Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 2, Episode 4, Chapter 3

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August 7th, 9:40 AM

Route 12 - Fourrage Road, Kalos Region

Louise's birthday party had winded down fairly quickly once her presents were opened and Mew stopped by to literally hurl the Founder's Prayer Book at her face. After all, having one of the Founder's personal artifacts taken from the royal castle in Tristainia then outright given to them for some unknown reason superseded anything else, including Louise's justified anger and irritation. That knowledge did little to reduce the soreness in her nose, at least until Esprit used a Heal Pulse to soothe the pain, and did absolutely nothing to reduce her confusion over why it happened in the first place. Undoubtedly this had to do with Louise's Void Magic, but why Arceus allowed her to have it at all was a mystery. It was no secret he didn't like Void Mages, yet he gave Louise the very thing that would enable her to learn how to actually wield it. Or at least allowed it to happen. It had somewhat unsettling implications, which Louise preferred not to think about for the time being.

Fairly quickly, everyone had decided to save any serious testing or experimentation for later. Sycamore had urgent business back in Lumiose, otherwise he would've stayed at least another day to help the teenagers start going through the Prayer Book. Both out of a genuine desire to aid them, as well as satiate his own scientific curiosity. But none of the teenagers, not even Louise, were willing to let the Professor who had done so much for them already take even more time out of his busy schedule to something that they could easily catch up on back in Lumiose. By then, the plan went, Louise will have gotten at least some practice in using Void magic and Sycamore would have ready access to his lab equipment, so any tests would go by much more smoothly.

Professor Sycamore had left earlier that morning, saying goodbye to all three teenagers before driving back to Lumiose. Henrietta had been remarkably composed, although Louise could tell that the young Princess was saddened by this separation. That sadness, luckily, was short-lived and replaced by genuine excitement over the prospect of her now being a part of Louise and Saito's travelling party. Neither of the teenagers had been expecting her request, nor had Saito expected his earlier advice to her being a key reason why the Princess decided to come along in the first place, not that it was unwelcome. As far as Saito was concerned, the more the merrier.

Louise, on the other hand, was simultaneously ecstatic about the prospect of personally showing her best friend from home around Kalos as well as genuinely terrified over the possibility of something happening to her. Henrietta was, after all, the ruler of her country in all but name. Her protection was of the utmost importance, to the point where she couldn't even leave the castle without an assortment of bodyguards accompanying her. She didn't have that in Kalos, which presented something of a problem.

It was one thing to be gone for only a few days, by Tristain's perspective, while Henrietta embarked on an eight-month long vacation, but it was a whole other deal entirely if she actually got hurt while doing it. The former was ultimately just a minor inconvenience. By the time the larger continent would've realized Henrietta was missing, she'd already be back like nothing happened. But if she was, for whatever reason, unable to return, the words 'political shitstorm' wouldn't even begin to describe the chaos that would ensue.

Saito had to admit Louise's fears weren't entirely unfounded. They had gone through quite a few scrapes ever since their journey began, to varying degrees of mortal peril. From rampaging Mega Beedrills to outright terrorists, even evil interdimensional doppelgängers. He was still trying to wrap his head around that one, while simultaneously wondering if Henrietta had a doppelgänger as well. Their journey was far from an ordinary one, to say the least. Saito hoped those days were behind them, but he wasn't holding his breath. It was a fundamental nature of Pokémon Journeys to remove people from the safety and comfort of their homes. Theirs was no exception, if greatly exceeding the norm.

Nevertheless, both teenagers were committed to welcoming Henrietta into their group. Professor Sycamore had been happy for all of them, and Louise got the distinct sense that he had somewhat anticipated this outcome. Henrietta's Pokédex, her change in attire, the fact that she had a starter Pokémon of her own. Even if Sycamore wasn't counting on Henrietta wanting to travel with herself and Saito, he had certainly laid the foundation for her to do so as successfully as possible. Louise was appreciative of that. Her time with Sycamore when she first arrived in Lumiose had been instrumental in ensuring that her own Pokemon Journey was successful, early hiccups aside. She had no doubt that the same would be with Henrietta. Sure, the Princess only spent a week with Professor Sycamore, but now she had Saito and Louise herself to continue to help her out.

There was one thing, however, that couldn't be avoided now that Henrietta had joined the team. Namely, what they were going to do next. Luckily that wasn't too difficult to figure out.

"Alright, so we're all in agreement then?" Saito began as he, Louise, and Henrietta sat on a park table located on a beachside embankment on Route 12. "Louise and I are going to wait another week to challenge Ramos for our fourth gym badge. In the meantime, we're going to continue to train and help Henrietta get acclimated to going on a Pokémon Journey."

"That sounds perfectly acceptable to me," Henrietta replied with a soft smile on her face. "Although I must again say that you two don't need to put off your plans on my account. The last thing I want is to inconvenience either of you."

"You are anything but an inconvenience, Princess. We're honored to have you with us at all," Louise insisted, an almost reverent tone in her voice. Much to Louise's surprise, however, Henrietta slightly frowned at Louise's display of due respect to a member of royalty.

"Which brings up another thing I wanted to talk about," Henrietta said. "Louise, I am happy that you and Saito are allowing me to come with you, and I'm really looking forward to the next eight months. But, until I return to Tristain, please do not treat me as a princess."

"But…you are a princess," Louise pointed out, completely missing the point that Henrietta was trying to make.

"No, I'm not. At least not for the next eight months," Henrietta replied while shaking her head, then sighed and added, "Look. I want this to be a vacation, a retreat from anything resembling royal duties. That includes being treated like a princess. So, please, don't look at me as Princess Henrietta. I'm just Henrietta, at least for now."

Louise looked unsure, lightly nibbling on her lower lip as she locked eyes with Henrietta. Sensing her predicament, Henrietta briefly frowned, then slyly smiled and declared, "If you want to keep treating me like a Princess, I suppose I could order you and Saito to not treat me like one until we return to Tristain."

"…Wouldn't by following your order to not treat you like a Princess to follow we'd be treating you like a Princess to follow?" Saito asked while tilting his head, and Henrietta's grin grew.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Henrietta answered.

Both Saito and Louise stared at Henrietta for a moment, then Saito barely kept back a snorting laugh while Louise smiled and shook her head in amusement. After a moment, the young noblewoman looked back at Henrietta and said, "Alright, then. I suppose it isn't an…unreasonable request."

"Thank you," Henrietta replied, a genuine smile on her face. With how stressful her life in Tristain's court had been for the past year, the prospect of just being treated like a normal girl far removed from anything resembling royal responsibilities was a welcome one.

Clapping her hands together, Henrietta started to say, "Well, now that we got that settled, I suppose we should get started! Tell me, what do you do first?"

"Well, it kind of depends on the day," Saito answered. "Normally, we map out a route to wherever it is we need to go, figure out how long it'll take to get there, then start walking. Once we reach a good stopping point, we set up camp, get some training in, eat dinner then go to sleep. Rinse and repeat every day until we arrive at our destination, more or less."

"But that's when we're moving from town to town," Louise added, leaning forward across the table while sliding over her open Pokédex, displaying the regional map on its screen. "If we're staying in the same area for an extended period of time, like what we're doing right now, it's usually more relaxed. The last time we did something like this was when Saito and I spent a week in Cyllage City waiting for Grant to reopen his gym. We spent that time going mountain climbing, going to the beach, and generally just having fun alongside normal training."

"Right, right," Henrietta replied with a few quick nods. Clasping her hands together, she then asked, "So then, what are you two planning on doing today?"

Saito and Louise looked at each other, then Louise answered, "I was honestly hoping to just train today. The last week was…rushed, to put it lightly, so we kind of fell behind on that."

"Not to mention look through that book Mew gave you," Saito suggested, and Louise nodded in agreement.

"Right, that. Still have no idea how that's going to turn out," Louise admitted, which was when Derflinger decided to speak up.

"I don't remember a whole lot," Derflinger began, "but I think I know enough to give you a few pointers, Pinky. If you want them."

Louise narrowed her eyes at the annoying nickname, but took a deep breath before looking at the ancient Honedge and replying, "I would appreciate that, Derflinger. Thank you."

Derflinger gave the approximation of a nod, prompting Henrietta to look back at her two travelling companions. She then asked, "Anything else? How exactly are you two going to train?"

"It's kind of a two-step program, really," Saito answered while pulling out one of his Pokéballs. "First, Louise and I let our Pokémon out and they just do their own thing. Spar with each other, work on some moves at their own pace. Stuff like that. Then, after a while, Louise and I jump in to give some more specialized training and direction."

"We've found that doing this is the best use of our time," Louise continued, prompting Henrietta to nod in understanding.

"That makes sense," Henrietta admitted, figuring that by now all of them, especially their earlier captures, would've gained enough experience to work things out on their own. She then asked, "But what do you two do while your Pokémon are training themselves?"

"Doing our own exercise training," Saito replied with a confident smile. "We don't have any weights, but we typically find enough space to go running, do pushups, sit-ups, and curls, along with just lifting heavy rocks or logs. It's no gym, but it gets the job done. Just look at Louise. It's done wonders for her."

