Attached

A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction

by Three Black Noises

Chapter 11

Michael's POV

I awoke feeling something wasn't right, so I listened closely to my surroundings.

Hope was sleeping next to me; her breath slow but kind of loud as it only issued from her mouth.

That was normal for her being asleep.

Okay? What else?

Nothing really.

"Michael." the voice called; quiet yet urgent.

It took me a few seconds to place it.

"Robin?" I asked; matching his volume.

"Get up and come with me please." he instructed.

I hauled myself out of bed; making sure not to wake Hope.

"So what have you been doing for igore?" I asked; once we were out of ear shot of the others.

Robin didn't answer right away, but lead me to what passed for the living room where I'd fallen asleep a few nights before.

After we were both seated, Robin was quiet for a short while, then he blew air out of his beak in what must have been; for him; an extremely controlled manner.

"That isn't a valid answer to his question." Bella observed from off to my right.

"I just don't want him to worry." Robin admitted.

"I doubt he will." Bella replied.

I said the same; replacing the pronoun.

"Okay." robin relented at length.

"Here's the deal. Thanks to the velvet room's powers, I've been able to fly all around the world, placing persona detection beacons. I'm not done yet, as I'm actually here on official business for Igore at the moment." he explained.

"I'm not worried about that. It's actually a good thing that Igore's being proactive about finding Persona users fast enough to do something about it. Is your flying getting better?" I asked.

Robin was glad I wasn't worried, and told me his flying was improving rapidly. He drew breath to say something else, but something must have caught his eye, because he was up in my face and whisper shouting his fruity breath directly in my face.

"What are you thinking leaving a Persona card just sitting out in the open like this!"

I did actually have to think about it.

After Prinplup disappeared last night, I didn't pick up the card, so Sarah must have; somehow.

I told Robin this, and got yelled at more; fruity breath included.

"We don't quite know how this works yet, It's possible anyone could call out the Persona on this card!"

"But it just looks like a normal limited Manamon trading card right?" I asked.

This time, Robin put his beak so close to my face that I could actually feel the formation of his next words.

"Don't assume anything, You're here and so is Elizabeth, that means the persona power's here to. Keep all your Persona cards on you somehow!"

He backed away just a few steps.

"He's right you know." Bella added.

I didn't bother asking where she'd come from.

"All right Robin, I'll remember to keep them on me. So, what's your business?" I asked.

"This!" He put the Penguilum card in my hand. Okay he threw it, if I'm being truthful.

"You need to look at it?" I asked.

"My Persona needs to, but yes."

"I don't know how to bring this one out." I confessed.

He asked me to try anyway, so I did, with last night's results.

Bella clomped over and picked the card up from the floor.

"Huh." she said after giving it a once-over.

"You wouldn't know any better..."

Thoughtfully, she began to walk away, and Robin and I; perplexed; followed her.

She didn't seem to have an assigned room in the house, as she just walked a short way, retrieved a tablet device and started typing.

"Ahuh. They did make a Penguilum card just like this..." she said; still typing.

"And they didn't bother to number it, even though it is a limited edition card." she finished.

"Some of us are still trying to sleep. Oh hello Robin." feara said as she joined us.

"They fixed me." Feara said. I tried; and failed; to imagine the look on Robin's face, then I just reached out and felt it.

Their was no change, but his voice show his excitement as he congratulated her.

He then whispered in my ear that his eyes smiled.

"I'm already awake, So I'll go check the nest now." Feara said before leaving to do just that.

I quickly filled Robin in on what he'd missed. When I got to the part about Pidove's broken limbs, Robin ran after Feara shouting things I couldn't hear.

She responded in a grumpy tone, and that caused more shouting from Robin that quieted as they neared each other.

Several minutes later saw them back inside with the nest in slightly better condition.

"Now." Robin began before calling out his persona.

The little bird flew over, landed on the Penguilum card, shrieked, then flew back to Robin.

"That bad huh?" he asked after the bird chirped for at least half a minute.

"What?" All of us asked.

"It's, corrupted. Or rather, not all there." Robin supplied.

"Part of it's still inside Sarah?" Feara asked; surprising me.

"Correct." Robin confirmed.

"So..." Feara began.

Sarah screamed, and at about the same time, Hope did to.

Feara sighed, but I heard the profane word buried in it.

"Language." I said as we all rushed to Sarah's side.

Out of all of us, it was Bella who took Sarah in her arms with a quiet, "It's okay Sarah." as she did so.

"Everything's going to be all right." She continued.

"Hope." Sarah called tremulously.

"I'm here." Hope was out of breath, but present to take Sarah from Bella all the same.

"Hope, re rem mem ber, wwwhen" Sarah began.

She then began to gasp for air, and after taking in one particularly shuttering breath, began to evolve,but seemed to be fighting the process.

Hope began to cry, and I didn't have to ask why.

"Huh?" Bella asked.

"It's, heating up." she finished in amazement before the card flew to Sarah.

After a short time, the card flew into my hand; still hot.

I shoved it into a pocket as the evolution process picked up speed.

After it finished, Sarah let out her held breath, then said, "huh. That's weird. Why was I holding my breath? And why are you crying Hope?"

