Wilt


Night rolled over the clear sky of Twinleaf Town, chasing away the pale sunlight filtering through the windows of the Dawn residence.

If not for the sudden plunge into darkness, the two girls might not have noticed at all. Shadi took one peek out the window from her chair and sighed. She pushed herself to her feet with lazy movements only prompted by aching muscles, and walked toward the nearby wall to turn the lights on.

"That's enough for today," she whispered, voice rough. "Go ask Sarah to lend you some onions; I'll make a stew with what we have."

At the other end of the table sat a young girl, no older than fourteen. A thick, ashen curtain of hair fell to her shoulders, tied at the sides with yellow laces. Her arms were like pale twigs and her knobby knees had that typical red tint common to kids who skinned them every other week while playing outside.

The girl looked down to the middle of the table, where a wooden chessboard sat. On it, her sister's pieces outnumbered hers four to one. She had lost by a wide margin.

Shadi did not fail to notice the shadow of discomfort creeping through the edges of her sister's expression. Her big, green eyes were so different from hers. As curious as those of a Hoothoot. As bright as the moon.

"Niss…"

The tone in which Shadi said those words made the hair on the girl's arm stand up. Alarmed, she tried to wipe the disappointment off her face, without much success.

"I didn't say anything!" the girl yelled, half yelp and half protest.

A tiny smile formed on Shadi's lips. "Words are seldom the only way to communicate, sis. Your face is as easy to read as an open book."

Inyssa down, hands strongly grabbing onto to the frills of her pink skirt. A red tint painted her pale cheeks.

"Are you not satisfied with our lessons?" Shadi asked, taking one step forward. "After I finally agreed to teach you, did you expect to participate in Pokemon battles nonstop? Is that it?"

There was no hint of aggression or anger in her sister's words, and that made it worse in a way. Her cool tone and the faded green of her eyes felt a lot more paralyzing than any shouting or outburst could. Shame filled Inyssa's throat until she found it difficult to speak.

"No… I know that you're a great trainer. If this is what you think I should do…"

Shadi raised her palm, and she stopped talking immediately.

"You're just telling me what you think I want to hear," she declared. "A habit you could do without. You're wrong, anyway. What I want to hear is the truth."

Inyssa sighed, letting her shoulders drop.

"It's not fair, you always know what I'm thinking."

"You wear your heart on your sleeve, and proudly at that." Shadi formed a lopsided smile. "I'll teach you to conceal your emotions when you're older. When I know you won't use it to try and fool me. But for now, all I want is for you to answer my previous question."

The girl frowned with the realization there really was no way out. She hated complaining to her sister because every single time she did so she would be bested with logic and would later feel like an idiot.

"Barry's dad lets him train with Pokemon all the time," she said, trying her best not to sound whiny. "He told me he even got to ride a Salamance."

She didn't elaborate further, and she didn't need to. Shadi let out a dry laugh and shook her head.

"I figured this would happen sooner or later," she whispered to herself. "You're jealous because my kind of training is a lot more boring than your friend's."

"I'm not jealous!" Inyssa bellowed, placing her hands strongly on the table.

"Niss, what did I tell you about yelling?"

Panic replaced anger on the young girl's face, and she sat down again with the urgency of someone caught doing something bad.

"S-sorry," she whispered. "I just… don't get why you're making me do all this stuff. It's been two months and I haven't seen a Pokemon yet. All you make me do is play chess, solve riddles and argue with you about all that weird logic stuff."

Shadi did not reply for almost a minute, her thin eyebrows knit in concentration. She feared something like this might happen; her sister had never been one for patience, and her lessons did tend to drag on a bit.

"I… hope you understand, that Palmer and I have wildly different styles of training and battling," she said, choosing her words carefully. "And as such, our methods of teaching tend to vary, and so do our students. I doubt Barry would last much under my tutelage, for example."

"Barry's not dumb," Inyssa's nose perked up, her tone accusatory.

