A/N: And we're back at it again with another chapter! Chapter 8 will be the end of the first arc of the story, and as a consequence of that it will probably take me a bit longer than my normal 2 weeks to write. Once I have a specific date, I'll let you all know, but it shouldn't be much of a delay, and I promise it'll be worth it. For now, please enjoy chapter 7! Also, thanks to those of you leaving favorites and follows, and to CriticaofRandomness for your review, I really appreciate it!
9 Hours before Juliana's Disappearance
Zzzt…ting…zzzz…
The radio receiver in Arven's ear crackled to remind him exactly why everything he was doing was a bad idea. How could Looker have access to not only all the fantastic technology that the International Police probably hoarded as well as the extensive reach of the Paldea League and yet still be unable to procure a decent radio? The Paldea League literally spent most of their budget on improving regional communication according to Penny. This depressing thought was bringing Arven down, so he discarded it along with whatever the radio was trying to say to him. There was no more time for distractions or mistakes tonight. Contrary to two, nearly three days ago, he was the one in control of the region's spotlight. If he made the wrong move here, there were plenty of people that would lay the blame for the region falling apart at his feet alone. Nemona standing next to him served to shatter this illusion somewhat, but it didn't prevent Arven from retaining the sense of healthy caution this situation required. Someone had to take the role of adult in the room eventually.
Zzzt… reading… hear… zzArven? Buzzed the voice in his ear.
"I can sort of hear you," Arven responded, tapping the receiver in his ear a few times. There was no way that he or anyone else would have been able to hide the fact that they were responding to Juliana's request as agents of the Paldea League, meaning that Looker should probably have come himself instead of relying on archaic spy technology. Just another reason to be done with these people as soon as I make sure Julie's okay. And maybe smack her for worrying me.
ZzzzztArven? Can you read clearly now, Arven? Any sign of the target?
"That target is a person," Arven informed the distorted voice in his ear. "The least you could do is call her by her name." It was a petty request, but Arven's tolerance for what he perceived as demeaning verbiage was close to none after the day he'd had.
All Arven had wanted when Juliana came to him was to ensure her wellbeing, to help return the favor he still felt he owed her for helping him say goodbye to his father. Instead, she'd taken the first opportunity to leave him behind, even using him as a willing distraction so she could tear mountains apart without fear of interruption. The worst part was that she'd done it in a way that helped him stay off the hook for his actions despite Arven doing his best to mislead the investigation being led against his friend. This fervent effort to exclude him and even Nemona was so unlike Juliana that Arven had jumped at her offer of further direct interaction, even if it meant doing so with the hounds of the law lapping at both of their heels. But it'll work out. Julie is resourceful.
"I can't believe I went to all this trouble to track her down and she has the nerve to come to us. She's so going down when I find her," Nemona added to the radio conversation Arven had been ignoring, unintentionally echoing Arven's thoughts. "You're helping too, chef. I don't wanna hear your whining tonight."
Though Arven didn't like Nemona, he appreciated her being there for Juliana since he'd left the Academy. It would have been harder to get out into the region and start pursuing his dream if he'd known that he was leaving his closest human friend to fend for herself. Tolerating Nemona's presence was just one more sacrifice he made to get the answers he wanted and the people around him were frothing at the mouth for. That wasn't good enough to qualify as an excuse to take her verbal punishment, however. Time on his own had given him too much of a spine for that. "Just remember whose side you're supposed to be on," Arven responded ambiguously, acutely aware that their conversation was being recorded. And remember who it is we owe our service to in the first place.
Concerns over Nemona's allegiance were shelved for the moment as Uva Academy fully came into view. Arven was frustrated by the sight, more so than he had been in a good long while, and he was adult enough to admit that. The main reason for this was Juliana, but multiple secondary problems buzzed like gnats around his head as he finished ascending the steps to Uva Academy. He hadn't been here since he'd made a fool of himself about a year ago by declaring that he was going on a journey to become a world-famous chef and suddenly leaving his friends behind. The memory was clear as a tera crystal in his mind.
It had been a warm spring morning, just days after the semester had ended. He'd summoned Juliana, Penny, and Nemona against his better judgement to break the news to them together. Nemona and Penny had laughed at the idea, but Juliana had been confused, somehow hurt by his words. The response hadn't made sense to Arven, but before he could process it, she was encouraging him, telling him that if he felt he had a dream worth pursuing over anything else, then he needed to go for it. Thankfully, this had helped Nemona and Penny realize he was serious and prompted a goodbye that was a bit more awkwardly formal. Despite their differences, Arven was still good friends with all three girls, especially Juliana. She understood what it meant to have a dream worth pursuing. At the time, Arven had been foolish enough to mistake her positivity for sympathy, but recent events had shown him the depths of Juliana's resolve. The message that he couldn't keep up with Juliana's dream or anything else going on was clear, and that made his companion pretending she deserved to stay in the loop all the more infuriating.
"So, what, should we just start poking around or something?" Nemona asked to break Arven's reminiscence, the early nighttime moonlight failing to illuminate any students in front of the campus. "I don't think any professors would be super happy to see me, and definitely not you."
"They'd be floored to see me," Arven scoffed. "Clavell begged me not to leave the Academy, to stay and start trying to become my old man. Remember what Looker said? Let's just head for the front desk. If Julie really has this all figured out, then she'll stop us if that's not what she wants to happen."
