YEET I'm back again.

In my excitement to update Chance last chapter, I completely forgot to explain why it took so long:

Spring quarter was vastly better than winter. To me, it represented recovery in so many areas of my life. I also became super busy, first as a sorority officer, then as assistant stage manager of the production my friend was directing. I dropped a class for the first time because I didn't have enough time to handle it all, much less write Chance. When I did do writing-related things, it was the "five story ideas combined into one mess" I mentioned in Chapter 40, which eventually became a short story that I published with the newsmag I'm a part of.

I spent the beginning of summer rereading and becoming reacquainted with Chance. Eventually I was confident enough to write a new chapter. This one was almost ready in a week, and then the next weekend I didn't have time to publish (between a family trip and my best friend's birthday)(happy birthday Megan). But now this is finished, and I also finished the chapter after this?! 44 is ready to go?!

Ok enough about me let's get to the story. Don't forget, if you've forgotten the pokemon teams you can find the reference pages on my dA (at sta dot sh/0273g92bcjms)(put a dot where the dot is).

I arrived in Twinleaf the next morning. Since Def was unacquainted with most of the western Sinnoh region, this was the closest to Canalave we could teleport. Introducing him to more locations by visiting them individually was actually plan B, but plan A (flying from Twinleaf to Canalave) went something like this:

"aaaaAAAAAAAHH HOPE TOO HIGH TOO HIGH AAAAAAAAHHHHH"

Gotta have high Hopes.

It worked out, though. I said hi to Mom and Megan (Tricia was at her internship again). Def got to see Sandgem and Jubilife. Thomas planned to meet us in the latter city, since Silver hadn't quite recovered. There's not a lot of outdoor workout space in Jubilife City, so I brought my team to a gym (a workout gym, in case it wasn't clear).

"All right," I said cheerfully, "we're doing an obstacle course."

Part of the gym was dedicated to a setup of hoops, walls, a pool of water, and other obstacles, with a series of dangling objects above as a flying alternative. I matched them up one pair at a time and sent them off.

Def immediately teleported to the finish. "Def, that defeats the point," I told him.

"Mais, I have arrived."

"Mais, it's about the journey, not the destination," I responded.

Hope didn't quite get that she was supposed to be going quickly to the other side, so she lost time doing loop-the-loops around a hoop while Faith kind of just passed through all the obstacles and reached the end. Perks of being immaterial.

Prom did well with the pool and most other obstacles before the wall. He tried leaping over it, but smacked into a point three-quarters up. By the time he'd landed and recovered, Def had caught up and teleported to the top of it ("…I guess that's okay."). Prom took a second, then activated aquajet and used the move to scale the wall. He grazed Def in the process, who wasn't accustomed enough to his new size to balance on top of the wall. Def managed to teleport down before he could fall.

Trust hesitated at the pool, but extinguished his tailflame and dove in anyways. He swam clumsily to the other end, where Coeur was already attempting the wall. She used the energy of quick attack to scale the wall; Trust got over in one giant leap. The two raced through the jungle gym, where Trust swung through the upper bars like they were tree branches and Coeur took advantage of her size to dart through the bars at ground level. They exited the jungle gym and sprinted for the finish, crossing it almost simultaneously and collapsing, breathing hard.

"I have… no idea who won," I said, bewildered.

"Mon."

"Vee."

"They both claim it was them," Def translated.

My poketch pinged. Glancing down, I saw Looker's number on the screen.

"What up?"

"Where are you?"

"Jubilife City gym."

"There's a Jubilife gym?"

"No, like a… a gymnasium."

"Oh, okay. I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait? I just got here." I hadn't done anything yet, myself.

"I'm not sure it can."

I frowned. "Okay. Meet you at the Center?"

"Okay."

Looker was in plainclothes again, which this time meant a more reasonable polo shirt and khakis. "What's going on?" I asked him.

"Do you have a room here?"

I did. I brought him up. "You know about the Solaceon Tournament?" he said, sitting on the bunk across from mine.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"I just… I have a feeling about it."

I gave him a puzzled look.

"I think we need to be there. It's the same kind of feeling I had about Cynthia and Catalina."

"Uxie again?"

"Most likely."

I frowned. "Why Solaceon?"

"I've been wondering that myself, since we didn't encounter them there last time. It's possible that's where they assembled the red chain or bomb. More likely, though–"

There was a knock on the door. Looker and I glanced at the door and then back at each other.

"I'll check if it's Thomas," I whispered, flipping to the text message app on my poketch.

Within two minutes I'd determined that it was indeed Thomas and let him in. "Why did– oh, what's happening?" he asked.

I ushered him in. "Looker has a gut feeling about Solaceon," I said.

"The tournament?"

Looker and I said, "Yes, the tournament" and "No, the city" simultaneously.

"Wait, the tournament itself?" I asked him.

