A Dewott dove head-first in the air. Black tinted windows whizzed by. He kept himself steady. His eyes squinted to protect from the wind whipping at his face, and from the orange sunset attacking his eyes. He let out an unhappy grunt and put a finger to his ear.

"Nick?" Dewott asked. "Where are you?"

"They forgot the sauce. It's not a fiiiive dollah fill up without the sauce."

"Bro. I'm like, not that far from dying. I already jumped off."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yes! You said you'd be here!"

"Hold up. I can make it. With sauce."

"Dude," Dewott yelled, "if you don't make it, I get hurt bad."

"C'mon, I'm not that lazy."

The plaza below was fast approaching. Dewott braced to take a few broken bones. A blue blur swooped below him.

Despite being caught and in the air, Dewott just sighed again. The Latios below him carried two white bags that were stuck back from the force of the wind.

"Nick," Dewott said, "really?"

"Fiiiive dollah fill up with finger licking good sauce. A bucket o' tenders with a siiide of crispy, buttery biscuits."

Dewott put his finger to his ear again.

"Patrol's over, you two," a voice said. "We've got a new assignment."

"I thought we needed someone to check that street," Dewott said.

"I'm almost done. Those princes are mad. They want us to protect the Lodestar."

"Should I save her a five dollah fill up?" Nick asked.

"Nick, I... Don't ask me questions I don't know how to reply to. Seb, are you there?"

"What's happening?" another voice asked. "Nick's bringing back some buckets of chicken?"

"Seb, Adam, you two bring her to base when she wakes up. Anne and the rest of us are gonna talk strategy."

"Why not me?" a third voice asked.

"Shut up, Allen," the first voice said.

Nick chuckled to himself.


Furret Abigail rested back in her bed. When her eyes cracked open to a small buzz of a conversation in her ears.

Blankets were tucked tightly around the length of her body. She didn't feel great, but relief came from waking up in her own room. The night sky streamed in through her curtains, but gentle light came from overhead, blocked by the pale white curtains around her bed.

Abigail slowly unwound the snug covers from around herself. She crawled up and out of the blankets and pushed the curtains aside

Two pokemon face in her direction on either side of the doorway. A Dewott with a yellow scarf made eye contact with her. Parallel to him was a Swampert with a matching yellow scarf. The air around them warmed her chest.

"Eyooooo," Swampert said.

"Hello, miss Lodestar," Dewott said. "I'm Adam. And this is Seb."

"Uh, hi," Abigail said. "Who? Uh, sorry."

"Oh, we're, uh, Yellow Clan," Adam said. "We're, uh, going to be your bodyguards... and uh, backup. Sooo... Yeah."

"Where's Zen and Aaron?"

"They're good," Seb said. "They're already on their way, so they'll be here, like, any minute."

"I want... Uh..." Abigail said. She huffed looking around her room. She forgot what she wanted to say, if anything.

"We'll give you some space," Adam said. "They'll come up."

Abigail stared at them till they left out the door. She observed every corner of her room before her muscles relaxed. She rubbed her paws together. They still felt numb. She spun around in a circle to look at her own back.

The cut from the Golduck's claws disappeared. A knock pounded on her door.

Buizel Zen, shiny Zorua Aaron, and Quilava Gawain came in. Abigail pushed off the edge of her bed, jumped over the water pit, and pulled back from tackling them. She threw her arms around each of theirs.

"Oh my lord..." Abigail huffed, "okay..."

"We're sorry, Abigail," Zen said quietly. He gave her a one arm hug. "We're not letting that happen again."

"They're as good as gone," Aaron said, "this chase isn't going to last."


Abigail managed to snuff out the last of her shakiness in hot water. The others didn't say anything. They stood around the water pit, pacing and looking in different directions through the gathering steam. The lights from the city made a view of yellow, blue, white, and neon below her fogged windows.

"So," Zen finally said, "you feeling a little better?"

"Yah," Abigail said.

"Good. We're, uh, really sorry…"

"It's not your fault. How'd they even get in here?"

"Violently," Gawain said. "Lots of people in the lobby had some blunt force wounds. None of them could even sound the alarm in time. And ten minutes later, you were out on the street."

"Zen," Aaron said, "didn't you say that the Ambipom was from Verity?"