"Bad idea."
Both trainers turned to hear a familiar voice hailing them. Penny was holding a laptop in one hand and typing with the other. She stopped typing to adjust her glasses condescendingly as she approached the pair from one of the stone paths leading to the academy. Arven hadn't seen her in person since he left the Academy, but she hardly looked like she aged a day. Perhaps she was a bit taller, but Arven was never one to remember details like that. Penny found this reunion about as interesting as a rattatta based on how she spared exactly one glance to Arven to confirm it was him. "If you walk in there you're going to spend the rest of the night trying to explain yourselves and none of it doing what you're supposed to be doing. In case you haven't noticed, Juliana didn't walk in here through the front door. Follow me, I'll get you in safely." Arven shot Nemona a look conveying how justified he felt in being right that was ignored.
"Hello to you too," Arven greeted with folded arms when Nemona ghosted him. "Actually, wait, aren't you being monitored or something?"
"An odd question to ask, since you both have microphones and a full police perimeter surrounding you," Penny commented, continuing to smack away at the keyboard. "But yes, I am currently sleeping in my room. You'd think that trying to monitor the people who helped safeguard your security systems using those same security systems as protection was a bad idea, but I'm not the Paldea League. Now come on, moonlight's wasting and the academy will notice something's going on if you don't get your butt in gear."
"And how are you going to explain to them what's happening right now?" Arven asked, thumbing at the eavesdropper in his ear.
She's operating on our instructions. We've confirmed that she's not responsible. Larry's monotone voice somehow cowed even the crackling of radio into a smooth transmission as he spoke.
Not responsible? That couldn't be right. Though he wasn't freely given access to Looker and Larry's information, he knew that some of the students that had been recalled after the mountain splitting never returned, namely Team Star's bigwigs. If he and Nemona were being kept on a leash, there was no reason that Penny shouldn't be as well. "Wait!" Nemona insisted, stepping forward to voice Arven's concerns for him. "So it's true then, that you're working with the League on this, and you knew what Juliana did? Why didn't you tell me what was going on?"
Penny tilted her head. "You're talking like I should know something that I very clearly do not. I received the same invitation you did, but it was in person. When I reported it to the League, they asked me to guide you two to her. Don't care why so long as nobody's getting arrested. Anyways, like I said, time, the essence, is of. C'mon already."
So that was why Arven and Nemona had been given no further instructions beyond the flippant 'enter the academy and look for Juliana, maybe grab me something from the cafeteria while you're in there'. Whatever operation was being carried out had to be executed outside of the general Academy population's awareness. The most likely explanation was to avoid causing panic among students already on edge or even a hostage situation, which would also explain why the police weren't just swarming the Academy themselves. Both lines of reasoning were ludicrous to Arven, but so was the concept of Juliana becoming a wanted criminal. In the immediate moment, Penny was behaving awfully impertinently, even for her. She'd gone as far to acknowledge that Nemona and Arven were acting as agents of the League in the current moment and brushed over the issue as seemingly irrelevant. Whatever screws were being tightened on her had to be much tighter than the ones on her two friends, and Arven felt pity for a moment. He wasn't the only one whose suffering Juliana had to answer for.
The absurdity of the scenario confronted Arven all at once as Penny led them around the Academy's main building. He'd been summoned by one of his friends to meet at school, an invitation far too formal for their friendship status, and now the League was pushing the three of them into meeting like proactive parents encouraging shy children to go on a playdate to see if Juliana would actually show up. If Juliana and the League had somehow conspired to arrange these circumstances, Arven would have believed it, but he'd come too far to back down now. A similar instinct took hold of Nemona based on the way she took the first steps after Penny when the former Team Star leader started walking away. Arven's trust in the Paldea League wasn't what inspired him to follow, it was the fact that running around on his own wasn't going to get him any closer to the answers that he sought.
As he summarized his circumstances to himself, Penny led the duo through a side entrance to the Academy. It was by no means a secret passage, but there were no students or staff anywhere in sight as they made their way down the corridors and into the heart of the dimly lit building. Nostalgia bombarded the man as he crossed through halls that were as familiar as his own home. The tempting aromas from the mess hall they passed still lingered and intermingled with imagery of stealing away in the dead of night to try new recipes, inspiring Arven to briefly lament all the food that was probably wasted in the confusion of the day's events. "Everything's in lockdown because tremors," Penny explained as they turned down another corridor. "Even the League goons that were here have mostly gone off to the mountain. The ones that are still here are just inattentive camera jockeys and well, you guys."
In order to unnecessarily prove her point, Penny waved at one of the nearby cameras to no response. Arven only partially understood all of the scientific bunkum that Penny loved to prattle on about. She'd explained once out of what Arven presumed was boredom how she regularly circumvented all of the different checks that the League tried to put on her and ensure she was acting within their prescribed boundaries. All that Arven really got out of the conversation was that Penny was still going behind the League's back despite having supposedly reformed for little to no profit other than the thrill of it. And here I am, doing the exact opposite. Is that why you left me behind, Julie? The answer to his question had to be waiting for him beyond the door Penny had stopped in front of.
