This chapter was updated/revised on January 25, 2020

Concern

"You say you wander your own land
But when I think about it
I don't see how you can."

Keane

June told Annastasia about her phone call with Cassandra. Not long after that conversation, Annastasia returned to the bungalow with Rumika, Lily, Maya, and her parents. Everyone else was still out helping the police, including Soledad and her group.

"Thank you so much," Annastasia told June the moment they got back to the house. "Now we found out which island Amber was on we can get a better estimate of where she could be going from there based on how long it took her to travel. The local police have working with us and Giovanni and Delia have all of Team Rocket searching for them in every other region."

"Uh, no problem," said June.

The kids were unsure of how to feel about the situation or if they were currently hurting or helping their peers. The trio didn't explain any of their motives, and so the other kids felt removed from the tasks at hand, especially June and Takeshi.

"How's Rita?" Takeshi asked Annastasia.

"She woke up, pissed because she was hungry, but calmed down after talking with Ralph. That was short-lived because then he whispered something to her and then she got mad and nearly strangled him while yelling about him making her go out. Oh, and she cried over the loss of her motorbike. She did have major surgery, so she is kinda out of it, but at least she is awake," Annastasia explained. "She's not quite herself, but she'll get there."

"Good; I was afraid she wouldn't wake up."

"Takeshi…That rarely happens."

"Did you tell her about the…um…crisis?" June inquired.

"No. Rita was overtaxed and I didn't want to wear her down any further. I will wait until she feeling better physically to tell her about it, so I suggest you don't say anything about it if you talk to her. How's everything going over here? Where's everyone else?"

"We are surviving fine without you, cuzzin," Logan answered as he entered the room. "Takeshi and June's parents and Serena and Bonnie are cooking us food."

"Where are Michio, Jocelyn, and Benny?"

"The nursery," said June.

"Is Jocelyn feeling better?" Jessie asked as she, Rumika, and James came through the door.

"She still feels like Jay betrayed her," said Logan. "I am not sure what is going on now. Last I heard she was ranting to Michio."

Rumika continued to talk to the kids while Jessie, James, and Annastasia walked to the backroom. The door was shut, and all they could hear was the low murmur of a quiet conversation. James knocked a few times on the door. Benny answered it.

"We're back," James said quietly.

Jocelyn was sitting on the couch holding Silver, who was fast asleep. Michio was next to her holding Rose, who laughed loudly when she noticed her parents and sister coming towards her. Jessie picked her up.

"Thanks for watching them," Jessie mumbled.

"Sure," Michio replied, a little surprised at how soft Jessie looked and sounded in that moment.

"They were bad and good," Jocelyn said as she handed Silver to James. "Not like Jay, who is just bad."

"You are still mad at him?" James asked.

"He didn't even say where he was going. He said he would never leave me behind. Jay is a liar. Amber promised too. And I thought Jezz was nice."

"Something happened to make them leave, and we are going to find out what it was," Annastasia responded. "They didn't leave just to be mean."

"It seems like it. Or maybe they were just tired of contests. It was my idea to do them…"

"I don't think this has anything to do with contests," said James. "Or you."

"I already told her all this," Michio told Jessie, James, and Annastasia.

"You know Jocelyn, my big brother left me alone too," said Benny. "But I'm not mad."

"That's different," Jocelyn retorted. "You and Tamaki decided together."

"Flaafy!" Flaafy agreed.

"Bounsweee!" said Pinky, mimicking Flaafy's tone.

"Look on the bright side: you will always have your Pokémon right there when you need them. And when Jay, Amber, and Jezz return, we will make them apologize to you and everything will be fine," said Annastasia. "Have you been training with Plusle and Minun some more? They seem to really like you."

"Minunnnn!" Minun chirped, hugging Flaafy.

"Plussss!" Plusle sang, hugging Minun.

"I suppose," Jocelyn sighed as she gazed at the Pokémon. "Plusle and Minun have been training with me and Michio."

The Pokémon rubbed their cheeks against Jocelyn's face. Jocelyn laughed, picked them up, and then left the room with her parents, the twins, Benny, and some of the other Pokémon following behind, leaving Annastasia, Bleu, and Lil-G alone with Michio, Mienshao, and Peruva.

"I didn't realize until today that Jocelyn was so attached to that trio," Annastasia commented. "Though it does make sense. Jay is closer to her in age, and unlike most big brothers, he likes to include her in a lot of things. Jay was always the extra fun sibling; he used to always play games with her after school and they'd hang out on weekends together and with Amber. Now that neither of them is in school and Jay has more friends that are closer to his age around, I think their relationship has changed and that makes her uncomfortable."

