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).

18. Chapter 6: Entrainement (Part 2)

Chapter 6—Entraînement
(noun)
—French for "training", "practice", or "coaching"

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Celestine returned to the Center by the time nightfall had set in. When she caught sight of Shauna, sitting crosslegged, outside the doors, she froze, memories of their previous fight bubbled back up. She bit the inside of her cheek and wondered if it was possible for her to make a break for it before she was spotted.

Shauna saw her. Celestine tensed.

But she didn't react beyond a slow blink. "Did you eat anything today?"

That threw Celestine for a loop. "Eh?"

"Eat," Shauna said calmly. "Y'know, like, food."

"Ah..." Celestine had picked up a sandwich or something at a local café while grabbing lunch for her team, and had at the last minute remembered to grab something for herself—but other than that, not really. It'd been a long day, okay? And she was a little distracted. Actually, her stomach was cramping quite angrily, reminding her that it was empty.

Shauna sighed and got to her feet. "Thought so. C'mon."

And with that, she grabbed Celestine by the wrist and gently tugged her inside, over to the café area in the Center. She grabbed an assortment of pastries—frosted and fruit-filled and chocolate-drizzled, oh my—and piled them all up high on a plate, which she then placed tactfully in front of Celestine, whose stomach admittedly grumbled a little at the sight.

"Eat," Shauna ordered. Then she drifted over to the Keurig.

Celestine grabbed a chocolate-covered croissant. The bread wasn't fresh. It was cold and a little stale, but it wasn't too bad and had chocolate on the inside. She was rather ravenous, too, so it was gone by the time Shauna returned with two Styrofoam cups of something that steamed.

"This is oolong tea," Shauna explained, placing a cup to the left of Celestine's plate. "They didn't have any green tea, so I figured this was...close enough? Was that racist?"

"No. I like oolong." Celestine took a sip. The taste reminded her of that one time she'd taken a school trip to Blackthorn and tried authentic Johtonese cuisine for the first time. It was a pleasant memory. "Arigato."

"Oh. Good." Shauna sipped her drink, then set it down slowly. "Calem seems to think it'll be more productive to help you instead of stand in your way or whatever."

Celestine set her tea down and started nibbling on a chocolate chip scone. Hard as a rock, but Kalosian chocolate was really good.

"The thing that really strikes me, though, is that Cal isn't the type to get won over so easily," Shauna went on, drumming her fingers against the tabletop. "Not unless he has a really good reason. So, what that says to me, is that he knows something about you that I don't. Something that would change his mind."

Damn. She was clever.

"Now, I find that really surprising, considering you two've been adamant about not liking each other." Shauna lowered her gaze. "You tell him something like that, but you didn't tell me, and we're closer than you and him are."

Celestine paused her chewing. "...he wasn't supposed to find out."

Shauna paused. Then, quietly, "Do you want to tell me?"

Celestine took another mouthful of scone and said nothing. The only sound were night owls and the nurses on the night shift murmuring in the background, the distant whirr of the electronics.

Shauna sighed. "Fine. I get that. It's your life."

...okay. Celestine swallowed. Normally, this wouldn't be unusual. For all Shauna's pushiness, she understood boundaries. But after that spat earlier today, this was alarming.

Shauna suddenly thrust her arm out, her pointer finger brushing Celestine's nose, and the Kantonian flinched back. "But don't think this means you get to go three weeks without eating anything! You'd better brace yourself, missy, because I am going to be popping up like clockwork to make sure you eat three meals a day, go to bed every night at a reasonable time, and take care of yourself! I'm on nanny duty now, Lavieaux, and you should know that I've been told I make one hell of a babysitter!"

There were few things in the known world that could render Celestine Lavieaux utterly dumbstruck, but that remark had just shot to the top of the list. She did not need a babysitter. The whole suggestion was ludicrous. The last time Celestine had ever needed a babysitter was when she was twelve and Maman had left the region for about a month because of work, which had at least been reasonable. But she was seven-fricking-teen now, and she could look after herself.

Celestine's jaw clenched as shock gave way to indignation. "You're not babysitting me, Shauna."

"Too bad," retorted the brunette as she stood, grabbing her steaming cup of whatever. "Lafayette's orders. Also, Trevs and Tierny found some video of Alexa's previous battles, so they're going to go over that with you in the morning. And Serie found a cool training exercise, plus you gotta talk to the Professor. Point is, you got a long day tomorrow, so once you finish up here, it's straight to bed, missy!"

As it turned out, Shauna was not lying. At exactly six-thirty in the morning, there was a firm knock on Celestine's door, which turned out to be Tierno and Trevor, the latter of which was holding a laptop. Celestine would have been annoyed at the early hour if she wasn't already up and dressed, having been planning on starting training early—if there was one thing she didn't skimp out on, it was training. Shigeru-san had taught her that.

"This is the League's website," Trevor explained, now sitting on the bed to Celestine's right. The laptop was balancing on the fold of her crossed legs, the screen alight with very official looking shades of harvest gold and maroon. Kalos's official colors, according to Tierno, who was on Celestine's left, leaving her sandwiched between them.

"And this"—Trevor clicked on a tab under the Menu option—"is the official Gym page." There was a list of town names: Cyllage, Shalour, Kiloude, Snowbelle, Lumiose, etc. Trevor clicked on Santalune, and the screen changed to emerald and terracotta brown. "This part is for the Santalune Gym, specifically. There's a video option, which you'll see in a sec."

Celestine arched a brow as multiple video files popped up on the screen, at least one for each day of the past month. "If these matches are recorded and placed on a very public website, how come the League has no idea what's going on?"

"We wondered the same thing," Tierno said. The bed dipped a little under his weight, causing Celestine and Trevor to lean a little to the left, though neither complained. "But it turns out, none of the links work."

Celestine blinked. "What?"

"Yeah. All videos for the last month fail when you try to play them." Tierno tapped his knee, pensive. "Which is weird, y'know? Because this is an official government site and they're supposed to have quality control. And then Trevs did some digging in the code."

"...digging in the code." Celestine turned back to Trevor, arching a brow. "Like, hacking?"

Trevor paused. "...it's not really hacking unless you change stuff."

"But you broke into the site's firewall?" Firewall is what it was called, right? Unless that one spy movie she watched at the age of ten was wrong.

Trevor frowned. "It was pathetically easy. I'm not even that good with coding, and I... Well I just scanned the code for the videos and copied them over to a website I created."

"You created a website?"

Trevor pulled up another tab, this one with a screen that was mostly white, save for the video files that dotted it like blackheads. "Any idiot can create a website. The trick is getting the right software—"

"Trevs," Tierno cut in with a sigh.

At least the ginger had the decency to look embarrassed. "...right. Sorry. Anyway." Trevor clicked one of the video links—the most recent one, judging from the date. "I fixed the coding, and... I'm not really sure what to make of this, honestly."

Celestine watched as the battle played out. Instead of a Scizor, Alexa used a Heracross in this battle. It utterly dominated it's opponent. Celestine took a sharp breath.

A Heracross too...?

"Its movements are really erratic," Tierno remarked. And he was right. The Heracross on the screen seemed to dart from place to place in a disjointed sort of way, suddenly appearing and disappearing in a way that didn't look natural in the slightest. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I have." Celestine watched the subtle tremors in the air that surrounded the Bug—the Veil, trying to hide the Ascended Form—and her nails dug into her knees. Alexa had been Transcending with a Heracross too?

Is she mad? The strain that must have on her Aura...

Trevor stopped the clip and started up another one. "Then maybe you can make something of the Pinsir that ends up in mid-air for half a second."

An electric chill went down Celestine's spine. She turned to Trevor with wide eyes. "Pinsir?"

Trevor nodded. The video started, and Alexa sent out a Pinsir—which immediately blinked across the battlefield at unnatural speed. If Celestine hadn't known any better, she'd have said it was Teleporting, the way it was crossing distance so quickly, but she did know better, and a cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck as the video continued to play.

Trevor paused it, and in the frame, there were two Pinsir. One, on the ground, tearing its opponent's torso off, and another, transparent version, in the air. An afterimage. Trevor turned to Celestine with an arched brow, like, well?

Well—the Veil had existed before cameras had invented. Eyes, it could deal with easily. Footage, that's when things got weird. Like now.

But Celestine's mind was too busy whirling with the previous realization. Three. Alexa was Transcending with three different Pokémon. It didn't add up—not only was it a boneheaded move and a death sentence for a mortal, but how the ever-loving fuck was she still alive if she was Transcending on a daily basis?

Celestine bit her lip. There was, of course, one explanation, and she didn't like it. Yes, she had predicted the Good Doctor to be in Kalos, but she hadn't expected him to still be conducting experiments, and so publicly at that. Well, he did like flashy results but... He rarely made an attempt to hide his works. His god-complex just wouldn't allow it.

So either he had an accomplice covering for him, or this was someone else who was conducting their own research using his formula.

Neither was particularly good news.

The video suddenly cut out.

"What the—" Trevor typed rapidly, but an angry red pop-up with an exclamation mark made him halt. His jaw dropped. "Someone just took down the website!"

"Who?" Tierno and Celestine demanded in eerie synchrony.

Trevor glowered at the screen and did some angry typing. Then he frowned. "The source was something called 'Lazarus Project QC'. The hell is Lazarus? ...aside from the Professeur's middle name."

Well, Celestine did have to talk to Hakase anyway. So she called it up on the vid-phone and asked him first thing.

"What website?" Hakase asked when she brought it up, bewildered.

So much for that theory.

"Look," Hakase began calmly. He was clean-shaven save for a missed spot on his upper lip, his hair perfectly slicked, and his eyes bright and alert. Dressed in a prim, button-down collared shirt and a crisp lab coat—clearly he'd laid off the booze, realizing how important this was. "I realize you think you're an adult and you can make all your own decisions—"

"I am an adult and I can make all of my decisions," Celestine interrupted, narrowing her eyes at the screen.

