In the Bygone Days, there were once three powerful nations, and one small, nestled underneath the shadows of the world's tallest mountain. The other three nations envied their bountiful land, and joined together to take it for themselves.
The little nation had no way to defend itself. They retreated, further up the mountain, in a bid to buy time for someone to come. There, they prayed.
Audino Agatha trembled as she knocked on a brown door to a small, lone home in the middle of the woods in the morning. Despite everything she needed to say, she had nothing planned.
Her black leather jacket broke when she mega evolved, and her socks were lost along with it. The breeze cut deeper.
"Coming!" a low voice called.
Agatha didn't expect the voice, but she recognized who it belonged to.
Greninja Damien pulled open the front door. He looked up and around, then down and noticed Agatha standing there. Unlike the usual style for Greninjas, he didn't have his tongue tied in a scarf around his neck. From what she knew of their biology, their tongues inflated with water and kept their skin from drying out. It was pretty humid out. He probably didn't need it.
"Ah, hello," he said.
"Damien?" Agatha asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, as you know, Lord Zen instructed me to keep a protective eye on you all. I'm here with Alondra while she recovers, to keep her safe. You came to see her?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Please. Come in."
Damien pushed the door open further. Agatha's eyes adjusted to a dark room with long, rectangular windows outside, a desk covered in books and papers, and a bed in the corner where Meowstic Alondra stared back at her from under a single white blanket.
"Hi, Agatha," she croaked.
"Hey..." she said. Agatha walked closer at a slow pace to keep her metal feet from slamming on the hardwood floor. "How're you feeling?"
"I'll be okay."
Even with her ears, Agatha had to bend down closer to hear every word. "I wanted to come and thank you. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"I'd like for you to buy me an Attract Wand so I can try to hit Damien with it."
A smile broke out on their faces. "Okay," said Agatha. "Anything else with that order?"
"That's all for me. How are you feeling?"
"Fine."
"I can tell you haven't slept."
"I mean, of course I wouldn't."
"You should get help if you can't."
"I'm fine," she said. "To be honest, I'm more worried about you."
"Your heart was still beating when I reached you. I'll be fine. The trouble is that it will take me some time to really recover enough to be of much help. I'm just lucky I have Damien..."
Agatha glanced back. Damien stared out the window without so much as a blink. Alondra sighed to herself.
"What do you think he's thinking about...?" she asked.
"Something stupid," Agatha guessed.
"He's so... mysterious..."
Damien scratched under his chin. Alondra stared wide-eyed.
"Alondra?" Agatha asked quietly.
"We'll name our kids Jim, Jerry, Jeffrey, John, James, Joshua, Jessica, Jake..."
"I'm going to walk away now..."
"Jamie, Jacob, Jack, Jasmine, Julia..."
Agatha stood up. Damien broke his mystical stare away from the window and nodded as she left. She nodded back.
As she left, Damien scratched his chin again.
Chicken salad, or a pork sandwich...? He continued to wrestle his inner self.
Without anything to wear, Audino Agatha's options were limited. With summer break underway, kids were out in full force. She didn't want to be recognized, or seen. Without anything to study, she only had one activity to pass the time: training.
As she returned home, she came across Lopunny Luke. She stopped under the shade of a tree and watched him.
The black spines of pegasi wings stuck into the ground to stand up. Seeing it like this, Agatha noticed it had a sort of central unit: a rectangle, almost backpack-like piece of metal all of the spines attached to. Luke turned around and pressed his back against it. Two metal poles strapped around his center. The spines yanked out of the ground without any lift, as if they were extra limbs.
Luke jumped up in the air. The spines spewed out strong flames and shot him into the sky. He jumped high enough for the flames to dissipate before they could hit the grass.
Agatha walked out and looked up in the sky in circles. He became a blur of movement that she struggled to track with her eyes. She could only hope to mimic that movement on a lower scale with her boosters, if even. There had to be a reason beyond skill that pegasi wings used energy so efficiently, and she wanted to find out.
She jumped in place and turned around.
Lopunny Luke smiled back at her. He dug the spines in the ground and detached. Her heartbeat flailed around.
"Hey," Luke said. "Happened to see you. Claire was right, though. You're kinda a stalker."
"I'm not stalking you," she spat. "I was... watching."
"It's okay. I get it. You've been through a lot."
Agatha brushed off his attempt at sympathy. "How do those pegasi wings go so fast?"
She asked that as if it wasn't amazing enough that a machine could make a pokemon fly.
"Speed is the name of the game," he said, and turned around. "These little things here," he tapped one of the six spines, "are thin to be more aerodynamic. They also use energy extremely efficiently, so it can take more than an hour of flying for even a novice to tire out."
"How?" she asked.
Luke stared, and shrugged. "I dunno. I'm no engineer. You'll have to figure out how your own toys work."
"My own?"
"They're yours," he said. "I used them to travel in the Old World by myself, but I made no headway. Anytime I landed anywhere near the Origin Point or a Scion's haven, Reapers were there. I have no use for them anymore. I'd teach you how to fly them, but it's a game of experience, not knowledge." He raised his hand and pointed up. "But here's a tip, you have to have a steady energy output to fly it well, and to use mega evolution. Two birds, one stone."
"Hey Luke," she said. "Why are... You don't really explain a lot to us."
"I know." His smile transitioned into a frown. He put his hands on his hips and stared off (with even more mystique than Damien). "I have amnesia. I don't know how I know the stuff that I know, or how I ended up here. But, the less people know that, the more protected I am, at least, I think so. Glass Reshiram, very recently, almost hurt a lot of people. With the knowledge I... That we have, it's up to us. So let's just do our best."
