Interceptor's Wish

by Masterdude21

What started as a young man's search for his abducted mother spirals out of control. Soon, he is fighting a desperate war for survival against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed. The enemy is everywhere and allies are far too few. With the entire region at stake, who can prevail when fate itself seems set against you? - Novelization of Pokemon Rejuvenation.

40. Victory in West Gearen

AN: Me? Writing a cutesy dating scene as a stepping stone to kick a slow burn romance into a higher gear? Well, I never!

…alright I might have slipped in several more fluffy moments building up a romance than I intended but I cannot deny the end result. We've reached chapter 40! I hope you guys enjoy this one.

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Chapter 9 – No Time Left To Lose!

A Victory in West Gearen

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The four of them stepped through the hallway in a loose formation, just in case Garbodor decided to attack them outright upon sight. Will stuck to the rightmost side, warily eying the prone figures of the unconscious hostages. With his field of vision impaired as it was, he couldn't see her and keep his eye on his surroundings at the same time, but he knew that he had Melia to his left. She would be in the center of their formation and thus, the first one Garbodor would recognize. The deformed Pokemon surged upright upon recognizing her, a faint moan escaping from its cavernous mouth.

"Garbodor…we never got the chance to thank you for saving us all that time ago," Melia spoke solemnly. "But it's like a string of fate has led all of us here to thank you in a different type of way. Will, and I - No, everyone here. We're going to save you from this! We'll undo the curse Zetta placed upon you!"

It was the conviction in her voice that did it, Will believed. The unshakable desire to commit to, what Garbodor believed, endangering its existence. Perhaps it was the Rift Matter taking over, trying to preserve itself against an attempt to undo its existence. Perhaps Garbodor was truly so far gone that it genuinely believed they wanted to hurt it.

Melia and him stepped forwards and Rift Garbodor met them in kind. It uttered a stomach-churning, wheezy roar and swung a mammoth limb at them, packed with enough power to smash through a brick wall.

"Patience, block him!" Melia ordered.

Patience, her large, otherwise gentle Snorlax, put its mighty bulk in the way and shoved its arms up just in time. Garbodor's mutated, segmented arm slammed into its frame with incredible force. Patience didn't move an inch however, still as immovable as it had been on Valor Mountain.

"Blaziken, Blaze Kick its face!" Will ordered.

As Patience brought Garbodor's wild swing to a stop, Blaziken vaulted over its massive bulk, her right leg engulfed in flames as she drove it at Garbodor's face. Her heel connected with a resounding crack and Garbodor's head snapped sideways. A wet snarl bubbled up from its throat as it clawed at Blaziken with its other arm. Its massive size and weight, however, came with the drawback that it moved much slower than a normal Garbodor would. Blaziken easily ducked underneath its swipe and pressed closer, landing a potent one-two combination of jabs at its side.

That oversized, loosely connected limb of Garbodor's glowed with an eerie, black and red energy as it reared back. Then, with surprising speed, Garbodor swung its limb in a sweeping arc that trailed black energy. Blaziken put one leg against its oozy side and shoved herself off in a wash of flames, narrowly managing to clear the Brutal Swing, but Snorlax caught the full force of the blow against its side.

Patience's otherwise calm expression became one of pain as it staggered to the right.

"Patience! Use High Horsepower, don't let Garbodor move!" Melia called.

A corona of yellow, golden energy enveloped Patience's body. It took several lumbering steps towards Garbodor and slammed into him with great force, their massive bodies colliding like speeding vans.

Fighting with all these people scattered throughout the cave was a serious problem. One versus one, Will would have flooded this place with flames and tried to overwhelm the Rift Pokemon with elemental firepower, but he couldn't do that here. One wrong move meant Erick would be contacting a morgue instead of a doctor. Was Garbodor even aware of that?

As the two massive Pokemon struggled against each other's strength, a third, bloated arm began protruding out from Garbodor's amorphous body. It quickly stretched out until its was several meters long, seemingly connected by sludge and pieces of raw garbage that resembled bleached bones. With a groan, Garbodor swung that new limb in a wide arc and a thick wave of purple sludge exploded from its body, sweeping out in a wave.

Again, Blaziken managed to narrowly clear the attack by leaping over it, twisting her body horizontally to keep it from harming her and again, Melia's Snorlax was forced to tank the attack.

"Patience, stand fast!" Melia cried out. "You have to keep Garbodor pinned!"

Will pressed the offensive, keeping Blaziken as close to her foe as he could, constantly driving home hammer-like Blaze Kicks and punishing uppercuts that blew large, gaping holes into Garbodor's body. It simply kept regenerating those wounds, however. Even as Snorlax labored to keep Garbodor from using its main limbs, it just kept creating new ones to attack with.

From attacking the Rift creature wildly with kicks to its head and torso to ramming her fists into the joints of its limbs, Blaziken fought tooth and nail to wear Garbodor down. She caught one of its improvised arms between her knee and her elbow, then drove her free arm down like a sickle, slicing its entire limb cleanly in half with a burst of focused flames. Its limb began to ooze and liquify away into nothingness the second it hit the ground, producing more sludge for Garbodor to manipulate.

The combination of toxic fumes and constant barrage of Sludge Waves began wearing Blaziken and Patience down. With a snarl, Blaziken came down from above and landed a devastating axe kick in the nape of Garbodor's thick neck. The intense heat of her flames, coupled with the sheer force her Blaze Kicks packed, saw her foot simply cleave through Garbodor's body like a burning sword.

But Garbodor began regenerating again. Before Blaziken could pull her leg free, Garbodor struck a quick blow against Patience's face and sent it reeling back, allowing it to reach out and grip Blaziken's head with its oversized arm. Lifting her off the floor, the Rift Pokemon firmly held the struggling Fire-type in his grasp.

"Patience, get up! We have to keep fighting!" Melia cried out.

It was useless. Her Snorlax wobbled dangerously, its right arm waving through the air as it tried to keep its balance. It was panting now, its breathing labored and heavy.

Blaziken struggled mightily in Garbodor's grasp, but no matter how much she fought, struggled or resisted, she couldn't get away. For all of her immense strength, she couldn't physically overpower the Rift Pokemon. Her foe wasn't bound by the laws of nature. Every searing hole she punched into its frame simply healed itself over again as Garbodor kept rotating and shifting its mass around. The orb of psychic energy it had consumed, now served as a battery of sorts, providing him near limitless reserves of energy.

"Blaziken, use fire!" Will yelled. "Blind it!"

"Patience come back!" Melia shouted a second later. "Peace, distract Garbodor with Liquidation!"

Blaziken's internal fire manifested in an aura of white-hot flames around her as she clutched the steel-like fingers digging into her throat. The damage she'd done to Garbodor's arm didn't seem to impede it at all, but the sheer heat emanating from Blaziken's frame began scorching its body. Fluids began boiling and turning to foul-smelling steam that burst from its hide in several locations. Its eyes physically narrowed into dots as it tried to shield itself from the flames. Flesh began sloughing off in thick, viscous puddles.

Garbodor uttered another deep moan -

And Melia's Azumarill, completely covered in water, slammed head-first into its back at a breakneck speed. Peace the Azumarill barely reached a fourth of Garbodor's height and yet its body impacted like a sledgehammer. Its grip on Blaziken weakened and that she needed to pry away the steel-like fingers digging into her throat. She broke its grip and dropped to the ground. The waves of water that splashed against its body clashed with Blaziken's heat and produced an enormous cloud of steam that soon shrouded all three Pokemon from view.

"Blaziken, on me!" Will ordered.

"Peace, keep your distance, don't let Garbodor hit you!" Melia joined in. She gave him an uneasy look. "It keeps healing! Any plans?"

Their Pokemon tactically retreated from the hulking Rift creature, joining their respective trainers as Garbodor struggled to repair the damage it had incurred. The ground beneath its feet was seared and cracked, the filthy sludge seared away by the immense temperatures.

The ground.

Of course!

"Blaziken, you did well," Will said as he recalled her again. "Nidoking! Your turn!"

His Nidoking appeared in the midst of the battlefield. Its clawed feet slammed into the puddles of sludge beneath him as he sized Garbodor up.

"Let's see him regenerate from this," Will told Melia. To Nidoking, he shouted, "This thing keeps regenerating every hole we poke in its body! Use Earth Power to keep it impaled!"

Melia gasped, looking at him with shock, before her expression hardened into resolve. "Peace, keep using Liquidation! Support Nidoking as much as you can!"

Their tactics shifted and Garbodor struggled to keep up. Melia's Azumarill was one aggressive little thing, sticking close to Garbodor's bulky frame like she was a seasoned boxer, constantly striking where it didn't protect itself with heavy, jet-accelerated bursts of water.

That left Nidoking free to do his thing. He shrugged off the Sludge Wave that Garbodor swept outwards with laughable ease and then rammed his forearms against the ground, causing the dried and cratered floor beneath Garbodor's body to explode outwards like a graveyard of spikes. Peace managed to backpedal away just in time to avoid the burning spikes of earth, but Garbodor wasn't fast enough to dodge them, nor was he tough enough to just take them.

A dozen jagged teeths of stone exploded into Garbodor's body, impaling him from multiple angles with spikes of varying sizes and shapes. Its body seemed to shimmer and liquify before their eyes as it reshaped its form once again. It raised its oversized arm, but then a tremor ran through its body when Nidoking made two of the spears explode inside of its body and its arm dropped again.

Garbodor opened its maw impossible wide and spat a barrage of rocks at Nidoking and Patience. Nidoking simply covered his fist with a scarred, armored forearm and the Rock Blast harmlessly exploded across his body, but Peace didn't have the luxury of natural body armor to protect it. The surprise attack knocked her backwards through the cave.

Melia called her name and hurried to recall her fallen Water-type while Garbodor labored atop its impalement, struggling to break more of the spikes and process them into more ammunition for its next attack.

"This will all be over soon Garbodor! I promise!" Melia said. "Hapi, use Gilded Arrow!"

Gilded Arrow?

Hapi the Togekiss soared through the air and wasted no time in bombarding Garbodor with a -

Reality shuddered as a burst of energy rebounded off of a series of invisible barriers. Several rays of energy struck Garbodor's laboring body from different directions, shaped like arrows but carrying with them an energy signature that Will couldn't even begin to place.

There was something familiar about this move, even though he was confident he had never seen her use it before. A part of him recognized it from somewhere, but where?

It didn't matter. They had a fight to win, "Nidoking! Detonate them!"

The onslaught of spikes stuck inside of Garbodor's body detonated like rolling blasts of thunder, ripping its body apart from the inside out.

"Again Hapi! Gilded arrow!"

Slowly, Garbodor's body began reforming itself, slowly knitting its amorphous flesh back together as foul liquids and strange tissue swelled up to the size of beachballs to bridge the gaps blown into its body. That was when Hapi's new attack blew its remaining limbs off again, rendering Garbodor unable to attack.

"Did we do it?" Melia said. "We must've!"

"Another Earth Power! Don't let up!" Will commanded.

Garbodor didn't so much collapse as it deflated. Its body sank in on itself, the many, many wounds and holes punched into its frame too much for it to repair. As it shifted its matter in a desperate attempt to plug up and regenerate its injuries, it must have lost the ability to maintain a solid form. It grew smaller and thinner, frailer and hollow.

It was too much for even the unmatched regenerative powers of the Rift Pokemon.

"It shrank down into nothing…this is the form we need it in, right?" Melia nervously said.

Garbodor's deflated body slid to the ground amidst the array of spikes, pulsating weakly.

But it didn't appear to have anything left to regenerate from.

"Yeah!" Erick replied. "Great work guys! I'll just sedate it so that I have enough time to bring it back to the lab." He cautiously approached the little heap of Garbodor, whipping out a sizable syringe. Will circled around to the left, keeping a close eye on the collapsed Rift Pokemon. With Hapi and Nidoking keeping a watchful eye, he was confident things were under control, but he wasn't going to risk Garbodor somehow regaining its strength and snatching up Erick.

"One…Two…Three…And! Zappu!" Erick administered the sedative. Garbodor didn't rise up and eat him.

Will exhaled the breath he'd been holding.

All was well.

"Phew. That should do it!" Erick said.

"We…we did it!" Melia exclaimed, jumping with joy, "Will, Venam, Erick! We did it! We were successful!" She flung herself at Will and Venam, sweeping them up into one giant hug. She pressed her face against Will's neck as she laughed like she hadn't laughed in weeks. "We did it! Oh we did it!"

"Holy heck…" A stupified Venam muttered. "We actually did it."

Erick laughed, though he did take a few steps back from the three-way hug before it could consume him too. "I guess we still have to actually reverse what happened to Garbodor before we celebrate. But! I'm confident me and my team will be able to do it! Surely!"

Tears of joy ran down Melia's face as she released them again. "I could sing! Oooh, I could even dance and that would be so tragic!"

I want to see that, Will thought. Melia's giddiness was contagious. When was the last time they had ever had a perfect victory? A battle won without sacrifices, without misery or loss? He couldn't remember.

"I wonder what happened to that orb, then," Venam mused.

"It's lodged within the Gatbodor's body, but it looks like Garbodor drained the thing dry," Erick commented, peeking at the deflated, sedated heap of Garbodor. "It was using it to live, after all. I wouldn't worry about it anymore!"

Will grinned. One weapon of mass destruction, gone! Oh, he could only imagine the look on Gardevoir and Indriad's faces when they learned that their plan had been foiled by a single, hungry Pokemon.

"Huh…awesome!" Venam said, as if the realization was just now getting through to her. "This is just too awesome! We did it!"

"Hey Will, gimme a hand please?" Erick said.

Together, Erick and him brought Garbodor up to the plant above ground. Melia and Venam, meanwhile, concerned themselves with all the people who'd been taken. They seemed to be doing well. Most of them didn't even remember what had happened. Kanon, too, was up on his feet in a matter of hours.

"Guess that was a side effect of having your energy drained by Garbodor," Melia said.

Kanon and the others were safe, Garbodor would live. They'd won.

As they came back from Erick's lab, having handed over Garbodor's unconscious body to Erick's team, Volta and her two intrepid colleagues were waiting for them. They'd come for an interview and they weren't about to take no for an answer.

Melia went with them. She said it only made sense, as she was the missing girl. Of course, she couldn't tell them about the real reason she'd been gone for "months" so what she did was alter the facts a bit. In the interview, she told the people that she'd been kidnapped by Team Xen and that her father came to rescue her. That Jenner had ultimately made the ultimate sacrifice to keep her safe. It wasn't a lie; he had risen up against Geara and Zetta knowing full well that he likely wouldn't be walking away from that.

