Chapter 27 - When Things Go Wrong

The air was heavy within the common room of the Rescue Society. It was almost dinnertime, but nobody there could think of food at a time like this.

The headache Sparks had been dealing with earlier had returned with a vengeance. He was presently sitting and leaning against the armrest of the couch, holding his head with both paws and trying to keep his skull from imploding. He imagined that he probably wasn't the only one in the room with a headache, as Carmen had just dropped a bombshell on them 15 minutes ago.

Myrtle Opalescence, the Delcatty Ziggy had punched, was now suing the Rescue Society.

Sparks lethargically rolled his head and looked over at the other end of the room, where Carmen was standing and talking to Charlie. After the shock of Carmen's revelation, Sparks had introduced her to the Lopunny. Charlie was feeling quite distressed upon learning that her aunt was already planning to sue the guild.

With a sigh, Sparks turned and regarded the only other one in the room at the moment. Since Kona had gone off to fetch Akamai, the head of the guild's legal team, only Ziggy was left. He was curled up on the opposite side of the couch, looking quite distressed. Sparks sat up a little bit in worry, ignoring the spike of pain in his head. Ziggy had been upset upon learning about the lawsuit, but Sparks had been so focused on his headache that he hadn't noticed the Buizel's mental state had deteriorated further.

"Zig? You okay, buddy?" he asked. There were a few damp spots by the corners of his eyes. Had Sparks' headache been so bad that he had missed Ziggy crying?

"I'm sorry…" Ziggy murmured.

"Huh?"

"This is all my fault…" he lamented, and then curled himself up into an even tighter ball, hiding his face in his forelimbs.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ziggy," Sparks said as he inched closer across the couch, "None of this is your fault, it's hers."

"I didn't mean for you guys to get sued…"

"Ziggy, stop. I mean, it's not the greatest thing in the world, but it's not like it's something we can't handle. The guild's had legal problems before…every big organization does at some point." Sparks reached out a paw and gave Ziggy's shoulder a gentle pat. However, Ziggy didn't emerge from his emotional cocoon at all. "Buddy, it's not your fault," Sparks reiterated, "Don't put all of the blame on your shoulders. There was a whole lot of crap involved in this big mess. Please stop beating yourself up, buddy, and relax. We're here to help you."

Ziggy was silent for a few moments, but eventually did lift his head. He still looked rather morose. "I'm sorry…" he mumbled, "It's just, this is kinda exactly what I was afraid of…"

"Hm?" Sparks tilted his head. "What do you mean? Afraid of what?"

"That me becoming a member of the guild was just going to lead to problems…"

"That's not-!" Sparks blurted out, but then hesitated. Ziggy noticed this, and his look soured. "N-no, Ziggy. No," Sparks said, "Don't think like that. It's not your fault…"

Ziggy just sighed and glanced away. Sparks was about to try and cheer him up once more, but he noticed Carmen and Charlie were walking towards him. The Lopunny in particular looked quite miserable. She couldn't meet Sparks' gaze, looking ashamed simply for what her aunt was doing.

"Miss Charlie is going back to her aunt's place," Carmen told him, "She's going to try to get more information out of her, without letting her know that she's corresponding with us." Beside her, Charlie nodded silently.

"Thank you, Charlie," Sparks said, "We appreciate the help."

"Is…Is there anything else I can do to help before I go?" she asked quietly.

Sparks chuckled softly. "You've already done plenty. Please don't feel like you have to solve this whole thing all on your own."

"Okay…" Charlie then turned to Ziggy. "You've got a lot of really, really good friends here," she said, "I'm happy to see that, and it gives me a bit of hope that…"

Sparks looked over at Ziggy as well. The Buizel looked pretty defeated, and was just starting at nothing with a far-off look in his eyes. It looked like he was on the brink of giving up, and that made Sparks worry.

"Would you like one more hug before I go?" Charlie asked.

It took a moment, but Ziggy did lift his head to regard her. Sparks saw a tiny smile start tugging at his lips as he nodded. "Sh-sure…"

Sparks watched Charlie walk over and hug the Buizel warmly. He couldn't believe it. He never would have expected that after a horrible event like what had happened in the restaurant, Ziggy would end up making a new friend.

"I'll try to come back and see you as soon as I can," Charlie promised him, "I'll come see all you guys. Hopefully I'll have been able to do…something…"

As she stepped back, Sparks saw the door open and Kona stepped in from the main hall. A larger Slowking followed behind him, holding a familiar piece of paper. "Ah," he said, "There's our lawyer."

"Oh," Charlie said, "I should probably get out of your fur then." She bowed her head respectively to Sparks and Carmen and said, "Thank you guys for giving me a chance and letting me talk to Ziggy. In some ways, I do feel a lot better."

The group all thanked her for her kind words and sent her off with some warm goodbyes. Ziggy even looked a little less depressed as he sat up and waved to her. With a bittersweet mixture of emotions on her face, Charlie stepped through the doorway and exited the guild.

Sparks then turned his attention to Kona and Akamai. The Slowking was still reading the paper he was holding, which Sparks knew was the letter of intent to sue. He hadn't interacted very much with the guild's head of the legal team before this point. Akamai hadn't been working that position when Sparks had been involved in the biggest legal knot of his life, and that was a time Sparks didn't particularly want to think about.

