Flareon Light couldn't really put a time or place to his dreams. He could feel time passing, and the occasional gentle rocking of the carriage. It could've been an illusion, but he grew warmer and more comfortable as time passed.

Eventually, he reached a point where his body didn't want to sleep anymore. He started to shift around with his eyes closed. He felt a bit heavier than normal as he opened them.

"Good morning," Ariel's voice greeted.

"Good morning," Light said. "Uhm, where'd you go?"

After rubbing his eyes, Light realized Sky Shaymin Ariel and Slowking Chad sat against the other side of the carriage wall. They were both staring at him.

"What is it?" Light asked.

"Nothing too concerning," Chad said, "it's just that your fur grew overnight."

Light looked down and around at himself. The white cushion under him wasn't even visible under the gray fur of his tail. The white fur on his limbs and body swelled.

His gray tail grew the most. It grew to be three times his size, drawing most of his body in a gray cloud of fur.

"What…?" Light asked.

"Don't panic," Chad continued, "you're practically glowing. It's alright."

"Practically glowing... Wait."

Light stood up and observed himself. His fur shifted with him, along with half of the light in the room.

"Based on your progress so far, we did have a feeling your body would finish healing by now," Chad explained. "So… I guess it probably started to do other things while you were sleeping."

"Uhm," Ariel's voice squeaked, "I'm gonna get some fresh air. We're almost there, so I'll just be, uh, there."

Sky-Forme Shaymin Ariel went to the back door and slipped it open just enough to pass through. The carriage was still moving at a slow pace when she floated out and closed the door behind herself, leaving Light alone with Chad.

"Do I smell bad, or something?" Light asked quietly.

"You smell like vanilla," Chad said. "Too pleasant to be normal, if that makes sense. Feels like I'm eating cookies every time I take whiff…"

Light didn't smell it, but he didn't doubt him. He didn't seem like a liar.

"Did anything else change that I'm not noticing?" Light asked. "Do I look weird?"

"Objectively speaking," Chad said, "yes. Although, I would think that'd be the least of your worries. Mind if I help you out with all that fur?"

"Sure…"

Slowking Chad stood up and walked behind Light. He picked up some of the gray fur on the floor and twisted the ends.

"Where are we heading in the city first?" Light asked.

"The hospital, for your evaluation," Chad answered. "They just want a quick, five minute look and a blood test. The others already have arrangements at a hotel. We'll join them after."

"So, I'm the only one going to the hospital?"

"Me and miss Ariel will be joining you, unless you'd prefer something else."

"No, that's fine. Was just wondering."

After a little longer, Light could vaguely hear the familiar sounds of a city around the carriage. The ride got bumpier with a new pattern of stopping every so often. Chad finished braiding the fur at the edges of Light's tail fast. He stopped at good points to cut it.

During one of the stops, Sky Shaymin Ariel opened the back of the carriage and flew in again. She closed it behind her and stood quietly.

"Hey," Ariel greeted, "I'm back. Checked on Jewel."

"Thanks," Chad said.

"How are you feeling, Light?" she asked.

"Fine, thanks," Light said.

"We'll be there in just a minute, so make sure you're ready."

"Yah."

The carriage made a hard turn, keeping its slow speed until it came to a stop. Sky Shaymin Ariel went out right after, closing the doors behind herself while Slowking Chad waited with Flareon Light inside.

"They're going to have a few doctors come out and have the tests here," Chad explained.

"Out here?" Light asked.

"Just a precaution. After this, you can do whatever you'd like to."

"Like what?" Light asked. "Have you been here before?"

"A handful of times for pit stops and vacations. You'll enjoy yourself."

There was noise behind the closed doors of the carriage. A Manectric peered his face in after the doors creaked open.

"Is everything all set in here?" Manectric asked.

"Yes," Chad answered, "I'll bring him out now."

After the door closed, Slowking Chad stood up. Light stalked behind him as he opened the doors, covering over his eyes with his arm as his eyes adjusted.

A field of grass swaying in the wind opened up; not what Light expected. A Zoroark, Makuhita, Chansey, Graveler, Sandslash, and Ribombee walked over to the back of the carriage. The Chansey worked with a white box device on the ground, but her hands paused. She stared at him along with the others.

The Zoroark stepped up to the back of the carriage.

"Light," he greeted, "nice to meet you in person. How are you feeling?"

"Uh, good," Flareon Light whispered. His blue and white eyes traced the forming line of pokemon behind the Zoroark. They all had shaky expressions with a big variety between them.

"Glad to hear it," Zoroark said. "We're the doctors, and we'd like to get samples from you to help in case you have any problems."

"Okay..." Light said, "uhm, what do you want?"

"Three small samples of blood, a bit of both white and gray fur, and anything else you'd like to tell us. We're all set to do these things here so you can go about your business."

"What do I need to do?"

"You can just sit there. The others will just be doing what they need to."

A part of him relaxed when Zoroark leaned against the side of the carriage with his arms folded. The others started to move around, dividing their attention between Light and the white box machine which they brought next to him.

