Decrypted

"Ow!"

"Well, hold still!" Katy snapped, trying to clean the wound on his arm. Then she sighed. "William, this needs stitches; I told you we should have just taken you to the hospital."

"I think we can super glue it. It will be all right." He said, looking at his upper arm before she covered it with a patch of gauze and taped it.

"Great. You carry around super glue with you, Boss?" Christian sat on the cot in the Pokémon Center. Xander had been taken by the nurse to treat his wounds, and was briefly questioned about the nature of the battle. Katy had lied and said it was a wild Pokémon battle. While they waited, they sat on a cot with Katy's extensive first aid kit and attempted to patch up William.

Other than some minor injuries, including a rolled ankle, he was exhausted from energy depletion. He complained about being cold and a little nauseated, symptoms which he had described to Katy before. Now she could fully appreciate the battle she just witnessed and how impressive it actually was. "William, you were amazing. The way you kept going after her was just… incredible. And thank you so much for doing your best to protect Xander."

"You were right about that Pokémon. He is a good listener." William cleared his throat from some blood that had run from his nose. "You know they say only trainers who have the purest hearts and the utmost integrity can ever gain the trust of a Lucario." He met Katy's eyes.

She looked back to his wound, making sure it was taped properly. "Well… I happen to think I just got lucky with a really good one."

"He's a really good one all right, but you're…" William nodded. "You're a good trainer. And a good person."

Katy blinked at him. "Did you just compliment me?"

"I did, as a matter of fact." He coughed and his nose started bleeding again. He quickly caught it with an already bloodied tissue.

"Hm. What did I do to deserve that?"

"Just… putting up with me, I guess." He hung his head, holding the tissue to his nose.

"Do I get a compliment too?" Christian grinned at him.

"Maybe when you decide to quite calling me Boss."

Christian narrowed his eyes in consideration. "… Nah, not worth it."

"Wah," The Ralts climbed into William's lap and hugged his middle.

"That's so cute," Katy grinned. "She loves you so much."

"I don't have any idea why," William sniffled, checking to see if his nose had stopped bleeding again.

"Because of your Special Ability, man! She's attached to you now! Just like Ripley and Loki and Eevee and that creepy ass moth." Christian shivered at the last part. He must not care for Bug Pokémon. Or at least not Crona.

Katy didn't verbalize it, but she was a little worried about William. Not because of his duel today (though that definitely scared a few years off her total life) but because he was affiliated with Advancement and he did have a Special Ability. It was known now by those videos and lab notes they found on Taron's machine that they were needing test subjects who had Special Abilities. And if William was right about the government wanting to weaponize Special Abilities… "… William, did you say that your Special Ability was… largely combat-oriented?"

"Completely combat-oriented," Christian corrected politely. "He can copy physical attacks that are intended to harm him, and he can predict physical attacks that are intended to harm him."

"And I still got my ass kicked," the older man said in a monotone voice.

"No you didn't, you fought wonderfully," Katy rubbed his shoulder briefly. "But I wonder… if… Never mind."

"What?" Christian looked at her.

"Nothing. Just… concerned about what we're going to find when Nikki decrypts those files."

The trek back to the library from the Advancement building the next day was entirely too long for Katy. She couldn't remember it being this long before, even though they were taking the same route. Her mind was overwhelmed with the now readable files that lie in William's back pocket. He walked ahead of the two of them on the busy sidewalks, getting second glances from passersby at his black eye and busted lip. He looked like he had been through the ringer—and he had; but so did Nikki. But she didn't limp like he did. And even though he limped, he still kept a regular pace. Christian wasn't even listening to his music; he must have been thinking about the files too.

At the library, William sat down at the exact same station they'd sat at before and plugged in the hard drive again. This time he knew exactly which folder to navigate to. When he opened the files, he began to read. Christian and Katy huddled close on each side of him to read as well.

While it wasn't immediately apparent it became such at all once when Katy found the paragraph. There it was. In black and white. A request from the federal government of this nation for Advancement Incorporated to begin the process of—William guessed it—the transference of psychic energy from Pokémon to Deviants.

Katy sat back, her mouth hung open a little. "I don't believe it."

"What does it say for?" Christian was eager for William to open another document.

"It doesn't say," William answered. And it's likely they won't divulge why they want it. They don't have to give reasons to Advancement for wanting something. They just have to give this." William pointed his cursor at the "$20,000,000."

"They're paying Advancement twenty million dollars for this research." Christian shook his head, apparently unable to fathom such a sum.

"Paying them for not just the research but the success of transferring psychic energy to a Deviant. Permanently probably." William clicked to another document.

"The government wants to make Deviants into super humans. And they're going to use Psychic Pokémon to achieve it." The Ralts in Katy's grip looked up at her as if it knew it was being referred to in some way.