All three of the trainers were intimately familiar with the dorm they found themselves in front of. Juliana's dorm room was a common meeting place for them after their initial trip to Area Zero, as the others never seemed to be able to find themselves comfortable meeting in anyone else's room. Nemona was never in her dorm, Penny never cleaned her dorm, and Arven never let anyone whose name had an e in it besides him touch anything without his express permission. He still didn't regret that obsessive need for control, but it had made maintaining friendly relations with the others when Juliana wasn't around difficult. In the present moment, that hardly mattered. "We're not gonna have much time," Penny informed them redundantly as she opened the door.
Stepping into the simple dorm room, Arven's eyebrows raised as he took in his friend's form sitting casually on her bed. There were no guards, no sign that she was aware that she'd stepped into a massive trap of her own design. All of the tension and worry Arven would have been experiencing was completely absent, like this room was somehow exempt from the emotions drawn out by the rest of the building. When she noticed her friends, Juliana popped up immediately and dashed forward. "Arven, Nemona, you made it!" she exclaimed in joy, reaching out to hug both of them.
Both Arven and Nemona accepted the hug, but something besides Juliana's demeanor was clearly wrong. For one thing, Juliana was uninjured, which Nemona might not have picked up on, but Arven certainly did. More importantly, Juliana was still wearing her perfectly intact school uniform, which Arven was positive couldn't have been fixed in the time since she left the Paldea League. Juliana stepped back with a sheepish smile, sensing her friend's confusion. "What's up? You're looking at me weird."
"Can you blame us?" Nemona asked, motioning to the girl standing in front of them. "If the chef figured it, there's no way I'd miss the differences between a person and a pokémon."
Arven hadn't quite pieced together who he was talking to, but he definitely would have gotten there given enough time. Juliana snickered before a dark, mist-like aura surrounded her. When the aura faded, Juliana's zoroark was standing before them. Nemona sighed while Penny completely ignored the change. Arven didn't even have time to be surprised or prepare a witty one-liner before the bathroom door opened. "Sorry, had to make sure you two were, well, you two, unlike me," Juliana explained, appearing before them from the pitch-dark room as Arven remembered last seeing her. "Thanks, Zozo. We're done for now." The zoroark was returned to its ball just in time for Nemona to tackle Juliana in a hug.
Startled, Juliana barely managed to stay on her feet as she was embraced by her rival. The surprise at seeing her in person had been expended on the unnecessary fake and left only Nemona's need to be with the genuine article. "Where have you been?!" Nemona cried. "Why didn't you take me with you?! Do you have any idea how pissed I am at you right now?!" Nemona was going so far as to tear up as she continued choking Juliana out.
"You're gonna hurt her," Penny commented dispassionately as she continued to work on her laptop.
"Too late… Already hurt… Painnnnn," Juliana whimpered long enough for Nemona to mercifully let go. "Ah, air. That's that good stuff. Now, thanks for coming. I wanted to make sure we had the chance to speak in person one more time before things come to a head."
"How about you start with what exactly it is you think you're doing," Arven advised, much less enthusiastic about seeing Juliana than Nemona and making no move to approach her.
Privately, the budding chef and trainer realized that he'd been hoping for Juliana to be tricking them. He didn't want his friend to actually show up to this meeting, to the obvious trap that the League and Looker had set as soon as they heard about it. All that malarky Looker had been spouting about treating this like a professional case sounded way out of the league of anything he or Juliana should reasonably be involved in. She should have either taken off and left the region, come to them for help, or better yet not acted in the first place. But wishing for any of those hypotheticals wouldn't make Juliana disappear along with his problems. He had to find a way to get the answers he wanted and keep her safe, somehow, even if the costs continued to rise beyond his freedom. As long as the resolve Juliana had was as firm as it was the day she saw him off, he'd remain her steadfast ally. For now, his presence was going to have to be enough to convey that.
Sensing the distrust Arven was serving her, Juliana nodded to herself. "Alright, explanation time, since I know that's why you're here," she announced, waving her hand around flamboyantly as she leaned against the counter in her kitchen area. "Here's the thing: The Paldea region, if nothing changes, is going to be destroyed in the near future. Well, maybe that's too dramatic, but it's gonna get super messed up, and lots of people and pokémon are gonna die. That's the bottom line. You've seen those black rocks connecting the fissure that appeared on the mountain surrounding the great crater? Those things are all over the region. As we learned here, the League unofficially calls them tera stones, or teraite when there's a lot of it. Most pokémon centers have tera stones for recharging tera orbs. You've seen what those things can do when their power is harnessed and given to a pokémon. Imagine what would happen if all the energy lying dormant down there suddenly reached a breaking point and just all shot out at once."
Arven thought about it. He could see massive tera crystals suddenly bursting out of the ground, pokémon crazed with tera energy, titan pokémon stampeding out of control through the region. Whatever he was imagining, Juliana probably had something worse in mind based on how serious her expression was. Keep her talking, trainers. We need to know what this has to do with what she's doing. Looker instructed with the crackling radio providing the subtlety of a snorlax.
"So, what, like a bunch of pokémon are just going to start terastilizing out of nowhere?" Nemona asked, sort of following instructions. "I don't get it."
Juliana shook her head, motioning to her bed and wandering over to it. "More like the region might start terastilizing. Professor Turo had some research on it that he left behind in Area Zero, but he got, uh, distracted by its potential, so it's a bit iffy what the actual scope of the damage could be. That being said, we'll be lucky if there's anywhere we can live in this region in a few years. Actually, look at it like this." The champion retreated to the other side of the room where her bed was.
