Wanderer

by Renaerys

Disgraced and ashamed, Alain drifts in self-imposed exile in the wake of a personal failure. But not all those who wander are lost, and those who listen may find something they never knew they were searching for. [Realistic Pokemon AU, post-Mega Evolution Specials]

4. Chapter 4

Wanderer
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon

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Spring in Vaniville Town was its best season, as far as Serena was concerned. She could have stayed outside for days and nights on end, and sometimes she did. The forest was as it had been when she was a child, and as she had all those years ago, Serena would often run headlong into its verdant depths, swathed in curtains of vines and leaves, the trees thick as though they were huddled for warmth, but she knew her way around them. The forest stretched for miles and miles until it hit the base of the White Mountains to the east, which marked the way far to the north to frigid Snowbelle. Serena had never been, but she'd been as far as the mountains and back.

But no matter how many times she ventured into the forest, no matter where she traversed, how long she stayed out, she could never find that clearing by the stream again. She could never find the weird tree—Xerneas, Sycamore had called it. With her childhood naïveté, even the memory of her midnight flight had faded to mist at the edges of her imagination. The first time she couldn't find it, that first night back after a six-month stay at Sycamore's lab in Lumiose City, she'd chalked it up to bad luck. The forest was a big place, and she was only eleven at the time. The Poochyena never showed themselves again, not with Rhyhorn lumbering along beside Serena as she explored that first night back, sneaking out like she had the very first time.

She couldn't find it the second time she tried, either, or the third time, or the fourth. Until finally she realized that it wouldn't matter how meticulously she combed the forest, or how hard she wished. Xerneas was not coming back, not for her and not for anything. It had saved her life—saved, because even now she didn't want to entertain the truth of what it had really done to her and even Sycamore never brought it up once he'd gotten the story out of her, and Serena never wanted to see that look in his eyes ever again directed at her, like he regretted it all, her and his research and her entire existence—and then it was just gone. It was gone, and Serena was still here. The last Magus. All she'd ever wanted to do if she found it again was ask why.

Why do I have to be all alone?

But that was a stupid question, and as she grew older, Serena proved to herself and to the people around her that she was anything but stupid. Her eleven-year-old self would have been proud of her, and maybe she would have pitied her. Don't you remember? You don't mind being alone.

"It's okay to be different."

The years passed, and the trips between Vaniville and Lumiose became so ubiquitous that Serena could have made the trips alone with her eyes closed, but Grace always accompanied her to Lumiose for her stay—sometimes just a couple weeks, sometimes months on end, it depended on Sycamore's research progress. The lab became a second home for Serena, a sanctuary in the heart of a bustling city full of people she didn't know and would never know, the cobblestone and asphalt, the storm drains that collected rainwater and sewage and even some unsavory Poison-type Pokémon—Serena had learned early on to avoid those at all costs. They were the antithesis of Fairies and all they represented. Spawned from darkness, but Serena was not so afraid of the dark—even shadows had heartstrings she could follow back to the light. But poison was the corruption of life, living rot that infected and infested. Calem, of course, thought she was being ridiculous. They were just Pokémon like any others, and poison was no big deal if you had an Antidote.

Yeah maybe to a steel-nerved Adamantine, she'd chide him. Calem had a natural resistance to poisons. She knew this about him because she'd been there when he took a Poison Sting gone awry in her stead. They were sixteen at the time and Serena had wanted to get out of the lab for once, walk around the city. Sycamore always kept her so busy now that she was older, and it was rare that she had an afternoon free. Calem accompanied her, happy to oblige, but of course insisted on strapping Doublade to his back.

"What? She's resting, so she can't float on her own," he'd said like a sentient pair of swords would have appeared any less conspicuous.

Whatever, it was fine, but it was unlikely he'd be let into any of the shops if Serena decided she wanted to go try on a new hat. That was okay, he hated shopping, anyway, so he'd rather wait outside and be surprised by whatever new accessory she chose for herself.

It had been raining that day, and the heady musk of the sewers and asphalt runoff was redolent in the damp air. Serena and Calem had been taking a shortcut down an alley when they accidentally disturbed a small family of Croagunk that had wandered into the city's outskirts from Route Sixteen in search of food. It happened fast. The Croagunk were spooked by the unexpected presence of people and Doublade's baleful aura, and the largest of the group fired off a Poison Sting to give its younger kin time to flee. Calem had moved fast, and Doublade was faster. Roused from its dormant state when it sensed the Croagunk, the twin swords flew out of their sheaths strapped to Calem's back and into his reaching hands. The glob of hurled poison splashed against their crossed blades, held together in Calem's hands, and spritzed Calem's cheeks and chest. The Croagunk hopped away to safety, and Doublade pulled Calem forward, but he held back the sentient swords by the purple ribbons around their hilts. The poison dripped from Doublade and down Calem's cheeks, and Serena remembered panicking because the Pokémon Center was on the other side of town and Sycamore's lab was a good twenty minutes of walking away.

The rain washed the poison down Calem's cheeks, smoking in its wake and singing his skin pink, but it washed away with the water and he smiled at her. They were both soaked from the rain, he and Doublade were splotched with poison, and he had the nerve to smile. And before her eyes, the boiling purple heartstrings that coiled around the globules of poison twitched and dissipated, as though denied whatever sustained them the moment they hit Calem's skin. The steely platinum of his natural heartstrings and Doublade's, infinitely intertwined, soon smothered the poison's miasma, obliterating it completely.

"Hey, you okay?"he'd asked as she watched it all happen, two oversized swords in each hand winking up at Serena with their ghastly jewel eyes.

Yes, she was okay and by the way, that was her line, she'd wanted to say, but what was the point? The poison had done little more than blister Calem's skin, and the rash would heal.

"It's okay to be different."

That day, that very moment in the rain with Calem in a dingy alley guarded by a set of swords possessed by the spirit of an ancient warrior was the first time Serena really appreciated Alain's secret promise to her as a child. If Calem wasn't different, he'd be dead.

And now, twenty-three and seated in the walled backyard garden she and Grace had cultivated over the years in Vaniville Town as she gazed at the forest over the ivy-covered wall and wondered about Xerneas, Serena leaned back on her hands and let out a long-held breath.

If she wasn't different, she would have remained dead in the forest all those years ago.

The sun was bright this afternoon, not a cloud in the blue sky. Serena removed her soiled gardening gloves and pulled her long, honey hair into a ponytail to get it off her neck. This far south, even early spring was warm enough for lounging. She wore a red and black checkered flannel button up, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, over a white T-shirt smudged with soil and grass stains and cotton pants cut off at the knee. Her gardening sneakers lay untouched next to the sliding glass door to the backyard, and she was barefoot in the grass. Grace was inside fixing a late lunch for them, and Serena enjoyed the quiet solitude she never experienced in Lumiose.

Something clinked softly near her ear, as delicate as a wind chime. Serena smiled and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Shhh, Klefki, you don't want to scare them. They're just babies."

Klefki, no bigger than Serena's cupped hands, hovered in the air. An odd Pokémon that went unnoticed by most people who weren't actively looking for it, Klefki was a Fairy with an eye for shiny things it could pick up with its slender, steel-plated appendages that it held clasped together like a key ring, anything from marbles to coins to jewelry. It would find and hoard anything shiny that it could lift, which was more than twenty times its weight thanks to its hardy Steel affinity. Its favorite collectible by far was keys. This Klefki currently toted around three keys it had pilfered over the years.

One was a brass skeleton key it had stolen from the hidden compartment of a jewelry box that had belonged to Grace and surfaced during a spring-cleaning two years ago. Grace couldn't remember what the key was for and allowed Klefki to keep the trinket. Another was a simple, silver key you might find on anyone's key chain. There was nothing special about it, but Calem had shown up with Klefki at Sycamore's lab after his turn with the Pokémon he and Serena shared and said Klefki just wouldn't let this key go. He didn't even know where it had found the key or what it unlocked. The last key was not really a key at all, but a shiny USB drive on a silver chain that Klefki had burgled from Sycamore's lab. Sycamore had assured Serena that there was nothing important on it, it was just one of the thousands like it in the lab used to store data, but Klefki was so taken with the little trinket that it would not let it go.

It was these three keys that clinked softly together now as Klefki hovered next to Serena, its red jewel-like heart pulsing with soft, pink heartstrings amidst a ring of silvery ones encompassing it, as though its Steel frame existed to protect its Fairy heart. Klefki's beady, dark eyes and tiny mouth were rounded in little O's as it did what Serena said and tried to keep quiet.

Satisfied that Klefki would try not to make a racket, Serena reached over the flowers in the bed at her feet—red tulips and yellow daffodils and blue violets. She extended her fingers to the white calla lilies behind them, tall and fleshy, like chalices from which mythical forest nymphs might drink nectar or wine.

"It's okay, you can come out," Serena whispered.

From the center of one of the calla lilies, a small, white creature wrapped its small hands around the yellow pistil and poked its bulbous head around. Its head was smudged with yellow pollen, like a crown, and its dark eyes bore into Serena's outstretched fingers. White, wispy ears twitched as it listened for any signs of danger, and its little body tapered to a dark green ribbon that wrapped around the lily's pistil, anchoring it to the flower. It was about half Klefki's size and, like its fellow Fairy, noticeable only to those who knew where to look, to those who listened.

"Hi, Flabébé," Serena said, smiling.

Klefki jingled and floated closer to Flabébé, curious, and Flabébé huddled a little deeper into the flower. Serena ran her fingers over the lily's curling petals, drawing Flabébé's attention again.

"You're getting bigger every day."

Flabébé yawned, its pink heartstrings swirling lazily around it and weaving around the calla lily's petals and down its stem. One day, when it evolved into Floette, it would pick this flower that had sustained it since birth and share its life force with it, until finally merging with it as a Florges. This Flabébé, and the others, too.

Serena looked down at the blue and yellow and red flowers, and a small brood of tiny Flabébé peeked out from the petals of their flower homes. Klefki grew very excited and jingled its keys, spooking some of the smaller Fairies. Serena smiled.

Grace had suggested building this enclosed garden years ago. Perhaps it was an attempt to keep Serena from running off into the woods all the time. Maybe if she could bring the beauty and tranquility of nature home, her nemophelist daughter would spend more time at home. Serena had not been interested in the idea at first, but Grace quietly proceeded with it anyway. One day, Serena woke up and there was a stone wall around the backyard and a picket fence gate leading to the sidewalk. And Grace was hunched over in ratty jeans and a sweat-stained yellow shirt, a scarf tied up in her short, auburn hair and a trawl in her hand as she laid out fresh soil and planted a multitude of flowers and herbs. From the look of her, she'd been at it for hours under the hot summer sun. That was nearly ten years ago, and now Serena had made the garden her mother had built with her own two hands her very own oasis, a place where she could listen. It was as close to the feeling of being in that clearing under the weird tree as Serena was ever going to get. There were no words she could muster to properly thank her mother for this, and maybe she didn't need any. Grace would never understand, but she did her best.

Klefki's keys chimed as it hovered lower over the hiding Flabébé, and Serena held out a hand for it. "Let's let them sleep, okay?"

Movement behind her, then a rustle in the grass followed by a soft mewling. Serena twisted her upper body around, still sitting, and something soft rubbed up against her. The creamy feline twitched its long coral ears, swishing the long ribbons of fur extending from its mane, and meowed again. Serena petted the Pokémon's back, marveling at its softness and the little spark of energy that danced under her fingers when they made contact.

"Did we wake you, lazy bum?"

Sylveon yawned and stretched out its front paws, lowering its entire front half low over the grass, and exposed deadly sharp nails that dug into the earth. Klefki chimed just above it, but Sylveon ignored the smaller Fairy. It had never much gotten along with Klefki or any of Serena's Pokémon, for that matter. Except Rhydon. Something about that rocky rhino that was more than twice Serena's size was okay in Sylveon's book. But Rhydon was in its Pokéball for now, too big to roam around the garden. Later, Serena would let Rhydon out to hunt for its dinner in the woods, and Sylveon would likely join it. They were an odd pair, to be sure.

Sylveon meowed again and rubbed against Serena's shoulder, so she decided to indulge it. Turning around, Serena raked her nails through Sylveon's cream and coral fur, just enough force to give it a good scratch, and earned herself an immediate and mellifluous purr. Sylveon rolled over on the ground onto its back, paws up and bent at the wrist, and enjoyed a belly rub like a common house Skitty. Serena laughed.

"Oh, I see how it is. You just decided it was convenient to get a free belly rub, hm?"