Akamai sighed quietly and finally looked up. "Aggravated assault, battery, causing bodily harm, humiliation, defamation, emotional distress… Even if nobody had told me anything, I could tell you that this is grossly exaggerated…" he said.

"Well…Is that good?" Sparks asked.

"It's neither here nor there, really. I suspect she is just throwing the whole book at us, hoping at least one of them sticks… There's also litigation regarding representation of the guild, accusations of failures in proper training, proper conduct, blah blah blah, allowing this to happen in the first place, intentional ignorance. She really does go on and on…"

"What a piece of work…" Kona griped.

"Really, the only reason she's suing the guild is because of Ziggy's age," Akamai added, "We're responsible for him since he's lodged here, and he has no next of kin."

"I suppose this is why we're discouraged from recruiting Pokémon that are under 18…" Carmen mumbled.

"That is part of it, yes…"

"Oh boy…" Sparks groaned, rubbing his cheeks with his paws. He could even feel his own electricity from the pouches there; that's how bad his headache was getting.

"It really is quite an aggressive course of action," Akamai commented, "Even having not met her yet, I can tell she is probably going to fight tooth and claw to win this thing…"

Sparks groaned even louder. "This is bringing back bad memories…"

Kona and Carmen both looked at him in concern. The latter frowned and said, "…Sparks, don't push yourself. If this is gonna affect you, we can-"

"No!" Sparks interjected, "Don't be stupid. I can handle those memories, they're just really unpleasant…"

Carmen sighed and said, "I kind of have to agree on the bad memories…"

"…I'm sorry…"

Everybody turned to look at Ziggy, and Sparks gasped. He hadn't noticed the Buizel curling up in the corner of the couch, quivering as he had started to quietly weep. "Z-Ziggy…!"

"I'm sorry for causing so much trouble…"

Sparks immediately crossed over the couch and swept the Buizel into a comforting hug. "No, buddy. No. Don't say things like that…"

"I'm just a burden…" he wailed, "I do everything wrong. I screw everything up. Nothing good ever comes from anything when I'm around…"

"Ziggy! Stop it!" Sparks stated firmly, "You're not a burden. Please, please, please stop beating yourself up over this. It breaks my heart…"

Ziggy continued to quiver for a few seconds, and then took a deep, shuddering breath and relaxed slightly. "I feel so bad…"

"Buddy…"

"I feel like I'm just…trouble. I feel…useless…"

"Well, you're not," Sparks insisted, "You're not any of that."

"Feels like things always go wrong when I try to help…or when I just try to be happy…"

"C'mon, bud. We're all together now, and we're working this out. See? Akamai is here to lend a paw, and he's very good at what he does." Sparks used his paw to gently tilt Ziggy's head so he was looking at the Slowking. "Right, Akamai?"

"Ah! Um…R-right," Akamai replied, caught awkwardly off-guard by the outburst of emotion. He cleared his throat and looked down at the papers he was holding again. "It's not hopeless, obviously," he said, "We do have a couple paws to stand on. Sparks administered first aid to her and there was nothing wrong with her besides some bruising, so if she tries to claim otherwise…"

"Talking to her is probably fruitless," Kona added, "What about talking to her lawyers?"

"We might just have to wait and see what Charlie can do," Carmen commented. When Akamai gave her a confused look, she briefly explained who the Lopunny was.

"What about the self-defense argument?" Kona asked Akamai, "I'm no lawyer, but that seems like the most logical answer…"

"It's…tricky. It's true that she did act first, but there's the question of comparison between the two incidents, excessiveness, and the fact that he wasn't defending himself as she was assaulting him."

"But she did still assault him," Sparks countered, "Everybody saw it. And it was totally unprovoked. We were in the process of bowing to her wishes and leaving, so she had no reason to."

"Mhm…" Akamai murmured thoughtfully, "If that is the avenue we need to go down…then it might just end up in the paws of the jury and who they side with."

Sparks immediately hissed through his teeth at the thought. "'Who they side with' indeed…" he grumbled.


The group of Ziggy and his friends had talked with Akamai for a long time. So long, in fact, that Ziggy had eventually fallen asleep right there on the couch. He knew this only because a dream had briefly roused him from his sleep and he found himself on the couch all alone. But, he was so exhausted that he simply laid his head down and went right back to sleep. His previous sleepless night had sapped all of his energy for the day.

When he next awoke, it was a voice that stirred him from his slumber this time. At some point in his sleep, he had rolled over so that he was facing the couch's backrest. As such, he opened his eyes to a view of nothing but upholstery.

"Right here is fine. Nobody's in here this time of day…" a voice was saying. Ziggy's sleep-muddled brain couldn't identify who it was.

"Look. Ziggy's still here, though…" another voice spoke.

"Don't worry, he's out cold. Poor guy's exhausted. We'll just keep our voices down."

But Ziggy was already awake, the two voices having fully roused him. He felt like he had napped for so long that he was about ready to get up anyway. It took him a few more seconds, but he finally realized that the first voice had been Rico, and the other was Terry.

"What if he wakes up?" Terry asked.

"He's not gonna wake up if we stay quiet, and this won't take too long anyway," Rico reassured him.

