People seemed to really like the intense action of last time. Now this one isn't as action-packed, but that makes it no less important! Let's have fun with Chapter 4!

Chapter 4

A Solitude

Having been alone on her determined hunt for far too long, having companions around her once again was…strange for Gloria. That she was with such an eventful group felt even stranger.

Despite that, the current Champion of Galar couldn't help but let her mind enter a deep state of reflection as she followed Juliana away from Schedar Squad. Leaving behind the Cyclizar and the burning wreckage, they walked on under the deep moonlit skies. Arven had been struck silent, his eyes contemplative, while Juliana showed nothing of what was going on in her mind. She merely presented her back to the pair of them, and the smoking remains of Schedar Squad, courtesy of their handiwork.

Still, Gloria reasoned, Juliana let slip far more than she could have ever intended to in the way she walked. With every shaft of moonlight, or whisper of tree, more about the girl was revealed. Not the least of these facts were the Pokémon that kept only a slight distance from her; not so close as to earn her current wrath, but not so far as to make her feel a loss of support.

And that, Gloria figured, was perhaps what Juliana was wrestling with most of all.

Shoving her hands in her cardigan, Gloria watched each of Juliana's minute movements. The way her fingers curled and uncurled, or the way a small shiver passed through. There was no doubt that something in the fight with Mela had broken something inside Juliana, stripping her soul to uncover some deep-seated grief resting within. That was something Gloria could only guess at being able to reach, at learning how to heal. It only made her watch all the more in silence, attempting to learn what made this fascinating girl tick.

"Sometimes…" Arven breathed, his words like a whisper on the wind, "I think I'm so close to understanding her, and then something like this happens."

Gloria craned her neck, observing Arven. His face conveyed the same confusion his words did, twisting this way and that with concern. It was sweet, in its own way, and in mere moments Gloria could see in him the same expression Ash sometimes wore with her. One with such fierce protectiveness, they'd fight the whole world if it meant a chance for the other to be happy.

That alone made Gloria want to figure out more.

She slung her hands behind her head. "I take it she does this often."

"Usually not like this, but…" Arven breathed through his teeth, turning the noise to a sharp whistle. His feet slowed, almost to a stop, and his body sagged with the exhaustion that could only come from his emotional state. He turned to look at Gloria, making her own stride come to a halt. "What about you? I know you said you wanted to help her get stronger, but after seeing that… Well, I have to wonder why you came along in the first place."

"Why, indeed?" Gloria tapped her chin, realizing her words made her sound far more mysterious than she had any right to. It gave rise to a sigh, and a drop in the act. For once, her responsibility as Champion diminished and Gloria allowed herself to shine through to those nearby. Well, the less dignified sense of self. "Let's call it connection."

"Tch. What's that mean?" Arven said. His head shook, carrying his long hair with it.

"I was on some business, doing things alone," Gloria said. Her eyes weren't leaving Juliana's back, but her words kept tumbling out. "There's a point there, you want the feeling of being with people again."

"That doesn't explain why you latched yourself to us. And after what just happened-"

"That's all the more reason to," Gloria said, her voice dropping to a whisper. Juliana's aggressive, tortured stance never changed up ahead, and the further she walked, the more she saw someone else. A little girl who also felt alone, striving for the top to cover up the insecurity underneath. Or at least she'd thought she was alone. "I guess I thought you kids were interesting, taking on something like Orthworm. Made me wonder. Wasn't quite sure what I'd get, but Serena was interested, and that's enough for me. She has a way of seeing the potential in people, good or bad. Guess that as Champion, I want to help temper that, help take potential to something real. Something genuine."

"Sounds like a flimsy excuse to me," Arven said. He began to slow, the sound of his breath changing, and he leaned forward on his knees. Fuecoco looked at him with concern. Still, he looked up to Juliana's retreating form, a frown creasing his lips. Yet all Gloria saw was the overwhelming concern in his eyes; this was not a boy angry at Juliana. "But I guess I should thank you. Not sure we would have decided to do this, move on to Levincia, if you didn't put that challenge out. Even if I'm not sure what it's resulted in."