Word spread. While Venam and Will scouted out West Gearen City for a bit, the higher-ups in East Gearen made the decision to give Jenner a plaque to honor his sacrifice. A memorial all of his own, to be installed at his laboratory. Crawli and his entire command staff of rangers all came over from Terajuma to honor him.

The two of them watched it unfold from a distance. Seeing the rangers line up to pay their respects to Jenner here, at the place where the man had spent his life, made it feel…official. He was gone. He'd given his life knowing that he had saved the life of his only child. Just like Keta had for Aelita. Just like Will's own mother had for him.

Parents dying for their children. It still wasn't right. It still wasn't bearable. But…now, maybe things could start becoming bearable. Will hoped that, in time, Melia would find peace.

"That journal you found…" Venam started. "Was that in the Marble Mansion?"

He shook his head,

"So when did you start snooping around? Was that while I was at Blakeory Co?"

"No."

Venam shot him a look of suspicion. "Then when the hell did you get that thing?"

Maybe he should have simply lied and told her that yes, he'd found the journal while she'd been tailing Indriad. "...last night," he admitted.

Venam's brow furrowed. "So…you snuck out while we were sleeping? To snoop around on your own?"

Will didn't look at her. He nodded.

He expected her to yell at him. To get angry, start another fight. What actually happened was arguably worse; he got his first-ever disappointed Venam.

"That's not cool," she said, something sharp and calculating in her eyes. .

Fair. Would she even get it if he tried to explain? Probably not. Venam never really understood why he did things. He didn't fully understand them himself, either.

"And…so you've fought Karrina, ran for your life through the sewers and saved Garbodor without any actual sleep?"

"Not much, no."

Venam grunted. "That's fucking wild. Aren't you tired dude?"

Will simply looked at Melia as the people of East Gearen who had known Jenner came to pay their final respects. Forever enshrining the memory of her father, firmly cementing him as a hero. "Look how happy this made her," he quietly said.

"...yeah," Venam said, equally as silently as she followed his gaze. "It did."

Then, much to their mutual surprise, Venam's mom emerged from the crowd. At first, Venam tried to hide behind him, but halfway through that motion she stopped, took another good look at the people talking to Crawli and his staff, at the people lighting candles and crowding around Jenner's plaque, and she stopped. Resigning herself with a heavy sigh, Venam stuck around as her mother approached with Melia in tow.

Will backed away a bit, giving them all some space as mother embraced her daughter. Missus Vasile proceeded to express, in quick succession, her shock at her girl's lack of purple locks, her grief at Jenner's passing, yet also her immense relief at Melia's safety and her sheer gratitude at seeing that they were all alive, unhurt and well.

Chasity swept her girl up in a hearty embrace, then did the same with Melia. Melia didn't want to stay in her old room anymore - nothing but ghosts for her there, Will imagined - so missus Vasile invited her to stay over and live with Venam and her. Indefinitely. Why shouldn't she? Melia spent the majority of her life here, together with Venam…and Ren. An entire childhood, years spent in blissful happiness.

Then, he had washed ashore. Lost and alone, soaked to the bone, the scent of fire and death still clinging to his clothes. They'd taken him in when he'd had nowhere else to go.

And yet…yet he couldn't help but feel like an outsider still. How long had he really known Jenner? A few months, at most, and he'd spent the majority of that time thinking the man had been an utter failure of a father. These people grieved for a man they had known for years, decades.

He…didn't belong here, not right now at least. He didn't have that right. The best he could do was leave them to their own right now. Let them grieve in -

"Oh, Will!" Chasity exclaimed. "I am so sorry my dear, I did not see you there! Oh but what are you standing around there for? Come, you should join us! I never got to properly thank you for your part in solving that horrible mess with those trees."

Grinning, Venam reached out, grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer. A very shocked Will could only stammer weakly in response as Venam's mother started fussing over him too. "And you helped my daughter get poor Melia back from those horrible people, too. Oh, my dear, what happened to your face? When did that happen? Come, it's getting cold and late. Let's get you kids somewhere warm."

Will shot a baffled look at Venam. What is happening?

She looked at him like he was a particularly dim-witted child.

Feeling vulnerable and more than just a bit confused, Will clenched his hands into fists and just…went along with it.

Together, Venam and Melia had cooked up an explanation to explain her disappearance, faked death and the passing of Jenner. Their explanation left out most of the sensitive details. They came up with a story of a daring rescue mission to spring Melia from a Xen Initiative camp in the middle of Terajuma Island. A risky, full-frontal assault with the rangers' aid and spearheaded by him to distract them all while Jenner used that moment of chaos and anarchy to sneak in, with Venam's help of course. At the apex of their escape, Team Xen had sprung a massive ambush, costing him his eye and forcing Professor Jenner's hand. He'd stayed behind. He'd gone down fighting.

Jenner would go down in history as a man who had sacrificed everything for the sake of his daughter. A fitting end for a flawed, but ultimately selfless and courageous man.

"Do you have a place to spend the nights?" Chasity asked.

…not anymore, he supposed. Not in East Gearen at least. Sure, he could sleep in the Pokecenter, but -

"You should stay here as well," Chasity then offered. "We have a room to spare. "

"Oh, yes! I would love that!" Melia gasped.

Maybe in time. "Thank you very much for the offer, missus Vasile," he said. "But I can't. I have…a few matters to attend to."

Chasity looked surprised to hear that, and perhaps a bit disappointed, but Venam quickly said, "Hey, Will's always running around doing who knows what. He knows better than to start any dangerous shit without his friends, right?"

He nodded along. Venam's voice tolerated no resistance. He didn't plan on getting into anything dangerous. That being said…he had something he needed to do.

That night, as Venam and Melia got into a video call with Erick in the Vasile living room, Will laid down Aevium's map and started familiarizing himself with the route Aelita and him had taken an eternity ago. Sheridan Village through Goldenleaf Town, all the way north. From East Gearen City, it was about a hundred kilometers away. On foot, it would have taken him days. Pidgeot ought to be able to get him there in half an hour tops.

He rolled up the map, stashed it into its little webbing inside of his backpack and swung it over his shoulders. Melia was finally in a better headspace now. Better to do this alone.

With everything handled, Will headed towards the front door. He already had his hand on the doorknob when he reconsidered. Instead, he headed back towards the living room. Venam's mom was getting food, which meant that they had the house for themselves for the moment.

"Hey," he said.

Melia glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, hey! There you are!"

"Finally finished doing your guy things?" Venam quipped. "Grab a drink. Join us."

Will watched them for a moment. Then…"I'm heading out."

"'Kay, have fun," Venam said. "You're gonna miss the movie, though."

"...Erick, hang on for a sec," Melia said. She lowered the laptop tray and then turned around on the couch. Her blond eyebrows furrowed. "Where are you going?"

"There is one more fallen we need to lay to rest," Will said. "It's long overdue."

"Huh? Who'd we forget?" Venam said.

Melia stared at him for a moment longer. "I'm coming with you," she said

Her words thrummed in his chest, but this time, he couldn't give in to them. "No," he said, his voice harder than he'd intended. "No," he said again, softer this time. "You two should…This is something I have to do on my own."

Venam shot him a look he couldn't place. It could have been annoyance. "Seriously, who? And why do you have to do this alone? We've been fixing things with the three of us just fine!"

The truth was simple yet so complicated to bring into words. He had to do this alone because Aelita wasn't here to accompany him. He knew that no words or actions would have kept her from going with him because she'd been there when it happened. Melia and Venam hadn't been there and…he wanted it to stay that way. He needed it to stay that way. Separated. He'd made a terrible mistake and it had gotten a good friend killed.

It wasn't anything rational, but having Venam and especially Melia there with him would worsen the pain. That thought scared him. So he had to figure this out on his own. "Anything else wouldn't be right."

"The fuck's that even mean?"

"...Akuwa Town, right?" Melia said.

He nodded. "Its people have been moving back there for the past week. Team Xen shouldn't be a threat anymore."

Melia looked at him defiantly. "Are you certain you should do this alone?"

Not really. But that was something he'd figure out along the way too. "I won't be gone for more than a few hours."

"Alright," Venam said easily. "Do your thing. We'll be here, drawing up plans for that party at Erick's."

"...okay," Melia said, looking like she thought this was anything but okay. "Take your time. Just be careful, okay? And…if you need someone, we're here."

A rush of affection for Melia swept over him. "I know. Thanks."

With his thick coat of feathers keeping him warm in the chilly skies above, Pidgeot could have flown him all the way to Evergreen Island without a problem. Since Will didn't have any feathers, he had to work with several layers of clothing to keep him warm.

Nevertheless, they made good progress. Pidgeot kept up a steady pace. It took them a bit more than thirty minutes before the familiar outline of Akuwa Town loomed on the horizon. Seeing it from above was a different matter entirely.

Will caught himself wondering once again if he could have done things differently, coming up with what-ifs that could have somehow prevented the Death Wing ambush.

Tesla had told him that what was done was never forgotten, but that hindsight was twenty-twenty. She'd told Amber and him that regret was often a dead end. Own your mistakes, and become a better person through them, she'd said.

Easier said than done, but he'd try.

With its civilian population returned, everything about Akuwa Town was different. Gone was the foreboding sense of wrongness. Gone was the disturbing stillness and eerie silence. Now, it was just like any other place he'd visited.

And yet…

Pidgeot landed a few buildings away from the aquarium. He remembered the spot. It was opposite the road Aelita and he had taken when they snuck up on the aquarium in the first place. Had the Death Wings been watching them the entire time? Leering at them from the rooftops? Just biding their time to strike?

He still couldn't imagine how an organization like Xen could have abducted an entire city like this without sparking international condemnation and a swift, violent response. All the preparation in the world couldn't remove the human factor. National guard units, the police, people who managed to get out in time, anything at all.

Maybe Team Xen never needed to bother with the human factor because…because that factor was on their side? They had people everywhere. Entire squads in East Gearen. A whole base in Sheridan. An underground lab in Goldenleaf. A freaking island base off the coast of Terajuma. Would it be too farfetched to guess that they might have people in important positions covering for them? Or was that just paranoia?

It was late and cold outside, but the people still recognized him. In turn, Will recognized many of them, too. Some of them were people he'd seen on the Oceana. The majority he knew from Blacksteeple Castle and her voyage to Terajuma Island.

For these people, the hardship was over. Many of them had gotten free housing in the town, allowing them to live a peaceful life. They were happy to see him, and some of them even wanted to invite him into their homes. Declining their generosity and having to disturb their peace wasn't something he did easily, but he had to.

Some of them even understood. They just didn't know how to help him. He went from the aquarium to the Pokemon Center, constantly wondering where the Death Wings had been hiding during their first passing. He guessed, with their armored glidesuits, it would have been the rooftops and the upper floors.

Mightyena would have likely heard them moving around. The creaky noises of metal brushing past metal, their ragged breathing, their muffled footsteps…that would have explained his constant tension, as well.

Had Mightyena known they were walking into a trap?

At the Pokecenter, the nurses confirmed what all the others had told him. Nobody had seen a thing. When the people moved back into Akuwa Town, the place had been just as they had left it.

Empty.

Mightyena's body was gone.

Somehow, Will doubted that Team Xen had bothered to…to move him. The first people who'd gone in to scout out the town hadn't spotted any casualties either.

Which…which meant that it could have been wild Pokemon looking to…to scavenge.

The thought was so sudden, so horrifying that Will wasn't able to tear himself free of it. By the time he realized that the nurse hadn't finished talking, she'd been calling out to him for a while.

"What?" He murmured, tearing his gaze from the floor to look at her again.

She didn't seem angry that she'd had to repeat herself. "I said that some of us have spotted a makeshift memorial of sorts further up north, a way's into the forest. If you've lost someone, then maybe you might…find them there."

A memorial? Here? How was that possible, this place had been like a ghost town before…before the police arrived. Did they end up sending a unit here after all? Only to find an entire town abandoned and a single body left behind?

Did the police even do such a thing? Or would they get the local Gym Leaders or reserve Leaders involved? People from the help center, or Valarie's reserve Leader? It certainly was possible, but…

Will abruptly got back to his feet and left the center.

Beyond the outskirts of Akuwa Town, there wasn't a single soul to be found. Will suspected that the fear of black-clad men and women swooping in from the darkness was still far too vivid for the people here. Even he didn't feel comfortable heading into the forest by himself, which was why he'd sent out Blaziken to accompany him.

Still, the people had illuminated a makeshift path into the forest with lanterns. Small, metal lanterns outfitted with a singular candle that had to be manually lit every night.

It occurred to him, as he walked through the silent forest, that all of these people would have died if Neved and Madame X had gotten their wish. If Team Xen had won on Blacksteeple Castle, the entirety of Akuwa Town would have perished on that cold, forgotten island. What for? Just…what for?

At the end of the lit trail, Will spotted the memorial. It was a simple slab of stone, looking like it had been violently torn out of a sidewalk or an abandoned structure. Words had been carved into its surface, so sweeping and cursive and neat that it was like the slab had been malleable at one point.

Here lies

A Warrior

A Loyal Friend

And

A Good Boy

Slowly, Will reached out and pressed his fingers against the stone surface. Cold. Solid. Real.

He couldn't believe what he saw. Not a nameless, shallow grave. Someone had taken the time to bury Mightyena with the honors he deserved. But who? None of the people who lived in Akuwa Town knew what happened. Had…had Aelita done this? No, that couldn't be.

Again he pressed his hand against the stone. Tears burned in his eyes. He let them. What could he even say? What was there to say? Mightyena had died, for him. He hadn't been able to save his mother. He hadn't even been able to save Nim.

One by one, Will released his friends from their balls, too. Bar Fraxure, who'd only just been born right before the ambush, and Kirlia, whom he had saved from Helojak Island days after it happened, every member of his team had fought side by side with Mightyena from one side of Aevium to the other. They'd saved Maria together. They'd fought off Giratina time and time again, together. They'd fought Mewtwo and the likes of Madelis and Zetta and Geara.

"I won't say I'm sorry," he whispered. Nidoking sat down in the wet grass next to him. "Sorry won't change what happened." Pidgeot spread his wings out, then flattened them against his body and lay down on the grass to the left, his sharp, clear eyes locked on the gravestone.

"What I can say is that we made it count. We got out. We got the entirety of this city's people out, too. We lost mom…we lost Nim…Aelita's down for the count too…but we kept fighting. Houndoom got hurt pretty badly too, but he's still…they're taking care of him." What was left of his vision grew blurry with tears. "We beat them. We beat Team Xen. When they were at their strongest, we set out and we broke them." His throat tightened, and he struggled to get the last words out. "We beat them."