If Luke told the truth, he didn't know nearly as much as she expected him to. When he left out holes in his explanations, like what could be in Stargazer Castle, she assumed he chose not to tell them. It may not have been the case.
"Text me if you need anything," he said. "I'm in the neighborhood. I'll catch you later, Neon Star."
Agatha frowned. "Who told you to say that?"
Luke smiled and waved with his back turned to her. Agatha folded her arms. She decided to go inside and relax for today. The super machines could wait for her to gather up more mental strength.
As Audino Agatha sprawled out on her bed, her phone rang. She didn't recognize the number, but picked it up anyway. Hannah went out with girls from class, so she didn't have much better to do than check out the newest robo calls.
"Hey, Agatha?"
Agatha pulled her ear strand back from the gross voice; Walter's.
"Why do you have my phone number?" she asked.
"What do you mean why? Your mo... Claire gave it to me."
"Why?"
"I was out all day getting my ass handed to me by my principal, all so I could help you. You're welcome?"
"You're not welcome."
"For the love of... Look. I was just going to invite you to a party I'm hosting tonight for our class. At Elijah's place. His mom promised she wouldn't hint at kicking my ass around all day, so, there's that."
"Why would I want to go to your place?"
"Don't be a hermit. Even Natasha's coming. Our entire class is coming, but you, if you don't."
"I don't even have clothes to wear."
"Just buy some."
"I didn't say I felt like it."
"Go."
"Fine," she said. "Whatever."
"Good. Geez, Agatha. Why are you so against going in the first place?"
"It's a waste of time."
"Time enjoyed is not time wasted. So lemme ask you this... You're too weak and messed up from what happened to train, so are you enjoying yourself staring at your ceiling for hours on end?"
"More than staring at you."
"Whatever. I'll pick you up at six."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Agatha hung up.
She couldn't stand his stupid face and dumb smirk he probably had on, and he always showed off his fur with his bewitching yellow rings and stuffy attitude. If anything, she didn't want to go because he would. It could've been anyone that took Hannah around the school, but Mr. Rivers picked him: by far, the snottiest, meanest, hottest guy in class.
Not that hot. Well, he passed for it when he didn't talk, so not as often. He at least had nice fur, and teeth, and muscles, and a deep, smooth voice that soothed her ears whenever he read in class.
If he was anyone else, he'd be cute. Too bad he sucked.
Hannah must've agreed to go to the party. That meant she had to to make sure Hannah didn't do something stupid.
"Claire!" Agatha called out.
On the first floor, Mightyena Claire made some noise and walked up the ramp to Agatha's room. She looked around, alert. Her fur stuck out in different directions since she didn't have work that day.
"Claire," Agatha repeated, "could I have some help?"
"Yes," she said, confused. "What is it?"
"I want to go to a party."
"A party... A party!?" Her face brightened. "Y-yes! Of course! You can go to all the parties you want!"
"Can I get help with some clothes? Mine got lost in the center of a planet of bent reality when I got killed by an ancient queen."
"Ah, right. That. Do you just want the same thing as last time?"
"I dunno."
"What kind of clothes do you want?"
"I dunno," she huffed.
"Do you want me to go out and just bring back my best guesses?"
"Sure. Thanks for the help."
"You're welcome. I'll be sure to bring back plenty of socks one way or the other."
"Thanks."
Audino Agatha moped around on her phone for clothes. She missed her jacket. Leather wasn't popular anywhere in Verity except for her school. She couldn't find another.
Mightyena Claire came back home an hour later. Agatha put on her prosthetic feet and walked down to the first floor, which inadvertently drowned in plastic bags.
Agatha couldn't move far past the rampway. Long plastic bags, presumably for clothes, coated the floor. Claire sat down on her bed. Agatha glanced between her and the mess. She didn't know how she managed to carry all of it.
"This is a lot," Agatha said.
"Yes," Claire huffed. "Well, we're going into summer. If you want to hang out with your friends, I figured you'll need plenty of clothes for different things. Swimsuits for the beach, lightweight clothes for hot days, dresses for... events."
"How'd you carry all of it?"
"She had some help."
Luxray Imani pulled open the front door and closed it. Yet another small mound of white plastic draped over her back.
"I didn't have much else going on," Imani admitted. "I just finished up another semester after all. That means it's training season. I want to help you out with, uh..."
Agatha rubbed a chill out of her arms. "Can we please not talk about me getting stabbed in the head?"
"It's kinda hard to forget. I think about it a lot. Didn't eat a thing yesterday."
"Where's this party?" Claire asked.
"It's at Elijah's house."
"Elijah Mural?"
"Yeah?"
Claire dipped her head and snickered. "Well, Annette didn't tell me that a party was happening at her house tonight."
"Where is she?" Agatha asked.
"She went out training, and on a search for a counter to the Regalia. But from what Luke said, not even a Sacred Treasure could clash with them. I doubt anything in Verity would be better."
That reminded Agatha; she still needed to ask John about that rapier in his shop. It was a new type of weapon that relied completely on the energy of whoever used it. In theory, it could work if she became ridiculously strong, like, stronger than any and all explorers maybe.
Well... that wouldn't work anytime soon.
"Walter will be here at six," Agatha said.
"Alright," Claire said. "I can have a drawer for all this set up and put in your room while you're gone. In the meantime, you can try things on.
"Thanks."
Imani left out a few minutes in. Agatha wandered around the plastic ocean and tried every last outfit on, and she had to give it to Claire, she did her a solid.