"That would make sense," Michio replied. "At least your other brother and sister were pleasant. Jocelyn was driving me up a wall."

"I bet she is jealous of Rose, too. Jocelyn said that ever since she was born you spent more time talking to Rose than you to do her, and it didn't seem to me that she was content with it. And now she's agitated because she's taking the thing with Amber, Jezz, and Jay personally."

"I can see that. What's your theory?"

"You want to know why I think Jezz really left?"

"Yes."

"It's as I said before."

"I want you to elaborate."

"Why?"

"Because you're smart and if anyone can figure it out, it'd be you."

"That's unjustified bootlicking."

"I wanna hear your ideas. You don't have to share."

"No, I'll share. So…I noticed that Jezz was internally conflicted a while ago. I knew this whole journey that he was keeping something from me, but I had no idea what. I'm guilty for not being able to help him. I feel like I drove him away. I said something to trigger him, but I don't know what. They are only preteens. I wasn't expecting so much drama from them. I didn't have this much drama in my life when I was their age."

"I did."

"I know. Haku, Alina, and Lona, right?"

"Unfortunately. A, you need to take your mind off this."

"I know. So…Haku, Lona, and Alina: who are they really?"

"Why do you care?"

"I think I have some obvious reasons. But if you want specifics, I'll tell you about how they egged the house again yesterday and left me a note. I don't want them coming around here anymore. It's creepy, annoying, and we never even did anything to them."

Michio and Annastasia sighed together. Lil-G and Peruva brought them their water bottles and they drank together.

"I knew they egged the house because your mom made me scrub it off," said Michio. "But I didn't see or hear anything about a note."

"It was addressed to me, and it was pretty gross, but I take insults well," Annastasia replied. "I tore it apart before anyone else could read it. It's safe to assume it's those girls who keep bothering us and that this isn't one of Sandshrew's welcome home presents."

"I hate them so much. Last I saw them was yesterday. Haku came to check on Mienshao. She apparently wanted to make sure he was comfortable or something like that. The cat's a spy, I bet. Which one of them wrote the note?"

"All three of them signed. It's not the note that is the problem, it's the fact that they're still bothering us. They also claimed to have some kind of relationship with Jezz, early on, and when I last heard from her. I don't know if that is a joke or not, but I passed the message to Rumika just in case. It may be important, especially now. Have they done anything to you lately?"

"Some hate mail, nothing new. Why do you want to know so much about them? I figured you'd be the kind of person to just ignore them."

"Just because I have tolerance doesn't mean that I let people walk all over me. Tell me about them. Start from the beginning. I need a break, I've been working since 4:00 am, and you never talk about them."

"I don't talk about them for a reason."

"Can you try? Please? I want to talk about something other than my failure as a temporary guardian."

"Fine then. I'll tell you about another shit show."

Annastasia had made herself comfortable on the couch and was staring at him expectantly. He took a deep breath and tried to gather his thoughts.

"You sure look excited," he sniggered.

"I sure am," she replied.

"I suppose I'll start with Kuku Puanani."

Annastasia poked him. "What the hell is 'Kuku Puanani'?"

"My great-grandmother, and probably my number one enemy."

"That must be hard to achieve; you have so many."

"Is this going to be a conversation where you interrupt every few sentences with a divergence?"

"Yes…I can't help it. It's my programming."

"That's fine. Let's talk about something else."

"No, Michio, go on. Please?"

"I first encountered that trio at our Keiko Pa'ina."

"What's that? Write it down."

Michio took out a pen and wrote down the foreign word.

"Keiko Pa'ina," she read aloud. "Oh, knew that…I just never heard anyone with an accent say it before. I studied the language on my own."

"I can get rid of the accent, you know. I just need to practice talking like a Kantonian, or a Kantonite, whatever you people call it," he replied.

"I don't think we have a word for that. But I like your accent. The last time you tried to copy a Kanto accent, all I could think about was how mean you sounded. It was weird. Trust me, you should keep it. And now we're getting off track…"

"We can diverge if you want."

"No, I want to focus on one thing at a time for once. No more distractions…go."

"Keiko Pa'ina is the day everyone around here gets together to name all the babies born that month. It's an Alolan tradition to name all the babies born in the same month at the same time, and there is a big party surrounding it. It is always held on the last day of the month, in my case, December 31. Only family members and neighbors within your class rank are usually allowed to attend that specific party. That meant that for the Kapule family, only members of their Klan were allowed to come. I was born in the same month as Haku Kukununu, Alina Palu, and Lona Laan, so the Kapule Party was for us."

