Sera hadn't been kidding about there being a lot to do in Mauville. Morgan considered just ignoring it all to continue journeying as soon as possible, but seeing as she was a little ahead now, she figured it didn't hurt to sink just the morning into having a look around.

As she did, she started to realize how one could sink so much time here: many places catered to trainers in some way, and many others offered discount or complimentary services to Games trainers. She'd just been complaining about not having a bike, and now a nice shop owner gave her a free one. Another place offered one free massage to Game trainers and a single Pokemon of choice, so naturally she had to- or uh, Cerberus 'convinced her' to try it out, that was it.

That said, not every stop was so pleasant. As she passed a tv station, she saw a little boy staring up at the screens out front, starry-eyed. "Isn't Nav news the coolest?" he asked aimlessly, though Morgan didn't see anyone else any closer.

"I guess," she humored him.

"I see my friends on tv a lot lately. Did you know? Sometimes they even put you on tv without telling you!"

Morgan forced an uncomfortable laugh. "Oh… Kid, trust me, they tell me…"

He looked up at her then, and his eyes widened further. "Oooh! You're Morgan, aren't you! I'm such a big fan! Your Metang is the coolest."

Morgan found herself smiling. "Heh. Well, thanks, kid."

"But no I meant.. Of course you're almost always on tv, but a lot of times they put regular people on as a total surprise!" His eyes widened. "Wait! I bet I'm on your channel right now, huh!" He waved. "Hi mom! Hi dad! Hi-"

As he went down a small list, Morgan found her nerves bristling. That uh… total lack of privacy didn't exactly strike her as something to brag about.

That encounter got Morgan on alert, and she began paying more attention to conversations people were having as she passed. Most were mundane or otherwise uninteresting to her, but some words of interest did seem to come up often. "New Mauville", "Sea Mauville", "Devon", "the Mauville Corporation", with the latter sometimes prefaced by "old"or suffixed by "still existed".

"Back when I worked for Sea Mauville" were words she heard in some form probably at least a dozen times throughout the day. It also seemed Mauville had a bit of a population problem, and "if only they'd continued New Mauville" came up several times as well.

What struck Morgan as particularly interesting about this was that the town as a whole seemed so vibrant and bustling, yet when she stopped to eavesdrop, an aura of dissatisfaction often hung in the air. Even without focusing on those keywords, she was starting to get the feeling that people were generally less happy under the surface.

In one case, she passed near two young women tucked away in a corner. "S-so, we can really go out for dinner? Like… together?" one was asking.

The other smiled weakly. "I promised, right? You finally made it to Ace Trainer status, and I don't go back on my word." The seemingly-younger girl's eyes brightened, but the elder shook her head. "It ain't like that, I'm afraid. This is gonna be our farewell dinner."

The ace trainer's heart visibly sank. "-B-but…"

"You've got a reputation to think about now, Rosie. You can't have it tarnished by hanging out with some lowlife."

"But.. But I never wanted…"

The older girl placed a hand on Rosie's shoulder. "Hey, buck up. It ain't gotta be sad like that. It's just… You're like Uber tier now. You can't be weighed down by trash like me."

Okay, this was getting ridiculous and Morgan couldn't help herself. "That's bullshit," she barked, causing both girls to jump, not seeming to have realized she was there.

"H-Hey!" said the older girl. "Mind your own beeswax, will ya?"

Morgan sighed and rolled her eyes before shamelessly resorting to her trump card: releasing Mithril. That got them listening. "You see this Metang? This thing is like, status incarnate or something in these parts, right?"

"Uhhh…" Rosie's face shifted to match her name, and she leaned over to mumble what Morgan was pretty sure was along the lines of "Shit I think we might be on tv."

"Maybe no one's watching this early," mumbled the other girl.

Morgan rubbed her temple and tried to ignore that. "I got my ass kicked by a Linoone yesterday, okay? S-so like…" She had a point here, what were words. Uh. After fighting a second to find her train of thought, she said, "Sorry to… butt in or whatever, but… I mean if you want to break up with her just do it, don't… blame some status bullshit."

It was the older girl's turn to go red now. "I wasn't-... I'm just acknowledging how the world works, kid."

Morgan crossed her arms. "Well… Who says it has to? What if instead of dragging her down, she could pull you up? Or, ya know… Some people like a hero who's down to earth, friendly with everyone regardless of their place in life." She suddenly wanted to kick herself, but couldn't help echoing, "And.. even if you can't ever be 'as good as' her, you can… you know… still strive to be the best you can be. ...for her?"

