Quick update: Arron doesn't know that Grimmjow didn't die. As far as he's concerned, Ichigo killed Grimmjow along with Ulquiorra.

Arron woke up with a start, a severe headache thumping between his eyes like a drum. He groaned, rising to his four feet and sighing even louder, realizing he was trapped in his animal body again. Growling quietly, he thumped his tail on the ground in agitation before examining the empty lab room. The lights had been turned off, and the door was left cracked open, allowing for a miniscule beam of light to shine. Gardevior was nowhere to be found, neither was anyone else, and for once he didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, he didn't feel like being belittled by anyone and everyone, on the other hand, he didn't want to be left alone with his thoughts: Gardevior's intrusion had ripped open a lot of mental wounds he'd been trying his best to patch up and push back, and now all he could see when he closed his eyes was the picture of his eviscerated sister falling from the sky and Aizen's wicked smirk. The phantom pain of those events, especially the part of his chest that was impaled, flared up again with a vengeance.

He wanted to curl up into a ball and be left alone, but he knew that if he stayed here for too long, somebody would approach him, and he'd have to deal with them on their terms, something he didn't have the emotional capacity to do at the moment.

He sighed one more time, releasing the pressure in his lungs he didn't know he had been holding, before using his snout to force the cracked door open and entering Cerise Labs once again.

As he entered the hall, he noticed the lights were dim. He ventured further to the Entryway to see what time it was, noticing that it was close to midnight, which was a bit of a relief. The air was cold, and a dim blue light was peeking from Cerise's office, signaling the old man was still up. He decided to avoid him, preferring to deal with someone more easily manipulated. He snuck back to the hall and into the back rooms, where most of the guest bedrooms were. Noticing that Ash and Goh were both gone, which was concerning: how long had he been asleep?

He kept exploring the complex, finding the same thing over and over again: empty rooms and empty beds. He was actually starting to become lonely, which was a first, but he didn't let that ponder. He peeked his head inside the last room to find Gardevior sitting serenely in a small armchair, looking out the window at the crescent moon as her master slept. She spotted Arron, her glowing red eyes pinpointing him in the darkness. She nodded and stood up, brushing off her dress as if it was habitual before leaving the room and quietly closing the door. After she did so, she looked into Arron's eyes again, tilting her head slightly.

"How do you feel?"

"Like shit," Arron said. "But that isn't important. Did you spill the beans?"

Gardevoir shook her head. "I thought about it, but I decided to keep it a secret and to use it as leverage."

Arron's ever-present scowl deepened. "Watch what you say, cunt, before I rip your face off."

Gardevior merely snorted. "I'm not scared of you: you were powerful in your mind, but here you are only above average for your age. Listen here: I'll keep this a secret, but only if you promise to let me help you. You really need it, and I'm not just going to leave you here to deteriorate. If you don't want to do it for yourself, then do it for the boy."

"The boy doesn't care about me."

Gardevoir rolled her eyes. "Spare me the idiocy for once. That boy practically gushes over you: I saw it when I arrived, he was a sobbing mess when he was told he couldn't partake in our… method. He cares about you very much, more than you care about yourself, so consider yourself lucky," Arron didn't respond, but she wasn't done ripping into him anyway. "I swear, you are the most bipolar patient I've ever worked with, and that's saying something. One day, all I hear about is how you and that boy are damn near inseparable, and the next I get lip about how you are this ball of moody, self-centered and downright unstable angst. Get over yourself: you've had it rough but get over all the self superiority shit. A bit of immaturity would probably help you."

Arron kept quiet, choosing rather to let her finish than add fuel to the fire. Gardevior was caught completely off guard by his unusual behavior, her scathing critique of his character halting dead in its tracks. "You know, I was expecting some sort of snarky clapback, or even just a vulgar insult, but all I got is silence. What's wrong?"

"I don't know anymore."

"That doesn't mean anything." She told him. "You need to stop avoiding all of this, stop saying that you don't know, or that you don't care, or that it doesn't matter anymore, because you'll keep digging a deeper and deeper whole for yourself."

Arron knew that she was correct: he had been digging a whole for himself, largely on purpose. He didn't want to connect to people, especially not like this, in this body. He didn't want to be someone's pet, it was demeaning.

Gardevior pinched the bridge of her nose, which was hidden behind her green, chlorophyllic crest. "Now, are we going to talk about what happened during that plunge, or are we going to save that for another time?"

Arron was surprised she was willing to wait, but he was inwardly grateful for it. "I want to wait, please. I can't talk about that yet, especially not Aizen. That… It hurts a little too much to talk about any of that."

