Stars shone past Furret Abigail's windows. The view of the city below started to fog up from the steam of the water pit. She relaxed and soaked in the heat with her arms folded behind her head, and leaned against the wall of the pit. Her closed eyes faced up towards dim lights.

While they were over, Aaron showed that her phone could control how bright the lights were. All the fine-tuning hit the spot.

When the water started to cool, Abigail lifted herself out of the water pit. She grabbed a folded white towel from the edge and dried herself off. She wrapped the towel around herself three times over and used her phone to empty the pit.

A few minutes later, Abigail put on a brown, fluffy nightdress with white cotton along the bottom edge. After settling under velvet covers behind the white curtains around her bed, she put on a brown sleep mask over her eyes.

In the middle of the night, Abigail stirred awake. Something urged her to get up, even though she didn't particularly want to. It must've been a short way past midnight.

She pulled the mask from over her eyes and crawled from under her blankets. Her head swam, like she had been woken up by something.

Abigail pushed the white curtain to the side. Her door hung open.

An Ambipom with dull, red eyes stared at her. In the darkness of her room, she could see outlines of shadows surrounding her bed.

"Hey," Ambipom grunted.

Something pricked Abigail's shoulder. Her paw snapped to it and pulled it out.

It was a tranquilizer dart. Abigail couldn't ignite her body's energy in time to fight it off. Her vision darkened.

"The hell do you think you're doing!?" a familiar voice asked.

"What I suggested earlier-"

"You'll get killed for this!"

"I'm taking it easy, okay? Nothing bad will happen."

"This is already bad. Don't screw this up. If you can't find anything, don't push it. And whatever you do, don't let her find out…"

"Yeah. Whatever."

Furret Abigail couldn't tell where she was. She couldn't quite remember how she got into a stretch of dark woods. She was already walking when she got here, so she continued.

"The Nightlights gave you this antique to protect. Tell me where it is."

The voice vibrated in her head. The leaves on the trees and the grass rolled in the wind.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Abigail said.

The winds whipped at her. She put an arm over her eyes to guard against them

When she brought it down, she was staring right in the face of another Furret. It looked like a mirror with golden rings of fur that replaced the dark brown and gave a different look to her face.

"Where?" Furret asked.

"I d-don't know..."

An Ambipom stood across from a Furret with golden fur. Her back stuck to the steel wall with her arms at her sides. Her face squirmed and shivered under the silvery light of the moon pouring in from holes in the ceiling. Loose black wires kept her from falling to the dusty, concrete floor.

Ambipom got there a minute ago, but he just rested his metal covered tails on the floor. After the two dings, he looked to his right at the Musharna with a glowing blue hue from her eyes. Furret twisted and whimpered.

"You're not going easy, are you?" Ambipom asked.

"Yes, I am," Musharna answered. "If and when people find out about this, it'll be your head."

"Oh please. I'd give them concussions first."

"Not her."

"She'll deal with it."

"Jayden," Musharna said, "be careful. This is the most dangerous water you could possibly be in. Both for you and me."

Jayden grunted and turned his attention back to Furret. Small, nervous tears streamed down her face and whimpered.

"Why hasn't this worked yet?" Jayden asked.

"She's strong," Musharna said, "and I will not be going any further than this."

"If you won't, I will."

"...I won't have any part of that. And if you do, I'll join in her making your life a living hell."

Furret Abigail's hazel eyes snapped open. She heard the end of a metal clang that vibrated around her throat.

Above the silvery metal taking up most of her vision, she saw an Ambipom's face. He had a brown leather scarf on his neck and weird trails of burn marks all over across his body like veins.

"Where's the Eye?" Ambipom asked.

Abigail sputtered and whimpered. Her breathing was heavy, and she had untouched tears going down her body's length to her tail.

"That antique the Nightlights told you to guard," he explained, "where is it?"

Abigail knew the answer. Last night, she tucked her cape with the antique under her bed. She shook so hard she doubted she could walk, but she had one job.

"I don't know..." she squeaked.

"I know for a fact that you're protecting it, Lodestar," Ambipom said. "You will tell me. I'll figure out what makes you tick easy and then I'll break you."

Abigail started to piece together that they were in a warehouse. Sound would bounce off the walls. The black, plastic ties would cut her if she tried to free herself. She slapped her tail against the back of the wall she was tied to and listened to the sound.

It was hollow on the outside. The rest of the small, empty space across the concrete floor had walls riddled with holes, which let Abigail see the square shape of the whole building. The wall had to be separating the inside from outside.

Abigail took in a deep breath.

"What are-"

Abigail belched up an explosive sound Hyper Voice. The wall behind her broke down from the force of her back pushing against it. The old metal crashed and banged against the ground, breaking apart underneath her.