"Pretend my bed is the Paldea region, and the blanket is the ground. Eeeeverything under that blanket, i.e. the mattress, is almost entirely teraite, or will be soon enough. My pillow is the dark clouds over Area Zero where the tera energy has been gathering. It's almost like a bottle cap, keeping the energy contained within itself. But eventually, that energy's not going to have anywhere to go, and when it can't produce more energy within the mattress…" Juliana ripped her blanket off of her bed, revealing the bare mattress underneath it. "We lose our homes. BUT, there's something we can do, and the answer is under the lid of that bottlecap pillow. Therefore, I need to go back to Area Zero and fix the problem myself. Did I miss anything Penny?"
"Logistically, no. Logically, we don't have time to cover how broad that explanation was," Penny approved with a thumbs up. "Basically, the region's gonna explode and Juliana's mad because Geeta won't do anything about it. Not that you heard that from me. Or Juliana."
Penny's simplistic explanation took care of all of Arven's numerous questions except for the one about why Juliana was going by herself. "And why did this require you destroying part of the region and stealing from the League?" Arven asked, beating around the bush to find an opportunity to naturally hurl his accusation at his friend..
This part of the explanation was clearly more difficult for Juliana. She kicked one foot back and forth as she contemplated how to answer. The champion watched diligently as her blanket swished around on the ground like it might magically explain things for her again. "Geeta knew about this and did nothing. Stopping what's happening probably means ending the tera phenomenon for good, and she doesn't want to allow that to happen. You know how you can't terastilize pokémon outside of this region? It's because the tera orbs draw on the tera stone energy. Even if it's been recharged at a pokémon center, it would lose that charge too quickly if it wasn't being kept somewhere where it could easily be accessed, namely right under our feet. Anyways, boring explanation aside, if the tera phenomenon goes, so does any money for tourism and research to the Paldea region. A destroyed region that needs relief is more valuable than a region with no unique natural resources. The way she sees it, repeating the mistakes of ages past is justified if it allows her to maintain control." Juliana paused like this was some dramatic reveal.
"You're not going to tell me La Primera is that greedy," Nemona denied, folding her arms. "Look, I get that it's important to keep the region healthy and stuff, but is that really worth all these problems you caused?"
"Problems I caused?" Juliana challenged, standing up straight and placing a hand over her chest. "I didn't cause anything. I'm in this pickle because other adults are causing problems that are going to ruin our futures and the futures of our homes! There's nothing else to understand about that. This is exactly why-" Juliana cut herself off, taking a deep breath and allowing her train of thought to end there.
Arven had been taking in the explanation mostly without changing his expression. Now was the time to strike, and this innate sense of a need to act prompted him to step forward into the center of the room. "Nothing you just said justifies keeping your problems a secret from us. You-"
"Of course it does," Juliana interrupted, pointing at Nemona. "You heard her response. She doesn't believe me. Nobody who works so closely with the top champion would believe me except for Penny, and you Arven… You left me behind when I needed you the most."
Arven was caught off guard by that comment. His impassive demeanor faded as he raised an eyebrow. "What? What are you talking about?"
"The fact that you don't understand it is the problem. If you understood what I mean, then you wouldn't have come here today." There was a melancholy in Juliana's tone that was all too familiar to their last conversation and Arven hated it. It was the exact sort of social cue he got from her sometimes that he had no idea how to interpret.
Days before, she hadn't come to him of her own volition and both parties had been dancing around that fact. She had been unconscious and on the back of her miraidon. The sandwich thief wasn't first among Arven's friends, but it had certainly done the right thing in seeking him out over anyone else that day. When Juliana had awoken and learned what happened, she'd been grateful and surprised, but there was a distinct wall placed between her and him that he had no way to breach on his own. Arven racked his brain, trying to think of why this was the case. They'd spoken semi-regularly on the phone since Arven's graduation, and nothing in particular had happened in the weeks leading up to it, but it was possible that something had happened with Juliana in Area Zero that he wasn't aware of. The expression on her face told him that suggesting that wasn't the best idea at the moment. Instead, Nemona spoke up for him. "So your problems with Arven and me aside, you should have known that we would have helped you no matter what. We both owe you a lot."
"And that's not good enough," Penny filled in, finally putting her laptop down for a moment. "We should have some privacy now, Juliana. Microphones and hidden cameras on those two are iced. Not for long though."
Juliana sighed in relief, letting some of the self-important façade she'd been putting on fade away. Arven patted himself down, unaware that he'd had a camera planted on him somewhere, but failed to find anything. "Yeesh. About time. I swear I was gonna scream if I had to say one more line about the fate of the region."
"Yes, yes, you're very important," Penny chided. "If that's going to be all, I'll be taking my leave then. Don't forget your side of the deal."
"Of course!" Juliana replied cheerfully. "Your name isn't coming out of my lips ever again! You have my guarantee."
Penny smiled at her friend before nodding once to the other two people in the room and making her exit. Arven and Nemona exchanged a look, trying to decide if they should warn Penny, the League agents, or both as to what was going on. If Penny actually had shut the cameras down, they were could see this room stormed at any moment. "You see, Penny has her head on straight," Juliana complemented cheerfully. "Know what you want and go after it. Admirable."