"It's true," Louise proudly replied, straightening herself slightly. Henrietta, meanwhile, nodded excitingly. Nodding her head, Louise prepared to stand up and say, "Well, I suppose now's a good a time as any to get started. Better now before it gets too hot."

"Right, right," Saito replied, pushing himself off the table as well. As he and Louise pulled out the rest of their Pokéballs to release their Pokémon, they suddenly were surprised by Henrietta doing the same.

"Prin… Henrietta, what are you doing?" Louise asked while Henrietta released Fleur onto the lush, green grass.

"What does it look like? I'm going to join in," Henrietta declared, already pulling out a storage capsule containing some workout gear that they had bought yesterday once she joined the group.

Saito and Louise looked at each other, then Louise cautiously turned to look back at Henrietta and awkwardly replied, "Um, Henrietta, are you sure you want to work out with us? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"I want to, though," Henrietta reiterated, a beaming and confident smile on her face. "The last thing I want is to be treated differently. I mean, if I'm going to be travelling with you, it's only fair that I do the same things you two are doing. Outside of battling, obviously. I have no interest in that. That includes exercising. Besides, how bad can it honestly be?"

Saito and Louise stared at Henrietta, then slowly turned to look at each other. Saito's face began to warp with an almost menacing glee, and Louise flatly stared at him before trying to say, "Don't you—"

But she was too late, and an enthusiastic Saito declared, "Of course, Henrietta! You are more than happy to join in. You won't regret it at all. I guarantee it."

Henrietta beamed, while Louise could only shake her head, knowing exactly what hell Henrietta just signed herself up for. After all, she had personal experience in the matter.


"So, you all do this every day?" Fleur asked as she watched Saito and Louise's Pokémon train in the open field. The humans had gone off to do their own exercise, leaving the Pokémon to themselves. None of them minded. In fact, much to Fleur's surprise, the Pokémon almost immediately began sorting themselves off into different groups, working on various things without needing any sort of direction from their trainers.

"I mean, not every day, but pretty much," Tanuki replied as he repeatedly used Force Palm to break apart large rocks that Shogun was drawing out of the ground.

"Indeed," Ronin added, sliding around on streams of water to avoid Tengu's Razor Leaf attacks. "Doing so keeps our skills sharp and fresh, a key focus for any warrior."

Tanuki grunted after breaking apart yet another boulder, then he smirked and added, "Plus it's fun. You should try it, Fleur."

"Eh…I don't know," Fleur replied as she scrunched up her face and tilted her neck back, humming slightly to herself while continuing to watch the training everyone else was doing.

Compared to what she saw at the Professor's lab, the training they were doing was much more impressive. Back at the lab, most of the training done was just a pair or more of Pokémon haphazardly throwing themselves at each other without much purpose behind them. Here, however, every action had a purpose, some more obvious than others. No movement was wasted, no action done without a reason behind it. All hallmarks of Pokémon who knew exactly what they were doing, putting on an admittedly impressive display in the process.

Most of the Pokémon had split off into pairs to work on areas simultaneously. Ronin and Tengu were working together, the Nuzleaf firing on the Dewott with Grass-type attacks to work on her accuracy and power while Ronin attempted to improve both his ability to dodge or at least endure the super-effective moves. Tengu, meanwhile, continued to break apart the boulders that Shogun was drawing out of the ground. For the Riolu, doing so improved his fine aura control while strengthening his muscles, while for the Tyrunt drawing the rocks out of the ground improved his ability to do so along with strengthening the durability of the rocks themselves. Some of the rocks took a few hits to fully shatter, so clearly what they were doing was working. Esprit was helping Brennaraki with her Psychic-type moves, with the Fennekin experimenting with mixing her Fire-type moves with them. From what Fleur could see, the experiments weren't bearing much fruit, with the possible exception of increased accuracy or perhaps mid-flight projectile manipulation.

Many of the training methods served dual purposes. Aile, for instance, was currently flapping her wings as hard as she could while staying in place, creating an air current that let her hover. Simultaneously, Ōdachi was attempting to ride the air current, using it as a boost to learn the basics of flight. She wasn't very good at the moment, but even after only knowing her briefly Fleur had every confidence that the infant Skarmory would master flight soon enough. Auspice, meanwhile, was running through the nearby forest at top speed, bounding from tree to tree as Gène attempted to follow. At first glance, it seemed like they were just playing tag, but after a few moments Fleur was able to realize that the game was both a way for the relatively new Gène to get acclimated to the training methods that Saito and Louise employed while simultaneously working on both his and Auspice's speed, ability, and endurance. Quite ingenious, in Fleur's opinion.

Only Maindo wasn't participating in the training, seemingly content with just sunbathing on top of a rock. None of the others minded. If anything, they seemed happy he was staying away from them. Fleur hadn't interacted much with the male Kirlia. They hadn't even exchanged any words. But, from what she had heard from the rest of the group, there was good reason for that. If what half of what they say Maindo had done was true, then Fleur doubted she wanted anything to do with him. For his part, Maindo clearly didn't want to interact with the others, although the Snivy did notice that every so often he would shift his attention towards Ōdachi, who seemed to be the only one who wanted to be around him.

"I mean," Fleur finally began to say while returning her attention to the nearest training partners, "I don't really like battling."

"Just because you have no intention of battling doesn't mean you can't train," Ronin pointed out as he dodged yet another Bullet Seed attack. "If nothing else, it's healthy."

"And fun!" Tanuki added, breaking apart multiple rocks with Force Palm attacks before shooting to another one with Quick Attack.

"I don't particularly like violence," Fleur pointed out. "I'd rather talk things out rather than fight."

"A noble belief," Ronin admitted, "but, in my experience, I feel it is also foolish."

Fleur narrowed her eyes, then tersely asked, "What do you mean 'foolish?'"

Ronin seemed to pick up on the offense he accidentally caused. He cleared his throat while Tengu momentarily paused so that he could pull himself out of the hole he dug himself into, then he replied, "What I mean to say is that…not every conflict can be resolved peacefully."

"Obviously I know that," Fleur stated while crossing her arms. "I'm not stupid. But fighting should always be a last resort."

"Sometimes you don't get that chance," Ronin retorted, his voice dripping with conviction. "I like to think of life as a series of battles, both big and small. Battles against hunger, exhaustion, the elements themselves, and yes, against other humans and Pokémon. Most of these battles can be won without harming another, through diplomacy or other means where both sides walk away victorious. Or, at the very least, better for the experience. Even if they don't realize it right away. But, sometimes, your opponent does not desire a peaceful solution, and will force a direct confrontation."

Fleur raised an eyebrow, then replied, "I…don't follow."

Ronin sighed and shook his head, then clarified, "Sometimes, Fleur, even if you don't want to fight, you will find yourself with no other choice. Because if you don't, you or someone you care about will get hurt, perhaps even severely."

Fleur's eyes widened at the implication, especially when Auspice suddenly appeared next to them and added, "Ronin is correct. Many of our most dangerous foes thus far have desired nothing more than to do us harm. Even if you desire peace, it is not unwise to be ready to defend both yourself and the ones you love. There is nothing wrong about that."

Before any of the other Pokémon had a chance to reply, Auspice sprang away yet again, jumping off the freshly made rocks that Shogun had just constructed. Behind her came Gène, panting heavily while trying to repeat the same actions that Auspice was doing.

"Hey! Wait…wait up!" Gène begged, moving much more sluggishly than his bigger companion. As he jumped off the rocks, he briefly paused on one of them to catch his breath. Once he did, Gène jumped off the rock and ran after Auspice, hoping to catch up to the Absol. Fleur could tell that it was a futile effort, but he seemed determined, nevertheless. She couldn't focus on the Eevee for too long, however, and she returned to looking at Ronin. The Dewott was looking at her expectantly, while Fleur just felt unsure.

Sensing her discomfort, Ronin backtracked and said, "You do not need to come to a decision now. None of us here have any desire to make you or the Princess to do anything you don't want to do. Just…keep an open mind."

Fleur stared at him for a moment, then slowly nodded and replied, "Alright. I'll…think about it."

Ronin nodded, accepting that answer, then moved to once again train with Tengu. The Nuzleaf prepared to fire off another attack, with Ronin bending his knees to dodge. But, before they could, there was a sudden commotion from the other end of the clearing. All of the Pokémon, even Maindo, turned to face it, where they saw Saito and Louise carrying a heavy-breathing Henrietta on their shoulders, the Princess' feet dragging behind her.

"You know, I have to say, you did a lot better on your first time working out than Henrietta did, Louise," Saito declared, only for Louise to shoot him an annoyed look.

"Now isn't the time, Saito," Louise pointed out, and Saito shrugged.

"Just saying," Saito replied as they helped Henrietta down onto a chair.

Henrietta, breathing heavily and weakly trying to drink from a water bottle, soon started to say, "Whoever…created this…"

"Can rot. I know, I know," Louise agreed, nodding along sympathetically. "It was hard for me the first few times, too."

"Why…do you subject yourselves…to this…torture?" Henrietta begged to know, and Saito shrugged.

