Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 1, Chapter 3

Two weeks had passed since Louise had arrived in Sycamore's lab and she already found herself with plenty of things to occupy her time. She always prided herself in her academic performance. After all, it was the only part of Academy life she excelled at. Here in the lab, it was no different. Already a naturally curious person, that curiosity exploded forth in Louise's new situation and when she wasn't being Sycamore's assistant, she learned everything she could about the world she was in.

This led Louise to make a few discoveries for herself. For starters, Louise figured out that when Sycamore told her about Pokémon, he left out details, if only to avoid overwhelming her. Namely, he left out the concepts of Types, Moves, Stats, Abilities, and Egg Groups. Types, as Louise discovered, were part of the classification for Pokémon. There were 18 Types in total, much like the Elements known to her world, only much more specialized and diverse. Normal types, Louise figured, were the closest to her world's regular animals. Fire type Pokémon had a close affinity to fire itself and could survive extremely hot conditions and even use Fire as part of their defense. Water type Pokémon lived in or around water. Grass type Pokémon seemed to have a symbiotic relationship with plants and were often some sort of plant-animal hybrid. There were many more, each stranger than the last. Some Pokémon appeared to be living rocks or pieces of metal!

Moves were another concept that Sycamore left out. Louise discovered them to be a simple enough concept to grasp. Moves were simply the names given to the specialized offensive and defensive techniques that Pokémon used. Some moves were stronger than others. Usually, however, the more powerful moves weaken the user. They were also tied to Stats, which were official numbers used and calculated to determine a Pokémon's strength. They were developed several decades prior by Professor Samuel Oak in the Kanto Region to help better understand Pokémon. Abilities were self-explanatory. They were the scientific community's terms for the natural traits that affected every Pokémon's powers, whether it prevented them from ever falling asleep or simply boosted the strength of their moves in a last minute second wind.

The one concept Louise still did not get were Egg Groups. Apparently, Pokémon of different species could often interbreed with one another to produce viable offspring. That she could understand, after all she had experience with mules, which themselves are the offspring of horses and donkeys. But, mules were sterile, which meant that when she read that the offspring of Pokémon from different species could then go on to produce viable offspring themselves, it caused Louise a great deal of confusion. Did that mean that the species of Pokémon weren't different species but rather separate breeds of the same species? Was each Pokémon a sub-species of some progenitor species?

There were, however, some embarrassments in her pursuit of knowledge. When she discovered the light switch, she spent about a minute simply flipping it on and off. And when the TV, as she later learned it was called, was first turned on, she hid behind a couch in fright. She was lucky Sycamore wasn't in the room when that happened, and she would take that secret to her grave. But for the most part, Louise enjoyed her time in Sycamore's lab. She was learning new things, about Pokémon and modern technology, knowledge that she planned to take back with her to Tristain.

Louise reminded herself of all this as she walked into Sycamore's office.

"I swear, for such an intelligent man, he cannot keep a place clean to save his life," Louise sighed in annoyance as she gazed upon the room. Sycamore had asked her to retrieve some documents from the room in question, and upon reaching the room Louise had to ask herself: How can anyone find anything in this mess? What with stacks of paper everywhere, some almost reaching the ceiling, books just scattered all over the ground, what appeared to be coffee stains on the main desk - a substance Louise tried and discovered to be a foul, bitter beverage that paled to the glory that was hot cocoa. Of interest was a small red and white ball on the desk, placed on some sort of stand. Louise figured it was some sort of trophy.

Unfortunately, Sycamore didn't have a maid and she couldn't ask her host to clean up his room, not to mention he was currently in a call with someone named Burnet over in someplace called Alola, so Louise sighed in resignation and began to clean the room herself. She reorganized the books on the ground, placed the stacks of paper in appropriate folders, and even began to dust the floor. During that time, she found what she was originally looking for, but by then she had already gotten some headway into cleaning the room and Louise hated quitting on something she started. Finally, she moved on to the desk itself.

"This is commoner's work…" Louise grumbled as she worked to remove a particularly tough coffee stain. It must have been there for quite some time, given how difficult it was to remove. This caused her to triple her efforts, if just remove the cursed stain and finally give Sycamore his paper more than an hour after he asked for it. Unfortunately, she worked a bit too hard and accidentally knocked the ball to the ground.