The more prevalent question in Arven's mind ended up taking priority. "What do you mean by that?" he asked his friend. She of all people shouldn't be chiding them for acting according to their desires.
"Penny's gotten in enough trouble with the League as it is. She doesn't need to be associated with me if it's going to ruin all of her future prospects. To that end, I've allowed her to erase herself from this story. Well, I did it more with her kicking and screaming to stay in it, but you get the idea and she won't admit that to you two. Anyways, she's gone, the microphones should be off for a few minutes, and that gives me enough time to tell you what I really want and let you answer without that loud guy buzzing in your ear: Come with me."
"Where?" Nemona asked without missing a beat as Arven noticed that the low buzzing from his radio had indeed stopped.
"Like I said, the answers are in Area Zero, so that's where I'm going. I'm not completely stupid. I know that the League won't stop hounding me, will only continue to make things worse until they find a cell to throw me in until the region explodes. They're coming as we speak. So I'm going to go where they can't follow me until this whole thing is resolved. I don't care what happens to me after that."
"I do," Arven countered, folding his arms. "You can't just tell us that you're going to take care of everything by yourself. Someone has to be around to watch your back." It was eerie to Arven how much his claim echoed the one he'd made to Looker hours earlier, but he shrugged it away.
"Oh, I have people for that," Juliana waved off. "Most of the former Team Star captains agreed to take the plunge with me. You probably already knew that, and besides, we're not planning on hurting anyone who we don't have to. I'm asking you guys because you're my friends, but I don't want you to say yes just because you think I need your help or something. Actually, to be honest, it might be safest for you guys to flee too. I don't think Geeta will be satisfied with nothing to show for her actions."
Arven was at a loss for words once more. He knew Juliana was stubborn when it came to accepting outside help, but this was pushing things to an entirely new level. There was a lack of empathy in her voice that flabbergasted him, as if the person he knew even two days ago had been replaced. "Alright, then it's time for you to spill something else," Arven declared. "What's your problem with me? How am I supposed to be able to help you if there's going to be this tension between us that you won't even explain the reason for?"
"Why should she have to explain it?" Nemona asked testily, suddenly standing up for Juliana for some reason. "Everyone but you is perfectly aware of what's going on, so why don't you just take the hint already?"
Hearing it from Juliana was one thing, but Arven couldn't stand that Nemona had the gall to talk down to him. "Oh, so you suddenly have all the answers, huh? At least I won't narc to the top champion and the League at the first opportunity. At least I have the decency to put my friends before myself when it comes to things that matter. Did you ever think about that, Nemona? That Juliana left you behind until now because she couldn't trust you to think about your actions and come to a decision that everyone but you knew was wrong?"
A switch flipped in Nemona's mind. It seemed as though Arven's words had finally cut deeply enough to warrant drawing some blood. Nemona pulled a pokéball out of her pocket. "Say it again. I'm not going to back down this time just because you're an ignorant moron who can't understand other people."
"Right back at you," Arven fired back, drawing his own pokéball. "Someone has needed to knock you off your high ponyta for a while now. Remember who miraidon trusted to help Juliana when she needed it? Not you. Me."
There was extraordinarily little chance that Arven would be able to stand up to Nemona in combat. In all the times they'd been forced into battle by Nemona's insistence, he'd won exactly zero times, a fact Nemona was happy to trumpet about whether or not she was asked. But this time was different. This time, he was the one impressing a battle on her. Their space was pretty limited, meaning that anyone would have a chance at victory if they got lucky enough. All he'd need was one good shot and some initiative. "Can we maybe not do this in here? I kinda feel like one or both of you is going to get yourselves or me hurt if you go through with this. Also I'm on a schedule. Really tight one."
"I couldn't agree more," Came a voice from the door.
Everyone in the room froze as Looker entered the room casually, sweeping his gaze between the three trainers and flaunting whatever police codes were probably in place to avoid this sort of situation. "Champion Juliana. Allow me to introduce myself. My name, it is Looker. I work for the International Police as an investigator. The Paldea League called me in to investigate you as a suspect in the loss of something they consider to be valuable to them, though I suspect this is not news to you."
"You suspect correctly," Juliana responded with a notable lack of caution in her tone. "You're here sooner than I hoped. And since you're confronting me directly, I'm guessing that you want to give me a chance to surrender before things turn into a fight, between these two or otherwise."
Looker nodded, his serious expression turning to Arven and Nemona for a minute. One of his hands was resting comfortably on his chin, but the other hadn't left his pocket. Arven wasn't sure about what sort of a trainer Looker was, but Nemona being on edge was enough to elicit the same reaction from him. His petty thoughts of putting Nemona in her place were discarded as he racked his brain for a way to see Juliana escape and found nothing. "You two did a fine job. Shutting down the radio before activating the device was a well-executed maneuver to make her feel safe, Penny."
I just did what I was told. Penny's voice crackled in Arven's ear, suddenly very much functional.
Arven's head spun as he processed what this meant. He'd assumed Penny was discreetly trying to help Juliana as they were, but this felt more like an abject betrayal. Nothing about Juliana's features changed to express whether this was news to her. She had a way of remaining expressionless in times when panic or at least concern were absolutely warranted that Arven usually found useful in other situations. This must have been what she meant when she said Penny was removing herself. She allowed Penny to completely change sides. Unlike us. She wanted us to be willing to give up our standing in the region. "In any case, Arven, Nemona, please return to the Academy entrance for now. I will take over the meeting from here."