Hakase's jaw twitched, annoyed at the interruption, but he let it slide. "Not legally you aren't, ma chérie. And this is incredibly dangerous."

"I'm not afraid."

"I didn't say you should be."

"And I've dealt with danger before," she went on.

Hakase flicked a dark lock out of his face. "I realize that."

She curled her fingers into fists, nails scratching against the fabric of her leggings. "Then what the fuck is the problem, Hakase?"

He sighed, his shoulders slumping a little. "I just—I really don't like this."

Oh for fuck's sake. She really didn't want to repeat this argument again. "I'm aware. But this is the whole reason I'm in Kalos in the first place."

"Which I don't agree with," he grumbled, eyes averting to the left.

You've made that abundantly clear. "Why are you even calling? What, are you going to tell me you're worried about me?"

He regarded her with the weariness of a man older than his years. "I am worried about you."

Ah. Erm. Okay. She had admittedly not been expecting that. But that was okay, just keep holding your ground Lavieaux. "Thanks. But, I've got this. Really."

"I believe you," he sighed, his accent coming out thick and exhausted. "That doesn't mean I can't worry, or disapprove."

Geez. He was starting to sound like her goddamn father. She took a deep breath. "Did you just call me to say that? Because if so, no offense, but this is sort of a waste of time."

"Actually," he said, straightening a little and his eyes starting to widen, as though he were forcing himself to be more alert, "I called to inform you that I contacted Monsieur Looker last night."

"WHAT!?" Before Celestine could process her own actions, she had leaped out of her seat and slammed her hands against the desk, her glare intense enough to melt the screen. She felt bruises forming on her palms, she'd hit the desk so hard, and people where staring, but who gave a shit? "You— You did WHAT?!"

Hakase held his hands up in appeasement, his face blanching a little. His lip twitched into something like a smile, as though the whole thing were amusing in some way, but it was really more of a submissive gesture. "C-Calmez-vous, ma chérie."

"Anata wa nani o kangaete ita no?" she spat. Fury rushed to her head and left her dizzy. She didn't even process slipping back into her native Kantonese tongue. "Dono yō ni sonoyōni watashi o kizutsukeru koto ga dekimasu ka?!"

His Adam's apple visibly bobbed as he swallowed. The curve of his lips was straightening into a flat line. "I don't quite understand what you're saying, but I'm guessing telling you to calm down was a mistake."

Celestine glared.

Hakase's expression suddenly grew firm, brows furrowing and lips pursing. He lowered his hands to lie flat on his desk. "Oh, don't give me that look. I had to!"

"Where the fuck is that written down?" Celestine demanded. "Like, is it some cosmic rule or something?"

He tilted his face down, like a parent disciplining their child, and a lock of dark hair dipped into his face. "Celestine—he's your legal guardian."

For some reason, that remark melted all the tension in her muscles, and she fell back against her chair in a rather exaggerated fashion. She buried her face into her hands, letting loose a noise that was part groan, part frustrated scream.

"On the bright side, the message went to voice mail," Hakase went on breezily. "So he might not have gotten it. A little odd, but he's likely busy investigating something."

Or running that painfully transparent Bureau he'd set up. Seriously, was he trying to be subtle?

There was a beat of silence before Hakase spoke up again, "I doubt he's going to do pull you out, ma chérie. At most, he'll probably call to scold you for doing something like this with your team being where it is."

"What?" she mumbled through the web of her palms and fingers. How did Hakase know the state of her team? Was there like progress monitor in her Dex or something?

"I negotiated with him the first day you left for Vaniville," Hakase explained, flicking that loose lock back into place. Well, it wasn't what she was wondering, but it was helpful nonetheless. "He agreed that, if you ever got into a situation like this, I'd be the one to try and reel you in, if he weren't immediately available. And since he wasn't, that puts me temporarily in charge of you."

She lowered her hands, drinking in the way he slouched in his chair, the self-satisfied tilt of his left eyebrow. "The hell did you manage that?"

"I convinced him I would be responsible enough to deal with you," he replied.

"How?" Augustine Sycomore-Hakase was hardly the definition of responsibility.

"I am deceptively charismatic, ma chérie." He straightened and folded his hands together on his desk, fingers meeting fingers. "Now, since I am officially in charge of you, I give you permission to do whatever it is you need to in Santalune."

"I don't need your permission," Celestine growled. "And—and you...really didn't need to do that, Hakase."

He laughed delicately. "Oh, but ma chérie, I wanted to."

"Why?" she blurted out. Then paused, suddenly narrowing her eyes. "Do not say because it has anything to with Maman, I swear to god."

"Well, I was going to say it's because you can owe me a favor for later," he remarked, "but that too."

"That's not good enough," she muttered.

His expression became a little serious again. "Which part?"

Celestine lowered her gaze to the grey, plastic desk the vid-phone sat on. "Look—you shouldn't have to do me favors or worry about me or some other shit just because you knew Maman way back when. I'm not her, and she's..."

She trailed off, fingers clenching into fists.

Hakase regarded her silently for a moment, cupping his chin with his thumb and forefinger, mouth pulled into a tight frown. "When you get to Lumiose, we are going to sit down and have a nice long talk about your trust issues."

"What?" Had he really just said that to her?

"Not every act of kindness is an act of pity," he told her smoothly. "The sooner you remember that, the better."

After that, Celestine met Serena in the clearing from yesterday and listened as the blonde informed her of a weird but apparently very effective training method.

"It doesn't sound like much," Serena went on, holding up a ball of powder blue yarn the size of a baseball. A bucket of several more in various pastel shades sat at her feet. "But this can actually improve accuracy, reaction time, and hand-eye coordination."

"This is a joke, right?" Tanner grumbled from atop Celestine's head. She'd long since given up trying to stop him from perching up there, no matter how uncomfortable his claws were in her scalp. Delphi was perched on her left shoulder, Ray on her right. Tyler and Max were at her feet.

"Does getting hit by a yarn ball hurt?" Delphi asked with a nervous laugh.

Serena smiled almost apologetically. "Depends how hard you throw 'em."

"This is crazy," Tanner announced.

"Actually," Celestine said coolly, "this reminds me of Pokémon Ping Pong."

"Oh, yes, I've heard of that!" Tyler spoke up. "Yes, my old owner was quite fond of it. It's a partner's sport between Pokémon and Trainer in which both participate in ping pong tournaments all across the Old Continent. It's quite entertaining."

"That sounds even dumber than blondie's thing," Tanner retorted.

Serena's smile froze on her face, and her eyes narrowed. It was then that Celestine decided that was enough human interaction for the last twenty-four hours and it was time to get down and grind.

---

The next two weeks slipped by unceremoniously, punctuated daily by calls from "Beladonis" that Celestine ignored periodically and her team picking up a few new moves. Shauna kept her promise and delivered meals to Celestine's training location like clockwork, and displayed an ability to hunt the Kantonian down no matter how many times Celestine changed locations that bordered stalkerish.

There were a few highlights. Celestine still vividly remembered that one time she bribed the wild 'mons into battling her team by promising a half-dozen Poké Puffs to whoever could knock one of her Pokémon out. It had been a fucking bloodbath, and they'd spent the entire day warding off the mob.

On the bright side, it had been a productive training day. On the down side, Celestine noticed precisely how far behind Ray had fallen. She had become gradually aware that he was underperforming, likely from the unhealed injury, but it was only when he was the only team member to be knocked out (by a Litleo, a Fire-Type, of all things!) during that exercise that she realized how bad it was.

That night, after discussing it with the nurse (thankfully, a different nurse than the one that Celestine had met on her first day in Santalune), she let Ray out in the privacy of her rented room to discuss the matter. He emerged with his head lowered, as if in shame.

"Hey," Celestine said quietly. He didn't look up, and she sighed, crossing her legs. "Ray, I just want to talk, that's all."

Reluctantly, Ray looked up. With one paw, he rubbed gingerly at the scar.

"I talked to the nurse. She says you've got some permanent muscle damage." Where Rinka's Fletchling's beak had torn into muscle and tendon and even the center machines weren't able to fix it perfectly. It had weakened his arm considerably, which was only worsened by the fact that it was his dominant arm. Celestine would have almost blamed Rinka, but she'd lost the Fletchling in question, and no one deserved that. "And you and I both know something like that is going to affect your ability to battle."

Ray's expression stayed stonily neutral. He gestured to his hip, miming Celestine's Chain.

She winced. "No. It's probably not a smart idea for a Pokémon who can't battle effectively to stay on a Trainer's team."

Ray let out a sigh of resignation, then hopped off the bed and began to head for the door.

"Whoa!" Celestine swung her legs over the side of the bed and leaned over to grab his tail before it slipped out of her reach. It was times like this she didn't mind being freakishly tall.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Ray mimed trees and bushes and something that it took Celestine a moment to realize were Beedrill wings.

"You're not going to back to Santalune Forest, Ray. You won't last a day in your condition." Rangers even sought out Pokémon that were injured like this and put them into captivity, simply because they were at a decided disadvantage, and were likely to be picked off—survival of the fittest was a cruel bitch. "I'm not releasing you. After this is all over, I'll leave you at an adoption center. They'll find you a good home and you'll get fat from Poké Puffs. Sound like a plan?"

Ray grinned at her.

After that, he became an assistant of sorts, pushing those he thought were lagging and doling out extra Poké Puffs to those that earned his favor. Celestine would watch their antics with a sort of amusement. At least it motivated the team to train a little harder.

That didn't compare, though, to what happened at the end of the second week.

It was midafternoon, and Celestine had allowed the team a fifteen-minute break—fifteen rather than ten, because they had worked extra hard and Celestine felt like treating them. Call her harsh, but this spartan method of training paid off in the end.