"I never said he was. He could stand to teach you a few things, as a matter of fact." Shadi crossed her arms and leaned against the nearby wall. "My point is that everyone has a different style, and I'm trying to teach you what I know. Palmer places a lot of trust in speed and power so he can overwhelm his opponents. I…" She paused, and her eyes seemed to lit up for a moment, "… actually, this is the perfect opportunity for a lesson."

She pulled back the chair to sit on it, and pointed at the chessboard on the table.

"Let's see if anything I taught you managed to break through that thick skull of yours," she said. "I want you to describe what my style is just by looking at this board."

Inyssa wilted forward, her expression that of someone with a death sentence. She bit her lower lip and stared at the board for a few seconds, lost.

"Come on now, use that fleshy pink thing between your ears. Go through the match again, move by move, just like I taught you."

Her face turned as prune as a raisin while she tried to force her mind to its limits. It wasn't the first time Shadi had asked her to stop and repeat to her every word or movement the both of them had made during the match. It was supposed to strengthen her memory, though she had doubts about that.

She worked backwards from the placement of the pieces back to the beginning, and played it again on her mind while scouting for anything that might help her answer. It was incredibly difficult, and she could almost feel the fume coming out of her ears.

"I… think I noticed something," she said after a few minutes, twinkles of sweat sprinkled over her forehead. "You didn't try to take any piece for a long time, and after a certain point you took one per turn until I lost."

The faintest hint of pride gleamed on Shadi's eyes.

"There you go. You figured it out."

Inyssa shrugged, scratching the inside of her arm. "I still don't get it."

"Fine, let's try another approach." Shadi poked her lower lip with one finger, looking up at the ceiling. "Maybe a metaphorical scenario…"

Inyssa struggled immensely not to let out a sigh. Lessons couldn't be simple with her, could they?

"Oh, I got it!" Shadi smiled. "Let's say… you're in a trainer battle. Your opponent has a Tentacruel out, and you have a Qwilfish…" Inyssa made a face, as if she'd swallowed something sour. "…what would you do to win?"

"I wouldn't have a Qwilfish," she replied instantly. "They're ugly and dumb."

Shadi rolled her eyes. "Alright, for the sake of argument let's assume that you're a trainer with an awful taste in Pokemon. What then?"

She thought for a few seconds before answering.

"I would switch to another Pokemon. Qwilfish aren't very strong."

Her sister's lips formed a thin line, and she realized she was pushing the boundaries of her patience. Blushing, she looked down and tried to find an actual answer for her question.

"I… don't know," she said after almost a minute. "I don't know how I could win. Tentacruel is faster and stronger than Qwilfish, and I wouldn't have anything super effective to counter that."

Shadi nodded; she'd expected something like that.

"I am telling you this because I had to win my way out of a fight like that, and I did." She unconsciously puffed her chest and raised her chin. "My opponent had sent out her Tentacruel to spread toxic spikes all around the field, and I sent my Qwilfish to absorb them without being poisoned. After that I ordered him to use Rain Dance to boost his speed and the power of his water attacks. Then, just to make sure I was going to win, I told him to use Swords Dance and finish by attacking with Liquidation over and over. With every strike he lowered the Tentacruel's already poor defenses and took him down in a matter of seconds." She raised one finger in an authoritative matter, just like Inyssa's teacher tended to do, and smiled. "That… is how you could win in that scenario."

Inyssa gasped with a mix of glee and amazement, her eyes twinkling ever so slightly. Still, Shadi could see the shadow of doubt behind them as well.

"You still don't understand, huh?" she sighed. "Well, I suppose it can't hurt to be straightforward once in a while."

She grabbed one of the black bishops from the board, moving it between her fingers effortlessly.

"I never strike until I am one hundred percent certain of my victory," she declared, and the green of her eyes darkened ominously. "I distract my enemies by presenting to them a false strategy, while I set up the real one without them noticing. And when it's finally time to execute it… there is nothing they can do to stop it. That's what you didn't notice during the match, and that's why you keep losing to me."