Sylveon purred and batted her wrist lightly with its back paws. Serena had received Sylveon when it was still an Eevee as a gift from Sycamore. She was fourteen at the time and overjoyed at the prospect of having another small Pokémon for Swablu to play with. Rhyhorn was a big sweetheart, but it was more likely to accidentally Stomp on Swablu than run around playing with it. And Rhyhorn didn't play well, anyway. Even less so now as a Rhydon, now that it was bigger, smarter, and possessed a proclivity for violence and blood that its pre evolution did not. Aside from being a heartfelt gift from the man who, in many ways, had become something of a father figure in Serena's life, it was also another small experiment.

Eevee's line, it was long suspected by Pokémon researchers, would only evolve under specific circumstances. In the wild, Eevee tended to evolve based on its surroundings, be they flora or fauna or mineral, over the course of many years. With trainers, however, Eevee would never evolve unless it was under the care of a Tamer with a compatible affinity. Thus, an Eevee belonging to a Reaper would evolve into Umbreon with enough care, and one belonging to a Crystallos would eventually evolve into Glaceon under similar conditions.

Sylveon, the Fairy Pokémon, was the rarest Eevee evolution of all since the Magi had died out some hundreds of years ago. Few had ever been spotted in the wild, their natural aversion to humans making it difficult to capture and study them. Serena's Eevee, as Sycamore had hypothesized, evolved into Sylveon after four years in her care and provided a long-awaited living specimen for him to observe.

The day Sylveon had emerged from its Pokéball after weeks in the transformative process, Sycamore had fainted outright. Here was concrete evidence in support of not only David Elm's—the leading mind in Pokémon evolution—theories, but also Sycamore's own research around Fairies and their Magi counterparts. Poor Dexio, Sycamore's personal assistant since Serena had first arrived at the lab, had to carry his boss to a couch and fan him until he came to.

Serena picked a long blade of grass and tickled Sylveon's nose. The feline's misty blue eyes widened and it batted the makeshift lure with its paws, instantly absorbed in the game. Serena's eyes followed the flow of pink heartstrings that extended from Sylveon's middle and curled around the blade of grass, up Serena's arm, and mingled with her own. Chirping from the house drew Serena's attention then, and Klefki jingled excitedly.

"Serena, I've got lunch. Are you hungry?" Grace said from the doorway.

Fletchling chirped again from Grace's shoulder.

"Sure, Mom. I'll be right in."

She got up, and Sylveon rolled over to stand. By now, the Flabébé had all retreated into their flowers, completely hidden. Maybe one day, when one of them evolved into Floette, Serena would tell Grace about them. They'd shown up one day out of the blue, hatched from eggs that had drifted on last fall's breeze to settle on the flowers, as though driven by an innate sense of direction.

Serena gazed briefly at the stone brick wall that boxed in the ample garden and backyard. It was taller than she was, though not quite as tall as Rhydon, and it gave Serena the privacy and quiet she craved whenever she was back here with her Pokémon. The old oak tree she'd used during her clandestine escape as a child sat in the corner, its branches extending over the top of the wall. This wall doubled as a perfect deterrent to the neighbors' wandering gazes. Some trainers and Tamers had Fairies in their teams, it was nothing particularly odd. But no one had a Sylveon, or a garden full of Flabébé, or a mysterious migratory lifestyle that put them constantly between Lumiose and Vaniville, often for months at a time, for reasons unknown. Grace never said a word and Serena never asked, but it was a compromise they could both live with. The fewer the people who knew about Serena, the better.

Serena scooped up her gardening gloves and headed inside after Grace. The table was set for two—grilled cheese sandwiches, a large bowl of fruit, two glasses of water. Sylveon trotted to the plush couch in the living room just to the left of the kitchen table and curled up. Fletchling eyed it warily, naturally averse to such a predator, but Sylveon never so much as glanced in Flethling's direction. It had once, and Serena quickly made it clear that the little bird was off limits.

Klefki floated beside Serena as she took a seat opposite her mom at the table and leaned in close to the grilled cheese, smelling it. Grace eyed the odd Pokémon. It wasn't hostile or vicious, but Grace was always a little off around Serena's Fairies. Some fancy psychologists might say she suffered from some kind of complex, perhaps the latent guilt over her own daughter successfully evading her detection and all search efforts for five weeks, or maybe the fact that her daughter was more now, and more doesn't always mean better, and that's not Grace's fault, the shrink would reassure her, and she's doing a hell of a job all things considered.

Serena took a bite of her sandwich, which was hot but not too hot and loaded with plenty of cheddar and Gruyere and Jarlsberg, just like she liked it. "This tastes great, Mom."

"I'm glad, sweetie." Grace eyed Klefki's jingling keys as she reached for the fruit bowl in the center of the table and served herself.

"Don't worry about Klefki," Serena said, noticing her mother's look. "He'll find his own food later."

Serena served herself some fruit once Grace was done with the bowl and ate. The silence between them was not uncomfortable, but it was noticeable.

"It's been nice to have you back here," Grace said, taking a sip of her water. "You were gone three months that last time."

Serena nodded. "Yeah, Professor Sycamore's been studying Mega Evolution a lot recently."

"What's that?"

"It's like a kind of evolution beyond the regular evolution."

"Well, what's it got to do with you?"

Serena shrugged and took another bite of her food. "It's not really about me specifically, but he's trying to figure out what it is that makes Tamers able to Mega Evolve Pokémon when plebs can't."

Grace frosted over. "I see."

Serena bit her tongue, feeling a little guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean... You asked, and that's what he's researching, so..."

Grace studied her only daughter. "Serena, do you like staying in Lumiose at the lab?"

"...I don't mind it. And Professor Sycamore's great. He's really brilliant. You... You should really come and stay for a few days next time, see what they do there. It's so much more than you could probably even imagine."

Grace was silent for a few minutes. "I'm glad you get along with Augustine." She used Sycamore's first name. "I know he's a good man."

The air between them changed all of a sudden, as it was wont to do in times like this. Grace's pale heartstrings, faint and sluggish like those of all plebs, throbbed in time with her racing heart.

"I do get along with him, Mom," Serena said. "He's the closest thing I've had to a father."

Grace smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Then I'm glad. He's helped you a lot, I can see that. Are you done, sweetie? I'll clean up."

She stood up to take their empty plates, and Serena stood up with her. She grabbed her plate just as Grace reached for it. "I'll listen," she said softly. "Mom, whatever you don't wanna say, I'll listen."

Grace held her daughter's gaze, the same sky blue, Serena's favorite color. "Let me take that to the kitchen to wash, okay?"

Serena let her take the plate and watched her head to the kitchen to start the dishes. Klefki chimed softly, its beady eyes upturned in wonder and its jewel heart pulsing faintly. A wave of concern washed through Serena, and she held out a hand for the little Pokémon. Klefki's keys jingled. Grace was busy with the dishes when Serena followed her into the kitchen.

"I don't blame you," she said.

Grace scrubbed a plate with the sponge and didn't look at Serena.

"He left us both. You're not the one I blame."

Grace stopped and dropped her sponge. When she turned to look at Serena, her eyes were misty with unshed tears. Serena reached in front of her mother and shut off the water.

"Oh sweetie," Grace said, her voice cracking. "It's not your fault. It had nothing to do with you. Your father didn't leave you, he left me."

Serena shook her head. "No, you're wrong. He left, and you stayed. And I know... I know you did your best."

Grace searched her daughter's face. "Serena..."

It was okay to be different. Her father, a stranger she had not seen since she was barely old enough to remember him, had disappeared without a trace. He wasn't here to make Serena grilled cheese sandwiches, or to build a lavish garden he didn't need simply because his daughter might like it, or to know when it was time to stop asking about racing Rhyhorn and let his daughter follow a different path no matter the reason. He wasn't here to see how things had changed, to realize he didn't understand it, that he'd never asked for this and probably didn't want it but Grace was doing her best anyway because Grace always did her best in races and washing the dishes and struggling to raise her Magus daughter as a single mother, and that made all the difference in a world that would never be perfect, anyway. There is no truer test of bravery than to face the unknown and embrace it wholeheartedly. Grace Gabena, for all her faults and shortcomings and the mistakes she would surely make in the future as all parents are prone to make, was the bravest person Serena had ever known. That was enough.

"It's enough," Serena said. "Everything... It's enough."

Klefki clinked its keys, perplexed, and Grace blinked at it. Serena put her hand on her shoulder and spared her a small smile.

"Thank you for lunch."

Grace slowly laid her damp hand over Serena's and nodded. "You're welcome."

Serena smiled and excused herself to shower and change. Half an hour later, she stood in front of the full-length mirror hanging over her closet door and examined herself. She wore a high-waisted red pleated skirt, sleeveless black blouse, black tights, and a matching red hat over her loose, long hair. It wasn't her favorite color, but she'd always liked red.

Alain's heartstrings had been red, the only red ones she'd ever seen on a person. He was a Titan, Sycamore had told her, a Dragon Tamer. But she hadn't seen Alain in years. He used to be at the lab in Lumiose all the time when she was a kid, but as the years went by, Sycamore sent him into the field more and more—a Titan could be trusted to watch his back more than the average pleb—and she would often miss him entirely when she visited the lab. Then, almost four years ago, Sycamore told her that Alain had decided to leave his employ for new ventures, but he couldn't give her any details. Alain had just decided to move on, and that was that.

Serena wasn't stupid. Now that she was older, she knew what it meant for Alain to be a Titan on his own and the significance of Sycamore overlooking all that and taking him in. Alain had always seemed a little sad to her, even when he was smiling in that way that still made her stomach flip even after all these years. He was the brother she'd never had, the one she wished she still had close by, the one she missed every day no matter how much time passed. Was he okay? Had he found a new calling? Had he ever settled things with his family? All questions she couldn't answer, and that he was no longer around to answer now that she was old enough to ask.

Sighing, Serena grabbed a pair of white-framed sunglasses from her dresser and fitted them over the brim of her hat, smiling at her reflection. Klefki jingled happily, and Sylveon ignored the scene completely from its spot on Serena's bed, napping. Serena glanced at the wall clock.

"It's getting late. He should be back soon. Wanna go meet him?"

Klefki positively vibrated with happiness, and Serena giggled.

"Sylveon, come on, boy. I bet you're getting hungry."

She headed downstairs, listening for Sylveon as it stretched and hopped off the bed to follow her down. At the front door, Serena grabbed a pair of black boots and laced them up.

"I'm heading out for a bit," she called to Grace in the living room, who was reading a newspaper.

"Okay, sweetie. Just remember to stick to the side roads in you're taking Sylveon, okay?"

"I will, Mom."

The side roads would be all but deserted at this time of day, and Sylveon would not be spotted by the neighbors. Even if it was, everyone in Vaniville was a pleb. The families had lived here for generations and rarely got visitors or outsiders. Grace and her daughter were the rare exception, but the town had been happy to receive a famous Rhyhorn racer, and the Gabenas never caused problems or interfered with local politics. The only topic of gossip was the daughter's frequent trips to Lumiose, where she would stay sometimes for months at a time, but the locals assumed it had something to do with Grace's racing career, never mind that she was retired now and only raced for charity events every so often.

Serena closed the door behind her and led Sylveon and Klefki down the walkway toward the edge of the woods. After looking around for any sign of onlookers—there were no human heartstrings glowing anywhere in the vicinity save for Grace's—she tossed out a Pokéball.

Rhydon appeared in a flash of light, big and mean and heavy. It was a fearsome Pokémon regarded as highly dangerous and volatile in the wild, and only skilled trainers ever dared to tame it. But Rhydon had been with Serena for twelve years now, having evolved from a stout Rhyhorn and remained at her side all this time. At nearly ten feet tall, Rhydon was young and still growing. Serena knew from her studies that Rhydon lived upwards of 150 years and could reach heights of thirteen to seventeen feet, depending on gender and diet and habitat.

Rhydon lowered its craggy head and showed Serena its horn, a wicked shale and keratin spear as long as her forearm capable of spinning fast and strong enough to Horn Drill through even Blastoise shell and Onix hide with age and proper training. Right now, Rhydon's horn would be used to hunt for its dinner.

Serena reached for the towering rhino and patted its snout. "Hello, Rhydon. I bet you're pretty hungry, huh?"

Rhydon grumbled, and Sylveon leaped up its shale scale back to perch on its shoulder. Serena looked between them, forever amazed at how well they got along. Sylveon swished its coral tail, tickling Rhydon's ear.

"Okay guys, I'll see you later tonight."

Rhydon swished its massive tail and lumbered toward the forest. Each step it took dented the grassy earth, but the neighbors knew she had a Rhydon. Funny how it was more acceptable for them to know about this beast that could single-handedly plow through Vaniville and kill everyone in it without breaking a sweat than the twenty-pound feline perched on its shoulder. But Grace's paranoia was not without merit. Magi were supposed to be extinct. If word of Serena's true nature were ever to get out to the wrong people, she could spend the rest of her life in a lab somewhere being operated on and dissected until there was nothing left of her.