For starters, it was all black: a skirt, swimsuit, lightweight shirt, and everything else good under the sun. Her face warmed at Claire's antics. She applauded and cheered her on with every outfit she tried on. By the end, combined with influence from Claire, Agatha chose a soft black jacket with a black skirt.
As dark, orange sunlight careened through the living room, Claire and Agatha ate sandwiches together watching TV, though, Claire talked more.
"You promise to text me if you see anything suspicious?" Claire asked again.
"Yeah," Agatha said, absentmindedly. "Why are you so worried? I can just kick anyone that bothers me."
"I know. I'm more concerned for anything happening in my friend's house."
"Alright."
"And because I don't want you to kick anyone."
"Fine."
"You're allowed to kick Walter if he's rude, though."
"I will."
"I was kind of kidding," Claire said.
"Oh."
A hard knock slapped against the front door of the house. Agatha knew it was Walter right away. She took a second to push through her laziness, stood up, and walked over. With the pile of clothes in the corner next to the rampway, she had a clear path to walk and push the door open.
Umbreon Walter stood outside with a hefty black leather jacket on. He faced the opposite direction. When she stepped out, he spun around in a short circle.
"Wow," Walter said. "I would've asked you out on the spot if you dressed like that at school."
Agatha leaned her head back to check Mightyena Claire's face. Her face contorted. She met her gaze with silent permission to kick him if she felt like it.
She was close.
"Aren't you going out with Jenna?" Agatha asked.
"Who?" Walter's eyes skittered around and clicked in place. "Oh, her. Yeah, forgot about that."
"You suck."
"I was just kidding. But yeah, I don't like her. She's kinda hot, though."
Mightyena Claire walked out into the doorway. Walter's arms and legs tensed straight.
"H-hi ma'am," said Walter.
"If you treat her badly, I'll smack you."
"Uh... Yes ma'am."
Claire traced a claw in a wide, circular motion under her neck. She turned around and closed the door. Agatha liked her a little more. Walter's tail stiffened.
"So, I, uh, called a carriage," said Walter. "Simone and Hannah are waiting."
"Why do you act all... Whatever, with Jenna if you don't even like her?"
Walter sighed. He turned around and nodded for her to follow. She did.
Sunset sprinkled through the trees onto the thick grass. Agatha's footsteps flattened it, while Walter's brushed aside a path. Fewer birds sung than during daytime.
"She's from a school where the social ladder is king. You have to ease someone out of that thought process."
"Isn't that your thought process?"
"Yeah. That's why I know."
Weirdo.
"I've wanted to ask for a while," Agatha said. "Why do you feel so inclined to dip your nose into all this?"
"Because the Reapers freak me out? Especially when you got-"
"Stop talking about it."
"But yeah," he moved along. "That... Well, it happened in our school, sort of. I feel a bit responsible since I just sat there and did nothing while... A certain thing happened."
Agatha thought back. Now that she thought about it, he just sat there and did nothing. "Yeah. You suck."
"Glad you're alive."
"Meh."
Out on the sidewalk, a carriage, driven by a Magikarp (Agatha had no clue how he drove even with the touchpad), occupied the empty street corner. Umbreon Walter walked to the back and opened the doors for them. He hopped up inside.
Pikachu Simone and Cinccino Hannah looked down at her as she followed, the latter of which donned a basic white hoodie. Agatha had to admit, it would look cute on Hannah if she didn't try to shank her in her sleep. Even through that, she seemed like a different person. Simone's brown leather jacket made him look cooler than he actually was, by a lot.
"Hi!" Hannah greeted. She waved her paw. The sleeve, longer than her arm, bobbed from side to side over it. "I like your... It's called a skirt?"
For crying out loud. "Yes," Agatha said. "Thanks. I like your hoodie."
"Heya," said Simone. "Oh, hey Agatha, I found your jacket."
Agatha froze and glared at him. "What."
Simone blinked. "It was in the gym, and ripped up. It was the last day when you went home early. Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I fell pretty bad showing Natasha around the gym,"
"Yeah, I'll say. It took me a few hours to stitch it back up."
"You... stitched it?" she asked. "For me?"
Simone smiled. "It was pretty easy for me. I'll have to get it back to you later."
"He's a grandma," Walter grumbled.
"If I were, I wouldn't be the best at video games in the class."
The carriage started moving as Agatha settled in next to Hannah. Walter frowned at Simone's comment, but Simone kept his smile neutral as ever. Walter's eyes shifted around and landed on Hannah.
"Huh," Walter said. "I've never met a Cinccino before, but, aren't they usually smaller?"
Hannah's height matched Agatha's, so she hadn't thought about it.
Hannah smiled. "Yes! I guessed I started to grow a lot while training for conquest."
"Training for what?" Simone asked.
"Oh, I mean, when I was out with the...bros making gains," she recited.
That left Simone much more quiet than before.
A small buzz quaked the floor. Hannah reached into her hoodie's pocket and pulled out a small, silver phone. She turned her eyes to Simone.
"It's rumbling again," she said. "What do I do?"
A hint of depression seeped through Simone's smile.
The last of the sunset faded away in the corner of the sky when they closed in on Elijah's house.
During the ride, Agatha realized everyone in it knew about her prosthetic feet. Lucky for her. She needed to adjust their position to sit more comfortably.
They all stared. Agatha turned her eyes up from her feet at all of them.
"Sorry, you guys got any comments you just have to make?" she asked.
"What if I had a metal arm?" Walter asked.
"...What?"
"You know what would be cool?" Simone asked. "A metal tail."
"Dude, just use Iron Tail."
"It's not that easy."
"Do some people have prosthetic heads?" Hannah asked.