Ziggy's eyes opened wide. He froze completely, not even daring to breathe too deeply. They thought he was asleep, but he certainly wasn't. Ziggy found himself unsure of what to do in such an awkward situation. Should he sit up and tell them? He knew he probably should, but it would be really embarrassing and Ziggy's natural shyness kept him lying still. He didn't want to surprise them, or scare them after all. Indecision wracked his tired brain while the two kept on talking.

"So…you said you wanted to talk about something?" Terry asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did," Rico replied.

"What about?"

"Well, I've just kind of been thinking about things."

Now, Ziggy knew he was trapped. He had already spent too long being awake and not sitting up. He couldn't just sit up and tell them he'd been awake this whole time now. Plus, he was so stressed and worn out that he really didn't want to deal with any confrontation, even a simple one. His best bet would be to just keep lying there, pretending to be asleep until they left, and doing his best to not listen in on their conversation.

And yet, Ziggy couldn't help himself. He was curious.

"…What is it, Rico?" Terry asked after some silence had passed, "Is something wrong?" From the sound of his voice, Ziggy guessed they were sitting at the long table.

"Terry…" Rico said, but trailed off again.

"What? Please, Rico. Just tell me. What is it?"

There was a distinct sigh from the Riolu, and then he spoke four simple words. "This isn't working out…"

Terry gasped softly, and there was another pause. "Wh…What do you mean?"

"This. Us." Rico's response was direct and to the point. "This whole thing, it just…It isn't working out."

"But…But, what do you mean? Why?" Terry pressed, his voice raising in pitch, "Wh…What makes you say that?"

"It's just…awkward," Rico plainly replied, "The whole dynamic of the two of us is totally out of whack. I mean, just think about it. You and I are in completely different places in this relationship. For me, I'm still just getting to know you and starting to learn about you. For you, though, you've already literally hitched your life to mine. Those two things just…don't mix."

More silence, though somehow it felt even more uncomfortable than before. "R-Rico…" Terry finally said in a trembling voice, "W…What are you s-saying…?"

Rico let out another, more forlorn sigh. "I'm sorry, Terry," he said, remorse slipping into his voice, "You're a really sweet Pokémon and I gave this a shot just for you, but…I don't think it's going to work."

"You're…Y-you're…br…" Terry whimpered.

"…I am…"

"No!" Terry suddenly shouted, "No, please! You can't say that! Y-you…I…Rico, you can't!"

"Terry…"

"Rico, please! Please, I'll do anything. Anything at all to fix this. Please, just tell me. How can I make things better? How can I make this work?" When there was no response, Terry continued in a more strained voice. "P-please, Rico…I can't lose you…"

"Terry…You have to try to understand how this feels for me. I mean…I obviously know this is not what you're intending, and don't think for a moment that I believe you are, but it kind of feels like I'm dating a stalker. You know what I mean? You keep surprising me every day by knowing something about me that, in my mind, I've never told you about before. It's really, really unnerving."

Ziggy's eyes were wide and he held himself as still as a lump of stone. He definitely shouldn't be hearing this, but he couldn't do anything about it by now. He could hear that Terry was starting to softly cry, and it broke his heart to hear.

"I…I don't…" Terry said in a raspy voice, "This can't be real. I have to be dreaming…"

"I know it hurts, but…I do think it's best if we just…stop this."

"But, Rico!" Terry exclaimed, "I…I love you!"

The longest pause yet sharpened the tension in the room tenfold. "I…I know…" Rico eventually said.

"I love you, Rico. I love you so much, and I can't handle the thought of losing you."

"Terry, listen to me…Think of it this way…" Rico said, keeping his voice quiet and controlled, "I know. I know you met a young Riolu, the Pokémon of your dreams, and you fell head over paws in love with him. So much so that you two decided you would become mates and spend the rest of your lives together. I believe that, with all of my heart. I know it's true.

"But…that Riolu died."

Terry gasped loudly.

"When that…creature attacked in the park, the Riolu you fell in love with died that day. I'm…not that Riolu. I know I look and sound like him, but I'm just not him. I tried to be, for your sake, but…"

"Rico…Don't say things like that…" Terry's voice was shaky.

"Please don't cry, Terry. The love you had for that Riolu is still there, it's still in your heart. And you'll always have the memories of that love. I know you'll love him for the rest of your life." He paused for a moment before adding, "I hope that isn't too abstract of a way of thinking…"

"B-but…Rico…" Terry whimpered.

Ziggy then heard the sound of movement, and it seemed like Rico had stood up from the table. "I'm sorry, Terry," he said remorsefully, "I truly am. You're very nice and very sweet. Any Pokémon would be lucky to have you. I wish this hadn't happened, but it has and…" There was another pregnant pause before Rico spoke up once more. "You can keep the bangle," he said, "Hopefully one day you'll find somebody else you can give it to."

Then, all that could be heard was light pawsteps going across the room. Rico was walking away from the table to the other side of the room. The pawsteps stopped for a brief moment, and then Ziggy heard the sound of the door closing. Rico had left the room, and an eerie quiet started to seep in. At first, nothing else could be heard and Ziggy wondered if Terry had somehow left without making any noise. Then, however, Ziggy picked up on the sporadic short gasps of breath that indicated Terry was there, and it sounded like he was trying to hold back tears.

