Professor Sycamore's absence was felt throughout their group at FLARE. Even as lax as he was, he was still a guiding force during operations, and the other technicians that worked for FLARE were there to support Michael and Clemont. Aveline was the smartest person in the room, but she was also incapable of raising her voice when there were people in said room.

And they'd taken that freedom and ran with it.

Lysandre sat behind his desk in front of a window that led to darkness, fingers steepled and the skin around his eyes tightened.
"In lieu of your usual manager's warrant for arrest by the royal police, I will have you debrief me directly rather than having Augustine give me a biased report."

Blanche looked at his shoes. He was aware he'd screwed up, how could he not be? They hadn't even managed to sneak out of town after defeating the Anomaly, they'd only been badgered by reporters until their MagLev got back to the city and they were able to return to FLARE before it was even open for public service. Their roommates, friends who got their spare keys, or Ms. Komoe, after being sworn to secrecy, brought their items home for them.

"It should go without saying that I am disgusted by the performance you put up for this region last night. Stumbling around like drunkards, indecent dress, destruction of public property, disturbing the peace-"
"It was an emergency, what else were we supposed to do?" Rosa muttered, folding her hands behind her back and staring at the ground.

"Use your Aural Shell derived weaponry. You children could have used the least destructive weapons in your arsenal, but you didn't. Geranium destroyed the sand dunes, a habitat for local populations of Skorupi, Amaranth destroyed the beach itself, a public area which we will receive much criticism for the remodeling of, Rue caused multiple generators to explode within Ambrette proper for no useful purpose, Dahlia and her… partner… caused a shower of meteorites that destroyed the boardwalk and and nearby buildings indiscriminately; Do I have this all correct?"

"I was trying to-" Shauna was cut off by Lysandre's voice like it was a knife.

His voice was deep and sharp. "Do I have this all correct, operatives?"

They spoke in unison with low, diminished tones. "Yes, sir…"

"I am not one to be angered. And I am not at the moment. I am, however, greatly disappointed. FLARE's credibility has taken a nosedive because of your actions. Your pay for this monthly period will be deducted accordingly. You will be serving your community to make up for this, as a public apology from FLARE in your name will not be enough. You are supposed to be the best Espers this world has to offer. I expect better than this disgraceful attitude towards the world. Do any of you know what sort of people I despise?"

"No," Blanche said, rapidly clenching and unclenching his fists.

"People who have little regard for the world around them, little regard for the balance they disrupt. We're merely factors in a cycle that has been turning for epochs. Those that disrupt that balance are worthless to me. You have disrupted that balance."

"Yes, sir."
"You are, however, still children. It would be foolish of me to hold this mistake over you for the rest of your lives. This is your first warning. Must I give another, you will be placed on probation. Further offenses against the world you must guard with have you removed from FLARE's employ entirely. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," they said, miserable, sandy, and entirely too exhausted to argue.

"Then you are dismissed. Leave and clean yourselves up."


The four of them trudged back home, gazes directed at the ground in front of them and little energy in their steps.

Blanche's clothes were soaked in sweat, dusted with dirt, and smelled faintly of bitter grapes. Rosa walked behind him, clutching one of Aveline's spare lab coats close to her body. Shauna and Serena had physically gotten out the best, but their hair was just as messy.

The gate swung open outside their house in Little Kanto, causing Rhyhorn to awaken from its mid-morning nap in the yard. It sniffed at them, seemed to sense their mood, and bowed its head before settling back down.

Ariel, Trevor, and Tierno all sat at the breakfast table, a full meal laid out but barely touched. Miss Grace paced behind them across the bar, blocking them off from the stairs.

Blanche couldn't even gather the energy to say that they were back, only nodding and walking around the table with a half-hearted wave.

He wiped the sleep and sinking feeling out of his eyes, barely registering Chespin walking up to him and climbing onto his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Ariel asked all of them, eyes wide as she quickly stood up, with Audino perking up in tandem.