She thought of Alain again. The sun was low on the horizon now, prime hunting time for the predators in the forest, but they would turn tail and run when they got a whiff of Rhydon and Sylveon. Somehow, Alain had set off by himself despite the stigma and baggage that followed him as a Titan. She wanted to understand, to think that she of all people could relate. One of a kind and all alone. They were the same, weren't they? But he was gone and she was still here, and she had no idea when or if she would ever see him again.

Klefki jingled all of a sudden. Something had caught its attention and it floated west in the direction of Vaniville proper, but Serena's eyes were skyward as she searched for the shadow she was sure she'd seen in the corner of her eye.

"Serena!"

That familiar voice lifted Klefki's spirits to new heights, and it zoomed away from Serena to the newcomer. The shadow Serena thought she'd seen swooped low over the horizon and was gaining speed as it neared. She grinned.

"Hey, I didn't think I'd find you out here!"

Calem jogged toward Serena, his travel pack still over his shoulder—he hadn't even stopped at her house, instead coming straight here to look for her. A massive sword half as long as he was tall was strapped to his back, along with a robust, golden shield over it. Serena turned and smiled brightly at him.

"Calem!"

Dressed in black pants, boots, and a blue and white jacket with his dark bangs in his eyes and panting a little from the exertion of clearly having jogged all the way here from the outskirts just to see her, Calem was prettily flushed. Klefki nearly bumped his chest as it hastily floated toward him, clinking and clanging. Calem grinned at the little Pokémon, happy to see it after the long stint apart.

The wind picked up, and Serena turned her gaze skyward. The shadow was nearly upon them, and it brought with it a fierce gale as its powerful wings brought it in for a smooth landing.

"Whoa!" Calem shielded his face from the gust and grabbed poor Klefki before it could be blown away.

An eight-foot Flyer touched down behind Serena, its downy white wings twice as long as it was tall and spread magnificently. Its cerulean belly was puffed out, the feathers recently cleaned after whatever kill it had made on its long hunt, and its tapering blue tail feathers dusted the ground behind it. A sharp, straight beak bore flecks of dried blood from its meal earlier, perhaps an unsuspecting Grotle or Audino. Great, white wings, at one time ungainly and burdensome for its small body but now the heart and soul that lifted it into the sky like any true Dragon, folded and gathered around Serena as it lowered its head to her eye level.

"Welcome back, Altaria," Serena said, petting its head.

"Yeah, way to steal my thunder," Calem said.

Serena laughed, and after a few moments, Calem couldn't help but laugh with her.

---

"Serena!"

Calem ran to her and scooped her up in a hug, twirling her around. She laughed and hugged him back.

"I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow," Serena said when he put her down.

She was a few inches shorter than him even with the hat.

"Yeah, surprise! I missed you, you know, so I thought I'd leave early. Uh, is that okay? I mean, your mom and all..."

"Of course it's okay."

Klefki hovered in between them, and Serena unclipped a Pokéball from her hip. She handed it to Calem.

"Here you go. I know Klefki's excited to spend time with you after so long here with me."

Calem accepted the Pokéball and wagged it in front of Klefki. "Aw, did you miss me, little guy? Well don't worry, now you and me can have some fun while Serena's cooped up in the lab."

Klefki jingled its keys happily.

"Oh, that reminds me. Look what I found in the grass on my way here." Calem fished around in his pocket and produced a small, black metal key. It had an intricate bow reminiscent of a knot, and the triple bit was weathered and smoothed. "I'm guessing it was outside lost for a long time since it got all decayed. But check it out, three bits. I've never seen one like that, you?"

Serena shook her head. Klefki flitted around the key, inspecting it and squeaking hurriedly.

"So what do you think?" Calem said. "Better than that thumb drive you like so much?"

Klefki unhooked its feeler arms and reached for the odd key. It looped its little arm around the bow, careful not to drop its other trinkets, and lifted the key out of Calem's palm. It was heavier than Klefki's other keys, but the Steel Fairy lifted it easily and secured it in its key ring arms.

"I tried giving Klefki some old keys I found in my room, but he didn't like any of them," Serena said. "How do you always know what he likes?"

Calem shrugged. "I'm gifted like that."

Serena crossed her arms, and he laughed.

"Kidding, kidding. I dunno, maybe I was a Klefki in a past life. Who knows?"

Altaria folded its wings and balanced on its long talons. The middle toes on each of its featherless feet had nails so long and curved that they couldn't sit flat on the ground. Altaria clicked its talons on the sidewalk and tilted its sleek head. Serena petted the crest on its forehead, her eyes staring at the air around Altaria.

"You're looking at them right now, right? Those heartstrings?" Calem said.

Serena nodded. "Altaria's are red, like Alain's used to be."

Calem made a face at the mention of Alain. "Yeah, he's been gone for years."

"I know we'll see him again, someday."

Calem shared a look with Klefki, but the Keychain Pokémon was too happy swinging around its new key to pick up on his mood.

"Well, even if we don't, it's no big deal. You know what they say about Titans and all. After what happened with Champion Lance over in Kanto I'm not super eager to meet another one."

Serena frowned. "Alain's not like that. Don't you remember him at all?"

You bet I remember.

The guy was nice enough, always a hard worker according to Calem's mother, who had worked in Sycamore's lab alongside him. But he was a Titan, and Calem's father had warned his young son to steer clear of Alain because of it. Titans were all out for themselves, especially the ones that were on their own. You couldn't trust them. Not even their own kind trusted them—why else would they be out on their own when Titans were notoriously clan-oriented?

Serena had always gotten along with Alain since they were kids, though, so Calem put up with his presence when he had to, which wasn't often. Alain was busy, and Calem had school during the days when Serena would be busy working with Sycamore. If Calem and Alain ever crossed paths, it was with Serena between them. Looking back on it, maybe Alain had planned it on purpose to leave Serena and Calem be, let her hang around a kid her own age while he had work to do. If so, then good for him, because that's exactly how things should be, if you asked Calem.

But Alain had left one day, quit Sycamore's employ despite all the years of loyalty Sycamore had shown him. The good professor had taken him in when no one else would. Now that he was older, Calem knew the significance of such an act of faith on Sycamore's part, and he suspected Alain had known it all along, too. Maybe that also explained why he kept his distance whenever Calem was with Serena. Better that she grow up with someone more like her, a kid whose greatest worries were bickering with parents or how late he could stay up at night. Not a guy who'd run from his family, who'd lived in shame and secrecy for most of his adolescence on the back of a man whose heart was too big to turn Alain away. No, Serena didn't need to get mixed up with that kind of baggage. Guys like Alain, who dragged troubled behind them like bums toted body odor, tended to get the trusting types like Sycamore and Serena killed.

It was better that he was gone, for everyone. Maybe Serena had gotten along with him, but she was also shipped off to a lab to be tested and studied by an overwhelmed, overstressed parent at the tender age of eleven with no friends and no family and nothing familiar around her. If Calem had been in her shoes, maybe he would've latched onto the first person like him that he met, too.

"I remember that he left without so much as a goodbye to you four years ago. And I remember I found you crying when you found out he wasn't coming back at all this time."

Serena traced the air just next to Altaria's head with her fingers. Calem tried to imagine red ribbons dancing in the wind, just like she had described to him countless times when they were growing up. They must be beautiful, he imagined. Even the draconian red, passion and blood and power, must be captivating. It captivated Serena now, just as it always had when she looked at Alain.

She'd told Calem his heartstrings were platinum, just like Aegislash's blade. They swirled around him like armor, she said. Silver was colorless. There was no passion or blood or power in silver like there was in the crimson Serena traced with her fingers now. But there was a kind of tranquility, a quiet strength born of ironclad will. He would not bend under any sword, would not cave under any hammer. And even the fiercest passion couldn't sway him from what his heart had decided on.

"I'm not defending him for leaving," Serena said, letting her hand fall. "But you're wrong about him. You never gave him a chance."

They were still standing by the edge of the forest where Calem had found her. Tracks leading away suggested that Rhydon had passed by here recently, maybe to hunt for its dinner in the woods. It would be back within the hour, he guessed. Enough time to take a walk with Serena, put this behind them, and catch up after two months apart.

"Look, I don't want to talk about that guy, okay? I came to see you. And Klefki, obviously."

Klefki swayed on its own invisible wind, squeaking. Serena eyed the little Keychain Pokémon.

"Klefki's riding your heartstrings," she said, her eyes far away as she saw what Calem would never see.

"Huh? What, like, right here?" He ran his fingers just under Klefki's dangling keys, but he ended up disturbing Klefki. "Kinda risqué, don't you think?" he teased.

Serena laughed. "You disrupted the flow. Here, lower your hand."

She took his hand and lowered it, letting Klefki hang in between them over their clasped hands. Calem watched her eyes as they glowed with a light invisible to him, admiring as they darkened to a shade close to Altaria's breast feathers. Klefki began to sway again, dancing to its own secret song.

"Right here." Serena indicated the space above their clasped hands. "He likes the confluence."

Her hand was warm in his, and without thinking, he closed his other hand over hers, enjoying the feel of her. Serena blinked and smiled at him a little, misunderstanding.

"Now it's mostly platinum, with a little pink," she said.

Calem searched her eyes, but she wasn't really looking at him. "So Klefki can see them, too?"

"Mm. All Fairies can. It's how they find me."

"So, when I take Klefki, you can always find me?"

Serena's eyes focused as she shifted her attention to him finally. "Huh? Oh, I don't need Klefki to find you. You know that."

She took her hand back and reached for a Pokéball in the pocket of her skirt, which she used to recall Altaria. Calem let his hands fall and resisted the urge to sigh. Klefki squeaked at him, miffed and no longer swaying.

"Tell me about it," Calem said under his breath.

"What was that?" Serena said.

"Uh, a walk? How about it?"

Serena considered for a moment, her eyes lingering on his travel pack.

"This? It's not heavy. I just brought enough for tonight and tomorrow."

"And Aegislash?"

He'd forgotten he was even carrying Aegislash. The phantom sword's weight was almost imperceptible on his shoulders after so many years carrying it around as a Honedge and later as a Doublade.

"Aw, c'mon, Serena. You know how incredibly strong I am. I could carry you, too, if you want."

She rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, hilarious."

"No seriously, you wanna check out these puppies?" He flexed his arms through his jacket, but they were no bigger than the average twenty-three-year-old's biceps. "I call this one Destiny, and that one's Imperator Furiosa."

Serena bit back a laugh. "Like that movie? You're so weird."

"No, really! Check it out, I'm even thinking of getting a tattoo of 'Mom' on Destiny here." He kissed his arm through his jacket, and Serena couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, I don't know this guy," Serena said, looking around as though warning off a crowd that wasn't there. "He's a total stranger, and we're definitely not best friends."

Calem grinned in that way he had that said Serena was in for his latest scheme or adventure and she really had no say in the matter.

"Calem, wait—"

She was too slow, and he scooped her up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and began parading around with her.

"Don't listen to her, ladies and gentlemen, Serena's my number one fangirl. Look how she's swooning!"

"Calem, I swear, put me down!" she said through her rising laughter.

"What's that? Spin you around? Anything for my number one fan!"

He began to spin slowly, then a little faster.

"I'm wearing a skirt you weirdo!"

She was almost in tears from laughing so much at this point, and he was doing his best not to collapse in a fit of laughter himself.

"And what a stylish skirt it is, folks! She's always dressing up for me!"

Klefki jingled in Calem's face all of a sudden, wanting to join them in their fun, but it startled Calem and he lost his balance. Before he could even get out a yelp, he and Serena toppled to the ground on the grass next to the sidewalk, he on his rear and Serena sprawled half on his lap and half on the ground. Her hat had fallen off and rolled away a short distance, sunglasses and all, and her hair was mussed in her face.

She brushed the hair from her face, a little flushed from laughing, and put a hand on his arm. "What's with those names, anyway? Your biceps are female?"

He waggled his eyebrows at her salaciously. "Hey now, if you wanted me to name one after you, you coulda asked."

She laughed again and pushed him lightly, but he grabbed her shoulders and dragged her down onto the grass, where they both burst out laughing again. By now, Aegislash had woken from its slumber and hovered over them, not wanting to be dragged into whatever human antics involved rolling around on the grass laughing like a pair of idiots. It floated somberly over them, while Klefki continued to jingle and look for a way to join in whatever they were doing but sadly finding no opening.

"Okay, but seriously, you didn't actually name your biceps...right?" Serena said, the last of her giggles still lighting up her face.

Calem looked down at her as he propped himself up on an elbow. It would have been so easy, as she was waiting for his answer, still in the last throes of laughter, her hair splayed over her shoulders and in the grass. He reached down with his free hand and tucked her bangs behind her ear, testing the waters, but she barely noticed the contact, watching him expectantly for an answer. It would have been easy for anyone else, but when she looked at him like that, like he was anyone else, it became the hardest thing in the world. And he wouldn't do that to her. He wouldn't take from her the only friend she'd ever had.