"Essentially, they forced you together, since that day at the festival, right?"

"And they haven't left me alone since. All these rich snobby people like me come all dressed like royalty. They bring the family presents, congratulating them on having a child or whatever. Usually, they bring an elaborate dessert accompanied by a huge check, expensive jewelry, or a scholarship, something like that. It is the Kapule tradition to see who would be willing to spend the most money, and it became a contest to see which of the four babies would receive the most money. I bet you can't guess who got the most."

"You?"

"Haku. This news was devastating to my family. Before my parents and grandparents had chosen a name for me, they discovered that I didn't win their little competition, and they were pissed. I can think of a few reasons as to why it was so. First, I was the second son to be born to them, not the first. In Alola, second sons often get the inheritance, but only the eldest sons get titles and higher respect. Or the eldest girls, of course, which was the case for Haku, Alina, and Lona. But my neighbors had another reason to not like me. At least, that is what my relatives perceived. They knew my mother was a cheater. While she had already been caught and shamed for cheating, which she did for almost a year before anyone found out, they still antagonized her. Of course, it was assumed among my family members that I was actually her and my legal father's baby—keeping up appearances was essential—there were people who used gossip as gospel. And I so I was one of those 'rogue kids'. They called all the deviating babies 'rogue kids'. I got less than a quarter of what the girls had each received. I was bitter when I found out about this rogue kid stuff around age five. Then I learned that my parents were going to buy me whatever I wanted anyway so I didn't care anymore."

"What does this have to do with your great-grandmother?"

"My great-grandmother is the one who restarted this tradition. It's an ancient tradition, but she is the person who got my family back into it. She really pushed it, and she spread all those rumors about me being a rogue kid. She is the person in my family with the most power overall, so whatever she says is true, regardless of whether people believe her. She directed this event and all the other ones like it," he explained. "And in doing so she set the stage for what the rest of my life would be like."

"The rest of your life? Tell me more."

"You know most of it."

"I don't know everything."

"Haku was like the princess of the town. Her daily wardrobe must have cost more than your house in Pallet. Alina and Lona were like her second-in-command princesses, and I was the standout. I should also point out that I am the only Alola native I know who has a Japanese name, not a traditional Hawaiian one. And I was the only boy my age. The one closest to me is my brother, then this other kid who is two years younger than me. Then there was my father, who was less than happy to raise me. He adored Koan but had difficulty even tolerating me. I knew the difference by the time I was four years old. My grandparents on his side, the ones you met, also disliked me, especially as I got older, especially now. Even though most Alola natives have similar features, it became apparent to most of my relatives that I did not look enough like my legal father to be his biological son. This came up in a lot of conversations. Secret conversations, but they were still there, in the shadows and in locked rooms."

"You and your brother look alike. How did they justify their comments?"

"They said I was too pale and my eyes were too green."

Annastasia held her hand up against his.

"That's a dumb explanation. Look how dark your hand is compared to mine. And your eyes are brown. Sure, they are not really super dark brown…like hazel, there's a little bit of viridian…"

"My hair, skin, and eyes were much lighter when I was younger."

"They still do. It's dark green. Hard to see unless you really stare. Like some of the people in my family."

"Remember that whatever Kuku Puanani said was true, so if she said I was rogue, there was no arguing about it."

"I am hoping for this to gets more interesting, maybe a little less snarky too, I'll stop interrupting."

"You do that. I think was telling you about my parents."

"You were."

"Keaka overcompensated for what Makoa didn't do. She spoiled me—and for a while, I liked it. She let me wear my hair longer than most other boys were allowed to grow theirs and always bought me what I wanted, no matter what it was. My dad liked me when I was a baby, I think, but when the rumors about me being somebody else's kid got more and more frequent, he decided it would be better to spend less time with me. Meanwhile, I got this reputation for being gay, even though I was a toddler at the time, and that made the divide even deeper. Though my parents never divorced, there was a very obvious separation. Kuku Puanani, my paternal grandparents, aunts, and uncles told my mom that she and I were the ones who started this mess."

"I appreciate you confiding, but I can tell it's hard. Wanna stop?"

Michio stopped staring at his hands and looked up.

"I might as well get it all—or most of—it out now," he said.

"You do you," Annastasia replied.