He felt Blaziken gently run her claws through his hair, resting the palm of her rough hand atop his head for a moment.

"We beat them," he said again. "And when they come back, we'll continue to beat them."

After that, the words died in his throat, and his mind wouldn't supply him with anything else to say. That was alright. He felt like he'd said what he needed to say. What he'd wanted to say.

The sorrow hit him with unexpected strength, burning in his throat and twisting in his stomach. He curled up on the ground and fought against the tears, fought against crying, fought against grieving. He didn't want this, didn't want to grieve. What use was that? How would that honor Mightyena's legacy?

Nidoking rested a heavy paw on the side of his head. It was cold and rough.

When he finally gathered enough courage to get back to his feet, it struck him that the grave felt empty, far too empty. It shouldn't be this empty. He had to…he had to leave something. He couldn't leave, not without -

He began patting down his body, searching for something solid that he could leave behind. Something, anything at all, to mark his passing. To let the world know that this was not a place that ought to be forgotten.

Froslass drifted towards the gravestone, her limbs brought together in front of her mask as if she were praying. In her hands she carried a frozen wreath, intricately carved with so much detail that it could have been made from actual, frozen flowers. She gently placed the wreath on the ground in front of the gravestone, moving with a reverent slowness.

She turned around and brushed a tear from Will's aching left eye, leaving a soothing coldness in her wake.

He wouldn't say sorry. But…"Thank you," he whispered, to Froslass and Mightyena alike. "Thank you."

His mother had intended for Akuwa Town to be his new home. He didn't think it would ever get the chance to be a home. Team Xen had ruined that like they ruined everything.

Maybe in time. Maybe in another world, without the Xen Initiative in it. For now, Will was ready to turn his back to this place. He knew where he belonged.

Time to go back there.

It took him longer to get back to East Gearen City this time around. He'd been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he'd nearly ended up in West Gearen instead. Embarrassed, he'd told Pidgeot to take off again, but Pidgeot didn't seem to care. He merely spread his wings, took to the sky and off they went.

He made it back to the Vasile household around eleven in the evening. Somehow, the ladies were still up. They'd nestled themselves in the living room and putten a movie on. Chasity sat in one of the chairs, slowly dozing off, while Venam and Melia had taken the couch. Fittingly, Venam had kicked off her shoes and hung her legs over the seat on the left. Melia had installed herself in what had to be every single pillow the house had to offer, claiming the middle for herself.

Will watched them be engrossed in their movie. Wrapped up in warmth and comfort, surrounded by memories and stability. It made something raw beneath his ribs ache. That moment, he could have silently walked off into the night again, he knew that. He could slink away and tell himself that he didn't want the others to suffer his misery, that this was something he needed to do by himself without the support of the people who loved him. He might even be able to believe that. The next morning he could proceed as if nothing had changed.

Or he could…

Step into the warmth. Like they would have wanted for him. And embrace it.

Slowly, Will walked into the room. He stopped by the couch, looked at the television and quietly said, "Hey."

Venam gave a choked cry of surprise and nearly rolled off the couch. Chasity gasped and nearly dropped her phone. Both Vasiles, it seemed, didn't believe in situational awareness. "Oh, goodness, Will! You startled me," Chastity gasped, putting her hand against her chest in shock.

"Holy hell, goddamnit Will!" Venam spat as she righted herself again. "How are you this quiet!"

"Heya Will," Melia said, looking up at him with silver eyes. "Glad to see you're back again! Did you…did you do what you had to?"

Will sat down on the right next to Melia on the couch, pressed himself against her side and rested his head against her upper arm. She felt so warm. "I did," he said.

She draped her arm over his shoulders, leaning her head against his just a bit. "Glad you decided to stick around."

"Seriously, someone should, like, put a bell on you or something," Venam grumbled, readjusting her legs on the couch again. "A collar with a bell…"

"Oh!" Melia said eagerly. "Now there's an image."

The enthusiasm in her voice wasn't quite humor, and Will felt a wave of tingles running down his back when he realized that. It was an image alright, but he didn't mind. He was tired and content to bask in the peaceful warmth of Melia's presence. He didn't know what the movie was about, or even how far into it they were. All he knew was Melia's soft, relaxed breathing, the feeling of her hair caressing his cheek and the reassuring weight of her arm around his shoulders. Something inside of him relaxed in a way he hadn't ever felt before. His bones melted into that couch as he drifted off.

~~~~~~~(II)~~~~~~~

---

"Venam?" Melia whispered. "Psst. Venam!"

"Hmm?" Venam tore her gaze off the screen. Her mom had gone to bed half an hour ago, and it was just the three of them downstairs. "Yeah?"

Melia pressed her finger against her lips, then gestured with her free hand to the little bundle nestled on the couch to her right. "Sssh! Look!"

Quirking one eyebrow at her, Venam leaned over to see Will lying curled up in the couch, limp and asleep, the lines of his face soft and relaxed for once. Somewhere along the way he'd slumped down against Melia, his head resting somewhere against her lap. "Huh. He fell asleep?" Venam whispered back, for which Melia was grateful because Venam struggled to use her indoor voice at times.

"I think so!" Poor Will deserved some rest after everything he did. A surge of affection swept through her as she recalled how much they'd all come to depend on him even during these new days. Fighting a senior Stormchaser in Karrina? Without hesitation. Heading down into monster-infested, stinky sewers? Sure, why not. Running through calf-deep muck as said monster came to eat him?

Close the bulkhead.

So. Freaking. Cool.

The corners of Venam's mouth rose in a mischievous smirk. "Wanna doodle on his face?"

"No!" Melia hissed, horrified. "Don't be childish! Besides; that'll wake him up."

"Oh, oh, yeah," Venam said, as if she just realized that. She looked more closely. "Did he…really fall asleep like that? He's uh…almost hugging you."

"He did," Melia said, smiling down at her friend. He looked so vulnerable. So cute. "I'm thinking the past few days tired him out more than he let on."

Venam seemed pensive as she looked at Will. "Y-Yeah…that must be it…with this business in Akuwa Town as well. Which…like…back in Terajuma Aelita said that we didn't talk about Akuwa Town. I get that something bad happened there, but did…so did someone die?"

"I'm not sure if it's my place to tell…" Melia said. She recalled that horrible moment in Blacksteeple Castle where she, finally, for the first time in three years, had seen her staunch protector again. The metaphorical knight in shining armor who had held off Team Xen, on his own, long enough for Spacea and Tiempa to enact their plan, had been battered and bruised and hurt in her absence. They'd hurt him. "Yes. Someone died. What happened in Akuwa Town was just horrible. I'm just hoping he found some closure."

"Right…" Venam muttered, oddly quiet given the circumstances. She must have been really trying not to wake him up. "I guess…but we're gonna have to…wake him up to get him upstairs, right?"

"...I suppose so," Melia said with a pang of regret. She couldn't remember Will often falling asleep before any of them. Had he ever? If they woke him up to get him into a proper bed, who knew when he'd sleep in again?

She brushed the scarring above his eye slowly, delicately, before her fingers wandered into his hair. Something in his body tensed up at her touch, and for a second, she feared she had accidentally woken him up. Then, he relaxed against her once more, and all was well again.

Feeling him relax like this because of her made her feel oddly pleased.

"Unless…we could let him sleep here?" Venam suggested.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, we can grab some blankets, keep him warm without waking him up," Venam said.

Melia glanced down at Will again. "It is a comfy couch," she agreed. "I'm not sure I wanna leave him alone at night, though…"

"We could lock the front door to keep him from running off at night again," Venam said cheerfully

Melia rolled her eyes. "I meant for when he wakes up alone and - wait, what do you mean again?"

"Uh, nothing," Venam quickly said. Far too quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Melia recognized she was being dishonest again. "But yeah, we can give him some blankets, and when he wakes up, he can pack up and move upstairs if he wants to. Somewhere."

Melia eyed her for a moment. Something felt a bit off to her here, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Then again, it was late, they were all tired, and Will had a habit of…wandering off at times. Maybe she was overthinking things here. "Okay. Give me a moment?"

Very carefully so as to not wake the cute sleepy head up, Melia extricated herself from the couch. She very gingerly lowered Will's head on one of the pillows. Thankfully, he stayed asleep during that. Venam handed her a large, heavy blanket and they draped it over him. Then, as Venam busied herself with shutting the television off and quietly putting their stuff back in the dishes, Melia smoothed the blanket out over Will's shoulders.

There. Now at least he'd be warm.

She got back up and saw Venam leaning against the doorframe of the upstairs hallway. Staring.

"Something wrong?" Melia asked.

After a moment's hesitation, Venam shook her head. "No uh…I don't think so."

"Cool. Let's figure the plan out tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure."

They headed upstairs after that.

~~~~~~~(III)~~~~~~~

---

For the first time in weeks, he didn't dream. When he woke up, the grey light shining through the dimmed windows suggested that it was early morning already. Will woke up slowly, calmly, and glanced around. He was missing something, but his head felt fluffy and dazed and he couldn't put together what it was.

He rolled onto his back, stretched his arms and legs and nearly rolled off of the couch that he was lying on. A couple of heavy, warm blankets slid off as he quickly readjusted himself again.

The couch? What was he doing here?

In a flash, he remembered. Melia, happy and warm and soft and smelling like -

Will rested his head back on the pillow and rubbed his eyes fiercely, feeling his cheeks flush with warmth. He hadn't given that a single moment of thought, had he? No, tired and stupid as he'd been, his mind had just concluded that was where he belonged and that was where he'd park himself.

God, he hoped Melia wasn't angry…

It was still early in the morning. Everybody else was still asleep. Normally when he woke up before the others he'd put on coffee or get some training done. In the Vasile household, smackdab in the center of the city, going out for a run was about as appealing as going out for a swim at the docks.

At first, Will plucked a book from one of the shelves and tried to give reading a go, but he quickly found himself getting a headache. His brain didn't absorb the words like it used to, and he was much slower in turning the pages than he was used to.

Frustrated, he put the book back where he'd found it. It was boring, anyway.

He spent the next two hours hanging out with Fraxure and Kirlia, wandering the city, buying some snacks for his team and thinking of new tactics and combined attacks. There was something about the draconic energy that resided within Fraxure's body that seemed promising to him. When Kanon's Salamence had used Dragon Claw, it had shaped its destructive energy into the shape of an ethereal set of claws, ethereal yet very physical and very real.

Did it only work in the shape of a claw? Could it be something else? The fight with Angie had shown him that a creative mind, sick and twisted as it was, could find endless ways to seize the initiative. What she'd done with her powers had been nothing short of art…before she'd shoved that art through his chest cavity.

You have to learn to use your Pokemon…

Crescent and her Gothitelle. Angie and her ice. Gardevoir and her overwhelming, yet shapeless might. Rethinking his tactics and emulating Angie had proven to be shockingly effective in combat. What if…what if he could do that not just with Froslass? What if he could apply that same offensive out-of-the-box kind of thinking to the other types as well? The Psychic-type lended itself for that kind of thinking, yeah, but could the Dragon-type be the same?

Food for thought. He penned it down into his journal regardless. That too was more of a chore than usual, but he managed.

When he came back to the Vasile household, Melia and Venam had finally woken up. Will knocked on the door, Venam graciously permitted him to enter.

"Hey, about last evening," he started.

"Oh, what's up?" Melia asked curiously.

"I was tired and I didn't mean to…" he flailed around mentally, trying to fill in that gap in his sentence before the silence stretched on too long. "You know…" Too late. Silence achieved.

Then, much to his relief, Melia simply gave him a familiar, easygoing smile. "What, bother us? Don't be silly, you're never a bother. Sit down! How'd you sleep?"

"...good," Will said, surprised. "I don't think I woke up once."

"Welcome to the sleeping schedule of functioning humans," Venam said. "Guess you'll be taking the couch from here on out."

"I think it was more the change in pillow, to be honest," Melia said, cracking up a book and shifting her attention before Will could shoot her a curious look. The corners of her full lips quirked slightly in amusement and he knew, he knew that she hadn't minded at all.

If hearts could grin, his would have spanned from his left shoulder to the right. Not ten minutes later they were all sprawled on the beds, lazing around and chilling.

Except for Venam. She grabbed a guitar and started tuning it. She was never motionless as she went about her business, bouncing up and down on her bed, occasionally leaping up to grab some stuff or write down some notes, before hopping back onto the creaking frame and getting back to it.

Still bouncing up and down on her bed, Venam suddenly said, "It's too quiet. Imma put on some music." Without waiting for their response she sprang to her feet, slapped the side of a particularly-large speaker and then began fiddling with its many buttons. Soon, a rhythmic drum beat started pounding through the walls, the floor and even the ceiling. "That's better."

"Yes, we almost suffered through half a minute of silence," Melia remarked.

Will rested his head against the wall, letting the thrum of the bass settle within his bones. He turned his head a bit to the left to follow Venam's movements. She snatched a different guitar from the wall and plugged it in. "Silence is a waste of time. Seen too much near-death shit to let time waste. Did you catch some tunes at Amber's, Will?"

He blinked up at her. "Catch some what?"

Venam uttered an impatient groan. "Did she play music for you?"

"Yeah, she did. I really liked it."

"What kind of music do you like listening to, Will?" Melia asked him.

Will started answering - it was an easy question after all - but quickly realized that he couldn't. He had no idea what kind of music he listened to because he had no idea what kind of music he even liked. "Well…"

He tried to remember the last time he enjoyed music. That was with Amber. Before that, he recalled stopping by Pianolady and complimenting her on her skill. When he thought about things like genres and styles and types of music though…he drew a blank.

"I have no idea," he admitted.

Melia peered at him from over her book. "Hmm. Do you suppose that's part of the memories you lost?"

Will shrugged. "I guess so?"

"Nah, that's crap," Venam said. "Enjoying music isn't something you remember, it's a part of who you are. If you think the music sucks, your body's going to revolt. If you think the music kicks ass, you get that happiness hormone flooding your body. It's uh…what's that called again?"

"Dopamine," Melia supplied.

Venam snapped her fingers. "Dopamine! So like, if your brain doesn't remember, your body does."

That made sense. After all, the thought of putting sugar into his coffee in the morning filled him with horror. His body simply rebelled against the idea. So then why didn't he remember what music he enjoyed? "So you're saying I should be able to recognize what I like simply by hearing it?" He asked.

