22.5 hours before Juliana's disappearance.

As the last wild flamigo in the pack fell to her meowscarada's flower trick, Nemona came to terms with the fact that she'd allowed herself to become bored. A familiar, terrifying sense of boredom, stronger than any opponent she'd ever faced, had been chasing her ever since that last battle with Juliana some time ago in Mesagoza. The whetstone that had been used to sharpen her battle senses had disappeared then, gone as quickly as it had come into her life, and the consequences infected her battle strategies. How many wild pokémon had she brought down this morning? 50? 100? The fact that she hadn't bothered to keep track spoke to how little the training meant to her. No, battles against real trainers were the only way to improve, and now that Nemona could see a destination worth striving for, she didn't have any other choice but to seek improvement.

Everything became too complicated when Nemona realized she was supposed to have a reason for wanting to get stronger. Getting better for the sake of improving was enough when she could visibly see the results, but these returns had diminished over time. Now her gains had to be calculated, measured in a ratio of wins to losses with multiple opponents over long periods of time, and even then the evidence was inconclusive. The title of champion had ended up being more of a burden than anything else, but she'd shouldered the mantle on the off chance that she would eventually meet someone who could match her blow for blow, to give her the reason she hadn't realized she was supposed to have for battling. Now that direction had come and gone, and Nemona was left harassing the wildlife in droves just to get a semblance of a challenge. Recalling meowscarada with distracted encouragement, Nemona turned her gaze back north, toward Mesagoza and the looming Uva Academy. The backdrop of ominous clouds over Area Zero didn't do much for her mood. If she didn't have her education to worry about, the faint scent of rain on her nose would have driven her back indoors anyways. "Days like these are when I actually miss you, Arven," Nemona informed the gusting wind around her.

Nobody would admit it, but long before Arven graduated Nemona could tell that their small social circle was drifting apart. Her feet carried her back to the academy, acting on the same instinct she relied on for her battles as her mind remained distracted. Penny had her budding job with the Paldea League. Juliana was constantly being dragged in every direction as the hot new rising star of Paldea to participate in one activity or another. Arven was preparing for another journey he'd long since left on to find himself as a cook. And Nemona… Nemona still got good grades, ran the student council, and loved pokémon battles. School never posed enough of a challenge to keep her distracted like pokémon battling did, but it was a better way to pass the time than moping. No, she wasn't moping. Juliana would come back eventually, and that would put things right. In the meantime, she should be searching for another rival, one who could handle her at her best, even if that was a longshot. It was tough to find someone willing to talk to her about battling, let alone do it. Nemona broke out into a light jog as she reached the gates to Mesagoza. She couldn't run away from her problems, but pretending to the contrary was easier on her mind.

The steps to Uva Academy ended up becoming a better diversion for Nemona than wild pokémon. She ran a hand through her hair, separating the green streak from the rest of her ponytail as she allowed her feet to carry her further and further away from her troubles. It was the opposite of the thrilling nature of a good pokémon battle, but Nemona appreciated the structure that the academy's daily life offered. It also helped to convince her that she was still making progress toward some grand design that didn't exist in any form except for the vague title of "Nemona's Future". Her morning strolls were a bad habit, a compromise for the primal instinct in her that still desired a decent skirmish. That didn't mean that anything was wrong though. The literal perfect storm of circumstances was to blame for Nemona's bad habits, not her.

First Juliana got busy working for the league, meaning that Nemona's number-one rival and battle partner was now unable to participate in their five-times-daily ritual of combat until someone gave in and summarily ended up paying for lunch. Then the worsening of the unnatural weather conditions around the region had led the academy to ban tera raids, preventing Nemona from using them to challenge the strongest wild pokémon around. Worse, this ban had soured a lot of the student body on battling altogether, simultaneously decreasing Nemona's workload as the student council president while providing her with nothing to fill the void. It was hard enough getting people to want to fight when you had a large glowing sign over your head that said "I'm stronger than you." In short, she was being discriminated against.

This morning's trek around Mesagoza had only produced a single human opponent willing to battle, and he hadn't managed to put up much of a fight despite Nemona holding back. Wasn't her final year at Uva Academy supposed to be spent making memories or something? She didn't even have another treasure hunt to look forward to anymore. The next big event was Juliana's birthday, but celebrating without the lady in question present wasn't really much of a party. Her absolute last resort in Arven had been out of contact for a while now, and asking Penny to battle was akin to asking her to go outside on the weekend. "This is depressing. You shouldn't be acting like this. What kind of example are you setting?" Nemona had asked herself that several times over the past few years since she'd met Juliana. The steps faded away and left her staring at the imposing, cathedral-like structure that was Uva Academy as her answer.

Most people felt unnerved or at least exhausted walking up these steps, but the certainty of what Nemona found there every time she ascended them was a comfort (one of the only things she'd found that she shared in common with Penny). The role of being the strongest, youngest, trainer around had been one she'd taken for granted until she realized that it came with a time limit, but her grades never failed her. On the contrary, her list of wins remained disappointingly short against her losses to Juliana, even when at full strength. It wasn't as if she was letting these titles define her, exactly, but she wasn't dense enough to ignore the fact that it had been what she was known for until Juliana came along. Obtaining the rank of number 1 had been easy. Getting it back was proving to be much more difficult. Time only moved forward, however, and she'd spent long enough moping around the entrance to the school.

Old Jacq would chew Nemona out again if she lingered away from homeroom for too long. Nemona got a lot of slack from teacher and faculty alike for her standing both as a champion and the top student in school, but she tried not to let it get to her head. For aiding in this with constant servings of defeat, Nemona was grateful to Juliana. More importantly, she was likely to get wet if she hung around outside for too long. Before she could push through the large, ornate wooden doors, two people exited through them and, noticing her, turned in her direction. One of them she recognized immediately, which might have made said person happy if it were someone else. The other was a stranger to her, but Nemona was focused entirely on Larry as she strode forward to meet the pair before they could get away. "Larry! I didn't know you were around here! Say, if you've got the time, let's battle, yeah? I'm sure we can squeeze one in, right?"

