When I wake up, there is already ample noise. Compared to our cave, this area is much more open and densely populated. I suppose I will get used to it eventually.

Phendrene is clasping onto my leg, but I manage to get out of her grip without waking her up. I can't see Vie in my general vicinity, just some other Flygon I vaguely know. Did she leave us to find her brothers?

I walk towards their spot in this square and notice not only her sleeping, but another Trapinch with the similar colouration.

Hale arrived at night? They were slightly slower than us. Maybe because the Trapinch in their group were harder to bring than Vie.

I'm about to wake them up when a Flygon paw suddenly grabs me from behind and picks me up.

"Mum?" I say in alarm.

"Don't disturb them," she whispers in my ear, and carries me back to our place. "They need their rest."

"Uhm… you mean, they were up at night?" I ask after being put down next to Phendrene.

"Yes. Vie had to comfort Hale for quite some time before he settled down," she explains.

"Why? I thought he would be tougher than Vie…"

"It's understandable. He witnessed the deaths first-hand."

I shudder, thinking what it must be like. If I saw Mum… I don't even want to think about it.

"Mum, it won't happen to you, right?" I feel stupid for asking the question, but I can't help it.

"…Of course not, Nova. Salamence have consciences as well. If you act compliant, there's no reason for them to harm you."

"I know. But…"

"Nova, we moved to Lyrl specifically to be safe. We might have new worries, but safety is not one of them. Our hunting trips are planned, and Salamence are never sighted this deep into the desert."

"Okay."

"I was just waiting for you to wake up to tell you to take care of Phendrene. She's the only Charmander here, so she's bound to get some unwanted attention. Make sure you stay with her, all right?"

"Okay," I repeat.

"I trust you, Nova. I have to go hunting now."

I was probably going to stay with her the whole time, anyway. "Bye, Mum."

Coincidentally, Phendrene wakes up as soon as Mum takes flight. Even her yawn attracts the attention of a few bypassing Flygon. I don't really blame them for being curious, as long as none of them try and confront her directly like how those Trapinch did yesterday.

"How are you feeling?" I prompt her, but she just nods in response, leaving me speechless.

"Why were you in the desert?" I ask again tentatively. This time she shakes her head. They're not even direct answers to the questions. I guess a 'no' means she doesn't want to talk about it? Why can't she just say so?

The one-sided conversation is actually somewhat entertaining, as I am constantly amused at her nonsensical behaviour. But after a while it becomes tiresome and even embarrassing, like I'm someone crazy and talking to myself. The thought is quite ridiculous, because she's the one acting strange. So I decide to simply leave to go find Vie. When I arrive back at her place, she still hasn't woken up, and I know what Mum said, but that's just an adult talking. She wakes me up all the time, why can't I do it to her?

I try and wake only her through soft nuzzles, and she shifts slightly and mumbles a soft "What?" Quietly, I tell her to move away so we don't wake Hale up. Mostly because I want to ask her about him.

She speaks after we travel a good distance. "What is it? Don't tell me you're bringing me hunting."

"No way! I don't think we're even allowed out the gates. It's just… what happened last night?"

"Oh. Hale arrived, that's all."

"They didn't need to wake you up for that!"

"Well, he was distressed, okay?"

"…I guess your family did, uh…"

"More than that, though. He there the whole time, when the Salamence came. But none of them deemed the puny Trapinch a threat, so he was able to crawl out and simply dig away. I imagine that I'd be in a much worse state if I witnessed it, too. And on top of that… I'm good at hiding it."

"Are you sure you're okay?" I'm having second thoughts regarding Vie's emotional wellbeing. She's been fairly calm for someone who had just lost half her family. I certainly wouldn't be this calm if this happened to me.

"…Yes, I am. I've thought about it, and… you were right. There's nothing I can do about it. It doesn't matter if I cry about how evil the Salamence are or how unfair the world is, because my parents are still dead. The only thing I can do is to prepare myself for the future. When we're strong enough…" She trails off sinisterly, undoubtedly fantasizing about revenge. I'd try to argue with her, but some emotional release is probably for the better.

Instead, I decide to talk about something else on my mind. "I'm thirsty. What are we going to do without the lake?"

"Oh, my brothers told me about this place." She leads me in a short path outside the crowd and around a few buildings to a clearing, where there is a peculiarly made pond. Before I get to examine it, though, she speaks again. "But Nova, you're not going to be strong enough if you don't battle."