They both seemed quiet and awkward now, and Morgan felt that much more awkward in turn. "W-well… Just… think about it, I guess. S-sorry again for uh… interrupting, or… whatever."

She recalled Mithril then and excused herself, trying to keep her mind off that whole debacle by wondering what else there was to do in this stupid town.


"What the hell is an Inverse Battle?"

"Just what it sounds like," the young man said. "Super-effective moves become ineffective, and vice versa. Fire beats water, grass beats fire. Think you can keep up?"

Morgan deadpanned a few moments. "Okay like. I get the concept but how? Is it like a simulation or-"

"Oh, it's quite real," he assured her. "Through years of honing this very particular skill, I am able to use my psychic powers to alter the physiology of a small group of Pokemon for a limited time."

She tried to wrap her head around that. "So… Okay I think I get it. You change the way they perceive attacks, so that they think and act like they're working differently?"

His mouth slanted. "Nnnno, like I said, I actually change them. I realize it's an unusual skill but most people find it pretty self-explanatory."

"I- So hang on. You're telling me that using a mental power, you literally alter the properties of the world."

"Yes," he said with a nod.

"So you have magic!" she exclaimed, probably sounding a little accusatory but actually quite excited.

"Ah- It's a little cheap to call it 'magic', but I suppose if that helps you-"

She shook her head. "No. Dude that's magic, that is the actual definition of magic. Please, you're the first person I've met anywhere in Hoenn who-" Wait. She'd gotten so caught up that she hadn't even considered he might just be lying. "Unless it's a trick," she sighed.

Growing a little annoyed, he insisted, "It is no trick, madam. Please, if you would be so kind as to battle with me, you shall see my powers are quite real."

Well, it was free, right? "Nonlethal rules?" He nodded. "Why not, I guess."

If there was one Pokemon who'd be able to tell her just how real this was, it was Mithril. If the so-called Psychic was telling the truth, Steel-type Pokemon should be weak to most types now.

So- was Inver his actual name or a stage name, she wondered?- Inver closed his eyes, began to hum a chant, and held up his glowing hands. Morgan was no closer to being convinced this was different from sorcery.

Inver stopped abruptly, suddenly grasping his head as if in pain. "Ah.. C-could you ask-...xir? to stop resisting, please." ...Ooh. Either he got really lucky with that pronoun or there was something to this after all.

Mithril looked to Morgan, and she nodded. "It's all right. Just let him work his…" She stopped short of finishing the phrase and suppressed a small laugh.

At any rate, Mithril calmed down and Inver was able to complete his invocation. Once the stage had been set, he released his first Pokemon: a Loudred.

So… about that… Echoed Voice. As weak as the first hit got Mithril, and given how he'd reacted to a certain other sound-based move in the past, Morgan quickly gave up on him and brought in… Well, she wasn't sure what Normal-types normally resisted, but she suppose neutrality wasn't the worst option.

The battle didn't last long, Loudred's increasingly stronger screams taking out most of her team. She finally got him down, but the Marill to follow took down Cerberus and finished off Mithril.

"Hn." Inver smiled confidently. "Do you see now the true power of Inverse Battles?"

Morgan allowed his assistant to take her Pokemon for a few minutes to revitalize them, while she nodded and fixed her gaze upon him. "Yes, and like I said, that was definitely magic."

He sighed. "I suppose if you really want t-"

"Teach me."

"Excuse me?"

"I need to know how you're doing that here, in this land. Teach me," she implored.

"Ah… Your enthusiasm is heartwarming, but I'm afraid it isn't a skill one can teach from scratch. As I said, my inversion technique is a very unique skill honed over many years. For the right incentive, I could maybe teach you some more minor abilities like telekinesis-" he made her Pokeballs float from his returning assistant back to Morgan with the wave of his hand- "but even that would require you first had some aptitude for it. It's next to impossible for a person to just decide to become a psychic."

Morgan fought not to fidget. "But I do, I- I was a mage, a wizard, an actual sorceress. My magic just doesn't work here, and I haven't been able to figure out why."

Inver tilted his head. "You… used to have psychic powers?"

"Yes! I mean I didn't call them that, but I could make light and heat or cool the air and moves things and… and I can't now," she sighed, losing her momentary fervor.

The psychic brought a hand to his chin. "I've never heard of anyone losing their powers outside of… You didn't suffer any major head trauma that you know of?" Morgan hesitated a moment, but shook her head. She supposed it was possible, but a concussion should have worn off by now, and she had no signs of lasting injury so far as she could tell. "And where did you say you were from?"