Especially when Delphi started to glow while polishing off a cinnamon Poké Puff.

The Fennekin let out a surprised yelp, but a childlike grin found its way onto Celestine's face, the kind most commonly found on the faces of schoolgirls who'd just had a chance to flirt with their crushes. She'd witnessed it before, of course, but to witness the wonders of evolution was like watching your favorite movie, or eating your favorite food—only better, and more spectacular, and you'd never get tired of it. That was the best way to describe it, even then, that was only scratching the surface of how wondrous, how remarkable, how awe inspiring.

She watched giddily as light unfurled from her starter in wispy spirals, as his tail and ears lengthened, as his body shifted from quadrupedal to bipedal. She could hear it—the whoosh of cells growing and changing, the crackle of Fire-Type Aura—and she could feel the heat against her face.

When the light dimmed, Delphi was left staring down at his new form, and Celestine was grinning so hard her face hurt.

"Whoa." The Fenne—no, not a Fennekin anymore. Whatever he was, he examined his body with a sort of wonder, holding his arms out at his sides as if for balance. He took a step forward, hesitated, and then stepped back, his eyes so wide she could see the sclera. "This...is cool but weird."

"You look like you're wearing a tutu," Tanner snickered, while Max chirruped.

"Agreed," Tyler remarked, then paused. He turned to Tanner with a frown. "How do you know what tutus look like?"

Tanner quickly went back to eating his Puff.

"Don't listen to 'em Delph," Celestine said when Delphi flattened his ears back and lowered his eyes, as if ashamed. She let her gaze wander up and down his form appraisingly, and she swore her face was splitting. Even Draco hadn't evolved this quickly. "You look awesome."

Delphi looked up tentatively, then his eyes went wide and his jaw slack. "Oh great Goddess, you're smiling."

Celestine blinked, smile dropping, while Tanner and Tyler's heads both shot up. "She is?" Tyler asked.

"I didn't see that," Tanner retorted skeptically. He fixed Celestine with a piercing, dubious gaze. "This chick don't smile, kid. Her face would melt."

Celestine balked. "I smile!" And then, to prove it, she painted on a rather forceful smile.

Tanner stared at her with abject horror. "Yeah, that looks like you're baring your teeth and about to sink them into my neck."

"You scowl a great deal, ma louve," Tyler remarked. "So much so, that you're likely to end up with lines in your old age."

Celestine scowled regardless and turned to Ray and Max. "You guys think I smile enough, right?"

Max chirped, likely not understanding the question. Ray looked up and shook his head emphatically.

She drilled them all extra hard after that.

At the end of the day, she returned everyone but Delphi to their Balls, and as they walked back to the Center, she presented him with the stick from earlier.

"You said your evolution utilizes this thing, right?" she asked, holding it out for him, like an offering. He stared at it with a sort of wonderment, the kind usually reserved for fireworks or a meteor shower. "Can you make any use of it now?"

"Y-Yeah," he answered shakily. He took the stick into his paws, and Celestine watched as a tawny shimmer surrounded it. Before her eyes, the stick smoothed itself out, thickening at one end and thinning at the other, split ends fusing together, until it almost resembled a wand. "Oh, cool!"

Celestine had heard that some Pokémon, mostly Psychics though, were capable of syncing their aura with objects, but she'd never witnessed it firsthand. And she had to agree with Delphi—it was pretty damn cool.

Unfortunately, her good mood was ruined when the nurse pulled Celestine over and informed her of the Center's policy.

"The fuck?" Celestine tried to contain her annoyance and not lash out, do not lash out, do not lash out. "What do you mean I can't rent a room longer than two weeks?"

"There's really nothing I can do about it," said the nurse apologetically. "It's a countermeasure against runaways and freeloaders. You'd be surprised how they flock to Centers—anyway, you can re-rent the room, but it'll cost you."

Dammit. "How much?"

"About two-thousand per night."

Two-thousand a night, for a week. Factor in the amount Celestine has been spending on food and training supplies (like those balloon bots for Calem's ST device), and... she didn't have that kind of money. Even if she beat up more Field Trainers, she didn't have that kind of money. "Can't I, like, rent a different room?"

The nurse shook his head.

"A room at a different Center?"

Another head shake. "There needs to be at least a week-long gap between renting a room between Centers, Mlle. Not to mention that there aren't any other Centers in the city."

Shit. "What about a rest center?"

"The nearest one is on the other side of the Forest," the nurse reported.

Fucking hell. "Where am I supposed to stay then?"

The nurse winced. "Family?"

"None in the area."

"Friends."

"Again..."

The nurse sighed apologetically. "I'm sorry, Mlle Lavieaux. There's really nothing I can do. First thing tomorrow, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Delphi peered up at her urgently, but Celestine just growled and forced her hackles to lie flat. "Fine. I'll pack my stuff up."

"We hope to see you again," the nurse called after them tentatively.

Fuck you and your entire family.

And Celestine stormed to her room with Delphi following tentatively at her side.

"Are we going to end up on the street?" he asked her, once she slammed the door closed with too-much force. The thud echoed through the tiny room.

Celestine crashed onto the bed so hard the frame groaned, and she groaned with it. She'd like to reassure Delphi that it was very unlikely they would end up sleeping the woods by this time tomorrow, but that was a lie, and Celestine not a liar, you see. She rather omitted the whole truth that outright lied.

So she just didn't say anything.

There was a knock on the door. Celestine really wasn't in the mood for company, but now that Delphi was bipedal, he could reach the doorknob when he stood on his tiptoes, and he answered it. She heard the door open and close.

"I'm guessing the nurse gave you the spiel?" Serena, sounding as tired as Celestine felt.

Celestine grunted as she sat up, glaring at the headboard. "Is it even legal to throw kids out on the street?"

"If it weren't, there'd be a lot less kids on the street," Serena answered with a sigh. Celestine felt the bedframe dip as she sat down.

Granted, Serena had a point, but it was the wrong point and it pissed Celestine off further.

"That's horrible," Delphi said, like that wasn't already obvious enough.

"The hell am I supposed to do now?" Celestine started to rant, because ranting made her feel a little less helpless, like she could, y'know, do something about it, no matter how pointless. "My match with Alexa is in a week. I can't concentrate on training if I have to worry about whether or not I'll get caught in the rain tomorrow!"

"I actually fixed that," Serena said.

Celestine froze, then turned her whole body to face the blonde, eyes growing wide. "You what?"

"I just got off the phone with the Professeur," Serena explained. "Apparently a mutual acquaintance will be renting a chalet in the area or something. We can all stay there for a week."

"Mutual acquaintance," Celestine repeated, tasting the words on her tongue. She pursed her lips. A mutual acquaintance of Hakase and who else? "Thanks, Serena. Now I've got one more thing to worry about."

"Huh?"

Celestine shook her head. "Forget it. I'm going to bed now."

Serena frowned. "Okay?"

"It's not that I'm not thankful, just... it's the circumstances. Don't worry about it."

Serena eyed her skeptically, but said nothing, and soon left.

After that, Celestine went to bed. She allowed Delphi to stay out and curl up on the pillow next to hers, because the more practice he had in his evolved form, the quicker he'd get used to it. That was her reasoning, of course—but when she peered at his new, longer body through the gloom, remembering that the Dex had dubbed him as a "Braixen" now, she didn't deny the swell of pride in her chest. His body heat seeped through the blankets and into Celestine's bones, and despite the news of being evicted in the morning, she slept soundly.

---

Celestine woke up at exactly seven am, packed up her things, folded her bed with imperfect hospital corners, and then made her way over to the café area. The nurse on duty was the nurse from day one, who scowled at Celestine from over the counter as she nibbled on a galette and sipped some oolong. She never was much of a coffee-drinker, honestly, and she pretended not to notice the way the nurse was eyeing Delphi in an almost pitying light.

Shauna came out exactly fifteen minutes later, stifling a yawn behind an olive-skinned hand. Mint was lounging across the top of her head, all but dead to the world and snoring softly. Bleary-eyed, she set Mint down and then went over to the Keurig to grab something hot. Celestine passed a croissant over to Delphi as Shauna returned with a cinnamon bun, then nudged Mint awake to eat a muffin.

"Morning," Shauna said unceremoniously.

Celestine sipped her tea and nodded once in acknowledgement.

Mint suddenly scampered over to the edge of the table and peered over it so greatly that she had to hold onto the edge to keep from falling off. Her eyes bugged out of her skull. "Holy crap, Delphi did you evolve?!"

Delphi blinked up at her, his tail twitching. He'd stored his stick in the plushness of his tail, for some reason, but the Dex said that was usual, so. "Um, yeah. Yesterday."

"The crap did that happen? I'm older than you!"

"It's called training," Celestine deadpanned.

Shauna looked at Delphi in awe. "Man, I missed it! Why didn't you tell me?"

"'Cause you probably would've sent me to bed and lectured me about the sleep average of teenagers."

Shauna only sat there, blinking rapidly, before muttering, "God, you're right, I've been hanging out with Trevor too much."

Celestine sipped her oolong to hide the hint of a smile.

Speaking of the devil, Trevor and Tierno both emerged a moment later and joined them, both looking as though they could have gotten a little more sleep. Trevor had a Pikachu on his shoulder, whom he scratched behind the ear almost absently. They both sat down, and Celestine watched, wondering what had kept them up last night.

Then Tierno noticed Delphi and did a double-take. "Whoa, Delph, did you evolve?"

Delphi smiled a little and held his head up, as if in pride. "Yeah. It was pretty cool—Trainer even smiled."

That made Trevor straighten, his eyes wide. "Wait, seriously? She can smile?"

He immediately shut up at Celestine's glare.

Shauna chuckled and nudged Celestine's foot with her own underneath the table. "Oh don't get all grumpy on us, Celie. Honestly, they're not wrong. When was the last time you smiled, yesterday aside?"