The bishop fell on the table with a heavy thump that made Inyssa jump. She'd been so engrossed in her sister's voice that the world around her had started to vanish.

"The problem with my style…" she continued, tone heavy. "…is that not everyone can pull it off. You need your mind to work differently, to be able to do many things at once. And most important of all, you need to be patient." She leaned forward on the table. Inyssa had never seen her gaze so intense. "But you are not patient, Niss, and that's why I'm making you work so hard. You need to become patient and smart."

"I am smart!" Inyssa said indignantly.

"You're clever, which is not the same thing. You see, smart people are seldom as reckless as you can be sometimes."

She tried to find in her the will to protest, but deep down knew that her sister's words rang true for a reason. Everything that she said often did, and she hated it.

"I need you to understand this, Niss, because it's crucial. Through these lessons I'll hone your mind until it's sharper than a Skarmory's wing, but I don't want you to cut yourself or others with it." Her voice gained strength, and she could see her face turning slightly red. "It is imperative that you develop the emotional maturity needed to be a trainer, because…" she trailed off, gulping as she looked down, "…because someone as emotional and thoughtless as you, with a mind as sharp as mine… it terrifies me to think of how much damage they could cause. Do you understand?"

For a single moment, Inyssa could swear she saw a voiceless plea in her sister's face. As if she were trying to convince herself more than anyone else. She had never seen her make such a face, and it scared her.

"I…" she looked down, lower lip trembling. "Yeah, I understand. I'm sorry."

For about thirty seconds the both of them stared at the table, lost in thought. A line started to form on Shadi's forehead, and once her eyes went back to that faded, dull green she cleared her throat and got to her feet.

"It's fine, you're doing wonderfully so far," she assured her. "You're right in that I've been a bit too single-minded lately. Tell you what." She leaned forward, the corners of her lips perking up. "If you go get those onions for me you can invite Barry to dinner, and tomorrow I'll give both of you a proper demonstration of a Pokemon battle."

That's all the incentive Inyssa needed. With a huge grin she ran towards the door, her shoulders free of the weight currently pushing Shadi's down. The weight she knew her little sister might have to endure one day, should she fail her mission.

She slouched back into the chair, almost collapsing into it. She let bitterness overcome her from then until the moment Inyssa came back, face buried in her shaking hands. At that moment she did not look like one of the most accomplished trainers in the region; anyone passing by would've seen nothing more than an exhausted, colorless nineteen year old girl.


Inyssa's head throbbed, in that particular way it did when she tried to fall asleep long after her body had gotten all the rest it needed. Still, she closed her eyes, buried her head on her pillow and tried once more.

The curtains of her room were tightly closed, and yet a tiny bit of sunlight managed to filter through. A reminder that it was way past noon already. A reminder that she should have gotten up hours ago. There was a lot to be done, after all. Getting some nice breakfast, exploring Canalave City with Barry, finding good spots to train their Pokemon, meeting up with Lucas…

A low growl of discomfort left her lips, and she closed her eyes even tighter. A rush of pain and dizziness shook her body from the base of the scar on her back outwards. Her fingers curled onto the sheets and her nails dug into her palms through them, as tears began to well up in her eyes.

You don't have what it takes to follow in my footsteps.

Shadi's words dug like a knife into her, echoing endlessly inside her mind. She couldn't ignore them, couldn't unhear them no matter how hard she tried. All she could do was close her eyes and pray for sleep to come. Even if it only lasted a few minutes; it would at least free her from… this. Feeling like the ground beneath her was collapsing and the sky was falling down upon her…

She guessed it was true what they said. The truth really did hurt like a bitch.

Taking in a deep breath, she threw her blanket over her head and stood still, waiting for sleep to take hold of her.


Lucas couldn't help but make a face as he looked down at the screen of his Poketch, Barry's message clearly displayed on it.

Hey Lucas!

Really sorry we couldn't hang out today. I'd love to go out and get something to drink and eat and stuff but Niss isn't feeling too great right now. Probably caught a cold or something on the trip here.