Venam plucked one of those plastic guitar-snippie things from a drawer and began strumming her strings with it. "Yep. Music is part of your soul. Same ought to go with a whole lot of different kind of shit too."

Music was part of the soul…he liked that. He didn't know Venam could be so philosophical at times.

"Oh, yes, like when you smell something and that takes back to something you experienced years ago!" Melia said. "The mind associates senses with events and stores them in the brain in the form of memories. So maybe, as you go about your days, you'll find something that jostles your memory?"

Melia's boundless positivity. It really was impressive. "I already walked through half of Aevium. So far, no luck."

"You know what that means, right?" Venam said.

"I have to walk harder," Will said

Venam threw a pillow at his head. "Goddamnit, that was bad," she groaned. "No you dingus! It means that, if we throw enough kinds of music at your head, one's gonna stick."

"And if we can recover a memory that way, it might be possible to recover the others too!" Melia said triumphantly. "Venam, that's so smart!"

Will wrapped his arms around the pillow. Finding a way to regain his memories had been so low on his list of priorities that he'd basically given up on it. Hearing Venam and Melia draw up plans to help him get them back made him feel like, even if this failed, he might still be okay.

"I know," Venam said smugly. "I'm a genius when it comes to solving problems. Hah."

As the resident problem-solving-genius started putting together a playlist, she began brainstorming ideas for what she called a few "fuck you we won" days. Erick had a couple of rooms with a big setup, whatever that was supposed to mean, and Venam was impressed enough that she wanted to hang out and have fun over there instead of in East Gearen.

Soon, she and Melia began throwing out names of video games and movies. They got really excited about that. Before long they started putting together an actual to-do list for several days of actually hanging out, playing video games, watching movies and series and generally having fun. Kanon got involved, Erick got involved and that got Will thinking.

"We're missing someone," Will decided.

"Oh yeah?" Melia asked. "Who?"

"If we're going to have a party, we should invite Amber."

Venam pulled a face. "Eh? Amber?"

"That's a wonderful idea!" Melia said. "How sweet of you!"

"Yeah, except for the part where she's banned from ever entering East Gearen again," Venam grumbled. "I'm up for it, but you're gonna make some people very upset if they spot her."

Will gave her a deadpan look. He wasn't sure if there even existed a combination of words that could express just how little he cared about that. Banning an unsupervised girl from her home because a fire broke out...it still didn't sit right with him. "Oh no," he said. "Making people upset."

"Sarcasm? From Will?" Melia shook her head. "Tsk. What is the world coming to?"

"Eh. It's a start? I dunno. Sarcasm doesn't fit him."

Will rolled his eyes. "The point is, I don't care. If it's alright with you guys, I would like to ask Amber."

"That's really nice and all, but for real, people will get the police involved if they recognize her," Venam continued. "And after yesterday, I am a hundred percent done with those idiots. Still, people are gonna bitc - err, whine. People are gonna whine once they spot her. Which means they're gonna whine at you."

"If they spot her," Melia chimed in. "But something like, say, a Pidgeot flying through the clouds isn't going to attract a lot of attention, right?"

"Exactly!" Will grinned. He seemed to recall a certain purple-haired delinquent yelling about eating the police if they got uppity. He knew for a fact that a certain purple-skinned delinquent would relish the idea.

Nevertheless, getting into a serious altercation with the police would suck. Better to avoid that drama if he could. "You have her number right? Could you give her a call?"

Venam pulled her phone out of her pocket, tapped a few times and promptly shoved it into his hands. "Fine, but you're doing the talking!"

Said no sensible person ever. Nevertheless, Will took Venam's phone, held it to his ear and waited patiently until Amber answered. It rang for a solid thirty seconds before she finally answered. "Yeah?" Amber's voice was curt and distant. She likely had caller ID.

"Hey Amber, Will speaking. We - "

"Will? What are you doing with Venam's phone?" She asked, her voice back to its usual pitch and tone.

"Er - "

"Ah, never mind. You guys okay? What's up?"

"We fixed West Gearen City and we're gonna hang out for a while. Wanna join?" He asked.

"Me?" Amber asked with shock. "You want me to hang out?"

"Yeah, of course?" Will replied. Why would she be surprised by that? They'd hung out before. "It's going to be at Erick's big laboratory building."

"We're gonna watch movies and play videogames and eat junkfood!" Venam yelled. "Party tonight?"

"And he's got something called a "setup" there," Will continued.

He heard Amber sighing to herself at the other end. "...right. That sounds cool, I guess I - wait, did you say the laboratory? That's still in West Gearen City, Will."

"So?"

"I'm BANNED from Gearen City," Amber snapped.

"Imagine caring," Will shot back, and Venam pumped her fist in the air with a big grin. "We're bringing you."

Amber was silent for a full ten seconds. "You…you'd get in a lot of trouble if you get caught. The others, too. Venam's a Gym Leader and - "

"Imagine caring!" Venam shouted.

A smile tugged at his lips. Amber deserved some happiness in her life.

"...I…yeah, of course!" Amber said. "Fuck caring. I'd love to hang out with you guys!"

It was settled, then.

"The lockdown is lifted, so if Amber takes the yacht to the docks, we can pick her up there in a few hours," Melia said.

"Did you catch that?" Will asked.

"Yeah, taking the yacht. You got a plan?"

"Of course," he reassured her. "Give us a call when you're there. I'll come pick you up."

"Yes! I mean, sure. See you soon."

Amber hung up and Will handed the phone back to Venam. "Thanks."

"Imagine caring," she repeated, stuffing her phone back in her pocket. She mimed wiping away a tear from her eye. "I'm actually impressed. Did you hear that Melia? There's hope for him yet."

Melia shot Venam a reproaching look. "Venam…"

"What! It's true!"

"Guess you're rubbing off on me," Will said.

"That's what hanging out with the cool girls does," Venam said. "So what are the plans for now?"

Melia closed her book and got upright. "Let's go visit Erick! I want to see how Garbodor's doing, and if we're going to hang out in his lab, it might be a good idea to actually tell him the plan. Plus, Kanon's still there."

"Cool. I'll go tell mom."

As Venam went and told Chasity something along the lines of "Hey mom we're gonna have a sleepover at Erick's", Melia and Will headed outside.

"After everything that happened, I think the Space Hags probably won't mind if we keep hanging out here for a while," Melia said. "And if they do…"

"Then I'm sure they'll inform us," Will said. "By setting Mount Carotos to explode or something."

"Don't joke about that!" Melia urged him, but the smile on her face was unmistakable. "They'll get in touch with us eventually, I think. Until then, we should take some time for ourselves."

"With movies? Games?" Will said.

Melia nodded. "And…I do believe you and I had something else planned, right?"

"We did," Will said. "Do you…want to postpone it or…"

Or cancel it? An unwelcome voice in the back of his mind said.

"No, I think we can find something fun to do in West Gearen while we're there," Melia then said, much to Will's surprise - and delight. "I haven't been there in ages. It's bound to have changed over the years."

His stomach backflipped. "Venam and I scouted it out a bit. There's actually a lot to do."

Melia smiled at him. "We'll figure out something fun, get a drink. It'll be fun!"

"I would like that," Will said.

"Then we'll see where our plans lead us!"

Venam stepped out and closed the door behind her. "Alright, we're good to go. Let's head west. You get back here Will, I'm the Gym Leader around these parts, so I'll be taking the lead." With that grand proclamation, Venam promptly stomped off in what had to be the wrong direction. Will watched her go, wondering if he was supposed to correct her or just follow along.