Celestine opened her mouth to fire off a retort, but—then she realized she actually couldn't remember the last time she had genuinely smiled, yesterday aside, and she closed it again. Instead, she settled for a glare that rivaled all her previous glares, one that could freeze the blood in your veins and make bones brittle with the cold.

Shauna just flashed a small, victorious smile.

They chatted for a few minutes longer, and Celestine almost enjoyed it (companionship), except for when the topic veered back to her impending match with Alexa. Tierno reported that, from Calem's reports, his search was coming up empty, and any information he could find on Alexa was rather limited—she was Viola's older sister, she was a head reporter of the Lumiose Star, and she was the daughter of previous Gym Leader, Acrisius Dupuis—

"Wait," Celestine interrupted. "Her dad was the previous Gym Leader?"

Tierno shrugged. "It's not uncommon for Gym Leader positions to be hereditary. When the League was founded, the eight wealthiest families in the region were given the position."

"That doesn't seem very moral," she said sourly. The title of Gym Leader should be awarded based on strength, not blood. It wasn't right. And sure, some Gyms were passed down through family, but only after the descendant was heavily vetted by the League to prove they deserved it.

Another shrug, but this time from Trevor. "It is what it is, unfortunately."

"We can have a look around the Dupuis estate after we get to the chalet," came Serena's voice. Celestine looked up to see her approaching, the neat braiding of her hair bellying the tiredness on her face. She came over, but she didn't sit down. "Shall we get going, or are we still eating?"

Shauna's mouth curved into a small, pouty-looking frown. "Don't you want to eat something?"

"I'm not hungry," responded Serena rather listlessly.

Celestine stood. Anything she ate now would just taste sour.

They headed out after that, this little pack of Trainers with Serena in the lead. Delphi tried to climb onto Celestine's shoulders, but he was too big and she refused. She could tell it bothered him. Draco had been the same way, when he had evolved. She resolved to discuss it with him later, when they were done with Transcendence training.

Yeah. She needed to pay extra attention to that.

Serena led them to the northern end, explaining that the chalet was located near Route Four. As they passed, Celestine could see the Gym's roof peeking out against the sea of brick structures, almost like a taunt. She kept her eyes trained on that one point, recalling Alexa's wild eyes, bloodshot and manic, and Viola's lifeless body in the infirmary, the staccato beat of the ECG. Blood painting the floor of the battlefield, the sick and dying. That hulking Scizor beast, its massive pincers that could easily tear through flesh and bone, its crimson exoskeleton and it's burning blue eyes, blank and lifeless...

The chalet was tall and wooden, a slanting, thatched roof and an iron-wrought railing that lined the balconies. No paint hid the rust-colored wooden walls, and the style was simplistic, but it had a certain rustic charm that Celestine could appreciate, despite being born and raised in an apartment building located in a sprawling metropolis. It was built into the side of a small hill, and ruddy clay flower pots adorned the porch, sporting a set of what looked like sunflowers from a distance but Celestine couldn't be sure from a distance. A few more pots, all clay but these ones painted hunter green, hung from the windows in rows, bright blooms of violet and white and periwinkle bursting from the potted soil. She thought it sort of looked like someone had sprinkled handfuls of confetti in the pots and all over the dark green foliage. A skeletal rocking chair sat on the porch, and sitting in that chair was a pretty woman in either her late twenties or early thirties, with hair that was braided in a thick rope and then thrown over her shoulder. She wore a long dress, green and floral and summery, that clashed sharply with the heavy brown overcoat she wore overtop and the snow boots that adorned her feet.

The woman noticed them and smiled brightly, standing up. An emerald lock fell almost exactly between her olive-green eyes. "Welcome. You must be the children that lovely Professor mentioned. A pleasure to meet you all. My name is Cheryl, but you can call me Mlle Greenaway."

Cheryl Greenaway—Agent Metsä. One of Agent Knight's delinquents. Celestine had been warned about them.

Fuck.

Celestine tried to keep her expression neutral as Greenaway approached. "Delinquent" was a mere moniker, just a name for a group of five. They weren't actually delinquents, they just didn't always follow protocol and tended to meddle unnecessarily. That was all. No bid deal. It wasn't like Looker sent Greenaway personally just to scold her. No, that wasn't it.

Introductions were made. They went inside. Honestly, it was all a blur. The interior was just as woody as the outside and smelled faintly of conifer sap. Rooms were on the second flood, said Greenaway, all honey and sugar, but she needed to talk with Mlle Lavieaux for a minute, okay?

Celestine felt her insides ice over, but no one else seemed to notice. Shauna shot her a look of slight concern before bounding up the stairs.

Greenaway turned to Celestine and all the sweetness evaporated from her features, leaving a cold, hard mask in its wake. "So you're the girl that's been giving Agent Looker trouble, eh?"

Before then, Greenaway had spoken with a faint Kalosian accent, a nice twang that made her sound like a native. But the act was dropped and what came out was a voice that was flat and betrayed no trace of her homeland. It was they way members of the IP were trained to talk, to be the enigmatic enactors of justice with no loyalties beyond their organization, no nationalism or outstanding patriotism.

Celestine crossed her arms and tried to look intimidating. Looking intimidating was a great way to fool people into thinking you weren't intimidated. "And you're one of those freelancers from Sinnoh that work under him."

"Used to. He's in Valor, I'm in Mystic—but that's enough with the pleasantries." Greenaway crossed her arms as well, standing her ground with all the resolution of a mountain. "You are in unbelievable trouble, young lady."

"For fuck's sake," Celestine grumbled. Didn't she have enough to deal with, without this schoolmarm-looking lady glaring daggers at her? "If Looker wants to scold me, tell him to come down here and do it himself, not send one of his cronies."

Greenaway's eyes flashed with anger for a moment, then she forced her expression back into a neutral mask. "Miss Lavieaux, I was not sent here by Looker, but by Commander Blanche themselves. They feel it necessary to remind you that you are working for us, not with us, and that if you are going to continue causing problems, then you will be taken off the investigation. Is that clear?"

Celestine snorted to keep herself from laughing outright. Was this supposed to be a threat? Sure, Greenaway was unnerving, but still, this was laughable. "Spare me. We both know your Commander thinks I'm too valuable to be taken off. I'm the bait, remember? The beacon. You don't have any other way to draw him out."

"But you've been given a certain amount of freedom, Celestine," Greenaway retorted coldly. Her eyes winked like stars in the night, and a shiver of cold ran down Celestine's spine. Oh, dear, there was the infamous glare of an IP agent, said to be able to size you up with a single glance. "Commander Blanche is pragmatic, and if they think you're causing too many problems, they'll assign you a tighter leash."

That made Celestine pause. She quite liked the freedom she had, thank you, though she might protest it wasn't as much as she would have liked. But still. "...Looker won't let that happen."

"Looker's voice is only so strong," Greenaway said coolly. She uncrossed her arms and let them fall to her sides, but this in no way diminished her strong, tall posture. "If Blanche makes a decision, even Looker can't overturn it. So I suggest you get your shit together."

Celestine was equally stunned and furious, and it was not a nice combination. It drove away her apprehension in an instant. "I'm the only one with my shit together! If not for me, Alexa—"

"Myself and my partner, Agent Swift, were assigned to investigate Alexa Dupuis," the agent interrupted, her glare cold enough to make frost grow on the walls. A lump immediately formed in Celestine's throat and she fought to swallow it. "The League may be oblivious, but the IP certainly isn't."

What.

No. Seriously. What.

Celestine nearly choked on her own breathe. "You knew?"

Greenaway gave her a look, like Celestine was so stupid she couldn't even put two and two together. It was a pitying sort of look, really, and it made Celestine bristle. "Of course. Did you really think the IP wouldn't notice an errant Transcender?"

Celestine's hands clenched into fists. Fuck apprehension, nervousness, intimidation—what the hell ever. Anger surged through her and drove everything else away but the sight of Cheryl and the memory of Alexa's emancipated face. "So why the fucking shit didn't you fucking do something?!"

Greenaway's glare was as harsh and unforgiving as a Sinnohan winter on Mt. Coronet. "Because before you barged in and wasted two weeks' worth of surveillance, we were compiling a case."

"Bullshit!" Celestine's hands shook violently. She saw the battlefield and felt hot stage lights against her neck and there was that Scizor, gleaming with the color of blood against the tan-white of battlefield. Massive pincers that could tear apart flesh and bone with horrifying ease. "There's video links and witnesses and everything. You already had a case, goddammit! You had every opportunity to act! So why didn't you?!"

"Lower your voice, Lavieaux." Contrary to her frosty tone, Greenaway's expression softened a little. For a moment, she looked tired. She sighed, stuffing her hands in her pockets, her gaze shifted ever-so-slightly to the left. "Contrary to what you believe, Celestine, the IP doesn't have unilateral control of the world. We still have to dance around politics and bureaucratic red tape. Instinct was the one who stumbled onto Dupuis's use of Transcendence, and we were in the process of transferring files when you butted in."

And thus, definitive proof as to why politics sucked the big one. "Fine. But unlike you, I have an opportunity to do something."

Greenaway schooled her features back into a cool, neutral mask—the infamous neutrality of the IP. "To cause chaos, you mean."

"That's practically my job description, in case you haven't noticed," Celestine retorted dryly. Then paused, regarding Greenaway skeptically. "But I clearly haven't been doing a good job, if nobody's noticed what's been going on."

Greenaway huffed a sarcastic little laugh. "I disagree! The media is having a field day. Have you checked the news lately?"

Um. No. Not really. Celestine was too busy training, and no reports had busted been looking for her or anything. She'd sort of just assumed her efforts had gone ignored, just like Alexa's actions had over the past moth. Clearly that wasn't the case, though, if Greenaway's glare was an indication.