Anyway I hope you have a nice day! We'll talk to you as soon as Niss gets better and we'll go check out that cool library, I promise. Take care!

He let out a short sigh, his shoulders dropping ever so slightly. Even though his stay on Canalave had been quite pleasant so far, he still had been greatly looking forward to hanging out with Barry and Inyssa once more. There was so much he wanted to tell them, so much he wanted to ask. And the idea of visiting Sinnoh's most famous library with them… well, it was honestly a dream come true.

A dream which would have to wait, he reminded himself. He lowered his Poketch and tried to contain another sigh.

I'll just go visit the professor after this, then.

"I'm guessing they're a no-show, then," said Saturn across the wooden table, trying to form a soothing smile. "That's too bad. I was looking forward to meeting them."

He returned the smile and took one of the many scones from the little straw tray on top of the table, biting half of it off. The taste was salty and –much like pretty much everything in Canalave– reminded him of the sea, which itself sat less than a street away from the humble diner they'd decided to have afternoon snacks at. A gentle breeze passed through the wide street, carrying out the characteristic chill of the beginning of winter along with the not so distant sounds of people talking and screaming in the harbor market down street.

"I'm sure you'll get to meet them someday," he said after a few seconds. "They're really cool and passionate, like you."

"You praise me too much. I'm just trying to do my job."

"Yeah, which is helping people," Lucas reminded him, quirking his head to the side with a smile.

Saturn's expression froze for a second, the lightness in his eyes becoming opaque. He gulped and hurried to take a sip from his cup of coffee to hide the fact that he had dropped his smile.

"Of course…"

Lucas couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly in confusion. Was that… guilt on his face? No, he was just being paranoid as usual. The last thing he needed was to doubt his crush–

Friend! He yelled inside his own mind, feeling heat rise to his face. Just friend!

…To doubt his friend when he finally made enough time in his busy schedule to visit him.

"Anyway…" He let out the word slowly, trying to think of what to say. "How's work going? I'm really glad you could come visit even though you're so busy."

"It's the least I can do," replied Saturn. "You've been an invaluable source of conversation these past few weeks, especially due to the kind of people I've been forced to deal with recently." His tone turned sour as he finished his sentence. He slouched forward and let his cheek rest on his palm. "Which brings you to your first question, I suppose."

"Rough week?" asked Lucas. "I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault, Lucas. Don't worry about it." He reached across the table to give him a pat on the back of the hand. Lucas felt as if a livewire had touched the butterflies in his stomach. "It's just that I don't think some of my new coworkers have… the right attitude regarding our goals and ideals, I suppose."

Lucas nodded absentmindedly, trying to think of something to say. He was familiar with the feeling, of course. Having been one of the only kids in his class who wished to follow in a professor's footsteps instead of a trainer's… it made conversation difficult with those who found him to be such an oddity.

"I guess that's bound to happen when an ideological group keeps growing in size." Lucas looked down and placed a finger under his chin, thoughtful. "Still, as long as the majority keeps true to the original message, there shouldn't be much to worry about."

"Y-yes… you're right."

Saturn's face scrunched up as if he'd smelled something unpleasant, and his fingers began to nervously interlace with each other. There was a short pause.

"Lucas…" The caution in his voice made Lucas immediately anxious. "What… do you think of trying to help people even if they don't want you to? You know… sometimes it seems that you have to make a few sacrifices to bring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest amount of people, don't you think?"

Saying he was caught off-guard would've been putting it lightly. Where had such a question even come from? And why did Saturn look so distressed over it?

Despite his worry, he did his best to think of a satisfying answer.

"Most people would agree that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to make life better for everyone…" He paused to breathe. "But… judging from history, most of the important people who said that were mostly trying to justify themselves for taking the easy path instead of working hard to achieve their goal without having to hurt anyone. I feel like there's a very narrow line separating necessary sacrifices from malicious laziness."

Saturn gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod. "You have a point. Though… determining exactly where that line lies can be more than a little difficult."