"…I can start when I'm a Flygon! It's different!" Why is she bringing up the previous topic? I don't like it.

"It's always better to start earlier. It makes you fit. And it's fun, anyway!"

"It's not! I don't like hurting others… and I don't like getting hurt. It's like hunting…"

"Oh, so that's why! You're afraid of hurting prey, too? But you know we need to eat to survive?"

"I know! But I… I just can't! I think I could hunt if I tried hard… but I don't want to. I don't want to be the one that kills something. It feels… wrong. Like I've done something I shouldn't."

She stops her steps. "You mean you won't ever do it, even when you evolve?"

"…I don't think so. I mean, I probably have to, but…"

"I see." Vie's tone indicates a sort of disappointment. "I don't understand, but… you'll be fine. It doesn't matter, because if you never manage to start hunting, I'll hunt for you. Can't let you die of hunger, can I?" She smiles.

"Thanks." Her comfort makes me feel slightly better, but the subject is still bothersome. The more I talk about it, the more I feel inferior to everyone else for not being able to do this thing that is necessary for survival. "I'm kind of thirsty. Let's drink," I say, turning my mind away from hunting.

"Fine. This pond looks weird, though," Vie comments, and when I look closer I find that she's right. It's still a hole in the ground filled with water, but the bottom is a sphere shape and the lining is a light grey – I realize it's smooth stone after I feel it. It's clearly not natural. "Why is it like this?"

"It's because it's not a pond; it's a fountain. You are still supposed to drink from them, though," says a female Trapinch who is to the left of us. I wasn't aware of her before; was she listening to our conversation? "You see the round hole at the bottom? That's where water comes out." As I get a better look at her, I realize her body's slightly larger than ours. Her shell looks darker shade of red to me, but it's probably because I'm with Vie.

"Thanks. What's your name?" Vie asks.

"Dice. You?"

Vie responds quickly. "I'm Vie, and this is Nova. Nice to meet you, Dice." Her name is somewhat unusual, and possibly more fitting for a male, but I've heard stranger.

"Hey, no need to be that formal. We don't bite. You're from the Shallows, right? I was born and raised in Lyrl, so I have no idea what it's like out there. Mind sharing what you know? Just curious."

"Sure. What don't you know about the Shallows? It's really different, in quite a lot of places. Well, there's a lot more sand. And there's no stone walls surrounding it. Oh and we don't drink out of this fountain, we drink out of a lake."

"A lake?" Dice asks, excited. "I've never seen one! We all drink from these fountains; apparently they have to dig really deep to reach water, and they send it up here."

"Hmm, I wonder why you guys didn't settle in somewhere near a lake or a big pond or something. It would be really convenient," Vie continues.

"Hey, you okay?" she suddenly turns towards me. "Why aren't you speaking?"

"He's not that talkative," Vie answers in my place.

"No, I just… was listening and thinking about what you said. That's all."

"It's fine," Dice affirms. "Is that guy with you?" She gestures to behind us, as sure enough, Hale walks into view.

"Yeah, he's my brother. You can tell from the colour, can't you?"

"Yep! Hey there! I'm Dice. What's your name?" she prompts excitedly.

"Hi there. I'm Hale." His tone sounds a bit off from his usual, but of course Dice doesn't know that. "You're from Lyrl?"

"Yep! How do you guys like it in here? Is it too crowded for you?"

"We'll definitely have to get used to it," Vie answers. "In the Shallows, you can only see a few Vibrava and Flygon in the horizon in any given direction…

Though I occasionally quip in, I let them do most of the talking. Normally, I don't hang out much with Trapinch other than Vie, but it's a lot easier to avoid people in the Shallows than over here…

I think I'll have to get used to Hale being around. Not that I don't like him, it's just that I'm not used to his rowdiness. Granted, he still seems affected by the events of the past few days, so he's not as extroverted as I remember.

"So what do you guys learn?" Dice asks. "Do the adults teach you stuff as well?"

"Sort of. I imagine it's not as interesting or developed as yours…" Hale replies.

"To be honest, I don't care for it that much. They're mainly for Trapinch who want to grow up and tinker with the human technology. One of my friends is like that – his parents make him study all day, because they want him to be a researcher, and he just goes along with it. Personally I'd rather not meddle with the human stuff, but it's his choice."

"He sounds like Nova," Vie says. "Nova always listens intently and remembers everything that is said."