"Snaska," she answered. When he didn't reply, she elaborated, "Moderately sized country. Dry, warm. Lots of corn in the past. Lots of poverty now. Been at war for a while with Abranesk?"

"I've… never heard of either." Morgan was pretty sure he didn't believe her, but he asked, "Could I… Would you be willing to allow me to read your mind briefly?"

"Uh…" There was probably a lot of stuff she shouldn't be letting just anyone see, but this was her first lead in all of Hoenn, so… "If you can, try to stay away from the more private… stuff? And just… don't stay too long."

Inver nodded, and closed his eyes, extending his hands toward her. Soon the world went dark for her as well, though she remained aware of her surroundings, and was fairly sure her eyes were open. She saw brief flashes of her journey thus far, in reverse. She saw Zuma's stream of Headbutts, Archie on the beach, Steven in the cave- and noticed this memory lingered a little longer than the others. As a sense of urgency built- hers or Inver's she couldn't tell- the slideshow moved on. Saving Peeko, saving Scardee, meeting Wally, meeting Sera.

Waking up in the back of a van.

A brief flash of Norman.

The floor below her shaking form, a feeling of both overwhelming relief and ear-ringing confusion.

A bright light?

A battlefield, Commander Ranik in front of her, Staugh at her side, and a lurching demonic creature towering before them; this she recognized, and as such she could identify the shock she felt in that moment was certainly Inver's.

A mess hall, Yato's inhuman visage across from her, her beloved pet Persy on the table between them stealing scraps from their plates.

A tower, cold yet homely, filled with too many stacks of books next to half-empty shelves, rarely returned where they belonged when she was done with them.

Her hands before her, one effortlessly producing a ball of light while the other rummaged through bottles of herbs and extracts.

Standing among several men and women clad in robes similar to her own, looking down at a platoon of armored soldiers below, then out at the sweeping landscape. Morgan identified the view as Snaska, but was surprised to realize she no longer felt so strongly about it as "home".

Morgan snapped back to reality now, finding Inver short of breath and beginning to sweat. "What.. What were those things?"

"Which ones?" It took a moment to click that he obviously meant all of them. "Or uh… Where should I start, I guess?"

Inver slowly shook his head. "It might be best not to get into it. Just.. they weren't Pokemon, were they?"

"No."

"I thought not.."

"You didn't see any more than I did between the battlefield and Norman, did you? Just… there, then here?" He nodded, and her gut turned. Why was that transition so quick? It didn't have the same skimming feeling that had been there between recent memories. Was that just because she didn't know what was supposed to be there, or…?

As he finally caught his breath, Inver said, "Here. Let's register each other in our Navs and I'm gonna… I can definitely feel a potential within you, even outside the memories, so I can't understand your lack of powers either, and I want to try to research this some on my own. If I find anything, I'll let you know."

Morgan nodded and thanked him, then went to do just that. "...That's weird, why is the screen-" It had been fine during her battle.

"Ah, sorry, here." Inver took her Nav a moment and fiddled with it until it returned to working order. "Sometimes psychic energy messes with technology a bit, and since we use it so much here it's pretty normal for things to get a little buggy."

"...Interesting," mused Morgan.

Inver chuckled. "You know I used to live in Kalos, and over there you basically can't use anything more high tech than an abacus within 30 yards of Olympia's Gym. Fortunately for trainers like you, Hoenn seems a little more conservative with things like that, so my little shop here is one of the worst offenders." Handing her Nav back, he said, "It should be fine now, though."

"Right. Thanks so much again."

"I just hope I'm able to find something," he said.

"Yeah… Me too."


To Morgan's surprise, she actually had managed to kill most of the day without realizing it. There wasn't too much else she'd seen of interest, though, so she could probably head out in the morning. If Sera really did end up spending as much time in Mauville as expected, this could be a pretty good chance for Morgan to get a bit of a lead.

As she walked down one of the corridor streets, her attention was loosely caught by the beep of a nearby elevator. From what she'd heard, visitors in town didn't tend to get to go to the resident levels, though, so Morgan had little reason to care too- Wait, speak of the devil. "Sera?"

The girl was caught up in conversation with a young man who looked perhaps Morgan's age, her hand casually hooked on his arm- at least until she heard her name, at which point she jumped a good two feet away from him. "Morgan!" she exclaimed. "I- Fancy bumping into you."