In reply, Hope started kissing Sarah all over saying, "You won, and you remember!" over and over through her tears.

"Sort of. It's all hazy, but I know who you all are." Sarah explained.

"So what's the last thing you remember clearly?" I asked.

Sarah took a long time to answer.

"Battling, that, little, girl."

"That was before we meat right?" Bella asked.

"Same day, but the morning of." Robin explained.

It already felt like a vary long time ago.

"All right, so, do you have a visual memory of me?" Bella asked.

Sarah screwed up her face.

"You, did, something to Liz. I remember that much at least." she finally admitted.

"I can't, bring up a picture, but I know it happened; everything's like that." Sarah told us before walking back and forth a lot.

"What about your attacks." Feara suggested.

Sarah tried to do some attacks before giving up all together.

"Sorry I got nothing." she finally admitted before resuming her pacing.

"What's that about?" I asked.

"The walking?" Sarah confirmed.

She thought about it, then walked right up to me and stopped.

Without thinking, I placed my hands on her beak and began stroking.

"It's so weird. I promised Sarah I'd stay with her, but I have this itch to just strike out on my own."

She was talking in English, and that bothered me.

"Your body and mind are fighting." I explained as Robin, scanned? Sarah with his persona again.

"Odd." he whispered.

"It's the complete opposite of how a persona is supposed to work. He told us.

"Let me look." Bella offered quietly.

I felt her unique psychic presence and knew she was looking inside Sarah's mind.

"Strange. They're completely separate beings, mentally speaking."

"So everything else is, in her, mind?" Hope asked.

"In a word, yes." Bella replied.

"Oh Damn it!" Rotom was awake.

"This wasn't supposed to happen!" He sobbed as he came over to us.

"That wasn't Sarah's dream you pulled out, it was her persona." Rotom said.

"So because Sarah tried to evolve she nearly took the form of" I began.

"Her fear in this case but we don't have time to talk! Oh thank goodness you're here Robin. Get out your persona please."

Robin complied, and Rotom gave the little bird to Hope.

"What am I doing?" Hope asked.

"Healing Sarah, using Robin's persona as a kind of bridge between your powers and Sarah's mind. Just heal like you normally do okay?"

"Okay Rotom but I don't think" Hope began.

"It'll work. Igore went over this stuff when he created me." Rotom explained.

After a pause he asked, "How long has Sarah been like this?"

"A few minutes?" She replied.

"Good. The sooner we fix this the better. Can anyone put her to sleep? Oh right, Bethany can."

Rotom was already heading to wake her, but Bella simply said, "No need." as she walked away.

Bella returned a short time later with what she called a sleep bomb.

In actuality it was closer to a bug bomb one might use to remove a roach infestation, though a great deal smaller.

"This'll put her out for about ten minutes. That good enough?" Bella asked as she set it up.

Hope and Rotom agreed it was.

The bomb did its work with only a small click and hiss, and Sarah fell gently to the floor.

"Now, how does this work, exactly?" Hope asked.

"first Robin needs to, oh that's it!" Rotom said.

"Now that his persona is open to be linked, Hope? Place him, on Sarah's chest should work.

hope did as instructed, and gasped.

"I think I just might be able to do this!" she exclaimed.

Several quiet minutes passed before Hope spoke again.

"Did it work?" she asked.

"No." was Bella's dry answer.

I held the Penguilum persona card to Sarah's head.

"any change? "

"Give it a few seconds Michael." Bella said.

So we did.

"It's working!" Hope and Bella said together several seconds later.

The process completed silently, and nobody made to speak for some time.

Several minutes later, hope sighed theatrically.

"Ten minutes never took so long." she said.

"Sarah's your best friend, or at least she was before the evolution attempt." Rotom said quietly.

"She'll still be your best friend." Robin assured, but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself of that more than anyone else.

Soon after that exchange, Sarah yawned and sat up.

"Wow that was weird. Everything was so hazy for a minute their." she Said.

"Yeah you and your persona switched places, but it's all sorted now." I explained.

"I wouldn't say that just yet." Robin warned.

"Why not?" Sarah asked.

"Because this is all new. Prinplup manifested as your persona do to the fact that you naturally evolve into it, so you expected and feared it. However, at the same time you also wished to be like that Manamon Penguilum, so that might be your true persona."

Robin's explanation did make a frightening amount of sense.

"All right so"

Hope's train of thought got interrupted by the appearance of Penguilum, who brought a blast of cold wind with her.

after said wind dissipated, Penguilum still radiated a strong field of cold from her body.

She didn't say anything for quite some time after appearing, and I got the impression she was looking Sarah over.

"You remember yourself?" She finally asked.

"Sure I do." Sarah confidently replied.

"And what do you want to do now?" Penguilum asked briskly.

"That's easy! Protect Hope. I can still do that now that I'm different right?"

"In slight appearance maybe, but in voice? Not really."

Penguilum was right. I'd noticed that Sarah's voice wasn't much different than it had been, and that it didn't sound anything like the Prinplup persona.

The rest of the group had slowly come awake and filed in; minus Crystal, and Maria took this time to speak up.

"Can you still fight?"

Her question was simple in its wording, though that was probably just as well.