"But we don't learn anything about technology! It's more like… general knowledge. Like the different Legendary Pokémon or history of this land."

"Oh really!" Dice inches forward. "Tell me about it."

I'm a bit startled at her forwardness. "Well, there were originally humans who were in control of this land, but then they disappeared somehow. So the Pokémon were left in this vacant state and they all fought for dominance, and of course the more powerful dragons came out on top. And then… there are lots of different parts to this," I finish awkwardly.

"Tell her about the Hydreigon," Vie prompts. "That part is interesting."

"…Okay. So, before even our parents were born, there was this particular Hydreigon who seemed to be extraordinarily strong. Hydreigon aren't all that common, because they're not native to Evitern, and as a result their species did not rise to prominence like the other dragons. Kind of the same thing with the Haxorus. But anyway, that specific Hydreigon was so strong that he first overcame the Garchomp, then the Dragonite, then the Salamence, and then through them they asserted power over the entirety of Evitern by proxy.

"In reality, though, nothing happened. To us, at least. The Hydreigon didn't really care about Flygon. To this day we know nothing about the intentions of the Hydreigon, because he and his control just disappeared inexplicably with no explanation. It was right before we were born. And since they didn't affect us, nothing changed for us, we only know because the Charizard told us. …That's not very interesting, is it?"

"Wow," Dice comments. "You definitely need to meet my friend. Come on, I'll introduce you to him."

"Uh… Okay." I'm a little embarrassed but with a small nudge of Vie, I follow Dice's path.

She stops at small tunnel into a wall. "Zeta! You there?"

"What is it?" a muffled voice sounds. Moments later, a Trapinch of small stature crawls out of the tunnel. "Dice? They are…?"

"Oh, they're from the Shallows. This one here is Nova, and he's really bookish, too!"

"Okay, Nova, can you come in first? It's too bright out here." He turns around and crawls inside.

"I'll show Vie and Hale around," Dice suggests.

I feel a little uncomfortable at being left alone with someone I don't know, but Vie's nudge makes me follow him. "I'll come find you later," she assures me.

As the short tunnel comes to its end, I am greeted with a small, dimly lit room. There is a window at the side but not much light shines through. More noticeably, though, is the fact that every corner of the room is filled, whether with books or boxes. There is also what looks like an electronic screen and some devices I can't even name.

"So Nova, you're from the Shallows, right?" he asks as he rummages through one of his boxes.

"Yeah. What are you looking for?"

"A map. I found it." He unfolds a piece of paper and lays it on the floor. "Lyrl is here." He points to a dot marked as Lyrl in the top-left corner of the map. "Do you know where the Shallows are?"

"I think that lake is the Shallows' lake," I point to a blue spot slightly left of it, on the very edge of the map. Below the Shallows are the mountains where Salamence are said to reside. "Why does the map only show this bit of the desert?"

"Because these are the areas dragons live in. Maps are only useful if we need access to or information on the particular locations. To the northwest of us, which is the centre of the desert, there are frequent sandstorms and no available technology. There are some wild Flygon living there, but we don't really interact with them. Because Lyrl was built on top of a power plant, it really restricts our choice of location as to where we can have settlements. I assume the Shallows are acceptable because there is a fresh water source. The other parts of the map show the areas of the Salamence, Sceptile, Charizard, Garchomp, and Dragonite, which are all locations of interest."

"There are wild Flygon living in the middle of nowhere?" I ask, bewildered. "Isn't it dangerous?"

"It depends. You could argue that it is safer as it is far away from the Salamence. Weren't you and your friends displaced from the Shallows for this very reason?"

"I guess. But why do we need the locations of other dragons, anyway? It's not like we visit them or anything."

"Regular people like us don't, but there may be official relations between the governing system of the two species. Provided they are friendly, of course, so not the Salamence."

"Why would we need to contact each other, though? If regular people can't travel, then it's not really to make friends, is it? The way you're saying it makes it sound very formal…"

"They contact for mutually beneficial information. We will probably alert the Charizard regarding the Shallows attack, that the Salamence have become more aggressive." He points to the map and draws a rightward arc from the desert down to the coast. I can see that the Charizard live in hills and canyons which are east of the Salamence, while we are the Salamence's north. So both our species are prone to Salamence attack.