Larry was shaking his head before Nemona finished speaking. "How many times do I have to tell you, champion Nemona? I'm a busy man. Although right now, I was-"

"Forget about that. La Primera can always wait an extra hour or four for those reports, can't she? What brings you here anyways? No, that doesn't matter. Let's battle!" Nemona was halfway through selecting which pokémon to use, accounting for the fact that she'd won 9 of her last 10 battles with the exceptional everyman, before Larry's companion cleared his throat to get her attention.

The other man looked like he'd fall over if the wind blew the wrong way. A grey beard accompanied a slight hunch in his back that made it appear as if his facial hair was weighing him down. What looked to be some sort of puffy citrus green hiker's outfit gave Nemona the rude implication that the man in front of her needed a life jacket just to walk normally. It wasn't the most flattering first impression, but when he cleared his throat, Nemona had thought for an instant that the man might have been gasping for air. "Pardon me, but I'm quite concerned about gathering more information. If there's something to be learned here, let's have it. I would hate to find I've been summoned here for some picayune reasoning." The faint scent of soba and elderly smell on his breath drove Nemona back a half-step.

Larry glanced between the irritable old man and Nemona. The mention of a lost son reminded the champion of some of the news reports she'd seen recently when her boredom was at its absolute peak. An accident had claimed the lives of a couple of the researchers down in Area Zero, where her eternal rival currently was. She'd been a bit worried about Juliana's health, but not enough to shake her faith that her rival was far stronger than a random rockslide. When the fallen workers' names were listed, her worries had proven unfounded. Still, the reminder that Juliana's current treasure hunt carried far greater stakes than her first one sobered Nemona's enthusiasm to battle, just a little. Larry's barely perceptible expression conveyed something between disbelief and exasperation at his situation, a fact Nemona could only pick up on through her training reading people's actions when battling. Recognizing that she'd have to be the one to relent before Larry had an aneurysm, Nemona bowed to the older gentleman. "Sorry about that, sir! I didn't mean to get in the way if you had some business here. Larry, we have to battle after you're done though, alright? Don't leave your boss hanging here!"

"You're not my boss just because you're a champion," Larry corrected, as sharply and cogent as Nemona figured he could be. "Should we go?"

Before he could get fully turned around, the older man waved Larry's retreat off, his other hand shakily supporting himself with a wooden cane. "Say, girl. I know your face. You're close with champion Juliana, are you not?" His voice rasped as if he'd gone out of his way to destroy his lungs just for this moment.

Sensing where this was going but unsure of how to react, Nemona nodded dumbly. "We're rivals, yes." It was much harder to be decisive when the objective wasn't clear in everything except for her personal training pursuits.

The old man scoffed, and Nemona noticed the indignant fire burning behind his eyes for the first time. If every other part of his body was shutting down, the unbridled rage that Nemona was being confronted with was that of a man at least 30 or 40 years younger. "Next time you see her, tell her that what she's done is unforgivable. The idea of children serving as bodyguards… Bah! Reprehensible. Truly reprehensible." He spat on the ground in a way that made Larry and Nemona wince.

"Mr… Pager, please. You shouldn't have come here if this was what you were planning on doing."

Mr. Pager turned his petulant gaze toward his escort. "You hush and let me do what I need to do. You're only here to observe and help if I need it. Am I wrong?"

Never before had Nemona seen Larry look like he wanted to argue with something so badly. This of course was shown only by a raised eyebrow, but facial expressions were about as familiar with Larry as effective pokéball throwing was with Nemona. Still, the man drew from whatever impossibly deep well of patience he maintained to nod without rebuttal. This left the conversation open for Nemona to respond instead. "Now hold on. It wasn't Juliana's fault, was it? That was a freak rockslide accident caused by a paradox pokémon according to the news."

"Exactly, yes, exactly! And whose job was it to be on the lookout for those pokémon and keep everyone safe, hm? Her and some other elite trainers. Don't get me wrong, I know very well how dangerous it can be, and my boy did too, but this is too far. Too too far, I say. The girl's still a student, for Arceus' sake! Fat load of good those titles do you, champion. Tell me, what actually inspired the league to send her down there, hm? It certainly wasn't the safety of my boy."

If Larry's conversation style was that of a boxer constantly protecting his face, Mr. Pager's was that of a rush down style brawler looking to knock out an opponent with 20 punches when 2 would do. She couldn't possibly respond to everything he'd said; the worst part was that some of it wasn't entirely wrong. There was a good reason that Area Zero was banned for most students, and now more than ever it was considered taboo to even talk about going near the Great Crater of Paldea. With that in mind, she was certain that anything unfortunate that happened down there wouldn't occur without Juliana doing everything in her power to prevent it. "You listen here, alright? Juliana is my friend. I've never met someone who cares so much more about the wellbeing of others over herself. There's nothing weird going on. She would never-" Nemona's desire to continue arguing this point was cut off by the sound of the school bell tolling.

The interruption provided Nemona enough time to consider more carefully what she was saying. Everything in the news had been careful to indicate that the rockslide was an accident. There was no way that Juliana could have done anything to help, right? Of course not. If there was, she would have done it. That's the person she is, and that's one reason Nemona loved being her rival. But nothing she could say would change this old father's mind, and, contrary to everyone's opinion, she could attempt tact when she wanted to. "Look, sorry, I gotta go to class, but trust me, Juliana would have done everything she could. I'm really sorry for your loss, sir!" With that heartfelt apology hanging in the air, Nemona darted off toward homeroom, leaving the duo standing in the courtyard, watching her leave.

