C'est La Vie (A Pokemon Y Storylocke)

by LunaKat17

"Never hesitate, never forget"—that is the motto of a Kantonian Trainer. To always keep moving forward, to pursue your dream no matter the cost, price, or consequences. And one Trainer from Kanto finds herself asking if such ideals can survive in Kalos, as she grapples with legends, villains, and secrets that were better left buried. (Based off my Pokemon Y Nuzlocke).

13. Chapter 5: Peste (Part 1)

Chapter 5—Peste
(noun)
—French for "plague", "scourge", or "pestilence"

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Thanks to Ray's guidance, they managed to find their way back to the path without running into any more Beedrill. It took a grand total of a day and a half, during which Shauna kept insisting on making small-talk, and Celestine tried to keep chitchat to a minimum. If Shauna was upset by Celestine suddenly giving her the cold shoulder, she didn't show it—in fact, it might have even caused her to redouble her efforts.

There was an immense rush of relief that went through Celestine when they stumbled across the path again, because as there were too many things moving around in the shadow of these woods. She kept thinking she'd see a shadow of Roi's silhouette between the trees, his infuriatingly cryptic words and the way he acted as if he knew—as if he could see her and see through her and see ahead of her, into her future—all at once—

Ugh, forget it. She had enough to worry about. To busy her otherwise anxious mind, she trained her team up and creamed the stationed Field Trainers. Shauna allowed Celestine to "do the honors", as she put it, because Celestine looked like she "really needed to blow off steam". Celestine resented her a little for that.

Regardless, the Field Trainer turned out to be surprisingly easy to beat, with Delphi's superior level of combat knowledge combined with Celestine's years of experience dealing with newbie Trainers making them an almost unbeatable combo. Celestine suspected that it might also be he was trying to impress her, but she pretended to ignore it, the words don't get attached ringing through her head. Ray was still weakened from the Poisoning, but Max assisted him in battles against the bolder wild 'mons. Tanner departed once they found the path again, which, after bearing his insufferable chatter over the last day or so, Celestine was extremely grateful for. It seemed the Pidgey still couldn't tolerate Bugs, and she was fine with that—until after he'd left and she realized she'd never asked him where he learned to condense, a technique that was born of human ingenuity.

Regardless, it was nice for a while.

But then "a while" started to stretch and extend, encroaching dangerously on the territory of "forever" and "an eternity". They trekked through the Forest for another three days, and that was even on the path. By the fifth day of waking up to a viridescent canopy, Celestine was beginning to feel sick of the color green—and considering that she had grown up in the famous "Evergreen City", that in itself was an amazing feat. Shauna kept trying to be bubbly and upbeat, but that was starting to grind on Celestine's nerves too, and she quite bluntly told the Hoennian to, quote, "stop saying stupid stuff" to her, unquote. In a rare show of defiance, Shauna chose to voice such optimistic platitudes out loud, as if either addressing the entire group or speaking only to herself, rather than speak to Celestine directly, and it really pissed Celestine off in a way that she could strangely admire. At this point, she could safely say that Shauna didn't take crap from anyone, Celestine included.

The point was, the experience overall was barely tolerable. By the end of that fifth day, Celestine was ready to tear her hair out.

So you could imagine how absolutely jubilant she was when, a few hours after waking up on the sixth day, that the trees parted and gave way to sunshine so bright it was almost blinding.
She laughed—out loud, boisterous and from some deep place in her gut that ached from disuse. A whoop left her, and she made her way out into the sunshine, grinning. Sacred Bird almighty, she'd nearly forgotten what sunshine was like, after six days in that damnable Forest, golden and white and so, so beautiful. The sky was bright blue like priceless jewel, and there were a few cotton-puff clouds in the sky and it was gorgeous. Celestine's knees wobbled and she nearly collapsed, because her feet were still bare and they ached from six days straight of walking, and maybe they still had some ways to go before they reached civilization but it was a start and she was so goddamn relieved.

Shauna watched her reaction with mild amusement. "Happy there, Lavieaux?"

"Screw you," Celestine gasped. She fell back against the ground with a thump and a colossal sigh of relief, folding her aching legs beneath her. "If I never see another tree again, I'm going to kill someone. Literally. I will strangle them to death and then stab them with my heels."

"You realize there's a lot more wilderness in Kalos," Delphi pointed out with slightly less timidity than usual.

"I fucking hate you all."

That made Shauna snort and Delphi turn to Mint, who rolled her eyes. Max chirped, happily oblivious, while Ray patted the bird's head affectionately.

Shauna sat down next to Celestine, setting Mint down. The Chespin scrabbled over to the rest of Celestine's team, exclaiming that she had invented a new game involving the dandelions and they were all going to play it.

The comment made Celestine take a closer look at the Route. It was sloped, gentle hills and angles, just as flourishing as its sister Route on the other side of the Forest. They were up high, and from Celestikne's vantage, she could glimpse a few Field Trainers station near a pair of great ivory gates, all of them school-aged and eager. The Route overflowed with great swaths of emerald grasses—but more than that, Celestine realized, patches of bright yellow sliced through green, tall, swaying stems with sunny heads. Further down, she could make out a whole sea of them, blazing yellow, marching up the side of the hill like a steadily advancing army, and she couldn't help a twinge of amazement. Celestine had seen dandelions, yes, but never so many, not all at once. A few were starting to seed, and she vaguely remembered Midori-Sensei telling her about how it was thing in the islandic region of Hoenn to blow on seeding dandelions—"wishing flowers", they were called—and make a wish. That had always puzzled her, because how could flowers grant wishes, especially after they had ceased growing and were reaching the end of their lifespan?

She'd asked Sensei that exact question, and the woman had arched a brow with a bemused smile, said that Celestine might be taking the whole thing too seriously.

If Maman were here, she might have said something like how it was because death begets life or something like that.

"So, I'm curious," Shauna said, interrupting Celestine's train of thought. She turned to the Hoennian, trying not let her slight twinge of exasperation show. Shauna liked asking personal questions, if the trek through the Forest was any indication. "How does a Trainer from the super eco-friendly Viridian City not become a fan of wilderness? I mean, you've literally got an Old Forest right in your backyard."

"It's not that I'm not a fan of wilderness," Celestine responded. "It's just that I want a shower and a new pair of shoes so I don't have to walk around barefoot."

"Didn't you get used to this on your Journey, though?"

Celestine was about to respond, but then Mint gave a shout and suddenly Delphi was yelping, tumbling down the hill and into the sea of dandelions, a rumpled ball of gold and orange fur vanishing into the swaths of weed blooms. The Trainer stifled a twinge of concern when Mint gave a shout of triumph and dived in after him. Ray sighed silently, patted Max on the head once, and then bounded over to separate the two before the roughhousing got too intense.

"Celie?"

Celestine didn't take her eyes off the scene—Ray pulling them both out from the flower patch, giving them each a light wack on the head for their recklessness, they could have bruised something, after all—but she heard Shauna. She was just distracted by the sight, so domestic and idyllic, her mind otherwise occupied by remembering, oh, so this is what being a Trainer is like, that she couldn't think of a response other than, "Never went on one. Wanted to—never got to."

"What? Why?"

At that, she snapped back to present and turned back to Shauna—only to realize from the Hoennian's bewildered gaze that it was too late to take back what she'd said. "Oh, uh... Before I got my traveler's permit, I, um... I had to... leave Viridian."

Shauna looked even more surprised by this. "How come? Did you move or something?"

A small breeze picked up, coming from the north and cold with the chill of distant mountains that reminded her too strongly of the Silver Mountains in the autumn. Celestine bit her lip and remembered Viridian Forest, the trees enclosing and asphyxiating as she panicked, and blood dripping down her face as she held on tight, and her breath ragged as she breathed out promises they both knew weren't true—she still had a scar on her left temple, hidden by her bangs.

"...something like that."

Thankfully, Celestine was saved from having to answer any further questions, the sound of wingbeats reaching her ears from above. Somewhere between annoyed and relieved, she almost glanced up, but then she felt the weight of talons are her head, and she decided that she was definitely more annoyed than relieved.

"Been a while, OC girl," came Tanner's voice, that odd mix between chipper and perpetual impatience.

"Don't call me that," Celestine deadpanned. She tilted her head to throw him off, but all that she got out of him were a few startled wingbeats and the pressure of his claws digging deeper into her scalp. "Okay, what is it with you and landing on me head?"

"S'cozy. You got a Ball ready or not?"

Celestine sighed. If she regretted her promise earlier—and she had—then she was really regretting it now. Part of her whispered at her to just ditch the chatty bird, but she'd made a promise, and Celestine Lavieaux always kept her promises.

"Okay, okay, give me a sec."

She turned to her bag and started digging around for Poké Balls. In her peripheral, she thought she caught Tanner's feathered head bowed, leaning over her as if intrigued by the Trainer gear she kept in her bag.

"Why are they always red and white?" Tanner asked when Celestine had found one and pulled it out, enlarging it.

"It's iconic," Celestine answered.

"Okay, but, why?"

Her fingers twitched in annoyance around the Ball in her hand. "Why don't we take a trip to Johto and you can ask the apricorn people that—they're the ones who used to paint them that way."

"Are you serious about that trip to Johto?"

She blinked. "What?"

"Because if so, I'm soooo in."

"Um, what?" The topic of conversation couldn't have been changed that quickly.