After Zeta sees that I've understood him, he continues. "There was also one case where a Vibrava got lost down south and he was sent back. Did you hear about the Charmander that arrived recently? I suspect the Charizard will send someone to pick him up as well."

"Her," I correct.

"Oh, you know that Charmander?" He puts the map down. "What is she like?"

"Too shy. She doesn't talk. At all."

"Perhaps she's just unsettled from being alone in a city full of Flygon. Do you know why she's here?"

"She's…" It's only after he asks do I realize how little I know about Phendrene. She just appeared and I didn't question anything. "I don't actually know."

"It was probably by accident. She'll likely be sent away regardless."

"Is she really? I kind of want her to stay," I admit.

"It would be difficult. Different species don't want to adapt to each other and would rather live within their own comfort zone," Zeta says as a matter-of-fact. "That's why society stigmatizes interspecies mingling and particularly, half-bloods."

"What was that?" I'm slightly confused by the terms. "Half-bloods?"

"Yes. The term for the offspring of two different species. There's no notable difference in physical appearance, since the child only inherits one species, but people still look down on them. I've never even seen another species in person, so I can't really comment on its validity."

"I didn't even know we could breed with other species. And where did this topic come from? I thought we were talking about the map?"

"Conversations flow naturally from one topic to another," Zeta says matter-of-factly. "So, do you think that the half-bloods deserve it?"

"Deserve what? I don't really know anything about this either, or much else. You know so much more."

Zeta laughs at my compliment. "Only because I had the opportunity to learn this. Plus, everyone you meet knows something you don't. So, Nova, what do you know from your experience in the Shallows?"

"Not much, really…"

He tilts his head. "Surely you must have experienced more than those of us who have stayed within these walls our whole lives?"

"We just… got to wander around. And there is a lake we drink from, but you already know that. Honestly, it wasn't that special back there."

"I'll show you what's special here, then." He rummages through a pile of books. "Can you read?"

"I know the basics."

"Here!" He hands me one. "This one talks about the different technology that we salvaged from the remains of human structures. And how we have tried to decipher them down through the generations. We call the people who do this scientists."

"Are you trying to become a scientist?" I ask in wonder.

"My parents want me to, so I guess I am," he says with compliance. I wonder what my parents would say of me. If I had a father…

His extensive knowledge really intrigues me, and he's also really laid-back about it. I find it easy to talk to him and to learn more about everything. I'm almost reluctant to leave in the evening, but he says I can come back tomorrow.

"Where were you today?" Mum asks me as I crawl over.

"I was with a Trapinch from Lyrl. He knows a lot of stuff."

"Aren't you glad we moved here, then?" she prompts.

"Yeah." I don't want to make her worry.

The Salamence attack feels distant, like it was a bad dream. Like many ones I've had before. Though I feel relatively comfortable in Lyrl, something still feels off. I feel antsy seeing so many of my own species in close proximity. It doesn't seem like this lifestyle is appropriate for us. I thought we were hailed as guardians of the desert, ones who appeared like mirages, bringing sandstorms as we appear. Maybe that's just what the humans imagined.

Maybe I'm mirroring the curiosity about my own father onto our entire species. But who wouldn't wonder about their parents if they never knew them? Hearing Zeta refer to his parents so casually makes me wonder what it is like.

So that night, as we're preparing to settle and sleep, I muster up the courage to ask Mum. "Can you tell me more about Dad?"

It gets her attention quite quickly and she turns to face me. "This again, Nova… I don't want to talk about him because I don't want to give us any false hopes," she explains vaguely. "I haven't heard from him ever since he left, and I'm sure he would come back for me if he could. But he hasn't. And I also don't want to assume that he's dead or anything, so I'd rather just not…"

"What did he even leave for?"

"It's complicated." She lies on the floor so that her head is level to mine. "Another reason I'm not telling you now is… because you simply aren't old enough to understand some things. When I was your age, I thought my mate was going to be one of my best friends… turns out I was wrong. You don't view things from the same viewpoint as a child and an adult. But I promise I'll tell you everything when you're older, okay?"

"Okay," I answer, not really understanding her. It doesn't even sound relevant. What does choosing your mate have to do with why he left? But of course I'm not going to question her about it.

"We should go to sleep." She gives me a smile before holding me closer and shutting her eyes. I'm left myself to ponder about what she means. Are there really things you can only understand as an adult? How could the world work like that? Maybe I'll find out when I am older.

If only I could grow up faster.