Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 3, Chapter 2

Before Louise could even blink, the Mega Beedrill had closed half the distance between them. Like a deer staring at headlights, Louise stood motionless in terror, only to be tackled to the ground by Saito, with the Mega Beedrill shooting overhead like a bullet. Viola had merely conducted an expert dodge roll, at the end of which two Pokéballs were thrown from her hand, releasing giant red and black striped spider and a red insectoid with a metallic exoskeleton, whom immediately engaged the Queen and her bodyguards.

"Louise, we need to move! Now!" Saito yelled, lifting Louise to her feet, only to push her back as Viola's metallic insectoid went flying over their heads, with the Queen very close behind him.

The insectoid quickly righted himself and grabbed two of the Queen's javelins in its claws but quickly lost his grip when a bundle of silk quickly latched onto his arm and wrenched it away, allowing the queen to start hammering him with her larger arm javelins. Seeing the insect struggle, Louise's eyes narrowed as she finally decided to act.

"Aile, Peck!" Louise shouted as Aile darted down in an attempt to help the insectoid that was getting beaten on by the massive wasp, only for the queen to quickly dart away from the insectoids reach and made a swipe at the tiny bird. On the near miss, Aile paused a moment before attempting to dart away from the battle through the canopy, only to be stopped when the Queen shot a stream of sparking webs at the bird, entangling her in webbing before violently pulling her to the ground.

"Aile!" Louise shouted in a panic as Aile twitched uncontrollably in the electric web. Quickly taking out her ball, Louise attempted to return the downed bird but another strand of silk shot and snagged the ball from her hand. "Hey!" Louise shouted indignantly quickly following the silk to a Weedle that was sitting in the tree above her, glaring down at her.

Defenseless, Aile could only stare in mortal terror as the Queen darted forward, only to be saved by the metallic insectoid pouncing onto the Queen, drawing her attention away from the downed bird. As the Queen struggled to remove the large insect, Louise and Brennaraki quickly rushed out into the clearing. With Brennaraki shooting fireballs at every Weedle and Beedrill that got too close, Louise scooped the cocooned bird into her arms, only to be stopped by the metallic insectoids body being violently thrown at her. Louise and Brennaraki jumped out of the way, only to freeze at the sight of the Queen's glare directed squarely at them.

Seeing how his allies were in immediate danger, Ronin leapt forward, intending to hit the queen's back with a glowing scalchop, but was quickly swiped out of the air and pinned to a tree by one of the Queen's arms. Before the queen could stab him, the giant spider from before leapt onto the Queen's back, dragging the queen off the sea otter, then hastily attempted to bind the queen's flailing limbs with silk. These binds lasted for but a moment as the Queen pulled them apart and violently threw a punch at the spider, who merely jumped away and launched a sticky web at the Queen, encasing her in place as she struggled to free herself.

Suddenly, Tanuki dropped down from a tree and delivered a sharp kick to the Queen's head. The only reaction from the Queen, however, was a sharp glare as she shifted her head towards the offending hound. Tanuki, realizing his precarious position, gulped before the Queen freed herself from her bonds. Tanuki could only raise his arms to protect himself as he was violently punched by a stinger and launched into a tree. Striking the tree with an audible crack, he crumpled into a heap, the tree falling over shortly after.

"Tanuki!" Saito screamed as he looked at Tanuki's struggling form. Before the Queen could attack the downed dog, the metallic insectoid reentered the fray and launched itself at the Queen, latching onto her body and delivering a series of powerful blows to her head in rapid succession. Dazed, the Queen attempted to throw the insect off, only for the insectoid to jump off rather than risk damage, placing itself between the body of Tanuki and the enraged Queen. The two Pokémon stood silently across from one another before launching themselves forward into a clash, delivering mighty, savage blows to each other. From what Louise could tell, from her kneeled form as she struggled to remove the shocked silk cocoon from Aile's body, while Viola's Pokémon was strong and highly trained, the brute force of Mega Evolved Queen was slowly wearing it down.

"Aah!" She shrieked as she ducked beneath an exchange of fire and needles going over her head, the battle between the swarm and the rest of their Pokémon still ongoing. The giant spider had webbed up most of the Weedles and Beedrill at this point, keeping them out of the fight, but more continued to pour into the area and they started to turn their attention to the young trainers. Just as Louise managed to free Aile, a Beedrill swooped down at Louise, only to be knocked back by Saito wielding a tree branch like a club.
"Louise, come on! We need to get out of here!" He yelled, knocking back another Beedrill.