Ziggy couldn't take it anymore and promptly sat up. He looked over towards the table and saw the Eevee sitting there. Terry was as still as a statue with a thousand-yard stare. He didn't indicate at all that he had seen Ziggy sit up. Ziggy then got off the couch and started to walk over to him, but Terry still didn't move or stop staring straight ahead.

"T…Terry…?" Ziggy broached quietly.

The Eevee didn't move.

Ziggy walked around the table over to the side he was on. "Terry, a-are you okay?"

Even as Ziggy walked right up next to him, Terry still didn't turn to regard him at all. His breathing was quick and shallow, and he just kept on staring straight ahead. His behaviour was starting to freak Ziggy out a little.

Ziggy decided to sit down next to him. "Terry…" he stared to speak, but then immediately realized he didn't know what to say. He still didn't know a whole lot about the whole 'mates' business and had never seen two fall apart like this before.

Terry suddenly pitched forward, letting out a gasping cry. He braced his front paws on the table, though they were quivering. Ziggy could see tears pooling in his eyes that were already starting to seep out and drip onto the table. His breathing quickened and he sobbed a couple of times. Grief was starting to creep in, as if he had so many tears inside that he couldn't even manage to cry and get them all out.

Ziggy had hardly seen anybody else in such emotional distress before, and he still had no idea what to say to try and comfort him. He had been in Terry's paws plenty of times before, though, for other reasons. He finally realized what to do, when he thought about what helped when he got upset.

So, Ziggy simply leaned in closer and wrapped Terry up into a hug.

It took a few moments, but soon enough the dam broke and Terry burst into tears. His entire body shook, wracked with grief that Ziggy couldn't imagine. Terry didn't even try to hug back, but Ziggy didn't care. He just held on tight, as if he were the only thing left keeping the Eevee anchored down. He could remember plenty of times in his past, long before coming to the guild, when he had cried this hard. If only somebody had been there to hug him.

"It'll be okay, Terry," Ziggy spoke, "It'll be okay…" Those were the words others always said to him, yet Ziggy couldn't help but feel like they rang hollow. In his own world, in what he was going through, Ziggy himself still didn't feel like things would be okay.

Ziggy wasn't sure how long he held the crying Eevee, but he knew he wasn't going to let go unless Terry asked him to. He hated to see others upset, especially as upset as this. As far as he was concerned, nobody deserved to be as sad as he himself was.

Eventually, the door opened and a concerned Sparks stepped through. He clearly had heard the sounds of crying from the main hall. When he saw Ziggy and Terry, he stopped in surprise and confusion. "Wha…?" he murmured as he took in the scene.

Not wanting to let go of Terry, Ziggy simply looked over at Sparks silently.

Sparks was frozen in surprise for a few more moments, then he glanced down and looked at a sheet of paper that was in his paws. Ziggy knew it was the paper with the lawsuit stuff on it. Sparks scoffed and shook his head.

"'Dangerous and violent', my ass…"


"Dante!"

"…Hm?"

The Lucario belatedly glanced up from where he was sitting, at the desk in one of the spare rooms in the dorms. Carmen had given it to him to stay in while he was temporarily staying at the guild. The desk was covered in tons of loose sheets of paper, all with paw-writing on them.

"You're still not giving up on the whole Nihilego thing, huh?" Sparks asked, standing in the doorway.

Dante gave him a bit of a flat look. "Of course not. This is not a thing to give up on."

Sparks raised his paws defensively. "I know, I know. I didn't say it was a bad thing. I was actually saying I was impressed with it."

"Ah. Well, thank you…" Dante said, then glanced back at his pile of papers. "I know it hasn't shown up in more than a month, but I just have this gut feeling that we definitely haven't seen the last of it."

"And when has your gut ever been wrong?" Sparks remarked dourly.

"I wish I could help more with this whole lawsuit thing, but I…"

"Nah, we understand Dante. You've really put a lot of time and hard work into tracking this thing down, and that's very commendable. Don't worry about us, we can handle the lawsuit." Sparks paused and suppressed a sigh. "We've done it before."

"Danika is going to get me a meeting with a scientist she's been working with…"

"Dr. Hilo?" Sparks asked in surprise.

"Oh that's right, you're already familiar with him."

"Gosh, I haven't seen him since he took our little project away. I guess I did hear somewhere that he was looking into this stuff too." Sparks paused for a moment and then asked, "Are you meeting him here, or…?"

"I'm not sure," Dante answered, "Why?"

"Ah, it's just…It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Sparks shook his paws dismissively.

Dante gave him a look and said, "No, why? Tell me."

"It's nothing really. He just kind of makes Ziggy feel a little uncomfortable, so I was just wondering if he was going to be coming here."

"Uncomfortable?"

"Yeah," Sparks said with a shrug, "Ziggy said it's because Dr. Hilo is so tall, but I think it's more because Ziggy probably heard through the Grepavine how Hilo made a crack about him being a shiny when he first showed up…"

Dante's eyes instantly went wide. "He did what?"

"It wasn't much, just a little bit of poor language choice," Sparks explained, "He said it was just a habit because of the environment he was raised in, but… I dunno, I like the guy and he's obviously a brilliant scientist, but I think he has a bit of a chromaphobic streak in him."