"My father gave up on me and focused almost entirely on Koan. He conditioned Koan to be the way he wanted to be. Looking back, I'm not upset that he didn't like me. My life might've been more difficult; I don't know. Koan was one of three boys and six girls in our circle that were born in the same summer. That was apparently ideal, because as far as I knew, you were expected to eventually marry another member of our circle, and it was always preferable that it was someone of the opposite sex that was the same age as you. No outsiders, as you know. But I never thought that applied to me, since I was always treated as an outsider. While I knew there was a possibility, they would expect me to marry someone in our circle, there wasn't a focus on me the way there was a focus on Koan. Also, Keaka didn't talk about it with me much, so it was not something I thought of often."

"It now makes sense why it seems that everyone else in Alola knows about the odd arranged marriage deal but you didn't. Maybe your mom thought that it wouldn't apply to you since you weren't treated like the other boys."

"I think that's it too. Reputation aside, I was still spoiled rotten, as you know. I had millions of dollars at my disposal, and I was only a kid. That would later come back up and bite my ass, but at the time it was the only thing I felt I had going for me, other than my Pokémon of course."

"Liiiieeeeeparrrr," Peruva purred. She rested her head in his lap and forced him to pet her.

"I got Peruva when we were in Unova on a mother-son vacation. It was common for us. My mom wanted me to see the 'civilized world' outside of the Kapule Klan so we visited I think every island in Alola as well as several of the nicest cities in Unova. My mom got me Peruva when she was a Purrloin from this breeder. I think I mentioned before how both her parents were shinies, and my mom insisted on purchasing her because it means that if Peruva ever has kittens, they would have a much higher chance of being shinies too. And it is common knowledge that purebred catlike monz are healthier, stronger, and more intelligent than mixed-bred ones."

"Don't tell my uncle, aunt, cousins, and Maya that," Annastasia warned. "They'll use Fury Swipes on you every day of your life. Okay, well Maya probably wouldn't, but I can vouch for the others."

"That's what my mother told me, years ago. I always believed what she said. Weren't you like that with your parents?"

"Mostly."

"Peruva prompted my interest in Pokémon training. I battled wild Pokémon to get stronger but I never kept them. I was only interested in the 'best': the shinies, purebreds, and legendaries. By the time I was ten, I had created the ultimate team: Peruva, three purebred shinies, and two legendaries, Darkrai and Lunala. I won the Alola Pokémon League that year, and the next, and basically every year up until I was sent to Kanto. I even won in Unova twice."

"Is all that what made you…like, a jerk?"

"It started before that. I remember being four and thinking about the disconnect between me and everyone around me."

"I bet you internalized the insults and accusations."

"I didn't want to—but I did."

"It kinda made you a douche."

"That's not the reason I'm a jerk."

"Then what is?"

"It's easier to be rude than it is to be polite."

"Sometimes."

"It was in my world."

"Fair."

"I sorta grew up believing that everything Haku, Lona, Alina, and my elders said was true. My three biggest preachers were Alina, Haku, and Lona. They are the ones who always called me out, even on personal matters…you know what I mean."

"I actually don't know what you mean."

"They were always trying to get me. They made me hate girls."

"You don't hate girls now."

"I hate some girls now."

"But not all."

"No."

"My experience was a lot like that too. Well, not 'a lot', but I can see some connections. I always went to parties with Rita and our Team Rocket friends, or I'd go with Nolan and Lexi, and that is when I realized how much I don't like guys or girls. I liked having a drink, catching up with friends, and meeting new people, but I hated what usually followed, or what people expected to follow. So, I decided to ignore guys because they were always so pushy. It's why I got angry at you so easily when we first met. Too bad we didn't meet when we were twelve."

"That'd have been...too good to imagine."

"Awe. Sorry for the other divergence."

"It's not like I have anything interesting to add…"

"Try."

"My father became furious when he heard that I was being antisocial. Then he heard about what the other kids and their parents were calling me, and he took his rage out on me. He pulled me out of my snobby and elitist prep school I had to go to and in exchange had me homeschooled by a professional private tutor. Haku, Lona, and Alina's parents did the same, and next thing I knew, I was stuck with them for an additional eight hours per day."

"For you, homeschooling was even worse than prep school. What kind of school is a prep school even supposed to be? What were you supposed to be prepping for?"

"My future, apparently. They called it 'etiquette' school or some shit like that. Waste of time, waste of money, waste of energy. And you know what that led to—"

"Bad stuff."