"I mean, have you the shrines, the natural wilderness, and I've heard that Ecruteak in particular looks gorgeous in the fall, like, leaves all 'ablaze with color', as my pepe put it. And then they have this tower that's dedicated to us Birds! Or at least, a bird god or something. But pépé said that if the light hit it just right, it lit up like this giant spire of pure gold. Called it the most beautiful sight in all of Johto."

"Oh, that sounds so pretty!" Shauna gushed. "I so want to visit Johto once I'm done traveling in Kalos."

"Hold on." Celestine held up her hands and shooting Shauna a bewildered look. "How the hell did we go from me catching a Pidgey to planning a trip to Johto?"

Delphi padded over, a dandelion tuft stuck behind his left ear. "We're going to Johto?"

"No!"

"Oooh, didja name 'im yet?" Mint asked as she ran over to them, Ray loping behind her. She propped her arms up on Celestine's thigh and peered up with sparkling dark eyes. "'Cause if you're stuck, I got a few suggestions."

"Oh, not necessary," Tanner answered, "my name has already been decided."

Celestine arched a brow. She had decided on a name for him, but she'd yet to inform him of it. What he was talking about was beyond her.

There was the ruffle of feathers, and she imagined Tanner sweeping his wing out in a dramatic flourish. "My name shall be Ace—because I'll be the ace of your team."

"No," Celestine said flatly.

"Buzzkill. Fine, then I'll be Jet, because—"

"Also no."

"Then how about—"

"No."

"You don't even know what I was gonna say," the Pidgey protested.

"Didn't need to. It was probably another three-letter name."

"Like Ray?" Shauna asked, a hint of something mischievous in her eyes.

"Or Max?" Mint added, picking up on her Trainer's tone.

Celestine scowled. "I hate you all. I'm never talking to you again."

Delphi straightened. "But you're still talking to me, right?"

She exhaled through her nostrils. What a fragile ego. "Yeah. Sure."

Max chirped.

"So what's my name gonna be then?" Tanner demanded.

"...I was thinking Tanner," Celestine answered. Her fingers twitched around the Ball in her hands, growing impatient.

"Tanner?" the Pidgey repeated, sounding somewhere between outraged and offended, and it made Celestine frown, feeling the slightest bit insulted. "Are you fucking serious?"

"What's wrong with it?" She craned her neck, but all she earned for her efforts was the sound of desperate flapping. Her frown deepened. "And will you get off my head so I can look at you when you're talking to me?"

Again, the sound of fluttering wings, but this time, the pressured weight of talons left her scalp as well. The Pidgey flew down to land on her thigh, glare irritated, talons digging into the exposed tears in Celestine's jeans and into her skin. She wondered if he squeezed hard enough if he might break the skin, make her bleed. But the wounds would heal instantly, and Shauna would see, and her cover would be blown.

"A color," the Pidgey snapped. "You decided to name me after a color? 'Tan'? Because I have tan feathers? That's real creative there, girlie. I expected better. I mean, who thinks it's okay to call someone by a color?"

"Worked for the Legendary Trainers of Kanto," Celestine drawled. Red the Battler, Blue the Strategizer, Green the Evolver, and Yellow the Healer. Everyone knew them, had heard of them. They were the first Dex Holders, the first of a generation of heroes, children who dared to face villains and come out triumphant. Celestine had been born during that period of tumult, when Rocket had dug its roots so deeply into the League that it toppled, their criminal boss becoming the first to hold the title "Champion" in Tohjo—only to fall to the four young Trainers who dared to defy him. The names, of course, were simple monikers, their noms de guerre. Their true names did not carry into the narrative, because color names were easier to remember, catchier, appealed more. The following generation, those who had either been born during or were too young to remember when Rocket held the Old Continent hostage and witnessed the selfless heroism of four valiant teenagers, had christened themselves with nicknames of their own, colors like their heroes. Celestine herself, twelve and bright-eyed, had gone through a phase in which she introduced herself as "Crimson" instead of her real name. Midori-Sensei had found it amusing, and neither Shigeru-san or Maman neither condoned nor admonished her for it, which in her mind had been a green light.

"The who the what now?"

"Those are the Trainers who fought Rocket around the same time the gang wars in Hoenn were going on, right?" Shauna asked.

Celestine thought about the other stories she'd heard, about the Weather Phenomenon, the Galactic Incident, and the Rocket Revival. About the Trainers who had also risen up in the face of danger, about the ones who had taken it a step further and claimed Championship, tried to pick up the broken pieces of their regions and reconstruct them into something stronger, more stable. About the girl from Johto who was fathered by one of Hoenn's Gym Leaders and faced warring factions armed with guns and god-subduing power, about the young woman from Celestic Town with one foot in the world of legend and tradition and the other foot in the present, about the teenage boy who had appeared out of nowhere with a mask and an agenda to dismantle the organization that had once toppled Tohjo and again beat them back into the shadows. "...roughly, yeah."

The Legendary Trainers of Kanto, though, had come first. Hoenn's had followed, then Sinnoh's, and finally Johto's. Everyone knew that.

"I've heard so many stories," Shauna said wistfully, leaning back a bit. Her eyes were misted, pensive, drifting idly to the sky. "They all had these iconic names—Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald—and no one knew their real names. Anonymity and all that. I always thought that was kinda cool. Like, how badass would it be if you only had one name?"

"Pretty cool," Celestine answered idly. She thought back to when she was child and had tried to get the name "Crimson" printed on her Trainer Card, how Cerise had poked fun at her by remarking that both their names would mean "red", how Maman had slowly arched a brow with an oh, you're actually serious look. How Shigeru-san had sighed and shaken his head and told her that fame wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and while mimicry was a form of flattery, not everyone would see it that way.

"Use your own name," he'd said, sounding in every way like the father Celestine wished was around more. "That way, when you make a name for yourself, people will remember you as you as you and not an LT knockoff."

Celestine turned back to the Pidgey—Tanner—and waved the Ball at him. "I've already decided on this, Bird. If you've got a problem with it, take it up with the Name Rater."

And she tapped the Ball on his head before he could protest further.

He struggled, of course. Was quite violent about it, actually. She almost dropped it out of fear that the shaking might dislocate her wrist, but it settled eventually with quick ding!. Celestine keyed in the name and shrank it, clipping it to her belt.

"What're the Legendary Trainers?" Delphi asked innocently.

Celestine blinked and stared at him, trying not to look horrified. How did he not know? Everyone knew, that was just a fact of life. Was this how others felt when she asked stupid things about Kalos? "It's, well, it's a collective term. For the Trainers that, erm, well—"

"They saved the world," Shauna interrupted excitedly. "Y'know, from those organized terrorist groups that cropped up, like, almost two decades ago."

"Right." But as Celestine looked at Shauna, she realized that Shauna, too, had only ever heard stories about such feats, about children meeting gods and defeating villains and saving the world. Like Celestine, she had no memories of the events, and could only live them through myths and legends and the scraps that were passed down through the grapevine.

We missed the age of heroes.

Then she thought back to the last time she'd been in the Viridian Forest, thought back to Roi and what he'd said about mankind's wanton cruelty.

But not the age of villains.

"I've never heard of them," Delphi said thoughtfully with a subtle head tilt.

"Oh, sweet, sweet Delphi," Mint cooed, going over to throw an arm around the Fennekin's shoulders. The look she gave him was cloyingly pitying. "We need ta get y'all educated."

Celestine sighed. She glanced back over the hills, at the Field Trainers stationed near the gates, likely all ready to challenge her the moment she came within range. It was of no fault of their own, it was simply their job. She knew that, understood it, but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it.

So much for having a warm shower anytime soon.

She got to her feet, regarding her starter thoughtfully. "Let's make a deal, Delphi. You help me beat up some kids for their lunch money, and I tell you a few things about the Legendary Trainers of Kanto and Johto. What do you say?"

Delphi untangled himself from Mint and glanced over at Ray, who had meandered over to Max and was making a few odd gestures that looked vaguely like he was trying to coax the Pidgey chick to perch on his arm. The Fennekin tilted his head to the side, contemplative. "If by 'lunch money' you mean winnings, and by 'kids' you mean Field Trainers, then I'm in."

Celestine smiled, and it didn't feel quite so fake. "Great. Let's go mug some grade schoolers."

"In a legal way," Shauna said, rising to her feet.

"Yeah. Obviously."

---

The Field Trainers fell easily enough to Delphi and Tanner's combination. They handed out mercy money freely, and Shauna cheered from the sidelines—not that Celestine needed the encouragement. Most of the Field Trainers were grade schoolers with fairly rudimentary knowledge of battles but little real-world experience, as opposed to Celestine and her familiarity with high-intensity battles, and armed themselves with low-leveled Pokémon that Delphi and Tanner could easily dispatch.

Tanner was still sore about his new name, obedient but grudging in comparison to Delphi's usual eagerness. Celestine was a little surprised by how easily battling came to the Bird—from her understanding, wild Pokémon usually took a while to adjust to human ownership and human battles—and she found herself using him more and more as the amount of battling Delphi had done in the Forest began to catch up with him.

"I'm not tired, Trainer," the Fennekin tried to protest, but the uneven panting in his breathing betrayed him. He was back on Celestine's shoulder, Tanner perched on the other and grumbling about how Celestine was prude for not letting the Bird sit on her scalp. Like the fact that his talons dug into her skin wasn't reason enough, and it must be that she was just generally uptight.

Celestine cast Delphi a sidelong glance. His ears were drooping, the tufts radiating significantly less heat that before. "Yes, you are. You fought all those Field Trainers on your own back in the Forest—you're probably running low on Aura."