Gardevior nodded. "I understand. Now, our last order of business is showing that we've made some progress. Long story short, Cerise didn't want me and my trainer here in the first place, so we have to make it look like you've changed. So for once in your life try and act civil and socialize with some of the other pokemon here, please? I know that's a lot to ask coming from you , but for this to work, for you to keep your secrets and for me and my trainer to be successful, I'm going to need you to try and act normal. Once this is done and over with, you'll never have to deal with another psychiatrist again. Does that work?"

Arron nodded, preferring to put all this behind them rather than keep perpetuating it, possibly with worse and worse people. "Agreed."

"Good… good."

"Where is everyone else?"

Gardevior shrugged. "Dr. Cerise sent Goh and Ash out on some mission to prevent them from interfering. They should be back in the morning, since they caught the giant magikarp. Chrysa went home and Dr. Cerise is still in his lab. He's probably still gathering and compiling data on you."

Arron looked out the window again, seeing the mood beginning to head for the horizon. "So, what now?"

Gardevior sighed. "Now we wait."

The next morning was very eventful. Gardevior and Rosemary were already packing their bags while Chrysa and Dr. Cerise were helping them load their little black sedan. Gardevoir hoisted many of the bags with her telekinesis, with Chrysa helping Rosemary with the lighter luggage. Arron was sprawled out on the concrete entryway, basking in the sun as he watched them prepare for their leave. Arron stull didn't understand why they had so much clothing, but apparently the journey was long, and Rosemary could only respond as quickly as she did because she was in the area.

The day was already proving to be a hot one: barely nine in the morning and it was nearly a sweltering ninety degrees. He yawned and stretched, the consequences of his fitful sleep now apparent. The bags under his eyes were heavy and his headache hadn't rescinded, leaving him in a poor mood, but he was going to keep his promise to Gardevior, threat of blackmail or not: he didn't want to deal with a psychiatrist that was actually competent.

So, he ignored the pokemon that approached him instead of snapping. It was easy to get away with this, for now at least, due to his current state. But he knew he'd have to actually socialize with these creatures eventually, something he wasn't very excited about. But he supposed he only had to act like he cared, that would be enough.

It he'd somewhat that Ash and Goh weren't present. Not that he disliked either of them (well, he disliked Ash, but that was for perfectly valid reasons) but both Riolu and Pikachu were too much for him right now. He could just imagine the ball the little blue dog would be having at the sight of his mental anguish, much like Grimmjow in a way. Both were incredibly narrow-sighted and spiteful, and he had a feeling Riolu wasn't the last pokemon that Ash had who would be a thorn in his side. Oh, joy.

As if he had spoken of the devil, a pair of bicycles raced up to the pavement, Goh on the first and Ash on the second. Both had baskets, with Goh's basket carrying Raboot and Ash's basket carrying Pikachu. Both the bikes were a solid color, Ash having a red bike and Goh having a green bike, as well as rugged, all-terrain tires. Goh braked his bike before kicking down the stop and leaning it on the concrete, racing towards Arron as soon as he could. Arron was a bit alarmed, but there wasn't much he could do, considering that Goh have ensnared him in a tight hug, practically squeezing the air from his lungs.

"Oh, Arron, I missed you so much!" He said, crushing Arron with a passion. He then set Arron down before scratching behind his ears and along his back. Arron snorted condescendingly, but Goh didn't seem to notice his ire. Ash approached, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry Arron, I tried to get him to take it slow but he really, really did miss you."

"Gee, I didn't notice," he rumbled sarcastically, not as if Ash could even understand him. But to his surprise, Ash's eyes glimmered. He may have not understood the words, but he got the tone and context.

Goh finally set Arron down, choosing to cradle him in his lap instead. Professor Cerise finally emerged from his office, his bleary eyes locking onto the arrival of his two interns/students. His hair was an absolute mess and his face was unshaven, leading Arron to believe he'd fallen asleep in his lab while compiling data or something. Instantaneously, Goh's expression darkened, if only by a little, and he stopped talking. Arron wasn't against that, per say, but he didn't like it when Goh became moody, because that usually meant his fuse shortened by a mile and he could get away with less.

"Um… welcome back, Goh, How was your trip? Did you catch the giant Magicarp?"

Goh nodded quietly, avoiding eye contact with the professor. "Yes sir, we caught it."

"Well… um… why don't we go out back into the park so we can have a look at it?"

Goh nodded, shouldering his backpack and rubbing Arron one last time before huffing. He then pulled a pokeball from his pocket and followed professor Cerise into the lab.