He smiled, not the mischievous one that brought out the obstreperous boy he sometimes indulged when they were laughing and he was spinning her around and the world paid them no mind, but the one he kept just for her when she was really looking. "C'mon, let's take that walk and then get something to eat. I'm starving."

She let him help her up and smoothed out her skirt while he retrieved her hat.

"Hold on, you never answered my question."

He shrugged and waved to Aegislash to follow them. Klefki buzzed around his head, jingling frantically. "What question?"

"About naming your biceps."

"Oh."

He finally paid Klefki some attention and set the little Keychain Pokémon on his shoulder. Then he started walking down the sidewalk, Aegislash in tow.

"Wha— Calem!"

"Yeah?"

"My question!" She jogged after him.

"What question?"

Serena sighed, exasperated, and he bit back a grin. "You're so weird."

"Hey, I remember when you said I was pretty when we were kids," he said.

"You can be weird and pretty."

"As long as I'm more pretty than weird."

She side-eyed him, skeptical. "I dunno about that."

"Stop, you'll make Destiny and Imperator Furiosa sad."

"Oh my god."

Calem laughed, and they walked into town, enjoying the late afternoon sun and the rare chance to talk to the only other person in the world around whom they each could really relax. And the neighbors paused their incessant whispers to watch the two of them stroll by, curious, because as rare as it was to see a floating demonic sword and sentient key chain tailing two young people, the smile on Serena's face was an even rarer sight to these people who saw her every day, watched her grow up, and knew next to nothing about her.

---

After the incident with Goodra in the mines, things began to change, and not necessarily in a linear fashion. Korrina had warmed up to Alain in her way since he'd first arrived here, he'd admit that. And she'd grown on him, too. But after the Goodra crisis, he was sure he felt a real shift in their relationship.

And that's a loaded word—relationship. It's a word you read in novels or hear thrown around by adults who've been burned in love (and yeah, twenty-seven is an adult in most cultures but Alain would be the first to admit that he was as much of a child as Mairin in a certain light, which included mud fights in a swamp). Where was he? Oh right, relationships.

To argue semantics, there were many appropriate situations to which the word 'relationship' could be ascribed. Take Korrina's relationship with masochism. He'd tried to be fair, think about a logical reason for why the ever living fuck she would fight Lucario one-on-one while it was Mega Evolved, but Alain was a man of action, not a man of thinking, and he was coming up really short. The only thing that made him feel better about it was Gurkinn's obvious distaste for the practice. Korrina's response? Practice when he wasn't around. That was when Alain stumbled upon her in Training Room Eight after hours.

He arrived just in time to watch Lucario punch her hard in the gut, keel over through the pain it felt through contact with her, and then land hard on the floor under Korrina's reactive chop to the shoulder blades. Both of them fell, struggling in their shared pain, and bless that Lucario, man, it got up and readied itself to keep going. Korrina needed a minute to catch her breath.

Speaking of relationships, Alain had been feeling pretty good about the one between Korrina and him, speaking from the barely platonic perspective of one who daily had his ass handed to him by a blonde bubblegum Amazonian with a smile that really hurt him to look at. Not physically, that was the ass-handing, but somewhere a lot deeper than the physical pain could reach because every time she did it (and it was more and more, he liked to think), he knew she would eventually look away and fade again, like she felt guilty about whatever simple joy had drawn it out.

Kind of like she faded the minute she saw him staring as she got up, Mega Lucario hovering over her. "What're you doing down here?" she demanded, opening the door to confront him.

She was holding her side and hunched over, green eyes ablaze with adrenaline and the ache. Alain kept his hands loose by his sides and resisted the urge to cross them.

"I'd ask you the same thing, but I think I got the picture. If you wanted an excuse to get your ass kicked, just stand still and I'll be happy to oblige."

Maybe he'd said something wrong, because she flipped him the bird and shut the door. Alain clenched his fists to stop the involuntary twitch, then followed her into the training room.

"What part of the universal hand sign for 'fuck off' wasn't clear to you?" Korrina said.

Mega Lucario glared at Alain. Its rippling muscles were emasculating to look upon, and it was breathing through its mouth—damn, how long had they been in here? He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"What're you doing in here?" he countered.

"Alain, I'm going to hurt you if you don't get the hell out."

"Then hurt me, if you can."

She huffed. "I wasn't kidding."

"Yeah, me neither. At least if you whale on me you won't feel it as much. ...Unless, that's the point?"

Korrina didn't answer right away, instead sniffling and wiping her face with a sweaty rag. Alain's hands suddenly felt heavy, his palms clammy. Heat rose in his neck, and his back between his shoulder blades began to sweat.

"Korrina," he said softly. "What's going on with you? How long have you been doing this? Why?"

She threw down the rag and searched his eyes. "Excuse me?"

Alain took a step toward her. "Why are you torturing yourself?"

He was naturally taller than her by a couple inches, nothing to be proud of, but it was enough to give him a view of her he didn't normally get. Standing there still like that, she was just a woman, lithe and small of frame compared to him, hair in her eyes and a scar on her lip and the soft curve of jawbone that drew his eye as only a woman can draw a man's eye. Suddenly, without reason or thought of the consequences she would undoubtedly bestow on him with her fists and knees, he was struck with the overwhelming urge to reach for her, to hold her to him, because when the woman who's picked you up and shouldered your sorry ass back into reality for the last several months without asking for anything in return looks at you like that, there's no other appropriate reaction.

But this was Korrina, and she was pragmatic to a fault. Unfortunately, her fault happened to be her temper, which she unleashed now upon Alain and his heathen questions.

"Don't touch me." She swatted his hand away before he could get within a foot of her. "Get out. Now."

"Korrina, I just—"

"No, stop, just stop it! You have no idea who I am or what I've survived. It's none of your business what I do."

"Look, don't be like that, just let me—"

"I said out, Titan!"

She lunged and smacked his chest with her open palm, sending him stumbling backwards. He didn't fall, but he caught himself on the door handle. He stared at her, torn between screaming at her and just slugging her in the face. He'd never make it, she'd stop him, but he was mad enough that he might just catch her off-guard. Ultimately, it was her clenched fists that made the decision for him. Her knuckles were white, and she was shaking, and he hardly recognized her.

So Alain picked himself up and stepped back through the door. "Sorry to disturb your training."

He showed her his back and stalked off, listening as the door slid closed behind him.

---

The next day, Gurkinn and Korrina both went into Shalour for Gurkinn's doctor's appointment, and the Gym trainers busied themselves with their own workouts. Alain had not slept much last night, but he lay in bed late into the morning just staring at the ceiling. By the time he wandered downstairs, it was past ten and he couldn't stomach the idea of joining the Gym trainers to work out. He grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet, a water bottle from the fridge, and headed outside to the beach.

The island that housed the Tower of Mastery was four miles across, and there was plenty of palm forest to disappear into. The sand was hot on Alain's feet and the palm trees offered little shade, but he was in shorts and a T-shirt and prepared to sweat. He tossed out a Pokéball, and Charizard appeared in a flash of light. Before Charizard even fully coalesced, Alain slit his palm with the pocketknife he'd brought and approached the orange pseudo-Dragon.

"I hope you're ready for a work out," he said, touching his bleeding palm to Charizard's chest.

The Mega Evolution was instantaneous. Alain's blood seeped into Charizard's scales and dyed them an apocalyptic black, stirring the Dragonsblood dormant within Charizard and fusing their auras. Mega Charizard spread its wings and cast a steep shadow over Alain and the stretch of beach behind the Tower of Mastery. Alain stepped back and tossed out his remaining two Pokéballs. Tyrantrum and Heliolisk immediately zeroed in on Mega Charizard and were on their guard.

"Tyrantrum, Heliolisk," Alain addressed his Pokémon. "Today, I want you two to attack both Mega Charizard and me. Just practice, but don't let me off easy."

Heliolisk made a curious clicking sound, while Tyrantrum eyed Mega Charizard, already bored. Alain ran a hand through his hair.

"Hey, buddy," he said to Mega Charizard. "You and me, okay? We're in this together, so I'll watch your back."

Mega Charizard opened its jaws in a snarl and spat a small blast of blue fire. Tyrantrum lowered its head, tiny front claws clicking.

"I mean it Tyrantrum, Heliolisk. Don't go too easy on us."

Heliolisk puffed out its collar and began to spark, while Tyrantrum's tail began to emit an eerie, red glow with the beginnings of Dragon Tail. A small part of Alain began to wonder if this was such a good idea, but all of a sudden Heliolisk lunged, sparking, and he was forced to roll out of the way or suffer electrocution. Mega Charizard roared and took flight, but Tyrantrum ran after it and swung around with Dragon Tail. Mega Charizard caught the attack in its claws, and Alain felt a tingle in his hands, but Mega Charizard pulled and threw Tyrantrum into the sand.

Heliolisk skidded in the sand and lashed its tail. Like Tyrantrum before it, it also powered up a Dragon Tail and jumped at Alain with a screech. Alain waited in the sand, loose and limber and very aware that if he was even a second too late, he'd get thrown into the nearest palm tree, probably crack a few ribs, and vicariously injure Mega Charizard in the process. Adrenaline tingled his toes and fingertips and his vision tunneled, focused completely on Heliolisk. The frill-neck lizard lunged, tail flailing, and Alain jumped with all his strength. He cleared Heliolisk, bounced off its head with one hand, and landed behind it safely.

Heliolisk skidded in the sand, its attack dying down, and it scrambled around to stare at its trainer, confused. Alain almost laughed, but the ground began to shake as Tyrantrum Bulldozed toward him. With no time to dodge, Alain threw up his hand and shouted, "Stop!"

Tyrantrum ate sand as it used its head to slow its momentum, dark eyes dilated as it responded on instinct rather than recognition. Something hot coursed through Alain's veins, the same heat he'd felt in that moment when Goodra heard him, understood him. Tyrantrum spat out sand and shook out its feathered mane, and Alain patted its broad snout.

"Like riding a bike," he mused.

But best not to dwell on that thought. This power existed, that was all there was to it. He didn't have to ruminate on the whys and hows, but he had to admit it was his best shot in a world where certain people could see perfectly in the dark to slit his throat or heal mortal wounds with an open flame or go toe-to-toe with a Mega Lucario and walk out okay.

"Okay," he said, more to himself than to Tyrantrum, who'd shaken off the drunken daze of Alain's temporary control. "Again."

He hadn't realized how late it was until Gurkinn himself wandered outside and found him drenched in sweat but taking a break from his own physical exertion to have Mega Charizard work on concentrating the force of its Dragon Pulse. Sinister draconian energy blasted over the waves out to sea as Mega Charizard fired off the attack, doing its best to focus on intensity over speed for maximum impact. Sea spray misted Alain's face, sticky over the layer of perspiration on his skin and the long hours in the sun without food. All he'd had today was the granola bar he'd swiped from the kitchen, which of course turned out to be chocolate with his shitty luck. Oh well.

"I see you've been training hard today even with Korrina away," Gurkinn greeted. "How is it coming?"

Alain put a hand on Mega Charizard's flank, a silent order to take a break, and the two of them turned to face the wrinkled old man with his bushy eyebrows and long mustachios. "Fine, I guess."

Gurkinn wore plain clothes today, a grey windbreaker and loose cotton pants. It was strange seeing him in anything other than his usual traditional garb. He even had his hands in his pockets, casual like spritely old retiree out to admire the seascape and maybe throw back a couple cold ones. "Hm, but something's not quite right, is it?"

Alain was sometimes pretty sure Gurkinn was a wizard with how well he could read people. Not all old people were like that, no way. At this point, he'd learned not to dodge Gurkinn's perspicacity. Doing so would only make an idiot out of one of them, and it was never the old man.

"Actually, there is something," he admitted.

Gurkinn politely waited for him to elaborate.

"It's about Korrina. I sort of...saw something I shouldn't have."

Shit, that came out wrong.

"I-I mean, she was solo training."

Gurkinn smiled a little. "I understand your meaning, Alain."

God, he was a twenty-seven-year-old man and Gurkinn could still make him feel like a pubescent teenager caught sneaking out past his curfew to meet girls or go drinking. An absolutely dreadful image of himself sneaking to Korrina's room and Gurkinn looming over him like some grim reaper going around castrating virgin teenaged boys made him flush with embarrassment, and he swallowed hard to push the inane fantasy out of his mind.

"What I'm trying to say really ineloquently is... Did something happen to Korrina? I mean, something that's stayed with her."

Gurkinn considered him a moment. "Why do you ask?"