"If she resists, you'll need our help," Arven answered immediately, still holding on to his pokéball tightly. He wasn't sure who he was going to use it on if the need arose, but he wasn't about to be swept out of this story just yet.
"She can't, and neither can anyone else," Looker responded, pointing to a corner of the room with his free hand.
Everyone looked up to see what appeared at first glance to simply be a small hole in the wall of the dorm, but closer inspection revealed the truth to Arven. He'd seen these small devices before, but only in Area Zero. They were sensors used to prevent pokéballs from opening, hence rendering them as useful as pebbles. His late father had almost succeeded in using that invention to stop them from deactivating his time machine, but fortunately he hadn't accounted for one of his own pokémon turning against him. This time, however, there wouldn't be any chance to let any pokémon out on any side. "I'm told you would recognize this," the detective prompted. "Proprietary technology owned by the Paldea League, but you can find similar tech in other regions. Quite useful, don't you think?"
"It stops pokéballs from working," Nemona summarized helpfully, tossing her ball on the ground to prove it.
Instead of opening as it should, the pokéball dropped straight down, the white button in the middle flashing red to indicate a functionality error. Looker nodded. "Even if you were able to open your pokéballs, we have people surrounding the academy. Discreetly of course, with the permission of Director Clavell to avoid disturbing your fellow students. There are psychic types locked on to your energy in case you try to teleport, and we even have some bird pokémon at the ready, watching the skies. Also, you're all on camera, recording, etcetera. In short, we were prepared in the event that you decided to return here, Juliana, and I am pleased that you made my prediction come true. Hopefully this trip was worth it for you. Now, if you come with me, I can prevent any harm from coming to you and you'll be able to tell your side of the story without fear of being drowned out by the League's voice. I believe it's your best and only opportunity to make your voice heard, don't you think? Surely nothing you could try is worth risking the safety of your fellow students and friends?"
Juliana was silent, almost as if she was waiting for someone to speak up and make the decision for her. Arven quietly willed Juliana to figure out a way to escape. He was still mad at her, but he didn't want the League or Looker to get their hands on her after what they'd done to her the first time. It was only when Juliana gave the two of them a remorseful look that Arven realized what was going on. Looker was threatening his and Nemona's safety in exchange for Juliana's surrender. If Penny hadn't actually switched off the microphones, there was a recording of them basically agreeing to follow Juliana on what would be painted as a crime spree. Looker was holding all the cards, helping Arven understand exactly what the man meant by taking things seriously. It was despicable, but Arven couldn't deny how effectively frustrating it was. Despite his wishes, Juliana wasn't making any move that indicated some brilliant scheme of escape or anything like that. Instead, she nodded to herself and sighed. "I guess that makes the most sense to me. Alright, I'll go with you, Mr. Looker. To be honest, the main reason I came here was because I was hoping there was someone on Geeta's side with their head on straight enough to see that she's not right just because she's the Top Champion."
"The Paldea League is an important aid in governing the region, but they don't have the only say in how it is run," Looker agreed. "Your extreme methods have certainly garnered the attention of the international stage, but I would like to recommend you keep things strictly within legal means from now on. Also, one more thing. You'll have to wear these when we leave. You understand." Looker pulled out a pair of handcuffs from the pocket he'd been keeping his hand in.
Immediately, Arven and Nemona got between Juliana and Looker. "You never said anything about arresting her!" Nemona cried out in protest. "I don't care who you are, you can't just-"
"He's in the right," Juliana interrupted. "That's what I said, isn't it? That I was the only one with the ability and the willpower to do what was necessary? Even if nobody got hurt because of it, I still destroyed the mountain, and I still ran off with the AI. If I need to be under arrest to clear my name, so be it. The region can wait a few days for that."
"And speaking of that, where exactly have you placed the AI?" Looker asked, stepping forward as Juliana moved between Arven and a pouting Nemona to put the handcuffs on. "Is it activated?"
Juliana smiled as she was handcuffed. "Now now, Mr. Looker, I'm not a complete fool. Once I know that everything is fine on your end I'll tell you where you can pick up what the League claims belongs to them. It's not like I don't trust you or anything, I just don't really trust you or anything, you feel me?"
The gleam in Looker's eyes faded somewhat. His superiors were hoping for more than an arrest out of him this evening. More than that, however, Arven could tell that Looker wanted to know exactly what had led the girl he'd just arrested to this point, mostly because the same question burned in his own mind. What he'd received instead was a surrender, like he was arresting a gas station thief who didn't think resisting was worth their time rather than a region-threatening criminal. Perhaps in having her essentially turn herself in she'd confused the detective and her friends as to what Looker's true mission was. It wasn't much of a victory, but Arven hoped that that was the case. In the present moment, Juliana only smiled at Nemona and Arven. "You guys just chill here, okay? Don't answer questions. I'm sure the nice officer will come back to explain things to you. They're not in trouble, are they officer?"
"Not as long as you continue to cooperate, Juliana," Looker assured her. "That was part of the deal you wished to broker, was it not?"
"But what about Area Zero and saving the region?" Nemona protested, unable to move despite the desperation in her tone. "I thought you trusted us to help you!"
Juliana smiled serenely. "I'm here because I trusted you, Nemona. You've been a good friend."