"I screwed everything up," Blanche said, walking past Grace as she ran to Serena to check her up and down. "But more importantly, I need a shower. Maybe a bath would be better, actually. I kind of feel like shit, sorry."

"It wasn't just your fault!" Shauna called after him, snapping, "Don't be arrogant."

"Whatever," he said, shrugging. "Still screwed up."

Really, what does she expect? Oh, boo hoo, it's not your fault, it's all our faults- I wish people didn't give me that shit.

Blanche stripped off his clothes in the third-floor bathroom, repeatedly reaching for latches that he didn't wear anymore and swearing at himself.

Warm water offered some reprieve from his frustration, soaking into his skin and creating the steam that cleared his mind.

I knew this would happen, he thought. I knew I shouldn't have opened myself up to screwing up. I have responsibilities and people to take care of now, and the second I realized that it's like I stopped caring.

Blanche laid back in the water and stared at the ceiling, rubbing a hand on his heavy chest.

Without FLARE, I'm nothing. I won't have a place to stay, I won't have protection, I won't even have a license to let me go my own way.

God damn it.


Blanche kept to himself over the next few weeks. He didn't stand out, didn't snark as loudly, and deigned to accept Rosa's squealed thanks earlier that day when he bought her combat heels for her birthday. And yes, they looked as ridiculous as they sounded.

He didn't tease Ariel as often, saying nothing about fan clubs or the genuine force of kindness that she was. Silences stretched out and her Audino noticed even if she wouldn't mention it. It stared at him, a frown often flickering across his face that forced his gaze away with shame.

He played his card games with Trevor, winning as often as he lost but his strategies had stagnated. He stopped thinking ahead or combining card effects, only playing on the defense.

He started missing steps at the dance studio, not exerting himself to the fullest. Tierno noticed, as well as the dance captain, considering she pointed it out. He would ask Blanche after every practice if he was doing alright, and he just waved it off and changed the subject.

He didn't react strongly when Gin dragged him out to the cantina or to the bar fights that happened not long after.

Shauna hadn't shot barbs at him for a while, and he hadn't instigated. In the situation the two were in the same room, they'd make inoffensive small talk until Shauna couldn't put up with his stonewalling anymore and left.

LaRusso and Lenore would help Gin teach him the art of kicking ass, meaning they'd kick his ass until he started understanding it. He rarely did. What he didn't do was cry out in pain or complain about the aches.

He wore a bright red hat most days, shielding his eyes from the colder-growing wind. It was easier than sticking up and just saying no. It made Serena happy. Even if he could never be who everyone thought he was, he was fulfilling a purpose.

Because that's who Blanche was, wasn't it? Just a kid who didn't know a thing about himself other than what he loathed. And repeatedly, day after day, he'd tell himself that he just had to make it to graduation at the end of 2012. He could leave then, stop cowering under the weight of the expectations he imagined had been placed on him.

He had nothing without FLARE; he was nothing. He wouldn't be able to help people without them, even when he tried his best because he simply wasn't enough.

Why was he still trying then? Because it was easier than damaging people's expectations? He cooked because he wanted to pull his weight like Ariel did. He played card games because that's why Trevor was friends with him. He danced because Tierno would be disappointed if he didn't. He was nice to Shauna because he didn't have the willpower to snark back when she jabbed. He wore that thrice-damned hat because Serena would be sad otherwise. Rosa was a little bit crazy, but being kind to her was easy.

Blanche was on a downward spiral, only moving backwards.


The elevator to the top of Prism Tower was a spectacle in and of itself. The glass walls slid diagonally upwards, curling around a pitch-black hole that the tower had been built around. Only when the sun or moon hung directly above would it be illuminated, or so he'd heard.

It was late in the evening, which wasn't saying much since summer was fading away while the days grew shorter. It was odd. For Blanche, they seemed longer than ever, dragging into each other like a constant stream.

The full moon hung against the sky, rising higher and higher as it was chased by the stars. The glass opened up before him, and he stepped out onto the viewing deck.

He'd really thought that just the walls of Lumiose-3 were a sight. That was when he hadn't visited the city's pride and joy yet.