"So," Chrysa started with an anxious huff' "Goh's still angry about not being able to stay here, huh?"

Gardevior nodded, obviously having sensed the boy's thoughts when he had arrived. Ash only seemed to feel more awkward. "You could say that. He cooled off when we got to the lakes and we beat Team Rocket, but now he doesn't trust the professor, or at least that's what he told me."

Rosemary shrugged. "I understand why he feels that way, but it was necessary. The mind is an incredibly dangerous place to enter, especially for an inexperienced child. Goh would have put both his own life and Arron's in danger, not to mention Arron could have used the boy to subvert the process."

"Wait, what? I get that Arron isn't the most… cooperative of pokemon, but why would he use Goh like that? Doesn't he care about Goh?"

Rosemary and Chrysa looked at each other, as if they were silently debating on who should tell Ash something. Then Chrysa sighed. "Ash, I know that you've had good experiences with pokemon in the past, but that's because you don't 'capture' them. Every pokemon you've had has willingly chosen to join you. That's not the case with ash and Goh." Chrysa approached Ash and kneeled down to his level. "I get that you like to think that every pokemon-trainer relationship is warm and fuzzy, and I think that's great, but it isn't true." She looked at Goh, almost sympathetically, no doubt Gardevior had told Rosemary and Chrysa a watered down, or possibly untrue version of the events she had witnessed. "Arron, well, he's been through a lot, and he's been hurt by a lot of people. Pokemon like Arron, they don't trust easily. A lot of them are willing to do really bad things just to stay safe."

Ash looked up at her, his eyes slightly misty. "Like what happened at Verdanturf Town?"

The mention of what happened at Verdanturf town seemed to make her uneasy for some reason, but she nodded. "Yes, just like at Verdanturf town."

Ash looked down at his feet, processing what he'd just been told, before sighing. "Okay, I understand. Do you think that's why Arron bit off Goh's finger?"

"I think that's exactly why. You two need to be careful-"

Arron snorted, alerting the two of them to his presence. He was sick of them talking about him like he wasn't in the room, and he wasn't going to have Chrysa draw sympathy towards him like he was some kicked puppy. Both Ash and Chrysa, who had been wrapped up in their conversation up to that point, were startled, and Chrysa gave him a look akin to what the hell? Ash was just surprised. "Oh, I forgot you were there, Arron."

"Yes, it appears we both did. You should go and see if Goh's alright, I have to… file some research data."

The excuse was obviously a half-assed attempt to distance herself from Arron, probably due to Chrysa realizing that Arron hadn't changed much, and Chrysa had lost their unspoken bet. Gardevoir gave him a dangerous look, but he just stared right back at her, peeved that she had leaked some of what happened last night to Chrysa. She backed down, for now, but he could see the gears turning behind those analytical eyes of hers.

Chrysa eared her throat and cracked her knuckles, attempting to regain some of her composure before she went to see Cerise again, and Ash followed her out to the park just as Rosemary was loading the last few bags into her car. The moment they were out of earshot, he practically snarled at her

"What the fuck did you tell her?"

Gardevior was unfazed by his hostility. "I told her nothing: Rosemary did."

"Why the fuck did you tell any of that Rosemary?!"

"Oh, hush, I didn't tell her anything incriminating, just that you have a history of abuse and trauma from a previous handler. I kept the insanity and secrets out while giving her a baseline of what was necessary. Then I filled the gaps with a few believable lies: that reminds me, you're going to have to go become very good at Improv in the next few weeks."

Arron's blood began to boil. "You broke our promise, you bitch! I told you not to tell anyone anything!"

"You never told me that, and I never agreed to that. What I agreed to was to cover up your past, and I did it with flying colors. Now grow a pair and fulfill your end of the bargain. You obviously haven't taken the initiative to do so: you're still the same insensitive douchebag as you were yesterday."

"I'm not interested in being that boy's pet!"

Gardevior smirked. "Then I'll show Rosemary my memories of what happened inside your head. Remember this, Arron: I have the power here, and you need help. I'm trying to help you, consider it 'tough love'

Before Arron could retort, Rosemary gave him a quick stink eye before smiling at Gardevoir. "Come on, dear, we have our next client in Kanto."

Gardevior nodded and looked back at Arron one last time. "Get your shit together Arron, we'll be back in four weeks. You have four weeks to fix some of your shit."

And with that, she ducked under the car door frame and sat down, Rosemary starting the car as the doors closed and they pulled out of the driveway, leaving Arron fuming on the steps leading to the labs and the park.

Arron was not a happy camper.