The champion couldn't help but feel a little weirded out that the pair hadn't left their spot, even as the front doors of Uva Academy closed behind her. The certainty of punishment awaiting her for being late for class again was quick to push the thought from her mind. She'd been late three times this month alone, and even though her legitimate reasoning for doing so had ranged from sleeping in to being busy with a battle, all had been treated with after-school make-up lectures, or in other words time she couldn't spend battling. Knowing this was her destined future made picking up the phone when she suddenly received a call much easier. "Don't go to class, you're sick today. I took care of it. Come to my room." The caller hung up before Nemona could get out so much as a hello, but she didn't need to guess who her mysterious benefactor was.

Changing course without a second thought, Nemona made her way to the dorms outside of the eye of any wandering teachers. It wouldn't do her any good to waste her newfound freedom by raising questions of why a sick student was traipsing about. After exactly two close calls, she found herself standing in front of Penny's room. A single knock at the door was followed by Nemona letting herself in. Last time she waited for Penny to come to the door she'd had time to reorganize all of her pokémon boxes twice. Grey boots gathering dust greeted Nemona as she stepped into the dimly lit dorm room. Normally Nemona would be dogpiled by Penny's pokémon as soon as she entered, but none of them were anywhere to be seen today. Instead, it looked more like they'd been swallowed by delivery boxes towering up to the ceiling. Penny muttered some incomprehensible greeting as Nemona closed the door behind her and stepped forward to see what her acquaintance wanted. In the two years since they'd come to know each other, Nemona had managed to get Penny to participate in exactly four battles, of which she won all four. The rest of her social interactions with the tech nerd and former leader of Team Star were somewhat hazy, but Juliana assured Nemona and Arven when he was around that Penny was good people. That didn't mean that all of Nemona's previous invitations to Penny's room weren't exclusively when she needed something done for her. The computer server that was taller than Nemona beeped and blipped a euphonic invitation at her in absence of its master's greeting, said master remaining absorbed with something on one of her three active monitors. "I don't suppose you called on me for a battle," Nemona started, wondering if it counted as relieving the tension in the room if one of the people in it wasn't even aware of their surroundings.

"Of course not. You nearly sent one of my veevees to the hospital last time. But that's good now. We need slaking strength this week. What did those two men want?"

"Nothing in particular," Nemona shrugged, not surprised at all that Penny was spying on her. Doing work for the league probably even made it legal for her in some roundabout way. "Larry's always doing something or other, isn't he?"

"That he is. But this time, they're doing something related to Juliana." Penny turned around, the screen reflecting on her glasses as she pushed them up and making her look at least half as cool as she probably thought she looked.

This claim caused Nemona to perk up, just as Penny hoped. "Hey, you implied you didn't know anything when I asked you how Juliana was doing the other day," the champion lightly accused.

"It's because I don't know anything that I've been investigating Juliana's activities. Within legal means, of course," Penny corrected. "But it appears as though our friends at the league are asking the same questions, despite all evidence pointing to Juliana still being in Area Zero. It's very intriguing."

The past couple of days had made Nemona's weird feeling grow worse than it ever had since Juliana left. Several league representatives had come by, asking disconcerting questions about Juliana to her and the others while claiming it was for some PR stunt. This wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't refused to update her on how Juliana was doing, or even contact her. It was all suspicious, so Nemona had turned to the only friend she knew who could fix suspicious problems like this and come up empty. Hearing that there was more to the story now excited and worried her. "I don't see how that is. Are you saying they don't know where Juliana is too?"

Penny hesitated, then shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Juliana has to be fine. It's her, after all. If the league thinks something is wrong, that's their problem. I'm not getting paid to be their babysitter."

"You're getting paid? I thought you were doing a community service job for them or something."

Penny scoffed, a hint of pride entering her voice. "For about a year, sure. Now I'm at least at an intern level or something. Lots of job promises, very exciting stuff. We've definitely talked about this. Does anything that doesn't involve pokémon go right through your grey matter?"

Nemona shrugged. "Would you be surprised if I said no?"

Disappointment scattered everywhere as Penny shook her head. "I feel like you're trying to get me to fight you or something."

The champion instantly perked up. "You'd do that?!" Penny was no Juliana, but her pokémon could give Nemona a tricky time if she let her guard down.

Sadly, Nemona hadn't taken any classes at the academy to help her understand sarcasm. This was a fact that Arven and Juliana both delighted in exploiting, to the chagrin of Nemona. "No, I wouldn't. Well, listen up anyways, because this is important. They already spoke to you today too, so the League shouldn't bug you for a while. That makes you the ideal candidate to make the delivery today. Giacomo should be in charge of running the nearest Team Star base right now. You'll still do it won't you?"

This wasn't exactly a threat, but Nemona wasn't one to pry when battling wasn't involved. She instead glanced curiously at Penny. "Your legs seem fine. Why not deliver this yourself? In fact, why bring it up? I said I'd take care of it, didn't I?"

"Having a job means my actions are monitored heavily, and doing things requires paperwork, even good things," Penny responded like this was supposed to be obvious before lowering her voice. "Look, I contacted you using my burner phone for a reason. Even for me, Area Zero transmissions are risky, but I promised Juliana I'd keep her updated. As far as anyone knows or will need to know, you were never here. I bring it up today because I need it done by today before the weather gets any worse. If you're not going to do it then please give it back."

Dim alarm bells began ringing in Nemona's mind. She withdrew an envelope containing the USB Penny had given her when they last spoke. "This isn't something super illegal, is it? I'm still the student council president for a while longer, you know."