Delphi sighed and lowered his head sulkily.

"Hey, don't give me that. All you need is a quick rest at the Center." When that didn't pacify him, she rolled her eyes. "Besides, you wouldn't be able to hear the story of Rocket's Fall if you were battling."

That made him perk up a bit. Celestine had found that he drank in the story eagerly, greedily, just like she had as a child. And that was what Delphi was, essentially—a kid. And kids enjoyed stories, especially the romantic ones with heroes slaying dragons and conquering villains, even if they were slightly unrealistic.

"Right! You were at the part where they were sieging Saffron?"

"Yeah." Celestine recalled Midori-sensei telling her about it, her teacher's green eyes alight with memorabilia and the thrill of storytelling. "So, they'd just made it past the front gate, and apparently they drugged the guard by putting Sleep Powder in his tea. Green had come up with that, because she was clever and pragmatic, and she knew that they had to even if it made the others uncomfortable. It was such an underhanded tactic, after all. Luckily, Yellow knew a lot about medicine, so she was able to adjust the dosage so it wouldn't be fatal or have any adverse effects, but still work quickly. They had Red pose as a delivery guy from a restaurant or something that delivers green tea, the old-fashioned brewed kind, in a thermos. Needless to say, the guard was out like a light in under an hour, and after Blue disabled the cameras—he was sort of a nerd with computers, not that his pride would ever let him admit it—the four managed to sneak by without alerting the occupying Rockets. When they made it to the other side, and first laid eyes on the metropolitan that was Saffron"—that was always how Midori-sensei referred to it, as the "metropolitan that was Saffron", as if to emphasize how much bigger and busier than Viridian or Celadon it was—"and the first thing they noticed was—"

"Why are all the cities in Tohjo named after colors and plants?" Tanner interrupted. Prior to their conversation, he had been alternating between complaining (which Celestine pointedly ignored) and chattering to Max in wild tongue—the younger Pidgey was still perched on Ray's shoulder, and the Panpour loped after them at a steady, silent pace. Ray was almost eerie in that way, his constant presence married with his uncanny silence.

Celestine shot the Bird a dubious look, a little miffed at the interruption. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, I mean, think about it. Cianwood, Mahogany, Ecruteak—those are all woods, right? Azalea, Violet, Goldenrod, Saffron—those are plants! And then all the others are, like, colors and stuff." Tanner leaned in a little, eyes round and dark and slightly wild. "I think, it's some conspiracy or something. It's like a coded message. Plants and colors, and they all mean something."

"Like what?" Delphi asked.

"No clue. But! I'm going to figure it out, or my name isn't Ace!"

"It isn't," Celestine muttered with an eye roll. She caught a glimpse of Shauna battling in her peripheral. They'd split up to handle the multitude of Field Trainers on the Route ("Can't let you have all the fun," Shauna had said with a wink) and the Hoennian seemed to be struggling a little, compared to Celestine, who had swept her opponents without much difficulty. Their strategies were too predictable, was all. Too simple, too easily read. She was honestly surprised Shauna was having difficulty.

Delphi's brow was scrunched thoughtfully. "Wait, then what about Lavender Town?"

Tanner glanced at him, startled. "What?"

"Lavender Town. That place with the cemetery? Lavender's a color, but it's also an herb, so, if it's a coded system, how does that work?"

Tanner sat there, blinking, stunned into silence. For a moment, Celestine almost thought Delphi had broken the Pidgey before she heard him muttering, "By the Alchemists, it just goes deeper, doesn't it?"

"Oh my god," Celestine said, stopping. She turned to Tanner in exasperation and had half a mind to shove him off. "There is no conspiracy. The towns and cities are just named that way. It's not a government plot or anything."

"Who said it was a government plot?" Tanner chirped in alarm, eyes wide.

Delphi squinted at him. "Um... you did?"

"What? No. I just thought that maybe the guys who named the towns were all related or something, y'know? And maybe they were clues to a lost treasure." Tanner looked away for a moment, stunned, and muttering under his breath, "But a government plot... By the Winged Mirages, I would have never guessed—"

"You wanna know why there's thematic naming?" Celestine interrupted, a little sick of all the interruptions. She had gotten into storytelling, a bit, and was rather annoyed that she'd been cut off at one of the highlights. They turned to her, but she didn't wait for a response. "It's religious. All those colors and plants? They have a symbolism, had a symbolism, back in pre-League Tohjo religion. Take where I come from, Viridian City, for example—green was seen as the color of life and vitality, and the settlement was located right next to an Old Forest. It also represented healing and magic, and there were legends about Viridian Forest somehow blessing people with the ability to heal. So it makes sense they'd give a settlement located next to a magic Forest a name associated with those sorts of blessings. It's probably similar for a lot of other settlements, too. I mean, take Vermillion—the color of the sunset, representing courage and ferocity in battle. Pewter is located in the mountains and grey represents stability, Cerulean near the sea and blue representing hope, etcetera."

Tanner paused for a moment. "...what about that one with the dragons?"

Celestine frowned. "Do you mean Blackthorn?"

"Yeah. What's the symbolism behind that, huh?"

"Blackthorns are plants," Celestine said, frowning deeper at the hint of challenge in Tanner's tone. "They were probably involved in a ritual or something. Incense and purification and appeasing the gods and whatever. I dunno. That's a Johto thing, and I'm not an expert."

"Then how do you know so much about Viridian?" Tanner challenged.

"I'm from there," she snapped, feeling oddly defensive and persecuted. "Weren't you listening?"

"...not really, no. Honestly, I forgot what we were talking about."

This bird was going to end up dead before they got to Santalune, she swore it.

"I hadn't realized that," Delphi said aloud, reflective. "I guess it would make sense for people to name places after things that were important to them... Lumiose is named after the Kalosian word for 'light' because, according to history, there used to be a huge underground mine of luminous crystal before the vein went dry a couple hundred years ago. And I hear that almost all the settlements in Unova are named after weather or clouds in some way."

Did not know that, Celestine thought with a loud exhale from her nose. Also, don't care. "Do you want me to get back to the story, or are we just going to keep debating the terminology of human settlements?"

Delphi perked up excitedly. "Story please."

"Thank you," she said. "Now where was I... Oh, yes, Saffron! They'd just made it through the gate, and the first thing they noticed was the Rockets. There was so many of them. They covered the city, swarmed it like an infestation of black suits and bloody Rs. Yellow squeaked and immediately ducked behind Blue. Red grabbed a Ball from his belt and clenched it in his hand like a weapon, just in case, eyes wary. Green fingered at the hunting knife strapped to her belt—only she carried weapons, and the others disliked that about her, but she knew that Pokémon alone were no match for Rocket, otherwise the Gym and its Trainers would have driven Rocket out the moment they stepped foot in Saffron. Then Red un-tensed, lowering his arm slightly, and remarked that none of them were looking in their direction. They hadn't been noticed yet. A wave of collective relief flooded the group and they inched back, closer to the gate, to avoid being noticed.

"'Okay,' Green said, taking charge. This was her city, after all, her home field, and she knew all the streets and buildings like the back of her hand. 'First, we head to the Fighting Dojo. Get rid of the Rockets occupying it. As much as I hate those meatheads, we need their help if we're going to throw Rocket out.'

"'What about Sabrina-san and the Gym Trainers?' Red asked. 'You said Sabrina-san sent you to get help, right? Help's here.'

"But Green shook her head. 'They still have Sabrina-san's father captive in Silph Tower. As long as they have a gun pressed to his head, metaphorical or no, she's not going to attack. Telekinetics can't stop bullets, especially from up close. Besides—we don't exactly look like a rescue team. There's literally four of us, and one of us is, like, under four feet.'

"'Hey!' Yellow snapped, a little offended.

"Green shrugged, unapologetic. 'It's true.' She went back to organizing their plan of attack. 'We'll likely get the Gym Trainer's help—Sabrina-san can just say they've got rogue and hope Rocket won't hold it against her—but we still need the Dojo guys—'"

"How do you know?" Tanner interrupted, again.

Celestine clenched her hands into fists in an attempt to resist the overwhelming urge to strangle him. "Know what?"

"That it's not a government conspiracy. Like, maybe the government is acting without the League's consent or something."

"That's impossible," Celestine responded flatly.

"Oh yeah? How do you know?"

"Because the League is the government you dodo!"

"I think he means the other government," Delphi piped up sheepishly. "Y'know, the one that deals with all the politics and stuff."

"Again, the League."

"No, like, the League manages the Gym Circuit, while the other government manages things like the economy and taxes—"

"The League does all that," Celestine interrupted. "Gyms are military bases and are the city's main defense system, in addition to being a circuit trial. They have a responsibility to manage nearby towns without Gyms. The police work under them, and Gym Trainers are higher up on the hierarchy. The Elite Four? They work to manage certain places, divide Tohjo up into four sections, one managed by each. The Rangers also keep the peace, help out with emergencies involving vicious wilds, and manage League registration. The League takes care of everything—there's no other form of government."

"Really?" Delphi looked surprised. "You don't have a Prime Minister?"

"No. We have an Arch-Champion, though. He manages most of Tohjo's politics while the League Champion works on issues that pertain exclusively to the Gym Circuit. The Elite Four work on both levels."

"Huh." Delphi looked up. "I didn't realize it worked differently in other places."

Shauna chose that moment to finish her battle and come bounding over, pigtails bouncing. "Whatcha talkin' about?"