"No thanks necessary. I'm just doing what I can. And I think that what I can do calls for some rest and food." Gloria peeled off to the side of the road, to a patch of grass atop a hill. It overlooked a long slope down to the water's edge, where some ruins populated the copse of trees. Lights in the distance revealed towns and Pokémon Centers, but they were all too far to make it through the night. Likewise, the brighter lights that heralded Levincia, still a few days off, were yet more inaccessible. Gloria turned in her spot. "Right. We'll rest here. Juliana! Take a break!"

"Huh?" Juliana turned back at last, her eyes reflecting a brokenness Gloria had always known was there. She was dazed, unable to quite comprehend what Gloria had called her for. It was only seeing Arven approach and set up his table that it clicked in her. Still, she required Quaxwell to come behind and push her towards their camp. "We're not…moving on?"

"It's good to have rest. Keep going, you tend to break, make mistakes, and then you doubt yourself further," Gloria said. Arven took out his pots and pans, and before she could stop herself, Gloria was eyeing his ingredients. Her fingers took to chopping them in an act that surprised the boy. "And right now, you look close to breaking. Beating that girl did a number on you, huh?"

"N-no!" Juliana's protests were met with a red-hot face, either out of the girl not believing it, herself, or the sheer impulse of denial.

"Balderdash," Gloria said. She looked straight at Juliana, her eyes reflecting the same kind of loneliness as a girl all on her own in a small town. Without looking, Gloria moved the ingredients into the pot, and started to fan the flames. Arven watched with some interest, the curry bubbling without delay. "It was an effort for you. Confronting the past. Accepting they weren't in your life, or you weren't in theirs. I get it."

"You don't get a thing," Juliana said, her humph forceful enough to blow some of the ingredients off the table. Fuecoco caught them. "You're the Champion of Galar, beloved by a whole region."

"Wasn't always," Gloria said, her memories giving her a smile. "I wasn't always so loved, or supported. Maybe I was just like you."

"You had parents. Friends. You're not like me."

"Everyone has one of those in some way. Or is Arven not a friend?" Juliana didn't say anything to that. Nor did Arven. He simply took over watching the pot as Gloria sat down. She dug into a pack of hers, pulling out the battered book she had spent hours poring over. Cracking open the spine, she looked over the old writing, the words on it so pitch-perfectly matching the situation. "You're not alone, you know. You're a speck in a vast wide world, and somewhere out there is something that can give your life meaning."

"I know what gives my life meaning: answers."

"And what if that doesn't fill you? What if you attach so much to the destination, you forget about the journey that got you there? If that answer doesn't change anything, there'll be no meaning for you." Juliana blinked, unsure quite what to say to all of that. She was bombarded with things she had never considered, now overwhelmed by it all. Gloria suppressed a chuckle at the thought, turning a page to an illustration. Her fingers ran over it, sensing the conflicted emotions that must have gone into it before snapping the book shut. She looked back at Juliana directly. "I know exactly how that feels. The pressure of reaching a goal, forgetting who I could be in the process. Sinking so much into myself I felt so alone.

"And yet…" Gloria panned her eyes up, drinking in the stars above her. "There was a moment, deep in my loneliness where I realized…I wasn't alone. That just by being out there, a small speck in a larger world, I was just living."

"Wait," Arven started, stirring the pot. Gloria stood, gently showing him how to tend the curry. It was an act that allowed him to speak. "You're saying the cure to loneliness is…being alone."

"Sure," she answered. That confused Juliana further, doing nothing to quell the tempest of conflicting emotions inside her. This time, Gloria let herself slip into a chuckle. "It might not make sense, but being alone to just be puts things in perspective. Better teacher than I can be, even. Helps you to let go of that narrow-minded vision and just live. Galar needed to do it. I needed to do it. Might help you, too."

"What…what are you saying?" Juliana asked, and she wasn't alone in doing so. So, too, were the Pokémon with her, each showing dismay for their trainer, and interest in this strange step presented before her.