"We can't just leave her! She needs our help!" Louise retorted, ducking underneath Saito's swing towards another Beedrill.

"We being here is making things worse for her!" Saito swung at another Beedrill, only for this one's exoskeleton to suddenly hardened, causing the tree branch to shatter. "Crap…" Saito quickly backed up, placing himself in front of Louise in an attempt to shield her. Before the Beedrill could attack, the spider pounced the hornet, wrestling it to the ground and binding it in a cocoon of silk, while Ronin and Tanuki leapt out of Saito's backpack, putting themselves in front as a forward guard.

The buzzing in the area grew louder as more Beedrill swarmed in. "What the hell are you two still doing here!? RUN!" Viola shouted as she dodged another Beedrill that attempted to dive-bomb her and releasing another Pokémon, this time some winged, black and yellow beetle with bright red eyes.

"We are not le-UKR" Louise attempted to shout only for Saito to suddenly grab her by her shirt and lifted her up into a bridal carry, quickly starting to haul her flailing form into the forest with Tanuki, Ronin, and Brennaraki hot on their heels. "Put me down this instant you brute!"

Saito, ignoring both Louise's protests and blows, continued his sprint into the forest, their Pokémon following shortly behind them. Glancing forward, Louise saw Viola touch some kind of gem embedded on her camera when the red insectoid began glowing in a similar way to the Beedrill. She couldn't get a good look at, but it was obvious even to her that the Pokémon had undergone a Mega Evolution. As the two Mega-Evolved Pokémon raced forward to clash, Saito ran past a thicket of trees and out of sight.

After running for nearly fifteen minutes, Saito breathed heavily as he continued to run, further and further away from the Beedrill swarm, the Mega Beedrill, Viola, everything in that situation that was putting him and Louise in danger. Louise at this point has ceased her flailing, going uncomfortably quiet. Frankly, for all Saito cared she could stew in her anger. Only when the sounds of battle finally faded, and faint clicks of various insects could still be heard, did he let up, slowing down to a stop and unloading Louise back onto the ground.

"Okay…okay…let me catch my breath…" Saito requested, receiving no response from Louise, whose eyes were covered by shadow. He paid her no heed as he turned to look at the direction they fled from. Seeing how none of the Beedrill had followed them, he sighed in relief. "We… We should be safe now… Are you-?" Any further words were cut off by a sucker punch to the face, courtesy of Louise, shocking him and the Pokémon.

"Gaagh!" Saito grunted in pain, holding his cheek. "What the hell was that for!?"

"You left her," Louise's words chilled the air around them.

"What?!"

"You! Left! Her!" Louise was shouting at this point, emphasizing each word with a violent point to him. "You left Viola, alone, to deal with that…that…thing!"

"Of course I did! She told us to run!" Saito shouted back, defending himself. "Or did you not hear that?!"

"Of course I heard her!"

"Then what is your problem?!"

"We should have stayed anyway!" Louise declared, stunning Saito into silence.

"… Are you out of your goddamn mind?!" Saito's face was now a fiery mixture of exasperation and confusion at the rosette's declaration. Before she could respond, he continued. "Had we stayed, we would have died! Dead! Do you understand that?!"

"Oh, so leaving Viola behind to die instead is perfectly okay, then, you stupid dog?!" Louise retorted, stomping up to Saito's face. At this point, the Pokémon were staring wide-eyed at the scene, unsure of how to stop this from escalating further.

"In case you hadn't noticed, our being there was not helping! Our Pokémon weren't doing anything to that Mega Beedrill! We were a nuisance to it at best! Only Viola's Pokémon even made a scratch, and even then it was throwing them around like ragdolls!"

"All the more reason to have stayed! She needed our help! Now, without us, she has to worry about that monstrosity and the swarm! We could have at least gotten the swarm off of her!"

"Now with us gone, she can actually devote her complete attention to the Queen and the swarm and not have to worry about two teenagers in way over their heads!" Saito shouted with finality, pausing to see her response. When she didn't answer, he huffed and turned back around to check on his Pokémon, completely done with Louise's lunacy.

"… You're a coward." Her voice rang out, drenched in venom, stopping Saito dead in his tracks.