"Sure, lead the way," Melia smiled. Her hand found his and she tugged him with her, answering that question at least for the moment.

~~~~~~~(IV)~~~~~~~

---

After a boating trip of an hour and a half, Amber finished the standard docking procedures, shut down the engine and then took a moment to brace herself against the steer.

"Can't fucking believe I'm doing this…" she muttered to herself.

Getting chased by some stupid dumbfuck idiots in blue was beneath her. She was better than giving a crap about this stupid city. Had it been up to her, she would have never given this cursed, stupid fucking place another second of her life.

But it hadn't been up to her. She had friends now. Actual, genuine friends who wanted to hang out. Will wanted to hang out.

That sort of thing just didn't happen to her. She didn't deserve to have that happen to her yet, she still had so much to do, so much to set right - but a part of her knew that, if she couldn't have this, then there was no point in trying to set things right anymore.

Will thought she deserved this, so if she tried to be contrarian and argue, she would just be telling him him to fuck off.

She'd hurt enough people in her life. Screwed things up enough. Maybe she hadn't earned this. But he thought she did, so she had to try.

So…so instead of deciding this wasn't going to work out, she took a step towards the boat's exit. Then another. Slowly, she walked over to the door. Grabbed the handle. Opened her up.

No police officers coming to ward her off. No angry civilians clamoring for another witch hunt. Just the familiar smog, the hustle and bustle of a city that never truly slept.

Warily, Amber searched the docks for any sign of trouble. Instead of trouble, however, her gaze fell on a familiar guy with familiar, warm eyes and a familiar, gnarly yet rugged-looking scar. He leaned against one of the wooden piers, calmly watching her disembark from the family yacht.

As expected, he wasn't alone. Melia stood next to him. Or rather, Will stood next to Melia. That was where he'd been when she first met him, and that was where he wanted to be when he left.

But now he was back. They were back. And Melia cheerfully waved at her. A bit nervously, Amber raised her hand. She gave a little wave back.

Fuck, she felt dumb. This was dumb. Everything was so dumb, she shouldn't be here, not in this place, not in this fucking city that had chewed her up and spat her out -

Much to her surprise, she spotted Venam too. At least, she thought that was Venam, because who the hell else would it be? She looked way different, with actual normal hair and a much more casual set of clothes, but still. The confidence and self-assured way with which the now-brunette sauntered her way couldn't be anyone but Veronica Vasile.

Venam.

Venam, Melia and Will.

Her friends.

"If it isn't the second-coolest musician in Gearen City," Venam said, grinning from ear to ear as she shoved her hands into her pockets. "Welcome back."

Amber strode across the wooden pier towards her…her friends, keeping her hands clenched nervously at her side. Almost instinctively, she bit back, "Not enough money or gigs in the world for me to bother heading here to dethrone you," she said, feeling jittery and fuck, was she scared?

Purposefully, she didn't start scanning the docks for any sign of trouble. Purposefully, she kept her gaze locked solely on Will, who seemed so much better and more relaxed than the last time she saw him. He just smiled at her like the big, dumb goof he was and fucking finally that's the way he's supposed to look, not sick, nor dreary, not scared and guilty and -

"Figured as much," Venam replied.

"We're happy you came regardless," Melia said, sounding honest and earnest.

"Yeah, I wasn't gonna at first, but how could I say no to that," Amber said, gesturing at Will.

He waved. "Hi."

The greenest puppy eyes. Eye? Eyes.

"Anyway, you up for a party?" Venam said.

"Of course I'm up for a damn party!" Amber exclaimed. "You guys got a plan to go to the location before some official asshat decides to piss on our parade?"

"We're flying to West Gearen," Will said.

"There, we'll introduce you to Erick and Kanon, and see if they got things started already," Melia explained. "Erick's been having some fluctuations at the generator room."

"I swear, if we get a freaking power outage I'm gonna lose my shit," Venam grumbled.

"We could play hide and seek in the dark, that would be fun," Melia said, which Amber genuinely hoped was just a joke. She'd guessed that Melia wasn't exactly the rough type, since the blonde had her heart in the right space and had enough spunk to dare face down Team Xen with just her friends, but hide and seek?

That was just…just so tame.

Curious, Amber looked Melia over again. She realized that, even though she'd lived with him for a week, she didn't actually know Will. Didn't know a thing about what made him tick. What was it about Melia that drew him so inexorably towards her?

Maybe she'd get to find out.

"Melia, hide and seek is lame," Venam chastised her.

Thank fuck it wasn't just her…

"I know, I know," Melia quickly said. "It wasn't serious."

"I can have Froslass steal some police gear," Will suggested. "Hide and seek might be lame, but what about hide and seek with tasers?"

Melia shot him an alarmed look. Amber snorted, and even Venam began laughing. "Yeah, sure, keep dreaming," Venam said after a hearty chuckle. "But we're being serious here. Amber, do you see what I have to work with here?" She added with exasperation.

"I do," Amber said, surprised that Venam had dropped all shit and started being so…approachable to her. She latched onto that, hoping against hope that somehow, if she handled this carefully enough, this could be the new normal. If she just didn't fuck things up from here. If other people didn't fuck things up for them. "Guess it's up to us to hype things up again."

"Yeah," Venam sighed. "Come on, you two jokers, let's hope Erick has things under control…"

"But I wasn't - " Will started protesting.

"Come on Will, get your Pidgeot out before people start asking questions," Amber urged him on.

"It was seri…ah, forget it." Without another word, Will sent out the Pidgeot Amber knew he'd ridden when he assaulted Valor Mountain.

The massive bird of prey materialized in a flash of white light. He unfolded a set of massive wings, craned his majestic head up and calmly inspected his surroundings. Amber saw him calmly scan the skyscrapers, running his sharp eyes across the visible skylines before he turned to look at her.

Feeling like she was right back in the spotlight, Amber froze. Pidgeot glared at her like Houndoom had and this time, she didn't have the luxury of being in the soothing presence of a Fire-type. Pidgeot was big and its hooked beak alone could fit a large portion of her head.

"Uh…hi," she said, hating how small and frightened she sounded. This wasn't her, this wasn't how she wanted to be yet her mind kept reminding her that all of Will's Pokemon had fought against an entire army and they had suffered and they had very likely killed, Pidgeot alone was responsible for even getting Will into Valor Mountain into the first place, responsible for getting Will into that fucking cave and saving her and mom -

As her thoughts threatened to spiral out of control, Will reached up and brushed Pidgeot's glossy mane. "This is Amber. We like Amber. Amber is really cool."

Pidgeot turned to look at Will, then craned his head around and brought it close, really freaking close, a mere inch away from her face.

Dimly, Amber remembered that some Pokemon were born with an instinct filling them with pride and authority. Only their trainers were meant to challenge that. Outsiders were not. It was comparable to a pack mentality; Will was the leader of the pack. Houndoom had been his direct subordinate, but as an outsider, she wasn't automatically part of that pack, and she wouldn't make the mistake of assuming she was above them or something.

So Amber averted her eyes as Pidgeot leered at her.

After a few tense seconds, Pidgeot exhaled a gust of warm air through his nostrils and looked away again. Amber breathed a sigh of relief.

His Pokemon don't hate you, she reminded herself. They don't hate you, nobody important hates you.

Wordlessly, Will swung his leg over Pidgeot's muscled frame. He positioned himself with practiced ease, then turned and offered Amber his hand.

"Hurry up Slowpokes!" Venam yelled at them from Melia's Togekiss.

Amber forced herself to ignore Venam's words, walked towards Pidgeot and then took Will's hand. He helped her get seated right behind him, but then she realized that she was supposed to wrap her freaking arms around his waist and no way, there was no way she could simply hug him like that even if twas simply to keep herself in place.

"If you blink, Pidgeot will be in Weat Gearen already," Will said. "Hang on."

"How?" Amber sputtered.

Patiently, Will reached behind him, found Amber's right arm and then put it right on his waist, right on his chest at the part below his ribs. His muscles had tightened in anticipation of a sudden liftoff and when Amber begrudgingly wrapped her arms around his waist, she felt the ropey edge of the scar running from his chest to his stomach. It felt super weird; she'd expected Will to feel frail and while she could count his ribs with her fingers, the muscles of his core felt harder than she thought. He felt sturdier than she'd believed yet the scar made him feel infinitely more fragile.

"Hang on," he said.

"Last one in West Gearen is a rotten egg!" Melia laughed, before Togekiss hauled ass out of there.

Will let out a short laugh as Pidgeot took off, really took off. The big Flying-type just exploded into the sky. Amber couldn't keep a startled scream from escaping her throat as the ground plummeted away at mach fucking fifty and the wind nearly slapped the both of them off Pidgeot's back. She clutched hard at Will's waist, holding on for dear life as Pidgeot beat his wings with enough force to create a hurricane with every flap.

They shot after Togekiss like a comet. East Gearen turned into a dumb, grey blur as the two Pokemon surged through the sky. Amber pressed her entire body against Will's back, feeling her heart leaping up in her throat as Pidgeot suddenly lurched to the left, fuck she was gonna fall, she'd fall she'd fucking fall -

But she didn't fall. Instead. Pidgeot soared right past Togekiss, which didn't even seem mad that it had been overtaken so easily. As they passed by them, Amber caught a glimpse of Melia looking at them - not us, just him - with unbridled glee. Will turned his head to look back at Melia and Amber could easily imagine that exact same look plastered on his face.

Melia shouted something at Togekiss, her words lost to the howling wind, but the egg-shaped Fairy-type kicked it up a notch and began aggressively beating his wings to catch up.

A wild sense of pride welled up in Amber's chest and she knew then and there who the winner of this little race would be.

Fuck you Gearen City, she thought as the stupid city disappeared in the distance. You're not gonna keep me down!

Will hadn't been exaggerating. They really did end up in West Gearen in the blink of a freaking eye. They'd only flown for like a minute, maybe two before Pidgeot had to slow down and begin the landing procedure.

"You okay?" Will asked.

"Never better!" Amber yelled back. Why had mom never told her what riding Talonflame was like? If she'd known flying felt like this she would have asked to join her on her trips years ago!

She had time. She had time and she had the space to set that right, too. She'd tell her mother just how awesome flying was, how easily her guy did it.

Then, she realized that most of Will's flying experience likely came from having to fight Team Xen. She remembered the ranger stories of exploding ships and sinking boats and a blurry shadow in the night.

Will craned his head around from the left to the right as if searching for something. "Are they here? I don't see them. I think we won."

"Yeah," Amber said hesitantly. A cursory look revealed that the big space in front of West Gearen's Generator building was devoid of Togekisses. "I think we're the first."

"Our ace did it again," he grinned. He swung his legs over Pidgeot's side and shoved himself off, jumping to the ground -

He stumbled, tripping or staggering or whatever. Lightning fast, Pidgeot's head whipped around and he caught the back of Will's shirt. In a display of incredible precision his razor-sharp beak didn't snip through Will's clothes or cut into his spine, and when Pidgeot tugged, he managed to keep Will back on his feet.

"Fuck," Amber hissed, climbing off the Flying-type and hurrying to check things out. "The hell was that? You okay?"

"Fine," Will breathed. He brushed a strand of hair out of his left eye. "Just tripped."

Don't bullshit me! Amber wanted to yell. When she opened her mouth however, what came out was a reserved, "Sure?"

That was when Melia and Venam swept down on the cloud-shaped Togekiss. "Dude, did you just almost fall flat on your face?" She laughed. "What, got too hasty?"

"I guess," Will mumbled.

Melia studied him closely. "Well, looks like they beat us again, Hapi," she said without taking her eyes off him. "Guess Venam has to be the rotten egg for today."

Hapi the Togekiss huh? Silly nickname, but Amber wasn't going to judge. Hapi sounded much better than Venam, regardless.

"Huh? Why me?" Venam complained.

"Because you were the last one here," Melia told her. "I was in front, remember?"

Amber couldn't help but laugh at the look of incredulity on Venam's face.

"Anyway," Melia continued. "This is the generator complex, Erick's lab, the place where he has his gym and apparently, the location of one wicked setup."

"Oh, yeah, he's got an office with this holographic projector the scientists use for meetings and shit, but we figured out a way to stream movies there," Venam grinned. "And we turned one of the coffee rooms into a gaming room. We're talking a big-ass television and four-player splitscreen. It's gonna be so cool."

"Sounds cool," Amber said. "And this other guy? Kanon?"

"Oh yeah, Kanon takes some getting used to, but he's an okay guy," Venam said. "He's got the balls when he needs them, which is definitely a plus."

"So is he an ally against Team Xen or…?"

Venam and Melia exchanged a meaningful look. "You could say that, yeah," Melia said. "Come on, let's head inside. Get you all introduced."

Introductions were a lot tamer than Amber expected. Turns out she knew Erick; he was the Electric-type Gym Leader who'd taken over Blakeory's position in West Gearen. Venam introduced him as Saki's boyfriend - the poor guy - but Erick vehemently denied it.

Kanon was this kinda weird guy who didn't talk a lot but acted stiffly and awkwardly. Amber kept her comments to herself, since Kanon didn't seem like the most social kind of person. Then again, Will had turned out to be full of surprises and there had to be a pair of functioning balls on this kid somewhere considering he was in the know about Team Xen.

She'd behave.

The good news ended there. Power fluctuations meant Erick was still hammering away at getting shit set up right, which meant they had a few more spare hours to kill before they could get to the good stuff.

Amber was just about to suggest they set out for the forest when something odd happened. Melia leaned towards Will and whispered something in his ear and Amber could have sworn something went click inside of his head, because a grin spread on his face before he switched to trying to be subtle.

Heh. Will. Subtle.

"Okay, so, Will and I have somewhere to be," Melia happily announced. "Let's meet back here at Erick's in…let's say three hours?"

"Three should be fine," Will agreed.

"Somewhere to be?" Venam said. Her eyebrows knitted together. "Together? Should I tag along?"

"No, it's fine, we're not going to do anything risky," Melia said. "We're just going to grab a drink, make up some ah, lost time."

"We're staying in West Gearen."

Amber saw Venam stiffen right in front of her. Really weird. Her eyes went from Melia, to Will, and Amber could have sworn her expression darkened. "Uh…if you're sure…just be careful. West Gearen can still be as dangerous as East."

"I'm not worried," Melia said. She inched closer to Will. "We're much more dangerous!"

Amber snorted. A Buneary like Melia? Dangerous? Hah. Not in a million years. Will, on the other hand…

He shouts her name.

He offers his hand.

Yeah. She guessed she could see it.

"If you're sure - " Venam began.

"Geez, they said they'd be fine," Amber bit at her. "West Gearen isn't some sort of fucking hellhole, it's just an ugly depressing ass-end of a city. They'll be fine together."

Venam shot her a dirty look. "Whatever…"

With that out of the way, Will and Melia went on their…yeah, if a guy and a girl went for a drink together, that was a date, wasn't it? So Will and Melia went on their date which meant -

Venam watched the pair leave with a broody expression. "I'm going to keep an eye on them," she decided. Much to Amber's shock, she began stalking after them.

"Hey, hang on, what the fuck!" Amber said. "They said they'd be fine!"

"Yeah?" Venam said in a challenging tone. "I've heard that before! Team Xen's still after Melia, it's far too dangerous."

"If it's so dangerous, why are we hanging out and holding a fucking movie and game night?" Amber fired back.

Venam groaned in frustration. "God, why do you care?"

"Why do you care!"

For a second, Venam glared daggers at her, breathing angrily. "That's none of your business," she snapped, before continuing after Melia and Will.

There was a line in the ground, a line that, once she stepped over, she wouldn't be able to step back. A line that, once crossed, meant things wouldn't be the same. She decide fuck it, it really wasn't her business and stay there. Keep her distance from her friends. Let them sort things out themselves. Or…or she could step over it and…

"Actually, it kinda is," Amber protested, her body almost moving on auto-pilot as she hurried after Venam. "Newsflash! Will's my friend too! And so is Melia. They're gonna hang out, what's the big deal?"

Venam spun on her heels. "It's a big deal because…because…because I fucking say it is! I'm gonna keep an eye out, who the fuck cares?"

What the hell was this about? "So you're gonna spy on them?" Amber asked, incredulous.

"It's not spying, it's making sure!"

"Sure? Making sure about what? Venam, use your freaking words, what's wrong?" Amber urged her. "Seriously!"

Venam opened her mouth to respond, stuttered something, then angrily turned away again. "Seriously, it's not your business!"

Right. This wasn't working. Amber didn't want to do this, but Venam's bitchy ass had left her no choice. "Not my fucking business? That's weird, I seem to remember you saying you fucked up before, last time we met. You're saying it's not my business, but Will saved my life in Valor Mountain! That's something I can never fucking repay, but I'm gonna try! They're my friends too, so this happens to be my business!"

Venam kept glaring, but the lack of a smarmy comeback this time meant Amber had struck another sensitive chord.

"What's the big deal that they're hanging out without - " It began dawning on her. Something like disbelief tore at her chest when she realized that Venam wasn't being cautious, she was being jealous. "Wait a minute. This isn't about Team Xen is it?"

"Uh - " Venam blinked a couple of times. "Amber look - "

Holy shit, that was it. "Venam…are you jealous that Will and Melia are hanging out without you?" Amber exclaimed, dumbstruck by the simplicity of it all. "Really?"

"No!" Venam blurted out, all but confirming it. "No! Of course not!"

And now she was lying about it, which meant it was important to her. "Oh my god, you so are! Venam, what the hell gives? They're just going to have fun together!"

"I know, I know, and I'm not - " Venam quickly looked around to confirm they were alone. "I'm NOT fucking jealous okay? Don't fucking say that!"

"And…so you were gonna spy on your own friends because you didn't want them to have fun without you?" Amber said. She shook her head in disbelief. This…this was low. It was too low for Venam. "Wow…that's not cool, Venam."

"Hey, fuck off, you don't get it!" Venam growled.

"What's there to get?" Amber said with a shrug. "Melia and Will are friends too. If they're having fun, even if that's without you, you should be happy for them."

"I know!" Venam groaned. "Fuck, I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you!"

She shook her head in disbelief. "I thought you would get this. That you don't, is really freaking…well, it's disappointing."

Venam stared at her in shock. Shock morphed into horror as she likely realized what that implied, and that horror turned into anger. "I'm…I want Melia to be happy, yeah! And of course I want Will to be happy! The dude's gone through so much sheer crap! I just…" She gestured furiously.

"I don't have a lot of friends," Amber said slowly. "Especially not after the fire. Everything fell apart, back then."

That took the wind out of Venam's sails. "I…"

"But now that I finally have some again…I don't think I would give a shit if it's Melia making Will laugh, or you, or even this Kanon guy, as long as Will's laughing," Amber continued. Realizing what she said, she quickly added, "J-Just as an example."

Venam heaved an explosive sigh. "Fuck, I get it! Man, I can't believe I got a freaking preaching session from Amber of all people…"

"Quit fucking up then," Amber snapped.

Venam huffed and crossed her arms, back to being that familiar stubborn girl again. "Why don't you quit meddling?"

"You quit being so whiny!" Amber growled.

They glared at each other for several seconds longer before Venam said, "Fine. Fuck it. Wanna check if Erick's done fixing shit?"

"Fuck. Yes. Hey, now that we're here, what's with this Kanon kid's getup?"

"Thank god, I thought I was the only one who noticed!"

They headed back to Erick's big generator building. As they did, Amber let her thoughts run over this entire weird confrontation again. She considered what little she actually knew about Will, and that she knew even less about Melia.

But did that really matter? Seeing Will again like this, healthy and whole and happy, that felt good. Like, real fucking good. And if going on a little date with Melia was all she needed to protect that happiness, then throwing down with Venam would have been worth every bruise.

She was just glad it didn't get to that. Instead, Venam had been almost…reasonable? Yeah, that was it. Reasonable.

How the fuck had these two made Veronica Vasile capable of reason?

Eh, fuck it. That too didn't matter. She was in Gearen, and she didn't hate it. She was back in the presence of Venam, and she didn't hate it.

That was what mattered.

~~~~~~~(V)~~~~~~~

---

"If you were a Gym Leader, what would your type be?" Melia asked as they strolled through the busy streets of West Gearen City.

"Good question," Will said. "I'm stepping on a lot of toes with this one."

She smiled. "Maybe. Do you actually plan to apply for a reserve spot?"

"I plan to retire to Sheridan Village."

"Then I doubt you'd be stepping on anyone's toes. So, your type?"

Since Sheridan Village had elected Texen as their new Fighting Gym Leader, he honestly couldn't see himself living a meaningful life if he didn't step on someone's toes every single day. "I'm leaning fire."

Melia eyed him intently. "Fire, huh?"

"Fire has always worked in the past."

"Plus, Blaziken," Melia pointed out.

"Exactly. Most Gym Leaders really synergize well with their type. People like Valarie and Narcissa seem like they were born for their Gym. I feel like I don't really have one type. I'm leaning towards Dragon just as much."

"I think I know what you mean," Melia replied. "As the Normal-type Leader, I would have been forced to limit myself to Pokemon I might not even love."

"Like Hapi," Will pointed out.

"Total dealbreaker right there!" Melia said with a pout.

"And…Serenity…Fortitude…wait a minute…" Will said. "Come to think of it, your only Normal-type is…Snorlax was Patience, right?"

"Uh, so I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about?" Melia said sheepishly.

Will gave her a look. "How are you supposed to be the Normal-type Leader if you only have one Normal-type?"

Her eyes shone with joy as she said, "See, the thing is, I don't care. I wanna fight with the Pokemon I grew up with and love."