Gloria, for her part, left the ladle in the pot and walked over to Juliana. With some effort, she lifted the younger girl from her seat and walked her around the table to point her down the hill. She grinned, but didn't receive one in turn. "Second part of your test. You've proven yourself strategic, but now I want to see how you resolve this thing eatin' at you."

"There's nothing-" Gloria gave a sharp kick, almost sending Juliana down the hill. The girl righted herself, flashing a scowl, but as soon as she saw Gloria's still beaming face, she chose to fight no further. "Fine."

"Good. Oh, and just remember," Gloria said, backing up until she took her own seat once again, "there's nothing wrong with asking for a little help."

Juliana didn't appear to grasp that, but followed the instructions regardless. She disappeared down the hill, hands shoved in her pockets. Her Pokémon trailed after her. All but Koraidon.

"Kor?" His head perked up, the unusual red lizard blinking at Gloria and tilting his body. She stared at him a moment.

"Not following her?"

"Koooor…" Koraidon slunk back down, rhythmic breathing showing he was choosing to go to sleep instead. Arven rolled his eyes.

"Probably just hungry," the boy said, continuing to gently stir the curry. He looked up. "But what about you? What are you playing at, sending her off on her own?"

"Not playing at anything," Gloria said, once again picking up the book. She thought to peruse it again, looking deep through it for any further solutions, but found herself sighing instead. Her fingers laced together, and she stared off in the direction she'd sent Juliana. "Just…I guess you could call it trying to save her, the same way people like Ash and Serena did for me. Sort of a way to do what I promised I would as Champion."

"Even for a region not your own?" Gloria didn't answer that one. Arven didn't press further. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised. You, Miss Serena…you guys like to help people, huh? But I don't think Juli wants help."

"No, she doesn't. There's a stubbornness to her. I like it," Gloria said, now leaning back to stare at the stars with a barking laugh. "But she can't go through life alone."

"She thinks she is alone. And I can see why. When your parents aren't around you learn a certain…self-dependency. Start thinking you can only rely on yourself. Only person you can understand is yourself." Arven's stirring slowed to a stop, but Gloria didn't look at him. "You start to feel distant, a gap between you and the world."

"What a bitter way to live. Life's about reaching out, not holding back. Keep at it like that and all you're left with is a hollow pursuit of a dream that ends with no one to share it."

Only the trickling water and whistling wind followed that. Whether Gloria had given Arven something to think about, himself, she could never know, but her own words reminded her of something more important than sitting there, rambling on about lost souls. She let the journal fall from her hands, her fingers preferring to grip her phone and punch in a single number.

After a few rings, it picked up, and Gloria flashed a brilliant smile to the person on the other end. "Hey, Hop. How's it been?"

She trusted Juliana would be all right.

Juliana was far from all right.

Her whole body felt like one twitching muscle, unable to get itself under control. Every step she took, or each breath that shuddered through her body felt like a complete effort. Each vibration was like a hammer to her chest, one that nothing could subside. Gloria's instructions, her test, mattered little to Juliana's state of mind, so torn it was. Her fingernails dug into her palms, and her teeth threatened to bite at her cheek, but none of it gave her an ounce of comfort.

To that end, Juliana knew that Gloria hadn't been far off: she felt truly, utterly alone.

It wasn't even the fact it was just her there, walking slowly down the grassy slope towards the river. The Pokémon were with her; physically she was far from being by herself. No, she was quick to realize it had everything to do with Mela and Team Star. Her words, her taunts. Calling her a coward who ran. Trying to bring her back into the fold. All of that blended into a ball that tried to tear straight through her.

Because deep down, Mela hadn't been that wrong.

Because somewhere inside, there had been some twisted connection between them all, and it was still there.

And as Juliana came to stand at the river's edge, watching as its eddies and swirls circled the great region of Paldea, she began to realize she hadn't left anything behind at all. Like the great river, it all circled back to the beginning, forcing her to confront the truth of her loneliness, and her mission…

…and that tearing through Team Star was only going to tear through her.

She couldn't take it. Juliana dropped to her knees.