From the blast, Abigail got thrown into the middle of the street. A nearby apartment building cast yellow shadows from lights on the road. As she struggled to her feet, the broken wires fell off of her body. They must've been attached to the wall. Either way, it wouldn't have held her well at all. If they underestimated, she could escape with ease.

Scraps of metal littered the ground. As the last of the noise vanished, Ambipom's groan rose from the past the building's shattered walls. Abigail saw movement in a pile of concrete and metal rubble.

She ran down the street on her stiff arms and legs. When she glanced behind herself, a Breloom and Golduck, also with leather scarves, chased her along with the Ambipom. Their arms swung with the intensity of punches, and they were gaining, fast.

Abigail panted for air and sweat from the effort. The dart still had some effect. She had to slow her head down so she could take a look at her surroundings, and met with nothing else besides the shadows of distant dark buildings. She went to the only light source that wasn't from the streetlamps: a cluster of buildings. When she turned the corner around the side of a caramel shop, she came to a long, busy street with a beaten stone road and people and activity. Tents were set up in front of shops selling food and jewelry.

With nowhere left to go and the pokemon still running at her from behind, Abigail ran in the center of the road to the shopping plaza. She didn't have much of a choice in putting them in danger by drawing them in.

She glanced over her shoulder in the hopes they weren't still behind her, but they had gotten closer. Brelooom's arm stretched in an attempt to snag the end of her tail. Abigail couldn't outrun it.

With nothing else to do, Abigail grabbed his stretched arm and pulled him to her. He flew in the air right into her fist.

The chatter around them died. Golduck fired a blast of water from his beak. Furret Abigail dove to avoid it. Her limbs collapsed under her increased weight. Golduck ran up to her and clawed her back. She rose through the sting and pushed him away from her.

Before Golduck got his balance, a green projectile slapped right into his face, from Abigail's right. She kept her eyes on Ambipom until he broke off his stare first.

Abigail traced where he looked; to a young Turtwig stand on top of a table with baskets of fruits for sale. Just as she saw him, his head whipped around as he fired another Razor Leaf.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Turtwig yelled. "Gettem!"

Objects and moves were flung at the trio. They were forced to back away while pokemon barreled down the street. Abigail became enclosed by half a dozen pokemon.

Breloom and Golduck ran back next to Ambipom as he batted away small moves, pots, and pan. Hints of steam roses off his purple fur. Ambipom raised one of his metal covered tails and slammed it into the ground. The clang and flying chunks of concrete silenced the crowd.

"Out of the way," Ambipom said. "It doesn't matter if it's one ant or thirty. You can all die in one footstep."

A plume of dirt shot up in the air between the crowd and the Ambipom. A flame danced through the air as the dust settled back down like snow.

Even surrounded, Abigail could make it out the wall, red wings of a Charizard. His neck stretched up over his back with smoke pouring out of his mouth.

"I'll only offer you one thing," Charizard said. His voice tumbled along in Abigail's ears. "The opportunity to walk away."

"Is that Michael Morans?" a voice asked.

"He's here!? That famous arena fighter."

"Yes! Nice!"

Something grabbed Abigail's paw. She glanced up at an older, female Ampharos.

"Miss Lodestar," Ampharos said, "let's get you back. Come along."

Furret Abigail let Ampharos walk her back along the street. She flinched when she heard a banging sound, but it was followed by a wave of heat and light on her back. The crowds around her started to yell.

Abigail tried to turn back around. Ampharos tugged on her arm again.

"Come!" she said.

Ampharos' grip tightened. She led her to a small building on the right side of the street. The noise calmed down a long time before she reached it, but Abigail still tried to catch a few looks at what happened. Nausea stacked on top of the dull sting on her back. She constantly tripped on her own feet trying to keep up with her.

Ampharos stopped in front of a Swadloon in front of a small doorway. The sign looked like it was for a salon.

"Sarah?" Ampharos asked. "Could we-"

"Y-yes, come in," Swadloon said. "Please."

Abigail lost a lot of her balance. Ampharos wrapped her arm around her and kept her from falling. Her mental stamina met its end.

Abigail couldn't tell whether she was asleep or awake. She laid on her front with a pillow under the side of her face. Her eyes scanned over a pink carpet.

"Where is she?" a voice asked.

"Over there."

"Abigail!"

Abigail strained a little to look up. Buizel Zen stared back down at her with tears dripping above his cheeks. His delicate eyes turned cold, hard blue as he lifted his head back up.

"Where'd that bastard go!?" Zen demanded.

"He ran after they started getting swarmed," Ampharos' voice said.

"Fan out and find them! The rest of you, come with me and secure a route to the N.A. that's airtight! Aaron, Gawain, stay here."

Footsteps rumbled under Abigail's head.

"How is she?" Gawain's voice asked.

"She's fine, physically," Ampharos answered. "But she's really shaken up. This whole street is..."

Abigail's mind went back to her nightmares. Memories clicked in her head. The cold feelings rushed back into her chest and made her whimper. She started to move around feeling uncomfortable.