Lucas nodded slowly, deep in thought. "I'm sure it's different for everyone, but for me that line would lie just where selflessness is."

"S-selflessness?"

"Yeah. I feel like… unless you're ready to sacrifice yourself and your own happiness for your cause, you have no right to sacrifice anyone else's either, no matter what." There was a short silence, and then he simply shrugged. "At least that's what I think."

Saturn said nothing for a few seconds, the brightness of the sun reflected on the sudden paleness of his face. He leaned back into his chair, straight as a plank. His expression was as if someone had stabbed him

"Yes… I suppose you're right."


"Are you sure you don't want me to check up on your friend?"

Barry froze at the sound of the nurse's voice behind him, a half eaten chocolate brownie resting on his hand.

He swallowed and looked over his shoulder, where the woman stood with a concerned expression. All around the Pokemon Center lobby, other trainers made not so subtle attempts to spy on their conversation, their eyes curious.

"Y-you mean Niss?" he asked, almost whispering.

"Yes, the ashen-haired girl who came here with you last night," the nurse clarified. "I know you told me she was just a little nauseous but she's been sleeping for more than sixteen hours now. I… worry that she might be badly sick or something similar."

Barry's nerves were a bundle of livewires at the moment, so it took him a few seconds to properly respond. Every muscle in his body felt brimming with energy which he couldn't dispose of because he absolutely refused to leave the Pokemon Center while Niss remained in her room, miserable and wanting nothing more than to be left alone. He'd tried to check up on her a few times, only to be told that she was completely fine –words spoken through tears, he realized at the moment and had to control himself not to explode in rage toward Shadi– and that he shouldn't worry about her. A suggestion he considered for half a second before promptly ignoring it.

You think you're worried, lady? He thought, looking up at the nurse. I haven't stress-eaten this badly since that week when I had to prepare for finals.

"She… she'll be fine." He forced himself to sound cheerful, a half-drawn smile on his face. "Niss is super strong so a bit of sea-sickness ain't gonna keep her down for long, trust me."

The nurse's lips formed a fine line. "Are you sure about that? I don't meant to doubt you, I'm sure you know her better than anyone else but…"

"It's fine. I'll go check on her!" He hurried up to say. "Look I'm sure she'll be super hungry since she hasn't eaten lunch yet and it's almost afternoon, so I'll just bring some food to her and see how she's doing in the meantime. Still, I'm sure she'll be fine…"

Then, just as he said that, Barry made his eyes flash golden. Just for a moment, enough for the nurse to consider it simply a trick of the light or the stress of her job making her see things. In that second, he stole what little bit of calmness and contentment there was in him and let the breeze of Mesprit's power carry it over to her. There was a pause as her eyes dulled and her posture relaxed, tense shoulders lowering and an easy smile forming on her lips.

"I see… I guess you're right," said the nurse. "I'll leave it to you, then."

Barry felt his stomach drop as he saw her turn around and walk toward the counter with an aloof, somewhat unfocused look on her eyes. Then, unprompted as always, Mesprit's voice rang inside his head.

"Out of the mouth comes evil, as they say." Despite it being toneless, Barry noticed a bit of surprise in its voice. "As impressed as I am with your progress in learning how to use my powers, I never pegged you as someone who would use them to manipulate others."

"I'm not happy either," he said, a bitter taste in his mouth. "But… Niss wanted to be left alone and I want to respect her decision."

"If leaving a friend to her own devices right after she suffers a severe blow to her psyche is what you people consider 'respect', then it seems I really am out of touch with how you humans operate."

"Oh can it, like you know anything about us." He whispered, almost hissing.

"I still don't know what that expression means. Telling someone to 'can it' is a curious thing to say, don't you think?"

"I said can it! Look… I trust Niss, okay?" As he spoke he tried his best to hide himself from the other trainers in the room, lest they think he was talking to no one. "I've been her friend for a long time and I know when she needs me to help her and when she needs to be alone. I know she'll get through this, and I'll be super happy to help her once she wants me to. But for now I think I need to let her be."