"Kanto," Celestine answered offhandedly. The gate was close by, maybe a few yards away. She could make out the city beyond from here, could see the tall buildings and stucco roofs and picturesque aura of it.

"Really?"

Celestine frowned. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

Shauna shrugged. "Well, you don't really talk about it all that much, y'know? And you always seem to get so sad when you do."

Celestine paused, brushing her bangs out of her face. "...I miss it."

Shauna blinked, and opened her mouth to respond, but Max suddenly let out a screech. Before Celestine could respond, or even so much as fully turn around to see what was happening—

Weight slammed into her, knocking off her feet, and the ground was very hard, despite all the grass and flowers that looked like they should soften the fall. Her temple thumped with a vague pain that would probably coalesce into an ugly bruise on her forehead. Over the distant throbbing, she heard Shauna yelp in alarm and Mint asking Delphi if he was alright, him responding that he was fine and it was just a minor bump on the head, and Tanner ranted angrily about the poor manners of people wearing helmets.

Celestine sat up, wiping the taste of dirt out of her mouth (gross, by the way), to find Ray eyeing her with something that vaguely resembled concern and Max letting out worried chirps. She looked up to see Shauna arguing with a girl in skating gear, dark pigtails threaded through her bright yellow helmet.

"What the hell," Celestine spat, leaping to her feet. She felt a sore spot on the small of her back, likely where someone had jammed their elbow into her. "Did you just fucking run me over?"

The pigtailed girl was shorter than her—much shorter, and much younger, maybe twelve or thirteen—but she regarded Celestine with dismissive grey eyes. "You got a problem with me?"

"You ran me over."

"Then maybe you shoulda gotten out of the way," the girl sneered.

"Maybe you should have given her warning," Shauna snapped in a rare moment of anger. Mint glared at the girl from her Trainer's side, and Delphi padded over to Celestine's. The Kantonian knelt down to pick him up. Tanner shifted closer to Ray and Max, still grumbling indignantly.

The girl's eyes flitted to Delphi and hardened. "Oh, boy, you're one of those League Trainers, aren't you?"

Celestine scowled. The way the other girl said League Trainers was vaguely disgusted, dismissive and disparaging. It left a bad taste in the Kantonian's mouth. "What about it?"

The girl snorted derisively. "Figures. You guys just think you can throw your weight around and do whatever you want without suffering the consequences, don't you?"

Celestine blinked. "Are you sure we're still talking about me? Because I'm not the one who fucking ran over a pedestrian and has yet to apologize."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "I don't need to apologize to you. You probably think you're better than me, don't you?"

"No one's saying that," Shauna said angrily. "Where did that even come from?"

Realization dawned on Celestine, and she looked at girl closer—simple clothing, but durable, fit for travel and training. "...you're a Field Trainer."

The girl's flinty eyes snapped back to Celestine and grew colder. "Class Trainer. And you just now realized that? Wow, I've never met anyone so dumb."

Something in Celestine's chest hardened, and it felt something like the cool fury she'd unleashed on Calem last week, when he'd barged into Shauna's house with the sole purpose of antagonizing her. "I've never seen anyone with your costume, so."

"Costume?" The girl's eyes flashed furiously. "This isn't a costume, bitch. This is real athletic gear. I'm a Roller Skater—the best in town."

"A what?" Celestine's temper faltered momentarily, replaced by genuine confusion. She'd never heard of that Trainer Class.

But that only seemed to rile the Roller Skater up more. "So you think you're that much better than us that you don't even have to do your research? You got some nerve—"

"Excuse me," Celestine said with frown. "I'm from Kanto. Trainer Classes variate from region to region. It's not uncommon for some to region-exclusive."

The girl scoffed. "Don't give me that."

Delphi glanced up at Celestine, then back at the girl, puzzled. "You mean... logic?"

The girl's eyes narrowed. "No one asked you, fleabag."

Delphi winced, eyes flattening, and a bolt of anger went down Celestine's spine, making her straighten and her eyes widen, how dare she—

"Hey!" Shauna intervened again, physically stepping between them. She was taller than the Field Trainer girl, but just barely. "Don't take it out on Delphi. He didn't do anything!"

"Excuse you, did anyone ask your opinion?" the girl spat.

The hardness returned with a vengeance, and Celestine's eyes narrowed. "I don't think I'm better than you."

The girl snapped her attention back to Celestine. "Yeah, right. You just strut around with your stupid fox because you like fur accessories."

Delphi flinched harder, and the last of Celestine's patience, the only thing holding her fury back, vanished. It flooded her from the inside out, head to toe, itched beneath her skin—icy hot—filled up her chest cavity, her lungs, ribcage, heart, throat, made its way up her windpipe and seized her vocal chords for its own. Then it was in her mouth, burning against her tongue and behind her teeth, a sweetly familiar poison, and it gushed forward, words spilling out—"You know what know one asked for? Your opinion. You just barged in here, shouted, and expected us to take you seriously? Fuck off, bitch. Go blow it out your ass."

The girl's eyes blazed violently and she glared at Celestine over Shauna's shoulder. "You blow it out your ass. You think I'm gonna listen to you because you're a League Trainer? You may think you're better than me, but you're really not. I mean, at least I'm wearing shoes and don't look like I came out of a disaster zone."

Something in Celestine snapped, and she stepped closer, eyes blazing, poison burning in her mouth and in her throat. "I don't think I'm better than you—even if it's probably true."

Shauna faltered at this, turning back to Celestine in bewilderment. "Uh, Celie?"

The Roller Skater shoved Shauna aside and the cold fire in Celestine raged. "What was that?!"

All around Celestine, murmurs broke out, and she spied some of the Field Trainers she'd bested earlier approaching them. Whispers, gossip, spilled into the air, thick and pungent, made the atmosphere tighter and tenser, like the coiling muscles of a beast ready to spring.

"Is that Rinka?" "I think so, yeah." "She's not picking on another League Trainer, is she?" "Looks like it." "For Pete's sake, she's gonna lose her Licence." "Hey, isn't that the girl who beat us a while ago?" "Yeah, it is." "She looks really mad." "Ooh, this is gonna be good."

It flickered in Celestine's ears, rushed through her like wind and rain and fueled the storm building inside of her. So she had spectators. Who cared? It changed nothing about what this girl—Rinka, apparently—had said or done up till now.

"It's through no fault of your own," the icy rage inside her went on, a hurricane with rain and hail and thunder and wind that tore at the rafters of her mind. Her thoughts screamed and raged that this girl, Rinka, had no right to say such things, attack her starter's already-fragile ego, shove around whoever she wanted and claim she was victim. And suddenly, Celestine no longer cared about whatever issues or inferiority complex this girl had. She had no right, no reason, and all Celestine didn't even fight the flood of poison that spilled out, born of rage and disgust. "I mean, League Trainers are free to grind and train to their heart's content, but Field Trainers like you have level caps. And you can't even catch the Pokémon you want—the minute you sign that contract, you've given up your freedom as a Trainer. You're bound by the League's rules, can't train or catch or even raise your Pokémon freely. Your entire job is to provide a decent challenge for League Trainers, to be fodder for them to beat up and help boost their egos. Hell, if I decided to battle you with a level fifty team, and yours was only at level six or so, you couldn't do anything about it.

"And you wanna know why you can't do anything about it? Because you signed a contract, saying you were okay being a League Trainer's lesser. Sorry if you didn't read the fine print, but that's how the system works. League Trainers—the ones who actually have to work hard to pass a crazy-hard exam and earn their license, instead of just sending in an application and signing a form—have to face harrowing trials, travel all across the region and battle Gym Leaders and worry about keeping our teams alive. And you're just the placebo effects, the ones who encourage them to keep going, who lose to them so that they feel good about themselves and keep going, keep the wheel turning. And maybe you can be pissed about that, but not really—because you're compensated for it. Generously. You guys receive huge sums in exchange for throwing battles or just not being as qualified as your opponents.

"So I got some advice for you, missy: buck up. You signed a contract. A binding one. An optional one. You chose this—but if you really hate dealing with League Trainers, then drop out."

Rinka stepped forward, face red and livid, eyes blazing. A Ball had appeared in her hand, and Celestine felt suddenly like she should step back, like she was staring into the barrel of a gun. "Okay, that's it. You, me, battle—now."

The whispers of the crowd around Celestine escalated and crescendoed, hushed and droning like a Beedrill swarm. They buzzed against her skin, sent her vibrating with the need to take her frustrations out on something. A battle sounded perfect. "Fine. Tanner?"

"Actually, I think I landed on my wing funny," the Pidgey said. He stretched his wing out to demonstrate, and it looked fine to Celestine, but she noticed that his feathered face twisted into a grimace, indicating discomfort, if not pain. "...much as I want to bash this chick's face in."

Celestine exhaled through her nostrils and tried not to look at the triumph in Rinka's eyes. "Okay. Delphi? Do want to handle this?"

Delphi looked startled—though he shouldn't be, it was him this bitch had attacked and ridiculed, had gone after even though her supposed "gripe" was with his Trainer. "Um. Okay, sure."

The girls both took several large steps back, putting enough space between them to properly execute a battle. Around them, the small crowd shifted and moved out of their way, eyes sparkling with anticipation, but Celestine hardly noticed, her eyes fixed on Rinka and the cocky sway of her hips, the haughtiness in her eyes. The Field Trainer stationed herself under the gate like a sentinel of some sort, the final boss in a video game level.

You think that highly of yourself, huh?