"Well, they don't know that Viola's lost her position, but they do know that there was a challenge to the Gym Leader's authority." The agent pursed her lips, a small crease forming between her brows. "They know it's been twice in the last month that a single Gym's authority has been challenged, successively. And they know that, despite that Kalos's League is the least efficient of the five, that's not normal. Currently, the media is harassing the Champion and Elite Four for an explanation."

Celestine frowned, slightly disappointed. "So nothing about me?"

Greenaway scowled. "No. You're welcome."

"Wait." The realization hit Celestine like a smack to the face. She blinked, her jaw going slack a little, because this could not be. "You've been messing with the media? How the fuck..."

"We have not been messing, we've been containing." Greenaway tried to look down at her, and it hit Celestine just then that she was half a foot taller than the agent. Geez. How could someone so short be so intimidating, so commanding and dominant? "Per Looker's instruction, of course."

A surge of indignance flooded Celestine, and she bristled again. "He can't do that. Again, it's in my job description! He can't just hold me back because he decides I'm not ready!"

"Looker is one of the best agents in the IP," Greenaway snapped. "Don't badmouth him."

"Just because you admire him doesn't mean I have to kiss the ground he walks on," Celestine snapped, folding her arms, squeezing tight around her chest like a noose. Admittedly, she did acknowledge that Looker was a veteran and probably a good agent, but that wasn't the point.

Now it was Greenaway who bristled. "I advise you to show some respect."

Celestine wondered how she could be possibly more respectful by acknowledging someone's flaws and weaknesses, acknowledging them as human, and still tolerating them anyway. Clearly Cheryl had a different opinion. But putting someone on a pedestal did nothing. Pedestals were made of stone, and stone eroded and cracked and fell apart. And what happened to the people on top of those pedestals, once the pedestals fell apart?

Greenaway sighed and straightened the collar of her coat. "Now, it's my understanding that you're to focus on accustoming your team to Transcendence, yes?" She didn't give Celestine a chance to respond. "I will be observing you."

Celestine felt like she'd been struck. She already had four nannies, and didn't need a fifth! And especially not one from the IP. "What? Why?"

"Why? Because it's my job, and I take that rather seriously, unlike you, who apparently thinks it's fun to throw your weight around." She shot Celestine a glare laced with a meaningful look, and she was clearly trying to be condescending, but she had to look up to Celestine and it lost some of it's effect. "You seem to be under the impression that you have a choice in the matter, but you don't. Two weeks ago, you not only broke protocol by acting without your superior's approval, but continued to ignore his attempts to communicate with you. This is your punishment."

Celestine honestly couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was bullshit of the highest caliber, and that was not the kind you wanted to achieve. "So, so what? You're going to shadow me all through Kalos now?"

"That depends on your attitude, Miss Lavieaux. In the meantime"—Greenaway turned around so sharply her braid nearly slapped Celestine across the cheek—"go to your room, settle in, and then meet me outside in an hour."

She was up the stairs before Celestine could object, leaving the Trainer to heave a colossal sigh and stare helplessly at the staircase. Celestine massaged her temple. She felt a headache coming on.

---

The scents of sandalwood and pine mixed into some cloying amalgamation that was likely meant to be soothing, but it just made Delphi sneeze.

"Bless you," Trainer said in a robotic fashion, not looking up from her task of unpacking her bag, as though this were all some tiresome routine she had grown bored of (she had packed and repacked a lot recently, to be fair). Shauna was still at her side, mirroring her in unpacking but doing so with a less serious disposition. She was humming in a rather jaunty fashion that was obviously bugging Trainer a bit, judging from the looks she kept sending the Hoennian, but she made no comment and kept her gaze locked onto her bag, as if afraid that looking up might reveal something she'd rather keep hidden.

Delphi sniffed and muttered a quick thank you. He glanced at Mlle Devereux, who was too busy examining the room to even set her bag down. It was a fairly large room, one that had enough to accommodate all three humans and then some, complete with a bunk bed and a small TV mounted to the wall, carved out of wood like nature itself decided to accommodate them. An empty bookshelf and bare desk, a closet full of unoccupied hangers, bare essentials that were hollow and picked clean, almost skeletal in nature, as if to highlight the utter lack of homeliness. This was a guest room, one that was not meant for long-term stay, an intermediary place between travel, somewhere where no one was meant to settle down. The renter hadn't even put of the plants traditionally associated with welcoming, which meant they were probably a foreigner.

Which made Delphi wonder how Oncle had come into contact with this "Cheryl Greenaway"—or so Trainer called her—in the first place. Clearly Mlle Devereux was wondering the same thing, from the way she was poking around and looking through the empty drawers and scowling at the closet.

"What are you expecting to find?" Trainer finally snapped.

Mlle Devereux slammed the closet door shut, her back facing them. "I dunno. Something. A clue to how Greenaway knows the Professeur? I just—I don't like him keeping things from me."

For a moment, Delphi could have sworn he saw guilt flicker across Trainer's face before she turned back to her bag. "It'd be more productive if we talk about sleeping arrangements. So, who's sleeping on the top bun—"

"Dibs!" came a voice from above. Delphi craned his neck as he glanced up to see Mint settling onto the pillow of the top bunk. She wore a smirk that said that you'd have to pry the pillow from her cold, dead paws and put up a hell of a fight in the process. The top bunk was hers now.

How did she get up there, though? And so fast?

"Mint!" Shauna shot her starter a look of shocked horror. "What're you— Get down from there!"

"Nuh uh." Mint flopped down against the pillow with a satisfied smirk. "This is our bunk. The rest of 'em can suck it."

Mlle Devereux turned to Shauna. "You really need to get your Chespin in check."

Shauna sighed. Trainer just rolled her eyes. Delphi was still stuck on how she got up there so fast.

There was a knock at the door. Shauna made a move to get up, but Trainer beat her to it and stalked to the door with long, fluid steps. However, the door burst open before Trainer could so much as reach for the handle and Trevor and Tierno spilled into the room like oil. Trevor had a tightness to his posture that made it look as though her were marching into battle, while Tierno looked a bit more confused, trailing in a slightly reluctant fashion.

"I need to talk to—" Trevor broke off at the sight of Trainer, his eyes widening and his mouth clamping shut.

Trainer, however, took it in stride. "I guess that's out cue to leave. C'mon Delphi."

Delphi hesitated, not quite so sure that was the case, and it was long enough for Shauna to shoot them both looks of alarm. "You don't have to," she started to say.

"It's fine," Trainer cut in, not unkindly. "We have to train anyway."

Which wasn't untrue, Delphi realized. They had only a week left (oh geez, only one week before facing Alexa's monsters) and they'd yet to even cover Transcendence, which, given that Trainer was Aesith and Alexa was, in fact, abusing the very power, it was likely to play a key roll in the battle.

Trainer didn't even wait for him to follow, though. She was already out the door before Delphi realized it, and he started, bolting after her with an urgent "coming!", but when he reached the hallway, she was halfway down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs was a woman decked in greens, from her rope-like verdant braid to her long, sweeping viridian dress. She had wrapped herself in a beige trench coat that was the height of fashion in Lumiose—in autumn and winter. In summer, it was baffling to see someone dressed so ill-prepared for the heat, particularly because summers in southern Kalos were notorious for their humidity. There was even a sheen of perspiration on her brow, but her carefully neutral expression gave away nothing. This, Delphi decided, must be Mlle Greenaway.

Greenaway barely reacted when Celestine reached the bottom, or when Delphi joined her (admittedly almost tripping in his haste), beyond a slow, measured blink. "Are you ready?" she asked, and her voice marveled Delphi—her Common was perfectly pronounced, no trace of an accent of any kind, unlike anything he'd ever heard.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Trainer crossed her arms, her face twisting into a countenance of pestilence. "Where are we doing this? Backyard, forest, basement? What?"

"I have a spot picked out for us," Greenaway explained. She folded her hands behind her back and started towards the door, effectively giving them a nice view of her back. "If you'll follow me, please."

Delphi glanced at Trainer with a frown. "Is she going to watch us?"

Trainer aimed a glare between Greenaway's shoulder blades. "Unfortunately."

"Why?"

She snorted and started to stalk after Mlle Greenaway. "My legal guardian doesn't trust me anymore, apparently."

Delphi didn't quite understand what that meant. But he followed her regardless, trotting after her with the sort of loyalty one might expect from their partner. Because they were partners. They were partners.

The woman led them to a secluded clearing in the woods—not Santalune Forest, but some nameless woods that were of significantly less importance. The clearing was embraced by tall, soaring trees and undergrowth on all sides. It was green and dark, lovely and the air tasted sweet. Branches drooped as though burdened, some so low that they brushed the tips of Delphi's ears. The foliage itself was startlingly dark, too, so much so that the sunlight looked strange against it and the grass underfoot was like neon in comparison. As if to make the contrast less stark, the undergrowth was a moderate tone somewhere between these two hues, not too dark or too glaring. Unlike the Santalune Forest, these woods lacked both a name and the subtle thrum of power, the aura of oldness, of ancientness, that had made Santalune Forest so breath-taking. This was not one of the Old Forests, considered sacred sites by pre-modern civilization, but just a remainder of the old-world that had been left untouched by coincidence. It was just normal wilderness, unimpressive and hardly eye-catching. Perhaps that was why Greenaway chose this as good training place.

And it was secluded, too, Delphi noticed as he watched Trainer settle down on the grass, cross-legged and seemingly serene, while Mlle Greenaway immediately drifted over to a nearby tree and planted herself there, examining them with crossed arms and judgemental eyes. (10/29/17) There would be no prying eyes, no observers here, no one to stumble across an Aesith and her practice of Transcendence.

"Okay," Trainer began sharply. The expression she wore was stark with intensity, and just the sight of it made Delphi feel like sweating. "Transcendence time. Delphi, I'm gonna need you to clear your mind, or this is gonna get ugly fast."

He straightened. "Wait, we're starting now?"