Alain rubbed the back of his neck, registering how filthy he was. The sand was everywhere, and he was covered in a thick film of dried sweat and salt. "She just seems so," he paused, searching for the right words, "lost. And angry, but at herself. I mean, she gets pretty steamed at me, but it's not the same."

Gurkinn said nothing as Alain collected his thoughts.

"I look at her sometimes, and I just feel like she's drifting somewhere far away. Like she's lost, and she doesn't want to be found."

Gurkinn approached him. If he'd reached out to pat Alain's shoulder like a father might his son, he could have. But he kept his hands in his pockets. "If I remember correctly, you came to us feeling much the same way."

"What? No, that's..."

Different.

It was different. He was different. His demons weren't hers.

"Korrina is not lost, but she is drifting, just as we all drift in search of something. Some of us just haven't found it yet. And sometimes, we may not recognize what we were searching for all along even when we do find it."

Alain was too hungry and tired for riddles. "What're you saying?"

Gurkinn smiled knowingly. "If you want to know about Korrina, I suggest you ask her."

Before he could stop himself, Alain snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Why does it seem so incredible that she might tell you about herself?"

Alain shifted his weight, suddenly feeling the chill of the sea spray. "Because...I wouldn't tell her about me if she asked. And she wouldn't ask, anyway."

Gurkinn nodded. "I see. Well then, there is your answer."

"You must think I'm pretty pathetic like this."

"Not at all." This time, he did reach out and laid a hand on Alain's shoulder, his grip surprisingly firm for someone so old and frail. "I think you're no different from Korrina or anyone else here. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you'll find what you came here looking for."

Mega Charizard lowered its head next to Alain and growled softly. The blue fire tongues that escaped from the sides of its mouth didn't burn him, but they emanated a pleasant warmth. The sun was dipping low in the sky, and Alain's stomach took that time to grumble. Gurkinn laughed.

"Come inside, Alain. Korrina and I purchased food in the city from my favorite restaurant. There is plenty."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks."

Mega Charizard released the connection between them and reverted back to its usual orange self. Alain tailed Gurkinn back to the Tower of Mastery and promptly headed to his room for a shower. He changed into jeans, flip-flops, and a violet T-shirt that fit him snugly, feeling refreshed. By the time he got to the kitchen, only Gurkinn was there with a cup of after dinner tea and reading a newspaper. He gestured to the cartons of food on the table when Alain appeared, and Alain was happy to help himself.

In about fifteen minutes, he'd filled his belly and probably replenished all the calories he'd burned off today. Not to worry, he thought, Korrina would beat them out of him tomorrow, surely. And he was looking much better now, besides. He filled out his clothes in all the right places. The flab in his belly had virtually disappeared, and the ripple of toned muscles protruded through his skin in his abdomen, his arms and shoulders, his legs. The itch he'd felt for a drink in the mornings was gone. To say he felt like his old self again would not have been accurate; rather, he felt like a new person entirely. Reborn, if he was feeling corny. But in a way, there was no better word for it.

She did this.

Alain had gone through the motions, but it had been Korrina to work him every day, to push him to his limits and convince him he could do better. She hadn't asked for this. She'd even been against bringing him in. But now, after months under her expert tutelage, he was better than he'd ever been. Alain set down his fork and a half-eaten dumpling stuck to the tines. Gurkinn looked up from his paper.

"Something on your mind?" he asked.

Alain got up from his chair and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He retrieved his plates to take to the kitchen sink. "Yeah, there is."

Gurkinn watched him clean up his dishes and stack them in the drainer, and then return to the table to gather up the cartons. "Leave them. I'll take care of it."

"It's no trouble."

Gurkinn smiled. "Please, I insist."

Alain rubbed the back of his neck where his hair was still a little damp from the shower. "Okay, thanks."

"Korrina is on the porch. If you were wondering."

Alain looked up, but the old man was already back to his newspaper and tea, oblivious.

Definitely a wizard.

But now that he knew where Korrina was, his feet carried him downstairs on autopilot. She hadn't said a word to him since he'd found her training with Mega Lucario, and he'd given her some space knowing her temper. Gurkinn's words to him this afternoon echoed in his head all evening as he mulled over them. He had an inkling of what the old man meant, but going through with it somehow seemed even more daunting than the grueling training Alain got up at dawn every day to endure. This kind of thing... People, their emotions, the boundaries between everyone? It was never his thing.

"You did this."

Mairin's accusatory whisper still rang clear in his mind as the day she'd said it. He would never forget her round face, those brown eyes red and puffy from crying. There are moments when children are thrust headlong into the ugly reality of the world and they lose a part of what makes them children to it, stripped away like flesh under a knife. Everybody grew up. Some, like Alain, were eager to take up the knife themselves and flay off the layers of innocence and wonder that armored all children just to have a fighting chance in the world. And some even came out stronger, at least for a little while.

Until the adrenaline wore off, there was nowhere left to run, and all that was left was the pain, raw and red and rotten, a stench that followed him everywhere he went. Vanither. Deserter. Titan. It was always the same story everywhere he went, even with Mairin in the end. He couldn't do anything for her but make her cry.

And honestly, what the fuck was he doing here? He was standing at the open door to the porch where Korrina was reclining in one of the wooden sunning chairs, her long blonde hair loose around her shoulders and a beer in her hand as she lounged under the stars and the few grey clouds in the night sky. What was he going to say to her? Because he'd said it all before. And even the ones who'd tried to understand, who had done their best to give him all the chances in the world were behind him now. Sycamore had taken him in, fed and clothed and educated him when he didn't have to. Gave him a purpose and the means to start over. Serena, the little Magus that had grown up long before even Alain had and somehow found a little bit of joy left in her heart to share with him, had looked up to him like the brother she never had. And now where were they? Probably better off without him, just like Mairin was better off without him.

And yet, here he was hovering in Korrina's door on the cusp of drawing the knife all over again and peeling away what little was left. Gurkinn was so sure like only the very old can be sure because they've seen it all before. The wisdom of senescence was lost on Alain, though, and all he had going for him was the way Korrina looked when she laughed and the raw ache he felt when she stopped. Well, that was more than he'd had before. So he took a chance.

"Korrina," he said, walking outside to stand next to her chair.

She took a sip from the brown glass beer bottle in her lap but didn't look at him. She was focused on the sky overhead. "What do you want, Alain?"

She sounded tired, but not from sleep. He discreetly eyed her stomach, which was covered by a white linen shirt over rolled up blue jeans, and wondered if she was bruised from her fight with Mega Lucario. He didn't realize how long he'd just stood there watching her, lost in thought, until she spoke again.

"Well?" She was looking at him now, that glint of irritation in her eyes he was all too familiar with. "I came out here to relax, so if you're just gonna hover over me, then I'd rather you left."

Alain ran a hand through his hair. "I was just thinking about you and Mega Lucario."

Korrina tapped her fingers lightly over the neck of her beer bottle. "I thought I made it clear that that's none of your business."

"You're right, it's not. And that's why I came out here." He paused as his stomach churned up his dinner. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For walking in on you and then asking all those questions. It freaked me out a little, I'm not gonna lie about that. But I didn't mean to corner you like I did. I just... I was just worried."

"You were worried," she said flatly.

"Yeah, is that so hard to believe? I'm not a heartless asshole."

She said nothing to that, and he figured that was as good as he was going to get with her. Whatever. He turned to leave, and she sat up in her chair.

"Is that the truth?" she said.

"Do you really have to ask me that after all this time?"

When she didn't answer him right away, he snorted and slid open the glass door.

"Alain, hey wait."

Korrina got up, empty beer bottle in hand, and set it on top of the mini fridge next to the door. Then she opened up the fridge and retrieved two fresh beers.

"I'm not very good at this," she said, watching him. "People, I mean...it's not just you."

"Coulda fooled me. You're so chummy with all the Gym trainers."

She averted her gaze. "That's different."

Gurkinn's words returned to Alain then, and he found himself wondering if it really was different. If they were all that different.

"And anyway, it's not the point. You're a Titan, and you showed up here with a black Mega Charizard out of the blue asking about Mega Evolution. That kind of first impression hasn't worked out so well in the past with us."

He didn't give her an inch and just stared. Korrina held out one of the beer bottles to him, lips pressed in a thin line as she did her best to reel in whatever beast had come alive inside.

"Apology accepted," she said. "So...can we call a truce?"

He hadn't had any hard liquor since he arrived here, and after that it was only ever a glass of wine at dinner sometimes. He almost had a mind to refuse, but the way she was looking at him...

He accepted the bottle. "There's no need for a truce when we weren't fighting."

He looked at the open door, debating what to do, but she made the decision for him.

"You can stay out here if you want. I mean, you don't have to, but there's plenty of room."

"I thought you wanted to relax?"

She shrugged. "I've got my beer and miles of ocean to admire. I'd say that's all you really need."

She headed back to her chair, and after a moment's hesitation, Alain followed and leaned back in the one to her left. The beer was cold and a little bitter, and it went down smooth. There was something about a cold beer on the beach, the salt in the air and on the back of your tongue, the heat rising from the sand, that could take the sting off whatever bullshit kind of day you'd had. The ocean waves had a soporific effect, and the cool night air was just right. Far in the distance, the stars and moon shone down on the seascape and illuminated red, glassy lumps far out to sea—Tentacruel and Tentacool, come to the surface to hunt and feed. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like to grow up in such a beautiful place, so tranquil and relaxing.

"You know," Alain breached the comfortable silence, "I was meaning to ask you."

"Hm?"

"Do you still think I'm like all the other Titans?"

She eyed him askance, cradling her beer protectively. "I think none of us can escape what's in our nature."

"So you think I'm a liar and a megalomaniac."

Korrina opened her mouth to say something, then thought better of it. Alain shook his head.

"Look, I'm not blaming you. I told you that first night that I agreed with you. All Titans are the same."

"Then why bring it up?"

"Because I'm asking if after all this time, maybe you see me, like, as a person, a little differently. Maybe I'm not as bad as you think."

Korrina sat up in her chair. "Hold on a minute. You're the one agreeing that they're all the same. And now you're asking me to believe that somehow you're a special snowflake who's so far above all that? I like you Alain, and I'll admit I wasn't fair to judge you like I did, even if I thought I was just being cautious."

"Wait, what?"

Korrina kept talking without giving him a moment to question her. "But when you've got people like Lance of Blackthorn going all crazy terrorist on everyone, it's a little hard to believe you're above all that. That guy was one of the best, right? And look what happened to him. What am I supposed to think about you or all the other Titans that aren't even the same kind of prodigy he was?"

"Hey, I'm not going to hold the world hostage or shoot up an elementary school, okay? What the fuck."

"I didn't say you were, but face it: Tamers are all the same. I can't escape being a Bellatrix any more than you can escape what you are. There's good and bad. It's been what, almost five months now? And you still never told us who you really are, where you came from, why you're on your own even though we gave you every opportunity when you got here. So yeah, I do think Titans are all the same, even you."

They sat in silence for a few moments, stewing. Alain swirled his half-drunk beer, for the first time at a total loss for words around Korrina. They weren't even in the ring, and she could still floor him.

She was staring out to sea, frowning lightly. Her chair was only a couple feet from him, but he got the eerie sensation that if he tried to touch her, he would never reach her, as though invisible currents carried her farther and farther away, adrift on a sea of silence that would drown out any call for help. He was there, too, had been for the better part of a year.

No, for most of his life. Ever since he left the Dragon clan that had sired and reared him, he'd been wandering, lost and without direction, searching for something and continuously failing to find it. Gurkinn had promised him he would find it if he listened, if he gave it time. What the fuck did that mean? All he'd done here was get his ass kicked and learned a few moves of his own on the way.

You ungrateful little ass wipe, a small voice chided him in the back of his mind.

Alain clutched the beer in his hand, cold to the touch and wet with condensation. God, was he really that selfish? Was that what Mairin had seen in him when she tearfully turned her back on him and saddled him with enough guilt to drown him in the bottom of a bottle?

He didn't know what Korrina's deal was, even now, and he was pretty sure she wasn't going to open up to him out of the blue. And maybe it was wishful thinking, or maybe he secretly wanted to hurt her. Probably a little of both, because contrary to what he was about to do, deep down Alain agreed with her. We cannot escape our natures, and the past will always follow us no matter where we run. All we can do is face it and accept it for what it is, and then work hard every day to rise above it. Gurkinn had warned him that he would never find his way until he was strong enough to face what he'd left behind. So be it.

"You're right," Alain said, his voice hoarse. "We're all the same. And no matter what I do, I'll always be one of them, for better and for worse." He thought of Goodra, how he'd bent the slug Dragon's will to his own ends. The Dragonsblood in his veins had saved his life and Korrina's, the inheritance that he'd tried his best to throw away and forget the day he left the Apep Dynasty. "And that's why I'll accept whatever you think of me after I tell you everything."