Looker nodded. "That's the odd part. Because you participated in that tournament last time, and we didn't encounter Galactic there."

"Yeah…"

"So we're going to Solaceon, then?" Thomas said.

"Sounds like it."

We teleported to Solaceon the next morning. "Split up," said Looker, recalling our natu. "I'll head south to the Lost Tower."

"I'll head east to the ruins," I said.

Thomas, who'd never been to Solaceon, looked at me for help. "Oh, go north. The tournament is in the northwest corner of town," I said.

He nodded. "Okay."

"Meet back here in two hours," said Looker, turning south.

"Oh, wait," I said, tossing a pokeball. Def emerged. "Go with Looker," I said.

"I can't–"

"You need protection and you know it," I said, turning away and releasing Prom from his ball. "Besides, Def can communicate across the town."

"Indirectement," Def let me know. "Je n'ai pas de connexion télépathique à Looker."

"You'll have to talk to him out loud," I let Looker know. Looker seemed conflicted, probably between following the IP's no-battle-pokemon rule and staying safe plus having a communication line.

"Fine," he said, shaking his head a little. I handed him Def's pokeball.

Thomas released Esther and handed me his hoodie. "Thanks…?" I questioned.

"They know you too well," he explained. "Go in disguise."

We split up. Prom and I broke into a run – the ruins were a twenty minute walk away, and we only had two hours. We took a quick water break at the ruins entrance, where I let out Trust for light. Pulling Thomas's hood over my head, I stepped in.

Trust, Prom, and I followed the directions on the walls into the ruins. As long as you understand unown runes, they're not terribly hard to figure out. You do need to have a sense of relative orientation, though; "top left" means nothing if you've forgotten your initial direction of entry. I've always thought it would've been helpful to just have the runes written on one wall, rather than all of them, but I suppose that would have defeated the point.

We finally reached the room with several lines of runes – the deepest room in the ruins. I read them out loud for Prom and Trust:

"Friendship," I said. "All lives touch other lives to create something anew and alive."

Something about this struck me as familiar? I know I'd been here before, but that didn't seem like it?

"Def," I said, reaching out.

"Oui?"

"Is there any way you can establish a connection with Looker?"

Def paused. "It may take some time."

"That's fine. As long as you're okay with it."

"I will try," said Def.

"Merci beaucoup," I said.

While waiting, I looked around. This room was carved more ornately than the rooms higher up. Abstract stone murals covered the walls around the unown runes. They didn't seem to depict anything in particular, but I recognized some of the patterns as pokemon motifs. The floor, too, was carved – a triangular hexagon took up most of the floor space, containing other pokemon motifs. I recognized a few as the jewel plates on Dialga and Palkia.

"Any luck?" I asked Def half an hour later.

"Non," he said sadly. "I cannot find him."

"That's okay. I'll ask him in person."

"Désolé," Def said.

"Hey, it's okay. I know you took a while to establish a connection with me. Don't worry." I glanced one more time at the design in the center of the room before turning to the entryway.

I heard voices.

"...really, haven't you received enough instruction already?" huffed a cool male voice.

Saturn, I thought, recalling Trust immediately. The room went dark, but the entryway was growing brighter. Moving as quickly and quietly as I could, I darted to a corner with Prom. There was nowhere else to hide.

"Def."

"Oui?"

"I found Galactic."

"What do I do?"

"I don't know yet. Standby."

The light coming from the entrance became a flashlight, followed by Saturn and two grunts. Each held a rectangular block in their hands. I pressed myself into the corner of the chamber.

The three members of Team Galactic positioned themselves at the points of the triangle on the floor. The first grunt set his blue-tinged rectangle into a slot in the ground. The second did the same with her gray one.

Looker would later say that the clue Cynthia had given us to the location of the Spear Key was this: "By chance it is born, transcending emotion, strength, and knowledge while holding on to them tightly still. And with it – life is given purpose."

Though vague, it matched the hunch I now had – that it referred to friendship. Just like the walls of the Solaceon Ruins.

Saturn knelt and placed a final orange plate in the ground. He stepped back as the three plates began to glow, sending a glimmering trail of energy out towards the center and flooding the room with light. I lowered my head so that I couldn't see Galactic's faces past the edge of Thomas's hood.

A golden cube rose slowly from the center of the glowing triangle. Saturn stepped toward the hovering cube.

"I have instructions for everyone," I said to Def.

"Ready."

"Here it is," Saturn mused, his back to me. The grunts had noticed me, but they didn't seem to care – I could've been a random sightseer. "The key to Spear Pillar – not just that, but also the key to locating the orbs. With this, the game is as good as won."

With that, I finished my instructions.

"Go."

All of my pokemon came out at once. Coeur zipped around and threw herself into Saturn's stomach, knocking him away from the hovering cube. Prom took Saturn's place and put up a protect around himself and the cube.