"Is everything you don't understand bad? It's just some pictures I want Giacomo to distribute to the team and Juliana, and I can't send them the normal way, not with big brother Paldea watching me every time I sneeze," Penny responded simply, already turning back to her computer at the first signs of a confrontation. "Listen, if you don't wanna do it, fine, I guess, but please give it back then. It means a lot to me and Team Star. I can figure out how to get them into Area Zero without using Team Star's base as a jumping point."

The specious request was the sort of thing that Nemona would normally jump on. Team Star's bases had been converted to training camps that couldn't turn down Nemona's requests to battle even if they wanted to. However, the nagging doubt in the back of her mind that Penny was up to something weird with her obtuse method of delivering something that could ordinarily be texted bothered her. Waiting until Juliana had time to visit had always been the preferred method for these things before. Nemona had been vacillating on what to do since Penny had foisted the task of delivering the USB to the Team Star base nearest the Area Zero entry port a few days ago. At the time, sending Juliana some messages and photos from home had felt like an odd non sequitur, but now she couldn't help but draw circumstantial connections in her mind. The almost pale girl had suddenly run Nemona down in the hall, looking harried about something. That alone would have been curious enough for Nemona, but then she was given a task that didn't appear to have anything to do with Penny's problem. She wanted to help, of course. Penny was Juliana's friend and by extension Nemona's friend. However, Penny was the one who instigated the uprising on campus a few years ago, and her actions since were met with deserved scrutiny, especially from Nemona herself. She'd checked the USB, and it was nothing more than what Penny had said it was, a simple delivery. Perhaps she was connecting dots where they didn't need to be connected. Turning over a friend's photo album to the academy simply because Juliana wasn't here would appear manic even to Nemona. She returned the letter to the pocket it hadn't left since it was handed over, careful not to crush or crumple it. "Aight. You can count on me, Penny. When do you need this done by?"

"Again, by tonight," Penny responded patiently, her small smile in appreciated reflected in the computer screen against her will. "Thanks, Nemona, I owe you one. Hasta la vistar."

"Sure, not like I have anything else going on today," Nemona snarked, suppressing a complaint about the distance she was travelling.

Perhaps she should have expected it, but getting a free day off should have been her first tip-off that her time was going to be occupied by something else. Without the freedom that came with the treasure hunt, the university was shockingly restrictive on its allowances for travel for students, especially with the recent tera phenomenon problems plaguing the region. Nemona figured that this was the perfect opportunity to get out there and battle more, a fact that all of the teachers had learned many times over in numerous school board meetings, but their decisions remained unchanged. If Nemona wanted adventure and strong opponents, it looked like she'd have to relegate herself to being the errand girl for a mutual friend of Juliana. Penny's disinterest in continuing the conversation was evident, and Nemona wasn't about to force anything on her end. It would be up to her to figure out a suitable time to report her success, ideally sooner rather than later. Nobody had explained how she was supposed to sneak onto a school-led Team Star base without raising questions, but she could figure that part out later.

Reentering the halls, Nemona stretched her limbs out, completely forgetting the tact she was supposed to employ in this situation. Just being in Penny's room with her hikikomori vibes made Nemona feel lethargic. Her negligence was paid off when she headed for the front entrance and bumped directly into the math teacher, Ms. Tyme. Startled, Nemona stumbled backward. The kind-hearted homeroom teacher for the STEM track was usually Nemona's staunchest ally in enforcing school rules, but this meant she saved the unsavory parts of her personality for those who broke them. They'd only battled once, in the Ace Academy Tournament, where Nemona had won handily. The former gym leader was also responsible for managing the Team Star bases that had fallen into the hands of the academy after team star had disbanded. Nemona had considered giving the USB to Ms. Tyme to deal with it several times, but this idea fell flat before she could execute it. It would be unfair to Penny at this point if she didn't do it herself. It wasn't like Penny couldn't have given it to the teacher if she wanted to. In the immediate moment, however, none of this was important. "Care to explain what you're doing wandering about, Ms. Nemona?" Ms. Tyme accused without taking on an accusatory tone.

Sensing the danger she was in, Nemona smiled broadly. "Oh, Ms. Tyme, sorry about that! I was just on my way to class, so-"

"I thought you weren't feeling well?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that! I was just on my way to my room, so-"

"You're going in the opposite direction of your room."

Mentally cursing out Penny for giving her such a flimsy alibi, Nemona attempted one more pleading smile. "Um, Ms. Tyme, to be honest, I had an errand to run today, and I needed to get out of class. I'm really sorry, okay?"

For a moment Nemona wondered if Ms. Tyme was going to smite her. Even the director of the academy had trouble containing Ms. Tyme's irritation when he flagrantly ignored his own rules for the academy. Instead of blowing a gasket, however, Ms. Tyme sighed and put a hand on Nemona's shoulder. "Be honest with me. Does this have anything to do with Juliana?"

Nemona's nervous expression under her smiling mask was replaced by confusion. "Huh? No? Why, is something happening to Juliana?"

Mentally, Nemona recalled her conversation in the courtyard. The uptick in people asking about the champion in the last few days had been more than suspicious enough. It wasn't entirely unusual to have the random guest arrive at the university to challenge Juliana to a battle. People did it with Nemona infrequently as well. However, the past two days had been an inundation of a magnitude far more than was considered normal. It was becoming apparent that everyone knew something Nemona didn't, and it angered her more than she would have liked to admit. "…No, honey, everything is fine. It's just a wellness check sort of thing. You know how badly the two of you messed up Mesagoza Plaza last time you battled."

"Ma'am, that was months ago," Nemona whined, suppressing her frustration that the event hadn't had the chance to be replicated.

"And I take pride in that!" Ms. Tyme trumpeted, Nemona's true intentions perfectly clear to the math teacher. "Now I'd like to speak with the director about your behavior, young lady. While I understand your eagerness to get out there with it being your last year and all, that doesn't give you the right to ignore your studies. As the student council president, it's your duty to ensure that you serve as the exemplar for all the student body. I know you understand this, don't you?"