Good grief.
"No..." Walter answered. He gazed at her suspiciously. "No, they do not."
"I thought some Dodrio did," Simone said.
"Uhm..."
The carriage stopped. Agatha finished up and pulled her socks back up.
"You look pretty today," Hannah said. "I like those feet clothes."
By this point, everyone would guess she lived under a rock, and they'd be half-right. It didn't matter anymore.
"Thanks," Agatha said. "I like your hoodie."
"Thank you! Simone picked it out for me!"
"It's in style," Pikachu Simone said, leaning forward.
"And now I'm in style, too!"
"I... Yup." He nodded.
Umbreon Walter stood up and opened the back of the carriage doors. As soon as he did, the base from whatever music they were playing slammed into Agatha's ears.
"Is this your guys' first party?" Walter asked.
"Oh, I've been meaning to ask," Hannah said. "What's a 'party'?"
"Like a festival, Hannah," Agatha sighed.
"Oh! Okay! I've never been!"
Of course.
"You talk to people and play games and have fun," Simone said.
"Okay," Walter huffed. "Someone needs to be on Hannah protection duty. Not it."
"Not it."
"Nah... Oh."
A small thing in Simone's eyes died inside.
"I don't need protection," Hannah said. "I'm very well-versed in deadly combat."
"Sorry Simone," Walter said. "If you want, we can switch halfway through."
"This is fine," Simone said with an empty smile.
Audino Agatha followed Walter out to the blacktop road. The cool night air pierced a bit through her jacket.
Across a dark lawn (with the exception of two lights on the front porch), a house rumbled with music and flashed with wavering lights in the windows. The roof, shaped like two awkward triangles with one larger than the other, each had windows that were dark. It looked like the party was only on the first floor. That at least cut down on the amount of things that could go wrong with Hannah.
Walter got lazy and walked across the grass instead of the sidewalk up to the white front door. Agatha did the same, but because she preferred walking on soft surfaces to hard ones. Simone and Cinccino Hannah followed their example.
Agatha hung back. Walter reached up and rang the doorbell. He glanced behind himself and faced forward again.
"Elijah sure lives pretty, am I right?" Walter asked.
Agatha didn't reply. She blinked.
She didn't realize Walter considered his house big.
"Uh, yeah," she said.
Walter snorted and smiled. "Can't believe I didn't notice you were rich before."
Agatha folded her lips together. Jerk.
The door clicked. Lucario Elijah pulled open the front door.
"Hey Walter," Elijah tilted his head up. "You're late." His eyes lit up. "Agatha!"
Strange reaction. "Hi?" she said.
"I-I didn't expect you would come. Uh..." He swallowed mid-sentence. "You look g-great... Come in!"
Oh boy...
"Thanks," Walter said in her stead.
Elijah stood off to the side of the doorway. Agatha entered, followed by Simone and Hannah.
On the right side of the entrance, past a brown, artistic mat, a rampway led up to a hallway on the second floor. The living room sat to the right of that. Most of the noise came from there.
Agatha made sure to take notice of specifics. Two vases that looked expensive (they weren't) sat on either side of the stairway. Paintings (not good ones) hovered over the rampway. As she walked past Elijah, a gross lemon scent wafted into her nose.
It tasted middle-class.
Maybe she did act rich...
"Whatcha think?" Elijah asked. He swiveled around them as they walked in, in front of Agatha specifically.
"It's nice!" Simone said. "Thanks for having us, Elijah. It's really cozy."
"May I gut the turkey?" Hannah asked.
Elijah paused and stared at her. "What?"
"In my home, I would like to gut the turkey and season it before every festival."
"Uh... We have potato chips?"
"Only chips of potatoes?" Hannah's face grew confused. "Why?"
"Uhm... I'll go make some food."
"Okay!"
Elijah turned away to the left of the stairwell, towards a wooden table with a single vase and white flower in it. An Oshawott ran past him with his arms out straight behind him. He ran in a circle back to the living room.
"Hey!" Elijah shouted. "Who gave Sam coffee!? Sam! Stop Naruto running in the hallway!"
"But that's my ninja waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"
Elijah stepped to chase after him, waved at the air, and turned back around.
"Were our classmates always this weird?" Agatha whispered.
Agatha turned when she didn't get an answer.
Pikachu Simone smiled at a wall. He shook his head.
"What'd you say?" he asked.
Cinccino Hannah tilted her head up and down. "I am liking these beats, yo," she said. "Simone, what do some of these words mean?"
Simone's ears flickered.
"Excuse me," Simone said. "Gotta change the music real quick."
Hannah walked behind Simone into the living room. Agatha stared in. Walter walked up to her side.
"What?" Walter said. "Why are you hesitating and junk? Just walk in."
Agatha crossed her arms. "I don't like talking."
"You can make food with Elijah, babysit Hannah, Naruto run around the halls... You have options."
"Why did I come here again?"
"I invited you to stop angsting all over the place."
"I kind of have my reasons."
"I noticed."
"Walter!"
Walter stiffened up in place and grimaced. Agatha joined him as he turned around.
Bayleef Jenna stood by the front door. She wore (barf) a black leather jacket and fake eyelashes. Agatha sensed Walter's stupidity bubbling up.
"Jenna!" Umbreon Walter said. "Hi! How are you?"
Jenna smiled like a snake.
Agatha took the opportunity and walked away into the living room.
The overhead lights were dimmed. Elektrike Janette and Lillipup Shenise stayed in their bubble on a scratchy-looking red cushion. Persian Romania, Slurpuff Zel, Deerling Belle, and Growlithe Alisha sat in front of a TV with small control panels in front of them, playing some stupid-looking pink game. Around a short table, Boltund Avery, Croagunk Grant, and Sandshrew Thomas pretended to know how to play Poker.