"Spear Key, huh?" I asked Saturn, stepping forward and pulling my hood off. The grunts threw pokeballs; Trust took out both glameows in a pair of mach punches. "Congrats on finding it first."

"You won't take it from us," Saturn hissed. "Attack her!"

The grunts threw the rest of their pokeballs all at once. I took inventory of our opponents: bronzor, croagunk, golbat, golbat.

"Trust, fire advantage. Faith, hit and go under. Hope, shockwave golbats. Coeur, to me."

Trust used flamethrower on the bronzor, who hit him back with a confusion attack. Faith confused one of the two golbats, then sank underground. The golbat confused the other golbat in his confusion, leaving them defenseless against Hope's shockwave. Coeur returned to me around the time Trust knocked the bronzor unconscious and moved on to the croagunk, and Hope finished off the golbats. Within a minute the croagunk was down.

Easy, I thought. But that part was supposed to be easy.

"Stand down," Saturn snarled, hurling four pokeballs. "And don't let the buizel get away with the Key."

The pokeballs released Saturn's bronzor, golbat, toxicroak, and – magmortar? Wow. Okay. "Hope, shockwave on the golbat. Coeur, help her take the golbat out first. Trust, get the bronzor with flamethrower. Coeur and Trust, keep Hope safe."

Saturn had orders of his own, but my pokemon were already springing into action. Trust drew the attention of both Toxicroak and Bronzor, the former of whom he evaded, the latter of whom he hit with flamethrowers. Bronzor fell quickly, but not before getting a pair of confusions in (the attack, not the status condition, fortunately).

Magmortar charged up a blast in his cannon – I tensed, but Coeur easily neutralized it with a shadow ball. He was a big pokemon, not a strong one. The golbat didn't seem quite sure who to focus on, making him an easy target for Hope's shockwaves and Coeur's shadow balls.

Golbat finally chose a target – the togekiss annoying him with shockwaves – and aimed a hypnosis her way. Coeur dove in front, absorbing the hit. I kept an eye on her and a hand on her pokeball, ready to pull her back. She staggered around for a bit, firing off shadow balls to take out the golbat and counter the magmortar, knocking the bronzor to get it off of Trust's back, tackling the magmortar's cannon to send the next blast of fire sideways at Saturn, who barely ducked in time – damn, Coeur was still standing for ages.

She finally collapsed, asleep. "Amazing job," I whispered to her as I called her in. Trust had just taken out the bronzor and was fighting the toxicroak. Although Toxicroak was faster, Trust's movements were more deliberate, exactly the motions needed to dodge and counter, nothing more, nothing less.

Trust was too busy to notice the magmortar charging up, cannon pointed at Hope–

A rocket of water shot at the magmortar, before he could fire. Prom emerged from the aquajet and spat a point-blank watergun in Magmortar's face. Saturn turned to the no-longer-protected Spear Key – which was gone.

"What did you do?" he demanded, looking at me. I shrugged vaguely.

Magmortar crashed to the ground, thanks to Prom's quick water attacks. Trust gave a cry and fell to the toxicroak, whose knuckles were both embedded in his stomach. Prom and Toxicroak locked eyes.

"Trust, Hope, return," I said. This was about to get messy, and I didn't want Hope in the crossfire.

"Prom," I said. "This battle is yours. All we need is time."

Prom lunged at the toxicroak and pulled back, faking him out. Toxicroak fell for it and slashed through the air, his knuckles glowing violet. Prom jumped and kicked with both legs, pushing Toxicroak down. A pair of sonic booms shoved him into the cobbled floor, cracking the stones. Toxicroak snarled and spat poison sludge as Prom came in with a water punch, hitting my buizel in the chest.

Prom shuddered. He shook his head wildly. I inhaled sharply – Prom was poisoned.

Promise gave a cry of pain and lashed out. His movements became messier, fueled by pain and rage. Toxicroak landed a pair of poison jabs to the stomach; Prom shouted hoarsely and blasted water at him. The two shot away from each other, neither in good shape. Prom whipped a sonic boom at Toxicroak, who jumped over it and slashed at Prom with x-scissor. Prom took the hit and launched himself at Toxicroak in an aquajet, sending both crashing into the wall.

"How much longer, Def?" I asked frantically.

"I'm inside! Faith is already out, I just… can't figure out these passages."

"Get back to the entrance. I'll run up."

"Désolé."

"Def, it's okay."

I recalled Prom from the midst of battle and ran; Saturn placed himself between me and the door. I charged at him and faked a left-handed punch, then threw my right fist when he ducked. My knuckles struck his cheek – he recoiled hard, clutching his face. I sprinted out the door.

The Ruins are much less confusing going up – there's just one staircase going upward from each level, so in less than a minute I'd made it to–

"Def!" I yelped, catching his arm. "Get us out of here!"

Saturn, Toxicroak, and the grunts had just arrived in the uppermost room of the Ruins when Def and I vanished.