"Of course I can still... fight." Sarah said, yet I got the feeling she couldn't.

This drew an exhalation from Christina, and a "Kaah!" from Norma.

Sarah's breathing intensified as she said "I cant! Remember! My. Techniques!"

"But you remember the rest of your life." Sora drawled.

"She better, 'cause I don't."

I wasn't sure how personas worked in regards to if they could access and keep memories from the host they inhabited, but if Penguilum couldn't remember anything about Sarah's life; and Sarah could no longer access her battle techniques; we'd have to start over.

Sora walked up to Sarah and rapped her in the leaves he used to cover himself every night.

"Now Sarah, you can remember them if you can remember your life. Take it from me. I did, and my life is, was, full of pain."

This only made Sarah panic even more.

"Stop that!" Penguilum and Sora ordered.

"Calm down." Sora soothed.

"It's not the end of the world if you can't remember your battle techniques. Christina, Bella and Crystal are all here to help you." Sora said in his unique calming voice.

It worked. Sarah's breathing slowed, but Sora didn't make to remove his leaves from her.

"So, I'm still kind of new here. Can you tell me the first move you learned?" He asked.

"Bubble Beam." Sarah replied as if in a trance.

"And how did you learn it?" Sora pressed.

"Michael pushed on my chest." Sara began before gasping and falling silent.

Sora removed his leaves from her, and Sarah fell gently to the floor.

At the same time; given the reactions from several of my friends, Penguilum vanished.

"She'll be okay right?" Hope asked.

"We see this some times back home. Their is nothing to worry about." Tina assured us.

I probably shouldn't have, but while she was out, I took Sarah in my arms and looked her over.

Aside from being slightly bigger; and a pound or so heavier, their wasn't much difference between this new version of Sarah and the old one.

"The pokédex system still recognizes her as a Piplup." Rotom assured me.

I told him that she still looked like one, so that was just fine.

He agreed, but informed me that her stats and other parts of her appearance; that I couldn't feel; classified her as in between a Piplup and a Prinplup.

Just then, I felt Bella's unique psychic presence and asked what she was doing.

"Looking at Sarah. Making sure things are okay inside her mind." Bella explained.

After some time, Bella assured us that things looked good from where she stood, but that we still needed to test out Sarah's techniques once she woke again.

"Can I help? I am short enough."Tina asked

"Hope blew out breath at Tina's remark.

"Did you want to help instead?" Tina asked.

"No you do it okay?" Hope replied; her voice braking.

I gave Hope a hug; a long one.

"I did not mean that the way it sounded." Tina assured her.

"I know. I can't help what happened. Please stand in for me this once.

I let go of Hope, and she retreated from us.

A few minutes later, Norma approached me.

"Is something wrong with Hope? She keeps blowing out her breath like something's on her mind."

"She's probably worried about me." Sarah replied.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"sleepy, but good."

"And your techniques?" Rotom asked as Tina positioned herself directly in front of Sarah.

"You want me to attack you?: Sarah asked.

"I can take it. Please show us that you remember what you have learned up to now."

Sarah did, but she held back.

"Sarah, Tina has a lot of health. Please go all out."

"Rotom, I don't want to cause her pain."

"I assure you, I shall be just fine.

"Okay Tina." Sarah said reluctantly.

Hope came back during the demonstration, but still seemed worried.

"How's it looking?" She asked Rotom.

"Pretty good. I can't do any kind of official test, but things look good to me.

"Maybe Mom can do what she did with Hope?"

"If she can get an appointment." Hope replied.

"No need. I can do it." Maria said as she headed for Crystal's office.

Several minutes later saw Hope and Sarah on Feara's back.

"Ready to go when you are." Feara said; holding out her wings.

"See you in..." Robin offered.

"Half an hour at the vary least." Hope said before Feara took off.

Before we headed back inside, I asked Robin if he wanted to tell me anything about Feara while she was gone.

"Heard my message huh?" He gave a small laugh.

"It turns out both of us have our problems fixed, so their's no need for us to date anymore. However..."

He seemed to be turning an idea over in his head.

"I could use some help on my current assignment." He finally said.

"With the persona beacons right?" Maria asked.

She'd been true to her word when she'd told us she could get Sarah an appointment to be tested, and Hope wasn't staying behind.

"Correct. The sooner this gets done the better, and Feara might just jump at the chance to spend time with me."

I filled Robin in on what feara had done after being fixed.

"That's good. Now both of us are on the path to getting back in touch with our bird selves."

"Yet you still want to spend time with her." Maria probed.

"She can make of it what she wants." Robin answered like he didn't much care.

"You just want help." I teased.

"More like need, but yes."

"Hay Michael?" Rotom called from the back door.

"You do remember the flying lessons for today?"

Robin made a questioning sound, so I explained about the mind link we stumbled upon yesterday.

"That's incredible! However, I need Feara's help now, so I'll take over the lessons for today. Get on."

Rotom floated over as I tried to figure out why Robin wanted me on his back.

"Being inside the mind of a flying creature is one thing, but you also need to be on one, so climb up please. Robin explained.

We flew all around the city; maybe a little beyond, and Robin did his best to explain everything he was doing before; and sometimes while; he did it.

Rotom floated along and logged everything that happened.