"It's healthy. Plus, you know, it's better to be fit while travelling across the region cross-country on foot than to not be," Saito answered. "You get used to it."

"…Do I have to?" Henrietta whimpered, and despite feeling sympathy for her situation, Louise nodded.

"Trust me, it's better this way," Louise confirmed, sympathetically patting her friend's back.

Henrietta, meanwhile, merely hung her head in resignation, cursing her naivety for letting her underestimate just how demanding a proper workout would be. Why Agnès did this everyday was beyond her. At the same time, Saito and Louise looked at each other, feeling slightly guilty for how bad Henrietta's first proper workout turned out to be. But that was also tempered by the knowledge that they had, somewhat, gone easy on her. Sadly, it turned out that Henrietta was not nearly in as good of a shape as Louise was when she first arrived to Kalos. Saito chalked it up to the fact that Louise had to walk everywhere, plus her enjoyment of horseback riding which was, according to her, quite physically demanding. Briefly they considered telling Henrietta not to work out with them until she was ready, but when they had brought that up halfway through their run she had adamantly refused. Despite her exhaustion, they doubted Henrietta had any intention of reneging on her promise.

"We'll take a short break," Saito declared as he, too, sat down on the table. "Then, if you two want, I'll work on training with the Pokémon while you two practice some magic. Sound good?"

Louise nodded in agreement, while Henrietta, her face still planted on the wooden table, replied, "Thank you for your mercy, Saito."

Saito nodded while awkwardly smiling and rubbing the back of his head. Louise, meanwhile, slowly reached into her backpack and pulled out both her wand and the Founder's Prayer Book, wondering just what secrets laid within.


Saito's commands to their Pokémon faded into the background. Louise and Henrietta paid attention at first while they waited for Princess to catch her breath. To Louise, the exercises that Saito was having the Pokémon do were fairly standard and routine. Alternating attacks on command, dodging from multiple angles at once, and so on. All things she would've done. But to Henrietta, seeing the contrast between what the directionless Pokémon were doing on their own versus now was striking. It reminded her of what Agnès would do with her fellow Musketeer Knights whenever Henrietta happened to catch them during their morning drills. Only Saito lacked the intensity of her bodyguard. Which made sense, given how Saito was just preparing their Pokémon for what amounted to just a friendly competition while Agnès was preparing her fellow musketeers for life and death situations.

But they couldn't focus on that now. There were far more important things to worry about, namely the leatherbound book currently in Louise's hands.

"So," Henrietta began as she looked at the Founder's Prayer Book from next to Louise's shoulder, the book itself still closed, "do you want to open it?"

Louise was silent at first, then released a breath and admitted, "Part of me wants to do nothing else. All my life I wanted to properly cast magic, yet was never able to. Until I came here, I could never figure out why. Now I have, literally in my hands, a way to learn spells I can actually use. I could finally cast proper magic, not just make explosions all the time."

"I mean, you've gotten pretty good at those explosions, and they have been useful," Derflinger pointed out, but Louise shook her head.

"Yes, but those are still just miscasts at the end of the day. This," Louise said as she held up the journal to eye-level, "this will teach me actual Void spells. They're completely different."

Henrietta nodded in understanding, then quietly asked, "Yet?"

Louise released a sigh before replying, "Yet I can't help but be nervous. I know, it's foolish, but—"

"It's not foolish at all," Henrietta proclaimed, gently grabbing Louise's shoulder to comfort her. "I can only imagine what this is like for you, knowing what you really are and what it means. If you weren't nervous, I'd think something was wrong."

"Heh, that's one way of putting it," Louise admitted after a brief chuckle. She then shook her head, a faint smile never leaving her face, before turning to face her friend and say, "Honestly, I'd prefer putting this off just a little bit longer. Is that alright with you?"

"Of course," Henrietta insisted with a firm nod. "The last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable. We can go at your own pace."

Louise nodded towards her oldest friend, grateful for the patience Henrietta was giving her. Putting the book aside in her backpack for the moment, Louise stood up from the picnic table before pulling out her wand and saying, "Well, even if we're not looking through the Founder's Prayer Book—"

"Journal," Derflinger corrected, but Louise ignored him.

"—we can still work on our magic. Come on, I already found a spot we can practice."

Louise started walking off towards the nearby beach, with Henrietta and Derflinger following right behind her. They had to walk down a slight embankment covered in loose sand, which nearly caused Henrietta to slip. But she was able to keep her footing, despite how tired and sore her legs were. It helped that Derflinger propped up her back.

Luckily the embankment wasn't too big, and soon they were on the flat, sandy beach. A cool ocean breeze washed over them, and the sound of waves gently washing over the sand and rocks could be heard all around them. The smell of salt was in the air, in the distance they could see a variety of wild Pokémon going about. A flock of Wingulls and Pelippers were resting on a large rock outcropping, the Pelippers keeping a careful yet lazy watch on their surroundings for any potential threats. A few Slowpoke were with them, most simply basking in the sun while a few were dipping their tails in the ocean. Whether they were aware of that was hard to tell.

In the ocean itself, schools of Mantyke were jumping in and out of the water, along with a few Remoraids. Some Corsola and Octillery were hanging around a sandbar some distance into the sea, and Dwebble were scurrying around on the beach nearby. All in all, it was a peaceful, serene environment, one that took Henrietta's breath away.

"Wow," Henrietta said to herself as she took it all in. "You see places like this every day?"

"Not every day," Louise clarified as she walked up next to her friend, a content smile on her face, "but when Saito and I are on the road…sights like this are common."

Henrietta briefly laughed, her smile widening as even more wild Pokémon emerged. The two teenage girls stood there for a few minutes, basking in the silence and unwilling to break it. But, eventually, both knew that they couldn't put off what they came here to do forever. With great reluctance, Louise and Henrietta turned around to face the embankment and a small gathering of rocks that didn't have any Pokémon on them.

"Alright, so I suppose we should get started," Louise began. She waited for Henrietta to pull out her own wand, briefly marveling at just how ornate it was versus her own simple foci. When the Princess did so, Louise nodded and turned back to face the sandy embankment.

"I'll go first," Louise said, then aimed her wand at one of the rocks and yelled, "Rock Smash!"

As soon as the words left her lips, a small explosion formed at the center of the rock, shattering it into thousands of little pieces. A few of the Pokémon nearby were startled, but most remained nonplussed. Clearly they were used to humans using this area to train, and outside of a few curious glances they didn't pay them much mind.

"Oh, wow," Henrietta said, her eyes widening. "I know that you said that you've been working on your explosions, but that was much more…"

Henrietta paused as she tried to find the right word, then a proud Louise helpfully suggested, "Impressive? Controlled? Managed?"

Henrietta snapped her fingers and replied, "Yes, that. I know how hard you've been working on your magic all these years, and so to see what you're doing now is incredible."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me. Of course, compared to your spells they're not that impressive."

"Nonsense," Henrietta dismissed with a wave of her hand. "I certainly can't make an explosion like you."

Louise chuckled and shook her head before replying, "Heh, you have a point. But the truth is, until now, explosions were really all I had to work with, so I started actually trying to work with them. It's almost sad that it took me getting dragged to another world and meeting Saito and Professor Sycamore for me to finally start listening to Professor Colbert's lessons."

"What do you mean?" Henrietta asked, raising her eyebrow in confusion.

"He was always trying to teach us to expand our views on magic, to not focus on flashy and intense spells in favor of subtle, practical efforts that could be mastered and expanded upon," Louise explained. "No one listened to him, not even me since I was too focused on just trying to get my magic to work at all. Now, however? Now I see he was completely correct."

"I see," Henrietta replied, slowly nodding her head. "So, by actually working with your explosions, you started making them useful."

"Exactly," Louise confirmed, briefly pointing her finger at Henrietta before lowering her hand. "It helped that I had some inspiration from Pokémon moves."

"I was just about to mention that," Henrietta pointed out. "I never heard a spell called 'Rock Smash.'"

"That's because I invented it," Louise proudly declared, puffing out her chest. "I got inspired by a Fighting-type Pokémon move of the same name. Like the move itself, I can easily break apart a rock with only a little bit of magic."

"Wow…" Henrietta softly replied, glancing towards the pile of rubble that Louise made. A sense of curiosity rose up within her, then she asked, "Have you made any other spells?"

"A few, actually, but most of them I'm still working on," Louise answered. "The only other spell I've truly mastered is Brick Break. It creates a series of small, carefully controlled explosions that can let me break apart layers of rock without threatening a complete collapse. As for the spells I'm working on, Cut shows the most promise. My intention is to create a single thin yet wide explosion to neatly cut things apart, but…"

"The explosion is too big?" Henrietta guessed, and Louise nodded.

"Yes, that," Louise confirmed, then released a sigh. "I'm getting better, but creating new spells is hard. Even then, sadly, there's only so much you can do with explosions."

Henrietta nodded at that, understanding exactly where Louise was coming from. She then smiled and said, "Well, now we have a chance to fix that."

"True," Louise replied, glancing towards the book still housed in her backpack. Shaking her head, she aimed her wand back at the collections while saying, "You don't need me to tell you how to cast spells, so feel free to work at your own pace."