"Sparks," Dante said evenly, "I am well acquainted with Dr. Hilo and Jiuji Laboratories."

"You are?" Sparks replied, "How come?"

"A multitude of reasons, some of them personal. That's not important. What I can tell you is that I have a great deal of respect for Dr. Hilo and the work he does. You probably don't know this, but Hilo usually spends what little free time he has volunteering at schools and cub scouts, helping out young cubs and other youths in the city. That's not to mention the great deal of scientific and professional integrity he has. There have been plenty of times he had stuck his neck out to defend the truth of something."

Sparks was completely caught off guard by Dante's discourse. "Dante, I didn't say…" he said, but trailed off.

"I know you didn't mean anything by it," Dante countered, "and I fully believe that if he said anything untoward, it truly would have been a slip of the tongue. Dr. Hilo strives to make things perfect in as many ways as he can, which is why he's a scientist and why he volunteers."

"Yeah…" Sparks said, his ears drooping a bit, "I get it. I didn't mean to badmouth him, so I'm sorry if that's what came across. The fact is that Ziggy is still nervous around him, so I wanted to know if he was coming."

Dante nodded. "That's fair. I will let you know if he is indeed coming."

"Thanks, Dante."

As Dante turned back to his work, Sparks bit his lip. He hadn't meant to say anything bad about the scientist. He had just been looking out for Ziggy, like he always did. Ziggy was in a particularly vulnerable spot at the moment, so Sparks was being extra cautious about certain things.

After about a minute of silence had passed, Dante half turned towards Sparks and arched an eyebrow at him. It took Sparks a moment to realize that Dante was probably wondering why he was standing in his room.

"Oh! Right!" Sparks blurted out, "Forgot why I came in here in the first place…"

Dante smirked a little before turning his gaze back to his papers.

"Uh…So, you're looking into all things related to this whole Nihilego thing, right?"

"As much as I can," he replied without looking up.

"How much have you looked into…the memory loss aspect?"

"Not much. That's not the highest of priorities, if I'm being honest," Dante answered. There was a pause, and then Dante stopped what he was doing and looked up at Sparks again. "Ah…" he said, "I know why you're asking that."

Sparks cringed slightly. "So, you've heard about what happened then?"

Dante nodded. "How is Terry?"

"He hasn't come out of his room since, and he won't let anyone in."

"Heavens above…" Dante murmured, shaking his head. Then as he looked up once more, the Lucario asked, "You told me before that Rico was going to see some specialists about-?"

Sparks held up a paw and shook his head. "Nothing," he replied, "He's been to see a neurologist, a psychologist, a psychiatrist and an espologist."

"A what?" Dante asked with a slight tilt of his head, "What's that last one?"

"A Psychic-type doctor. Basically a 'mon who peeks inside your brain to look at your psychic energies, or something like that."

Dante looked befuddled for a moment. "Ah. Right…Of course…" he said in a voice that trailed off.

"Anyway, as far as any licensed professional can see, there is nothing wrong with him. His brain is functioning normally, he has no memory loss besides specifically Terry, and he's been basically given a clean bill of health otherwise. Nobody can figure out exactly what's wrong with him, much less how to fix it…"

"That is truly fascinating," Dante remarked, "but for all the wrong reasons."

"That creature did something to our poor Riolu friend that is beyond our understanding…" Sparks said, suppressing a slight shiver.

"And that was just from a light grazing…"

Sparks nodded. "So, obviously, that's why I asked."

Dante sighed and briefly glanced over his shoulder at the mess on his desk. "What can I say? The fact that there has only been one known victim of this so far is hardly much to go on, and I doubt I'd be able to say much more unless we catch the thing or it sticks around for longer. I'm still trying to figure out how it comes and goes so quickly."

"Is it just using Teleport? Like an Abra?"

"That would be the most flashy, complex, and slow form of Teleport I'd ever seen, if so…"

Sparks grumbled to himself and shook his head. "I'm still just kind of…shook. I don't know what to do about this."

"What can you do? It's not your business in the first place, it's their personal lives."

"I know, I know… I just don't want to see him so sad, and I want to…"

Sparks trailed off when he noticed Dante looking over in his direction again. More specifically, Dante was looking past him. Sparks, who was still standing in the open doorway to the Lucario's room, turned and looked behind him.

Rico was standing behind him, glancing in at the two. He didn't say anything, and there was an unreadable expression on his face.

"Oh, uh…" Sparks stumbled.

A few awkwardly quiet moments passed as Rico slowly looked between Sparks and Dante. Obviously he had figured out they were talking about him, and Sparks was acutely aware that Rico was noticing his troubled facial expression. Sparks didn't mean to imply anything, but he had a feeling that he was doing so unintentionally. Eventually, Rico simply turned and left, walking down to the other end of the hallway silently.

"What is he doing now?" Dante asked once the Riolu was gone, "Weren't those two sharing a room?"

"He took the last available room, at least for the time being," Sparks explained, "And with Ziggy occupying a room too… We recruit someone new to the active team tomorrow and we're kickin' you out."

"Fair enough."