There wasn't much to say after that. And the documents didn't hold much more information either. The question still remained, though: was it really for weaponization?

It was known that both Deviants and Pokémon occupied the military branches of the nation. Perhaps the government's goal was to create a branch or all branches full of Deviants with Special Abilities. At dinner, Katy spoke up in the silence. "It didn't say specifically transferring the energy to Deviants with Special Abilities. It just said Deviants. Maybe they're trying to create Special Abilities in Deviants who don't have them by using Pokémon's psychic energy."

William looked at her with his one eye that wasn't swollen to near closing. "Yeah. You're right. That's a really good point."

"So maybe Deviants with Special Abilities aren't necessarily the target," said Christian, putting down his sandwich. "I wonder if they would use Special Ability Deviants to transfer psychic energy to regular Deviants?"

"I'm not so sure," William replied, "They can get in trouble a lot easier by using humans on humans than they can Pokémon on humans. Besides, Special Abilities typically come as one psychic thing whereas Psychic Pokémon can do multiple psychic things."

It got quiet again. Katy had taken to stirring in her food like William did before his duel with Nikki. Now that it was over, he had no problems cleaning his plate it seemed. "… How come you don't have a Delphox," she asked.

He chewed a little more thoroughly before he talked around what was left. "Why would I need a Delphox?"

"Because it's Fire and Psychic type. I bet a Delphox would be your best friend."

"Yeah, she's right, Boss! You should buy a Fennekin!" Christian grinned.

"I'm all right. Besides, it looks like I'm stuck with a Psychic type already." He looked next to him on the table where the Ralts was eating his cornbread with happy, tiny bites.

"So you do claim her, then? Because she claims you!" Katy giggled.

"Yeah, might as well."

"Oh shit," Christian said, looking at his trainer's brace. "Tomorrow is Thanksgiving."

"Oh my God, is it?" Katy started tapping her trainer's brace. Sure enough, she had unread messages from both her parents, asking if she was going to be home tomorrow. "Aw, shit."

"Can you go home still?" William said.

She sighed. "I could, but I don't really want to travel that far."

"Then come home with me and meet my mom! Both of you should!" Christian exclaimed. "Yeah! That's a great idea! I actually should go home because my mom has an early birthday present for me." He leaned forward. "Seriously. She makes the best hash brown casserole. Let me call her." He started tapping his brace and before Katy could tell him she didn't want to impose, his mother was already appearing on the screen on his brace. "Hi, Mommy!"

William mouthed the word "mommy" at his plate, raising his eyebrows as he picked at his vegetables.

"Hey, Sweetheart! You coming home for Thanksgiving tomorrow?" said the woman's voice from his brace.

"Yeah, I was wanting to bring two friends with me. Is that okay?"

"Sure! The more the merrier!" she answered immediately.

"Great! It's William, you heard me talk about him, and my new friend Katy!" Christian held his arm out so his friends could see his screen, and so his mother could see them. Both William and Katy were trying to sign to Christian to not do such a thing. Their hands changed from making slicing motions at their necks to waving politely.

"Hi, guys! Yes, please come home with Christian! There will be plenty to eat! I hope you like pumpkin pie!"

"Thanks," Katy said with a forced smile.

"Okay, Mom, I'll see you tonight." Christian looked back at his brace.

"Okay, honey, be careful. I love you!"

"Love you too. Bye!" He canceled the call.

"You didn't have to invite us," said William.

"Of course I did! We godda do something for Thanksgiving and I can't cook to save my life." Christian finished off his sandwich.

"Well… at least it gives me an excuse to not have to go home." Said Katy.

"Yeah, and you don't have to travel far. My mom is just in Winona."

"You didn't ask William if he has plans with his family," Katy looked to the older man.

He shook his head, finishing off his plate of food. "Don't have any."

Katy blinked. "… No family?"

He took a breath as if he were about to explain something he'd rehearsed before. "Orphan. No known relatives. Grew up in a group home and ran away when I was fifteen. Got a job, saved up enough money to buy a Charmander." He shrugged. "Here I am."

The Ralts immediately became weepy. Katy would realize later that it was feeling her emotions, her sympathy for William. She couldn't imagine not having parents that didn't support her in her decisions, raise her to be a decent human, see her off on her Pokémon adventure and welcome her home when it was time to rest. He had nowhere to go. While he may have a home, was it really home without someone there who loves you? "I'm so sorry, William. I had no idea."

"Don't be. It's not a big deal."

Katy inhaled. "Well, I think Thanksgiving with your mom will be wonderful, Christian. Thank you for inviting us."

"Of course! I can't wait!"

Katy found herself a little excited too. Not necessarily for meeting new people, but she was about to celebrate a holiday with two people she'd become, what she felt, remarkably close to for such a small period of time. And better yet, William was going to experience a family, no matter how small and mismatched it may be.