"Of course, Ms. Tyme," Nemona responded, unable to keep the irritation at hearing this lecture again from seeping into her voice. "Could you please overlook this just one time? I have somewhere to be."

"I'm sure that place will be there after we speak to Director Clavell," Ms. Tyme responded firmly. "No complaints, Nemona. You brought this upon yourself."

Even the rock-type pokémon Ms. Tyme used would have been impressed by the stubbornness in Ms. Tyme's disposition. Nemona, hoping she could count on the director's goodwill to prevent her from being grounded for the next 24 hours, followed Ms. Tyme begrudgingly to the director's office. The large oak doors the guarded the room were closed, and when Ms. Tyme knocked, voices could be heard coming from it softly. The interruption caused the voices to cease, and after a pause, they were asked to come in. Nemona thought it was odd that the doors were closed in the first place. Director Clavell, for all his eccentricities, made it a key point of his approach to education to be completely open with students. This was one of the few times she'd seen his doors shut during school hours, not counting the time Arven had locked him in his own office as a senior prank. Upon entering the room, however, it was Director Clavell's guests rather than the man himself that stole Nemona's attention. Larry and the old man that had rudely spoken to Nemona were standing by Clavell's desk. The old man was standing a bit straighter than Nemona remembered and Larry was hunched over a bit more. "Is this important, Ms. Tyme? We're in the middle of something," Director Clavell greeted.

Glancing around the room, Ms. Tyme nodded to Larry, who half-nodded back, probably reminiscing about older days where they were colleagues or something. "I caught our student council president trying to sneak out of class, Director. Can you believe she called in sick today?"

"Ah, excellent, that's just the excuse we could use," Director Clavell nodded approvingly. "Well done, all. Nemona, I believe you met these gentlemen earlier. Would you be willing to accompany them for the day? They say they're interested in finding more information about Juliana, so I presume-"

"We don't have time to babysit," The older man interrupted. "And her least of all. All we needed, director, is-"

"Hold on. What do you two want with Juliana? Isn't she still in Area Zero? Why won't anyone explain what's going on?" Nemona's cry of frustration was met with either blank stares or awkward eye contact avoidance.

The longer nobody spoke, the more Nemona realized she was right, and it terrified her for a moment into thinking that the news report had been hiding more than she'd realized. If that were the case, she was dealing with a bigger conspiracy than she would ever have knowingly signed up for. Perhaps sensing where Nemona's mind was going, the director finally chose to break the silence. "Nemona, if we explain things, can you swear to secrecy until the matter is resolved?"

Privately Nemona had no idea if she could do that, but there was only ever one appropriate answer when one was asked a question like that. "Of course I can. What's going on?"

Nobody in the room was fooled by Nemona's acting skills, but Director Clavell continued anyways. "As of a few days ago, and there's no easy way to say this, Juliana has gone missing. Don't panic! We don't know why or where she went. All we know is that she disappeared sometime after leaving Area Zero two days ago with nary a word about where she was going. It is possible that she's totally fine, of course, but the league and I are worried. She hasn't even checked in with the academy."

Nemona tilted her head, having displayed none of the panic Director Clavell was expecting. "That's all? She probably just found something interesting to do. I don't see why that's a large cause for alarm."

"The league values all of its employees, old or young," Ms. Tyme explained in a monotonous voice bordering on sarcasm. "Which apparently includes the school now too. I'm more sure it has something to do with the fatalities, doesn't it?"

"She wasn't responsible for those," Director Clavell and Nemona snapped at the same time before looking at each other awkwardly. "Um, in any case, the point is we'd like to at least confirm her health before moving on to other things. Does that at least track with your understanding of the situation?" Director Clavell asked.

For some odd reason, this was everyone's cue to look at Larry. Somehow unsurprised by this sudden responsibility to play arbitrator, Larry sighed. "That's an effective summary, yes. Nemona, if you have any thoughts about where Ms. Juliana might be, tell us. Otherwise, we should be going."

Nemona thumbed in the direction of Mr. Pager. "Any reason that guy's involved? I mean, no offense, but you're just the father of one of the victims or something, right?"

Even Director Clavell winced at Nemona's blunt approach. Penny had once quipped that Nemona had a touch as delicate as an angry tinkaton when it came to anything besides battling. The old man was unfettered. Instead of the huffy indignation most of the room was expecting, he stepped forward to confront Nemona directly. "You know, I've been asking myself that too. Why should I be arsed to track down some snot-nosed brat who is off doing Arceus-knows-what when I should be at home, enjoying what little peace and quiet I have left? Why do I need to rely on people like Larry here when I could be doing much better myself? Let me tell you why, girl: Because I live in the real world, and things get done in slow, excruciating processes that make me wish I had your free time to complain about it. So let me save you your time right now, as a treat. You can't come with us because I said so. Do you need a more important reason than that?"

Nemona needed a much better reason than that, something she exemplified by withdrawing a pokéball from her belt. The old man tensed up but didn't respond with his own pokéball. "If you're so confident that I wouldn't be helpful, why don't we settle things with a pokémon battle?" she suggested. "I can tell you're a trainer, and I'm a champion-ranked trainer, so I'm even stronger than Larry there."

"Probably," Larry half-agreed, too quietly to be acknowledged.

The old man chuckled softly, the weight of the task nearly knocking him over. "Fascinating. You can't handle this for me, Larry? What good are you doing standing over there?"

"She'd beat me, or at least it would take a while," Larry shrugged. "You're the one who complained about the trail going cold."