Sparks let out a huff of breath and shook his head. "I suppose we were all being a little too optimistic to think that our favourite couple would still be the same after this…I really hate seeing Terry like this, but I know it's not Rico's fault. He didn't do anything wrong, but then again neither did Terry…"

"The circumstances might be unusual," Dante commented, "but they essentially went through a breakup, just like many couples do. It's unfortunate, but things change in life. Sometimes you feel like you're so deeply in love that nothing, not even the powers of the universe itself, could tear you apart. And then…they do…"

Sparks bit his lip as he caught the brief faraway look in Dante's eyes.

"They'll get through it," Dante said, "That's something you and I, and even Ziggy knows at this point."

"Yeah…" Sparks said, "I'd like to help them, but we need to focus on Ziggy right now."

"But of course."

"You should have seen him, Dante…That day, before going to the restaurant. He was out there, flaunting himself and not caring how many Pokémon stared at him. He had already been quite a bit braver even before we gave him the badge, and then just…Wow!" Sparks' ears drooped as he continued. "But now, I think I can honestly say he's regressed…"

"He's in a stressful situation," Dante replied, "He'll bounce back when this is over."

Sparks closed his eyes for a moment and simply breathed. There was no question about it; he was stressed out. Lawsuits weren't the greatest thing in the world, but the fact that it involved Ziggy made things infinitely worse. He absolutely did not want to have to bring Ziggy into a courthouse if possible.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that Dante wasn't looking at him. The Lucario was focused on his pile of papers, scribbling notes down with a quill pen. "Sorry, I'm bothering you," Sparks said, "I'll leave you be."

"It's fine," Dante said, "I appreciate the thought, though."

"I should go check on Ziggy anyway…and maybe Terry too…"

"Don't hesitate to come back and speak with me again if you need to," Dante said, though Sparks noticed that he still didn't lift his head. The Lucario was hard at work.

So, Sparks decided to leave him in peace.


Sparks was not a lawyer. He had no idea how the judiciary system worked, whether that be the national court or just the one for Radiant City. When he had gone through the process, it had all been a blur and he had just done what his lawyers had told him to do.

As he presently walked down a particular hallway of the guild, looking at the closed door of Carmen's office, Sparks had no idea what she and the legal professional were talking about in there.

All he knew was they were being sued, and that was bad.

It was a tough time for the active team. With not one but two severely emotionally distressed Pokémon in the dorms, both mostly hiding away in their rooms, everybody wanted to stay home and help them get through things. But, they all still had a job and the request board kept on filling up. So, Ziggy and Terry were mostly alone in their rooms. Sparks stopped by regularly to check in on the Buizel, but the Eevee refused to open his door.

It had been just under a week from the fateful pair of days that had devastated these two Pokémon. There was a certain 'calm before the storm' feeling in the guild. There wasn't much to do at this point but wait for the litigation to move forward enough that the guild could start to fight back, since going down and reasoning with Myrtle was out of the question.

On the plus side, though, Ziggy's badge worked now. Li the Meowstic had come by a few days ago and energized the badge, which had been a bit of an uncomfortable event for Ziggy. Either way, he now had the same capabilities as most of the Pokémon working under this roof, aside from a few functions reserved for higher ups.

Sparks had to keep reminding Ziggy that, even though more crazy stuff was happening, he was still a new member of the guild. Nothing about that had changed.

Dark clouds still hovered around the stressed Raichu's head, as they had been for the past week. As he slowly made his way to the grand staircase and started to descend, he saw something that made those clouds part a little bit. It seemed there was a visitor waiting in the main hall.

"Charlie," he greeted her, "Good to see you again."

Her head perked up in surprise, and then she smiled upon seeing the Raichu. "Hello, Mr. Sparks. Er, oh- I'm sorry. Just Sparks."

Sparks reached the bottom of the stairs and regarded the Lopunny. She seemed anxious but nonetheless happy to be there. "How have things been?" he asked.

Charlie bit her lip and frowned. "N-not super good… She's mad. She's real mad. She keeps going on about how her face is 'permanently ruined'…"

Sparks simply scoffed. "Maybe if he evolved first, and that's a big maybe…" Sparks then invited her into the common room and led her over to the table, where the two sat down across from one another at one of the ends. Sparks offered her something to drink, but she politely declined.

"I spent the first couple of days feigning interest in the lawsuit," she explained, "although, I didn't get much that you probably don't already know since she sent that letter over. She really, really wanted to just sue Ziggy, but one of her lawyers convinced her it would be better to sue the guild as a whole."

"Of course…" Sparks grumbled, wincing slightly at her phrasing. 'One of' her lawyers, she had said.

"Anyway…I tried to convince her to not go through with it… Y'know, I was like, 'Is it really worth it?', or, 'Isn't this kind of a waste of your time?', and even, 'He's just a little cub…' It's like she doesn't even hear me. I tried to suggest that she wouldn't make much money from this after all was said and done too…"

"Mhm?" Sparks said, "And?"

"I don't think she cares…" Charlie replied darkly, "She just wants to win. She wants to get back at 'that freak'…"

Sparks held a paw up to his forehead and sighed in frustration. "This really is all just about chromaphobia, then? Is that what you think?"