"Jayden Wilfinger," Zen said. "But the public's just calling him 'Riot' since they don't know his real name. He was from a family of journalists. They had an altercation with Veritan police, uhm... You know, you'll learn about all this later, anyways. What do you want to know about?"

"Who were those two guys who were in here?" Abigail asked.

"Oh, Adam and Seb?" Aaron asked. "They're harmless. They're royal guards."

"But I don't know them."

"Wanna meet them?"

"I don't need bodyguards."

"It's not just us being protective of you," Zen said, "no one's ever just come in here like that. We're scared. People are scared."

"Besides," Aaron said, "these guys are good. I mean, we don't trust just anyone with our lives and all."

"I'm supposed to be a Nightlight," Abigail sighed. "Nightlights are the bodyguards. It'd be stupid for me to need one."

"What?" That's just- Okay. Hold on. Do you realize how popular you are?"

"Popular for what? I don't know that many people."

"Okay, like, I get your from the countryside, but I feel like you forget phones and cameras are a thing waaaay too often."

Abigail turned and looked at Aaron. He had a weird expression on his face with his lips pursed and eyes wide like she was going to slap him.

"You looked like a gritty movie star," Aaron blurted. "So, uh, I'm rich. Wanna make out?"

Abigail closed her eyes for a short second. She wasn't sure if she heard that correctly.

"What?" Abigail asked.

"That was a comment from this rich kid whose dad owns some company," Aaron said. "There are tons like it."

Abigail looked a bit down and saw that he had his phone curled in his paws. She shook her head.

"Okay," Abigail said, "that's gross, though."

"Oh, so I should continue," Aaron said smiling. "Okay. Since you asked."

"Uhm, maybe not..."

"Famous artist called you to model. Famous singer wanted to meet you. Ooooh, here we go. Famous boy band writes how they all want you to step on them... Mmmm, I'm not gonna say these other ones out loud."

"Aaron," Zen said. "I think we're good. Right?"

Abigail's jaw clenched. She felt tense, but wanted to hear more, given it was all real.

"Uhm, I mean, knowing or not doesn't change anything..." Abigail said. "Maybe I'd feel a little better knowing."

"Famous rapper says you could chuck him off a building and he'd crawl back up for dat-"

"Aaron," Zen said firmly.

"Let's see... Oh. Famous Veritan prince says he wants you to wear boots so he can lick them."

"Hah hah," Zen laughed sarcastically.

"Oh, and everyone really wants to know if you're lesbian," Aaron added. "But Helen already told us that you're bisexual, so."

"Aaron!"

Even Abigail flinched at Zen's gritty scream. Aaron fell silent, but he didn't have a trace of fear on his face. Instead, he had an awkward smile glancing between her and Zen.

"It's okay," Abigail eventually said, "it just, uhm... I'm not really, uh, nervous... It's just, never come up before. You guys talked to Helen?"

Zen sighed. "Yah. After what happened and all after the parade. She, uh, filled out an application…"

"Oh.

Abigail sunk her mouth below the hot water and stared at them. She blew a few bubbles.

"Can I just say what we're all thinking?" Aaron asked. "You're just a total beaut in every way. Course we want to protect you."

Abigail got a wavy smile under the water.

"And, uh-uhm, that's why we called Yellow Clan," Zen said. "So, we hope that's okay..."

Abigail lifted her head and wiped the dripping water from her mouth.

"I appreciate it," Abigail said, "but I just don't know them."

"Why don't you meet them then?" Gawain suggested. "They're all in the building right now."

"We made this code word to call em," Aaron said with a wagging tail. "Yo!"

Abigail tensed up and put her mouth back under the water when her door opened. Dewott Adam and Swampert Seb came in, alert.

"You see, 'yo' is easy to say. And you'd like, never say it normally," Aaron explained.

"He wants her to be able to meet all of you," Gawain said.

Adam and Seb glanced at each other and relaxed their shoulders.

"Yeh," Adam said, "sure."


After a few minutes, a knock sounded on the door. Fuuret Abigail had dried off and joined in a forming semi-circle around the entrance with Quilava Gawain, Zorua Aaron, and Buizel Zen. Dewott Adam popped in front of the doorway and gave a short wave.

