Dear Vallea,

Chief Ampharos keeps telling me it'll be good to write to you. But I don't know what the point is—it's not as though this letter will change what happened. There's no point in dwelling on it. If I do, it'll consume me. And that's the last thing you want, right? After all, you're the one who told me not to cry. Besides, you'll never even get to read this.

Everyone at the Society keeps telling me to "stop bottling it up". They think I should be more open and honest with my emotions. That I should let it all out.

But what if I don't know how? Sometimes, I feel like I want to cry. I want to sob. I want to scream out to the world about how unfair this is. But I can't. I just can't, and I don't know why. It's like these feelings are trapped inside of me. Am I broken? Is there something wrong with me? Who should I ask about this?

I've been focusing more on my job during the last week. After all, isn't that why we came to Lively Town in the first place? To join the Expedition Society? So I'll make the most of this opportunity. For your sake, if nothing else.

For what it's worth, all this work helps me forget everything that's happened. Some nights I almost feel okay, but then it all hits me again. I want to live my life without all these horrible memories of Dark Matter. I want to be happy. But it's really hard without you by my side. I miss you.

I'm not sure what else to write, so I'm ending the letter here.

-Aster


Dear Vallea,

Chief Ampharos seems to have made bugging me his full time job. Every day he asks me if I'm writing. You'd think he was the one receiving these things, not you. But then again, you aren't receiving them either.

He isn't looking through these, is he? I hope not.

I wonder where you are now. Your father doesn't believe you're really dead. He keeps looking for you. I thought to tell him it's hopeless to search for someone who disintegrated into sparks of light, but that wouldn't be very nice. And everyone else is convinced you're not really dead, too; they keep telling me to hold out hope you might come back some day. There's no body, they tell me. No grave. They think there's still a chance.

How stupid of them.

-Aster


Dear Vallea,

I have news that you might like. There were reports of Mew's reappearance on the Grass Continent. I investigated them and found Mew in Mystery Jungle. Slight problem: Mew followed me home. Now they're a member of the Expedition Society. I'm letting them use your bed for now. I hope you don't mind. It's not as though you're here to use it, after all.

Did you know I didn't want Mew to come back with me? I kept telling them to buzz off and leave me alone, but they kept trailing me like a lost kid. What's up with that?

Bigger problem: Mew remembers nothing. Nothing at all. They don't remember fighting Dark Matter, or meeting me for the first time, or anything about their previous lives. That might be for the best, I don't know. Still, I didn't see that coming.

Biggest problem: Mew keeps reminding me of you. Everything they do seems like something you would do. Maybe it's just my wishful thinking, but Mew is so much like you. Their cheery nature, their kindness, even their indomitable will are all like you.

No matter how much I try to forget what happened, it just comes back to haunt me. Funny, huh?

For what it's worth, I almost cried yesterday. I guess that's a good thing.

-Aster


Dear Vallea,

Do you remember how when we first met, I didn't remember anything? You had to explain so many basic things to me. I didn't even know what rain was, for crying out loud.

Turns out Mew doesn't know what rain is, either. When I said Mew remembers nothing, I wasn't kidding. And when you take someone as curious as Mew and take away all of their memories, you get a Pokemon prone to diving into dangerous situations.

I don't mean figuratively diving, either. They literally dived into the ocean this one time and almost drowned because they didn't know how to swim. Then I tried to pull them out and I ended up almost drowning too, because—surprise!—I don't know how to swim either. Buizel had to bail us both out, and he was really upset about it.

But I have to admit, Mew's kind of growing on me. Don't tell them I said that, though. They'll let it get to their head and then they'll be downright insufferable.

-Aster


HUGE PROBLEM: MEW HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED. DON'T KNOW WHO DID IT.

I should not be wasting time writing this. I should be going to rescue Mew, but Ampharos has "crucial preparations" to make. What could possibly be this important?! Mew is missing! Someone took them! And they say they're going to kill them! This isn't right it's not right none of this is right I can't let this HAPPEN AGAIN NOT AGAIN.

I don't want to lose another friend. Not after losing you.

Ampharos is finally ready. I'm going to head out now. Hopefully, Mew will be safe. I don't know what I'll do if they aren't.


It wasn't hard for Vallea to find the letters. She'd stumbled upon them when she had been looking for a Whirlwind Wand in preparation for an upcoming expedition. They lay forgotten within a dusty old drawer sitting in the corner of their room at the Expedition Society. She'd tossed them aside at first without looking at them, but a glimpse of their contents caught her attention. With each letter she read, her heart grew a little heavier.

Aster never liked talking about how he'd managed when she was gone. Every time she asked he only shrugged, or said, "I was okay." But she knew her disappearance had to have affected him somehow.

That evening she found the Treecko on the beach near the outskirts of Lively Town, hugging his knees to his chest as he stared at the waves; every few seconds the ocean crashed onto the shore and sent clouds of mist into the air. The salty air still held some summer warmth, though the wind had a slight bite to it that betrayed the coming autumn. As she approached, she announced her presence by clearing her throat.

Aster whirled around, startled, then smiled when he saw it was her. She sat down next to him and the two spent a few minutes in companionable silence watching the ocean rise and fall before the steadily darkening sky. Pink and orange brushstrokes colored the horizon where the sun had set a few minutes ago, the dark clouds sharp and grey against the dim colors. As her gaze moved higher the pinks faded into a deep purple, and then black with little white stars flickering high above her.

Eventually, she said, "I found the letters you'd written to me."

"Letters? What letters? I didn't—" His aura twitched slightly as he realized what she meant. He lowered his gaze to the sand. "I…see."

She reached out, took his paw in her own. Quietly, she said, "There's nothing wrong with you."

"What?"

"You said you couldn't cry in the letters." She gave his paw a reassuring squeeze, but he still didn't meet her eyes. "Asked if there was something wrong with you. There isn't."

"Oh," he said, his voice breaking a little. "O-oh…"

He took a deep breath, composing himself, then finally looked up again and met her eyes. A sad smile made its way onto his face.

"It's funny," he said. "I didn't think I'd ever deliver those letters."

The Riolu laughed, shaking her head. "Things never work out the way we think they will, do they? After we stopped Dark Matter, I thought I would get to live out my dream at the Expedition Society. And then, when I was disappearing, I thought I would be gone forever. And now?" She let go of him and spread her arms wide, gesturing at the world around her. "Here I am again, living my dream."

"That's true. I wouldn't mind if things were a little more predictable, though. Give us a few boring weeks, know what I mean?"

"Pshh, nah. Boring stuff's no fun. I'll go nuts if we have even one boring week around here!"

They remained there for a while on the beach beneath the stars, debating the benefits of boredom versus an exciting life, content in the knowledge that for once, they had nothing to worry about.