Tiny bits of graffiti littered the ground, made of chalk or paint or just plain scratched into the metal using Pokémon claws or some such. A smile tugged at his lips for a split second before it gave up just as easily. Fleeting emotions once again.

Nevertheless, he studied the childish drawings, for whom else would have drawn a Gogoat as a stick-figure? Tiny people holding tiny red and white balls, lines depicting the lights that Pokémon were channeled through to be released and captured.

No one else was on the viewing deck at that time of night. It was strange, almost. Though Blanche had felt an odd sense of magnetism that night, though that simply could have been opposites attracting. A sky that keeps on turning and a boy who refuses to move.

The elevator beeped, closing as he stepped out onto the deck.

Lights flashed off, the doors closing half-way, and a red light blinked.

He looked at it in confusion, before looking out across the city and finding it steeped in darkness.

The wind was stale as he ran to the edge of the railing, barely blowing even so high up in the sky. The clouds around him refused to move. The tower was unwavering against nature's might, more resistant than what had come before. The full moon hung above it all, the mythical outline of a Lunatone appearing as the light pollution disappeared.

The deepest and darkest craters were said to be its eye sockets, though obviously, considering it was the moon, they were empty.

A light flickered on in the sky above him. A tiny red light burning a hole into his vision, appearing even when he closed his eyes. At least, it would, has he not been frozen to that very spot.

And though surely it was being forced upon him, he knew that deep down, his body would have refused to move at the realization.

The black that had gathered around the white moon dripped around it, cutting it off from the starry sky as it swirled towards him. Intellectually, he knew that the moon was hundreds of thousands of miles away and that it was unlikely that they saw him.

He also knew that MissingNo wasn't just a dream anymore.

A set of inky teeth formed in front of the moon, locking it inside a gaping maw like prison bars before it was swallowed entirely. A golden crown of feathers slid over it from behind, as if announcing itself.

The night sky blurred like a television screen turned to a dead channel. Day was night, night was day, and the air became the color of static.

A red line pierced him, straight through both of his eyes like an iron spike. From the moon, that arrow of light pulled the true form of MissingNo through the shadows, up from below the balcony, from the edges of his periphery, from the doubt in his own mind.

A spine of light and six legs. Seven sets of wings, one on each foot and one that dominated its form on its back, filling his entire vision with golden feathers.

Avatar.

The voice spoke simply, as if it did not ring like a chorus of fallen angels singing for their own righteousness.

It has been a long time since you have needed my help.

Blanche's mind dripped with fear. Need to get away, need to run, need to hide.

But there is no place to hide from something that hides inside one's own mind.

You have done well, but your ideals are lacking. Your truth is lacking as well. You are as pathetic as it was imagined you would be.

That is intentional, of course, child. Silly games seem useless to some, but in this world, it is a very different story, wouldn't you agree? What you believe to be conventions are realities of this world, a fact you are all too willing to embrace when convenient, and all too willing to deny when it is not.

A very different voice broke through the cacophony, as if an individual star within the void of MissingNo's body has gone supernova.

I miss her, you know?

It seemed that a Big Bang occurred within, the sounds of shouting splitting Blanche's brain into slices of meat and his ears into broken drums.

SILENCE.

The space within MissingNo went dark for a moment, before the lights returned, one by one.

You, avatar. You have not been acting to your fullest potential. Naturally. Your fullest potential can never be found in playing the act of a schoolboy.

And he wanted to cry out, he did. It's not my fault, I didn't want this, what am I supposed to do?

I am not speaking for my own entertainment. My consciousness does not exist for its own sake. SPEAK.

His throat burned with ozone as he spoke, hesitation soaking into his tongue.

"...Why am I here?"

An intriguing question. Why are we? We are here because of those who believe themselves to be able to create a Heaven on Earth. We are here because reckless idealism has gone too far. We are here because of the obliteration of life and the discarding of those who were once alive and are no longer in this fragile bubble.

The maw opened further, two red eyes bearing down on him.