"No, no, no, no, come back here!" Louise yelled out as she crawled after the ball, which began rolling around on the hardwood floor. Finally, after a few seconds of desperate crawling, she managed to grab the ball, to which she sighed in relief.

"Oh, thank the Founder. Okay, let's make sure you aren't damaged…" Louise muttered to herself as she began to inspect the ball. Luckily, it appeared that the ball itself was very well made and highly durable, as there were no scratches or dents to be found. As Louise sighed in relief, she accidentally pushed a small button somewhere on the ball, causing it to simultaneously open and emitted a bright, almost liquid form of energy that erupted out of the ball, causing Louise to drop the ball in surprise, and coalesced in front of her, which solidified into a small Pokémon.

The creature itself looked like a fox, based off its overall body type and ears. It had larges tufts of fur coming out of its ears and a short, fluffy tail, with the ear tufts and tip of the tail being maroon in color and a purplish-grey coat.

"What the…" Louise wondered aloud as she and the fox gazed upon each other in confusion. Before Louise could do anything else, the fox had jumped back slightly and hunched itself down and began to growl, causing Louise to yelp and flinch backward.

Louise quickly decided to get the fox back inside the ball, as the professor had it in there for a reason. After a quick look around, Louise managed to locate where the strange ball had landed. Unfortunately, it was close to where the fox currently stood, leering at her.

She quickly threw out her first plan, just approaching the ball from a different angle, as soon as she took a step forward. The fox growled again, causing Louise to immediately take a step back.

Risking a quick look around, Louise spotted a few cubes that were sitting on the desk, which Sycamore told her were treats for the various kinds of Pokémon, and reasoned that they had to be for the creature before her.

Taking a few steps back, much to the visible confusion to the Pokémon in front of her, Louise hastily grabbed the blocks and threw them off to one side hoping the creature would go after them.

The flat look she received from the fox would had said a thousand words, none of them pleasant.

Louise's cheeks flushed with embarrassment as the fox continued to look at her. She quickly ran though her other options of moving the creature when it interrupted her thoughts by yelping out what sounded almost like a question, nodding its head in the direction she threw the cubes.

At that point, Louise remembered something the professor had told her yesterday. Despite their appearances, Pokémon were as intelligent as humans and could understand them. Judging from the look the fox was giving her, that bit of information was quite obviously true.

"I was trying to get you to move so I could get to that ball to your left!" The fox followed her finger and apparently noticed for the first time the nearby ball and quickly looked back at her with a confused yelp and expression.

"Yes, that's what this is about! I didn't mean to release you from that thing, why would I want to let you out?"

The fox looked like it was about to reply but cut itself off and after a brief period of silence it causally swatted the ball back toward her.

"Thank you," Louise breathed out as she carefully picked the strange device up and began looking over it noticing several "buttons" positioned at different locations around it. Her investigations were interrupted by a yelp as the fox looked up at her with suspicion in its eyes.

Louise narrowed her eyes as she glared at the fox in front of her. "Yes, yes, I'm getting to it." as she pointed the ball's front at the fox and pressed a button at random.

Louise didn't know what 'returning' a Pokémon looked like, but she didn't think it involved the ball just opening and revealing the inner workings of it. Louise quickly clamped it shut and quickly pressed the next closest one. Unfortunately, all that one did was cause the ball too to shrink in her hand.

Growling in annoyance she repressed the button causing the ball to grow back to its original size and heard the fox making a barking like noise that sounded almost like laughing.

"Oh, shut up," she said, as the embarrassment from earlier crawled back. The next button she tried was finally the right one, sending out a red beam that hit the still grinning fox and made it disappear.

Sighing in relief, she carefully placed the ball back on the stand and quickly grabbed the paper that she sat on the desk earlier - something about a place called Ultra Space, written by a Professor Mohn - and turned to leave the room, when she noticed Sycamore standing in the doorway.

"Oh uh...How long were you standing there?"

"Right after you threw the Pokéblocks to distract Fennekin." Louise was about to stammer out several apologies when a smile crossed Sycamore's face. "It's alright. Usually though, it's a better idea to talk to a Pokémon first instead of trying to get what you want with treats."

"You're not mad?" Louise questioned, although in the back of her mind she already knew the answer. It seemed impossible for Sycamore to get upset about anything that might happen.