Charmander Natasha spoke with Midnight Lycanroc Roy towards the back of the living room, by the closed pale curtains of a window.
Agatha shoved down a smile. Natasha's new prosthetic arm glinted under the light. She no longer leaned a bit to one side.
"Does it, like, itch?" Roy asked.
"How could metal itch?" she asked.
"I dunno, bruh. You tell me."
"Erhm..."
"I heard that prosthetics can irritate the skin and stuff."
Roy was so weird. He bobbed and weaved between stupid and somewhat smart.
"I replace parts and keep clean and stuff," Natasha said. "So no, not for me."
"Lit, bruv."
"What does that mean?"
"Damn, that's crazy."
The right side of Natasha's mouth curled up. She glanced away and happened upon Agatha. It rose into a smile.
"Oh hey, you came!" she said.
Roy stood back and watched. Natasha walked up to Agatha and bounced up and down on her feet.
"Uh, yeah..." Agatha said. "What's up?"
"I didn't think you would," she said.
"What else would I be doing?"
"I dunno. Working out, engineering super weapons..."
Probably.
"I've been trying to learn moves all day," Natasha huffed. "I don't get it."
"Then you're probably thinking too hard," Agatha said. "Don't worry about it."
"I guess. But, anyway, I like your outfit." Natasha's eyes phased past her. "Hannah's here?"
Agatha glanced back at Hannah. She was sniffing the television screen and recoiled back.
"What is this large phone for?" Hannah asked.
Persian Romania, Slurpuff Zel, Deerling Belle, and Growlithe Alisha shared a glance.
"Where are you from again?" asked Belle.
"I am from Verde Woods," Hannah said.
"Isn't that place uninhabited?"
"Uhm... Well, now I suppose it might be."
Alisha and Romania shared another glance.
"It's called a TV," Romania said.
"A tee-yee?"
"No, a vee. Like, vee. TV."
"TV," Hannah repeated. "What does a TV do?"
"It's short for television. It lets people broadcast themselves on screens just like it all over the world, so anyone else with a TV can watch them."
"Watch?"
"Yes. Like, you can hear and see their image on it."
Hannah's eyes lit up like Christmas. "That is amazing!" she yelled. "I want to be on TV!"
"Well, you're not the only one."
"What things do people do on the TV?"
"Everything," Alisha said. "Performances, shows, talking."
"Do people sing on the TV?"
"Yeah?"
Hannah clapped her paws. "Yay! Then I will do that!"
Audino Agatha sighed.
"You seem grouchy," Charmander Natasha said. "Wanna get some food?"
She hadn't eaten much today. "Sure," Agatha said.
Natasha walked Agatha over towards another archway, which led into a kitchen.
Inside, Lucario Elijah carried a red overflowing plate of cookies in their direction. He wound back and set it on a countertop in the middle of the kitchen, covered with menus for local restaurants and recipes.
"Hey," Elijah greeted them both.
"Hey," Natasha said. "Hey Elijah, where's your mom?"
"She's hanging out with friends overnight or something like that. I wouldn't really be doing anything otherwise, so I figured this would be fun."
"So, you baked these cookies yourself?"
"Yeah. Try one."
Natasha reached out with her left hand, her real one. She grabbed a shiny brown chocolate chip cookie and bit down. Her eyes lit up. She nodded as she chewed.
"Would you like one, Agatha?" Elijah asked.
"Sure."
Agatha reached and took one. It melted in her mouth.
"It's good," she said, observing it in her hand.
"Thanks!" Elijah said. "So, what do you do in your free time?"
Agatha stayed quiet for a short second. Elijah kept his eyes trained on her.
"N-nothing?" she said.
"Well, I see you drawing in your notepad all the time. I figured you did stuff like that."
"Well, I like it, but I'm just bored in class."
"So what do you do, then?"
"She's training to be an engineer," Natasha said. "And a competitive battler."
Agatha appreciated the cover. She didn't have anything in mind beforehand.
"Wow," Elijah said. "Ambitious. That's pretty cool."
"Oh, hold on," Natasha said. "Agatha, could you help with Hannah for a sec? I forgot to tell her something, and what it was."
"Uh, okay..." she said.
Agatha followed Natasha out. Instead of towards Hannah, Natasha veered hard to the left, by the windows. She glanced behind Agatha and then a bit up at her face.
"He likes you," Natasha whispered. "Are you gonna talk, or are you just gonna, like, stare into oblivion?"
"I'm talking," she argued.
"No, I'm carrying you. Just talk to him about normal things."
"I haven't done anything remotely normal recently."
Natasha grunted. She kicked her foot against Agatha's.
"Why so embarrassed, huh?" she hissed.
Agatha tilted her head to the side. "None of your business."
"That's sort of the problem. Why not just chill out and be you and stuff?"
"Because I don't want people staring and making goo-goo eyes."
"It's not the end of the world. Trust me. The choice is up to you. I'm gonna go stop Hannah before Sam teaches her how to Naruto run. You can talk to Elijah on your lonesome."
Natasha walked away.
Cinccino Hannah stood next to Oshawott Sam. He ran in place with his arms straight out behind him. Charmander Natasha stole her attention before she could try to copy him.
Agatha wanted more cookies. She walked back to the kitchen.
Pressure in the air from Elijah's eyes multiplied without Natasha there to block it out. Agatha's eyes drifted away as she stole another cookie from the plate.