He had Korrina's attention now. She was looking right at him with those darkly viridian eyes glassy in the starlight, her blonde hair in her face and around her neck and fluttering in the light breeze, and still he wouldn't reach her if he tried, if he wanted to. But maybe she would listen, as Goodra had listened, as Gurkinn had implored him to listen if he was ever going find something worth holding onto.

"I was born in Dendemille Town to a proud Titan couple. Proud, because it soon became obvious that I could exert control. I had the Old Blood, just like them, and as far as the clan was concerned, their duty as parents was fulfilled. The day I tested positively, the Elder selected me to be part of Generation Theta, the newest batch of Titans in training, everyone up to ten years of age who'd manifested the Dragonsblood. It was a week after my fifth birthday that they came for me, for the training. I didn't see my dad again for the next seven years."

Alain took a long swig of his beer, which was getting warm now and almost finished. He dared not look at Korrina, instead staring out to sea. The Tentacruel and Tentacool bobbed in groups of fifty or more, and every once in a while he could detect frantic splashing on the otherwise placid sea—ensnared prey that would be Poison Stung to death then ripped in to with serrated beaks until not even the bones were left. Korrina said nothing, but he could hear her breathing in time with the crashing waves below. Steady, constant.

He told her about the training, which was ostensibly to teach the youngsters the secrets of their powers and weed out the mediocre from the truly talented. But mixed in with the regular practice and lectures, the mentors under the Elder's direction employed experimental protocols meant to test the limits of the kids' control. Alain told Korrina about how in one such experiment, the mentors divided the group in half, six control and six experimental, and starved one group for three days. Then they would pit one control and one experimental against each other in a race against time and mortality: the first to successfully navigate a predetermined path through the Frost Mountains to the north and coerce one of the wild Pokémon there to protect him or her along the way would win.

Those mountains were home to a slew of dreaded Ice-type Pokémon, as well as several Dragons and Dragon descendants. The kids started the test without any Pokémon as per the rules—they were meant to find a new one. The point of the experiment was to determine whether the lack of food and isolation from the rest of the group for a limited amount of time beforehand would affect the kids' ability to control a Dragon. Alain had been part of the starved group.

"I was nine at the time. They'd trained us in survival tactics, and the path was meant to be completed in a day and a night. All I wanted was to find food, but without Charmander, I knew I was vulnerable. So while the other kid ran ahead into Frost Cavern, I stayed behind in the mountains. That's where I found Tyrantrum. Well, he was a Tyrunt back then. Long story short, I managed to coerce Tyrunt to stick with me. That worked out well enough, and it even brought me a leg of Sawsbuck its littermates had been feasting on. Then the mom showed up. I remember being too scared even to piss my pants. I've never run so fast since, well, since that Goodra in the mines.

"Tyrunt came with me, but I could tell he didn't want to. He wanted to stay with his mother, but I needed him to help me. I think that was one of the lessons of that particular exercise. Know who's boss, who's in control. Even if you sympathize, the boss comes first. The boss always comes first." Alain downed the rest of his beer. "Tyrunt's the reason I made it out alive. They never found the kid I was racing. And I remember the first thought that popped into my mind when they told me that. I thought, 'Good, that means I won'. Nine fucking years old."

He lapsed into silence, inundated with memories he thought he'd never revisit again. If he thought about it hard enough, he could remember the biting cold of Frost Cavern through his jacket and even the taste of that Sawsbuck leg. He had to eat it raw and share it with Tyrunt since Charmander wasn't with him to make a fire, and he wouldn't have made a fire anyway with all the feral Pokémon it would have attracted. He even remembered that Tyrunt curled up next to him, its oversized head in his lap, shivering. He waited until the little dinosaur was asleep before he cried. It was the longest night of his life.

Korrina got up without a word while he lost himself in the sands of time. She went to the mini fridge and brought back two more beers for them, and handed one to him wordlessly. He accepted it without really thinking. It was cold and crisp going down, and it brought him back to the present.

Right. The story.

His life.

He started again. He told her that by the time he was twelve and the seven-year training was completed, two thirds of Generation Theta had been culled. Some had succumbed to the elements during survival training, like the kid Alain had raced through Frost Cavern. Others lost control of their Dragons, and their Pokémon turned on them. Some were deemed too diluted of blood to continue, and the mentors took them by the hand one day and they never came back. Alain had survived, and for his trouble he was declared a Titan for true, and one day it would be his turn to "mentor" the new generation.

His mother would have been proud if she'd still been alive. Sadly, she'd succumbed to a bout of pneumonia and died within days of infection when Alain was eleven, just a year before his return home. His father, accordingly, didn't offer him the welcome back Alain expected, too far drowned in a bottle of Jack to even notice that he still had a son and that son was back.

"You know why Titans lie?" Alain said. By now he was sitting up, feet on the porch and leaning over his knees, dangling his beer bottle in between them. He still didn't look at Korrina, lost in the mists of memory. "We lie because it's a form of control. If you can impose your reality on others, then all of a sudden you're their god. You decide their fate, like I decided Goodra's fate. The people I grew up with... All they know is control—the need for it, the pull of it in others, and the lies we all told to keep it at bay. When you're taught from day one that control is the pinnacle of everything you can ever achieve, you'll do anything to get it. Because if you don't, the kid next to you will, and you'll end up trampled, forgotten, like the kid who never came back from the Frost Cavern. We try to exert control over others because we know they'll lie to escape it if we don't. I guess it's kind of funny when you think about it that way. Lying to maintain control, and controlling to keep the liars in line. The only thing Dragons hate more than those who stand against them are their own kind. Titans are the same way. We're our own worst enemies."

"But you left." It was the first thing Korrina said since he'd started.

He looked up at her, but she was as steady as ever, maybe more so. Impartial. She was good at that, Korrina. She knew how to keep a straight face and hold her tongue when others were suffering and vulnerable to judgment. It might have been one of her best qualities, now that he thought about it.

"Yeah, I left. My father drank himself into an early grave. I used his death as an excuse to get out of my duties for a couple days. Mourning and all. I packed a bag and left as soon as the funeral goers cleared out and didn't look back.

"I was almost fourteen then. I wandered all over eastern Kalos for about two months, just me and Charmander and Tyrunt. Well, you know how it is for vanithers like me. It wasn't a very...social time in my life. I met plenty of people, just not the right side of them." He spoke quickly, not wanting to give her any room to jump in if she felt so inclined. "No one came after me. Which seemed really weird to me back then. All that time invested in making me a real Titan, and the second I bolt they don't even make an effort? Now I know better. They wouldn't want anyone they couldn't control. And, well, we're back to square one."

He sipped his beer and spared Korrina a glance, but she was looking at an indistinct point on his chest, lost in thought.

"Then I met a young Ph.D. candidate in Lumiose City. He was in his last year of study when we crossed paths, and he had a pretty cushy gig lined up at a lab in the city. He found out what I was and for some weird reason took pity on me. I ended up working as a lab tech for him, and he started teaching me whatever struck his fancy. I knew a lot about Pokémon—that is, about how to control them. And about how to kill them. I knew how to hunt wild Avalugg, how to approach a Garchomp on a rampage and live through it, that window of opportunity when you could sneak up on a school of Dragalge and steal the Skrelp eggs to raise them tame.

"But this professor, he taught me things I never even considered. Charizard's tail, for example. I never realized how much energy they expend to keep it lit, and if it goes out, they can die. He taught me what to do in case I ever got in trouble with that, and it came in handy when Charizard was still a Charmeleon and we were doing fieldwork in the White Mountains east of Vaniville Town. He would've died if I hadn't known what to do. Stuff like that. And it got me thinking about what else was out there that I didn't know.

"Eventually, I got to the point where I needed to set out on my own again, after ten years in Lumiose. I was a vanither, but I was educated and I knew there was a whole world out there beyond what I grew up believing. That was when I met him."

"Him?" Korrina said.

"...Lysandre. Remember when I said I had a mentor who taught me about Mega Evolution?"

Alain went on to recount his time working directly for Lysandre, who operated a conglomerate known informally as Team Flare. She'd never heard of it, and he wasn't surprised. They kept their operations discreet and diversified, but their R&D division was cutting edge, unlike anything Alain had ever seen. When Lysandre told him about Mega Evolution and how to attain it, that had been the hook, line, and sinker that cost Alain nearly four years of his life.

"There are things in this world," he said softly, "things I can't explain. Monsters like you wouldn't believe. That story about Champion Lance reviving a sea monster? I believe it. I believe it because I saw my own monsters in Hoenn. That kind of power... It wasn't meant for humans to control. I could feel it like I was gonna explode.

"But Lysandre didn't share my reservations, even after what we'd seen. Steven Stone tried to make him see reason, but even he couldn't get through to Lysandre and ultimately broke the tenuous partnership he had with Team Flare for that specific project."

"Steven Stone... The Champion of Hoenn? You met him?"

Alain grunted. "I met him, all right. Most days I wish I hadn't. That guy could break you in half with a look if he wanted to. Let's just say he's not a fan of Titans."

"But he worked with you."

Korrina's unspoken question hung in the air between them, and Alain sipped his beer.

"Yeah, maybe. I dunno. He mentioned he'd met one Titan he trusted, some girl from Kanto. That was the extent of the bonding, I assure you."

"What happened with Lysandre afterwards?"

Alain wiped his nose. "Lysandre and I had...creative differences, let's say. He was obsessed with harnessing the power of Mega Evolution. He's a skuff, so he can't use it himself. I got the sense that he wanted to change that."

"That's impossible," Korrina said. "Only Tamers can use Mega Evolution."

"I know. But in Hoenn, Steven and I found this huge monolith. It was what those monsters were fighting over, some giant crystal. Lysandre called it a Mega Stone, I don't know. He brought it back to Lumiose City, to his lab. Maybe he thought it would solve his problem. But I left before anything happened with it."

Korrina had gone eerily still. "Mega Stone?"

"Yeah. What?"

"Nothing, sorry. What happened then?"

Alain frowned but didn't press the subject. He shifted. "Remember I told you I hurt someone I cared about? Her name was Mairin, and she'd kind of tagged along with me to Hoenn for this whole shit show."

He recounted a little of his travels with Mairin, how she'd found him one day out of the blue and named herself his sidekick, like they were masked vigilantes fighting crime or something equally as ludicrous. Mairin herself was a little bit ludicrous, he supposed. Like all children, she didn't really understand that there was no such thing as heroes, that monsters usually won, and that sometimes the people you depend on the most never find their courage, and instead they run away, never looking back.

"Mairin," Korrina said. "You...broke her heart?"

"You know, I guess I must have for her to turn on me like that. I don't even really know how it happened. I got so caught up in getting stronger, in mastering Mega Evolution, in escaping my Titan heritage and doing something that was just mine, something for me, something they couldn't take credit for. And Mairin just... She was collateral. I didn't even realize what I was doing until it was already too late. Her Chespin was dying. He's probably long dead by now." He rubbed his eyes. "I've done some shitty things in my time, but ruining a kid's life has got to be the worst."

Korrina blinked. "Wait, she's just a kid?"

"Yeah, like thirteen or something." He dug his fingers into his hair. "I can't stop hearing her voice. Every time I close my eyes, she's there, crying. I don't know how to fix it."

He took a shaky breath and closed his eyes.

"So I ran. I ran for months. It's the only thing I know I'm good at." He looked up, eyelids heavy and the beer going to his head a little. "And now I'm here, with you. Getting my ass kicked every day and wondering when I'll finally just..."

Korrina was seated opposite him, so absorbed in his story and leaning forward over her knees. For a moment of insanity, he wondered if he really could reach her now, if he tried.

"Just what?" she asked.

"Just..." He trailed off and studied her face. If he just reached out... "Just find something I don't want to run away from."

Korrina held his gaze, turbulent jade almost black under the starlight. He tried to remember how she'd looked in the throes of laughter when they were in the swamp together, but it was getting harder and harder. Lost at sea, floating in the doldrums of solitude and wanting, but for what he couldn't say. And she'd already done enough for him, he reminded himself as his eyes fell to that scar on her lip that was so her, the evidence that she was a fighter, a survivor. She leaned forward, her hand wandering like she didn't know the way, closer.

"Korrina, Alain," Gurkinn called from the porch door. "I'm heading to bed. I wanted to wish you both goodnight."

Alain jumped in surprise. He hadn't even heard the old man approach! Korrina pulled back abruptly, equally caught off guard, and stood up.

"Okay, Grandpa. Is there anything left to clean up?" she said.

"No, my dear. I've already taken care of it."

"Okay, thanks. I'll head to bed soon, too."

Gurkinn nodded and shifted his gaze to Alain. "Goodnight, Alain. I'll see you in the morning."