"Smol?" Smoliv hopped atop her head, joined by Wattrel, and both peered down at her. She gave them no answer, and Smoliv soon dropped off in front of her, caught by Nymble before she could hit the river. "Smol liv liv?"

"I don't know…" Juliana breathed. "I just…don't…"

"Trrel…"

Neither Tinkatink nor Quaxwell said anything, both staring at each other while Juliana stared across the river, to the blinking lights of Levincia. So close, but so far. A bustling city in the great expanse of Paldea, breaking up its natural landscape.

"Broken, huh…?" Juliana drew in, finding her eyes staring over and over at the water's surface. It brought her right back to that night with the fireworks and Serena's question, one that even now didn't leave her. She let a sigh part her lips. "Maybe they're right. Maybe I'm just running around in circles, unable to find the answer. But I can't…I can't move forward unless I have them. I don't need anything else. Just that. And the strength to reach it."

Her Pokémon had nothing to say to that.

Someone else did, though.

"Sera…" The voice made Juliana turn her head and blink her eyes numerous times. Part of it was the sheer hollowness of its doleful cry, a loneliness imbued in it that matched her own. The other part was that sitting there, watching the river rush by, was Ceruledge.

Its purple flame flickered, an almost haunting sight that spoke to bitterness and resentment. Yet Juliana saw none of that. Instead, she saw a lonely armor, cast aside and defeated. His call and sigh were one of agreement, each grunt giving a rise and fall to his chest. That torso was illuminated by the moonlight, revealing a white gash upon it, as if marked by a flame even hotter than its own.

She didn't need any number of guesses to know where that came from. At the sight of it, she stood, her feet crunching on the grass. Ceruledge turned.

"Sera!" His speed was unfathomable, the indigo-clad warrior jumping to his spindly feet in a mere second. At the same time, his arm rose, pointing the blades right at Juliana. Eyes were narrowed, the recognition evident within them. Just as with Mela, he wasn't happy to see her. Juliana gulped, and the sound stirred the Pokémon to back her up, with only Smoliv and Nymble directly in front.

Hoping to stop Ceruledge from making a hasty move, Juliana held a hand out. "Hold on. I don't want to fight."

"Seru! Serula seredge!" His blade-arm wobbled, either a show of conflict or of waning strength. Juliana didn't know which, but she knew both were possible. The longer she stared, the more that was confirmed for her. The white scar made it all but evident. Her hand dropped.

"You're hurt." Ceruledge stepped back, quavering. "Was it…Mela? Or an old wound?"

"Seredge!" The shout was defiant, a tortured call that refused to answer either way. Perhaps because it was both, Juliana figured. The white gap in the armor was a wound inflicted multiple times, from the most recent tussle and the one that had driven Charcadet away so long ago. There was little doubt left.

"So, you really are him. I thought Mela might have been lying or my memories playing tricks on me but…that wound. Mela gave it to you when she put you through too much." Juliana's head lowered, staring at nothing but the grass. "I'm sorry. I should have-"

"Sedge!" Ceruledge had stepped forward, blade still quivering. There looked to be tears in his eyes, yet they evaporated in the unholy flame that exuded from his body. He steadied one blade with the other, pointing them at Juliana's breast. She didn't need to guess what that meant.

"I know. You must be as angry at me as the rest of them. I left you there, alone." Juliana found her fist clenching and she looked up, watching as Ceruledge became the once cheerful Charcadet.

You can get stronger, Charcadet, don't worry. I have a foolproof strategy for it. You'll be the hero of us all yet.

Charca char!

Juliana shook her head at the echoing memory. "I didn't think of that. I only thought of…"

Suddenly, all her excuses felt empty. Like with Mela and Giacomo before him, there stirred inside a feeling she couldn't grasp, and a hollowness she didn't want to hold. There were no words she could use as a balm on that wound, or any apology she could utter to soothe the pain. All she had left was what she had left for, and the gnawing it left behind.

"I'm sorry."