Shauna still stood in the middle, her astonishment and shock keeping her rooted in place. She tossed an uncomprehending look between Celestine and Rinka, then took a few steps back, removing herself from the line of fire.

"So, normal Field battle," she said with a hint of wariness. "No out-of-bounds rule, switching is allowed on both sides, Non-Reaper, right?"

Rinka rolled her eyes. "Obviously. Do I look like a Berserker to you?"

Shauna frowned, but Celestine felt a twinge of something indistinguishable in her chest. She said that for my benefit. A reminder to keep my temper in check...

What does she think I'll do?

Celestine knelt down, allowing Delphi to jump out of her arms and tense in preparation for battle. Rinka tossed her Ball and it split, depositing a bolt of light that coalesced into a Zigzagoon, not unlike the one used by the Youngster back on Route Two—only this one had a fiercer expression on it, haughtier, as if trying to imitate its Trainer.

"Zaya, Tackle!" Rinka shouted.

Her mammal responded immediately, bounding across the field and picking up speed. Celestine was about to order a counter attack—but then she noticed how slow it was, how it darted back and forth, left and right, how it was taking fucking forever to even get close to Delphi.

Slow-ass rodent. The last one we fought couldn't have been this slow—but, then again, we did take it down almost instantly, so... who knows. "Delphi, counter with a Tackle of your own. But be careful—it might take another century before it gets close."

Delphi glanced back, not sure if he should take her comment seriously or not. But then he shrugged and burst forward, his long, fluid strides a stark contrast to his opponent's clumsy, drunken gait, and it was Delphi who crossed the invisible halfway mark first. He pulled his ears back, lowering his head as he galloped, preparing to slam his weight into the Zigzagoon's side—

But at the last minute, Zaya swerved to face Delphi, still following its zigzag rhythm, and it jumped into the air, just a little bit off the ground—enough for it to close the height gap and for their heads to collide with an audible crack.

"Ow." Delphi was sent reeling back, stumbling drunkenly, a grimace blooming across his features. He lost his balance and swayed, ears flattened. "Ow, that hurt."

The Zigzagoon, meanwhile, shook its head and, after stumbling briefly, tensed back into a battle stance. All around Celestine, the crowd murmured and whispered like a living thing, too-audible breaths throwing her concentration off.

"Delphi?" she called, and she had to restrain herself from taking a step forward into the makeshift battleground. "You okay?"

"I think so?" Delphi shook his head, mimicking Zaya, only to wince. "Ohhh, that was a bad idea. Everything's kinda...swaying. Did we get on a ship?"

"No, Delphi. Shake it off, try to focus." He took a bit more damage than his opponent. Given that it's a Normal-Type, and Delphi said his line is Psychic—which have notoriously bad Defensive stats—I guess that makes sense. It probably gets STAB for that move.

But that movement pattern... Celestine squinted at the Zigzagoon—appropriately named, given its zigzagging strides—and frowned, trying to block out the incessant mutterings of the crowd in order to focus on her thoughts. Stupid people, stupid—no, no, she had to focus on the battle, pick up where her train of thought had left off. ...At first glance, the Zigzagoon was slower than Delphi, but it changed direction so quickly... What it lacks in speed, it clearly makes up in agility. Does that mean those movements are actually an evasive maneuver of some kind?

I need to see it again to be sure. Delphi shook his head again, but this time he straightened, ears erect, muscles coiled and tense and braced for any command. I need to lure it into Tackling again.

"Delphi, go in for another Tackle." His Defense is a little lower, but he can probably take another hit, even with the STAB boost. He's probably higher leveled.

Rinka scoffed, eyes alight with haughty triumph. "Zaya, you Tackle too. Bash that Fennekin's skull in this time."

The crowd murmured in approval at the bloody statement, and Celestine's nose crinkled in disgust. This was why she hated tournaments back in Kanto—bloody spectacles, all of them, fueled by the lust of the crowd.

Both Pokémon took off again, and again, Zaya was slower. They were closer to each other this time, so it would only be a handful of seconds before they clashed again, and Celestine needed more time.

"Turn around!" Celestine commanded. "Come back over here!"

Delphi skidded to a stop and shot her a baffled glance over his shoulder, but there must have been something reassuring in his expression that made him react instantly, spring back into a sprint—but in the other direction.

While the crowd stuttered in surprise, Rinka's expression turned vicious and angry. "What the hell do you think you're pulling here? Zaya, follow it!"

Good. She took the bait.

Delphi bounded back over, and Zaya gave chase with a firm expression that said it would have pursued even without its Trainer's instructions, still zigging and zagging. The extra time allowed to Celestine analyze its movements more thoroughly, allow her to realize that they weren't clumsy, like she'd initially thought, but rather swift and precise. The reason the opponent was slower was because it kept changing directions with every step, increasing the distance without increasing acceleration. But the key lied in its ability to change direction so quickly, almost instantaneously, possessing an agility that Delphi clearly lacked.

She timed the direction changes. One, left. Two, right. Three, left. Four, right—

Delphi was running out of field to run on.

—five, left. Six, right—

Time slowed.

Celestine saw it all as it was happening, the way Delphi raced towards her, his strides longer and purposeful, eating up the distance much quicker. She saw the Zigzagoon turn again, and they were five seconds from colliding. She did the math: left, right, left, right, left. Delphi was slightly favoring the left and he would be out of room soon unless he turned. Zaya—catching up quickly, likely reaching the Fennekin the moment he was forced to turn and bowling him over from behind...in about five seconds.

Five seconds to get it right.

One second to give the command: "Delphi! Change of plan—Ember!" Left.

One second for Delphi to process the command and use the momentum of his strides to perform a full 180-degree turn. Right.

One second for him to shift into a battle stance, for the sunburst orange tufts in his ears to heat up. Left.

One second for tongues of fire to appear in Delphi's slightly opened mouth, lick at the air before being fired off. Right.

One second for the tiny ball of flame to shoot through the air like an arrow from its quiver. Left.

Bull's eye.

The Ember landed right in Zaya's face as it made the turn at the exact moment Celestine predicted it would. It screeched, flames hitting it straight in the eyes and the burning must've been unbearable, or at least enough to throw its concentration, because it broke its path and stumbled in an agonized haze. Celestine watched with a morbid sort of satisfaction as the Zigzagoon fired off furious empty threat after empty threat, as the triumphant smirk on Rinka's face fell and shattered on the ground.

Gotcha.

"Zaya!" Rinka's voice took on a slightly higher octave, something that was almost panic. "Shake it off. Tackle again!"

Celestine took a second to count, then—"Tackle, Delphi."

The scene played out similarly to how it had at the beginning, Delphi with his long, loping strides and Zhang with its rapid direction changes—but the rhythm was different. This time, Delphi slammed himself into Zaya's side and knocked the Zigzagoon off its feet, sent it tumbling across the grassy field. The crowd exclaimed in shock, but Celestine had long since managed to tune them out.

She felt an involuntary tug at her lips and didn't fight it. "Delphi."

They'd trained in the Forest, so he knew what that meant. While Zaya struggled to its feet and blinked, recovering from the shock of pain, Delphi inched forward, muscles tight and fur bristled, his Tail Whipping in a swaying motion designed to target Defensive ability and cut it down.

Rinka's eyes narrowed. "Fine. That's how you wanna play it? Zaya, Tail Whip too!"

The Zigzagoon did the opposite of Delphi. Rather than stay facing him, it turned its back to him and flashed its bottlebrush tail, wagged it in a swaying motion that made Delphi tense. The attack was direct, increasing the potency, but causing it to let it's guard down and making it a veritable target.

Rookie mistake.

"Burn it!"

Delphi's ear tufts glowed and he let loose an Ember that soared past Zaya's tail to land squarely on its back. The Zigzagoon screeched, its rhythm thrown, and it leaped back in shock.

"Tackle!"

Taking full advantage of Zaya's distraction and Rinka's clear panic at having the tables turn so quickly, Delphi slammed into his opponent and knocked it clean across the makeshift arena. It skidded to a halt a few feet from Rinka, who stared at her fallen mammal in shock.

Then shock turned to red-faced fury. "Get up, Zaya! We can't lose to them!"

Celestine quirked a brow. The Zigzagoon was finished. Surely Rinka had to realize that. Screaming at spilled milk didn't make it go back into the carton.

Delphi padded over, pink tongue peeking out from parted jaws as he panted. "How... how was that?"

"Good." She smiled a little and meant it. "You got my signal and everything."

Max chirped in agreement and Ray gave him a thumbs up, though she had to wonder if the Panpour even knew what that meant. Tanner grumbled something under his breath about how he could have totally done the same thing, if his stupid wing wasn't acting up.

Delphi perked up, tail wagging, eyes bright with pride.

There was a whooshing sound that had Celestine tearing her eyes off her Starter to look at Rinka, returning her fallen Zigzagoon. The Roller Skater replaced Zaya's Ball with another, her expression one of virulent anger. "We're not done yet, League bitch."

The crowd murmured, voices bubbling and oozing, and Celestine found her eye twitching more out of irritation towards her spectators than the insult itself. "Delphi, get back in."

"Oui!" Delphi barked enthusiastically. He took to the field again.

Rinka threw her second Ball—the light flared momentarily, but it took to the skies instead of landing on the ground, and it became a dainty-looking Fletchling.

Of course. Fletchinder's pre-evolution. Just her luck.

"Oh my god!" Tanner screeched, somewhere between hysteric and furious, loud enough to drown out the whispering spectators. "Fucking— Let me at that thing, Trainer! I'll beat its sorry flame-retardant ass into next century!"