You are here because you are necessary to do what must be done. A threat looms over every horizon, towards the endless oceans that our speck in the vast universe manages to float in. Life and death will become meaningless once again should you succeed, no matter how far in the future that may be. To do my bidding will make you a hero beyond your wildest fantasies. You no longer have to live in solitude and within the suffering of your own mind. That should be enough for one as selfish as yourself.

"Why…"

Blanche's throat burned.

Not with pain. He was far past that point.

His very mind trembled, his nerves burned with electricity, and a small flame ignited in his spirit.

Whatever he'd once had, it was gone. His family, his friends, anyone he'd ever cared around before that night, they had disappeared from his mind as his body was torn apart and recreated worse.

What he had now… Who was to say he couldn't lose it all again? MissingNo wasn't a dream, it wasn't a hallucination, he knew that for certain now, and it wasn't on his side. It was a demon that operated outside the cycle of life, something that by all means shouldn't exist.

A lot like Blanche, when he considered it properly. Was that why it called him its avatar?

But an avatar was supposed to be blank. Open. A projection. Someone who represents someone else.

He wasn't completely blank. He was his own person now. Whoever he'd been before he'd woken up, he couldn't go back to being that person without losing who he'd become, losing all the improvements and changes he'd felt within himself.

White was the presence of all light, all possibilities. Was that why Ariel had found it so fitting?

If so… why would he risk all those possibilities for something that had only hurt him?

"Why should I help you?"

Two red eyes pressed against his face.

Because I know what you hide within your heart, and you will pursue what I wish even if I were uninvolved. Use your hate. Yes, I brought you here. Lay your pain at my feet. FEEL ANGUISH! REJOICE IN THAT EMOTION, FOR IT WILL MAKE YOU STRONGER! USE THE POWER OF THIS WORLD AND DO WHAT MUST BE DONE.

Blanche steeled himself, raising his fist and fighting the cramp. "MissingNo."

His sworn statement rang clear, his appendage making the gesture obvious even as his voice was lost in the wind and his body was filled with static.

The lights blinked back on around him with a jarring vertigo, the wind kicking up and pulling his hat from his head, as if yanked by something greater.

The stars returned to the night sky, burning into his periphery with a sudden burst.

A sick laugh echoed across the Kalosian cityscape as Blanche picked up his hat. He wasn't Calem. He wasn't a Trainer. He wasn't even a human by most metrics.

None of that would stop him from becoming who he wanted to be.

What exactly that was, he intended to find out.


Leaves blew down from the many trees that grew in Lumiose-3's plazas, scattering to the rain-filled wind and blowing across the city, clogging storm drains and squelching underfoot even dozens of blocks away from their source.

A wet maple leaf smacked Blanche across the face, sticking itself into his mouth like the wind itself had a personal problem with him. Given that he was… well, he still wouldn't call himself a protagonist, even if it seemed like the world was out to get him sometimes. That title was obviously split between Serena and Rosa. One could use three types of attacks, and the other was partnered with a Legendary.

He was a guy who happened to be called white in French. Nothing too crazy about that.

A side character, perhaps. Actually, no, that would be Trevor and Tierno, all the people that worked in the lab, his friends, etcetera etcetera.

A recurring extra. Yeah, that had a good sound to it. If he was lucky, he'd not become an ensemble dark horse and have to deal with stuff like throwing oneself in front of a laser beam or having a Dragon-type living in his head rent-free and driving him crazy.

Listen, you could call him reckless, but probably wouldn't have made a conscious decision to shield someone else with his body. One, because of how weak he was, and two, because he was still a coward at the end of the day.

Is it fair to call common-friggin'-sense cowardice? Probably not. Alas, Blanche rarely thought about himself with fairness in mind.

A shopping bag was held in the hand he wasn't using to wipe the mucky pollen off his face, waterproof and swinging along with the wind as he walked home.

Shauna's birthday wasn't that long after Rosa's, almost four weeks after on the eleventh of October. The question was, what do you get for the girl who half the time, acts like she hates your guts, and the other half suddenly has a fever?

