Brisk, evening air settled in Audino Agatha's room. Red and orange light streamed in from the window onto Agatha's back as she did push-ups on the floor. The cold pricked in through her skin and bothered her, so she jumped up to the circular window sill in her room and pulled the window back in to close it. As her feet hit the ground and made a clang, her phone on her bed vibrated.

Agatha had been watching the news all day, and Alondra probably had, too.

She paused her workout and sat on the edge of her bed with her phone. She kept scrolling through pictures, reading one boring news article after another. Soon after she started reading, she skipped to the pictures.

They showed a pure white dragon with glowing, deep blue eyes. She had already compared it to the one in her book, but it looked different enough for it to be safe to say that it was a different kind of pokemon. Its wings were covered in glass, and they weren't razor sharp at the edges. They had a soft curve to a point, then retreated back to the other side of its arms.

Agatha didn't have much interest in it. The fact it existed surprised her the most, but she had seen a dozen pictures and videos of the live-stream on the beach where the dragon was seen. Her remaining curiosity went to the other pokemon in the pictures.

There were only a few pictures of him: a Flareon with white fur, and a gray mane, tail and tuft of fur on his head. Both of his eyes were different colors; his left white and his right blue. A normal color for a Flareon didn't land on a single strand of fur on his body.

His fur shone with the phantom of rainbows. Agatha's mind pulled to a standstill looking at him. She decided to look at articles about him.

They said he was an unknown explorer, and that was it. They didn't have any other information about him beyond speculation. Agatha didn't pay much attention to it.

The Flareon looked young, and exploring fell into decline years ago. Unlike gruff explorers, Flareon's smooth, fluffy fur cascaded off his body like dew off of leaves. Agatha could see him as a supermodel before seeing him as an explorer. If it wasn't for the live-stream, she wouldn't believe anything about what happened.

Agatha returned to her push-ups. It felt awkward with her feet, but she could still do anything she could before. That's what the doctors told her, since everything above her feet was intact.

It didn't feel like it. Agatha struggled to get her feet to stick up on the ground. It took her a minute or two every time. She didn't bother trying to do more after.

After a little while of staring at her phone screen under her covers, she went to sleep.


Audino Agatha slept well, but she only about six hours before waking up.

She woke up moments before daybreak. She felt fine, but didn't get out of bed and stared at the ceiling. She didn't want to wake up Claire, or go to school early, if at all. Onceshe heard her stir on the first floor, however, she sat up from her bed and put her prosthetic feet back on. She added her white cloak, huge round glasses, and a mostly empty brown backpack before she opened up her door.

Mightyena Claire wobbled just out of view. Agatha stalked down, unsure between deciding to make loud steps for her to know she was awake and quiet steps to keep from surprising her. The weight of her prosthetic feet made the latter more difficult.

In the kitchen, Claire down with droopy eyes at the empty wooden table. Her gaze leaned up towards the sound Agatha made with her last step down the ramp.

"Agatha?" Claire asked. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Not that tired. I'm going to head to school soon."

"As long as you're feeling alright."

"Yeah. I'm good."

Agatha only ate a little bit before heading out of the grove that surrounded her home. A few stars still twinkled in the sky as a wave of yellow came from the horizon. The cold, desolate echoed her footsteps, and there weren't any carriages on the road to counter them. The town felt deserted, but Agatha didn't expect anything less for what time it was.

Her new school sat on top of a small, steep grassy hill. A pathway of asphalt accompanied by a sidewalk weaved left and up past a wall of red oak trees topped with green globes of leaves. Agatha struggled on the sidewalk to lift her feet up, but the short path spared her.

It was a rectangular brick building shaped like an L on its side. All of the windows were blocked off by curtains that were made of rows of plastic tape. Dead soil led up to a set of glass doors under a miniature roof. The only green by the door was from weeds and grass.

Agatha had to pull on the doors harder than she thought. Her push-ups took a toll on her arms. She had to use her whole body to pull out the glass door and step in while it shut.