Celestine tore her eyes off the field and looked down at him with a frown, ignoring the urgent look Shauna sent her. "I thought you said your wing was busted."

Tanner hesitated briefly, eyes flashing. "It... suddenly got better. Doesn't matter! I can still take 'em with one wing tied behind my back!"

She arched a brow, skeptical. Her gaze drifted, involuntarily, to Ray and Max, and the Panpour shook his head silently.

Huh.

Celestine knelt down. "C'mere."

The Pidgey blinked in surprise, but he did as instructed and hopped closer. She held her palm about, and he lowered his gaze to examine it, eye her hand warily, as if it were some foreign object, something alien and strange and maybe capable of hurting him. With a tentative wariness, Tanner hopped into her palm, his feet tightening around her fingers like a noose.

She straightened, balancing his weight carefully in her hand. "Show me your wing."

He eyed her distrustfully for a moment. Then he unfurled his wing.

Celestine rolled her eyes. "The other wing, bird."

Tanner retracted his good wing quickly. "It's fine."

"Uh huh. Sure." She grabbed his other wing by one of the long cream feathers that lined it and tugged. He let out a startled yelp, fighting to pull his wing back—she could see his muscles spasming under thick tan and cream feathers, but she could also see the grimace that twisted his features as he did so, the way he clamped his beak shut in an effort to keep from making strained noises.

Celestine let go. "Right. It looks like you landed on it oddly. Nothing serious, but it might've resulted in a sprain."

Tanner winced and carefully refolded his bad wing, though doing so clearly made him uncomfortable. "See? Fine, just like I said. I can fight that thing, peck its stupid face in—"

"No," she interrupted. "I don't know what your gripe against Fletchling kind is—"

"Look at him!" Tanner screeched, gesturing to the enemy Bird with his good wing. "He's so smug and he's practically begging to be pulverized!"

"—but it's going to have to wait," Celestine finished, trying to not let her left eye give in to the urge to twitch in irritation. God, this bird and his constant interruptions were really starting to grate on her nerves. Fuck her promises and her honor, this wasn't worth it. "You're benched until we get to the Center."

"I'll agree to that," Tanner said haughtily, "if I can perch on your—"

"You even try to go near my head and I will strangle you, I swear by the Sacred Birds," Celestine hissed. "Shoulder. Now."

Tanner gave her a petulant glare, but she raised her arm closer to her shoulder, and he huffed and conceded defeat, hopping onto her shoulder. She didn't lower her arm again until she felt his feet clasp themselves onto her shoulder, felt his talons bury themselves securely into the fabric of her shirt. And when she did, she caught a glimpse of Ray nodding in approval.

Her mouth twisted into a frown. She didn't need the Panpour's approval.

"Hey!" came Rinka's angry shout from across the field. Celestine turned back to the Field Trainer and, god, she could feel the heat of the girl's glare from over two yards away. "Are we finishing this or not?"

The crowd murmured in impatient agreement, and Celestine wondered what it was about people not minding their business that had become so trendy. This hardly concerned them. Maybe they were curious to see whether or not the foreign girl who'd beaten them so effortlessly would be put on the ropes, or get her just deserts. What a spectacle.

Ha ha, go to hell, all of you, she thought sourly, then glanced back at Delphi. He was staring at her expectantly, left ear and tail-tip twitching with anxious energy.

"We're starting now!" Celestine answered, eyes darting over to the circling bird. "Tail Whip, Delphi."

Normally, Celestine would have liked to start stronger—attack it, cause some damage—but Birds were tricky. You couldn't hit them while they were in the air. You had to wait until they were close enough, unless your battling Pokémon was exceptionally skilled at long-range attacks. Delphi had the potential for being a long-ranged attacker, true, but that was the future and this was now. And now, he needed to bait it into coming closer before he landed a solid, focused hit.

Delphi's tail Whipped back and forth, like a matador waving a red flag before a bull. The Fletchling narrowed its eyes as if offended.

Rinka scoffed. "Tackle, Danny."

Danny changed direction and swooped down low, straight and true like an arrow. A twinge of worry went through Celestine—birds tended to be Attack-orientated and Delphi's Defenses were low enough without having taken Zaya's Tail Whip, which only made him a weaker target. And the STAB boost too. Apparently, while its line was Fire-Typed, Fletchling themselves were Normal-Types until evolution.

She needed to intercept, and fast. "Delphi, Tackle it!"

Delphi pounced and intercepted Danny mid-air. Delphi was bigger and heavier, so his weight knocked the Fletchling out of the sky, sent them both tumbling and rolling across the grass. Rinka gave a desperate shout, but when they landed, Delphi had Danny pinned, paws pressed firmly on the bird's delicate wings, its stomach exposed and eyes narrowed into a hateful glare as it struggled, vainly, to free itself from Delphi's hold.

"Good! Ember it!"

Delphi's ear tufts heated and he parted his jaws, orange firelight glowing and tongues of flame peeking out—

"Quick Attack!" Rinka shouted.

—and then Danny vibrated in place, the way a tuning fork does when it was banged against something hard and made that high, whining noise that left your ears buzzing. Before Celestine could blink, it blurred and streaked and then Delphi was thrown off, tumbling and yelping and the Ember that was fired off dissipated harmlessly into the air. Danny ricocheted and used the momentum to retreat back into the sky, returning back to its wide, predatory circling, like that was somehow supposed to be intimidating.

Celestine turned her eyes back to her Starter, licking her lip nervously and trying not to let her worry show. Quick Attack. Shit. That's going to make things tricky. "Delphi, you okay?"

Delphi struggled to his feet, swaying dangerously, still reeling from the hit. He grimaced when he put weight on his left foreleg. "Fine! He hit my shoulder socket—it's not dislocated or anything, just kinda sore."

"Good." Celestine turned her gaze to the sky. She could have sworn that the bird was smirking at her. Alistair never used Quick Attack in my battle against Calem. But then again, he did underestimate me during then, so maybe he didn't pull out all the stops. Either way, I need to be way more cautious. Quick Attack is a sure-fire, first-hit move, but if she's smart—and I hope to the Birds she isn't—she'll use it to dodge as well. I already can't fight thing in close quarters. If I can't hit it from afar, we're screwed. "Try to avoid getting hit like that again, though."

"We'll see about that!" Rinka pointed dramatically. "Quick Attack again, Danny!"

The Fletchling blurred, flickering in and out of existence like an afterimage, and then it was zooming towards Delphi again with all the intent to maim and hurt.

"Ember," Celestine shot back. It wasn't close enough for a clear shot, but based on Delphi's reaction time and the Fletchling's velocity, that wouldn't be a problem for very long.

Delphi launched another small burst of flame and knocked Danny off course, sent him spiraling through the air. Rinka hissed in fury.

"Tackle again, Danny!"

"Ember!"

Danny dived again, but the acceleration was significantly less than it had been before, and when Delphi's ears heated—

"Quick Attack from the side!"

Celestine's eyes widened as Danny swerved and Delphi's attack clipped Danny's left wing, but otherwise missed. The Fletchling suddenly accelerated and slammed into Delphi's side, sent the Fennekin tumbling again. He let out a yelp that was either from surprise or pain and for a worrying moment, she couldn't tell which.

"Delphi!"

"I'm fine," he called, getting back up again, no hesitation. Good—he wasn't too badly hurt.

Still, though. Celestine eyed the Fletchling warily. It had returned to circling lazily over the field, predatory and mocking. I anticipated using Quick Attack defensively, but she's still going offensive. I should've read that. Fuck.

Rinka grinned triumphantly. "Danny, Tackle again."

Celestine's eyes narrowed. Surely Rinka realized the same tactic wouldn't work twice. "Delphi, Ember again."

Again, Danny dived, and again, Delphi prepared a Fire attack, flames leaping from his jaws.

"Gotcha! Quick Attack to the side!"

"Shift positions!" Celestine shouted. She couldn't believe Rinka actually thought she could pull this off again, and that the Field Trainer wasn't even waiting until Delphi launched his attack before giving out the command.

Danny was fast, blurring into a streak of grey and orange, but Delphi understood the moment the Fletchling changed positions and swerved to guard his side. The Ember soared through the air, crackling and burning—

—and suddenly sputtered out, like an old car engine giving up after years of abuse. The attack faltered and wavered and fell to the ground in some pathetic mockery of a meteor, burning up into a puff of ash long before it even came close to Danny.

And meanwhile, the Fletchling slammed into Delphi again with its full weight—which, in itself, was significantly less than Delphi, but the acceleration and the momentum were more than strong enough to send the Fennekin tumbling with a shrill yelp that was definitely pain.

"Oshi—Delphi!"

Judging whispers erupted all around Celestine, but her attention remained locked on her Starter, who once again got to his feet. This time, though, it was evident that Delphi was struggling a bit more, swaying on his paws, dizzily, wincing when he put too much weight on his left leg. Heat rippled off the tufts of his ears, and she thought he was charging another Fire attack at first—which sent a pang of anger through her, he was acting without her permission—but then she noticed the obvious strain on his face, the way the heat rippled fitfully, like it was being forced out. Then Delphi opened his mouth, the glow of Fire barely visible, but it transformed into a hacking cough, and puff after puff of smoke and soot and a smattering of nonlethal sparks.

Celestine swallowed. Uh oh.

"Hey, Trainer," Tanner said softly, with a seriousness that was highly uncharacteristic, "I think he's outta Aura Points."