"… What?"

"You're a coward. Running away is what cowards do. You ran away with your tail between your legs, so that makes you a coward. The honorable thing to do would have been to stand your ground and keep fighting, no matter what!"

"…I don't know what cave you crawled out of, but what I did was not 'cowardly', it was smart. Picking battles you know you cannot win, only for you or your Pokémon to get severely injured is not honorable, it's reckless and damn stupid! The fact that you confuse the two says a lot about how smart you are!"

"Excuse me!" Louise exclaimed, insulted. "I will have you know I received top marks in all of my courses!" He did not need to know that he received failing grades in practical applications.

"Oh really?" Saito sarcastically replied, marching back up to her. "'Received top marks.' In what? 'How to Walk Blindly Into a Beedrill Hive Trying to Find a Gym Leader You Could Have Waited For In-Town' 101? 'How to Start a Pokémon Journey Completely Unprepared' 205? 'How to Live with a Pokémon Professor for Three Weeks and Not Know what the Pokémon League Is' 300? Are those where you received your top marks, because if so that answers so many questions!"

"... What exactly are you trying to say." Louise gritted her teeth at the boy.

"You want to know what I'm trying to say? Okay then, let's list them off, shall we? From the past few hours that I have known you, you have displayed zero common sense about anything. You insist on battling when the only outcome is getting yourself and your Pokémon hurt due to fighting above your weight class, which tells me you have zero regard for the safety of yourself or others. You don't know information which is common knowledge to literally everyone else on the planet!" Saito was shouting again at this point, while Louise was growing more and more enraged with each point he made. "You know what, I change my mind. Even cavemen have displayed more common sense than you do! You are stubborn to a 'T', prideful to the point where you can't admit your mistakes! Do you want me to keep going?!"

"If I am all that, then why did you come along in the first place?!"

"Because I knew that if I didn't, you'd do something stupid! Looks like I was right!" Saito screamed in her face. "If a trainer can't keep him or herself and their Pokémon safe, if others get put in danger because of their idiocy, and they can't admit they were wrong, they have zero right to be a trainer!"

When the words left his mouth, an expression of pure hurt flashed across Louise's face, only to be replaced by pure, unadulterated rage. Had his emotions not been hot at that moment, Saito might had felt regret. But, in his anger, he felt nothing.

"I want you gone," Louise demanded, finally fed up with the boy she had spent the last few hours with.

"Staying around you is going to get me killed, anyway," Saito venomously retorted. The two stayed silently rooted to their positions before turning their backs to the other, Louise kneeling down to apply medicine to her Pokémon. "Come on, guys. We're leaving." He ordered to his despondent Pokémon.

"Don't let the door hit you on your way out," Louise barked, holding back the tears of hurt from rolling out.

"There are no doors out here, you idi-." Saito's insult halted in its tracks as a familiar, terrifying buzzing off in the distance. Slowly, Louise got to her feet, goosebumps forming all around her body, with sweat beginning to form on her brow. A quick glance at Saito confirmed the same thing was happening to him. "Oh, shit…"

"They must have followed the shouting…" Louise paled with this realization. With the buzzing getting louder, Louise quickly tossed Saito two full restores, who immediately applied them to his Pokémon. "Tanuki, how many?" The canine whimpered in response. "How many is that?"

"Too many…" Saito answered. The buzzing was nearly deafening at this point. Saito, picking up another fallen tree branch, backed up until he and Louise were nearly touching. "Listen, whatever our disagreements, none of that matters right now. Focus on keeping them away, and we might walk out of this."

"Got it," Louise answered. The buzzing was so loud, she could hardly hear herself. They surrounded at this point, that much she could tell. Large shapes could be seen moving among the trees. By Louise's rough estimate, there had to be at least fifteen Beedrill. The buzzing grew louder and louder, until it suddenly stopped. In silence, nothing moved, nothing breathed. It was suffocating. The tension was think enough that it could be cut. Saito's hands, shaking in fear, gripped the branch like a lifeline, Louise's inched closer and closer to her wand. It was at that moment, the moment when a naïve person would think the danger had passed when the swarm pounced.

Suddenly, the air was filled with large, angry, black and yellow hornets, firing a seemingly endless cascade of needles at the trainers and their Pokémon. Diving away from the needles, the counterattack was swift. No orders needed to be given, as they all knew there was no time to do so.