Henrietta nodded and aimed her wand forward. Rather than aim at the rocks, she instead centered her attention on an empty patch of sand, figuring that her dear friend could use the targets much more than she could. Taking a deep breath, Henrietta began to cast a series of spells with expert precision. Years of private tutelage and extensive practice aided her tremendously as each spell was an immediate success. High-intensity streams, tendrils, even a wall of ice, plus many more. All of it came easily to her, just as she expected. If there was one good thing about being a member of royalty, it was access to the best private tutors in the entire kingdom along with being taught ancient techniques hidden from the rest of society. At the same time, as Henrietta continued to cast spell after spell, ranging from simple Dot all the way up to Triangle, she couldn't help but feel almost bored. Here she was, in a brand new world, casting the same spells she'd been using for years.

But now wasn't the time to focus on that. What was far more important was the fact that she was with her friend at all. Henrietta had to admit, the concept of going to another world was still one that Henrietta was trying to wrap her head around despite currently living through it. She never anticipated something like this would happen to her, or anyone really. How could one predict that a literal God would take them from their home and plant them onto another world entirely, one completely alien yet somehow familiar in many ways? She wondered if she would ever get used to it, and she also wondered if Louise had.

Every so often, Louise would glance over in Henrietta's direction. There was appreciation in her eyes at her friend's company, as well as the fact that someone was able to participate in this exercise with her. But Henrietta could also recognize a hint of envy, one born from a lifetime of being unable to do what Henrietta herself could do effortlessly despite trying so hard to do the same. Even if Louise now knew what she was actually capable of, to a certain extent, old habits die hard. Henrietta didn't blame Louise. If she had been in her position, she'd probably think the same.

As the thought of Void and what it did to its mages crossed her mind, Henrietta couldn't help but ask, "Derflinger, what did the Founder think about Void?"

"I only met him after he and the Markey came to Idun, what the Holy Land used to be called," Derflinger began to answer. "From what I remember, at the time he legitimately believed it and his people's magic was a gift from the gods. No one else from their homeland could use magic, but they could, and Brimir's Void was even more distinct. The guy was curious above all else, and never stopped tinkering with it. The things he made…heh, you guys don't even know the half of it."

Louise paused in her training to turn towards the ancient Honedge. Picking up on the subtle context clues, she gently asked, "What changed?"

Derflinger shrugged and admitted, "I don't know for certain. After we got separated and I came to Earth, I was only able to get brief glimpses of what was going on back home. From what I can tell, things got bad. Really bad, and by the end of his life everything I was sensing from Brimir told me that the happy, curious, and lively person I knew was gone, replaced by a bitter and regretful man. I don't know how he managed to split Void among his bloodlines, but it doesn't surprise me. Honestly, no one man should have that much power."

Derflinger trailed off at that, and both mages briefly glanced at each other. A silent conversation ensued, where no words were exchanged yet the meaning was understood regardless. After a moment, Louise turned back towards Derflinger, took a deep breath, and gently asked, "Derflinger—"

"You're about to ask me if Arceus was the reason why I came to Earth," Derflinger interrupted. When none of the girls answered, he mirthlessly laughed and added, "No need to deny it. You two were obviously wanting to ask me that ever since Henrietta got here."

Once again, Henrietta and Louise glanced at each other, then Henrietta softly breathed in and asked, "Was he?"

Derflinger was silent for a moment, then nodded and answered, "Yeah, he was."

Henrietta and Louise narrowed their eyes, then Louise slightly more forcibly asked, "Was Arceus responsible for the Great Calamity?"

Once again, Derflinger was quiet before nodding and answering, "Yes."

"What happened?" Louise asked, needing to know the truth. But, rather than answering, Derflinger simply shook his head.

"I really don't want to talk about it," Derflinger declared, averting his eye.

Louise narrowed her eyes, scrunching up her face slightly while tightening her grip. For a moment, a just as curious Henrietta felt that Louise was going to demand an answer. Especially given its importance. But, at the same time, it was obvious that whatever happened was deeply traumatizing to Derflinger, still affecting him now even after six thousand years. That was the only reason why Henrietta was biting her tongue.

But, to Henrietta's surprise, Louise's face softened, and she released a sigh before softly saying, "Okay. Well, if you ever feel ready to talk, just let us know."

Derflinger nodded, grateful that Louise was letting the matter drop for the moment. He knew the truth would have to come out eventually, but it didn't have to be this day. Henrietta was slightly surprised at Louise's tact. The girl she knew before likely would've stopped at nothing to learn the truth, personal feelings on the matter not even a concern. Yet here she was, being respectful to a person whom she clearly didn't always get along with. It brought a slight smile to the Princess' face, and she returned her attention back to her wand.

Before Henrietta could cast another spell, she heard a faint explosion, followed by Louise screaming, "Yes, I got it! I got Cut to work!"

Henrietta shot her head over, where she saw Louise pumping her fist while jumping into the air. Before her was a rock cleanly cut off its base, a single flat plane where the two halves previously met.

"That's great! You've been working on that spell for weeks," Derflinger said, his earlier melancholy completely discarded. Louise beamed pridefully at her accomplishment, and Henrietta couldn't help but smile as well.

Slowly, however, Henrietta glanced down at her own wand, and an idea slowly began to take shape. Before she could even stop herself, she asked, "Louise…do you think I could make spells based off of Pokémon moves?"

Louise and Derflinger shot their attentions over to her, then Louise nodded and answered, "I don't see why not. Pokémon moves aren't magic; trust me, the Professor explained that to me in detail. But, with your magic, you can easily make copies like what I've been doing."

"I remember when mages could only cast a single element, and they were happy with it," Derflinger said in a teasing tone. Glancing at the ice wall, Derflinger then added, "I take it, then, you can cast Water and Wind spells?"

"Only up to Line for Wind. The other affinities I can only cast Dot-level spells. They've always been more difficult for me," Henrietta confirmed. "Otherwise, I'm mostly just a Water mage."

Louise nodded in understanding, remembering that detail from when they were children, and replied, "That's fine. Water-type has one of the largest move pools anyway. Plenty of inspiration to draw from. If you want, I can work with Saito to come up with a few moves to start with."

Henrietta smiled thankfully, then said, "Thank you. I appreciate that."

"Why do you want to make your own spells, anyway?" Louise asked, genuinely curious.

"I don't know," Henrietta admitted while shrugging her shoulders. "It just…it just looks fun."

Louise looked at her for a moment, then smiled knowingly and confirmed, "Yeah, it is fun."

The two friends chuckled while shaking their heads in amusement. But it didn't last long, and soon they were simply standing on the beach silently. Slowly, their attention drew to Louise's backpack, with the Founder's Prayer Book just waiting inside.

Louise took a deep breath in through her nostrils, then declared, "I suppose there's no putting it off now."

Henrietta nodded in agreement, then said, "Ready when you are."

Louise gulped nervously, then walked over to her backpack, leaving a trail of footprints in the soft, warm sand. Unzipping one of the pockets, she pulled out the black, leatherbound book. There were surprisingly few cracks on its surface, and the entire book felt good as new. Likely the result of thousands of years of the best preservation magic the kingdom could throw at the sacred artifact. Louise took a deep breath, then carefully opened the book to the first page.

"…It's blank," Louise declared a moment, then thumbed through several pages. "They're all blank."

"Yes, we've known that for years," Henrietta admitted.

"Does that mean the copy you brought out in public was a fake?"

"Correct," Henrietta admitted without a second of hesitation. Louise stared at her friend for a moment, then sighed and hung her head.

"Why am I not surprised?" she mumbled to herself, and Derflinger chuckled.

"You need to give her the Water Ruby, Princess," Derflinger announced. "Without, those pages are going to stay blank. Think of it like a key."

Henrietta looked over at the Honedge, then followed his direction and slid the Water Ruby off of her finger. As she walked over to hand the ancient, holy ring to Louise, she asked, "Derflinger, if the Water Ruby is the key to unlocking the secrets of the Founder's Prayer Book, does that mean the other rings are as well for the other artifacts?"

"They should be, yeah," Derflinger confirmed. "That and, you know, actually needing a Void mage. Brimir probably intended that to be the way to confirm their existence."

"And Void Mages have likely always been around for the past six thousand years," Louise thought aloud, and Derflinger nodded.

"Meaning, without direct access to what was held by the royal families, and with so many direct and indirect descendants of Brimir, it was nearly impossible to tell who was a Void mage," Henrietta finished, standing just beside Louise.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group, particularly for Louise as she pondered the implications. Ever since she learned from Arceus that she was a Void mage, she had figured that her experience wasn't unique. Derflinger's reasonable assumption that Void mages have always been around only added to that suspicion. But now it was staring her in the face, the realization that for thousands of years that had been people exactly like her. How many young mages were ostracized by their families and peers for being unable to perform magic, never realizing what they actually were? How many illegitimate children who were never in a position to even realize they were mages in the first place were actually Void mages? It was hard to tell, and Louise couldn't help but frown.