"SERA!" It wasn't good enough, all that vengeful resentment rising to the surface. Shaking no more, Ceruledge flashed his arms out, and with it, flames seared the grass. They rose quickly, like a wildfire that surrounded the two of them. Wattrel tried to rise over the flames, but soon as he got a look at Ceruledge's wild eyes, he balked. Juliana had no way to step back, so she walked forward.

"I don't know what to say. I'm sorry Mela hurt you. I can see what it did to you, the strength it's driving you to but…what else do you want from me? What are you even looking for?" Ceruledge didn't answer. He slashed again, sending another plume of fire racing until it evaporated at the waterfront. He stepped forward.

There was only one answer: he was looking for payback. With her there, it was clear where he'd now start.

"Sera!" Ceruledge dashed forth, his blade held like a javelin set to skewer her. Fear didn't stop Juliana, however, but she remained stock still all the same, waiting to take all the anger she deserved. Not just from Ceruledge, but from all of them. The conflicting emotions inside her only grew.

"Nymba!" Before the blade could make contact, Nymble sprang forth, his tiny legs clashing with the scorching sword. They locked in place, the blade moving just inches away from where it would have smote Juliana. Fire seared up Nymble, but he refused to budge, to Juliana's (and Smoliv's) growing horror. "Nym!"

With a flip, he disengaged, using another strike to push the blade back. In surprise, Ceruledge skidded back, making troughs in the ground. Nymble landed right in front of his trainer. Beyond the dying fire, Quaxwell and Wattrel cheered him on as Tinkatink bashed the ground. Ceruledge eyed Nymble. "Ser…"

"Nym nym! Nymble nym!" The little squeaks were full of passion, his tiny stature not intimidated for a single second. Like he always had, he stood tall like the hero he believed he was, defending her and those with her. Juliana's heart ached.

We're small, she started to realize, but we're not alone.

That was a lesson Ceruledge didn't seem to understand. His eyes were dull. Focused, but full of unrelenting rage and abandonment. A reflection that she longed to reach, but stopped in light of a quite different reflection: the one shared between Ceruledge and Nymble.

"Ser…ser…serula!" Ceruledge was panting, all of his exhaustion peaking with the effort. His blades were clanking again, wavering with their fire, but none of it daunted Nymble. As always, he stood strong in his heroic stance, one that made Smoliv look at him with glee.

They both want to be heroes. Or wanted to be. But maybe for one of them…or both of us… Maybe it's just too late.

"Seredge!" As if to confirm her thoughts, Ceruledge lunged, tired of looking at his own reflection. Nymble sprang forth to meet him, eyes gleaming with all his power. Like a hero, he would protect them, even against another hero.

"Moliv smol!" Smoliv shouted, hopping up and down, cheering him on. Juliana remained stuck where she was standing, unable to understand how to change the situation, or how to help.

Before her sat two paths, displayed in the Pokémon before her, each with their own strong feelings brought to bear. The wild, frenzied slashes of Ceruledge, lashing out without a fixed target. The focused, speeding bullet of Nymble in his narrow-minded pursuit of becoming a hero. They clashed right in the middle, the fire blooming out while Nymble's body glowed green, all of his being pushing into the attack.

He was brave. Braver than anyone Juliana had ever known. But his bravery wasn't enough. She finally managed to get her mouth moving.

"Nymble, no! He'll tear you apart!" Juliana shouted. She unglued her feet from the ground, running for him, like she could pick him out of the fire. Said flames became intense around her, Ceruledge's vicious eyes targeting her. But before she could pull Nymble out, something happened that she didn't expect.

For Nymble screamed, and Juliana stumbled, Smoliv having tackled her. She looked back, seeing a belief in Smoliv's eyes, and a strength.

More than that, there was a statement: Nymble wasn't running. In that moment, she couldn't either.

Ceruledge pressed his advantage, the heat increasing. Nymble's body started to fold, all of the fire consuming him. It blazed purple, almost turning to white ash, but the bug refused to back down. He kept going, fueled by the cheers and his want to protect. Juliana reached for him, the aching in her heart, just like with Orthworm, returning.