Aile immediately created a tailwind, speeding up her movements, and proceeded to launch into a series of swoops, pecking any Beedrill in her path. Brennaraki's familiar fireballs shot out in rapid succession, firing wildly into the swarm. Some hit, with scorched Beedrill falling to the ground in a heap. Others merely were singed as the fireballs were dodged. At the same time, Ronin alternated between firing jets and water and sending swipes of compressed air towards the swarm. While not as effective as the fire, his attacks were more accurate, hitting more targets than were missed. Tanuki himself acted as a bodyguard. Any Beedrill that close was quickly besieged by a combination of glowing punches and feet, with rapid movements between targets as he moved in a blur among different Beedrill.

"Duck!" Saito shouted as he swung his branch at a Beedrill near Louise's head. Somehow, it had managed to get past the defenses their Pokémon had set up and set its sights on Louise, who immediately ducked upon hearing Saito's warning, allowing him to whack the Beedrill to the ground. As Louise picked herself up, she spotted Saito swing his branch at another Beedrill, knocking it back. But, with each swing, with each Beedrill knocked down, two more seemed to take its place, and as Louise looked upon the state of their Pokémon, she could see them begin to tire, their movements growing increasingly sluggish, their attacks hitting less and less. Saito, too, with every swing, was growing more and more tired. When Louise finally spotted Aile, the small bird was no longer trying to attack, but merely trying to retreat, weaving between fired needles, punches, and web strings fired from all the various Beedrill she had previously harassed. To Louise's comfort, she was able to successfully do so, until the wind behind her died down. Slowed, Aile was unable to dodge a punch from a Beedrill, sending the bird crashing into the ground.

"Aile!" Louise shouted in alarm, racing over to the downed bird. A Beedrill swooped down in an attempt to punch her with one of its stingers, only for Saito to shoulder check it to the ground and swing his branch at another Beedrill that had joined the fray. Continuing on, Louise slid to Aile on her knees, gently picking her up while reaching into her bag for a full restore.

"It's going to be okay, Aile," Louise soothed the bird as she applied the medicine. Opening her eyes, Aile saw Louise's looking down at her, smiling once she saw Aile was okay. As Aile opened her eyes, the birds' eyes widened and she quickly escaped from Louise's hands, becoming a blur as she tackled a Beedrill that had sneaked up behind Louise out of the air, sending it sprawling onto the ground.

"Was that…?"

"Aile just used Quick Attack, Louise!" Saito shouted over the swarm, continuing to fend off any Beedrill that got too close to the group. Reveling in her newfound move, Aile began to rapidly attack members of the swarm in quick succession. The small bird was a blur as she raced between Beedrill after Beedrill, focusing on the ones that got too close to Louise. Even then, it wasn't enough, as the swarm seemed to just keep increasing in number and in strength.

At the same, Brennaraki refused to stop firing the small fireballs towards the swarm. But, with each fireball shot out, the power of each one grew increasingly weaker until finally, she exhausted her flame. The only sign of fire that came out of her mouth was smoke. Resorting to simple fangs and claws, Brennaraki fought on, both for her sake but also for her trainer, only to see yet another Beedrill swoop down at Louise. With Aile focusing on another Beedrill, and Ronin and Tanuki concentrating on keeping Saito secure, no one was able to protect Louise, who screamed as the Beedrill neared. Desperation filled Brennaraki as she tried to fire off one last fireball. Instead of smoke and fire, a purple sheen-filled her eyes as a wave of energy flew out, striking the Beedrill directly and making it crumble. Recognizing that she had learned a new move, Brennaraki began repeating the purple wave over and over, keeping the Beedrill at bay.

"That's a Psychic-type move!" she recognized, albeit not knowing the name of the move itself. Saito moved to name the move as Psywave, which only served to distract him from a trio of Beedrill blindsiding him and his Pokémon. Ronin and Tanuki were knocked away, forced into a close quarter's melee with their respective Beedrill, while Saito swung his tree branch at his Beedrill. As he swung the branch, the Beedrill simply buried one of its stingers into it, wedging the stick in place before directing a punch to his chest. Hastily, Saito jumped out of the way, but was given a shallow cut on his arm by the poison-tipped stinger.

"Gaagh!" Saito screamed as he felt the poison began to spread through his body.