The last puzzle pieces finally started coming together for Arven. Juliana had brought them here because she was trying to ensure that they didn't get in trouble for what she did. Everything up to this point had been meant to ensure that she was solely responsible for her actions. All that posturing about her being the only one who could act had to be a pack of lies. Once again, she was trying to shoulder the burden of everything without letting anyone else in. It was infuriating to be caught in the same looping position with this woman to the point that it made Arven want to scream, but he remained silent and powerless as Juliana was finally led away. When the door closed behind Looker and Juliana, Arven sank down to his knees. "We just let her leave, didn't we?" he asked the only other person in the room. "And we call her our friend? Looker tricked us too. How could we be so stupid?"
Nemona didn't respond, turning to look out the window instead. "Maybe… maybe this is for the best. If Juliana didn't do this, she might spend the rest of her life running from the League and justice. That's no way to live, no matter how justified she thinks she is. It's better to let more experienced trainers handle whatever problem she discovered. I guess she didn't want to go to Area Zero again after what happened to her last time. Besides, it's not like La Primera can just ignore the problem now that Juliana has exposed it."
"Isn't that exact line of thinking how things got to the point that Juliana said they did?" Arven countered, hands forming into fists. "Every time something goes wrong, we've just relied on Juliana to fix it. When things get really bad, it's up to the Academy to step in and solve the problem. What Juliana found was a problem that the League was actively ignoring. How could she have stayed quiet?"
"I think we're still missing some pretty important information here," Nemona defended. "After all, the only thing we have to go off of is what she and Looker said. Neither one of us trusts Looker, and Juliana's been acting weird since she started going back to Area Zero regularly. Just because we're not searching for Juliana doesn't mean our involvement here is done, you know?"
It was truly unique in Arven's time to hear a pep talk from Nemona, but it filled him with the confidence he desperately needed at the moment. Any direction sounded fantastic so long as it took him away from this present moment, this feeling of utter powerlessness. The region's spotlight had revealed an actor with stage fright, and now it was up to Arven to do what he could to make up for that. "Uh, yeah, right. No, definitely yeah! It's not over yet, not at all."
He still had a chance to turn things around. Juliana being taken in didn't mean that he just had to lay down and die, accept things for how they currently were. On the contrary, this should be his signal to stand up and fight. Perhaps this was what Juliana had truly intended the entire time, Arven's opinion of the girl flipping back to the other side once more. Over the years he'd come to know her, Arven saw Juliana as someone who liked to have backup plans for her backup plans. The idea that she would just give up on everything that she'd been working toward simply because she'd encountered a mild speed bump here was ludicrous. She was probably counting on him to help her out right now. The idea gave Arven a ray of hope that he desperately needed. He rose to his feet, hands clenching into fists as possibilities filled his mind. Nemona noticed this sudden change of demeanor by putting her hands on her hips. "I can see your brain working, I just want to make sure you're doing something productive with it. Spill it."
For once, Arven didn't feel like getting into an argument with Nemona. No, he would need her if he was going to carry out Juliana's grand design for her. Somebody had to be willing to do the things necessary to save the region when nobody else would, and if that somebody was going to have to be him, then so be it, it would be him. It was as Arven was finishing up rallying himself with that battle cry that the toilet flushed in the bathroom. Nemona and Arven went stiff, completely caught off guard by the sudden indication of another presence being in Juliana's room the entire time. Both trainers went for their pokéballs before remembering that they wouldn't work and holding on to them anyways to feel better about themselves. There was the option of calling for Looker, but getting him involved might just make things worse. In the end, Arven stood frozen as the door opened to reveal Juliana, stretching her arms out as she closed the bathroom door behind her. She was wearing the uniform Arven remembered wearing, though she'd taken the time to clean up. Looking at Arven and Nemona, she smiled lazily. "Geez, guess that means crashing here tonight is off the table, huh?"
"But you… you just… what's going on?" Arven complained, pointing rudely at his friend.
"Come on, Arven. You saw through Zozo, but you couldn't tell that it never let its illusion go down?" Juliana chided. "That's no good. That police guy needed tricking, but I figured you guys were just playing along. I thought after the incident with that hoagie you would have-"
"We don't need to talk about that," Arven interrupted, refusing to remember Juliana's rebellious pranks that boredom drove her to in between treasure hunts. "Then who was the person that Looker just arrested?"
"That was Zozo, duh, silly," Juliana explained. "That Looker guy's smart, but he's so obsessed with getting his way that Zozo tricked him pretty easy. This whole room is so familiar to Zozo that she can create illusions in it from afar. She'll run off when she's in the clear. Of course, once she leaves, they're going to think I never came in the first place unless they see me here. Right now she's creating an illusion for everyone but you guys to make it look like I'm not here. Therefore, we only have a bit of time to decide what you two are going to do before I have to go. My original plan was to wait for everyone to leave, but I didn't get a good answer from you two, so here I am."
The sea of confusion that was Arven's mind produced a single question at its shore for him to ask. "What is it you actually came here for, then? Why risk everything just to pull a trick? All you're going to do is make them angry."
"They should be angry," Juliana answered with a matter-of-fact tone. "They couldn't catch one girl who did one mean thing to them. If the League can't handle that, it defo shouldn't be responsible for running the region. Don'tcha think so, Arven?"