Upon returning from my; admittedly fun; trip, Robin gave Liz permission to extract the memories for later study.

She was just finishing that when Hope came in.

"Bella!" she called in a slightly angry voice.

When Bella came to see what was up, Hope shoved an envelope into her claws.

"A person at the gym told me to give this to you ASAP." Hope explained.

"They could have just Called the store number if they needed me that badly."Bella said as she opened the envelope.

She was silent as she read what was inside.

She then said something colorful before running to Bethany's room.

I didn't hear all of what was said, but it had something to do with her potions and Crystal.

Bella came back in and explained to us that one of her sister weapons had been, "found," and the people who'd done the finding had no idea what to do with it.

"They've got it locked up and want me to take it off their hands. I know this is a question I shouldn't ask, but can any of you drive? I'll have my hands full and I don't want to wake Crystal unless I really need to."

I can take you. I've been there before." Maria replied.

"I can get us there I just need someone to drive me back as I'll be dealing with the unit." Bella explained; grabbing crystal's keys.

"It'll take to long to wake her up so fill Crystal in please." Bella said as she breezed past me.

"I'm coming with, if it's part water type." Norma said as she fell in step with Bella.

"Maria's much older than she looks." Rotom assured me.

"So she really can drive?" Hope asked.

"I have to teach norma a few things so here." Bella said before the jingling of keys and the closing door ended my ability to hear any more.

"Liz made an irritated sound before teleporting outside.

Three car doors slammed, so Liz was obviously going with them.

"Maria's older than all of us here, aside from me." Rotom said.

"She couldn't be. Feara said.

"Yes she can, if you consider the fact that her capture attempt, was made in forty nine." Rotom elaborated.

"As in, 1949?" I confirmed.

"That's right.

"So she's fifty six years old?" Christina asked.

"Yes, and she acquired a lot of skills in case she needed them to help someone out." Rotom explained.

"That's all well and good, but what do we do in the mean time?" Feara asked.

"feara, flying lessons will have to wait for now." I said as I headed to Crystal's room.

"You won't be able to wake her." Christina said at a normal volume as I entered.

"Okay. What would you suggest we do then." I asked as she gently pushed past me.

"Just stand there. I'll take care of it.

I didn't ask what she was going to do in order to wake her mother, and after hearing Crystal's scream, I was sure I didn't want to know.

"What's wrong!" She cried after she finished her scream.

I explained the situation as succinctly as possible as we rejoined the others.

"I'd say you could have just woken me up, but this works out good, as I need to move everything out of my office." Crystal said after taking everything in.

"Why?" Tina asked; now standing beside me.

"That room has biometrics that won't let anyone in or out unless they're cleared in advance. It's the same tech that's in the car and yes, Maria was cleared to operate it after I checked her out last night." crystal explained.

Crystal enlisted all of our help to get all of her things move to a different place in the house.

During the move, she told us that Bella had formed the best plan she could; given that speed was of the utmost importance.

After all was said and done, Crystal went into her old office and worked some controls that were hidden behind the safe that stored the now useless gym badges.

"Led and other metals and compounds designed to isolate the room." Crystal replied to our reactions to the grinding noises that seemed to emanate from the vary ground itself.

Once the sounds had stopped, Crystal let out her breath with a kind of woosh before letting us know that things were, "As ready as they're 'gunna be."

Just then, Bella texted Crystal to let her know that, "brunch will be arriving in about an hour."

That gave Crystal time to relocate us to Bethany's shop, as it was; according to Crystal, "The second-most secure room in the house."

Crystal locked us in from the outside, and Bethany used the time to teach us all about the different ways a Pokémon could be healed in the field.

All of us got hands-on time working with different potion ingredients, and Sarah took to learning everything she could so as to be as much help to Hope when the time came.

Bethany also took Sora aside and taught him all about his natural gift technique and what berries resulted in the various elemental attacks.

He drank in this information with relish, and was just thanking Bethany for her time when the others came back.

Maria entered Bethany's shop with brunch, locked the door, and was just unpacking everything when the others lugged the weapon into the house.

No sooner had they closed and locked the front door did the creature start crying, "I'm mean no harm!" Over and over.

Norma and Liz didn't believe it, because they started charging up power.

"Please Bella, call them off. I carry important information for you." It said in a voice mush higher than Bella's, and without any of the rumbling gravelly undertones that characterized her speech

"Oh yeah?" Crystal asked as Bella called off the others.

Crystal unlocked the door, entered, retrieved something, then closed and lock the door again.

"Before you give any info to us, you have to agree to let us destroy the electronic part of your mind." crystal said; her tone grave.

The creature didn't hesitate with her response.

"Please, do what you feel is warranted." It said."

I'm, not sure what happened next, but After the process completed, Crystal seemed almost satisfied.

"It's already detached from the network. Giovanni made sure of that." The creature said after Bella used her powers to remove something from the creature that smelled like burned circuitry.

"If you have info, their's no way you got out without him knowing. Bella offered after stomping the circuitry into little pieces.

"He knows." The creature said before giving Bella its ID number.

"Robin went to the door to listen better.

"You're the worst of us, as far as combat potential goes. Bella said in recollection.