"The first time I stole alcohol from my parents' I was six years old. My father and the servants just kept it lying around the house, and I spent a lot of time in the house. I was told it was forbidden by both of my parents, so I obviously took the first opportunity I had to get some. It was innocent at first. I would take some of that nasty-tasting expensive shit and mix it with sugar. It was insane how relieved I felt after that. It was my favorite pastime since I wasn't allowed to watch TV when my dad was home. I opted for Captain Morgan and Chivas Regal Royal Salute instead."

"That's a coincidence. The first time I had alcohol, it was Captain Morgan. My dad bought it all the time when I was younger because it had the name 'Morgan' in it. That is strong for a young person; I didn't have any until I was ten and I was inaugurated into a new rank in Team Rocket," Annastasia told him. "But I never heard of 'Chivas Regal Royal Salute'."

"Probably because it costs $1,000 per bottle."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"Michio!"

"I didn't expect you to sympathize, but you did want me to be honest."

"It's just so…you needed help wayyy before I came along."

"We both already knew that."

"Okay."

"As I mentioned, I still saw the other kids around despite not being in school anymore. I was expected to go to their 'appointments', but I suppose most people would call them 'playdates'. As you probably guessed, they were always included Haku, Alina, and Lona, sometimes exclusively. It was torturous. From age two until age twelve I was forced to keep those appointments. If I didn't, one or both of my parents would punish me. The punishments from Makoa were harsh, but it Keaka wasn't so bad...just felt like it. And Kuku Puanani was keeping a checklist, and every time I got punished, I got a strike against me. And shame, but as I got older, I decided that I didn't care whether they tried to shame me, because it stopped working. On the other hand, those three girls were, from the outside, well-behaved ladies with good moral and social standing, and they never got punished once. However, from my internal perspective, they were controlling, selfish, and petty. And they still are."

"They couldn't have been that bad, not as little children. What did they make you do? Gossip? Play team-party? Have fake weddings?"

"They did those things, but each time I saw them it was one judgment after the next. They always got their way, and I got blamed for all the lying and stealing they did."

"They were bullies."

"Yeah."

"I had bullies too."

"I know. The difference is that I deserved mine."

"No, you didn't. No one does, especially not you."

"I at least thought that when I was younger, especially when it was really bad."

"They didn't do anything to you, personally right? Because you can do something about it."

"You mean like beat me up? Technically, it was their Pokémon that pounded me."

"Ouch…didn't they get in trouble for that?"

"I could never prove it was them and no one believed me the first few times, so I stopped reporting it and made sure my Pokémon were on-guard."

"Maybe we can prove it."

"Even if we could, I wouldn't want to go there."

"I see. Well, before, I was actually thinking of sexual assault. I know what that is like…But I imagine getting beat up by Pokémon is just as awful."

"Not quite. What are you talking about? Why would you bring that up?"

"This story is familiar."

"Oh yeah. It didn't quite get to that…"

"But I don't want to talk about it now, and it really isn't anything you haven't heard before. I want you to talk. You never really talk much about your past. This is good. Well, it's mostly bad, but good for you to share."

"Why do you care so much about what I share?"

"The same reason you like it when I share."

"You mean because you…"

"…love you. I do."

"I do too. I mean, I do you."

"You do me? Since when?"

"C'mon, you know what I mean."

"I know. If it means that much to you, then I'll keep going…"

"Yesss.'

"So…That trio was consistently in my life all the way up until the week I met you. They were terribly unobservant, so they didn't even notice when I had gotten more into drinking, and by age eight, different drugs. I got them from the servants. I gave them my allowance, and in return, they gave me all kinds of stuff. I didn't even know what it was half the time. But it helped me win—until I got caught. My first intervention came when I was thirteen. My parents didn't know about the hard drugs, but they knew about the alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and the insane amounts of coffee I was consuming each day. None of those things were illegal and other than the tobacco, none of them were unhealthy in moderation, and that is how I got a hold of them. I don't think my family realized how bad it was at the time. They had a counselor come to me because if other people in and outside of the Kapule Klan knew that I was being sent away for rehab when I was just barely a teenager, I would become more screwed over than I already was. But the counselor didn't help, and I continued to live as I normally did: spending all my money on drugs and alcohol, and during those brief periods of times during which I was sober, buying expensive gifts for my awesome Pokémon."

"Lieee," Peruva sighed. Mienshao purred at her and they had a little conversation.

"I'm sure Peruva was unhappy with you at the time," said Annastasia.