"About what? There's nothing wrong with letting a Pokémon out of their ball. In fact, it's good for their health and lets them stretch their legs. When we get back, we can look at some of the others around the lab." Sycamore smiled as he led her out of the room. The encounter with the Fennekin, as it was apparently called, remained fresh on Louise's mind.

Shortly after her encounter with the grey Fennekin, Sycamore introduced her to the other Fennekins at the lab - six total, including the one she had previously met. To her surprise, the other Fennekins were all yellow, not purple. When Louise asked Sycamore as to why that is, he explained to her that the Fennekin she had met in his office was a 'Shiny' Pokémon, which confused her, as the grey Fennekin wasn't shiny at all. After further exploration, she learned it referred to the sparkling effect the Shiny Pokémon give out when they are released from a Pokéball. Apparently, some Pokémon, when they hatch from their eggs, are born with a different coloration than other members of their species. Given the aforementioned sparkling, people thought that off-colored Pokémon 'shone,' so the term 'Shiny' stuck.

A few days later, Sycamore brought Louise to the lab's garden to introduce her to more of the different types of Pokémon.

"In here are a few Fennekins, Chespins, and Froakies in here, along with a pair of Whismurs a trainer brought in. There also is a Purrloin in here...somewhere. There are also a few more in the Pokéballs over on the table, but for now I just want you to get familiar with the ones that are already out." Sycamore pointed to each breed as he listed them off, although he had apparently lost track the Purrloin.

"So what exactly do you want me to do?" Louise asked, as she already curiously eyeing the strange pink puffballs that seemed to be quietly conversing with each other.

"Just get some Pokéfood out for them and make sure they don't start any serious fights. Don't worry, though. They're easy going. Just get to know them." Sycamore explained as he pulled out a big bag, that was apparently the Pokéfood, and a selection of bowls.

"I have some things I need to do. If there are any problems I will be in my office." Sycamore added as he walked out of the room, leaving her alone with the strange array of creatures as they started eyeing the strange girl in front of them.

Taking a few nervous breaths, Louise started filling up the bowls with the brown 'food' from the bag. She didn't think it looked appetizing, but the first Pokémon that approached, a Chespin, seemed to enjoy it.

The next two to approach were a pair of Fennekins, two of the odd-colored ones with yellow fur and red highlights instead of purple-and-maroon. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when the two oddly colored ones started growling at the one she met earlier as it cautiously approached.

"Hey, stop it," Louise admonished the pair as she prepared another bowl for the last one. The pair suddenly turned on her and started leering and growling at her.

Louise was not amused by their antics and quickly narrowed her eyes. "Well if that's how you're going to be... Come on Brennaraki!" Louise addressed the purple one, which she now noticed was slightly smaller than the other two and stood sharply up with the current bowl and started walking off. The purple one, after figuring out that Louise had addressed her, followed with a curious look in its eyes.

After a short distance, Louise placed the bowl under the shade of one the garden plants, snapping off a twig and placing it in the bowl, just as the purple fox arrived. "There you go, let me know if Snarl and Growley back there start giving you problems again." Before Louise could return to the bag, the Fennekin stopped her with a yelp. Upon turning around, Louise noticed it was giving her a questioning look, as if asking why she did that.

"Because they were being brats. What's their problem, anyways?" Louise knew she wouldn't be able to get a direct answer from the Fennekin, but just from the look she gave her, she had a good idea. "Anyways, I need to get back before Snarl and Growley start acting like a bunch of pigs and start eating out of the bag. Take care, Brennaraki."

The Fennekin yelped another question in response. "Well I can't just keep calling you Fennekin." Louise replied with a huff. "And Brennaraki seems like a fitting name. Where I come from, it means 'Firefox,' which suits you, I think."

The newly dubbed Brennaraki looked like it was about to ask something else when a crash of something breaking sounded off from the direction of the other Pokémon. Hurrying back to the main area, Louise noticed that a cat had jumped up onto a table and accidentally knocked a glass onto the floor. More pressingly, she saw that the Whismurs looked like they were about to cry.

"Oh nonononono, it's ok. See? It was just a glass. Nothing to get upset about." Louise started trying to placate the puffballs, barely noticing that some music was playing from somewhere, and quickly delivered a bowl of food to them and some treats that Sycamore had left out.

The Whismurs just about settled back down when Louise heard what sounded like a Pokéball activating. Swinging her head around, she found that one of the balls from the table had activated and released a... something from the ball. It had some weird plant on its head and a duck like bill as a mouth and was covered in yellow fur. As it opened its eyes, it registered the music that was playing, causing its eyes to light up. It proceeded to raise one if its legs and released a loud noise from its mouth.