The old man shook his head to himself. "That I did, that I did. Well, perhaps this will prove educational. Fine then. A fast one-on-one battle. One pokémon, chop chop. Let's get this over with. When I win, you go away. When you lose, you go away. Understood?"

"No!" Ms. Tyme interrupted, stopping Nemona from complaining about the lack of established rules. "You can't battle in here! We just got done fixing the last room Nemona had a battle in. If you're going to go mess each other up, do it in the field where you're supposed to, please."

Director Clavell, who had appeared much more interested in witnessing the battle than he had been in enforcing school policy, straightened his glasses. "Yes, um, I suppose I must insist on that as well. I'm aware your time is precious, Mr. Pager, but if you intend to battle, then you're going to have to do it elsewhere."

Mr. Pager expected this, but it still caused him visible discomfort to be further delayed. "Alright. Like I said, girl, make it quick."

Nemona was far more excited at the prospect of battling a new trainer than she was at winning or even clarifying the rules. This man clearly was from the region, meaning that he understood what it meant to go up against a champion-ranked trainer. He hadn't flinched when Larry had admitted to being weaker than Nemona. By the time they reached the battlefield, Nemona was bursting with excitement at adding a new battle record to her memory. Educational achievements were nice and all, but Nemona's passions all came from pokémon battling. Whatever this old man had to say, he could do it with his pokémon. It was time for Nemona to demonstrate exactly why she shouldn't be left out of the loop for anything. Ms. Tyme and Director Clavell had followed the trio to the battleground, apparently forgetting their teaching duties in favor of escorting the wayward trainer and her dueling partner around. Nemona wasn't complaining, not when she was already caught wandering around where she shouldn't once this morning. When the competitors finally faced each other on the battle arena, Mr. Pager made the first move, withdrawing a pokéball with a shockingly steady hand and releasing his partner. "Quickly, growlithe," he urged, releasing the puppy pokémon onto the field.

Growlithe didn't so much as open its mouth, already entirely focused on the battle without needing a proper command from its owner. Other than a red and yellow sash tied around one of the pokemon's legs, it appeared to be a normal growlithe. Nemona studied the pokémon carefully. On closer inspection, it appeared to be well groomed, and its stance was that of an experienced battler. Given that he was confident enough to choose his pokémon first, the least Nemona could do was oblige with a pokémon that countered his. "Lycanroc, go!" Nemona ordered, throwing a pokéball unsteadily into the air and releasing a lycanroc onto the field.

The pokémon cried out, eager to battle again so soon after destroying a weak trainer this morning. The rain that had been threatening Nemona this morning began to fall, now promising a sudden advantage rather than an inconvenience given Nemona's foe. Nemona smirked as Ms. Tyme raised her hands. "This is a one-on-one battle. First pokémon to go down loses. You get the rules, so get started!" With that cry, the battle was on.

"Accelerock, quickly!" Nemona ordered, not willing to give the older man's pokémon any time to think and presuming no trick in the world could compete with raw speed and type advantage.

Lycanroc howled, its body becoming encased in a brilliant white glow before dashing at its opponent. The old man did nothing as the two dog pokémon collided, sending growlithe reeling with a cry of pain. Instead of giving an order, the older man nodded to himself, and in time with this, growlithe opened its mouth and cried out its name. "GROWWWWWWWL!" It roared, forcing Nemona and everyone except Larry and the old man to cover their ears.

By the time Nemona had come to her senses, her pokémon was gone. Blinking in surprise, Nemona looked at her side to see that Lycanroc had returned to its pokéball, a sheepish expression on its face. The champion trainer frowned. "You used roar, didn't you?" she deduced, to Mr. Pager's nod.

Before Nemona could go for her pokeballs again, Ms. Tyme raised a hand. "Does this count as Nemona losing the battle? She technically retreated."

"Of course not!" Nemona protested. "I didn't retreat, my pokémon did!" Saying that out loud made Nemona realize it didn't help her case at all, and she immediately backtracked. "Okay, so maybe my lycanroc went back into its ball, but it's not like it gave up. I can just send it back out and fight again, right?"

Director Clavell brought a hand to his chin, thinking about this matter more deeply than he had any proposals brought to his desk in the past month. In the meantime, Mr. Pager stepped forward and sprayed some sort of potion onto his pokémon, petting it gently. The growlithe wagged its tail, the serious expression it had been wearing since the battle began fading away for the moment. "Hey, you can't do that!" Nemona exclaimed.

Mr. Pager tilted his head. "Why not? You don't seem to have a pokémon sent out to confront my growlithe, do you?" The slight tease in his voice infuriated Nemona.

"Oh, you think you're clever, do you? Lycanroc, get back out there!" Nemona threw the ball, but no pokémon came out.

Everyone stared at the pokéball for a moment before growlithe trotted forward. The puppy pokémon dutifully took the ball in its mouth and walked it over to Nemona, depositing it at her feet before returning to its master. "I remember you saying this was supposed to be a one-on-one battle, correct?" Mr. Pager prompted. "You wouldn't be thinking of trying to send out another pokémon now that you're lycanroc's scared, would you?"

Nemona was kicking herself mentally and almost physically. How could she have let herself get outmaneuvered by this old geezer who had probably seen more soap operas than pokémon battles? She'd been in such a rush to get face to face with a strong opponent that she hadn't paid any attention to the rules that she'd set down for herself, allowing the perfect set of conditions for her to "lose" without Mr. Pager so much as lifting a finger. She couldn't leave her record with this guy as one technicality loss. "Let's have another battle then!" Nemona insisted. "Will you let me try again if I concede defeat here? There's some other strategy I can try that-"

"As I said, we're on a time limit," Mr. Pager interrupted. "And we've wasted more than enough time here as it is. If you've any sense in that head of yours, you'll take this as a lesson to stop trying to solve all of your problems with your pokémon and deal with things yourself for once." With that, the man recalled his growlithe and rose to his feet, motioning for Larry to follow.