Somewhere between deadpan and amusement, Morgan looked between them. Oh.

"I uh… Th-this is Nikolai. He was a competitor a few years ago. He lived in Littleroot for a few months before starting his Game so we got to know each other, and after winning he decided to move here to Mauville, so I figured while I was in town…"

For all Sera's awkward energy, Nikolai seemed pretty disinterested in Morgan. Glancing her way briefly, he said simply, "Sup."

Maybe she could just ignore him? "You get your Badge?" she asked.

Sera grinned, shifting back into her usual ease at the subject change. "You mean between Tank's Mud Balls and Flash's Double Kick trick to get through Magneton's Sturdy? Yeah, I managed." She stuck out her tongue playfully.

...Annnd, despite her effort, Morgan found herself looking Nikolai over. He wasn't especially tall or short, was a little heavier than most people she'd seen in Hoenn but not particularly large, and neither his face nor his wardrobe was anything to write home about. Which was to say, he was entirely average, and this told her absolutely nothing about Sera's tastes. ...Which, of course, she was only interested in knowing to gauge whether Sera was trolling her or needed to be gently let down.

She supposed his shaggy white hair was interesting, though it didn't hold a candle to Steven's sterling silver. Though atop that hair… Morgan cracked a small smile. "Nice hat." It wasn't as floppy or distinctly shaped as hers, but a white beanie was still pretty close, right?

"Mm? Heh, you too."

"...That's not like. A Thing, right? For Game trainers to wear white hats?"

Sera tilted her head, then laughed lightly. "Not that I can recall. Though it's amusing that two of the competitors I know best both wear one all the time."

Oh hey, that was something; Morgan was pretty sure this was the first other competitor she'd met aside from Sera. Or rather, the first she'd met who was already done with their journey. "Hey uh. Do you mind if I borrow him?"

"Huh?" The sound came in near unison, though in different tones.

"Er, just.. Nikolai, would-"

"Nik's fine," he mumbled.

"...Kay. So Nik, would you mind maybe telling me a bit about how your journey went?"

"...Do I have to? You know you could, like, go look it up or whatever."

Morgan frowned. "I… guess. But it seems a lot easier to just ask you a few questions and get retrospective insight than pour through lots of footage and hope some of it's useful."

Nik rolled his eyes, but Sera smiled. "Aww, c'mon, Nik. Morgan's great. I'm sure she wouldn't bother you too long."

He sighed heavily. "Whatever. Let's go, kid." He motioned for her to join him on the elevator.

"Uh… Would you rather go somewhere pub-"

"No."

"...Okay."

"I guess I'll get going then, but thanks so much." Sera closed the gap between herself and Nik again and leaned up to kiss his cheek, while he pulled her in a one-armed hug and kissed her forehead. ...Morgan was kind of done trying to make sense of Sera's actions or motives at this point. The younger girl then smiled and waved to Morgan, and chimed, "See you, guys~"

As soon as the elevator reached the top floor, her Nav powered down. Nik said since this was a strictly residential area owned by the League, the area was blacked out to offer privacy to those living there, making it a popular place to live for celebrities and even some League officials.

Contrasting that description, though, his own apartment was small and an absolute mess, and the array of smells was- not unbearable, but not pleasant either. "...Y-you know, if money's an issue I could pay for dinner or something."

Without missing a beat he snarked, "You seem nice and all, but I'm afraid I'm just not looking for a relationship right now."

Something in his glance her way suggested he was waiting for a laugh- or maybe just a reaction in general- but Morgan just replied flatly, "Not like that."

Frowning, he muttered, "You're no fun." Sighing, he flopped down on his couch. "But no. It's too late."

"I'm… pretty sure there are quite a few places open for another few-"

"I mean," he snipped back, "I don't like being out this late." When she didn't respond, he added, "The streets are too empty," as if that cleared anything up.

"...Right. So uh… Sera said you beat your challenge, right?" He nodded. "And what'd you get for it?"

"You're looking at it." Even as she started to react, he tacked on, "I know, okay? If you want better, you can move your happy ass to Fortree or Dewford or bumfuck nowhere. I had to live in Mauville, so this was the best I could get. But it's quiet and safe and no one bothers me anymore." Glancing away, he muttered, "Most days…"

"Huh." She wondered about that 'had to', but a better question came to mind. "I've heard Mauville is kind of overcrowded since they had to cancel… New Mauville, was it? Do you know anything about that? I tried looking into it a bit at lunch earlier but there don't seem to be many details available online."