She nodded.

"Like, now-now?"

Again, she nodded, slightly more impatient. "I waited a while because I wanted you guys to be physically strong enough to sustain it, considering none of you are exactly physically compatible. But time's winding down, so let's just ease into this, okay?"

No. Not okay. Very not okay. Delphi was far from ready for this, in all honesty. The word "Transcendence" was tossed around so willy-nilly that he'd almost forgotten the sort of weight it could hold, images of those who were unlucky enough to fail in finding balance between Transcender and Transcendee bubbling up in Delphi's mind. Yes, these were very high stakes indeed, and he couldn't... he wasn't ready. Not yet. Not—not yet. Not ever.

But Trainer was depending on him, and she couldn't do this without him. She even said so. She was counting on him, and starters were of a dependable breed, the kind that stood by fierce and loyal, that stood stalwartly beside their chosen partners. And granted, this partner may have been chosen for him, but that didn't change the simple fact of the matter, that she depending on him, putting a lot of her weight onto his shoulders, and if he really was of the dependable Delphox line, then he would do this and hold his head high all the while.
So he breathed in deep, tightened his grip on his stick, and cleared his mind, just like he had trained himself to do in the past. Psychic abilities took focus, so he'd been trained to focus. And Transcendence took focus too.

"Ready," he announced.

Trainer's eyes flashed with cerulean light, the emblem of a saltire emblazoned in her irises and across her pupils. Delphi tried not to flinch when he felt something poke at his mind, some tendril of something foreign and faintly intrusive. A mental link, he reminded himself as he forced his fur to lie flat, was in his nature. He was a born and bred Psychic. It wasn't a big deal. Calm down.

"You're more relaxed than I anticipated," she remarked. She was impressed. He could feel it like a pulsation through the foreign presence in his mind.

Delphi winced and tried to shrug in an aloof manner. "I don't want to explode."

"I'd imagine." Her eyes closed slowly, and her lips pressed tighter together. "This next part is crucial. The most important thing is to stay calm. Okay?"

He breathed in deeply. In. Out. "Okay."

At his signal, the presence of her mind slid deeper, immersing himself in the waters of his subconscious like a serpent of some kind, but then it spread, like a drop of ink in a pool, unfurling and dispersing throughout his thoughts. It was an odd sensation, but not particularly unpleasant or violating, as he was told that it could often be with those who were inexperienced at mental linking. The next thing he knew, he was hit by this sensation, this rush, something that made the blood in his veins quicken and sing. From the tip of his ear to the bottom of his paws, there was this slow thrum of power, potent and celestial and ancient, like a wellspring he'd never known was inside of him was suddenly tapped, like striking oil or gold. It was a little like how Santalune Forest had felt, but as if the ancient essence of the place had been distilled and injected into him, a chorus to a long-forgotten song ringing through his body in an endless loop.

Kudos for not freaking out, kid. Trainer's voice murmured through his head, bouncing around in echoing whisper, sonorous and deep. It bypassed the process of being analyzed by his ears, instead choosing to resound in the contours of his skull.

He swallowed. Psychic link. Perfectly normal.

A flash of amusement that wasn't his went through him. Or keeping your freakout low-key.

"I'm not freaking out," he muttered.

You are, and I get it. Her voice was laced by heavy sympathy, and he felt her retract a little, further to the corners of his mind, as though afraid to pour herself in any deeper. I freaked out the first time, too. And I still don't like anything messing around with my head. But you don't need to worry—I'm going to very careful. Promise.

I thought it'd be... He paused, noticing the way she was lingering on the fringes, pushing no further than necessary. Different, I guess?

Intimate? she offered. Invasive?

A little? Delphi wasn't sure if either of those were the right words to explain his expectations, his disillusionment at her aloofness.

Transcendence can be hell if you're inexperienced, Trainer explained, suddenly serious, her "voice" dropping low. You're clumsy, you invade privacy without meaning to, and you run the risk of accidentally trampling all over someone's psyche. If you don't keep your emotions in check, you risk flooding the recipient with them, which isn't pleasant.

...oh. That sounded particularly worrisome, and like she had some sort of personal experience.

She seemed to realize what he was thinking, because she relaxed a little, and tried to come off as more sympathetic. Don't worry. I'm experienced. You'll never have to worry about that with me.

It still didn't explain why it sounded like she had personal experience, but okay, sure.

A great mental sigh was heaved, and Trainer slowly opened her eyes. Through the veil of her lashes, he could make out the azure glow in her eyes. Okay. Confession—past me sucked at Transcending. I couldn't keep myself in check. Transcendence is meant to be symbiotic, but if you're inexperienced, it becomes parasitic. Past me used Transcendence to channel all my negative feelings, which worked for a while, but it just hurt me in the long run, and it did a number on my partner.

Delphi paused to let that sink in. It occurred to him, at that moment, how little he knew about Trainer's past, save that she was from Kanto. Previous partner? Who was that, and what happened to them?

Seeming to sense his apprehension, a flare of desperation went through Celestine. But that's not how I do things anymore! I've changed up my technique a lot, and I won't let that happen again, okay? Promise.

He was stunned. Trainer was an enigma, of course, but one of the fundamental things he'd learned was that intimate details were a no-go zone. You did not ask. You waited and waited and hoped maybe she'd say something—it was the impression he got, anyway, which had only been proven true. So this was... Well, unexpected was an understatement. Stunned, baffled, pleasantly bemused.

Trainer seemed to recognize that she'd left herself vulnerable, because he felt her walls immediately rise again, defenses coiling around her presence in thick, spiked vines, all cold metal or frosty irritability. How about we start testing your enhanced capabilities?

Delphi knew the moment had passed. And you don't push with Trainer. Okay.

"Oi, Cheryl." Trainer's voice came aloud, and Delphi saw Greenaway give a start. The woman straightened, eyeing them both cautiously, which only served to cause a smile to twitch onto Trainer's face (which was made unnerving by the glowing saltires branded in her eyes). "You might wanna step back. We're gonna be playing with fire."

Cheryl's eyes widened. "What?"

"Delphi, let's try Ember."

Greenaway bolted to the side as Delphi whipped out his stick, and he waited until she was a safe distance before he channeled heat into the tip. That was what he was supposed to do, anyway. It occurred to Delphi that he didn't have a lot of practice attacking in this form, but there was an instinctual know-how that guided his actions, that had him going through the motions of pointing his stick high in the sky (so as not to burn down the forest). His ears heated, and the tip of his stick began to smolder. The word Ember resounded through every bone.

He expected a small flare, a fireball that would burst out in a flurry of burning bright orange and trailing black smoke. Except, what came out was instead a firestorm, an enormous blaze of smoldering vermillion and amber, exploding from the tip of his stick in a great spiral.

Delphi yelped and immediately cut the Aura circuit, but the damage had already been done. Voracious, flaming tongues snapped at the leaves and swallowed them, the verdant matter atrophying and curling in on itself, before racing to engulf the thick, hydra-like branches. The mental link snapped like a rubber band stretched too far when Trainer bolted to her feet, the unearthly light fizzling from her gaze. The sunburst orange flight refracted in her wide, dark eyes, like snapshots of the wreckage.

"Goddammit Lavieaux!" Greenaway produced a Poké Ball from her coat and threw it. The light splashed on the grass like water, and coalesced into a great serpentine shape so huge Delphi almost fell over peering up at it. White gave way to crème ecru flesh and mellifluous carmine fins and a crown of curling antennae, and a great, piscine tail and fanlike tailfins that shimmered like a kaleidoscope. "Fedosia, Rain Dance! Now!"

Fedosia—the serpent—let out a piercing wail, antennae glistening with aqua-colored light. The air was flooded with petrichor, the sky darkening between the cracks of the canopy. An icy droplet struck Delphi's nose.

The floodgates opened. Thick, gunmetal-grey sheets of rain descended upon the clearing and battered the fire into oblivion, leaving only blackened, skeletal branches, ones that reached as if to grab one another, as evidence of what had occurred.

Thankfully, the downpour didn't last too long. No sooner had the cinders faded than the rain abated. All that remained of it was a faintly smoking forest clearing, a pair of thoroughly-soaked humans, a lone drenched Braixen, and a sea serpent with her head lowered to accommodate the relative lowness of canopy.

With deliberate slowness, Trainer raised her hand and swiped her sopping bangs away from her eyes. Droplets rolled in slow motion down her pale face. "What. The. Hell."

Greenaway glared through her own dripping bangs. "You started a fire."

"Your leviathan-thing could have just Hydro Pumped it or something," Trainer snapped as she attempted to wring out her hair.

"Hydro Pump would have demolished the branches," Greenaway retorted. "Fedosia's Rain Dance was much more effective and causes less damage."

Delphi shook his fur out. Wetness was an uncomfortable sensation, a cold uncleanness that could only be likened to standing in a vat of half-frozen vegetable oil, all slushy grossness and oleaginous chill. It was probably the most unpleasant sensation Delphi had come across, so when shaking his fur out didn't work, he reluctantly raised his body heat in order to burn it off. That did the trick—rainwater evaporated with a great frosty puff of steam.

Sighing in relief, he turned back to Trainer—only to yelp and stumble back when he met a pair of warm, liquid coral eyes.

The head jerked back, and the eyes blinked. "Oof. Sorry there. Didn't mean to scare you, hun."

Delphi gasped and placed a paw over his rapidly-beating heart. "N-No. It's fine."

She smiled warmly at him. "Never seen a Milotic before, I take it?"

He breathed in deeply. She was very lovely up close. "U-Um. No. Not really?"

A silky laugh. "Well don't you worry, dear. I don't bite."

"Fedosia." At the sound of her name, the Milotic turned back to Mlle Cheryl. "Thank you very much for your efforts."

"You're welcome," Fedosia answered sweetly.