Nemona saw the man walking away, could tell that she was supposed to do something here, but all she could think about was the lycanroc sitting uselessly in the pokéball at her feet. Rain began to run down her face as the professors and Mr. Pager picked up their pace to get inside. Whether Nemona was being summoned as well didn't feel particularly relevant at the moment. Was she that easy to predict, even in a pokémon battle? She recalled a similar situation that had befallen her several years ago. Back when she, Juliana and the others had ventured into Area Zero, she'd wound up staring at her own pokéball just like this, in disbelief that it hadn't opened when she asked it to. In retrospect, that should have been the moment when she realized that she relied too much on her pokémon. Instead, she'd written it off as a fluke, perhaps even blocked it out. To accept the reality that Nemona the champion had nowhere to go when it came to basic problem-solving was unacceptable. So that left her with two options. She could either accept this, go on to deliver her package herself, and block this out too with a 0-1 record against Mr. Pager, or she could move forward. As she picked up lycanroc's pokéball, the same pokémon that had been bested so many times by Juliana, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Glancing up in surprise, Nemona was met with the knowing gaze of Larry. "If this is something you feel you need to do, then a single loss shouldn't be enough to stop you," he advised gently. "You'll have more than enough time for that when you get older."

Nemona turned the advice over in her head, making sure she had heard him right over the rain. Was Larry actually encouraging her? There shouldn't have been any way for the man to understand what was running through Nemona's mind, but she wasn't exactly being subtle about her emotions at the moment. Perhaps it was better this way. Thinking about things deeply and having to make difficult decisions wasn't Nemona's style. Leave that to people like Penny. People like Juliana and Nemona just needed to charge forward until something stopped them, and Nemona had yet to meet anyone besides Juliana that could stop her in her tracks. One old man wasn't about to get that done today. "Right. Thanks, Larry. Sorry about earlier."

"I'm just making my job easier," Larry waved off as he started back toward the waiting crowd of teachers. "If you're going to act, then act already."

Larry was indeed correct about that. By the time Nemona had caught up to the trio, they were almost back in the school. "Take me with you!" Nemona insisted.

Mr. Pager shook his head, having heard Nemona coming from a mile away. "I have Larry here for showing me around, thank you. I don't need a brat."

"You need someone who can find Juliana," Nemona countered. "And of everyone in this region, there's maybe three people who have a bead on her location at any given time, and I'm one of them."

"You said earlier you don't know anything," Larry cut in helpfully.

This was a great time for Larry to start asserting himself. Nemona let him know that by glaring at him for a moment before refocusing. "Okay, I don't know exactly where she is, true. And I don't know which of her regular haunts she might be frequenting right now, but I know where they are. More importantly, I know how to contact the person who knows where she likes to hang out even more than I do."

"If you're referring to Ms. Penny, we've already gotten all the information we need from her," Larry interrupted again, indicating that today was apparently a good day for him. "We don't need any further-"

"I'm talking about Arven," Nemona cut in. "I can get you to Arven, who will definitely be able to get you to Juliana."

"And you're sure of this because…" Mr. Pager asked, though Nemona could tell by his tone that he was at least listening.

In response, Nemona pulled out her rotom phone and dialed Arven's number. As everyone standing there expected, Arven failed to pick up. The automated message requesting that Nemona leave a voicemail began to play, and Director Clavell stepped forward. "Nemona, dear, we tried this already. It's too wet out here for this. You should-"

Nemona responded by shushing the man and waving him off. Director Clavell complied, though he grumbled about the quality of his treatment given his standing. Ignoring this, Nemona cleared her throat as the dial tone played. "Arven, I'm calling in my favor. Pick up the phone." She hung up immediately afterwards, feeling a rush of exhilaration as she did.

For another terrible moment nothing happened. Just as Larry was about to work up the courage to go for three interruptions to the silence in a row, the phone rang again and shut him down. Nemona answered, letting her face become visible on the rotom phone this time. "Now's a bad time, Nemona," Arven's voice crackled to life, indicating that his connection was poor.

"It's never a good time when I have to rely on you for anything," Nemona fired back, now wishing she hadn't started doing this in the rain. "We need to meet up. How far from the academy are you?"

"Shouldn't you be in school? You're soaked." Arven countered, ignoring the question. "What if I'm not even in the region?"

Nemona knew Arven was in the region because he'd met up with Juliana just a few weeks before, with the get-together being confirmed by Penny's sort-of-legal tracking capabilities. Even if he wasn't in the region, Nemona needed to convince everyone watching that they could meet. She was sick of being looked over just because she wasn't Juliana. The realization that this was why she was making this call stunned her for a moment, though she recovered in time to snark back at Arven when he tilted his head at her pause. "Don't play around with me, Arven. You owe me. Can you meet up today or not?"

Arven glanced around like there was something worth seeing in his surroundings, probably a way out of this conversation that wasn't coming. "Look, today's not great. I might be able to meet up tomorrow though. Does that work?"

That didn't work, and Nemona had no problem voicing her complaints. "No, it won't. Either your favors mean something or they don't, Arven."

Arven shook his head. Since graduating, he'd ironically tamed his hair somewhat. The long bangs that once covered half of his face now only went down to his eyebrows. Though this had initially happened because he'd lost a bet with Nemona while they were still students together, the hairstyle had stuck and now when Arven glared at her he looked 50% more intimidating. "Alright, look. Does this have something to do with Juliana? Because I don't know anything."

This wasn't the question Nemona had been expecting. The idea that everyone but her was in on something that she'd been excluded from reentered her mind, and she didn't appreciate it. However, she didn't trust her ability to bluff in this situation. "Yes, it does. I'm concerned about her and I was hoping you would know something."