"I…don't doubt it…"

"So, we probably wouldn't even be able to settle this out of court. Not even if we paid her a ton of money right from our treasury…"

"Sorry…" Charlie said, "I'm starting to think I might not be as much help as I thought I could be…"

"Don't be silly, we appreciate your help. And at the end of the day, what's important is that you tried."

"I guess…" Charlie trailed off as a moment of silence fell upon the room, causing her to glance around. "Where is everybody…?"

"Working," Sparks remarked, "The gears have to keep a'turning…"

"…Are you okay?"

"Hm?" Sparks asked in confusion. It was at that point he realized that he had his paw practically clamped to his head and he no doubt had a miserable, almost sickly look on his face. "Oh, I'm fine… I'm just really, really stressed out. It's been giving me constant headaches…"

"Aw…" Charlie said with a frown, "I guess that's fair, with this whole lawsuit business…"

"Well, it's not just that. We've also got our paws full dealing with something else super heavy right now on top of everything…"

"Really? Like what?"

Sparks paused for a moment. "Let's just say, one of our team members is locked in his dorm room and won't come out. That's the kind of emotional turmoil he's going through, and it's really having a bad effect on everyone.

Charlie cupped her muzzle with her paws. "Oh no! That's horrible. Whatever could have happened?"

"I shouldn't say, really. It's private."

"Oh right. Yes, of course. Sorry…"

Sparks leaned his elbow on the table and tried to ignore his headache. He could see signs that Charlie was stressed out too, though she did a better job than he did of hiding it. He had truly been hoping that her familial connection with Myrtle would help their cause, but it only seemed to be giving her more to be stressed out about.

"I was…kind of curious," Charlie spoke up after some silence had passed, "What were you guys doing at Le Corbeau Ennuyé? Like, I don't mean to imply anything, but…you guys did kind of stand out, if you know what I mean. Y'know, not the usual type of…clientele…"

With every word, Charlie seemed more self-conscious of her own wording, but Sparks waved his paw dismissively. "It's fine, I know what you mean. I had the same thoughts as you before we set paw inside." He then explained, "We were celebrating Ziggy joining the guild. It's a day off out in the town that new recruits and their friends get to experience. We asked him if there was anything special he wanted to do, and he wanted to eat at that restaurant."

"Really?" Charlie asked in surprise, "Why that restaurant?"

Sparks was about to explain the story Ziggy had told about living next to it, but he realized that Charlie didn't know Ziggy used to be homeless. He thought about it for a minute and decided that he could trust her with the information, though he did truncate the story of Ziggy's past and simply told her that he used to live on the streets.

"Oh goodness, wow…" Charlie murmured, "Gosh, now I feel really bad that this had to happen. You didn't even get to have your celebratory dinner…"

"Ziggy's a really understanding Pokémon, so I should've just been smart and told him no."

Charlie nodded and was quiet for a moment. Before the conversation could move any further, Sparks' badge lit up which caught his eye. He waited to hear who wanted to talk to him, but then smirked a little when no voice came through.

Tapping the badge himself, he said, "You speak now, buddy."

A moment later, a familiar young voice finally emanated from the badge. "Heh…Sorry, I'm still getting used to this. It's so cool… Uh, I was wondering where you were right now… I'm thinking I might come out for a bit…"

"I'm just out in the common room," Sparks replied, "Charlie just got here!"

Sparks' badge lit up again, and then dimmed almost immediately. The Raichu grinned and shook his head in good-natured irritation, rolling his eyes a little. Just like a cub with a new toy. It seemed as though Ziggy had actually said a message but hadn't gotten it through properly without realizing it, as he emerged from the dorm area a moment later.

Ziggy and Charlie saw each other and they both waved. Sparks was relieved to see a little smile gracing the Buizel's muzzle as he walked over to the table. "Hi, sweetie. How are you?" she asked once he had sat down.

"Hello Miss Charlie," Ziggy greeted, pointedly not answering the question.

"You doin' all right, bud?" Sparks asked, repeating the question.

Ziggy shrugged and said, "I dunno. I'm trying to think about what you said a bit more. About how this is just another idiot being mean for no reason, and I've dealt with them before. I guess I sorta realized I've been sulking a bit, and that's not gonna do any good, right?"

Sparks regarded Ziggy for a moment. He'd suspected that activating Ziggy's badge so that it could actually perform functions might also end up serving as a reminder to the Buizel that he was a member of the guild now, and that he fully deserved to be one. He wasn't sure quite yet if it had worked.

"That's good to hear, Ziggy!" Charlie said with a smile.

"I'm still kinda scared of this, though. All this lawsuit…stuff. I don't really understand it, y'know?"

"That's okay," Sparks said, "I don't understand it either. That's why we trust super smart Pokémon like Danika and Akamai."

"I guess…you couldn't get her to give it up?" Ziggy asked the Lopunny.

"No. Sorry, hon…" she replied sadly.

"Mmm…" Ziggy murmured, "I kinda wish I'd just yelled at her instead of…y'know…"

"Don't worry about it," Sparks said, "We all lose our temper sometimes. It's perfectly normal, and it was definitely justified."

"And she's fine," Charlie added, "Your punch didn't do any of the 'horrible, irreparable damage' she says it did."