But, after a moment, Louise shook her head then gently took the Water Ruby from Henrietta. Taking a deep breath, Louise told herself, "Alright, let's see what happens."

As Louise held the ring closer and closer to the Founder's Prayer Book, Derflinger called out, "Yo, Saito! Louise is about to look through the book. Wanna see?"

"Yeah, hold on!" Saito called back. Soon he appeared at the top of the embankment, the rest of the Pokémon joining him. They were eagerly watching the proceedings with rapt attention, getting comfortable while trying to get the best possible view. Even Maindo had decided to pay attention, finding a perch atop a nearby rock with a wicked grin on his face.

"Maindo, don't you try anything," Saito warned while giving his former Pokémon a sideways glance, but Maindo merely waved his hand dismissively.

'Don't get your panties in a twist, I'm not going to do anything,' Maindo insisted, then focused his attention on Louise. 'Besides, like I'd mess up this upcoming train wreck…'

Saito sighed and shook his head, while Louise lightly glared at the annoying Kirlia. She forcibly ignored him, however, then touched the Founder's Prayer Book with the Water Ruby. At first, nothing happened and she got worried that Derflinger was wrong. Before she could say anything, however, the pages suddenly began to glow.

"Gods above…" Louise mumbled to herself, her eyes staring straight into the light. The light didn't hurt. If anything, it felt soothing. Beside her, Henrietta was looking over her shoulder in rapturous awe, as was Saito and the rest of the Pokémon. Even Maindo had gone silent, his intense curiosity overriding any other feeling.

Slowly, the light began to fade and coalesce into a series of letters and words. It was in an ancient language that Louise had no hope of understanding. At least she didn't, before suddenly the words began to make sense. Understanding seemed to just pop into her mind, and her eyes grew dull and wide as her body grew slack, quickly entering a trance-like state.

"Louise? Louise, are you okay?" Henrietta asked in clear concern, noticing Louise's state. Saito and the Pokémon leaned forward, just as concerned as their friend. Before Saito could come down to try and help out, Louise snapped back to attention.

"Huh, wha?" she mumbled in confusion, shooting her head around to look at the others.

"You okay? You kinda zoned out for a minute there," Saito pointed out, with Henrietta silently echoing the sentiment.

"I did?" Louise asked. When Henrietta nodded affirmatively, Louise pursed her lips then insisted, "I'm fine. I…don't know what happened, but I'm fine."

"You sure?" Henrietta asked, and Louise firmly nodded. Henrietta stared at her friend for a moment, then slowly nodded back in mild acceptance. She then turned her attention to the Founder's prayer book, where the glowing letters still presided and she asked, "Can you read it?"

Louise paused for a moment, then nodded and answered, "Yes, actually, but I don't know how."

Saito raised an eyebrow, then asked, "Wait, are you telling me that book downloaded a language into your brain?"

Louise nodded and replied, "I think it did a bit more than that."

"Huh, so it's kind of like a magical TM," Saito suggested, then shrugged. "What does it say?"

Louise turned her head to look the pages. She scrunched her eyes, then after a moment admitted, "It's…a spell of some kind. One that's longer and more complex than anything I've ever seen."

"Is there a name?" Derflinger asked, trying to remember each of the spells he witnessed Brimir create all those years ago.

"Yes. Brimir called it…Instant Movement, or Teleportation. Huh, it looks like the Prayer Book is…almost updating the name based off what I know. Gods, the Founder was able to do that?" Louise announced in awestruck wonder. She cleared her throat and read a bit more, then flattened her face as she added, "The Founder has a bit of backstory here. Apparently he came up with the idea when he was trying to escape out the window of some girl named Sasha's room before her father realized he was there and nearly got caught."

"Hah! I remember that!" Derflinger boisterously laughed and wiped his eye with his sash. "Oh, that man… When he and Sasha met, they could barely keep their hands off each other. Her father hated him, though, so this does not surprise me."

"Joy," Louise mumbled while Henrietta turned to look at Derflinger.

"Who was Sasha?" Henrietta asked.

"Sasha was Brimir's wife," Derflinger answered. "She was also the first Gandalfr, and my creator. They met in Idun."

"Gandálfr? Remind me of what that is again. I think you mentioned it before," Saito requested, and Derflinger nodded.

"The Gandálfr was Brimir's first Familiar, and arguably the most important. Not just because the Gandálfr is my partner," Derflinger began to explain. "Most mages only had one, as you know, but Brimir had four. That was because most Void spells took a long time to fully cast, leaving him and other Void mages completely open. Each one served a different purpose. The Gandalfr, in this case, was to be the mage's bodyguard, able to use any weapon as though they were a master and bestowed incredible strength and speed while doing so. Had Louise summoned her Familiar, whoever they were would've become the Gandálfr."

"Huh. That sounds cool," Saito admitted with a quick nodded. "What are the others?"

"I don't remember their actual names, or even their faces," Derflinger admitted, "but the other Familiars were the Myoznitnirn, master of using or making magical artifacts, the Vindálfr, who can control any animal so long as they're not human or as smart as one, and Lífþrasir, who served as a magical battery."

"The Four Familiars are some of the most revered figures in our religion, comparable to the Founder himself," Henrietta declared as she turned towards Derflinger. "What were they like?"

"Other than Sasha, I don't remember any of them. Honestly," Derflinger answered, causing Louise and Henrietta to sigh. It didn't sound like Derflinger was lying, and Louise had no reason to believe otherwise.

"Anyway, back to this spell," Derflinger said as he got the conversation back on track. "You're actually lucky. Instant Movement is one of the rare Void spells Brimir made that don't take a lot of time nor magic to cast. Once you cast it the first time, you can pretty much spam it. Did I use the term correctly?"

"You did, Derf," Saito confirmed, and despite not having a mouth Derflinger somehow managed to grin.

"Instant Movement…" Louise mumbled to herself. She then steeled herself, took a deep breath, and raised her wand right up to her face. Closing her eyes for a moment, she aimed the wand at a random direction and concentrated.

At first, nothing happened, then the words of the spell seemed to flow into her mind. As though she had known the spell her entire life, Louise began to speak in the ancient, long-dead tongue. Only Derflinger understood the words she was saying, the others were simply lost and confused. It quickly became apparent to Henrietta that Louise's earlier comment about the spell being long and complex was accurate. Even when compared to the strongest spells Henrietta knew, Louise's was longer, consisting of a full sentence rather than just a handful of words. But it wasn't nearly as long as any of them were expecting, and when Louise was finished her eyes shot open.

"Teleport!" Louise shouted, then she suddenly disappeared with a loud pop. She reappeared instantly further down the beach, right next to the Wingulls and Pelippers who had been watching. Her sudden appearance startled them, and with a series of loud squawks many of the Wingulls flew off. The Pelippers, however, instead quickly got over their surprise and went back to simply laying on the warm rocks, watching Louise with careful and curious eyes.

"Holy crap! That was awesome!" Saito declared, a wide smile spreading across his face. Henrietta gasped in glee, astounded at both seeing the power of a Void spell cast right before her eyes as well as celebrating her friend's accomplishment. Louise's Pokémon in particular were cheering, knowing first hand just how long Louise had been struggling to cast what she called 'proper magic.'

Louise barely heard her friends, instead focusing her attention inward. She was breathing in and out heavily, hardly able to comprehend what she just did. Slowly and shakily, she raised her wand up to her face again, and realization began to build up from within her. For as long as she could remember, Louise had been trying and failing to cast a spell that didn't blow up her and everyone else's face. Now, for the first time, she had managed to do so. After a lifetime of trying and failing, Louise finally succeeded.

She began to laugh, and before the others could do anything, she turned around and once again cast, "Teleport!"

Just as before, Louise disappeared and reappeared with a pop, this time at the other end of the beach. She was laughing hysterically at her victory, with her friends happily watching on with smiles on their faces. Just as Derflinger said she, Louise began to spam the spell, teleporting in and out all around the beach, kicking up small wisps of sand with each teleportation.

"Derflinger, how far can I teleport with this?!" Louise joyously asked, and an amused Derflinger chuckled.

"As far as the eye can see," Derflinger confirmed, and Louise's grin somehow grew even wider.

"Let's test that! Teleport!" Louise shouted and disappeared completely off the beach. A moment later, she returned carrying a small tree branch and said, "I got into the forest! Ah-ha! This is amazing! Take that, Zerbst! I am a mage!"

The others laughed as Louise continued to spam her newfound ability, going further and further out with each one. Part of Saito thought that she might be overdoing it, but given how momentous this occasion was for her, he could understand why she might go a bit overboard. He did notice, after a while, that Louise was taking a bit longer and longer to properly cast the spells, but he chalked it up to nothing.

After several minutes of constant teleportation, with Louise bringing back various small items as proof of her incursions, Louise once again cast her spell and disappeared into oblivion. Saito, Henrietta, and the Pokémon around them patiently waited for Louise to return, with Saito prepared to suggest that they give it a rest for now in favor of moving on to another activity. But, surprisingly, Louise didn't immediately return. The two teenagers looked at each other, each wondering why was taking longer this time. Seconds turned into minutes, and their worry grew larger and larger.