"Yes I am. And, you can open that door. I mean no harm to the Pokémon waiting in there. Please, let them join us."

"Once I verify that you are who you"

Bella didn't get to finish, as the creature whispered something to her.

We didn't get to hear what was said because Crystal had taken the circuitry and was busy destroying it in some kind of loud machine.

"I did give you that name." Bella said in shock once the noise had died down.

"She's clear." Bella said after gathering herself.

"How do you know? Anyone could have gotten that out of her." Norma accused.

"Not likely." Bella said before asking for the creature's designation code.

Said creature gave out several different ID numbers, as well as creation date before giving her "secret" name, Velma. She then told us that they'd considered Ella, but deemed it to similar to Bella, and that it could lead to misunderstandings over radio communication.

That seemed to be enough for Bella to tell us this was indeed the Velma she knew before proceeding to ask her why she'd gone through all this trouble to seek Bella out.

We didn't hear what Velma said, but Bella's reaction told us all we needed to know.

"I just check two days ago, and he was there, a model prisoner even."

"Are you talking about Giovanni?" Robin asked.

Robin informed us that; as part of his assignment; he flew over the prison where Giovanni was held and personally saw the man where he was supposed to be.

"That'd mean he didn't have a persona." I concluded.

"The beacon I set near there didn't detect anything." Robin assured us.

"Of course it wouldn't. The persona's back at the new base." Velma said.

At this point, our door was opened.

"If Giovanni kicked you out, he would have made sure to wipe your mind first." Bella observed before adding, "I would."

"He did, but I had several backup plans." Bella said with a small laugh.

"And you acted the part when being, removed, so he didn't suspect a thing?" Crystal asked.

"That's right. Giovanni's base" Velma began.

"Tell me. I'll do a fly-over right now and check it for persona signatures." Robin offered.

"It might not be that. He could just be using some kind of psychic projection." I offered.

"He'd need a psychic Pokémon with him to do that." Chris said.

"And the range wouldn't be vary far unless he had an entire network of them." Maria added.

"What's the location?" Liz asked.

After Velma told us it was in the outskirts, Liz blew out her breath as if she was trying to calculate a vastly complicated problem.

"You'd need almost a thousand different Pokémon to do that." She finally concluded.

"That would create a huge blip on any psychic detector." Maria finally said.

"Yeah well, the outskirts don't have a need for those seeing as most people and even Pokémon fear that place." Bella explained.

"People have whispered about that area of the world for ever." Norma added.

"Anyone want to fill me in?" I asked.

"The short version is that the outskirts is the vary last place you'd ever want to go. That is of course, if you're sane, and or, have a place to belong." Bethany explained.

I wondered how Bethany; out of all of us; knew about that place, and I wasn't alone; judging by the gasps that emanated from most of the others.

"Yeah. I survived that hell, and I am never going back there again." Bethany added with venom in her voice.

"So it's an untamed area of the world?" I confirmed.

"Ahuh. Even we birds don't go near it." Feara told us.

"So what do we do about Giovanni?" Crystal asked.

Bella blew out a loud angry breath.

"Technically he hasn't escaped, so my hands are tied."

"All right, so we can't kill him, but what about stopping him, cutting off his, Persona projection?" Velma asked.

"That all depends on how it works and the defenses he has set up." Liz said.

"But he's still securely locked up so we just cut off his source or a point in between and problem solved right?" Christina offered.

"If only we could figure out how to do that without tipping him off." Tina added.

It was then that Velma let us know about the final peace of info she had.

Upon requesting it, we were treated to a string of numbers and letters about twenty minutes long.

It was Crystal who was able to decode it, as; somehow; Velma had managed to memorize raw ASCII text that gave all of Giovanni's methods and plans regarding his "freedom."

"He's planted a small part of his persona into a psychic doll." Crystal told us.

"Okay? How'd he get it out of the prison, and how'd he get it in the first place? And, what's a psychic doll?" I asked.

"As for how he got his persona? He, doesn't know. In the document Velma smuggled out of the base, Giovanni describes the acquisition like this. 'Upon my encounter with that deliciously evil being, I had an awakening to a power that could allow my true conquest to be realized.'"

"That rules out igore then." Robin said.

"I need to get over to the prison right now. I'm entitled to unannounced visits if I desire, and I desire one."

"We'll be fine here." Crystal said to Bella as Robin made his way back to the bedroom.

"I'm going to tell Igore about this." Robin said before he got out of earshot.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked Bella as I followed her to the door.

Bella rounded on me; pressing her back to the door.

"You heard what I said about Giovanni when Liz's dress activated yes?"

"Something about killing him if he got out."

"Well, I'm exercising that right now seeing as that persona power in his hands could kill lots of people, if Sarah's Prinplup persona is anything to go by.

As she said this, I felt her as if memorizing her features.

"feel Velma if you want, but I need to go. I'll be back before you know it." Bella said.

She sounded strong, but I could feel her shaking and knew how scared she really was.

At that point, Bethany came up beside her.

Bella's shaking stopped after she let out a vary noisy breath.

"If anyone asks, I'm on my usual vacation." Bella announced before she left.

"She does this every year or so, vacationing I mean." Bethany explained.

Crystal came over then and gently lead me back to the others.

