose in deep thought. "…Yeah, I got nothing."

Leah looked up at me expectantly, angling her ears forward. "What's something we have in common?"

"Well…" I ran my hand along my outstretched collar. "Part of why we promised to be friends was because of how misunderstood we both are, right?"

She considered it for a moment, scratching her chin and staring at the dazzling sky above us. "That's true. Everyone thinks I'm a troublemaker and everyone thought you were a liar… or at least they did before yesterday's success in Nectar Meadow. What was that Simipour had said in his speech when Pancham was calling you out?"

His words returned to me. I had been so grateful that the principal had come to my aid that day that I could still recall the words he'd said.

"…The moral is this: the gravity of your perspective defines your reality, not the other way around. The angle at which you see things determines what is there to be seen. It is the prism of truth."

I mused over his words, trying to draw inspiration. Could I produce a name for a full-fledged exploration team from that?

Team Truth…? No, that's awful.

Team, uh… Perspective…? Not too bad, but it's got one too many syllables.

I thought for a moment longer.

Team… Prism? …I mean, it's got a ring to it. Why not?

"He had talked about a 'prism of truth'," I answered. "Why not Team Prism?"

"Team… Prism… It's got a ring to it," Leah replied, mimicking my thoughts while barely stopping to think about it herself. "I like it!"

I typed in the words into the gadget, holding it with my vines as I used my arms to tap the letters on the digital keyboard. I registered Leah and I as the only members. Leah insisted that I be registered as the "leader" since I had covered the front both times we had explored a full dungeon together. I didn't object; I was in no position to scrutinize Leah's work ethic after she saved my life yesterday.

With our work done, Leah and I finally bid farewell to Ampharos, who said he'd be leaving tomorrow before dawn. We headed to our homes to avoid a scolding for being late for our dinners. Leah let me take the Society stuff home with me since she didn't feel like answering questions about the expensive gear from her pops.

Despite the fact that Audino had told us not to strain ourselves for the next few days, I found comfort in the way Leah and I worked together to pull through today's quest to find Ampharos. Even if we got battered and drenched a couple of times, I could literally feel my cells getting stronger as the days passed. The soreness remained, however, and the only relief that could silence it was the warm bed awaiting my return.

I ate dinner with Nuzleaf (who didn't bother to ask why I'd arrived home with a fresh set of bruises) before collapsing into its soft comfort. Leah and I were probably going to be working hard tomorrow with our new "duties", whatever they would be, and it was now essential that I got quality sleep each night.

My mind drifted, wondering about the things we'd be doing as an exploration team until my fatigued mind and body could no longer maintain consciousness.