"Trust, you say? Is that why you can't stop looking over to the hallway leading to her room?"

Barry closed his eyes and breathed in, trying to keep his irritation in check. Who knew living with a legendary Pokemon inside his head would be so freaking annoying.

"I'll just… go give her some food and ask how she's doing." He pushed himself off the chair. "But that's it. I trust Niss and unless I see that she wants me with her or that she's doing something stupid, I'll let her be for now."

"If you say so."

Trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in his gut, Barry hurried over to the cafeteria and grabbed a meal for Niss. He made sure to pick something she'd like, with lots of meat and veggies so that she could get all the energy she needed.

He made his way through the dark hallway to the last door on the right, where Niss' room was. As he approached he slowly, tentatively, reached out to the doorknob. A knot formed in his throat.

The door opened violently. He took a step back and looked straight ahead at the sill, where Niss now stood. She was fully dressed, including the Poketch on her left wrist and the belt full of Pokeballs around her waist. And her face…

"N-Niss…"

Her face was pale and hardened, like a cruelly chiseled slab of marble. The bags under her eyes had exacerbated to an unhealthy degree, framing a gaze so empty and distant that Barry felt a chill just looking at her. When she looked up, she barely seemed to notice him.

"Hey," she said. Her voice cracked, as if she hadn't used it in a long time. "Is everything okay?"

A part of him wanted to smile at the absurdity of the question.

"That's… what I was gonna ask too. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

As offended as he should have been by such a blatant lie, the concern inside him left no room for any other emotions. Niss… something about her looked wrong. It wasn't just sadness or apathy. She seemed… out of it, as if only part of her were aware of what she was saying and doing. If she was feeling any kind of intense emotion, he couldn't pick up on it even with Mesprit's power.

"Well, I brought you some food." He smiled and lifted the tray slightly to show it to her. She didn't look down. "You should totally eat something. Here, I already had a table reserved over th–"

"I'm not hungry," she cut him off. Her voice was weak and quiet as a whisper. "And… I have to go, anyway. Sorry."

She walked past him, not even giving him a chance to reply. Eyes widened in confusion, it took Barry a moment to react and follow behind her with the tray still on his hands, concern quickly growing into fear.

"N-Niss! Hey, Niss!" It wasn't easy, trying to follow her while avoiding letting the food on the tray fall to the floor. "What's going on? Where are you going?"

"Outskirts of the city," she said, already halfway toward the door. "I've been slacking off on training my team. You're free to come with if you want to."

"What?" He let out, tone incredulous. "Niss, you were in bed for like twenty hours! Come on, let's go to our table and we can eat and talk about…"

She stopped so abruptly that Barry almost crashed into her, food tray and all. With one hand on the handle of the double glass door, she looked over her shoulder and set her empty gaze on him. A powerful shiver washed over him, every alarm bell in his head ringing at full blast. There was something seriously wrong with the way her eyes looked.

"I'm sorry, Barry."

"H-huh?" He gulped, voice thin. "For what?"

"You were probably very worried. I should've gotten over myself sooner and assured you that I was fine." For the first time that morning, an emotion was reflected on her face: regret. "But I'm fine now. You don't have to worry about me anymore."

"There… there's no way I can't worry." He tried to form a smile, though the gesture died halfway on his lips. "What's gotten into you Niss? Why do you wanna go train right now?"

"Because Shadi was right."

Barry opened his mouth, but it took him a few seconds to get the words past the knot suddenly blocking his throat.

"W-what?"

Niss turned to face the door once more, seemingly lost in thought. She didn't seem to notice that pretty much everyone in the Pokemon Center had stopped their conversation to turn and look at them. Though perhaps she did, and simply did not care.

"What she told me before she left. She was right," said Niss. "I got too complacent. When I was chosen by Uxie I thought that I could become a hero like those from legend, but it was presumptuous of me to think that. I wanted the title without actually putting in any work myself. Like a kid wearing a costume."