"I never thought I'd live to see Bella without all that gear. I just want her to come back now." Velma said.

"You think that stuff she lost would help her against Giovanni don't you?" Bethany asked.

"Oh no. Velma, he let you go on purpose because" I began as realization dawned.

I was up and running outside faster than I thought possible

Bella had just started the engine, and I followed its sound and came up along side the car as Bella rolled down the window.

"What? This has to be done now before Bethany and I get busy again." She said; not turning to look at me.

(It's a trap.) I thought; not sure if she'd pick it up.

(What evidence do you have to back up that claim?) she asked in a low voice.

(Isn't Velma conveniently showing up suspicious now that Giovanni is supposedly active again?) I asked.

(Not really.)

Bella paused before adding, (Velma is the only one of us that would have risked her life to get that info to me.)

(She could have been set up.) I pressed.

Bella killed the engine as she prepared to exit the car.

I stepped back to let her do so, and she got right up in my face.

(Look. You weren't there, but I was, along with a lot of other people and Pokémon. And let me tell you, the abomination that man unleashed on us... I won't let that man create hell on earth again.

I get that this is hard for you to comprehend, but listen. I have to do this. I should have done it back before...)

I heard the front door open, and Bella blew out an irritated breath.

Liz ran up with Rotom and Maria following shortly behind.

"Don't go yet. We can do this like normal." Bethany pleaded from Liz's arms.

(Bethany, you've known this day could come, and what my response must be.) Bella thought.

I wasn't sure how Bethany handled the transmission of Bella's thoughts without feeling pain do to her being a grass type and week to psychic techniques, but somehow she was fine.

(Yes but you don't have any of your stuff this time.)

(Bethany, he doesn't have Mewtwo this time either.) Liz said.

(Okay but what about his persona power?)

(That's why I have to go now.) Bella explained.

Now it was Bethany's turn to make an irritated sound.

(Look, Crystal can help you run Porter potions if I don't come back. We already agreed on that remember?) Bella asked as Rotom got into the driver's seat.

(Yes I do.) "Rotom? Why are you getting in there?" Bethany asked.

Both exchanges took place at the same time, so it was a bit strange having to interact with two different conversations going on at the exact same time.

"What, a guy can't be curious?" Rotom asked in a slightly snarky way.

(Crystal can help you make the potions using everything we've written down.) Bella assured Bethany.

(I know that! But you, can't, be replaced! I Love you!)

(I know, and that's. wait what?)

(I. love. You. Bella.) Bethany said.

(And that's why I'll make it back.) Bella said before turning to Rotom, who was playing with the keys.

"What are you doing?" Bella asked after some time.

"Trying to start this thing so I can test it against other-worldly interference."

"You have to push the, clutch, right?" Bethany asked noone in particular.

"You do, but Rotom's"

"Yes Michael, to short, but that won't matter. All i have to do is..."

We waited for him to do something, anything really, but all he eventually said was, "Huh?"

"Yeah, their's anti-ghost shielding in this thing." Bella explained.

"And it's working great. What about anti-psychic shielding?" Rotom asked.

"It seems to be working fine from out here. Let's switch places." Liz offered.

So they did, and got the same results.

"You sure you don't want Bethany to see you off?" was Rotom's simple question to Bella.

Bella sighed in response, and Rotom; taking that as a yes; prepared to head inside.

Hope; having come out during the vocal exchanges; guided Bella to the back of the car saying, "Oh no. You're sitting with us."

As Bella and Hope got in, Rotom reluctantly followed.

"I'm just going for a swim you don't have to come." Bella was saying as Liz slid over in the front so Maria could get behind the wheel.

As this was happening, I got a funny feeling and got in as well.

"Liz, what's up?" I asked.

"Some of the stuff gardevoir said last night really got to me." Liz began.

"How so?" I asked.

"When she was talking about how the bonding works, I realized that I might be coming with you to your world. As you've said before, Pokémon only exist there as fictional characters, so I'd lose all of my powers in the transition. To that end, I'll need to cultivate skills that'll work over there, so I've asked Maria and Crystal to teach me how to work this machine and ones like it."

"It'll be hard." Bella said; leaning up in her seat.

"Possibly. That's why I want to see if I can do it now." Liz explained.

"Liz, can you get the car started?" Maria asked.

"This part's easy. I saw Crystal doing it." Liz said.

"Yeah well it gets harder from here." Maria said after Liz demonstrated her small ability.

"How are you getting to where you're going?" Rotom asked Bella.

"As I just said, I'll swim." Bella replied.

"I guess you know where she needs to go then?" I asked Maria.

Maria replied in the affirmative, so I asked Bethany another question.

"Do you have everything written down, just in case?"

"I do, but it's 'gunna be hard training someone else to be my partner."

"Not if it's Velma. She's vary observant like me. She won't be able to protect you as good as me, but mixing potions? She can do that."

"But your protection is why I have the confidence I do." Bethany said; not sounding whiny at all.

"And that's why I'm coming back real soon." Bella assured.

after it seemed like Bethany had been appeased, I spoke up again.

"Hay Hope? Why didn't you bring Sarah with us? I'm sure she would have liked seeing Bella jump into a huge body of water and, go down a long way."