Arven hesitated for another moment. He'd already answered the question, but there was still some debate going on in the graduate's mind that gave him pause. Nemona attempted to make eye contact with the man, but she could tell that she was making the people listening antsy. Even Mr. Pager was standing up straighter, like the conversation was miraculously curing decades of aging. "Juliana's fine. That's all she'd want me to say, and you didn't hear that from me. If she hasn't reached out to you, then she'll probably do it soon. Look, it's not for me to say, okay? Is that all you wanted?"

"Of course not!" Nemona snapped. "So she has spoken to you recently. Why is she avoiding me and everyone else? We've got people running around the school asking about her you know."

"You do? Who?" Arven asked, his expression suddenly becoming serious.

Nemona turned to the party behind her, only to see that Mr. Pager was gone. Standing in his place was a tall man with short dark hair and a trench coat. He stepped forward, withdrawing some sort of badge from his pocket. "Young man, I am a member of the International Police. Are you aware of what that means?"

Arven tilted his head. "International Police? I guess, but what does that have to do with me?"

Looker motioned to Director Clavell as he stepped into the frame. "I was asked to look into Ms. Juliana's recent absence. Normally extreme measures such as these wouldn't be resorted to, but given the state of the region and Juliana's status as a champion, it was decided that these steps were necessary. Are you able to confirm that she is well? If so, then my work will be much easier."

Nemona had expected Arven to answer immediately, but instead he fell silent, like this turn of events had somehow confused him. Nemona could count herself among the confused as well; somehow Mr. Pager had disappeared and been replaced by this taller, slightly less old man without her noticing. When Arven did respond, his voice had noticeably shifted to a colder tone. "Juliana is alright. I'm not with her or anything, but I saw her a few days ago and she was fine. If she wasn't alright, I'd know. What's going on with her?" The confidence in this assertion wasn't backed up with anything, but Nemona found herself believing him all the same.

The officer didn't appear to be satisfied with this response entirely, but he still nodded to himself. "Alright. For now, I will take your word for it, Mr. Arven. Thank you for your support of justice. We will be reaching out to you soon for more information. Do not fail to pick up, please." With that, Looker ended the conversation for everyone while refusing to answer Arven's questions or his protests.

Almost as soon as the phone was off, the man wheeled on Nemona, extending a hand. "Forgive my initial disguise and my shortness with you. It is necessary that bad actors do not recognize me on sight. My name, it is Looker, International Police agent. It is a grand pleasure, champion Nemona."

"If you were going to do that, you shouldn't have wasted so much time getting changed," Larry complained. "The disguise was unnecessary with me here."

Looker shook his head, tsking. "Perhaps, but one can never be too careful. Revealing myself only to those I can trust like the director and Ms. Nemona who knows nothing here is critical. Your job is to observe, remember?" Larry's sort of angry expression was back, but he didn't respond, instead watching as Looker extended a hand to Nemona.

The pieces finally started to fit together in Nemona's head as she shook Looker's hand. "So, now that you know that Juliana's okay, will people stop running around asking about her?" She asked, not entirely sure which answer she wanted to hear.

Looker shook his head. "Unfortunately, this is something I'll have to confirm personally. This academy has given us quite the clue though. Larry, let's be off." As he turned to leave, Nemona darted forward.

"Wait!" She exclaimed. "If you're going to find Juliana, then take me with you! I want to see her too!" It startled Nemona just how true those words were. Everything could go back to how it was if Nemona had her goal back in order.

Larry sighed. "Nemona, we-"

"It would be beneficial to have her if you're planning to visit the team star bases or track down Arven," Director Clavell suggested. "The league- erm, we may have asked for your help, but it would be remiss of us not to offer our assistance in return. I assure you that Nemona can take care of herself."

The look in Looker's eyes showed that he didn't doubt that, but instead was holding back because of some other, stranger reason. Nemona didn't get the chance to ask about that though before Larry stepped forward. "Let her come, at least to the base. It's better than letting her wander about on her own," he suggested. "Much better. She'll bother people."

At last someone had made a suggestion that Looker agreed with. He nodded to himself, the hand that had been resting on his chin finally being given a break. "Alright. But as I mentioned, time is of the essence. Let's be off to that base you refer to and glean what clues we can before the chase truly begins."

Having finally been granted the access she wanted, Nemona's heart swelled. She wasn't getting left out anymore. Ms. Tyme raised a hand, reminding Nemona she was there. "If that's where you're going, perhaps I should accompany you. Managing those bases is part of my duties, after all."

"Too many people would attract too much attention, especially a boss," Looker denied. "Don't worry, Ms. Tyme, we can handle this. Once I've confirmed Juliana is safe, we'll be done here." For the first time, Looker said something that Nemona was certain wasn't true.

By the time they'd exited the academy and were waiting for a flying taxi, Nemona worked up the nerve to ask the question burning in her mind. She didn't want to jeopardize her chance to be a part of the team, but she had to know what she was signing up for. "I need to know something, before we go," Nemona announced as the taxi came into view above them.

"You've the floor," Looker responded, distractedly fiddling with his phone.

The words she spoke next caused both Looker and Larry to freeze up, just long enough to know that Nemona wasn't about to be told the truth. "Look, to be honest, I'm just going with you because otherwise I was going to get chewed out by the school all day. If not for that, I was going to go looking for Juliana by myself. But since I'm here, I feel like I have the right to know. What did Juliana actually do to warrant you showing up, Looker?"

Looker stroked his chin, focusing on the flying taxi that was coming into view rather than looking at Nemona. Larry shrugged when Nemona made eye contact with him, deferring to Looker's final judgement. As Nemona opened her mouth to ask again, Looker beat her to the punch. "That, my young friend, is exactly what I hope to find out."