"Saito!" Louise screamed out. Seeing him vulnerable, the Swarm quickly abandoned their original targets and raced towards his downed form, as he and his Pokémon struggled to get him to his feet, fearful looks etched on their faces. Reacting, Louise pulled out her wand and did what she should have done when this first started. "Fireball!"

All of a sudden, and to the shock of everyone present, especially Saito, his Pokémon, and the Beedrill, a large explosion rang out in the center of the oncoming swarm, sending heaps of scorched Beedrill onto the ground. All eyes were directed to her as they gazed upon Louise holding her wand, pointed right at the swarm.

"What the hell…?" Saito gasped at the sight, alarmed and confused at the display of power the rosette just displayed. The swarm was just as confused, as they temporarily retreated to regroup. Seeing a momentary pause in the fighting, Louise ran over to him and began reaching into her bag, pulling out an Antidote before grunting and putting it back. Sycamore had told her that Antidotes don't work on people, so she pulled out some anti-venom instead.

"How did you…?" Saito began, confused beyond all belief before Louise interrupted him.

"Not here. I'll answer whatever questions you have back in Santalune, but not here. I'd…rather not be in this Founder forsaken forest any longer. Deal?" She softly asked, her previous anger at him gone and replaced with concern and regret over how her actions led to this.

Saito was silent before he responded. "… No argument here," He grunted out. He hissed in slight pain at the sting of the antidote before sighing in relief as the medicine began to take hold. As he shakily stood up, the sounds of the swarm began picking up again. They would be here soon. "We…need to…get out…of here…"

"Agreed," Louise replied, only to see Saito begin to wobble. "Saito!" Louise gasped as he began to tip over, catching him before he could fall to the ground. A quick glance at the wound told her that the anti-venom wasn't quite working as intended, and he need medical attention soon. A fact soon emphasized by the affected area turning purple.

"Well…that's not good…," he groggily stated. "You…can do more…of that…explosion thing….right?"

"Yes, yes I can." Louise readied her wand, point it at the forest.

"Good… I think we're going to need it…" Saito's head was drooping at this point, and having lost all feeling in his arm. "By the way…if we make it through this…I'm gonna need…some…explan-…" Saito, struggled to say, groggy from the poison.

"Saito? Saito!?" Louise cried out before the buzzing once again picked up. As the first Beedrill showed itself, Louise aimed her wand. "Fireba-!" Before she could finish her chant, a string of web shot out, impacting her wand and throwing her out of her grasp. "No…"

Seeing how she was defenseless, the swarm pounced. Her and Saito's Pokémon immediately placed themselves in front of her, firing off compressed air, fireballs, jets of water, and psychic waves, while also hitting with flaming feet and fast pecks. Louise, unable to directly assist, crouched down, shielding Saito with her own body. The swarm, however, simply barreled past the attacks. Just as they reached the group, just as they were about to make contact, a large red blur shot out and impacted the heart of the swarm, breaking them apart.

"Eh?!" Louise gasped as she looked at her savior. It was the metallic insectoid from before, but it was different. She assumed this was its Mega Evolution. It was more muscular, more heavily armored. Its feet more pointed than before, its head spikier. The small, crab like pincers from before had morphed into something more akin to jaws. It hovered in place, standing between her and the swarm, before it suddenly vanished in a blur. With blinding speed, the insectoid began to demolish the swarm. Any Beedrill that got close was immediately clobbered. Any that tried to escape was webbed up by the prompt arrival of the giant spider. Faced with overwhelming odds, the swarm finally retreated fully. As the sounds the swarm grew fainter and fainter, the forest went quiet, until the only sign of their appearance was the fallen bodies of their kin.

"Ms. Vallière? Saito?" The voice called out. Relief filled Louise as she recognized Viola's voice.

"Viola! Over here! Help me with him!" Louise called out. Shortly after, she saw Viola rush into view, worry etched onto her face that multiplied when she saw the state Saito was in, a worry that amplified when Saito groaned in pain.

"What happened to him!?"

"He got stung by a Beedrill! I already applied anti-venom, but he's not looking well!" Louise answered as Viola helped hoist Saito by his other shoulder.

"Shit! He must have gotten stung by the bottom stinger! If he doesn't get medical attention soon… Scizor!" So that's what the insectoids name was! "Take Saito with you back into town! Get him to the Pokémon Center!" The Scizor clicked in affirmation before gently picking the unconscious boy up, only to speed out of sight and into the forest towards town.