Saito scrunched up his face as a thought entered his mind, then he gently asked, "Henrietta, quick question. Is magic…fueled by anything?"

"Yes, by willpower. Professor Sycamore compared it to the energy reserves Pokémon have that let them use their moves," Henrietta confirmed, and Saito nodded.

"Right, right. And, I'm assuming like Pokémon, you can run out of willpower?"

"That's correct. The more powerful the spell, the more willpower is used up."

"Uh-huh," Saito muttered, then went silent for a moment. "And Void spells are, I'm assuming, some of the most powerful spells in existence."

"Yes, they…" Henrietta fell silent as she finally understood exactly where Saito was going with this train of thought. Her eyes narrowed, and she muttered, "Oh no…"

"Yeah. I think Louise ran out of willpower," Saito declared.

The beach was silent for a moment as the gravity of the situation fell over everyone. The silence was then broken when Maindo began to uproariously laugh, clutching his stomach tightly while doubling over.

'AH-HAHAHA! Oh man, this is perfect! Pinky got herself stranded in the middle of the woods like an idiot! HAHA!' Maindo declared as his laughter continued. The others lightly glared at him, with Brennaraki the most annoyed, but even the others managed to find some amusement in this situation.

"Come on, we should go find her," Saito declared, turning around to grab his things.

'Hold on. Hold on, I'm coming. I'll help you find her, heh-heh,' Maindo said as he hopped off his rock. Noticing the surprised looks everyone was giving him, Maindo added, 'Oh, like I am going to miss out on rubbing this in her face. Don't lie, you guys want to do it, too. This is hysterical and you know it.'

Despite knowing he was right, none of the others felt the need to voice that. Henrietta carefully walked up the embankment, joining Saito at the picnic table they were previously seated at. Grabbing their things, Saito and Henrietta waited as Maindo, Esprit, and Tanuki joined their minds together, reaching out into the forest to find her.

'I found her. She's about seven miles west of our location,' Esprit announced, and both Saito and Henrietta nodded appreciatively.

"Thanks, Esprit. Come on, the sooner we find her the sooner we can get out of here," Saito said, and Henrietta nodded in agreement.

As they began walking west, Henrietta leaned over to Saito and asked, "You're not going to let her live this down, are you?"

"Absolutely not. I will hold this over her head for the rest of her life," Saito said, letting his amusement over the situation fill his voice, and Henrietta couldn't help but chuckle.


Walking through the woods turned out to be fairly peaceful. The tall, thick trees provided more than enough shade to protect the party from the sun's rays, and the cool ocean breeze sifted through the trunks and onto their bodies. A sweet aroma filled the air, a mixture of salt and nectar that seemed to calm everyone's nerves. Around them were scores of wild Pokémon, the majority simply minding their own business. There were Exeggcutes nestled among the roots of trees, absorbing nutrients from the sun wherever the rays broke through the leaves. Pachirisu were scurrying around on the grassy ground and the trees, searching for small nuts to either stuff into their mouths or bury for later use. On the thickest trees were Heracross and Pinsir, trying to get at the rich sap held within the wood. Both species were mostly solitary, keeping to their own trees. But, whenever another got too close, the two rivals would almost immediately begin fighting over who got to claim the tree as their own.

"Do they have to fight? There's more than enough for both," Fleur quietly suggested as the party once again passed another fight between a wild Heracross and Pinsir.

"Trust me, they don't care," Aile rebuked, flying high above them to keep an eye out for Louise. "As far as they're concerned, any food they have to share is food they don't get to eat whenever they need it."

'Life in the wild isn't cushy like it is in the lab. Out here, it's every Pokémon for themselves,' Maindo added and scoffed. 'Best you start learning that.'

Fleur didn't particularly like Maindo's tone, even if she was able to see the reasoning behind his statement. Every time they had exchanged words, as brief as they were, Maindo always spoke in a rude, condescending tone that made it very clear that he didn't think much of them. It wasn't hard to see why he wasn't very well liked by the others, and even now he was purposefully staying away from most of them. Except, surprisingly, for Ōdachi who continued walking and fluttering after him. She didn't seem to understand why, exactly, they were out in the woods. Instead, she was treating it like a game, constantly veering off to grab whatever caught her fancy and show it off to someone else. Her frequent target was Maindo, who surprisingly didn't push her away and almost seemed to be humoring her, in a dry, sarcastic sort of way. Unlike the others, it was clear to Fleur that the male Kirlia had something of a soft spot for the young Skarmory, but whether he actually liked her or was simply putting up with her was hard to say.

"You okay, Henrietta?" Saito asked as he led the way, following after Tanuki and Esprit who continued to mentally reach out to find their lost friend.

"Yes, I'm…I'm fine," Henrietta insisted through heavy breaths. Sweat was trickling down her brow and partially drenching her clothes, but she refused to stop outside of a brief pause to catch her breath.

"We can rest for a minute if you want," Saito suggested, but Henrietta shook her head.

"No. Not…not until we find Louise," Henrietta dismissed, but she couldn't help but briefly hang her upper body over and mutter, "You guys…do this every day?"

"Yeah, there's a reason why we work out," Saito replied, a slight amount of humor in his voice. "Makes constantly walking everywhere much easier. You'll get used to it."

Henrietta let out another heavy breath, then cooled herself off by generating a small bubble of water that she poured over her head. Sighing in relief, she stood back up and started walking once again, following after Saito in pursuit of their wayward friend.

"I should have seen this coming," Derflinger chastised himself. "We basically gave Pinky the key to the candy store after a lifetime of no candy at all. This was never going to end well."

"Probably," Saito admitted with a nonchalant shrug, "but I guarantee she's never going to do this again. Lesson learned."

Despite understanding the gravity of the situation Louise found herself in, Henrietta couldn't help but chuckle. She covered her mouth with her hand to try and stile her amusement, but Saito and the others picked up on it regardless. Saito gave her a toothy grin, happy that he wasn't the only one find the humor in the mess Louise got herself into. He was already thinking of all the jokes he would make at her expense, and she would not be able to get him to stop anytime soon.

But, at the same time as they passed through the thicket forest while surrounded by scores of wild Pokémon, he couldn't help but glance back towards Henrietta every so often. He wasn't able to hear most of what she and Louise were working on when they were casting their magic, but he did hear bits and pieces. Plus Derflinger liked to gossip.

"Hey, Henrietta? Quick question," Saito asked, and Henrietta perked up to look at him.

"Yes, Saito?" Henrietta replied, and Saito nodded before taking a deep breath.

"Derflinger told me you and Louise were going to start trying to make new Water spells based off Water-type moves?"

"Yes, I thought it would be fun."

"Good to hear. I'll be more than happy to give you guys some suggestions," Saito declared. "But…why?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Saito began, "I understand why Louise made those new spells. When all you got are explosions, you better learn how to use those explosions effectively. But you actually know spells. You don't really need to make new ones."

"True," Henrietta said with a quick nod, "but after using the same spells for so long, I want to do something different."

Saito glanced towards Henrietta for a moment, the nodded and replied, "I suppose that makes sense. I mean, if I do something the exact same way for too long, I'd grow bored too."

"Exactly," Henrietta affirmed while perking herself up. "I mean, my parents, my grandparents. I'm using the exact same spells my entire family lineage has been using. Seeing Louise do something new…got me inspired."

"Glad to hear it. Let me know… Wait," Saito paused and turned around to look at her. "What do you mean your entire family lineage?"

Henrietta tilted her head in slight confusion, then clarified, "I'm using the same spells my family's always used."

"Right, right. I understood that," Saito said while waving his hand to the side. "But it almost sounded like your family's been using exact same spells since, like, forever."

"Correct, most of the spells mages are taught are traced back to the Founder."

Saito grew silent, then incredulously asked, "You mean to tell me that your entire society, for the past six thousand years, hasn't changed the spells you guys use? Like, at all?"

Henrietta suddenly grew somewhat embarrassed, and she quietly clarified, "I mean…we made some new spells."

"Some?!"

"It's not as bad as it sounds!" Henrietta tried to defend her people. "These spells are very useful."

"That's not the point!" Saito declared. "Things are supposed to get better with time, not stay the same."

Henrietta puffed up her cheeks, then tried to remember what she had learned about Earth's history. Grabbing the first thing she could think of, she pointed out, "Well…I know your people still use bow and arrows, and they were around six thousand years ago."

"Yeah, but only hobbyists! No one else uses bows and arrows because we've invented better things to replace them with. Even then, bows made today are nearly unrecognizable compared to what was made thousands of years ago. They're stronger, lighter, better and easier to use in pretty much every way," Saito refuted. "It's just…gah…"

Saito groaned and rubbed his hands through his hair. Letting out a sigh, he said, "Sorry, it's just…"

"No, no. I get it," Henrietta gently cut him off, calming herself down. "To be honest, part of me has felt for a while that we've let ourselves stagnate for too long."

"That's one way of putting it," Derflinger muttered under his breath, but both teenagers ignored him.

"But, after seeing all of this," Henrietta continued, gesturing around at the forest surrounding them to illustrate her point, "it's obvious that we've held ourselves back for too long."