She hardly heard him, having come to the same conclusion, and thoughts whirling in a too-loud buzz that blocked out everything but her own rising panic. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit!

"Delphi, get back here."

He coughed up a few more sparks and then looked up at her, bewildered.

"Ima yare!"

Startled, he did as he was told and came running.

"Oh no you don't!" Rinka pointed. "Danny, Quick Attack!"

"Duck!" Celestine shrieked over the excited roar of the spectators.

Delphi reacted immediately and hit the deck, flattening himself against the ground—and just in time, too. Danny whizzed past overhead, but once the bird realized it had passed its target, it stuttered and put the breaks on immediately. As it turned, it came close enough for Celestine to whack it out of the air with her bag, if she wanted to, but she didn't.

The bird swerved around before Celestine could act on the impulse and went in for another dive.

"Delphi, get out of there!"

Delphi lifted his head just as the bird prepared to strike—

—and it was suddenly interrupted by a pair of spiked green whips that crashed into the ground, forcing the Fletchling to hit the breaks. The crowd let out outraged cries at the interruption.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Rinka screeched as Shauna and Mint intruded on the battlefield, the Chespin retracting her vines.

Shauna ignored her and the spectators and instead turned to Celestine, eyes uncharacteristically stern. "You were trying to return him, right? To switch out?"

Celestine nodded wordlessly.

"Then she should've used the damn Ball," Rinka spat, but she was once again ignored as Shauna knelt down and scooped Delphi up into her arms. The Hoennian jogged over to Celestine, Mint trailing her.

"Believe this is yours, milady," Shauna said once she'd gotten close enough to be heard over the disappointed crowd, flashing a smile that was probably meant to match the mischief in her tone but instead only looked relieved. She handed Delphi over to Celestine. "But she's right, though—use the Ball next time."

Celestine frowned, feeling oddly insulted at that. "Will do. Get off the field."

Shauna arched a brow. "How about a 'thank you'?"

Celestine's brow twitched. "How about 'when I'm not battle a chick with anger issues'?"

"Fine." Shauna pouted and poked Celestine in the arm the Kantonian was using to cradle Delphi. "One of these days, Lavieaux, I'm gonna get you to behave."

"Behave?" Celestine repeated incredulously.

Shauna only offered a thin, enigmatic smile before she and Mint darted off to the side again and melded back into the flock of annoying spectators. Celestine followed the other girl with her eyes before shaking her head, reminding herself that she had bigger priorities than figuring out ways to deflect Shauna's constant affability.

"I can still fight," Delphi mewled from the cradle of her arms, a touch of something desperate in his tone. His eyes were stubborn and alight with a persistence that Celestine would have otherwise admired, were his fur not so cool to the touch. With his Fire Aura depleted the natural warmth he'd carried was gone, and he felt cold in comparison to earlier.

"Not from long distance," Celestine retorted coolly, clipped and terse. "And it's too risky for you to fight in close quarters—you're done."

Delphi's ears drooped and he lowered his head with a whimper.

Celestine regarded him and his disappointed demeanor for a moment, unsure what to make of it. The logical, analytic part of her that dominated battles and never steered her wrong claimed that his reaction wasn't warranted, that he was simply in denial over the realization that he was no longer a veritable key to victory, that he had outlived his usefulness. It didn't mean he was useless, just that he had outlived his usefulness in this battle, through no fault of his own. He'd simply run out of Aura, something that happened to even the members of a Champion's team. If she'd kept him in with a disadvantage, he would only end up being a liability and would have ended up injured for no reason but her own ego and refusal to acknowledge weaknesses where they existed. He had weaknesses, and she recognized them and pulled him out when it got too risky. Logically, it had been the right decision. He couldn't be faulted for that. He shouldn't feel bad. Logically—it made no sense.

But this wasn't about logic. Battling never was. It was about honor and pride and passion, the synchrony of Trainer and Pokémon, the fiery eyes and the spirit of competition—all the things Celestine had grown up with, had almost forgotten over the course of five years away form her home. This wasn't about winning and losing, surviving and dying. Delphi wasn't like her old team, ruthlessly loyal and requiring little but a few shows of superiority to earn said loyalty. In all honesty, until she'd met Delphi and made that deal with him, Celestine had almost forgotten what it was like to earn her team's trust, expecting it to come as naturally as it had before. But this wasn't a place where loyalty was necessity for survival, and survival was something that everyone coveted jealously.

It wasn't bad, just different. Different wasn't bad.

She released a sigh and patted his head—lightly, awkwardly, she was rusty with the whole bonding thing, after all. "Hey, you did fine. Next battle, I'll give you dibs, okay?"

Delphi perked up a little at that. There was still a haze of disappointment around him, but it had lessened somewhat, diluted by surprise at the gesture. "I, um, okay."

"Wanna go back on my shoulder?"

"Um. Sure." She allowed him to scrabble up and get himself settled, but after he did so, he cast her a look that was reluctantly inquiring. "...you're not mad?"

Celestine blinked, nonplussed. "Why do you think I would be mad?"

"...'cause I screwed up."

On Celestine's shoulder, Tanner ruffled his feathers and scoffed. "It's not like you can control how much Aura you use, kid. You ran out, simple. Hardly a thing you can control. But don't worry! I'll finish off that damned—"

"You're benched, Tanner."

"C'mon! It doesn't even hurt that bad!"

"No."

"Well we can't send the kid in!" Tanner snapped, gesturing with his good wing to Max and Ray. "I mean, y'know, my kid, not your kid. I mean, he's not really my kid, and I guess the fox isn't really your kid either—unless he's like adopted or something, which I've got no problem with, you do you and all—but, oh you know who I mean!"

"Max," Celestine said flatly.

The Pidgey perked up at the sound of his new name, but Tanner continued. "Whatever! You get the point!"

Celestine was about to respond, but then she felt a tug on her pant leg and glanced down. Ray, still balancing Max on his arm, one hand gripped firmly on the denim of her jeans. She couldn't read his expression too well, his eyes clamped shut in what, according to her Dex, was a natural phenomenon, but she could have sworn these was something about his expression that was an uncanny resemblance to resolution.

She blinked down at him. "...do you want to battle?"

The Panpour nodded.

"...are you sure?" She eyed him cautiously. "You were pretty weak from the Poison earlier. Do you think you're strong enough?"

Again, the Panpour nodded, a little more fiercely this time.

"Well. Okay then."

Ray nodded a third time and turned to Max, gently coaxing the little bird off his perch on Ray's arm. Max was confused, at first, but eventually fluttered to the ground, and looked on in bewilderment as Ray bounded over to take his place on the field.

"Ready?" Rinka demanded irritably.

"Yes."

"Finally. Danny, Quick Attack!"

Fucking hell! Right off the bat!?

Danny blurred again and dived at wicked speed, aiming straight for Ray, who braced in anticipation for the attack. Celestine's thoughts whirled, trying to think of an effective counter, trying to recall Ray's moveset—which she'd only briefly glimpsed, having no intention to battle with him until after she'd stopped at the Center first, but life and plans tended not to mix—when she suddenly recalled something that made her smirk.

"Ray, Play Nice!"

A burst of sparkling, pale light—light that looked warm and inviting and friendly—coalesced around Ray's hand-paws and he held them out in front of them, waiting, waiting, waiting, the crowd growing restless with anticipation as Danny sped forward like a bullet and—

—and Ray caught the Fletchling in his hands, effortlessly. Celestine barely caught a glimpse of the shock on the bird's face before Ray launched himself into the air. The Panpour summersaulted flawlessly, the glow around his hands almost blinding.

They landed, together, like a radiant meteor—but as the warm, amicable glow began to ebb little by little, it revealed Ray, an expression of determination that greatly belied the warm, fuzzy feel of the light, crouching possessively over Danny. The Fletchling had its wings pinned, just like Delphi had done earlier, but this time, though the bird tried in vain to accelerate into a Quick Attack to free itself, the glow around Ray's hands kept it firmly in place. With nowhere else for the Quick Attack to go, the Fletchling ended up, sort of, jackhammering the ground underneath, the vibrations eating into the soft earth.

Well, that worked almost perfectly, Celestine thought with some satisfaction.

The Aura around Ray's hands continued to dim at a steady pace, and while Rinka screamed in frustration for her bird to do something, Ray took a quick glance at Celestine, as if waiting for permission. It took a minute for Celestine to understand, and it hit her with a jolt that Ray was wondering if it was okay to let go now. She nodded swiftly, and Ray leaped back just as the Aura faded completely—and all the Fletchling's pent-up energy sent it rocketing straight up, almost twenty feet above the ground in the span of ten seconds before it finally reoriented itself.

Rinka bared her teeth, clearly frustrated with the battle's momentum and how it danced constantly out of her grasp. "Dammit, Tackle!"

Danny swerved, diving at breakneck speed. Ray backed away a few paces and braced himself, crossing his arms over his face.

Celestine waited for a moment, then—"Scratch!"

Ray reacted instantly—not like Delphi, was tentative and questioning, constantly unsure—and lashed out with his arm the moment Danny came close enough, batting it straight out of the air, hand-paws trailing scintillating white claw marks. The Scratch knocked the bird off course and onto the ground, sent it skidding across the battlefield. Tanner whooped at the sight of the Fletchling going down, and the crowd roared in appreciation.

Danny managed to right itself, ruffling its feathers and sending a piercing glare. Rinka stamped her foot angrily. "Peck it," the Trainer hissed venomously, "Peck it hard."