"A few of us are kinda busy around the building," Adam said, "so all we got were two more of us."

A Luxray wearing a bright yellow scarf came to the doorway from the side. Abigail couldn't tell anything about him from his normal physique and body language. She noticed the black cylindrical shape of Grapplers along his forearm.

"Hi," Luxray nodded, "I'm Allen."

Luxray Allen glanced to his right and stepped to the side.

A Raichu came into the doorway. He had long, wild fur. If it wasn't as clean, Abigail would think he was from the country. He somehow managed to look scrawny and strong at the same time in a way she'd never seen before. A yellow bow slung around his back with the thin gold bowstring made a line down his chest. The bow itself had orange fur wrapped around it arcing off giving it a spiky look. Two Grapplers wrapped around each of his arms.

"Uh, this is Aden," Adam introduced. "He's our leader."

As Raichu Aden took a step forward, Abigail noticed the small, metallic sound come from a black rope necklace he was wearing. From the top of her head, she saw an All Protect Orb, All Power Up Orb, and other enhancing items.

"Excuse me," Abigail said. "Where, uhm, did you get that bow?"

"Well, uhm, Charlotte made this one for me," Aden said.

"Sounds good," Abigail nodded. "I've, uhm, never seen someone with a bow before."

"He's the only one who uses one in Valor," Adam added.

"How, uhm... well," Abigail said. "How do you make it work? In, like, a battle."

Aden seemed to wince a little. Abigail didn't mean to imply that bows were inefficient, but it must've sneaked through her voice.

"I'll, uhm," Aden muttered, "it, uh, here."

Aden took the bow off from over his shoulder. He held it out in one paw a short pace away from her and traced over it with the other.

"It's called the Tactical Beastbow," Aden said. "This indent is for orb shaped weapons, like flame orbs, petrify orbs... The bow reacts with the energy from them and rolls it around to the bowstring. I focus it all to one point with my hand while pulling back and then fire it."

With how many Orbs there were, Abigail probably couldn't imagine the possibilities. Even with the small amount around his neck, any attacks from the weapon would be horrible to get hit by.

"It's Charlotte's best work," Adam said, "and Aden's best concept."

"I just kind of... use it," Aden said. "So, uhm, yeah."

Buizel Zen leaned close to Abigail's ear.

"Not really a way to explain it," Zen whispered, "just wait and see. There's a reason."

"For you," Aden said, "we're just here to, uhm, be extra muscle. We're not going to change how you choose to do things with protecting the antique and helping the Nightlights. Our job's to help you do anything if you call, and keep this whole building safe from the lobby up."

"So no more midnight visits," Swampert Seb chimed in. "Well, actually... I meeeeeeeeean, no more midnight visits from anyone other than you three."

Aden started to walk away and out of sight. Seb looked between the doorway and the hallway with wide eyes.

"Wait, bro. It was just a joke. Wait."

Seb jogged after him, and Adam took his place in the doorway.

"Alright," he said, "we're around. See ya."

He closed the door, but Abigail could still just barely hear Seb's echo fade away outside.

"I mean, it will be midnight soon," Aaron said.

"Yah," Abigail said, "I noticed. I think I want to go to sleep."

"At least you're over the whole 'sick' effect of that dart, right?"

"Yah."

Abigail looked around and saw her nightgown on her bed. She walked over to it and slung it over her back. She grabbed the soft brown strings and tied a simple knot. She put the sleep mask over her forehead, not pulling it down over her eyes just yet. She blinked and squinted looking for her nightcap until she found it and put it on her head.

When Abigail turned around, Gawain and Aaron were staring in different directions while Zen stared at her with empty eyes. Aaron happened to notice and nudged him in his side.

"Zen," Aaron said, "hey. Dang it, Zen."

Gawain waved his paw in front of his blue eyes. Zen didn't respond.

"Uh, well," Gawain shrugged, "good night, Abigail."

Aaron jumped and slapped Zen across the face with his tail. His head shook while Gawain grabbed him by the arm and walked him out.

Crawling into her bed, Abigail was tempted to go on her phone and try and see what Aaron was talking about. She didn't really understand social media, but she wanted to. It felt like a second half of the city she could be missing out on. Still warm from the water pit, she fell asleep.


A crisp, spring wind rolled over her covers.