"Nymble, please, no! You don't need to be the hero! You just need to be…" Her last word was only uttered in thought. Here. Be here.

Nymble received it all the same, her shout giving him strength. Focus pushed back against the wild, and a chink appeared in the blade. Light surged forward, drawn not from the flame but from around Nymble's body.

"NYYYYMBA!" The light flowed and pulsed, wrapping Nymble's body almost like a cocoon. Ceruledge's eyes went wide, and he tried to put more force behind his blades, for all the good that it did. Nymble wasn't budging. From within the light, he grew, if not by much. His legs became longer, his face more defined yet covered by a mask. Blades appeared on his back, as if they were a set of legs. As the light receded, those legs detached and joined with the others, making him taller, colored in jet black and exuding a heroic power neither attacker nor trainer had expected. Ceruledge stumbled back. "Lok!"

"Nymble…?" Juliana reached forward, towards the Pokémon that was clearly no longer Nymble. He looked back. She knew he was grinning.

"Kix." He nodded and faced back to Ceruledge, his new arms rising to beckon the foe on. Ceruledge shivered, and like before slashed down with abandon. It did little good. Lokix sprang up to meet it, his newfound, heroic force beating the blade aside.

His extended legs hit the ground in a tight coil and he sprang forward with a green glow that became like a drill. Smoliv cheered loudly, impressed, and all the others did the same. Juliana could only stare in awe, gaze slipping between Lokix and Quaxwell. They had both evolved for her, when she needed it most, proving what she should have known.

Ceruledge knew even less, his wanton blade missing and leaving him open. Lokix struck true, straight in the wound. It drove the specter back, his armor rattling as he was thrown near the water. Grass was left scorched in his wake, but not by choice. Soon as he stopped skidding, he fell on one knee.

"Ser…ser…sera…" Each breath was labored, the battle with Mela now showing. Lokix landed, arm raised in challenge once again. And yet again, Ceruledge lifted his blade…before dropping it. His eyes burned, all their dangerous emotion flaring for a second before falling to a small ember. He turned his head and looked right at Juliana.

There, she saw but one emotion. One she knew too well. One that was a result of all her mistakes, just as Team Star and Cassiopeia's were becoming: longing loneliness. She reached out again.

She wasn't fast enough. Ceruledge pulled himself up, and with one last rattle, leapt back, soaring in an arc that carried him across the river. He hit the other side. With one last look, he vanished like a wisp into the night.

"Lokix…" The bug shook his head, his voice now deep and he turned back. Juliana began to fall forward. He caught her, never losing his determined, cheerful expression. Without words, she thanked him, but remained on her knees.

In that brief moment of recovery, the other Pokémon moved forward, surrounding their now evolved teammate in their own way. From Quaxwell's stoic nod, to Wattrel landing on his head, or Smoliv's utter adoration. Even Tinkatink partook, trying to aim a hammer at his back but for the legs to catch it. That, itself, didn't last long, Lokix's intense strength fading. The legs returned where they'd come from, and Lokix drooped, needing to be supported by Quaxwell.

Juliana couldn't help but laugh. "Guess we're all tired…"

"Quax…" The agreement somehow made her feel worse.

But in all of it, staring at the sight of her Pokémon, it made her feel a little better. Like for a moment her conflicting emotions didn't matter. She wanted to embrace them, but found herself unable. It was the same way she found herself unable to apologize for leading them into such a situation.

It was a ball of conflicting emotions directed every which way towards a world she didn't want to deal with. All of it was too much. And all of it led back to those words she'd heard under the firework sky.

Do you really want to live life separate from everything else?

I don't know, she thought, her hands finding her pocket and the phone therein on instinct. Getting involved…it's too much. Too messy.. It just shows that all of it was a dream. Never could have worked. Better to just…

Her phone began to ring, her fingers having absentmindedly pressed the buttons without thinking. She blinked, unsure for a split second if she should stop the call. Soon as she started to hover, the call was answered.

"Juliana?" asked the groggy voice on the other end. "It's late. Everything all right?"