"Why didn't you guys try before?" Saito asked, genuinely confused.

Henrietta let out a sigh and admitted, "A combination of Tristain being fairly conservative by default, religious pressure declaring that the spells we were taught were divine in origin and thus didn't need to be improved, and frequent attacks along the border by failed Gallian magical experiments going on a rampage. That last one in particular had…solidified many of my people's opinions on the matter."

"Experiments? What kind?" Saito asked, and Henrietta stared flatly at him.

"There was this one time where a Gallian mage who was dying attempted to transfer his brain into the body of a minotaur," Henrietta explained. "He managed to do so, then went insane and attacked several villages both in Gallia and in Tristian. Entire villages were destroyed before he was finally put down, and Gallia had to pay a hefty restitution."

"…Arceus," Saito muttered. "Sounds like a bunch of mad scientists live over there."

"Indeed," Henrietta agreed, then shook her head. "Nevertheless, I see now that letting ourselves stagnate is just as bad, if not worse. When I get back to Tristain, I fully intend to actually start improving things."

Saito nodded in agreement and said, "Well, I wish you luck there. Sounds like you got your work cut out for you."

"Yes, I do," Henrietta quietly mumbled to herself. Saito stared at her for a moment, a small frown on his face. He hadn't meant to upset her in any way, but clearly he had accidentally pressed a few buttons that he shouldn't have. Before he could say anything, though, Henrietta perked herself up and continued, "Well, we should probably get moving. There's no telling what trouble Louise has gotten herself into."

Saito snorted and replied, "Yeah, we probably should."

"Before we do," Derflinger spoke up, "there is one thing to say. Henrietta, you were…remarkably calm when Sycamore talked about Brimir and Arceus."

"Yes," Henrietta admitted, quickly nodding towards the ancient Honedge. "I will admit, I did not…initially take that discussion well when Sycamore first brought it up."

"Was about to talk about that," Derflinger said. "If you don't mind me asking…what happened?"

"I accused him of apostasy," Henrietta immediately answered. "Professor Sycamore took it quite well, actually, and after we talked about it more I came to see where he was coming from."

Derflinger and Saito stared at Henrietta blankly, then Derflinger snorted before saying, "That sounds about right. Well, come on. Pinky doesn't have all day."

With that, the party once again set off deeper into the woods, following their guides through the underbrush. Saito wished that Louise had her Pokédex on her. Then all he had to do was simply use the tracking function located on it. But, unfortunately, Louise had left it in her backpack which Saito was currently carrying on top of his own. It was heavy, but not too uncomfortable.

They walked for what felt like hours, alternating between silently taking in the scenery as well as simply talking about various subjects. For Saito, hearing Henrietta talk about palace life, both good and bad, was intriguing to him. He, admittedly, had always thought that princesses lived a very cushy life devoid of any real responsibilities, but Henrietta quickly debased him of that assumption. Being a royal was hard, and was not something he envied. For Henrietta, on the other hand, simply hearing about Saito's normal life and his journey with Louise so far was just as interesting. It provided her with a glimpse of a life she wasn't able to have, one she desired more than almost anything else.

As they got deeper into the forest, the trees grew thicker and more twisted. Less light was able to be seen as the canopies intertwined and wove together like a tapestry. The peaceful environment was replaced by one much more foreboding, which only increased as they noticed several large spider-webs appearing between the branches.

"Uh, I hate spiders," Saito muttered under his breath, but he still pressed on.

'We're getting close,' Esprit declared, 'but I'm sensing a lot of things around her, and she's not moving.'

"Is she okay?" Henrietta asked, concern leaking into her voice.

'No, she's fine. Perfectly unharmed,' Esprit answered, then tilted her head. 'But I can't tell if she's afraid, angry, or just annoyed.'

'Knowing Pinky, probably the second,' Maindo suggested, and the others, even Louise's Pokémon, couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"We should hurry, just in case," Saito said, noticeably picking up the pace. Henrietta and the Pokémon followed after him, eager to rescue Louise from whatever predicament was holding her up.

Soon, they arrived at a somewhat large clearing, comprised of a circular field with a large tree in the center. Massive spiderwebs covered the tree from top to bottom, and much to Saito's dismay, there were dozens of Spinarak and Ariados crawling along it. Most of the webs were intact, but several were visibly broken and shredded. Most of the Bug-type Pokémon were busy trying to repair the webs, and it wasn't hard for Saito and Henrietta to figure out what exactly damaged them in the first place.

"Oh, no…" Saito mumbled, shivering in fright.

"Saito, what's wrong?" Henrietta whispered, her eyes never leaving the largest spiders she had ever seen, especially as many of them began to notice their presence.

"I told you, I don't like spiders," Saito admitted, and Henrietta nodded in understanding. Staying as still as possible, they scanned the tree for any sign of their friend, then quickly found her.

'Oh Arceus, this just keeps getting better!' Maindo happily exclaimed once they noticed Louise stuck on the spiderweb, a few Spinarak crawling over her body. Her back was turned to them, so she wasn't able to see her friends.

"We need to get her out of that," Saito declared, narrowing his eyes and forcing his phobia to calm down for the moment. Turning towards Henrietta, who was clutching her wand tightly, he began to say, "Alright, I want you and Fleur to stay back. Let me handle this."

"But I want to help," Henrietta insisted, but Saito shook his head.

"I really doubt that those Pokémon are just going to let us walk in there and get our friend out," Saito told her. "Honestly, I'm surprised they haven't cocooned her yet."

"…Do they eat people?" Henrietta squeaked, but Saito fervently shook his head.

"No, they don't," Saito clarified, causing Henrietta to sigh in relief, "but whatever they want with her still isn't good. They're probably not going to give her up without a fight."

Fleur frowned at that suggestion, but Henrietta didn't even notice as she focused entirely on Saito and said, "If that's the case, I want to help free her. If you're worried about me being safe, I can defend myself."

"And I believe that, but you've never been in a battle before," Saito pointed out. "Besides, Louise will literally kill me if I let you help and you get hurt."

Henrietta puffed up her cheeks, irritated that Saito was pushing her off to the side. As she and Saito quietly began to argue, the rest of the Pokémon watched on while keeping a protective circle around their trainers. Even Maindo's amusement had subsided, placing himself protectively in front a nervous Ōdachi.

Fleur, meanwhile, scrunched up her snout at the idea that they had to get in a fight at all. She glanced over the others, who weren't really paying attention to her, before returning her attention back towards the wild Bug-type Pokémon surrounding them. She soon found what she had to assume was the queen of the brood, and an idea began to take shape. Before anyone could stop her, she puffed up her chest and confidently began walking forward, past the rest of her party and straight towards the Ariados Queen.

"Excuse me!" Fleur called out, catching everyone else's attention.

"Fleur! Get back here, now!" Henrietta ordered, but Fleur didn't listen as she stopped halfway between their party and the brood of spiders.

"Henrietta?! Saito, is that you?!" Louise called out as she continued to struggle.

"Excuse me, your highness," Fleur continued, trying to be as respectful as possible. The Queen, narrowing her eyes, began walking forward, clicking her mandibles together.

"What do you want? Why are you intruding on our nest?" the Queen demanded, and Fleur calmly smiled before pointing up towards Louise.

"Our sincerest apologies, but our friend up there got lost and accidentally wandered into your web," Fleur said, prompting the Ariados to glance upward at Louise.

"She appeared out of nowhere and scared the young, then tried to blow me up and damaged some of our webs," the Queen declared, and Fleur winced before smiling and nodding.

"And I truly apologize for that. Our friend did not intend to do so and was simply scared."

The Queen clicked her mandibles together, then asked, "How did she appear? She teleported in, but there was no Pokémon with her."

"She was practicing a spell, and got carried away," Fleur explained. "You must understand, she is quite young. As a mother and queen, I'm certain you have plenty of experience in the folly of children."

'I'm telling her you said that,' Maindo called out, but Fleur ignored him. Instead, she focused on the Ariados Queen, who once again clicked her mandibles a few times before glancing up at Louise.

Turning her eyes back towards Fleur, the Queen replied, "Yes, many of my offspring have…gotten excited and carried away."

"Exactly. Mistakes happen to us all," Fleur insisted. "We simply wish to take our friend back home. So, if you'll allow us, we'll be more than happy to do so."

The Queen narrowed her eyes, then growled, "And if we don't? She intruded on my territory and threatened my children."

"And you have every right to be angry. I would be angry, too," Fleur agreed, then gestured back towards her party with her tail. "But my friends want her back, safe and unharmed. If she isn't, well…"

Fleur shrugged, and the Queen grew incensed. She hissed, "Are you threatening me, Snivy?"

"Heavens no. I wouldn't dream of it," Fleur all-too-calmly refuted. With a confident smile on her face, she clarified, "No, what I was doing was making a statement."

"Is there supposed to be a difference?" the Queen asked, growing angrier by the second.

"Um, Fleur? What are you doing?" Henrietta worriedly asked, Esprit and Maindo providing the necessary translation to let the humans understand what was being said, but Fleur ignored them.