"I was a disappointment to everyone, so don't take it personally," Michio told the Pokémon.

"Liepard," she whispered, headbutting his open palm.

"Do you have more to share?" Annastasia asked.

"You know I do," he replied.

"I know I know but I don't know if you know."

"I do. If that's what you want from me…what do you want to know."

"Coming back from all that nasty couldn't have been easy. How'd you do it?"

"Some of it was choice…"

"Prrrow," Peruva said as she pawed at Michio.

"When I was fifteen my parents finally realized that I was ignoring my counselor and acting even worse than before. The basically restricted everything and had the means to enforce it."

"Peruva thinks you had more to do with helping yourself than you are admitting," Annastasia inferred.

"I was pushed into it, not in a 'I'm a victim' way, but people were talking about me. Some of it was truth, some completely fake, but at the very least, it was all exaggerated. There are few things my family hates more than being talked about—unless people are praising them. The truth about me being an addict really shook up my family. My mother was blamed most of all. Most of my relatives only spoke to me to perpetuate their hatred, and the few who didn't hate me were still ashamed of me."

"Were you ashamed of yourself?"

"Years later, I still don't know the answer to that."

"What kind of rumors?"

"Everything from me being gay to me stabbing someone."

"Why?"

"People are homophobic and figured that was why my father hated me and the stabbing thing…no idea. There were also rumors that I was secretly a girl because I supposedly spent so much time mothering my Pokémon and that I was incapable of becoming normal. For all that and other reasons, as a young teen I would sneak out at night and go to the clubs. Only members of the Kapule Klan who were between the ages of fourteen and eighteen were allowed in. I didn't have to disguise myself because I knew no one would tell my elders. They wanted me to be there, even if it was just so that they could make fun of me. I wanted to go for the buzz."

"The part about you mothering your Pokémon is sweet."

"I didn't think so."

"I figured that much. What would you do at those clubs?"

"I would force myself to hang out with the girls—other than my three nightmares. Despite their constant begging, I never took them up on any of their offers. I almost did I bunch of times. Truly, I was only there for the drinks, since by the time I was thirteen and a half all the alcohol in my house was locked up. I got picked on for being the only teenage boy in the universe who thought sex was gross and unappealing. But I didn't do anything about it for years."

"I don't know what you've could've done."

"Sometimes I think I still don't know what I am doing."

"That's everyone."

"Maybe. I was definitely in pretty deep at this point though, so logic wouldn't have worked."

"Does logic work on you now?"

"Yes."

"When you are not being stubborn."

"Touché."

"Continuing…"

"…One night when I was fifteen years old, I was walking back from the bar. It was somewhere between 2 and 4:00 am, and this vaguely familiar person in a cloak stopped me. I could tell it was a woman, and she said she just wanted to talk. She claimed to have no Pokémon on her other than her two super-friendly Iwanko and she had no intention of attacking me. At this point I was crossfaded to hell and had almost zero judgment skills. I didn't think that I would survive after doing this to myself for years. Point is, I had no idea who this person was and I probably shouldn't have trusted her, but I did. She gave me a few harsh words to try and knock some sense into me. I don't remember exactly what I said in return, but I am sure 'fuck off' and 'I don't care' was part of the script. She gave me this disgusted look then handed me a small piece of paper with a name and number on it. Then she and her two Iwanko disappeared into the night. It was freaky."

"That might…never mind."

"You can say it."

"Forget it. Just keep going."

"The next day I woke up feeling like trash. I had a killer headache and few memories of the night before. I thought about the contact that the weird lady gave me. I found it rolled up on my floor. It read 'Ama Luani'. Later that afternoon, I called her. She turned out to be a counselor. I rejected this immediately and hung up. Then she called my parents, and I had my third intervention. Ama gave me a whole bunch of shit to counteract the other shit I had in my body. There was no pointless speech therapy or lectures. I would show up, we'd talk like normal people, she'd give me the stuff I needed to take, and then I would leave. In and out within thirty minutes. And Ama had a great reputation. People came to her for many different reasons, not just because they were addicts. I suppose this is what put me in better favor with my community. Of course, everyone still knew that I was an alcoholic and drug addict, they still knew I was a spoiled jerk, and they still knew—or thought, rather—that I was gay. While people still hated me, it was at least more tolerable. Ama didn't, because she couldn't care less. But she didn't cure me. I may have been sober but I was still messed up. I spent more money than I had ever had in the past, and I used so much of it for my Pokémon. My grandparents suggested that I should be disciplined. The way to do that was to send me to Kanto, where I'd 'rough it' for at least six months. The rest is history, I suppose."