WIll laughed. "I think that's the best way to go about it," he said. "Who's going to tell you otherwise? Amanda?"

"Right! I doubt she would have been able to find me in GDC!" Melia said. "Hey, before I forget again, there's something I've been really curious about, but stuff keeps happening and I never got to ask. How come you haven't given your Pokemon nicknames? It seems like such a you thing to do."

Nicknames. That was a topic he hadn't given much thought. Most people nicknamed their Pokemon. Especially ones they got as an egg. There was something intimate and deeply personal about naming your own Pokemon and then giving them their own name.

"I thought about it, during the early days," Will said. "But…something keeps me from committing."

"Something?" Melia asked, her brows pitched in mild confusion.

"This is probably going to sound really weird, but…every time I think about naming one of my Pokemon, I feel like it lacks…legitimacy."

"Legitimacy?" Melia repeated.

"Yeah." They passed by a particularly crowded bus stop. "Like I said, it's weird. During the early days, when I thought about a name, my thoughts just…ran into a wall."

"...legitimacy…" Melia muttered to herself. "I hate to say this, but…could that be related to your memories, too?"

"I hate to say this too, but I hope so," Will said. "Some things just don't make sense otherwise."

"I think, with time, it might just come to you," Melia said with a reassuring smile. "If you felt like you found the legitimacy you needed, what would your nickname theme be? Would you call Nidoking fluffy?"

"That's Mister Fluffy to us," Will said, and the way Melia's smile grew deeper did funny things to his chest. "In all seriousness, I really admire the way you named your Pokemon after virtues. Maybe I could find inspiration, there."

They rounded a corner and headed into the market district, where the familiar sometimes-useful, sometimes-sleazy stalls were running at full capacity.

"What kind of virtues would those be?" Melia asked.

"Resilience," Will answered without hesitation. "Dedication. Things that…I guess mattered to me in the heat of the moment. Resolve. Discipline. Ideas of what I should strive for, behavior that will lead to self-improvement."

"Wow, it sounds like you put a lot of thought into that," Melia said musingly. "Resilience…resolve…that's deep."

"Thank you," Will said earnestly. "They're not going to be beating Hapi when it comes to deepness, but still."

Melia giggled, rolling her eyes at him. "Nothing's beating Hapi as nicknames go."

They made it past the Gearen News HQ and towards the actual shopping mall Venam and he had found there yesterday. There, Melia made it about four steps before her eyes landed on the nearest clothing store. Her eyes lit up and she gasped. "Oh, look! I totally forgot, but you need clothes!"

"What's wrong with my old ones?" Will asked.

Melia shot him an exasperated look. "The ones with holes in them from Helojak Island? Or the ones with holes in them from Crawli's obstacle course? Do you perhaps mean the clothes with holes and dried blood on them?"

"Okay, I think I get the point," Wil said.

Her hand shot out to grab his wrist. "I haven't even gotten to the point yet. Come on!"

And so it was that Melia pulled him inside of the clothing store and began browning cute new outfits and stuff to wear during special occasions. Not just for herself, but also for him.

Will decided to oblige her. He could use some gym clothes, because the moment those stitches in his chest went into the garbage he'd continue the schedule Aelita, Adam and him had cooked up together. He couldn't be slacking off in that department. Once Aelita woke up from her weeks-long coma, he'd…probably still not lift more than her, but damnit he was going to come close!

Some gym clothes became gym clothes and comfy clothes which inspired Melia to go check out some new shirts as well.

With their respective clothes in tow, off to the dressing rooms they went. This store had four changing rooms installed way in the back, two symmetrical shacks to change clothes in, centered around a couple of stools and little benches.

"You first, you first!" Melia said.

Will headed into one of the rooms, pulled the curtain close-ish behind him and began removing the clothes from his upper body. As he undressed himself, his gaze fell on the large mirror hanging in the little dressing room. Up close, in a full-body mirror like that, the scars just looked so much worse. He traced his fingertips along the jagged, ropey line that Geara had left him with.

Geara, who had killed Jenner. Geara, who had murdered Nim. Where was he now? Mewtwo had broken the tele-pad, which meant Geara could have been anywhere from safely back in the Xen HQ to stripped to a haze of atoms spread out across Aevium.

If he made it back to the HQ, would Madame X punish him for his failure? He hadn't seen Neved there at all, either. Had she dealt with him too? Or were they all there together, scarred and beaten but alive, plotting their collective vengeance?

"Will?" Melia's voice shook him from his thoughts. "You didn't fall asleep in there, did you?"

"No," Will quickly said. "No, I…I started thinking too much. Was stupid. I'm…gimme a second."

He quickly pulled the nearest shirt over his head, shoved it down over his chest to hide the scars and then poked his head out from the curtain. "I put on a shirt."

Melia, sitting cross-legged on one of the stools. ran her gaze over his body. He felt her eyes glide from his neck down his chest, before flicking towards his arms. "So I see…hmm…not bad! I think it fits."

He raised his arms over his head. "It's a bit tight around the shoulders."

She got to her feet, then tossed him the second batch of clothes. "They're meant to be tight around the shoulders. Shirts like these should be a smidgen too tight, in fact. It helps accentuate your - t-the body, it helps accentuate the body," she said. "Come on, try these!"

He did. He tried them all, put away the ones he really didn't like or the ones that were either way too small or so big that he could drown in them, and then placed the ones he'd keep in a stack on one of the stools. He felt Melia's eyes on him every time he left the changing room to deposit a shirt, a jacket or even a set of sweatpants and leggings.

"I think we scored," Melia grinned when he presented himself one final time, showing her a dark grey shirt with an imprint that had literally zero meaning to him, but looked funny. She nodded in appreciation, so he guessed the imprint meant something to her. "Oh yeah, we definitely scored."

Will hopped back into his stall and put on his familiar green-colored shirt-jacket combination again. All in all, he was now the proud owner of two new gym shirts, two normal T-shirts, one gray and the other dark green, and two new sets of pants.

That counted as success in his book.

It was Melia's turn next. It turned out that girls worked a bit differently when they tried on clothes compared to guys. Her leggings alone, for example, took her two attempts per article for five different kinds of leggings, ranging from white ones all the way to a sporty black one with yellow stripes running down its side.

"What do you think?" Became a consistent theme as Melia flitted in and out of the dressing room, adding and removing layers of clothing with practiced ease. Will, for his part, wasn't sure how he could best help Melia pick the clothes she liked, so he did the next best thing. He was honest, listened to what she said she liked, and then headed back into the store to hang back the clothes she'd rejected and find pieces that resembled those she'd deemed fit.

It wasn't easy, but it was fun and it kept him distracted. Melia thought in patterns of color and shapes and even themes. In contrast, his thinking process went something along the lines of if fit, like color? If like color, take.

"Here, try these ones," Will said. He positioned himself next to Melia's dressing shack, strategically positioned himself in such a way that he wouldn't see anything, kept his head at a very neutral position and then slowly poked past the curtain with two different black skirts on coat hangers. One had little black frills at the sides, while the other had a bit of a floral pattern going on. Both were Melia's size however, and to his unpracticed eye they appeared similar to the skirt she already liked to wear.

Melia flung the curtain open half a meter, took the two hangers with a chirpy "thanks!" and then quickly zipped it close again.

Hadn't she realized that she'd been wearing just a bra when she did that? What if there had been people looking? Her situational awareness was always on point, so it was very possible she'd known that they were still on their own in the dressing stalls, but still. Risky.

…he hadn't expected her to be the type who preferred her bras to be black as well. Interesting.

"Alright, I think I like these ones," she declared a minute later. "I'm coming out!"

Melia flung the curtain open again and presented herself in all her grace and beauty. Her new blouse was white as well, but it had something of a dragon pattern running over its sleeves and towards the waist. She'd gone for the black leggings this time, which disappeared beneath her newly-picked skirt, the one with the floral pattern. This one wasn't held up by suspenders but by…huh.

What did keep a skirt from falling down?

Melia performed a pirouette. "And? What do you think?"

How do skirts work? "I think you look fantastic," Will said.

Melia put one hand on her hip and gave it a little jut. "Thank you! Are you all set?"

"If you've got everything you need?" Will offered.

Melia smirked. "This shop isn't big enough for that. But, it will have to suffice."

"Alright, then let's find the checkout. I'm paying."

"What - Will, you don't have to do that!" Melia protested immediately, predictably and a bit frantically.

"Irvin had you working as a waitress while I've been lining my pockets with money from Help Center jobs and battles," he calmly explained. "All of those Xen bases the Rangers raided were filled with cash and other assets. As long as we don't need to buy our own secret mountain base, we're good on the money front."

"But - but - these are girl's clothes you're paying for," Melia stammered. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"Should it?" A very puzzled Will asked.

"Uh…I…well, I don't know actually, I've never had a boy trying and buying clothes with me," Melia admitted, a blush dusting her pale face.

That was a coincidence; as far as he could remember, he'd never tried or bought clothes himself either. "Well, there's a first time for everything, right?"

"Yeah, that's true," Melia said, her blushy look turning into a smile. "And it was a lot of fun! Dad always said guys were mostly useless when it comes to shopping together, but I don't know where he got that from."

Will thought about that as Melia and him headed to the checkout. The lady there gave Melia and him little smirky looks, asked if they'd found everything they wanted, and then when Will said he'd pay, he was pretty sure the cashier gave Melia a wink, which saw her blush returning with a vengeance.

Whatever that was about, it went straight over his head. Probably a girl thing…

With both of them carrying two store bags filled with clothes per person, Melia and him went for one more stop before they needed to head back to Erick's.

They went out to get ice cream.

Melia found them a cozy little spot tucked in the corner between a second clothing shop and a bakery of sorts. There, they pulled up a table and sat down. Melia ordered a strawberry coupe, while Will decided it was time for chocolate chip ice cream.

Then. it was time for the real questions.

"How does a skirt even work?" Will asked. "Without suspenders, what keeps it from falling off or, I don't know, riding up?"

"Where did that question come from?" Melia asked, bemused.

"It popped into my head when I went hunting for the right skirts," he explained. "I didn't see any belts, so…"

Gesturing with her spoon, Melia said, "Like pants with only one leg hole."

This was one of those moments where Will felt like his entire life had brought him to this singular point in time. "So, pant." he said.

Melia nearly choked on her ice cream as a fit of laughter overcame her. "Wh-Whoah," she coughed. She quickly covered her mouth with her other hand. "Where do you even keep those!" She choked out.

Will leant back in his chair and smiled. "I imagine a big bookshelf in my mind. I'm keeping the jokes in the drawer where the memories were supposed to go."

"You do realize that means you will have to relocate them, right?" Melia asked. "Because you are getting them back."

He appreciated the certainty in her voice. "When we do, I'll just have to put down a second shelf."

She snickered. "Of course, because that makes sense. Well, skirts can be elastic, like sweatpants. they can also have a button and zipper like jeans. They stay up because the waistband grips the waist. Lots of skirts and dresses have these nifty long zippers hidden behind folds of fabric. They're not very visible."

Will nodded along. "That makes sense."

Amusement twinkled in her eyes and she leant forwards. "Why the curiosity?"

"Uh - "

"Looking to expand your wardrobe?" She teased.

…no, no, that was even worse. "I knew it," he murmured. "I knew it! You and Venam want to stick me in girly clothes!"

Instead of denying it, Melia giggled again. Oh, she tried to hide it behind a quick bite of her ice cream, but Will knew what he heard. "I'll admit, I think that would look really adorable. But there's a dozen other things I think you would look really cute doing, too, so I don't think you need to worry."

Adorable. Cute. He could think of worse things to be named. It depended on who did the naming, of course. If the likes of Venam and Amber suddenly started calling him cute he knew it was time to get the hell out of dodge. But Melia… "Such as?"

"Hey, a girl's gotta have some secrets," Melia laughed. She tucked a strand of her golden hair behind her headband. "Don't worry about it, I'm just poking fun."

""Uh-huh," Will said, not entirely convinced. He took a large bite of his ice and chewed it thoughtfully. "I'll just have to take it, I guess."

"No other choice there," Melia agreed.

After another half hour of just just hanging out, discussing silly things and laughing, Melia paid the tab and they began heading back towards Erick's.

On the way back, Will noticed her falling quiet for a bit.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

Melia was silent for another moment, before continuing on a more somber note, "Hey, can I ask you something personal?"

"Of course," he replied.

Melia stared at the ground a while longer before asking, "On Valor Mountain…I saw you fall. After Giratina knocked you off the ledge…" she shook her head. "I couldn't get to you. I…I heard you fall."

"Melia…"

She stared at her feet, fidgeting with her hands. "Geara said it himself. You fell. You died. When I thought you were gone I…but then you came back." Her hands curled up into shaky fists. "And I don't…understand…how."

Even though she did an amazing job of keeping it together, her voice was full of anguish and Will couldn't bear it. "I fell," he admitted. "I died. But I think Crescent brought me back."

She still didn't look at him. "I don't see how that is even possible."

"We walked through a forest in a volcano to touch crystal and go back in time," Will said, offering her a soft smile. "I don't know what else to tell you. I'm here now. I think that's all that matters."

Melia looked up at him, tears burning in her eyes. The raw, lost confusion was audible in her voice. "Falling into lava…burning…I cannot imagine. I can't possibly imagine - "

"Hey, I don't remember it very well, so don't take yourself there," Will told her. It wasn't a lie. Between the horrifying image of his nails tearing against the sheer cliff wall and the confusing mess of waking up in Crescent's pocket dimensions, everything else was a blur of heat and light.

He barely recalled the pain.

Not until after Crescent sent him back.

"Of all the things to worry about, it's not that." He peered deep into Melia's glassy eyes. "I don't know how she did it. I don't know why she did it." He brought his hands up to hold Melia's arms, gently trying to tug her back into the here and now. "But I'm here."

She shook her head. "How can you think like that?" She whispered. She shut her eyes and the first tears streamed down her cheeks. "Even if you don't remember how it happened, you died."

"Yeah," Will said. He drew short strokes against the back of her left hand in an attempt to soothe her. "I did. So did a lot of other people. I got to come back. I got another chance to live."

Melia stared at him with those large, silver eyes of hers. Teary, forlorn eyes of silver. "How can you act like nothing changed?" She whispered. "How can you be here with us, risking your life, knowing how it feels to lose it?"

Will brought his hands up to the sides of her neck, stroking the tears from her cheek with his thumb. "Resilience. Dedication." He let out the words slowly and clearly. It was important, now more than ever, that he got it right. "Resolve. Discipline."