"Say, where'd you meet Hannah?" Elijah said. "She doesn't seem to be from... Uh, civilization."
At this rate, she couldn't answer a single question honestly. "I met her at home. Uhm, Claire took her in."
"Ah, I see. So, I know this might be personal, but why are you with Claire?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean... Usually people who live with Claire have... disadvantages. She's been around this town for a while, so..."
Might as well.
"Do you want the honest answer?" Agatha asked.
Elijah rotated his neck and leaned forward against the countertop. "Sure," he said.
"My parents were secret agents. Veritan royalty found out and assassinated them. Claire's been helping me train to avenge my family."
Elijah snorted and smiled downwards. "Alright. Well, how about we make it a game?"
"A game?" she asked.
"Yeah. You say three lies and a truth. Then the other just has to guess."
That sounded fun. "Sure. You first. Tell me gossip."
Elijal rolled his shoulders and stood up straight again. "Okay. On my first day at high school, I slipped on a banana peel in the lunchroom and broke my leg by using a move by accident."
Agatha smiled. She could believe it.
"One day," Elijah said, "we had a foodfight in the cafeteria, and a decked Mr. Rivers with an entire pumpkin pie. I didn't even get detention, for whatever reason. Another time, me and Walter played a prank on Simone where we put a bucket of Goodra goop over the door, and Mr. West walked into it instead. And lastly, one time, me and Romania were out for a walk when a carriage side swept both of us out of nowhere, and it turned out to be a Veritan royal guard."
"The leg," Agatha said.
Elijah tilted his head. "Was it really that easy?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, your turn. Why did Claire take you in?"
"Well, my family were once Valorian warlords. A rival clan attacked us one day, and I was the only survivor. Claire's been training me to defend myself and bring the attackers to justice. Second story. My family died in a bad carriage accident. Claire took me in when I had nowhere else to go."
Elijah's eyes honed in on her. She had to tell them all with the same level of emotion.
"Third story," she said. "My family was known for being great fortune tellers, which led my scientist parents to try and build a portal to another world. An accidental explosion left me as the only survivor, but I've been investigating what happened ever since. Last story. My parents died in a terrible thunderstorm, which left me with scars when lightning struck our house and set it on fire."
Elijah nodded to himself and breathed out. "Wow," he said. "Uh... Yeah... Wow."
"What do you think?"
"I mean, based on the odds, a carriage accident."
She shook her head. Elijah lowered his head and raised his eyebrows.
"Holy crap, Agatha... Uh... Lightning?"
She shook her head. Elijah gawked. "What!?" he asked. "Okay... Well, next most sensible answer... Uh, rival clan?"
Agatha shook her head.
"Oh..." Elijah said. "Wow... Uh... Not my first guess."
"Does your mom help you practice battling?" she asked.
"Yeah, she does... Wait, how'd you guess?"
"Claire told me she used to be a Wayfarer."
Elijah glanced behind Agatha. His face relaxed. "Yeah," he said. "She's just not really looking for all the attention that'd come with that, though."
"Yeah."
Elijah quieted down. Agatha thought she did a pretty good job talking. She grabbed a cookie as a reward.
"Hey, so, does Simone seem a little off to you lately?" Elijah asked.
"How?"
"It feels like he keeps spacing out at random times."
"Doesn't he always do that?"
"Feels more often lately. I dunno, I'm probably just overthinking it. I worry about him sometimes, though. I heard he doesn't have the best home life."
Agatha forgot that detail. Simone sure didn't act like that was the case. She'd only be worried if he acted strangely. That hasn't happened.
"I'm sure he's fine," she said. "He's been hanging out with Hannah most of the day. I'll ask her."
"Thanks. I was pretty surprised when he quit the varsity team. Hope he comes back next year. How about you? Will you join varsity?"
"Well, considering everything, I don't think so."
"But you should," he pushed. "I mean, if you're good, you could get opportunities to work with real arena competitors. Why miss the chance?"
That reminded her of something.
"Hey Elijah," Agatha said. She panned her eyes up from the plate of cookies. "Do you know how to mega evolve?"
"I do," he said. "My mom has a Lucarionite up on the second floor in her room, but I'm not allowed to touch it yet. She wants me to have more control so I don't break my leg again or something. She doesn't use it very often. To be honest, I think my mom's a bit scared of it, which terrifies me. I mean, I barely see anything shake her up."
"What's the process to do it?"
Elijah's eyes clouded over, then relit. "Oh. I forgot. Audinos can do it too, that's right... Well, my mom says it's all about control and mastery over your own body. Lots of pros who can just stay that way forever describe it in all sorts of ways. I don't think there's any way to do it other than practice."
"Makes sense."
"Mega evolution is a pretty high bar, though, especially at our age when we're still in development. I wouldn't rush it. We'll get it eventually."
"How long does it take to learn?"
Elijah shrugged. "It varies. But..."
His eyes darted around.
"What?" Agatha asked.
"I could show you the stone, maybe describe the energy," he said. "I won't actually mega evolve, but, maybe it'd help?"
"Sure."
"Alright. I'll go get it. Be back in a minute.
"Okay."
Lucario Elijah turned and circled around out the kitchen for the rampway. Audino Agatha snatched one last cookie and went back to the living room to see what was going on.
Of course.
Most of the room gathered around Cinccino Hannah. They sat around her in a semi-circle. She held onto her long strands of pure white fur in her paws. Agatha focused on their conversation from the archway.
"And then, I brush it again," Hannah said. "If it feels dry, I used aloe vera oil from plants in my mother's garden."
Agatha blinked. Growlithe Alisha and Persian Romania took notes in notebooks. Where'd they even get them from?