After all that Gardevior had seen, she still chose to backstab him and tell Rosemary about his secrets, secrets that were very confidential. Worse was that Arron didn't know how much she'd seen: she was gone when he had confronted what was left of Kyoka Suigetsu, so there was no telling how much she knew. Had she seen him as a Gillian or an Adjuchas? How many souls he had devoured? He couldn't imagine why anyone would want anything to do with him once they realized his true nature, that he was a soul eating monster.

'Who cares!' A little voice in the back of his mind said. And it was a good question: why did he care what anyone thought of him? Sure, he'd had his lapses, his points of contention with his feelings about the people he was trapped with, but he'd always returned back to his original mindset, that he didn't want to be here, and he didn't want to be someone's pet. Not only was it just beneath him, but Arron didn't want to get attached to Goh just for someone to use the boy against him. He was terrified of commitment.

Damn this shit sucked.

Currently, he was perched on one of the hills in Cerise Park, watching Goh and Ash play with the massive Magicarp that they'd caught, which Arron had to admit was pretty large. Golurk was stationary, sitting in the water to cool his core while he relaxed, with many of the bird pokemon swarmed around him. The water types were carousing around him as well, many of them hopping over his and between his legs and chasing each other. The rest had gone their separate ways once they had witnessed the sheer size of Goh's Magicarp.

All except for Arron. He'd been moody since he'd discovered Gardevior's betrayal, but he doubted that was the only reason why he was in such a bad mood. Subconsciously, he was at war with himself on whether he should give in and start over or hold onto the pain so he'd never be hurt again. He didn't know why the latter was so appealing, but apparently it was, because every time he subconsciously tried to change even the slightest, to adopt a better mindset, he reacted violently when he realized he was changing.

Arron realized how lucky those ignorant, juvenile pokemon were. They didn't have the problems he had, they didn't have to fight in a pointless war and lose everyone they cared about. Hell, they fought for fun. Fighting was ingrained into Arron as a survival mechanism, so of course he enjoyed it, but he didn't have the luxury of mercy or second chances. You were either a killer or you were killed. Everything became easier the more you killed, for sure, but it didn't change the fundamental truth of Hueco Mundo: only the strong survive. It weeded out the weak and what remained were the dregs of the previous world who had no qualms with killing. Grimmjow came to mind in that regard.

Arron really didn't like grimmjow. But what he hated more was how much they had in common. They were both antagonistic fighters, they both thrive in combat, and they both seemed to have made terrible choices. But Grimmjow only had combat: the rest of his personality was as milque-toast as Kaname Tousen. All he cared about was fighting, to the point where his own bloodthirsty mindset had become his doom when he was cut down by that Kurosaki boy. In a way, Arron had died in a similar way: he was overcome with a desire to kill someone he was outclassed by, although for a much more sensible reason. He didn't want to end up like Grimmjow again, or any of the Espada. He didn't want to be another allegory for Aizen to laugh at from beyond the grave.

This wasn't exactly an epiphany for Arron, but it was a start, he supposed. He could work with this.

He heard soft footsteps behind him, but he didn't bother to turn around, knowing who they belonged to. Raboot walked up and plopped down beside Arron, hugging her legs up to her chest and looking down at the view laid out before them. With a sigh and a few scoots towards him, she met his gaze.

"I'm sorry I pestered you the other day."

Arron was confused. Why was she apologizing? For asking him questions on the train? Sure, it was annoying, but he'd snapped at her. This was just getting more and more confusing.

"It's okay," he said quietly, "I shouldn't have… said what I said either."

She shrugged and looked back down at the lake, watching the bird pokemon circle golurk. "Yeah but- well, I guess it was just too early to ask. You were just so unstable."

"Maybe."

She looked back at him. "That's all? I just- what- how do you feel?"

He sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. Tired, I guess. Emotionally tired."

"Do you… do you want to talk about it?"

A little bit of his emotional wall cracked. He recalled Gardevoir's words, about how he needed help. Maybe this would be a good opportunity.

"Yeah, I guess."

Raboot sat silently for a moment before contemplating her options. Arron just chuckled at her inaction. "What's wrong?"

Raboot looked up to the sky, watching the clouds. "I just… never thought I'd make it this far."

Arron chuckled again . "Well, what do you want to talk about?"

"You know, it."

"I'm not sure what you're referencing."

In truth, Arron knew exactly what she was referencing. He just didn't know how to go about telling his own story. He wasn't going to tell her the whole truth, about the hollows and the shinigami, he'd take that to the grave, but he guessed she deserved some semblance of an explanation.