And then all hell broke loose.

Sycamore put his examination of a chunk of rock, which he highly suspected was Beedrillite, on hold when he heard a scratching sound at his door and some muted barking. He took a quick stretch and got up from his current project. "One of the Pokémon must have left the garden and gotten lost," Sycamore muttered to Garchomp, who gave a quick nod in return. Proceeding to the door and opening it, Sycamore looked down to see the Shiny Fennekin give a bunch of concerned yelps and anxiously look back in the direction of the garden.

Concern crossing his face, Sycamore and Garchomp started running - the building's interiors neither wide nor tall enough for Garchomp to safely fly - with the concerned Shiny Fennekin hot on their heels and quickly entered a full sprint as he heard the unmistakable noise of a group of Whismurs crying. When he arrived, the first thing he noticed were the pair of Whismurs that were crying, apparently due to the Ludicolo nearby, itself dancing in tune to the music playing from the speakers around the gardens. Next were a Chespin and a Froakie currently fighting other next to the large bag of food that had been knocked over, with the other Pokémon watching from some ways back. Off in the distance was Louise, as a Duskull and a Gastly chased her screaming form around the garden.

It was times like this that Sycamore especially appreciated having Garchomp with him. The dragon entered the room and, after taking a single look around, released a loud and deafening roar to drown out the chaos, silencing everyone but Louise and the Whismurs.

Quickly, Louise ran toward Sycamore and immediately started talking in a rush. "Ohthankthefounderyou'rehereIdon'tknowwhathappenedtherewasthatthingan-"

Sycamore quickly raised his hands "Louise, slow down. I can't understand what you're saying. Just stop and breathe for a moment."

After taking a few steadying breaths, Louise started again with visible tears in her eyes. "I, I just don't know what happened! First that thing somehow got out of its Pokéball, then those Whismurs started crying, then-" Sycamore raised his hand again, trying to calm her down. Looking at the desk that held the Pokéballs, he quickly spotted the culprit, currently grooming itself.

"Purrloin?" Sycamore called out to the cat in a firm voice as it looked up and gave a questioning look. "Don't give me that. Did you start all of this?" Sycamore waved his hand around the mess the room was in.

The Purrloin gave an innocent sounding meow that failed to fool anyone, including the enraged pinkette. "WHY- YOU DAMNED CAT! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU-!" Louise all but screamed as she started stomping toward the Purrloin, which quickly figured out that its charm was not going to get it out of this one and ran off into the gardens.

"YOU DAMNED FLEA BITTEN- GET BACK HERE!" Louise quickly ran after the Purrloin though the gardens. Sycamore sighed and brought his hands up to message his forehead. After looking around to make sure that all the Pokémon were accounted for, he noticed that the Shiny Fennekin had disappeared into the underbrush, apparently in pursuit of the troublesome Purrloin, and the Professor gave a weak smile. Perhaps this bonding session was not a complete failure after all.

Three days later, and fortunately the next few visits to the garden were far calmer, with Sycamore's presence and Garchomp to keep the other Pokémon in line, Louise finally asked a question that had been bothering her.

"Professor Sycamore, is something wrong with Brennaraki?" Louise queried after giving up on her pursuit of the Purrloin.

Sycamore paused a moment, before starting, "Brennaraki? Oh, the Shiny Fennekin. Well, 'Brennaraki' is—"

"Hellooo~!" a feminine voice cried out, cutting off the professor.

Sycamore and Louise both turned towards the exit of the garden. Sycamore kept going, running towards the front entrance of the lab, as he let out a string of curses in what sounded to Louise like a highly accented dialect of Gallian.

Louise stood there blinking for a moment in recognition and shock, wondering just what could have elicited such a reaction from the normally calm man, but she was broken out of her stupor by a loud crash followed by more loud cursing.

Sighing, Louise followed in the wake of the professor.

When she made it down to the entry hall, she witnessed the odd sight of Sycamore trying to push a young woman, her green hair styled into what appeared to be drills, out of the doorway.

"But Augustine, you haven't even heard my offer yet!" the young woman said.

"I already said no," Sycamore replied, before launching into a string of curses that would probably make Louise's father blanch, and in description of the green-haired woman, no less.