Lockers she never planned to use lined up both sides of tiled hallways. A disgusting, sweaty scent invaded her nose. She couldn't tell if it came from the gum sticking on the lockers or dirt gathering on the side of the hallway, so she walked in the dead center to keep away from the multi-colored filth.

With it being her first day, she had to stop and read arrow signs pointing towards her classroom's number. Her odd footsteps echoed in the hallway alone, but they were joined by a small pitter patter from around a corner up ahead.

An older Eldegoss rounded the corner. She didn't have a ball of white cotton on her head, but probably didn't have a reason to have one. Agatha tried to keep her walk as natural as she could, but her steps still stuttered.

Eldegoss didn't seem to notice. She kept staring at the floor as she passed by. The stress washed out Agatha's chest through her breath.

From Eldegoss' direction, the classroom door waited for her. A heft, wood door as hefty as the previous forced her to pull with her whole body again.

The side of a wood desk in front of a blackboard took up most of the front wall. A few paces away, rows of different color cushions were set up for students to sit on. Agatha chose a pink cushion in the back right corner of the classroom.

As Agatha sat, she scanned over the room's walls. Cheesy posters that went in one eye and out the other covered them. They were covered in posters with cheesy lines that went in one eye and out the other. Agatha closed her eyes. She had nothing to do.

In reaction to her ears, Audino Agatha opened her eyes and straightened out. The pokemon continued past the classroom, but more started to move in the hallways until it turned into a constant blend of chatter and footsteps.

Within moments, the first group of students came in together. All of them seemed to be smaller species, bunched up and already in a conversation. Agatha hunched over.

The classroom got claustrophobic fast. Every breath she took was recycled air filled with artificial scents, especially as most of the seats filled up.

An older Flygon floated into the room last. As he passed, Agatha noticed "Mr. Rivers" etched in chalk on the top right of the blackboard. As soon as he came through the door, other pokemon got their books out in front of them. Agatha didn't have one in mind, but she also didn't plan to pay attention. Most of the other students weren't. They just had their phones on their books.

Mr. Rivers dove right into teaching language arts. Agatha didn't pay much attention. The student conversations interested her more.

"Capes got so expensive overnight. So stupid."

"They should be easy to make, though."

"The whole 'supply and demand' nonsense is such bull."

Agatha started to need something to keep herself awake. She brought out a notebook from her backpack, writing about the first thing on her mind. She wondered if she could improve her feet somehow.

Her prosthetic feet were perfect for what they were, but she went through ideas to improve them herself. She didn't know what she wanted, but sketched out the design they currently had and stared. With it being attached to her body all the time, she memorized it to heart.

The parts she would need to do any changes with would be expensive, and somewhere closer in Verity's city. Agatha decided to think about what she could do for that first, but it got her nowhere. She started to draw herself out of boredom.


Flygon Mr. Rivers taught the next class, history. He talked about very old Veritan economics on a general scale. For Agatha, it was the kind of information she would study for a few minutes and forget after the test, and that was the plan. She kept drawing.

For math and science, a Torkoal, Mr. West, came into their classroom. Low level topics and questions they went over were a bit of a surprise, but she made sure not to show it on her face. Her parents taught her these basics years ago.

After those two classes taught by Mr. West, lunch time arrived. The whole classroom sat up at once and filed out of the room. Agatha walked at the back of the line, followed by Torkoal Mr. West. After passing by more classroom doors, she was squeezed into a mob heading to the cafeteria.

Tan double doors covered the cafeteria up until the front of the crowd reached it. The room opened up fast. The stink slapped her.

This time, the blame belonged to the food. The cafeteria line moved fast, but sitting behind cloudy glass and underneath gruff cafeteria workers, the food looked like plastic. Agatha didn't even consider eating it. She couldn't even tell if the white glop that took up half of her tray was mashed potatoes or porridge. On the rest of it: beans that looked like they were grown under a bridge.