Greenaway help up Fedosia's Ball and, in a crimson flash, returned her. Trainer stood nearby, her arms crossed, her expression still petulant.

"Is this going to be how things are when we're Transcending?" she demanded.

Cheryl tucked the Ball into the pocket of her coat and shot Trainer a look of sheer apathy. "Only when you insist on starting forest fires."

---

Two, three days trickled away, and before long Transcendence and the surge of power that accompanied lost the novelty of foreignness. Delphi couldn't be sure if it was just his evolved form or some deeper instinct, but he acclimated well to Transcendence and soon it became as familiar as the unconscious movement of his own limbs. And it seemed, judging by the reactions his teammates had to the treatment, he wasn't alone in this.

The first time Tanner performed Gust while he was Transcending, the air was so forceful and intense that it carved a deep furrow into the earth, effortlessly peeling away layers of earth and grass as though it were nothing. This was not an unusual feat—not for an evolved Pokémon, not for a high-leveled Pokémon. But Tanner was just a Pidgey, and that was what made it impressive.

He realized it, too, because when he landed and observed his work, he threw his head back, spread his wings wide, and laughed so hard he nearly fell over.

"I'm king of the birds!" he whooped, and took to the skies.

Trainer returned him before he could, quote, "do any more damage".

Max took it fairly well enough, though at the beginning he was fairly frantic, and it took a combination of Ray, Delphi, and Tyler to calm down his initial freak out, during which his Gusts sliced into tree trunks and sheered off branches. Tyler was much calmer, and Delphi was admittedly jealous of how quickly he learned to manage his boosted attacks, far more quickly than Delphi had. Only Ray was exempt from the training, being "officially retired" and all.

All the while, Shauna and the others never figured out where they went to train. Probably because Greenaway kept changing the location. Shauna had stopped visiting during training sessions, too, and for the most part, none of the humans really interacted. They were almost like ships passing in the night, save for the occasional conversation and sharing a room each night.

On the fourth day, Greenaway led them into the city of all things. Trainer and Delphi trailed dutifully, with Tanner chattering frivolously atop her head, though his chirruping had long-since been tuned out by the party. It wasn't until their surroundings changed, buildings growing whiter and reaching higher to the sky. It was after great stone walls began to appear that Trainer's gait slowed and she did a doubletake.

"The hell is this place?" Tanner muttered, stretching his neck as if to peer over the high stone walls.

Delphi paused a little to scan the area himself, noting brilliant green lawns and dark, decorative hedges and great, iron-wrought gates. The houses were tall, fair structures that looked like impulsive splurges made by some rather haughty individuals who were too caught up in a contest of whose house was bigger to worry about living space. And the clouds had parted around these houses, too, creating great patches of blue in a sea of white and dove grey, as though the heavens themselves approved of these unorthodox constructions.

"Koko wa doko?" Trainer snapped accusingly.

Greenaway continued for a while before stopping in front of the largest gate, one that was twice as tall as she was and had patterns of various insects fashioned into the bars. She didn't even bother to acknowledge them as she pressed the button on the intercom. "Damare."

A buzzing noise kept Trainer from firing off a retort. Delphi's ears perked as a voice drifted in through the intercom, to which Cheryl leaned in and answered, "We have an appointment. ... Yes, thank you, we will wait."

Trainer was glaring daggers at Greenaway. "Don't speak in my native language."

Greenaway remained impassive. "Which one?"

The gate squealed open as Trainer fumed, revealing a vast green lawn and a winding cobblestone path that was dyed in various verdant shades, ranging from bottle green to seafoam, instead of sandier colors. Greenaway beckoned them onwards.

Tanner peered down at Delphi as they marched along the path. "Any idea what this is about?"

He blinked. "Why're you asking me?"

The bird shrugged. "You're out more than the rest of us."

Delphi blinked again, stunned. But...Tanner was right. Trainer let him out more than the rest. More than Ray, more than Max. He'd never noticed it, but it was true.

Maybe we really are partners... "I don't know what's going on, monsieur. Sorry."

Tanner only grunted.

The walk lasted only a couple minutes or so, but the silence of no one else talking made the moments stretch out into almost eternity. Delphi passed the time by counting the number of yellow-green stones.

Trainer came to a halt so abrupt that Delphi almost ran into her leg.

"Is that—" Trainer started, then stopped. Delphi peered up to see a pair of wide eyes and a slackened jaw. He followed her line of sight and felt his own jaw go slack as well.

Greenaway was the only one of them to be unperturbed as she continued to sauntering towards the porch. Well—it was not quite a porch that Mlle Viola was sitting on, but it was close enough to one, this great slab of white marble set beneath a long stone awning, columns lining either side. The former Gym Leader had abandoned her trench coat in favor of less formal attire, a dingy white tank top and rumpled cargo pants. The tank was a V-neck with a moderately low collar, allowing Delphi access to the pink whiplash markings of healing scar tissue that marred her collarbone.

Mlle Viola jerked to her feet once she noticed them. Her eyes were wide and dark, emerald pools. "You must be Mlle Cheryl. And you—forgive me, mlle, but I didn't catch your name last we met."

"Celestine." Trainer shifted her weight awkwardly. "I...didn't realize you were awake."

Viola nodded once in a stiff, formal manner. "I was awake three days ago and discharged yesterday. So, um. I—I wanted to talk to you."

Trainer's expression became guarded. "Talk me out of it, you mean."

"No—just. Talk."

Trainer's expression didn't change.

Greenaway shot her a sharp look, brows raised, a look that distinctly screamed behave or shut up. Delphi wasn't sure how he felt about this woman ordering Trainer around, but Trainer seemed to acknowledge it, at the very least, and schooled her face into a neutral mask.

"Okay," she said. "Let's talk."

Which was how they ended up in what appeared to be the den of a gigantic mansion, sitting before a fireplace so massive Delphi was sure it could easily fit the entire team, Trainer included. The entire room was clearly antique in design, all wood made glossy by lacquer and smooth, chiseled stone that had clearly been carved by expert hands. Velvet furniture faced the massive fireplace—which, of course, wasn't actually burning, because it was still summer and the AC was blasting on high. A butler (a butler!) brought a platter of biscuits and ice tea, which the three women were currently indulging in. Delphi, Tanner, and Helioptile that kept casting them contemptuous looks when she thought they were weren't paying attention had taken residence closer to the fireplace, munching on some apparently high-end PokéPellets. Vases of multicolored polyanthus flowers overflowed from twin ceramic vases on the mantle, flanking an enormous portrait of a man with flinty green eyes and a mane of slicked-back blonde hair, threaded with silver, and matched by a carefully-groomed beard.

"So." Trainer had her long legs crossed, and she held her glass of ice team out as though it might be poisoned. "You said you wanted to talk."

Viola let out a sigh and set her glass down. "Oui. About Alexa."

"No shit."

Cheryl leaped in to mediate. "What about Alexa did you wish to discuss?"

Rather than eating, Tanner was grooming the flight feathers of his wing, claiming that he'd eaten already (which wasn't a lie, but that was over two hours ago). "So, kid. How's your life?"

"...fine?" Tanner shouldn't have to ask—he was around almost constantly. All of the team was. It was hard not to get involved when you were as around each other as they were. "Why do you ask?"

Tanner shrugged and poked disdainfully at his ceramic bowl of pellets. "Hell if I know. I'm bored and trying to make conversation."

The Helioptile rolled her eyes. "Oiseau à tête vide."

"Excuse you!" Tanner squawked.

Delphi frowned at her. "That was uncalled for."

The Helioptile bolted upright, her blue eyes wide. "Tu peux me comprendre?"

Delphi felt an immense rush of satisfaction as he responded with a clipped, "Nous parlons tous les deux Kalosian."

She looked fleetingly impressed.

"My apologies," she said in Kalosian, having lost a great deal of her earlier condescension, "I assumed that you were both unintelligent idiots like those heathens who live in the woods. Evidently, I was wrong."

Tanner's eyes narrowed, and he folded his wing tightly to his side. "What's wrong with living in the wild, reptile?"

"So, were you born in captivity or were you taken in at a young age?" Delphi interrupted placatingly, just as the Helioptile's eyes narrowed slightly and her frills sparked with electricity. The last thing they needed was a fight.

The Helioptile held herself with all the straightness and poise of a highborn lady. "I am the child of a noble lineage. My ancestry can be traced back to the Abadie family of Lumiose, before the Amoses came and took the Gym Leader status."

"Oh! I've heard about that." Pedigree lineage was not uncommon among the Pokémon of Gym Leaders, particularly their aces. Starters were the only exception to this rule, as they were set breeds who were chosen specifically to be gifted to more advanced individuals. "Apparently you end up with lots of siblings."

The Helioptile nodded once, stiffly. "About five. I was the middle child, of course."

"Wow." Delphi scratched the back of his neck. A brood of six—suddenly his life struggles felt rather inadequate. "I was just the youngest of four."

"I had way too many siblings," Tanner grumbled. "Lost track. Gotta be at least ten."

Delphi whipped his head around, eyes wide. Five was a lot, but ten? Holy cow!

The Helioptile cast Tanner an irritable glance. "Do they copulate a lot in the wilds?"

"The hell are you babbling over there?" Trainer's voice demanded sharply, just as Tanner's beak parted to fire a retort. When Delphi turned to her, he found her leaning over the arm of the chair and squinting at them, face wrought with suspicion.

With nerve he didn't know he possessed, Delphi held his paw to his mouth. "We're speaking Kalosian. Don't interrupt."

He turned back before she could respond (and was frankly scared to) and tried to smile reassuringly at the Helioptile. "Sorry about that. Hey, uh, I don't think I got your name?"

"It's Claire."

"That's pretty."

She smirked. "I know."

"What even is that thing?" Delphi heard Trainer ask, blunt and unhesitant, as Trainer usually was.

