A/N: Finally finished editing over the whole story to the best of my current ability. Updates are to prose, dialogue, and other general descriptions and aspects. In addition, I hope to get some thoughts about whether the name change is good, bad, neutral, etc. In addition, following this chapter, I will be changing the design of the story to allow for longer chapters in general. Shoutouts for Jusmove for the support.


A dozen trees nestled the arena with only one street leading to the entrance. The gray brick walls were old and rundown, although, it never seemed to be a serious arena given the small size. It hadn't seen use in a long time either, given away by chunks of the wall separating the empty grass area of the arena floor and the forest creeping up to it from the outside. The carriage was parked outside of the arena.

Audino Agatha stared down Furret Abigail from across the grass arena floor. Despite the midday sun, Agatha kept on her black leather jacket and white tee-shirt. She only opted to remove her striped pink and black socks to use her prosthetic feet without shredding them. Her eyes and mouth thinned and tensed. A dragonfly whizzed past her face, but she didn't even flinch.

Abigail waited a little longer while Buizel Zen, Quilava Gawain, and shiny Zorua Aaron took seats among the piles of gray bricks that used to be stands. Greninja Damien sat on a pile of rubble in front of them in case there were any stray attacks. His eyes were only half open, though.

"Your move," Abigail called.

Agatha nodded. She bent down on her metal feet in a position to rush right in. Abigail expected her to, but she seemed too smart for it to be anything straightforward. She had some experience with fighting against gadgets and weapons, but nothing like this. She'd never even seen a pokemon with a prosthetic before, but Abigail was going to get a closer look.

An explosion went off under Agatha's feet. She didn't even touch the dry grass between them. She soared straight at Abigail's head with a roundhouse.

Furret Abigail used Iron Tail to counter the kick. After taking the blow, her tail hooked around Agatha's leg. She turned her body and swung Audino Agatha to the ground.

Agatha landed on her feet. Her momentum shifted into a straight charge again. Abigail sidestepped to avoid the second rush.

If she had to guess, Agatha never planned to land on her feet the second time. She landed on her chest trying to grab her and rolled across the dirt. She was back on her feet before Abigail could take a step closer and started another stare-down. With the threat of her feet blasting her whole body forward, Abigail chose to stay on the defensive and wait for her next move.

As she paid close attention, Abigail noticed light passed through the edge of Agatha's arm. She recognized Double Team right away. Abigail turned around from the illusion and saw Agatha's frame up against the sunlight. She curled her tail and caught Agatha's diving kick, then shifted her momentum straight into the ground.

Agatha bounced on her chest and kicked up dirt, rolling away as it made brown splotches on her pink fur. When she stopped rolling, she lied in place.

Heat rose in Abigail's chest. She didn't mean to hit her in this battle at all, but her intense momentum left small holes in the dirt. As Agatha stood up, she had to wipe dirt off her face with the side of her arm.

"Uh," Abigail called, "you good?"

Audino Agatha nodded as she pushed her lips together, then pushed up of her arms. Halfway through, she fell flat. Her hands flew on her back.

Abigail darted across the arena floor. Just as she bent down to help, Agatha raised her palm towards her. She pushed herself halfway to standing again. Abigail cringed as Agatha twisted her neck. The cracks sounded painful, but she was able to stand up again. She put her arms on her lower back and stretched to finish with pain all over her face. Abigail wasn't sure if she wanted to continue.

"You should probably take it easy," Abigail said.

"I can't get stronger if I take it easy," Agatha groaned.

"Yah you can. Technique. You don't have to stress your body's energy to practice technique. We can start right now."

Agatha pushed her lips together and stared down at the grass. Her nod was subtle.


Buizel Zen, Zorua Aaron, and Quilava Gawain all took naps till mid-afternoon. Abigail tried to work with Agatha, but differences got in the way and made the lessons take longer.

Her sense of balance seemed different. When Abigail tried to get her to do a movement the way she did, her prosthetic feet crumbled under her. When she did make it work, her body's movements were a little different. Abigail didn't know what it felt like to have prosthetic feet, so teaching her drills for moving smoothly took a long time. Arm movements came a lot easier, though.

Right when they were finishing up everything Abigail had planned, shiny Zorua Aaron stalked up behind Abigail. He carried two black metal gadgets and set them on the grass. Abigail and Agatha both paused and looked at his wide smile.

"Hey," Aaron said, "Agatha, could you teach Abigail how to use these Grapplers?"

"Uh, Grapplers?" Agatha asked. "Why would I know how to use those? That's N.A. equipment."

"Yah, true. But they work the same way as your feet."

"What...? Let me see those."

Agatha walked forward and bent down to pick up a Grappler. She rotated it in her hands and felt the inside of the band that would tie it to Abigail's arms.

"Oh," Agatha said, "okay. Put them on."

Furret Abigail took the Grappler from her hands and picked up the second one. After strapping both of them on her arms, she stood up straight and faced away from them.

"It's supposed to be like a clicking feeling," Agatha said. "How much you put into it, then releasing the energy to fire. Releasing should be like a click. So put in energy."

Abigail nodded. She aimed her arm straight ahead, then tensed her arm.

"And release."

The cylinder shot out about the length of a blade of grass and plopped on the ground.

"Okay," Agatha said, "now just do the same thing but a lot harder. Not too hard because you don't want to break it, but just amp it up."

