"See you later!" Aiden called out. Tori flashed her palm, then passed through the gate at the end of her long driveway. Hisoka waved once, then watched her until she disappeared beyond the landscaping. His eyes darted further up her path to the mansion looming on the hill.

Tori's house had a strange vibe, and it resonated in Hisoka as a shiver. No matter how often he'd visited over the years, he never felt welcome.

Aiden scuffed the ground with his shoe, turning back towards town and politely breaking Hisoka from his reverie. The two walked a while in silence. The sun was getting low and the creatures who favored dusk began to croak and rustle in the distance.

Hisoka chuckled to himself.

"Hm?"

"Ah..I'm just thinking how much I'll miss this walk with you guys every day."

Aiden stopped walking. Hisoka took a few steps before he realized, then turned around to put Aiden back into view, confused.

"You can't say that now, after Tori's gone! She's been looking for that sentimental stuff all week!"

The tops of Hisoka's ears burned under his crop of sandy hair. "She doesn't need any help from me getting all nostalgic." Aiden started walking again and Hisoka fell into step beside him. "You know, at lunch today she was complaining about how she'd miss the greasy cafeteria cookies."

"They're good cookies."

The boys fell into a thoughtful silence for a few steps.

"Tori has been acting pretty bummed lately though," Hisoka eventually conceded, "You'd think she'd be excited for all the freedom."

Aiden's eyebrows popped up. He glanced briefly at Hisoka's expression, then hid his own. He didn't volunteer an answer to Hisoka's musing. "Now she's going on some study trip right after graduation. I thought we'd hang out and all work on our Pokémon together."

"The Mount Moon trip? Why don't you go too? You'll both have to bring your Pokémon with you."

"Hmrn." Tori had implored him to join the trip, but the extra-work aspect seemed so unappealing. Secretly, he'd hoped that if he didn't go, she would lose interest as well...but she'd called his private bluff today in Professor Larch's class. Was he really about to pick up two more weeks of lectures and tests just for Tori's sake? "I dunno, dude..."

Aiden glanced up as the lights along the street all flicker on at once in the early dusk of the vale. A block ahead, the street opened into a cobblestone square centered by a plain fountain, a few stand-alone trees, and several benches. During the day, food stalls and the odd street performer would draw small crowds. That evening, there were only scattered couples canoodling on the benches and a lone dessert cart issuing tempting scents. Aiden steered Hisoka towards it.

"My treat." Aiden was prepared with money before Hisoka even processed that they were stopping.

In exchange, the girl at the cart gave Aiden two pastries tucked into tissue paper envelopes, some coins, and a very pleasant smile. He responded courteously and turned away from her with typical Aiden disinterest, a quirk that amused Hisoka when it didn't send him down a spiral of envy.

"Thanks." Hisoka received the pastry and nibbled thoughtfully on it as they meandered around the space.

They stopped below a tree. Aiden put up a foot and leaned back against it, unhurried.

It was the quality about his friend that Hisoka appreciated most: Aiden's patience was bottomless. Hisoka liked to think big decisions through, and unlike Tori and others who were full of immediate, passionate responses for everything, Aiden never rushed him.

"I guess...it might be fun, hiking and camping out. At least since Tori's there."

Aiden waited a beat to make sure his friend was done, then added, "I think so too. One last hurrah!"

"Hm? What do you-" Whatever Hisoka wanted to say was lost in an oncoming commotion.

The ground rumbled. Lumbering towards them from the far side of the square came Snorlax.

A familiar Sandslash followed on Snorlax's right and a slight girl in a guardian vest walked on the left flanked by sinewy plant Pokémon with a yellow pitcher-plant face.

In its arms, Snorlax carried another person.

"Arden!?" Aiden and Hisoka ran up to the Snorlax.

"Hey, guys!" Arden responded quickly and waved, well aware of how the scene might look and eager to dispel much of the worry it caused.

"Your brother's ok. He twisted his ankle tracking that hunter in the woods," the other guardian explained and jerked her thumb at Snorlax and its trainer. "Can you get him home from here?"

"Sure, thanks, Clare," Aiden replied. He looked up into Snorlax's face and gently placed his hand on its arm. Clare looked exhausted. She gave a quick wave and left the way they had come from, patting her Pokémon atop its head a few times as they walked.