She looked to her left and right. At her long, white table, no one else sat. Other tables were half-filled, but she noticed only one full table. The pokemon sitting there were all wore purple and gold. They spoke with their mouths wide open and swung their weight around with every movement. It grossed her out, but Agatha didn't want to look down at her plate either.


After lunch, her class went back to the classroom and had study hall. Audino Agatha took a discrete nap. No one else seemed to have anything to study or work on, either.

Gym took last. After another walk at the back of the line, Agatha discovered this school had an inside gym with a wooden floor and bleachers on one side. Blue cushions lined the walls to dull collisions.

Agatha sat on the bleachers with her sketchbook the whole time. In the game, the other students battled over a flag. Athletes seemed to take pride in dominating the flow, but she didn't notice anything else. It was a game made up of strangers.

When it came time to leave, they were dismissed right from the gym. Agatha walked out before anyone else, disappearing into the barrage of other pokemon coming out from classrooms. She stayed in the current of them walking out on the right side.

Turning a corner, Agatha bumped her fake glasses into the wall after missing a step. She took them off and pulled back on the strands of her ears to look at them for a smudge. She cleaned it using the sleeve of her white cloak then put them back on her face.

A small group just ahead spoke with each other in a circle. It was made up of an Elektrike, Mawile, and Sandslash. When Agatha looked up with her glasses back on, they were staring at her. They turned away fast. Agatha recognized the Elektrike and Sandslash from her class. She kept her head down and continued past them to the glass doors leading outside.


Agatha got through the whole school day without saying a word, but she wanted to talk to Alondra now. Despite the bright, blue sky, the library still seemed to have a gray aura.

Outside, Meowstic Alondra watered plants near a brick wall with a plastic cup. She turned around to Agatha before she chose between calling out to her or not.

"Oh," Alondra said, pausing. "Hello, Agatha."

"Hi."

Agatha scratched her throat to cure her gritty voice. Alondra took steps off the soil to the concrete path leading towards the front doors. She sprinkled the last of the water in the paper cup over the soil.

"I hope you don't mind, I've started making preparations for, well… Explorations."

"Explorations?" Agatha asked. "Of what?"

"I've made preparations to fix that device, and I want to find a path directly to the place in that 'dream' you had."

Agatha's initial reaction: there was no way anyone could fix her parents' machine but her parents. They were throwing science and "magic" together, and years of effort. But then she remembered Alondra implied she was one of those "Scions". She might know a little bit more magic than she let on.

The plants Alodnra watered weren't at all like Agatha remembered them yesterday. The mass of weeds was replaced with an eat row of white and yellow flowers. It made her suspicious, for some reason.

"But why do you want to go to that place?" Agatha asked.

"To confront Palkia and gain answers the simple way."

"So we'll go together…?"

Alondra seemed to shrink. She brought the empty cup a little closer to her chest. "I'd love to offer you to join, but it's simply too much. This is something for me to do."

Agatha wanted to go. She didn't really have much of an idea as to what strategy Alondra had that could be different from anyone else's, but it didn't matter. There was no way Alondra understood engineering like she did, and if she wanted Agatha's help doing what she wanted to do with it, she'd have to make a deal.

"You can't fix it without me," Agatha said.

"I could learn to."

"So what…? Are you really planning on going to college for something I could help with over a day?"

"Agatha, I would love to bring you."

Despite the contradiction, Agatha got quiet and listened to every word.

"This is your concern," Alondra acknowledged. "But, I am worried about you getting hurt because of your condition. Mentally and physically. Those are my only concerns. I can see that you're struggling- and of course you would be."

Agatha felt venom coming up in her mind. A portion of it blasted out of her mouth.

"So… how much higher can you turn up your chin…?"

"It's not like that…"

Agatha turned around and stormed off. Meowstic Alondra chased behind her. She floated next to her.

"Agatha, please!" Alondra said. "It's not like that!"

"Go away."

Alondra plopped down to the sidewalk behind her. Agatha didn't turn around and broke out into a stiff run.