"You evolved recently if I remember correctly," Zoroark said. "Could you tell me your general lifestyle beforehand?"

Light stared at the Zoroark's stiff, probably fake smile.

"Just… making ends meet," Light said.

"Well, with the pretense that stories about Legendary species are true, their powers function by making different kinds of bends in reality. An Eevee's genetic structure is wilder and subject to change, and they say that you evolved while in close proximity with it."

Light didn't find anything to offer about his thought process.

"Where was the stone when you found it?" Zoroark asked.

"Was told to steal from some mansion and I saw it there."

"Why'd you steal the stone?"

Light mentally froze a bit at the question. He went back into his memory and thought about it.

"It seemed special," Light answered, "to me."

"This mansion. Do you remember any details about it? Who it belonged to? Where it was? Anything?"

"I think it was... somewhere in Verity, actually," Light said. He looked through his memories, saying the name out loud till he got it right. "Fer... No. Phi... Pharaoh? Pharaoh. The family's last name was Pharaoh."

"That's good you remember," he smiled.

"What else do you want to know?"

"Unless there's anything you think can help Kaigan, nothing. The Nightlight Association might be in a bit of trouble for keeping this secret, as you mentioned earlier to the press in Kaigan, but that's all. And on behalf of our families, we thank you for your heroism."

Zoroark moved forward, giving the others more room. Light held out his arm while Chansey came with a tube from the device. He got lost in thought to the point where he didn't notice the prick of a needle on his forearm.

While they took a little blood, Sandslash took a few pieces of fur. After Chad asked, he obliged to cut off the extra fur on Light's tail. He thanked him with a quiet nod.

When they finished, they all packed up what they got and walked out of sight. The Zoroark was the last to leave, waving a quiet goodbye. The Slowking Chad came back next to Light, flashing him a smile.

"Alright, we're heading towards the hotel unless you want anything," Chad said.

"I'm all set," Light said. "Where's Ariel?"

"I'm here," a voice surprised him. Sky Shaymin Ariel came into his view from the side of the carriage with a calm smile. "You good?"

"Yah, uh... ready when you are."


For the most part, the rest of the ride was silent. Light's gray fur wrapped under and around him like a bed and blankets. His mind gravitated towards a lot of older memories.

He remembered friends that had to move on away from him. He felt happy for them and mad for himself. It was better to get away from the rough streets he lived in, but he got jealous. Now, he got away.

There were a few people Light didn't get jealous of, though. They had it rough so far because of things outside of their control, so seeing them finding better foster families or other things made him feel like celebrating more than anything.

He wondered if those same people saw him from the stream. The bullies on his street, or the nice Mareep who owned the store he shopped at for candy. He wondered how they reacted. For some reason, that still felt like his world, even though it could be changing now. Still, he wouldn't forget them anytime soon.

Flareon Light decided to peer at Sky Shaymin Ariel sas she sat next to him. She had been looking in his direction, but turned her head to look straight on. He couldn't tell what she thought of him. He covered himself with his fur a little more.

As the ride came to an end, Light found himself sweating from the heat of so much fur. For whatever reason, the gentle scent when he took a silent sniff resembled warm sugar. He wrinkled his nose.

The carriage doors opened in the middle of one of their many stops. He gave his eyes a moment to adjust to before standing up and following Ariel and Chad outside.

Some of the bounty hunters he met earlier were right outside the door, on the white beach sand. Emolga Alisha and Talonflame Roxanne's eyes snapped to him.

Light shrunk back under the shade of the carriage roof.

"Stop staring at him," Roserade Storm sighed.

"Dude, art catches the eye," Galarian Ponyta Nadia said. "Someone give him a mirror to enjoy it, too. Think he looked at himself, yet?"

"No. Uhm, what is it?" Light asked. Fear leaked through his voice in tremors.

Light managed to keep track of Manaphy Jewel shooting up to the side of the carriage. She presented an ovular mirror in a simple, gold frame to him with a strong grin.

"You look like you've had some dew from the tree of life, flour from wheat grown by angels, and eggs from a phoenix mixed into a batch of cookies and that you ate them all washing it down with specks of the sun."

Light didn't think too much about Jewel's commentary. He looked at the changes to his face that had to have happened in his sleep.

Light's blue and white eyes seemed a bit brighter. His eyes had strips of black around them like eye-liner, and his eyelashes folded perfectly up in a curve on his round face. His quirk of observing things with his mouth just slightly parted let him see that his teeth were white to the point of creeping him out.

Jewel lifted her face and sniffed the air. "Is someone burning cookies…?"

"Everyone continue moving about," Chad announced. "Let's get settled in, alright?"

When enough of them turned away, Light hopped down onto the smooth, grainy white sand. With the roof of the carriage no longer in the way, he could see a red building shaped like a castle and surrounded by short palm trees.

Light walked to the side of the carriage and saw the crystal blue ocean a short ways away, along with a few boats in the distance. He was barely able to hear the waves from how gentle they were, leaving him unsatisfied. The others behind him were moving towards the beautiful building while Light paused in the middle of his stride.