His mood had certainly improved as he got kicked out of his funk. He was too busy reeling from the impact of learning more about himself to even consider moping when there was work to do. Weights, protein, studying, thinking, repairing Amaranth's PR to make him look less like a berserker (which was truly the greatest irony of them all, considering the other three essentially couldn't operate without property damage. They also happened to be girls while he happened to be a guy, a fact that sent the… ugh, FLARE shippers into a frenzy of retcons and all sorts of things that he didn't dare ask Trevor to elaborate on), and generally just trying to push himself harder. It wasn't motivation or anything temporary. It was more solid that that, more constant. He dedicated his life to himself first and foremost, even when he could only be motivated by someone else. Only a self-destructive idiot would push themselves for years to protect others when they didn't have a chance.


Hilbert Johannson sneezed, missing the button on a stopwatch as a Scolipede rolled past him trailing purplish light.

"Ah, crap. People just love talking about me, don't they?"

A few hundred feet away, Scolipede managed to decelerate and stop digging a ravine deeper into the earthen ground. It gave a few clicks, sounding almost sarcastic.

Hilbert sighed and scratched his face with his unoccupied hand. The stone of his armor had melted away to his forearms, as Golurk seemed to be taking a nap in his consciousness. It wasn't exactly quiet in there, but true rest was a rare sensation for the golem's usual form.

"Yeah, you're right. My fault for saving the world and all that. By the way, your mile time is up to twenty seconds, bud. Step it up."

Scolipede clicked its mandibles again, before curling up again and nearly creating a sonic boom as it took off again.


Blanche stepped up to the door, tossing Rhyhorn a crystalline rock-bone-treat-thing as he pushed the door open and shrugged off his rain jacket.

He was then hit in the face by a stray paper streamer as his ears were hit by the sounds of the party occuring in his living room.

Party would be an overstatement. They weren't popular like most of the class. Shauna's low tolerance for idiocy would have made her endearing to similarly-thinking intellectuals had she not been about as smart as Blanche.

It was Rosa's presence that put their gathering on the level of a party, and that should say more than enough about both subjects.

As Rosa had said, "There's gonna be streamers! There's gonna be hats! There's gonna be- Blanche, how do you feel about popping out of a giant birthday cake?"

He'd obviously declined before she could finish describing the necessity of his undress in that scenario.

He picked up the roll of paper ribbons and tapped it on the table as he dropped it and his bag, already piled high with gifts and food.

Blanche would never buy last minute gifts. In fact, his gift was at the very bottom of the pile, having been placed there first. It was just that he'd not been very certain and went to buy other things, along with drinks, just in case.

What does one buy for the girl who has everything, but clearly wants something from you, but clearly doesn't like you or anything, stupid?

Blanche wasn't oblivious, honest. He was just selective about the sort of things he would acknowledge, for truly, some things are too horrifying to be known by the human mind and can not be unlearned.

Anyway, back in the back, Shauna was sitting between Serena and Rosa, one of which was sitting politely with a listing party hat on her head an, and the other bouncing up and down and trying to find a good movie for them to watch.

Given Shauna's face, or rather, the amount of blood that had rushed to said face, Blanche thought he had good reason to act oblivious. It would have been obvious to anyone else, but he just had to make do as he didn't have the luxury of common sense.

So he slid onto the other couch, rubbed Audino's head, and sat down next to Ariel. No point in commenting on it and making someone uncomfortable.

And if he did joke about it, it would be because she was blushing, not why. People did that a bit too much around him, but that was probably a weird Pokémon world thing. Oh, and because he didn't give a shit about anyone's orientation. That would be stupid. It would be like getting mad at the sky for being blue or the sun for being yellow.

Eventually, a movie did get put on, meaning that they could start eating. A few pizzas later (Blanche didn't question what was in the supreme's toppings, as Tierno seemed to be enjoying his), energy was running high from all the sodium and sugary soda.

Well, they would be if Blanche hadn't cut himself off after one can.