"Uh, yeah, goodnight sir."

Gurkinn smiled at them, stretching the many wrinkles around his eyes, and slid the glass door closed behind him. Korrina stretched briefly, then gathered up the empty bottles.

"I got this, you can head up if you want," she said.

Alain stood up and stretched out his arms. The night air had grown a little cooler since he'd been out here, but it felt nice on his flushed face. It had been a long time since he'd told anyone what he told Korrina tonight about his childhood, not since Sycamore. His mind was fuzzy, maybe courtesy of the beers and the misty memories revisited after so long relegated to the dungeon of his mind.

"Korrina," he said as she slid the glass door open to deposit the empty bottles in a bin inside.

She watched him from the doorway. Gone was the guarded, tight-lipped nonchalance he'd long ago learned was a bolted door to her temper. She looked at him like she'd known him all her life, and this meeting was their homecoming after so long apart. Wistful, a small, secret smile that stretched the little scar on her upper lip, dark eyes steady. Always steady.

"Thank you," she said, "for trusting me. I only wish I'd given you reason to sooner."

His throat was dry from all the talking, and he found he couldn't respond to her. But like her mind-reading grandfather, Korrina peered into his soul and smiled like she almost never smiled, and he no longer needed the words.

"Goodnight, Alain."

He watched her go, his feet too heavy to move, and soon she was gone. Alain stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Goodnight, Korrina."

---

Dinner at Serena's was a quiet affair. Calem had known Grace since he was a kid once Serena started coming to Sycamore's lab. She was pleasant enough, probably more for Serena's sake than his. Her daughter wasn't the social type, so Grace had welcomed the idea of a friend for her only daughter. Grace volunteered little this evening, so Calem asked her about her charity races. She was happy to recount a little of what she was doing, but she didn't ask him much beyond the usual—how's your family, are you enjoying your work at Sycamore's lab, and any plans for the future?

"Actually, I've been thinking a lot about traveling to Hoenn," Calem said. "I'd love to meet Steven Stone if I had the chance. Maybe even train under him."

"Steven Stone? Who's that?" Grace asked, sipping her wine.

"Calem's hero," Serena said. "Ever since we were kids."

"Aw, when you put it like that it makes me sound like some creepy fanboy," Calem teased.

Grace looked between the two of them. "I'm sorry, I still don't follow. Is he a celebrity?"

Serena held Calem's gaze, and he hesitated before saying, "Sort of. He's the Champion of Hoenn."

The table fell silent. Grace set down her glass of wine.

"Oh. So he's a Tamer, I take it," Grace said.

Calem hid a wince by wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Yeah, he is."

"He's a Steel Adamantine, just like Calem," Serena said softly. "He's the best there is."

Grace scooped up some of her remaining food with a fork and chewed quietly. Calem felt like disintegrating. Somehow, Grace's silence felt like a slap in the face. But he couldn't hold it against her. Serena had explained it to him many times over the years. Plebs like Grace didn't understand what it was like to be different, and Grace was doing her best considering one day her normal little girl wandered out of the woods transformed into something beyond her comprehension. She hadn't asked for it. She really didn't even deserve it. But she was doing her best.

Calem's mother was also a pleb, but she'd always been supportive and enthusiastic about her son's nature. She'd married a Tamer, after all, and she knew her children would inherit her husband's Tamer blood over her lack thereof. It was always the way with unions between Tamers and plebs. Grace, on the other hand, was on her own.

"I appreciate you putting me up for the night," Calem said. "I know I came down a day early unannounced, so thanks for being so accommodating."

"It's no trouble," Grace said.

After dinner, Calem helped Serena pack for her next extended stay in Lumiose City. Sylveon kept giving him the evil eye the entire time he was within ten feet of it.

"So Sylveon still hates me," he said as he folded a shirt and laid it neatly in Serena's bag.

Serena sighed. "Sylveon doesn't hate you. He's just not used to you because you're a Steel Adamantine. We've talked about this."

"Klefki likes me just fine."

Klefki jingled upon hearing its name and floated in a circle around Calem's head.

"Klefki's also a Steel-type and he spends half his time with you," Serena pointed out.

"Sylveon was fine with me when he was still an Eevee."

Serena packed some socks and a pair of pants, then sat down on the bed next to Calem. "Well, I like you. Does that count?"

She smiled, and he didn't fight the urge to take her hand.

"Yeah," he said softly. "I like you, too."

"You're my best friend. I hope you like me, weirdo."

She got up again and Sylveon jumped off the bed to follow. Calem stuck his tongue out at the finicky feline when it wasn't looking, feeling marginally better.

"I guess we'll always kind of be at odds," Serena said. Her back was turned and she was looking out her window at the dark woods.

Calem got up and stood just behind her, but he didn't touch her. "We're not at odds."

"You know what I mean."

He watched their reflections in the windowpane. She was right there, and it would have been so easy, so natural to wrap his arms around her and promise her the world, whatever she wanted. But Serena's gaze was far away, somewhere deep in those dark woods in a lovely place only she remembered. She'd told him what happened, how she'd encountered Xerneas in those woods, and to this day he didn't quite believe her.

When people die, they stay dead. But what did he know? He wasn't blessed by a Fairy, the essence of Life itself. All he really knew was that it didn't matter. Serena was here, she was real, and he wouldn't trade that for anything. Calem raised his arms to wrap them around her waist, but Serena stepped to the side just then and headed for the closet.

"Anyway, I've just got a couple more things. Guess I should've done this sooner," she said.

Calem stuffed his hands in his pockets. Sylveon was sitting on its haunches and peering up at him with those luminous, blue eyes.

"What're you looking at?" Calem said.

Sylveon held his gaze, unblinking, and he got a strange chill, like it could read his mind and dared him to give it a reason to act on whatever murderous instincts Calem suspected it had always harbored for anyone who wasn't Serena. ...Or maybe he was being a little dramatic.

"Did you say something?" Serena called from her closet.

"No, nothing."

Sylveon trotted off to join Serena in the closet. Once she was packed and ready to go, Calem settled into the guest room on the first floor and helped himself to the shower. It was late, and he'd had a long day of flying from Lumiose on his Staraptor. Serena bid him goodnight, and they both decided to get a good night's sleep before heading out first thing in the morning. Grace would not be joining them.

Calem lay in bed, Klefki settled on the pillow next to him and totally passed out from its exciting day. He considered recalling it to its Pokéball, but decided against it. The little Keychain Pokémon seemed to like being outside, even when it was dead tired. Aegislash sat propped against the wall by the door, its black ribbons wrapped around its shield to keep it in place. To the untrained eye, it appeared as an antique knight's broadsword and shield, nothing particularly special about it.

As he lay in bed, Calem resolved to have a real conversation with Serena about his feelings for her. He couldn't keep lying to himself or to her, at least not without knowing where she stood on the matter. Maybe it wasn't fair to throw this in her face, but it wasn't fair to have to swallow it every day and pretend like nothing was amiss. If she didn't feel the same way, then that would be a huge bummer, but he'd respect her wishes and deal with it. He could not keep up the charade for much longer either way or he would probably spontaneously combust one of these days. But how to broach the subject? What could he say? When was the best time?

His thoughts muddled and spilled over into his dreams as sleep slowly overtook him. He dreamed of confessing everything to Serena, and she stared through him like he wasn't there at all. And when he tried to take her hand, Altaria descended from the heavens and knocked him down, tore open his belly with its wicked beak, and began to feast on his innards.

"We'll always be at odds," Dream Serena said as she looked down on him slowly being eaten alive.

Except it was no longer Altaria tearing him apart from the inside out, but Alain, his fingers long and curved into talons and his incisors as long as his chin. Blue Dragonfire bled from his eyes as he lowered his face to Calem's and grinned.

"Keep dreaming, kid," he taunted Calem, digging his talons in deeper and spilling blood, red ribbons that looped around Alain's shoulders like demon wings, those heartstrings that Serena admired so much.

Serena screamed, and Calem could do nothing but reach for her in vain. It was so loud and piercing, so full of anguish, so real...

Calem jerked awake in a cold sweat and tore at his T-shirt, making sure his intestines weren't spilling out over the bed. He was intact, the phantom pain all but gone, and Serena's scream rang in his ear. Klefki stirred on the pillow, jingling.

"Just a dream," Calem whispered, breathing heavily.

Klefki floated in front of his face and jingled noisily.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Klefki wiggled frantically and floated toward the door, where it jingled some more over Aegislash. The Ghost's jeweled eye flickered to life and swiveled around the room. Something hit the floor with a low thud somewhere on the second floor, and Calem froze.

"That wasn't a dream."

Serena.

Calem launched out of bed and grabbed the Pokéballs on the nightstand. He was in nothing but one of his dad's old sports T-shirts and boxers, but he didn't give his appearance a second thought as he threw open the door to his room and ran to the stairs. Aegislash zoomed after him, leaving a thin trail of violet fog in its wake, and Klefki lagged behind, unable to keep up.

Calem took the stairs two at a time, overstepped near the top, and fell flat on his face. He swore as his right knee exploded with pain, but it would pass. Aegislash hovered near the bottom of the stairs, suddenly frozen in its place.

"What're you doing? C'mon!" Calem called to it as he hauled himself up.

Aegislash's eye swiveled, seeing into dimensions beyond Calem's understanding, and he got the strange feeling that it was...afraid.

"What's going on with you? I need you, Aegislash!"

Reluctantly, the sentient sword and shield floated up the stairs as Calem righted himself. Grace threw open her door just then at the end of the hall, wrapped in a bathrobe with her hair a bit frazzled.

"What's going on out here?" she demanded, words slurred from sleep.

Aegislash caught up to Calem, and he jogged through the pain in his knee down the opposite end of the hall to Serena's room.

"I don't know, I heard something," he called back to Grace.

Klefki chimed furiously near the top of the stairs where Calem had left it, rattling uncontrollably. Calem threw open Serena's door without knocking and burst inside. The room was dark, the comforter was splayed on the floor, and the window was wide open. The bedside lamp had fallen off the nightstand and shattered, most likely the thump Calem had heard downstairs.

There was no sign of Serena anywhere.

"Shit."

Calem ran to the window and looked outside. What he saw below in the backyard garden made his blood run cold. Serena was there, fully dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt like she'd planned to sneak out, but her plans had been thwarted by the other figure standing over her comatose body. A woman in black and red with loud, magenta hair loomed over Serena. A Delphox stood at her side, its torch glowing with Mystical Fire that looped around Serena and made her convulse, sending her into a telepathically induced coma.

"Hey!" Calem shouted as he climbed out the window.

The woman looked up at him—she was wearing sunglasses despite the darkness and the late hour—and smirked. "It's past your bedtime, kid. Nothing to see here."

"Like hell! What'd you do to Serena?!"

Calem was on the roof now, and Aegislash was right behind him. Calem reached for it, and it wrapped its black sash around the length of his right arm to the elbow. Aegislash's shield found its way into his left hand.

"Do?" the woman said. "Not much. But I had the element of surprise. You ruined my silent getaway, by the way."

Grace appeared at the window behind Calem with Klefki in tow. "What's going on?! Where's my daughter?!"

The woman in the backyard headed for the gate. "And that's my cue to leave before this party gets any more popular." She waved to her Delphox. "Bring the Magus."

Calem paled. "Magus?"

How does she know?

Calem had always feared a day like this would come, that the wrong person would find out about Serena, but he'd never dreamed it would happen like this, so soon, and he so unprepared. She must have caught Serena unawares as she was sneaking out to the woods, otherwise Serena surely would have engaged her in battle and raised the alarm. Aegislash's hilt was a comforting weight in his right hand as Calem quickly realized what he would have to do.

"Calem, what's happening?" Grace shouted from the window. "Who's that woman?"

"She's got Serena," Calem said. "And I'm gonna get her back."

The woman had reached the gate and was fiddling with the latch. Her Delphox, undoubtedly the powerful Psychic that had spooked Aegislash earlier, carried Serena's unconscious body via telekinesis behind it, and just the sight of them carting Serena off like chattel filled Calem's belly with an acidic desire to hurt them.

"Stay there, Grace," Calem said as he ran to the edge of the roof and jumped.

He brandished Aegislash's shield in his left hand over his chest and raised his sword hand. The woman saw him plummeting toward her like a dive-bomber and swore, forcing the garden gate open and spilling out onto the sidewalk just as Calem swung.

Aegislash glowed white as it hit the ground, smashing through the gate and cutting clean through the concrete sidewalk where the woman was backtracking as quickly as she could. The Sacred Sword attack exploded in the ground, sending up a hail of earth, grass, and concrete and completely smashing through the wooden garden gate. Calem landed hard on the ground, Aegislash breaking his fall only a little, and grunted.