Arven didn't know why he specifically was being called out with that last part of the response, but he found himself nodding anyways. Agreeing with Juliana when she got a weird idea in her head was a lot easier than trying to follow her often inane train of logic. The trainer shrugged, trying to walk down the middle of the road until he could settle on a side and his brain adjusted to this third Juliana. "So then, out with it. Why?"
"Because I wanted to see you guys again. You, Nemona, and Penny too. I meant what Zozo said: I'm going down into Area Zero again, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it back. Assuming things go great and I do make it back and the region is safe, that's a whole other conversation where I deal with the consequences of my actions, but the odds are pretty low, so I should get lucky enough to not have to handle that issue. Instead, I have to talk to you all one more time, because you were the ones who encouraged me to accomplish the things I did on my treasure hunt. Without your help, I wouldn't have become the trainer I am today. Paldea wouldn't have become the home it is to me now. I wanted to thank you one more time for that. Dumb reason, I know, but if things go the way I think they will, I earned a little bit of selfishness."
As Juliana spoke, Nemona folded her arms to echo Arven unintentionally. She hadn't verbally acknowledged Juliana's appearance with anything other than a surprised gasp. Now she was finally responding by gripping Juliana's shoulder and slapping her with her other hand. Caught off guard again, Arven's first reaction was to get between the two ladies, but Juliana held up a hand to stop him. "One: you're real this time, good. Two: Tell me why you deserved that, other than me confirming you're real," Nemona demanded with barely controlled rage.
"Because I lied to you about what I was doing, didn't let you help me and was generally a bad friend for the past few months. I am sorry. To both of you."
"I owe you a good slap for not coming to me when you were injured in the first place," Arven added, wondering if he actually had it in him to lay his hands on his friend like Nemona had. "But Nemona beat me to it, so I'll let it go for now. Instead, you can make it up to me by letting me come with you. I've made up my mind. I'm not going to let you do whatever it is you need to do alone. No matter what it is, I'm not letting you out of my sight again."
These responses didn't raise Juliana's spirits the way that Arven had hoped that they would. Instead, Juliana became contemplative, like this declaration had somehow troubled her. "Well, I forgive you too, for what it's worth," Nemona added, trying to lighten the tension in the room that she'd created with a light-hearted chuckle. "I always wanted to take another look at Area Zero anyways, and it's better if we go together, right? So, when do we leave?"
"Another question, before we get ahead of ourselves," Juliana requested, holding up a hand to slow Nemona down. "If we do this, are you prepared to never come back?"
"There's a pessimistic view of things," Arven noted, stroking his chin. "I didn't think I'd rubbed off on you that much."
"It's not pessimistic," Juliana repeated. "Like I said, this is something Geeta is unwilling to do, even though she cares about the region. It requires great sacrifices from many and even greater sacrifices from those willing to go into Area Zero to end the issue once and for all. Because of that, she won't do it, but I will, because I already know that there's not going to be any alternatives. We're out of time to think about other options. So let me ask you again: If you're really going to come with me, are you prepared to never return from Area Zero again?"
This question was harder to answer than Arven had expected it to be. He had expected to come in here in order to reprimand Juliana for not relying on her friends more, not to have her proven right. No, that can't be it. I shouldn't be allowing her to proceed down a path that guarantees her own destruction, no matter the cost otherwise. Yes, that's it. I just need to- "Then let me do it," Nemona requested, interrupting Arven's thoughts. "You said it just needs to be someone strong, right? If you're not around, then battling just isn't as fun, so I'll do it and you can focus on becoming the great trainer you were always meant to, okay?"
Juliana shook her head coldly. "And that's the problem, Nemona. You never grew out of me. There's plenty of trainers out there far stronger than I am and far stronger than Geeta, but you insisted on sticking around me. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about that, but it means that neither of us were growing up. Arven, you were even worse. You've been out of school for over a year now, right? Have you even thought about stepping foot out of the region at any point?"
"Why would I do that? You-" Arven caught himself as he realized what he was about to say and went quiet.
Juliana took this silence as affirmation of her version of events. She shook her head to herself like this was somehow Arven and Nemona's fault. "Maybe Eri and the others were right. I was never good at that clean break sort of thing. But I wanted you guys to know that I'm doing this for your sakes too, that I didn't cast you aside, I let you go so you could grow too. You need to go be better versions of yourselves after I'm gone. Oh, and take care of Penny, would you? I don't think she really understands what's going on, or at least the implications. She still looks at this like some kind of game that I'm playing when everything is already over. Geeta and I were placed in checkmate a long time ago."
Arven opened his mouth to respond, only to find that he couldn't form words. His limbs felt heavy, as if he was under some kind of spell. Glancing over, he saw that Nemona was in a similar predicament. "This is just so they don't think you let me escape," Juliana explained, returning one pokémon Arven hadn't noticed that had used some kind of sleep-inducing attack and releasing a purple blob that Arven recognized as a miraidon. "I'm serious when I advised you to consider running yourselves, but if you don't want to, hopefully this will be enough to convince them I've betrayed you. I've got to get out of range of those psychic types before they figure out Zozo's identity. I uh, guess I'll see you guys tomorrow, K?" This hesitant goodbye was the last thing Arven heard before he slipped into unconsciousness, cursing himself for letting Juliana go and promising himself that this would be the final time. All he needed to do first was get a bit of rest.