"I have a sister, well, I had a sister. We went through a lot together, although I didn't see her much." He looked back over to her, seeing her listen in rapt attention, and he let the dams break. "She… she was killed by the one I was working for."

Raboot seemed taken aback by that. "Why?"

"Because he felt like killing her, I suppose. I don't pretend to know insanity was going inside Aizen's head, all I can tell you is that he was truly evil, in a way you wouldn't really understand. He did things, wove plots and set traps just to see people fall, and then laugh at their anguish." He flexed his muscles angrily, but restrained his anger so as to not blow something up out of reflex. "He did that with my sister. Then he killed her himself."

Reboot looked at him, facial expression wrought in horror. "Why would anyone do that?"

"Because he could, and he had no qualms about doing it."

They remained silent for a few more moments, before she spoke up again. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Gor what happened to you, and your sister. What this '' did was horrible."

Arron huffed. "What's done is done, and she's gone forever. I can't do anything about it anymore."

To his surprise, instead of saying anything else, Raboot surprised Arron by leaning on him, resting her head on his shoulders and letting her ears flop on him, which was actually kind of cute. Arron, resigned to the fate of apparently being her pillow, didn't object.

"We don't have to talk about it anymore if you don't want to. We could talk about something else, like… Riolu's stupid face!"

For a moment, Arron was surprised by the juvenile nature of the comment, before laughing, genuinely laughing. "Yeah, I'd like that."

They sat there for a while, talking about whatever came to mind as the sun rose in the sky.

Chrysa watched from her office window as Arron and Raboot conversed on the hilltop ledge, although about what she'd never know. She had a small smile on her face, however: she had won.

Well, she didn't exactly win per say, although she had eked out a small victory for sure. Arron finally seemed to be tolerating some of the pokemon, which could only be a good thing. Now only if she could get him to shed some of that anger. Apparently, whatever Rosemary and Gardevior had done had helped him loosen up a little, to the point where even Cerise was impressed, although he hadn't voiced that to her yet.

She sat back down on her office chair, doing a little victory spin before picking up her coffee and taking a long sip of the lukewarm brew. What to do now, that was the question. She wasn't going to take any more gambit, that's for sure: she absolutely trusted Rosemary's abilities, but she would be the first to admit that she was definitely worried about Gardevior's welfare as well as her reputation. If that had failed, she could have lost a lot of trust between her and Cerise with how she had pressured him to enlist the help of what seemed like an unnecessary risk at the time.

She looked back out the window, one of her hands between the blinds to get a clearer picture while the other kept her magenta hair out of her eyes. Arron and Raboot were leaning on each other, which could only be a good thing. That would be her next move, to strengthen the relationship between those two. They obviously had a special bond, even if they had just met, so that couldn't be too hard.

She sat down again, running her fingers through her hair. What was she becoming? This damn pokemon and his defiant personality had her obsessed with out-witting him. He was just a damn pokemon, what was there to out-wit? But when she looked into his eyes she saw a faint hint of both intelligence and malevolence swimming behind them, someone who was used to getting their way, with force if necessary. She couldn't let something like that remain hostile and, for a lack of a better word, broken could she?

But that was her justification: in reality, she hated the fact that Arron went out of his way to maliciously spite everyone he crossed, both human and pokemon. Sometimes it was minor: an upturned nose here, a sneer there. But sometimes it was severe, like Arron nearly burning riolu to a crisp with his special attack. She had seen pictures of the results, and they weren't pretty. This project of hers was definitely driven like Ego, if nothing else.

She heard footsteps down the hall and turned to see Goh, carrying a basket of what looked like muffins in one hand and his own bag in another, Ash's hat comically nestled on his head backwards, as if the two were fooling around. Chrysa put on a smile and relaxed so as not to arouse suspicion. "How can I help you, Goh?"

"I got a bunch of muffins from the bakery down the street to share with all the pokemon, but I don't know where Arron and Raboot are. Have you seen them?"

Chrysa nodded. "Yeah, they're outside on the ledge."

Goh nodded. "Thanks, Chrysa. You want one?"

She shook her head. "No thank you, Goh, you enjoy them."

Goh left, and Chrysa sighed again. That was another challenge: getting Arron to accept Goh. Chrysa wasn't stupid, she knew Arron was rebellious and fiercely independent. But for him to heal he would Need Goh, not to mention for the professor to get out of hot water. While Goh's injury was overstated by his father, his mother still put a lot of trust in them, and Goh was a very promising candidate.

All in due time, however. She'd passed the first hurdle, that was all that mattered right now.