"And your great-grandmother, she is a big role model in your circle. What does she think now? Is she still around?"

"She's still alive. No one despised me more than she did. One of the hate-letters I got was from her. And she hates you, maybe even more than she hates me."

Michio took a long sip from his water bottle but kept his eyes focused on Annastasia, awaiting her response.

"I don't care what she thinks, neither do you, and honestly I would think that after all that, you would have been grateful to be sent to Kanto," said Annastasia.

"It wasn't the fact that I had to leave that pissed me off, it was how they did it," Michio clarified. "They took all my things and kicked me out."

"I have a proposal."

"What are you going to make me do?"

"I think there are a lot of people that would benefit from hearing your story."

"You're joking."

"No, I am serious. Think about it. What about Jezz?"

"He's a little kid. And what about him?"

"Something in my gut tells me it's a good idea, especially if he is involved in your family's messed up situation."

"Jezz has enough of his own shit to deal with. He doesn't need to hear about mine. And in case you forgot, he isn't here."

"He isn't going to be gone forever, and I am going to have to talk to him about a lot of things when he returns. I need all the help I can get and I think this can be helpful."

"That isn't your responsibility. You aren't his mother."

"I feel like I am sometimes. Speaking of which, the Hales, when they find out they are going to be so mad at me," she vented. "I know it is selfish to think about that now, but it is true. They are never going to trust me with him again."

"You mean they don't know yet?"

Annastasia shook her head. "No one has been able to reach them."

"Doesn't that concern you?"

"Not really. They did say that they were going to be out of touch until Monday. They didn't pick up their emergency number, but maybe that is what they meant by 'out of touch'."

"Okay, then. You should relax more; you didn't make him leave."

"I thought talking to him the way did would leave a positive impact but it had the complete opposite."

"You're underestimating the impressions you leave on people. It probably was a positive impact. Maybe he wanted to off himself, but he didn't because of you. Who knows?"

"Don't ever say that."

"I am trying to help…Helping people isn't something I am used to doing."

"That doesn't change my opinion."

Annastasia stood up to leave. Michio stopped her.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked. "I'm not completely useless."

"You already are helping with some things, if you can believe it. Jocelyn likes having you around. It's important because my parents, Meowth, Lucy, Rumika, Jay, and I can't be here. She has never been without one of us before. I think the fact that you, the other kids, and some of their parents are here helps a lot. She feels so forgotten, I can tell. This was supposed to be her year to shine and to show everyone how she has blossomed, but now everyone's attention is on Jezz, and now Amber and Jay too. Jezz has even seemed to have taken over Rita."

"Rita… is she going to come here? She isn't stuck in the hospital, is she?"

Annastasia laughed. "Since when do you care about Rita?"

"She's not so bad."

"Rita will be stuck there for a while. Not only does she have to recover from the broken ribs and surgery, but she also has a serious concussion and they want to keep an eye on her to make sure it doesn't get worse. Tough as she is, it's not a good idea for her to just get up and leave. But she isn't there alone; her parents, partner, some friends, and her Pokémon are there, plus Mariana and Lucas plan on spending some time with her."

"But…um…is she okay?"

"She can talk, so she can't be hurting too badly, and I don't think they are going to keep her for more than a week. The worse thing for her is the fact that she is going to be out of work for a while. Delia won't let Giovanni or any of the executives assign agents to a mission unless they are perfectly healthy. She isn't going to be content doing staff work or being forced to rest…and speaking of rest…I need to take a nap now. I'll talk to you after I see her next. Thanks for the information you shared. I like having more of your story in my head."

"No problem, though I don't get why. It wasn't at all rosy."

"Was that a pun?"

"Um, no."

"You disappoint me."

"Disappointing others comes naturally to me. Go to bed, Annie. Let me know how Rita is doing the next time you go to see her again. Or maybe I'll go too."

"Whoa, really? Are you seriously interested?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll make sure you're updated."

"Okay. Have a good rest, I'm taking a walk."

Annastasia watched him for a moment, and having had memorized every detail of his profile, noticed upon her first full observation that something important was missing.

"Your pendant," she murmured. "You took it off."

Michio rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "I didn't think you would notice that."

"If you didn't like it, you should've told me. I would have made you something else."

"No, it's not like that…it was stolen."

"From around your neck? When? How is that even possible?"

"Bad luck?"

"Or mini-monster."