"That's not true." Barry's voice was barely audible. "Niss, you work harder than anyone else…"

"Not hard enough," she cut him off. "Shadi was right; I haven't been taking this seriously. Every moment, every choice, it all has to be for my goal." The hand not pressed against the door curled into a fist. "Those at the top didn't get there by indulging themselves but by sacrificing everything for what they wanted. Unless I'm willing to do the same, I'm never going to reach them."

"T-that's insane. Niss, you can't go thinking like that! You have to worry about yourself and…"

"No, I don't. I have to worry about my goal, and that's it." He could see her trying to force herself to sound fierce, but there was no real anger inside her, no spark or fire. "I'll crawl my way up to the spot of Champion if I have to, and I'll prove my sister wrong. And if it turns out I'm not good enough and I end up failing or worse… well, that'd be it. No point in lamenting the inevitable."

Without saying another word she opened the door and slipped through it, leaving an utterly baffled Barry behind. He stood frozen for a moment, until Mesprit's voice brought him back to reality.

"Well… that was something."

A sudden wave of panic washed over him as he finally processed the weight of the situation.

"I… I have to go help her," he said. "Something's not right, I think she's still sick or in shock or… I don't know but I gotta go get her."

"What happened to 'letting her be'?"

"I think we're way past that now," he replied. "Did you hear what she say? Why isn't Uxie stopping her? Can you go talk to it and help it convince her to…"

"I'm afraid I can't," said Mesprit. Then, just as Barry was about to protest, it added: "You see, I can't sense Uxie at all within the girl."

"What!?" He blurted out. Okay, the trainers around him were definitely looking at him funny now. "What do you mean? Did Uxie left her or…?"

"No, no, I don't believe that's the case. I'm guessing their link was simply severed for the moment."

"Which means…?"

"Normally, it takes a long time for the bond between us and the human of our choosing to grow strong enough for us to talk to and lend our powers to them. As evidenced by our fruitful companionship." There was a hint of sarcasm in its last words, but Barry decided to ignore it. "However, the bond between Uxie and that girl was formed abruptly and haphazardly, which made it weak. And since said bond is entirely formed within her mind, it would not be absurd to believe that the psychological blow that girl took could have severed her bond with Uxie."

Barry could barely pay attention to such a barrage of information through the restlessness shaking every inch of his body. Still, he tried his best to understand. "And… can that like, be fixed? Can we do something about it?"

"The bond will restore itself as long as that girl manages to trigger another awakening, much like the one you went through when you first heard my voice," said Mesprit. "However, unless she breaks out of that frightening mental state she's in, I don't see it happening."

Barry didn't need to be told anything else. Taking in a deep breath and centering himself like his mom had taught him to, he found the calmness and resolve within his self and let them take hold of him.

Without saying a word he approached the nearest table –where two young girls sat, looking at him with a freaked out look on their faces– and placed the tray of food in between them. His expression was unreadable.

"Meat and veggies," he said, tone completely serious. "It's yours now. Enjoy."

He was out the door only a few seconds after, brow furrowed and resolve written all over his face. Niss' figure could be seen a couple streets ahead.

"So you really are doing this, huh." Mesprit's voice rang inside his head once more. "And what exactly are you planning? Your friend doesn't seem like she would be convinced by words alone."

"I don't care what I have to do," he replied. "Niss isn't okay and I'm gonna help her whether she wants it or not."

"Somewhat different from your previous stance from less than an hour ago, no?"

Barry bit his lip, hands balling into fists. He remembered what Sanbica had told him during that party, how she had described his guardian star.

They are said to be some of the most oblivious creatures in existence, constantly distracted by whatever catches their interest and unable to see the plight of others in front of them.

He gulped, raised his chin and continued to follow Niss. He, too, had someone to prove wrong.

"Niss has always been there to stop me from doing stupid stuff," he told Mesprit. With a flick of his wrist, he produced a Pokeball on his right hand and held it tightly. "It's time I return the favor."