"I'm all for socializing, but I'm not trying to get yelled at when there's an emergency."

"It's nothing like that stuff from the field trip, don't worry so much." Shauna flicked an opener-tab at him with an electrical tingle.

"I've been getting robocalls about drinking more water too," he said offhandedly, relaxing on the couch and staring at the ceiling. "Gin gets them a lot too, it's weird."

Hours of cheer and celebration later, they filtered off slowly to bed, the energy from the cakes and the carbs from the pizza catching up to them and making them drop, one by one.

Trevor had obviously gone first, saying that while he enjoyed watching Pretty in Pink, people of his size weren't meant to become fifty-percent sugar. An obvious exaggeration, but a fair one since Blanche didn't feel too far off himself.

Tierno had stuck to pizza, likely because the protein contents could be argued to have outweighed the general unhealthiness of the stuff. He went not long after, wishing Shauna good luck with the weights he'd gifted her.

Blanche was fixed with a few expectant stares, making him shift in his seat as the credits rolled.

Audino, that damn Pokémon, was giving him that empty-behind-the-eyes stare.

"I, uh, I'll go to bed now," he said, before Chespin jumped on

"Shoo, shoo, it's girl time now," Rosa said, leaning forward. "We're going to talk about all kinds of stuff, like make-up, shoes, and boys."

"I said I was going," he said, resisting the urge to sigh. She was messing with him again. Rosa snuck in a lot of sarcasm without ever changing her tone. Much in the same way Serena did, but with sheer distracting enthusiasm rather than coolness. Not that he had many examples, but that said more about him than it did her.

So, he went up to the third floor as he had many times before, feeling the slightest bit sluggish.

And the sluggishness disappeared as he opened his door, replaced with a spike of panic. Apparently, he'd left his window open. Which was especially odd, considering he hadn't even opened it when it was scorching during the summer.

And naturally, that meant that his bed right next to it was getting slushy leaves and rainwater all over it.

"Son of a-" His eyes zeroed in on Froakie, who he realized hadn't been downstairs for a while. "You!"

Froakie's head turned from where it was face planted on the wet spot, then had the audacity to yawn.

He was about to call for Shauna and tell her to deal with her damn partner-but-not-really, but he stopped himself, considering that it would be rude to do that on her birthday. The same was true on any other day, but Blanche didn't care most of the time.

"Froakie?" The blue frog asked, sitting up.

Blanche pointed his thumb towards the door, and the Pokémon scampered off as if it had done nothing wrong.

He sighed as Chespin jumped off his shoulder, massaging it with an absent mind as he slammed the window shut. Instantly, the chill disappeared and the leaves stopped fluttering around. His mattress was damp in a spot, but not dripping wet. He pulled it off the frame and below the ceiling fan so it could dry off.

It was a bit late for laundry, and he really would have fallen asleep immediately had he not been interrupted. If he sat down even just to wait, he'd wake up the next morning with a terrible back ache.

He dropped the sheets and went back downstairs.

"You guys aren't having an actual wet t-shirt contest, are you?" He asked, halfway onto the bottom step.

"Of course not, stupid. What do you need?"

"Froakie opened my window and slept on my bed."

"So what?"

"It's raining, Ponytails," he said dryly. "A birthday gift from some god to you."

"Go sleep in Tienrno's room, I'm not in charge of you."

"They're already asleep." He'd checked. Or rather, he'd knocked lightly so as to not be rude. "Can I just sleep on the couch while you guys do whatever?"

"Eh, why not?" she responded quickly, as if it'd been rehearsed.

The sound of a page turning caught his ears.

"But, uh, don't get any ideas, stupid!"

Her voice dropped.

"Do I really say that? That's sort of against the point…"

As soon as he stepped around the bend, she fumbled with whatever book she was holding, hiding it behind her back and sending him a glare.

He held up his arms in surrender and sprawled across the free couch, not paying attention to what the girls were talking about.

He also didn't notice Rosa holding up a marker as he drifted off to sleep or the downright demonic giggle.