"Oh my god, Serena!" Grace shouted, just now noticing Delphox's telepathic hold on her daughter as it attempted to jump the wall.

Grace disappeared into the house in a rush, and Klefki followed her. Calem got to his feet, breathing hard but barely noticing the chill in his nightclothes. Aegislash pulsed in his grip, its gold-encrusted blade singing for the woman's flesh. He was more than happy to oblige it, but first that Delphox.

Calem turned on the Psychic fox, who'd cleared the wall with Serena floating behind it, and lunged at it. "Let her go!"

Aegislash glowed with the beginnings of a Shadow Ball, the purple Ghost mist enveloping its blade, and Calem swung hard at Delphox. Delphox generated a wondrous wall of yellow light just as Calem connected. The Shadow Ball detonated against Delphox's Light Screen and blew them both backwards, Delphox into the garden wall and cracking the stone, and Calem skidding along the sidewalk.

A burning pain erupted in his face, which was already starting to bleed profusely where gravel had ripped open his skin over his temple and cheek, but he struggled to his feet. The rest of him—bare legs, elbows, palms—had escaped unscathed but stung like hell. Focusing on hardening his skin in fifteen places at once proved too difficult. The unfamiliar heat and stickiness of his own blood stung as it leaked into the side of his eye. The woman ran to her Delphox to make sure it was okay, then retrieved something from her hip.

"Listen, kid, I don't know you and I couldn't give less of a fuck who she is to you, but I'll do you a favor and give you the chance to stand down. I promise I won't kill you if you do."

Calem got to his feet and winced at the burning pain in his face. "Fuck you. Let her go or I'll kill you."

The woman sighed dramatically, then laughed darkly. "You know? I was kind of hoping you'd say that."

She tossed out two Pokéballs, and from within the light, a female Pyroar and a Talonflame materialized. Pyroar snarled, the orange crest on its head aglow with combusting embers. Talonflame, too small to carry a human rider but as deadly fast as a Crobat, took to the sky with a fiery flap of its wings.

Damn, it had to be Fire types, Calem thought.

But this was Serena. He had to do everything he could and more. This woman, whoever she was, knew Serena was a Magus and was clearly intending to kidnap her for some reason. Nothing good judging from her style and hostility. He had to stop her.

So he reached for his own Pokéballs and released Bisharp and Escavalier, the former to counteract Delphox's Psychic abilities while he and Aegislash dealt with Pyroar, and the latter to counter Talonflame's speed and flight. Bisharp fell into position at Calem's flank, bladed fists poised to rip and maim, while Escavalier hovered off to the side, its steel helmet lowered over its vulnerable eyes and head and sharp stingers brandished like medieval lances.

"Serena!"

Grace appeared on the sidewalk leading around from the front door in her slippers and bathrobe, while Klefki buzzed about Calem's head, frantic at the smell of his blood.

The woman noticed Grace and waved her hand. Pyroar leaped, quick as lightning, toward Grace, its jaws smoking with Fire Fang. Calem reacted on instinct and ran to intercept.

"King's Shield!" he shouted, thrusting the golden shield in his left hand forward.

Aegislash's shield lit up with a golden aura just as Pyroar slammed into it with Fire Fang. Calem wobbled on his bare feet, feeling the bottoms of his feet scrape and peel away over the chewed up sidewalk, but he pushed back with all his might. Pyroar was no match for the ultimate defense, type advantage or no, and it was blown back with a nasty snap. Grace froze, eyes wide and mouth agape, just a few feet behind Calem in Pyroar's intended line of fire.

But there was no time. Pyroar hissed, its own attack having backfired and blown up in its face. It bled from its cheeks, its pink gums bloody and a couple teeth cracked, but Calem had really only pissed it off more. Delphox moved to defend the woman, and Talonflame took to the skies, intending to loop around for a Brave Bird attack.

"Bisharp! Night Slash!" Calem shouted.

Bisharp didn't need much prompting. It lunged for Delphox, knife tipped fists raised, and leaked sinister tar that splattered when it slashed. Escavalier didn't even wait for Calem as it played a game of chicken with the speedy Talonflame, its sharp stingers poised and waiting for the firebird to come to it.

Talonflame swooped, impossibly fast, and kicked up a white-hot tailwind as it powered up a Brave Bird attack. Escavalier braced itself, and Talonflame slammed into it with scything wings. They crashed together, and Escavalier rammed its lance stingers into Talonflame's belly with all its might in a reckless Fell Stinger attack. Talonflame squawked and broke contact, the Brave Bird propelling it onward and ripping Escavalier's stingers out from under it. One had missed, managing only to pull out a few white feathers, but the other punctured a deep, six-inch gash in Talonflame's underbelly. Blood spilled from the weeping wound and splashed the sidewalk and Escavalier, who spun out of control and slammed into the cracked stone garden wall. The impact left a wide, crumbling dent in the wall, and it fell apart around the Cavalry Pokémon, burying it.

Calem witnessed what had happened to Escavalier, but he was too preoccupied with Pyroar and the mysterious woman to help his Pokémon. Grace had backed up a ways with Klefki to Calem's relief, and he ran at Pyroar without worrying about her safety. He let go of Aegislash's hilt, the black ribbons still wrapped around his arm, and the sword flew of its own volition in a downward Guillotine over Pyroar. But the agile lioness dodged with a well-timed Double Team at the last minute, and Aegislash's blade ended up in the ground again, half buried in the dirt and concrete.

Pyroar's long crest glowed as the embers it shed grew hotter and fluttered around its body. The flames began to grow with the beginnings of a deadly Overheat, but Calem jumped straight for her, shield first.

"Eat this!" he yelled.

Aegislash's shield shone with a steely silver sheen as he crashed it into Pyroar's head. The lioness whimpered as she took the Iron Head attack at point-blank range and exploded in falling embers. They burned holes in Calem's clothes and seared his hair and skin—he could keep his skin from cutting and scraping if he concentrated, but he couldn't stop it from boiling off his bones. Calem cried out as he broke from Pyroar and fell back, Aegislash's shield heavy over his chest.

Nearby, Bisharp was pushing Delphox into a corner with Night Slash after Night Slash, forcing it to split its concentration between supporting Serena and fending off Bisharp. Bisharp was fast, and it managed to land a direct hit across Delphox's chest, making the fox howl in pain as its ruddy fur congealed and darkened with blood. But the small victory was short lived. Delphox spat out a thick Flamethrower and Bisharp was forced to dodge, but Delphox's Psychic abilities manipulated the fire and looped the stream around. Bisharp took off at a run from the sentient fire, skidding over the rubble from the decimated garden wall.

Escavalier finally managed to dig itself out of the rubble just as Bisharp neared it, and Calem blanched at what he knew was about to happen.

"Shit, Bisharp!"

Bisharp got the message loud and clear and took a knee in front of the still-dazed Escavalier. It began to glow with a soft, silvery light as it concentrated its Iron Defense, and not a moment too soon. Delphox's Psychic-enhanced Flamethrower hit it dead center and folded over itself in a spinning conflagration that completely obscured Bisharp from view. Escavalier was safe behind it, struggling to right itself as Calem similarly tried to stand.

A sharp whistling overhead was all the warning Calem got when Talonflame, its breast bloody and its cruel talons outstretched, swooped in out of nowhere and snatched Escavalier from the rubble. It took to the sky, its talons worming their way into the grooves in Escavalier's protective armor, and the Bug struggled to free itself.

"No, Escavalier!"

Calem managed to get up and went for Aegislash's blade. Pyroar was on the ground a ways away, bleeding and smoking and struggling to stand. He had to shoot that Talonflame out of the sky before it ripped Escavalier to shreds.

Something grabbed him by his sword arm, and a white-hot pain bloomed where fingers curled around his skin. Calem screamed and swung around with Aegislash's shield on instinct, but another hand grabbed his shield arm from behind and burned through it, too. He smelled his own flesh cooking under her hands, that woman that had abducted Serena, felt her fingers sinking past his boiling flesh into his muscles and cooking them, too. The pain was too much, and he dropped Aegislash's shield before he could stop himself. Calem struggled, and she pulled him to her.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, kid," the woman said against his ear.

Escavalier shrieked above as Talonflame dug its nails under its steel helmet and ripped it clean off. Calem watched, horrified, as the firebird tore into the supple flesh newly exposed, and severed Escavalier's unprotected head at the neck, swallowing it in one gulp. Then it let the rest of Escavalier's body fall to the ground, where its armor fell apart and it bled a greenish yellow discharge from its severed neck, unmoving.

Delphox's Flamethrower ran its course, and Bisharp emerged from the flames smoking and charred, but in one piece. Iron Defense had saved it, but it hadn't been enough to save Escavalier. Pyroar had finally gotten to its feet and snarled, blue eyes narrowed to slits, as it circled Calem, limping from its wounds.

Tears filled Calem's eyes as the pain washed over him like a wave, like it was the sea and he was drowning in high tide. He couldn't even feel the area where her fingers were digging into him anymore, the nerves burned to a crisp all the way to the bone. The smell of his flash fired flesh stung the back of his throat, sour, and his knees buckled. The woman released him.

"Delphox, we're leaving," the woman said.

"Calem!" Grace screamed.

By now, the neighbors had begun to emerge, drawn by the commotion, and the elderly Mrs. Petunia from next door in her frumpy nightgown and hair curlers threw herself at Grace to keep her from getting too close to the commotion. Someone was shouting something about calling the police.

The woman recalled her Pyroar and Talonflame when the latter deigned to land, its beak dripping yellowish Bug discharge and its belly crusted with blood. Its dark eyes were ringed with yellow feathers, like demonic war paint, which was all Calem could think when it glared at him.

Delphox approached the woman with Serena in tow and set her down on the ground before the woman recalled it, too, and tossed out her final Pokéball. In the flash of light, an enormous Charizard emerged and stretched its leathery wings, jaws hanging open and its sunburst scales glowing in the flickering firelight left over from Delphox's Flamethrower.

The woman lifted Serena up bridal style and positioned her in the generous leather saddle strapped to Charizard's back. Calem saw what the woman meant to do and crawled toward Aegislash.

"Don't try it," the woman warned him.

He ignored her and reached for Aegislash, who was struggling to pull itself out from the ground. She sighed, exasperated, and slammed her booted foot down on Calem's hand. He grunted from the shock and immediate pain and crumpled pathetically, seeing stars.

"You're a Steel Adamantine, right?" the woman said. "It doesn't matter how tough your skin is. Steel always melts under an open flame. Know your place."

Bisharp was slowly making its way back to Calem, but it was in bad shape after the direct and protracted Flamethrower it had swallowed.

The woman gave his crushed fingers one last sickening crunch under her heel and headed for her Charizard. She mounted it behind Serena to hold her in place. Serena's head lolled on her shoulder, and the sight of her passed out like that stoked Calem's helpless fury even through the elemental pain in his arms and hand. He could barely move.

"I'll come for her," he bit out through chattering teeth. "And you'll die for this."

The woman patted her Charizard and adjusted her stylish sunglasses. She cast a glance at the gathering crowd of retirees and housewives and small town folks, bored.

"A word of advice," she said. "Forget about her."

With that, she signaled to Charizard, and the orange pseudo-Dragon took off into the sky in a rush of wind. Bisharp finally made it to Calem's side and silently dug Aegislash's blade out of the ground. The possessed sword retrieved its shield and snaked its ribbons around Calem's middle and shoulders, gently lifting him from the ground.

Now that the immediate threat was gone, Grace and the other Vaniville Town residents rushed to Calem's aid. Klefki was with Grace and jingled frantically next to Calem's ear.

"Calem, can you hear me? Calem!" Grace had him by the shoulders, her blue eyes wide and wet.

Another neighbor, a man in his forties, took one of Calem's burned arms and started saying something about a hospital and doctors and Burn Heal, but Calem barely heard any of them.

"My daughter," Grace practically screamed at him. "Where is that woman taking her? Why didn't you stop her?!"

Calem's face ached: his left cheek and temple were ripped to shreds and blood dripped below the collar of his shirt. Bisharp stood behind him, a silent shield, and Calem tore his gaze away from Grace to look at Escavalier's broken body dashed on the sidewalk.

"I don't know," he said, his words slurred.

He'd lost a lot of blood from his arms, and the pain washed over him again in gentle waves, almost soporific. Tears streamed down his ruined cheek like acid over the open wound, and his broken hand throbbed with the slightest movement.

"I don't know," he said again.

Grace wailed, overcome with grief, and Mrs. Petunia with her hair curlers had to hold onto her. Calem wobbled on his feet, seeing dark spots in his vision, and the last thing he remembered were hands grabbing at him, disembodied voices, and the smile in that woman's voice as she burned him to the bone. There was nothing he could have done, not against her. He was too weak.

"Know your place."

Serena was gone.