"Ariados, take Ninjask and make sure that swarm doesn't come back!" The spider, which Louise assumed to be this Ariados, clicked before running off into the forest. The yellow and brown beetle, a Ninjask apparently, sped off after it. A silence descended over the forest before Louise fell to her knees in exhaustion.

"Viola… I'm so-"

"Its fine, Louise. I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." Viola tersely interrupted the rosette.

"… The Queen?" Louise asked, curious as to how the battle went.

"Right here," Viola pointed to a sixth Pokéball on her belt, a little regretful. That was the only answer Louise needed as she silently turned her head to look forward. Viola sighed and helped Louise up to her feet, and they began silently walking. Soon enough, Santalune City could finally be seen, and as they walked into the Pokémon Center, transferred the Pokémon to the doctors and nurses, and checked up on Saito, nothing but regret filled Louise.

Several hours later, well past the time everyone else was asleep, Louise stood awake in contemplation. The Pokémon Center, at Viola's suggestion, had given her a spare room to sleep in for the night, complete with a small TV. Louise paid it no heed as she stood on the room's balcony overlooking the city, a cup of steaming hot cocoa, her fifth of the night, still in hand. As she moved to take a sip, a knock on the door shook her out of her stupor. Placing the cup down and readying herself for the conversation she knew she was about to have, she slowly opened the door to see the waiting form of Saito, his left arm wrapped in a bandage where he was stung. The two stood there in awkward silence.

"So…," Saito began.

"Yeah…" Louise responded, her eyes glancing at his arm. "Do you…want to come in?"

"That would… That would be great, yes," Saito affirmed, awkwardly. Louise opened the door, granting him entry, before carefully closing it shut. The two teenagers stood there, unsure of what to do before Louise decided to make an attempt and reducing the awkwardness.

"I… Do you want something to drink? I have some hot cocoa left over," She asked, pointing to a nearby pot.

"That…sounds perfect, actually. Thank you," Saito replied. Louise nodded then walked over to pour him a cup, while he moved to sit on one of the chairs on the balcony. He nodded in thanks when she walked back over to him, two cups in hand, and gave him one, sitting opposite of him on the table. Talking a sip, Saito swallowed. "This is pretty good."

"Professor Sycamore's is better, in my opinion. This is too…"

"Watery?"

"That's the word. Yeah…" At this, an uncomfortable silence enveloped the two as they looked at each other, unsure of how to start the actual reason why they were there.

"… I'm sorry," Louise finally spoke in a near whisper.

"You're sorry?" Saito replied, a little confused. "For what?"

"For everything that happened!" Louise yelled out. "For insulting you, for getting us into that Beedrill hive, for you getting stung, for…!" Louise began to ramble, half a day's worth of regret coming to the forefront, only to be stopped by Saito.

"Louise, Louise! It's okay! It's fine!" He reassured her, halting her in her tracks. "I wanted to say I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have snapped like that, it was uncalled for, and it only made the situation worse," At his reassurance, another silence filled the air.

"… You were right. About me wanting to stay to help Viola. If we had…" The resolution to that chain of events went unsaid. "… But you're not here to hear about how you were right and I was wrong, are you?"

"… No, I'm not," He affirmed in a serious tone, setting his complete cup down. Louise sighed in resignation before straightening herself.

"Ask away."

"How did you do that? Those explosions. Whatever that was, not natural, it was not a Pokémon attack, so what was it?"

Louise sighed deeply. "That…was my magic."

"… Magic? You mean honest to Arceus magic? Hocus Pocus and all that?" Saito was slightly skeptical, she could tell, but pressed on.

"Yes, magic. My name is Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Where I come from…magic is commonplace."

"I'm…going to need a bit more of an explanation than just that," Saito asked, clearly confused. And so, Louise began to explain. She explained the magic system, the world she was from, the country she was from. Each answer she provided prompted more questions from Saito, each one she answered dutifully to the best of her knowledge. After an hour of questioning, Saito, having run out of questions to ask, stood up, overlooking the city.

"So, let me get this straight. You're telling me that when you entered Kalos three weeks ago, it was not from another region or some backwards village somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but rather from another world entirely?"

"Yes."