Blanche had some weird dreams that night. Something about truth or dare, but with really weird truths and dares. There was also a bottle involved in some way, but he could remember how. And for some reason, he kept thinking about getting chased by some kind of blob. Odd.

That all swept away as he came to, feeling a few weights on him, smelling marker solvent right next to his nose, and looking up into some magazine. Chespin was snoring on his chest, so he scratched the Grass-types quills before picking the book up off of his head.

"Get Boys to Like You by Treating Them Like Dirt: A Guide to The Heart, by Shana Kuron?" Blanche held up the book with an odd look. That wasn't Shauna, obviously, even if it was suspiciously similar. "What the hell is this?"

It was quickly snatched out of his hands, and he looked over to Shauna, who was deeply flushed and out of breath from sprinting however far she had to grab the book.

"Don't look at me like that!"

Blanche blinked.

"You're returning that, right? I don't think it'll work on whatever guy you're thinking about."

"Mind your own business!" she shouted, still dark-red in the face. "How'd you even get it?"

"Well, you see, when you wake up with something on your face, you're generally inclined to take it off."

Across the bar in the kitchen, Rosa giggled. Whether at his reaction, or from some kind of set up, he didn't know.

"Shut up! Don't wisecrack to me, you m- you, you, you-"

She slapped his hair, which he was surprised by before remembering she was short enough for that to be possible. He was also surprised because she slapped his hair.

"Blondie! Yeah, you heard me!" She looked entirely too satisfied with the new nickname.

Must have taken a whole two months for her to come up with, he thought. "Whatever," he said, pushing his hair out of his face and himself into a sitting position. He felt something smudge on his face, and his hand came away with a splotch of black.

"You're not creative enough to draw on my face. Was it Froakie or Rosa?"

The latter was clearly cackling in the kitchen, which he saw turning his head while Ariel was already set to making breakfast. Trevor and Tierno had woken up early, alternatively giving him a dry look and one of sympathy, while Serena zeroed in on him immediately.

Blanche wasn't enough of an idiot to let a pretty girl smiling at him overcome the unsettling feeling that same smile always gave him. It was just enough to stop him from saying anything.

"Rosa, then," he muttered, scratching Chespin's quills again and looking at the polaroid pictures of him that had been printed out.

There were also a few that weren't of him, which Shauna quickly snatched with a scandalized look.

"Those are private, pervert!"

"What kind of idiot takes pictures of a girls' pillow fight?" he retorted, certain that his face was red now as well. Damn hormones. "Whose idea was that, anyway?"

Rosa coughed, but that was somewhat diminished by the sound of air crackling around Shauna.

"You can't call me an idiot!" she snapped.

"I don't think you've been listening very well if you still think that," he said.

The lightning became visible around her as Blanche sighed.

Saturday morning in Lumiose-3. Nothing out of the ordinary here.


There was a crater engraved in ancient marble flooring atop the Spear Pillar of the Sinnoh region. Even three years later, the rain had not washed away the cracks formed by the wings of a monster, or the clear indentation of a drill covered in thorns, spikes, plasma, and formed, however temporarily, of every single bit of aura that existed on Earth.

It was not an anniversary of the day that the Heavens Shattered. Even years later, there were some that didn't know the site where it ended, where the Aura Guardian defeated Giratina. Those that did rarely visited.

And for the few that remembered everything and who knew of the site, their journey was made there to leave flowers in the memory of those that time forgot.

But it was not an anniversary, and so, it sat preserved, untouched by the elements. Perhaps it was the sheer amount of residue that kept the people and Pokémon of Earth away.

In the hole that had been dug by the drill that pierced even the heavens, there was a blue box, floating and clicking and glowing, even months after it had located the site. It was mechanical in nature, though acted as though it had a mind of its own. Its AIAM field was incomparable to any found on Earth, and as such, could not even be recognized as an AIAM field.

And so, rather than eliminating the residual aura, the box intermixed its own aura and amplified them.

After all, even from millions of miles away and far off into space, an Aura Reader of any kind would be able to see such a bright beacon.