A shudder rocked Melia's breath. "Will…you…?"

He offered her a small smile to let her know that it was okay. That he was okay and that she would be okay. "The rest, I'll figure out. We'll figure it out."

Melia nodded, sending more droplets of tears falling to the pavement below. When she found her voice, it was cracked and tender, but still under control. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to drag this all up but you said…you said fire and I couldn't get that out of my h-head and…I had to know, I needed to know - "

"It's okay," Will told her. "Hey, Melia, it's okay."

Fire. These things always made the most sense in hindsight. Fire. Of course that would have raised questions. Maybe in time it would come to him. Maybe in time it would appear in his nightmares and light him up at night.

But until it did…he'd continue doing what he thought best.

He saw Melia's effort to pull herself back together, to reign in her emotions and her fears and try to present a calmer picture. "Do you really think so?"

"Yes," he said. And he meant it. "Despite it all, we made it. And we won."

"Yes…" She brought one hand back to wipe her eyes and Will let his arms fall by his side again. "We did. I'm sorry for dropping this on you like that…we had so much fun before and I think I might have just ruined that."

"Of course you haven't," Will said, giving her a playful little nudge. "This bothered you, and you were honest about it, which a certain someone told me was the healthiest way to go about things."

She didn't look convinced. "Still - "

"If you ruined this, then that means I ruined going out for drinks in Teila Resort together," Will shot back.

"That's different," Melia muttered.

"It is," Will agreed. "We had ice cream today."

A soft huff of a laugh, and Melia said, "We did. I enjoyed it a lot."

"So did I." They started walking again, leisurely heading back towards Erick's. "I haven't had this much fun in a while," he admitted.

Melia ruffled her bag with clothes. "Now we know where to go next time."

Next time.

Her words very nearly caught him off guard. Next time.

Melia wanted there to be a next time.

"Yeah," he said, feeling his heart speed up at the thought. "I would like that a lot."

When they made it back to the Generator complex, the presence of their shopping bags made Amber and Erick of all people giddy. Apparently, they'd recognized the logo of that particular shop. Somehow, that meant some unwritten rule had been activated and that they were now practically honorbound to show what they'd bought.

At first, Will thought they were messing with him, and Kanon seemed equally confused so it couldn't be just him. However, Venam swore on her guitar that it was true, which meant that he had no choice.

Melia was all too happy to show off her new clothes. Amber and Venam crowded her, their eyes going over every square inch of her skirts, her new blouse and her leggings.

"Looks like the Council approved," Erick said when Amber broke into a grin and handed the blouse to Venam, who nodded in return.

"The what?" Kanon said, still utterly lost.

"Eh," Will said.

"What about you then? Finally went and explored your own sense of fashion?" Amber asked him a minute later.

"Sure did," Will replied.

"Really?" A sceptical Venam said. "What'd you get?"

Proudly, Will put his bag on one of the tables and said, "Shirts!"

Amber and Venam exchanged a look of…wait, was that disappointment? It was! Why?

"It's a start, I guess," Venam sighed.

Will crossed his arms over his chest. Behind him, he heard Erick snickering up a storm, and Melia too looked like she was struggling to keep her face neutral.

Thankfully, that didn't last long, as one of Erick's workers dropped by to inform them that they'd finally fixed things.

Not twenty minutes later all of them had gathered in the gaming room with drinks, snacks and violent video games.

Playing those video games on a level anywhere near Erick's required hand-eye coordination, two functioning hands and, more importantly, a working set of eyes. The television handled the depth perception, but the narrower field of vision was a challenge, one that took him a few rounds to figure out. Once he did however…

"Watch out Melia, Will's Buneary hopping towards you!" Venam warned.

"From where? From where?" Melia cried out.

"Uh, the left! The left!"

Will raced around the corner from the right and Melia's character got a face-full of laser, prompting Melia to let out an absolutely adorable yelp of surprise as she jumped in her seat.

"Good callout," Amber snickered.

"I'm assuming it was not, in fact, the left?" Kanon asked.

"Bite me!"

Once he got the controls down, making snappy and accurate shots was a lot easier than he imagined, and moving around by constantly jumping around was almost addicting.

"I'm gonna kick your ass," Venam growled. "Gonna put my boot up your jumping, spamming, annoying little - what? How the f—- frick did you do that?"

"Skill issue," Erick simply stated. His character teleported in from a hidden room Will failed to notice and proceeded to skill issue him across the walls. "Oof, gotta watch those shortcuts."

"Gotcha."

"Yo, this is insane," Amber snapped, throwing her controller across the couch after a particularly violent run-in with Erick. "How do you losers do this?"

"We got gud," Erick said without even looking away from the screen.

"Very gud," Will said. He emptied his weapon at Erick's guy, but his last shot failed to connect and Erick wasted him, prompting Venam and Melia to groan in disappointment. "Not gud enough."

"Erick you moron, look at what you did!" Venam shouted. "You taught him loser slang! Amber and I are gonna have to spend days fixing that!"

Will rolled his eyes. As if he were that impressionate.

"Sounds like a scrub problem," Erick snorted.

"Who is the scrub in this particular context?" Kanon asked.

In quick succession, Erick blew up Amber and punched Venam to death. "Not me, Kanon. Three guesses and the first two don't count."

"Eff that, I want a rematch!" Amber yelled.

A rematch she got. Will and Erick raced towards the power weapons while Melia struggled to get her bearings. Venam began spraying them from a distance but failed to realize that her weapon had a maximum effective range less than half the distance she was engaging them at. She was stuck reloading and Will closed the distance. Just as Kanon joined the party, he put Venam down with a beautiful melee animation.

He stepped over her rapidly-disappearing body and picked up her weapon. "Shiny."

"Uh oh," Kanon said, likely realizing that he was next on the list.

"Kanon, I got something for you," Will said.

"No thank you, I do not need anything."

Meanwhile Amber sounded like she had more than a few emotions to work through. "Will, I'm coming for your ass," she snapped. "Come here you Buneary-hopping, erratic lunatic. You're mine."

"Come get some," Will said. He popped Kanon through the back of his head with his secondary weapon, guessed where Amber would be coming from and produced the gun that had been too big for Venam's eyes.

"I'm gonna get me some alright! Yeah, just take - holy shit! What? Are you kidding me?" She shouted.

"Yay!" Will cheered softly. Forcing Amber into close quarters had worked like a charm. Now he had the power weapon. "Hey Venam?"

"What?"

Will began jump-sprinting in her direction. "Knock knock."

"Yeah? Who's there?"

He rushed through the hallway. Both of them fired at the same time. Somehow, Venam missed. He didn't. "Pain."

Several angry Venam noises later, Erick spawn-killed Amber, introduced Melia to a cool explosive weapon and promptly blew her up with it and subsequently began pursuing Will through a maze-like structure with dark, sprawling corridors. "Hey, companion buddy."

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna get you."

"No you won't."

"Gonna waste your ass."

"Nah-ah."

"Steal that power weapon. S'gonna be epic."

Will jumped through the corridors, his weapon at the ready, expecting Erick's blue-clad avatar to leap out of cover at every junction he crossed. The others started making their way there too, eager to exact their vengeance. On who, he had no idea, but he wouldn't find out. He just had to shake off Erick, get a few more points and -

Out of nowhere, someone popped up from an alcove he didn't even know existed before, landed behind him and proceeded to blast him from behind.

"What!" Will yelped.

"Hah!" Melia laughed. "I got that ass. It's mine now."

Both Amber as Will turned to stare at the blonde, who seemed entirely too satisfied with herself to notice. Venam quietly snickered to herself while Erick merely said, "Hey, nice kill!"

"Thank you. Just going to…take this."

"Oooh…now Melia has the big gun," Erick remarked.

With a grin, Melia said, "Time to run amok!"

"Huh, wasted by Melia?" Amber said. "Didn't see that coming."

Neither did he, but he didn't complain. He could think of worse fates. It was a nice move, and she seemed really happy about it. Nevertheless…"I'm going to need that back."

"Hah!" Melia laughed. "I don't think so."

"Gimme a second."

"No! Stay away!"

"Guys, Erick had four kills to go until he wins!" Amber warned them.

Oh. Well, that changed matters a bit.

"We need to team up and waste him!" Venam cried out.

"Will, truce?" Melia asked.

He didn't need rockets to kill Erick. "Sure."

It wasn't meant to be. Erick perforated Kanon, tossed grenades at Amber until he'd driven her in a corner and then proceeded to scare Venam so much that her character backpedalled straight off the map and to her death.

In hindsight, he really should have gotten those rockets.

Melia and him teamed up on Erick, but Erick had a superior vantage point and good weapons. As he rained down precision shots around them, whittling down their health, Amber spawned in again. She came running around the corner with a gun Will hadn't even seen before and yelled, "Open up!"

Amber squeezed off a shot and sent something resembling a massive green orb of energy surging towards Kanon. At the zenith of its path, Erick switched guns, shot the green orb in mid-air and the resulting explosion blew up both Will and Melia at the same time.

Game over.

Will sighed.

"What!" Amber snapped.

"Awww…" Melia pouted. "But it was so close!"

"Hanging out with friends is super awesome," Erick laughed. "Glad you guys could come over, and it was nice meeting you, Amber!"

"It was fun," Amber agreed. "Until you totally cheated!"

Erick snickered. "Someone's salty they three-stocked! It's okay, though. After a few more sessions you may have the chance of killing me at least once!"

With a cry of frustration, Amber flung the controller at the other couch. "I'm done playing that game. FOREVER!" She shouted, angrily burying her face into one of the pillows. "It's stupid!"

"Such a hothead, Amber," Venam snickered. "It's okay to lose. We all lost to Erick too."

Amber took the bait and leapt to her feet. "He beat all of us!" She snapped, pointing dramatically at the screen. "He clearly knows what he's doing and we don't. The only person who got close to winning was Will and that's not really saying anything!"

"...thanks?" A confused Will said.

"Ah, this is the life!" Erick said. "This is the feeling of winning!"

Melia's face did the thing where it went all smug and sly and sent little flutters through his stomach. "You're pretty good at video games, but I bet Will would whoop you in a battle."

Erick leveled a blank stare at her. "Eh? Will?" He made sure to look Will's way. "Beat me? No way! I have an eighty percent WR. If I keep winning, I'll rank up!"

"Don't underestimate Will," Venam said. "He's basically a prodigy. We had a close battle all the way back when, but Will beat me in the end. And then he started getting good."

She probably meant gud.

Melia nodded, ruffling her ponytail. "I'm not a Gym Leader, but Will has defeated me on multiple occasions."

Snorting, Amber hopped back down on her couch. "Yeah, yeah. I lost too," she growled. "There. I contributed to the pity party."

Erick glanced around the room, his bemused expression slowly turning serious. "Gotta admit, my interest is piqued. Maybe I do wanna battle Will now. I AM a Gym Leader, so there's an incentive to do so." He nodded to himself, then shot a look towards Will. "Whaddya say pal? Wanna battle?"

What was there to say? "You're on," Will said.

Erick grinned. "Great! There's an elevator to my Gym at the Power Plant. There are seats there if you guys wanna watch."

"Sure, I just gotta run there and hope I don't get caught by the police," Amber said.

"Hey, we'll give you a proper escort," Venam said.

Melia nearly bounced up and down on the couch in excitement. "I wouldn't miss this for anything!" She gasped, her eyes bright and cheery. "I'm so excited!"

"Could be an interesting display," Kanon mused. "Something to learn from for sure."

"Great!" Erick said. "Let's get going then!"

It was decided. They headed down from Erick's gaming room and headed towards the green elevator in the far right of the West Gearen Power Plant. It took them to Erick's battlefield of choice…the Sewage Management below ground.

"Are you kidding me," Venam said, looking around with a thunderous expression. "Down here? Seriously?"

"At least it doesn't stink that bad anymore," Melia said.

"What a freaking place to hold a Gym match," Amber said. "This is so gross."

"You should have been here yesterday," Venam said. "It stank so bad that people could have died."

"Why were you even here yesterday?" Amber demanded.

"Chasing down a mutated dump," Will commented. He began scanning his surroundings, taking note of the various streams and canals flowing beneath their feet. So much water to work with.

"Ex-freaking-cuse me?" Amber said, whirling on him. "What's that supposed to mean!"

"It's a long story," Melia smiled. "It was part of fixing West Gearen. Will had to spend far too much time running around in here."

Erick was an Electric-type user, which suggested he could use the flow of the water to his advantage. Water conducted electricity just fine.

"I'm not even gonna question that," Amber sighed. "This is more of a place for a Poison-type Leader.

"Hey!" Venam snapped without missing a beat. "Don't gimme that! Besides; what about Dark or Water, huh?"

"Venam, these are the sewers," Melia pointed out. "We literally just fought a massive Poison-type Pokemon in here yesterday."

"Yeah…but that doesn't mean I gotta sit here and take that!"

Water conducted electricity, yes, but ice didn't.

Heh. Looked like he had a tactic to build upon.

"Ladies, please, no fighting in my Sewage Management," Erick said. "Come on, my arena is this way…"

Erick took Kanon and the girls through a door towards the north. Will was about to follow when he just barely registered the sound of footsteps making their way down the hall. He glanced to one of the maintenance tunnels to the right and saw, much to his surprise, Amanda approaching him.

Will froze. What was a League Scout doing down here?

"Oh, hey, it's William!" She said. "How have you been?"

"...It's Will," he replied.

"That's not what it says on your trainer card," Amanda said, flashing him a grin. "I should know. I helped you make it."

"...my friends call me Will," he corrected himself.

"Eh, that's fine. How have you been? Fancy meeting you down here, huh? How's your Gym progress?"

"Fine," Will muttered. The Gym Challenge…that would be Venam, Keta, Maria, Narcissa, all the way up through Val, Crawli, Kreiss and Amber. "Just fine. And…eight. Eight badges."

"Wow, eight already?" Amanda cheerfully replied. "In any other region that would have been it! In Aevium, you're only halfway there."

"Yeah…Amanda, what are you doing here - ?"

"Just checking out my Leaders, seeing how things are," Amanda waved his concern away before he could even fully vocalize it. "Doing my duties as Jan keeps reminding me. With all these leaders going missing or resigning, I've got my job cut out for me. I wanted to make sure the others are still functioning."

"Uh…yeah…" Will sheepishly said. "I guess."

"Anyway, I wish I had the time to keep talking! Good luck on your journey Will!"