Ziggy half-smiled, and Sparks could see a few conflicting emotions swirling behind his eyes. "I'm just…trying to think of other stuff."

Sparks nodded and gave Ziggy a pat on his back. "That's good. That's what I taught you. Get your mind off the stuff you can't deal with at the present."

"What're you thinking about?" Charlie enquired.

"I'm trying to think of good stuff I've done…" Ziggy said, "but, there's that really mean voice in my head saying that I'm a bad Pokémon for punching someone, and it won't go away."

"You're not," Sparks countered, "You've done a whole lot of good since you've come to this guild!"

Ziggy didn't reply to that.

"Don't think about it right now. Do what you said earlier," Sparks said, "Just…relax with us for a bit. Let's talk about other stuff."

The trio of Pokémon then spent a while having a nice conversation with each other. Since nothing more could be done at that immediate moment regarding the lawsuit, the tension among them gradually started to lower the more they talked. Ziggy seemed to like Charlie's company, and she always looked pleasantly interested whenever he was talking. It seemed like Ziggy had finally made his first friend from outside the guild walls.

About a half hour slipped away before either of them realized it. Smiles were on all of their faces as they recounted funny stories and talked about whatever topic of conversation came up. Soon, though, Sparks started to get distracted and his contributions to the conversation started to taper off.

He found himself glancing over his shoulder, looking at the door to the dorms. He couldn't remember what it was exactly, but something one of the others had said reminded him of Terry, and now he couldn't stop thinking about the poor Eevee. Terry was still in his room. He had barely come out at all in the past few days, to the point that Liz was delivering food to his room.

Eventually, Sparks stood up and politely excused himself. Ziggy seemed comfortable enough in Charlie's presence that he could leave him alone with her. While they continued to chat away, Sparks made his way over to the dorms and found his way to a particular, familiar doorway.

Behind this door was one of the larger rooms in the active team dorm area. There were a couple rooms designed like this in case they recruited any particularly large Pokémon. As that need wasn't present at the time, though, the larger room had been given to Rico and Terry to share once they had gotten engaged.

Now, though, Rico was gone from that picture. He had another room at the far end of the corridor, which had been his old room from before the engagement. As far as Sparks knew, Rico hadn't set paws behind this door since the day he had broken up with Terry. The Eevee had spent at least five days holed up in his room, crying away. Even now, standing outside the doorway, Sparks could faintly hear him weeping.

Sparks knocked on the door softly. "Terry?" he called out. As he expected, there was no response. "Terry, c'mon. It's your ol' friend Sparks. Can you let me in? Please?"

The sounds of crying faded away, but the door didn't open. Sparks suspected that the Eevee had retreated beneath the covers on his bed.

"Terry, you can't stay locked up in there forever…" Sparks said sadly, "Please, won't you let one of us talk to you? We just want to help. We're your friends, Terr…"

Sparks remained quiet for a full minute, silently holding onto hope that the door would open. Sadly, though, nothing changed. The door remained just as closed as always. Sparks let out a sigh of both frustration and sadness.

"Terry…" he said, "If you don't open up and talk to somebody soon, then Carmen's gonna use her badge and barge right in. I know you're hurting, but you're also an active team member and you have a job to do. Unless you're planning on resigning…you're going to have to do something soon…"

Another few seconds passed, though Sparks wasn't expecting a response. He shook his head dismissively, frustrated that he couldn't help the young Pokémon. He was about to walk away, when his ears perked and he just barely picked up a quiet voice.

"C…C-can I talk…to Ziggy…?"

Sparks hesitated for a moment. He bit his lip, glancing towards the doorway out to the common room, where Ziggy was still chatting away happily with Charlie. "Uh…Sure," he said, "Ziggy's…a little busy right now. Can you hang on until he can come by later?"

"…O-okay…"

"All right, I'll let him know," Sparks said. He then felt his heart sink. Was that what he should have said? Terry was hurting and needed help, but Ziggy was finally out of his room and relatively happy and Sparks didn't want to take that away from him so soon. It wasn't like he had said 'no', but just that Ziggy would be coming by later.

Sparks stewed in indecision for a moment in front of Terry's door. A few moments later, he was suddenly jolted from his thoughts as the door from the common room burst open. Sparks looked over in surprise and saw a Furret dart through. He recognized the Furret as Bradley, a Pokémon who worked elsewhere in the building. Bradly had a serious look on his face as he dashed past Sparks, not even giving him a simple 'hello'.

Bradley aimed straight for a particular doorway and practically barged through the door. Sparks was confused and concerned for a moment until he realized that it was Dante's room, which didn't have a lock on it. He was about to run over to see what the fuss was about, but he ended up not needing to. Just moments later, Dante dashed out of the room, Bradley in tow behind him.

"Dante?" Sparks called out in surprise as he pressed himself back against Terry's door so as not to get run over. Dante also didn't even look at him as he passed by, running as quickly as he safely could while in the narrow hallway.

"Another sighting," was all he said before disappearing out the door into the common room. Bradley didn't close it behind him, so Sparks watched as the two crossed the room in record time and disappeared through the doorway to the main hall. Sparks could catch a glimpse of Ziggy and Charlie, sitting at the table and looking through the doorway at Sparks with confused looks.

"…Great," Sparks grumbled, "Just what we need…"