Something that could generously be called a strangled croak escaped from Louise's mouth as she processed what she just heard. Sycamore turned to her, his face going pale as he realized that the apparent pre-teen didn't just know ancient Kalosian, but had heard, and more importantly understood, exactly what he had called the verdette.

That very verdette took the opportunity to unbalance the stunned professor and enter the lab. At this point, Louise was able to finally get a good look at the young woman. She appeared to be slightly older than Louise, no more than 17 in age. Her skin was a warm beige in color, darker than Louise's pale white but not like the reddish-bronze of Kirche back home. Her eyes were obscured by a pair of dark-lensed glasses framed with fine jewels, setting a pattern for the rest of her outfit. The woman's dress looked expensive, its white filigree interlacing with a deep navy blue. Her sunhat was the same color as her dress, with a few white flowers tucked inside the band. To Louise's frustration, the woman was noticeably more…developed than she herself was, albeit, again, not to the same extreme as Kirche.

"Augustine, I didn't know you had an assistant, much less a child," the woman said as she approached Louise, taking off her sunglasses to reveal her deep maroon eyes. Louise shook with indignation in response. How dare this woman call her a child!

"That's because I didn't have one until earlier this week, and she's not a child. Louise is-" Sycamore began as he picked himself off the floor, but Louise spoke up before he could voice his guess.

"Sixteen," Louise stated in defiance.

"Huh," the woman said upon hearing Louise's actual age. She turned away from the professor and crouched slightly, bringing herself down to eye-level with the shorter girl. The verdette took a lock of Louise's hair in her hand and ran it through her fingers a few times, then grabbed one of her own ringlets and did the same.

"I don't know how you manage it," Elizabeth said with some fondness as she stood up, "but good on you for keeping your hair so clean and soft in a place like this."

Louise took a few steps back, unsettled by something she saw in Elizabeth's maroon eyes. Her indignation quickly turned to discomfort.

Sensing Louise's trouble, the professor spoke up once more. "Now if you'd mind leaving my lab, Miss Elizabeth?" So that was her name!

"As I've said before," Elizabeth said, moving over to Sycamore, "money is not an object for me. Name your price and I'll meet or exceed it."

"And as I've said both times you've tried to purchase her: Fennekin. Is. Not. For. Sale," Sycamore replied, pounding his fist in to his open palm for emphasis.

"Every man has his price, Augustine," Elizabeth said as she stopped directly in front of the professor, "Tell me, what is yours?"

Sycamore stood his ground. "I don't care who you or your parents are, I am NOT going back on my word!"

"We'll see about that," she said, slipping by Sycamore's fluttering lab coat, "We'll see about that."

Elizabeth exited the lab, picking up her parasol and putting her dark glasses back on.

"I'll be back in a week to see if you've changed your mind," she said in a parting comment, and then she was gone.

Sycamore sighed, then turned to face Louise who promptly slapped him across the face.

"How dare you disgrace my language with your foul words! You should be ashamed!" Louise scolded Sycamore, her finger accusingly pointing at Sycamore, who was busy rubbing his reddened cheek.

"Man, you slap hard…You know, I probably deserved that. No one had ever caught that, befo-" Sycamore started before Louise slapped him again.

"You've done this before!?"

"Ow! Okay, yes, I have."

"Where'd you even learn Gallian?"

"Gallian? That was… Ohhh, that explains it," Sycamore nodded his head in understanding, before continuing. "I was speaking Old Kalosian, the ancient language of Kalos from long before Unovan became the most spoken language on Earth. I did not anticipate that Halkegenia's Gallian was similar. What was the name of your world, again?"

"Terre, and you are dodging the question. Why do you know Gallian or 'Old Kalosian'?"

"I learned it so I could curse out the parents of annoying children without them knowing."

The lab was silent as Louise and Sycamore stared at one another, Louise in shock at Sycamore's base reason for learning an ancient language and Sycamore in anticipation of Louise slapping him again. To his relief, Louise merely closed her eyes and took a deep breath, calming herself down, before continuing.

"Okay, okay," frustration was clearly audible in Louise's voice, but to her credit she moved past it. "Moving on, what was that all about? Who is Elizabeth?"

At this, Sycamore sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "That was Miss Elizabeth Colette, only daughter of the very wealthy Colette family. They are one of, if not the, richest people in Kalos. As for Miss Elizabeth, she is a Collector."