Jewel quietly went next to him, looking up at his face. Light noticed her in his peripheral vision and looked back.

"Hey," Jewel greeted, "just go over there. Do what you feel like."

"Don't we have things to do?" Light asked.

"Nope. Not really."

"But there's things we could be doing. I could help with unpacking."

"We'll be done unpacking in, like, five minutes. We're all good."

Light's awkward tingle of doing something wrong faded as he got further away from the maze of carriages. He walked towards a small wooden set of stairs that went over a mess of plants he didn't recognize.

White sand sparkled under the sunlight. Light walked to the edge of the dark mark the waves left on the sand as they thrust up to the beach. The seagulls acted like randomly playing instruments. Light managed to see one in the distance dip under the water and come back up with something in its mouth.

Thinking back to the other beach, Light didn't feel heroic at the time. Despite the situation, he stood prepared, maybe ready. One way or another, he had to do it. If he wanted to, maybe then it would've been heroic.

Light laid down on his stomach. He started to fall asleep between the sun overhead and the warm sand below.


Flareon Light didn't know how much time passed. From the sun shining alone in the pure blue sky, an hour could've passed. He got the feeling that the afternoon approached. The waves and seagulls sang uninterrupted to his ears until he felt light footsteps on the sand nearby.

He stood up and turned around to see who. Slowking Chad stopped in his steps. His hesitance prompted Light to guess he had something to say.

"Hey," Light said.

"Hey," Chad said. "I figured I'd come to you as soon as we got your results back."

Light stared.

"Oh don't let me distract you." Chad gestured towards the sea. "I'll just talk. It's a lovely day."

Light did what he suggested, staring at the hypnotic scene of the pulsing blue water. The fresh air pinched his nose. He took in a deep gulp.

"I'll lead off with the most normal news," Chad said. "Your blood has properties that are responsible for being able to make glass inside your body. You have hormones that respond to trauma and focus it to areas of bleeding or broken bones, and you heal faster due to high natural amounts of energy. Not incredibly so. Just by a few hours."

"So there's a limit I need to estimate and keep in mind," Light said.

"Still working through details. Another thing is that your body uses and requires a lot of sugar to maintain itself, but it should only be a small eating habit change."

"Uhm... Okay. Why's that?"

"No idea," he frowned. "They just noticed your blood sugar was, uhm… Naturally high. And since it's your natural state, you ought to keep it there, they presume."

"Is that why I smell like this?"

"Maybe. The most important thing they found was about your ancestry. Your family, specifically."

Light turned his gaze onto Chad. The sea vanished from his mind.

"Family?" he asked. "Who?"

"A mutation of a certain set of genes," Chad continued. "They're found only in the Acuitan royal family. When they were alive, your parents' names were Lancelot Acuity and Rosemary Evergreen."

Light paused, then looked down at the sand. His gaze turned back to the ocean.

"They're dead?" Light asked.

"After an accident in the Nightlight Association's tower," Chad said.

Tears welled up in his eyes, but they didn't quite break out. Light didn't expect to hear anything about his parents, ever.

"What did they do?" Light asked.

"Your mother was a famous biologist. She specialized in genetics. Your father chose not to become king, along with his two brothers, but he served a short period as the Overlord of the Nightlight Association."

"Did..." Light paused. He couldn't focus on them anymore right now without reacting more than he wanted to in front of Chad. "What's up with the gene thing you said...?"

"The Acuitan blessing is a gene passed down from a ruler to their children in the Acuitan family, but since Lancelot decided not to become king, you theoretically wouldn't have it. In order to actually pass the gene from parent to child, you'd need to do a ritual of having the parent without the royal blessing ingest the other's energized blood. Because Lancelot chose not to become king, he technically broke the rules in passing the gene on to you."

"What does that mean?" Light asked. "Will something happen to me?"

"No," Chad answered, "absolutely nothing. With the lack of an Acuitan heir, the other Acuitan prince was conceived by two parents where neither of them were next in line for the throne.."

Chad got quiet when Light didn't reply. He didn't know what to say.

"How do you feel?" Chad asked.

"I dunno…" Light mumbled. "You said 'mutated'… What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, it's changed somehow, apparently in a minor way. It's impossible to understand, but the Acutian blessing is connected to the mind. You'll say something if you notice anything strange right?"

"Sure."

Slowking Chad held out his hand. Light stared at it until he realized he was holding a small slip of paper.

"If you want to know your birth name," Chad said. "No one other than me and the head doctor knows. You don't have to interact with any of this if you don't want to. So... I'll leave you with this."

Light took the small, folded slip of paper. Chad nodded, then turned and walked back towards and up the wooden staircase to the building. Light continued to stare at the paper in his hand, and the ocean that outlined its sharp edges.

When he opened it, he would know a different name that belonged to him. Even if he didn't use it, he'd never forget.

Light kept the paper in his paw, deciding.