"Yes I'm sure she would, but my attempt to see how she'd do without me was kind of ruined by that Liepard."

"Then why didn't you." I began before remembering the previous night.

"The damn pain. If it hadn't kicked in like it did I would have just stayed quiet, but I would have cried out it was so strong.

That would have alerted Sarah to my presence anyway, so, attempt ruined."

"I guess that's why they tell you healers not to get emotionally involved with others?" Rotom's asked.

"You do get around. But yes. You are correct." Hope replied.

"And heading back to the Pokémon center wouldn't have worked either because we still would have run into you." I reasoned.

"Even if you'd somehow made it to the Floccesy Pokémon center I still would have felt it, damn it all." Hope let out a breath before continuing.

"Crystal's with her now, so she should be good for a little while any way..."

After it was apparent that Hope was done talking, Rotom spoke up.

"So Liz, what do you think about Norma?"

"She's, complicated, to say the least."

"Aren't we all." Maria replied.

'I suppose so, but Norma's not like any Pikachu I've ever encountered."

"How do you mean?" Hope and I asked.

"She's, vary sad, and scared, and, umm, I guess the word deep qualifies to?" was Liz's eventual response.

"I get the sad and scared parts. She just lost her entire identity in a single day, and probably didn't ever plan for that happening to her." I replied.

"So, what would have happened to her if she had to look for us on her own, and her money ran out before she found us." I asked.

Noone spoke for some time, and it was Bethany who eventually broke the silence.

"Most likely, she'd have to go to the outskirts. It's where Pokémon that don't fit in end up going, sooner or later."

"But couldn't she find work protecting someone?" Hope asked.

"Maybe, but that's up in the air." Bella replied.

"Then I'll take her in, if noone else will." I declared without much thought.

"But Michael, you won't be able to train her." Liz reasoned.

"I don't need to train her. I'll just let her stay with one of the professors so they can learn from her, or something. Regardless I'm not letting her wander some accursed wasteland where she could die at the hands of some wild beast. Present company excluded, of course." I declared.

"Speaking of, how are you going to deal with wild beasts on your journey?" Maria asked.

"Easy. I'll put them in a ball at the highest setting until they gain my trust, and I'll ask Liz or Rotom to read them to insure they're actually on the level. Simple as that." I replied.

Maria didn't have any counter argument, so it was that we rode in silence until Bella let out a long sigh.

"Bethany." she began, "We go through this every year. I'll be fine."

"But you're not just"

"Bethany, it's going to be okay. I'm just going out like I do every year. In a few days, I'll call Crystal, or you Maria, to come get me." Bella cut in.

I didn't know if we were being listened to do to the situation we were in, and it seemed that Bella was thinking the same thing.

Bethany seemed to catch on as well, as she didn't say anything else until we arrived at Bella's destination.

"We're here." Maria announced as we came to a stop at what seemed like a pier; judging by the sounds of waves and birds I heard as Bella opened her door.

"Be careful okay?" Bethany asked.

"Always." Bella replied as she disembarked.

She took three running steps before their was a pause, followed by a splash.

"Really Bella? Hope asked before letting out a loud breath as she unbuckled and moved over to close the door.

"Can I sit with you?" Bethany asked.

"I don't see why not." Hope replied before buckling up again.

Maria turned us around, and we'd been on the road a couple minutes before Bethany spoke up.

"So hope. Any urges to heal me?"

"Bethany, all you had to do was ask. But no their aren't any. Sorry."

"I still want you to comfort me until we get back." Bethany argued.

So Hope held Bethany in her arms; close to her chest.

"You're really soft. You know that, right?" Bethany asked; voice muffled by Hope's fur.

The car made an urgent pinging sound before Crystal's voice replaced it.

"Sarah just flash-banged and ran off before we could stop her! Keep a look-out for her. Michael, only you can recall her, as you have her Poké ball on you."

"No need. This will sort itself out." Liz said calmly.

"No need!" Hope screamed, then gasped, "it's her! It's her!". before rolling down her window and screaming Sarah's name several times.

If Sarah responded, none of us heard it.

Hope rolled up her window with a sob.

"She looked at me, like, she didn't even know me." she finally choked out.

"Hope, this will all work out, just give it two days all right?" Liz asked; still calm and quiet.

"How can you be, oh, you've already seen what'll happen, haven't you?" Hope deduced.

"It's up to her now. No harm will come to her, but she needs, time, okay?" Liz asked.

Hope eventually blew out a long breath; no doubt her decompressing after the sudden shock; before saying, "Liz, I trust you." vary softly.

"We're good." Maria said.

"If Liz says all is well, then I trust her judgment. See you all back here." Crystal said before the car beeped again.

Nothing else was said until Maria pulled into Crystals driveway.

All right folks, everyone out." She said.

After we all got out, Crystal; who'd been waiting for us; slid behind the wheel.

"Activate learning mode." She commanded quietly after turning the keys.

"Learning mode will be enabled the next time this car is activated. Please"

Crystal's pre-recorded voice didn't get to say anymore, as the genuine article turned off the car and handed the keys to Liz.

Liz took them, but blew out a nervous breath as she did so.