"Abigail? You good?"

Shiny Zorua Aaron looked down at her. Abigail read the concern all over his face. She reached up and gave him a gentle hug for herself.

"Wish I was fearless..." Abigail mumbled.

"Eh, it's overrated…"

Quilava Gawain went to the other side as Abigail rested back down. He bent over and looked at her from the side as she closed her eyes.

"I'm okay, guys," Abigail sighed. "Just need a break."

"Okay..." Gawain said. Abigail wasn't convinced from his voice that he believed her, but she didn't fight it.

Ambipom still ran from Charizard with Breloom and Golduck. They hid under a canopy of dark leaves while the flame from Charizard's tail danced in the sky above the short buildings.

"Jayden," Breloom whispered, "she'll know now."

"We barely touched that girl," Jayden whispered back.

"So? Having Laurence do that is going to piss her off."

"Let's focus on the first thing pissed at us."

Jayden peered into the empty night sky from under the shadow of the thin tree trunk. It was crappy luck for a retired arena fighter to have been there. None of those smaller ones could have given him a paper-cut, but he already had a bruise forming on his arm. He didn't expect the crowd to actually do anything.

They had to move fast. Charizard flew out of sight behind a building, and Jayden beckoned for them to start running again.

Fortunately, Jayden didn't pick a place too far from their home. After years passed, a four mile jog was nothing. He even had enough time to daydream on the way back. The dancing flame in the sky continued to circle around the area long after they left it behind.

If he could go back, Jayden would probably do it differently. The Lodestar didn't know him or deserve any of it. He knew that the Musharna's illusions could be terrifying, but he never stopped to think about whether or not it was right to do to her just because she had what they were looking for. But he'd still need it.

The apartment building didn't have any lights on at this time. The landlord kept it as a rule to not draw any suspicion. Jayden usually looked forward to getting back, except now.. He walked the last stretch to the front door. His tails hovered just over the ground while he opened the fragile, white door inside.

Right in the lobby, there was a crowd of different species in leather scarves waiting for them. Jayden's heart was hit like a drum as he stalked in.

Despite the darkness of the room, uninterrupted by lights, he could tell where she was. Pokemon lined a path down towards her. At the end, he could make out her distinct shadow from the light pouring in through the front door. Jayden walked to the end and took a knee.

"You know how some things are personal?" she asked. "Like your parents. When you confronted the cops who killed them, or, well, caused it. You understand."

"Yeah," Jayden said.

"This is like one of those things. Laurence? If you would come out."

Ambipom turned his head up. The Musharna floated into view behind her, along with a new back eye, cuts, and bruises.

"I didn't know what else to do," Jayden muttered.

"That's what you have a leader for."

She stood up and turned around. A brown, leather cape dropped above the ground over her feet.

"And what you decide to do on your own... Of all the fucking things."

"Sorry," Jayden said.

Jayden was smacked across his face with a bottle. Shards of newly reddened glass drop to the floor, but he suppressed the desire to defend himself to keep it from being worse.

"I didn't hurt her," Jayden said.

"That's the only reason you're still alive."

Jayden took a hard blow to his stomach. When he reeled over, he was kicked on his forehead and sent sprawled back on the floor.

"Wait," Jayden croaked.

"What?" she asked.

"I-"

She stomped on Jayden's arm. He grunted. An unnatural crack popped in the air.

"See? There you go. Just like they do for kids when they're giving a shot."

Jayden looked up at her hazel eyes against her sharp, brown fur. Furret took a step forward and drowned the room with her gaze.

"And if any of you touch my daughter, I'll kill you. This was your freebie," Furret said. "Being a parent… It's like having your heart separated from your body, where the world can stomp on it. The mere fact that you even considered touching her tells me that I've been too lenient.

"The Eye," Jayden groaned. "We know she has it."

"It doesn't matter yet. And when it does, I'll take care of it. That's what I planned before you decided to touch something you shouldn't have."

Furret kicked the Ambipom onto his belly.

"Now go walk that off."

Furret turned and retreated back to the hallway. The room took its first breath in a long time. The Ambipom stayed on the ground while the shadows vanished further into the building.

Breloom came forward and offered his hand. Jayden reached up and grabbed it, being pulled up to his feet.

"Let's not piss her off again," Breloom said.

"Oh please," Jayden said. "It's the other way around."

Ambipom Jayden whipped his arm and then contracted his muscles. A single, loud crack sounded along with a small grunt from his chest. He opened and closed his hands a few times.

"You can't beat her in a fight right now," Breloom said.

"Maybe in a fair one," Jayden said. "But I don't care about those anymore. No one does."

Ambipom Jayden walked forward, back towards outside.

"Don't forget," Breloom said, "the innocent are our friends. Let's try to avoid people like the Lodestar."

"I remember."