Hisoka turned back to face his friends. "Do you guys need help?" he asked, looking at the two brothers and Arden's Pokémon.

Arden gave a thumbs up. "All good, Hisoka, thanks."

"Tell you family hi from us, Hisoka! I'm gonna get him home."

"Sure, see you tomorrow!"

After a round of friendly goodbyes and waves, Hisoka continued east, to the far edge of their small town.

The last leg of the walk home from school was Hisoka's least favorite. It was when the high of the day wore off. In the quiet, he examined the conversations he'd had and jokes he'd told, cringing at his contributions. Outside the light of his friends, Hisoka took a very dim view of himself.

On either side of the cobbled street, the further he walked, the more the houses shrunk and yards grew wild. One house was completely empty, abandoned. The front door stood open; inside was pitch blackness. Still, Hisoka thought he could see something shift within.

When the road ended in another wide open field, Hisoka took a left. The house he shared with his mother and aunt wasn't any nicer than the weathered ones around it, but it had no leaks or holes and its hinges didn't squeak. He and Abby had even started a garden a few summers ago in the front yard, and now the boundaries of their property were bursting with greenery.

He examined a budding berry bush as he passed through the yard, then stopped on the porch to remove his shoes. The front door opened inward as he did, moving under the telekinetic power of the large, golden-furred creature inside.

"Hey, Abby."Shoeless, Hisoka stepped inside and dropped his pack. He looked around. "Where's Mom?"

The Kadabra nodded over its shoulder, down the hallway to the back of the house. Then it returned its attention to the mixing bowl it was holding and the TV show it was watching.

Hisoka shut the door behind him and started slowly down the hall. The room at the end was his mother's bedroom. He rapped lightly on the frame of the mostly-closed door.

"Come in!" his Aunt Hilda yelled. A laugh track from the TV rose up and faded away. Hisoka pushed the door open and saw his mother propped up in bed and his aunt seated in a chair beside her.

"Hey, everything ok?" Hisoka's mother had dealt off and on with an illness since he'd been born. His Aunt Hilda had moved in to help care for after his father had left.

"I'm fine, sweetheart," his mother demurred.

"Coughing fit. The pollen is out of control this spring," Hilda volunteered. "Why don't you get your mother a warm tea?"

Wordlessly, Hisoka turned back to the kitchen. Abby was on to washing the bowl, standing over the sink and physically scrubbing with its thin yellow forearms. In its periphery, Abby supervised a spatula tossing the contents of a pan over the stove, controlled by its unseen powers. Without a sound or touch, another stove burner clicked on, this one below the tea kettle.

"Thanks." Hisoka pulled up next to the Kadabra at the sink and started drying the clean dishes then putting them away.

As they worked in silence, vague images swam up in his mind. He pictured Aiden and Tori, their faces caricatures with exaggerated eyes and smiles. He felt a question.

"Yeah, I saw them both. They're doing good," Hisoka answered out loud.

His mental image of Tori wavered to the forefront and pulsed, ever so slightly, with insistence.

Hisoka's cheeks flushed and his ears burned for the second time that evening. "She's good! We're good." Hisoka put a stack of dishes away with a hurried clanging. "She's going on that trip soon, so…" he trailed off as he locked eyes with Abby, then followed its gaze to the front door. On the ground inside the door was a duffel bag squashed flat beneath a stack of folded laundry and a pair of boots. An old bedroll leaned against the pile, wrapped tightly.

"Abby…." The Kadabra locked eyes with him again. "You're a real instigator."

Abby laughed aloud, a raspy, barking sound.

He smiled. The Pokémon smiled back and went on scrubbing.

Tentatively, another image crept into his mind. Hisoka pondered at the vague potato shape until he noticed Kadabra leaning in to sniff the front of his school jacket. He slipped his hand inside the breast pocket and retrieved the leftover pastry Aiden had bought - he'd tucked it away when the Snorlax had walked up and completely forgotten it.

"Here, Abby." He offered the snack.

Kadabra took it from his hands with telekinesis while it placed its washing back in the sink and dried its small clawed hands on a dishtowel. Then it plucked the treat out of the air with clean claws and tried a nibble. Abby trilled softly, delighted, the broadcast of its joy thrumming in Hisoka's own chest. Hisoka couldn't help but smile.