"I thought about it, and I don't think it was that."

"That is the first time I think you ever defended Sandshrew."

"Yeah, well, the beast had an alibi. Jocelyn says that it was in the kitchen with her the whole time I was napping, sneaking some of her peanut butter cookie dough while she, Logan, Wobbuffet, and Squirt Gun were baking."

"Huh. Well it can't be it two places at once, right?"

"I don't think so. It would have done that to us before or at least bragged about it."

"I had something stolen from me too recently. Sometime between Friday afternoon and Saturday night, someone took my mace."

"Your mace?"

"Yeah, my mace."

"You carry a mace. Why?"

"It is a useful thing to have. When I checked my bag Friday at around two it was gone."

"You were using it Friday morning?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"My mom got it for me. It's to smash open coconuts, obviously."

"Yeah, obviously."

"The point is, it's gone, and so was my medicine. Some of it, anyway. I have an emergency stash though, so that isn't as big a deal. What is a big deal is that my mace is gone, and I'm pissed, but I haven't had an opportunity to rant yet. It can't be easily replaced."

"What. A. Shame."

"It is."

"Good luck finding it, I suppose. Are you still going to sleep?"

"Yes. I need food, then a rest. Goodbye."

"Goodnight."

While Michio went outside to walk, Annastasia left the nursery to go find some food. She settled on some yogurt and sat down on one of the counter's stools. Brock was still in the kitchen, cleaning up from before.

"We have leftovers, just so you know. We didn't stick them in the fridge yet," said Brock.

"To be honest I am just extremely nauseous right now. I am craving yogurt, and I have a feeling that if I eat anything else, I'll just throw it up," Annastasia replied.

"Stressed out?"

"Extremely."

"You're not the only one," Brock replied. "Misty and Jessie are in the worst fight of this century, and Ash and James are so depressed."

"I know. But you see, that only makes the pressure on me more intense. Brock, you do realize that this is all my fault, right?"

"Please don't feel that way. I know you often forget, but you are still a kid too. Not legally, but you can still pass as a small 'a'."

"That is irrelevant. They were so close and now they are probably scattered, scared, and unsafe. The only firsthand account I have of their departure is the testimonial of the monster-fusion Sandshrew. Anything could have happened to them. I wonder what they are thinking, where they are sleeping, how and if they are getting enough good food and clean water, if Jay has his allergy medication—"

"—You may have been their boss, but you're not anyone's parent."

"Says you, the man who practically took custody of your million siblings when you were thirteen years old, then babysat Ash and friends until you were seventeen," she retorted.

"I know what it's like, that is why you should listen to me," he emphasized. "Let the parents handle this one. I'm watching the hair fall off your head already. It's not good for you, and you are still in recovery mode from your own crisis."

"You are playing an unfair game. What happened last year doesn't matter now. Don't you have any empathy, Brock?"

"I must have used it all up on my million siblings and Ash and friends. Relax."

"I'll try, but it won't work."

Brock patted her on the back. "This isn't your fault, even if Takeshi was the one involved in all this, I'd still feel the same way."

"Thank you. Minor change in subject: did anyone get in touch with Perry or Hauana yet?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Now that concerns me. We checked their house, workplaces, even the country club, but they weren't there. Papa said he checked several times. Rumika said the same thing. I figured that by today they would have at least called to check on Jezz."

"I am sure they are fine. They did say that they were going to be extra busy for these next few days. We'll find Jezz, we'll let them know what happened, and everything will work out in the end. You ought to not worry."

"There are many things I ought not do but do anyway."

"Take a page out of your parents' book and give yourself a break. As for me, I'm going to go check on Ash and Misty, because they probably are not in the best place right now."

"Right. See you later. And just…thanks."

"No problem. And who knows? Maybe they are perfectly fine and are just being little rebels. I wouldn't necessarily put it passed Amber, regardless of her newfound maturity."

"You noticed that too. I suppose she really is growing up."

"I'll see you in a bit. Go take a nap. If you want to continue doing this, you are going to need it."

Brock left the kitchen. The kids were all in the family room playing cards while the adults went to take naps. Annastasia curled into bed with her Pokémon, all the time wondering what happened to her three missing children.

XO

In The Next Chapter:

- Jay and Jezz are back at the Pokémon Center?

- Jay discusses the weirdness of Takeshi, Amber, and company

- Maya gives Rita some free advice

AN: I hope you all are enjoying this fic still. Please review if you get the chance:) I read every comment and I always appreciate hearing from people.