"Umm, Crystal. I'm afraid I have no clue what to do beyond starting your car." she said vary softly.

"If I did my job right," Crystal began as she extricated herself from the car; voice showing no strain what-so-ever, "You should be able to learn the basics before you come in tonight."

"I trust you." Liz said before disappearing behind the wheel and closing the door.

crystal's hand on my shoulder stopped me from saying anything as she lead us back inside.

"All right, what's the deal." Hope asked after we'd gotten settled in the living room.

"Liz obviously knows things she can't say, so please trust in her that things will work out with Sarah okay?" Crystal finally asked.

Hope just sighed in an irritated way in Crystal's direction.

"I do." she finally said.

"Look, Hope, this situation puts her in a bad position. Because of her clairvoyant powers, she's most likely seen how this is all going to play out. She can't say anything without getting in vary big trouble with, shall we say, cosmic forces, and I don't want her feeling pressured into doing so against her better judgment because of how she feels for you.

so I need your promise, here and now, that you won't bother her, regardless of if you want to or not." Crystal explained.

"You've got it, but what happened to Sarah?" Hope asked.

"That's where I come in." Robin said.

Robin had been standing quietly off to one side, but now sat himself down with us.

"See, I went to Igore and told him about the persona projection thing, and he got vary worried. He said that things like that don't just happen, and after a bit of deliberation, called his boss, something he's never done before.

They talked and decided that a shutdown of persona abilities was needed, in order to rule out Giovanni's ability as coming from the Velvet room.

My persona was unaffected, but Sarah, her Prinplup persona thing wasn't all that stable, so when the controlling factor was removed, well, she flash-banged."

"Okay, what's a flash-bang?" I asked once Robin finished.

"An evolution that happens so fast that, the Pokémon, dies, 99 percent of the time." Crystal explained softly.

"Oh. I see. So Sarah, she survived because of the persona control factor?" I asked.

"That's the theory Igore and I are working off of at the current time." Robin verified.

"That makes sense, but how do you explain her not remembering Hope." I asked.

"The flash-bang probably took her memories due to it happening so fast. Normally with a Pokémon like Piplup, the memories merge with the new personality upon evolution but, again, the speed." Velma; of all Pokémon; explained.

"We were doing experiments on Pokémon to see if inducing flash-bangs could rob them of all conscious thoughts and turn them into mindless tools." Velma explained after some time had passed; most likely in response to questioning looks she'd gotten from the others.

We all thought that was horrible, and Velma agreed.

At that point, Liz came in, threw the keys on the counter, and, passed out.

Velma acted fast for what she was, catching Liz before she hit the floor and placing her on one of the couches.

"What happened?" I and several others asked.

Liz didn't respond to us, so I gathered that she'd really passed out, for some reason.

Rotom climbed onto the couch and seemed to be looking at Liz vary closely.

"Oh no." He breathed.

"What?" I asked vary quietly; fearing the worst for my friend.

"I'm not detecting any traces of psychic energy." he said.

"We've seen that before when she's been disabled." I reasoned.

"No, not like this. Even a disabled Pokémon still has small traces of their power. With Liz, it's like, someone switch them completely off." Rotom explained.

"No big deal. Liz has always functioned without them." I offered.

"Not like this. She's always had access to them even in a weakened state. Now, she's, basically, a normal human." Rotom told us.

"And an awesome one at that." I pressed as Crystal came up beside me.

She stood their several seconds before walking away.

Now it was Bethany's turn to climb up to stand next to Liz.

I couldn't tell what she did, but after a few seconds she said, "Yeah, that's still working." before climbing back down.

"Hope put her hand on Liz next.

"You won't be able to heal this, I'm sorry." Crystal said on her return trip.

"Move please." she said.

After hope and Rotom's did as she asked, Crystal knelt next to Liz.

After a second or so, I heard several small clicks, before Crystal blew out a vary long breath.

Feeling her body, I found her hands, one of which held a small pin light.

It wasn't hard after that for me to put two and two together.

"What's wrong with her." Velma asked as Norma came to sit beside me on the floor next to Liz.

"I heard that pin light." Christina added as she joined us, along with Chris.

"So, Liz is blind now." Chris stated.

"Yes. And only Liz knows for how long." Hope said bitterly.

"If only we'd stopped Sarah from running off." Chris moaned.

"It wouldn't have helped." Christina soothed.

"Yeah. With the evolution high in full effect, Sarah would just as easily seen us as enemies instead of friends." Crystal added.

"So should I set her ball to the lowest setting?" I offered.

"Not a good idea. She might see it as"

Rotom didn't finish his sentence, instead, he trailed off, then said in a confused voice, "Ring ring. text message from the velvet room."

"Well please read it." Robin laughed.

"Okay. This dude named Philemon, says, and I quote," Rotom cleared his throat.

"The demon has been captured, subdued and successfully modified. If no more than two representatives could please come pick her up, I'd be vary grateful."

Rotom paused then, "He's sent a picture to, oh. Crystal you better go."

"I'm coming to." Hope said as she rose to join Crystal.

"I guess we're going." crystal said before throwing the pin light on the counter next to her keys.

"Someone please test Liz like I just did when she wakes up?" Crystal asked as she and Hope left.