It was Viola's voice that answered, with a faint tremor in it, "A Helioptile. Her name's Claire—she was Alexa's."

Delphi felt his jaw go slack, and he eyed Claire entreatingly, waiting for her to either confirm or deny. She grimaced and averted her gaze towards the fireplace, fiddling absently with one of her frills.

A look of rage flashed across Tanner's face. "Is that true?"

One of Claire's paws clenched into a fist. "She's not like everyone says. No, she'd never abused me, and no, she has never neglected me. So don't you dare imply—"

"Whoa!" Delphi held his paws up placatingly. "No one was going to say anything like that!"

She looked up at him, stunned, her haughtiness all but gone. Then her expression shifted to bitterness. "...you'd be the first. "

Tanner regarded her with an oddly thoughtful expression. "Erm. You wanna talk about it?"

Claire blinked.

"Talking helps," Delphi offered awkwardly, wincing internally at the piercing, probing nature of her wide blue eyes.

She glanced briefly at Viola, then released a sigh bigger than she was and ran her hands over her face. "I suppose it's better you hear it from me...rather than her."

Delphi stole a fleeting glance at Viola himself, noting that she was sipping a cup of iced tea with her shoulders hunched in an almost protective fashion. "What do you mean?"

Claire's tail lashed angrily. "You can't trust what she says about her sister. She doesn't know her—not like I do. They were never all that close, you see."

He tried to hide his frown out of politeness. "You think that means she would lie?"

"I didn't say lie," she sniffed. The haughtiness had returned, like a shield to hide the softness of one's weak parts. "Her version of the tale is just very different. Biased. Subjective. I know Alexa better, so I can give you a more accurate truth. As such, I can tell you that the reason they weren't close is because Viola, she was favored by Monsieur Acrisius."

Delphi paused to briefly wrack his memory. "Acrisius... he was their father, right? The previous Gym Leader?"

She nodded grimly. Her gaze flitted to the picture frame once but did not linger long before snapping back to them. "That's right. He favored the younger sister and made no secret of it. Viola became his heir. It's probably because she looked more like him, while Alexa looked more like her late mother, but..." Claire shook her head as if saddened. "Monsieur Acrisius always ignored my master unless he was forced to pay attention. It was—she was always trying to earn his approval, but he never..." She paused again, eyes lowering her gaze and her forehead scrunched into wrinkles, her paws clenched. A subtle trembling overtook her frame, and it appeared to Delphi that there was some enormous pain vibrating inside her, ready to burst out. "It-It was...a crushing blow to her person, you understand. Can you— Can you imagine if your own father were to completely disregard your existence?"

Delphi could not. He'd really known his father, this absent figure that had existed as a mere concept than a real being, while his mother had been a distant, fitful part of his life. His siblings and foster Trainer were more part of his childhood than parents had ever been.

But Tanner had an odd velvety quality in his gaze that was akin to sympathy. "A yearning for affection and approval that'll never come... It's fuckin' toxic."

Delphi turned to Tanner in surprise while Claire took a moment to compose herself. "Yeah," she sniffed. "Heh. You and Mlle Aliana would get along."

At this, Delphi's ears perked. "Aliana?"

"Aliana Perrin," Claire explained. "A Dark-Type specialist and the Gym Leader of Kiloude City. She's a good friend of ours. Very supportive." She paused then, reluctantly, guiltily, "She's also away from her Gym a lot..."

"I thought Gym Leaders were supposed to be really responsible an' shit," Tanner said, back to his usual, abrasive self. Which was good, because the softness was actually worrying Delphi a little.

"She is," Claire retorted in a defensive manner. "She just... Ugh, never mind. The point is, she's a friend of ours and. Well..."

Something told Delphi she was keeping something to herself. "Well what?"

Claire winced nervously, looking down. She paused for a moment, seeming to consider something, then looked back up, her gaze becoming pleading. "You... you can't tell anyone, alright? Please."

"Okay?" He didn't understand her wariness.

She heaved a sigh. "Mlle Aliana—she was the one who gave Alexa her choker."

Delphi swore his heart stopped.

He flashed back to what Trainer said about Alexa, about the keystone she displayed without wariness or fear of retribution, with an almost righteous lack of self-preservation. It was worn on a choker, according to Trainer. Was that the choker Claire was speaking of now, given to her master by this Aliana person, a Gym Leader of all people?

Tanner caught the Braixen's eye, the same thought passing between the two with a single glance. The Pidgey turned back to her sharply. "Was she different? After getting the choker?"

Claire eyed them warily. The shared look between them seemed to have made her suspicious, but not enough to clam up, albeit she now enunciated more carefully, watched them with eyes brightened by alertness. "Not at first she wasn't. She claimed the Gym, talked about how she was going to make it into a place for the strong. But then..."

"But then?" Delphi pressed. His heart was hammering in his chest.

"She started... acting differently. She battled a lot more. Removed the badge limit." Claire's brows furrowed and her mouth tightened pensively, fearful and thoughtful at the same time. "Started doing Reaper Battles more and more. Stopped eating and sleeping. Her envy... She was always envious, of course, but recently, it was almost as thought it had consumed her or something. She kept talking about how she needed to surpass Viola and her father, even though she'd already taken the Gym... She was rambling and raving, not making any sense—she was... she was starting to scare me, in honesty."

"Scare you," Tanner repeated carefully.

Claire immediately brought back up that front of haughtiness, and Delphi recognized it as just that—a front. Because Trainer was the same way, he realized. "Not like that! I mean, she never threatened to—to... Look. She was acting weird. I was... I was just... worried about her. That's all!"

She's in denial, Delphi realized.

"I just..." Claire shook her head furiously, and it was then that he realized her eyes were glistening. "I just want her to be back to normal. I want everything to go back to the way it was. I—I want to blame Viola, but I know she has no idea either, and I have no idea what's going on—"

Delphi and Tanner exchanged a look. Up until this point, Delphi had admittedly been demonizing Alexa, thinking of her as some two-dimensional villain, some despicable creature with which there was not even a shred of a redeeming quality. It was a rather naïve way of thinking, in hindsight, because here, right now, was someone who seemed to care for Alexa very deeply, trembling under the pressure of her own internalized hurt and fear.

He glanced back at Trainer, and tried to imagine being in the same situation as Claire, not being able to understand what was happening to his partner and why, trapped in an endless maze of confusion and fear. Trapped in your own obliviousness and ignorance, bewildered and reeling, scared of the utter helplessness this ignorance left you with.

"Hey." In a moment where he surprised even himself, Delphi placed one paw on her cheek and used the other to brush back the tears he saw building in her lower lid. "It's not a lost cause, y'know? We're gonna fight Alexa and beat her, and—who knows. Maybe we'll knock some sense into her."

Claire's eyes widened. "Really?"

Delphi forced a smile onto his face that he hoped was reassuring, even a little bit. And he forced himself to believe—really believe—that it might be alright and everything would work out in the end, despite an odd stir of dread in his gut. "Really."

Such a naïve notion, in hindsight.

---

Current Team:

Delphi, Male Braixen (Lv 16)
Docile, Takes plenty of siestas
Ability: Blaze
Moves: Scratch, Howl, Ember, Flame Charge
Met: Vaniville Aquacorde Town

Max, Male Pidgey (Lv 15)
Naive, Very finicky
Ability: Tangled Feet
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack, Gust, Quick Attack
Met: Route Two

Tanner, Male Pidgey (Lv 15)
Hasty, Scatters things often
Ability: Tangled Feet
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack, Gust, Quick Attack
Met: Route Three Two

Tyler, Male Psyduck (Lv 15)
Naughty, Proud of his power
Ability: Damp
Moves: Disable, Confusion, Tail Whip, Water Gun
Met: Route Twenty-Two Santalune City

Retired:

Ray, Male Panpour (Lv 9)
Quiet, Likes to relax
Ability: Gluttony
Moves: Scratch, Play Nice, Leer, Lick
Met: Santalune Forest

---

Author's Notes:

Heeeey we're almost to the Gym battle guys! Just a quick extra, some world-building, and we're there! Whoopee! After only nine months! (God, if you exist, help me please).

So, remember the stat Trainers form Sinnoh? They're members of the IP, and yes, Celestine is working for them. Sort of. She's working under Looker, anyway. But now she'll actually get her attitude checked. Also, in the Battle Frontier, one of the Pokemon Cheryl potentially uses is a Milotic. So, say hi to Fedosia (I love her name so much, Fedosia~).

Yes, I did evolve Delphi before the battle (I tend to overgrind), and I retired Ray. He will be missed.

Speaking of Delphi, I wanted to delve into his character some more, particularly through Transcendence. I had to rewrite it a couple times but I'm thrilled with how it came out.

"Acrisius" is a Latin/Greek name meaning "locust", BTW. And finally! We get into the meat of Alexa's backstory! For those of you who didn't read La Vie Est Drole, I did do a few drabbles that cover the Dupuis sisters. They are as follows: 10, 12, 29, 17, and 27 (chronologically speaking).

You'll notice that I put a Gym in Kiloude, even though it's only accessible in post-game. This was not a mistake, but an intentional creative liberty. More on that later.

Translations:
Calmez-voice = "Calm down" (French)
Anata wa nani o kangaete ita no? = "What the hell were you thinking?" (Japanese)
Dono yō ni sonoyōni watashi o kizutsukeru koto ga dekimasu ka? = "How could you hurt me like that?" (Japanese)
Ma louve = "my wolf", or, more accurately, "my she-wolf" (French)
Metsä = Finnish for "forest"
Koko wa doko = "Where are we?"/"Where am I?" (Japanese)
Damare = "Shut up" (Japanese)
Oiseau à tête vide = "bird with an empty head" (French)
Tu peux me comprendre? = "You can understand me?" (French)
Nous parlons tous les deux Kalosian = "We both speak Kalosian" (French)

That's all for now,
Luna