Abigail repeated the process. She released, and the cylinder shot out much farther than she was looking. The flat surface got stuck on the stone wall of the arena. The rope between the cylinder and Abigail pulled straight from the tension.

"And then," Agatha said, "you should just pull your energy back. Then it'll yank you towards the wall. If you want to let go of the wall and pull it back, just let the energy go and then pull."

Abigail didn't want to fly into the wall in front of them. She released her energy, and the rope went limp as the cylinder released from the wall. After, she put in energy again that stretched through the rope, then pulled it back towards her body.

The cylinder shot back on her arm. Furret Abigail pulled her face as far away from it as possible with her eyes closed and head turned away. She opened her eyes after hearing the click of the cylinder coming back on her arm.

"Okay," Agatha huffed. "That was pretty simple. Did no one show you how to use that thing yet?"

"No," Abigail said. "They just assumed I knew. But, uh, thanks for that."

"Yeah..."

Agatha yawned and raised her arms to the sky. When they fell back down, her eyelids rested a little lower than before.

"Okay," Agatha said. "Let's have another battle."

"Oh, well... You sure?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah. You can try your Grapplers. I can try a few things."

"Well, yah. Sure."

Aaron retreated as Abigail and Agatha walked back to their starting positions. They had to wait for Aaron to jump across the mess of rubble. Once he finished, they turned towards each other again.

Agatha shot forward, but she didn't use her boosters. She took wide strides up to Abigail, pivoted to the right and used a punch. Abigail blocked it, but didn't punch back. She waited, and Agatha did what she expected her to do. She spun on her feet and went for a boosted roundhouse kick.

Furret Abigail ducked, spun, and knocked her off balance with her tail. Audino Agatha's form crumbled to the ground.

"Okay," Abigail said, "almost. Moves like that are finishing blows, and you gotta knock them off balance first. It means a lot of smaller hits building up... To..."

Abigail stopped. Agatha's left foot broke. A few wires jut out from below the bottom of the prosthetic. Agatha's face turned stone cold, then turned red.

"I hate these stupid things," she sobbed.

"No, hey..."

Abigail bent down. She set her paws on Agatha's shoulders.

"Hey," Abigail said. "It's okay. We can, uh, fix it."

"I just want my feet back so bad..."

"I know. I know..."

"How are you supposed to deal with this?" she asked. Abigail met her gaze. "What are you supposed to do when everyone's just... gone?"

Abigail didn't know any details, but she knew grief and what Agatha had asked. She just didn't know what to tell her. Agatha seemed to read her lack of an answer on her face. Unsure what to do, Abigail pulled in her for a light hug. She returned double the force.


During the ride back to Agatha's house, Abigail managed to at least stay half awake. Aaron, Zen, and Gawain all fell asleep. In the corner, Agatha tinkered with and repaired her prosthetic foot in front of Abigail's eyes. She finished in just a few minutes, then started to doze off herself when they reached her house.

Abigail stood and waved goodbye from the edge of the carriage. The others managed to wake up long enough to wave goodbye with her near the front of her home.

Audino Agatha waved back as the carriage began to pull away over the grass, dirt, and mess of flowers. Her eyes seemed to light up over a smile Abigail hadn't seen from her before. As she pulled the carriage's back doors closed, she made sure to return the best smile she could back. After she closed the doors, her paws stayed on the wood surface for a few seconds before she pulled them away.

"So," Zorua Aaron said, "we got everything we wanted to know from her adopted mom. My dad texted me. Want to hear it?"

Abigail felt like it invaded her privacy a little, but she nodded.

"She knows a Scion," Aaron said. "They're investigating a freak accident that wrecked her family's mansion. And, well... killed all of her immediate and extended family."

Quilava Gawain and Buizel Zen's eyes popped open more. They shifted and pushed themselves up against the inner walls of the carriage. Aaron gazed at them, then continued.

"Right now, they think it was a pokemon like Hannah, but a lot worse. And the fact that Hannah targeted her means that some way or another, there's a way for one of those 'Conquerors' to pick up on her again."

"So, what's the plan?" Abigail asked. "I mean, we have to do something."

"Right. Zen's parents agreed to have Damien watch over her."

"Oh," Zen said. "Well, good. My parents are going to go ahead and stay in Verity Castle. I'm staying in Valor."

"We should visit sometimes," Abigail said. "And, uh, not, like, just for special occasions. Just visit and check on her."

"Yah, of course."

"Yah," Aaron echoed. "I actually surfed everywhere on the internet. Plenty of stuff about her family. Really wild stuff. You should..." he yawned, "check it out later..."

Aaron's yawn spread to Abigail. She waltzed to the corner and plopped down on a cushion. She had a mental tug-of-war whether or not to tell them what had happened earlier.

"She asked me how to deal with it," Abigail said. "When everyone's just gone all of a sudden."

"What did you say?" Gawain asked.

"I didn't say anything. Didn't really know what to say."

"Well... how's your experience been?"

"Well, until recently, I just felt empty and tired all the time."

"So, what happened recently?" Zen asked.

Abigail looked around the room. Aaron put on a thin, tense smile and nodded.

"Well," she said. "I'm going to get some sleep. Anne has a mission for me soon."

"Right," Aaron said.

Abigail nodded, sighed, and closed her eyes.