"In that world, Pokémon are… nonexistent?" Louise could tell Saito was struggling to even comprehend that, something she was familiar with as well. "But magic is commonplace and those who can do magic rule over the ones who can't in a feudalistic society as the 'nobility'. You yourself are one of these 'nobles', who was attending an academy meant to teach its students how to use magic.

"That is correct."

"You excelled at theoretical aspects of magic, but when it came to practical applications, they all blew up in your face, literally."

"…yeah," Louise forlornly affirmed. Seeing how this was a sore subject for her, Saito moved on.

"And when you attempted to summon a familiar, Arceus himself intercepted the attempts and eventually reversed the spell and pulled you into the Hall of Origin, where He interrogated you and revealed that the reason why your spells blew up is that you have the long lost 'Void' affinity." Disbelief started entering Saito's voice here.

"… Yes."

"… In the end, you…tried to blow Him up, and insulted Him, issued Him a challenge that He took you up on, sending you to Lumiose, where you were found by Professor Sycamore. And you've already told me the rest. Did I leave anything out?"

"… No actually. You pretty much got it," Louise affirmed. An awkward silence filled the air once more. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"I'm still trying to decide if you are lying to me," Saito admitted. "And if you are, then it is the most detailed and cohesive lie I have ever heard, and if you aren't, then it is the product of a completely insane mind, or the product of a psychic tampering with your mind."

"Oh…"

"If it helps, I'm leaning more towards psychic tampering."

"Oh, gee. Thanks. That makes me feel so much better," Louise sarcastically responded.

"Not for the entire thing," Saito admitted. Seeing Louise's confused face, he continued. "Look, it's obvious you can do magic. You made those explosions, and unless you're a Zorua or Zoroark in disguise, which I highly doubt, that tells me that some part of your story is true. You hardly know anything about subjects that is very much common knowledge here, a fact we are more than acquainted with, but coming from another world without Pokémon? And meeting Arceus in person, it's…"

"It's too outlandish," Louise finished for him, dejected.

"Exactly," Saito agreed. Seeing the dejected look on her face, he sighed and sat back down. "Look, I don't know what to believe. But I don't think you're insane. It's just… I need a little bit more hard proof, that's all."

"No, I… I understand fully…. What do you believe, then?"

"… I honestly don't know. I think the more important question is: What are you going to do now? You said that you had a year to 'prove yourself', whatever that means. I take it that you aren't just going to sit in Sycamore's lab as his assistant."

"No, no I am not," Louise affirmed, standing up. "You may not believe it, but Arceus told me that I was unworthy of having a Familiar. A living, breathing proof of my status as a mage, and he told me that if I prove myself, I can get one. I intend to prove that talking goat wrong."

"Okay, that I understand…kinda. How?"

"I'm going to become Champion." Louise declared with finality. "I've already notified Sycamore of my plans and issued a challenge to Viola. The battle is in the morning." At this, Saito, cup halfway to his face, stared at Louise, displaying a look of sheer determination and confidence he had not expected of her. As he sat his cup back down, he only had one thing to say.

"…Huh."

Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Outsiders! Saito and Louise had a fight, he now knows about her magic and being from another world (but doesn't quite belive her yet), but most importantly, Louise now has her goal set, and it is perhaps the hardest one of all. Becoming Champion of the Kalos Pokémon League! She never settles, does she?

Now to answer questions:

Sakura Lisel: Louise will not actually have any familiars in this story, as she does not need them. She and Saito will both get a full team, but no familiars. Human or Pokémon. Both for the Doylist reason of that she doesn't need it, and the Watsonian reason in that if she did, Arceus would come down with the Wrath of God.

Felipexza: Sorry if I butcher this. I haven't spoken Spanish in years: El repuesta ira en el capitulo futeru. Perdoname. No hablo mucho espanol.

Jyoster: The Pokémon in the story will not be relegated to purely the games. If the story requires it, or if the environment fits, then other species not found in the game can be found. We will be using the game as a base, however.

PokemonFan93: You are correct in your assessment of tsunderes. We all felt that Type 1 was borderline abusive, and that Type 2 fit Louise better for our story. To not make her a tsundere would have been sacrilege, you know? As for Pansy, we chose that name from the Japanese name of her sister, Alexa, which is Pansy.

We hope you guys like the chapter. Stay tuned for next time!