"Hey, didn't you have glasses at school?" Midnight Lycanroc Roy asked.
"What's a glasses?" she asked.
"Huh."
"What did you do all day living in the woods?" Boltund Avery asked.
"I would hunt for food and sing and dance and learn to battle. Me and my mom would also try to make shapes out of the clouds!"
Agatha took a step closer. Even Oshawott Sam had calmed down and sat.
"When my mother died, I was very mean to people for a while," Hannah said. Her voice lowered. "I misunderstood what to do when you lose someone close to you, and assigned myself lofty ambitions to supersede what other people wanted." Hannah smiled. "But then, very nice people showed me that the best way to honor someone who's gone is to be happy with what they've given you, and my mom gave me the whole world! And when Claire took me in, Agatha was very nice and cool!"
What a sap.
Hannah spun around in place. Lucario Elijah walked into the other side of the living room with an orange orb with a red and blue swirl inside, a Lucarionite.
"That's a very pretty rock!" Hannah said.
"It's a mega stone," Elijah said.
"Oh. Are you planning to explode?"
"Ah, no. I'm not using it. Just trying to describe what it feels like."
"So you plan to accidentally explode?" Umbreon Walter asked.
Elijah's face fell. "No. I'm just trying to explain what it feels like to help out Agatha."
"Aren't we too young to mega evolve?" Charmander Natasha asked. "I read somewhere that it's not healthy before you turn twenty-one."
"No, it's fine. You just shouldn't attempt it if you don't at least know how to use moves."
The Lucarionite pulsed in Elijah's palm. He held it close.
"Mega stones are from outer space. They say that they hold energy from other worlds. You have to meld with this energy to mega evolve. It's like two bodies of liquid mixing together, only they settle out to be different. You have to keep your energy moving, and eventually, they'll become one."
"And then boom?" Bayleef Jenna asked with a smile.
"You guys suck."
Audino Agatha clasped her head. Dizziness rolled over her whole body. Her heartbeat rose.
She collapsed.
Agatha fell down into water. She opened her eyes.
She saw herself, as a reflection. It didn't match her own movement. It frowned at her.
"To the Valorian royal family," she recited, " descendants of Azelf, I will grant you fearlessness. You will not be able to feel fear to save your own life, or fear that prevents you from saving another. To the Veritan royal family, descendants of Mesprit, I will grant you emotions like raging storms. You will be able to feel the emotions of others, and experience double of what other creatures feel, for better and worse. To the Acuitan royal family, descendants of Uxie, I grant you distance from all you observe. You may sometimes fail to understand the illogical beauty of life, but you may learn if you so desire.
"As the Peacekeeper, I hereby declare you the rulers of these lands. You are to teach kindness, love, and peace to all who inhabit it.
"But, you are never to bear one another's children. Should you partake in this grave sin, disaster will follow. You are the last lines of defense against the Madness. I am relying on all of you to fulfill your duties, and when you fall in battle or to age, I will rely on you to keep disaster at bay, for as long as we can."
"Are you sure we shouldn't call an ambulance!?"
"We promise. We know what's going on. Look. She's waking up."
Agatha's eyes fluttered half-open.
A dozen eyes stared back at her. Her limbs shook. Her back laid on something soft and smooth.
Cinccino Hannah's fur. Agatha was sitting down next to her, on top of her fur. One of her arms kept Agatha back from falling forward.
"It's okay," Hannah said quietly. "I'm here."
Agatha grimaced. She had a headache. All of her energy left her body.
"That was just a vision, right?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Agatha said.
Agatha shook off the last of it.
Lucario Elijah stood off towards the edge of the cushion with his arms folded. Agatha shook her head.
"Uh, nothing happened," she said.
"Hey, uh, might not be our business, but what was that?" Deerling Belle asked. "Should we, like, have stuff to do if that happens?"
"Agatha's from a family of fortune tellers," Hannah said. "Usually when she's having a vision, she only spaces out for a minute or two. She's only ever passed out once before."
Usually?
Agatha had no memory of ever having a vision in front of Hannah. Could it have happened a few times while they were in the house together?
It had to be. How many times had it happened without her even realizing?
"Uh, usually?" Agatha asked.
"You don't tend to notice it very much..." Hannah said. "You just sort of... Cut out."
"I've noticed it for a while," Pikachu Simone chimed from between Boltund Avery and Sandshrew Thomas. "It's happened sometimes mid-conversation without you realizing. Maybe once or twice a week at school."
"Claire told me about it."
Why did everyone seem in on this but her?
"I thought you were just pissed off and glaring at me one time," Umbreon Walter said. "What kind of visions do you even have?"
"I don't... I don't even remember all these times you're all talking about," she said.
"Remember what you saw just now?"
"I saw my reflection talking about random stuff."
"That's creepy."
Agatha frowned. "Shut up..."
"Kinda sounds like a load of crap to me," Bayleef Jenna said. "But, like, what do we do if you faint?"
"Claire said to just get her into a comfortable position and be ready to comfort her in case it was scary," Hannah said.
Agatha cringed at that: "comfort."
"What's your last name?" Lillipup Shenise asked.
Agatha noticed the phone in her paw. She didn't want her to look it up online.
"Pharaoh," Hannah said.
Agatha looked at her eyes. Hannah stared back and smiled. She sighed.
"I've heard of them." Croagunk Grant cackled. "They were fortune tellers, and the richest family on the whole Trio Continent. An accident during late winter destroyed their whole mansion."
Of course.
"Rich?" Growlithe Alisha asked. Her eyes sparked.
Just great.