"And what is a Collector?" Louise inquired, a sinking feeling beginning to form in her stomach.

"A Collector," Sycamore answered, "is a person that collects Pokémon - the rarer, the better. Elizabeth has been trying to purchase that shiny Fennekin you met earlier for quite some time now."

"What is so special about Brennaraki? Why go to so much trouble for one Pokémon?" Disgust had formed in Louise at this point. By the sounds of things, this Elizabeth saw Pokémon not as living creatures, but as things, living trophies to be placed on a shelf. Not even Familiars were like that.

"This was the question you were trying to ask before Elizabeth arrived, isn't it?" Louise nodded, so Sycamore continued. "It's for a variety of reasons. For starters, Fennekins are particularly rare. In fact, you are unlikely to find one in the wild."

"Why?"

"A Fennekin is what is called a Starter Pokémon, specifically Kalos' Fire Starter. Starter Pokémon are officially recognized to be roughly equal in strength to one another. They evolve at the same time and their species' base stats are equivalent, not to mention being easy to train. As such, they proved to be desirable as beginning trainers' first Pokémon, hence the term. There are three per region, one of Fire, one of Water, and one of Grass, forming a sort of elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors between them. Fire beats Grass, Grass beats Water, and Water beats Fire."

"Okay, that explains why Brennaraki is important, but not its rarity."

"Due to their desirability, Starter Pokémon are regulated by the Pokémon Leagues. Only authorized Breeders can sell them to registered handlers, of which I am one. As such, you can only get a Fennekin from people like me. But that isn't the only reason. That Fennekin, Brennaraki as you've named it, is a girl."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Starter Pokémon have one of the largest gender ratio differences in the Pokémon world. Only roughly one-in-eight of all Starter Pokémon are female, making Brennaraki even more desirable. Combined both of those with its status as a Shiny, and you already know how rare that is, makes that Fennekin highly desirable to collectors. I've been fighting them off for weeks," Sycamore said, frustration beginning to leak into his voice.

"Okay, so what is the problem? It seemed like these collectors are willing to pay, quite handsomely in fact. Why not accept their offer?"

"Because that's not what she wants!" Sycamore yelled out, causing Louise to step back in surprise. "Sorry. Brennaraki doesn't want to go with a collector. These collectors would only see her as a trophy to hoard. At best, she would be pampered in a gilded cage when all she wants is to be a fighter. She wants to battle, not become a showpiece. She wants to prove her worth as a Fennekin. Every person who was walked through that door trying to get Brennaraki would not provide what she wanted, so I have refused every single offer."

Louise was silent at this point. After a few precious moments, she continued, "Then, what about the other Fennekins. They don't anything to do with her. Why?"

"Two reasons. One, Brennaraki is the runt of the litter. Already, this placed it low on the totem pole, especially as it is weaker than its siblings. Two, with her around, none of the other Fennekin have been given to trainers, causing resentment. It could have gone with Elizabeth, or any other collector, but it would have been placed in a position its pride wouldn't let it. It has refused every offer so far, as have I."

At this, Louise turned back to face Brennaraki who was now looking at them both through the garden entryway. Her heart burned with sympathy for the small creature, as Louise, before arriving in Lumiose, was put in the exact same position.

"I… I know what that feels like. Had I failed my summoning, I would have met that fate and been married off to some noble. My life would have been comfortable, but I would have been a failure as a mage," Louise whispered, which caused Brennaraki's ears to perk up in surprise.

"You would, wouldn't you?" Sycamore asked to himself in contemplation, before shaking his head and moving on. "In any case, I have a project that needs to be done by morning. I hate to ask but could you help work on it through the night? It might be the only way for it to get done."

"Of course, Professor." Louise inwardly groaned as she was faced with an all-night project. Considering everything Sycamore had done for her it was the least she could do to pay him back.

Here is the latest chapter of Outsiders everyone! Now, for any of you that had the question of why Louise in the cover image is cuddling with a Shiny Fennekin, well here's your answer.

Now, before any of you ask why Brennaraki is a Shiny, the reason being is because we wanted to use it to deepen the relationship between Louise and Brennaraki. The last thing we want is to have Louise simply get a Shiny just because. There is a reason for everything that we do in this story. Brennaraki being a shiny is just a part of her, but the effect it has had on her is just as important as Louise's being a Void Mage.

Hope you all enjoy!