"Um… Uh…" Juliana tried to get her voice to work, her endless stammering earning the concern of her Pokémon. "I…I don't know why I'm calling. Not sure I even meant to. But you said if I needed anything…"

"I'm not complaining. Just a bit tired." The source of Serena's tiredness was evident, her little whirlwind five-year-old passed out on the bed behind her, snuggling Pikachu and Pancham. "What did you need help with?"

"Not sure…" was the muttered response. Serena hummed a little. There was some clatter on the other end, and soon the screen went stable, allowing Serena's face to come into focus.

"You fought Team Star." There was no question. "I'm guessing you didn't walk away from it the way you thought you would. And Gloria decided to play sink or swim mentor."

"Something like that."

"She takes a bit from Ash, but can be surprisingly gentle when she thinks the situation calls for it. Often it might not seem it, though. But sometimes there are some matters that require a more delicate touch." Serena leaned forward, and her voice dropped after the sounds of Hanna shifting on the bed were heard. "Talk to me."

Juliana sat back, trying to give her thoughts a voice. Her Pokémon surrounded her, each greeting Serena in their own way (right down to Tinkatink trying to crack the screen before Rotom zapped her). Seeing them all, she pushed herself to speak. "I feel…lost. I thought I'd cut away Team Star. I didn't need them – don't need them. Fighting them was just a means to get the strength I need. But then…they looked so hurt. All of them. And then I hurt. But I still think they're so stupid for chasing something they made up.

"There are just so many feelings and I feel so alone with them and have nowhere to put them."

"Then carry them." Juliana blinked again, unsure she heard correctly. All she registered was the smile. "Feelings are complicated, but that's what makes them worth it. Working through them, it turns to experience. Experience gives you commonality and connection. That eventually becomes something genuine. If you throw away your feelings, convince yourself you don't need them, then you might as well already be…be dead."

A soft shadow passed over Serena's face, but it quickly fled. Juliana guessed it must have transferred to her own face, because she hung her head. "And what if I can't find anything truly genuine? What about these feelings can make anything lasting?

"What if I can't do it?"

"You can do it. You're the only one who can. You just need to look around you. The world is right there, so vast you're sure to find the one genuine thing, the one treasure you've been searching for." Serena yawned, the tiredness seeping into her eyes. Juliana didn't want to keep her much longer. "I can see the proof with my own eyes, so I know you can. But until then, just keep looking around. And listen to Gloria. She might be young, but if anyone can lead you, it's her."

"Mm," Juliana vocalized, unable to say anything else. She was retreating into her mind already. "Thanks. I think."

"Any time. Now get some rest. A good night's sleep should help quite a bit." One last smile later and the call was ended. Juliana dropped the phone to the grass and looked up at the stars, the same as the ones from Mesagoza.

All that running, and I just get nowhere, she breathed inside her mind. Soon as she did, she began to mull over Serena's words. Her arms flopped to her sides, and her Pokémon surrounded her, offering comfort that she found difficult to receive. Without thinking, she pulled out the Tera Orb in her pocket and cradled it, the question of its mystery tickling always at her brain. The single force of her journey. Her treasure. And that's the problem.

If I look around, then I'm not looking at this. I wouldn't be looking forward. I'd fall off the track and fail, never to pick up again. Then nothing would matter. Nothing else should matter.

And no matter how much she repeated it, that snarl of feelings never worked itself out inside her.

Knowing it couldn't, Juliana picked herself up from the ground, choosing to follow Serena's other piece of advice. With a nod and wan smile to the Pokémon, she took a step forward. They headed back to camp, dawn cresting on the horizon.

Author's Note: Think of this as the breather chapter between the tumultuous events at Schedar Squad and whatever will happen in Levincia. Juliana is struggling, Arven and her team trying to stand by her, while Gloria's making Juliana a guinea pig for her own stuff. It's all character work, but I hope it's at least interesting character work.

But next time is Levincia! What exciting events await in the big city full of people?! We'll find out, so until then, I will continue to ask you to review/comment and, as always, Dare to Be Silly.