A knowing glint entered the Fletchling's dark eyes, but it took to the air before Celestine could think anything of it. As it came closer, a white light engulfed its beak and trailed behind the bird as it shot forward—a charging Peck attack.

Only it had charged way too fast.

And there was way more light bleeding into the air than there should have been.

By the time Celestine figured it out, and—for only a moment—allowed an impending sense of horror to consume her, it was too late. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened to release a shout of warning, but by then—

—the Fletchling slammed into Ray, beak first, and all of a sudden the grass turned from green to red and Ray's mouth opened into a scream, but he was mute so there was no sound. Just an expression of pain and horror, face twisted into a silent scream, and crimson blood against green grass and yellow dandelions.

Celestine's vision went white for a second. Just, white. Pure, undiluted white, and then white noise in her ears drowning out the shocked murmurs and yelps of the spectators, and everything was just, white. And then she was running, racing to her Panpour, her bag in one hand and ready to swing the moment that demonic bird got too close.

But luckily Delphi took care of that. The bird was zooming past when Delphi suddenly pounced and took it out of the air. They rolled across the grass for a moment before Delphi pinned it, face livid and a menacing growl rising from deep within his throat. "How dare you— you— you— you jerkface!"

Celestine could think of a thousand worse names to scream at that Birds-forsaken Fletchling, but for a kid like Delphi, "jerkface" was probably rather extreme.

She reached Ray and dropped to her knees, knowing that she was probably getting blood on her jeans but not caring. Tanner was saying something, but she hardly heard him, the white noise too intense, as she took the Panpour into her arms. Ray was not dead—not yet, whispered some treacherous, dark part of her, not yet—but the wound was deep and bloody, the equivalent of a bullet wound on a human, but without the bullet to lessen the blood flow and keep it from spilling out everywhere in a warm red river. The Panpour's body was spasming somewhat in Celestine's hands, twitching lightly. If she took out his Ball right now and looked at the health bar, it would probably be bright crimson like the blood in the grass, informing her that he was in critical condition.

Critical, but not dead.

A rookie in this situation would have panicked and screamed, would have thought of everything and nothing at once, would have frozen in place, not sure how to react. But Celestine was no rookie, and she was remarkably methodical and level-headed in how she immediately began riffling through her bag for his Ball. Putting him in stasis would stop the bleeding, keep him from dying, at least until she could get him to the Center where he could receive proper, life-saving treatment. She found it and pulled it out and returned him. In a flash of rosy light, he was safely ensconced in the life-support system of his metal Ball, and all that remained was the crimson color splashed across her hands and soaked into the denim of her jeans.

Celestine stood, an icy pressure bubbling up in her stomach. In a few long strides, she crossed the makeshift battlefield—and soon she was in front of Rinka, who seemed small and fragile up close, eyes wide, trembling a little in the face of the Kantonian's blazing eyes and silent fury.

"What the fuck was that," Celestine hissed, voice soft and deadly and cold like a snowfall before it turning into a blizzard. All around her, the murmurs of the spectators building, building, building into a storm of its own.

Rinka tried to mask her fear with indignance. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your Fletchling." Celestine caught a glimpse of movement in her peripheral, pink and black and brown. Likely Shauna, racing to Celestine's rescue, the knight off to keep the monster in check. "It attacked with the intent to kill. In a Non-Reaper. You violated your own rules."

Someone grabbed Celestine's arm, hands soft as silk and uncalloused. Shauna. "Celie, it was probably just a mistake. An accident—"

"That Peck was condensed," Celestine spat, half ignoring Shauna and half answering her. She shook the Hoennian's grip off and advanced on Rinka, eyes dark and predatory. "You do realize that's illegal, don't you?"

Rinka stuttered incoherently, somewhere between scared and indignant and not quite sure which one was most appropriate.

"Do you realize what you just did? What you could have done?" Celestine grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her close, so that the girl's grey eyes clashed into Celestine's own blazing sapphire. On her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of Tanner bristling, the fury and disgust on his face a mirror of her own. "So what? You didn't know, or you knew and didn't care? Were you just so obsessed with winning that you didn't care how it happened? You wanted to beat me so badly, sate that inferiority complex of yours, that you just didn't care if you killed one of my Pokémon? Didn't care that you were breaking the rules, violating the League guidelines and putting your licence on the line, taking your own integrity and dragging it through the mud? Disregarding your own honor, and your Pokémon's honor? Does integrity mean nothing to you?"

Rinka wrestled out of Celestine's grip and tried to give the Kantonian a shove, but only succeeded in pushing herself back. "Don't give me that crap! How is it my fault if one of your Pokémon is too weak to take a condensed attack?"

The white crackling in Celestine's head returned with a vengeance, and words could not describe the wave of utter disgust that flooded her in that moment, something so vile and virulent and acidic that Celestine didn't even bother to keep herself from reacting. And it wasn't that her mind went blank, or that her thoughts evaporated, or that she had lost her ability to use logic and reason to the boiling cesspool of her emotions—oh no, when she raised her hand, she knew exactly what she was doing.

Smack.

Rinka's face was thrown to the side by the force of the slap, and there was no doubt in Celestine's mind that the bright red mark would morph into an ugly bruise.

The spectators erupted into shock, but Celestine hardly heard as she grabbed the Roller Skater by the chin and brought her in close, bending down so that they were at eye level. She pulled the girl in close, so that Celestine's lips were close to her ear.

"This battle is over," Celestine whispered, acidic and cloying. "And I won. You forfeited your right to victory the moment you ordered that attack. I'm not going to ask for mercy money—instead, I'm going to take my Panpour to the Center, and while I'm waiting for the nurses to heal him, I'm going to file a report telling the League exactly what happened here today. And if you think that's not going to do anything, you should know that I'm a Dex Holder, bitch. You just messed with one of the Professor's wards. And I am going to personally ensure that you get your license revoked, permanently."

And then Celestine shoved her to the ground, staring down at this disgustingly weak and pathetic and cowardly little girl who cared more about victory than the sanctity of life—

and she was so young

—"Delphi, let it go," Celestine heard herself say loudly, turning her back to the fallen Field Trainer.

Delphi was still crouched over the Fletchling, still glaring with unmitigated fury, and though he didn't look up, his ears twitched with the indication that he'd heard. The growling in his throat quieted. "But— But he—"

"Isn't worth it."

There was a beat of silence, and then Delphi stepped away, sparing the bird a furious glare, and padded over to Celestine. When he got close enough, she knelt down and scooped him into her arms. He nuzzled against her chest, and his frame was trembling—with anger and fear, she couldn't tell.

"Hey, Trainer," came Tanner's voice, uncharacteristically soft. "The kid—Max, or somethin'—he's still on the other end of the field. I think he's in shock."

Celestine glanced briefly at the end of the field—just to verify that Tanner was right, and he was, Max was still on the ground, staring at the place where Ray had been bleeding—and then immediately turned to her bag, fishing out his Ball. She returned him quickly, because he didn't need to be here for this, and he was gone in a flash of rosy light. Clipping it to her belt, she turned and started towards the gate.

"Celie—" Shauna tried to say as the Kantonian passed, but Celestine ignored her.

The school-aged Field Trainers parted around Celestine, staring at her with enormous, horrified eyes, and Rinka's terrified eyes followed her, but Celestine Leavieaux didn't spare any of them a second glance as she crossed the great white gates and breached Santalune's borders.

---

Current Team:

Delphi, Male Fennekin (Lv 8)
Docile, Takes plenty of siestas
Ability: Blaze
Moves: Scratch, Tail Whip, Ember
Met: Vaniville Aquacorde Town

Max, Male Pidgey (Lv 7)
Naïve, Very finicky
Ability: Tangled Feet
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack
Met: Route Two

Ray, Male Panpour (Lv 7)
Quiet, Likes to relax
Ability: Gluttony
Moves: Scratch, Play Nice, Leer
Met: Santalune Forest

Tanner, Male Pidgey (Lv 4)
Hasty, Scatters things often
Ability: Tangled Feet
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack
Met: Route Three Two

---

Author's Notes:

(apologies that this is late, I totally forgot what day it was)

Oh my god, I hate battle scenes (so, naturally, I decide to do a nuzlocke, I'm a genius). And Tanner is finally added to the team. It's only been forever since his introduction.

The "era" of the Legendary Trainers occurred about twenty years before CLV, so most of the main characters (the humans, anyhow) don't have any memory of the events. They just heard about what happened and it's become a bit of a mythos in the world of Trainers, especially for their generation. But Celestine knows the story of the Kanto LT a little better than most because SPOILERS.

So, in-game, Roller Skater Rinka gives you your roller skates. In-story, though, she just gives Celestine shit. Though, I'm not sure if that particularly gives Celestine permission to be a bitch (but, in her defense, Rinka's "condensing" tactic, as described in a worldbuilding tidbit a while ago, is considered cheating when it involves attacking moves and, in Kanto, is overall considered dishonorable, so).

I don't think the move Play Nice has ever been really portrayed in any media, anime, manga, or otherwise, but based on the name and its Attack-reducing effect, I envisioned it as a move capable of nullifying low-leveled attacks and buffering the higher-leveled ones. Creative liberties, I know, but hey, every story takes some, right?

Spoiler: Ray doesn't die. This whole scene is based on a near-death experience that happened with a Fletchling. I never specified in my notes if it was a wild one or if it belonged to a Trainer, so I just incorporated it here.

That's all for now,
Luna