With that, the League Scout was off again. Will watched her go, feeling more than a bit puzzled. Eventually, he headed into the arena proper. The weirdness of his talk with Amanda quickly left his thoughts when he realized that Erick's little sewer arena hadn't been a joke, and that there was nothing "little" about it.

There, spread out across what could have been an entire underground lake, Erick had installed a standard Gym battle arena that was easily twenty meters wide and twice again as deep. Cables and pipes arn across the length of the wall to the right, while Venam, Melia, Kanon and Amber had seated themselves on a tribune of sorts to the left.

"You got this as usual, right?" Venam said as Will walked past her, heading towards the Challenger's position. "Erick's good after what we've been through, he shouldn't hold you down much."

He appreciated the vote of confidence.

"Good luck Will!" Melia said.

"GO AND GET WRECKED!" Amber yelled at the top of her lungs, hopefully to Erick.

"Well, look who it is!" Erick said as he stepped onto his own spot in the arena. "Will finally made it!" He shot a curious look at Venam and Amber. "Everyone says you're pretty good. Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. You DID help defeat Garbodor. That's something I couldn't do on my own. So I guess there is some merit to that claim."

He made it sound so cool, so casual even, which made his surprise all the more noticeable when Amber all but exploded, "Kick his ass Will! If you lose this, we'll ALL look like fools!"

"Will, I know you can do this!" Melia got up and shouted. "You're the strongest person I know!"

Will grinned to himself.

"Hey Will! Show this cocky punk that he ain't nothin'!" Venam whooped.

"H-Huh? Cocky?" Erick sputtered in dismay. "Oh…did you guys think I was serious? I-Its just banter, pls don't be mad at me!"

"I believe we're just bantering back," Kanon remarked. "Everything is all fine."

"Oh…" Erick said. He visibly relaxed. "Yeah, I knew that." He coughed into his hand, a bit awkwardly. "Anyway! Okay, okay! That's enough! I'm ready to get started! I'll show you exactly why I have such a high win rate!"

Both of them got ready.

Erick grinned. "I guess you could say…you'll be shocked by the results!"

Hah. He got that one.

The match was on.

~~~~~~~(VI)~~~~~~~

---

Battlefield of the Gods

Within the cold confines of the slumbering tower, the Servant returned to her Mistress. There she rested, encased in her cold prison, entombed by the filthy heretic.

Lady Angie…oh, it had taken her far too long to return here, but she did it! Today was the day her Mistress would be freed. It wasn't much, but the Servant had managed to create a special serum out of the Earth Heart scale she had managed to attain. She still couldn't believe how an old bag of bones had managed to aid her hated foe, thus keeping her from doing what needed to be done, but such was the nature of faith. Sometimes, life put her to the test. Sometimes, Arceus put them all to the test.

Her piety had been rewarded. The power of her serum was plentiful. It should be more than enough.

"Lady Angie!" Cera cried out as she uncorked the potion. "Be reawakened!"

When the sacred nature of her serum clashed with the vile ice of that loathsome creature, the results were as spectacular as they were satisfying. With a flash of the brightest blue light, Lady Angie's cold tomb shattered, and her graceful, beautiful form gently floated down towards the surface of the battleground itself.

Then, her Mistress opened her eyes.

"Lady Angie!" Cera cried out.

"...How long have I been out?" Her Lady graced her with her speech.

"Approximately two weeks. Maybe a little over?" Cera answered.

Lady Angie turned back towards the back end of the church where, once upon a time, her beautiful mural had rested. "I see."

"Team Xen has been defeated, and those crooks that did this to you are no longer on Terajuma!" Cera was pleased to announce. On a somewhat dimmer note, she was forced to add, "But the vile dog who dared to resist your powers lived. His defiance truly knows no bounds."

"So he has," Lady Angie muttered.

"But now that you have returned, we can take this island for ourselves once again!" Cera continued eagerly. "We - "

Her Mistress' quiet answer silenced her on the spot. "I have no desire for this island."

"L-Lady Angie, are you certain?" She stammered.

"Do not question me!" Her Mistress snapped, and her words were like a whip, instantly commanding Cera to obey.

"F-Forgive me, Lady Angie," she quickly amended. "I just…"

"Ruling over Terajuma is pointless as long as those children exist," her Lady continued. "They have proven to be most resilient. They got the better of me this time, but I won't allow that to happen again. It will take meticulous planning in order to erase them off Arceus' world."

Cera lowered her head obediently. "What is our objective then?"

Lady Angie gestured and the Servant followed her up. "First, I shall call upon an old friend. A "friend" that I had to lay dormant in this world. One that will take our plans to a greater height."

Cera's heart nearly stopped when she saw the whirling, reddish maw of energy that swirled above the Battlefield of the Gods. How could she have missed that? "Lady Angie…Is that…?"

"Precisely," her Lady said with a loving voice. Then, she commanded, "Renew your old form! Cast aside your darkened body and return to what you once were!"

It did, oh it did, and it was glorious.

"Lady Angie…It's…it's so beautiful!" Cera gasped.

"Welcome back…" Angie spoke as if speaking to a lover. "My beautiful effigy…"

The creature howled.

~~~~~~~(VII)~~~~~~~

---

West Gearen City

Sewage Management

"Oi v-v-v-vey, that didn't go in m-m-my fa-favor at all," a shivering Erick said. He tried to step away from his spot, hit a patch of particularly icy ice and promptly slipped and fell.

Amber laughed with unbridled vitriol and glee. "THAT'S RIGHT. KNOW THE FEELING OF FAILURE! KISS MY ASS! MISS MY ASS!" She twirled around in victory, throwing her arms in the air. "Whoooh!

Venam and Kanon stared at her in silent horror.

"Aaah…victory is sweet…" Amber then said, winding down again. "Hah."

"Great job Will!" Melia said the moment Amber was done. "You were amazing out there!" In a superior and smug tone, she continued, "I had faith that you'd win from the beginning, of course."

A flustered, but nevertheless composed Erick carefully got back to his feet. "But what matters is that we had fun, and you know what? I did! Whoever won or lost, it was a good time regardless!" He took another look around his now-frozen gym. "I'm gonna have to take care of the environment, you know, again, but eh. Will! How about you skate on over to me, so I can present you with THIS!" He held out a gleaming piece of yellow metal. "The Pulse Badge! Zip. Zap. Zing."

Will glanced at Froslass, then carefully put his foot down on the ice.

The patch of ice shattered and crept away from the ground an instant before his foot could touch it.

So awesome.

Biting back a gleeful smile, Will proceeded to make his way towards a flabbergasted Erick, appearing as if he didn't have the slightest issue navigating the frozen battlefield.

"Here, you did earn it," Erick said, handing him his next Gym badge. "Welp, that was fun! Now what?"

"It's time I made a phone call and headed home," Amber said. "It was fun hangin' out, but I gota get back to Terajuma. I'm in connection with someone who's gonna land he a huge gig." She threw her fiery ponytail back with a haughty gesture. "Business as usual."

"I'll drop you off in a moment," Will told her.

Amber gave him her signature cocky grin. "Yeah, you do that. See ya upstairs!"

"And the kindle flame burns out," Kanon commented as Amber headed back up to the surface. "It was a time, for sure."

"Guess I'll head back to work too!" Erick said, turning towards the exit behind him. "See ya guys!"

With a casual wave, Erick wandered off again.

Melia and Venam made their way towards the battlefield as well, though they didn't actually tread the ice. "Well, now what?" Venam said.

"How about - ?"

The sound of a small explosion rumbled through the ceiling as several tiles shattered and fell towards the ground. Will inhaled sharply as he realized what was happening and the order was given without any conscious thought at all. "Froslass, Shadow Ball!"

She had her projectile ready in an instant. The very next second a streak of darkness tore through the air and slammed into the gap in the ceiling where someone was trying to breach their way through.

A high-pitched yelp, a heavy curse, and suddenly Karrina's body came tumbling through the opening. Her own Runerigus managed to snatch her from the air before she could break her neck against the icy floor, and instead of pancaking on the arena she managed to land on her own two feet. She slipped, nearly fell, but Runerigus' ghostly tail saved her from that fate as well.

"Will, you trigger-happy loon!" Karrina snapped. "Talk about jumping the gun!"

Karrina? But…why? How long had she been up there?

"Oh for the love of…" Venam spat.

"Sorry," Will muttered, horrified that he'd nearly shot down one of their allies in a snap decision. "I didn't - "

"Damn right you're sorry!" Karrina said in an annoyed tone, jabbing her finger at his chest. "Ever heard of PID? Positive identification? You check your target before you attack!"

Yeah, he knew, but it had been so sudden and his mind instantly jumped to conclusions and -

"Ever heard of communicating?" Melia said, giving Karrina a cold look. "Friendlies on your six? Heads up, coming from above? Also, were you hiding in the ceiling this entire time?"

Karrina crossed her arms and met Melia's glare in kind. "Hmph. Yeah. I came here to announce that I was actually impressed by the way you handled the situation. I'm here to tell you all something that may just pique your interests."

"Jees, here we go…" An exasperated Venam muttered angrily.

"You couldn't do this in a more normal way?" Melia demanded.

"No," Karrina flatly said. "There have been reports of an odd phenomenon going on in Grand Dream City. People are going missing. It's not one or two people, but dozens of them. And the scary part is that when they reappear, they're found completely encased in stone."

Will's breath hitched in his throat. His thoughts slammed to a halt as he watched in horror as Nim reached out to him, dark blotches spreading across her body like an infection, claiming even her clothing -

"Completely encased in stone?" Melia said. She shot Venam and him a dark look. "That sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

It turned her features into stone. Petrified, gray and lifeless. A statue.

"I have a sneaking suspicion," Karrina's voice came from far away, "Team Xen may be behind this. I was gonna go check it out myself, but…"

With enormous effort, Will pushed the memory away, tearing his thoughts free from the image of Nim's petrified body sinking into the lava and back to the present. He felt the familiar warmth coiling up in his stomach. He took a deep breath to center himself.

"..think your group is quite capable," Karrina finished.

"Glad you see it our way," an annoyed Venam bit at her.

Karrina didn't miss that. "Watch it," she warned Venam in a low voice. "My kindness only goes so far." She addressed Melia again. "Anyway, I have a contact in GDC that would be willing to house you all, if you choose to go, that is. If you guys are up to it, I'll contact her."

Melia slowly nodded, then turned to look at Will.

Will held her gaze. If Team Xen was on the prowl again, they didn't have a choice. The war would find them again eventually. Better to head it off, seize the initiative. Everybody knew what would happen if the enemy took the initiative themselves again. "Break's over," he said.

"We should go," Melia said. "There's nothing left for us in Gearen City."

"I'm down," Venam agreed easily. "If I stay here, I'll be bored forever."

Bored.

Will knew on a logical level that wasn't Venam's motivation. He knew that she cared about them and wanted to see them safe, but…did she have to phrase it like that?

"What about me?" Kanon timidly asked. "Am I permitted to join you all?"

Karrina shrugged. "I haven't heard anything from the Hags, so I think this is where they want you to be. Just make sure not to cause any trouble."

"Understood," Kanon said.

"Alright," Karrina continued, taking a tentative step onto the ice. "I'll be off then. Stay safe you guys."

Grand Dream City. Aevium's famous capital city. The heart of its commerce, its largest population center sporting hundreds of thousands of people and also the center of its industrial might. GDC was the heart, lungs and brain of the Aevium region.

That meant fighting a foe who didn't care about collateral damage and solving a systematic serial disappearance without falling victim to it themselves while also navigating the busiest, largest, most unpredictable city in the entire region.

This might get complicated.

"So…how exactly do we get to Grand Dream City?" Venam questioned when they made it back into the central area of the Sewage Management.

"I've been to Grand Dream City once, when I was a little girl with my dad," Melia said. "If I remember correctly, the train here at West Gearen is a one way trip there."

"Cool and convenient," Venam said with a casual shrug. "Let's make our way there."

"No," Will said at the same time as Melia said, "Not yet!"

The two of them exchanged a surprised look, before Will gestured at Melia to do her thing.

"Because of the difficulties in the city lately, what with people passing out and getting abducted by Garbodor, the train hasn't been running in a while," Melia started. "I can't even guess at its schedule but back then, it only ran three times a week. I'll hop on by and ask them when the train actually leaves."

Venam and Kanon nodded along, then turned their heads to stare expectantly at Will next.

"We'll be staying in an unknown city for an unknown length of time," he began. "Team Xen could have made that place their headquarters for all we know, so we need to be prepared."

"I think I missed that potential information when Karrina spoke," Kanon said. "Their headquarters?"

"Will's just being dramatic again," Venam said dismissively. "Dude, it's the capital. We can buy toothbrushes and socks at every corner."

"I see," Kanom replied.

He rubbed his left eye in frustration. "That's not the point."

Venam was about to retort again when Melia interfered. "Regardless, we can't leave just yet, so we might as well try to prepare. Once we're on our way, we'll have to commit fully to GDC and it's a big city. Everything we can take care of now, is something we won't have to worry about later."

With a heavy sigh, Venam went, "Fine" and walked off, leaving Kanon to look at her in confusion.

Not particularly eager to simmer in frustration at Venam, Will decided to take that moment to leave as well. If they were heading out to a potential Xen-infested battleground again, then weeks of preparation wouldn't be enough. They had days. Possibly less.

…people went missing. They went missing before they were found again, encased in stone.

Only one explanation was remotely possible, and even that one didn't make sense. The nature of Nim's powers had, somehow, condemned her to that horrible fate. But if these were normal, innocent civilians, then…then…

He didn't know. He couldn't come up with a basic, or even outlandish theory on what could cause that. It could have been completely unrelated. He could have been jumping to conclusions regarding Nim. This could be some sort of new Rift Pokemon, or a cruel weapon Team Xen had acquired by torturing some poor, different Legendary Pokemon.

Jumping to conclusions would help no'one. Better to keep this one simple. Link up with Karrina's contact. Take a look at these victims. Figure out what caused it and discern why these people had fallen victim.

First things first. Bringing Amber back to the docks and seeing her off. After that, he had some leads to chase down. Once they got on that train to GDC, something told him they wouldn't be back here in a while.

Time to wrap up some loose ends.

~~~~~~~(VIII)~~~~~~~

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AN: and that is the entirety of the game's Chapter 9 wrapped up!

This was a particularly important story section, allowing me to get in a lot of foreshadowing in while also writing in several callbacks to previous moments, offering them more context. With several important revelations and factors now in play, it's time to jump straight into Chapter 10!

As always, thank you guys so much for sticking around for so long. Don't forget to leave a review if you liked the chapter and I will see you all with the next update!