"Oh, I read that too," Persian Romani said. "I read that the only survivor lost their feet."
Screw Romania. Seriously?
"Wait, come to think, don't you always wear socks?" Midnight Lycanroc Roy glanced at the ceiling.
He had to pick now to be smart. What an ass.
Everyone's eyes fell a little lower. Agatha shifted her feet up.
Charmander Natasha folded her arm and prosthetic arm together. She smiled, gloatfully, until Agatha's face contorted. Her smile vanished.
Agatha turned her face into Hannah's fur as tears welled up.
"What!?" Natasha gasped. "Don't cry! It's not something to cry about!"
Natasha walked forward. The others cleared out of her way.
"It's not that bad," she said. "I used to hide it, too. You'll start to feel better. More like yourself."
"Will it make you feel better if we play a game?" Hannah asked. "How about we all learn this 'Naruto run'?"
"Uhm, more cookies?" Elijah asked.
"Are you the protagonist?" Oshawott Sam asked.
"Relax," Pikachu Simone's voice cut through the fluff. "It's not the end of the world. I remember when everyone found out that I blew up my first phone the moment I touched it cause I shocked it."
That sounded blazingly stupid.
"My first day of elementary school," Slurpuff Zel began, "I snuck into the school cafeteria and baked one-hundred pounds of brownies by accident."
"By accident?" Simone asked.
"I thought I measured out enough for one tray of a hundred brownies. So instead, we had ten-thousand."
"How'd you not notice that...?"
"Shut up, Simone."
"I wrote a love poem to Belle last year," Midnight Lycanroc Roy said. "I used it to ask her to the eighth grade prom. She laughed at me and went out with someone she got paid to go with instead."
"You got paid to go with me?"
Sandshrew Thomans turned expectantly towards Deerling Belle. She reeled back from his gaze.
"N-no," Belle said.
"She did," Roy said. "She got paid in Dogecoin. You know, that currency they use for virtual pet simulators."
"There are pets in the computer!?" Hannah asked.
"This party is so effing weird," Umbreon Walter huffed.
Everyone's attention turned to him, including Agatha. He froze in place and stared back.
"I don't have any stories," Walter said.
"One time, Walter and I were in this battle," Lucario Elijah said. "This was back in sixth or seventh grade when he was still an Eevee. I told him not to attack up close. He was fighting this Clefairy. She used Attract on him. She knocked him out with one smack, but he won the match anyway by the penalty of her using overkill violence and told everyone at school how he beat her. Our teacher found out, brought the Clefairy into the classroom one day, and made him apologize for lying."
That had to be the lamest thing Agatha's heard in her life.
"Elijah," Walter sighed. "Roll over and drop dead."
"See?" Charmander Natasha asked. "Having prosthetics is nothing to be embarrassed about. Whenever you feel embarrassed or down, just remember that you're not Walter, and then you can feel proud of yourself again.
"Wow."
Agatha had long since stopped crying. She shrunk back into the couch from all their eyes, though.
Bayleef Jenna gawked. She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and walked away.
"This is stupid," Jenna muttered.
"Now that you've realized," said Simone, "welcome to our class, Jenna."
"You know what?" Boltund Avery asked rhetorically. "I broke my phone too, Simone. You want some help?"
Pikachu Simone turned up towards Avery's face. "Really?" he asked. "You'd do that?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks, Avery!"
"Don't mention it."
"Dogecoin," Sandshrew Thomas muttered. "I'm worth less than Dogecoin..."
"Keep your head up, kind," Croagunk Grant said. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "Belle will die before her virtual pets do."
"Screw off," Belle said.
Deerling Belle turned up her nose and pranced away.
"Let's just be us," Pikachu Simone said. "All of us. I mean, this is likely the only time in our lives when we'll all be bound together every day like this. Why don't we all enjoy it?"
"He's right," Lucario Elijah said. He smiled. "I'll bake us up some more cookies."
Oshawott Sam inched closer. "Can you try and fortune tell- uh, predict, who I'll marry?"
"Uhm... It gets stronger and more focused for stuff like that as we get older," Agatha said quietly. "I can't do anything like that yet."
"That's crazy cool."
"What kind of other visions have you seen?" Simone asked.
"Uh... Nothing, really," she said. "Nothing sensible. It's just started recently."
Agatha didn't want to tell.
No, more than that. She couldn't. If she did, something bad would happen. She didn't know where that idea came from in her head, but it screamed at her to pull back from saying even a small detail.
It was almost unnatural.
"Did you guys know she does work on her own prosthetics?" Charmander Natasha asked the dwindling crowd. "Show them."
"Uh, I don't know if that's-"
"She added boosters to the bottom of her feet," Walter announced.
That got everyone's attention.
"Don't those make you blow up?" Midnight Lycanroc Roy asked.
"Yes," Walter said. "They do."
"Bro." He turned to Agatha. "Show us."
"Uh... I don't..."
Agatha turned to Hannah. She kept on smiling.
For the first time in a while, Audino Agatha willingly pulled on her sock in front of new people. From all corners of the room, eyes fell on the silver gleam of metal. Her hand shook as she rolled it back. She took it off and showed them.
Her engineering explanation fell on deaf ears. She showed them how it shot out a small puff of energy from the bottom, and they all started to imagine themselves with modified prosthetics (as if it was a good thing). Her captive audience dispersed out their conversations.
She fell asleep on the cushion. In the middle of her sleep, she recognized Cinccino Hannah lifted her up and out someplace. She ended up back in her bed at some point or another.
What a weird dream. Disaster...
As if. Disaster would have to go through her first before it even took a look at Hannah.