"Are you aware of Pokémon Trainers?" Fleur rhetorically asked. When the Queen nodded after a moment, Fleur pointed towards Saito, Henrietta, and finally Louise as she said, "Well, my trainer and I…we're not fighters. I fully admit that, if any of your brood were to attack me, I'd probably lose. But him and her, on the other hand, they are Pokémon trainers. Really good ones, at that, with three badges on their belts already. They were just about to challenge their fourth, and I have no reason to believe they won't succeed."

The Queen glanced towards Saito, Louise, and their assembled Pokémon before glaring back at Fleur. She growled, "Is that supposed to intimidate me? We outnumber you ten to one."

"And each of my friends are worth far more than that, I assure you," Fleur rebuked. "Not only that, but my trainer is what her people call a Triangle-class Water mage. She can manipulate water like any other Pokémon, and the spells she can cast are very powerful. You saw what my friend up there can do, and my trainer is far more skilled in her craft. Trust me, I watched them practice just earlier today. Don't believe me? Observe."

She flicked her tail towards Henrietta, who just stood there for a moment in confusion. When Fleur turned her head around to give her trainer a pointed look, Henrietta got the message. She aimed her wand towards a nearby tree, then almost immediately a large tendril of water shot out of the tip of the wand. The manipulated water slammed into the tree, cutting right through it and causing the truck to come crashing down onto the forest floor. The Bug-type Pokémon watched the display in surprise, then the Queen turned to look at Fleur intensely.

"Your Highness, the last thing we want is violence. Especially me. If it were up to them, they'd already be attacking to rescue their friend," Fleur declared, a wide grin on her face. "But I wanted to give us a chance to peacefully talk things over. All we want is to get our friend out. If you give her back, we will leave and never bother you again. You have my word. But, if you don't…we'll take her back by force. Do you understand?"

Fleur maintained a calm and poised stature, smiling at the Ariados Queen who was shaking in rage. The massive spider was glancing at the Snivy and the party of well-trained and motivated Trainers and Pokémon behind her. For a moment, it looked as though Fleur's gamble wouldn't pay off, and an actual fight would break out. But, before any of the Pokémon could spring into action, the Ariados Queen clicked her mandibles loudly before turning around and walking away.

"You have five minutes to cut her down. I want you gone by then," the Queen ordered, and Fleur happily waved.

"Of course! We'll be out of here before you know it," Fleur insisted before turning around to look at everyone else. "Well, you heard her. Let's cut Louise down. Also, can one of you come pick me up? I can no longer feel my legs."


"So, Louise," Saito began as they entered teleported back into Coumarine City thanks to the combined efforts of Maindo and Esprit.

"Don't," Louise gruffly ordered, picking strings of spiderwebs out of her hair, but Saito didn't care as he held out his Pokédex.

"Which one do you think I should send the Professor?" Saito asked as he tried to show Louise the various pictures they had taken of Louise trapped in the web. "This one? Or maybe this one? Honestly, I think this one is the best. It really shows the emotion in your eyes. You can actually feel the anger."

"Go die in a fire," Louise stated, and Saito's smile grew even wider.

"I'm going to take that as you liking all of them," Saito said, laughing as Louise picked up the pace to walk away from them.

"Fleur, never do that again, you understand me?" Henrietta insisted as she held her brave yet foolish starter in her hands. Fleur was looking up at Henrietta, a proud smile on her face, but Henrietta was not happy at all. She frowned and continued, "I'm serious, Fleur. You could've gotten hurt, or worse."

Fleur's smile fell, and Henrietta sighed and shook her head before saying, "Look, I'm happy things turned out well this time. But you did that without consulting me at all. You just…ran out there on your own and started to basically threaten and insult their queen. She could've attacked you and there would've been nothing I could've done to stop it. You're lucky she was patient."

Fleur hung her head dejectedly, and Henrietta softly rubbed her hand down her Snivy's scaly back. She released another sigh, then quietly requested, "Just…next time you want to peacefully resolve a conflict, talk to me first. Okay?"

Fleur looked back up at Henrietta then, after a moment, nodded in agreement. Henrietta smiled back and tightened her grip, then let Fleur crawl up her shoulder and slink her body around her neck and shoulders. It was though Fleur had turned herself into a scaly scarf, and Henrietta couldn't help but chuckle in amusement.

"Okay, what will it take for you to stop teasing me about this?" Louise desperately asked as they walked up to the entrance of the Pokémon Center.

"Hmm, I don't know," Saito teased, giving his friend a shit-eating grin while rubbing the underside of his chin. "I'll get back to you on that."

Louise stared blankly at her friend, then without saying a word turned around and stomped inside. As she did, Henrietta couldn't help but join on and say, "Louise, look! They're selling stuffed Spinarak dolls. Don't worry, I'll get you one to commemorate this grand occasion."

"You guys suck!" Louise shouted, dropping off her Pokéballs at the front desk before disappearing into the back rooms of the Pokémon Center. Saito and Louise laughed in amusement, then walked inside towards the front counter. The nurse wasn't there at the moment, giving Saito and Henrietta time to stand there and talk.

"Well, I can say one thing. Louise will definitely never forget her first time successfully casting a spell," Henrietta declared, causing Saito to snicker.

"Not if I have anything to say about it, no," Saito replied, and Henrietta laughed. Their amusement soon subsided, and the two teenagers stood there waiting for the nurse to come back from her break.

After a few moments, Henrietta glanced towards Fleur who was still wrapped around Henrietta's neck and absorbing her body heat like the cold-blooded creature she was. Her mind drifted back towards the near disaster they managed to walk away from, and she turned her head back towards Saito.

"Saito," Henrietta began, "in all seriousness… Next time you and Louise train your Pokémon, I want Fleur and I participate. Things worked out today, but they very easily couldn't have. I still don't want to be a Pokémon Trainer like you and Louise, but if being on a journey means walking into potentially dangerous situations, it's probably for the best we know how to defend ourselves."

Saito, in complete and utter seriousness, nodded in agreement before replying, "Of course. I understand completely."

Henrietta nodded back, appreciative that her newfound friend was so understanding. Before she could say anything else, the breakroom door opened and the Pokémon Center's nurse returned from her break.

"Ah, perfect! Nurse, my friend and I…" Henrietta said, only to stop as her eyes widened in surprise.

"Hello! Welcome to the Coumarine City Pokémon Center. How can I help you?" Nurse Joy happily asked.

"…Nurse Joy? You work in Lumiose and Coumarine?" Henrietta dumbfoundedly asked, only for Nurse Joy to chuckle and shake her head.

"No, no. I only work here in Coumarine," Nurse Joy answered. "You're thinking of my cousin."

"…Your cousin?"

"Yes. There's a Joy in every Pokémon Center in the world. See?" Nurse Joy proudly declared as she pulled out a photo of the last Joy Family Reunion. Much to Henrietta's shock, there were hundreds of nearly identical women happily gathered around each other, with barely any differences to distinguish them.

"…Huh?" Henrietta mumbled, barely able to comprehend what she was seeing.

"I see your Pokémon are tired. I can take them if you want," Nurse Joy offered, and Henrietta numbly nodded before handing Fleur over. Saito did the same for his Pokémon, and Nurse Joy smiled and nodded before taking the Pokémon away.

"Thank you. I hope to serve you again!" Nurse Joy said, then turned around and carried the trays away to the back medical rooms. Saito and Henrietta stared at the kind young woman, watching as she disappeared behind an automatic door.

"Okay, how-?" Henrietta tried to ask as soon as the door shut, but Saito cut her off.

"I don't know, but I think they're all clones."

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Outsiders! Special thanks to Darwin Candidate and Yuri Vampire for their help in bringing this chapter to life.

Henrietta has had her first taste of what a Pokemon Journey means, just as Louise managed to get a first taste of all that she can do with the power of Void. Fleur managed to prove the value of diplomacy, along with embodying the phrase "speak softly yet carry a big stick." Lots of very interesting things are coming their way, and I think you guys are really going to enjoy the rest of this episode.

To answer all of your guys' recurring and important questions, we do have a plan for Henrietta. Trust me, that plan will become apparent by the end of this episode.

Yeah, the harem elements of canon FoZ just didn't fit the theme/feel of this story, so we made the decision to cut them out. There might be a few references here and there, but don't expect a legitimate harem scenario to take root. It would just be too distracting.

Regarding suggestions for Pokemon for the characters to catch in the story, we do already have a plan for what those Pokemon will be. As a rule, we don't take suggestions unless there is a very valid and good thematic reason to do it. Even then, they have to be better than what we were already planning.

You guys will see more of AZ in the future. He's very important for Henrietta's arc. He won't show up all the time, but when he does it'll be important.

Glad so many of you like Henrietta's inclusion in the story. She offered a much-needed boost of FoZ energy, in our opinion, and we're excited to show you all where we're going with her from here.

As for when Derflinger will reveal the truth of what Brimir did, it'll come in due time. For now, he simply isn't ready.

Let us know what you think. If any of you have a TV Tropes account, any assistance in updating the TV Tropes page would be greatly appreciated. We hope you all enjoy and see you next time!