He frowned. "Only what I've heard. A lot of in-fighting in the company, disagreements on progress versus preservation, and a lot of people put out of jobs when it went under. But that was… what, ten or eleven years ago since it completely stopped? I'd never even heard of Hoenn back then."

Her attention piqued. "So you're an outsider too?" He affirmed, and she asked, "How did you get here?"

"To be honest? I can't remember for the life of me. It felt like one minute I was reviewin' some boring-ass forms and the next I was being handed a Torchic and learning what Pokemon were."

That was… She imagined pressing the parallels would yield no results, so she asked, "But you decided to stay here?"

"...Honestly…" He looked around, despite having told her himself it was a blackout zone. "This might sound ridiculous, but I'm… not sure if you can go back. Very few people here have heard of my homeland, and the information online is… well, limited, like you've seen. So I can't find any sort of world map or anything, and they're… I didn't push my luck when it came time to claim a reward, but they struck me as very strongly encouraging players to stay in Hoenn." He sighed. "But I guess I'm okay. There are only like two people I miss back home anyway, and it got me out of a shitty job."

"I… see, sort of." Today was proving filled with all sorts of revelations. "Why Mauville, anyway?" She may as well.

"Because fuck you, that's why." At her bewildered expression, he flinched slightly and added. "Sorry, habit. The truth is, it's…" Quietly, he mumbled, "Indoors…"

"Huh?" Noting his white hair again, she asked, "Oh, can you not be out in the sun or-"

He cringed. "No that's not… Not that I don't also burn like crazy but it's… I can't… I can't go out there."

"Out… where?"

"There. Anywhere. Outside. I've seen the fucked up horrors lurking out there, I paid my time, and I can't do it again." He raised his knees to his chest, balled up, looking away. As he did, a pile that Morgan his mistaken all this time for clothing suddenly perked up and unfurled, revealing a creature that seemed to be spliced between a mongoose and a half a dozen scarves. The creature wriggled her way under his arms, and he adjusted to scoop her up and latch on tight. "Good girl, Jas," he murmured into her fur.

"At… least you have your Pokemon?" Morgan attempted to offer.

"She's all I have," he snapped. "She's all… she's the only one who… My Combusken, Manectric, Linoone… My little Eevee I never got to evolve. My Smoochum, my little girl… This Mienshao- my precious Jasna, my perfect partner..." He buried his face deeper against her, muffling: "She's the only one who made it. I am never-" He lifted his head enough to speak clearly again. "I can't go back out there."

"I…" didn't know what to say. She did wonder if he'd ever Revived any of them, but that clearly wouldn't be a very sensitive question to ask now.

"Keeping her safe is… It's the only thing that's made any of this... They'll push you, kid. They'll break you. And when it's all done and the smoke clears, they'll treat you like a hero, for about a week. Then everyone moves on to the new idol of the month, the next big star. And all you can do is pray that whatever you got was worth it. They had their fun and tossed us away, but if… If I can keep this roof over our heads, keep us fed, keep us safe…"

"...I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "Hey. Do me a favor though? Don't… don't tell Sera about any of this…"

"Uh…" This kind of seemed like exactly the sort of thing she should already know, and should definitely be made aware of if she didn't?

"She thinks I'm doing fine, and she doesn't-... She doesn't understand how these Games really work. And… bless her stars, she just might be strong enough to make it out okay. If she can play out her little fantasy without bursting the bubble she lives in, I want her to have the chance to do it. And if not, then… Well she's connected. Unlike most of us, they'll take care of her when it's over. So just… Please don't break her if you don't have to." Morgan bit her lip, but finally nodded. "Thanks, kid."

Okay but she had to. "How old are you, anyway?"

"...Twenty-one," he answered.

Oh wow, she didn't expect to be quite that spot-on. "We are literally the same age, apparently, so please don't call me kid."

He sniffed something that would have been a laugh if it didn't sound so dismissive, even borderline disgusted. "Come back in six months, kid, and I guarantee you you'll have aged ten years."

"I-... Okay, I guess."

Readjusting Jasna in his arms, he allowed himself to fall over into a laying position, and without looking to Morgan, he said, "I think I'm done. Sorry if you didn't get everything you wanted. Just lock the door on your way out."

"Oh…" She tried to think of anything else to say, and came up with an eloquent "...Kay." As she checked the lock, she looked back from the door and offered, "Sorry. Again?"

Nik still didn't look her way, but mustered just enough energy to flip her off.